Disclaimer: Not mine ok? You don’t have to rub it in.

Author’s note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter!
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Chapter 10: Demon Buffy

She found him just getting up himself. He was just closing up his newly acquired coffin, wearing the red shirt she had bought for him.

“God, how can you sleep in that thing?” she asked.

“Well until I get myself a bed, it’s decent. Beats the floor. Sooner or later our favourite vampire hunter will find me and I’ll have to move on again.”

“Ya sorry about that.”

“Sorry enough to let me eat him? Joking, pet”

“I know. Hey totally off topic, what do you remember about Beth Sumner, daughter of a tradesman, died in 1880?”

Spike’s eyes went wide.

“How do you know about Beth Sumner?”

“I kinda had a freaky dream, that I was trapped in her body and lived inside her for the last few weeks of her life.”

“You were in her body the last few weeks of her life?” he repeated.

“She was murdered.”

“Look are you going to accuse me of something here pet? I killed her alright, I turned her. First person I regretted killing.”

“Before or after the soul?”

“Before the soul. Regretted taking her precious life.” Spike sat down on the stone tomb and cradled his head in his hands.

“She loved you.”

“Yeah, found that out too late, didn’t I? Look, Slayer I have so many things that my soul plagues me about, without you having to remind me about them.”

“I know. I just wanted to let you know that I understand.”

“Understand what?”

“You. You were a poet and a good man. And though I’m pretty sure you still dabble in the poetry, I know for certain that you are a good man today. And I love you. I love Spike. I love William the Bloody, and I love William Graves.” Buffy smiled and planted a kiss on his lips. “Hey, the mushy doesn’t happen often, so live with it,” she smiled. “I’m not going anywhere you know. Even Drusilla won’t be able to keep me away from you. I won’t ask you to bite me again, Spike. But when you are ready, I want you to claim me. I want to spend the rest of my eternity with you.”

He smiled. “If you insist luv. When the time is right.”

“Whenever you are ready Mr Graves.”

“Bloody Hell, Slayer! Keep that little tidbit to yourself luv. If the watcher were to find out I’m sure I’ll have wannabe watchers following me again, just like that Lydia bird.”

“I read her thesis you know, funny stuff, got too much wrong though.”

“You read her bloody thing? Whatever for?”

“Curious”

“Of what, how many people I’ve killed?”

“No, just exactly how evil you think you are.”

“And your conclusions?”

“Very evil, oh so very evil,” she purred, “But you are my Big Bad.”

“Better believe it luv.” Spike wrapped his arms around his slayer and pulled her close.

Buffy smiled down at her vampire and leaned in to kiss him.

“Vampire” she whispered.

“Slayer” he countered.

Suddenly Buffy stopped, pulled back and shifted her eyes like she was fighting something.

“Buffy?”

“Vampire.”

Buffy clutched her head. “Demon,” she breathed.

Spike could feel her tense up and relax several times before she pushed him away, standing several feet away from him. Spike could see her eyes flashing something he had never seen before.

“Buffy?”

“Vampire,” she breathed.

Spike was eternally grateful at that moment that Buffy had come to him that day without a stake in hand, otherwise he would have been dust.

Buffy flew at him fists and fury. Spike deflected her blows with skill until he pinned her, holding her arms down and straddling her legs.

“Buffy, luv, I know you are in there.”

“Gone,” she said.

“No, not gone, here, with me. Need to fight this. Dawn needs you. I need you. Don’t you dare give into it Buffy.”

“Strong”

“You are stronger”

“Wants to kill you.”

“Only you, Buffy, not the demon, will ever kill me luv.”

“Spike, let me go,” said Buffy who had stopped struggling.

“Got the upper hand, do you?”

“For now,” she smiled sweetly.

Spike let go of her arms and leaned forward. A tear rolled down Buffy’s cheek.

“Spike, go back to the apartment. Take care of Dawn.”

“Buffy?” Spike didn’t like how this sounded.

“Please Spike. If the demon wants to stake you, what will happen if it wants to stake Dawn? She can’t fight me. I need you to stay with her, with us, make sure I can’t do her harm.”

“I promised to take care of her a long time ago luv.”

Buffy smiled. “I love you,” she whispered.

“I know luv,” Spike made to kiss her but she pulled away.

“Vampire,” spat Buffy’s demon.

“And it’s back.”

Buffy threw him off into a wall and took off out of the crypt. Spike lay shaking his head for a moment before grabbing his coat and heading out himself.

Spike headed straight to Buffy’s apartment. Dawn was there, doing homework diligently, books spread out over her bed. Andrew had plopped himself in front of the TV, watching Star Trek or some such thing. Neither knew anything was wrong, neither acknowledged his presence until he had closed the door behind him.

“Spike you speak French right?” asked Dawn, not looking up from her books.

“Ya nibblet, I do,” Spike walked over to help Dawn with her homework.

Hours later Dawn was asleep in her bed, Andrew was curled up in his nest and Spike sat watching his charge. Dawn had no idea that her sister was hovering on the brink of insanity. Buffy was patrolling, that was all.

When Buffy still hadn’t returned by the next night Dawn did start to worry.

“What if she’s hurt, Spike? You can’t just leave her in some ditch. We have to find her. Ditches are bad.”

“She’s fine nibblet,” he said trying to sound confident. “If she doesn’t come back today I’ll look for her.” He poured himself a mug of blood and set it in the microwave. “She will come back, she has to.”

Just the there was the sound of a key in a lock and in stepped the girl in question.

“Buffy!” exclaimed Dawn, “Where have you been?”

“Patrolling, crashed at Oz’s,” said Buffy. “Tired now.” She headed to her room.

“Oz, wolf boy Oz?” said Spike surprised.

“It’s under control Spike,” said Buffy as she closed her bedroom door, shutting him out.

“I’m going out!” Dawn called to her sister through the door. “Andrew and I are going to the mall for interior decorating window shopping.”

It was only after Dawn and Andrew left that Spike entered Buffy’s room. He didn’t knock.

“Are you going to tell me the truth about where you crashed last night or not?” he asked.

“Not,” said Buffy rolled away from him on the bed. “Did Dawn say anything?”

“Thought you were in a ditch somewhere.”

Spike saw a tear roll down Buffy’s cheek. She curled up into a ball on the bed. He sat down on Buffy’s bed close to the ball of shaking Slayer.

“Buffy...” Spike reached out to touch her.

“Please don’t touch me,” she whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t hurt me luv.”

“But I will, you know what this is like!” she said forcefully, sitting up. “It wants me to kill, it doesn’t care if who I kill is innocent or if I care about them. What if I’m not strong enough Spike?”

Buffy collapsed into a ball again, sobbing.

“You will beat it down luv, I know you, you are the strongest person I know.”

“What if that isn’t enough?”
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Spike woke up the next morning to the sound of vigorous cleaning, but he couldn’t see. After pondering his blindness in his sleepy haze he realised that he had a quilt on top of him.

“Spike if I were you, I’d stay under that thing and go back to sleep,” whispered Dawn. “The demon is making her clean and we are all her slaves.”

Suddenly the vacuum shut off.

“Nice try Dawnie,” came Buffy’s voice.

Spike peered from under the quilt. Before him stood Buffy in her work out/cleaning clothes.

“I’m glad you could join us in the land of the awake. There are no windows in the bathroom, off you go.” Buffy handed him a bottle of Mr Clean and a sponge.

“I’m not bloody cleaning your soddin’ bathroom Slayer,” he started. “I don’t bloody live here.”

“You clean or you leave,” she said hands on hips, “But I should point out that it is a beautiful sunny September morning.”

Spike groaned. “Slayer!”

“Clean or leave, Spike, you are just in the way here. I’ve been vacuuming around you forever.”

“Fine, I’m off,” he grabbed the quilt that was still on his head and took off.

“Nibblet, come see me when the cleaning nazi demon lets you out.”

“K Spike. Lucky Bastard,” muttered Dawn.

Spike shut the door behind him.

“How come he gets to leave?” whined Andrew.

“He doesn’t live here,” responded Buffy as she wiped a counter.
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Spike sulked down to the laundry room. It was bloody ten in the soddin’ morning! There was no way he was going to attempt to find his way to his newest lodging place with a blanket over his head in a town he could barely remember.

Spike sat down on top of an empty washing machine wondering just how long Buffy’s mad cleaning binge would last. He lit up a cigarette and took a drag. Her knew that she had been holding back last night, there was a whole lot more wrong than she let on. Slept at Oz’s, right, bet she doesn’t even knew where the wolf lives.

Lost in thought atop a washing machine, Spike's revelry was interrupted by the entrance of a slight brunette with wide eyes and short cropped hair. She stood in front of him waiting to get his attention. When at last he opened his eyes she stared at him.

“Hi, I’m Julia, I’m 3D, wait no, not 3D, but I suppose I am just that I’m in apartment 3D and you are new to the building, right? I notice lots of things like that. Anyway just wanted to say hello and check if the washers were free. They are free aren’t they? Cause they sound quieter than usual if they were running not that I'm a washer know it all. I’m gonna shut up now.”

Spike flicked the ash off of the end of his fag and got up off the washer.

“It’s free.”

“I hope you don’t think that I blather on like this all the time cause I don’t, not really anyway just a little nervous. I’ve never thought anyone in this building was hot before, oh crap, I said that out loud didn’t I? Oh well, too late to take it back now. I think you are hot. Want to get coffee sometime?”

Finally her talking ceased.

“Thanks for the offer pet, but I’ll have to turn you down...”

“His girlfriend would disapprove,” came Buffy’s voice from the doorway, a load of laundry on one hip.

Julia turned around stunned.

“Geez, I’m sorry you could have told me you had a girlfriend,” she said as she stomped off.

“Let a mate get a word in edgewise...” muttered Spike.

“I thought you were leaving?” asked Buffy.

“Changed my mind, just didn’t want to clean the bathroom.”

“No big. Andrew’s doing it,” Buffy set down the with a thump and started to fill the machine that Spike had just been sitting on.

“Buffy...”

“Spike, I don’t want to talk about it, talking will make me not concentrate on the cleaning. I have a social worker coming to check up on Dawn and I. Everything must be perfect. Especially since Valery wants Dawn back in LA. I can’t lose Dawn Spike. Not now. I need her.”

“Even if you hurt her? That what you were afraid of, why you didn't come home. Afraid you were gonna hurt Dawn and me. How can that have changed so soon?”

“I’m stronger than the demon. You told me that,” said Buffy closing the lid to the machine and starting it.

“I know you are luv,” he said gathering her in his arms.

“No time for huggage, must clean.”

Buffy raced back up stairs leaving Spike bewildered. Spike sat there in the laundry room for a good half hour before venturing back into the apartment.

Andrew was scrubbing the floor in the kitchen on his hands and knees. Dawn was trying to look busy dusting. As soon as she saw him she was in his face.

“You have got to do something. She's nuts. This place is already spotless. Freaky clean Buffy is going to kill me.”

“Do you have any idea why she’d doing thins?”

“I have some theories Mr Spike,” said Andrew eagerly. “First there is the important interview with the Social worker. Second, less likely but also plausible, she is preparing for the move to her new house.”

“Two weeks away numbskull,” said Dawn.

“Third, pent up energy, either sexual frustration or lack of slayage.”

“Oy!” protested Spike at the sexual frustration comment.

“Or fourth, unknown mystical, perhaps evil forces at work.”

“Great Andrew, that really makes me feel better,” said Dawn.

Buffy barged through the door only to see her ‘minions’ not hard at their tasks.

“Less talking more cleaning!” Buffy ordered, as she walked into her bedroom with the hamper of now clean clothes. Spike followed her into her room and shut the door.

“You are running them ragged out there luv,” said Spike as she flopped down on the nicely made bad. “Don’t you thinks it’s clean enough out there?”

“I’m running out of things to do Spike,” said Buffy as she folded . “I should have let them go, so I could clean it all. I need to clean.”

“No you don’t.”

“Need to keep busy.”

“Why?”

“Only way I’ll beat it.”

“Ya, I’ll buy that,” with that Spike got up off the bed and went to the door. He opened it and threw at twenty dollar bill out into the room.

“Nibblet take the guestage here and flee, before she makes you clean.”

Dawn ran into his arms.

“You are a god! Not God god, a lesser but benevolent god. Thank you!” she took the twenty and fled out the apartment door, dragging Andrew behind her.

Shutting the bedroom door again, Spike walked up behind Buffy and wrapped his arms around her.

“I know another way to keep you busy luv,” her purred.

“Show me,“ she whispered.

Spike growled and pushed her on the bed. Buffy looked a bit shocked at his rough handling, but smiled as he started to crawl towards her on the bed. Spike attacked the button on her pants and pulled them from her body. Starting at her feet, Spike started kissing and lightly biting his way up her legs. Reaching the apex of her thighs, Spike tested her dampness through her panties. They weren’t quite as soaked as he would have liked. In one fell swoop, he ripped her underwear from her body and dove his tongue into her pink recesses. Spike passed his tongue over her clit and across her labia. Buffy moaned in response and ground her herself down on to him to get better friction. Spike dug his fingers into the fleshy part of her hips.

Buffy let herself be taken over by the ecstasy that was being created by his tongue and lips. Buffy fisted her hands into the bed sheets and arched her back as the feeling overcame her. Recovering from her orgasm, Buffy threaded her fingers through Spike’s hair and pulled the vampire up from his place between her legs so that she could claim his lips.

The taste of herself on his mouth merely added to her eagerness to have him completely inside her. Buffy flipped them over so that she was straddling him, still kissing his lips frantically. Buffy ripped his shirt down the middle and attacked his chest with kisses and nibbles.

Spike moaned as the feeling of her lips and teeth and the silky feeling of her hair on his chest, tickled in very pleasant ways.

“Slayer, Buffy...”

“No talking,” she said suddenly. “Have to concentrate.”

Buffy’s little fingers set about removing his pants. She pulled them from his body, to find herself pinned to the bed, by her lover. She felt his teeth at her neck and she closed her eyes hoping, waiting for a bite. But it didn’t come.

She reached down between her legs and gave his member a few strokes, just to make sure that he was ready for her next move.

Spike let out a feral growl and thrust his pelvis into hers. Buffy positioned him at her entrance and he slid home easily.

Buffy braced herself for what she thought was going to be rough coupling. She was right. Buffy wrapped her legs around his waist, and clung for dear life as Spike slid in and out of her channel, with a ferocity she had forgotten he had. The intensity could only be sustained for so long and the couple dropped, spent on the bed, Buffy panting and Spike licking his partner’s neck.
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Being the vampire that he was, he felt that it was quite natural to fall asleep in the middle of the afternoon after such a vigorous work out. However when he found himself alone in Buffy’s bed, just after sunset he wished that he hadn’t.

Buffy was not in the apartment.

“She went out to patrol,” said Dawn when he asked. “She left you a note.”

There on the fridge was an envelope labelled ‘Spike.’

Notes in envelopes are never good, he thought. Hesitantly he opened his letter.

Spike,

Sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. This is something I have to work out for myself. I think you already knew that. It’s my demon, I gotta learn to fight it, but I can’t be around you to do it. It just wants to kill you too much. I can't do it, so it’s better for all if I took some Buffy time for a bit. I’ll be back when I’m back. But I won’t come back until it is beaten down. Don’t worry about me. I don’t have any descendants so I won’t be dead anytime soon. Take care of Dawn for me, you always have. I love you. Please remember that, even with all these stupid things I do.

Forever eternally yours,

Buffy.

Spike was gonna hit something. He mumbled something but all Dawn heard was patrol. She shrugged her shoulders as he slammed the door on his way out of the apartment.

“Geez those two have issues,” she said to no one in particular.
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It had taken him two days, two nights rather, to track Buffy down. He had found her beating the shit out of some demon. Taking her by surprise he knocked her down long enough so he could bind her hands with duct tape and take her home. After manacling her to her own bed, trying not to wake the nibblet or whelp jr. He set about washing the blood off of Buffy’s body. She was covered in it.

“Looks like you’ve been seeing the inside of quite a few nasties, my girl,” he said as he took a cloth to her arms.

“Spike?” she whispered.

“Ya, luv,”

“What happened?”

“Brought you home.”

“Why?”

“Cause you are needed here luv, no matter what the demon things you need to do, Dawn needs you here.”

“Green and scary.”

“Come again luv?”

“Dawn, she’s green and scary.”

“She’s the key, luv. The demon is scared of her, is all.”

“Let me go Spike.”

“No. You have to deal with this, but not in the way you think you have to. Running away rarely solves anything. You would think you knew that by now.”

Buffy laughed. “Takes one to know one Buster.”

“The only way you can learn to deal with it is to make sure that you spend time with demons without killing them.”

“No fun.”

“You can kill some of them pet.”

“But not you, Dawn, Oz or Clem.”

“That’s a good start to the list but there are a few others that I would rather you didn’t kill either.”

“Angel.”

“No you can kill the poofter if you want,” he said with a chuckle. “Now you get yourself some rest and tomorrow night you and I will go to town,” he said with a clap of his hands.

“You can’t leave me chained up like this!”

“Oh but I can luv, and I will, especially since I’ll be sleeping here until sunrise, got to get the nib off to school and all, since Big Sis is slightly indisposed.”

“Spike! Unchain me!”

“Tsk, tsk, that tone of voice won’t get you anywhere, just go to sleep.”

Spike regularly found it hard to sleep at night, but even more so with bitchy Slayer chained up beside him. At one point he had even had to gag her to keep her from waking Dawn.

When dawn came, Spike undid the manacles and tucked his sleeping slayer into bed. Sounds of waking people began to fill the apartment. Dawn took the shower and the whelp jr started to make breakfast. Spike emerged from Buffy’s room and jury rigged the door so that it couldn’t be opened from the inside.

“So when did she finally come home?” Dawn asked as she stepped out of the bathroom, fully dressed.

“Two in the morning, or so,” said Spike looking for blood in the fridge.

“Stupid head, doesn’t, she know that she needs to be here in case social services decides to pay a visit?”

“Its not her fault pint size.”

“Sure it’s the demon’s fault. If I don’t take that excuse from you Spike I sure as hell won’t take it from her.”

“Hasn’t learned to control hers yet.”

Dawn grabbed some of the pancakes Andrew had made and helped herself to some OJ.

“Is this something that I should be recording for posterity?” Andrew asked very seriously.

“I don’t really give a flying rats ass watcher boy.”

“Buffy wouldn’t like it if you recorded her weakness for all to see.”

“No, I can see that.”

The phone rang.

“That should be Xander,” said Dawn, rushing to the phone.

Spike helped himself to some blood while Dawn chatted away with Xander, he really couldn’t care less about the mundane life of the one eyed whelp.
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tbc...