Dedication: To Inell, for encouragement, a beta read,
and much inspiration.
**********
Spike wandered slowly back to the crypt from the
slayer’s house. He hated himself for watching and
wanting her the way he did. If he’d had the guts, he
probably should have staked himself for it. As it
was, the bleached blonde couldn’t bring himself to do
it. Just another indication of how soft he’d gone,
how screwed up he’d become since those army bastards
had put their stupid bloody chip in his head.
A flash of red caught the vampire’s eye and distracted
him from his self-loathing. It was Willow, making her
way cautiously towards a darkened alley. Spike
wondered what the chit could be doing out at this hour
of the night and alone in what was clearly not her
style of neighborhood. As she glanced around
nervously, Spike dipped behind a building. Intrigued,
he continued to follow at a distance until the redhead
disappeared into a decrepit looking warehouse.
Willow couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that someone
was following her. Her eyes darted about nervously
before she shook the feeling off as paranoia. After
all, no one she knew would be out at this hour. And
she’d never been caught before. It just always made
her nervous. But she knew she had to do it. She
hated having to stoop to the depths she’d sunk to, but
it was the only choice she had now. She had to get it
however she could get it, and this was as good a place
as any.
A vampire with light brown hair looked up as the
redhead stepped through the door. “You bring the
money?” he asked in what he thought was a sexy voice.
Willow resisted the urge to shudder at the fledgling’s
pretense of importance. “Of course,” she replied
harshly. “Let’s just get this over with.”
The vampire smiled and led the redhead upstairs to a
dirty room with a dirty mattress on the floor. “Same
as usual?” he asked with a touch of hope in his voice.
Willow nodded as she plopped onto the mattress and
rolled up her sleeve. “Do it,” she whispered. She
closed her eyes and focused on the feeling of the
brunette’s fangs digging into her smooth flesh.
“Harder,” she hissed. The vampire withdrew and bit
harder, but it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.
Willow hissed softly, a sound the fledgling mistook
for pleasure.
<Pathetic little weakling.> Willow gritted her teeth
as the vampire continued to suckle at her arm. When
he was done, he would try to coax the redhead into a
quick fuck, but she would refuse just as she always
did. She wasn’t interested in his feeble attempts at
seduction any more than she was interested in assuring
him that it had been adequate. “Enough,” she barked,
pushing the vampire’s head away. She dabbed at the
wound with an alcohol soaked cloth and rolled down her
sleeve. Standing, the redhead threw the money on the
mattress.
“You sure you don’t want to stay for a little bit?”
the vampire asked. Willow simply gave him a withering
stare. “See you next time, then,” he quickly amended.
“If you haven’t been dusted by then,” the redhead
replied icily under her breath. She breezed out of
the warehouse and back towards her parents’ house, the
tension and anger rolling off of her in waves.
Spike followed the redhead, still in shock over what
he’d seen. He was a bit surprised that he’d been able
to slip in and out of the den undetected by her or
someone else, but the vampires and humans in those
kinds of places weren’t exactly there for socializing.
Spike had seen the look on the redhead’s face, heard
her ask for a harder bite. From what he could tell,
she wasn’t just interested in being bitten. She
wanted to be hurt. And she was pretty pissed off when
it had obviously not been enough for her. Spike
watched the redhead cross her lawn and made a
decision. If he were going to confront her, it would
be easier to get her to talk when she was still upset.
With vampiric speed, Spike closed the distance between
himself and the mortal. “Hello, pet,” he purred,
leaning against the front door. “What brings a lovely
little morsel like you out at this hour of the night?
You know, there are all kinds of demons who would love
to take a bite out of you.”
“Fuck off, Spike. I don’t have time for this,” Willow
hissed, pushing the vampire aside.
Spike was caught completely off guard. He’d never
seen or heard the redhead talk or act like this
before. Fortunately, he recovered from his shock in
time to grab her wrist before she unlocked the door.
He ripped at her shirtsleeve, exposing the fresh bite
marks. “What do we have here?” he asked casually.
“It’s called a bite mark, Spike. Sorry if you don’t
recognize it, but I suppose it’s been a while since
you saw one live, isn’t it?”
Spike’s temper flared at the redhead’s reference to
his inability to bite. “You bloody little bitch,” he
spat. He jerked her arm roughly, before clutching at
his head in pain.
Willow took advantage of his temporary distraction to
slip into the house. “Good night, Spike. Don’t stay
out too late. Sun’ll be up soon.”
“I’ll tell the slayer about your little habit if you
don’t tell me what’s going on,” Spike threatened
through invisible barrier.
Willow laughed. “As if she’d believe you, Spike. You
may be in love with her, but she can’t stand you. Do
you really think she’d believe you over her best
friend?” Before Spike could answer, Willow had
slammed the door in his face.
Spike stormed off into the darkness, too angry for the
moment to even realize he hadn’t denied being in love
with the slayer.
Willow raced up the stairs and dialed the phone number
she had memorized. “It’s not working anymore,” she
hissed as the other end was picked up.
“I’m sorry, Willow. I really am.”
“Spike caught me tonight. He’s threatened to tell
Buffy.” She could almost taste the panic on the other
end.
“Do you think he will?”
Willow laughed, a cold and empty sound. “It doesn’t
matter if he does. No one will believe him anyway.
But it’s getting too dangerous for me to keep doing
it. I need your help.”
“Willow, we’ve talked about this before. I can’t do
it. Not even for you.”
“You have to!” Willow screamed angrily. “You did this
to me! You can’t just leave me like this!”
“Willow, I’m sorry. I wish it had never happened.
You’ve got to try and get over it.”
“I can’t. You have to help me!” Willow heard the
line go dead. “Angelus!” she screamed angrily into
the receiver. Howling, she threw the phone against
the wall before collapsing into a sobbing heap on the
bed.
Spike paced the crypt, his mind still whirling with
the events he’d seen. <What the hell was the little
chit doing?> He couldn’t come up with any explanation
that made any sense at all. He considered carrying
through his threat to tell the slayer, but the redhead
was right. She’d never believe him over Willow. And
since Spike had been stupid enough to make the threat,
Willow was certain to have a solid excuse concocted by
the time he could even talk to the slayer. Throwing
his hand up in disgust, he finally settled onto the
makeshift bed and let his eyes close in sleep.