Distribution: Please email me at amberaura@hotmail.com


Chapter One
Buffy’s Point of View

“I think it is time to call it a day… or night, I suppose.” I say as I slam a stake into the heart of the remaining foe of the night. The vampire tries to get out one last witty remark, but quickly becomes dust in the wind.

“Do you want to come back to my place?” Angel asks. I walk over close to him and clasp his hand.

“No, I need to get home. Mom has been understanding of the slayer duties but missing school because of it still does not go over well with her. I need to get what rest I can before getting up to start this dance all over again.” I tuck the stake back into my jacket and we begin walking out of the cemetery.

“Well, I think I have seen that symbol that was on the wrist of that last vampire, I’m going to check it out. Make sure it isn’t what I think it is.”

I think he is subtly trying to appeal to the slayer in me, imploring me to question him further and play a game of twenty questions. I won’t bite, though. I’m too damn tired. “You do that, I’m going to go fight the demon known as “Insomnia” and hopefully I’ll win tonight.”

“Have you talked to Giles about it yet?” Angel asks as we round the corner to my house.

“No. For some reason I just keep getting this paranoid feeling, like I’m being watched or something. Keeps me on edge, keeps me from sleeping.”

I’m not lying to him completely. I know I am not just paranoid, I can feel that there is a vampire lurking outside my house at night. Every night I get up, telling myself that it will be the night that I find him, torture him, and delay his death for as long as he has kept me awake. I always think that, yet every single night I hunt for him and never find him.

We stop outside my door and I lean my head back, waiting for a kiss. Angel closes his eyes and leans down, planting a kiss on my forehead. Not quite what I was waiting for. “Good night, Buffy.” Moments later he is vanishing down the street, I don’t even get a promise that I will see him tomorrow.

I unlock the door and I get that dull feeling like I do any other night. I turn around and try to see who this intruder is, but I have no luck. “Can I sleep tonight, please? A cranky slayer is not very forgiving.”

The feeling grows a little stronger, and my pulse starts to race, maybe he is moving closer. Could tonight be the night? Could I finally find the source of this lack of sleep?

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a vampire creeping up alongside the house adjacent to mine. Giddily, I grab the stake out of the inside pocket of my jacket and turn around. Dumb vampires can never leave the bait alone. Pretend not to notice them and they’ll come running.

I toss my key on the ground and bend over to retrieve it. Slowly, the vampire “sneaks” up on me. I let out a sigh as I fiddle with the key I threw on the ground. I feel like screaming to the vampire that it is hard to get much more vulnerable than this.

I feel his presence just behind me and I stand upright, bringing the back of my head in contact with his face. He lets out a frustrated, “Slayer!” as I throw my elbow into his stomach while I turn around.

“Come on, now.” I tell him. “I even gave you the advantage.” He tries the wild fists technique that is common with new vamps and I am less than ecstatic. I pin the demon to the ground and drive the stake home, waiting for the dust to settle into the dirt and grass. That dullness is still lodged in the pit of my stomach, and I know that this could not have been my stalker. Dusting myself off, I resign to bed. I’ll get him tomorrow.

Spike’s Point of View

I let out a puff of smoke and let my cigarette fall, smothering it with my boot. I lean up against the tree and look up to the sky. Every night for the past week I have been out here, standing across the street from the slayer’s home. I stay just far away for her to not see me, yet close enough for her to feel my presence. It has been wearing the slayer down, just like I’d hoped. A lesser vampire wouldn’t cause much of a disturbance on her radar, but I know my limits. I know just where to stand to cause a restless feeling in her, in a newer slayer.

I watch her window as she turns on her bedroom light. My gaze doesn’t waver as her silhouette dances behind the blinds as she dresses for another restless night. The curves of the slight girl are enticing, I will enjoy fighting her. What I will enjoy the most is watching the life drain out of her and into my Dru. Yes, the slayer’s blood will bring some much needed unlife back into Drusilla.

This slayer is full of life, and spunk. Night after night she has the determination to find me, just not the rest and energy needed. The past few nights I have been giving her hope, I stand around in the shadows then send an oaf over for an “easy kill”. They fall for it, and I watch as she beats seven shades of shit out of them. I stand by waiting for that night when she is so tired she slips up, so that I can walk on over and kill another slayer. I keep waiting.

I find it hard to believe that my ponce of a grandsire is this girl’s lapdog. I keep remembering the days of Angelus, raping and killing plenty of birds that looked just like this one. What makes her so special? It’s not like he’s sleeping with her, the git barely touches her.

The light in her room turns on and I watch her shadow dance over the curtains. I watch as she takes her shirt off, it looks as if she is peeling off a layer of skin. Next she unbuttons and slides her pants off. This young slayer brings out the peeping Tom in me. I walk closer to her house and watch as the light turns off. I wait a few minutes and climb up the side of her home. I figure that by now she has learned to sleep knowing that there is a vampire around. Peering through the sheer curtains I look at her. Her eyes are drawn together tightly causing her brows to furrow, but she is sleeping nevertheless. As long as her sleep is restless I am doing my job.

Tomorrow I am going to step this up a notch. Tomorrow I am going to find a way to get her mother to invite me in. I am no fool, I know it will be impossible to trick Buffy into inviting me in. I do believe that her mother is the ticket in.

I stay outside her window for hours, hidden in the shadows I attempt to plan my night for tomorrow. Buffy goes out to the Bronze on Friday nights and I am there to drive her crazy. That will have to wait, I need to make my stop here first. The sky is beginning to lighten with the impending sunrise and I know that I must get going. I say her name and she sits up in her bed. The dark circles under her eyes are noticeable now that her makeup has worn off, her youth still keeps her looking well off. Her eyes dart over to the window and I slide down the structure, heading back to Drusilla.

Chapter Two
Buffy’s Point of View

“Giles, I have a problem.” I watch as the man walks across the room struggling to carry a large stack of books. I would offer to help him, but Xander told me to let men be. It’s emasculating or something.

“I don’t suppose this would be a school studies problem?”

“No such luck. On the plus side it probably doesn’t need any researching.” I cross my legs and lean further back into the chair, waiting for his undivided attention. When I finally get it he sits down and cleans off his glasses. “Okay, I know that I get the tinglies when a vampire is near, but can it be stronger with specific vampires?”

“Well, yes. The stronger a vampire the more of a sensation you will get. Have you come across a stronger than average vampire?”

“That’s just it, I’m not too sure. I can never find him. He’s always there, but I can’t see him. He’s been driving me crazy, Giles. He stays around my house at night so that I have a hard time sleeping. He’s torturing me. I feel like I’m running on empty here. Caffeine can only do so much for a person.”

“You know that it is a male vampire?”

“Yes, I saw him last night, sitting outside my window. How creepy is that? By the time I realized that he had enough gall to watch me sleep, he was gone. I don’t know if he does it every night but it was enough to give me a serious case of the creeps. Before you ask, no, I can’t tell you what he looked like. I could only see his outline.” My body shudders at the thought of my stalker.

Giles lets out a sigh and tells me there isn’t really much he can do for me. He has nothing to go on. “The only thing I can really suggest is to sleep in a different room or step up your patrolling.”

“I can’t step it up. Mom is already kind of mad about the amount of time I spend out there.”

“Have you asked Angel if he has heard of any other older vampires coming to town?” I don’t bother to tell him that I don’t really talk shop with Angel that much anymore. It’s hard to talk to a guy that runs from you every chance he gets. I have a feeling that I would be much more concerned about it if I wasn’t so preoccupied every night.

“Older than him? No. Why don’t I get the same feeling while he comes around?”

Giles cocks his head to the side and scratches the top of his head. “I don’t know. Possibly because of his soul? That is a good question.”

The bell rings for next period and I gather my belongings. “Time for me to go. Ponder that thought for the both of us, will you?”

Spike’s Point of View

The sun is down far enough for me to leave the factory, so that I may begin my plan for tonight. I say goodbye to Dru but she is too busy torturing a teenager that I picked up last night on my way home. I drive my Desoto over to the slayer’s residence and wait. I sit in complete silence in the car, waiting for her to leave the house. It’s Friday, she goes to the Bronze. I have never bothered to be this patient about anything. Yet, I know I need to do it right. I need to restore a bit of sanity to Drusilla so that she may join me in romping through the countries leaving a trail of dead wherever we go. A small red car pulls up outside of her house and I watch as the slayer runs out to the car. Her hair is pulled back loosely on top of her head, her shoulders and legs are bared to the wind.

I don’t usually get the pleasure of seeing or fighting a slayer until they are in their twenties, but this one is young. Her body is at it’s peak and she is one of the best slayers I’ve seen. No match for myself, of course. The car pulls away and I start mine up. Normally this would be where I follow her, but I have other plans tonight. I pull my car up to the front of her house and purposely stall my car. I make all sorts of noise and attract the attention I had been looking for. The slayer’s mum peeks her head through the shades of a downstairs window. I take out a never before used cell phone and pretend that it is dead. I smile and hold the phone in the air. I look directly at her and point to the phone. She leaves the window and a moment later she opens up the door. “Come on in! You can use mine.” I run up to the door and she ushers me into the house.

“Thank you…”

“Joyce, my name is Joyce.”

Buffy’s Point of View

Every week I come here and try to find that annoying vampire. I don’t feel him here yet but I know he will be. Each night that I am here I leave with as many undead as possible. I ask them if they want to go out for a bite to eat and they all chuckle a little thinking that it is irony at it‘s best. If they ask me first, they think they are funny and witty. No matter the situation they all end the same way. Dusted.

“Buffy? Do you have to start already? We just got here. Spend some time, have some fun.” I look over to Willow and Xander. They sit there sipping their sodas and Willow pleads some more. I look around and spot all of the vampires lurking.

“I suppose. I’m sorry guys, it’s just that I’m so tired. I want this guy gone. A cranky Buffy isn’t very fun for any of the parties involved.” I sigh and sit up at the table with them.

“You can always spend the night over my house, Buff.” Xander offers and slides his drink over to me. I just raise an eyebrow at him and laugh.

“Thanks, Xander. But I’ll take my chances. I’ll find the idiot eventually. I wanna dance.” I jump up and start dancing by myself. Truthfully, I want to get a head start on the vamps. I slowly make my way over to a guy who looks like he belongs back a decade or two, and start my Friday ritual. As I’m getting ready to lead the guy outside, the familiar feeling of the other vampire makes it’s return. Fun.

Spike’s Point of View

I arrived just in time to watch the slayer bring out an idiot lackey. I take my usual spot in a dark corner to watch. Someone should really let her mother know not to let strangers into their house once the sun goes down. Inside, there were pictures of Buffy everywhere. I had no idea the slayer had been a cheerleader. It just further proved she was not a typical slayer. Most have been alone, without friends or popularity.

I go over to the bar and grab a beer off of the counter and get back to my seat. The twit looks around for his drink and begins to blame the man next to him. The scene that unfolds amuses me until the slayer walks back inside, dusting the last guy off of her, no doubt. She takes a quick scan of the people on the dance floor, looking for me. Her shoulders droop a bit and resigns to dancing up against another vampire trying to pass off as human. Her hips sway slowly to the music and she throws her head back. The guy tries to slide his hands up and over her breasts and she slaps his hand away. She’s scowling as she starts talking to him.

Next to me, a couple slams up against the wall making out. I drink the last of the beer and throw the bottle at their feet. “Move along, kiddies.” The girl squeals and they move on.

Buffy’s Point of View

Another uneventful night. I killed six of the damn things and none of them were the one that I am looking for. I can feel that he’s here, but where? If I were at the top of my game I could probably find him, but I am not. Even if I could find him, at this point, I don’t know if it would be wise for me to fight him. If he is strong enough to evoke this feeling, would I be strong enough to beat him?

I continue to dance to the music, my eyes closed, hands up in the air. Angel is supposed to show up at some point tonight but I am getting tired. If he doesn’t show up soon I am just going to go home. I tell myself, one more time, one more song. Then I will go see Willow and Xander before I leave. The feeling gets stronger as he moves closer to me. He’s behind me, I know that much. I feel a hand travel across my ass and he whispers something in my ear. “Tonight.” His voice is raspy and he smells of smoke and beer. His voice excites me. Just the one word held a promise. I turn around quickly to find this mystery dead guy and he’s gone. He’s gone and so is the feeling.

I run over to the table and find Willow half asleep leaning up against Xander. “Did you see him?” I ask.

“See who?” Xander asks. His attention wasn’t on me though. He had been watching Cordelia dance with the quarterback.

“He was blonde.” Willow pipes up. “Tall and ummm… sorry, his back was to us. That’s all I know.” She let’s out a yawn and stands up. “I need to get going.”

“Okay, well I’m going to walk home. Maybe, I’ll get lucky.” He did say “tonight”. Of course that doesn’t mean anything. So now I know I have a tall blonde vampire stalker. I’m just happy I’m getting somewhere.

The walk home is boring. No Angel, no stalker, no foes, nothing. I keep hearing that voice over and over, though. It won’t leave me alone. What did he mean? Did he even say it?

I lock the front door behind me and head up to my room. By the time I finished changing, the feeling has returned. I have become so used to it that I don’t even remember when it started. One last look out my window reveals nothing. I crawl into bed and am asleep within minutes.

Spike’s Point of View

While she sleeps I climb up to her window, quietly lift it, and enter. For minutes, I sit next to her bed and look at her. It could be so easy. I can snap her neck before she even wakes up. I need her alive to fix Drusilla. My body wants to dance with hers in more ways than one, and none of them literal. I want to fight her, I want to fight to enjoy her death. As a man my body yearns to be inside hers. My fangs among other appendages. I could bite her now, let Angel figure out that I am here in SunnyHell. I have all of these options and yet I can’t think straight.

I touch the side of her neck and her head turns away as she whimpers. I watch the pulse in her neck for a minute before resting a finger over it. It’s almost time. A couple more nights. I let my hands wander over her bare arms, tracing veins. She isn’t at the top of her game. Nowhere near it, in fact. She doesn’t wake from the touches and I can’t stop myself. I’m so close to tasting another slayer. My mouth begins to close in on her neck, her pulse now beneath my lips. Soon.

Buffy’s Point of View

I’m stuck in a dream. It is one where you know that without a doubt you are dreaming and you can do nothing about it. Normally, those only apply to nightmares with me. Not this one. I know he’s there. He’s even in here with me. He’s in my dream, sucking on my neck, running his hands all over me. I pull away but I can’t see his face. He’s just a shadow. I let out a moan as a hand holds onto a breast and kneads it. His breathing is heavy and I can feel his arousal pressing into my side. What is he doing? Why isn’t he killing me?

I can feel his desire sweeping off of him and it mixes with my own, suffocating me. I’m completely immobile, even in my dream, I am tired. He removes his mouth from my neck and looks up at me. In my dream I no longer have clothes on, they have disappeared along with my modesty. I have no desire to stop him, after all it is only a dream. It feels good and exciting to be wanted like this, to be touched like this.

He doesn’t kiss me, and is in no way gentle with my body as he pulls himself closer to me and grinds his erection between my thighs.

Rape is the first word that pops into my head, but I know that’s not right. I want this.

I know that he is not really doing this to me. My mind is taking the feelings of him touching me and twisting them into what I want, maybe even what he wants. This is the single most sexy thing that has ever happened to me in my life and I don’t even know what he looks like. His hand travels down and between my thighs and I physically shiver at his touch. As I get closer to my climax my arms begin to twitch, and I can move them. All that they do is hold him closer. He looks up in surprise and I can see his eyes. His eyes are a piercing blue. In them I see the lust and confusion. Just as I orgasm, he vanishes. I can also feel that he’s gone.

I know now that I can wake up. That is if I wanted to. I stay in another restless sleep, waiting for him to come back.

Spike’s Point of View

I have no fucking clue what happened back there. One minute I’m mesmerized by her pulse and the next I’m drawn into her dreams. I took advantage of the fact that she could not move. I began to pleasure myself, just using her. I could feel that the slayer wanted to be touched, so I did. It was insane. Who knew that the one thing that could be better than killing a slayer, might be to fuck her? Once she moved her arms, I didn’t know what to do. She held me closer as she came.

That was when I decided to get the hell out of there. It’s still dark out and I need some sort of release. Settling for some blood I grab a middle aged woman walking around town and have a drink. Trying to get the slayer out of my system, I grab another one and leave them both, drained, in an alley.

Chapter Three
Buffy’s Point of View

First thing this morning I got a call from Giles. He asked if there were any new developments in my situation. I told him that he was in my dream. That elicited an interested “hmm”, out of him. That was all that was said. I still haven’t figured out what is going on for myself. Why did I let him touch me? Why did he want to? Is he like Angel, with a soul? I was also afraid that if I told him about my stalker sneaking in my room he’d insist that I uninvite him. I don’t know if I can do that just yet. By some odd twist of fate my mother invited him into our home. This morning she told me that she had an emergency at the gallery where she works and said she would be gone for a while. I didn’t have time to question her about who she let in. She did have time to question me about the painful hickey left on my neck. I told her a demon hit me with a blunt object and it left a nasty bruise. I think she bought it. When in doubt, blame something evil.

I spent a good part of my day trying to make up for lost sleep, but then I realized that I just couldn’t. Slayers should be nocturnal, it would make the job so much easier. Unfortunately, that is not the case. I absolutely cannot sleep knowing that the sun is up and that my friends are out having fun. I went with Xander and Willow to the mall, didn’t buy anything but we had fun anyway. Xander paid for a several games of air hockey but after winning four in a row I was disqualified due to an unfair advantage. So, ski ball it was. They didn’t mind having a sort of super human friend while I was raking in all the tickets.

As the sun was setting I found myself getting antsy, I wanted to go home. I actually feel kind of weird without having my stalker around. I feel like I’m missing something, and kind of lonely too. As soon as I could I made up some lame excuse to skip out on my friends and headed for home. I made a quick stop off at Angel’s but he either wasn’t home or wasn’t answering his door. I found my answer when I arrived home to find Angel sitting on my doorstep.

“Where have you been?” He asks.

“Where have I been? What about you? You were a no show last night. A girl could take offense to that.”

“I was trying to figure out where I knew that symbol from. I know it, but I still cannot figure out from where. Willy knows something but he isn’t telling. He knows I won’t kill him over something so small, especially when I don’t find it to be that much of a threat.” That’s it? No “sorry”? No apology? I bite my lip and glare at him.

“I can go get it out of Willy in the morning. I’m bitchy and I’d like a bit of meaningful violence.”

We walk inside and up to my room. Without saying a word he turns to go look out the window as I change into comfortable pajamas. I chuck my clothes into the corner of my room and look back over at Angel. He has a pensive look on his face as he studies my window ledge.

“Have you invited anyone in today?” He frowns. I tell him “no”. Which isn’t a lie. I haven’t invited anyone in. Does he know? “Has anything out of the ordinary been going on?”

“You can’t seriously be asking me that, Angel. One we’re on a hell mouth, two I’m a slayer. But no, nothing more out of the ordinary.” I emphasize the “more” in my sentence. “Why? Are you picking up on something?” It really does freak me out that my boyfriend has uber senses. I do too in a way, just not smell.

“Well, kind of. You could have just picked it up while you were out though.” He still looks at me funny. I go to sit next to him on my bed but my phone rings. I pick up the hand set and answer.

“Hello?” I ask.

“Oh good, Buffy. You’re home.”

“Yes, Mom. I’m glad you called.”

Angel walks out of my room while I talk to my Mom. It’s pointless because of his supernatural hearing. “Is everything okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, about that guy yesterday, did he have a name?” There’s a long pause.

“You know? Come to think of it he never said his name, handsome man though. Peculiar. Anyway, Buffy, the reason I called is because I won’t be home for a while. I need to get the gallery ready for tomorrow night and there has been a series of setbacks. If you go into the jewelry box on my dresser there should be some money. Order some pizza or something and I will see you tomorrow morning.”

“All right. Love you, Mom.”

She says a quick good-bye and hangs up. I wanted to ask her if maybe she could describe him a bit more fully but nothing can ever be as easy as asking a few questions.

Angel makes his way back into my room and leans next to my window. “I don’t think you should be alone tonight.”

“Mom will be home later tonight. I’m a big girl, Angel.” He walks over and wraps his arms around me.

“I know. I think you should cancel any invites you have into this house. Including me, I think it would be the safest thing for you to do.” I know that he’s making sense, but apparently I’m not in the sensible mood. His hands come up to cup my face. “Promise me.” I mumble a pathetic promise to do it as soon as I can, and he smiles. His hands slide down over my neck as he places a small kiss on my mouth. I try to deepen the kiss but he pulls back. I let out an inaudible sigh, then I realize his hand is resting on my hickey from last night’s adventures. I notice two things in this moment. One, my boyfriend really does not pay all that attention to me. Two, I‘m stupid. I pull back and yawn.

Spike’s Point of View

“How is the torturing coming along?” Dru asks off-handedly as she straddles some teenage boy as she prepares to do a spot of torturing of her own.

“She’s getting worn out. Not too much longer.” She drags a finger down the boys chest and he screams. Slowly, blood begins to well in the cut caused by her nail. She leans down to lick the blood and he closes his eyes like if he doesn’t see it, it’s not there. Bully for him, Drusilla like to make her presence known. She tells him that she will make him see her and reaches for another sharp instrument laying in the dirt.

I make my way out of the room and into the hall just as he lets out another scream. That’s my girl.

I search through the pile of clothes next to my bed trying to find the car keys. I move one of Drusilla’s dresses and a piece of paper falls out. It’s a list of ingredients. I have no clue what it is or what it’s for. The paragraph under it is in some language that I don’t know. Next to my feet I see the keys, I grab them and stuff them in my pocket along with the paper. I need to find out what my dark goddess has been up to.

Buffy’s Point of View

Angel finally left at about eight thirty. The entire time he was here I accumulated one kiss on the lips and two on the forehead. Oh yeah, he wants me real bad. There are days when I wish for a normal horny teenage boyfriend. I convince myself that I’m really too tired to stay up and eat dinner so I head off to bed. My stalker is late tonight. I pull my hair up in a ponytail and look in the mirror. The mark on my neck is almost gone, it’s left with that faint yellow tinge. As my hand reaches up to touch it, I remember all of the feelings that were swirling around in my dream. I become almost giddy just thinking about tonight. I take one quick look out the window and find nothing. With my light turned off I make my way into bed, enjoying the breeze that flows in through my window.

In my dream I am walking around my room, getting ready for school. Just a normal day. Where is he? I have no control over my movements but once again I am cognitive about being asleep. It feels like hours later that the familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach returns. By no coincidence, I’m sure, the light outside my bedroom window vanishes into the dark, moon-lit sky. My body goes straight to the bed as I feel him come closer. This is it.

Spike’s Point of View

The scared ponce that worked at the magic shop was none too helpful with what the spell read. I’m going to have to find another way to figure it out. The entire time I was out, something in my body tugged me towards this street, this house, this bedroom. The slayer must be crazy, maybe she deserves to die. She left her bedroom window open and never even bothered to uninvite me. It just screams death wish.

I want to march right on in there and tear open her throat. With that as my sole intention, I climb through the window. Once I touch her, it vanishes. The feeling of needing to kill her, transforms. The moment I lay my hand on her neck I’m drawn in. For the second night now I have been thrown into the slayer’s dream. Her dream where she is immobile and spread out on her bed. Another girl would have called her a hussy. Men would just think pleasantly wanton. Desire rolls of her body and her eyes are beckoning me closer. I lean over her and view her neck. There is a tinge to her skin from last night, I slowly let my tongue trace around the edges and she lets out an audible moan.

I don’t know how this is possible, nor do I know why this could happen. It would have been so easy to kill her, had I not gotten sucked into her dream. Looking up into her face, her eyes close. At the same time her clothes disappear, it was almost as if she willed it. I feel like a damned puppet. I see her, I want to kill her, yet my body just rubs up against hers. My hand travels down her throat to cup a breast and against my will I moan against her skin.

Like last night, she gains control of her arms and pulls me closer. I wonder if it is really her, or if she’s like me and is being controlled. I try to keep my body from reacting to her touch, to her body. Although, just because I’m evil doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy bodily pleasures with my arch nemesis. Even if it does, I was never one to abide by the rules.

The slayer’s hands run across my back and down over my arms. They linger on my biceps but eventually move. I slowly move down her body and take a taut nipple into my mouth. She cries out and writhes beneath me, trying to get me to touch her some more. I bite down a little and she makes some more noise. I feel my face beginning to change and my fangs begin to take form. Yes, now my vampire habits kick in. She’s staring down at me and I sneer. Now, I can truly have what I want.

I begin to make plans in my head, just how much blood can I drink, if I need her alive to fix Dru? Where should I bite her? I settle for right above her breast. My head lowers but before I get to bite her, I am kicked out. The force of it all knocks me on my ass beside her bed. Her phone is ringing and I see her beginning to stir. Quickly I get myself, my erection, and my bloodlust out of this house and away from the bewitching slayer. This is not what I bargained for.

Buffy’s Point of View

I slowly come out of my sleep to the ringing of my phone. Grumbling, I pick it up.

“Hello?” I ask.

“Buffy? It’s Angel. Have you done that spell yet?” I mumble an unintelligible “yes.” So what if I lied? He woke me up. “I think I may have figured out where that symbol is from, I’ll run it by Giles tomorrow and one of us will get back to you if it is anything to be alarmed about.” Under any other circumstances I would be giving him hell for trying to keep me in the dark, however, tonight I just don’t care. He hangs up the phone and I’m left with a dial tone.

The clock says it’s 1a.m. and I am awake and sexually frustrated. There’s only one thing that could mean to me. Time to slay. I put sneakers on, throw on a coat, and hide away a couple of stakes. I look in the mirror quickly before I leave and laugh at myself. I am sure I am the epitome of a slayer as I stand here with bags beneath my eyes and bunny pajamas. I’m downright fierce.

The cemetery is pretty empty. I’ve been doing a good job keeping the population down. I dust a new vampire or two that just crawled out of the ground and then I come across this gross slimy green demon.

He comes at me yelling “Slayer”. Because, you know, that’s original. After a few well placed punches to the face and a couple kicks to the torso he goes down. It’s a sad day when you realize your job doesn’t push you to your limits. It would be like me working at the Double Meat Palace. One day I expect that place to go all Soylent Green and demons and myself will be the only ones left. Then, and only then, will my job be hard. I start laughing out loud at my thoughts of Sunnydale going cannibalistic and the demon takes that time to spit in my face.

“Rude much?” I ask it and twist his head. I feel the bones crack beneath it’s skin and shudder. I hate it when they crunch.

Standing up, I wipe the gook off of my face and wipe my hands on grass nearby. I keep telling myself it could be worse. The spit could smell bad, or it could burn. It could always be worse.

I hear a slight chuckle coming from a crypt across the cemetery. It’s a man with a long black trench coat and platinum blond hair. I can’t make out his face or eyes, but I know it’s him. I begin to run towards him, I’m going to kill him. This is it. As I get closer the feeling in my stomach returns and I begin to get excited. I run even faster and then I realize something. I can’t see him anymore. I can’t see anything anymore. My world has turned black and then it hits me. It literally hits me. The grave stone that is. I know that Slayer’s should be graceful and whatnot, but you try running at full speed and then suddenly go blind, and then try not to hit anything.

He closes the gap between us while I am still lying on the ground. Leaning down to my face he says, “Jackpot.”

It could always be worse.

Chapter Four
Spike’s Point of View

“Rule number one, never let a Drachen demon spit. Didn’t your watcher teach you anything?” I crouch down to sit on her torso with my boots crushing her arms to the ground. The slayer struggles against me, kicking her feet around attempting to throw me off. She squeezes her eyes shut tight, blinking, trying to see. “How’s it feel to be blind? Helpless?”

“The blind part sucks but I wouldn’t know about helpless.” I bit of confusion sweeps over me just as she manages to throw me off of her. Women and their adrenaline rushes in times of need piss me off.

She jumps to her feet and takes a fighting stance. I lunge at her with a swift punch to her jaw and she retaliates. We are a flurry of hits, kicks, and blocks. She lands the majority of her punches to my face while mine don’t seem to be connecting. To an onlooker it would seem that I probably couldn’t land a punch to the broad side of a building.

“What’s the matter? You’re not talking so big now.” She gloats.

I back away from the fight and she stands up straight trying to find me. She turns her head trying to catch a sound of movement coming from me but I stand completely still. She’s a mess. Her hair is falling out of her ponytail, her clothes with the disgusting little cutesy rabbits are covered in dirt, grass, and demon, and her skin is slicked with sweat.

“Are you hiding now? Should have known.”

She continues to taunt me, but as she’s talking I slowly make my way around her to come up from behind. Grabbing her arms I pin them behind her back and push her forward into the side of a mausoleum. I use my legs to spread hers apart to keep her from kicking and a free hand to grind her face into the wall.

“You should learn to keep you’re mouth shut. You were too busy listening to yourself talk to hear little old me sneaking up behind you.” She wriggles in front of me, trying to break free. In doing so her rear rubs against me and she stops. I catch a hint of arousal coming from her and push her face into the wall harder. I have her right where I want her, I’m not letting this wench best me because she has a thing for the undead.

Buffy’s Point of View

Oh, God help me. What the hell is going on with me? He has me completely helpless I can’t head butt, kick, or push him off of me. Now this is what it is like to be truly helpless. I try to worm my way out and wind up getting aroused. The rough wall is rubbing my face raw, tearing my lip, as his arousal makes itself known. The harder he gets the harder he pushes on my face. My eyes begin to well with tears from the pain and frustration.

The vampire wraps my hair around his fist and brings my head back to slam it again. “What the hell are you doing to me, slayer? Witchcraft?”

“Nothing! I’m not doing anything! I yell back at him.” He let’s up on me and spins me around, only to shove me into the wall again. He backs up slowly as if he is going to leave. I gather my strength to jump at him and beat him once and for all. I head towards him with a punch full of fury and he blocks it, he grabs my fist and I freeze. It takes me a minute but I bring up my other hand to hit him and he easily grabs it. He starts walking forward, pushing me back yet again. His grip on my fists starts to crush the bones. A normal person’s bones would have shattered.

I stumble as he’s pushing me back. I get a predatory vibe off of him and my stomach flips. I wish I could see, I wish I weren’t practically at his mercy. His hands slide down to my wrists and he pins them above my head, raising me off the ground to his height. I can feel his breath against my lips and my breathing is erratic.

Spike’s Point of View

Once again I have an ideal opportunity to rip out her jugular or just tie her up and drag her to Dru for the healing. Instead my eyes are drawn to her lip and the blood that is beginning to drip from it. I lean forward and lick the droplet. I let out a sigh at the taste of slayer blood, it has been far too long since I’ve tasted a slayer. Slayer blood is a spiked version of normal blood and I have it right here in my hands. I lean back to her lip and suck on the split of her lip, my tongue flicking over the wound.

Her body is completely still, almost like she’s dead herself, her deep breaths are uneven. While I’m busy with her lip she sticks one of her legs between mine and sweeps my legs out from under me, I land on my back with her on top, her hands now pinning my arms down. Sneaky bint. Even blind, she could stake me. Why? Because I can’t kill her. For the unlife of me I can’t kill her.

She sits back a little and stares at me. I know she can’t see, but her eyes are focused directly on mine. Without warning her lips crash down on mine and her tongue is sliding inside my mouth. She moves her hands off of me and keeps them on the ground to stay raised above me. My hands reach around her and to grab her ass and grind it down onto my erection. In an attempt to roll us over to be on top I sit up but she slams me back to the ground. There is something about this petite girl with her domination issues that is hot as hell. Too bad I’ll have to kill her. My fangs knick her lip and the taste of copper invades my mouth again. Quickly, she leans back and punches me.

“What the hell was that?” She asks angrily.

“Well, see Slayer, I’m what they call a vampire.” She punches me again and I throw her off of me and into a gravestone.

“I have a name you know.” She says as she stands up and dusts herself off.

|refuse to call a formidable opponent, Buffy. I simply will not do it.

“No need for names or formalities, luv. It seems you’re already willing to give up the goods.” I snicker.

Buffy’s Point of View

I stand still where he threw me. With his last shot I hear him leave. I want to say something back, but maybe blind and bruised isn’t the way to fight him. The air is starting to warm up around me and I know that it’s almost sunrise. Ah yes, it’s always great to be awake and blind early on a Sunday morning.

Walking down some streets on your first day of being blind? Not so easy. I could only imagine how horrible I must look, taking small cautious steps early in the morning in my pajamas. Slowly, I make my way to Giles’ place and knock. He opens the door and I begin whining.

“Buffy?”

“I’m blind Giles. Blind. Please tell me it will go away.” He helps me over to the couch and sits down.

“Is there anything I can get you, Buffy?”

“How about my eyesight, you know, just a suggestion.” Kicking my shoes off I hold my legs close to me on the couch. I can hear him pacing for a minute before he starts sliding books around.

“How did it happen? Demon? Magic?”

“Drachen demon… or so I’m told.” Thankfully he either doesn’t hear that last part or he just decided not to ask.

“Slime then. Well let’s see.”

“Yes, Giles. Let’s see. Seeing would be very nice.” He is quiet for a few minutes and I can hear some clinking noise of bottles and some pouring.

“Do I want to know what I am going to be drinking?” I ask.

“No, I suppose you don’t. Just drink it fast and you’re sight should be restored within a few minutes.”

I hold my hand out and he places the small glass in my palm and helps me grip it. I smell the foul smelling liquid and gag. It smells almost as bad as the demon itself. Pinching my nose together I take it like a shot. The liquid isn’t so much liquid as it is a slimy gel. I squeeze my eyes together tightly willing my sight back.

“How did you come across a Drachen demon? I didn’t know you were patrolling tonight. I thought you’d be taking it easy with the lack of sleep you’ve been having.”

“I couldn’t sleep and when I can’t sleep I want to kill things. Usually myself. I figured it might be a tad more productive if I killed the evil things that go bump in the night instead.” Gradually my sight comes back. First came outlines of figures then slowly the colors came back. “I ran into the vampire that’s been following me. I was blind but for some reason he didn’t kill me. He was definitely strong enough but he didn’t.” At this Giles sits up straight. He throws out questions left and right but I only catch a few. “He speaks with an accent and says things like “luv”, who says that? I mean I don’t even know the guy. Demon! The demon… he’s a demon.”

“William the Bloody.”

“William the Bloody? That’s it? That’s all you have to offer me?”

Giles begins going into detail about William’s past and about Drusilla and everyone. “Are you going to tell me that you knew all of that off of the top of your head?”

“No, Buffy. Angel stopped by last night voicing some concern over a symbol. The symbol is actually of a dying clan of vampires that William had belonged to for a very brief period. They have been surfacing in Sunnydale more recently and we could not understand why. He must have brought them here but we don’t know the reason.”

“To beat the crap out of me, I suppose.” My lip is still throbbing from being torn against the wall along with the left side of my face. Giles busies himself saying he wants to brush up a bit more on William the Bloody and for me to go home and try to get some sleep. Sounded like a damn good plan to me.

Spike’s Point of View

“Dalton!” I yell as I enter the factory. The idiot of a lackey rushes to the door, glasses and all, “I need to find out what this is for. What does it mean?” I ask throwing Dru’s list and writing at him.

“Well, Spike, it’s in Latin.”

I take in a deep unneeded breath at his idiocy, “I can see that, Dalton. I want you to find out what it is and don’t say a thing to Dru. If she finds out what I am looking into I will tear out your eyes. Now get moving.”

I need to find out what is going on with me or it might just get me killed.

Chapter Five
Buffy’s Point of View

By the time I got home my mom’s car was in the driveway, so I climbed up the side of the house and snuck in through the window. I don’t know whether she checked in on me or not, so I just went straight to sleep. Of course, by the time I managed to get comfortable, my Mom had gotten up to start her day. Dutifully, trying to cover up what went on last night, I got up and showered like I normally do when she wakes up.

That’s why I practically have to hold my eyes open as I apply cover-up to the bruising on my face. My lip is still fat, but the split is almost healed. I literally look like a train hit my face. There are scratches that I can’t cover but the makeup takes care of the discoloration around it. The bags beneath my eyes continue to get darker, and I watch as tears slowly fill up my eyes and spill over onto the freshly applied makeup. The aggravation of the entire situation is becoming too overwhelming. William the Bloody, damn the vampire and his stupid name. Hell, damn me, and my stupidity for not being able to keep him away, or dead, for that matter.

“Buffy?” My anger is cut short as my Mom knocks on my bathroom door.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Are you okay in there?” Why do people ask that? If something was wrong would you really want to talk about it?

“I’m fine Mom.”

“Okay, hon. Well, your breakfast is waiting on the table for you. I have to go out for a bit, I’ll be back later. Would you like to go out for dinner tonight?” My eyes drift back to the mirror and my disheveled appearance.

“Not tonight, I’m still a bit tired.” I have an urge to ask her what has been up with her lately, she never used to work this much, and she has never really wanted to go out to eat before. I would ask, but I know it would be a conversation that I would actually have to be present for and these new bruises might be more questions than I can answer.

She says that she loves me and leaves. I start feeling shitty for avoiding her and go to follow her, screw the consequences, but when I get out she is already backing the car out of the driveway. With a sigh, I turn back to the kitchen to eat the french toast she left for me.

Deciding I don’t want to be alone, I go back to Giles’ place. When I arrive Willow and Xander are already there, and Giles is barricaded in by his desk and the books piled up around him. “What’s going on guys?” I ask.

“I came over to look at some of Giles’ books, and Xander? Well, he tagged along.” Willow is too engrossed in whatever book she has open in front of her to even look up.

“Willow, I provide something very useful. A car… and donuts!” Xander jumps up and shoves a box of donuts in my face. “Want one?”

I turn my face so that only the good side shows. “No, that’s okay. Thank you anyway.” He becomes more persistent and pushes the box around so that it is right in front of my face again.

“Ah, no thanks.”

“Come on, they’re good.”

“I said no!” I yell angrily at him. At first he is shocked but then his expression changes. I immediately start to feel bad. “I’m sorry Xander. I’m just tired. Rest is still avoiding me at all costs.”

“I’m sure the fat lip and bruised face that Angel gave you has nothing to do with it!” He exclaims.

“What? Angel? No. It was just some vampire, William or something. I was blinded and he got the better if me.” Willow gets up to look at me. “Guys? You mind? I’m starting to feel a little freakish.”

Reluctantly, they both go back to doing what they were before I arrived and I turn my attention to Giles. “Anything new? Weakness or anything?”

“Well, for once, I may not be the best person to be asking about this. It seems that William the Bloody, or Spike as he is known now, spent plenty of time with Angelus. It was Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, and Darla for quite a while, until Angelus and Darla broke off from them. I’m assuming that is when Angel received his soul. Supposedly, Spike is very fond of this Drusilla.”

“Great, I take out this chick and one of three things will happen. One, Spike will be so overcome with grief he will leave. Two, Spike will be upset and off his game and I will be able to kill him. Or three, he will get pissed and kill me before I know it. That sounds great.”

“How can you sound like that Buffy? Sound defeated? In all fairness and not to sound bossy, but the Master killed you. Did you give up then? No. You came back and kicked his ass. Why should this one be any different?” Xander makes sense, but I had zero attraction to the Master. Fighting him was my job, but fighting Spike? I enjoy it, it makes me feel alive. Not that it will stop me from killing him if I get the chance.

All three of them are looking at me, looking to me to kill this vampire and be the happy, well rested, Buffy of yesteryear.

“Fine, but in order for me to get back into good enough shape to kill him there are a few things that need to get done first. I need to go talk to Angel and get some information out of him, figure out a way to keep Spike out of my dreams,” catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I add on one more thing to get done, “and most importantly, find some better makeup.”

Willow perks up midway through my list and says she can help. “I’ve been looking into magic a little and maybe I can help with the dreaming thing.”

“You have? Since when have you been playing around with magic?” I ask.

“Not playing. Dabbling. Mostly reading about it, but I guess this would be a good time to put it to the test, you know?” Giles looks over at her, a bit concerned.

“Willow, magic is not to be taken lightly, you must-“

“I know, it’s not something to be foolishly dealt with. But I’m not foolishly dealing! I’m just dabbling, didn’t you hear? I promise I’ll stick to the book.” When we realized Giles was not going to protest any further we made plans to go and get the ingredients a little bit later, the only one we would have trouble with is finding something that belonged to him. But, first I wanted to personally read some of these books and get to know my stalker.

Spike’s Point of View

“A spell to bring out inner desires? What shit are you trying to hand off to me?” Dalton took a bit but he managed to figure out what the spell was that Dru had been casting. Now he is standing next to me with some other fledgling, cowering at my anger. Just the way I like it.

“I had overheard Drusilla speaking to someone… herself, that her Daddy wasn’t coming around fast enough. Apparently, the sunshine, the slayer, won’t let the spell work or something.”

Dru wants the poof back? The spell that has been driving me batty was meant to bring out the demon buried beneath Angel’s soul because I am not enough for her. Stupid bint. The bird means the world to me and she still wants something else, wants him.

The anger begins boiling deep inside and before I know it I’m twisting the head off of the other vampire just to feel the bones crack. Dalton’s eyes go wide and he backs up a few steps. “I can fix it! If you give me an hour or so I can find a way to reverse the spell. Given time she will see that all that she needs is you, Spike. She will believe that Angelus really is no more, there is nothing to bring out of him aside from his love for Buffy. As for you, well I can reverse the spell that is afflicting you and you can go back to being normal. That is what is bothering you, right?” I fall backwards, landing perfectly in a chair.

“An hour? Try about twenty minutes. As soon as that sun goes down enough for me to go to that magic store I want to be leaving. And send in someone else to accompany me, I don’t want to be carrying anything.” This isn’t so bad. Soon I will be free to kill the slayer, Dru will be disappointed with her dear Angelus, and I will be there to pick her up. All in a days work.

Sure enough, some dolt with a list of things to pick up walks into the room 15 minutes later. That’s a good boy, Dalton.

“What’s your name?” I ask him.

“Marcus.” This guy is a brute of a man and his name is Marcus?

“Right then, Marcus. Let’s go.”

As we near the magic shop I catch a scent that has become very familiar to me over the past few days. Pulling the De Soto outside the shop I see the slayer and a redhead wandering around inside. The slayer must sense me because she turns her head to look at the store front window. To her, I’m sure I’m just a figure, but she knows it is me. I can see clearly the damage I had done to her face last night, just as I can see her skin through a sheer piece of her shirt and her curves that are hugged by the clinging fabric. I begin to think of what it felt like to have her flush up against my body rubbing against my erection.

“Spike?” Marcus asks, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“The slayer is in there, I am going to distract her while you go in and get the ingredients. Make it quick. I want this done as quickly as possible.” I keep my eyes focused on the strong girl and walk around the side of the store, grabbing a woman that was walking by. She lets out a small scream. Just what I wanted. Quickly, I sink my fangs into her neck. I am almost repulsed by the smell of her perfume, the thick foul smelling odor clouds my senses. Her blood has a faint hint of drugs in it, I didn’t get a chance to figure out which it was before having her ripped away from me. If she wasn’t as good as dead before, she was now, what with having her throat torn out.

“You had to know I was going to find you.”

The slayer takes a fighting stance, standing right beneath the only light illuminating the entire alley. The light flickers and she hold up her stake, poised for the blow that could potentially be the end of me.

“Face looks great, luv. Must have some pricey makeup to cover up the job I did last night.” I smirk.

“I’ll be sure to write Maybelline and tell them you approve. What are you doing here?”

Holding my hands up in a mock surrender, I shrug. “Just scrounging for a bite to eat.” I’m not letting the snot nosed slayer that my judgment is impaired, bully that. “Yourself?”

Her face is filled with determination as she breathes heavily. Out of frustration, anger, I’ll never know. “I’m here to fix whatever it is you have over me. These dreams you make guest appearances in? They’re going to be gone. Then I can go back to Angel, brush up on how to kill you more efficiently and be done with you.” At the mention of the ponce again I slowly start to walk towards her. I’m seething with anger over the fact that he somehow manages to have everyone wrapped around his finger. Don’t they realize he only does things to help himself along?

I hope he is the one to rip the slayer to bits and all of her little friends too. She would be devastated. Sure, it would be to Dru’s delight but it would only be a matter of time before he left us again. It would be great to see the slayer reduced to nothing before her death.

“Be sure you know what you’re wishing for, little girl. Angelus is not a very giving lover, but you wouldn’t know that, right? I’m sure you two are waiting for that special moment so the bastard can pop your cherry. ” The light begins to flicker like crazy and she becomes enveloped in the same darkness I was in. Her mouth moves like she is about to say something, and she drops her stake. Grabbing the edge of my duster she pulls me forward, into the light. I was assuming it was to finally get a look at me, but instead she pulls me down and plasters her lips against mine. She pushes me up against a wall and slides my duster off of me. My hands wander lower and begin bunching up her long skirt, trying to touch skin. Once I grab a hold of the back of her thighs, I lift her up and wrap her legs around my waist. My cock is rigid and straining against my black jeans as she presses closer and I can feel her hard nipples pushing into my chest.

“Let’s go!” The slayer jumps away from me with speed only a slayer possesses. Her skirt falls back into place and she grabs the stake off of the ground.

“Get out of here before I kill you.” She warns.

Buffy’s Point of View

Spike lets out a growl of frustration but heads after the male voice that yelled for him. With a snicker I bend over and grab his forgotten duster and brush the dirt off of it. I know what he smells like, what he feels like, but I still have no clue what he looks like.

“Buffy?” Willow asks as she stands in the light at the end of the alley.

“Coming, Wills. Did you get everything?” I ask as I walk to her.

“Yeah. Was that a vampire that ran out of here like that?”

“Not just any vampire, that was him. That was Spike. I got his jacket.” I hold it up and she nods.

“How-“ I know she was going to ask how I got it, but she let it go. “You uh- you might want to turn your skirt, it’s sideways.” I adjust my skirt and duck my head, but she knows. She knows that it didn’t get turned around by fighting, but she doesn’t say anything. “Well, I guess we have everything. Let’s head back.”

Sitting in my bedroom, the spell goes off without a hitch. We think. There is no real way to tell if any magic that may have been cast on me was cancelled out or not. Nothing to do but wait I guess.

Against her wishes, I walk Willow home and start wondering about town. I have school tomorrow but I need to do something to get Spike out of my head. After wandering around I end up over Angel’s. It’s well past ten so I know he’s awake.

“Angel?” I yell in as I slowly open his door after knocking. “Are you there?” I hear the water running in his bathroom and sit down on his bed. As I wait for him to finish his shower I keep thinking of all of the things that have gone on. I think of Spike, and the things I have done with him. I think of the frustration at the lack of sleep. I even think of the dull ache left on my face from being ground against the wall. I’m not supposed to want him. I thought that Willow’s spell would get rid of these feelings, that they were magically put there to make it harder for me to kill him. While I can think a bit more clearly now, it doesn’t mean that it won’t still affect me later.

The water turns off and I lay back across his bed. I know that it is safe here, that I can sleep. I know that I am supposed to be with Angel. But as he walks out of the bathroom, I can’t help but think of Spike as I try to seduce him. In trying to make things right in my life, but I am thinking of what is wrong.

Spike’s Point of View

Dalton finishes up the spell and looks at me expectantly.

“Well, I don’t know if it is working yet you idiot.”

“Spike!” Dru dances into the room with a cheery smile on her face. “It will be all better now. The sunshine is giving way to the storm that I have been conjuring. Soon it will be all better!” She claps her hands gleefully. Dalton leaves the room and closes the door behind him.

“What are you going on about, my love?”

“Sshh, the stars are falling into place. Can’t you hear them? The nights won’t be so dark now with your grandsire home. He will help us, so that I can get better for you. Don’t you see?”

This isn’t how it was supposed to happen at all

Chapter Six
Dalton’s Point of View

It is ten minutes before sun up and there is a group of us waiting by an open door. It doesn’t feel very smart to me but I’d rather face the sun than Drusilla’s wrath. She had an inkling that Angelus would be making his triumphant return back into our lives. What joy. Yet another vampire to run me ragged and use my brain for menial tasks.

A few weeks ago Drusilla grew antsy waiting for Spike to kill the slayer and help her bring her sire back into the evil fold. She sent me on a search for a spell to speed up the process, and I found something that would do the trick. A simple spell that would make any person give in to their single most deepest desire. All it took were a few generic phrases and a personal belonging to send the desired target spiraling towards a hidden want. When I noticed Spike was taking his time killing the slayer I decided to help speed things up and cast the spell on him also. With the slayer gone, Angelus coming back, and a crazy Drusilla fawning over her sire it would cause a rift among the ranks of vampires looking up to them. It would give me just enough time to rally them behind me for a takeover. I may not have the brawn of the three stooges but I have a brain far more capable of running a nest of vampires to clear-cut victories against those who oppose us.

While we are staring at the impending sunrise Drusilla grows more anxious by the second. With that anxiousness comes anger and she pushes a newly risen vampire out the door, warning him that he will not be let in until Angelus has safely made it home to her. The scared idiot goes running back and forth trying to find someone he has never even met and I can’t help but to smile. Little does she know that if she sent me out there she would have been rid of a threat.

Spike is sitting in a corner farther away from the door just looking on at Drusilla but barely acknowledges her. Surely his mind is somewhere else, perhaps on the slayer that he is having a hard time killing. Shame on him for having any desire towards her other than sucking the life out of her to help heal Drusilla. I would tsk at his behavior if it weren’t working out to my advantage. Rather than wanting her dead he wants to get in her pants.

“Dru, love. I know you want Angelus home, but what good is it really if we’re all bacon-bits by the time he gets here?” Spike questions as he draws something in the dirt at his feet. “Close the door. He’s lived a long time as a vampire and he’ll get here just fine if he truly did lose his soul.”

The younger vampires that had gathered around the doorway are beginning to look extremely nervous, unable to take their eyes off of the dark sky that is giving way to the sunlight. More and more light is seeping into the darkened room. I’ve picked the spot farthest from where any light will reach but even I can feel the itch that vampires get when they are too close for their own good. With a growl Drusilla kicks the door shut, the exertion of the task is enough to push her to the brink of her limits and she is begins to sway. Without missing a beat Spike is behind her leading her to the bedroom.

Buffy’s Point of View

“Does it feel like it worked?” Ten minutes into being at school and I already have a couple sets of eyes staring at me expectantly. Willow looks almost giddy at the thought of a successful spell.

“I don’t know, I haven’t come across Spike again. I didn’t go home until this morning, I tried staying over Angel’s to see if I could catch up on sleep.” Willow grabs my arm and pulls me to the side of the hallway.

“Does this mean what I think it means?” Willow asks. Does it mean that I had sex? No, not that I didn’t try. I tried flat out seducing Angel but he turned me down, he spouted some crap about it not being right and that I didn’t seem like I was completely ready.

“No, it doesn’t. All it means is that we were in the same bed at the same time. He held me, but that was it. Angel said there was something about the night that made him happy, made him forget about all of the drama around us on a daily basis.”

“Aww, Buffy. Just being with you, holding you for a night, can make him happy? That’s sweet!” Her eyes slowly drift over to the other side of the hallway and she smiles. I look over too but I don’t see anything to smile about, just Xander talking to a short guy I’ve never met.

“I suppose it would have been great, when I woke up he was already gone though. I don’t know where he could have gone, he always goes home when the sun comes up. Kind of a rule, you know?” Now sitting in the classroom I let my head rest against my open palm and close my eyes. My mind is swirling with ideas of what Angel could have been up to but everything ended up going back to Spike. While I didn’t get to talk to Angel last night about Spike, I think that the reason Spike showed up had to do with Angel. If I can’t find Angel at his place tonight I need to find Spike. I need answers, and a dead vampire couldn’t hurt.

Slowly drifting off to sleep I hear whispers circulating the room about this morning’s newspaper. Hot celebrities, corrupt politicians, stupid presidential phrases, multiple murders. The last topic catches my attention and I face the girl behind me.

“What were you talking about? Murders?” The girl is one of Cordelia’s friends. If you could call them that. Cordelia is the head cheerleader who has an obvious distaste for me, but an odd and twisted affection for Xander. Not that either of them will admit it to anyone.

The blonde makes a disgusted noise. “Could you not eavesdrop in on my conversation?”

“Look, it was a simple question. Where did the murders happen? Here in Sunnydale?” It’s not anything new to read about a death in the newspaper but multiple is new. Most new vampires think it’s neat that they can create more vampires so they rarely leave a body. Usually they take the body with them until they rise as a vampire or they leave the body not realizing just how much time it takes for the transition to happen.

“Yes, now go pick up a newspaper if you want to know the rest. It might do you some good.” Every time I come across one of these people who think they are so much better than me I want to shake them… violently, and tell them just what I do every night so that this damn town is safer. Night after night I get kicked, punched, slapped, bled and oozed on and I can’t get any glory from it.

Grabbing my books from my desk I make my way up to the teacher and say I’m going to the nurse. I give Willow a nod at her questioning look and she knows I’m heading to the library. It will just be an extra hour in our weekly study sessions that she will have to cover.

Making my way into the library I pause as Giles looks over from his conversation with a teenage girl. With darker skin and brown hair pulled tightly against her head in large braids the girl has a presence about her.

“Ah, Buffy, shouldn’t you be in class?” Giles asks. After hearing my name the girl looks me over.

“This is your slayer? Doesn’t dress very practical does she?” My brow furrows and I look down at my clothes. There’s nothing wrong with my clothes.

“Just how practical do I need to dress in broad daylight? I’d say that if it falls within the school dress code it is just fine. And who are you?”

“Buffy, this is Kendra… sorry, I did not catch your last name.”

“My name is Kendra. I do not have a last name. Do not need one for what I do. My watcher Mr. Samuel Kabuto agrees that a last name will is unnecessary for a Slayer. No demon cares to know your name to begin with.” Watcher? She’s a slayer?

“You said I was alone, Giles. The Slayer. What is going on?” He goes on to explain that when I died ever so briefly Kendra was called to take my place. Only the higher-up’s never bothered to mention anything to him. When the Watcher’s Council learned that Spike had come to the Hellmouth with Drusilla they had her Watcher send her to Sunnydale as back-up.

“So you’re here alone? You just up and leave your family and friends because they tell you to?” I ask her.

“I have no friends or family. My watcher’s health is not good so I am here alone.” After a few more questions and short responses I finally remembered what I came down here for.

“Do you have today’s newspaper?” I ask Giles. He goes searching through a desk that accumulated returned books that had yet to be returned to their shelves.

“There were 5 bodies found in an alley. It looked as if there were a group of teenagers having some sort of meeting. Since no other teenagers have come forward to say anything I’m guessing the vampires got the entire group.”

“We’re assuming it was multiple vampires in order to take on that many people and not have anyone get away or have anyone nearby hear anything.” Kendra pipes in. This begins a conversation of possible techniques that could be used between Kendra and Giles. I skim over the titles of the books on the Giles’ desk in his office and find the two piles. He generally keeps them in these two piles. One for reference of recent events and ones he has yet to read. I nab the book on the top of the unread pile and open it up. It’s a diary kept by a Watcher with a piece of paper stuck between the pages about half way through. The paper has Giles’ handwriting on it, “William the Bloody, Spike”. The watcher describes a vampire terrorizing his slayer, he would kill his victims with railroad spikes only moments before his slayer would show up. There was only one time that the slayer came up against Spike, face to face. He fought her well but he took off as the sun was coming up. Badly beaten, the slayer made it back to her Watcher with a description of the vampire. Her internal injuries were the cause of her death. It seems that even slayer healing couldn’t help her.

It made me think of my own injuries from our fights, would I end up like her? The last page that was filled out in the diary wasn’t technical like the previous pages. It went on to say how painful it is to watch your slayer die after you believe you have trained them for everything. It makes you doubt yourself, if you had taught them one more technique, one more punch, would they have lived?

The bell rings and it startles me, causing me to knock the book on the floor. The clock says 12:20. Time for lunch. I didn’t think I was that into the diary but seeing as I missed my first few classes I rush to get to lunch. I pick up the book and place it back on top of the pile. Gathering my things I make my way out the door, only to slip a little as I reach for the doorknob. The culprit is a piece of paper that must have been stuffed in the book and came loose when I knocked it off of the desk. One side is blank but you can see a faint outline of a picture where the ink from a pen bled through.

Spike. It had to be. The picture was of a man with sharp features, piercing eyes, and dark hair slicked back. Whoever drew the picture was very good at it. To tell the truth, it could have been a picture of just his eyes as far as I’m concerned and I would have known who it was. Now to be able to finish piecing together the face I have a bit of confidence. I know the face of the vampire that has been hounding me, now I know what to look for.

“Time for this to be done.” Not just for my own piece of mind but for the lives of others. While Giles and Kendra may think that the deaths were caused by multiple vampires, I know that it was one. Call it a hunch, if you must. After fighting Spike and reading about him, I am positive he has the strength to take on that many people. I know it, now it’s up to me to stop it.

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Chapter Seven
Spike’s Point of View

Angelus, Angelus, Angelus. If I have to hear that damn name again I may as well carve off my own bloody ears. All Drusilla has been rattling on about in her dreams is Angelus. The mighty hero’s name isn’t even Angelus, it’s Liam. The mighty Liam will come and save us all, if only he wasn’t busy being the slayer’s lap dog. How great of a vampire can you be if you manage to supposedly “love” the slayer, your own enemy? I was under a spell and I still only managed to want to bone her.

With no warning Dru sits straight up in the bed. “He’s here.” He is? She had gone to bed without changing and now after an entire daytime of rest she looks just as she had before. Barging her way down the darkened hallway she doesn’t pause as she makes her way to an empty room on the first floor. It’s the room where she insisted on keeping some of Angelus’ belongings because she believed he would be very upset if he didn’t have them when he came back. Sure enough, rooting through the trunks of old clothes and trinkets, was Angelus. Any decent vampire could smell the demon all over him, the fresh blood coursing through him. Drusilla throws herself in his arms, and I’m left pissed off in the doorway. She mumbles how she can still taste the warm blood in his mouth after she kisses him. He sure makes a show of it as he gropes her while looking me dead in the eye.

“It’s good to have me home, ain’t it Willy Boy?” Oh it’s fucking wonderful. I stick around long enough to hear how the golden boy got his moment of happiness to lose his soul yet again. It seems that after spending a hopelessly long dreadful night with the slayer he got this overwhelming urge to sink his teeth into something. He was able to push past that soul of his to bite into a little punk teen a couple blocks away from his place. After tasting that first drop of warm human blood he went from one person to the next, plucking off each person from the group there, one by one. Dru begs for a taste and he exposes his neck.

Not wanting to see the rest I make my way out of the house and down to the cemetery. I keep a crypt there as a home away from home since I’ve been stalking the slayer. I go on a rampage kicking over gravestones, punching walls of crypts, anything to get this anger out of me. I may not breathe but my lungs feel like they are going to explode from unreleased air. Just as I’m about to kick over one more stone my leg gets kicked out from under me. Now on my back, I look up above me and see the slayer standing there.

“Just what do you think you are doing?” She asks. After getting myself up off of the ground, I finally get a good look at her. Her hair is wild around her face, her body covered in a tight black shirt, black jeans, and boots with heels. Anger is covering her face as she reaches into a bag next to her and pulls out a stake.

“Being a vampire.” I answer. Does she know? Does she know that her lover boy is back over to the dark side? Given the look on her face, do I want to be the one to tell her? “Since we’re asking questions, what’s in your bag of goodies?”

“Your death.” She’s running at me full speed, and lands a kick to my gut followed by a series of blows to my face. This small girl is unleashing more fury than I have ever seen before. Catching my balance I manage to counter a couple of her attacks and throw her back away from me.

“What the hell has gotten into you? You’re actually giving me a fight tonight.” Again she manages to get the best of me and I end up on my back. She pulls the same move that I did the other night and she pins my hands down underneath her boots. Only she has heels and it starts to pierce my skin. She’s holding a stake to my throat and I let out a chuckle. “Now we both know that isn’t where that goes, luv.”

“It will still hurt like a bitch. Why did you do it?”

“Why did I do what? Scratch that. I’m sure whatever you are referring to can easily be explained by the fact that I am a vampire!” I yell at her.

“You had to kill five people to prove that you’re so big and bad?” Her fist connects with my left eye and I can feel it quickly swelling. So she had no idea her precious little Angel was a big boy now, eh?

“You’ve got it all wrong, Slayer. It wasn’t me that killed them, not a single one. No, the person you’re looking for is a lot dumber and with much worse hair. Now, what is his name? Oh, that’s right. Angelus.” She lets up on her grip for just a second as she gets what I’m hinting at and I take that chance to get myself out from underneath her. The war going on in her head is visible as she lets me up.

“You’re lying.”

Instead of putting space between us like I should, I speak a little bit quieter while I invade her space. “Pet, if I was lying you wouldn’t know it and you wouldn’t have let me up like you did. You hesitated, deep down you know it’s a possibility. If I did it I would have no reason to lie to you. You want me dead anyway.”

“But Angel has a soul! He can’t kill someone.” Her stormy eyes stare straight into mine and I could kill Dalton. The idiot must have screwed up the spell. The fire burning inside to claim the slayer hasn’t been dulled in the least. Instead of trying to tear her head off I want to slam her up against a tree, a grave, anything for a little foreplay.

“Why not? People do it everyday. You think that every murderer is a demon? And right now, he’s off doing other naughty things I’m sure you don’t want to hear about.” Wavering, her hand with the stake falls a little opening herself up. Reaching for her, I get tackled from the side. Another teenage girl with a tremendous amount of strength is pinning me to the ground. I sigh and let my head sink into the grass. “Bloody hell!”

Buffy’s Point of View

“Wait!” I yell to Kendra. She is poised with a stake above his chest ready to plunge in for the kill. “I need answers, just leave him alone for now.”

“Answers? Do you think a vampire will tell you anything but lies? He will lie, cheat, kill and steal to get anything he wants. He was going to kill you, and now you want me to wait.” I don’t think that I would be able to explain to Kendra that I think my vampire boyfriend, who was once evil, may be evil again. Much less, that he was ever good at all.

“That’s the same for any male. Either way, I need answers and I am not able to get them from the dust he’ll leave behind. If what he says is true, Soike will be the least of our problems.” Spike makes a sound of protest when I imply that Angelus is more of a threat than he is. Slowly she releases him from her grasp but keeps the stake up defensively.

Spike looks back and forth between us, obviously trying to figure out if he can make a break for it.

“Don’t even think about moving, Spike.” Once again I am sifting through my bag while keeping an eye on him. Once I find what I am looking for I position myself behind Spike and grab his wrists. With the rope that I brought, I tie his wrists together the best that I can and grab the back of his shirt. “Kendra, just leave. Go about patrolling tonight if you want, but leave me alone with him for now.”

At first she looks like she isn’t going to budge, but there is a temporary lapse in her straight-laced posture. “Fine. I will continue to patrol around town. But we will have a talk in an hour. If you are not here, I will come find you and if he is not dead, well, I will finish that too.” She takes off towards the road and leaves me with Spike. I know that I will need to explain what is going on, but not before I get my explanation.

I pull Spike down towards me, so that he can hear me loud and clear, “You and I are going to have a talk.”

“Now why would I help you? Who’s to say that you won’t slay the messenger?”

“Are you saying you’re merely a messenger? I’ve read about what you can do and I can tell you’re not just some lackey. You’ve put way too much energy into making me miserable to be working for someone else.” He smirks a bit, relishing in the fact that I see him as a threat. I push him forward and down on his knees against a crypt. He adjusts himself so he’s sitting up against the wall with his head leaning back against it.

“You have questions that you want answered and I do believe you have something I want.” Spike’s gaze rakes over my body. My stomach flutters and my nipples harden. I’ll have to talk to Willow later, maybe we messed up part of the spell. Spike laughs and I quickly blush. “Not that, love. I meant my jacket.” My embarrassment quickly clears me of any desire I felt and I pull out the last thing that was stuffed in my gym bag, Spike’s jacket.

“Right here. Not that you have much to bargain with. You’re the one tied up while I’m calling the shots. You’re answers had best be good. First, you said Angel is responsible for the murders last night, how?”

His eyes watch as I toss the leather coat back and forth between my hands. “He had a moment of happiness. He came back to us saying how after spending a night alone with you he needed a nice hot drink. Figured a bunch of teenagers would do the trick.”

“Why? It wasn’t the first time we’d spent time together. If he had it in him to kill someone why wouldn’t he have done it before?”

“He just needed a little shove in the right direction. I must admit he fought the urge quite well.”

“You had something to do with it?”

“Hell no. I was more than content never seeing the ponce ever again. I’d rather him be all full of soul shagging you than evil and shagging my Dru.” A part of my heart is crushed when he tells me that Angel is out having sex with someone else.

“But how do I even know you are telling the truth? How do I know you don’t just have him holed up somewhere, trying to trap me?”

“I suppose you don’t. It comes down to how much you can bring yourself to trust a vampire.”

Spike’s Point of View

The slayer continues to ask questions mainly trying to make sure that my story never changes. I’ve long since been able to untie myself and am just waiting for a good moment to catch her off guard.

“I need to make sure for myself that Angel is really gone. That he’s Angelus now.”

“I’m sure he’ll be coming after you just as soon as he’s done making up for lost time.”

“No, I want it on my terms. You need to get him to meet me. Get him to try and trick me. I don’t want him knowing that you’ve told me.” From the look in her eye I’d say it is more or less her wanting to see him for herself. She’s probably one of those stupid girls who think she can change a bad man just by loving him. Not bloody likely.

“Fine, I’ll get him to come see you. Now bring me my jacket.” She throws the ball of leather to me and sits herself on my lap to untie the rope. Her brows draw together as she reaches for my wrists and there’s nothing there. I grab her hands in mine and bring her close to me. Her lips are close to mine and I just about groan. Turning my head to the side I whisper in her ear, “You seem to forget just who I am Slayer. Never forget what I am capable of!” Her heart is beating so loud I don’t even need special hearing to know just how excited she is. My cock begins to twitch as I become aware of her breasts thrust against my chest. I know she feels it as she slightly shifts her hips. Letting out a growl I grab her by the neck and throw her back. I slide on my duster as she recovers from the throw.

Rubbing her neck she gives me a good kick in the leg. “That hurt you perv.”

“Buffy?” The other girl with the thick African accent calls out. Wasting no time I cover the Slayer’s mouth and bring her around the back of the crypt. Can I even call her that now? The Slayer. There is only supposed to be one, but given the strength of this other girl I’d bet all of my kittens on there being two. I don’t know how but given that we are on the Hellmouth I can’t be surprised by much.

She squirms a bit in my arms as I keep her pinned against me. Leaning in, I whisper in her hair, “Don’t make a sound, you need me for your little plan if you want to be able to catch Angelus unaware.” I faintly smell the vanilla of her shampoo still clinging to her hair, and I turn my head away.

The girl, Kendra, calls out to Buffy a few more times but eventually gives up. I wait until she’s far enough away not to here me talking before I let Buffy go. I immediately miss the warmth from her as she moves away. “Be here tomorrow night. He’ll show.” She doesn’t say anything as I back away from her then high tail it home.

I had planned on staying in my crypt tonight but I can’t risk staying close to her any longer. These feelings of desire aren’t fading and even worse I’ve begun to think of her as Buffy, not just the Slayer, but Buffy. Once again I am heading back to Dru with no Slayer, even when I easily could have gotten her here. As of right now I need one hell of a shower, but not before I tear Dalton apart.

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*I know it didn't answer all of the questions, but they will be answered soon! Please review!*

Chapter Eight
Buffy’s POV

“You know better than to trust a vampire!” Giles lifts his arms in exasperation.

He’s been repeating himself for the past few minutes. I figured I’d come down to the library and fill him in on what I’ve picked up on about Angel but Kendra beat me to him. I walked in to find them in agreement that I’ve made a bad decision. She told him how I slipped up and almost let Spike kill me, then how I wouldn’t let her slay him, and then the best part was when I let him go after implying I’d take care of him.

It was no use to defend myself, not that I had much of an excuse. I’m a slayer, he’s a vampire, and I shouldn’t hesitate before killing him. Sure I let some harmless demons live but he is a killer and I just can’t bring myself to slam that stake through his dead heart. Go figure it takes a soulless dead man to make me feel alive.

“Are you even listening to me? Buffy, why do you trust Spike to help you?”

“Giles, it’s not like I’m trusting him to watch my back in a fight or anything. All I asked him to do was to send Angel, Angelus, my way tonight so I can figure out whether or not it was him that murdered those people the other night. When I am done with Spike, I will kill him.”

“And say Spike does send Angelus over to you, are you really prepared to take him on alone? You still look worn out.” I am still worn out. Spike was nowhere near me last night while I was home but I still couldn’t get any sleep. I kept wondering, was my boyfriend really evil? If he is, does it really matter and why don’t I care like I should? I did trust Angel. I trusted with my life in battles, and I even entrusted him with my heart. I tossed and turned all night long thinking how easily it could have been me that he decided to kill instead. Why not me?

“I don’t think I’ll need to take him on at all. If what we learned about him is true he’d rather play mind games with me first. If Angel has actually been turned back into Angelus and Spike hasn’t told him that I know… well he’ll be too full of himself to let me know.”

“You should still take Kendra with you.” Kendra has been silently leaning against the table next to her but she suddenly jumps up and begins to fuss over her yellow top and looks past me. Turning around I see Willow and Xander walking in to take a seat at the table behind her. Kendra wipes her hands nervously on her jeans before sliding them into her pockets.

Ooooooh. Xander has an admirer.

“Hey guys. Have you met Kendra yet?” I ask Willow and Xander, but I’m focusing in on Xander. They nod and start saying how they were introduced yesterday.

“As I was saying, Buffy, you should take Kendra with you. You may need back up. We’ve seen Angel fight beside you and he could be dangerous if you’re not in perfect shape.” My eyes narrow while looking at Giles. You can’t tell a teenage girl that she is in anything less than perfect shape.

“First of all, there is nothing wrong with my shape. I may be a bit tired but I am fine. Second, do we really want to tip off to Angelus that there is a second slayer in town? No, we want him to feel in control, safe even. Lastly, I can take Angelus if I need to. I have fought beside him, sparred with him, I know how he fights and I can use that against him.” For every reason that I can give him why Kendra should not go with me he has two more that prove she should. Kendra is still quietly flustered by Xander and I grin. It’s cute. No nonsense Kendra has a crush.

Just as the bell rings to send us off to our last class I get Giles to agree to let me go alone. Willow tells me to call her later to explain about the Angelus thing. Once Xander is out of the library Kendra starts to argue and I just laugh as I walk out.


Spike’s POV

After verbally slapping Dalton around for a bit he kept insisting that if there was a spell on me at one point it most definitely was not there after the other night. The spell that we did should have cleared me of any bad juju, auras, spells, even just a curse of bad luck. It should not have withstood that spell. I want to scream and holler at him that I don’t naturally have any sort of feelings towards the bleeding slayer. None.

“Find something else. It must not have worked. We could try again, you probably mussed it up.” Even to me it sounds like I’m begging and pleading. How pathetic.

“Meddling with the little people, Willy?”

“Sod off.” I tell my Grand Sire who is standing in the doorway behind me. Curious as to what he overheard I attempt to change the subject. “Enjoy my bed?” The sun was just setting and I head to my car. Like every other time, Angelus can’t resist rubbing in my face that he has something I want. He follows me.

“Well, it was nice while it lasted. Dru got a little carried away last night and tore the posts right off. She’s not as weak as she was.”

“No thanks to you. With a steady supply of fresh blood she’s been getting better. Dru will be right as rain when I get what we came for.”

“Ah yes. I believe she mentioned something to that effect in between her moans last night. Something about your incompetence when it comes to taking down the Slayer. You should have had a plan.” He scolds me.

“I did have a plan.” I say, not elaborating.

“And what happened?”

“I had a plan, a damn good plan. But I got bored.”

“What you lack is follow through. It’s a wonder you managed to kill those two other slayers.” The key to the Desoto digs into my flesh and I start to bleed. Maybe I’ll luck out and Buffy will take him out tonight. My anger makes me want to just get in my car and just ram it into a tree. Pocketing my keys I decide to walk to the cemetery instead. No use in taking my baby down with me.

“Where are you heading to, Spikey?”

“Need a drink… or ten. Just cutting through the cemetery.” We near the destination and I can see Buffy walking in from the entrance. Hopping the fence I continue on like I never saw her. Her hair is pulled back leaving her neck bare, and her red top shows a bit of cleavage. I catch myself turning to go see her and correct it by speeding up in the opposite direction. Luckily that’s as close to her as I have to get because Angelus catches whiff of her and breaks off to go to her.

Stepping behind a tree I peer around to watch what happens. Oddly enough the first thing that he does is embrace her. His hands slide along her curves as she looks up at him. He puts on a smile for her and touches her cheek as if to reassure her of something. The more he touches her the more I need to kill. I haven’t been riled up this often since the last time he was Angelus. Always putting his grubby mitts on everything like it was all his. Sliding his hand in hers he leads her off to a back corner where the view is blocked by a crypt, my crypt that is, and some trees.

Looking around for the other slayer, I realize the girl didn’t bring anyone with her. For the second time this month I find myself believing the girl has a death wish. Cursing whatever higher powers there are I make my way over to the entrance of the crypt I call home. I hear a scuffling over where the two of them took off and ignore it as I slip inside unnoticed. Dropping into my chair I still hear them talking. He had business to do, found out the tattoo meant I was in town. I have it in for her. Me. Me. Me. He really seems to want her to come after me. Sure, pawn the slayer off on me while you sneak up from behind. Coward.

So the tattoo gave me away? Technically, it’s a mark. There was a clan that Dru and I traveled through Italy with in the 1950’s. Committed to taking down a certain race of demons who were trying to humanize fellow demons. They claimed that even the ones without a soul were still inherently good. Not unlike religious fanatics. After walking into a trap the clan was branded with a circular marking to make us weaker to get us to fall in line with their antics and easier to identify. The cure, a slayer’s blood. I got myself nice and cured back in New York City and now I am working on getting Drusilla all fixed up. That is if Pretty Boy out there doesn’t nab her and take all of the glory for himself.

Reaching down next to the chair I pick up a bottle of whiskey and take a mouthful, welcoming the burn as it slides down.

Fucking Slayer. I’ll get this sorted out. If I can beat one slayer while I’m slightly weakened by magicks I can certainly take a relatively new slayer out in no time. Just as soon as I finish my drinks.

Buffy’s POV

Distracted, the vampire in front of me gets a good shot to my jaw off. But only seconds later said vampire is dusted by yet another vampire. Angelus. I can feel it. Just as Spike said Angel is gone. This evil thing is doing a bang up job of trying to convince me otherwise though. His only downfall is that he’s more attentive. For the past few weeks he’s been distracted and tonight? Not so much. I’ve been waiting for him to just vamp out and try to bite me. It would be easier on me if he acted evil.

I get a tingling feeling around vampires and right now it’s just going bonkers. Angelus gives me a stronger feeling than Angel did and I can feel Spike around here too. If I were smart I’d be scared but I can’t afford that. Angelus would smell the fear and he’d know. I need to buy some time to come up with a plan. If I can’t find a way to get Angel’s soul back I will have to kill him. Looking into his eyes I just don’t think I could bring myself to do that yet. Even though pure evil lurks behind those eyes right now, I know the man that was behind them too.

“Buffy? Are you feeling okay?” His hand rests on my shoulder and he gives it a light squeeze. I want to pull away and at the same time he’s the person I want to cry to.

“You know? I think I need to be alone for a little bit, Angel. I’m just tired because of Spike stalking me wherever I go. I’ll see you?” He drops his hand down to mine for a brief second.

“Meet me at my place tomorrow. I’ll find a way to help you with Spike.” Just like every other time, he walks away from me without a second glance. Watching him walk away I start to let my anger and hurt fill me up and bubble over. I let out a silent scream and smash my fist against the crypt. I hear a muffled curse and something shatters on the other side of the wall.

Spike. I can still feel him near. Stake in hand I kick open the door but then realize it was a bit of overkill because the door had never been fully closed. Against the wall there is a broken brown glass bottle. The space around it is dry so I only have one guess as to where the contents were. The moody vampire slouched down into a living chair.

Closing the door behind me I give myself the time to take in my surroundings. A book case, table, refrigerator, ratty red rug, and a soap opera playing on the television?

I let out a hard laugh at the realization that he lives here. It’s obvious the furniture has been pillaged from various places as none of them match.

“Yuk it up, Slayer. I’m not the one who is sworn to kill the one they care for.” My face crumbles because I know he’s right.

I drag my feet over to the couch and sit. “Passions?”

“Yep. Guilty pleasure.”

“Ooooh, how sinful of you. Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with your precious Drusilla?”

“Been reading up on me have you? Well, right now I’m sure she’s busy trying to snog your boy toy.” I grumble and he chuckles.

“Pass the booze.” I take my eyes off of the television for only a second to sneak a peek at him. He looks miserable.

“A little young to be drinking, aren’t you?” I become even more depressed as I come to terms with the fact that I’m stuck as a slayer, killer of killers, and I’m only in High School.

“Yeah, but I’m a slayer. My lifespan is cut in half. Therefore, I should be over the drinking limit. Now hand it over.” I don’t even look as he tosses a bottle at me. I open it and take a sip. My chest feels like it’s on fire and I smile.

“I’ll kill you tomorrow.”

“Sure, pet. Tomorrow.”

Chapter Eight
Spike’s POV

“You saved me!” The pile of dead bodies in front of me suggests I’ve done something alright. Turning my head to the voice she stands there looking at me in awe. Blonde hair, hazel eyes, and a smile on her pink lips. Dressed in a flowing blood spattered white dress she runs to me and throws her arms around my neck. Her skin is warm from the sun beating down on her and I pull her closer. Her smaller body fits perfectly against my larger one and I breathe in the scent of her soft golden hair.

“What would I have done without you?” She murmurs into the crook of my neck. My right hand cradles her head against me. A small growl escapes her lips and her teeth pierce the skin of my neck just as she bursts into dust. I look around to find the culprit and am left with no reason other than the sun. Looking up I curse the vile thing. I’ve learned to live around it and now here I am face to face with it. Covered in dust from the person who was just in my arms, I walk towards the sun. Logically, I know that I can’t reach it but my body craves to be closer. There’s a soft warning echoing in my head warning me to watch out for it. To be wary.

“Watch out!” The voice gets louder but I can’t take my eyes off of the sun. It has been so long since I have felt its warmth and I can’t give it up. Not now.

“Spike! What the fuck?” My eyes fly open to see a male vampire on me about to plunge a stake into my unbeating heart. His wry grin is quickly replaced by confusion. I open my mouth to yell but quickly shut it as the idiot turns to dust and leaving Buffy to fall onto me. Her arm is bent from staking the vampire and I get an elbow to the ribcage. One of my hands begins to wander up to press against her head like in my dream but she rolls off of me and onto the floor groaning.

“I don’t know why I bothered saving you.” She says. I can hear the pain in her voice as she slides across the floor to lean her head against the wall. I bound up onto my feet to see where she is hurt and stop dead in my tracks. What do I care? Why should I care that she is hurt? Shouldn’t I just finish the job? She calls to me in much the same way my body called out to the sun in my dream. I get a smidge closer to her and notice she is crying.

“My boyfriend is an evil soulless vampire, I have a hang over, and I don’t even really want to kill you. I could have done it by now. I should have just sucked it up and staked you along with the one on top of you. Why can’t I do it? Instead I’m stuck with crazy dreams of you saving me.” I want to ask her if her dream was like mine but I don’t. I can’t have her knowing that I’m all sorts of broken. Her head doesn’t move away from the cool wall as she stands up. Her hands are splayed out on the stone as she continues to mutter.

I’m standing only about a foot away from her and she smells like my dream. Without realizing that I’ve done it, I see my hand placed on her shoulder. As she turns around my fingers graze her collar bone and my nostrils flare as they fill with the scent of the slayer.

“Why can’t I kill you?” She screams at me. Small fists pack a strong punch as she pounds them against my chest. “Why didn’t I just let that stupid vampire kill you?” She lands a blow to my jaw and she grabs her head in pain. Along with her scent I can smell the bottles of whiskey she drank last night. A normal person would be passed out from the amount of alcohol, hell a normal person would probably be dealing with alcohol poisoning but it’s obvious she is dealing with one hell of a hang over.

A part of me is relieved that I’m not the only one who is feeling things they shouldn’t. Dalton’s spell should have cleared this up, seeing as the bugger is too scared to lie to me, the cause must be something bigger. A demon? A gypsy? Whatever it is I need to get rid of it so that I can get back to being myself. This pansy inside of me craving warmth needs to be dealt with and soon. Just as important as that, I need to find out why another vampire was trying to stake me rather than killing a passed out slayer not far from me.

Buffy’s Point of View

Spike tosses me a bottle of water and tells me to get moving. My head feels like it is splitting in two, my stomach is heavy and roils from the booze from last night. Fighting against the aching of my body I drink most of the water and head out.

By the time I get home Mom has already left for work but there is a note on the door telling me I am in for it when she gets home tonight. Principal Snyder called and worked a deal out with her in exchange for not marking my absence which would put me over the limit for the first marking period. After a quick shower, some aspirin, and some comfy clothes later I am on my way to school.

The walk to school makes my head hurt even more and I whine most of the way there. I sign my name and ask for the time as I log myself in for school under the title of “Tardy”. Before I can pick up my bag again I am being called into the Principal’s office. I’m not positive but I think I might have the look a person gets when walking to be hung.

“Miss Summers, sit.” The short balding man is standing behind his desk and I grumble. It wasn’t that he was offering me a seat, it was more like he was commanding me to sit. Principal Snyder has had it in for me from the beginning so he takes great pleasure in telling me about how disappointed my mother is in me, how he’s sure that I’m not what she had in mind when she got pregnant. It borders on verbal abuse but I let it slide.

“Your mother and I struck a deal. You are to volunteer for taking children Trick-or-treating this evening.” One part of that made me chuckle and another part made me cringe. It was an entirely unique feeling. I want to throw a dictionary at him and make him read the definition for “volunteer”. My cringe was at the fact that it’s Halloween tonight. I haven’t been talking to hardly anyone these past few days so the fact that my favorite holiday is here completely slipped my mind. Halloween is the one day that I get off from slaying. For one reason or another most vampires and demons take Halloween off. I’m sure Giles has explained it to me before but I just don’t care. All I heard was that I get a free pass and I was happy Buffy.

“You will be here by six tonight, Summers, or I will be forced to notify the authorities of truancy. Now go do whatever it is you slackers do before your next class.” He holds the door open for me and I scurry off before he can think of another punishment. I have another five minutes before the bell rings to release the students to their third class of the day. I make my way to the bathroom nearest my History class and splash some cold water on my face.

I’m beginning to look like hell. My jeans are a bit baggy from the weight loss from all of the stress, the sweater that I chose for comfort is nothing if not unflattering for my form, and my hair is beginning to frizz because I didn’t have time to fix it after my shower this morning. The only thing that is going right for me is that my cuts are all healed. My chest tightens as I begin to get emotional yet again, but once the bell rings I suck it up. There is no way I will give the gossip mongers anything more to talk about.

I’m the second into my class, the only person in here to beat me is Willow. She looks surprised and miserable. “I thought you weren’t going to be in today, Buffy. Is everything okay? Are you sick?” She gestures to my overall appearance.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I had one hell of a head ache is all.” I pray that she can’t smell the booze on me anymore. I can’t let them know that everything is going to hell, that as the chosen one I can’t take the heat. Well, chose one out of two. The thought of trying to figure out my place as “The Slayer” when there is another one in town fills my head with a dull throb.

“Well if you don’t want your head to hurt even more avoid the Principal. He’s-“

“Recruiting for Halloween? Yeah, he caught me when I came in. I don’t know where I’m going to find a decent costume. I thought I was just going to be able to spend some time on the couch watching horribly cheesy horror flicks.”

Willow twists her mouth off to the side as she thinks. “I think that there is a seasonal store that might still have some. I’ll drive you down there after school. It won’t leave you much time to get ready though.”

“That’s fine. Thanks, Will.”

Dalton’s Point of View

“She has done what you thought.” Ethan Rayne confirms my suspicions and I close my eyes and smile. I knew that over time the slayer could not resist making her way into the only costume shop in town. I figured she’d just as soon shave her head than wear a costume from a cheap department store.

“And what has our little Miss chosen?” I ask.

“Well she hasn’t chosen anything as of yet. I snuck into the back to call you and be sure that my payment is still in place. I enjoy chaos as much as the next guy but it’s even more enjoyable when I can get paid for it.”

Annoyance seeps into my body, “Everything is set. Now you go do your job and make sure she actually buys a cursed item of yours.” I slam the cell phone shut. It’s a newer model that I took out of the pocket of a midnight snack from a few nights back. People never think to turn off the cell phone of a loved one until they get the bill for it.

So far everything is falling into place. Following my plan has been difficult but I know that it is best to create as much dissention amongst the group of high up vampires so that I may come out victorious.

Ethan Rayne absolutely loves chaos and I chose him specifically for that. He has cursed every item in his shop so that when he closes up his business and the sun has set the item will be come real when it is worn. People’s children will turn into pumpkins, teenagers will become ghouls and skeletons, and everyone will have no idea what to do. Best of all, the slayer will not be a slayer as long as she wears the costume. I can already see Angelus taking the bait to go kill the slayer, or bring her back here to cure the ill Drusilla. I don’t care what he does, just so long as he pisses Spike off. I don’t have the brawn or the manpower to take them on at their peak, but I do have enough men backing me to take them while they are weak from fighting each other.

I detect a slight hop in my step as I follow the hallways down to where Drusilla is doing a little chanting of nonsense. Angelus is sitting back enjoying watching her traipse about half naked while she tries to conjure some sort of vision. The sound of boots shuffling down the hall send me rushing for the next empty room before Spike catches me snooping around. The moldy scent of the sewers that Spike frequents to get around in the day wafts under the door and into the room. I can hear when he stops and then the boisterous boom of his voice as he curses at the display in front of him. I can’t see him but I know his face is contorted with anger over seeing his beloved with his Grandsire.

“Oh, Spike. I was just getting ready to tell Angelus the wonderful news!”

Buffy’s Point of View

Looking around the small shop makes me pout. Most of the racks are empty save for the always popular ghost costumes, and cliché camouflage. The store owner slipped into the back saying he would look for something my size. At this point I’m willing to go with a paper bag over my head.

Willow calls me over to the other side of the shop and I stop in my tracks. In front of her is a Victorian pink gown complete with lace and bows. I always pictured this would be what the girls would wear when Angel was human. Was this what he liked? Is this what he was attracted to? I run my hands down the sleeves and catch a price tag. I drop it like it burned me and back away. Not only do I not have enough money to get something like that since I have to pay for my costume out of my pocket, but I refuse to wear something to try and please a man who wants nothing but to probably kill me anymore. I don’t need to go and get gussied up for Angel so I turn my attention elsewhere.

I stand next to Xander who is attempting to put together a costume that looks suspiciously like G.I. Joe and catch a glimpse of the opposite of a noble woman.

Perfect.

Spike’s Point of View

It’s bloody Halloween and here I am wandering the streets like an idiot. All but the lowest of demons respect this night and leave it alone. But no, not me. Drusilla spouts off some words about the slayer not being herself and tonight is the night. Chaos shall rise and people will be out of control, blah, blah, blah. If the slayer isn’t herself, then I just have to take a gander and see just what she is.

I go by the Bronze to see if she’s there at some sort of party but the place has a sign saying it isn’t party central until eight. Something to do with working with the school to provide a safe Halloween for the tots. A brunette dressed up like a cat is ushering children out of the building, complaining that Buffy is pathetic and selfish. My ears perk up at her name and I mosey up beside her. “Did you say something about Buffy?” I ask.

“Ugh, don’t get me started on her. She’s not fooling anyone with that hideous costume of hers.” She keeps her focus on the happy meals parading in costumes in front of me. “Johnny! Don’t bite Sally or whatever her name is! Everyone is taking their costumes a bit too seriously this year.” She grabs the boys hand and he lets out a growl at her. The boy’s hair is slicked back and he looks like a miniature Dracula. Impressive. “Anyway, she was heading off towards Pop’s Pumpkin Patch. Said she wanted to have a little fun and left me with the kids she was supposed to be watching. She’ll hear about this tomorrow at school. If you see her tell her to avoid me like the plague or I’ll make her life hell.”

I raise an eyebrow at her and take off towards the pathetic plot of land this town calls a pumpkin patch. Along the way I see a man in a gorilla get-up pounding on his chest in front of a terrified girl and I let out a laugh. I don’t know what’s causing this but I love it.

The patch has pumpkins splattered all over the ground, it is obvious they’ve been kicked, stomped on, and slammed into the dirt. A small grunt catches my attention just as a Jack-o-lantern narrowly misses my head.

“Hey! Watch it!” The person has their back to me but I can see the outline or a female with her hair pulled up into knots on both sides of her head. She has black combat boots that come up to her knees, a red plaid skirt that barely covers her ass, and a black shirt that is stretched tight showing off the curves of her waist and hips. Her height and the curves of her body ring familiar but I can’t place my finger on it until she turns around.

“Slayer? Well, isn’t this just… neat.”
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I'd say Chapter ten has some potential for Spuffy fun, don't you?