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Beer Foamy by Spikez_tart
 
A NT GNG STL AN LKOR
 
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Chapter 20 - A NT GNG STL AN LKOR


Note: Yes – this chapter name is correct, too.

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The Watcher’s Journal of Sir Arthur Gosnard-Tisklin.

London, Kensal Green Cemetery, February 19, 1901 - At last, an evening arrived when Lady Vicky was not besieged with invitations for dances, musicales and requests to appear in tableaux of minor Greek goddesses while wearing skimpy muslin wrappings designed to reveal rather than obscure the female figure. I pressed strongly for the Slayer to resume her duties and she expressed a surprising willingness to tackle the nest of vampires in Kensal Green Cemetery.

The moon was full and business was brisk that evening. The Slayer reduced several newly sprung vampires to dust with only a few well-placed kicks, robust boxes to their jaws and a single, vigorous thrust of her stake.

A female vampire, the former Miss R. of Holycrook, whose obituary the Times had recently printed as a victim of putrid consumption, burst from her crypt in full vampire face and attacked Lady Vicky. In contrast to the short shrift Lady V. delivered to the male vampires, Lady Vicky joined the contest with Miss R most enthusiastically. She kicked, punched and pulled Miss R’s hair with a fury that I had never before witnessed. It almost appeared that the Slayer was prolonging the battle and enjoying the pummeling she was giving the hapless Miss R. before twisting Miss R.’s head off with her bare hands, a move that the Slayer had never before attempted.

I must say she managed the maneuver splendidly.

***

Buffy’s vampire warning sense clawed up her neck. She shoved Spike to one side and whipped out a fresh stake. “Friend of yours, William?”

“This is Cleotus, kitten. Nimrod here is one of my minions. Guess I’ll have to kick his ass again to remind him who’s Master of Sunnydale.”

“Think you can remind me without a dose of Slayer blood, you faggot?”

“I could take you if I was sedated, Nancy Boy.” Spike took out a cigarette and lit it and blew a stream of smoke in Cleotus’ direction.

Buffy tapped her shoe on the pavement. “If you two boys are through hurling semi- unkind insults, I’d like to get my slaying done and go home.”

Two more vamps, Brad and Tucker, Spike’s former minions, stepped out of the shadows. They were carrying large hunting knives they’d stolen the previous evening from the 24-hour Wal-Mart in Dutton. “Can we kill them, Boss?”

“Yeah. I’ll take William the Bloody Pain in the Ass and you morons have a dance with the Slayer,” Cleotus said.

The two underlings, Brad and Tucker, glanced at each other nervously. “The Slayer?” Brad said. “You didn’t say anything about fighting the Slayer. Tucker, did the Boss say anything to you about fighting the Slayer?”

Tucker shifted back and forth on his feet. He was still wearing the running shoes he’d been wearing when Harmony turned him. He hadn’t even had a chance to steal some kick-ass Doc Martens like Spike was wearing before dumb ass Brad talked him into going along for a fight. Now, here he was, exposing himself to the sharp end of the Slayer’s stake. “No. I didn’t hear anything about fighting the Slayer.”

“Boo!” Buffy said.

The two vampires jumped back and dropped their knives.

***

Sunday and Rosamund stood outside Hank’s Campus Liquor Emporium with their new fledge. He was a dud, but they were determined to do their duty by their new Childe, as long as nothing more interesting presented itself.

Sunday pushed Parker towards the door. “Get in there and steal some liquor.”

“A NT GNG STL AN LKOR,” Parker said. His jaw was still wired shut and it hurt like hell, especially with his fangs pushing out and cutting his lips.

“Come here, baby,” Rosamund said. “Let Mommy make it all better.”

She wrenched his jaw open, tearing the wires out and freeing his mouth.

He screamed.

“Good. Get in there and steal a bottle of champagne. Something good.”

Parker thought he was going to faint, the pain was so bad. He wiped away the blood that streamed down his chin and licked his hands. “I’m not stealing any booze. Do it yourself.” Huh, his blood tasted pretty good.

Rosamund and Sunday put on their vamp faces and stared at him intensely.

Parker turned and went into the liquor store. He came out again five minutes later with no champagne and a gunshot wound in his thigh.

Rosamund and Sunday slapped him several times for being stupid, then went into the store, stole a couple bottles of Dom Perignon, drank and killed the clerk, shot up the store with the clerk’s gun and came back outside.

Parker was sitting on the curb watching his wound heal and spit out the bullet.

“Get up, you lazy fledge,” Sunday said. “Aren’t you hungry? Look there’s a girl. Go kill her.” Sunday pointed to the campus quadrangle where a girl was scurrying down a dark path. She kicked Parker to get him moving.

Parker recognized the girl. Katie Loomis was last night’s conquest. He’d charmed her, banged her, bought her coffee and dumped her all in 24 hours. She’d been an even easier score than Buffy. Katie was practically a Parker Personal Best.

Raging hunger surged through his entire body – a hunger for blood. His fangs sprang out, his forehead crumpled, making his eyes cross and he ran after Katie.


***

Brad and Tucker jumped back and dropped their knives.

“You’re making fun of us,” Brad said.

“Yeah, that’s not nice,” Tucker said. “We’re Evil Creatures of the Night. You should be afraid of us.”

Buffy peered at Tucker. “Don’t I know you?”

Tucker smirked and bobbed his head. “Yeah. I unleashed the Hell Hounds at Prom.”

“I thought you magicked up the Flying Monkeys during the school play. Or, was it the Talent Show?”

“No way! Damn it! I unleashed the Hell Hounds.” Tucker stamped his foot. “My brother, Andrew, did the lame-ass Flying Monkeys. I hate it when people get us confused.”

Buffy had never seen anyone actually stamp their foot before. Sure, people talked about foot stamping, but no one ever did it. Maybe she should give it a whirl?

Spike put an end to Tucker’s conversation by stumping out his cigarette on Tucker’s forehead. Tucker shrieked and started to smolder, but didn’t burst into flames as Spike hoped. Spike smacked Tucker’s face and sent him crashing into a nearby Dumpster. He saw that Buffy was preparing to take on Cleotus, so he turned his attention to Brad.

Brad flung himself at Spike trying to knock him over with the flying tackle he’d perfected at football practice. If he could get Spike down, maybe he could sit on Spike until Cleotus finished with the Slayer.

Spike stepped aside and stuck out his foot for Brad to trip over. Brad flew forward and landed on the pavement. Spike put one boot on each side of Brad’s body and lifted his head up by his hair.

“You’re not worth the trouble, Fledge, but you can tell the boys in Hell that you got dusted by William the Bloody.”

“Gee, Spike. Thanks, that’s really nice of you. I won’t forget …”

His words were cut off as Spike twisted his pudgy head off his thick neck and Brad burst into a cloud of ashes.

Tucker scrambled up from the pavement, shook off the bolts of pain shooting off inside his skull and scampered down the alley. He wasn’t about to join Tucker in Hell if he could help it. Even if William the Bloody did offer to perform the honors.

While Spike was handling the two minions, Buffy limbered up to slay Cleotus. Here was a challenge. Cleotus was no fledgling. He was big, tough and an experienced fighter. She was going to enjoy killing him.

Cleotus held out his brawny arms. “Let’s go, Slayer.”

Buffy danced around him. “Think you’re ready?”

He’d taken down many tough fighters in his day and he figured he was more than ready to take on the Slayer. “You’re just a scrawny little girl. I can toss you halfway down the block with one hand.” He fanned his baseball bat.

“Where should I send your ashes?” Buffy ran past Cleotus and somersaulted herself to the top of a nearby dumpster, ricocheted off the rubber lid and flew into Cleotus’ chest, cracking three or four ribs with her feet. She lost her grip on her stake and it flew away.

Cleotus dropped his bat. He fell back in a roll and flipped Buffy over his head, slamming her into the pavement. He grabbed his bat and leaped to his feet.

Buffy jumped up and landed a kick square in her enemy’s face, shattering his cheekbone and knocking out one of his fangs, forcing him to stagger back. She was warming to her task, her muscles loose and strong. She slugged his face again and again, giving him no time to bring up his arms and defend himself. She landed a foot to the vamp’s crotch and danced away to catch her breath.

“Bitch!” He swung his bat wildly and grazed her arm.

Buffy grabbed his bat and clunked him over the head. “Does your Mom know you use that kind of language?”

Spike lit another cigarette and enjoyed the spectacle. His mate was a damn good fighter. He liked that move just she did where she dropped her hands to the pavement and snapped her leg up in a wide sweep that planted her shoe into the side of her opponent’s head. Damn near took Cleotus’s head off with that one kick. Not to mention, she was wearing a skirt and Spike got a nice look at her goodies.

Cleotus finally got in a sharp punch to Buffy’s eye, sending her flying across the sidewalk and crashing into the hood of a parked car. She rolled off the dented hood and landed on her feet.

“William! I need a weapon!”

“Sure, luv. See what I can find.” Spike looked around the alley, but couldn’t see the stake that she’d dropped earlier. Damn woman. Doesn’t she know she should always have her weapon with her? He couldn’t find the stake, so he looked for something else. He found a rusted wire hanging on the dumpster to keep the lid closed. He pulled it loose and tossed it to Buffy.

Buffy caught the wire and came down with both feet on Cleotus’s right knee. His crushed knee collapsed bringing him down to a crouch. Buffy leaped on his back, straddled him like a horse and whipped the wire around his neck. She pulled the wire into a tight circle to cut his head off – and the wire snapped.

With one mighty heave, Cleotus threw her off his back and into the side of a brick building, knocking the wind out of her lungs.

“This isn’t over, Slayer,” he said as he limped away.

Buffy sucked in a breath of air. “Of course it’s not over, you moron. You’re not dead-er.”

Spike held out a hand to help her up. “Nice fight, pet. That wire guillotine was a clever move. Too bad the wire broke.”

“He got away. You might have helped.” Buffy dusted off her hands and headed for her dorm.

“I did help. Got you the wire, didn’t I? Besides, it’s your own fault for dusting all my minions. If we’re going to be married, you can’t be going around killing my vamps every time my back is turned.”

“Tough. You should have thought about your precious minions before you bit me.”

If they were going to be married? Spike talked like they were going to stay together. He must know the claim would lapse Friday night unless I … no, I’m definitely not going to claim him back. In no way am I considering returning the mating claim of the world’s second worst vampire. Second only to Angel before he got cursey cursed with a soul.

“I’m a much nicer vampire than Angel. Started out better as a human. Never did half the nasties he pulled every single day, although he arranged for me to get blamed. Angel’s got a mean streak, in case you didn’t notice.”

“Quit snooping around in my head,” Buffy said. She scrunched her face up to shut the claim. It was hard to remember to shut the claim, the feelings that flowed between them were so pleasant and relaxing. “We have to talk.”

Women. They always wanted to talk when they should be kissing their mates. Their little tussle with his minions made him want to – tussle with her. “What have we been doing, silly bint?” He tried to kiss her, but she turned her face. He clasped her face with both hands and kissed her hard.

Buffy closed her eyes and swayed under his hands. Kissing Spike made her forget things, like what she wanted to talk to him about and that she’d threatened to take him back to her dorm room where Willow’s presence would throw wet water on Spike’s naughty behavior. She was about to suggest that they slip into the nearest abandoned building for a quickie when Spike broke off the kiss. He did not stop circling his thumb over her nipple.

“Say Slayer, have you ever been curious about the whole blood-drinking gag?”

“What? Ewww. No. And, Ewww.”

Spike scraped his finger along his neck. “Come on, give it a go. Don’t know what you’re missing.”

Buffy stared at the line of blood on his white neck. It appeared black under the street lamps. What was the big about drinking blood anyway? If you weren’t all gluttony about it? She stretched up on her toes and touched the beads of blood with her tongue. His blood tasted salty or metally or minerally and basically icky.

Her mind blanked for a minute and the claim reopened. Say it say it say it. Mine. She shook her head to chase away the thought. What was Spike trying to do? Was he trying to trick her into completing the claim?

“I know,” Buffy said. She stepped back. She couldn’t talk seriously to William when he was standing so close. “I know the claim ends tomorrow night at midnight when the moon is full. And, that sounds like a stupid voiceover from Creature Features. I mean, I know the claim ends if I don’t claim you back.”

Spike put his hand on her butt and jerked her back close.

“And?”

“And, what? You think I’m going to complete the claim?”

Spike nodded. “Why not? Being married to me has its benefits.” He ran his fingers up her inner thigh and got his hand slapped.

“You can’t possibly think the two of us could work out. We’re too different. I’m the Slayer and you’re, well, you’re the Slayee.”

“Balls. We could be together. I could use my minions to help you keep the vamp population in Sunnydale down. You would only have to work part time, and you could spend the rest of the time with me.” Spike ran his tongue along the edge of her ear. “I could take you places.” He kissed her neck. “Show you things. You could have a little fun for a change.”

Buffy sighed. She could use a little fun on a regular basis, and Spike certainly knew how to have fun. “Let me think. I could spend time with you while your minions ran all over town draining any tasty victim they could catch. Yes, I’ve thought. Not a chance.” She shoved him away and started walking.

“Buzz kill. Are you just going to let the claim drop? Kick me to the curb after all those nights and afternoons and mornings we spent together? You’re saying those nights and afternoons and mornings didn’t mean anything?”

Buffy kept walking and forced Spike to run after her.

“Just for seven nights,” she said, “can't two people who feel an attraction come together and create something wonderful? And then, go back to their lives the next day better for it, but never over analyzing it or wanting it to be more than it was?”

Spike jumped in front of her and fixed her with a yellow glare of purest evil. He’d never looked more vampirey to her than at that moment.

“No.”

“Right. Which is why you have to leave Sunnydale so I don’t have to kill you.”

“Your mind runs like a little Slayer freight train right down a single track. See a vampire – Kill Kill Kill.”

“What else would I do with a vampire?” Buffy blushed.

Spike cut her a look to show that her question didn’t deserve an answer. “There’s something about claiming you don’t know.”

“Giles told me everything I need to know about the trick you played on me.”

“I bet he told you to drive a redwood through my heart as soon as the claim runs out, too.”

“He did mention that it was my duty to kill you, you being the Big Bad and all.” Buffy walked faster.

“Yeah, and you always listen to your Watcher and do whatever he tells you.” He was a fool. He should have known that the Slayer wasn’t interested in him, except as stake fodder. Oh, and being her sodding sex slave.

“Yes. I certainly do.”

Spike raised an eyebrow.

“Sometimes.”

Spike said nothing.

“Crap. Never. Unless I wanted to do whatever it was in the first place.”

Spike grabbed her hand and pulled her to a stop.

“And, this time? You want to do what that Poufter Watcher of yours told you to do? Gonna try to kill me?”

Buffy blinked away a sudden tear. How could she possibly kill Spike now? “Don’t you think I should?”

“Think you can shove a stake through my heart after our nights together?” He placed her hand over his dead heart. “You know, I wouldn’t have been able to claim you if you didn’t have any feelings for me.”

“Bull. You believe that old vampire’s tale? Besides, doesn’t it work both ways? You must have feelings about me or you couldn’t have claimed me.”

Spike sniffed. His mate was a liar. He knew very well that she had feelings for him. He’d seen into her goody goody Slayer heart when he thralled her. But, if she didn’t want to admit how she felt, he wasn’t about to tell her how he felt, either. “I’m in love with Dru. Always will be. The male vampire can claim any woman he wants. Love has nothing to do with it.”

“Fine.” Big fat liar.

“So, pet, tomorrow night will be our last night together before we fight to the death. Want to do something special?”

“Yes. Something very special.”

 
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