Initiative Dreams  WIP



Rating: R or NC17



Season IV – but AU



Disclaimer – Didn’t invent them, just play with them



Distribution – Sure, just let me know



Feedback – absolutely!



Summary – Buffy and Spike find themselves drawn to each other while they try to figure out what’s going on in the Intiative complex.















INITIATIVE DREAMS







“I hate you!” she growled, swinging her sword toward the neck of the nearest gibbering demon.







“I hate you more!” replied the bleached blond beside her as he took out two more of the multi-toothed creatures attacking them.







“This is your fault, Mr. I-know-just-how-to-sneak-in,” she grunted as she decapitated two more demons.







“Hey, I’m not the one who said we could handle it ourselves, remember?”  In a high pitched voice he quoted, “No, Giles, we won’t need back-up. Spike and I won’t have any problems...” he stopped talking as four of the diminutive, but fierce demons attacked at once and he got very busy keeping them at bay.  He could feel the Slayer behind him and knew from her rapid heartbeat and breathing that she was as hard pressed as he was.







“Shut up and fight,” she managed to gasp as the hoard of small, deadly creatures kept pouring out of the back of the cave.







They continued cutting them down until there was a wall of bodies beginning to build up around them and they were being pushed closer and closer together, leaving less room to swing their swords.







The vampire hadn’t survived for over 120 years without learning how to cut his losses, and he began sneaking looks at their surroundings to find an escape route. Between demon killings, he noticed a ledge in front of what appeared to be a tunnel and decided it was reachable if they used the pile of bodies they’d amassed as a take-off point.







“Slayer, switch!” as he said it, he and the small blond girl spun around and continued fighting with no break in their defense.







“Do you see that tunnel up there?” he asked.







Buffy glanced up and saw what he was talking about. “I see it. Do you think we can get there from here?”







“We’d bloody well better be able to - I don’t see us running out of ugly  little biters any time soon, do you?”







“No, I guess not.  How do you want to do this?”







“On a count of three, from the top of the demon pile,” he instructed.  Both fighters jumped agilely to the top of the wall of bodies, then as Spike counted, “one, two, three!” they leaped upward to the ledge above their heads.  Just as Buffy  pushed off, the body she was using as a springboard shifted just enough to throw off her jump and instead of landing on the ledge in front of the tunnel with Spike, she found herself hitting the wall and sliding down toward the snapping jaws below. Before she had time to worry about her situation, she felt a strong hand catch her wrist and she was yanked up none-too-gently, landing on top of the vampire as he tumbled backwards.







“You can thank me later, luv,” he leered at her, “we really don’t have time for this now.”







Buffy glared at him and jumped to her feet, refusing to admit to herself that it had felt kind of nice, lying on that lean muscular body.  “Ugh! Spike. You are such a pig!”







“Yeah, that’s why you love me, “ he said, springing easily to his feet and pulling her toward the tunnel.  “Let’s go, Slayer, before they figure out what we did.”







They took off running with supernatural speed until they could see the way out of the cave system.  Since Spike didn’t need to breathe, he wasn’t panting, but he was tired and Buffy was clearly out of breath.  They stopped and sat at the entrance, backs against a wall.







“I hate running away!” she said angrily as soon as she got her breath back.  “I just hate it!”







“I know you do, Slayer, but what’s the first rule of successful slaying?”







“Stake all annoying, direction-challenged vampires?” she suggested.







“After that one,” he growled. “And I am not direction-challenged.  They worked some mojo in there to confuse me.”







Buffy rolled her eyes and sighed.  Spike continued to look at her expectantly, waiting for her answer.







“What?” she demanded.







“Waiting for that first rule, Slayer,” he said mildly.







“Stay alive,” she mumbled.







“What was that, Slayer?  Not sure I heard you.”







“STAY ALIVE! , you annoying creature,” she growled at him. “but I hate running!”







“But you live to fight another day, Slayer. And isn’t that your job? To be there to get the bad guys?”







“Thank you very much, Giles, Jr.” she snarked at him. “Then why are you still walking around annoying us?”







“Cause you’d miss me if I was gone and you know it,” he grinned at her. “You’d have to go out looking for strange vampires to fight with.”







She smiled back at him in spite of herself. “You’re about as strange as they come, Spike. No need to go looking.”







“Ha, bloody, ha, Slayer.”







They rested in companionable silence for awhile, until Buffy sat up abruptly to say,  “I guess we’d better get going. Go back and tell Giles we’re going to need a plan B”







“What’s your hurry, Slayer? I was just getting comfortable,” he looked at her curiously.







“Nothing, I just - I’m hungry.  Fighting makes me hungry.” she said quickly, grateful that he had never heard Faith’s “slaying makes me hungry and horny” spiel.







He just looked at her with a curious smile on his face. “That all you want, Slayer? Food?”  he asked.  He could tell from her flustered but puzzled expression that she didn’t know he could smell her arousal and was wondering what he meant.







“Of course, food.  What else would I be hungry for?”  She regretted the question as soon as the words left her mouth and braced herself for a lewd reply from the vampire.







To her surprise, instead of making a piggy remark of some sort, he just looked at her quietly until she blushed and turned away from his too-perceptive eyes.







“Nothing, Slayer,” he sighed. “Nothing at all.  Let’s go then.” He stood up and held out his hand to her.  She looked up at him with astonishment, but took the proffered hand and let him pull her to her feet.  The two stood for a second, both remembering Willow’s spell from last month.  Today was the first time they had been alone together since their “engagement” and, aside from their brief togetherness while they were escaping, it was the first time they had touched since the spell.







As she stood facing Spike, their hands still linked, Buffy found herself remembering the kissing, hand-holding and caressing that had occupied them for almost two days when they thought they were getting married.







Spike looked back at the Slayer and tried to tell himself he wasn’t feeling what his body told him he was.  (Slayer, Slayer!)  he mentally reminded himself. (Death in tight pants!)  Nothing he said to himself seemed to make a difference. It was taking every ounce of self-control he had not to pull her to him and begin babbling in her ear things he never wanted to say aloud and that he knew she didn’t want to hear from him.







Buffy was staring at his mouth and remembering what a good kisser he seemed to be when they were under the spell.  She wondered if she thought that because of the spell or if he really was that good a kisser.  Without conscious thought, she found herself leaning toward him, face tilted up toward his mouth.  Which, she noticed with alarm, was getting closer and closer to hers.







A sudden clatter behind them in the cave interrupted the moment and they jumped apart, turning to face the back of the tunnel, swords raised.  A tense minute passed, than a fat raccoon waddled out and past them, barely deigning to glance at the two super-powered beings blocking his cave.  Buffy and Spike relaxed and shared a soft laugh at their own expense. A laugh, followed by an uncomfortable silence as each remembered what they were doing before they were startled out of it.







“We’d better get going,Spike,” the Slayer said quickly. “It’s going to be dawn soon.  You need to get back to Giles’ before the sun comes up.”







There was no way to argue with her - he could feel the tingling that told him the sun was approaching, and he reluctantly followed her out and down the trail to where they’d left Giles’ car.







As Spike drove quickly back to Giles’ apartment, Buffy studied his profile and finally asked, “Spike, why are you helping me with this stuff?”







“Because these are the wankers who put this soddin’ chip in my head - and they’re the ones who can take it out.” he replied.  “Not to mention, I saw a few of my poker buddies in there.  Perfectly harmless demons being kept like lab rats.”







“Well, since the chip prevents you from hunting anyone, I kinda doubt they’re going to want to take it out.  Especially if it means you can try to break your friends out.  And since when do vampires and demons have friends, anyway?”







He didn’t answer her right away, just shot a speculative look in her direction. “You know, Slayer,” he said quietly, “what you and your watcher don’t know about demons and vampires could fill a library.”







They rode the rest of the way in silence and were soon sitting in Giles’ living room waiting for him to wake up so they could tell him what happened on their fact finding venture.







***************************************







“So, you’re saying the cave entrance to the Initiative base is protected by both magic and demons?” Giles was trying to clear his head enough to understand Buffy’s report on their mission.  Which wasn’t easy, with Spike interrupting every few minutes to add something or correct her version of events.  Giles listened to their arguing about who was the most at fault for their failure as long as he could and then finally roared out, “Silence! Both of you!”







The angry, loud tone from the usually mild-mannered Watcher shocked them both into a momentary cease fire.







“Whoa, Watcher! Didn’t know you had that in you,” Spike snarked.







“You have no idea what’s in me, Spike.  And I suggest you not do anything to find out.”  The cold stare and menacing tone were pure Ripper and Spike and Buffy both stared at Giles in amazement.







“Uh, Giles, you haven’t been eating band candy  again, have you?” Buffy asked suspiciously.







“Band candy?” Spike repeated, raising an eyebrow.







“Tell you later,” she whispered, poking him to keep him quiet.







“No, I have not been eating magical candy.  I have, however, been awakened before dawn by two people who seem to have failed at a simple little fact-finding mission and can’t stop arguing with each other long enough to tell me what happened.







Buffy was temporarily silenced, and even the vampire looked suitably abashed for a moment.  Before they could recover and begin telling their own versions of the tale, Giles held up a hand and said, “Let me see if I have this correct.”  Turning to Spike he said, “You say the caves were ‘mojo'd’ to keep shifting so that you couldn’t find the way in?  That would be the way you assured me you knew which was my only reason for allowing you to go along with Buffy?”







“Well, yeah.  Every time I could see the way in, a wall would move and I couldn’t see it anymore.  It just wasn’t where I knew it should be.  I tried to get close enough to see if the new walls were just illusions, but then the little biters started coming out and we couldn’t get close enough to feel it.    Wasn’t my fault,” he finished defiantly.







“And you,” Giles turned to Buffy, “Even with Spike’s help, you weren’t able to defeat small, noisy creatures that, by your description, stand no higher than your waist? Does that about cover it?”







“There were lots of them,” Buffy protested.  “Lots and Lots! They just kept coming. We killed a whole bunch,” she said brightly. “didn't’ we, Spike?”







“Huh? Oh yeah! Hundreds probably.  Maybe thousands!”







At Giles and Buffy’s eye rolls, he finished by mumbling, “Well, left a four foot high wall of bodies, anyway.  Little wankers wouldn’t quit comin’.”  He thought for a minute, then said, “You know, Watcher, there was something unnatural about those critters.”







“Well, duh! Demons!” Buffy rolled her eyes at him.







“I know demons,” he growled in her direction.  “There was something.....off.....about those guys.  Something not quite right.  Like they’d been - I dunno, manufactured or somethin’.”







Buffy and Giles exchanged glances.  The watcher cleaned his glasses and sighed as he placed them back on his face. “All the more reason to find out what’s going on in there.  If they’re manufacturing demons - ”







“Why  would you make demons?” Buffy wondered aloud.







“I told both of you - they’re doing all kinds of experiments on demons in there.  My chip is an experiment!  And I want the bloody thing out!”







“Spike,” Giles pointed out, “that chip is the only reason Buffy hasn’t staked you yet.  I wouldn’t be in such a hurry to get it out if I were you.”  Giles was turning away as he said this and missed the thoughtful look Spike sent toward the Slayer and her responding flush.







“Yeah, guess that’s so.....” he said with an unreadable look on his face as he turned away and sat down on the couch.  “’S,OK if I crash here, Watcher?  It’s too light out to get back to the whelp’s.”







“I suppose so,” he grumbled. “But keep your hands off my good scotch!”  The last sounded somewhat like the Ripper again.







“Fine, just me and the telly,” Spike said as he sprawled on the couch and flicked the TV on.







Buffy hesitated a minute, then said, “Giles , I have an early class. Can I catch a couple hours sleep here before I go? If I go all the way back to the dorm -”







“Sure, that’s fine. You can use my bed. I’m just going to shower and go do some research at the library.  Perhaps Willow has had some success hacking into their computer system and can find a way in for us.  In the meantime, you two should get some rest in case we have to try again tonight.”







“We?” Buffy asked indignantly.







“Yes, we.  Apparently having someone along who can counteract magic could be useful (he glanced at Spike, who snorted and studied the toes of his boots) and more hands wielding swords might make it a little easier to clear a path through the little demon guards (he glared at Buffy who pushed out her lower lip, but didn’t argue).







Buffy suddenly realized that she was actually very tired and crawled into Giles’ bed, barely remembering to take her shoes off before she closed her eyes and fell soundly asleep.  Downstairs, Spike watched TV in a desultory fashion for awhile, but the rising sun soon had him yawning and he gave up the fight, putting a pillow over his head and going to sleep also.









 

Chapter 2











Several hours later, Buffy began to toss and moan in the bed.  She was dreaming that she was trapped in a cage at the Initiative.  Nothing she did had any effect on the the walls enclosing her and when she tried to fight her way out, blinding pain behind her eyes caused her to fall to the ground.  Desperately she searched for an escape path, as she watched demon after demon being led off by soldiers with grim faces and stun guns.  She could hear the occasional screams coming from behind the door at the end of the hall.  Every once in a while, a demon would be returned to his cage - some walking slowly, some being carried.  Some never came back. At one point, Buffy saw a Flexit demon, a relatively harmless breed, carried back missing the long tail he’d had when he left. A cauterized stump was all that was left of what had been an important part of Flexit anatomy.  Buffy cringed and whimpered in her sleep.







Downstairs, Spike was imagining prowling through the damp sewer-like tunnels, holding a strange weapon.  Suddenly he was attacked by two very ugly demons with claw-tipped hands and venomous fangs.  Quickly he fired the weapon, only to find it didn’t work.  Anger at what was clearly a betrayal of some sort surged through his body and he growled in his sleep as he took on the demons in hand-to-hand combat.







In Buffy’s dream, she tricked one of the lab people into relaxing around her enough that she could push them aside with only a minor headache and sprint toward an exit.  After throwing another vampire into a group of soldiers (was that Riley?), she escaped into the tunnels and ran as fast as her supernatural speed would allow.  When she was sure there was no immediate pursuit going on, she slowed and finally stopped to rest and get her bearings.







Spike, meanwhile, had defeated the two demons that were obviously sent to kill him and was searching for a way out of the tunnels that did not include returning to the initiative headquarters.  As he prowled the tunnels, he picked up a familiar scent and followed it till he could see a small blond girl, standing rigidly and staring in his direction.







“Spike?” Buffy asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”







“Avoiding people who are trying to kill me,” he said.  “What are you doing here?”







“Uh, the same, I guess. Do you know where we are?”







“Not exactly, but I can smell fresh air. I think if we follow the outside smells we should be able to get out of here eventually.”







“We?” she asked incredulously, “What we?”







“Oh, you like it so much down here, you were planning to stay?” he sneered at her.  “Don’t you think we’d stand a better chance against any nasty surprises if there are two of us? Plus, I can see in the dark better than you can.”







“I suppose so.  Just stay in front of me so I can watch you.” she ordered.







Spike stretched his neck and gritted his teeth, but complied.  “Bossy bitch,” he muttered.







“I heard that”







“You were meant to!”







They followed the scent of fresh air until they came to a bend in the tunnel and heard voices approaching. Spike sniffed and growled, “Soldier boys, dead ahead. Do we fight ‘em or dodge ‘em?”  He looked at Buffy to see what she wanted to do.







Buffy was overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness as she remembered the severe pain she felt every time she tried to defend herself.  The helpless feeling was  crushing to someone used to being a warrior  and she looked at Spike with a new respect.







“Uh - hide?  I’m not sure I can fight and we know you can’t fight humans,” she gulped.  In spite of what Buffy said about not being able to fight, now that she was with Spike, she felt more like herself and didn’t really think the pain was still there.  But she wasn’t willing to chance it.







“Oh, yeah, right. - OK, let’s duck in here.  At least these wankers can’t smell.”







He pulled her into a small notch in the cave wall.  The notch bent just enough that they could shrink back around the corner and be completely invisible to anyone going by.  Of course that required them to stand pressed up against each other as they pulled back against the wall as far as possible.







Spike put his arms around Buffy, pulling her back against his chest as he tried to flatten them both against the wall.  Her hair was at his chin and he couldn’t stop himself from breathing in her fragrance.  Her firm bottom was pressed up against him and it wasn’t long before he felt the inevitable reaction taking place in his pants.  Buffy stiffened, and started to pull away, but just then the patrol came around the bend and she had to remain silent and still while they strolled by, chattering among themselves.  She hated to admit it, but she was actually enjoying the feeling of Spike’s strong arms around her waist and his breath (and why is he bothering to breathe?) against her temple sent chills down her spine.  She felt his erection pushing against her bottom, but couldn’t bring herself to pull away even after the soldiers were gone.







For much longer than was necessary, the two enemies stayed pressed together, vampire obviously inhaling the Slayer’s scent; Slayer trying to pretend she wasn’t responding to his nearness.







In Giles’ bedroom, the dreaming Buffy was breathing harder and pushing her body into the mattress - totally lost in her dream in which she was standing in a cave plastered against a blond vampire’s hard body and quite happy to be there.







Downstairs, the bulge in Spike’s pants and his moaning indicated his dream was taking the same erotic turn as Buffy’s.







In the dream cave, Spike and Buffy were breathing hard as Buffy rubbed her butt against Spike’s erection, causing him to moan in his sleep.  Meanwhile, his dream hand was reaching into her pants and cupping her while his thumb rubbed on her clit until she spasmed against the mattress as she climaxed with a small shriek.  Downstairs, Spike awoke to find he’d ejaculated in his jeans.







Both Slayer and vampire remained where they were for several minutes, allowing their breathing to come back to normal (or, in Spike’s case, abnormal, since there really was no reason for him to breathe) and trying to come to terms with the dream each thought was weird but solitary.







By the time Buffy had collected herself and banished the dream from her mind as much as possible, Spike had cleaned up and was getting himself some blood in the kitchen.  Buffy came downstairs hesitantly, then scolded herself for her hesitation. (What’s the matter with me? It was just a dream and he doesn’t know anything about it. Chin up, Buffy.)







However, the minute she walked into the room and their eyes met, both vampire and slayer froze in place.  Spike broke the uncomfortable silence first.







“Hey, Slayer. Glad to see you’re up - bad guys won’t wait you know......”his voice trailed off as she continued to stare at him.







“Uh, Slayer? Earth to Buffy?  Hello?”







Buffy looked at him with dawning comprehension.  “Spike,” she said slowly, “What was it like - where - when you got your chip?”







He growled and turned away.  “Told you lot already - cage, drugged blood, lots of vamps and demons in cages.  Got out, got lucky, got away.  Why?”







“Because I - I think I dreamed I was you ‘” Buffy went on to describe in great detail her dream, right up to the point where they heard the soldiers coming.  As she talked, Spike was staring at her in amazement.  When she was finished, she waited for him to comment.  After opening and closing his mouth several times, he finally said, “That’s exactly what it was like - except for the whole meeting you in the caves, that is.”







Buffy sank down on the couch. “Well, that’s just.....weird.  This is one for Giles, I guess.”







“Oh, it’s weird all right.  It’s even weirder than you know, luv.” 







In response to her quizzical look, he went on to describe his dream, also stopping at the point where they heard the soldiers coming. (I’ll be dust for sure, if I tell her the whole thing.) As he talked, he was moving into the living room and he ended it by sitting on the other end of the couch.







“So, we both had dreams about the Initiative caves, but I was you and you were me?  How is that even possible?  And we had the dreams at the same time.”







Buffy suddenly remembered where her dream had gone from there and a panicky look crossed her face.







“What’s wrong, Slayer?” Spike asked. He felt a sudden rush as he remembered how his dream had ended.  Surely she hadn’t.....







“Wrong? Oh, nothing. Nothing’s wrong.  All’s right here! Yep, just waiting for Giles to come home and tell us how we managed to have switching dreams at the same time, that’s all.”  Buffy was practically babbling in her eagerness to avoid discussing any other parts of the dream. 







“So,” he asked with a speculative look, “we met up in the caves? And then what did we do?”  He tried to read her face, but she turned away from his probing (bad word choice! Bad Buffy!)  look and just mumbled, “Well, we, we found the way out and we....got out. that’s all.”







“How did we get out, luv? I mean, just to see if we dreamed it the same way.” He felt a little twitch in his pants at the thought that she had dreamed to the same conclusion he did.  “Can you describe the way out?”







He could see the flush rising up her face and hear her heart pounding as she tried to look casual and said, “Oh, you know, we walked and then there was an opening and we were out.  No biggie.  Your dream ending was probably very different from mine.”







“If that’s what you really dreamed, then mine was very different.  But I’m guessing from the look on your face, our dreams had exactly the same ending. (Lucky us!) Look at me, Slayer.” he demanded.  “Look at me and tell me that’s the truth.”







“Why don’t you believe me?” she squeaked.







“The look on your face, luv.  Think - deer - headlights”







He waited for a minute then continued, “Come on we were having the same dream right up until we had to hid from the soldiers.  You want me to believe yours all of a sudden took a different turn?”  He smirked at her, but his eyes were more hopeful than leering.







“Well, mine would take a different turn! My mind doesn’t dwell on sex like yours does!”







As soon as she stopped speaking and saw the triumphant look on Spike’s face, she realized her mistake.







“I knew it!” he crowed.  “I knew it.  You did have the same dream! Tell me, Slayer, was it good for you?  Oh, wait, I was there - yes ,  it was.”  He was practically dancing with glee.







“You are such a pig, Spike,” Buffy said in disgust.  “Get over yourself. it was just a dream.”







Her obvious disgust at having to acknowledge their dream tryst, put a damper on his delight and he stopped strutting around and sat down again.







“So, now what, Slayer?  What do you think it means?”







“I don’t know - but we are so not telling Giles the whole dream!” she said firmly.







“No problem, luv.  I’ve got no desire to be staked.  Should we get our stories straight then?”







“We dreamed we were each other, the Initiative was involved, we met up on the way out, got out safely, end of story.  And,” she added, “I’ll be the one to tell it!”







“Bossy bitch,” he grumbled, then froze when he remembered saying the same thing in the dream.







“I heard tha – “ One look at Buffy’s stricken face told him she remembered the exact same words.







“Buffy, the Watcher has to know this - it’s just too.....”







“Spike?”  Buffy’s look was almost pleading.







Instead of trying to make her more agitated, he reached his hand to her cheek and said, “Hey, easy, Slayer.  I’m just sayin’ he needs to know as much as we can tell him without gettin’ me dusted or spoilin’ your little goody-two-shoes image.”  he sat back abruptly and finished. “Won’t be me that tells him what a hot little number you are.”







The abrupt change from almost sweet (!) Spike to snarky Spike left Buffy dumbstruck.  Feeling more comfortable with snarky Spike, she settled for “fine!” as her less than sparkling comeback and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.







As she was reaching to open the refrigerator, she sensed his presence behind her and whirled around to find herself trapped between the vamp and the fridge.  He had one hand on either side of her head and was leaning in toward her.







“What are you doing?” she asked, much less coldly than she intended. (Why haven’t I ever noticed how blue his eyes are?  They’re so pretty.....bad Buffy! Bad, Bad!)







“Testing a theory, luv,” he replied as he leaned in and gently brushed her lips with his.







“OK, so not gonna happen!” she insisted.  “Just back off, Fang face before your chip fires.” While her words were cold, her body was suffused with warmth and her legs were trembling.







“That’s just it.  I don’t think it will.” he said, sliding his hands down her shoulders and pulling her to him.







“Spike! No, don’t, you can’t.....chip?......chip?”







“Not trying to hurt you, luv,” he breathed in her ear. His lips traveled from her ear to her mouth, leaving light, butterfly kisses along her jaw line.  Her slayer instincts were screaming about having a vamp’s mouth so close to her neck, but instead of pushing him away, Buffy found herself sliding her arms around his waist and tilting her head up for his kiss.  She couldn’t believe that someone (something, her mind was shrieking) with such a hard body could have such soft lips.  The kiss was soft and gentle, full of tenderness and longing and Buffy could not believe Spike was capable of putting so much into a kiss.







Then he changed the tenor of the kiss - running his tongue around her lips and teeth until she parted them and let him in.  As their tongues met, touched withdrew, touched again, then plunged together in a contest of who could taste the most first, the rest of the world disappeared and suddenly there was nothing but two bodies straining against each other - fitting together as though designed for each other.  Their mouths stayed together until Buffy had to stop to breathe and every time she did, Spike would nuzzle her neck and whisper endearments to her until she pushed her face against his head, demanding his lips again.







The vampire wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him so tightly she would have been crushed if she was a normal girl.  But this was the Slayer and she clutched him back with a grip that would have broken ribs in a human man.







Her body felt like it was on fire - this need to feel his body next to hers, to feel him was like nothing she had ever experienced before.  Not with Angel, not with Parker or Riley. She whimpered with need as she pressed closer and tried to climb up his body.







The vampire could not believe the heat radiating off the soft, but strong body in his arms.  He wanted to bury himself in her heat and stay there until he melted.  The feel of her, the scent of her arousal, the passion he could feel radiating from her was like nothing he had ever felt before.







Buffy was pressing her body up against him as hard as she could, but it soon wasn’t enough for either of them and she found herself climbing up his body and locking her legs around his hips.  His aching erection was now pressed up against her warm, wet crotch and he groaned in her ear.







“Want you, Slayer, my pet, my love.  I need you, want you, please.....”







He pushed her up against the refrigerator, grinding against her as hard as he could.  Buffy was almost fainting from the sensations in her lower body.  Her breath was coming in little pants and whimpers as she pushed back against him, rubbing herself against his bulging jeans.  Her panting became faster and more urgent as she continued grinding against him and he was encouraging her verbally, “Yes, love, that’s it, sweetheart. Ride me, Slayer. Come for me, Buffy. Come for me now!”  as he pushed back against her.  With a growl that ended in a roar, the vampire  lost control and spent in his pants while the Slayer shuddered and bit into his shoulder as she came at the same time.







As she recovered from the spectacular orgasm and realized where she was and what had happened, Buffy kept her face buried in Spike’s shoulder in embarrassment. (ohmygod - I can never look him in the eye again! Where is a hole in the floor when you need it?) Although she allowed her legs to slide down his body until her feet were on the floor, they would not hold her up and she clung to his neck.







They stood together for several minutes - his arms still around her helping to support her weak-kneed body, his face in her hair.  Finally, he reluctantly pushed her away saying softly, “Let me go, love.  I need to go clean up before the Watcher gets home.”







Buffy slowly released her hold but kept her eyes resolutely focused on floor tiles.







Spike grinned at her flaming face and miserable expression, then felt sorry for her (sorry for her? what the bloody hell is wrong with me?) and gently tipped her chin up.  “Come on, love, You can’t be any more embarrassed about this than I am.  Going off in my pants like a 16 year old,” he grumbled.  “Twice in the same day for the same skinny little chit,” he added with a smile.







Buffy smiled back weakly, but her eyes were full of unshed tears.







“What is wrong with us?” she asked desperately.  “What just happened here?”







“Nothin’ wrong with us, pet. I think we’re bleedin’ amazing.”







She swatted at him halfheartedly, but there was a small smile on her lips as she turned away.  “Go do what you have to do,” she said.  “I don’t want anyone to guess what happened here.  Least of all Giles!”











*************************************************







By the time the watcher returned, they were sitting on opposite sides of the room - neither one actually watching the TV that was on.  Giles looked from one somber face to the other and rubbed the bridge of his nose.







“All right, then.  What’s going on here?”







“Going on? Nothing going on here!” Buffy said shrilly. “What do you mean, going on?”







“Nope, nothing. Not a bloody thing,” Spike agreed.







“I see,” Giles said, raising his eyebrows.  “So the panicked looks on both your faces are because.....what?  Passions was canceled?”







“It was?  Bloody hell! When?”  Spike looked genuinely horrorstruck.







“He didn’t mean it.  Shut up, Spike.”







“You shut up! He shouldn’t say it if it isn’t true!”







“Both of you shut up until you’re ready to tell me what’s going on, “ Giles glared them both into silence.







Buffy and Spike exchanged looks, then she took a deep breath and began, “Look, Giles, this is really weird - and it might not have anything to do with anything, but.....”







“But?” he waited.







She went on to tell him about her dream - leaving out where she and Spike hid and what happened while they were there.







“Ok, interesting, but to be expected, really.  You just got out of those caves. Is that it?”







Buffy looked at Spike again, sending him a silent plea with her eyes before she said, “Spike fell asleep too.  He.....he needs to tell you his dream.”







Spike gawked at her in astonishment that she was trusting him to keep his mouth shut about the erotic component of the dream.  When he recovered, he quickly rattled off his dream for the Watcher, matching Buffy almost word for word when he got to the parts where they were together.







“And, that’s pretty much it, Watcher.  I was her and she was me; then we were us and we even dreamed the same conversation.  What do you think?”  Spike looked at Giles in anticipation.







Shaking his head, Giles said, “I’d hardly call ‘Bossy Bitch’ and ‘I heard you,’ a conversation, but I guess it’s what passes for one between you two.”  He was busy taking off his glasses and polishing them as he thought about his answer, so he missed the guilty looks Buffy and Spike exchanged.







“So, is that it, then?  You basically had the same dream at the same time, and now you want to know what it means?”







“Yup.,”  “Yes” they said simultaneously.







“Anything else I should know?” he asked, suddenly shooting them a suspicious look.  It was obvious from their frozen expressions that there was more to it, but both blonds shook their heads emphatically, so he sighed and resigned himself to his suspicions.







“Well, in Buffy’s case, it could be brought on by hearing your story and her imagination filling in the blanks.  Or a Slayer dream of some sort.  But, Spike, I don’t know how to explain what you dreamed.  But then, I don’t know much about vampire dreams. Perhaps they’re like Slayer dreams? Warning of the future?”







Spike growled and shook his head, “Only seer I ever knew was Dru.  And she was like that before she was turned.”







“Well, one more thing we need to research, I guess.” he said, stretching.  “We’ll start on it tonight when everyone is here.”







Shooting Spike an unfathomable look, Buffy stood up and said, “I’ve got to get to class. Thanks for letting me crash here, Giles.  I’ll see you later.”  She didn’t say “good-bye” to Spike, but glanced at him again as she went out the door.  The blond vampire smirked at her and blew her a kiss, causing her to redden and slam the door behind her much harder than she intended.







Giles jumped at the sound of his door banging closed and turned to look thoughtfully at the vampire on his couch.







“I know there’s more to this than you’ve told me,” he said tightly.  “And I will find out what it is.”







Spike just looked back at him with no expression and said, “Not from me, you won’t.” and turned back the tV.







“You should tell me, you know.  It might be important or helpful.”







“Not mine to tell, Watcher,” he said softly and continued to stare at the television set.







Giles shook his head in frustration, but dropped the subject for the time being.
 

Chapter 3



At that night’s Scoobie meeting, it was determined that they would make a joint attempt to get in.  Willow would be along to counteract the magic and Giles and Xander as back up against the “soddin’ little buggers” as Spike referred to the small demons.



“OK, now explain to us again how the walls moved?” Xander snarked at Spike as they proceeded, unconfused and unchallenged from the natural caves into the man made tunnels leading into the Initiative’s underground base. 



“Sod off, Harris. It was somewhere around here when things started going all wonky.”



Buffy, who was right beside Spike and in front of the other Scoobies, held up her hand and hissed, “Shh - there’s something up ahead.”



Spike raised his head and sniffed and listened.   “Don’t hear any heartbeats, Slayer.   I do smell demon - but it isn’t alive.”



As the group slowly approached the area, they could make out several bodies lying on the floor.  Giles lifted his lantern to get a better look, and the group gasped collectively.  Spike went immediately into game face and made a sound that had everyone except Buffy cringing away from him in fear.



“Oh, dear God,” Giles said softly.



Willow looked like she was fighting tears and Xander was rendered speechless by the sight in front of them.



Lying on the floor of the tunnel were the bodies of numerous demons, large and small.  All had been mutilated in some way - one was missing both arms, one had it’s horns gouged out of its head, one appeared to have been skinned completely. All were missing some body part or other.



“I’ve seen this!”  Buffy said.  “My dream!  They were taking demons away and bringing them back  with parts missing.  Some never came back.”  She shook her head remembering it had made her feel in the dream to see the creatures in such pain.



A sound from Spike caused everyone to look at him where he was kneeling by a floppy-eared demon with incredibly wrinkled skin.  There were bloody holes all around the demon’s skull where something had been cut out of its head.



“Spike? What is it? Do you know him?” Buffy moved closer to him and leaned over the body. 



“It’s Clem’s brother,” he snarled.  “Never hurt a soul in his life - except maybe the odd kitten.”



“I’m sorry,” she said softly, briefly touching his shoulder with a sympathetic hand. “Why do you suppose they cut into his head?”



He flashed a startled glance at her and relaxed back into his human face.  “They cut out his tentacles.  You rarely see them because these demons are so easy going and peaceful, but they have poisonous tentacles that they can extend if they need to.”  His voice was flat, but she could feel the trembling in his body that meant he was struggling to control himself.  “Clem will be crushed.  And his mother will be devastated.  What kind of wanker does something like this?  Did Angelus escape when we weren’t looking?”



Buffy frowned at the mention of Angel’s evil demon, but just shrugged and said, “No, someone would have told us.  And why would he spend time torturing demons when we....”



“Doesn’t care who or what he tortures, pet.  You ought to know that by now.”



“It isn’t  Angel,” she said firmly.  “There’s something else going on here.”



Giles lowered the lantern so that they were no longer looking at the remains of what had once been living creatures, and said, “I have to agree with Buffy.  I don’t think Angelus did this.  It’s too focused on specific body parts and he wouldn’t bother to hide the bodies.  This is someone or something else and we need to find out what it is.”



“Uh, excuse me?,” Xander interrupted, “But aren’t these demons?  And don’t we kill demons ourselves?”



Spike turned eyes of blue ice toward the dark haired carpenter.  “Most of these demons are harmless or so peaceful as to be below the Slayer’s radar.  All their weapons are defensive you stupid git.”



Giles spoke up before Spike could follow up his obvious irritation with Xander with something headache-producing and asked him, “ So what is missing from each of these - creatures, Spike?”



“Near as I can see, they’re all missin’ their fighting tools.  Claws, poison darts, whatever.  That’s what seems to be gone.”



“What about this one.  The one with no skin?” Buffy asked with a shiver.



“Don’t know, Slayer.  Hard to tell what it-he was without his skin.  But I’m guessing that skin must be worth somethin’.  Maybe it glows in the dark or something like that.”



The group of humans stood together, trying very hard not to look at the mutilated flesh near them.  Spike and Buffy stood off to one side - both looking and listening to avoid any surprises from whatever did this.



Buffy wondered out loud, “What kind of being would do this?”



Spike stared at her incredulously.  “What kind of being?  Don’t you remember anything from your dream?”



Buffy’s face paled as she remembered watching the soldiers and the lab techs in their white coats dragging the demons off behind the door at the end of the hall.  She remembered the brief glimpse she’d had of Riley in a group of soldiers as she was escaping. 



“What’s the matter, Slayer?  Cat got your tongue? No, I guess that would be a job for the soldier boys, wouldn’t it?”  he said roughly and turned his back on her.



Buffy looked at Giles and said,  “We should get out of here.  I think I have another way to look into this.  Let’s leave before we have to fight our way out again.”



“Suits me,” Xander said.  “I don’t want to meet the guys that did this.”



“I’m afraid we already have,” Buffy said under her breath. 



**************************************



“So then,” the watcher said, taking off his glasses, “ your new plan is to get someone to take you into that place where they are apparently carving up demons for what purpose we don’t know?  And how do you propose to do this?”



“Well, I think,” she glanced at Spike briefly, “if I was actually reliving Spike’s time in there, I think I know someone who works there.”



Everyone looked at her in amazement.  “You do?”  “Who is it?”  “What makes you think so”  the questions flew around the room as the Scoobies tried to think who they knew that might be involved in the Initiative.



“Uh, it’s Riley,” Buffy said, looking at Willow.



“Riley?  Graduate assistant to Prof. Walsh, Riley?”  Willow shook her head.  “What makes you think so?”



“Well,” she began, “when I was dreaming I was Spike.....” she paused to glare at Xander who was visible shuddering.  “When I was dreaming I was Spike,” she continued, “I was sure I saw Riley with a group of soldiers in uniform.  And, I’m not sure, but I think some of the other soldiers were those guys he hangs out with at the fraternity house.



“I’m pretty sure I can get him to take me in there.  We’ve gotten pretty.....close, and.....” she stopped at the sound of a growl from Spike’s direction. 



“What the hell’s wrong with you?” Xander asked, looking back and forth between the vampire and the small blond girl.   Buffy’s look could only be called panicky as she stared at the obviously angry vampire.



Spike realized everyone was staring at him, wondering what was causing him to flash in and out of vamp face.  Not wanting to upset Buffy, or find himself staked by an irate watcher or jealous carpenter, he pushed his demon back down and said, “Just thinkin’ about those wankers and what they’re doin’ in there, that’s all.  Didn’t mean to interupt the Slayer’s discussion of how to use her boyfriend to get in.”



Buffy flinched a little at his tone when he said “boyfriend”, but was grateful that he had covered so well.  She was pretty sure she knew why he reacted as he did, but decided to ignore the conflicting feelings it was inspiring in her.



“Anyway, as I was saying,  I’m pretty sure I can get Riley to take me in there.  I’ll just tell him I know he’s part of those commando-types we’ve been seeing, and we’ll take it from there.”



********************************



Buffy sat back and looked at the dumbstruck man in front of her.



“So, that’s it.” She said confidently, “I know you’re part of some commando group, I know you’re targeting vampires and demons, and I want to know what it’s all about.”



Riley just gaped at her for a full minute.  Finally he gave himself a shake and said, “And you know all this because.....?”



“I’m the Slayer, Riley.”



“The what?” he looked at her with a complete lack of comprehension.



“Slayer, the. Look it up.  I live here on the hellmouth for a reason – everything that happens to and with the demons in the world is my business.  They are my responsibility.”



“Buffy, I don’t know what you’re talking about; but I do know that dealing with subterrestrials is much too dangerous for a small woman to even consider...” He was cut off by Buffy’s irritated slap on the table.



“You’re right, Riley.  You don’t know what I’m talking about.  And you need to find out before you say anything else stupid.  Give me your hand,” she demanded.



“What? Why – what are you – ow!” he yelped as she squeezed his hand not quite enough to break the bones, but enough to get his attention.  “How did you –“



“I did it because I can, Riley.  Do you need to see more?”



“Ok, so you can squeeze hard enough to hurt.  I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”



“Riley, do you remember the other night?  When I hugged you and it hurt?” She looked into his eyes, willing him to understand what she was saying.



“Come on, Buffy.  I wasn’t serious.  You know –“



“Put your arm on the table, Riley.  Now, please.” She glared at him like someone at the end of her patience.



“Ok, why?” he grinned at her. “Are we going to arm wrestle now?”  His chuckle was cut off by her terse, “Yes, we are.”



“OK, Buff. This is getting silly.  I’m not going to wrestle you.  I don’t know what’s going on here, but you need to settle down.”



Buffy grabbed his arm, placed it in the correct position with her opposite hand gripping his and said, “Anytime you’re ready, soldier.”



He sighed and shook his head, then went to push her hand down to the table.  When it didn’t budge, he frowned slightly and applied a little more pressure.  To his astonishment, nothing happened.  Buffy just sat across from him with her arm upright on the table, not looking as though she was even putting forth any effort.  With a grunt, he called upon his drug-enhanced strength and attacked her arm with real effort.



Buffy’s face changed, and she was obviously working much harder to keep her arm up now that he was applying all his strength, but she also obviously wasn’t having any trouble keeping it there.  Then, to add insult to injury, she gradually began to force his hand back toward the table. 



“Buffy, “ he heard someone say, and looked up to see Xander.  “What the hell are you doing?”



With a guilty look, she slammed Riley’s hand down onto the table and let go.



“Nothing,” she mumbled.  “He just wouldn’t listen to me. I had to make him believe.”



“Well, I think you got his attention now,” Xander laughed as he saw the stricken look on the big man’s face.   “Welcome to the Buffyverse, Riley.” He added with a smile toward the other man.



Buffy stood up and looked at the large, gawking man.  Her expression softened, and she reached a hand toward his face gently.  “I’m sorry, Riley.  I had to get your attention.  I AM the Slayer.  Go look it up and we’ll talk again tonight.  OK?” she asked anxiously.



“Yeah, sure, OK.  See you tonight,” he mumbled, still staring back and forth from the tiny blond to his aching hand.



******************************************



When they met that night at the Bronze, Riley had several of his buddies with him and Buffy could tell from the looks she was getting that he had told them about her.  He approached her and kissed her cheek carefully, before he introduced her to his friends.  “Buffy, I’d like you to meet my men.” She shot him a startled look. 



“I’ve met Forest and Graham before, Riley,” she said.  “We met at the fraternity party, remember?”



“Yes, but you were meeting grad students – and they were meeting a pretty, blond freshman.  I’m going to try again.  Buffy, this is Special Agent Forrest, Special Agent Graham, and Sargent John Stevens.”  He tuned to the smiling men behind him and continued, “And, guys, this is Buffy Summers, The Vampire Slayer.”



“We thought you were a legend,” Forrest said admiringly as he shook her hand,  “Hard to believe we are actually meeting you.”



“A  legend, huh?  I kinda like that..... Oh, you meant as in, not real, didn’t you?” She blushed and ducked her head.



“Well both,” he smiled at her.  “We’ve been reading up on the Chosen One all day.  It’s pretty amazing stuff.”



Buffy blushed again, prettily, then said, “Well, it’s not like I did anything to earn it.  You just sort of get.....”



“Chosen,”  said a warm voice behind her.  She whirled and gasped when she saw Xander, Anya, Willow, Tara and an almost unrecognizable Spike.  The blond vampire was wearing kahki pants and a blue button down shirt that matched his eyes.  He looked very human, and incredibly gorgeous.



(Ok, SO not having that kind of thought about Spike! And what the hell is he doing here?  Is he crazy? OK, know that answer, nevermind.  But what is he thinking?)



  She was surprised to find herself worried about him and whether or not the soldiers would recognize him as a vampire.



To her, his trademark smirk and obvious amusement at her shocked expression was a dead giveaway, but Riley and the soldiers seemed to take him in stride and accept him as one of the Scoobies.  He shook hands with the soldiers, aplogizing for his chilly hand by explaining he’d been holding a cold beer in it.  Riley looked at him a little more closely than the others, perhaps remembering he’d seen him with them at the hellmouth, but he eventually relaxed and appeared to accept him at face value.  Their handshake, however, seemed to go on a little longer than necessary and Buffy got very nervous as she realized they were having a “who can squeeze hardest” contest. 



She knew from her arm wrestling with Riley that he was stronger than the average human man and, while he had accepted that Buffy was supernaturally stronger than he was, she doubted he would be thrilled to find out Spike was too.  Buffy tried frantically to signal Spike with her eyes, but he was busy meeting Riley’s grim gaze as they continued to try to crush each other’s hands.  She looked at Willow and Xander for help and found that Willow had also fortunately picked up on the antagonism.  Since she was standing the closest to Spike, she put her hand on his arm and squeezed gently.  The pressure was enough to get him to look up and when he saw Buffy’s frantic look, he realized what he was doing.



“Ow!” he said reluctantly as he allowed his hand to relax.  “You’ve got quite a grip there, Capt’n.”  He pulled his hand away and pretended to be rubbing it .



“It’s Lieutenant,” Riley said, staring specutively at Spike.  “And so do you.”



“Yeah, well, I work out a bit.  Not as much as you guys, I guess, though.”  Now that the macho pissing was out of the way, his survival instincts kicked in and he retreated behind the larger Xander and tried to appear inconspicuous.  Buffy let out the breath she hadn’t even realized she was holding, and turned to Riley saying brightly, “Well, now that you’ve met all my friends and I’ve met yours, we can all......



(We can all what, Buffy?  Think! What can you all do together?)



Xander, oddly enough, was the one to jump in and save the day.  “We promised the girls a lot of drinking and dancing tonight, so I think we’ll just get right to it,” he said as he herding Spike, Anya, Willow and Tara away.  “Nice to meet you guys.”



“Can you join us for awhile, Buffy?” Riley asked.  “We’d really like to ask you some questions.”



“Sure,” she said, throwing a glance over her shoulder at her retreating friends, “I have some things I’d like to ask you about too.”



Well into the evening, Buffy excused herself from the table to go to the restroom. On the way there, she caught a glimpse of Spike flirting with the waitresses at the bar and felt a pang of something she didn’t care to identify.  She almost growled as she saw one of them leaning forward to give him a good look down her cleavage – a look she could see he was taking full advantage of. 



(Skanky ho!)  she thought viciously. (Just his type!)



Just as she turned away, she saw him look up as though he sensed her.  He threw her a wink, then picked up what she was sure was going to turn out to be a free beer and ambled back to the table where the other Scoobies waited for him.



(OTHER Scoobies?  He’s not one of them/us.  Is he?).



She spun away and flounced into the restroom, refusing to think about what was so disturbing about watching Spike charming free drinks out of obviously besotted women.



(Stupid girls! If he didn’t have that chip, he’d be having you for dinner.  Ohmygod? Do you suppose that’s how he got his food? By flirting with women and then eating them? Eeew!)  



She refused to think about what else he might have done with his victims before he drained them. 



She stared at her flushed face in the mirror and gave herself a stern talking to. “OK, Buffy,  Here’s the deal.  Spike is an evil, bloodsuckiing fiend, with whom you are sharing a mysterious, but temporary bond of some sort.  His comings and goings, and who he comes and goes with, are not important unless they pertain to you and/or the Initiative.  You will not waste any time thinking about him, or him and other women, or how his eyes match that shirt, or..... Gagh!”



She splashed some cold water on her face, dried it off, and ordered herself to go back out and enjoy the evening with her boyfriend and his friends.  Her resolve lasted long enough to get through the door of the restroom and run right into the well-muscled chest of the vampire in question.



Instead of recoiling in disgust as she knew she should, she stayed there for a few seconds, just breathing in his scent and resting her forehead on his chest.  He had instinctively grabbed her arms when she ran into him and his hands stayed there, his thumbs rubbing soft circles on her biceps.



“You all right, Slayer?” he asked with a tilt of his head.  “Thought I’d better check on you. You were in there so long.”



“I’m fine, Spike,” she said, pulling reluctantly away from him.  “I was just.....thinking.”



He touched her chin gently and tipped it up to force her to look at him.  “Anything I should know about?” he asked.  “Just in case we were thinking the same thing...”



“Since I wasn’t thinking about looking down the barmaid’s blouse, I kind of doubt we were thinking about the same thing,” she snapped, pulling away from him. She wanted to kick herself for allowing the hurt tone she knew he could hear in her voice.



He stepped back in surprise.  “The whelp’s runnin’ out of money,” he said slowly.  “I was just flirtin’ my way into a free beer.  What the hell’s wrong with you?”



“Nothing!  Nothing’s wrong with me. I already told you that.  So, if you came to check up on me, you can go now.  I’m fine.  I’m going back to my boy friend now. And you can just go back to....whatever.”  She pushed past him and didn’t notice the sudden flecks of gold in his eyes when she called Riley her boyfriend, or the way his shoulders slumped as she left the hallway and headed for the table full of soldiers.



(What the hell is wrong with ME?  Was I just making excuses to her for spending time with those silly bints at the bar? I’m William, the fuckin’ Bloody.  I don’t make excuses to anybody!  And definitely not to the Slayer!)



With a snarl in her direction, he stomped back to the table and slammed into his chair.  When he realized his obvious anger was scaring Willow and Tara, he forced himself to relax and smile at them.  “Sorry, ladies. Musta forgot to keep my happy face on.” 



“It’s Ok, Spike,” Tara said with a small smile and a slight stammer, “ We know you won’t hurt us.” 



“Speak for yourself,” Xander mumbled, as Spike looked torn between indignation and satisfaction.



**********************************************



By the end of the evening, Buffy had got Riley and his men to agree that she should be given a tour of the Initiative’s complex so that she could see what they did there to hold down Sunnydales demon population.



Riley walked her back to her dorm, and obviously was hoping to be invited up, but Buffy, pleading exhaustion, lied and said Willow would be in the room.  He settled for a make out session outside the door and Buffy tried to be an enthusiastic participant and not compare his dry, hard kisses to the bone melting ones she had shared with Spike.  Even standing on her toes, she got a sore neck from tipping her face up to reach his, and she got no pleasure from being pressed to his body.  It just felt like she was being smothered.  She tried to surpress traitorous thoughts about how perfectly she and Spike seemed to fit together when they kissed. 



After agreeing to meet her the next day and take her on a tour of the Initiative base, he reluctantly kissed her good night and left.  Buffy sighed and turned to go into the dorm, then froze when her Slayer senses told her she was being watched.  She whirled around, searching the area with her eyes for vampires.  Just as she decided she must have imaging it and turned to go inside, something bright caught her eye and she saw Spike’s platinum head step out of the shadows.  He just stared at her, his eyes flashing gold, then suddenly threw his cigarette down and flowed across the lawn with vampiric speed. 



His voice and face were calm and impassive, but she could feel his body trembling as he pulled her to him and said, “Thought you might want a real kiss goodnight.”  He reached for her mouth and she started to lean into him, then stiffened and asked, “Have you been spying on me?  How long were you standing there?”



“Long enough to know that wanker wasn’t turnin’ you on the way he wanted to,” he growled.  “Don’t know why you didn’t just tell him to shove off, Slayer.”



Buffy pushed him away and said indignantly, “ First place, VAMPIRE,” she said emphasizing the term, “I don’t appreciate being spied on!  Expecially not when I’m with my boyfriend.  And you have no idea whether he was turning me on or not – as if it was any of your business anyway!”



He just looked at her thoughtfully for a moment,  “Guess ole’ Angelus didn’t teach you much, did he?”  He smiled at her puzzled expression and tapped his nose and his ears.  “Vampire senses, love.  I can hear your heartbeat – and I can smell you. You couldn’t hide arousal from me if you wanted to.”



Buffy just stared for a second, then felt herself blush all over as she said, “Eeeew!  That’s – that’s disgusting! “  She moved away from him and when he reached for her, gritted out between her teeth.  “Get away from me, Spike.  Just get  away.”



“Slayer, Buffy.......don’t.....please, luv.   Don’t push me away.  I just want.....”



Buffy looked at him coldly.  “You have no right to want anything from me.  And I don’t want anything from you.  Stay away from me, “ she added as she turned and ran into the building.



The blond vampire punched his fist through the door as it closed behind her, relishing the pain in his hand.  “You’re lying, Slayer.  Lying to yourself, and lying to me. I know you’re lying and I’m going prove it to you.”  He stalked off into the night, cradling his sore hand and snarling to himself.  He paid no heed to the students who screamed and ran away when he passed them on the campus.



(She can’t do this to me.  I know she wants me.  She doesn’t want that overgrown stuffed toy.  I’m going to rip his head off.  I’ll gut him and feed him his own entrails.  I’ll skin him like that poor demon we found in the caves.......)



As Spike continued ranting to himself, he remembered that he was incapable of following through on any of those threats, and his anger changed to melacholy.



(Bloody hell, can’t fight for her, and now she’s pissed at me and disgusted with herself.  I was definitely not planning to go home alone tonight.  Guess it’s going to be just me and the whiskey again.)
 

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