Chapter Seven

While Buffy and Spike stood together, clearly more interested in each other than in anything else, Doyle proceeded to explain his role as the conduit through which the PTB provided their champions with the information they might need to keep the balance between good and evil. There was a collective gasp when he said that due to Spike’s role in Angel’s having lost his soul, and the champion’s subsequent death at Buffy’s hands, the Powers had chosen Spike to take the older vampire’s place as their champion.

He saw Buffy stiffen beside Spike and before she could say more than “Do you mean we—“ he interrupted to assure her that the Powers had nothing to do with Spike’s having fallen in love with her and, in fact, probably would have preferred it not to have happened. “But,” he added as she relaxed back against the vampire’s shoulder, “they aren’t unhappy about it. They would never have forced a relationship or a mating on either of you, but since you chose to do it yourselves, they are very pleased.”

“The Powers that Be are pleased that a slayer is mated to a vampire.” Giles’ dry tone indicated a disbelief that he couldn’t hide.

“They are,” Doyle said firmly. “I’m not clear on what all the advantages are, only that the Powers say there are some. Obviously, no other vampire can bite her, so that’s one right there, but I think there are more. They just haven’t enlightened me as to what they are.”

“This is highly irregular,” Wesley muttered. “I must confer with my superiors.” He turned to go to the phone in Giles’ office.

Buffy’s terrified “No!” stopped him in his tracks.

“Surely you do not expect me not to report this?” He stared at her incredulously.

“You can’t! They’ll try to kill us!”

“Nonsense! They would do no such thin—“ The cold glare on Giles’ face had a stronger effect than Buffy’s frantic pleas and he blinked several times in surprise. “You cannot believe that the Council would strike out at one of their own?” he insisted as Giles nodded his head.

“They already have,” Spike put in quietly, his arm tightening around Buffy as he remembered how close they had come to succeeding. “And they didn’t have any excuse for it then.”

“Sit down, Wesley,” Giles said tiredly, “and let me tell you a bit more about the organization for which you work.”

The younger man reluctantly pulled out one of the undamaged chairs and sat at the table, his expression skeptical but curious. As the others picked up over-turned chairs and also sat down, Giles began, in a tight voice to explain about Buffy’s kidnapping at Ethan Rayne’s request, her eventual dusting of Angelus and Dru, and the relationship she had developed with the crippled vampire who helped her. He carefully avoided mention of the rape and of the manner in which Ethan met his well-deserved death.

He then told Wesley about the Cruciamentum, a ritual with which the younger watcher was not familiar, and smiled tightly as the young man’s horror was obvious.

“The Council is not overly fond of Slayers that they cannot control, nor do they care for Slayers who are creative and innovative, even though it is those very traits that have kept Buffy alive and successful up ‘til now. Regardless of how useful Spike might be to us in preventing a possible apocalypse, I cannot imagine the Council accepting his help or tolerating his relationship with their Slayer.”

“I’m not their slayer,” Buffy pointed out. “Faith is.”

“Technically, I suppose that’s true,” Wesley surprised them by saying slowly. “So really, what Buffy does should be of no interest to them.”

“Yeah, good luck with that,” Spike snorted.

“I’m afraid Spike is correct.” Giles looked like he had bitten into something sour. “I am quite sure that they still consider Buffy their property and subject to their directives – even though they are aware that she is not likely to follow them,” he added wryly.

“Well then,” the young watcher said briskly, “I will just have to explain the situation to them and I am sure they will see the wisdom of encouraging this unconventional relationship.”

While Buffy and Spike rolled their eyes, and Giles snorted rudely, Doyle spoke up again.

“I may be able to help with that,” he offered, preening when all eyes turned to him. He winked at Cordelia before saying, “Their seers will be able to tell them that I’m the real deal. I don’t think even the Council of Watchers –“ He was interrupted by Spike’s muttered “Wankers” and glared briefly before continuing. “I don’t think even the Council of Watchers will argue with the Powers That Be; and the Powers have been very clear that they want this slayer and this vampire working together to maintain the balance between good and evil. I think they would take it amiss if an organization of humans took it upon themselves to mess with their plans.”

It was agreed that Giles and Wesley would contact the Council’s seers and explain the situation, asking them to verify Doyle’s claim that he was the conduit for the PTB, and to share that information with the Council. Once they had accepted the half-demon’s position, he would break the news that the powers had sent another vampire to help the slayer and that this one was unsouled and mated to her.

As soon as the conversation began to wind down, Buffy and Spike’s desire to leave, and their impatience with not being allowed to do so, became obvious to everyone. With much polishing of his glasses and clearing of his throat, Giles indicated that the meeting was over.

“Clearly the Mayor has escalated his attacks because the date for his ascension is approaching. However, I do not believe we will accomplish anything else tonight and it is perhaps more important that we all get a good night’s rest and be prepared to resume discussions tomorrow. Perhaps…” he reluctantly looked at the vampire who was edging towards the door, slayer in tow. “Perhaps Spike will be able to find out how badly tonight’s defeat of his minions may have hurt our opponent.”

Spike gave a quick nod of assent and followed Buffy out of the library. They got only as far as the hallway before they were locked together, mouths fused and bodies tightly pressed. Spike had Buffy pushed up against the lockers as he ravaged her mouth; her legs came up to wrap around his waist and they groaned together at the sensation of being so close and yet separated by layers of fabric. Heedless of the other people still in the building, he ground into her, murmuring her name over and over as she pushed back against the pressure. In a very short period of time, Buffy was gripping his leather coat in her teeth to muffle her shriek of release. She felt Spike shudder and gasp as the feel of her heat against him caused him to lose control and jerk until he was spent.

Buffy’s legs gradually slid down until her feet were just touching the floor while she leaned on him for support. His ragged breaths matched her own as he held her up and sucked on his mark. The sensation was soothing to them both and their breathing soon evened out and he was able to step back and allow Buffy to stand on her own.

“Wow.” She looked up at him with a twinkle in her eye. “Is that how much you missed me; or is it because you were afraid that other vamp was going to kill me?”

“A bit of both, I s’pect,” he admitted sheepishly. “I’m sorry, pet. Didn’t mean to attack you like that, I just---“

“You don’t hear me complaining,” she hastened to assure him. “I was just curious.”

“Got to say, I am feeling much better now.” He grinned at her and began to walk down the hall, stopping to shake himself and add, “Or I would be if I didn’t have to walk back wearing wet jeans.”

“Ewwwww! There’s that TMI again.” Buffy smacked him on arm as she caught up to his long strides. “Where are we going?”

“I’m goin’ home,” he said softly, pausing to look at her sideways. “Was kind of hopin’ you’d be comin’ with me.”

“Back to the mansion?”

“Yeah – it’s in a bit better shape now. But you prob’ly knew that already, didn’t you?”

“Oh yeah. I knew about it the day after you bought it. Mr. William Carlisle…”

When he stopped again to gape at her, she smirked and continued walking. “What? You thought you could hide stuff from Willow the wonder witch and her magic laptop? It only took her a few minutes to hick—“

“Hack, pet.”

“Hick, hack, whatever. Anyway, she got on line as soon as I saw the workers and we knew all about it,” she announced with great satisfaction.

“No secrets from you, huh?” He grinned wryly. “You know, you’re adorable when you’re full of yourself.”

“I’m even more adorable when I’m full of you,” she said, blushing furiously and keeping her eyes focused on the floor. Instead of responding verbally, he swept her up, ignoring her surprised squeak, and lengthened his strides until he had cleared the building and deposited her in the passenger seat of his car. The Desoto was sitting in the middle of the school’s lawn where he had left it when he and Doyle had seen the Mayor’s minions breaking into the building. Still without speaking, he jumped into the driver’s seat and sped away, clods of dirt and grass spraying behind the big black car.

He pulled into the Crawford Street driveway and opened Buffy’s door with a flourish, taking her hand and helping her out of the car. They walked quickly to the front door, which Spike opened with a key but as Buffy went to precede him into the building, but he put a hand on her arm, saying softly, “Wait, love.”

She glanced up quizzically to see him gazing at her with a tenderness that made her catch her breath. He cupped her cheek in his hand and kissed her gently, then picked her up again. She had no sooner figured out what his intention was, than she found herself being carried across the threshold of the newly restored building. Her arms came up around his neck and buried her face in his chest to hide the tears prickling her eyes.

He kicked the door shut behind him, and just stood there, holding her until she picked her head up and looked around. Although she had watched the workmen come and go while the renovations were going on, she hadn’t actually been inside the house since they started working on it. Her gasp of surprise made the vampire chuckle and he lowered her to the floor so that she could explore.

“You like it, pet?” he asked eagerly.

“It looks amazing! And, hey, electricity and everything!”

“And everything,” he agreed. “Hot water for baths, curtains so I can walk around in the daytime without worrying about going up in flames…”

“And it’s all yours?” Her dubious tone made him growl softly before he replied enigmatically, “For right now it is. Gonna fix that, actually, but I need to talk to your mum first.” Changing the subject quickly, he said, “I’ll give you the grand tour later, right now—“

“Right now what?”

“Right now I just want to see exactly how adorable you can get.”

She flushed as she realized that he hadn’t forgotten what she’d said as they were leaving the school, but held her chin up and met his laughing eyes firmly.

“I can get pretty adorable, vampire. Do you think you can handle that?”

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we, Slayer?” he growled back, picking her up again and striding towards the bedroom. “I guess we’ll see.”