Strip Snap by Lilachigh

Chp 14 One Solution


Buffy was being held down, suffocated, ropes were tied tightly around her body and even though she was struggling and fighting, she couldn’t get free, couldn’t breathe, dying - And she woke up, realising that the sheet had got tangled round her body in a tight band, binding her arms to her sides.

She struggled free and sat up in bed, trying to shake off the remnants of the nightmare.
She glanced at her alarm clock. Three-thirty. Buffy groaned. She knew that once she was awake, she would find it hard to get back to sleep, no matter how tired she felt.

She got out of bed and padded across the dark room to stare out of the window. Sunnydale lay quiet, sleeping as if it was really an ordinary peaceful town, not one built on a Hellmouth . Nothing moved. She could go out and do a quick patrol, she supposed, but didn’t really feel like it. No, there was only one solution to insomnia - ice-cream.

She padded down the stairs - then stopped dead. There were voices coming from the family-room. The flicker of light was obviously from the TV, but people were speaking.
Buffy crept down silently and stared. Dawn and William were sitting side by side on the sofa, sharing a large tub of ice cream, watching TV.

William had an expression of bemused incredulity on his face. His spoon kept going up to his mouth, then something on the screen made his eyes widen even more, and ice cream dripped down his T-shirt and Riley’s paint-stained trousers.

“Dawn! William! What are you doing down here? it’s three-thirty in the morning!”

“Oh, hi Buffy,” Dawn said with a yawn. “I couldn’t sleep, so I came downstairs to get some ice-cream and discovered that the lump on the sofa who I thought was Spike, was in fact William.”

William hadn’t even acknowledged Buffy’s existence. The cartoon on the TV had him firmly in its grip.

“William!”

‘“Look! It is a box with moving pictures in it, Miss Summers. Like a lantern show but with music and speaking. Look! That cat is chasing that small bird but never catches him. It is vastly amusing. And Miss Dawn tells me that it isn’t magic. That it is an invention, as was the flying demon we saw when we were on the lake. Do you remember, you were lying on your back and I was - ”

“Yes! Yes! I remember very well.”

“And this is ice-cream! It has a most delectable taste. I wish it was available at home. It would be immensely popular.” William waved the spoon vigorously and spattered chocolate chip in all directions.

“Dawn - I was going to tell you tomorrow. There was an accident and Spike - ”

“That’s OK, Buffy. William explained.”

Buffy frowned. “How did you know he wasn’t Spike?”

Dawn tossed back her long black hair and licked her spoon clean. “Oh come, on Buffy. Anyone with more than a single brain cell could tell he wasn’t Spike as soon as he began to speak.”

“Can I fetch you a bowl of this delicious delicacy, Miss Summers?” William got to his feet, smiling politely at Buffy, and she found herself wishing that he would stop being so damned nice about everything. Why didn’t he rage and yell about what had happened to him? How could he just accept that he had been taken out of his time and place and transported across the world to another time and turned into a vampire as well?

“No - thank you.” She watched as he headed for the kitchen, then turned to Dawn. “Go to bed. It’s hideously late. You’ve got school in the morning.”

“No, I haven’t, stupid. It’s Saturday. Remember, that funny old day that comes right after Friday, just before Sunday. It’s called the weekend.”

“Well, even so. You must go to bed. It’s late and we all need to get some sleep. Especially William. He’s got a difficult day ahead of him tomorrow. Willow’s going to the Magic Box to find a way of getting Spike back. We’re sure there must be a spell, or a charm, or something.”

Dawn glanced over her shoulder but the vampire was still busy in the kitchen, adding little marshmallows and chocolate sauce to his ice cream. “What’s going to happen to him, Buffy? I like William.” She sounded upset.

Buffy reached out and ran her hand down the silky black hair. “I know. So do I. But Dawnie, you like Spike, too, don’t you?”

Dawn flicked the remote at the TV and the cartoons vanished. “Yes, of course, I do. But this still is Spike, isn’t it? He’s chipped and everything. Still a vampire. But it’s as if all those years and years of being evil have vanished. They haven’t happened to this William, so he isn’t the same person.”

Buffy bit her lip. How could she explain to Dawn that whatever demon possessed William’s body when Dru turned him, was still there, somewhere deep inside. William was as evil as Spike - it just didn’t show at the moment.

“Where will William go if you and Willow manage to get Spike back?”

“I don’t know. Look, Dawnie, I know it’s hard to understand. I don’t truly know what’s happened. But I think we have to reverse the effect of the demon acid. Whether that’s right or wrong, I’m not sure, but something tells me that’s what we have to do.”

Dawn jumped up and crossed her arms across her chest. “Why do we always have to do what you think is right? What if I think something else is right?”

Buffy frowned. “That’s not fair. You’re still too young to understand - ”

Dawn spun round to face her. “I understand that you always think you know best, Buffy. But sometimes you don’t. I mean, hey, what if you found a spell that could turn me back into pretty green energy. Would you use it? Make your life what it was before I arrived?”

“Dawnie, you’re my sister and I love you. Nothing will ever change that. I would never do anything - anything! - to hurt you.”

“You haven’t answered my question, though, have you. You think Spike should be here and not William. Why is it your choice to make?” And she turned and raced up the stairs and Buffy heard her bedroom door slam shut.

“Miss Dawn has retired again for the night?” It was William, standing in the doorway, thumbs hooked in the belt of Riley’s trousers, staring down at Buffy as she sat on the sofa.

“Yes. And so must we.” Buffy urged her weary legs to start moving, but she was comfortable relaxing on the squashy cushions and it seemed too much effort to stand up. She could only hope that the vampire hadn’t overheard their conversation.

William crossed the room and sat next to her, gazing sadly at the blank face of the TV for a second, then turning his attention back to Buffy. ‘You look tired, Miss Summers,” he said.

Buffy gave a little laugh. “Well, considering what we’ve done over the past couple of days, I’m surprised I’m not unconscious.”

William slid his arm round her shoulders and pulled her close to him. For a second Buffy resisted, then decided she couldn’t be bothered to fight him. Her head was so comfortable against his shoulder and his hand was gently massaging her neck, easing away the tension.

“Your sister is a lovely child,” he said quietly.

“Yes, although she would die if she heard you call her a child. She’s a teenager, although I don’t suppose you had that expression in 1880!”

“She told me she was fifteen and still at school. I found that surprising. She does not appear to me to be a blue stocking.”

Buffy frowned, then a vague memory of Giles calling Willow that once, came to her mind. “Oh no, she’s not just interested in learning. She likes all sorts of things.” She wondered what he would say if she tried to explain about mystical energy and Keys and memory alterations. She decided to stick to TV and chocolate ice-cream.

“I think she likes me,” William said softly. “But I can tell she is fond of Spike, too. It is very odd. What sort of man is he, this Spike?”

Buffy shut her eyes. How could she answer that? Had she ever stopped before to ask herself that question. She just accepted him, longed for him, pulled him towards her, pushed him away. She needed him, hated him, loved him - no - she wanted him, that was different.

“Brave, a fighter, loyal, stubborn, irritating. He could be your best friend and your worst enemy - usually both at the same time!” She found the words slipping off her tongue easily enough. She opened her eyes and turned her head. William was closer than she’d imagined. His lips were only centimetres from hers.

“And you have feelings for Spike. That is plain,” William muttered and bending his head just a fraction, kissed her.

Buffy felt the room swim around her. It was such a soft, tender kiss - no passion, no lust, but long and sweet, his mouth chill against the heat of hers, his tongue an icy dart that seduced her own to dance with it.

“He - you - Spike is - convenient,” Buffy murmured as they broke apart.

‘But you want him back,” William said, running his hands slowly up under her vest top and circling her breasts in slow sweeps.

“I - oh God - I don’t know.”

“Why, Miss Summers? What can he give you that I can’t? Does he make love to you better than I do? Does he make you shiver and quake more than me when he touches you - there - and - there.”

A choked whine broke from Buffy’s mouth as one of his hands slid down under her pyjama shorts and stroked the curls between her legs. She found herself opening them as wide as she could, offering herself to him.

“Oh God, William. Don’t stop. Do that again. Please!”

“Tell me,” he hissed suddenly in her ear. “Tell me you prefer me to him!”

“I can’t,” she panted. “You’re the same person. Oh God. I want you! Now!”

Together they tumbled off the sofa onto the floor. Buffy heard her shorts rip as vampire teeth tore them off her. Then he was inside her, holding her above him, thrusting, pulsating, driving her with him, onwards, deeper and deeper, until the red mist began to creep across her vision.

But just as her climax hit, she opened her eyes and gazed down into his face. And as the first overwhelming wave sent shocks piercing through her body, she realised she was looking not at William, but at Spike.

to be continued