I held her in my arms, not knowing what to do to ease the pain she seemed
determined to feel about her bloody situation in life. She needed me. Big effin
deal. Everyone needs someone at sometime in their life. Its just the way things
work. Even I, William the soddin’ Bloody, have needed someone at times.

Ok. So usually it was me needing someone to kill. But that’s beside the point.
Red is in pain and I can’t kill anything to make it better.

Or can I?

Bitchy certainly deserves to be hurt, after what she did and said to my goddess
and I know that my little witch wouldn’t be opposed to causing her some pain. I
can see it in her eyes, the need to hurt something. She doesn’t admit that its
there, preferring to take it out on me while we shag, but its always there,
waiting to be released.

But, killing the Slayer, while fun, would just mean that another of the nasty
cows would be called and that would just be bloody annoying. A bunch of those
Watcher gits running around, trying to train her up right and all. Definitely
not worth the trouble. Not even to see Red smile would I go after that
simpering bint.

Doesn’t mean we can’t hurt her, though.

She must have something, some momento of her pathetic childhood or of a past
boyfriend or –anything- that means something to her that I can rend apart piece
by bloody piece. Something that will hurt her and make my little witch smile
again. I grin mirthlessly, knowing my invitation into Bitchy’s dorm room was
never revoked. Now would be the perfect time, the chit was probably off
screwing her little ponce of a Farmboy. What I wouldn’t give to kill –that-
bloke for putting that bloody chip in my head in the first place. “Pet…Want to
go for a walk?”

I can see the confusion in her eyes, the questions. She wants to know whats
going through my head, what emotions did her little breakdown cause? But she
doesn’t say a word, just nods. I move towards the door to her bedroom and she
stops me.

“Its cold outside,” she says and hands me my duster. She’s always worried about
things like that.
Her lower lip is trembling as she looks at me and I can see the tears in her
eyes, the scent of her fear sharp in the air. “Its gonna end and it might as
well be my fault. I didn’t mean to make it seem like a bad thing to need you.”

I stare at her, for a moment dumbstruck that she could possibly think that I
was upset with her in any way. She’s my fire goddess. My red haired witch. My
bloody mate. Did she think I claimed her last night only to throw her away in
the morning? I met her gaze levelly, my own voice wuiet in the room. “Pet, its
not going to end. It shall never end. You are mine. Now and forever.”

She nodded, her eyes never leaving mine. I could tell that she still didn’t
understand what I was trying to tell her. Leaving her was the last thing on my
mind. I would never leave her to her own devices again. Never make her suffer
alone as that bloody bitch of a Slayer had.

“Do you promise?” She asks. “DO YOU PROMISE?” She screams, and her voice is
straining, her emotions running rampant in her face. All at once I can see
through the shields she has built up around herself, trying to keep the pain of
the world from hurting her. She’s scared of being alone, of being unneeded, of
being lonely.

“I bloody well promise that I am never going to give you up, Red,” I don’t even
try to hide the growl in my voice, hoping the raw emotion will reach the part
of her that my normal words can’t touch. The part that screams to her that
everyone is going to leave her and she will be alone until the day she dies.
“Need me. Use me. Abuse me. Tie me down and ignore me. I still will never give
you up.”

Lust flares briefly in those fiery depths of her eyes, the flames of her desire
heating up her face as she smiled wickedly at me. “I don’t think I’ll be
ignoring you if I chose to tie you down.”

There it is. That fire I fell head over bloody heels for. Its sparkling within
her now, begging to be released. I crave this side of her, the darker side of
her that she only shows when she’s truly at ease.  She’s not the weak little
chit that was just crying in my arms a second ago, not usually.  This is who
she truly is – a goddess of pure fire and passion.

Bugger it. Little witch has me all hard and bothered, -again-.

But I still want to go for my walk. Red will know what in Bitchy’s room will
hurt her the most to lose. She’ll know exactly how to hurt the Slayer without
ever laying a hand on her filthy little body. “Red, you’ve got a little bit of
something, something I can’t place. But my God its better than nothing.”

She brightens under my praise, her face glowing as her body untenses. The fire
never leaves her eyes though. Its burning there, right under the surface,
begging for me to tap into it, give it direction.

And soon I will. Soon all of the bloody Hellmouth will burn under the fires of
my witch’s gaze.  The smirk on her face tells me that she believes that she’s
got it all already. The town, my heart, my very life – all laid bare in the
palm of her tiny little hand.

Wouldn’t do to let her know that she does have it all and what she doesn’t have
I will give to her the second she bloody well asks for it. She’s looking at me,
her eyes wide and curious, the fire still there.

“So…we leaving?”

I smile at her, glancing at the clock on her bedside. Three am? Hadn’t it said
three am when we went to bed? The expression on my face must have been
confusion because she laughed, the sound filling her small room.

“Don’t go by that, its been stuck at three for days.” Her hands encircled my
waist and she purred in my ear. “Its only a little past midnight, lover. The
night’s young. Can we go have some fun?” I turn my head enough to look in her
eyes, not surprised to see them dark with desire. She licks her lips and I’m
lost, my body stiffening. If we don’t leave soon I’m going to throw her down on
her bed and shag her again.

That won’t solve anything, though. Won’t take away the need she feels but
doesn’t recognize. The need to hurt those who have hurt her. Her lips kiss
hungrily at my neck and I moan again, my rod getting unbelievably hard in my
jeans.

Its hard to believe this was the same chit who months before would have gladly
staked me rather than walk off into the night with me. The same girl who would
have rather studied than partied, who thought that happiness was a mat that sat
on her doorway and who thought that rain could wash away all her troubles. Hard
to believe that under that bloody annoying naivete had been this fiery little
kitten waiting to play.

“Sure, pet, lets go cause a little trouble.”
 

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