Chapter 12
“Two halves are equal, a cross between two evils
It’s not an enviable lot
But if you listen, you’ll learn to hear the difference
Between the halfs and the half nots”
-The Dresden Dolls
Angelus wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand. He watched as Drusilla amused herself by finger painting designs on the dead clerk’s naked body with his own blood.
“Daddy, do you think he’ll appreciate my art? I’ve made him so pretty,” she cooed at him.
“Dru, I’m sure he’d love it if you hadn’t taken out his eyes,” Angelus replied.
“I had to. He was looking at me while I ate,” Drusilla growled at the body. “Didn’t his mummy teach him any manners? Rude to watch a lady while she dines.”
“I’m sure he’ll not make that mistake again. Why don’t you pick out some lovelies for yourself while we’re here? Then we’ll go find ourselves a nice place to reacquaint ourselves,” Angelus said, picking out a few sweaters for him to take with. It was going to be light soon and he needed to find them a place to stay. He glanced over at Drusilla and grinned. He was planning on ravaging her for most of the day, and when he finished, he was going back to the house and taking a go at Buffy. William needed to relearn that anything he thought was his really belonged to Angelus, and he planned on taking his revenge in Buffy’s blood.
XXX
Spike shrugged his duster off and dumped it on the back of the chair before he sat down. He lowered his head to the table with a bang.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid bloody git,” he muttered to himself.
“Okay, not that I’m one to interrupt your self beating over there, but what are you doing?” Xander asked coming out from behind on of the library stacks where he had been shelving books.
“I am the biggest ponce on the face of the planet,” Spike declared.
“And I’m not denying it, but what did you do?”
“It was nothing, really…You know how Buffy’s got this notion about bad luck on her birthday?”
Xander sat down at the chair across from Spike and dropped his stack of books on the table. “Oh, no! You did something, didn’t you? What did you do?”
“I just wanted the girl to have a good birthday! You know, little flowers, little wine, little enchanted flying doves-“
“What?! You-you hate magic! What are you doing with enchanted flying doves, and my God, how cheesy is that?” Xander exclaimed, then quickly added, “And how much was that ‘cause Anya would love it.”
“I won it off some ponce at cards. He said all that would happen was the birds would fly around our table a bit and do some bloody acrobatic thingies,” Spike said.
“But,” Xander prodded.
Spike sighed. “Bloody wanker gave me a dovita demon. Thing sits as separate birds until it wants to attack and then it merges to form a seven foot tall vulture type thing.”
“Oh, well I’m sure that went over well,” Xander said.
“Yeah, don’t know what was worse. The bloke from the restaurant yelling or Buffy…She’s not talking to me, you know,” Spike muttered.
“I heard her saying something to Anya, but I missed the gist of it. So I take it you’re in the dog house?”
“Which part of me saying that she’s not talking to me failed to penetrate your head?”
Xander shrugged, “So I take it you’re staying for dinner then?”
“Uh, yeah, you don’t mind, do ya?”
Xander shook his head. “Nah, mi library es su library.”
XXX
“Come on, pet, let’s get you clean, yeah?” Spike whispered into her ear as he started to guide her toward the bathroom.
Spike stripped her down and turned on the water. He debated about running to their bathroom to grab her shampoo, but the strength of her grip on his arm made up his mind. She usually kept stuff in the extra bathroom, and a quick rummage helped him to find a bottle of peppermint shampoo and a bar of soap.
“You want a bath or shower, luv?” he asked.
“Spike, do you hate me?” Buffy asked softly.
He sighed. “I could never hate you, Buffy.”
“But I-I pulled you out of H-H-“
Spike silenced her with a kiss. It was the first one they’d shared since he’d been back and Buffy accepted it hungrily.
“Shh, none of that now. Wasn’t Heaven without you, luv.”
Buffy let out a sob and buried her face in his neck.
“Come on now, that’s enough tears. Into the bath with ya.” Spike scooped her up and gently lowered her into the water.
He washed the dried blood out of her hair and off her skin although he had to scrub a bit. Some of it looked as though it had dried on weeks ago, and he wondered how long he’d been gone. Each stroke of the washcloth was like a cut to his heart. She had inflicted all this on herself knowing full well that she was a true immortal.
Buffy made no move to help, just sat with her hand on his arm, and watched him. She didn’t say a word until he had her dried and wrapped in a robe he’d found behind the door.
“I always thought I was strong,” she said softly. “I thought that after Mom and Dawnie and…Madison…that I could survive anything.” Buffy paused and walked over to the bed, sitting and motioning him to join her. His heart shattered when she looked him square in the eye. “But I couldn’t survive without you.”
“Buff-“
“No,” she cut him off. “Please, I-I need to say this. After you…”Buffy swallowed hard. “After…I saw the d-d-d…the d-d-d-d…I couldn’t move. I just stopped. It was like everything stopped moving, stopped working. Angel, he saw what happened…staked the vamp.”
“Who was it? I don’t remember seeing anyone.”
“It was no one. It was a stupid fledgling. If-if I had been looking, if I hadn’t stopped to tie my shoe, I-I could have stopped him,” Buffy started to hyperventilate. “And I did stop him every time I relived that moment, but by then you were gone.”
Spike couldn’t help but chuckle. William the Bloody done in by a fledgling. “Guess that fledge got his one good day then.”
“It’s not funny!” Buffy smacked him on the chest. “It’s not funny!”
“Whoa! Easy, luv. You’re right, it’s not funny…but it is ironic.”
Buffy gave him a dirty look.
“Sorry, luv. Go on.”
She took a deep breath. “I don’t…I don’t really know what happened after that. Angel…he brought me home…brought you home too. I tried…I-“
“Buffy, you don’t have to tell me.”
“YES! Yes, I do. Oh, Spike I wanted to join you. I couldn’t…all the time I thought I was strong, but you were my strength and then you were gone…and it’s so stupid because I knew, deep in the back of my head that it wouldn’t work, but I tried anyway. I thought that if they saw how I f-felt then the Powers would take pity on me and let me go with you. But they didn’t. They didn’t even care. And I…Spike I didn’t mean to, but I ruined the island in the kitchen…I-“
Spike cut her off. “That’s enough luv. I don’t care about the bloody island. I do care about you and what you’ve done to yerself. The entire house can fall into a bloody hole for all I care. Hell, we can move tomorrow. All I care about is you.” He softened his voice and pushed some hair away from her face. “Buffy, I love you. More then the stars or the bloody planets and what have you, and yeah, I was in Heaven, but to me, Heaven is where you are and you weren’t there.”
He leaned forward and captured her lips in a kiss. It started off chaste, but soon became more passionate as Buffy’s tongue forced its way into his mouth. She moaned and Spike slowly pushed her down on the bed, letting her crawl backwards until she reached the headboard before lowering himself on top of her. His hands slid under her robe and she arched her back into him. He felt her hands at the hem of his t-shirt and he paused long enough to help her pull it off.
“Please,” she whispered as he kissed a wet path down her neck and to her breasts. “Need you, need you now.”
“Sssh,” he blew a stream of air across her chest and he smiled as she gasped and arched toward him.
Buffy hands fumbled with his zipper, and Spike finally relented and helped her take them off. He had wanted to go slow, but understood her frantic need to prove to herself that she wasn’t dreaming.
Spike positioned himself at her entrance and leaned down to capture her lips as he slid his way inside. They both moaned and Buffy’s legs immediately wrapped around his waist as he began to move into her. Although her need to have him inside her was urgent, once he was there, Buffy let him set a slow pace. She gasped and moaned into his mouth, her hands reacquainting themselves with his body.
“Spike,” she murmured against his skin.
“I know,” he replied.
“Now, do it now!”
Spike let his face shift and his fangs hit her neck moments before she buried her fangs in his. He felt her scream her release into his neck and he followed.
“Mine,” she sobbed. “My Spike, my William.”
“Mine,” he replied. “Always and forever.
XXX
|
