It's Not Enough

By:  Morrigan


A/N:  Here we are again, one more chapter.  Hope you all enjoy.  :D  As always, this was beta'd by the incomparable blacknblue2.  Thanks a million, girl.


Disclaimer:  All characters are still property of Joss Whedon and ME.  Too bad.  So sad.




Faith sat there on the ground, a look of silent disbelief plastered to her face as she stared after Buffy's retreating form, wondering what in the hell just happened.

As Buffy disappeared through the woods, Faith's eyes settled back on the huddled form of Spike, who was still kneeling on the ground where Buffy had left him.  With an odd sense of concern mingling with her curiosity, she pulled herself, gingerly, to her feet and slowly made her way over to his side.

He said nothing, nor, did he give any indication that he was aware of her presence.  Faith stood there for a long moment, taking in his condition, before she finally spoke.

"What did she do to you?"

When no answer came, she shifted a little, uncomfortable with the silence.  Her eyes kept flitting back to the blood that continued to seep between his fingers, which were pressed against the left side of his neck.  She found herself wondering if she had ever known a vampire to bleed so profusely.  They were essentially dead, after all, with no real circulation.  And, due to a vampire's accelerated healing, most of their wounds closed within a few minutes, when left alone.

Whatever Buffy had done, however, had prevented that.  Faith suddenly found herself wondering what happens to a vamp if they are bled out, completely.

"Here, lemme see that," she said, at long last.  Kneeling down beside him, she took hold of his wrist, and attempted to gently pull his hand away from the wound.

The feel of Faith's fingers against his wrist so close to Buffy's mark, pulled Spike out of his trance.  His eyes flashed with anger, showing hints of gold.  A warning growl rumbled from his chest as he snapped his head around to meet her eyes with his own.  Twisting his blood slicked wrist from her grasp, he caught her hand in his and snarled, "Don't.  Touch.  Me," before releasing it, with an emphatic shove.

This all occurred within a matter of seconds, but it was plenty enough
time for Faith to see how much damage Buffy had caused, and her eyes widened further in horrified bewilderment as Spike turned away from her, once again.

"Damn!"  She breathed, blinking and shaking her head while leaning back out of his personal space.  "Girlfriend's gone crazy!  She just tried to bite your fuckin' head off! Does that mean she's the bad slayer now?"  Then, as an afterthought, she wondered aloud, "Am I the good slayer, now?"

Spike continued to stare out into the dark, away from her.  Ignoring Faith's question, he whispered softly, "She's made her stake..."

"Huh?"  Faith questioned while watching Spike draw himself up to his feet.  "Stake?  I hate to be the one to break it to ya, fly boy, that didn't come from no stake"

Still ignoring her, he stood up, rolling his shoulders as he slid completely into his demonic visage.  Faith heard him speak, once more, before he began walking away.  His voice casual and yet, somehow chilling, with a note of conviction.

"I think it's time I made mine."

---

"So Oz, You're really a werewolf?"

Kennedy had been dusting shelves and putting away books in the magic shop.  Manual labor really wasn't her cup of tea, but if it meant getting to be close to Willow and having the opportunity to keep an eye on the new guy, she was all for it.

Rumors had been going around that Oz and Willow had been involved in the past and that didn't sit well with Kennedy at all.  Certainly not in light of their current falling out.

She thought back to a conversation she and Willow had shared, when they first started their relationship. Willow had told her that she had been very serious about a guy, back before she met Tara and realized that she was attracted to women.  But, he had left her.  Cheated on her, and left her with a broken heart, only to return after she had found happiness with Tara.

Willow hadn't mentioned his name and, at the time, Kennedy didn't feel pressed to ask.  But, if this was that guy, she wasn't happy about his being here at all.  Not one bit.  However, being the clever girl that she was, she had come up with an idea that could work in her favor.  Kennedy had never been into men, but, if she played her cards *just* right, she could make Willow see Oz for the mangy dog he really was, and bonus...  She'd see how much she missed and wanted her too!  It was perfect!

"And I feel fine," Oz sang, quietly as he plucked out a melody on his guitar.  He was sitting at a table with Willow and Giles.  While they were looking through old texts, trying to find references to the Chosen one, and any prophesies concerning the bolstering of her power, he was busying himself, piecing together the song that had been stuck in his head for the last several days.

Seeing that he apparently either hadn't heard her, or just didn't want to discuss his race...?  Heritage...?  Whatever, she changed tactics and approached the table with a sweet smile.

"What's that you're playing?"  She asked, thinking, surely, the topic of music wasn't taboo.

"It's R.E.M.," he replied, still focusing on his guitar.  "Old stuff."

"Oh...," Kennedy answered, nodding her head.  "Sounds cool..."

"Giles!"

Faith came stomping through the magic shop door with a bang, causing everyone to jump.

"That door is very expensive," Anya informed her, pointing at said door, which was standing open behind the panicky looking slayer.  "If you broke it, I'm going to have to charge you, plus labor."

Ignoring Anya, Faith approached the table, her arms waving as she spoke.

"Giles, we have trouble with a capital T.  Buffy's gone insane!"

When no one immediately replied, she continued hurriedly.

"Okay, see...  Me, Buffy and Spike went out to find this preacher dude," She raised her hand as Giles gave her a stern look and began to rise from his seat, "Hold on now, watcher! Before you get all stuffy and start wipin' your glasses, you need to know it was all Buffy's idea, and you might want to be sitting down for the rest of this!"

"Sweet Jesus, what would make her want to do such a thing without consulting any of us first?" Giles asked.  Craning his neck to look behind Faith and out the front door, he asked, "And, where is Buffy?"

"See, that's the thing," Faith countered, "We got ambushed.  I mean
like, majorly.  There were dozens of vamps, and we were out there in the woods, kicking some major ass, when I turned and saw Buffy going all vamp face on them!"

Faith paused as she noticed that no one seemed shocked at this news.  Willow nodded and raised her eyebrows in expectation and waited for Faith to continue.

"What...  You guys knew about this?"  Faith queried, in exasperation.  "And no one told me?  Wait."  she closed her eyes and put her fingers to her temples, counting to 5 in her head before continuing.

"Never mind, that's not the point.  The point is, after we dusted the bad guys, Buffy freaked out and bit Spike!  I mean *really* bit him, with the Grrrr!...  And there was blood!...  And...  MINE!  And then...  She just ran off!"

'Finally, there's a reaction!' Faith thought.  Willow and Giles paled, while Anya and Kennedy exchanged glances.  Oz was the only one who didn't seem concerned.  If anything, Dog boy looked kind of amused.

"Good Lord," Giles stammered, nervously.  "Do you think it's an adverse side effect of the ritual?"  He looked to Willow who shrugged and fidgeted in her chair.  "We must go out and find her," he said, adamantly.  "Heaven only knows what sort of state she's in."

Faith looked into Giles' eyes as she prepared to finished her story.

"That's not all, though.  After Buffy left, Spike was all dazed and dreamy like, and he was bleeding like crazy.  I've never seen a vamp bleed like that!  But, he wouldn't let me help him.  And then, he said something about a stake, and how he was going to get his too, and took off after her!  So, now, they are both gone, and I can't find either one of them.  But, I think Spike has some kinda sick death wish or somethin' because what she did to him, man...  It was brutal!"

Repeating his words from a moment ago, Giles stood up, saying, "We had best find her then, before Spike does."

"I don't know what you guys are so worried about," Oz said, calmly.  "Sounds to me, this could be a good thing."

"Oz!"  Willow exclaimed, horrified,  "How could you say that?  How could Buffy going all Dahmer and taking a bite out of somebody ever be a good thing!?"

"When that *somebody* is a vampire," Oz explained, matter of factly.  "A vampire who she depends on, more than she likes to admit.  She didn't try to kill him."  Oz turned back to his guitar, idly strumming its strings.  "She claimed him."

"Oh...  Good Lord," Giles' eyes widened with reluctant understanding. There were several kinds of vampiric claims -  Claims for dominance, protection, etc.  But the only one that Giles knew of that fell into the category that Faith had described was a mating claim.  Only, as far as he was aware, such a ritual, being initiated by a human, was virtually unheard of.  Not to mention the fact that the particular claim in question was usually quite...
ritualistic...

"Yeah," Oz piped up again, speaking more to himself than to anyone in particular.  "I wouldn't want to be the one barging in on the scene, when Spike catches up to her.  Better to let them settle this out alone, if you know what I mean."  He grinned slyly, nodding his head and strumming along, much to the continued bafflement of the rest of the group.

Strumming the last chord of the song, he softly sang, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

Giles pinched the bridge of his nose, and glared at Oz in irritation, feeling that his song choice of the moment was highly inappropriate.

"Would you stop bloody singing already?!"  Giles snapped, smartly.

Confusion was clear in Oz's eyes as he raised his head to meet Giles' icy glare.

"What?"