...~*~...

 Willow's choked cry was muffled by the cool hand clamped against her
mouth.  She went rigid against the hard male body at her back, her
muscles quivering with tension.  The scent of grass and wet earth, so
prevalent only moments earlier, was drown out beneath the smell of
leather and cigarette smoke.  Willow's house keys jangled dully, hanging
from suddenly numb fingers.  Had her arms not been pinned to her body,
Willow would have swung out with the keys, and the small cross affixed
to them.

 "Invite me in, pet," Spike commanded against her ear.  His words came
out on cool puffs of air, stirring the tendrils of hair curling around
her ear, making Willow shiver.

 Willow's eyes widened in horror.  She shook her head in denial,
struggling with all her insufficient strength against the vampire's
hold.

 He hissed.  "Bloody hell, I don't have time for these sort of games."
Still gripping her mouth, Spike released his hold on the witch's waist.
His hand sought out her own, snapping the pinky of her left hand back in
a quick motion.  Willow shrieked in shock and pain against his hand,
tears springing to her eyes.  "That's nothing compared to what I'll do
to you if you don't invite me in _now_, pet."

 She swallowed heavily, fighting back the bile rising in her throat.
She nodded, a tiny, reluctant motion.  Spike's hand slid away from her
mouth, and Willow fought the urge to scrub at the flesh he had touched.
"Come in," Willow said, cradling her injured hand between her breasts.

 All hard angles, strength and leather, Spike was painfully out of place
in Willow's living room.  "How did you do it?" the vampire demanded, his
voice lashing out towards her.  "How did you lock Angelus out of your
head?" The unleashed fury in his voice made Willow flinch back.

 "I... I..." Spike's lips twisted into a snarl, and he stepped towards
her, fist raised in a blow waiting to fall.  Willow forced her
explanation past violently trembling lips.  "I found some exercises,
meditations, almost.  A simple spell, too.  Easy, once I knew that the
dreams were real and how... h--_he_ was getting into them."

 He grabbed her chin, thumb tracing back and forth across Willow's
cheek.  It was a motion that should have been soothing.  When performed
by a demonic killer, the caress couldn't help but be an unspoken
threat.  "I want you to let the bastard back in," Spike whispered,
forcing her head back so that her eyes met his.

 "No... no!  No!  He was using me to hurt my friends.  He's a monster!"
And she had missed his touch during her dreams.  Her sleep had been
restless during the past week, leaving her tired and empty when she woke
each morning.

 He leered at her.  "You more than most should realize that even the
monsters have their charms.  Angelus is quite the talented lover...
You've missed that, haven't you, little girl?  There's nothing in that
head of yours that he won't find out elsewhere, anyway."

 "What do you care?" Willow demanded shrilly.  "If I'm not even
necessary for information, why don't you leave me alone!"

 Spike's fingers tightened around Willow's face.  Painted black
fingernails dug into the soft flesh of her cheeks.  "Do you have any
idea what Angelus is like when he's frustrated?  Do you know where he
relieves all that pent up lust when it's not in you?"  The vampire
leaned forward, his eyes capturing Willow's watering ones.  "He's a
right wicked bastard.  And he turns all that nastiness towards my
Princess."

 "I-- I didn't think--"

 "Read all those Watcher's journals, did you, pet?  Think that my Dark
Goddess enjoys playing the part of Angelus' whore?  Think that she
doesn't hurt, that she isn't screaming by the time he's done with her?"
Spike's fingers gradually loosened.  He smoothed at Willow's hair with
mock tenderness.  "Let him back into your dreams, pet.  Is letting him
fuck you really such a burden?  Are your morals worth Drusilla's agony?
Dru doesn't enjoy his attention.  Don't tell me you didn't."

 "It isn't right!" Willow wailed.  "I'm a good person!  I _am_!"  Willow
pulled away from Spike, screaming as his hold on her hair tightened,
yanking her back towards him.  She stumbled to her knees in front of
him, her sweat slicked forehead resting against one of Spike's jean clad
thighs.

 He laughed, a low, dangerous rumble.  "You knew what you were doing.
You spread your legs for him without so much as a whimper of protest.
Pretending otherwise won't change the truth."

 "I didn't know..." Willow protested.

 Spike forced Willow's head back.  "Let's make a deal, pet.  You open
your dreams for Angelus, and I won't kill your friends.  You don't have
to be a bad girl, luv.  You'll be offering yourself up to the monsters
to protect your friends.  Such a good girl, doing whatever is in your
power to save your friends from a slow, messy, and unbelievably painful
death."

 Willow gaped up at him.  "You wouldn't--"

 His teeth flashed at her, a pointed smile.  "Really, pet.  You really
do need to start paying more attention to what's going on around you.
Your friends are nothing to me.  My Dark Goddess is everything.  I'll
kill them without a second thought."

 Willow closed her eyes against Spike's hard expression.  Tears escaped
her tightly clenched eyes.  "I'll do it.  Just leave them alone."

 "Tonight."

 "Tonight," Willow affirmed, her voice cracking.

 Spike's cool hand smoothed across Willow's tear streaked face.  "I knew
I could count on you, pet."  He patted her cheek softly and stepped
away, strands of hair slipping through his fingers as they loosened.
"And luv?  You may want to get that hand checked out before tonight."

 The door clicked shut behind him.

 "Oh, God," Willow whimpered.  She struggled back to her feet and made a
shambling run towards the bathroom.  She collapsed next to the toilet
and heaved.

~end~

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