"I hate you, so fucking much!" Buffy yelled at the bleached vampire as she threw another punch at him.
"You arrogant," punch, "disgusting," punch, "asshole!" she fumed.
Spike blocked her next punch, and kicked her feet out from under her, making her land on her ass. He immediately straddled her, gaining the upper hand.
"You stupid bitch! You think I can stand you?! Prancing around with your holier-than-thou attitude. You, little girl, obviously need to be taught a lesson in manners." Spike ground out.
"Fuck you, Spike!" she yelled, throwing him off of her. "You have screwed up my life for the last time. I am done with this." She said, pulling a stake from her back pocket.
"Oh, I see, you would rather have kept on not knowing that your precious Riley was cheating on you? Is that it, Slayer?"
"He wasn't cheating you stupid fuck! He wasn't sleeping with anyone."
"For fuck's sake, Buffy, the berk was having vamps suck his blood! How can that not bother you?" he asked incredulously.
"It does! That's not what... why did it have to be you?" she whined, almost breaking down in tears. "Why did you have to be the one to show me how fucked up my life is?"
Spike sighed at that.
"I don't know, luv. I showed you because... well... I couldn't know what was going on and not tell you." He replied sincerely.
Buffy was no longer able to hold the tears back, and finally broke down crying.
****************************************
When she reached her dorm, Buffy sat on her bed, looking around the room. When had everything gotten so messed up? She still couldn't believe that Riley had betrayed her like that. And that Spike was the one to point it out to her, to show her everything she had been overlooking. Of all the people it could've been.
She slipped under her covers, unsuccessfully trying to stop her tears.
**************************************
Spike was sitting in his crypt when he heard the front door open. So the boy has come to visit me. He thought to himself.
"What took you?" he asked, closing up his bottle of liquor and setting it aside. "Guess it takes a while to get back to full strength after those bites." He taunted.
Riley grabbed Spike roughly by the shirt and pulled him up out of the chair.
Spike noticed the man was stronger than usual.
"Hey! Hey, let's be reasonable about this!" He yelled as Riley slammed him up against a pillar.
The soldier was obviously livid.
"You may have noticed, Spike," Riley said as he punched the vampire. "I left reasonable about three exits back."
"Look, I'm not the one who got you into this. Don't kill the messenger."
In an instant, Riley had pulled a stake out from his back pocket, and rammed it through Spike's chest.
"Why the hell not?"
*****************************************
"Ow! Bloody hell! Oh, god! Hey." Spike said, noticing that he wasn't dust.
He yelled in pain as Riley pulled the stake out, and clutched at his chest.
"Plastic wood-grain. Looks real, doesn't it?" the commando asked, grabbing Spike's shirt. "Don't think I don't know what's goin' on with you, Spike. Stay away from her. Or we'll do this for real next time." Riley threatened, patting Spike on the cheek before turning to walk away.
But, just as he was about to walk out of the crypt, he heard the vampire chuckling behind him.
"Oh, man. You are really under it, aren't you?" Spike asked.
"What?"
"Look at you. All afraid I'm hot for your honey."
At that, Riley walked back towards Spike. "Because you are."
"Well... yeah." The vampire admitted. "But that's not your problem. Even if I wasn't in the picture, you're never gonna be able to hold on to her."
Riley pushed his hand on top of Spike's, inflicting pain on the wound in his chest.
"Ow, bloody hell!"
"Maybe I didn't almost kill you enough."
"Come on. You're not the long haul guy and you know it."
"Shut up," Riley snarled.
"You know it. Or else you wouldn't be getting suck jobs from two-bit vampire trulls."
At Spike's words, the man finally let go of the vampire's hand.
"The girl needs some monster in her man... and that's not in your nature..." Spike said, pushing away from the pillar, still holding a hand to his wound. "No matter how low you try to go." He finished, sitting back down in his chair.
Spike reached for his bottle, beginning to remove the cork.
Riley sighed. "You actually think you've got a shot with her?"
"No, I don't. Fella's gotta try, though. Gotta do what he can." Spike said, taking a swig of the alcohol.
"If you touched her... you know I'd kill you for real." Riley warned.
"I had this chip outta my head, I'da killed you long ago. Ain't love grand?"
Spike tossed the bottle to Riley, watching him catch it and take a sip.
"Sometimes, I envy you so much it chokes me." The vampire stated quietly. "And sometimes, I think I got the better deal. To be that close to her, and not have her. To be all alone, even when you're holding her. Feeling her... feeling her beneath you. Surrounding you. The scent..." then, he suddenly broke out of his reverie. "No, you got the better deal."
"I'm the lucky guy." Riley sighed. "Yeah, I'm the guy."
****************************************
ONE WEEK LATER
A week had passed since Riley's departure, and Buffy was still wondering if the relationship's failure had been her fault. Her luck with men never changed, and she still, in a way, felt like the demise of her relationship with Angel had been her fault as well.
As she patrolled the cemeteries, she tried to focus on her job.
******************************************
"Um... there's something I got to tell you. About showing you Riley in that place. I didn't mean to... anyway, I know you're feeling all betrayed-- by him, not me." Spike continued, as he spoke to a mannequin he'd dressed up like Buffy, holding a box of chocolates in front of him.
"I was trying to help, you know. Not like I made him be there, after all. Actually trying to help you. Best intentions."
He got a little agitated, and started pacing a few steps away.
"I mean, you know, pretty state you'd be in, thinking things are alright, while he's toddling halfway round the bend." If it were actually Buffy in front of him, he knew exactly what she'd say.
"Oh, I'll insult him if I want to! I'm the one who's on your side! Me! Doing you a favor! And you, being dead petty about it, me, getting nothing but your hatred and your venom and-- you ungrateful bitch!" he yelled at the doll, losing his control, as he smashed a box of chocolates over the mannequin's head.
"Bitch!" he growled, hitting the mannequin with the chocolates again as it fell over.
Spike sighed, picking up the mannequin. He carefully rearranged the wig, sighing again. Picking up the box of chocolates, the vampire stuffed the sweets back in, making it semi-presentable. Trying to compose himself, he faced the doll again.
"Buffy... there's something I wanted to tell you."
****************************************
Spike heard his crypt door burst open, but didn't even flinch as he continued painting his fingernails.
"Morning, sunshine. If you've come around for eggs or sausage, I'm fresh out." He stated.
Buffy grabbed the lid of the coffin, pulling it out from under him, so that he tumbled backward into it.
"Hey, careful! These are wet." He gestured towards his hands while sitting up.
Buffy slid the lid back onto the coffin, slamming it into Spike's chest, so that it pinned him against the opposite side.
"How could you let her find out like that?! From books and papers? You hate me that much?" she asked, feeling hurt that Dawn had found out about her origin in such a way.
"I was just along for the ride, Slayer. Not like I knew she was a mystical glowy key thing. Nobody keeps me in the bloody loop, do they?" he snapped back.
Buffy banged the lid, stepping back. "You could have stopped her."
"Oh, yeah, here it comes. Something goes wrong in your life, blame Spike. News flash, blondie," he growled, heaving the lid up off of him and tossing it aside. "If kid sis wants to grab a midnight stroll, she'll find a way sooner or later. I just thought she'd be safer with Big Bad looking over her shoulder."
Buffy glared at him silently for a moment.
"She shouldn't have found out like that." She insisted.
"You didn't think you could keep the truth from her forever, did you?" he started getting angry, hating how he was being blamed for everything.
"Maybe if you had been more honest with her in the first place, you wouldn't be trying to make yourself feel better with a round of Kick The Spike! You think you're so perfect, Slayer. Well, I got bad news for you, sweetheart, you fuck up just as much as the rest of us. If you didn't want the Bit finding out that way, then maybe you should have told her sooner."
"You disgust me, Spike!"
"Yeah? And why's that, luv? Is it 'cos you know you want me? Or is it because you know there's nothing you can do about it?" he asked in a husky tone, closing the gap between their bodies.
Buffy closed her eyes, trying to calm her traitorous body. Spike wasn't even touching her, yet she was already starting to feel herself becoming aroused.
"I could never want you. You're an evil, disgusting thing." She said, trying to convince herself, as well as him.
"And you love it. Face it, Slayer, you want me. I can smell it on you." He smirked at her, tucking his tongue behind his teeth.
Buffy punched him on the nose, sending him back a few feet.
"You must be delirious. Face it, Spike, even Drusilla never wanted you. She went back to Angelus the first chance she got."
When Spike's hand closed around her throat, Buffy knew she had said the wrong thing and hit a nerve.
"Game's up, Slayer. I'm through playing. You need to learn some soddin' manners, and by god I will make you learn... make no mistake about that."
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!