Chapter Eight
Buffy’s POV

“You know better than to trust a vampire!” Giles lifts his arms in exasperation.

He’s been repeating himself for the past few minutes. I figured I’d come down to the library and fill him in on what I’ve picked up on about Angel but Kendra beat me to him. I walked in to find them in agreement that I’ve made a bad decision. She told him how I slipped up and almost let Spike kill me, then how I wouldn’t let her slay him, and then the best part was when I let him go after implying I’d take care of him.

It was no use to defend myself, not that I had much of an excuse. I’m a slayer, he’s a vampire, and I shouldn’t hesitate before killing him. Sure I let some harmless demons live but he is a killer and I just can’t bring myself to slam that stake through his dead heart. Go figure it takes a soulless dead man to make me feel alive.

“Are you even listening to me? Buffy, why do you trust Spike to help you?”

“Giles, it’s not like I’m trusting him to watch my back in a fight or anything. All I asked him to do was to send Angel, Angelus, my way tonight so I can figure out whether or not it was him that murdered those people the other night. When I am done with Spike, I will kill him.”

“And say Spike does send Angelus over to you, are you really prepared to take him on alone? You still look worn out.” I am still worn out. Spike was nowhere near me last night while I was home but I still couldn’t get any sleep. I kept wondering, was my boyfriend really evil? If he is, does it really matter and why don’t I care like I should? I did trust Angel. I trusted with my life in battles, and I even entrusted him with my heart. I tossed and turned all night long thinking how easily it could have been me that he decided to kill instead. Why not me?

“I don’t think I’ll need to take him on at all. If what we learned about him is true he’d rather play mind games with me first. If Angel has actually been turned back into Angelus and Spike hasn’t told him that I know… well he’ll be too full of himself to let me know.”

“You should still take Kendra with you.” Kendra has been silently leaning against the table next to her but she suddenly jumps up and begins to fuss over her yellow top and looks past me. Turning around I see Willow and Xander walking in to take a seat at the table behind her. Kendra wipes her hands nervously on her jeans before sliding them into her pockets.

Ooooooh. Xander has an admirer.

“Hey guys. Have you met Kendra yet?” I ask Willow and Xander, but I’m focusing in on Xander. They nod and start saying how they were introduced yesterday.

“As I was saying, Buffy, you should take Kendra with you. You may need back up. We’ve seen Angel fight beside you and he could be dangerous if you’re not in perfect shape.” My eyes narrow while looking at Giles. You can’t tell a teenage girl that she is in anything less than perfect shape.

“First of all, there is nothing wrong with my shape. I may be a bit tired but I am fine. Second, do we really want to tip off to Angelus that there is a second slayer in town? No, we want him to feel in control, safe even. Lastly, I can take Angelus if I need to. I have fought beside him, sparred with him, I know how he fights and I can use that against him.” For every reason that I can give him why Kendra should not go with me he has two more that prove she should. Kendra is still quietly flustered by Xander and I grin. It’s cute. No nonsense Kendra has a crush.

Just as the bell rings to send us off to our last class I get Giles to agree to let me go alone. Willow tells me to call her later to explain about the Angelus thing. Once Xander is out of the library Kendra starts to argue and I just laugh as I walk out.


Spike’s POV

After verbally slapping Dalton around for a bit he kept insisting that if there was a spell on me at one point it most definitely was not there after the other night. The spell that we did should have cleared me of any bad juju, auras, spells, even just a curse of bad luck. It should not have withstood that spell. I want to scream and holler at him that I don’t naturally have any sort of feelings towards the bleeding slayer. None.

“Find something else. It must not have worked. We could try again, you probably mussed it up.” Even to me it sounds like I’m begging and pleading. How pathetic.

“Meddling with the little people, Willy?”

“Sod off.” I tell my Grand Sire who is standing in the doorway behind me. Curious as to what he overheard I attempt to change the subject. “Enjoy my bed?” The sun was just setting and I head to my car. Like every other time, Angelus can’t resist rubbing in my face that he has something I want. He follows me.

“Well, it was nice while it lasted. Dru got a little carried away last night and tore the posts right off. She’s not as weak as she was.”

“No thanks to you. With a steady supply of fresh blood she’s been getting better. Dru will be right as rain when I get what we came for.”

“Ah yes. I believe she mentioned something to that effect in between her moans last night. Something about your incompetence when it comes to taking down the Slayer. You should have had a plan.” He scolds me.

“I did have a plan.” I say, not elaborating.

“And what happened?”

“I had a plan, a damn good plan. But I got bored.”

“What you lack is follow through. It’s a wonder you managed to kill those two other slayers.” The key to the Desoto digs into my flesh and I start to bleed. Maybe I’ll luck out and Buffy will take him out tonight. My anger makes me want to just get in my car and just ram it into a tree. Pocketing my keys I decide to walk to the cemetery instead. No use in taking my baby down with me.

“Where are you heading to, Spikey?”

“Need a drink… or ten. Just cutting through the cemetery.” We near the destination and I can see Buffy walking in from the entrance. Hopping the fence I continue on like I never saw her. Her hair is pulled back leaving her neck bare, and her red top shows a bit of cleavage. I catch myself turning to go see her and correct it by speeding up in the opposite direction. Luckily that’s as close to her as I have to get because Angelus catches whiff of her and breaks off to go to her.

Stepping behind a tree I peer around to watch what happens. Oddly enough the first thing that he does is embrace her. His hands slide along her curves as she looks up at him. He puts on a smile for her and touches her cheek as if to reassure her of something. The more he touches her the more I need to kill. I haven’t been riled up this often since the last time he was Angelus. Always putting his grubby mitts on everything like it was all his. Sliding his hand in hers he leads her off to a back corner where the view is blocked by a crypt, my crypt that is, and some trees.

Looking around for the other slayer, I realize the girl didn’t bring anyone with her. For the second time this month I find myself believing the girl has a death wish. Cursing whatever higher powers there are I make my way over to the entrance of the crypt I call home. I hear a scuffling over where the two of them took off and ignore it as I slip inside unnoticed. Dropping into my chair I still hear them talking. He had business to do, found out the tattoo meant I was in town. I have it in for her. Me. Me. Me. He really seems to want her to come after me. Sure, pawn the slayer off on me while you sneak up from behind. Coward.

So the tattoo gave me away? Technically, it’s a mark. There was a clan that Dru and I traveled through Italy with in the 1950’s. Committed to taking down a certain race of demons who were trying to humanize fellow demons. They claimed that even the ones without a soul were still inherently good. Not unlike religious fanatics. After walking into a trap the clan was branded with a circular marking to make us weaker to get us to fall in line with their antics and easier to identify. The cure, a slayer’s blood. I got myself nice and cured back in New York City and now I am working on getting Drusilla all fixed up. That is if Pretty Boy out there doesn’t nab her and take all of the glory for himself.

Reaching down next to the chair I pick up a bottle of whiskey and take a mouthful, welcoming the burn as it slides down.

Fucking Slayer. I’ll get this sorted out. If I can beat one slayer while I’m slightly weakened by magicks I can certainly take a relatively new slayer out in no time. Just as soon as I finish my drinks.

Buffy’s POV

Distracted, the vampire in front of me gets a good shot to my jaw off. But only seconds later said vampire is dusted by yet another vampire. Angelus. I can feel it. Just as Spike said Angel is gone. This evil thing is doing a bang up job of trying to convince me otherwise though. His only downfall is that he’s more attentive. For the past few weeks he’s been distracted and tonight? Not so much. I’ve been waiting for him to just vamp out and try to bite me. It would be easier on me if he acted evil.

I get a tingling feeling around vampires and right now it’s just going bonkers. Angelus gives me a stronger feeling than Angel did and I can feel Spike around here too. If I were smart I’d be scared but I can’t afford that. Angelus would smell the fear and he’d know. I need to buy some time to come up with a plan. If I can’t find a way to get Angel’s soul back I will have to kill him. Looking into his eyes I just don’t think I could bring myself to do that yet. Even though pure evil lurks behind those eyes right now, I know the man that was behind them too.

“Buffy? Are you feeling okay?” His hand rests on my shoulder and he gives it a light squeeze. I want to pull away and at the same time he’s the person I want to cry to.

“You know? I think I need to be alone for a little bit, Angel. I’m just tired because of Spike stalking me wherever I go. I’ll see you?” He drops his hand down to mine for a brief second.

“Meet me at my place tomorrow. I’ll find a way to help you with Spike.” Just like every other time, he walks away from me without a second glance. Watching him walk away I start to let my anger and hurt fill me up and bubble over. I let out a silent scream and smash my fist against the crypt. I hear a muffled curse and something shatters on the other side of the wall.

Spike. I can still feel him near. Stake in hand I kick open the door but then realize it was a bit of overkill because the door had never been fully closed. Against the wall there is a broken brown glass bottle. The space around it is dry so I only have one guess as to where the contents were. The moody vampire slouched down into a living chair.

Closing the door behind me I give myself the time to take in my surroundings. A book case, table, refrigerator, ratty red rug, and a soap opera playing on the television?

I let out a hard laugh at the realization that he lives here. It’s obvious the furniture has been pillaged from various places as none of them match.

“Yuk it up, Slayer. I’m not the one who is sworn to kill the one they care for.” My face crumbles because I know he’s right.

I drag my feet over to the couch and sit. “Passions?”

“Yep. Guilty pleasure.”

“Ooooh, how sinful of you. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with your precious Drusilla?”

“Been reading up on me have you? Well, right now I’m sure she’s busy trying to snog your boy toy.” I grumble and he chuckles.

“Pass the booze.” I take my eyes off of the television for only a second to sneak a peek at him. He looks miserable.

“A little young to be drinking, aren’t you?” I become even more depressed as I come to terms with the fact that I’m stuck as a slayer, killer of killers, and I’m only in High School.

“Yeah, but I’m a slayer. My lifespan is cut in half. Therefore, I should be over the drinking limit. Now hand it over.” I don’t even look as he tosses a bottle at me. I open it and take a sip. My chest feels like it’s on fire and I smile.

“I’ll kill you tomorrow.”

“Sure, pet. Tomorrow.”