A/N- In this chapter there isn't a lot of Spuffy interaction but it can't ALL be play. I do have a story to tell :) Stick with me, everything will be fine.

Chapter Five
Buffy’s Point of View

By the time I got home my mom’s car was in the driveway, so I climbed up the side of the house and snuck in through the window. I don’t know whether she checked in on me or not, so I just went straight to sleep. Of course, by the time I managed to get comfortable, my Mom had gotten up to start her day. Dutifully, trying to cover up what went on last night, I got up and showered like I normally do when she wakes up.

That’s why I practically have to hold my eyes open as I apply cover-up to the bruising on my face. My lip is still fat, but the split is almost healed. I literally look like a train hit my face. There are scratches that I can’t cover but the makeup takes care of the discoloration around it. The bags beneath my eyes continue to get darker, and I watch as tears slowly fill up my eyes and spill over onto the freshly applied makeup. The aggravation of the entire situation is becoming too overwhelming. William the Bloody, damn the vampire and his stupid name. Hell, damn me, and my stupidity for not being able to keep him away, or dead, for that matter.

“Buffy?” My anger is cut short as my Mom knocks on my bathroom door.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Are you okay in there?” Why do people ask that? If something was wrong would you really want to talk about it?

“I’m fine Mom.”

“Okay, hon. Well, your breakfast is waiting on the table for you. I have to go out for a bit, I’ll be back later. Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?” My eyes drift back to the mirror and my disheveled appearance.

“Not tonight, I’m still a bit tired.” I have an urge to ask her what has been up with her lately, she never used to work this much, and she has never really wanted to go out to eat before. I would ask, but I know it would be a conversation that I would actually have to be present for and these new bruises might be more questions than I can answer.

She says that she loves me and leaves. I start feeling shitty for avoiding her and go to follow her, screw the consequences, but when I get out she is already backing the car out of the driveway. With a sigh, I turn back to the kitchen to eat the french toast she left for me.

Deciding I don’t want to be alone, I go back to Giles’ place. When I arrive Willow and Xander are already there, and Giles is barricaded in by his desk and the books piled up around him. “What’s going on guys?” I ask.

“I came over to look at some of Giles’ books, and Xander? Well, he tagged along.” Willow is too engrossed in whatever book she has open in front of her to even look up.

“Willow, I provide something very useful. A car… and donuts!” Xander jumps up and shoves a box of donuts in my face. “Want one?”

I turn my face so that only the good side shows. “No, that’s okay. Thank you anyway.” He becomes more persistent and pushes the box around so that it is right in front of my face again.

“Ah, no thanks.”

“Come on, they’re good.”

“I said no!” I yell angrily at him. At first he is shocked but then his expression changes. I immediately start to feel bad. “I’m sorry Xander. I’m just tired. Rest is still avoiding me at all costs.”

“I’m sure the fat lip and bruised face that Angel gave you has nothing to do with it!” He exclaims.

“What? Angel? No. It was just some vampire, William or something. I was blinded and he got the better if me.” Willow gets up to look at me. “Guys? You mind? I’m starting to feel a little freakish.”

Reluctantly, they both go back to doing what they were before I arrived and I turn my attention to Giles. “Anything new? Weakness or anything?”

“Well, for once, I may not be the best person to be asking about this. It seems that William the Bloody, or Spike as he is known now, spent plenty of time with Angelus. It was Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, and Darla for quite a while, until Angelus and Darla broke off from them. I’m assuming that is when Angel received his soul. Supposedly, Spike is very fond of this Drusilla.”

“Great, I take out this chick and one of three things will happen. One, Spike will be so overcome with grief he will leave. Two, Spike will be upset and off his game and I will be able to kill him. Or three, he will get pissed and kill me before I know it. That sounds great.”

“How can you sound like that Buffy? Sound defeated? In all fairness and not to sound bossy, but the Master killed you. Did you give up then? No. You came back and kicked his ass. Why should this one be any different?” Xander makes sense, but I had zero attraction to the Master. Fighting him was my job, but fighting Spike? I enjoy it, it makes me feel alive. Not that it will stop me from killing him if I get the chance.

All three of them are looking at me, looking to me to kill this vampire and be the happy, well rested, Buffy of yesteryear.

“Fine, but in order for me to get back into good enough shape to kill him there are a few things that need to get done first. I need to go talk to Angel and get some information out of him, figure out a way to keep Spike out of my dreams,” catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I add on one more thing to get done, “and most importantly, find some better makeup.”

Willow perks up midway through my list and says she can help. “I’ve been looking into magic a little and maybe I can help with the dreaming thing.”

“You have? Since when have you been playing around with magic?” I ask.

“Not playing. Dabbling. Mostly reading about it, but I guess this would be a good time to put it to the test, you know?” Giles looks over at her, a bit concerned.

“Willow, magic is not to be taken lightly, you must-“

“I know, it’s not something to be foolishly dealt with. But I’m not foolishly dealing! I’m just dabbling, didn’t you hear? I promise I’ll stick to the book.” When we realized Giles was not going to protest any further we made plans to go and get the ingredients a little bit later, the only one we would have trouble with is finding something that belonged to him. But, first I wanted to personally read some of these books and get to know my stalker.

Spike’s Point of View

“A spell to bring out inner desires? What shit are you trying to hand off to me?” Dalton took a bit but he managed to figure out what the spell was that Dru had been casting. Now he is standing next to me with some other fledgling, cowering at my anger. Just the way I like it.

“I had overheard Drusilla speaking to someone… herself, that her Daddy wasn’t coming around fast enough. Apparently, the sunshine, the slayer, won’t let the spell work or something.”

Dru wants the poof back? The spell that has been driving me batty was meant to bring out the demon buried beneath Angel’s soul because I am not enough for her. Stupid bint. The bird means the world to me and she still wants something else, wants him.

The anger begins boiling deep inside and before I know it I’m twisting the head off of the other vampire just to feel the bones crack. Dalton’s eyes go wide and he backs up a few steps. “I can fix it! If you give me an hour or so I can find a way to reverse the spell. Given time she will see that all that she needs is you, Spike. She will believe that Angelus really is no more, there is nothing to bring out of him aside from his love for Buffy. As for you, well I can reverse the spell that is afflicting you and you can go back to being normal. That is what is bothering you, right?” I fall backwards, landing perfectly in a chair.

“An hour? Try about twenty minutes. As soon as that sun goes down enough for me to go to that magic store I want to be leaving. And send in someone else to accompany me, I don’t want to be carrying anything.” This isn’t so bad. Soon I will be free to kill the slayer, Dru will be disappointed with her dear Angelus, and I will be there to pick her up. All in a days work.

Sure enough, some dolt with a list of things to pick up walks into the room 15 minutes later. That’s a good boy, Dalton.

“What’s your name?” I ask him.

“Marcus.” This guy is a brute of a man and his name is Marcus?

“Right then, Marcus. Let’s go.”

As we near the magic shop I catch a scent that has become very familiar to me over the past few days. Pulling the De Soto outside the shop I see the slayer and a redhead wandering around inside. The slayer must sense me because she turns her head to look at the store front window. To her, I’m sure I’m just a figure, but she knows it is me. I can see clearly the damage I had done to her face last night, just as I can see her skin through a sheer piece of her shirt and her curves that are hugged by the clinging fabric. I begin to think of what it felt like to have her flush up against my body rubbing against my erection.

“Spike?” Marcus asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“The slayer is in there, I am going to distract her while you go in and get the ingredients. Make it quick. I want this done as quickly as possible.” I keep my eyes focused on the strong girl and walk around the side of the store, grabbing a woman that was walking by. She lets out a small scream. Just what I wanted. Quickly, I sink my fangs into her neck. I am almost repulsed by the smell of her perfume, the thick foul smelling odor clouds my senses. Her blood has a faint hint of drugs in it, I didn’t get a chance to figure out which it was before having her ripped away from me. If she wasn’t as good as dead before, she was now, what with having her throat torn out.

“You had to know I was going to find you.”

The slayer takes a fighting stance, standing right beneath the only light illuminating the entire alley. The light flickers and she hold up her stake, poised for the blow that could potentially be the end of me.

“Face looks great, luv. Must have some pricey makeup to cover up the job I did last night.” I smirk.

“I’ll be sure to write Maybelline and tell them you approve. What are you doing here?”

Holding my hands up in a mock surrender, I shrug. “Just scrounging for a bite to eat.” I’m not letting the snot nosed slayer that my judgment is impaired, bully that. “Yourself?”

Her face is filled with determination as she breathes heavily. Out of frustration, anger, I’ll never know. “I’m here to fix whatever it is you have over me. These dreams you make guest appearances in? They’re going to be gone. Then I can go back to Angel, brush up on how to kill you more efficiently and be done with you.” At the mention of the ponce again I slowly start to walk towards her. I’m seething with anger over the fact that he somehow manages to have everyone wrapped around his finger. Don’t they realize he only does things to help himself along?

I hope he is the one to rip the slayer to bits and all of her little friends too. She would be devastated. Sure, it would be to Dru’s delight but it would only be a matter of time before he left us again. It would be great to see the slayer reduced to nothing before her death.

“Be sure you know what you’re wishing for, little girl. Angelus is not a very giving lover, but you wouldn’t know that, right? I’m sure you two are waiting for that special moment so the bastard can pop your cherry. ” The light begins to flicker like crazy and she becomes enveloped in the same darkness I was in. Her mouth moves like she is about to say something, and she drops her stake. Grabbing the edge of my duster she pulls me forward, into the light. I was assuming it was to finally get a look at me, but instead she pulls me down and plasters her lips against mine. She pushes me up against a wall and slides my duster off of me. My hands wander lower and begin bunching up her long skirt, trying to touch skin. Once I grab a hold of the back of her thighs, I lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist. My cock is rigid and straining against my black jeans as she presses closer and I can feel her hard nipples pushing into my chest.

“Let’s go!” The slayer jumps away from me with speed only a slayer possesses. Her skirt falls back into place and she grabs the stake off of the ground.

“Get out of here before I kill you.” She warns.

Buffy’s Point of View

Spike lets out a growl of frustration but heads after the male voice that yelled for him. With a snicker I bend over and grab his forgotten duster and brush the dirt off of it. I know what he smells like, what he feels like, but I still have no clue what he looks like.

“Buffy?” Willow asks as she stands in the light at the end of the alley.

“Coming, Wills. Did you get everything?” I ask as I walk to her.

“Yeah. Was that a vampire that ran out of here like that?”

“Not just any vampire, that was him. That was Spike. I got his jacket.” I hold it up and she nods.

“How-“ I know she was going to ask how I got it, but she let it go. “You uh- you might want to turn your skirt, it’s sideways.” I adjust my skirt and duck my head, but she knows. She knows that it didn’t get turned around by fighting, but she doesn’t say anything. “Well, I guess we have everything. Let’s head back.”

Sitting in my bedroom, the spell goes off without a hitch. We think. There is no real way to tell if any magic that may have been cast on me was cancelled out or not. Nothing to do but wait I guess.

Against her wishes, I walk Willow home and start wondering about town. I have school tomorrow but I need to do something to get Spike out of my head. After wandering around I end up over Angel’s. It’s well past ten so I know he’s awake.

“Angel?” I yell in as I slowly open his door after knocking. “Are you there?” I hear the water running in his bathroom and sit down on his bed. As I wait for him to finish his shower I keep thinking of all of the things that have gone on. I think of Spike, and the things I have done with him. I think of the frustration at the lack of sleep. I even think of the dull ache left on my face from being ground against the wall. I’m not supposed to want him. I thought that Willow’s spell would get rid of these feelings, that they were magically put there to make it harder for me to kill him. While I can think a bit more clearly now, it doesn’t mean that it won’t still affect me later.

The water turns off and I lay back across his bed. I know that it is safe here, that I can sleep. I know that I am supposed to be with Angel. But as he walks out of the bathroom, I can’t help but think of Spike as I try to seduce him. In trying to make things right in my life, but I am thinking of what is wrong.

Spike’s Point of View

Dalton finishes up the spell and looks at me expectantly.

“Well, I don’t know if it is working yet you idiot.”

“Spike!” Dru dances into the room with a cheery smile on her face. “It will be all better now. The sunshine is giving way to the storm that I have been conjuring. Soon it will be all better!” She claps her hands gleefully. Dalton leaves the room and closes the door behind him.

“What are you going on about, my love?”

“Sshh, the stars are falling into place. Can’t you hear them? The nights won’t be so dark now with your grandsire home. He will help us, so that I can get better for you. Don’t you see?”

This isn’t how it was supposed to happen at all.