Chapter 5

Buffy stared at the door, dreading the thought of opening it to another night of Kathy, the roommate from hell. Well, maybe more metaphorically than actually, but she really, really grated on her nerves.

Starting college hadn’t worked out like she’d expected. Her roommate was driving her nuts, her mom was already turned her bedroom into a storage closet, effectively booting her out of her safety net, and she couldn’t retreat to Giles’ place because he had a woman in his apartment, which in and of itself gave her the wiggins.

Then there was the overwhelming round of classes, huge amounts of reading, and recruitment for this group and that organization every time she crossed the campus. Top that off with the usual slayer stuff, like the showdown with Sunday, and she was fairly certain higher education was not all it was cracked up to be.

Was it only a few weeks ago she’d fantasized during her little pep talk with Willow about the carefree college existence? Finding a new uber-cool boyfriend that would wipe all thoughts of Angel from her mind, floating from mixer to social to an occasional class? Wasn’t that the way things happened in the movies?

She inserted the key in the lock and entered the room, silently nodding and beaming a fake smile for Kathy’s benefit as she grabbed her shower stuff to prepare for bed. Maybe it was just a period of adjustment. Maybe the first week was the hardest.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike entered the lounge at the Tropicana. He’d found a vamp named Brian, highly recommended, with some knowledge of excavation, apparently a graduate student in engineering before being turned. For the right price and sufficiently vague information on what they were really after, he’d cinched the deal. His car was in good shape; he was ready to return to Sunnyhell.

Plans finalized, he was set to indulge in one more night of intoxication to forget the look on Dru’s face as she’d walked away from him. He pulled up a stool and ordered a double. Several hours and many drinks later, he suddenly became aware of a presence beside him. He inhaled the less than subtle perfume and turned blearily to stare at the blonde next to him.

"Hi handsome, what’s your name?" She flipped her long pale tresses over her shoulder as she batted her eyes and Spike squinted, trying to focus on her face through his alcohol induced haze. Not human, he could tell that. He patted the hand she’d laid on his knee, yep, a lady vamp, nice, cool . . . Dru. Oh bugger, he could feel the tears welling up again.

"Oh, what’s wrong? Tell Harmony all about it." The nice lady vamp patted him on the back and he found himself crying out the whole story as she urged him closer and laid his head on her shoulder.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike stretched as he slowly shook off the dullness of his drunken slumber. He had to stop hitting the bottle like that. Wasn’t going to bring her back, and wasn’t really helping him forget. He suddenly became aware of movement beside him and turned sharply to behold a shapely female figure just barely concealed by satin sheets. She slowly sat up, letting the covers fall away as she moved towards him. "Did my Blondy-bear sleep good? You were so amazing last night! And I know when we get to France it’ll be even better. ‘Cause Paris is the City of Lovers, right?"

Spike groaned as bits and pieces of the previous night after leaving the bar trickled back. Harmony, that was her name, he thought, had prattled on and on, but she’d also done a very appealing strip-tease and given him quite a good seeing to. The combination of her cool skin and blonde California girl looks as she’d deep-throated him had totally done him in as he vacillated between fantasies of Dru and the Slayer and he distinctly recalled more than one round of shagging before he’d finally collapsed. He wasn’t entirely sure why she was babbling on about France, though. He began slowly moving towards the edge of the bed.

"Oh Spikey, is it time to leave? I’m almost packed. Just think, after we find that treasure in Sunnydale, we can go to France, and I can shop all I want! Do you think French food will agree with me?" She giggled, "You get it? French people are like French food!"

Spike shuddered and began rapidly searching for his pants. What had he told her last night? He had to get away. "Searching for these, Blondy-bear?" He turned to find Harmony holding his pants.

"Exactly, luv, thanks so much." He leaned in for the garment just as she tossed them over her shoulder and instead reached for a certain part of his anatomy which sadly refused to listen to his brain and began to respond avidly to her touch. She suddenly dangled a pair of handcuffs in front of his nose. "Oh, I think maybe there’s another way you could thank me Spikey."

He considered briefly swatting her aside, grabbing the pants and leaving. But Sunnydale wasn’t that far and a few more hours wouldn’t hurt. He growled and launched them both back onto the bed. They’d still make it before daybreak, and he was a sucker for a pair of cuffs.

Harmony smirked as he fastened the frail bracelets to her wrists. Men were so easy sometimes. She’d picked up on the gossip when Spike had breezed into town a few days ago. He clearly had something big he was sitting on and she was tired of Vegas. She needed a sugar daddy and she was pretty sure she’d found one.

Besides it didn’t hurt any that he was incredibly hot and quite, oh, oh, oh yes . . . She was momentarily distracted from her plans as he shifted angles and continued to pound into her with enthusiasm . . . very good in bed. Now if he’d just shut up about Dorcas or whatever her name was, things would be great. Well Dorcas and that one time she’d have sworn he called out Buffy last night. What was up with that? Didn’t matter, he was her Blondy-bear now.

~*~*~*~*~

Buffy stared at the doorknob. She was so much happier with Willow as her roommate now that Kathy the Wonder Demon had moved out, but a roomie with a boyfriend had certain, well, down sides. The prearranged signal was hung on the door and she remembered now that a slightly blushing Willow had mentioned that Oz would be coming over after rehearsal and might stay for a bit. She turned and meandered down the hall. Where to go, where to go . . .

Library? It was too big, all cavernous and official looking. She felt lost in there. Kinda made her nostalgic for the old Sunnydale High library, even if it was smack over the Hellmouth. Who really needed all those books anyway?

Maybe she could stop by and see Giles? Ick, who knew what she’d find him doing this time. She was pretty sure Olivia had left town, but Giles really seemed to be having one of those mid-life crisis thingies.

Xander? No wait, Xander was working some night job now, delivering pizzas.

Mom? Buffy decided a parental visit wouldn’t hurt things, maybe she could get some spare cash and a good meal out of it. She made her way across town to Revello, doing a sweep or two of the more neglected cemeteries on that side of town now that she had relocated, and finally made it to her house.

The lights were all out and she remembered as she unlocked the door that her mom had mentioned something about an extended buying trip that she’d put off until Buffy started college. She went into the kitchen and rummaged through the cabinets until she found the makings for a P, B & J sandwich and then retreated to her room, happy to see her mom had cleared out the boxes that had been there the last time she’d dropped by.

It wasn’t that late. Should she call Parker? Aside from that weirdness with Kathy, who had obviously been as interested in stealing Buffy’s potential boyfriend as her soul, he’d seemed like a nice guy the few times she’d bumped into him. Quite the cutie as Willow would say, helpful and clearly interested.

Okay, she was falling into that same old, looks kinda like Angel trap, but Parker was nothing like Angel. She snorted to herself. Please. He was, well, he was human. And he liked to talk - Angel was always a little on the quiet side. A little broody. And Parker was serious, but in a good way, he wasn’t all crazy party all the time frat boy, but he seemed to be interested in having fun.

Yep, she definitely had felt some sparkage. Willow had been right, she just needed to get into college girl mode, break the cycle. And if the moment came, maybe she would just carpe diem with Parker. Who needed a one-night stand? This could definitely be the real thing. And with that thought, Buffy drifted off into a pleasant dream land of a world with her new boyfriend, Parker Abrhams.

* * *

Chapter 6

Three days later, Buffy hummed happily as she flitted around her room. A date with Parker. Sure, there was the minor annoyance of Harmony being back in town, and a vampire to boot, but on the whole, things were looking up. Besides, how much trouble could Harmony really be? She flipped through the closet, searching for the right outfit. Something that was sophisticated, but not slutty, open to possibilities but not desperate. Settling on a halter and her leather pants, she focused on her makeup as Willow entered the room.

"Getting ready for the date with Parker?"

Buffy nodded. "Oh, I still haven’t been able to track down Harmony, but she’ll turn up. I’m surprised anyone with her lack of brains has managed to make it this long anyway." She finished applying her lipstick, then swiveled for Willow’s approval. "How do I look?"

"You look great Buffy, Parker won’t know what hit him. So do you think you two…" Willow arched her eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh, I don’t know about that. It’s just, I think maybe there’s a real connection, you know? Maybe that was the problem this summer, I just kept trying to rush things. I’m just going to go slowly and see what happens."

Willow nodded. "A good solid plan Buff."

The knock on the door interrupted their conversation. "Oh, that’s him - you and Oz have a good night too, he’s playing at the Bronze again, right?"

"Um-hm, and then we’re going to crash at his place if you, you know, need the room."

Buffy smirked at the redhead. "Maybe I will."

~*~*~*~*~

The party was proving to be more than a little dull. Spike’s eyes roved across the crowd of intoxicated easy catches as Harmony continued to suck on the neck of their latest victim. She’d been quite sweet since he’d agreed to take her out and he was anticipating some kinky sex by the time they made it back to the caverns they’d set up camp in while they continued the excavation. He’d been quite surprised at some of the things she’d been agreeable to and had even suggested, but he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth. She’d certainly proven to have her uses, even if she did have the most grating voice he’d possibly ever heard in more than a century of existence.

He looked around again. It was just too easy. No fight, no struggle, just a smirk from him or a bat of the eye and a giggle from her and they’d lured more than one unsuspecting co-ed in for a little snack. Course he’d had to discourage her from actually killing anyone at the party, too much attention was not what they needed now.

Suddenly he was tired of watching Harmony engrossed in their young friend. He had better uses for her mouth tonight.

"Alright, Harm, enough, you’ve had you fun. It’s time to go."

She turned to him, lips still smeared with blood and pouted. Quite the messy eater, his little Harm. He leaned over and licked her lips clean. "Now, now, none of that. I have plans for you."

Harmony continued to pout. "But this one’s so sweet. Can I please take him with us? Please?"

"Harmony, we discussed this before we left. We don’t want to raise suspicion. Take another nip there, pet, then we’ll go."

"Oh but Spikey, please? What if I let you…" She leaned in and began to whisper in his ear and Spike’s eyes grew wide. Well, well, he hadn’t been expecting that.

"Very well, bring the boy."

She giggled and they arranged the lad between them so he appeared to be just another drunk freshman. Things were going along fine with their relatively unobtrusive exit, with Spike’s attention more than half distracted by Harmony’s promise, when he suddenly raised his eyes to see none other than the Slayer.

She narrowed her eyes and cocked her head in the way he’d grown so familiar with in his dreams, all fury and righteous indignation that suddenly made him harder than the most lascivious proposal Harmony could concoct. He noted the wanker she was standing with, some pale Angel imitation she’d picked up, and fought the urge to snarl at the boy. Then he pulled it together and decided retreat was the better part of valor on this occasion, tossing the dead weight so they could escape from the party.

He had truly been ready to wring Harmony’s neck by the time they made it back to the lair. Not that the Slayer knew what the Gem was about, but still, her Watcher might. He needed to speed things up before all his carefully laid plans fell apart. Ignoring Harmony, he dug back into the blueprints again. He was sure he’d almost located the exact spot, piecing together the information from the old text and various records of tunnels and excavations around Sunnydale over the last few years until he’d isolated a location that seemed to have been undisturbed, but fit the other clues.

* * *

Chapter 7

Buffy hung up the phone as she finished reporting Spike’s comments to Giles. Why did he have to interrupt her perfect evening? Why couldn’t he just disappear from her life, forever? The last think she needed was yet another annoyingly attractive vampire wandering around town. She froze. Attractive? Where did that come from? Spike wasn’t attractive, he was, well, he was Spike. All Billy Idolish and punked-out. And what was with the coat? Please. That whole bad boy look was just a little overdone.

Right, Buffy, like he doesn’t occasionally end up in your dreams at night. Like a few weeks ago? Who do you think you’re kidding? She blushed furiously as she remembered that dream, then shook her head. Okay, maybe he wasn’t that hard on the eyes, but they were just dreams, just attempts to forget Angel, replace him with someone different. Yeah, but it only works when you dream about Spike, doesn’t it? She shushed her internal monologue as she reentered the party.

Suddenly Parker was in front of her again and she focused her attentions on mending that fence, trying to recapture the mood from before their interruption. The song seemed to mirror her need for something to hold on to and she swayed against him, willing herself to let go and make something of this night, vampires be damned. As the soft kisses increased in urgency, she agreed to his suggestion to leave the party and followed him back to his room.

~*~*~*~*~

"A single, that’s nice."

"Yeah, it’s good to have the privacy, it’s quiet for studying and stuff." He smiled down at her and pulled her to him, gazing at her with his soulful brown eyes. Not like Angel’s, not like Angel’s not like Angel’s, she chanted to herself as she responded to his kisses.

As items of clothing slowly began to fall away, she tried to relax, throw herself completely into the experience. Mental pep talk as he deftly began to unlace her shirt. Ok, Buffy, this is good, this is nice, it’s okay to be a little nervous, haven’t done this in a while, Angelus was lying, you aren’t bad in bed, you really aren’t. You can make this work.

She turned to him with more enthusiasm than she felt and returned his kisses. As his fingers began to caress her, she focused hard on the touch, the feel of his fingers, the tightness that slowly began to grow as her nipples pebbled from his light strokes. She slid her fingers to his waistband and unbuttoned his pants, reaching inside and tentatively touching him. He felt…different, maybe not as large, though she’d never really had the chance to explore Angel the way she’d wanted to. Bet Spike’s bigger too. Whoa, where had that thought come from? She shook it off. Probably a vamp thing, extra endowment, came with the package or something. But this was Parker, non-blood-sucking, soulful human.

She tilted her head back as he pressed kisses along her neck and tried to make encouraging noises, little moans and enthusiastic mmmms. She wasn’t quite as turned-on as she’d hoped, but she was slowly getting there. The last remnants of clothing fell away, and they tumbled to the bed. Buffy arched off the sheet as he slowly slid one finger inside her, stoking her lightly. Now they were getting somewhere. If he’d only, maybe, over just a little. He seemed a little haphazard in his approach, but she wasn’t sure how to tell him. Maybe if she took the initiative….

Just as she started to reach for him, he rolled to the side and opened his nightstand drawer. Oh right, condoms. She mentally thwapped herself. Safe sex, oh so important, she remembered all those lectures from Mrs. Davis’ health class. Yet another non-consideration when sleeping with the undead. She was a little surprised when Parker immediately unwrapped the small sheath and rolled it into place. He moved back over her and settled between her legs.

She gazed up at him as he slowly kissed her again. "You are so beautiful, Buffy, I love being with you like this. It’s like really touching who someone is, really knowing who they are."

She nodded and he slowly began to move, sliding inside her as she instinctively parted her legs and wrapped them around him. "You are so wet, I love how ready you are for me." Buffy nodded again, not quite sure how to respond.

It didn’t hurt. She supposed he was right, she was ready, but she felt unfulfilled, itchy, something wasn’t connecting. It wasn’t like the first time at all, aching need, the touch of cool skin, the feeling of falling from a place she could never go back to. This was a little … mechanical? Like there was a blueprint or something, but no emotion. She tried to focus, tried to stare into his eyes to recapture some of that feeling from earlier in the night when she’d told he she wanted to make a choice. But his eyes were shut and all she could see was the grimace as he continued to move over her.

Okay, c’mon Buffy, don’t just lay there. React. She began to meet his thrusts, searching for some kind of friction against the aching center he’d only briefly teased. His breathing grew harsher as he moved faster and Buffy tried to respond, throwing out a few more moans and ahhhs and oh yes’s as he shuddered to a climax.

He rolled away, discarding the condom, then pulled her against him and dropped a casual kiss on her cheek. "That was great, Buffy." She nodded silently and waited until his breathing evened out before rolling away, feeling twitchy and unsatisfied. Way to fake your orgasm there Buffster…might should have mentioned that you didn’t quite get there.

The sticky sweat of his body made her cringe. She delicately sniffed herself. Okay, so not much better. What was wrong here? She’d done it, she’d finally broken thought the barriers or whatever psychological mumbo-jumbo Willow had spouted and moved on, done the deed, put Angel behind her.

And it had sucked, big time. She had tried, she really had. Of course, despite the various how-to articles in Cosmo, which really didn’t give you much in the way of actually how-to, and a few racy movies, she wasn’t really sure if she had been doing it right. Maybe she should have moved differently, or touched him more or something. That first time, Angel had taken the lead and she’d followed and it was really all a blur now, seemed so far away. That had been all about reaction, instinct, pure emotion, love, something special. So special that it had been a once in a lifetime event, no seconds.

This. Not so much with the special, not so much with the emotion. Not so much with the anything really. She pressed her face into the pillow to muffle her groan. Of course, Parker hadn’t seemed unhappy. In fact he’d clearly gotten his happy. Was it just her then? Did other girls get there more quickly? Maybe she was frigid? Maybe she really was a vamp ho? Maybe real men didn’t get her hot? She rolled over and stared at the ceiling in frustration. At least here, unlike with Angel, she got a second chance. She eyed the slightly snoring Parker before rolling away and watching the numbers change on the digital clock as the night ticked away.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike sat up and grabbed his shirt. His brief dalliance with Harmony had been a release of tension, but then she’d begun whining again. He had to get rid of that girl. Spike looked at his crotch. No more giving in, you hear? Don’t care what she offers or suggests, it’s not worth it. He doubted his cock cared about Harmony’s blathering, but he was sick and tired of hearing about sodding France. He might as well get to work on the drilling.

~*~*~*~*~

Buffy rolled back over. Maybe, if she tried again, it’d be better. A couple of hours had passed as she’d mulled the problem over in her head. Surely he’d be up for a second round by now. She reached into the nightstand and removed another condom, then began to determinedly stroke Parker’s rather limp penis. He slowly fluttered awake.

"Hey there, what’s this?"

She gave him a coquettish smile, "I just wondered if you might be up for seconds?"

Parker’s eyes widened. She’d seemed pretty inexperienced, but apparently had quite an appetite. "Well, sure, Buffy, I think you’re being pretty convincing."

As he slowly hardened, she fumbled a bit but managed to secure the condom as she straddled him. "So you want to be on top?"

Buffy nodded. "Do you mind?"

Parker shrugged, "Okay by me."

She slowly lowered herself, realizing she wasn’t quite as lubricated as before. She eased back and made a second, and then third attempt, before she managed to slide him inside her. "Oh, that’s good, Buffy."

She drew a breath, great, he seemed to like this. She experimentally slid back up and then down, gradually increasing the motion. Okay, lean forward a little, oh there, that was good. She felt her breath start to hitch as she finally began to feel the tingles and sensation of an impending orgasm as she rocked herself hard against him. She slid her hands up his arms, then clutched his shoulders. Oh, she was so close, she could almost, almost….. And then she felt him shudder and moan and felt the limpness between her legs.

"Oh, wow, that was something else, Buff." She sighed and rolled off as he removed the second condom and discarded it. "Do you work out? You’re really . . . strong."

"Um, yeah, sometimes, it’s a, a hobby."

She grimaced as she realized she’d faintly bruised his shoulder in her vain attempts to find some satisfaction, but she knew there was nothing she could do about it, so she rolled away as Parker murmured sleepily and drifted off. Finally, exhausted with the effort of overthinking everything, she fell asleep, frustrated and angry with herself.

* * *

Chapter 8

The next morning was so awkward. The nakedness was much more of an issue in the bright light of day and the halting exchange of greetings, the excuses, the brief passionless kiss were new experiences that frankly she could probably have done without. At least he’s here, not off draining someone.

She made her way back to the dorm, only to find Giles and Willow waiting with the news that Spike was about to uncover some stupid gem and probably unleash havoc. She snorted at the thought. Spike? Please. Well at least she had an outlet for her frustrations now. That or the shower. Might as well be Spike.

~*~*~*~*~

Spike felt the drill shudder as it hit a harder substance than the limestone rock he’d been drilling through for what felt like days now. He stooped drilling and vamped out as he peered into the hole, realizing he’d finally hit metal. Clearly visible was an iron ring affixed to some type of circular cover. He resumed drilling, carefully clearing away the area as he opened up the space more. He licked his lips in anticipation. He was so close, he could almost taste it. Soon he’d be unstoppable.

His focus had attracted the attentions of the others and he knew he needed to clear them out for the moment if he wanted to secure the Gem before they could stumble upon it. Sure, he’d share the wealth of the other goodies, or maybe he’d just stake them all, but for now, he wanted some peace and quiet. The only thing the book hadn’t detailed was exactly what the Gem looked like.

He climbed down from his scaffold and gathered the crew. "Lads, we’re very close. I should be through before long. But, we’re going to need to hole up here while we sort this. Once we’re in, we can’t be running to and fro, don’t want to attract attention now do we?"

As the others nodded, Spike turned to Brian. "Brian, if you will, take the others and find some fresh blood. We’ll need enough to last 3-4 days. Right then? Well, off with you now."

"Spike? It’s daylight now."

Spike rolled his eyes. Yep, once they’d helped him carry out the booty, he was definitely staking this lot. "Use the tunnels, you gits, and stick to the shadows. If you’re right sneaky like, they’ll never expect you in daylight, now will they?"

The others murmured at the cleverness of the plan and immediately began to exit through the tunnel which led to the main artery that ran underneath the town.

Spike climbed back up and slowly pushed on the cover that swung up into the tomb which housed his treasure. He grabbed the lantern and began scanning the room, trying to suss out exactly what the Gem would look like.

He was startled as the high-pitched tones of the inappropriately named Harmony hit his ears. "Ooooh, pretty, can I take stuff?"

Spike shrugged. "Nick whatever you want, I don’t care." He prowled across the tomb to the bier where a mouldering body lay and honed in on the gleaming stone which lay around the demon’s neck. The Gem. This had to be it.

~*~*~*~*~

Buffy massaged her temples as she finally plopped down in the lounge in the basement of Stevenson. She’d spent most of her day trying to find someone who might have sighted Harmony to no avail and she was no closer to finding Spike than she had been that morning. Additionally, after all his comments last night and assurances this morning, Parker had failed to call as promised. Damn it. He had to call. She needed this relationship. It just required communication and well, more sex. She needed practice, but she could do this. She could have a nice, normal relationship, with a nice, normal guy. She knew she could.

She was startled by a voice almost in her ear. "Hello, what’s you name?"

She looked over at the smallish man with the slight British accent. "Do I know you?" He was creepy and something about him seemed off. Oh wait, that was her spidey sense. Duh, vampire.

"No, but I was wondering if you might could give me…" Suddenly he lunged, apparently intent on a surprise attack and she easily pinned him to the ground.

"My name’s Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, not that it matters, since I’m going to kill you now." She kept her knee pinned in his back as she rummaged through her bag for a stake. "Jeez, if Spike were only this easy to find."

"Spike? You’re looking for Spike?" the vamp wheezed.

Buffy suddenly lost interest in the stake. "Yeah, you seen him?"

"If I take you to him, will you let me live?"

Buffy contemplated this for a moment. "He’s the bigger fish, you take me to Spike and I’ll let you go if you leave town, got it?

The vampire nodded and Buffy returned to her search for a pointy wooden object.

"Now, what’s your name?"

"Brian."

"Great. Well, Brian. I have here Mr. Pointy. I can run faster than you, I’m stronger than you, and I can always find another way to get to Spike. So you try anything funny and you’re dust, got it?"

Brian nodded again and Buffy slowly eased up off his back. "Now, take me to the bleached wonder."