He knew something was wrong the second he heard his Sire’s voice coming across
the telephone. ‘Come to LA. Immediately.’ Was all the Poof had said. The wanker
hadn’t even bothered to answer his questions. Just told him it was ‘important’
and to not let the others find out about it.

And so here he was, speeding towards the City of Bloody Angels. {More like City
of Angelus} the blonde smirked.  He cut off a car, veering into his exit at the
last moment. Thoughts of what could possibly have his Sire so stirred up were
tramping through his mind. There was absolutely no good reason for the Great
Tosser himself to have ordered him to come to LA of all places.

Well, none he could think of.

{Unless…} Spike shook his head, a smirk flying across his features. {No…if it
had something to do with Red he would have called Slutty – not me. I may be
her ‘boyfriend’ but he still would call the bloody Slayer first. Peaches
probably just needs my help with some new demon.}

Cutting the engine to his car, the blonde glared up at the abandoned hotel his
Sire had taken over as his offices and living space. The place certainly had
that old fashioned feel he had come to expect from the king of brood.  {At
least I’ll get to see my Red. Still can’t believe the chit agreed to stay here
for a few weeks and help me bloody Sire with his soddin computers.}

Taking a deep, un-needed breath, the blonde strolled in the doors of the hotel.
 “Where’s Peaches, chit?” He growled at Cordelia, lighting a cigarette as he
waited for her to answer.

“I’m sure he’ll be downstairs in just a moment.”

The blonde eyed the girl warily. Something big was going on. For once, she
wasn’t scared of him – just really, really …sad?  His eyes grew wide. “What’s
going on here?”

“I…I think you should wait for Angel,” Cordelia murmured. She cast her eyes
down to her desk, hoping Spike wouldn’t pressure her for any more information.
This wasn’t something she wanted to tell him. Better for it to be Angel.

At least he would survive the blonde’s anger when he heard the news.

Spike glared one final time at the former cheerleader before turning his back
to her. Taking a long drag on his cigarette, the blonde allowed his senses to
take over, searching for where his Sire was in this monstrosity. He was tired
of waiting. Something was going on and he wanted to know –now-.

Only when he found him did the blonde start to get an idea of what was deadly
wrong with this situation. Somewhere above him his Sire was in the room with
another vampire. One that most definitely was one of the dark haired vampire’s
childer. A vampire that he recognized as being familiar to him in some way.

His heart lurched and the cigarette dropped from his dead fingers. “What
floor?”

“I really don’t think…” Cordelia stammered.

“I don’t care what you bloody well –think-, what floor?” His demon slid forward
and he growled at her.

“Second. First door on the left.”

In a flash the vampire had crossed to the stairs, taking them two at a time.
His eyes were blazing and he could feel a sense of nervous dread filling him as
he stopped outside the door the cheerleader had indicated. Forcing his human
features back into place, the blonde opened the door, letting it swing open
wide without ever setting foot inside.

There, sitting on the bed was his Sire, cradling a crying, sobbing fledgling in
his arms. The older vampire looked up as Spike entered, immeasurable sadness
crossing his face. He didn’t say a word, knowing that now wouldn’t be the best
time to explain everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

The blonde growled, low in his throat, the demon straining to come out. He
dropped to his knees, ignoring his Sire as he gently took the hand of the
sobbing Childe. The newly made vampire looked up, her tears dying in her
throat. “Spike…”  She launched herself at him, knocking him onto his ass as she
cried into his chest.

“Shh, Red….it’ll be okay.”

** ** **

Spike held the sobbing red head in his arms, confusion creeping across his
face. How had this happened? How could she come to LA for one little bitty week
and end up turned? By his own -Sire-! He listened as her tears quietened, her
body finally ceasing its erratic shaking. Looking down, he realized she was
asleep.

The sight of his lover so obviously dead was disturbing to the blonde. He had
planned all along to turn her one day but had never spent much time thinking of
the results. Here they were though, laid out bare before him in the package in
his arms. Her face was still, chest neither rising nor falling - all breathing
having ceased upon her death. Her features were
pale, lips so faded they might as well have been white against the starkness of
her face. Her hair was the only thing that still seemed to live – looking more
like a moving fire than it ever had in her life.

She was beautiful.

Standing as smoothly as he could manage with her in his arms, the vampire laid
her on the small bed, covering her now cool body with the thin comforter. Only
then did he turn his attention back to the other occupant of the room.

"What happened?"

Angel's eyes opened wide and he actually sighed. For the moment it looked as
though his obstinate Childe was going to take the calm approach to this. "Let's
go downstairs...I don’t want to disturb her...this is the first time she's
slept since...." He let the words hang in the air, unwilling to say 'since she
died'.  That made it too final. She wasn't dead, just different.

The blonde nodded. He took one final look at his sleeping goddess before
turning on his heel. He breezed through the door, walking towards the stairs
with the kind of detachment he would need if he wasn't going to kill his Sire
right off.  Collapsing onto one of the couches in the lobby, Spike waited for
his Sire to join him.

It was one of the hardest thing Angel had ever had to do - tell his Childe
exactly how his lover had died.  He took a deep, unnecessary breath, bracing
himself for the tale to come.

Only to be cut off before he could start.

"Why?"

Angel looked at his Childe. "Going to have to be more specific there, Spike.
Why what?"

"Don't get coy with -me- *Sire*," the blonde spat, standing up so that he could
glare down at the older vampire. "Why is she sitting up there, turned as one of
your bloody Childer?!?"

The dark haired creature winced. He saw Cordelia look up from across the room,
arching her eyebrow at the little scene about to occur before grabbing her coat
and fleeing up to her room. Good. One less person to worry about when Spike
lost his cool finally. "You want explanations? Sit down and let me explain,
then."

Sitting as far away from his Sire as he could manage on the small couch, the
blonde waited for Angel to begin.

"It happened yesterday evening...She was down in the basement just looking
around - seeing what had been left and should be thrown away..." His face fell
and his chocolate eyes glistened with tears. "I didn't know anything was wrong
until she started screaming. I swear to you, I got to her as fast as I could."

Spike nodded. He could believe that his Sire had been quick in reaching the red
head. She was important to both of them and he knew the tosser would never let
anything happen to her if he could stop it.

"There was a demon that had been living in one of the closets...when she opened
it....the thing attacked. It clawed her chest, there was blood everywhere. When
I came down the stairs it threw her against some of the debris...I killed
it...but..." He wiped a line of tears from his cheeks, looking down at the
salty wetness splashed now across his hands. "He threw her against a broken
table...one of the legs went through her stomach. She
was dying Spike."

The blonde felt his heart break at the account of his love's last minutes. He
could only imagine what it was like to lay there, something sticking through
your gut and know you are dying.

"I knew she was dying...she knew she was dying. Damnit, she's my best friend. I
couldn’t just let her go. I asked her if its what she wanted – if she would
hate me if I wasn't strong enough to let her die. She thought of you with her
last breath, Spike. She said she couldn't die because you'd be lonely. "

Spike exhaled a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, falling back on his
mortal habits amidst the grief he was feeling. The red head currently sleeping
somewhere above him was his lover, his love, his mate, his life. He didn't know
what he would have done if he had lost her. But she was his Sire's Childe, now.
"Souled?"

Angel nodded. "I had Wesley do the spell as soon as I turned her. She's never
killed. It will be easier on her that way."

The blonde lowered his head, staring at the marble tiled floor of the lobby. He
couldn’t bring himself to thank Angel for saving her - not when it meant she
would never be -his- Childe. She would always share that special bond with his
bloody Sire.  "I should go back upstairs..."

Standing, the dark haired vampire offered a hand to his Childe, both pleased
and shocked when the blonde took it. "She's gone through a lot, Will....be
gentle..."

Spike regarded him with cool blue eyes for a moment before nodding his head. No
one needed to tell him that the red head was going through a lot. It wasn't
that long ago that he had been turned after all - barely more than a century.
He could still remember what it was like.

Of course...he hadn't been cursed with a soul. That was bound to complicate
matters.  He was deep in thought as he went up the stairs, eyes distant as he
tried to convince himself that everything would be okay. He could deal with Red
being Angel's Childe if it meant she was still alive.

Quietly opening the door, the blonde crossed the room to where his lover lay
still on the bed. Easing out of his clothing, Spike climbed in bed next to her,
holding her cold body to his own. This had to be a dream. Some sort of twisted
nightmare. There was no way his red haired goddess had been turned.

He pulled the proof of just that closer to him, bending his face into the crook
of her neck and breathing in deeply. She still smelled the same – like his
mate. There was just a subtle hint of his Sire in there. It wouldn't be that
hard to adjust, hopefully. For her he could put aside the animosity he shared
with the poof.

He hoped.
 

~Part Two~

Spike woke to the sound of crying and noticed immediately his arms were empty.
He sat up, glancing around the room for Willow. Finally he spotted her, sitting
in a corner behind a small table. "Red?" The crying never ceased, increasing
even in intensity.

Sliding gracefully off the bed, the vampire reached the red head in four long
strides, dropping to his knees in front of her. Her head was bent down, fiery
locks shielding her face from him. "Baby...what’s wrong?"

"H..hungry..." Slowly she lifted her head to look into his eyes, pain etched in
every syllable she had uttered.

Again, Spike found himself marveling at her beauty. This was the first time he
had seen her with her demon's face forward. Golden eyes stared at him, the
ridges of her face delicate in their own monstrous way. He reached up, brushing
his fingers gently across one of them and was rewarded with her eyes closing
and a soft sigh whispering from her lips. Tears continued to spill from her
eyes, dropping with wet splotches onto the floor. "Well, ducks. Just tell me
where Peaches keeps his stash and I will get you all fixed up."

"Refrigerator is downstairs...down the left hall, then a smaller hall, last
door on the left..."

The blonde listened as the directions whizzed past him and shook his head
slightly. That just wouldn't work. He could wake his Sire up and have him get
it...but he had no clue where the poof was sleeping. Taking the red head in his
arms, he pressed her back against his chest, cradling her to him. "Drink from
me, luv."

Willow stiffened. "No...no...I can't...I don’t want to hurt you."

Chuckling, the vampire pushed his arm closer to her mouth, feeling one of her
fangs graze it ever so lightly. "You're not going to hurt me. Quite the
opposite, but we can talk about that later when you've had a chance to adjust
to this whole bloody mess."

"I don't know..." The former witch growled softly. Her demon was pushing her,
screaming for her to drink from him. It whispered how delicious one so powerful
would taste to her starving senses. Wetting her lips, she tilted her head down
to his wrist. She licked lightly along the vein, letting the taste of his skin
roll around in her mouth.

Spike moaned aloud when her dainty fangs pierced his skin. He could feel her
suckling gently at the wound she had inflicted and grew hard. His eyes closed,
head tilted back in quiet ecstasy as he let her take what she needed from him.
It was all he could do not to throw her down and take her there, on the floor
as she fed from his wrist.

After a few moments of feeding, Willow pulled away from her lover's wrist. She
licked at the twin punctures, capturing the last drops of life giving blood on
her tongue before leaning back into his embrace. When she pushed back into his
hard length, she finally understood what he had meant by her not hurting him.
She giggled, feeling a little better with the infusion of his blood.
"Spi-key..."

The blonde groaned, feeling her small hand reach behind her to grab at his
aching shaft. "Red..." Grabbing hold of her face, he turned her head enough to
kiss her. When his eyes opened he noticed she had never slipped back into her
human mask. "Gonna wear this all night, ducks?"

She pulled back, away from his fingers, her mouth open with sadness. She hadn't
even realized she was still vamped out and his words stuck a dissonant chord
within her soul, making her ache with worry. "I'm ugly now...aren't I?"

"Not bloody likely, pet." The blonde grinned. He grabbed a hold of her hand,
guiding it back to his raging hard-on. "The sight of you with a demon is even
more lovely than when you were human." He pushed into her hand, waiting for her
to take up the stroking he was so avidly seeking. Leaning forward, he ran a
tongue gently along her cheek, capturing the few tears that had been shed from
his careless comment. He smiled gently at her, grabbing her face with his hands
and licking along the prominent ridge on her forehead. "*This* is true beauty,"
he murmured, never stopping his tender licks and caresses.

Willow had never felt pleasure like she was experiencing by her mate's hands.
From making love to him in the past she knew that he enjoyed having her touch
his ridges. Only now did she understand why. It was the single most erotic
thing she had ever experienced in her almost twenty-one years of life.

“Pet…” Spike whispered shakily, trying to fight back his own growing arousal.
“As much as I would like to do this, I don’t think this is the best time to be
exploring a vampire’s sexuality. Maybe after you’ve adjusted to the whole
bloody thing….but not now.”

The red head’s face contorted and her human mask slipped into place. Did he not
find her attractive any more? The rational part of her mind was quick to step
up – telling her that he was right. “Yeah..” she whispered finally. “You’re
right. There will be plenty of time for that later…”

“Lots of time, pet. A whole eternity worth.” He purred softly.

“Eternity?” Her eyes grew round and fearful. “That’s a long time…” Tears formed
again in her eyes and she could feel her demon wailing inside her for her show
of weakness. “Will you be with me that long? Not just a decade or a hundred
years…but hundreds of decades…thousands of them?”

The blonde smiled down at her, showing all the gentleness he could bear to
give. “Of course, Red. You are mine forever.”

“Forever and ever and ever?”

Spike laughed at the child-like quality to her voice. He could see the changes
in her, his demon knew and recognized her for what she was – but there were
moments when she still seemed so much like her human self. “Forever and ever
and always, ducks.”

“Good, ‘cause I want that.”

“Enough for now, Red. My demon is screaming over all this bloody sap and I know
yours can’t be too happy either.”

The red head grinned. “You’re right. Will I ever get used to this? I mean…you
and Angel handle it so well…but I just can’t imagine not feeling like this –
confused and angry and sad, all at once.”

“It will get better. I bloody well promise” He stood, offering her his hand and
pulling her smoothly to his feet. With a smirk he lifted her, depositing her
gently on the bed and crawling in next to her cool body.  Wrapping her in his
arms, he closed his eyes, letting sleep come to take him.

“Spike?”

“Yes, luv?” The weary blonde opened his eyes. He looked into her smiling eyes
and couldn’t help but grin back. “What is it pet?

“We can wait to tell Buffy, right?”
 

next

back