Title: Caught Between Two Lovers
Author:Pattyanne
snapkik@yahoo.com
The characters do not belong to me
Summary: I'm not sure if this would
fall into the 'Alternate Universe' cate-
gory. It takes place early season 2,
but I've changed the events of 'School
Hard' to suit me. All the characters
are the same, but Angel never existed.
Never did..never will. You'll also notice
that Spike behaves a little...differently.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Is she in there?"
"Yeah. She's out on the dance floor
with her pals."
"And...?"
Luke frowned. "And...what?"
Spike glanced skyward for a moment,
shaking his head in disgust at yet
another stupid minion that had to
have everything explained to him.
"Well, I doubt that she's wearing a name
tag that says, 'Hi, I'm the slayer, so
maybe you should tell me what she looks
like."
The puzzlement on Luke' face disappeared.
"Oh, right..I get you now," he said.
Wanting to curry favor with the vampire who'd
probably be running things on the Hell Mouth
once he eliminated the slayer, he eagerly
provided a description.
"She's kind of small. Maybe 16 or 17, I think.
She has blonde hair and sensational legs.
Cute little ass. Dresses real sexy, if you
know what I mean?"
"Mm-hmm." Spike glanced at his watch. Past
eight o'clock already, he would have to make
this quick. Drusilla would be awake soon, and
since he didn't trust the idiot brigade to bring
her someone to eat, he would have to see to
it.
"Gotta tell the truth, man...if she wasn't the
slayer," Luke leered suggestively, giving
Spike a nudge that almost got his arm broken
for him.
"Oh, yeah," Spike said, his voice dripping
with sarcasm. "I'm sure she'd be all over
a prize like you."
With a blank look that said he wasn't
sure but he thought he'd just been in-
sulted, Luke opened his mouth to reply,
only to be sharply cut off.
"I'll go in first," Spike said. "You wait a
few minutes, then come and find me
and I'll tell you what to do. Do you think
you can manage all that?"
"Sure," Luke nodded. "Sure..you got it."
"Well, good for you." About to enter
the club, he added, "Oh, and one more
thing. When you come in? Lose the
face."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
He walked in, pausing at the door to
scan the room.
Typical small town nightspot. Live
music, but no recognizable bands.
Probably local talent.
Stopping at an empty table, he picked
up a menu and looked it over.
The appetizers were the standard
variety crap you could pretty much find
everywhere. ** No imagination**
He flipped the menu over, studying the
wine list.
What cheap shit! The most expensive
bottle topped out at twenty dollars.
**Probably never even heard of Dom**
Spike dropped the menu on the table
and moved on.
The place was fairly crowded for a week-
night, although the entire amount of people
in it wouldn't fill one room of a nightclub in
New York...or Los Angeles, for that matter.
He made his way slowly, heading for the
center of the action...the dance floor.
A familiar tingle raced up and down his
spine, alerting him to the presence of
a slayer.
The closer he got to his goal, the stronger
that feeling grew inside of him. When he
finally reached his destination, he had no
trouble locating her in the group of kids.
"Well, well, well...."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
As he watched her dance, he decided that
Luke hadn't been exaggerating. If anything,
he had understated the slayers charms.
Her hair wasn't blonde, but rather a mixture
of light brown and honey colored tresses
shining in the muted glow of the overhead
lights.
It bounced around her face as she danced,
looking soft and touchable, with none of the
sticky hairspray that so many girls used.
A man could thread his fingers in that
silken mane, and they would slide right
through.
His hands itched to do exactly that.
She was a tiny little thing. He doubted
if she'd be shoulder high to him. There
was a boy dancing with her that didn't
look to be all that tall, but he towered
over her.
The same boy suddenly placed one
hand on the slayer's hip.
Spike frowned, feeling an almost over-
whelming urge to grab that boy by the
scruff of his neck and tell him to keep his
fucking hands to himself.
She was dealing with it, though, smiling
at the boy while subtly moving away from
his touch.
**Good girl**
Unable to stop himself, his eyes roamed
up and down her body. He took note of
the small waist and feminine curve of her
hips. Strong, straight legs moved her
around the dance floor, keeping a step
away from anyone who tried to catch her.
She was dressed in a pair of tight jeans
and a light blue halter, cut just low enough
to show off a bit of cleavage.
The sight made him instantly hard.
She was doing some of the most blatantly
sexual dancing he'd ever seen outside of a
strip club. The beat of the music seemed
to be twisting and pulsing through her small
frame.
Spike had never been aroused by a woman
so quickly.
He watched her, mesmerized by her natural
sexuality as she closed her eyes and raised
her arms, lifting that beautiful wealth of hair
off her neck, then releasing it to tumble
around her face.
And what a face it was...
The movements of her dancing only gave
him quick glimpses of it. As tantalyzingly
brief as they were, he could see that the
slayer had one of those faces that could
change from child like innocence to woman-
ly sensuality.
The girlish roundness of her cheeks pleased
him. There were too many girls walking around
this days looking gaunt and thin in the face,
like anemic heroin adicts. He'd seen corpses
that looked in better shape than some of those
women on the dance floor.
But the slayer obviously ate normal meals
on a regular basis.
Her energy alone was testimony to that. No
way was THIS little lady living on rice cakes
and bottled water. She looked as though
she enjoyed all the sweet things life had to
offer, whether they were good for her or not.
A girl like that made a man want to hold her
in his lap and spoon feed her vanilla ice
cream and strawberies.
Her complexion was smooth and unblem-
ished, pink and gold velvet that saw just
enough sun to make it glow, but not enough
to make it dry or rough.
Although he couldn't determine the color,
Spike could see hat her eyes were lovely.
Large and long-lashed, they sparkled with
life and good humor.
She hadn't been doing her job long enough
yet for them to become dark and troubled,
weary from the knowledge that for every
vampire she put down, there were a dozen
waiting to take it's place.
This slayer was new, and fresh, and filled
with hope. Ready to take on the armies of
hell, confident that she would win and good
would triumph over evil.
**Sorry to pop your bubble, darling, but good
is outnumbered by evil ten to one**
He slowly circled the perimeter of the dance
floor, never taking his eyes off the slayer. He
saw every sway of her hips, every shimmy
of her shoulders, and every toss of that glorious
hair.
As he watched, he couldn't help smiling.
**Luscious little tease, that's what YOU are**
Looking so damn pretty, moving the way she
did, making all the boys want to claim her.
That dark haired one following her around
like a puppy was nearly drooling.
Once again, Spike felt compelled to grab
hold of the slayer's putative suitor and shake
some sense into him.
He wanted to tell the boy not to be stupid,
that he couldn't BEGIN to be good enough
for that beauty keeping herself just out of
his reach. That he ought to concentrate his
efforts on the little cutie-pie redhead that was
trying so hard to attract his attention.
There wasn't a man in this place worthy of
this warrior princess.
**Except for me, that is**
He'd known it the instant he'd laid eyes on
her, the moment he picked up her scent of
peaches and power.
**We're gonna dance, Slayer, you and I..
count on it**
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
His peripheral vision and keen sense of
smell picked up the approach of the idiot
he'd left outside.
**You do something right for once, and you
pick NOW to do it...shit**
"Told you she was a hottie, didn't I ?" Luke
asked, staring at the slayer with undisguised
lust, as though he were trying to see through
her clothes.
Spike momentarily considered slapping the
_expression right off the other vampire's insipid,
human face.
Fighting back the urge, he issued brief orders.
"Go back to the lair. I'll be there later."
"How come?" Luke asked, confused.
Spike took a tight leash on his temper,
then turned to look at the stupid git who'd
questioned him.
"I want to watch this one for a while. See how
she operates. Detect any weaknesses."
Feeling he'd said more than enough to get
this pain in the ass marching double time,
he returned his attention to the slayer.
When Luke failed to turn around and leave
immediately, Spike looked back at him in
pure disbelief.
"Why the hell are you still here?"
"It's just...well, I don't know," Luke shrugged,
seeming to realize that he was heading into
dangerous waters. "What about your..your
lady friend?"
Spike clenched his jaw. The last thing he
wanted to be reminded of at this particular
moment, was Drusilla.
"What about her?"
"Um..what do you want me to tell her?" Luke
asked nervously. "Because she can get kind
of...YOU know...if you're not there."
This was true. Ever since the attack on her
in Prague, and their subsequent flight from
the country, Drusilla had become more and
more unstable, oblivious to the world around
her.
She hadn't been completely sane to start with,
and after nearly perishing at the hands of an
angry mob that had figured out what she was,
the line that lay between her sanity and the
total lack of any, was getting thinner every day.
The very things he'd always loved so dearly about
her had morphed to almost frightening proportions,
and it wasn't cute anymore.
He would catch her watching him with wide and
confused eyes, and it was at those moments that
he felt certain she had no idea who he was.
All she seemed to be interested in these days
were her dolls and her weird visions.
Day by day, she was slipping further and further
away. Her appetite was dwindling, and there
were times he had to force feed her.
She had no survival instinct working for her
anymore.
Acting impulsively, she would obey the voices
in her head, forcing Spike to place a 24 hour
guard on her after she'd nearly walked outside
in the middle of the afternoon to pick flowers.
Her normally pale skin was almost translucent,
and her body was weak and frail. In her more
lucid moments, she would rail miserably
against that weakness, demanding that Spike
find a way to put her back together again.
Which was getting harder and harder to do.
And as her body began to fail her, her person-
ality had undergone a drastic change.
In the past, even though she'd not been in
possession of all her marbles, she had been
happy and he'd always been able to keep her
that way.
Along with death and carnage, Dru had also
enjoyed typically female things, such as
beautiful clothes and expensive jewelry.
She had taken pride in her beauty, and
took pains to maintain it.
Her raven hair had always been thick and shiny,
arranged so that her curls tumbled down to
frame her winsome face.
As dark as melting chocolate and as wide as
a child's, Dru's eyes had been mesmerizing..
literally.
Without hardly trying, she had always been
able to lure anyone she wanted with her eyes,
for any reason.
Whether they were gleaming with blood lust,
or dancing with infantile gaiety..they'd sparkled
with vitality, and hunger, and passion.
Now..they were dull and lifeless, usually half
closed and bit out of focus.
Her happiness was draining away a little more
each day. Where once she had gloried in
chaos and death..in the giving and taking of
pain..now she seemed more like a spoiled
child, prone to bouts of near hysterical panic
by the most insignificant circumstance.
Alternating between whimpering tears at
imagined slights, and fierce temper tantrums,
it was impossible to predict her moods, and
she was becoming difficult to live with.
But, he loved her...so he'd put up with be-
havior that he would never have tolerated with
anyone else.
After searching all over Europe and Asia,
consulting with countless shamans, sorcerors,
and prognosticators, he had brought her to
America...to Sunnydale, California...
To the mouth of hell.
With little effort, he had quickly established
himself as the master vampire he was.
He'd barely gotten Dru settled in and cobbled
together a gang, when he'd found out that there
was a slayer making life difficult for the local
demon population.
Judging from the fact that she still lived..that
no vampire had been able to kill her..he de-
duced that she must be a real badass, a
tough cookie of the amazon variety.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't have concerned him.
He had dealt with slayers before, and found
them to be far less intimidating than most
vampires did.
But, when he'd heard about the serious
damage this particular slayer was dishing
out, and since he didn't know how long
they would have to stay in this pissant
burg, he had decided to find her and kill her
quickly...thus freeing him to concentrate all
his energy on restoring Dru's health.
Watching her now though, he amended his
previous plans for her downfall, inserting a
third activity between 'find' and 'kill'.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
"What if she asks where you are?"
The idiot was speaking again.
"She won't," Spike said succintly. "Just
stop on the way back and grab her some-
one to eat."
Luke still hesitated. "But what if she's not..I
mean, what if she won't..."
Enough was clearly enough.
"GO AWAY NOW," Spike said, with a definite
threat in his voice as he glared at Luke. "Be-
fore I hurt you in unpleasant ways."
Self-preservation finally kicking in, Luke disapp-
eared into the crowd, allowing Spike to return
his undivided attention to the slayer.
Who was no longer there...
"Son of a..." he muttered. "I swear I'm gonna
tear that imbecile's head right the fuck off."
Still swearing softly, he opened himself up
to feel if she was still close.
He sensed her instantly. Turning around, he
saw her sitting at a table with the boy and the
cutie-pie she'd been dancing with.
The table was covered with what he imagined
was her homework. She didn't look particularly
happy about it, her body language clearly
conveying the notion that school work was the
last thing she wanted to be doing right now.
Keeping his eyes on her, he took a seat at a
table near where she was sitting. One of the
waitresses walked by, heading for the bar with
an empty tray, and Spike touched her arm
to stop her.
Giving her his most charming smile, he said,
"Be a good girl and bring me a glass of whatever
you have on tap, won't you luv?"
When the glass was placed in front of him,
he settled back into his chair and gazed at the
slayer with intent, willing her to look up and
see him.
He knew when awareness of him began to
make itself known to her.
Cognizant of someone watching her, her eyes
skipped from one person to another.
**I'm here, slayer...waiting for you**
He frowned when the redhead said something
to draw her attention.
**No, darling...don't look at her...look at me..see
me**
As though he'd whispered his request directly
into her pretty little ear, the slayer turned her
head and looked straight at him.
**Hello, gorgeous**
Locking his eyes with hers, he smiled slowly,
blatantly staring at her, and was charmed
beyond the telling of it when he saw her blush.
But, in spite of the blush, she didn't look away.
**That's my girl. You know who you are..you
don't back down to anyone, do you?**
He felt a jolt of excitement when she returned
his smile, shyly at first, then more boldly as
she became more sure of herself, more certain
that he was attracted to her.
**Can you feel me, Slayer? Do you know what
I am? Because I know who YOU are...and I
want you anyway. I want you..and I am going
to have you**
Rising to his feet, he made his way to the bar.
**And NOTHING is gonna stand in my way**
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
"Buffy? Are you still here in the same world?"
Willow's soft voice pulled the slayer's attention
away from the outrageously handsome man
she'd been exchanging looks with.
"Yeah," she said absently. "I'm..yeah. Sure."
She shook her head and looked at her friend. "Why
wouldn't I be?"
Willow shrugged. "Well, because I asked you
twice if you wanted any more help conjugating
your verbs and you pretty much didn't even
hear me."
"Oh...sorry," Buffy said, sounding lame even
to her own ears.
But Willow, sweet natured as always, understood
without being told. "You know, I'm getting a
little tired anyway. We can finish this later."
She got her things together and looked at Xan-
der. "Want to walk your best friend home and
protect her from the bad guys?"
"I suppose I could," Xander replied. "But who's
gonna protect me?"
Willow smiled at him and stood up. "Come on."
"No, I'm serious," he said as she pulled him
to his feet. "Who's gonna protect me?"
Keeping a firm grip on his arm, she began
towing him towards the door. "We'll protect
each other."
Xander tried to dig in his heels. "But we have
someone here who's a lot better qualified. Buffy
is actually IN the protection business."
Willow yanked his arm, dragging him along.
"Why isn't she coming with us? It's getting
late, she should be coming with us. Well, let's
ask...OW!...do you have to so rough?"
Buffy smiled at Xander's running commentary
as he was pushed, shoved, and nudged out
the door.
She gathered her books and papers into a
neat stack. Moving slower than an arthritic
snail, she forced herself not to search around
the room.
A few long minutes crawled by, and she began
to wonder if he had left, or is she had misinter-
preted his interest.
Counting to sixty, she sighed and picked up
her homework, ready to call it quits and go
home.
"I hope your friends left on account of me."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Buffy started at his sudden appearance
beside her, looking up with a surprised
look on her face.
**Wow...he's even better looking close up**
Above average height..the ONLY average
thing about him..he had platinum blonde
hair and a penetrating dark blue gaze, framed
by almost femininely long eyelashes.
**Now I know what the phrase "Eyes that look
right into your soul" means**
He had a sensual mouth, and cheekbones
that would make a super-model pea green
with envy.
The only thing saving him from being "pretty"
was a scar slashing through his eyebrow.
All in all, Buffy decided, his entire face was his
best feature.
Realizing that she was staring at him like a
mute idiot, she tried to think of something
witty to say that wouldn't make her sound like
the inexperienced teenager girl that she was.
"Don't you mean 'I hope your friends DIDN'T
leave on account of me..you?' "
He shook his head. "I meant what I said, luv."
**Oh, boy, oh, boy...all this and an accent,
too! Some days it DOES pay to get out of
bed**
"I wanted them to leave," he added. "May I
sit down?"
**And manners!! Woo-hoo!**
Under the table, she gave one of the chairs legs
a hard shove with her foot, pushing it out.
"If you want to."
He smiled and seated himself. "Would you
like another...what is that?" he asked, point-
ing at her empty glass.
"Oh, it's...it's just Coke," Buffy said, wishing
it was something a little more sophisticated.
"Would you like another?" he asked again.
"Sure. Okay. Fine." She cringed inwardly at
her monosyllabic responses, knowing she
must sound stupid.
But he didn't seem to think so. "It's not diet,
is it?"
Buffy made a face. "Eww..no. I hate diet drinks."
Her _expression amused him. "Good for you," he
said as he signaled the waitress.
After ordering the drink, he turned to her before
the waitress could leave. "Would you like any-
thing else?"
Buffy shook her head. "No, this is fine...thank you."
"Hmm." He tilted his head a little. "Have you had
your dinner?"
"Uh-huh. Before I left home. I'm totally full."
"Too full for dessert?"
"Well.." Buffy shrugged, with a guilty smile.
"How about some ice cream?" He gave her a
speculative look. "I'll bet you like....hot fudge
sundaes."
Buffy grinned. "That's a safe bet."
He looked at the waitress. "You heard the lady,"
he said, dismissing her and returning his full
attention to Buffy.
"What's your name?"
"It's...I'm..." **What IS my name?** "Buffy."
He seemed surprised. "Your mother named you
Buffy?"
"No," she said. "My mother named me Elizabeth,
but no one calls me that," she explained. "Even
my mom only uses it when she's mad at me."
She hesitated. "What's..your name?"
For a moment, he debated his options. He
had a reputation for killing two of her kind,
and it was possible she'd recognize the name.
Part of him wanted that to happen, wanted
to see the look on her face when she found
out just who she was dealing with.
But the other part of him, the less impulsive
part, didn't want to scare her off.
"William," he answered. "William Hamilton."
It was a good sounding name. She liked that
he hadn't shortened his first name to the
more common 'Bill'. He didn't look like a
Bill. It didn't suit him.
The waitress returned with a tray bearing
a glass of Coke, and the most enormous
hot fudge sundae that Buffy had ever seen.
Before she could do it, Spike took the
spoon and dug out a mixture of ice cream,
hot fudge and whipped cream.
He lifted the spoon to her lips and Buffy
accepted it as she looked into his level
gaze.
Her own eyes rolled up as she closed
her lips around the spoon. "Mmmm."
Spike was delighted with her response. "Good?"
She opened her eyes as the spoon slid
out of her mouth. "Better than good."
Knowing he'd be pushing it if he tried to
pull her onto his lap, he settled for feeding
her another bite of ice cream, then handed
her the spoon.
He was amazed at how quickly she polished
off the dessert, even scraping the sides of
the dish to gather the fudge clinging to it.
When she replaced the spoon in the dish,
she caught him watching her.
"I guess I kind of look like a pig, don't I?"
she asked, her cheeks reddening.
"No," he shook his head. "You don't. You
look like...a little girl."
Buffy pushed the dish away. "That was good.
Thank you."
"You're more than welcome, luv."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
"So, um..." Buffy searched for a topic of
conversation. "You're not from around here,
are you?"
"What gave it away," Spike asked teasingly.
"Well, you're accent for one and.." She caught
his look of amusement. "Now you're making
fun of me," she said, her cheeks burning once
again.
He shook his head. "No, I'm not, darling. I
think you're absolutely adorable, especially
when you blush." He leaned forward, staring
with intent into her eyes. "I made you blush
before...when I was staring at you."
Buffy nodded, her gaze arrested by his. "I
guess so...a little..."
Spike lowered his voice a fraction. "I'd think
that a girl as pretty as you are would be
accustomed to men staring at her." He
grinned. "There it is again," he said, noting
her warm cheeks. "God, that's sweet. I
haven't seen a girl blush like that for a hun-
dred years."
He tossed the hint out casually, curious to
see if she'd notice it.
All she did was smile.
TBC.....
What do you think?
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!