Disclaimer: The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and Fox studios. This story is not meant to infringe upon anyone's rights, only to entertain.

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CHAPTER 8 – Slayer Blood


It had been a long day and Buffy didn’t really feel like going home to hear her Mom and Dad at each other’s throats again. So she decided to take a walk. To where she wasn’t sure but she knew she just needed some time to just be.

About half an hour later, she found herself standing in front of the abandoned factory that Merrick and her Vampire Guards called home. She wasn’t sure why she ended up here. Maybe it was just something familiar since she’d been coming here for over a week now. She stepped inside quietly ready for anything but all she could sense was one vampire somewhere in the upper floor. She dropped her backpack on a training mat then headed upstairs to see who was here.

As she rounded the corner of the small landing, she could hear the faint sounds from a television set. She opened the door to the room quietly and found a sleeping Spike sprawled on his bed with only a thin blanket covering his lower half. He looked so peaceful when he slept that she couldn’t believe this was the same annoying vampire that loved violence as much as teasing her. She had fought beside him only twice and found him to be quiet vicious.

Each of the four vampires had their own fighting style. Caden was pretty reserved. He was more a defensive fighter, reserving his powerful attacks for bigger foes. Angel was a little more balanced. He went for the fastest kill but never took risks. Niko and Spike were somewhat similar in that they both seemed to enjoy the fighting and the killing. Twice during patrol she caught Spike toying with a fledgling just to prolong the inevitable.

Buffy often wondered what it would be like if Spike was her enemy and not her guard. She knew the answer to that question. If he was her enemy and she met him now with the limited training that she had, she would be lucky if she survived. Survived. … The other aspect of being a Slayer was starting to sink in. She understood why Merrick kept on pushing her, and why he would often ask one of the four to test her when she least expected it. This fate, this destiny, it was life or death. If she slipped up just once, that could be the end.

“You fancy staring at my backside Slayer?” Spike said somewhat muffled by a pillow.

Buffy quickly turned around and blushed slightly. She should have known he was awake. “No. I was just wondering why a lazy ass vampire was still asleep when the sun had set about half an hour ago.”

Spike said sitting up and running his fingers through his hair. “Actually don’t really have anything to do today, luv. The others must be gone already.”

“Uhm… yeah. No one else is here.”

“Sorry to disappoint you, pet. I’m sure you were looking for Angel.”

“No I wasn’t!” She said defensively. “Just came here to train.”

Spike shrugged and reached over to light a cigarette.

Buffy resisted the urge to turn around and look at him. He was quite cute when he wasn’t being annoying. Those blue eyes always seem so intense when they looked at her, and though she teased him about it constantly, the leather duster did make him look really sexy. ”No. ... Not sexy. Not cute at all. Not like Angel,” she tried to convince herself but there was no denying it really. She had known her guards for a over a week and though Angel attracted her at first, his all business-serious-bordering-on-broody attitude was getting a bit boring. And he seemed a little dry. He was concerned enough about her and pretty protective but no fun at all.

“You needing something, pet?”

She shook her head and rushed out of the room. She headed back downstairs and started to stretch some muscles before starting her work out. A few minutes into her punching bag routine, Spike emerged with a mug of blood but without his duster.

“What’s wrong, Slayer?” he blurted out.

Buffy stopped and looked at him puzzled. “Wrong? What do you mean wrong?”

“I’m asking you what’s wrong. It’s a fairly simple question.” He smirked.

“What makes you think there’s something wrong?”

“You’re not lifting your right arm as much and you’re eyes seem to be looking at something other than the punching bag.”

Her eyes grew that he was able to observe all that in just the few minutes she had been working out. “Ewww. … Do you like watch my every move or something?”

“Part of the job, luv. Part of the job.” He said smugly. “But am I right?”

Buffy sighed. The bleached wonder was right. It felt like her whole world was falling apart. Her parents were fighting everyday now and she knew it was only a matter of time before they got a divorce. Then she found out that she was the Slayer which meant that now her own life was on the line. And since she had been training constantly for over a week now, she was in danger of losing her spot in the cheerleading team. Of course after everything she had seen and learned all the little problems she thought that were big in high school didn’t seem to really matter anymore. But what was really bothering her was that she had this feeling that something really big was coming and Merrick seemed to be tight lipped about what was going on.

“There’s something you guys aren’t telling me.”

“Been nothing but ‘onest with you, pet.”

“I know something’s coming. I can feel it but Merrick won’t say anything.”

“Ever tried asking Angel?” Spike said mockingly.

“No, he won’t say a word. He just keeps telling me to watch my back. You have to know what’s going on. Why won’t they tell me?”

“It’s not ‘ard to figure out, luv. What ‘ave we been doing non-stop all week?”

“Patrolling, killing fledgling vampires. Dusting a whole lot of … Wait, we’ve been killing the fledglings but who’s doing the turning.”

“Nice to know you’ve got some smarts in there after all.”

Buffy glared at him for a second. “So who’s responsible?”

“Lothos.”

The name sounded strangely familiar. Where had she heard it before? Her mind conjured up an image of a vampire and hands trying to suffocate her. Her dreams? It was in her dreams. She’d seen him in her dreams and in each one he was calling to her. The bad thing is there were times she wanted to listen to him. “I know him. I know what he wants. He wants this town and … me.”

Spike nodded solemnly. “Lothos has a thing for going after Slayers. Then again, I guess most vampires do.”

“Why?”

Spike looked up from the fingernail he was musing over. “Lots of reasons, pet”

Buffy let out a sigh. “Okay, now tell me the reasons. Do I have to keep grilling answers out of you every single time?”

Spike sucked his cheeks in then smiled. “Don’t know. Might be quite an interesting way to pass the time, pet.”

She rolled her eyes. “Spike!”

“Answer’s simple, luv. You’re on top of the food chain. You’re blood is sweet and intoxicating.”

“And you know this how?”

“Let’s just say experienced it. Alright luv?”

“When? How?”

“We doing twenty questions are we? Do I get a go, pet?” Spike said with a devilish grin. “There are a couple of things I’d like to ask you.”

She rolled her eyes in annoyance. “Fine. You don’t have to answer.” She turned her attentions back to the punching bag.

Spike let out a sigh. “Look, I’ll make you a deal. Spar with me. Each time you get through my defenses, I’ll answer a question and if I get through yours, you have to answer one of mine.”

Buffy thought about it for a minute wondering if Spike had another agenda in mind but he looked so sincere that she agreed.

**

Buffy was breathing heavily and she could feel a few locks of her hair sticking to the back of her neck due to sweat. She didn’t know how long they had been at it, but even though she was starting to get tired she was actually having fun.

Spike was on the other side of the training area with that slightly annoying smirk of his goading her to make the first move. He was matching her blow per blow and she wondered if vampires could read minds because it seemed like he could anticipate each and every single of her moves.

“Tired yet Slayer?”

She took a deep breath before answering. “No. Why are you? Because we can stop if I’ve worn you out.”

Spike shook his head. “ ‘ardly luv. You know I can go on all night if you want me to.”

Buffy just rolled her eyes again. The vampire just had too much sex in the brain. He had been saying lewd comments on and off during the entire time they were sparring and it was starting to get pretty annoying, not to mention distracting. She took another deep breath before she launched herself towards him. She decided to do more kicks in her combination of attacks this time around, hoping that that would break through his defenses.

She felt a brief moment of triumph when her foot connected with his cheek but it was short lived because Spike recovered quickly and clamped a hand on her neck. Buffy’s eyes grew bigger at the realization that she was caught and it didn’t help her mood when she saw the big grin the vampire was sporting.

“I think that’s enough for one night, Slayer. Don’t want your Mum to have a cow when those bruises start showing.” He said releasing her.

“Like she’ll notice.” She mumbled as she rubbed her neck.

Spike just shrugged then dropped down and laid flat on his back on the training mat.

Buffy stretched out her tired muscles before taking a seat beside him. “So can I ask my question now?”

“If you want.”

“So uhm ... how do you know about Slayer blood.”

“Like I said, experienced it m’self.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“Blood. Tongue. Swallow.”

She punched him in the arm for being a smart ass. You said you’d answer my question and the way I see it I dusted you at least three times tonight.”

“Fine. It was ‘bout a little over twenty years ago. We were in New York. The Slayer back then was a pretty tough l’il bird by the name of Nikki Wood. The others were off somewhere trying to track a demon. We just finished doing a sweep of one of the cemeteries and decided to ‘ead down to Central Park to see what other nasties we could bag for the night. Let’s just say we got our wish. Was faced with a Polgara demon, but I got a little careless and got run through along with loosing a good chuck of my right side. She didn’t really ‘ave to do it. I would ‘ave ‘ealed up nicely given time but she insisted.”

“So you bit her? Like on the neck?”

“Yeah I bit ‘er, but not on the neck. Just a small little peck on ‘er arm.”

“And?” she said leaning a little closer.

But Buffy saw the glint in his eye, something that resembled craving and her suspicions were confirmed when he stared licking his lips.

Spike did his best to let his gaze focus on anything but the Slayer sitting beside him. All this talk about Slayer blood was whetting his appetite and the sound of her strong heart beat was like a siren stroking the demon inside. How long has it been since he tasted human blood? Was it almost a month ago now? He remembered that it was some wayward alley cat that thought he’d get paid by attacking a seemingly innocent pedestrian. Angel was strict about the no killing policy but Spike bent the rules a tiny bit once in a while. Of course compared to Slayer blood, he knew for a fact that what he had a month ago would pale in comparison to the blood that called to him now. It didn’t help that she was somewhat hovering above him and the heat from her body was making his fingers ache to feel her smooth skin. He dared to look at her and saw that she was looking at him intently. His fingers ghosted over the back of her left hand without him knowing it and it was only when she withdrew from his touch that he realized what he had done. He shook his head and quickly got up.

“Uhm … it’s getting late, pet. We better get patrol done and over with before your Mum starts worrying about you.”

She nodded slightly still a little shocked by the way he gently caressed her hand just a minute ago. She tried to busy herself with getting ready for patrol but there was a part of her that kept thinking about his touch. It was a little disconcerting because it wasn’t like it was the first time he had touched her. Heck, they were sparring just moments ago. But it was the look he had in his eye and the way his fingers just wisped gently on her hand that made her feel nervous and maybe a tinge bit giddy all of a sudden.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. Spike was annoying, creepy and all stalker like on her. She should be feeling irritated because he had a big mouth and always criticized her, but when she thought about his fingers on her hand she couldn’t help but smile to herself.