Long-assed A/N ~ Well, this is it. The final chapter in an odyssey that began nearly a year ago. Not saying that there might not be the odd vignette down the road (A Willow/Trey plot bunny is nipping at my ass), but for now, I'm satisfied. I know I promised smut to some, but it just wouldn't come out that way. No matter what I did, it came out sounding contrived and stiff (not the *good* stiff either!). I want to thank some special people- Megan, the most amazing friend and beta a girl could have. Without her none of my fics would finish their journeys. To Rae for always being there for my whiney ass no matter what. Steph for bribing me with pretties. Thanks to everyone that ever sent me an email or Y!M with the hopeful question 'Shades Update?'. You all know who you are LOL Big wet *smoochies* to all that took the time to review. And last but not least Redwulf for offering the challenge in the first place. Happy Birthday, Roy! From your evil twin, Skippy.
Shades of Something Blue
Chapter Eighteen
William pulled into the parking spot closest to the Hyperion and killed the engine. His set, indifferent expression never faltered as he stared up at the imposing pile of bricks that Faith had acquired and now used as a base of operations for her private investigations agency.
If someone had told him six months ago that he would be coming here for any other reason but Faith, he would have laughed in their face. He had wallowed for so long in the wake of Faith’s defection from his life that he truly hadn’t seen an end to the torment in sight.
Until Buffy.
Faith was his last resort. If she didn’t know where her grand-childe was hiding, then no one would. Exactly how he was going to approach the former love of his life about the matter was anyone’s guess. Faith had never made a secret of her feelings for the little blonde pain in her ass, and Will had no reason to believe that she’d changed her mind in the past few months.
Might as well get it over with. He got out of the car and bounded up onto the sidewalk. He was halfway to the doors when he slammed to a stop. What the… Yes, there it was again; the faintest whisper across the back of his neck. His heart leapt as he whirled around, eyes wild with hope as he scanned the dimly lit street.
Nothing.
Damn. He wanted to feel her presence so badly that now he was starting to imagine things. With one last look, he turned around and pushed his way through the glass doors.
A small shadow detached itself from those around her and moved out of the alley. Sad green eyes watched as he entered the building before turning to slip away into the darkness.
Some things just never changed.
~*~*~
Roughly an hour later he was back out on the sidewalk, shoulders slumped in defeat.
She’d laughed at first, refusing to believe him. He’d had to resort to showing her Buffy’s marks on his neck to prove it.
Then she got mad and flat out refused to lend a hand in searching for her errant grand-childe.
“I leave so you can have a normal life and you shack up with that little bitch?” she’d raged. “You better hope you find her first, Will, because if I find her, I’m gonna do what I should have done the day she crawled out of her grave.”
William shook his head with a bitter smile. Typical Faith. She didn’t want him, but that didn’t mean anyone else could have him, especially if it was Buffy.
Heaving a dejected sigh, he started towards his car. He might as well head back to Sunnydale and start all over. Maybe Willy the Snitch had heard something. Even if he hadn’t, at least Will could get piss drunk and work out some of his frustrations by knocking the slimy little toad around.
He was getting ready to slide into the car when he heard a faint, faraway scream. His senses started going haywire and he slammed the door closed and took off across the street and into a dank alley. Another scream, this one sounding a little closer. The distinct sounds of fighting made his blood pump harder, tension and need slowing his pace.
‘I’m gonna feel awful stupid if this is just a couple of drunks fighting over a hooker,’ Will thought with a grimace. ‘This is LA, after all. Fighting doesn’t always equal vampires here.’
But he knew before he reached them that it was in fact vampires. The tingle from earlier was a maddening itchy crawl up and down his spine. There were three of them, and they seemed to be fighting over a cowering old woman clutching at a yapping dog, her groceries scattered all round her.
“Look, guys.” A light feminine voice carried over the animalistic grunts of the two hulking males. “Just because you’re dead doesn’t mean you have to smell like it, ya know? ‘Cause, damn! You both reek!”
Will froze, waiting in breathless anticipation as a tiny blonde whirlwind landed a vicious kick to the groin of one of her opponents. He went down with a garbled scream.
“I’m gonna bathe in your blood, little girl!” his partner growled, lunging for her with fangs bared.
“At least you’d be bathing,” Buffy quipped as she shoved the stake she held into his chest. A look of stunned surprise twisted his deformed face comically before he exploded into a shower of ash.
He watched her from the shadows as she limped over to the first vampire and cut off his screams with a careless thrust of her stake. She was obviously hurt, her left arm dangled uselessly while the other cradled her ribs. She made her way over to the old woman and knelt down beside her. Will saw her smile as she reached out to fondle the little dog’s ears.
“W-what were those… those things?” The old woman quavered as Buffy helped her to her feet and then bent to pick up her spilled food.
“Vampires,” Buffy informed her tersely. “And yes, they do exist. Probably the only thing that saved you was that cross you’re wearing.” She indicated the ornate cross with a wave of her hand.
The old woman reached up with a gnarled hand and fondled her crucifix. “A-are you…one of them?”
“Yeah.” Stuffing the last of the groceries into the carrier bag, she stood awkwardly to hand it over. “Don’t worry, though,” she said with a faint smile, tucking a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m kind of a vegetarian.”
A soft titter of laughter greeted her little joke. “Well, you’re certainly my heroine! Please, tell me what can I do to thank you, dear?”
Buffy shook her head and stepped away briskly. “Nothing. Just promise me you won’t take the shortcut home from now on. And make sure you stay in the light. Oh! and keep that cross on if you don’t wanna be vamp-chow.”
She was regarded from suspiciously bright eyes. “What is your name, honey? I’d like to know it so I can mention you in my prayers tonight.”
William saw the look of awe on Buffy’s face and felt a suspicious prickle behind his eyes. Yeah, this was the ravenous creature that featured nightly in Xander Harris’ nightmares. This was the monster that he vehemently maintained was leaving a bloody swathe through the countryside. A soulless demon that had just saved the life of an old woman and grew flustered when she was thanked with the promise of nightly prayers.
Their conversation finished, Buffy stood quietly and watched the woman totter off, scolding her little dog to keep up with her. She waited until they were out of sight before she spoke.
“You could have helped, you know,” she said softly, refusing to turn and face him. “Those vamps were majorly stupid but they were strong.”
Stepping into the glow of the security light, Will stuffed his hands in his pockets and rocked back on the heels of his trainers. “Came in on the tail end, luv. You made them dusty before I could make my grand entrance.”
He watched as she walked over to the nearest building and almost nonchalantly slammed her shoulder into it, biting back a scream of pain when the arm popped back into place. He winced in sympathy. “Jesus, Buffy!”
She ignored him. Still favoring her right leg, she made her way over and squatted painfully beside a small backpack lying by the fence. She came up with a fresh stake in her hand and lobbed it carelessly at him.
“There ya go,” she told him, smirking as he caught it without even looking at it. “Freshly whittled with my own two little hands. I realize you obviously have one tucked away somewhere, but I’d prefer one that hasn’t been used on someone else.”
Will broke away from the challenging green eyes and looked down. He curled his fingers around the smooth wood, testing its weight in his fist and admiring the glossy finish. When he glanced back up at her, he saw that she had closed her eyes and held her arms out to her sides, offering him a perfect target.
He approached her slowly, raising the stake and resting the tip lightly above her left breast. He pressed down lightly, noting her flinch as he did so. Easing up, he trailed the tip down over the slope of her breast and slowly circled her distended nipple where it poked through the soft material of her t-shirt; his eyes never leaving her set and determined face.
Buffy was shivering, her eyes squeezed tightly shut, battling the sudden rush of arousal as he gently teased the tip of her breast. “Please, Will, just get it over with,” she begged in a broken little voice.
“Open your eyes and look at me,” he demanded, his voice harsher than he had intended. When she complied, they stared at each other in a wordless battle of wills until William let lose with a guttural moan of frustration and smashed his lips down on hers, kissing her with savage intent.
The stake clattered forgotten to the ground.
For one heart-stopping moment she surrendered, wilting against him in an unconscious reenactment of every Hollywood love story ever to appear on the silver screen. She moaned; the sound lost in the warm mouth that plundered hers. She’d missed this- missed him so much that she ached with it. It would be so easy to give in, to forget the extremely valid reasons behind why she’d walked away that day. Reason returned all too quickly, though, and she shoved him away with a snarl.
“Stop it!” she snapped. “You’re supposed to be killing me, not sticking your tongue down my throat!
“But you like my tongue,” he taunted, poking it out and wiggling it at her for emphasis.
His refusal to take her seriously infuriated her further. She scooped up the stake and thrust it towards him. “Dammit, quit fooling around and do your fucking job, Slayer!”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.” He held out his hand, waiting until the last second and snatching it back before she could lay it in his palm. “Answer me one question, though, will you, pet?”
Her sigh was fraught with impatience. “What?”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why am I supposed to dust you?”
Steam was practically rolling from her ears. She glared at him, wishing she could rip that sweet little smile off his face. “Because that’s what you came here for?” she ground out, speaking slowly so he wouldn’t misunderstand her.
“Funny, I thought I came here to take you home,” he stated, looking adorably perplexed.
Buffy raked her fingers through her hair and let out a tortured scream of frustration. “God! There’s no talking to you!”
He promptly dropped the cutesy pose and gifted her with his most glacial stare. “Obviously not, since you left me without a word of explanation.”
She shrugged. “I did what I thought was right.”
“Right for who? Me… or you?”
“You think I wanted to leave?” Buffy demanded. “You think it was easy for me to just walk away? I don’t have the chip anymore, Will. I can kill humans again.”
William prowled towards her, stalking her backwards until she came up against the building behind her. Buffy’s eyes flickered nervously, avoiding his as he braced his hands on the wall and leaned down until his lips brushed her ear.
“And how many have you killed so far, Buffy? Including that little old woman you risked your life for tonight. Ball park figure?”
“I-” She lifted her hands to push him away, but her deceitful fingers had ideas of their own and reveled in the feel of him, stroking unconsciously over the taut muscles hidden by his shirt.
“How many?” he murmured softly, finding the twisted scar on her neck where he’d bitten her during their first time together. He toyed with it, running his tongue over the shining white lines before drawing the skin between his teeth and biting down gently.
Buffy moaned, her head falling to the side to encourage his play. She vaguely remembered him asking her something and struggled to make sense of it. “Hmm? Oh!” she gasped. “None, but why should you take my word for it?”
Will raised his head, his expression deadly serious as he stared down at her. “Because I believe in you, Buffy.”
The rush of tears was instantaneous as she read the truth of his bald statement in his eyes.
“Maybe you believe in me.” Her chin quivered. “But what about your precious friends? And Joyce? Don’t try to tell me they haven’t been screaming for my dust since they found out.”
“Well, you know Xander has. Not gonna lie to you about that. He’s practically shitting a ring around himself. Joyce? She pretty much agrees with me. And Willow… Well, believe it or not, Willow has her own fangy friend to worry about.”
Buffy couldn’t hide her surprise at that news. “So, Willow has succumbed to the lure of the vamp side, huh? Will wonders never cease,” she marveled with more than a trace of her old sarcasm. “Joyce is cool with it, though?” The Watcher’s opinion mattered most to her, since she was the biggest influence in William’s life.
“Yup. Well, you’re still gonna get the ‘hurt him and I’ll stake you’ speech, of course, but the only one you need to worry about winning over is Xander.”
“Like I care what puffy-boy thinks!” she scoffed. “He needs to be afraid of me, because now I can kick him in the balls without my brains dribbling out my ears.”
William winced playfully. “Ow. You know, I’d feel sorry for him if I didn’t think he deserved it.” His hands were creeping stealthily up from her waist, tunneling under her t-shirt. “But, enough about my friends. Are we good? No more stupid doubts and running away because you think it’s ‘right’ for me? Coz I gotta tell ya, luv, it’s gettin’ redundant.”
“Didn’t stop you from running to her the second you hit town,” Buffy pouted, making one last half-hearted attempt to push his wandering hands away.
He looked inordinately pleased with himself. “I knew that was you!” he crowed. “Thought I felt you before I went inside, but figured I was imagining things.” His grin quickly changed to an indignant scowl. “And the only reason I went there was to look for you. Not to see her.”
“Well, you reek of her! All I can smell is that cheap Designer Imposter’s perfume she drowns herself in,” Buffy growled.
Will stepped away from her with a leer. “Can’t help it if I’m irresistible, can I?” He snatched up her bag and held out a hand expectantly. “Ready to go home, princess?”
Buffy looked down at the proffered hand and back up into hesitant blue eyes. She doubted that things back in Sunnyhell were as peachy as he made them seem- not with interfering friends like his- but the alternative was just too unbearable. She’d rather be with him and put up with the hassle than be without him and endure the misery that this past week had been.
Reaching out, she took his hand, twining her fingers with his. When he smiled and squeezed her hand gently, she could swear she felt the stillness of her heart thump with joy.
She wasn’t about to give in that easily, though.
“If you think I’m riding all the way back to Sunnyhell with you stinking like ‘ho de Faith’, you’re out of your mind,” she lectured sternly. “My room is paid up until tomorrow night and it has a nice, big shower.” She curled her tongue behind her teeth in a perfect imitation of his patented leer, her eyes trailing suggestively over him. “And you’re a very, very dirty boy.”
“Yeah?” he purred, curling an arm around her narrow shoulders and pulling her snug against his side. “Do I get a tongue bath after?”
“If you’re good.”
“Oh, baby, I can be very good…”
Their voices faded down the alley. Behind them, a curvy brunette detached herself from the shadows, shoulders drooping and full mouth in a permanent pout as she watched them walk away.
“I don’t wear Designer Imposter’s!” she huffed before storming away in the opposite direction.
The End
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