TITLE: Lesser of Two Evils

AUTHOR: Jen Schall

PAIRING: B/S

RATING: NC-17

SPOILERS: Up to Wrecked.

DISCLAIMER: All hail Joss Whedon, UPN, the WB, FOX, Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox Film Corporation. Theirs, not mine.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Fifth in the Slave Series. Follows "Cuts Like A Knife".

DISTRIBUTION: Please ask my permission first, just so I know where it's headed.

FEEDBACK: Sure, fire away to jodyorjen@yahoo.com

It is dark as a tomb. Well, actually, it is a tomb. Crypt, really.

I am lying in the arms of my beloved.

I come awake to the smell of her, the feel of her, the fact of her.

It is the most content moment I have experienced in my unlife.

An electronic beeping breaks the peaceful silence.

The sound is naggingly familiar.

I lie there, trying to place it, until Buffy rolls over, jostling me.

Immediately, my chest flares up with pain.

"Bloody buggering fuck!" I yell.

The lamp flips on and Buffy rolls back towards me.

She clutches a small blue cell phone to her ear.

"No, Dawn, that wasn't directed at you."

She pulls a face at the telephone.

"Yes, you can go to Janice's. I will call her mother and make sure it's okay, and then I will call later and make sure you're there. Call me if you need me."

Hanging up, she leans forward and kisses me gently.

"Morning, sleepy head. I think you've been out since last night. You were still sleeping when I left this morning, and when I got here tonight."

"What's with the cell phone, love?"

" Got it today. I need to be able to stay here and take care of you. Now Dawn or the Scoobies can call me with the latest emergency."

She holds up the phone and pretends to listen to it.

"Apocalypse, anarchy, mayhem? And we're out of milk? Sure, I'll be right there."

Turning for a moment, she hands me a black phone.

"This one is yours."

She shows me how it works, punching different buttons.

"Me. Home. Dawn's cell phone. Magic Box."

She smiles at me.

"You'll know your phone is ringing when you hear this."

The electronic chimes of "Mexican Hat Dance" begin to play.

Placing the phones on the nightstand, she turns back to me.

"How are you feeling tonight, sleeping beauty?"

I try to sit up and am wracked with another wave of pain.

"Like I shoved something wooden into my chest."

"We're going to have a really long talk about that when you're feeling better."

Buffy helps me sit up, propping me up on some pillows.

She must have brought them from home; they smell like her.

"Time for you to take your medicine. Slayer blood, it's good for what ails you."

She bares her neck, revealing two fresh bite marks.

"You have to keep your energy up. You need my blood."

"Not your blood. It is an aphrodisiac, love. If I try to drink it, I'll want to have sex, and there is no way I can do that in this condition."

"Well, you did last night."

"And it nearly finished me off."

I can barely remember making love to her or feeding from her; the whole experience seems distant and unreal, like an opium dream.

"I spoke to Giles to find out how to heal your wounds. He said that my blood would enhance your healing."

"You told Giles what happened?"

"That you were staked in the chest. Skipped the self-inflicted part."

She takes a deep breath.

"I told him that we're lovers."

"Is that some kind of joke?"

Buffy looks at me, her eyes deep and serious.

"What we have, it's not going away. Not ever. If I can accept that, so can everyone else."

I am reeling. I never thought that she would do this.

"But, Buffy-"

"Anya already knew. The cat is out of the bag. End of discussion."

She studies me closely, apparently not liking what she sees.

"I can't stand seeing you this way. You need to drink."

She stands up and strips off her clothes.

The girl is so damn stubborn.

"Slayer, will you just give it a rest-"?

Buffy pulls off the covers and slides between my legs.

She takes me in her mouth, sucking me in slowly, inch by inch.

She licks me gently, delicately.

My body responds, my erection growing in her mouth.

Bliss pours over me in waves.

The one I love, the one I never thought I'd have, sucking me.

Her tongue flickers over the head of my cock.

It feels so very good, and my orgasm begins to build.

The warmth slips away from me.

"Baby, don't stop. Suck me. Fuck me. Anything."

I feel something slither up my legs.

Her lips envelop mine as she slips me inside her.

"Now, oh God, now-."

I grit my teeth, trying to hold back.

Buffy's voice whispers in my head.

"Come inside me."

She slides her neck across my mouth, and clamps her muscles around my cock.

I plunge my fangs into her neck as I explode into her.

Heightened by the affect of her blood, I ride a prolonged wave of release.

Her sweet blood burns inside me like the finest whisky.

I am drunk with her, drunk with love.

'You're mine."

The last thing I hear is her voice.



The world starts to come together again.

I hear Buffy's voice, raised in panic.

"Well, he's not getting any better! He's still unconscious and his bandages are soaked through with blood again."

Opening my eyes, I see Mr. Gordo.

The stuffed pig is lying on the pillow next to me.

Looking around, I see Buffy pacing, talking into her phone.

She turns and looks at me.

"He's awake. I have to go."

She pulls me into her arms, rocking me back and forth like a child.

Buffy kisses me deeply, frantically.

I kiss her back, enjoying the taste of her.

Her kiss deepens, her tongue slipping inside my mouth.

Salt.

I pull back, and see the tears running down her face.

"You've been out cold for two days. It was like- you were in a coma. You were just lying there."

She sobs harder, her whole body shaking.

"I can't stand losing you. I just can't take it."

I let her cry it out while I pat her shoulder.

"It's alright, pet. So I slept for a while. Just a bit knackered."

She pulls away from me, anger flashing in her eyes.

"Spike, you're an idiot! You have no idea-."

She stands up, wringing her hands.

"The wound in your chest isn't healing the way that it should. It's been three days and it's still an open wound. My blood isn't helping. In fact, it seems to have made things worse."

She wraps her arms around herself, staring at the floor.

" I did some research while you were out. Spoke to come contacts. Tara stayed here, watched over you."

Buffy speaks softly, still staring down.

"You have to drink the blood of your sire."

I am stunned, absolutely floored.

"I have to drink- from Dru? But that would mean that-"

She turns and glares, her eyes red from crying.

"You're dying. Something has gone wrong. Giles thinks maybe there are splinters from the stake in your chest that are keeping you from healing. Or- someone else suggested that you just lost too much blood all at once."

"But I feel fine. Hurt but fine. I've been hurt worse than this and mended."

"Look, there is no time to argue with you. Just trust me on this. Time is running short. You have to drink blood from the Master's line. Drusilla was last spotted somewhere in Mexico. Darla is - unavailable."

The muscle in my jaw starts twitching involuntarily.

"Angel."

"He's willing to do it."

"Fuck that!"

Furious, I swing my legs over the bed and stand...

Only to look up into Buffy's concerned face.

I am flat on my back on the floor, and my chest is throbbing in constant waves of pain.

"Spike? Sweetheart?"

The Slayer called me sweetheart.

I really must be dying.

"I drink from Angel or I kick it?"

"That's about the size of it."

"Bollocks," I whisper, as I pass out again.

-TBC-