A cemetery in the middle of the night would seem to be an utterly inappropriate place for an astronomy lesson, but, wonder of wonders, there was nothing more pressing to do tonight. No vampires had risen, no demons had made their appearance, and no evil witches, magicians, or sorcerers were attempting to make deals with whatever dark forces there were who were willing to bargain. It was downright boring. It was also a crystal clear, warm summer night with an almost full moon and seemingly millions of stars shining down on the strange couple lying comfortably in the grass on a spread leather coat: a Slayer and a vampire. Allies. Friends. Lovers.
“Now, you see,” Spike said, pointing, “that one over there, the one with the kinda bluish tint? Well, that’s Venus. And that one there,” he pointed to another twinkling dot,” with the red tint, well, that’s Mars.”
Buffy nodded. “I know. From the Greek gods. I remember that from High School Lit class.” Just to show the smarty pants vampire that she wasn’t completely dumb, only to have her bubble of pride burst by…
“Roman gods love.” Spike corrected. “The Greek ones were Ares and Aphrodite. The same gods, just different aliases. There’s an interesting story about them, if you’re interested. Star crossed lovers and all…” he managed to stop himself before going any further. Good bloody move, William, he cursed himself. Finally get the Slayer in a quiet mood on a romantic night, and you have to bring up…
“So, what’s the story?” She moved closer to him, actually resting her head on his shoulder. If Spike’s heart could beat, it would be racing like a schoolboy on his first date. “Are you gonna tell me, or are you just gonna tantalize me and then leave me hanging here.”
“Uh, yeah.” God, but don’t ruin the moment, “Well, see,” Spike began,” There were these gods…”
“The Roman ones, right, not the Greek ones.” Buffy nodded, “I’ve got that.”
“Right.” Her scent was enough to drive him to distraction: cinnamon and vanilla, with the slightest hint of… Don’t go there, Spike admonished himself. Don’t go there and destroy a perfect moment. Keep focused.” Right. These Roman gods. So, there were these two gods, and they were married.”
“That was Mars and Venus, right?”
“No, pet, not Venus and Mars.” Spike said, “And if you keep on interrupting…”
“Sorry.” The Slayer said quickly. “Buffy’s lips are sealed. No more talking, only listening. I promise.”
Buffy’s lips. Lips of Buffy…GET A HOLD, DAMMIT! “Okay,” Spike actually choked, coughed, and started over “Venus was married to Vulcan…”
“Oh, I know” Buffy said quickly, “Vulcan like…”
“If you say Spock,” the vampire warned, “no more story time for Slayers. You just keep in mind what you said about those…” DAMMIT, FOCUS! “Uh…those lips” Did she actually chuckle? No, it had to just be his overactive imagination, or maybe hormones.
“Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, “ Spike turned his head to glare at her with his most stern school teacher countenance…and almost grasp of all coherent thought as he found his face barely a hand’s breadth from hers. God, those eyes. Like bottomless hazel pools that a man could fall into and…She’s doing this on purpose. She’s actually teasing me. No, that can’t be. She would never…Not after last year. Not after what I almost…Spike turned his head away quickly, returning his focus to the night sky above. He turned away too quickly to see the slight grin that was forming on Buffy’s lips.
“There was Venus, and she was married to Vulcan.” Spike rushed quickly through the story. “Venus got bored with Vulcan, because he was always off forging weapons and armor for one hero or another. She got lonely. Along comes Mars. He was between wars, with nothing to do, nobody to kill, had all kinds of time on his hands. Venus sees Mars, Mars sees Venus, and sparks fly. The outcome was inevitable.”
“They got together.”
“Lips.”
“Sorry.”
“So Mars and Venus have themselves a little affair.” Spike snorted. “Little. They bloody well shook the foundations of Mount Olympus, is what they did. So hot, and so wild, that pretty soon all of the other gods couldn’t help but notice. Of course, Vulcan being off making swords somewhere, he was the last one to get the word.” By sheer force of will, he managed to not lose focus when Buffy actually moved closer, so close that he could feel her breath on his cheek, feel the warmth of her body, so close…
“So, Vulcan got word that his wife was having an affair with Mars.” Spike continued. “Like any husband, he got mad. Then, after he got mad, he started figuring out a way to get even. He went back to his forge, just like nothing was wrong, and went to work.” If she gets any closer, she’s gonna…”Instead of making weapons, though, he’s making a net. He makes a net so fine that you couldn’t see it, and so strong that you can’t break it. Then Vulcan sets his trap.”
At that moment, a meteorite flashed across the night sky, the heavenly traveler burning out its last moment’s brilliance and glory. “Did you make a wish, love?”
“A what?” Buffy asked.
“Did you make a wish?” Spike repeated. “Did you make a wish on the shooting star?”
“I didn’t see it.” Buffy whispered softly, so close that Spike could feel, or maybe just imagine, the feather soft brush of her lips against his ear, bringing back memories of the underground chamber beneath his crypt. Xander had come down, looking for an invisible Buffy. She had sat behind him throughout their entire conversation, nibbling on his ear. It hadn’t been the nibbling on his ear that made it so memorable though. While her lips, teeth, and tongue had been busy on Spike’s ear, Buffy’s hand had been…DAMMIT, MAN, TRY TO KEEP CONTROL HERE! “I was too engrossed in your story.” There was no doubt now, her lips were actually touching his ear, that same ear that…Glory could have taken lessons in torture from my Slayer, Spike thought, then hastily corrected, from THIS Slayer. Not mine. Never mine.
“So Vulcan sets himself a trap for Mars and Venus.” His voice was only slightly unsteady. He was bringing it back under control nicely. Now, if the girl would just quit…
“He puts his net under the bed, and when they pile in, the trap springs, swishing them up in the air in all of their guilt and nakedness for all of the gods to see and make fun of...”
“That must have been just terrible.” Buffy’s whispered in a voice so low that Spike’s enhanced hearing could barely register. “Hanging up there all exposed and,” just the slightest pause, “naked.” Spike concentrated with all of his might on not shivering.
“As I was saying,” Spike’s composure wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate. Finishing the story quickly was his only chance. “All of the gods on Mount Olympus gathered around to poke fun at the two lovers, all trussed up like they were. It got so bad that Zeus, the king of the gods, finally got all fed up with it all and…”
“I know the rest of the story, Spike.” Buffy was propped up on one elbow now, looking intently into his eyes. “Zeus placed Mars and Venus in the heavens, one on one horizon, one on the other, so that they could constantly see each other but could never be together. Truly diabolical torture. I read all about it in high school. I wrote a paper on it, in fact.”
“Well, if you knew the story all along,” Spike asked, “then why did you…”
“It was fun playing with you like that.” Buffy’s smile widened. “Now I want to ask you something that I’ve been wondering about for some time now.”
“What’s that, Love?”
“How much more I’m going to have to do to seduce you?” Her face descended, lips soft, moist, inviting, her eyes half closed. Spike moaned in anticipation…
“AW, now isn’t that sweet,” the First Evil, in its Buffy persona taunted. “Our little Spikey still has delusions about romance with his beautiful Slayer. That’s just priceless. But now, a friend of yours wants a little quality time, just the two of you alone. I’ll just leave you two crazy kids to yourselves for awhile.” It blinked out of sight. Behind where it had been, the Ubervamp was visible, moving forward with a snarl, claws extended. The pain was about to begin once more.
“She will come for me. She will come for me. She will come for me. Shewillcomeformeshewillcome…”
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!