~Part 1~

Lying on her stomach, Willow stared at the jumble of the words on
the page in front of her, trying to make some kind of sense of the
black and white.

She had been lying like that for hours. Every so often a small sigh
of protest escaping her as she shook herself out of yet another
gloriously vivid daydream involving the sharpest cheekbones in the
world, attached to gosh darn sexiest piece of undead hottie she'd
ever had the fortune to lay eyes on.

Rolling onto her side, she propped her head one one hand, holding
the book up in front of her face. Aiming to make herself as
uncomfortable as possible, she let her wrist cramp, hoping to keep
herself focused in reality.

"What ya readin', luv?" She could feel his cool lips stir the air
near her ear. "Are you sure you don't want to be doing something more
interesting?"

"Go away, Spike." She muttered, staring fixedly at the page, trying
to stop the words blurring into a hazy mesh again.

"Oh, c'mon, ducks." An invisible hand crept up her thigh. "I'm
waiting for you. All you have to do is give me your attention and
forget about the book."

Flopping onto her back, she raised the book over her face, pins and
needles tingling through her upraised arms. Making her way through
one sentence, she grinned smugly at her own personal triumph.

The invisble hands moved up her inert body, soft whispers of wicked
temptation reaching her ears. "That's a beautiful smile you have
there, luv." A pause, another mental caress. "Will you smile for me,
Red?"

Wriggling into a sitting position, Willow blew a loose strand of
copper hair out of her eyes in frustration, propping the book on her
upraised knees. Using a finger as a marker, she trailed it under the
words, determined to hold her focus.

"You're so damn cute when you're all hot and bothered." The sensual
voice returned to purr in her ear, mental fingers running through her
loose hair. "Makes you look fiery and dangerous, my beautiful red
queen."

"I'm not listening." The young witch whispered to herself. "I'm not
listening. I'm not listening. I'm not listening."

"You don't need to listen, pet."

"Lalalalalalalalalalalala..." Chanting like a mantra, she found
herself lying flat on her stomach again, the open book flat on the
pillow, her fingers absently flicking through pages. She wouldn't
give him the satisfaction of...

"You're not really reading that, are you?"

Willow raised her head. Looked around. "Hmm, that's funny. Nothing
here. I am reading and there's nothing that will distract me."
Glaring at the page, it seemed to go blank for her eyes as that
annoyingly sexy accent started whispering again. "Nope! Nothing to
distract me!"

"Not even if I creep in and slowly take each and every bit of
clothing off your delectable little body?" The voice suggested and
she could almost see the devil dancing in his blue eyes. "I could
make you scream, Red."

Swinging off the bed, the girl started pacing across the floor, her
fists balled.

If the bleached numbskull came anywhere near her again, she would
turn him into a newt for making her feel this way.

All because of one little kiss!

Oh, and there was the confession of his undying love.

Running a hand through her hair, she dropped onto the end of the
bed. Propping her elbows on her knees, she cupped her chin in her
hands, staring fixedly at the door of the dorm, wondering when she
would be smart enough to resist truth spells.

As a reminder of the spell, she knew that Giles's best sex had been
with Buffy's mother when they were 'teenagers', Riley had a fetish
for leather, Xander liked wearing stockings (Which she had known, but
that had only confirmed it was still true), that Anya liked Xander
wearing stockings and that Buffy wanted to wear a whipped cream
bikini and have Riley lick it off.

That had left her with a serious of far-too-scary-to-contemplate
series of mental images and she had fled, to take refuge back in the
dorm, until the short-term spell had worn off. Days of avoiding her
friends hadn't helped, their words burned into her memory.

It had all been to find out if a certain peroxide blonde vampire
could remember anything at all about the chip that he had inside his
head and whether it would be removable. like hypnotism, it would
bring his most useless thoughts to light.

And, as usual, like every other time h had been involved in any of
her spells, the spell had gone horribly and messily wrong.

Especially when aforementioned blonde vampire had come racing to
the dorm, trying to escape the blonde ditz who called herself his
girlfriend. Barricading himself into the room, he had stood, staring
at Willow like she was spurting blood everywhere.

Then everything had changed.

Instead of moping over Oz, she had a bleached vampire sitting on
the bed beside her, like he had the previous year. Only, this time,
there was no bottle in face, no drunkeness, only blatant and
inescapable honesty.

"So much for honesty being the best policy." She muttered to
herself, standing up and resuming her pacing.

"Willow, pet." The imaginary vampire walked in step beside
her. "Can you stop that? You're making me dizzy."

"Shut up!" She yelled at the sexy figament of her imagination.

He was the only one she hadn't seen in eight days since the spell,
since he had traced his hand gently down her red hair, his fingertips
gently silencing her startled protests, replaced with his lips as he
bent in and kissed her.

Well, technically, she hadn't seen him. He had been haunting her
since he had said the fatal words to her: "I love you so bloody much,
Will."

Apparently ever since the day she had stood up to him in the
factory, ever since he had buried his face in her hair and smelt her
sweet scent, he had been longing to just take her in his arms and
make her his. It made her flush, remembering the words he had
whispered to her.

That was why she couldn't go and see him. See those beautiful blue
eyes staring at her, all full of hope and loneliness. See those
sculpted lips that had fit so well against her own, filling her with
life as they drew the breath out of her. See his face.

Snatching her book up again, she sat on the chair beside the desk,
determined to ignore the unseen presence of the bleach blonde,
determined to read something that was important for...something,
determined to...kiss those sexy lips again.

"Aaaaaaaaugh!" The book sailed across the room, crashing down amid
a pile of stakes and crosses on Buffy's desk, as the red head grabbed
her jacket and sprinted out of the room, still
singing. "Lalalalalalala....."

****

"You"

<smack>

"bloody"

<smack>

"pillock!"

<smack>

Pausing, the vampire growled softly, rubbing his blood-stained
forehead, taking a break from the latest session of "Let's-smack-our-
head-off-a-brick-wall" therapy.

"Why did you go and tell her that, you useless nonce?" He snarled
at himself, returning to his position beside the wall, laying his
right temple against the dank stonework for the first time since the
previous day.

"Because"

<smack>

"you"

<smack>

"love"

<smack>

"her,"

<smack>

"you"

<smack>

"Wanker!"

<smack>

A memory of a girl far in the past rose. Another wonderfully gentle
girl that he had loved. A girl he had told. The words she said still
tore his undead heart to shreds, when he allowed the bitter memories
to surface.

His first love had been when he was mortal. After her, he thought
he would never feel love again, until – that very same night – he had
met his dark Princess. She had known him better than anyone. She had
claimed him, made him hers.

"Why so sad, my sweet?" He mentally heard his demon lover's mocking
voice say. "Can't even have yourself a little witch? All alone are
you?"

Slamming his hands over his ears, he tried to ignore, tried to
fight away the memories of all the times past, but failing, the soft
breathy whisper of her dreamy voice reaching into his mind, playing
on his isolation.

He could visualise her now, dark eyes, dark hair, dark heart.

"Come on, kitten," She crooned, her nails raking down his cheek, as
they had when he had attacked Angelus so many months before. "Show
mummy that you are as lonely as the moon, all empty and screaming,
never to have anyone, never to be touched and loved by the sun."

Like his first love, she too had decided he wasn't enough. He
wasn't as good as daddy, as good as any one of her demon lovers. The
memory of her abandonment, of Cecily's rejection...it made him wary,
wary of getting close. Close to anyone.

Although phrased differently to Drusilla's "You're not demon enough
for me.", Cecily's words cut equally deep.

"You're beneath me."

Not good enough. Never good enough. Always the one that no one
wanted. The reject, the useless, pathetic one that would never rise
to any woman's standards, always spurned and rejected for more
wealthy, more brutal, more...

"Spike?"

Whipping round, he avoided the thread of sunlight that had poured
in through the open door of the crypt, her familiar scent washing
over him as her silhouette appeared in the doorway, her nervousness
apparent.

"Red."

She stepped in quickly, pushing the door shut behind her. Blinking,
her eyes found him in the darkness, immediately seeing the crusts of
blood that matted his ridged face, his golden eyes blazing at her.

"Goddess, Spike!" She hurried towards him. "What happened?"

With a snort of disdain, he turned away. "I had an argument with a
wall." He grated. "I'm not a wounded puppy for you to take care of,
Red."

"If I wanted a puppy," She grabbed his arm, turning him towards
her, wrinkles of concern forming around her eyes. "I wouldn't come to
the graveyard, would I? I just want to see what you've done, okay?"

"Cos you're Willow, Super Witch?" He jerked his arm free. "Cos you
can make everything all better with a wave of your magic wand? Cos
you're one of Slutty's little groupies and you can be of some kind of
help to a biteless Big Bad?"

"What's the matter with you, Spike?"

He stalked away from her, every muscle rippling under the sleek,
tight material of his jeans and shirt, making her mouth water. More
like a caged animal than ever, he stared at her like a piece of meat,
making her feel that unusual nervous thrill he used to raise in her.

"What's the matter with me?" He laughed harshly. "What's the matter
with me? Oh, I'm just wonderful, Red. Fan-bloody-tastic with a
soddin' great big cherry on top! Couldn't be better...unless I was
dust. Maybe then my whole life would be perfect."

Her face fell and Spike flt his undead heart shatter into a million
tiny little pieces. The little witch had been good to him, more so
than the others. Sneaking him treats and talking to him as more than
an animal.

Which was why he loved her.

But he couldn't face her now, not knowing that she knew how he
felt. That he had pounced on he and kissed her until he thought he
would spontaneously combust. That she had probably come to reject
him, like the two other women he had loved.

Pivoting on heel, he leaned against the wall. Resting his aching
forehead on his raised, crossed arms, he counted to twenty, trying to
quash the urge to throw the beautiful, flame-haired chit to the floor
and shag her brains out.

And God only knew that would take a while, with all the grey matter
crammed into her pretty little head.

He didn't hear her step closer until one timid, trembling little
hand reached up and gently touched him on the shoulder.

"Leave me alone!" He bellowed, whirling around, his fist lashing up
on instinct, smashing her across the jaw and sending her tumbling
with a scream of surprise, a burst of blood spilling from her lip.

Her head snapped against one of the twin sarcophogi with a hollow
thud, leaving her sprawled, motionless on the dirt-coated floor.

His golden eyes flicked round to where Willow had fallen, her blood
pooling around her head, a startled look on his gaunt face. "Bloody
hell..." He whispered to himself, raising a trembling hand to his
face. "What have I done?"

Running to kneel at the girl's side, he stared down in horror,
blood rippling from a wound in her temple, her eyes half-closed, her
normally-rosy skin taking on a more ashen hue. Gathering her in his
arms, he stroked her cheek, fighting the hunger that was roaring in
him, the scent of her blood reaching him.

"Willow? Love? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" Shaking her gentlye,
he was relieved to her the steady thrum of her racing pulse. "Come
on. Open your eyes, even if its just to punch my useless lights
out...just dont die on me..."

Her eyes fluttered open slowly. "S...Spike?"

"I'm sorry, luv." He whispered, clinging to her. "I hit you...I
didn't mean to but you...I just didn't want to face it again...You're
okay, aren't you? If you were hurt...oh, hell...what do you want me
to do? Shall I leave you alone...what..."

One of her slim hands rose, her fingers stifling his spiel, a small
smile on her lips. "Just kiss me already." His fanged jaw dropped,
eyes wide with child-like confusion. "Get a bloody move on, you dozy
pillock." She whispered in a dire approximation of his accent. "I
won't wait forever."

"Really?" He sounded like achild, she noiced absently, his finger
stroking through her hair gently. Full of hope. Full of fear. He was
scared of not being accepted. That he would be rejected by her.

Even vampires get scared, she realised.

Drawing his lips down over hers, she washed away his fears, her
hands twisting into his hair, as she kissed him the way he had kissed
her. Both of them had lost the one they had loved, but now - now they
had found each other.

Part 2

"I've been conned into patrolling with Fluffy."

Willow reached up and planted a gentle kiss on her vampire lover's
lips. "I'll be waiting at the Bronze for you when she decides she's
finished with you." She murmured, rubbing her hand against his
cheek. "You go and kick some demon ass for me."

"Your wish is my command." Grasping her hand, he placed a tender kiss on
her palm. "Unless you want a million dollars, then I think I'll have
to...well...robbing a bank can't be that hard, can it?"

"And I thought I would have some of my sanity rub off on you by
now." Shaking her head with a sigh, Willow couldn't help but smile at
the contrite expression on the blonde vampire's chiselled features.

Trailing his fingers through her hair, Spike's eyes danced
wickedly. "It's not the only thing hat's rubbed off on me." He
remarked naughtily, stopping to plant a cool, overly-drooly kiss on
her neck, making her squeal with laughter.

In the three months that they had secretly been seeing one another,
they had seemed more like bickering friends to the rest of the
Scoobies, their conviviality and attitudes contagious to the rest of
the group.

The red head had forgiven Spike for the incident in the crypt
within a matter of minutes, on the condition he behaved and helped
Buffy whenever he was needed, to help her fight all the uglier demons
of the Hellmouth.

Both agreed that when he hit her, he hadn't realised, he hadn't
meant it, which explained the absence of pain, which explained the
ease with which she forgave him. And made him love her all the more.

For a kiss from his fiery, red-haired sorceress he had agreed. He
would happily do anything she had the nerve to ask him and never
ceased to amaze her with surprise gifts and secret romantic liasons.
And her happiness made him crave her nearness even more.

"See you later, Princess." Leaving her to the company of her old
friends, he barreled off to do some serious arse whipping along with
the Slayer.

Spending the evening Bronzing with Anya, Xander and Cordelia - who
was visiting over the weekend - she found her mind perpetually
drifting to a certain blonde with cheekbones she would never grow
tired of touching.

Cupping her chin in her hand, her eyes grew misty as she remembered
his hungry, sweet kisses that took her breath away and made her legs
melt temporarily.

"You okay, Will?" Cordelia asked, nudging the red head.

"Mmm-hmm." A lazy smile curved the witch's lips up. "Just thinkin'."

Anya - with as little tact as she could muster - told
Xander. "Willow has an orgasm friend. Go away so we can talk about
him like girls do." Looking like he was about to protest, the brunete
received a glare from his girlfriend, which sent him running from the
table. "So, Willow, who's your friend?"

"No one..." The colour of the girl's face matched her hair.

"Uh huh." Cordelia crossed her arms, looking every the inch the
rich and powerful Chase daughter once more. "Come on, Will. With all
your practise, you should be good at lying by now."

Willow ducked her head. "He's older...really sexy..." She bit her
lip, twisting a small silver ring on her finger, a gift from her
secret love. "And he is the best kisser in the world."

"One moment, is he A) Werewolf again, cos we all know ho well that
worked for you." The former cheerleader held up her fingers, marking
the list off. "B) A demon inside a computer that you met online? C) A
demon of some other kind or D) Just your regular, normal college kid
with nothing supernatural about him at all?"

The red head was glowing with embarrassment at being put on the
spot like this. "He's...erm...not a, b or d." She replied, her eyes
growing dreamy again. "But he's harmless and he has the cutest ass..."

"Harmless with a cute ass?" Anya tilted her head. "Spike's your
orgasm friend?"

"Er..." The red head hastily got to her feet. "I think I'm going to
go and get some fresh air." She stated, merging away into the crowd
of swaying teens, as Xander returned, both girls exchanging knowing
glances.

"What's going on?" The brunette demanded, handing his ex and
present girlfriends a can of soda each. "Is Wills seeing someone?"

Watching their quiet friend disappear out the door, Anya and
Cordelia gave the lost male matching, secretive smiles. "You could
say that."

****

Leaning against the wall, Willow inhaled deep lungful of the warm
evening air, her eyes half-closed, as she tried to get beyod the fact
that two people now knew of her relationship with a blood-sucking
fiend.

"Are you feeling all right?"

Opening her eyes, the witch was startled to find a tall youth
standing over her. Massively-built, he towered over the petite girl,
the light above them casting strange shadows on his scary-looking
face.

"I...I'm fine." Something in the way he was leering over her made
her feel uneasy. And this was when she was dating a member of the
undead and had - previously - dated a werewolf. "I was just waiting
for...someone."

Leaning against the wall alongside her, he reached down and stroked
her hair, sending a shudder of revulsion through her. "You look
lonely. Maybe I could keep you company until your friend arrives."

"N-no thank you." Stuttering, her teeth were chattering, despite
the warmth of the evening, a sure sign that she had a bad feeling
about this situation. "I think I'll go and wait inside, if you would
mind letting me passed."

"Are you saying you don't want to keep me company?" The teenager
above her growled dangerously, grabbing her by the hair.

The scent of alcohol reeked off his breath, his hand twisting and
making her wince. "Please, just let me go!" The feeling of her hair
ripping from her scalp reminded her of the previous year, of her
lover once more. "I...I am meeting someone..."

"I'll keep you warm for him." No doubt a footballer, the massive
teen bent and covered her soft mouth forcefully with his own, until
her knee rammed up between his thighs. His grasp didn't relinquish.
If anything it tightened. "Bitch!"

A vicious backhand blow send fireworks exploding in her head, her
knees sagging out from beneath her weakly. In the back of her mind,
she vaguely registered the bellow of fury from the darkness of the
alley and suddenly, she was on the ground, her assailant being beaten
to a bloody pulp by her furious lover.

Raining blows down on the hapless, drunken teen, Spike could never
remember being so angry in his unlife. The instant he saw his lover
in trouble, he had seen red and now, the foolish human was paying the
price.

"Spike?" Willow's trembling voice brought him back to reality with
bump, her fear-filled green eyes staring up at him, a dark bruise
marring the smooth, pale flesh of her temple, making him growl again.

"Pet." Dropping to his knees, he pulled her desperately against his
chest, burying his face in the glorious red cloud of her hair. "He
didn't hurt you did he?"

Shaking her head, her hands on his shoulders, she drew back, stared
at him. "Spike, you hit him, you hit him. Look...look what you did..."

The vampire slowly turned, looking at the limp, moaning form of the
boy. The wall and ground surrounding him were splattered with dark
splashes of thick, sweet smelling blood, the teen's face an
irrecognisable mess.

"I...I didn't feel anything." Touching his temple, Spike stared
down at Willow, golden eyes melting back into a gentle blue, as he
reached out and caressed her cheek. "My chip...the bloody chip! It's
stopped working!"

The witch lowered her face. "Oh."

"It must have been buggered when I smashed me head off the wall of
the crypt." the blond stated excitedly. "Bloody hell, this is
amazing, Red! I can finally bite things again! I don't just have to
fight bloody demons! I've never been so..."

"So ready to kill the Slayer and all her gang?" Willow sugested
softly, her voice rough with barely-concealed emotion.

"Don't be daft!" Tilting her chin up, Spike was startled to see
tears running down the girl's pale face. "Aww, pet, please, don't
cry." Sliding an arm around her, he hugged her close, pressing a kiss
to the top of her head. "I've changed, you know. I can't be like I
was. Not now, not ever. I have you, don't I? You would kick my arse
if I tried anything."

"You know it." The girl whispered, twisting her fingers into the
front of his t-shirt, tears seeping from her eyes. "Love you, Will."

"Right back at you, Will." holding her close, he fel her fear from
the previous moments melt away and let her cry softly, his cheek
pressed gently to her beautiful mane, tangling his fingers through
hers.

They were still sitting like that, when a familiar voice
demanded. "What happened here?"

Spike raised his face to the Slayer, his blue eyes dark with
emotion. "That bloody pillock attacked Will." He inclined his head
towards his victim. "The drunken bastard was hitting her when I got
here."

"Who stopped him?" The blonde winced at the injuries on the young
man, touching his wrist to find a pulse. His swollen eyes opened
weakly to stare painfully at the petite blonde girl, an ooze of blood
running down his chin.

"Me." Spike's voice startled her. "He was hitting her...tearing her
hair...I thought he was gonna try something...I got so bloody pissed,
I wanted to rip his bollocks off and force 'em down his bloody
throat."

Hazel eyes looked from the vampire to the sobbing red head he held
in confusion. "You can hurt things again?" She reached for her stake.

"If I wanted to." Spike stared balefully back at her, slowly
getting to his feet, Willow cradled in his protective embrace. "But I
have the best bloody reason in the world not to hurt anybody, so I
would say I'm safe."

Disappearing down the alley, his young lover held close to his
undead heart, the vampire's voice difted back to the numb Slayer.

"The best, red haired reason in the World."

****

Making his way across the campus, the vampire's duster swirled
around him. He licked the traces of fresh blood from his lips,
wondering how long it would take him to get used to not completely
draining his victims.

Most would just pass out and wake up a few minutes later, feeling a
bit dizzy and with one helluva love bite marring their neck.

But if it meant he could keep seeing his beautiful Red, he was sure
he would be able to manage it. And it was definitely better than
those bloody bags he'd been living off for months.

Approaching the dorm that his Witch and the Slayer shared, he could
hear two very different feminine voices arguing. Drawing closer, he
was half-heartedly amused to find that - yet again - he was the
subject.

"But he can kill people again!"

"So can Angel, but he chooses not to. He told me that he wouldn't
do anything I didn't want and I believe him."

Another voice - a male one this time - interrupted. "Willow, I have
a soul. I feel the guilt of my kills. Do you think Spike would tell
you if he had been out killing? I doubt it."

"He's been able to hurt things for almost three months now!"
Willow's furious voice exclaimed. He could picture her, her hair in a
flaming frenzy around her face, her green eyes blazing. "Has there
been an increase in kills? Have you started finding more bodies?"

"He's a demon, Will." The Slayer actually did sound concerned.
About someone aside from herself for once, Spike noticed dryly.
Although she was probably worried the Big Bad would come and kick her
ass.

"And what do you call that tall, dark guy standing behind you,
Slayer?" The venom in the little red head's voice was impressive.

"It's not the same! Angel is completely different!"

"Different? Different how?" God, he wished he was in there, to see
her in all her raging glory. "I don't see how. Angel spent a hundred
and fifty years killing and maiming. Spike had less than a hundred
and thirty. If anyone was likely to change, it would be Spike."

"Willow." Angel's voice was aggravatingly calm. "He's soulless. He
can't give up the kill. He's just a demon."

Pushing the door open, Spike lazily sauntered in. "Nice to see you
have such a high opinion of me, Peaches." Making his way across the
Willow, he let his demon visage surface and grabbed the girl as if he
was going to bite her.

Immediately a stake appeared in the Slayer's hand. The red head
snapped around, pushing the vampire behind her. "No!"

"He was going to bite you!" Buffy hissed. the blonde vampire pulled
an innocent face, then pantomimed sinking his fangs into his lover's
throat. Behind Buffy, Angel growled, his own demon surfacing.

"Don't be stupid!" Reaching up to rub his cheek, the red head
snapped. "He was winding you up again."

The Slayer shook her head in confusion. "I don't see how you can be
so stupid, Will." She said softly. "After everything else that's
happened...all your relationships...and you go and fall for a demon
again."

"He isn't Moloch." Willow gritted her teeth in frustration. "He's
not another werewolf. So what if I want to date a vampire? It's not
like its a new concept."

Arms around her waist, the younger vampire's chin rested on her
shoulder, his golden eyes flicking from the Slayer to his irate Sire,
a small smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "I wouldn't get my
little firecracker all wound up." He cautioned them. "When I turn
her, you'll be the first one she comes after."

"That's it!" Buffy stormed towards him. "I'm going to stake that
bleached moron."

"No!" Willow planted herself between her lover and her best friend.
You wanna stake him, you'll have to stake me first."

"Why, Willow?" Angel asked quietly. His eyes drifted from his
childe to his petite friend. The blonde vampire's face shifted back
to normal, his blue eyes staring up defiantly at his Sire. "If you
don't mind me asking, why him?"

"A truth spell." She replied, never tearing her icy gaze away from
Buffy. "He came and told me he loved me and the next time I saw him,
he was trying to smash his brains out cos he thought I was going to
reject him."

Nodding, the dark vampire laid a hand on his former lover's arm,
gesturing her back. "But you aren't afraid he'll turn you?"

"I've changed, mate." Spike murmured, rubbing his cheek against
Willow's, his hands folded over her stomach. "Never thought love
would defang me, but it has. I'm a new man."

"Somehow I don't believe it." Angel replied icily. "I recall I told
you things had changed. You seemed to think we couldn't change. If I
remember right you said something like. 'Not us, not demons.'"

"Yeah," Spike shrugged, brushing his hands over Willow's belly
lightly. "Well, I always was a stupid wanker, just like my Sire.
You're the one that said demons can change and I'm agreeing with you
now."

"I don't know." Angel's resolve seemed to waver.

Ignoring him, Willow turned in her lover's arms and planted a
gentle kiss on Spike's lips, trailing her hands lightly down his
chest. "How about we go to my place?" She suggested quietly, flashing
a glare back at Angel and Buffy. "My parents are out of town again."

"You think the great poofini'll let us out the door." Gazing down
at her, her ran his fingers lightly though her hair.

Turning to face the dark vampire, the tiny red head's lips curled
up in a slow smile that Angel and Buffy both remembered from their
stint of time spent with the alternate-reality Willow. "You know,
Spike." She murmured lazily. "I don't think there's a chance in hell
he could stop me."

"Will, this is crazy..." Buffy moved forward, her desperation
etched on her features, one hand raised pleadingly to her friend.

"What have you got to worry about?" The red head asked quietly. "Is
it the fact I'm in love with a demon and actually happy too much for
you? Or do you think he's going to turn me and make me like the
skanky me?"

"There's nothing stopping him now." The Slayer's eyes were dark,
fixed on the bleached vampire bitterly.

"But there is." Willow smiled enigmatically. "You don't honestly
think I'm stupid, do you? That I haven't thought about it? That I
will do everything in my power to prevent myself becoming like her?"

"What are they going on about, pet?" Spike murmured against her
hair. "They think I want you as a cold-hearted corpse? Are they
bloody thick in the head?" Nipping her ear teasily, the blonde
vampire sent a low purr thrumming through his lover's body.

Willow smiled, one finger running over the back of his hand. "Even
if he did decide to snack on me and keep me as his toy forever," She
remarked, "I've played with some magick and now, no matter what
happens, I have a soul."

The Slayer and the Souled Vampire exchanged skeptical glances, but
Willow pulled her `resolve face' and glared at them.

"There's no way we can talk any sense into you?"

"Does it look like it?" Taking Spike's hand in her own, the red
haired witch walked towards the door, not looking back. There weren't
many occassions that the Slayer had been noted for her distinctive
lack of witty repartee, but this was one of them.

The blonde vampire – however – could never resist the opportunity
to have the last word and aggravate the Slayer. Planting a firm kiss
on the red head's lips, he winked back at the two in the room and
purred. "That's my girl."

back