A/N: Sorry for the long wait but due to personal reasons I couldn't write a chapter without it being all over the place. As a peace offering the chapter is a little bit longer than usual. Enjoy and review!

Chapter Eight
Spike’s POV

“You saved me!” The pile of dead bodies in front of me suggests I’ve done something alright. Turning my head to the voice she stands there looking at me in awe. Blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a smile on her pink lips. Dressed in a flowing blood spattered white dress she runs to me and throws her arms around my neck. Her skin is warm from the sun beating down on her and I pull her closer. Her smaller body fits perfectly against my larger one and I breathe in the scent of her soft golden hair.

“What would I have done without you?” She murmurs into the crook of my neck. My right hand cradles her head against me. A small growl escapes her lips and her teeth pierce the skin of my neck just as she bursts into dust. I look around to find the culprit and am left with no reason other than the sun. Looking up I curse the vile thing. I’ve learned to live around it and now here I am face to face with it. Covered in dust from the person who was just in my arms, I walk towards the sun. Logically, I know that I can’t reach it but my body craves to be closer. There’s a soft warning echoing in my head warning me to watch out for it. To be wary.

“Watch out!” The voice gets louder but I can’t take my eyes off of the sun. It has been so long since I have felt its warmth and I can’t give it up. Not now.

“Spike! What the fuck?” My eyes fly open to see a male vampire on me about to plunge a stake into my unbeating heart. His wry grin is quickly replaced by confusion. I open my mouth to yell but quickly shut it as the idiot turns to dust and leaving Buffy to fall onto me. Her arm is bent from staking the vampire and I get an elbow to the ribcage. One of my hands begins to wander up to press against her head like in my dream but she rolls off of me and onto the floor groaning.

“I don’t know why I bothered saving you.” She says. I can hear the pain in her voice as she slides across the floor to lean her head against the wall. I bound up onto my feet to see where she is hurt and stop dead in my tracks. What do I care? Why should I care that she is hurt? Shouldn’t I just finish the job? She calls to me in much the same way my body called out to the sun in my dream. I get a smidge closer to her and notice she is crying.

“My boyfriend is an evil soulless vampire, I have a hang over, and I don’t even really want to kill you. I could have done it by now. I should have just sucked it up and staked you along with the one on top of you. Why can’t I do it? Instead I’m stuck with crazy dreams of you saving me.” I want to ask her if her dream was like mine but I don’t. I can’t have her knowing that I’m all sorts of broken. Her head doesn’t move away from the cool wall as she stands up. Her hands are splayed out on the stone as she continues to mutter.

I’m standing only about a foot away from her and she smells like my dream. Without realizing that I’ve done it, I see my hand placed on her shoulder. As she turns around my fingers graze her collar bone and my nostrils flare as they fill with the scent of the slayer.

“Why can’t I kill you?” She screams at me. Small fists pack a strong punch as she pounds them against my chest. “Why didn’t I just let that stupid vampire kill you?” She lands a blow to my jaw and she grabs her head in pain. Along with her scent I can smell the bottles of whiskey she drank last night. A normal person would be passed out from the amount of alcohol, hell a normal person would probably be dealing with alcohol poisoning but it’s obvious she is dealing with one hell of a hang over.

A part of me is relieved that I’m not the only one who is feeling things they shouldn’t. Dalton’s spell should have cleared this up, seeing as the bugger is too scared to lie to me, the cause must be something bigger. A demon? A gypsy? Whatever it is I need to get rid of it so that I can get back to being myself. This pansy inside of me craving warmth needs to be dealt with and soon. Just as important as that, I need to find out why another vampire was trying to stake me rather than killing a passed out slayer not far from me.

Buffy’s Point of View

Spike tosses me a bottle of water and tells me to get moving. My head feels like it is splitting in two, my stomach is heavy and roils from the booze from last night. Fighting against the aching of my body I drink most of the water and head out.

By the time I get home Mom has already left for work but there is a note on the door telling me I am in for it when she gets home tonight. Principal Snyder called and worked a deal out with her in exchange for not marking my absence which would put me over the limit for the first marking period. After a quick shower, some aspirin, and some comfy clothes later I am on my way to school.

The walk to school makes my head hurt even more and I whine most of the way there. I sign my name and ask for the time as I log myself in for school under the title of “Tardy”. Before I can pick up my bag again I am being called into the Principal’s office. I’m not positive but I think I might have the look a person gets when walking to be hung.

“Miss Summers, sit.” The short balding man is standing behind his desk and I grumble. It wasn’t that he was offering me a seat, it was more like he was commanding me to sit. Principal Snyder has had it in for me from the beginning so he takes great pleasure in telling me about how disappointed my mother is in me, how he’s sure that I’m not what she had in mind when she got pregnant. It borders on verbal abuse but I let it slide.

“Your mother and I struck a deal. You are to volunteer for taking children Trick-or-treating this evening.” One part of that made me chuckle and another part made me cringe. It was an entirely unique feeling. I want to throw a dictionary at him and make him read the definition for “volunteer”. My cringe was at the fact that it’s Halloween tonight. I haven’t been talking to hardly anyone these past few days so the fact that my favorite holiday is here completely slipped my mind. Halloween is the one day that I get off from slaying. For one reason or another most vampires and demons take Halloween off. I’m sure Giles has explained it to me before but I just don’t care. All I heard was that I get a free pass and I was happy Buffy.

“You will be here by six tonight, Summers, or I will be forced to notify the authorities of truancy. Now go do whatever it is you slackers do before your next class.” He holds the door open for me and I scurry off before he can think of another punishment. I have another five minutes before the bell rings to release the students to their third class of the day. I make my way to the bathroom nearest my History class and splash some cold water on my face.

I’m beginning to look like hell. My jeans are a bit baggy from the weight loss from all of the stress, the sweater that I chose for comfort is nothing if not unflattering for my form, and my hair is beginning to frizz because I didn’t have time to fix it after my shower this morning. The only thing that is going right for me is that my cuts are all healed. My chest tightens as I begin to get emotional yet again, but once the bell rings I suck it up. There is no way I will give the gossip mongers anything more to talk about.

I’m the second into my class, the only person in here to beat me is Willow. She looks surprised and miserable. “I thought you weren’t going to be in today, Buffy. Is everything okay? Are you sick?” She gestures to my overall appearance.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I had one hell of a head ache is all.” I pray that she can’t smell the booze on me anymore. I can’t let them know that everything is going to hell, that as the chosen one I can’t take the heat. Well, chose one out of two. The thought of trying to figure out my place as “The Slayer” when there is another one in town fills my head with a dull throb.

“Well if you don’t want your head to hurt even more avoid the Principal. He’s-“

“Recruiting for Halloween? Yeah, he caught me when I came in. I don’t know where I’m going to find a decent costume. I thought I was just going to be able to spend some time on the couch watching horribly cheesy horror flicks.”

Willow twists her mouth off to the side as she thinks. “I think that there is a seasonal store that might still have some. I’ll drive you down there after school. It won’t leave you much time to get ready though.”

“That’s fine. Thanks, Will.”

Dalton’s Point of View

“She has done what you thought.” Ethan Rayne confirms my suspicions and I close my eyes and smile. I knew that over time the slayer could not resist making her way into the only costume shop in town. I figured she’d just as soon shave her head than wear a costume from a cheap department store.

“And what has our little Miss chosen?” I ask.

“Well she hasn’t chosen anything as of yet. I snuck into the back to call you and be sure that my payment is still in place. I enjoy chaos as much as the next guy but it’s even more enjoyable when I can get paid for it.”

Annoyance seeps into my body, “Everything is set. Now you go do your job and make sure she actually buys a cursed item of yours.” I slam the cell phone shut. It’s a newer model that I took out of the pocket of a midnight snack from a few nights back. People never think to turn off the cell phone of a loved one until they get the bill for it.

So far everything is falling into place. Following my plan has been difficult but I know that it is best to create as much dissention amongst the group of high up vampires so that I may come out victorious.

Ethan Rayne absolutely loves chaos and I chose him specifically for that. He has cursed every item in his shop so that when he closes up his business and the sun has set the item will be come real when it is worn. People’s children will turn into pumpkins, teenagers will become ghouls and skeletons, and everyone will have no idea what to do. Best of all, the slayer will not be a slayer as long as she wears the costume. I can already see Angelus taking the bait to go kill the slayer, or bring her back here to cure the ill Drusilla. I don’t care what he does, just so long as he pisses Spike off. I don’t have the brawn or the manpower to take them on at their peak, but I do have enough men backing me to take them while they are weak from fighting each other.

I detect a slight hop in my step as I follow the hallways down to where Drusilla is doing a little chanting of nonsense. Angelus is sitting back enjoying watching her traipse about half naked while she tries to conjure some sort of vision. The sound of boots shuffling down the hall send me rushing for the next empty room before Spike catches me snooping around. The moldy scent of the sewers that Spike frequents to get around in the day wafts under the door and into the room. I can hear when he stops and then the boisterous boom of his voice as he curses at the display in front of him. I can’t see him but I know his face is contorted with anger over seeing his beloved with his Grandsire.

“Oh, Spike. I was just getting ready to tell Angelus the wonderful news!”

Buffy’s Point of View

Looking around the small shop makes me pout. Most of the racks are empty save for the always popular ghost costumes, and cliché camouflage. The store owner slipped into the back saying he would look for something my size. At this point I’m willing to go with a paper bag over my head.

Willow calls me over to the other side of the shop and I stop in my tracks. In front of her is a Victorian pink gown complete with lace and bows. I always pictured this would be what the girls would wear when Angel was human. Was this what he liked? Is this what he was attracted to? I run my hands down the sleeves and catch a price tag. I drop it like it burned me and back away. Not only do I not have enough money to get something like that since I have to pay for my costume out of my pocket, but I refuse to wear something to try and please a man who wants nothing but to probably kill me anymore. I don’t need to go and get gussied up for Angel so I turn my attention elsewhere.

I stand next to Xander who is attempting to put together a costume that looks suspiciously like G.I. Joe and catch a glimpse of the opposite of a noble woman.

Perfect.

Spike’s Point of View

It’s bloody Halloween and here I am wandering the streets like an idiot. All but the lowest of demons respect this night and leave it alone. But no, not me. Drusilla spouts off some words about the slayer not being herself and tonight is the night. Chaos shall rise and people will be out of control, blah, blah, blah. If the slayer isn’t herself, then I just have to take a gander and see just what she is.

I go by the Bronze to see if she’s there at some sort of party but the place has a sign saying it isn’t party central until eight. Something to do with working with the school to provide a safe Halloween for the tots. A brunette dressed up like a cat is ushering children out of the building, complaining that Buffy is pathetic and selfish. My ears perk up at her name and I mosey up beside her. “Did you say something about Buffy?” I ask.

“Ugh, don’t get me started on her. She’s not fooling anyone with that hideous costume of hers.” She keeps her focus on the happy meals parading in costumes in front of me. “Johnny! Don’t bite Sally or whatever her name is! Everyone is taking their costumes a bit too seriously this year.” She grabs the boys hand and he lets out a growl at her. The boy’s hair is slicked back and he looks like a miniature Dracula. Impressive. “Anyway, she was heading off towards Pop’s Pumpkin Patch. Said she wanted to have a little fun and left me with the kids she was supposed to be watching. She’ll hear about this tomorrow at school. If you see her tell her to avoid me like the plague or I’ll make her life hell.”

I raise an eyebrow at her and take off towards the pathetic plot of land this town calls a pumpkin patch. Along the way I see a man in a gorilla get-up pounding on his chest in front of a terrified girl and I let out a laugh. I don’t know what’s causing this but I love it.

The patch has pumpkins splattered all over the ground, it is obvious they’ve been kicked, stomped on, and slammed into the dirt. A small grunt catches my attention just as a Jack-o-lantern narrowly misses my head.

“Hey! Watch it!” The person has their back to me but I can see the outline or a female with her hair pulled up into knots on both sides of her head. She has black combat boots that come up to her knees, a red plaid skirt that barely covers her ass, and a black shirt that is stretched tight showing off the curves of her waist and hips. Her height and the curves of her body ring familiar but I can’t place my finger on it until she turns around.

“Slayer? Well, isn’t this just… neat.”
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I'd say Chapter ten has some potential for Spuffy fun, don't you?