Blood of My Blood
Chapter 10

AN: As always, I am very, very appreciative that Patti and Ruth take time to beta my chapters. Thank you, too, to people I made read it as I worked on it...the hazards of being one of my buddies, lol.



******


When Buffy woke up, Spike was nowhere to be seen. She frowned and threw on a robe before going in search of him. Upstairs, she still didn’t see him and was starting to get worried—or irritated.

The claim was relatively new to her, the speaking through it, at least.

//Spike? Where the hell are you?// she demanded. //What are you doing that is so important it has to be done during daylight?//

//I had somethin’ to get that I was hopin’ to return with before you woke up,// he quickly responded.

//And how are you not fried crispy, huh?//

//Sewers, luv.//

//Ew, you are so gonna stink...badly. Don’t expect any ‘welcome home’ kisses, buddy.//

//We’ll see.//

//Yeah. We’ll see,// she shot back; then went back downstairs to get dressed.

Buffy had just gotten her shirt over her head when the door slammed upstairs and made her jump. She straightened her jeans before hurrying to give the reckless vampire a piece of her mind, but stopped dead in her tracks in the front hall.

There was said vampire stomping on a smoking blanket. Bags emblazoned with the Pet’s Mart logo, and stuffed with items, dangled from his hands. Wait. They didn’t have a pet. The puzzlement was short lived as she spotted the leash trailing behind him, and suddenly a brown and white blur launched itself at her.

A Jack Russell terrier bounced around her legs yipping, and she couldn’t help forgetting her irritation as she bent to scoop it up.

“What the heck is up with this?” she asked, turning her head from the attacking tongue to look at Spike.

“Well...” He rubbed at the back of his neck bashfully, and nearly scuffed his foot like a school boy. It was so cute that she was smiling even harder, if that was possible. “I saw her the other night an’ thought about it. The house is kind of quiet an’...well, she could be sort of practice for parentin’...not that our baby is comparable to a dog, but some people do say...oh bugger.”

She simply said with the sweetest smile, “Thank you, Spike.”

Buffy took the dog to the kitchen, while he followed with the bags so he could set up the dog stuff there. She sat on a stool and held the dog in her arms, watching him as she scratched the pooch under the chin.

“Now, she—you said she, right?—she needs a name,” she began, looking down at the dog as if it would offer suggestions. “How about Jackie?”

“Are you goin’ stark nutters? That’s the best you could think of—namin’ a Jack Russell dog Jackie?” He peered at her incredulously.

“I like it and she does, too!” Buffy huffed and stood back up. “I named her after Jackie O; doesn’t she have that regal air about her?”

“Sure, whatever you say, luv,” he muttered and straightened after finishing with the dog’s things in the corner. “Now, how about we get you both somethin’ to eat, then after it gets dark we’ll take the prima donna for a walk.”

Jackie yipped at him and he had the sinking feeling that maybe he had picked the wrong dog—for his peace of mind, at least. The only hope he had at this point would be that the little squirt Buffy popped out would be on his side...with any luck. Too bad he always seemed to be in short supply of that.

“Aww, stop pouting.” The diminutive blonde leaned in to kiss him then turned to grab the phone after setting Jackie down. “Chinese or pizza?”

******

“I don’t mind taking the dog into the cemetery with us to do a bit of patrolling while we’re out...but we probably shouldn’t let her do her business in here,” Buffy said, wrinkling her nose. “That would be wrong.”

“They’re dead; what do they care?” Spike rolled his eyes at her then made a staking motion as he added, “An’ if they do care, then you’ve got more important worries.”

“It’s disrespectful. You’d think a former Victorian gentleman would get that. I thought you guys were all about uptight manners.”

“Oi, shut your gob!”

“You’re so touchy.” She made a face at him and tugged Jackie away from a crumbling headstone that she was sniffing around a bit too suspiciously for the Slayer’s tastes. “Are you going to yell at our kid like that?”

“I bloody well will if they deserve it.”

“Nice role model.”

“An’ you’re any better.”

Her eyes narrowed at him dangerously. “I would watch my mouth when talking to the person who could possibly withhold the boinking if she so chooses. Try having a child then with only your left hand.”

“I-“

“Please tell me I did not hear what I just heard.”

They were suddenly interrupted as Xander made his presence known with a great deal of disgust. Buffy looked at him with wide eyes and tugged Jackie close to her warily. Spike just remained where he was with arms crossed, keeping up his most menacing appearance.

“Xander...” Buffy began, but the angry boy cut her off.

“I guess you’re just some sort of fang whore. You’d rather spread your legs for vampires than do your duty, huh?” He spat out.

With a growl, Spike had him by the throat and was lifting him off the ground. “I would watch how you talk to my mate, whelp.”

“Yeah, Faith mentioned you had gone and done that,” Xander gasped out.

“Considering you never even cared to check if I was alive, I don’t think you get any say in what I do with my life.” Buffy crossed her arms and looked at him impassively. “And even then, being my friend doesn’t give you automatic control of my life. Spike—yeah, he’s a vampire, but he doesn’t have a soul to lose like Angel and he’s behaving himself quite nicely—because he loves me.”

“Why hunt when he has what he needs on tap?” The boy sneered boldly.

“Give me the word an’ I’ll make sure he can never say an offensive thing ever again,” Spike snarled to Buffy without taking his face out of Xander’s.

“No, because then you’ll be proving him right and I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.” She shook her head and moved to Spike’s side, laying a hand on his arm. “Let him go, please.”

The vampire dropped Xander brusquely to the ground and took a step back. Jackie immediately charged forward, barking madly and sinking her teeth into Xander’s forearm. He yowled in pain and shook the dog off before scrambling to his feet.

“Keep your hell beast away from me!” He jabbed a finger in Jackie’s direction.

“Yeah, that looks like a ‘hell beast’ to me.” Buffy rolled her eyes and tilted her head towards the small Jack Russell. “Maybe you should just get out of here, because I honestly have no idea what you’re doing wandering around cemeteries at night when you, better than most people in this town, know how dangerous that pastime is. Me and Faith are the slayers, and we do the patrolling.”

“Funny, because you don’t seem like much of a slayer to me anymore.” Xander cradled his barely injured arm.

“Then it’s a good thing that’s not up to you to decide. Now go, before I unleash the ‘hell beast’ again; and tell Giles the same thing I’m telling you—that you both need to prove you deserve to be in my life again after you conveniently forgot to come check on me after the battle. Spike was the one that cared enough to nurse me back to health, even when he was in a feral state. So let that compare with your idea of soulless vampires.”

She took Spike’s arm and turned him away from the glaring boy, effectively disregarding his presence. She said softly, “Let’s go, honey. Jackie’s getting cold.”

******

“So, you finally ran into him?” Willow confirmed, looking up from her drink.

Buffy nodded slowly and pushed her empty glass away. “Yup.”

The girls had met up at the Bronze with their significant others, who were off at the moment getting more drinks for them. Spike had also mentioned a blooming onion thing and some buffalo wings. That guy sure could put it away when he knew there was little chance of him packing on the pounds. It so wasn’t fair, really.

“I’m sorry,” Willow replied, then added, “For myself, too, because it’s going to be even wiggier if he continues to show up for meetings and stuff. At least, most of us are on your side if they try to continue this nonsense.”

“Thank you,” Buffy told her softly and looked up when Spike and Oz arrived back at the table. She eyed the soda handed to her. “I wish I could get something stronger...”

“Even if you were of age,” Spike began with a pointed look, “With the whole pregnancy thing up in the air, I’d rather you be careful.”

“If I get pregnant, are you going to put me in a bubble?” she taunted as she grabbed for a piece of onion.

“Don’t give me ideas.”

“He could wrap you in bubble wrap,” Oz suggested with his usual impassive air.

“He said don’t give him ideas.” Buffy waved a fried onion at him.

“I’m sure he’s going to be such a cute daddy!” Willow gushed. “Spoiling the kid and being totally soft on them!”

“Will not,” Spike huffed, offended that she would tarnish his manly and bad image in such a way.

“Will so,” Buffy countered.

Before he could argue further, she took his hand and tugged him out of his seat.

“I want to go dance; I haven’t in so long and definitely not with you, yet.” The slayer gave him her best sultry look and led him along like the willing slave he was.

On the dance floor, she turned to put her back to him and slide along his body in a way that had him panting by the time she made it back up. His hands took her hips and jerked her firmly against him, leaving little to the imagination—as if she hadn’t been going for just that reaction. Her hips swayed to the music, brushing against him then pulling away just when he was considering throwing her on the ground right there.

A glance at the catwalk above had Buffy remembering the dream she had not long after Spike turned feral. Just the memory caused a little tremor to pass through her body and she gripped his hand.

“Up there. Now, mister,” she ordered breathlessly.

He gave a tilt of the head at the odd request. She immediately sent him flashes of the dream over the claim and that was all the incentive he needed, flying past her as he hauled her up the stairs.

******

An exhausted and thoroughly satisfied couple plopped back down at the table some time later. Buffy reached for a hot wing as she blew a wisp of hair out of her face, glancing at Spike with a slow smile. Workouts always made her so hungry afterwards, and boy did he give her a workout. A blush tinged her cheeks at her thoughts, so she quickly glanced across the table to her friends.

Willow just lifted her brows, clearly wondering where they had been. Oz, on the other hand, was flaring his nostrils slightly as he caught a whiff of something with his heightened sense of smell. Not that he would say anything, but that knowledge didn’t help Buffy as her blush deepened.

“Wow, you must be tired!” Willow said suddenly.

Buffy jumped and looked at her with wide, guilty eyes. “Why do you say that?”

If her friend caught the slightly higher pitch of the slayer’s voice, she didn’t seem to notice as she replied, “Oh, I mean, you were gone for awhile. Even with the slow songs and you two being all with the superness, that has got to be a lot of dancing.”

“Yeah, well I like dancing,” Buffy replied faintly and shoved some onion into her mouth.

“Especially with me, right?” Spike purred and she choked, giving him a look that would have made any other vampire quiver in fear.

“Oh, you-”

Before she could work herself up to full tirade, a scream split the air and all four heads spun in the direction it came from. Everyone else seemed to be craning to see it as well, but suddenly reversed, stampeding to get the hell out of Dodge while the four tried to get closer to help whoever it was.

“No, Willow, you and Oz make sure people get out okay...just in case there’s more of whatever-it-is out there,” Buffy told her friend, taking her arm to stop her from following.

“But...” Willow trailed off as she glanced between Oz and Buffy, who was already in slayer-mode. “Sure.”

Spike had just made it through a throng of stragglers and was trying to get a lock on what was causing such a stir when a meaty hand took a swipe at the side of his head. He staggered back from the glancing blow and blinked up at the demon that emerged from the back holding a girl’s body in his other hand. Its prey was dropped, forgotten, as it found new targets. The demon was large, with a tough purple hide and wearing something akin to a samurai uniform that had two swords strapped to the back.

“You’ve wandered into the wrong club, mate,” Spike growled, shifting into game face quickly.

“I’m looking for the Slayer. My mistress sent me to find her,” the demon said in way of response.

“You’ll have to be more specific—there’s two now,” Buffy quipped as she rushed to Spike’s side after making sure Willow left with Oz. “And you have a mistress? Aw, that’s so sweet. Is it the leather-wearing sort of mistress or the penthouse in the city kind?”

“I’m looking for the one with the vampire mate. My message is for him as well.” Her humour was totally lost on the creature.

What a waste of a good pun, she thought with a sigh then spoke up, “Well, you’re in luck, because that’s me.”

“Good.” It grinned wickedly and pulled out the two swords from the sheaths on his back, spinning them before taking a ready stance. “I wanted to make this quick.”

“Wait, what’s the message? There was a message.”

In not the smartest move, her eyes went to Spike and off the dangerous demon. The next instant, it let out a loud battle cry before launching itself at the blond duo—swords flying. A hard shove toward the bar was the only thing that kept her from becoming Slayer Sushi, and she went tumbling over the top into the glasses and bottles on the other side. Fortunately, there was something there to break her fall and that somehow her broken arm remained unscathed.

When her head popped back up over the top to make sure Spike was still in one yummy piece, she gasped when she saw him clinging to the neck of the demon and going for quite the wild ride.

“Spike!” Buffy yelped and hopped back over the bar to get to him.

The demon saw her coming and simply flung her mate right into her full force, sending her back over the bar in the most counter productive of ways. She braced herself on her good arm, looking down at her shirt—which was so stained now—then back at Spike.

“He didn’t give us a message,” she hissed indignantly.

“I think, love, that the message is someone wants us dead...or in my case, deader,” he ground out then reached out to touch her arm. “Didn’t break it again, did he?”

“No, thank god.” She gave him a weak smile then looked up. “And shouldn’t he be here right about now to fillet us?”

That got their attention and they sat up to see what was going on; not that they weren’t immensely relieved to have a reprieve from the abuse.

“Okay, don’t tell me there’s like a third slayer now,” Buffy muttered when they saw what was keeping the demon.

“Not quite,” Spike said, tilting his head. “Feels almost the same, but not quite...an’ she smells right familiar.”

“Well...maybe we should help her instead of staring?” She climbed back over the bar...again.

“Right then.”

Before they could jump back in, though, the other girl pulled out a vial of something that she immediately threw at the demon. Blue powder burst into the air then the demon was gone with an audible pop. The two would-be helpers stared dumbfounded.

“I sent him back to his own dimension,” the girl told them as she turned to face them.

There was nothing remarkable about her clothing; dark jeans and a loose tee under a leather jacket with wedge boots peeking out. There were startling blue eyes, heavily ringed with liner. Her hair was a natural blonde, but with the front bleached. Her fingernails...they were covered with a coat of chipped black nail polish reminiscent of someone else standing in the room. Besides that, she was petite and harmless looking...but then, so was Buffy and they all knew how deceiving that image was, too.

“An’ just how did you know where he came from an’ what to do with him?” Spike asked, narrowing his eyes. “You send him? Are you his bloody ‘mistress’?”

“No, but I know who did.” The new girl motioned towards the door. “We should probably get out of here before Sunnydale’s finest show up—late as usual.”

“Who are you?” Buffy hurried after her, skirting around the pile of blue stuff on the floor.

There was no response until they got outside and rounded the corner just as sirens were heard racing towards the Bronze. Somehow, the girl seemed to be walking in the direction of their house without their lead.

“So who in the bloody hell are you then?” Spike finally demanded, tired of the looks shooting between the three.

“Your daughter, Melody,” she said, giving her own version of his mocking smile. “And well...I’m sorry for the wonky way we had to meet, but I was going to approach you at the Bronze until you started making it like bunnies. Honestly, you two; I’m going to need therapy now.”

Buffy blushed bright red, not even considering the possibility that her story was a lie. She was more concerned with her mortification at the thought that someone might have seen what they were doing—not that they had tried to hide it very well. Then her eyes flew wide as her hands splayed over her stomach.

“I do get pregnant? Or, I am pregnant already?” she squeaked, stopping where she was.

“Afraid so.” Melody gave a little shrug. She looked back towards Spike, figuring he was going to be the one to talk to while her mom got it together. “Look, something bad is going down or I obviously wouldn’t be doing this.”

“I’d expect,” he returned with a tight nod. “Because, I’d definitely teach my nibblet not to mess with magic unless it was real important. So you goin’ to tell a bloke what the soddin’ problem is?”

“Oh my god, we don’t die, do we?” Buffy suddenly burst out, catching up somewhat with the conversation.

“Not in my time, but that could change if you don’t let me explain,” Melody said, rolling her eyes at the girl who was to become her mother. “Your other daughter, my twin sister, is already here, too. Amanda is trying to kill you. She sent that demon. Are those short enough sentences?”

“My daughter just called me stupid.” Buffy turned to Spike. “If she’s my daughter, that means I get to spank her, right?”

“Now is not the time to be...” Spike gritted his teeth and stretched his neck before continuing, “I’m a little more worried with the idea that we have a daughter out there wantin’ to kill us right now. So no more from either of you, got it?”

“Yes,” they said in unison then shot each other a look.

“Okay, so we got another little bit out there...but one of those evil twins?” He tried to steer this back to business. “Why would she want to kill us?”

“It’s...it’s not really Amanda, you see. I think...she was killed or turned, or something. And that dying, it gave a demon or hellgod or something the power to possess her. It’s that creature that’s come back, using her body, to try to kill you and do all those dimension destroying things that these evil powers like to do.” Melody shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. “We really didn’t get much time to research. It seemed more important to follow her and warn you guys, and then...well, see what we could do to stop her.”

“Hey, you tell me I have a daughter and then tell me she might be dead?” Buffy’s face fell.

“She might be a vampire...” Melody offered softly. “Though, that might not mean much if we have to...destroy her to stop her...” Her teeth sunk into her lip as she looked down, a matching picture of despair to that of her mother.

“Bloody buggerin’ fuck...” was all Spike could manage at the moment as he gathered Buffy to him, then as an afterthought he opened his arms to include Melody.