I played dumb when the nurse asked me about my IV. I think I may have mumbled something about knocking it out in my sleep. I wasn’t sure. I was tired. The fever and recent blood loss once again making my body weary. With all the blood Spike had taken from me recently, it’s a wonder I wasn’t a member of the walking dead. Or undead, as the case may be.
I flinched slightly as the nurse started another line in my hand. Why was it that the needle she rammed into my vein hurt worse than Spike’s fangs when they punctured my flesh? Maybe the pain he inflicted was tempered by the pleasure his touch promised? I concentrated on that thought until I felt her tape the catheter in place, signaling an end to the pain.
Her hands felt cold against my fevered skin as she took my temperature and blood pressure. I glanced at her face out of the corner of my eye and noticed her frown.
“How are you feeling?” she asked me, concern evident in her voice.
“Tired. Hot,” I managed to choke out. I wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. Hopefully get rid of this virus that seemed to have invaded my body.
“I’ll be right back,” she told me. “Just need to confer with the doctor.”
“Ok,” I mumbled, already drifting back to sleep.
When next I woke, it was to see a dark-skinned doctor running her hands impersonally over my body.
“Wha?”
“Hello, Miss Summers. I’m Dr. Wilkinson. How are you feeling?”
“Tired. Hot. Can I go back to sleep now?” Hadn’t I just said the same thing to the nurse?
She mumbled something under her breath that I was hard-pressed to understand. I closed my eyes, lulled by her hands running through my hair and down my neck—
“Miss Summers? Do you remember how you got these bite marks?”
I think I must have fallen asleep again because when I came to this time, her hands were examining the bite marks on my inner thigh. I was hot. So hot. I needed Spike. Spike would cool me off and release me from this oppressive heat.
I smiled, thinking of him.
I didn’t feel the second line on my opposite hand as it was inserted, allowing two pints of blood to replace my depleted stores.
It was the “Dear Lord, Buffy, are you alright?” from Giles that pulled me from my dreams of the peroxide-headed vampire. He must have realized his loud exclamation woke me because I could see his face flush slightly in embarrassment.
“Monster…death…” I manage to spit out around my delirium.
“They said you were bitten,” he stammered out.
Bitten. Spike.
I tried to focus on Giles’ face, concentrate on his lips as they moved. But it was a losing battle.
“Children…” I mumbled before, once more, drifting off.
~*~*~*~*~
Giles had overheard the doctor speaking as he’d approached his slayer’s room. Words sounding suspiciously like “bite marks” and “needs blood” drifted out through the partially open door as he’d waited outside.
Now, with Buffy resting peacefully once more, he took the bits of information she’d managed to get out and left her room to conduct some research. He shamelessly enlisted the aid of Xander, Willow, and Cordelia, halting their progress as they rushed inside the hospital doors. He’d need all the eyes that could be spared to pore over his books and track down the demon that had incapacitated Buffy. Besides, his slayer needed to rest, and Giles didn’t want the others to worry about her once they saw how bad off she was.
He quickly told them what had happened, leaving out the more dire aspects of the slayer’s condition and turned the three around and urged them all to follow him to the library. He breathed a sigh of relief when they didn’t argue, just did as he asked and trailed him to the school.
Night had fallen when they caught a break.
“Der Kindestod,” Cordelia announced. “Translates to Child Death. Sucks the life out of unsuspecting or incapacitated children…blah blah blah…Oh, says here…invisible to the human eye.”
“I wonder how Buffy was able to see it,” Giles mused, the tip of his glasses stuck between his lips as he mulled over this latest discovery. “Hmm… Cordelia, good work. I’ll head back to the hospital and sit with Buffy. You kids go on home.”
When Giles arrived at the hospital and noticed Buffy’s room empty, he feared for her safety, rushing back to his car to grab the crossbow he kept in the boot for emergencies. He just prayed he wasn’t too late.
~*~*~*~*~
His cool fingers felt heavenly against my face. I opened my eyes, relieved to see that it wasn’t another dream. That he’d come back.
“Spike,” I murmured drowsily, leaning into his touch. “You’re here.”
He didn’t say anything to me, just watched me with that intent gaze of his. My eyelids eventually drooped, too tired to hold his stare. I covered his hand with mine, holding it in place against my cheek. I wouldn’t let him leave me now that he was here. With a smile on my face, I started to zone out again, only startling awake at the slight pressure on my hand. I opened my eyes to see Spike removing the IV.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re leaving.”
I felt his arms slide under my legs and upper back, and then I was lifted against his chest. The feel of leather against my cheek felt nice, the scent of tobacco oddly comforting. I was all set to relax against him, let him do what he willed; yet something – some thought – pulled at my conscious. A nagging piece of information that gnawed away at my sluggish mind until it crystallized in form.
“No…”
“Yes.”
“But…the children. Have to save them…”
That was it. The children. One last thing I had to do before I left.
“Slayer, you can barely save yourself, let alone some kids.”
“Spike, please…”
I heard someone cry out, Ryan maybe, and I scrambled out of Spike’s arms, intent on locating the source of the noise. Another cry. More panicked this time, and I took off running towards the stairwell.
Why wasn’t anyone investigating? Why couldn’t anyone else hear their cries?
No matter.
I knew he was there.
Death.
He’d come to take the lives of the children.
I pushed the door open and raced down the steps – Spike hot on my heels – following the sounds of the crying children. I would have slipped and fallen, the fever raging through my body making me unsteady on my feet, but cool arms slid around my waist and kept me upright.
“You’re gonna get yourself killed, slayer,” he growled at me.
Leaning heavily against him, I tried to explain.
“You…you don’t understand,” I gasped, swaying on my feet as I willed myself not to pass out. “This-this thing…It killed my cousin. I was ri-right there, and I couldn’t see it. ‘ve got to stop it. Can’t let it hurt them anymore…”
I knew if he didn’t help me there’d be no way I could defeat the thing. That if he took me out of the hospital right now, I wouldn’t be able to stop him. I could feel him wavering as he held me, his natural instincts warring with appeasing my desire to see this through. When he lifted me in his arms I thought for sure that he was going to take me out of there, away from danger, but he just carried me closer to the frightened screams of the children.
“Thank you, Spike,” I murmured.
He just grunted and continued down the stairs.
I must have faded out again, because when I came to it was to hear Ryan screaming hysterically. The demon had him pinned down against a crate and the poor child was struggling furiously.
“Lemme down.”
Spike set me down and held me steady as I adjusted to having my feet on the ground. Another scream sounded and I pushed everything aside – my dizziness, my exhaustion – everything faded to the background as I charged the demon sucking the energy from Ryan. I plowed into it, knocking the thing from the child’s back, sending us both tumbling to the ground.
~*~*~*~*~
Spike watched helplessly as the slayer was plucked from the ground and thrown against the wall. Some invisible force hurtling her back and forth across the room, tossed about like so much garbage. In her weakened state, she was powerless to stop whatever it was fighting her.
He growled, his human mask fading as his demonic features became prominent. He’d hoped that he would be able to see the demon, or at least catch its scent to aid the slayer as she fought. But, he could detect nothing.
After a particularly brutal slam into the wall, she crumpled to the ground and lay still, and his eyes narrowed on the children huddling behind a crate as their screams intensified. Apparently the thing had gotten tired of beating up on the slayer and was eager to reclaim its prize.
“Spike…the children.”
Plagued momentarily by indecision, he rushed towards her, pulling her close and burying his fangs in her neck. Her tainted blood flooded his mouth and he took several deep pulls before letting her go, licking sloppily at her neck to seal the wounds as the virus raced through his body. Laying her gently back against the floor, he turned and gained his feet, swaying slightly.
“Bugger me,” he murmured, eyes going wide as he spotted the demon gaining on the children. He raced after him, gripping its arms and tossing him away. Spike could sense someone coming down the stairs. Human. He had to end this now and escape with the slayer.
Rushing towards the demon, he quickly snapped its neck and let the thing drop to the ground beside him. He didn’t spare it a glance as he rushed back to the slayer’s side, urging her to her feet so they could make their escape.
~*~*~*~*~
“Time to go, pet.”
His accented voice sounded faintly in my ear as cool hands urged me to stand.
“The children?” I murmured drowsily.
“Safe.”
I nodded, leaning heavily against him as we moved towards the door.
“Buffy,” Giles’ voice rang out in the basement.
Whirling around, I saw the crossbow pointed at Spike and hurriedly moved to stand in front of him.
“Giles!” I exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
How had he known? I’d been so sure that I’d managed to steer him clear of what I was doing, had been doing. I could see the confusion, the disbelief, in his eyes as I stood in front of Spike, protecting him from the crossbow aimed straight at the vampire’s heart.
“Move out of the way, Buffy.”
“No,” I argued as I moved us backwards toward the rear exit. “You don’t understand…”
Behind me I could hear Spike growling, angered at the weapon pointed our way.
“What’s gotten in to you? It’s Spike.”
“I know, Giles,” I whispered softly, unsure whether or not he’d heard me.
I hung my head, not wanting to see his eyes cloud with disappointment at what I was doing. This man, who’d been my father figure since I’d moved to Sunnydale.
Run, my mind urged. Escape from his all-seeing eyes. Can’t let him know that I’ve given up.
A sound pulled me from the silent observation of my toes, my head snapping up to notice how close Giles had gotten.
The abrupt movement must have dislodged the hair from around my neck, because I watched his gaze zero in on the spot of Spike’s recent bite. No matter that this time he’d done it to save me. I waited for the revulsion to mar his normally stoic features. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head as he put the bite marks on my body together with the vampire standing at my back. Saw the moment it happened as his crossbow moved slightly to center over my heart instead. I waited. Waited for him to pull the trigger and launch the arrow towards me. Ignoring the snarls from Spike at this latest threat from my watcher, I just barely managed to keep him behind me as we continued to backpedal towards the exit door.
“I’m sorry, Giles.”
I heard Spike fiddle with the knob, then the cool night air brushed over my fevered skin. My feet abruptly left the ground as I was lifted in Spike’s arms, my eyes closing wearily as he escaped into the night.
“Buffy!” Giles cried, but it was a distant voice that washed over my ears as Spike’s vampiric speed increased the distance between us and the hospital. My eyes closed as I nestled in the cool embrace of my vampire, his movements barely jostling me as I let the exhaustion from the fight with the demon overtake me.
~*~*~*~*~
Spike hurried inside the room, eager to see the slayer settled in bed. His head was still swimming slightly from her tainted blood and he wanted nothing more than to lie down beside her and regroup.
Depositing her on the silken sheets, he quickly removed the slayer’s hospital gown and settled her under the covers. He pulled his own clothes off and slipped in behind her, pulling her fevered body back against his. It wasn’t long before he’d absorbed her heat, draped around her as he was.
His legs still smarted from his headlong run away from the hospital. But, it was a good kind of pain – one that signified the full return of his limbs just sore from lack of use. He’d give himself a week to be back at full strength.
~*~*~*~*~
“Why haven’t you killed me yet?” I asked him sometime later.
Neither one of us had been sleeping, just lying still upon the bed, my back snuggled intimately against his chest as my body struggled to combat the virus that had enabled me to see the Death demon. His fingers stilled their soothing movement along my arm.
“Dunno, pet. Haven’ much thought about it.”
I turned in his arms and stared up into his eyes – noting the blue depths that couldn’t hide his lie. He’d thought about it. A lot. Then it dawned on me…
“You’re gonna turn me, aren’t you?”
I held my breath and waited. Denial. Confirmation. I wasn’t sure at this point. Strange that the thought didn’t put me off one way or the other. My life was predestined to end soon. He was just giving me a chance to extend that date.
“You’re mine. ‘M not gonna let you go.”
As if to prove his words, to himself, and to me, his arms tightened almost painfully around my back. His mouth dipped to ravage my lips, daring me to deny his claim.
I didn’t want to. I was past caring about my “calling,” nothing good had ever come of it.
And, some part of me knew that Spike cared for me. Besides, better to spend my unlife with him than whatever time I had left as a slayer alone, surrounded by friends that only wanted to put me upon a pedestal. Some fucking warrior of light that could do no wrong.
Didn’t they know I’m also just a girl? Wanting to love and be loved in return? Oh, I know the house with the white picket fence and the two point five kids wasn’t something that I’d ever have. But I shouldn’t have to be alone.
Maybe if the Council hadn’t spent so much time isolating their slayers, they’d live longer.
My arms moved to circle Spike’s neck, holding him close. His lips gentled on mine as if sensing my capitulation. My agreement. I was his. Had been since that first day I’d returned to the warehouse to see him sprawled naked upon the bed.
I wasn’t the least bit surprised when he pushed me to my back. My legs parted automatically to allow him to slip inside. And he did. Burying himself deep in one long, smooth stroke. I arched into his thrust, thrilling at the way he seemed to fill me to near bursting.
“Mine” was a litany he chanted as he moved inside me, and it pleased me that I’d made someone feel this way. Made him feel this way. Wasn’t it every girl’s wish to have someone look at you as if you were the one? As if you alone had the power to make them lose control. Man…demon…it didn’t matter.
Then thoughts failed me as I was overcome by the sensation of him sliding in and out of my pussy, angling his hips to allow me to reach my peak and sail over the edge. My legs wrapped around his back as his pace increased.
Our joint cries echoed in the empty warehouse as we each reach our orgasm. The sound of the other’s name shouted to the rafters.
His weight felt heavenly as he collapsed on top of me. Delicious chills went up and down my spine as he nuzzled my neck, his lips and blunt teeth nibbling on my flesh. My hands lifted to play in his hair, luxuriating in the feel of his silky strands as they slipped through my fingers.
“Spike?”
Lips stilled and he lifted his head to look down at me.
“Yeah, pet?”
“Promise me something?”
I watched as his brow arched, and the request rushed from my mouth before I could change my mind.
“Take me away…when…you know…just take me away from here. I couldn’t bear...”
“Shhh…”
“I just…”
“I know, luv.”
My eyes filled with unshed tears that he understood. Knew that I couldn’t handle it if I went after the others. My mother. My watcher.
Even though we’d drifted apart this past month or so, they were still my friends. My family.
“Thank you.”
He nodded, gifting me with a lopsided grin that appeared surprisingly human, and I returned it with one of my own.
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