Chapter Three
(Megan Peta's bday chappie :P)
A/N: Inner thoughts are in // //.


Buffy had literally cried all day and surprisingly, Spike had let her. Spike’s t-shirt was soaking wet, his clothes were covered in her scent, and his cock was hard enough to cut diamonds. Yes, he still hated the bint, well mostly, but having her hot cunt squirming around on him all day had him ready for a 'Hey, we’re not in hell shag." But instead, here he lay trying to comfort her when he knew as well as she did that Angelus probably had killed them all. Maybe even Dru. The wanker was insane after all. So, he just held the girl tightly and murmured encouraging words as he every so often kissed the top of her head.

Buffy felt the uncomfortable rod under her, and it had taken her hours to figure out why Spike had a lead pipe in his pocket. When she had finally figured out that said rod was one of flesh and blood, she found herself to be surprisingly unsquiggy about it. At that moment, she’d been too caught up with her grief over losing her family to act on it in anyway. Either slapping him for his audacity or screwing him silly came to mind, but both would have taken too much effort at the time.

As night fell the two exiled champions slowly lost their battle against the land of nod, and they gave in to the temptation of sleep. Their bodies and minds were spent from the mental and physical exertions of the last two days. Neither would remember who fell first, but soon it didn’t matter. They fell asleep with Buffy still sitting astride of Spike's lap. For the first time, Buffy slept in Spike's arms, and both felt comforted. Each found that in each other’s arms a sense of home, yet neither would admit it.
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The next morning, Buffy woke first and realized that strangely Spike wasn't dusting in the early morning sun. And the sun? She wondered if she had ever seen one where the sky was blood red and yet sky blue at the same time. Buffy gasped aloud at the beauty surrounding them.

The sky gave way to pastoral land around them on three sides: wide open plains with grass that looked almost as if it were mowed really long on occasions and white, wild flowers growing, perfuming the air with a honey scent. In the distance, mountains appeared to reach above the slight cloud cover. On the fourth side, trees stretched as far as she could see; they were squat trees covered in either pink or yellow flowers. A small brook ran through the trees babbling in a low, almost whisper making the place seem completely restful.

"This is hell?" Buffy asked aloud. "Then I got to see what heaven looks like."

A snort came from beneath her as Spike rose up slightly to look around himself. Despite being almost as awed as Buffy at their surroundings, Spike decided to tease the Slayer. "Bloody hell! No TV? No hot showers? If you want to eat, you have to hunt it, kill it, clean it then cook it over an open fire? Sounds like hell to me luv."

Buffy looked back down at Spike surprised at her own lack of embarrassment at their situation. "Do you have to be an ass Spike?"

"Just wanting you to see both sides of the situation, luv," Spike informed her seriously.

"Spike, as strange at it seems, I think this might be heaven." Buffy gave the vampire an arch look. "Though how you got here is anybody's guess."

"If you’re looking for heaven, luv," Spike said, cocking his head slightly and running his tongue over his teeth. He smirked at her, saying, "I can show you heaven, and why I'm here."

Buffy rose off of him, forcing a look of disdain on to her face as she looked around the clearing. "You aren't taking me to heaven Spike," she said, making air quotes with her fingers at the word heaven. //You aren't taking me to heaven, yet,// her inner voice finished for her. "Now, I need to relieve myself; find something to eat."

Spike continued smirking at her as she walked away. His smirk only disappeared as a dart hurtled out of the woods and into Buffy's neck. Even as she fell, Spike was rushing to her to protect her. As a result, he never saw the dart that hit him, and then his world faded to black.
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Spike awoke to the sounds of a woman screaming. //Buffy's screams,// he altered slightly as his mind became fully awake. He opened his eyes to see Buffy chained to a wagon wheel on what appeared to be an old style, gypsy-type wagon.

Buffy was tied facing the wagon as a large, green demon used a whip on her. Her shirt hung in tatters at her waist where the whip had ripped it apart. Slayer's blood flowed freely down her back. Spike didn't even take the moment to wonder why it had taken him so long to awaken – the scent of Slayer’s blood was so strong - as he dove forward, only noticing at that second that he too was chained to a wagon's wheel.

By that time his demon had come out in full force as he reached across, and with both hands, he began pulling on the chain that held his right hand in place. The chains might be unbreakable. The wagon wheel’s spoke proved defiantly of the breaking variety. He quickly pulled the left one free, noticing now the number of other purple haired green demons.

When his left hand was free, he wrapped the chains around his hands and raced into the seven demons between him and the demon whipping Buffy. It took him mere seconds to destroy the squad of demons, ripping them to pieces as he went. When the last demon fell, Spike hit their leader in his temple and watched the demon fall to his knees unconscious.

Buffy, however, was chained to the wagon wheel itself and not the spokes. Spike pulled mightily on the chains but neither seemed to give. Buffy appeared to have passed out, so Spike looked around him for some way to release her. He saw a head of black hair peeking out of one of the wagons.

"You there, do you have the key?" he yelled to the terrified woman.

"He has it," she told him, her voice a terror-filled whisper, as she pointed at the unconscious demon leader.

Spike walked back over to him and hit the demon again for good measure before rifling through the thing's purse in search of the key. Upon finding it, he crossed back to Buffy and unchained her. She fell into his arms as she bled all over him.

The mottled noonday sky shone over them as Spike lovingly took Buffy towards the wagon in which the woman he had spoken to had been hiding. He asked the lady, "You have a first aid kit?" When she didn't seem to understand he amended, "Medicines that will help her back?"

The woman hurried through the wagon and opened the back door. As Spike entered, he saw several more women standing around a bed. He lay Buffy face down on top of it, and the women all started rubbing an ointment into the Slayer's skin.

"What are ya gonna do with Darni?" one of the women asked.

"Darni?" Spike asked.

"The one you left alive," the first one supplied.

"Oh, I figure he likes the whip so much, I'll give him a taste before I kill him."
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Over the next two days Buffy faded in and out, but every time she was awake, Buffy discovered Spike right there holding her hand or wiping her brow, trying to get her to eat. As weird as it sounded, Spike he was the first person besides her mom to ever be there like that for her. She ate as much as she could each time before losing consciousness. She did, however, get brief glimpses of the room she occupied. It was very small, but beautifully made. Old wooden walls and furniture made it obvious to her that none of it had been made in a factory. The carvings were beautifully crafted and the surfaces were nearly mirror-like.

The women of the camp told Spike that Buffy had had a fever. A fever on top of the beating had nearly killed her, and Spike was amazed at how scared that made him. She was his enemy; wasn't he supposed to crave her death? Evidently not; because he could feel his demon’s desire to kill Darni and his followers all over again.

Three times so far other demons had challenged him for the lives of 'his' slaves'. Their violent deaths had barely allowed him to control his anger. Of course, their gold and weaponry helped as well. However, the bloody women on these wagons were driving him crazy. Always calling him 'master', but he would deal with that after Buffy awoke.

Charena watched her new master caring for the young woman. If she hadn't been so afraid she would have laughed outright. One minute he was crooning softly, then the next, he was telling her how much he hated her. Of course, this added to Charena’s fear. If he could hate someone he obviously loved so much, they were truly doomed. Yet as reluctant as he was to be called master, it might be the tiny woman-child that was his master as well. Charena shuddered. She had seen the male rip apart the worst bandits and robbers in the area, and he had never used a weapon. If his “mistress” was more powerful than him, then she and her fellow slaves were doomed.

"Sira?" she asked hesitantly, "may we eat now?"

"Wot?" Spike said, lost at her words.

"May we eat, sira?" Charena asked again, her fear tangible.

"Are you hungry?" Spike asked. At her quick nod, he added, "Then eat."

The woman turned to leave, but Spike cut her off. "Wot is your name, luv?"

"Charena, if it please you, sira," she replied, her head bowed.

Spike let out a bellow of pained laughter. "Luv, not my business wot your name is. Your name, your choice."

He looked over the rail thin woman. "How many times a day do your people eat, luv?"

"Thrice daily," she answered quickly. "Morning, lunch, and evening."

"Then from now on you may eat then without asking," Spike said proud to get that out of his way.

"You grant us this freedom, sira?" Charena gasped, not knowing how to react to this degree of freedom.

"Luv, if I don't I might forget to tell you. Don't want you lot starving on me," Spike said, if only the woman understood how much his own minions’ questions had annoyed him.

"Thank you sira," Charena replied; completely in tears as she left. Her heart had been lifted by his unexpected kindness.

"Oh and luv, could you bring the Slayer something?" Spike asked gently.

"Of course sira." His kind request soothed her fears even more.

After the woman had left, a weak, sing-songy voice called from the bed behind him, "Sira, can Buffy get fed?"

Spike rushed to her side.
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However, Buffy couldn’t leave the bed until the next morning. When she was able to, Buffy was surprised to discover that the small, beautiful room actually was the inside of a very garish looking wagon. She found the wagon's exterior to be as finally crafted as its interior, even though it had been painted bright green and gold. Regardless, Buffy could tell the wagon was expensive.

The women outside were dressed as garishly as the wagons – wild, exotic clothes over too thin bodies. They made Buffy feel fat.

Yes, she was in denial. Buffy knew that, but what does she say to her worst enemy, when he had sat at her bedside for God knows how long, petting and pampering her when she was deathly ill? Who was, even now, guiding her down the wagon steps and towards the cook fires and the people there? What does she say to her worst enemy who kept holding her hand and smiling at her as if she was the only woman alive? Why hadn’t anyone ever treated her like this before? And if Spike had treated Dru like this, then the woman was even more insane that Buffy had thought. But then again, she guessed so was she, because both she and Dru had chosen Angel back then.

"Spike?" Buffy started almost unable to meet his eyes. "Whose wagon have I been sleeping in?"

"No idea love," Spike answered, leading her to the fires.

The food was limited, and Spike quickly decided that if he wanted the Slayer healthy, he would have to spend a bit of gold soon. "Charena?" he asked the girl, "are there any villages nearby where we could buy some food?”

"Of course sira," the girl replied, smiling gently at Spike. "But do you not wish to hunt?"

"Of course love, as soon as the slayer gets through, I'll scare us up something." He found himself smiling at the thought of a hunt.

Buffy didn't want to be jealous but she was. Even though, Spike still held her hand and had his other hand wrapped around her protectively, Buffy felt a surge of jealousy at Spike paying the other girl attention. One of the older women, fortunately, caught her look.

"Mistress?" the older woman asked Buffy, "are you well enough to travel?"

"Yes, thank you," Buffy responded almost automatically, then asked, "Is it your wagon we have been sleeping in?"

"All the wagons are yours, mistress," the older woman answered, almost dumfounded by the question.

Buffy remembered the way Charena had acted before then asked again, "Is it the wagon you usually sleep in?"

"Yes mistress, if it pleases you," the woman answered, suddenly afraid.

"Then Spike and I thank you for letting us sleep in your wagon," Buffy stated, hiding her annoyance at the woman's fear. "We will be out of it as soon as we are able."

"But mistress, where will you and the sira sleep?" Charena asked perplexed.

"Where did Darni and his lot sleep?" Spike asked gently.

"Wherever they would," the girl answered in a small defeated voice.

Buffy thought for a second, and then as she grasped the implications of the girl’s embarrassed words, she uttered, "Oh, oh."

"I'm sorry," Buffy told the girl as she stepped forward and gave the reluctant Charena a hug. "That stops now. We would never force anything like that on you." She looked at Spike for confirmation.

"Of course love," Spike informed Buffy softly.

After they had eaten, Spike lead Buffy back to the wagon with nothing resolved about where the two would be sleeping or for that matter if they would be sleeping alone or together.
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Spike reentered the campsite just before dusk with the horse he had taken with him. Tied to the horse were three dead deer-like creatures and four large birds that resembled ducks. He knew the meat wouldn't feed the group for long, but the deer had come from a very large herd. Unlike Earth where he would have been lucky to find five deer together, Spike discovered these creatures roamed in large packs. Weirder still had been the fact that the deer had made a fight of it instead of running.

The campsite itself was a bustle with activity: women cooking and cleaning, the children seeing to the horse, and Buffy sitting on the back steps of the wagon looking decidedly healthier than she had this morning. The waning light of the sun cast a reddish shade to the entire scene making Spike wonder why he felt suddenly attached to the annoying bint. Oh he could deny it, and he did, but Buffy had moved into his heart more quickly than any before her. She had changed from her bloodied, blue jeans and silk blouse of this morning to a short linen dress with her old belt around her waist which better showed off her figure. Spike wondered if she even knew she was doing these things to him.

Buffy watched Spike walk into the clearing. She had started feeling a strange, erotic connection to Spike. She didn't know if it stemmed from their mutual sacrifice or from the time they had spent together since they had arrived here, but whatever it was, Buffy liked it. His lean, predator-like grace took her breath away, as she watched him lead his horse out into the open.

Buffy studied him and decided that she wanted him, not like with Angel; oh it's so romantic, wanted. No, she wanted Spike upside down and side ways. It didn't matter when; it didn't matter where, she just wanted him and soon. As she stood to go him, she saw the things tied to the saddle of his horse.

"OH MY GOD Spike, you killed Bambi," Buffy said with horror in her eyes. "You killed Bambi and his two sisters!"

"Buggering hell Slayer!" Spike said, flabbergasted. "We bloody well need to eat, and they're all females."

"You have something against females?" Buffy asked wide-eyed.

"No you irritating bint, the females were bigger and usually the meat is more tender," Spike ground out, wondering why he had just been thinking about how beautiful this woman was. She was still a bleedin’ teeny wanker.

"I'm not eating that," Buffy stated, wondering what she had thought she had seen in the annoying vampire.
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"YES," the darkened figure stated as he looked into the bowl. "I have found her Barchian."

Barchian, a small, humanoid figure with a face like a hound dog, answered, "Are you sure Master?"

"Yessssss Barchian." The cloaked figure giggled gleefully. "This Buffy Summers will be my queen.


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