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Chapter 34: Battling Demons

Angel was descending the staircase when he heard the call for Giles by Spike, then the growled “now.” The authoritative note in his bellow had Angel rushing down the remaining stairs racing to his side. Angel was just about to open his mouth and object to Spike’s treatment of Buffy at the sight that greeted him. Then he got a look at her face – her vamped, snarling face – and all thoughts of voicing his opinion flew right out the window. Instinctively understanding that Spike needed his support, he walked in the room to stand by his side as Spike sat there straddling Buffy’s waist, his arms pinning her shoulders to the floor. Angel crossed his arms over his chest and gazed down at her. She was definitely a sight to behold – her hair splayed out on the floor, her yellow eyes flashing mutinously up at her Sire as a growl erupted from her lips.

The growl drew a surprised look from Angel; most vampire demons instinctively knew to yield to their Sires, yet Buffy appeared to be the exception to the norm. She blatantly defied her Sire. Spike sensed Angel standing next to him and commented wryly, “Seems we have us a bit of a problem, Sire.” He used the respected title in the hopes that Buffy would recognize the order of things and that he would enforce his will over her, the same way Angel would over him, if necessary. Buffy turned to Angel and growled again, not liking the fact that they were discussing her as if she weren’t even present in the room. The growl at him, Spike could handle; he made allowances due to his feelings for her. But, this second disrespectful growl, directed at Angel – no less – had Spike momentarily seeing red and he reacted before he had time to think about his actions. His demon demanded it. Hell, even Angel’s demon was having fits if his answering growl was any indication. Angel wouldn’t fault him for what he was about to do.

Yanking her head to the side – the one bearing Angel’s, Dracula’s, and the master’s marks – he leaned down and sunk his fangs into her neck. This bite was all about submission, not connection, so he had refrained from biting her on his side. Angel looked on as Spike drank from her, the loss of blood slowly forcing Buffy to yield to him. Eventually, her vampiric demon receded, allowing her human features to shift back into place.

Buffy came out of her violent haze to feel Spike sucking great quantities of blood from her neck. This was no gentle bite either; the sting of it had her whimpering his name.

“Spike?” she asked softly. Her eyes flicked briefly up to Angel’s, confused as to why he was staring back at her in his game face.

Spike retracted his fangs from her neck as he heard Buffy call his name. His human features slid back into place and he quickly licked his lips, removing all visible traces of her blood, before he sat up to stare down into her face. Her confusion tore at him and he wanted to kick himself for what he had done to her. He scrambled off of her prone body and skidded away from her, his back coming to rest against the couch. Buffy didn’t understand what was going on. Spike was putting as much distance between him and her – as if there was something wrong with her – and her eyes watered with unshed tears.

“Spike?” He just continued to stare back at her, refusing to acknowledge her. She looked helplessly back up at Angel.

“Angel?” she whimpered.

Angel’s own human features slipped back into place and he turned and looked at Spike. “It needed to be done, Will.”

Spike self-disgust was evident as he looked up at Angel. His own gaze was hard, before it finally softened, an unnecessary sigh escaping his lips.

“Buffy doesn’t understand what’s going on,” he said, then went on a little more forcefully, determined to prod Spike out of his self-hate. “She needs her Sire.” Those words seemed to propel him into action, fear of further hurting Buffy motivating him to return to her side. He crawled back over to her and scooped her limp body into his arms.

“Weak,” she whispered. “What happened?”

“I’m sorry about that, luv. It was the only way to break the vampire demon’s hold over you,” he said softly, running his fingers lovingly through her hair. He pulled her up so that her face was held close to his neck, leaning his own to the side to give her better access. Buffy needed no further encouragement; her face swiftly shifting to allow her fangs to elongate before sinking them into his inviting neck. Spike barely flinched as her fangs penetrated his skin before she began greedily sucking his blood, quickly restoring her depleted supply. Feeling the strength flow back into her limbs, Buffy released Spike’s neck, pausing to lick the wounds closed, before curling into his body. Spike just held her, grateful she didn’t appear to be upset with him.

All three looked up when Giles came rushing into the room, followed by Wesley, Fred, Dawn, and Willow.

~*~*~*~*~

“What is it? What’s happened?” Giles demanded as he came rushing into the room. He looked over to see Spike sitting on the floor, Buffy curled in his lap. Spike’s head was down, refusing to look at him, so he turned to Angel.

Angel crossed his arms over his chest and glared back at the watcher. Seeing that he wouldn’t get any answers from either vampire unless he calmed down, Giles attempted to rein in his panic. Something that was very hard to do considering how quickly his heart had started pounding as both Willow and Dawn had burst into his room, scaring him half to death – their choked out, “Buffy… Spike… vamped… growling… come now” almost impossible to make any sense from. He didn’t bother to analyze their words, just homed in on the “come now” and raced out of the room after them as they rushed back to the living room.

Putting one hand over his chest to help still his racing heart and the other one on the back of the couch to help support his suddenly wobbly legs, he took a few deep breaths and tried again.

“You’ll have to forgive me. Willow and Dawn came barging into my room completely in a dither and I just rushed down here thinking the worst had happened.”

Angel gave him a slight nod, glancing at the two girls clutching each other in the entryway behind Giles. He returned his gaze to Giles and said, “It appears we’ve reached our first lesson, Rupert. Seems that Buffy’s vampire demon may have wanted to make a snack out of some of the young slayers. Spike had to assert his dominance over her to make her back off.” Angel cast a quick glance at the two still huddled on the floor; neither one were paying him any attention, too focused on the other right now.

“But…Buffy…she has a soul. Why would she do something like that?”

“I don’t know, Giles,” he replied, sighing. “Maybe her demons haven’t reached that ‘compromise’ that was mentioned in the prophecy…who knows? But, she appears to be back to normal. Hell, it was the weirdest thing,” he started, running a hand through his hair in agitation, “One minute she’s this great vampiress, growling and ready to claim her next victim, practically defying her Sire and me to do so. The next, it’s just Buffy, lost and confused.”

“Hmmmm… like the vampire demon completely surprised the First Slayer demon,” Giles murmured. Angel just nodded. “Well, all we can do is keep an eye on her for the time being. And make sure she’s not alone… wait, you said she went after the slayers? Is that correct?”

“That’s right…”

“What about Willow and Dawn? They were in the room, right?”

“Yes…”

“Yet, Buffy didn’t go after them, just the slayers?” Angel nodded, unsure quite where Giles was going with this. “Interesting. It’s like her vampire demon only went after the slayers because it could sense the connection the First Slayer’s demon has with them. Anyway. I still think it’s best that she’s not left alone with anyone right now. Either Spike or you should be with her at all times. Just until we can figure out…”

Angel had started to shake his head at that.

“Look, Angel, I don’t like this any better than you. But, you and Spike are the only ones that can force her vampire demon to submit. Not that I expect something like this happening again, but better to be safe.” Angel’s face became an impenetrable mask once more as the futility of the situation washed over him.

“Alright. But, I want someone researching this. I’m not going to be very happy if I have to be the one to make her vampire demon play nice.” Angelus wouldn’t have minded in the least, but Angel damn sure had a problem with it! Giles had better hope it never came to that.

~*~*~*~*~

The group quickly disbursed. Giles, Fred, Wesley, Dawn, and Willow retreated to the dining room to begin research on the portal that was to open next Thursday and hopefully find a means with which to stop it. Angel told them he would make them all breakfast while they got started, and had both Buffy and Spike help him. The young slayers, rather than wait for Angel to fix them something, grabbed themselves some bowls of cereal and ate in the living room so as not to tempt Buffy by being in the kitchen and because the dining room was full of people in “research-mode.”

Angel got both Buffy and Spike to sit down at the kitchen table – after the slayers had cleared out of the kitchen – to have them cut up some fruit. He figured the useless activity would keep them both occupied while he pulled out the eggs, green peppers, ham, cheese, and other various ingredients and set about making omelets for the people hard at work in the other room.

Angel glanced up from his preparations to see Spike’s shocked face as Buffy tentatively offered him a strawberry. He watched transfixed as Spike slightly raised out of his seat to lean over and take the offered treat from her hands. His eyes shut as his mouth closed around the fruit as well as a few of her fingers. Angel felt like a voyeur as his eyes flicked over to Buffy to take in her reaction. The vision of her own eyes closed, her head slightly tilted back, mouth open in a silent “O” as she savored her Sire’s lips on her fingers was imprinted on his brain and had his cock hardening inside the dress slacks he wore. He ignored his body’s response to the scene playing out before him, too entranced by the sight to look away. His Grand-Childe had always been a sensual creature, the sexual benefits of being a vampire something Spike wholeheartedly embraced once being turned.

Angel never before understood why Spike still insisted on eating normal food, but seeing the obvious pleasure he took in eating the piece of fruit from Buffy’s hand, he was beginning to. Maybe having a soul didn’t mean that he had to constantly deny himself life’s simple pleasures. Spike obviously didn’t seem to have a problem with it now that he had a soul; he was still all about pleasure – simple or otherwise.

The pressure of his cock against his pants had started to ease at his silent introspection. But then he watched as Spike swallowed the fruit before reaching out and hauling Buffy up out of her seat and halfway across the table for a kiss. This was no quick kiss either, his cock hardening once again could attest to that. Once more his gaze locked in on the two figures that appeared oblivious to his presence. From his partially hidden position behind the kitchen island, Angel reached down to adjust himself to relieve some of the pressure his hardened length was causing in the confines of his slacks. He watched as Spike’s tongue slipped out to trace the outer curve of Buffy’s lips. Her mouth parted in pleasure and Spike took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside to mate with her own.

Spike knew how to kiss, his memories as Angelus could attest to that. That tongue of his was capable of inducing the greatest pleasure – greater even than his own Sire, Darla – and that woman had been a whore by trade before she was turned. Their lips weren’t fused together and Angel could see Spike’s tongue as it slipped in and out over Buffy’s, mimicking what he could be doing with his cock if they were back in their room.

Spike smelt the burning eggs before Angel did and opened his eyes to figure out where the offending odor was coming from, his tongue never stopping its languid slide along Buffy’s. His cerulean gaze locked with that of his Grand-Sire’s, the normal chocolate-brown color almost black as his pupils dilated from his--- Spike sniffed the air again, searching. Faintly, under the overpowering scent of burning eggs, he noticed it: arousal. And from the unlikeliest of sources – Angel.

He broke off his kiss from Buffy and gazed at Angel, his own eyes darkening perceptively. Memories of days long past flitted briefly across his mind before being abruptly cut off at Buffy’s quiet groan. The noise seemed to break whatever spell had been cast over the two male vampires and while Spike turned his attention to Buffy, Angel turned around to fix the burned mess that had become of his eggs.

“Later, luv,” Spike replied, his smile promising about pleasure yet to come. Buffy just nodded and started cutting up fruit once more.

“Are you burning something?” Dawn yelled, from her position in the dining room.

“Just trying to get used to your burners!” Angel hollered back. The mumbled response of “God, his cooking is as bad as Buffy’s” had him growling softly, and Spike and Buffy chuckling.

He turned around to glare at the two making fun of him and met Spike’s eyes. Spike gave his classic smirk followed by an impudent wink, fully aware as to the real reason the food had started to burn. ‘Insolent Childe,’ Angel thought, determined to put Spike in his place and wipe that smug look from his face. Angel made sure he had Spike’s full attention before his eyes flashed gold; a wide smile reminiscent of his Angelus days transformed his normally dour countenance before he used his tongue to slowly lick his lips. Spike watched mesmerized as Angel allowed his canines to extend and lightly ran his tongue around them. Before his tongue once more resettled in his mouth, he nicked it, allowing the blood to pool, the scent of it hitting Spike’s nostrils causing them to flare. At the pointed look Angel gave him before retracting his tongue inside his mouth and swallowing his own blood, Spike gulped, and Angel watched as he attempted to shift in his seat to ease what Angel knew to be Spike’s own painful arousal.

Smiling in satisfaction, Angel turned back to the stove to dump the now-charred eggs in the sink and start over. ‘That’ll teach him to goad me.’

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