“Just take the bleedin’ shot already mate.”

“I am takin’ the bleedin’ shot, blondie.”

The newly souled vampire growled low in his throat even though his eyes held a hint of affection for the young man he was playing pool with. He moved closer to him as he hissed in his ear, “Listen Wanker, I have things to do and places to be. Is this going to take much longer?”

Instead of replying Xander took the shot banking the cue ball just off center of the right hand corner pocket, as the ball zipped back towards him it sliced into the eight ball at just the right angle gliding effortlessly into the side pocket.

“Wanker indeed,” he muttered as he stuck out his left hand palm up. “Fifty bucks, Oh newly souled one.”

The peroxide blonde looked at him then looked over at his girlfriend.

She shrugged and smirked at him, “I am so not giving you fifty bucks. It was your bet, your loss, so you pay the Wanker.” Realizing what she said she tried to cover. “Now you have me talking like you. I am not hanging out with you anymore. Dawn was right the more we are together the more alike we sound. This is so embarrassing.”

She looked over at Xander and said, “Sorry, but you know that was Spike’s fault right.” She gave him a sly smile.

Spike for his part tried to look all innocent and failed miserably.

“Look Buffy someone owes me fifty bucks. I use to think that the newly souled one was a bad influence on you, now I am starting to think it was actually the other way around.” He said the last part almost laughing.

As the interplay went on between the two friends, Willow went over to Spike and whispered in his ear. He stiffened and looked in the direction he saw her eyes looking. Coming up about one hundred feet behind Xander were two guys who definitely looked like they belonged to the undead gang.

Buffy’s spidey senses started to tingle, she nudged Xander to be quiet. Before he could say anything the peroxide blonde spoke quietly, in a voice he recognized from the summer that The Slayer had died. The voice that said, do what I say and do it now.

“Xan, it might be a good idea to put the argument on hold for a bit, mate.”

Much to his credit he just nodded and turned to face the two coming towards them.

As the two approached the table the one in the gray t-shirt hissed out. “Traitor you and your blonde bitch might want to meet us outside in five minutes.”

Buffy started to move forward, Spikes left hand shot out and gripped her right arm as he said in a voice that would stop any sane creature, “Why would I want to do that, mate?”

“If you don’t The Watcher and his woman are going to die. We will meet you in the alley.” Without another word the two turned as one and headed towards the exit.

“Bullocks!” he said under his breath.

“Did he just call me a bitch?”

“People the clock is ticking and he said he has Giles and I think he meant Anya,” said Willow.

Xander shook his head as he said, “That can’t be right, Giles was Dawn sitting tonight. He was supposed to be alone.”

The red head put on her resolve face as her eyes started to flash black, “I am not losing any more of my family to some insane killers.”

“No magic, Wills,” came the firm reply from her boyfriend.

“Fine no magic, but I am still going to kill him.” She extended her right arm straight out and pulled her shirtsleeve up revealing a spring-loaded stake.

The blonde Slayer looked at her and spoke, “I get the leader.”

The red headed ex-witch grinned and pulled her sleeve down.

Spike and Xander just looked at each other and said as one, “Ladies.”

Like a well-oiled machine the four moved away from the table towards the exit.

“I got your back love.” Having said that Spike and Xander moved towards the exit in the back that would lead directly to the alley, while the women moved to the front door.

“You still owe me fifty bucks blondie.”

“Oh for the love of…,” Spike sputtered, “can we not talk about till after?”

“Yeah, and after you are still going to owe me.”

They made it to the exit and out the door into a circle of seven vamps. Sensing them he moving Xander behind him against the wall. Ignoring the vamps, he said “Yeah, mate I know fifty bucks. Ya know you made a lucky shot.”

The vamps looked confused for a moment as the two didn’t seem to notice them, for their part the two both pointed their arms straight out as twin stakes shot out from spring loaders hidden in their sleeves. Two vamps exploded into a cloud of dust. The others looked on in confusion as the center vamps exploded into twin dust clouds. A female voice spoke.

“It’s not polite to ignore the ladies, boys.”

“Freeze or the Watcher and his woman die.”

Moving without seeming to move at all, Spike’s left hand shot out a stake going into the chest and an inch above the heart of the black haired vamp. He cried out in pain and surprise.

His blonde counterpart moved with equal speed her right hand shooting out and staking the leader in the stomach. Before he could even cry out she gripped his throat and pulled him towards her as she spoke in a cold hard voice, “I want my Watcher and his woman or you are going to die slowly, got it?”

Spikes left hand jerked the stake out of the black haired vamp as he stabbed him once more on the other side of the heart. “Now, boy. Answer the lady, Where are our friends?”

As they spoke, Xander took Willow’s cell phone and dialed Giles’ cell. He spoke into it for a few seconds and then hung up. “Buffy, Giles is at home with Dawn. They lied!”

Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. Twisting the throat of the vamp she held, she told him, “Don’t ever call me a bitch, you bastard.” With her other hand she slowly pushed the stake into his chest over his heart. The vampire’s eyes went wide with shock and pain. “Don’t ever threaten my family and don’t ever try to set me up again.” Her eyes narrowed as she pushed against the spike and the vampire on the receiving end, dusted.

Spike for his part slipped into game face, “Want to know what I hate being called more then anything in the worlds.” The vamp he held by the throat shook his head and tried to growl through a crushed larynx.

Relishing the fear in the vamps eyes he leaned in close and whispered so only the vamp could hear, “Traitor!” Then without a thought he pulled back his head and snapped it forward, his fangs slipping painfully into the vampires throat, drinking greedily, he sucked down the borrowed blood flowing through his veins, dropping the drained body of the vampire, it exploded into dust as it hit the floor.

“Oh gross,” said Xander. Willow made gagging sounds as if she was going to throw up and Buffy for her part went to her love and put her arms around him. He shook off his game face and looked at Xander.

“So we are even right. I dusted two of them to your one. By rights mate you owe me.”

Xander put his arms around his girlfriend protectively as she slowly straightened up. “I never want to see you do that again Spike, that was just gross. I mean I never even knew a vampire dusted if he was drained.”

“So your saying watching me eat is gross?”

“Yeah, it is.”

“Xan, I have seen you eat and it is not a pretty site you chew like a cow.”

As they verbally sparred with one another Buffy went over to Willow to make sure she was all right. “Wills?”

She nodded at her girlfriend and smiled weakly at the two arguing. Both girls looked at each other and rolled their eyes laughing.

“I do not chew like a cow.” He glared at the blonde vampire. “And you still owe me fifty bucks!”

“I tell you what mate, double or nothin’?”

Xander moved over to his redheaded girlfriend and took her arm in his and pulled her against him, kissing her gently. As he broke the kiss she smiled at him. “Your on.” He said as he started to lead them all back towards The Bronze.

Buffy moved effortlessly into Spikes open arms as he kissed her deeply, running his hands up and down her sides, sending shivers through her.

About two minutes later a small slap on his right arm brought him back to reality, he growled and looked at the small redhead who had delivered the blow.

“Will you two stop doing that every chance you get?” She giggled.

The two looked at one another and smiled as one saying, “No!” Then their mouths found each other’s as they licked and sucked at one another’s tongues, each moaning in the back of their throats.

“I swear if you two don’t stop doing that I am going to get a hose,” said an annoyed male voice as a female voice said in lusty voice, “If you can’t beat them…”

“Join ‘em.” Said a male voice just before the two slipped into each other’s arms and emulate their two friends.

The redhead giggled at her companion as they sat around the quadrangle of the college campus. “You are not evil, oh peroxide blonde one.”

He put his hand over her mouth in one smooth movement and said in as serious a voice as he could muster, “Shhh, I have a reputation to maintain, Red. You trying to blow my cover?” His blue eyes sparkled as he spoke.

She pushed his hand away from her mouth and got a serious look on her face as she tried to phrase what she wanted to ask. “How do you do it?”

See the expression on her face he asked softly, “Do what, luv?”

“Live with what you did in the past?”

He took a deep breath not wanting to go into his past but knowing he had no choice. She was one of his friends. Funny that, friends, two years ago he would have drained her dry if he could have, three years ago before the chip he would have done it. Without remorse, no guilt, just his way of surviving, in retrospect he would not have given it a second thought. He shivered at the thought and felt a momentary twinge of sorrow and guilt. Not for the first time he thought of his now immortal soul and the guilt of his past washed over him. Forcing his face to remain free of his tumulus emotions, he considered her question.

“Willow, I take one day at a time.” He smiled as he recalled Buffy telling him to take baby steps and then continued. “A friend told me when I returned from Africa that I needed to take things one step at a time, baby steps if you will.” He shrugged and then smiled at her genuinely. “That’s what I do, that’s what you need to do.”

She broke down and felt her heart constrict in her chest as her thoughts took her back to the night of Tara’s death, two short months ago. Tears streamed down her face as her breath came in great gulps. He gathered her into his arms and stroked her hair softly and spoke loving words to her. Trying his best to calm her. The woman in his arms hiccupped and pressed her tear-moistened face into his shoulder.

For a few minutes he just held her, knowing that was what she needed more than anything else. Finally her small body settled down as her breathing evened out a bit. He continued sharing with her, a piece of himself, something at this point he had only done with Buffy. “Red, Warren deserved to die. He deserved to die for what he had done to Tara and the other woman he murdered.”

She lifted her tear stained face off his shoulder and looked into his face, “But, I…I murdered him, Spike. I judged him and found him guilty. Then carried out the death penalty and every night I see Tara’s face as she crumbled at my feet. Then his face as he begged for his life. Every…night...I…relive it.”

“Shhhhhhh, it’s alright, Wills, your not alone, you don’t have to face this alone. You have Xander, Buffy, The Watcher, Lil’ Bit, and me. We’re here. You’re not alone. We all miss her, pet.”

He dried her eyes with the pads of his thumbs as she spoke in a voice so soft that had it not been for his vampiric hearing he would have had trouble understanding her.

“She was my life Spike, it’s not fair that I had just gotten her back. I miss her so much. Sometimes at night I wake up and start looking for her, then I remember she isn’t here anymore.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond to that, his own heart aching for her. He knew that if he didn’t have Buffy, regret for all the cruel things he had done in the past would have pushed him over the edge.

“Then grieve for her, pet, just keep in mind if you ever want to talk. I’m here to listen.”

She sniffed once and smiled at him. “Thanks, Spike.”

In response he kissed the top of her head and just held her. At that moment Buffy and Xander came around the corner of a building and saw them. They walked over to them.

“So Spike something you want to tell me?” She said in a teasing tone.

“What do ya mean, pet?”

“Like why you’re holding my girlfriend in your arms and kissing the top of her head?”

“Oh that well, there actually is a good explanation for that love.” He stopped and looked into her hazel eyes over the top of Willow’s head, his classic smirk evident on his chiseled features.

The love and savior of his life crossed her arms across her chest and looked back into his blue eyes. “I’m waiting!” She said as she tapped her left foot with mock impatience.

The redhead looked up at her girlfriend and said, “Spike and I decided. I get you and he gets Xander.”

For his part Xander looked at the peroxide blonde and made a gagging sound. Then sobered and said happily, “Hey, if I get the Buffster then I would be up for a trade.”

The redhead quickly disengaged herself from around the souled vampire and jumped into her boyfriend’s arms and kissed him deeply. As they came up for much needed air he gasped out, “Or maybe not.”

Buffy moved over to her lover and said with a wink and a smile, “Just remember whom you belong to vampire.”

He smiled as he took her into his arms and said in a mischievous voice, “Willow?”

She pressed herself against him and her lips found his as she teasingly bit the lower one and sucked at it. Her hands sliding down his hard stomach until she cupped him.

He gasped out, “You…I meant you.”

She caressed him through his pants and whispered huskily into his ear, “Don’t make me hurt you, baby.”

“Please,” he moaned and then kissed her passionately. His own hands sliding along her ass pulling her roughly against him as she moaned into his mouth.

“Guy’s,” said Xander, “uh, we’re still here. Broad daylight, college campus, remember?”

Reluctantly the two lovers parted and the blonde said looking into her lover’s eyes, “Pity.”

“Buffy, you are so bad.”

“Wills, I was never like this before him. It’s his fault he corrupted me. I swear, I’m of the innocent.”

“Yeah, blame the vampire,” said Spike.

“Can I help it if I am madly in love with you? Is it my fault you know exactly what I like? Exactly how to touch me?” She asked innocently, all the while both breathing heavily and looking into each other’s eyes.

All he could do was smile and move in for another kiss.

The other couple laughed at their friends and each took the other by the arm and pulled them apart.

Buffy and Spike both whimpered at the loss of contact.

“So anyone up for lunch?” Asked Xander.

“Lunch would be good,” replied Willow.

“Fine,” growled a frustrated vampire, “but I would rather just move on to the desert.”

The bleached blonde Slayer took her boyfriend’s hand in hers and walked with their friends in silence for a bit.

Whispering to themselves the two blondes walked a little behind the redhead and the brunette. “So what did you and Wills talk about?”

“She was feeling bad about Tara and killing Warren. I was telling her how to cope with the…” he swallowed and inhaled deeply, “guilt. I told her what you said, baby steps.”

She nodded and kissed him on the cheek, her heart swelling with pride. “You’re a good man, baby.”

He squeezed her hand lovingly and growled, “I keep telling you, pet, I’m evil.”

She wasn’t buying any of it, “In your dreams, Fang Breathe.”

He jerked her to a stop and turned her to him, the backside of his left hand trailing softly down the side of her right cheek. She shivered slightly at the contact and the look in his eyes. “Think I’m not evil, Slayer. Wait till we get home.”

She swallowed hard with instant lust just from that contact and the sound of his voice, “Yes, sir.” Without even so much as a thought she said, “Can we go home now?”

He laughed at his lover and tugged her against him as they started to walk to catch up to their friends. “Eat first love. Then desert.”

She swallowed again feeling herself grow moist and wondered how she was ever going to make it through lunch.

Continued...