Strip Snap by Lilachigh


Chapter 10 Play Time


Buffy drifted up to consciousness from somewhere deep and dreamy and rosy pink. Her whole body felt as light as a feather; with the slightest effort she could have elevated off the cabin floor - just like the object of one of Willow’s magic tricks - and floated to the ceiling.

She yawned and stretched, feeling the muscles in her legs ripple. Her bare foot touched skin - cold skin she knew only too well. She was smiling as she ran her toes across Spike’s heavily muscled thigh -

Then she remembered and her eyes flew open.

She was lying by herself on the floor. William was sitting, back against the wall, with his jeans draped modestly across his middle, staring down at her. His hair was a riot of tiny curls and as she grinned up at him, he glanced away and became very interested in digging a splinter of wood out of one of the floorboards.

‘Hi!” Buffy said quietly. “You OK?”

He seemed to be having some difficulty in speaking. At last, after much throat clearing he got out a croaky, “What do you mean, madam, by the letters OK?”

Buffy sighed. She’d forgotten that she had to speak as if she was Jane Eyre. “I mean, do you feel all right?” she said.

He licked his lips as if they were bruised. “I feel - I had no idea - I had, of course, heard gentlemen speaking in my Club - they said - but I never - ”

“I take it you are, then,” Buffy said briskly, sitting up and hugging her knees to her breasts. “Did you enjoy it?”

William took a quick peek at the damp blond curls he could see between her legs, then averted his eyes again. “Well, madam, I hardly feel it is the sort of subject I could discuss with a lady. But then, I suppose you aren’t a lady, are you?”

“I beg your pardon!” Buffy stared at him.

William bit his lip. “I hope I cause no offence, I realise something very strange has happened to me, and you are a American and so your manners are not quite - but even allowing for your nationality, no lady would...you are obviously no stranger to the arts of the bedroom. After all, I can not imagine that dear Cecily would know what... or have allowed me to - well - indeed no.”

Buffy stared at him, speechless. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The vampire was sitting there, stark naked, trying to hide his prick and balls from her and accusing her of being a big ho. She had never been so tempted to stake him as she was at this moment.

Then the absurdity of the situation hit her. This wasn’t Spike. This was William. What he said couldn’t hurt her. He was only judging her by his own experiences in life. He was a Victorian and from all she’d read about them, sex was a taboo subject.

What was the expression she’d heard someone laughing about once at college? Oh yes, “Lie there and think of England,” that was what girls were supposed to do when they got married.

She wondered what a shock it must have been to be alone in a room with a man for the first time in your life and have that happen to you when you didn’t even know what a man’s body looked like.

Judging by the stunned look on William’s face, what they’d just done had been a real eye-opener to him.

“So,” he was continuing, and for a moment a hand went to his face in a gesture that Giles made all the time and Buffy realised William was searching for a pair of spectacles he obviously no longer wore. “As you are a woman of some experience, was that...was I - ” his voice went hoarse - “capable?”

Buffy swung round to kneel in front of him. The sight of Spike being shy was an incredible turn on. She could feel the blood surging through her, her breasts felt tight; they ached, the nipples tingled and she longed to feel his cool mouth on them again.

She knew that if she was her usual sensible self, she’d get dressed and find some way of getting William/Spike back to Sunnydale. She was sure Willow would find a cure, a way to get Spike back in his body and return William to wherever he’d been sleeping for all these years.

But, god, she was so tired of being sensible. So weary of always doing the right thing, of looking after everyone, of being Buffy who would always manage, always cope. She’d had to be so strong since her mother had died; strong for Dawn, strong for her friends, strong for everyone. And since Willow had brought her back from the dead, she hadn’t had one day of real fun.

Sometimes she looked in the mirror and saw a forty year old woman staring back at her.

Suddenly Buffy realised that what she wanted to do, just for a couple of hours, was play. Okay, it was naughty. Perhaps it was unfair. She was, after all, taking advantage of a man who had no experience or knowledge of women.

It wouldn’t be the same as when Faith had switched bodies with her and slept with Riley. Spike and William were basically the same person.

And Spike would never know. She felt a tingle run across her body at the thought of what he would do to her if he did remember. She could almost feel the flat of his cold hand smacking her backside until it smarted - but she would cope with that when and if it happened.

At the moment, there was William, naked and sexy in front of her. And she’d just deflowered him - if that was what you did to a man - so she owed him something, didn’t she? There was no reason for this kind, sweet guy to think he was useless in bed. She wasn’t going to do to him what Parker and Angel had done to her, make her doubt herself so badly that her confidence had been shattered.

She knew that until Spike had made love to her that first time in the ruined house, she’d never really believed she was capable of giving a man complete satisfaction. Riley had seemed happy, but she’d always had the vague feeling with him that there was something more she should be doing.

Spike had shown her exactly what that was.

“Oh yes, you were very capable, William - for a first time, that is,” she said sweetly. “And yes, I do know some of the bedroom arts as you call them. I had a very good teacher. He’s English, too, you know.”

William shifted uneasily on the hard floor and Buffy’s lips twitched. The poor man was obviously dying to look at her body, but determinedly staring anywhere else.

“There seemed to be - ahem - well, a great deal of noise. I never thought, well, I have always known, of course, that gentlemen find it a pleasurable activity, and I must admit that I could not stop myself from crying out at the feelings. But why should a woman - but you seemed, well, towards the end, you were - well - ”

“Screaming?” Buffy added helpfully and felt her thighs tighten as they remembered the size of his cock plunging into her depths. “Oh yes. You’ve no idea of the sensations you caused me, William.”

To her delight, she watched as he pulled the jeans slightly away from his body. She could guess what was happening under that tough denim.

“Would you...?” he cleared his throat and dug out another splinter from the floorboards, “I mean, if it gave you some little pleasure, and I would, indeed, like to become proficient in this past-time, so perhaps we could - ”

“Do it again?”

At last his blue gaze swung round to her and feasted on her breasts. “I seem to be...it’s quite alarming...didn’t think it could be that soon...”

“William, you’re a vampire,” Buffy explained with a smile. “It isn’t the same for you as other men.” Thank God, she said silently and reaching forward, tweaked the covering off of him and felt her eyes widen at what awaited her. Yes, she was going to play, oh heavens, she was going to play so much. She’d deal with guilty feelings later on.

He gasped as she bent forward. “This can be good, too,” she said wickedly and ran her tongue down the long, steel velvet length.

She heard him groan and hiss in delight and reached up with her hands to link them tightly with his as she licked and nibbled and sucked, taking him deep into her mouth and hearing his swearing an endless stream of delight as within minutes he bucked violently and came again and again.

When he finally opened his eyes, he stared at her in astonishment. “Madam, that was, oh, I had no idea I could transcend to such a plane of existence.”

Buffy frowned. “I take it you enjoyed that.”

William nodded enthusiastically.

“Well, in that case, do you think you could possibly drop the ‘Madam’ from now on? Can’t you call me Buffy.”

“But we haven’t been formally introduced!”

Buffy kicked him in the ribs with her bare foot and grinned as, with vampire speed, he grabbed her toes and deflected the blow. William and Spike had exactly the same reflexes.

“I really do think that what we have been doing for the past hour is a pretty good substitute, William!” she said tartly.

The vampire was struggling with the etiquette of the situation. Yes,he could become a vampire and discover sex in all its forms, but calling a girl by her Christian name when they hadn’t ‘officially’ met, was obviously a far greater barrier to overcome.

“I shall continue to call you Miss Summers,” he said finally. “That would be acceptable, surely. Buffy is such a very odd name, but perhaps not to one from the Colonies.”

“No odder than Spike.”

William gave a faint smile. “We had a dog once called Spike. He was a vicious creature to strangers, but very affectionate to me and the family. He ran away one day and got lost. It caused Mother a sadness of heart.”

“Well, we won’t think about that now,” Buffy said hastily.

“No, indeed. I feel that thinking about Mother in this situation would not be seemly, especially as you are still unclothed.”

Buffy ran her hands mischievously across her breasts and watched as he swallowed hard. ‘My shorts and T-shirt are just over there,” she said, nodding to where they lay discarded on the floor in her hurry to get them off. “Do you want me to put them on?”

William shook his platinum head, his blue eyes burning. “No indeed not,” he whispered. “I have never seen a female body in the natural state before. It is very - arousing. You are a temptress, Madam.”

“I told you, no more Madams!”

William edged closer. “My apologies, Miss Summers. May I enquire - what you did to me just now - the sensation was most gratifying, but you received no pleasure in return.”

Buffy found herself smirking. She had a very good idea where this was leading. “Oh, I enjoyed doing it immensely, William. And you could always reciprocate.”

His eyes grew wider as the implication of her remark sunk in. “You mean - surely not - no woman would - how - ”

Buffy lay back on the floor and beckoned to him. She was aching now, her nipples were tight and he needed very little pressure on the back of his head to bring his mouth to them, one after the other.

She groaned. His tongue was lapping round and round, his teeth nibbling bluntly, driving her insane.

“Go lower - between my thighs, ” she gasped. “Make me come - just like I did to you. Please, William. Now! I have to come now.”

She spread her legs and moaned as he obeyed her instantly. The blond head dived between her thighs and his cool, clever tongue licked at her opening, then, without any further instructions, he parted her folds, found her clit and began to suck at it.

Buffy began to whine as some instinct made him pick up her legs, toss them over his shoulders and attack her clit with every ounce of pressure he could find. She could feel the hot liquid seeping out of her across his mouth and chin and the sensations he was causing were so great that she was making that dreadful noise in the back of her throat that only Spike could bring forth.

The climax when it hit her went on and on. Every time she thought she was coming down, his tongue curled again and drove her back over the precipice until she was a sobbing, moaning mass of quivering nerves.

It was dusk when Buffy found enough energy to think and speak again. She ached in places she hadn’t know she had places. She’d lost count of how many times William had fucked her and she him. All she knew was that for a beginner, he learnt really fast and if his technique was a little more tentative than Spike’s, he certainly had as much imagination. She knew she’d never be able to look at a basement ladder again without remembering how he’d threaded her arms and legs through the treads so she couldn’t move and then - well, mind blowing was a word that came to mind.

Now she realised the vampire was standing, gazing out of the window. “Miss Summers, I have had the most entertaining and educational day, but now i have to face up to the problem of being a vampire. I’m sure it is only a temporary affliction. Once I get home, I’ll call round to the vicarage and ask the Reverend Digby for his advice.”

Buffy stared at him in despair. “William, have you any idea where you are and what year it is?”

The vampire gazed back at her, puzzled. “Of course I know what year is is. The year of our Lord, 1880 and we are in London. I admit I am not sure where exactly, but feel it must be on the outskirts as you spoke of a lake.”

Buffy shut her eyes and sighed. Play time was officially over. The next few hours were going to be just as difficult as she’d feared.

to be continued



 

Strip Snap by Lilachigh


Chapter 11 Monsters and demons.



William looked down at the woman sitting on the floor of the cabin pulling on a pair of brief bloomers - he had no vocabulary in his mind for shorts - and a vest which covered up her pert breasts - much to his disappointmet.

The acid burns from the Tazksha demon had almost faded from his body. Thin, hard muscled, pale, the white blonde hair mussed into a thousand little curls, he looked no different in some ways to how Spike did every time he roused himself from hours of passion.

But the eyes were different. Still blue, but softer, puzzled, bewildered by what Buffy had been saying.

“2002? We’re in the year 2002?” He threw back his head and laughed suddenly and Buffy realised with a pang that she had never heard Spike laugh that much. Smile, banter, snipe, but not this hearty, out and out laugh of a young man whom time had never changed.

“Miss Summers, that is a fine jest. You would have me believe that one hundred and twenty-two years have passed since Cecily’s party? Why, I would have a long white beard down to the ground were that so!”

“William - Spike - you were turned into a vampire of the night of your Cecily’s party!” Buffy tried to explain. “You can’t die - well, only by wooden stake, or Holy water, or beheading, or - ”

He threw himself down beside her. “Miss Summers, I am aware of all aspects of vampires. Indeed there have been several very exciting stories written about them quite recently. I expect that it where you are obtaining all these fine embellishments. I accept I am a vampire, indeed, I can tell that I am - different. But to be that old - ”

For the first time the jollity slid out of his voice to be replaced by an aching note of worry. “That would mean, my dear Mama....”

“Look, William, don’t think about that just yet,” Buffy put in hastily. It seemed so hard that he had to face a grief now that he’d never faced in his past. She didn’t want to inflict that on him.

She’d never asked Spike about his family. She’d rather gathered from little clues he and Angel had dropped that ‘William’ had been close to his mother, but Spike had refused to admit that the previous owner of his body had anything to do with him.

“So, 2002.”’ He gazed apprehensively up at the window where the light was fading from the sky.

Soon it would be fully dusk and she could get him back to the lake, into the boat and across to the main-land. Once in Sunnydale, Buffy was certain Willow could help him.

“I imagine the world has changed a great deal? Who is on the throne at present?”

“Pardon?”

William looked anxious. “Well, our dear Queen Victoria is no longer with us, I’m sure. Nor her sons or daughters. So who rules the Empire?”

Buffy groaned and wished violently that Giles would appear in a flash of smoke to take over. Her knowledge of American history was sketchy to say the least. Her knowledge of the British variety was practically nil!

“You have a Queen Elizabeth the Second,” she said, picking out the one fact she did know. “But not a lot of Empire left. There’s been a lot of wars and revolutions.”

William raised his hand again to push the phantom spectacles back up his nose. “Really, now that is very interest - ”

“Spike! William! Listen, there isn’t time to discuss politics or history. I have to drive you back to Sunnydale for Willow to sort you out.”

“Ah yes, there’s that strange name again. Well, Miss Summers - ” He got to his feet in one lithe movement and held out his hand. “Let us away. Will we be able to hail a Hackney cab to our destination. I seem - ” he ran his hands over his jeans’ pockets and frowned. “I seem to have no money with me. I fear I must have fallen amongst thieves as well as vampires!”

Buffy let him pull her to her feet. She stood holding this hand, gazing into his eyes, at a loss for words. This was proving so difficult. One minute Spike seemed to accept what had happened and the next he blanked it from his mind and reverted to being a William who had got lost on his way home from a party and was still in London in the year 1880.

Then he smiled at her, and the world fell away once more. What was it about his smile that made her shiver, caused her legs to tremble and every nerve in her body to stand up and shriek? No matter if William or Spike was there, the smile was the same - warm, mischievous with a hint of wickedness.

Buffy sighed. “Look, just stay close to me, William. You’ll see all sorts of weird and wonderful things, I expect. But I’ll explain everything when we get home.”

The soft blue gaze slid over her body and she blushed. “I have seen - and done - many wonderful things today, Miss Summers,” he said slowly, his voice making her nipples ache. “If there are more in store for me, that would indeed be - ”

“Yes, right, let’s get going!” she said interrupting him. She knew if they didn’t get out of the cabin straight away, she‘d pull him down on the floor and insist he made love to her all over again.

She led the way out of the cabin and plunged down the path through the woods, heading for the beach. She just hoped the little row boat would be where she’d left it.

It was a soft, warm evening and with the sun dropping fast down behind the tree line, William was perfectly happy to follow in her footsteps.

Rounding the final bend, she groaned in delight to find the boat still tied to a log.

“Can you row, William?” she asked, knowing what a mess she’d made of her efforts the last time.

“Certainly, Miss Summers,” he said cheerfully and untying the rope, handed her into the boat with all the courtesy of a mediaeval knight helping his lady into a carriage.

William pushed off from the shore and settled himself at the oars. “Where am I heading?”

“Straight out across the lake to the other side,” Buffy replied. “Our car should still be where we parked it. If it hasn’t been stolen!”

“A car?” William raised his scarred eyebrow at her and she pulled her gaze away from the play of his muscles in his arms and chest as he rowed.

“Oh yes. It’s a vehicle to travel in. It has four wheels and an engine and runs on petrol. But don’t ask me how an engine works, because I’ve no idea about valves and tappets and starter motors.”

She stopped as he looked at her blankly. Then a faint smidgen of understanding crossed his face. “A few years ago, I remember reading that a German gentleman called Otto invented what he called an internal combustion engine that ran on some sort of fumes. There were rumours that a moving vehicle was about to be constructed. I wonder if it is the same sort of cunning device.”

Buffy sighed and for the first time in her life, wished that Xander was sitting here with her and Spike so he could explain automobiles. What on earth was William going to think when he saw a television screen for the first time!

“You row very well,” she said, trying to change the subject because she could see that dreadful male glint in William’s eyes that meant he was going to be very boring for a very long time about a subject she knew nothing about. “We’re half way across already.”

She bit her lip, remembering the night Spike had rowed her to the island. The beautiful white dress he’d given her, the romantic picnic, the passionate, nerve shaking way they’d made love.

And the first quiver of fear ran through her. What would happen if Spike never came back? If William remained in the Sunnydale crypt; a nice, Victorian vampire, adrift in the modern world. A vampire who had to be reminded not to go out in the sun and, as far as she could tell, didn’t have the first idea about how to get his next meal. Thinking of which....

“Are you hungry, William?” she asked tentatively.

William shut his eyes briefly, as if in deep thought. For a second or two, he vamped into game face, then back again. Buffy sat as still as she could in the creaking boat. It had suddenly come to her that this wasn’t Spike. He might be chipped, but he wasn’t Spike. He was a vampire of whom she had no knowledge.

“I have to admit, Miss Summers, that I do have a strange craving for - well, for blood,” William said at last, sounding apologetic. “I imagine this is part of the vampire situation?”

“Oh boy are you right about that!” Buffy said dryly, “Do you know how to feed?”

William looked at her with his guiless sapphire eyes and nodded. “Oh yes, I believe so. But please do not concern yourself. I am not sure of the etiquette of the situation, but I think it would be most improper to feed on someone with whom I had just had physical congress.

Buffy tried very hard not to laugh, but couldn’t stop her mouth twitching. She wondered if she could contact Giles and ask him if there was a nice little book about the correct form of behaviour for vampires where sex was concerned.

Perhaps she could help William write one, she thought dreamily, lulled by the rhythmic splash of the oars and the creaking of the oars. It could have a nice pink velvet cover and gilt lettering and -

“What the hell!”

She was suddenly flat on her back, wedged against the side of the boat with William lying flat on top of her. With a roar he’d dropped the oars and flung himself at her and now lay spread-eagled across her body.

Oh God, she thought, seeking for leverage to push him off. He’d attacked her! She was going to have to stake Spike. Oh no, oh please God no! She couldn’t loose him this way. Not now, not when she’d finally realised how much she -

“Don‘t move, Miss Summers! Not in inch. It’s passing overhead.”

William’s cool mouth was pressed against her ear, his breath tickling her skin.

“What is it? Spike? I mean, William?”

“Up in the sky. A great silver monster, roaring. A dreadful demon. Don’t be afraid. I’ll defend you. I’ll fight to the death. I won’t let it get you.”

Buffy wriggled her head free and peered over the pale shoulder up into the darkening sky. The lights from a large plane heading for the airport were dwindling into the distance.

“William, get off me. It isn’t a monster or a demon. It’s just - well, just another form of transport. It flies through the sky from place to place.”

William gazed down into her face, still not unlocking his legs from around hers. She could see that he was struggling with this new information and also aware that her body and his were reacting in their usual fashion to each other.

“I have seen a man ascend in a basket suspended under a hot air balloon,” William said at last.

“Yup, well, you get the general idea, then,” Buffy said, aware of the fact that she was spreading her legs until she could touch each side of the boat with her feet. Oh god, she wanted to spread them and spread them and - the buttons on her shorts gave up the unequal struggle and burst open.

A growl broke from William’s throat and for a second a wave of delight swept over her. She was sure Spike was back. But no, it was William’s hand that slid down his own zipper and William’s cock that was pressing urgently against her damp curls.

“Not the right place or time - ” she gasped but her body wasn’t even listening to her brain. She had taken him inside with one hard, long plunge and within seconds the boat was rocking violently as he plundered her body and and roared his release before she’d reached her own.

She held him inside her, contracting her muscles and working herself against his prick, gasping, moaning, desperate for climax. Oh god, he felt so good, and then, unasked, she felt his fingers find her clit and with two brief tweaks he sent her screaming into bliss once more as the waters of the lake slopped over the sides to soak the couple.

William slowly pulled himself off Buffy and sat back, searching for the oars. One had freed itself and floated a little way off.

He leant over to reach for it, then froze. Only a couple of yards away, something huge, foul, pulsating and purple was heaving itself through the water towards them. And William was quite certain that this time it wasn’t some invention of this year 2002, but a genuine monster he was seeing, and one that was determined to destroy them.

to be continued


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Chpt 12 Welcome to Sunnydale


The moon was just rising as a heaving, roiling mass crashed onto the lake shore. Great gobs and chunks of purple flesh, oozing yellow blood, a clump of intestines - still wriggling - and the splintered remains of a small rowing boat.

The next wave tossed up two exhausted bodies. Buffy groaned and rolled over in the sand, moaning as it tore at the various cuts and scratches all over her body. She yelped in disgust as she realised she was still holding one of the creature’s eyeballs where she’d gouged it out with her fingers.

“Euuwwwu, messy! Gross!” She flung it away from her and bent to rinse her hands where the waves were cleaner.

“William - are you all right?” She turned, worried, to where the vampire was slowly rolling over onto his knees. He’d fought with all the power and skill that had made Spike such a feared figure down the years. Buffy knew she would have had a hard job trying to quell the lake monster on her own.

“Miss Summers, we have survived! Goodness, that was - extremely interesting! I had no idea that such a creature existed. I wonder if it is one of the new species found in the Southern Atlantic recently?”

He looked up at her and she was startled to find he was smiling, the blue eyes - so much softer somehow than Spike’s - were gleaming with delight. “We fought very well together, I submit. I had no idea I possessed that very useful skill of butchery. I was particularly impressed by the way you locked your legs around the beast as I tore off its tentacles.”

“Oh yes, William, I could win an Olympic gold medal for killing squelchy demony water monsters! In fact, if there was a competition for putting your hands into grossness, I would beat all comers. Uggh, I can still smell it on my hands and my nail-polish is completely ruined!”

“I fear the row boat is no more, Miss Summers. I trust the owner will not need immediate recompense?”

Buffy sighed. She had no idea where Spike had got the boat from in the first place. Or what deal he’d made. She had a sneaking feeling he’d probably “borrowed” it without the owner’s permission.

“William, let’s head for the car and get you back to Sunnydale. Now, listen, a car is a vehicle that makes a noise and moves along the road, apparently by itself. You’re not going to freak out on me, are you? - and stop licking your fingers! It’s icky!”

William stood up from where he’d been dabbling his hands in the yellow blood and sucking on them. He stood up and his teeth flashed whitely in the moonlight.

“I must apologise for my lack of manners. I’m afraid I suddenly realised I was, indeed, extremely hungry and although this blood has a strange, rather fishy taste, it still goes down remarkably well - ”

Buffy shuddered and turned away. “Stop forgetting he‘s a vampire,” she muttered to herself as she marched up the slope towards where they’d left the car. “Evil, okay, chipped evil, but still countless years of evilness.”

And she ignored the voice in her head that mocked her, saying the only reason she was upset was that quite often, after they‘d made love, Spike licked his fingers in exactly the same fashion to taste the liquids she left on them from the deepest parts of her body.

It was dark when the car lurched up the road and bumped up onto the sidewalk outside Buffy’s house. William was holding onto both sides of his seat with a grip that no demon in the world would have been able to break. As the car stalled and jerked to a halt, he let out a long sigh.

“Were you supposed to hit that metal sign as we came into town?” he asked hoarsely. He didn’t think he’d ever felt such fear in all his life, even when the monster came rising up out of the water, or when Miss Summers had unzipped his trousers and -

“Oh, you mean the one that says Welcome to Sunnydale? I think someone must have moved it. Stupid sign. Being welcomed to the Hellmouth is a very strange thing to say to strangers in my opinion. ”

“And the man who had to jump several feet across the road as we came round the corner?”

Buffy shrugged. She wasn‘t sure why people always complained about her driving. OK, she and cars were not mixy things, but she thought she’d done really well considering she was handling a strange vehicle and sitting next to a vampire who kept squealing just because they were going over thirty miles an hour.

She glanced up at the house and groaned. All the lights were on. She’d half hoped that the gang would have gone to bed and she could take William indoors and get both of them showered and changed before all the questions started. But there was no putting off the evil moment.

“Come on, William. This is where I live.”

“A fine residence.”

“Ah, well, no, not really. Just an average sort of house.”

“Do I live here, too?”

“Certainly not!”

“Oh, then perhaps you should transport me to my own lodgings, Miss Summers. I have to accept that I am in a strange country and a strange time. But I’m sure that if I can sleep well tonight I will find a way tomorrow to make all this come right again.”

Buffy sighed. “No, William, you won’t. Not on your own. You need to meet Willow.”

“Meet? But your friends know me, you said?”

Buffy stared at the tousled hair, the slanting cheek bones, the way his muscles played under his skin as he moved. She swallowed. God, what was it with her and this guy? He was an evil vampire, no matter what his character, and even if he said he loved her, that was no excuse for her to want him so badly.

In he dark of the car, his eyes glittered like blue stars and she could see the curve of his lips. The rush of passion that flooded through her, startled and scared her. There was no way she could feel like this about William! It was bad enough having sex with Spike - well no, bad was not the word she should have used - sex with Spike was anything but bad.

Wrong! She grabbed the word out of the last brain cell that still seemed to be working. All these feelings for this vamp were wrong.

Wearily, she led the way up the path and into the house.

Willow and Anya jumped up from the sofa. Xander was just coming in from the kitchen, eating a slice of pizza that was dripping melting cheese down his chin

“Buffy! Thank God. Where have you been? Are you OK?”

“And what on earth are you wearing!” Anya said, gazing in horror at the tight shorts and T-shirt, both now torn and dirty.

“Hey, Buff. Good to see you back,” Xander mumbled. “But what on earth is Captain Peroxide doing lurking out there?”

Buffy turned round and realised that William hadn’t followed her inside. He had a hand out, touching an invisible barrier. Of course! He was William, not Spike. And William had not been given permission to enter.

“Oh come in,” Buffy said swiftly and the vampire blinked as the magical obstacle vanished.

“And he’s coming in the house because...?” Xander said sarcastically. “And why is he only wearing a pair of jeans? Buffy, what the heck is going on.”

“Can we have the inquisition in the morning?” Buffy said wearily. “We both need a shower and some sleep. As there’s no squealing and yelling, I take it Dawn’s round at Janice’s.”

“How do you do?” William pushed past her, and advanced across the room, hand held out to Xander who gaped, dropped the pizza and automatically shook hands with the vampire.

“How do you - ! Spike! What the hell are you doing?”

“It’s very good to find a gentleman here,” William said cheerfully. “Are these ladies your paramours, perhaps?”

“What!” Xander’s yell could probably have been heard in Los Angeles, Buffy reckoned. Then she started to laugh and sank down on the sofa, her legs feeling weak. She couldn’t help it. The sight of Spike being all English and polite, trying to introduce himself to Xander was worth all the trouble she’d been through in the past few hours.

Anya went close to William and gazed up into his eyes. “Not Spike,” she said softly. “I can sense it.”

“Anya, of course it’s Spike,” Willow said snippily. “Look at him. Pale, thin, dyed hair, all Billy Idol except , of course, bare chested and - Buffy, why are you wearing those dreadful shorts?”

William was happily touring round the room, shaking hands as he went. Xander stood staring after him, his mouth open in astonishment.

William took Willow’s hand and bent his head briefly over it. “Madam, I must say, I have never seen hair your colour before. Is it magic that makes it that red?”

“What! Oh, no, it’s called October Flame - I mean, Spike, what are you doing here? and why are you calling me Madam?”

William looked confused. He reached out to touch Willow’s screaming red hair and Xander propelled himself forward, grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him sideways.

William cannoned off the wall, and came up in game face. He took a long stride towards Xander, then stopped, shook himself and went back to human.

“Sir, obviously I have made some mistake in the etiquette of this strange country and times. I offer you my sincere apologies and trust you will not hold it against me. Perhaps we could remove to a hostelry and partake of a libation and you can tell me exactly how life is lived here. I must admit it would be welcome to have some male company. As exciting and interesting as Miss Summers is, I yearn for a little sensible conversation.”

Xander looked pleased. It wasn’t often that he was singled out as the person someone wanted to spend time with.

“Oh, right, yes, we could find a bar - and, hey! What the hell are you talking about, Spike. i would rather chew off my right arm than go out for a drink with you.”

“And why is Xander suddenly more interesting than me?” Buffy put in, her voice cross. She felt hurt. OK, all sorts of goodness to be called exciting and interesting, even by a vampire. But surely there was no way William could prefer Xander’s company to hers! Not after what they’d been through together.

“I keep telling you,” Anya said, sitting at the table and picking up a nail file. “Not Spike.” She stared up at him. “I reckon - it’s William.”

“William!” Xander and Willow spoke together.

“Yes?” William said mildly, looking from one to the other.

Buffy sighed and stretched her arms above her head. God she was so tired. If she didn’t have a shower soon, no one would want to come within a mile of her.

“Guys, yes, Anya’s right, this is William. Not Spike, not William the Bloody, but William as he was before he met Dru! He’s still a vampire, still chipped, but not Spike. Don’t ask me how. It was something to do with the acid he got burnt with. Acid from a Tazksha demon. We need to find a way of changing him back, Willow. But, please, can we do it in the morning! I’m beat.”

The other three stared at her and then back to William, their faces pictures of amazement and disbelief.

“I told you so,” Anya said at last. “No one was listening to the ex demon, of course, but I knew it wasn’t Spike.”

“But Buffy, where on earth did you meet a Tazksha demon,” Willow said worriedly. “They’re very, very rare. Don‘t tell me there’s one wandering around Sunnydale?”

“What? Oh, no, we were - er - ”

“We were in a little house on an island in the middle of a lake, Madam,” William put in helpfully, ignoring the glare Buffy sent him.

“It doesn’t matter where we were,” Buffy said swiftly. “I’ll explain later. Just now, William needs a shower, so do I. Then sleep.”

“Am I to share your bed, Miss Summers?”

“Now listen here, Spike, William, whoever you are,” Xander growled. “If you lay one finger on Buffy, I’ll personally stake your lousy skin and walk in your dust.”

William looked bemused. “But we’ve already - ”

“Yes, well, it’s getting very late,” Buffy broke in hurriedly, guessing that he was just about to tell Xander details of exactly what they’d shared in the last few days. “Let me show you where to wash up, William. Then you can sleep down here on the sofa. We’ll talk again in the morning.”

And she urged him up the stairs, wondering as she did so, exactly what the new day would bring.


to be continued
 

Chapter 13 What About Me?

“You have a very strange household, Miss Summers,” William said politely as she hurried him up the stairs. “Do all those people live here with you?”

Buffy was heading for the bathroom. She was longing to feel hot soapy water on her skin. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone so long without a wash.

“No, Xander and Anya have their own home. Willow lives here and my sister, Dawn - who should be home any moment. But I don’t want you meeting her tonight.”

She pushed open the bathroom door and almost thrust the vampire into the room. She didn’t want to explain that she was hoping she could get Spike back before Dawn had to find out.

“Get in the shower. I’ll find you something to wear.” She left him staring around in amazement and fled into her bedroom. Buried in one of her closets was an old pair of trousers, covered with paint, that Riley had worn once when he’d helped her redecorate her bedroom. They would be far too big for Spike, but it was them or nothing!

“Oh God, I need water, hot, hot water,” Buffy moaned and raced back to the bathroom door. William was standing where she’d left him, a bemused expression on his face.

Buffy turned both bath taps on full, groaning in ecstasy as the steam rose up in fragrant clouds as she poured bubble bath into the water, filling the room with vanilla and rose essence.

She glanced round at William . “Look, there’s the shower cubicle. Get in there and have a wash. I promise not to look at you if you don’t look at me.”

William stared at her through the steam. “What mustn’t I look at, Miss Summers?”

“Me naked, of course.”

“But I’ve already seen you unclothed.”

“That was - different. Look, just get in the shower. No, take your trousers off first, idiot! Oh god, do you know how to work a shower? No, of course you don’t! Look, you have the bath. I’ll take the shower.”

“But the water smells of - ”

“I know, I’m sorry. It was meant for me. But it won’t hurt for once. Just get in and soak. You’re still covered in sticky yellow demon blood.”

“Buffy, are you OK?” It was Willow outside the door.

“Yes, I’m fine, Will. Just showing Spike - William, how to work the shower. I”ll have mine when he’s finished.”

“OK. Xander and Anya have gone. I’ll be downstairs if you want me.”

Buffy pulled off her clothes. She didn’t care what he thought. She wanted to wash now! She stood under the pounding water, feeling the dirt and demon blood and other unmentionable stickiness washing away.

She peeked out once to the amazing sight of the vampire lying in rose scented bubbles, being male and playing with the taps with his toes.

“Oh god, Spike will never forgive me for this,” she muttered, diving back into the cubicle and rubbing shampoo vigorously into her hair. “Please, please, don’t let him ever remember I made him take a bubble bath!”

She was rinsing her hair for about the third time, eyes shut, almost asleep as the warm water gushed over her body, when a colder draught hit her.

Her eyes shot open to find William standing in the open cubicle door looking at her, his eyes half open, glazed with desire. He’d tied a towel round his waist, but there were obvious signs underneath it that the sight of her was not unpleasant.

“William! What did you - hey, wait a second, I’ll get dry and - ”

Her words stopped as he stepped into the cubicle and, without speaking a word, began to kiss her. She felt the towel slide away and - oh god, was all that for her ? Yes!

He smelt of rose and vanilla and Spike. His mouth was cold but for a while, at least, his skin was warm from the hot bath. And that felt so odd.

Buffy moaned as his hands found her wet nipples and the rough pads of his thumbs began to stroke them, delicately at first, then harder and harder as his kisses grew deeper, more insistent.

She knew she should have stopped him, could easily stop him - she was the Slayer, she was strong enough to push him away any time she chose, end it now. God, Willow was only downstairs, Dawn would be home soon. They mustn’t make a noise, but how she stop herself screaming when he did -

Why was she acting like this? This wasn’t Spike, it was William, but oh god, his hands were Spike’s hands and what he was doing with his tongue -

She reached for the tap to turn off the shower, but there wasn’t time. One of his hands slipped between her legs and she was glad the water was still thundering against the glass as she began to moan and whine, shuddering as the finger rasped over her clit.

“Open your eyes, Miss Summers,” William muttered and she forced herself to look up through the spray and mist and steam into his blue gaze, panting, gasping, as he slowly, but surely sent her insane. The finger was joined by another one and she could feel the surging inside her, the tightening of her muscles, the red mist creeping up.

She was still staring at him through the steam and for a second, the sapphire eyes boring into hers were Spike’s as she gave a final strangled scream and her climax hit, wave after wave of feeling coursing through her body.

She tightened her legs and arched her back, pushing her pelvis against his hand as he pumped wickedly with his finger, over and over again.

She gave a little jump and wrapped her legs around his waist as he held her against the streaming tiles, his cock buried to its full depth inside her.

His movements were as hard and sure as Spike’s had been. This was no debutante to sex. Whatever lesson she had taught William, he had learnt it fast and well. There was no pausing, no hesitation, he held her effortlessly off the ground and fucked her until her body turned to jelly and every nerve ending shrieked for the bliss of release.

And then Buffy was coming again and this time he could feel it inside her and with a roar he exploded, held in pulsating delight by her inner muscles that milked him of everything he had ready for her.

When she came back to reality, she found they were lying on top of her bed, tangled up in the quilt. She had a vague memory of William half carrying her out of the bathroom and her fumbling for the door handle and then locking it behind her.

She rolled over and glanced down at the vampire. He seemed to be asleep, but the smirk on his mouth was one with which she was only too familiar. Whenever they made love, Spike got that expression on his face. Like a great cat that had just slurped a whole bowlful of cream.

Buffy poked him in the ribs as she hunted for clean clothes. “Get up, William,” she hissed as she pulled on dark blue jeans and a pale pink top. “We’ve got to go downstairs. You need to sleep on the sofa.”

“I’m very comfortable right here, Miss Summers,” he muttered without opening his eyes, but reaching out instinctively to stroke her thigh.

Buffy batted his hand away. “Stop that right now!” she snapped. “Get dressed. You can’t be in my room when my sister gets home.”

William sighed heavily, opened one brilliant blue eye and smiled sleepily. “I am heartily looking forward to meeting her.”

“You already know her - as Spike, that is. I don’t know how she’s going to take you being William. She’s...she’s fond of Spike.”

William swung his legs over the side of the bed and pulled on the trousers Buffy had found for him. She grinned. They were far too large and the leather belt had to be pulled in to its smallest to stop them falling off his slim hips.

“Very odd garments you wear in these times,” he said with a fastidious gesture that reminded her so much of Giles that her head swam. “Did these trousers belong to your father?”

“What? No way - they belonged to Riley. He was - ”

“One of your lovers?”

“Hey, there’s no need to make it sound as if I’ve had thousands of them. He was my boyfriend - OK - maybe more than that for a little while and - ”

She stopped dead. Why on earth was she telling him all this? “It really is none of your business, William. We’ll get you to Spike’s crypt tomorrow and you can wear his - your - oh god, it’s so confusing. Whoever you are tomorrow, there’ll be clothes there that will fit you. Look, there’s this T-shirt, too. Yes, I know it’s torn. I was going to use it as a duster. But it’ll do. Now come on. Downstairs.”

At the table, Willow was sitting on her own, working on her computer. She’d turned out all the lights except the desk lamp and it turned her hair to burnished copper.

She smiled as they appeared, obviously fighting back the desire to laugh at William’s appearance.

“Hey there. Well, you certainly look a lot cleaner, Buffy. That must have been the longest shower on history. And you, too, William.”

She stared fascinated at the head of tiny blond curls that had appeared as his hair dried. Willow couldn’t remember if she’d ever seen the vampire without his usual slicked back hair-style. “This must all seem very strange to you.”

‘“I have had a most cleansing bath,” the vampire said happily. “Although I must apologise if I smell highly scented in a most feminine fashion. Miss Summers put copious amounts of a highly pungent substance in the water and even though I washed it off in the shower when we were - ”

“ - were rinsing out his wet jeans,” Buffy broke in swiftly, knowing that at any moment he was going to relate to Willow exactly what they’d done in the shower.

“Now, Will. Have you any ideas on how to get Spike back?”

Willow shook her head and turned back to her lap top. “No, but I’ll probably find something at the Magic Box tomorrow. I know Giles had a couple of books there that covered reversion spells. And Buffy, remember that the Tazksha demon is very dangerous. You simply mustn’t let it touch you. I’m surprised Spike didn’t die from the acid.”

“He almost did,” Buffy said wearily, sitting down on the sofa, exhaustion beginning to bite her. She shuddered, remembering how ill the vampire had been, how she’d been convinced she was going to loose him and how that had sent her brain into overdrive.

Why should he matter so much to her. Perhaps it was just ‘the sex’ as Xander would have said. Oh god, did that mean she was some sort of sex addict? She’d heard about people like that, who got hooked on it just as much as they did on drugs or drink.

But it isn’t that, she thought desperately. When she’d thought she was going to loose him, the thought of sex had never entered her mind. All she could think of was Spike himself and how empty and pointless her life would be without him in it.

Buffy glanced across at him now. He was walking slowly round the room, picking up photographs of her mom, of Dawnie, of the Scoobies all together, smiling and laughing. Even in the ridiculous T-shirt and trousers, he had an elegance of movement that always surprised her. She could have watched him all night.

“OK, tomorrow we’ll be all researchy and clever,” she said. “William, I’m going to find you a quilt - even though I suppose you don’t really never one because you’re cold already, but - well, anyway, I’ll find you one. And then tomorrow we’ll start some serious research into getting Spike back.”

The vampire turned and for a second Buffy’s heart flipped. His gaze was very direct; it could have been Spike looking at her.

“And if you get this Spike back, where do I go, Miss Summers?”

There was a long silence. Willow was twisting a lock of hair round and round her finger, gazing at Buffy from under her lashes. She looked very nervous.

Buffy stood up. “Go? Well, you won’t go anywhere, William. You’ll just be - Spike again.”

“But what if I don’t want to be Spike?”

“What!”

He sat on the sofa, and clasped his hands in front of him. “I appreciate that you have all been extremely concerned but you have never bothered to ask me what I want to do. I like it here. I like who I am. So if it’s all the same to you, Miss Summers, Miss Willow, please don’t bother with any magical spells or potions. I’ve decided to stay here as myself. I don’t want to vanish, to disappear. I like life. I’m afraid this Spike character can’t have my body any more. He can’t come back.”

And as Buffy stood looking down at him, she could see there was a stubbornness appearing on his gentle face that reminded her once again of the very man he was condemning to perpetual banishment.

to be continued