Chapter Eleven

Spike felt Buffy moving beside him and tightened his grip on her waist. “Where d’you think you’re goin’, Slayer?”

She sighed and gave up any attempt to be stealthy.

“I’m going up to my room before Dawn wakes up and sees something she’ll be blackmailing me about forever,” she hissed at him.

He looked down at their entwined naked bodies and grinned. “Right, you are, pet. There are some things the Nibblet just doesn’t need to learn about first hand. Not from yours truely, anyway.”

He sat up and nuzzled her neck, licking the scabs over his bite wounds. Buffy felt a jolt that went all the way from the bite marks to her womb, and she was instantly aroused and wet.

“What the hell...?”

“Side effect, love,” he growled into her neck. “Has the same effect on me. Hell of an aphrodisiac, your blood.”

As he lowered his mouth to her breasts and sucked one rosy nipple in to tease with his tongue, she gasped out, “No, Spike, we can’t. It’s almost morning. Dawn will be...”

“Dawn sleeps like the living dead,” he mumbled around her nipple. “We’ve got time.”

Deciding to rely on his inherent ability to know how close the sun was to rising, Buffy gave in to the warmth spreading throughout her body and arched up into his mouth, whimpering with need.

He rolled onto his back and lifted her hips up onto his, never breaking the suction on her nipple. One hand was holding the other breast and stroking that nipple so it wouldn’t feel neglected. Buffy slid down his body until she could feel his rigid cock rubbing against her clit. With a moan, she rubbed up and down on it until she was panting and moving so much he had to let her nipple go with a soft popping sound.

She gave a small whimper as he pulled her hips up and away from the wonderful friction she’d been creating, then gave a small shriek as he held her over his face and gently touched her with his tongue. When he sucked her clit into his mouth and began pulling on it, she grabbed the arm of the couch to keep from screaming. She felt the wood under the upholstery give as she clenched her fists around it and let the vampire bring her to orgasm after orgasm. She was using her arms and her trembling thighs to hold herself suspended in place while he used his clever lips and tongue on her most sensitive parts..

When she was reduced to a limp, moaning body lying on top of him, Spike took pity on her and pushed her back down so that her face was near his. He kissed her slack mouth and she could taste herself on him as his tongue probed hers until she responded to him.

When she was kissing him back with enthusiasm, he slid his cock into her dripping quim and began to rock his hips slowly, allowing the pleasant tension to build as he thrust in and out of her heated, tight walls. Thanking the PTB for slayer stamina and recovery time, Buffy began squeezing gently every time he pulled back to thrust again. At his encouraging, “That’s it, love. Don’t hold back. Give me everything you’ve got,” she began to increase the power she put into her squeezing and she soon had the vampire moaning and gasping as she used her muscles to milk him to his climax.

When he roared his completion this time, he fastened his lips around the marks on her neck and sucked hard, smothering the noise of his roar in her throat. The pressure of his lips on her wound brought Buffy to another, totally unexpected orgasm and she sank her blunt teeth into his shoulder to muffle the scream.

“Love you so much, Buffy.” He mumbled into her neck as he licked the lightly bleeding holes in her neck. His vigorous sucking had pulled the scabs off and he could feel the small amount of slayer blood invigorating his body.

When she hissed in fear and pulled back, he tried to ignore the pain that shot through him as he hastened to explain that he wasn’t trying to claim her.

“Didn’t say it while I was pulling on you, love. Didn’t say or do anything possessive. Know you’re not mine. Not really. Won’t say it to you. Not without your permission.”

Buffy relaxed back against his chest and asked timidly, “What about if I say something...possessive...or... Not that I would!” she hastened to add at the look of pure joy that flashed across his face, followed by a quickly hidden disappointment. “But what if I did?”

“Don’t really know, pet.” He tried to keep his voice even and unemotional. “Never heard of a human initiating a claim; let alone a Slayer.” He looked at her thoughtfully. “Not like it’s somethin’ you need to think about doin’, Buffy. I’m yours body and...well...if I had a soul, it would be yours. You have me. My body and my heart for as long as you want them. And probably for a lot longer than that, pet. I’ll never leave you until you tell me to.”

“Why would I tell you to?” she asked in genuine confusion. “I don’t want you to go away.”

“Someday you will, my love. You’ll want to get married and have your own little nibblets.” He stroked her hair softly and moved a stray lock out of her eyes. “When you retire from Slayin’, you won’t have any place in your life for a vampire.”

“Slayers don’t retire, Spike,” she said wryly. “You told me yourself, we come with expiration dates.”

“Not you,” he said fiercely. “Not while I’m around. There will be no expiring on my watch, Missy!”

Buffy decided the conversation was getting much too intense for a newly begun relationship. Hoping to lighten the mood, she said teasingly, “You’re just afraid I’ll get all old and wrinkly and you don’t want to be around for that.”

He laughed at her and agreed softly, “Caught me out, pet. Don’t want to be helpin’ you across streets when you’re doddering.”

She tossed her head and began to gather up her clothes. She threw his pants to him and told him she’d see him that evening.

Giles, Buffy, Willow, Tara and Anya met in the Magic Box later in the morning. Buffy filled them in on what had happened to Riley and the importance of being careful if they saw him anywhere.

Willow looked at Buffy with sympathy and asked, “Are you okay about this? ‘Cause, you know, we could try to stake him ourselves if you...”

Her friend looked at her gratefully and smiled. “It’s all right, Willow. I can’t say I’m happy about it, but on the scale of unpleasant tasks in Buffy’s life, it doesn’t even come close to having to send Angel to hell.”

She shot a guilty look at her Watcher’s closed face and whispered, “And I know I have to do it soon. I won’t shirk my duty this time.”

Giles put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. “I never thought you were shirking, Buffy. You were very young to have to make that kind of hard choice...and ultimately, you made the right one.”

“Just not quick enough to save Ms. Calendar,” she mumbled.

Her watcher gave her shoulder another squeeze and said, “I do not blame you for that, Buffy. I blame Angelus.”

The Slayer gave herself a little shake and said briskly, “Yeah, well, anyway, this is a completely different sitch. All I have to do is find Riley before he can cause too much damage and...” she trailed off, a look of horror on her face.

“Oh my god. All his friends from the Initiative! They won’t know! I’ve got to tell them!”

She ran toward the door, waving as she went. “I’ll catch you guys later. Be sure somebody tells Xander about Riley.”
 

Chapter Twelve

Buffy took the steps up to the fraternity house door three at a time and burst in to the living room, looking around frantically. In her hurry to be sure the other soldiers were all okay, she didn’t notice that the room was heavily draped and darkened even though it was a bright day outside.

When she didn’t see anyone near the door, she went in further, searching frantically for signs of life as she advanced. A sound from around the corner in the game room made her look to her left and she was surprised to see Xander standing near the pool table. Standing unusually close behind him was Riley’s former roommate Graham.

Buffy saw Xander’s eyes looking over her head and when they widened in fear, she whirled and ducked just in time to avoid the fire ax a vamped out Forrest was aiming at her head. A quick kick to his jaw, followed by a leg sweep that took him to the ground, and she had the axe in her hand and was swinging it toward his neck. At the last second she shifted it away from the snarling vampire on the floor as Graham said, “Do it, Slayer, and your buddy here is lunch.”

She looked up to see Graham also now in vamp face, holding Xander by his neck and licking his lips.

Growling herself in frustration, Buffy moved slightly to where she could keep Forrest within her peripheral vision.

“Let him go, Graham,” she said coldly.

“Oh, I don’t think so. What are you gonna do? Kill me?”

He laughed and showed her his torn throat. His laugh choked off when Forrest tried to sneak up on her from the side and, without taking her eyes off of Graham and Xander, she smashed the axe into his head, sending him to the floor unconscious. Looking the newly turned vampire in the eye, she swung the axe and sliced the downed vampire’s head off, watching the dust drift away out of the corner of her eye.

“Well, yeah,” she said, rolling her eyes at the surprised fledgling. “What part of ‘vampire slayer’ didn’t get explained to you?”

With a frightened snarl, he shoved Xander toward her and ran out of the room using his newly acquired vampire speed. Without knowing how many other men in the house had been turned, Buffy was afraid to leave Xander alone while she chased him, so she pushed him toward the door and out into the safety of the sun.
As they walked back toward the Magic Box, Buffy scolded Xander to hide how upset she was at his close call.

“Didn’t you get the memo to stay away from Riley? What were you doing there?”

“Same thing you were, probably. I thought I’d warn the other guys before he got to them.” He looked at her sheepishly. “Should have listened to Giles’ warning about getting close to any of them unless I was standing in the sun.”

When Buffy raised her eyebrows and grinned at him, he quickly added, “Which I will deny with my dying breath – ok, bad choice of words—if you try to tell him I said it!”

They were both laughing when they entered the shop and Giles looked up in relief. “You got to them in time, then, I take it?”

“Oh no,” Buffy answered, still giggling at Xander, “he’s been there. Had to kill Forrest. Graham got away.”

“And this is amusing?”

Her Watcher’s cold tone brought Buffy back to the seriousness of the situation and she subsided.

“No, of course not,” she said apologetically. “I was laughing at Xander.”

“Xander, why is there blood on your shirt? And why is it torn?” Anya’s questions took the attention away from Buffy and put it on Xander.

“Well, now that’s a funny story....” he began. The Watcher just shook his head and retreated to the back of the shop muttering that he would never understand American children.



After spending the afternoon with her mother in the hospital, and making it very clear to the staff that she was to have no visitors after dark except for herself or her sister, she went home to prepare for the night’s work. She knew Riley would be using his commando training to raise an army of vamps, and she wanted to eliminate the nest as quickly as possible.

She found Spike sitting on the couch watching Passions and sat down beside him to fill him in on what she’d found at the fraternity house.

“So, soldier boy’s tryin’ to make himself a vamp army of minions,huh? Wonder how that’s gonna work out for him?”

She looked at him and frowned. “It seems to be working out just fine, if Graham and Forrest are any example. What do you mean, you ‘wonder’?”

“Jus’ that Wonderboy got himself into that pickle and prob’ly isn’t at all perturbed by it. But he’s turnin’ men who don’t wanna be vampires. Even though their demons will see that they are properly bloodthirsty, they still might resent the hell out of him. They might not remember why they hate him; but they’ll hate him.”

He seemed so sure, Buffy didn’t actually doubt him, but had to ask, “How do you know that?”

“Ever wonder why you never hear of any turned Slayers, love?”

“Uh, no, actually. I never thought about it – except when I have nightmares that it happens to me...”

“That’s why. You’d hate it. And even though you’d make one hell of a vampire,” he grinned at her outraged look and ducked the punch she threw at his head, “your first official, vampiric act would undoubtedly be to dust the one who turned you – and your demon would want to do it slowly and painfully. It’s pretty widely accepted that only a bleedin’ idiot would think about turnin’ a Slayer.”

“You mean no one ever has?”

“I guess some stupid git must have at one time or there wouldn’t be so many stories about what happens after. But, it hasn’t happened in my lifetime...er, unlifetime.”

Buffy was quiet for a few minutes, thinking about what he said. “So, did you resent Drusilla? For turning you, I mean.”

He looked at her with wide open eyes. “Resent her? She was my salvation. William was a bloody wuss that nobody cared about. Dru gave me an unlife that was worth livin’”

A pang of jealousy made Buffy flinch away from him as she heard the affection and gratitude in his voice.

“Oh,” she said, her tone cold and distant.

She refused to turn and meet his eyes as he said quietly, “You asked me, love. Doesn’t mean I don’t love you. That I’m not happy with my life now.”

When she didn’t answer, he put a tentative hand on her arm and rubbed gently.

“Buffy? Look at me, love. Don’t turn away like that.”

She shook herself and reluctantly turned to meet his anxious eyes. “It’s okay. I just...sometimes I forget...what you are. I really didn’t need that much of a reminder just now.”

He sighed and pulled her into his lap. “I am what I am, Buffy. Just as you are what you are. I can change how I behave for you; the things I do, the way I dress...but I can’t change what I am. All I can do is promise you that I will never intentionally let that bring you any harm.”
 

Chapter Thirteen

Instead of walking back to the Magic Box that evening for the Scoobie meeting to discuss how to find Riley and his minions, Spike told Buffy he wanted to swing by his crypt and pick up a few more weapons. With a quick kiss, she went off toward town and he walked to his cemetery.

Before entering his crypt, he sniffed and listened carefully, not wanting to find out the hard way that Riley had rigged another trap for him. When he didn’t sense anything, he walked in his door and headed for the weapon’s chest. Too late, he sensed movement above him and spun around only to find himself entangled in a net that had dropped from the ceiling.

He immediately attacked the steel cables hindering his movements, but they were designed to hold the most dangerous of demons and his teeth and claws were not up to the task of shredding the net. The last thing he saw before the tazer knocked him unconscious was Riley’s grinning face instructing his minions to bring the vampire with them.


When Spike didn’t show up at the Magic Box after an hour, Buffy began to pace the floor alternately worrying and fuming.

“Where is that bleached pest? He knows we need to move tonight before Riley has a chance to turn any more of his buddies. I’ll kill him when I get my hands on him.

“Something must have happened. Spike wouldn’t worry me like this. He’d be here if he could...”

“Relax, Buffy,” Xander interrupted her verbal tantrum, “It’s Spike. He probably stopped for a drink at Willies’s or got into a card game or something. It’s not like you can actually rely on—“

A fierce glare from Buffy stopped the young brunette in mid-Spike bash and he subsided as he realized how worried she really was.

“Uh, Buffy? Is there something you want to tell us? Something I’m pretty sure I really, really don’t want to know?”

When her only response was to look up anxiously, an expression of hope on her face at the opening of the door, he sighed and muttered to himself, “Here we go again. Another damn vampire.”

Buffy’s hope was short lived, as the sharp-featured, dark woman who came in looked around nervously before speaking.

“Are...are you the Slayer?”

The gang exchanged looks as Buffy approached the trembling woman. “I am. Why do you want to know?”

The thin brunette retreated toward the door as Buffy stalked toward her. “I...I’m...supposed to give you a message.” She eyed the door as she continued to retreat from the small blond now almost on top of her.

“From?”

“He said you would know who it’s from. He said to tell you if you want your pet vampire, you have to come and get him.”

She visibly trembled as Buffy’s eyes narrowed and she practically snarled, “Come and get him where? Where is he?”

“A...a...at the Initiative’s house on campus. In the game room,” she said.

“The game room?”

“Yes, he said...,” she visibly gulped, “he said he wanted to...to play.”

Gasps from the Scoobies in the room took Buffy’s attention off the other woman for a second, and she took that opportunity to bolt for the door. She was almost out when a supernaturally strong hand grabbed her arm and yanked her back into the room.

“Where do you think you’re going? And how did it happen that Riley choose you to deliver his message?”

The woman was shaking and trembling in front of her, and tears were beginning to fall from her eyes. Buffy’s was about to reassure her that she would never harm another human when she realized that the arm she had grabbed was not warm. She allowed her Slayer senses full rein and focused her full wrath on the frightened vampire in front of her.

“How did he happen to choose you?” she asked in a soft, but deadly cold voice.

“I...he...we...I...” the now game-faced vampire could only stutter in fear.

“You’re the one who turned him.” Buffy stated flatly.

The trembling demon in front of her nodded dumbly.

“I didn’t mean to!” she finally found her voice again as she begged for her life. “I didn’t know he was yours. He made me do it. Said he’d kill me if I didn’t do it.”

Buffy’s face crumpled in horror as she realized exactly how twisted Riley had become when he lost his enhancements. She recognized with a sense of shame how much her friendship with Spike and the jealousy that it inspired had fueled Riley’s dementia.

(This really is my fault. It’s my fault Riley is what he is, and it’s my fault he’s taking it out on Spike. I guess this is why Slayers never marry. We’re fatal to the men who love us.)

A shaking on her arm brought Buffy out of her self-flagellating trance and she realized she was still holding the terrified vampire who had turned her ex boyfriend into a soulless fiend. Without changing her expression, she pulled a stake from her waistband and plunged in into the other woman’s chest. As the dust floated through the shop, she muttered, “I’m sorry,” and turned back to her dumbfounded friends.

“What?” she demanded of their shocked faces. “She was a vampire. I’m a Slayer. It’s what I do.”

Without speaking to anyone again, she marched into the training room and began filling a bag with weapons. Giles watched in concern as she shouldered the bag and headed for the door.

“Buffy? Is this wise? It is obviously a trap. Perhaps it would be better to wait until daylight when we can use the sun to our advantage.”

“WE aren’t going, Giles. This is my mess and I’m going to clean it up. Now. Before anyone else gets hurt.”

“Buff, it’s just Spike. He can take care of himself.” Xander tried to add his support to her watcher’s suggestion, but a glare from his girl friend shut him up.

Willow spoke up next, “Buffy, you know Spike wouldn’t want you to risk...”

The Slayer’s face was expressionless as she looked around at her friends.

“Spike can’t always have what he wants,” she said firmly. “I’ll be back.”

There was silence in the room after the Slayer left the shop. All eyes swiveled to Giles as they waited for him to tell them what to do. The older man sighed. He sighed for his Slayer who was once again going to be asked to do things no nineteen year old girl should, and for the otherwise normal young people sitting in front him waiting to be told when and how to put their lives on the line.

“We’ll give her a good head start, then we’ll bring the back-up. Just in case.”

While her friends nodded their heads, relieved to have a plan of some sort, he kept to himself the thought that he doubted she would need them. Something about the look on her face when she left told him the Slayer was in full control of this mission.
 

Chapter Fourteen

Inside the large room designated for innocent pastimes like table hockey, foosball, and pool, the area had been cleared and only one pool table remained in the middle of the floor. Suspended from the overhead chandelier, was a bloody blond vampire. Riley’s minions had hung the chains over the fixture at their boss’s orders and then had taken turns flinging pieces of wood at the unconscious vampire’s body.

He woke up from the tazer blast to find that he was riddled with gouges and cuts wherever the wooden missiles had found their marks. Conspicuously untouched, was the area over his heart. They were instructed, on pain of instant painful retaliation, to leave the vampire undusted until Riley gave the word.

To amuse himself while his minions flung bits of sharp wood at the now-conscious vampire, Riley proceeded to tell Spike in great detail what he was planning for Buffy when she got there.

“Now that I’m a vampire, she should be a lot happier to see me, don’t you think?” he jeered. “Doesn’t really matter if she is or isn’t though, I’m going to fuck her brains out before I drain her. “

He gestured to the lone pool table left in the center of the room, right under Spike’s dangling body.

“Right here. So you can get a good look at her face when I’m pounding in to her. I want you to watch. I want you to see every flinch, hear every scream. Then you can watch me rip her throat out and swallow every drop of that bitch’s blood.”

Fear briefly gripped Spike’s entrails, but he tried to keep his voice cocky and smooth as he smirked at the larger vampire preening below him.

“This is the Slayer, you stupid git. You really think she’s gonna be stupid enough to just waltz in here and let you have your way with her?”

(Please God, don’t let her be that stupid. Stay away Buffy)

“Oh, I think she’ll come, Spike.” He spit the vampire’s name out like it was dirty word.

“She won’t leave you here at my mercy. You know Buffy, always off to save her little friends.”

“Not one of her friends.” He replied shortly. “Vampire, here, or have you forgotten?”

The other vampire snarled at him, “No, I haven’t forgotten. I know just what you are. It’s what she wants. Vampires. Angel, you. Now she’s going to get all the vampire she can handle. I’ll teach her what a real vampire is.”

His snarling speech was spoiled somewhat by the sounds of choking laughter coming from the chained vampire above him. Spike couldn’t even speak, he was so thunderstruck at the idea of this fledgling vamp thinking he was going to take the Slayer that had defeated both Angelus and William the Bloody.

Riley’s face darkened and he gestured to his minions to resume their game of making Spike bleed.

“Just don’t dust him yet. I want her to see him hanging there and I want him to watch when I fuck her in that pool of blood on the table.” He gestured to the sticky red puddle forming underneath the chained vamp.

“You want him to watch you what me where?”

Buffy’s incredulous voice carried from the entrance to the room, causing all heads to swivel toward her.

Spike took advantage of the distraction to shift his chains so that he was basically holding himself up rather than hanging from them. One quick flip over the arm of the chandelier and he would be free to drop onto the table below.

“Get her,” Riley ordered. “First one to bring her down gets seconds.”

Spike watched in admiration as Buffy took on four commando-trained vamps at the same time and dusted or incapacitated all of them. As always, the sight of her in motion made his pants tight.

(That’s the woman GI Joe thinks he’s going to get the best of? That beautiful piece of human weaponry?))

The sight of their comrades’ dust floating above the floor, as well as the look of sheer glee on the Slayer’s face made the other minions hesitate. While they reviewed their options, Buffy attacked, taking out three more and sending the others back behind Riley.

Growling in frustration, he stepped forward, holding a tazer in the hand down at his side.

“Hello, sweetheart. Glad to see you could make it. I told your pet here that you would come to get him.”

“Came to clean out the vermin, Riley. Or have you forgotten what I do?”

“I haven’t forgotten what you do. When you’re not slaying vampires, you’re fucking them. Just thought I’d get in on the action.”

“The only action you’re going to get is the business end of a stake, Riley.” She stared at him coldly as he advanced on her.

“Now, Buffy, that’s no way to talk to your boyfriend.” As he spoke, he suddenly reached toward her shoulder with the tazer. To his surprise, with a flick of her wrist she both blocked his attack and knocked the device out of his hand. They both watched it skitter across the floor to come to rest against the wall.

The Slayer raised her eyebrows at the surprised ex-commando and asked him sweetly, “What’s the matter, Riley? Lose your equalizer?”

The enraged vampire threw himself at her, screaming over his shoulder to what men he had left, “Get that tazer and hit her, now!”

Although Riley’s size and weight carried both him and the Slayer to the floor, she had already brought her knees up and used her coiled legs to shove him off before he could reach her with his teeth. Behind him his minions looked back and forth between the large angry vampire and the deadly little blond girl and turned their backs, running for the door.

Only Graham retained enough loyalty to stay. He crept toward the tazer, picking it up and slinking toward the preoccupied slayer as she faced off against her former lover.

Before he could reach her, Spike slipped his chains off the hanging lamp and dropped gracefully to the table. He tossed one of the chains around the neck of the attacking minion and yanked on it hard. He smiled in satisfaction as the other vampire’s neck snapped and his head popped off leaving a small pile of dust on the floor.

He turned to watch Buffy as she swept Riley’s feet out from under him and jumped on him, stake out, as he fell. Suddenly the vampire’s ridged face was gone and Buffy was looking down on the soft, open countenance of her former boyfriend.

“You can’t kill me, Buffy. You care too much about me. You may not love me, but I don’t think you can kill me.”

He smiled at her and reached a tentative hand toward her face.

“You’re just not that kind of girl,” he said softly. “You couldn’t kill someone you cared about.”

Buffy shook her head at him sadly.

“Oh, Riley. I’ve had that tee shirt since I was seventeen.” With a shrug, she drove the point of the stake into his chest and watched dispassionately as his surprised face exploded into dust.

She stayed where she was for a minute, kneeling in the dust that was all that was left of her second serious boyfriend. A soft sound behind her made her turn around and she saw Spike looking at her sympathetically.

“Are you all right, pet?” he asked gently. He didn’t try to touch her, but offered his manacled hand to help her up.

Without answering his question, she silently took his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. A glance around the room showed her the key to the chains and she quietly unlocked them for him.

“Are you okay?” she asked, looking over his bleeding body critically.

“Yeah, pet. They’re all superficial cuts. Lots of blood, not much damage. Wanker wanted to be sure I’d be around to watch him have his way with you.”

“As if!” She rolled her eyes and headed for the door. “Come on, vampire,” she threw over her shoulder. “Let’s go home and get you cleaned up.”

They left the building only to find Giles and the rest of the Scoobies resting on the porch. Her watcher stood up as Buffy came out the door.

“Is he...?”

“Yep. Buffy sent another boy friend to hell.”

Her tightly closed face told them not to pursue it and they looked instead at the bloody man trailing behind her.

“Whoa, Capt’n Peroxide. Interesting body art you got there,” Xander snarked. “Can I contribute? There seems to be a bare spot right over your heart. I could fix that....”

“Shut it, Xander.”

Her friend frowned, his feelings hurt at her cold tone.

“I was only kidding, Buff. Deadboy, Jr. knows that, don’t you?’ he turned to look at Spike quizzically.

The vampire just shook his head and frowned toward Buffy, indicating he didn’t want her bothered.

There was an uncomfortable silence for several minutes until Buffy asked, “So, did you guys see any fleeing minions?”

“Yes, we managed to stake all of them as they ran past.” Her Watcher looked from her to Spike. “What, exactly were they running from?”

When Buffy didn’t answer, Spike offered, “They decided backing up their wanker of a sire wasn’t worth a Slayer ass-kickin’. Left him to fend for himself.”

The Watcher nodded in satisfaction. “Well, then, it appears we got them all. A good night’s work, Buffy, Spike.”

The vampire shrugged, “All I was tonight was bait for the Buffy trap. Speaking of which, Slayer, “ he whirled on her. “What the bloody hell were you thinkin’? I’m just telling the stupid prat that you’re too smart to walk into a trap, and in you traipse. By yourself!” He glared momentarily at her Watcher and friends.

She looked at him steadily, then said, “I’m the Slayer. THE Slayer. By myself is how I’m meant to go through life.”

She broke eye contact with the astonished vampire and started walking toward her home. Her Watcher exchanged looks with the frozen vampire and the Slayer’s horrified friends. Xander started to run after Buffy, but Spike put a hand on his arm and said softly, “No. Let her go. She didn’t mean that the way it sounded. She just needs to come to terms with what she had to do. Probably has some grievin’ to do.” He tried to smother the pain he felt at being included in the people she was cutting herself off from.

“Spike is, and I cannot believe I am saying this,” Giles said with an eyeroll, “correct. We must give her some time and space. Buffy’s calling is not an easy one. She has had to make many painful decisions for one so young. She deserves some time to herself.”

With that, they all headed off to their various homes to see how much sleep could be salvaged from the rest of the night. Giles surprised the vampire by offering the use of his bathroom to clean up his wounds. He also managed to find an old tee shirt of Spike’s to replace the ruined shreds left of the one he’d been wearing.

When Spike was cleaned up and vampire healing had already started to close his cuts, he sat down in a chair and gratefully took the glass of scotch the other Brit offered him.

They drank in companionable silence for several minutes until the watcher finally put his glass down and leaned toward the other man.

“I’m not sure how many more times she can be expected to do things like this before she gives up.”

Spike had been resting with his head on the back of the chair, his eyes closed when Giles began to speak, but at that he snapped his head forward, eyes wide open.

“She’ll never give up. It’s not in her,” he insisted, even as he knew the truth of what the watcher was saying.

“You’ve killed two Slayers, Spike. Are you really that good? Or did they just not want to win anymore?” He fixed the vampire with a steady eye and waited for the reply.

“Bit o’ both, I suspect,” he answered honestly with a shrug. “But they were ordinary slayers – all about the mission. No time for friends or family.” He frowned for a second. “Not completely sure about the New York one. Heard she had a kid....but—“

“She did,” the watcher said flatly. “He was three or four.”

He watched Spike carefully and was gratified to see the vampire wince slightly.

“Didn’t know that. Not that it would have mattered back then,” he looked the other man in the eye and waited for a response.

“No,” Giles sighed, “I suppose it wouldn’t have. The Council never has figured out why a girl that old, with a child already, would have been called in place of someone younger.”

“Cause she was damned good,” the vampire responded immediately. “Took me two fights to best her.”

He paused and took another sip from his drink.

“I think she was tired of it. Not that she wasn’t trying to kill me. She was. But when I had her down, she just looked like she was ready for it to be over.”

“Is there,” Giles cleared his throat and started again, “Do you see any sign that Buffy feels that way? She’s been a Slayer much longer than most girls. And she’s lost a lot of people she cared about.”

Spike felt his stomach clench at the thought of Buffy being ready to die for her calling. He thought back over the ways she had changed since he first fought her three years ago.

“She’s not quite the bubbly cheerleader she was before she had to send the great poof to hell; but I don’t see any signs that she’s ready to give it up to some Big Bad just to get a rest. I think she’s made of sterner stuff than you give her credit for, Watcher.”

(At least I hope to hell she is) he thought to himself, vowing to watch her closely for any signs that she was harboring a death wish.

“I hope you’re right, Spike. I just don’t know how many more losses she can handle before.....” He stopped and gave Spike one of his best Ripper glares.

“I really do not want her having to take any more actions like she did with Angel and Riley. If I thought for one minute that you might—“

Spike held up a conciliatory hand. “I’ve already promised her, Watcher, that I will never give her a reason to stake me. I’ll dust myself first before I do that to her. You have my word.”

The other man stared at into the vampire’s steady blue eyes, then nodded his head.

“Alright then,” he said and settled back with his drink.

Chapter Fifteen

When he’d finished his drink and said “good-night” so that Giles could get some sleep, Spike was left walking through the town, wondering where he should go. Every instinct he had told him to head for Revello Drive and offer what comfort he could to the woman he loved. But something about the bleak look on her face when she left told him he might not be as welcomed as he hoped.

Even while he tried to decide what to do, his feet carried him to the small bungalow with the SUV in the driveway and he stood under a tree staring at the house. He could hear Dawn’s heartbeat and the music in her room and knew she had got safely home from visiting her mother at the hospital. He frowned when he couldn’t pick up any trace of Buffy in the house. Then a small breeze brought him her unmistakable scent from the back yard and he walked around to find her sitting alone on the porch steps.

He walked up and sat down beside her as close as he could without invading her personal space. As much as he longed to hold her and let her sob onto his chest, he had too much respect for the Slayer to treat her like the little girl she appeared to be.

Buffy hadn’t acknowledged his presence, but she was silently grateful that he had come to her rather than back to his crypt. She wanted nothing more than to lean on his willing shoulder and let him lend her his strength, but her Slayer pride kept her upright.

Unable to control his inner William any longer, Spike reached for her hand and gently stroked the back of it as he asked, “You okay, love?”

She gave a deep sigh, then surrendered to temptation and rested her head on his shoulder.

“I will be,” she said quietly. She tilted her head and looked up at him. “I’d think you might be worried about your own okayness right about now. Dating me seems to be a bit of a health hazard. You never know when I might decide I have to kill you.” She tried to smile, but her lip was quivering too much and she quickly dropped her head so he wouldn’t see.

“Ah, pet. You only kill the ones you love. Know that’s not me, don’t we?” He tried to keep his voice light, and hoped the bitterness he felt didn’t show through.

She ignored his tone and answered his question obliquely. “Didn’t love Riley. He’s dead anyway.”

She stood up to go inside, but was stopped when he didn’t release her hand. He turned it over and pressed a kiss into her palm, looking up at her as he did so.

“You’re not gonna scare me off, Slayer. Told you before and I’ll tell you again, as often as I have to – I will never knowingly do anything to make you have to stake me.”

“You mean you’re gonna stop being annoying?” she attempted a smile and was rewarded with a grin from the vampire.

“Didn’t promise not to do anything might make you WANT to stake me. Just said you wouldn’t HAVE to.”

He got easily to his feet and stood facing her. Still holding one hand, he used the other to push her silky hair back from her face.

“Don’t think I properly thanked you for savin’ me, love,” he breathed, leaning in to touch his lips gently to hers. He felt her warm breath sigh out as she melted in to him and he slid his hands around her waist and pulled her against his body.

Buffy leaned back in his embrace and looked up at him archly.

“So, are you willing to risk your life by staying in the Slayer’s house again?”

“Pretty much willin’ to risk whatever body parts I have to if it means being close to you.”

Buffy’s response was to put her head back on his chest and let the warmth and security of his love flow over her. For long, comfortable minutes they were just a man comforting and protecting the woman he held in his arms. Eventually Buffy gave a little shiver as the cool night air worked its way under Spike’s duster to chill her bare arms.

Giving her a little squeeze, he held her away from his body and kissed her forehead.

“Time to go in, Slayer. Don’t want you catching cold on me.”

With a nod, she turned and opened the kitchen door so they could go in. She walked through the house, turning off lights and checking doors, pausing at the foot of the stairs to look at him with a glint in her eye.

“You know we’ve only got a couple of days before Mom comes home and you can’t stay here anymore.”

“Well then, let’s not waste ‘em,” he said as he picked her up and leapt up the stairs, two at a time.

Smothering her giggles against his shoulder, she allowed him to carry her into her room where he threw her on the bed and jumped on top of her.

“Now I gotcha, Slayer,” he growled into her neck, making his marks there tingle.

“No you don’t,” she answered as she shoved him to the floor. “I have to pee first. And brush my teeth, and..” She giggled as he growled at her from the floor.

“Well, hurry up about it, pet. Don’t want to waste one minute of the time we’ve got left.”

While Buffy was in the bathroom, he quickly stripped and slipped into the bed, laughing as the sheet tented over his very erect penis. When she came back into the room, the first thing Buffy saw was the sheet standing up over Spike’s hips and she stopped, cocking her head to look at it.

“What’s that under there?” she asked innocently.

“Get your pretty little arse over here and I’ll show you,” he demanded.

“Oh, I think I’ll just look for myself.”

Instead of going up to the head of the bed to get in, Buffy picked up the side of the sheet and crawled under it near Spike’s knees. She rubbed her cheek on his thigh and began moving her mouth up his leg, planting light kisses as she went. She could hear Spike growling softly, but he had enough sense to keep his hands away and let her play.

When she reached his cock she ran her tongue up one side of it, pausing at the top to flick her tongue into the little slit there. She smiled as he hissed and his hips pushed up involuntarily.

“Mmmmm,” she purred as she continued to lick her way around him. “Just like a lollipop. A really big lollipop,” she added as she put her warm lips around him and began sucking.

“Uhgh! Oh, Buffy, love, my sweetest girl.” He could no longer see the tent he’d made in the sheet, as Buffy’s ass was now pushing it up, waving in the air as she worked her mouth on him.

As she held the base of his cock in one hand and moved her mouth up and down on him, the vampire kept up a litany of praise for her efforts. “Like that, love. Oh yes, pet. Your mouth is so warm, you feel like....aaaah, I’m coming, love, I’m coming! Love you, Buffy!” he shouted as he thrust his hips up into her mouth and felt her swallowing him down.

When he’d got his unneeded breath back, he picked up the end of the sheet and peered down the length of his body to see a very self-satisfied Slayer smirking back at him. Her chin rested on his thigh as she licked her lips and asked, “Did I remember how to do it right?”

Instead of answering her, he just reached down and yanked her up to meet his mouth. While he kissed her thoroughly, she could feel him harden again against her stomach. His hands were moving lightly around her body, leaving goosebumps everywhere his cool fingers touched.

Buffy lost herself in the kisses he was prolonging to the point that she had to stop and gasp for breath against his mouth. He would allow her one quick breath, and then his lips would be on hers again and his tongue would be running around her teeth, tangling with her own tongue as he put everything he was feeling into the kiss.

She slipped down onto his ready cock and sat up to position herself more fully. The vampire stared in awe as she stretched her arms over her head, giving him a look at her hard nipples and taut, tight tummy. Faint traces of lighter skin over her breasts and pubic bone told him she’d acquired her golden color basking where he could never be with her.

He mentally flinched at the reminder of how unnatural it was for him to be between her thighs. For the Slayer to be riding him as she was now doing and moaning his name as she ground her hips down onto his.

With a growl, he flipped them over so that he was kneeling between her legs, holding her hips up with his hands. Her flexibility allowed her to lie back on the pillow, perfectly relaxed and comfortable with her shoulders on the bed and her hips held in the air. The position allowed him to touch that spot deep inside that sent shock waves of sensation through her body.

She went from relaxed to writhing under him as he plunged in and out of her, twisting his hips to rub against her clit at the same time as his cock was stimulating the bundle of nerves inside. When she had already come twice and was panting his name again, he finally dropped her hips and fell down on top of her, still thrusting in a steady motion.

When he was within reach, Buffy put her arms around him and pulled him to her chest, even as she brought her legs up to wrap around his hips and hold him in to her. She was clenching him with every muscle in her body and chanting, “Don’t leave me, don’t leave me. I want you, Spike. Want you forever.”

It was too much for his demon, which emerged and slid his teeth into the marks on her neck as he came. His “Mine!” was muffled by the blood flowing into his mouth from her throat as she shuddered under him, moaning his name when the bite triggered another orgasm.

Spike took another long pull of blood, then let go and began licking the wounds closed as his face went back to its normal human features. He was cringing in fear of her reaction when he felt her blunt little teeth clamp down on his neck as she growled, “Mine!”

Electricity shot through his body as the answered claim set up the link between the two lovers. He could feel Buffy stiffen and knew she was feeling the same thing as the connection between the two of them was completed.

They fell apart, lying side by side, but not touching. The bed began to vibrate and Spike realized that Buffy was trembling beside him. She tried her best to remain calm, but he could hear the tears in her voice as she said, “What did we do, Spike? What did I do?”

The terror and dismay in her voice broke his heart and he brushed his hand across his eyes to remove the tears before he turned and took her gently in his arms.

“I’m sorry, love. Please believe me. I never meant to do that. Please don’t cry. Don’t cry Buffy. We’ll find a way to fix. I promise. Maybe Red can find a spell....we’ll fix it, love....know you don’t want to be...tied to somethin’ like me. Not what you deserve.”

She took a ragged breath and turned her wet eyes up to his anguished face.

“You...you don’t want me?” She blinked at him and started to pull away.

“Wha-? Don’t want you? Are you daft?”

“You said you were sorry. That we could fix it. You didn’t mean it.”

“I said I didn’t mean to DO it, Buffy. Not that I don’t want it. I want it more than anything in the world. Don’t ever think I don’t. But you, you deserve something more than being chained to a vampire for the rest of your life.”

She reached a hand up to cup his cheek and said softly, “The rest of my life isn’t likely to be all that long. We both know that. Why wouldn’t I want to spend it with the man who loves me?”

He gazed down on her with adoration and awe on his face. “But, I thought you...”

She looked away briefly and nodded her head. “I was kinda wigged at first, yeah. But I know it was my fault it happened, not yours. And I...I think I meant to do it. I don’t want to take it back. I want...I want you to love me forever.”

His unbeating heart was singing and his inner William was already composing new poems to his love as he pulled her back into his arms and whispered in her ear, “Forever it is, love. I can do that.”

“Good,” she mumbled as she drifted off to sleep. “Start now.”

Silence settled over the small house as its three occupants slept securely. Across the hall from the two permanently linked lovers, a sleeping teenager emitted a faint green glow as she rolled over onto her back and began to snore. Fortunately, there was no one to notice the energy aura floating around her body and no one to report it to an anxious hellgod.

The End