Surprises

“ANNE!” Unfamiliar with the new name she had given herself even after a few months, Buffy kept walking down the lonely sidewalk.


“ANNE!” Peace was all she wanted, just a moment when she wasn’t forced to think about her first true love. The one she had to kill just seventy-one days ago, that moment was yet to come.


“BUFFY!” The name broke through her closed mind for just long enough to remind her that she had once answered to it, which brought on more Angel thoughts.


“Buffy, what…”


“Just close your eyes” The memory brought her back to the girl that was now talking to her about something like a rave or a party, like they were friends. The one thing she had been trying to avoid the entire summer, closeness. Being alone meant that she couldn’t be reminded of what she used to have. A mother, a watcher that was like a father, friends, and Angel…She needed to get rid of this girl.


“I didn’t mean it like that, I just thought that we could go somewhere.” The homeless girl had asked for money, Buffy knew she would, people always want something from you.


“I just really want to be alone right now, but if you need money I can...” Buffy hoped this would end their little meeting.


“No! I mean…Forget it…Umm its okay, really!” The girl tried to redeem herself, while the ex-slayer found this very tiring. As if on cue, a grubby looking homeless man pushed his way through the two young women, and wandered onto the curb.


“Hey! That was rude! We were having a conversation here!” Lily snapped at the dazed looking man. Buffy, however, noticed that something was off.


“Are you okay?” She inquired, trying to get his attention, which was now focused on the other side of the road.


“I am nobody…” He mumbled as he stumbled his way to the middle of the road, right in front of oncoming traffic! Feeling the slayer fight its way to the surface, Buffy raced across the road and pushed the man out of the way. Time stopped as she felt herself being lifted upward, over the roof of the car and slamming back down to the pavement. Feeling nothing more than a powerful thumping in her skull, she pushed herself upward to face the confused and worried faces of strangers.


“Are you okay Buffy?” Lily asked frantically. The driver jumped out of his car and started to panic
“Don’t move her! You shouldn’t be standing; lie down and we’ll call an ambulance. Somebody call an ambulance!”


“I’m fine.” Buffy tried to tell them as she stumbled away from the scene of the accident. She just wanted to be alone. All of this attention and worry was making her feel…no she would not thing about him, she would not! Tears of mourning spilled down her face as she started to run around the nearest corner. She noticed some guy that looked like he should be selling watchtower booklets trying to convince some streetwalker that she should join him in some kind of home.


Glad I didn’t run into that mental case! Jeez that’s all I need, some guy telling me to join in the community! Besides, he’s probably just some evil manipulating demon, knowing LA. Buffy hadn’t run far down another deserted alleyway when she crashed into a very muscled yet compact figure. The familiar smell of cigarettes and leather filled her senses.


“Slayer!” He sounded just as surprised to see her, as she was to see him. Buffy took a step back to assess her situation. She knew that she could win if Spike decided to try for his third slayer, but she also didn’t know what grounds they were on after the truce…Don’t think Angel, don’t think Angel, don’t think Angel.


“Fancy meeting you here, away from all the comforts of home…” With that he leered at her in a way completely owned by the vampire himself. Was he this alluring 3 months ago? A beat. Neither spoke for what seemed like eternity, when it was in reality only five seconds. Of course, Spike was the one to break it.


“Speaking of egotistical poofters, what became of your precious Angelus? I assume he’s failed his master plan in destroying the world…with it being here, and all that” The wall that had been all but forgotten with the presence of old faces was thrown back up again with the mention of Angel.

“I hate you…”
“And I’m all you’ve got”


“Stay away from me Spike.” Dismissal seemed like the easiest option for the broken little girl inside the strong slayer exterior. But this vampire was not one that was so easily dismissed.


“So that’s how it is then? Peaches sure does leave a good impression when he’s gone, I gotta’ give him that. Not even up for a good rough and tumble slayer?” Buffy had started to walk away when she felt her blood boil. Anger made her turn back to the cocky slayer of slayers to defend the past that she kept so close to her heart.


“You don’t know shit! If it’s a fight you want, you’ll get one, but leave Angel out of this!” She edged closer to platinum blond to look threatening. To get him to leave. To stop the flooding memories…The slayer was fighting back the tears that threatened to spill for the second time tonight. She would not embarrass herself in front of Spike. He would mock, laugh, and certainly not understand.

If only Willow was here, id have someone to talk to…but I left them all behind. All I have of the past is…Spike.


Spike’s grin fell from his face, at what Buffy thought to be mock concern. Something else though, was tugging at her, nagging inside her self-conscience.

Is he serious? No way does he care about anyone but himself!


“Be seeing you round, Slayer.” He made to put back on his face of menacing evil, but it didn’t look quite the same. His eyes told a different story, than his actions.

As usual, another guy is being shifty and inconclusive. Just another day in the life of Buffy Summers…


“Looking forward to it” Buffy scoffed with a weird feeling in her stomach.

Is this what it feels like to…anticipate? Is that what I’m feeling?


“Bet you are, pet” Was the last thing he said before vanishing above the rooftop of the nearest building.


Damn him! Why does he get to always have the last word?

In an attempt to brush the hair out of her eyes she felt something watery running down her cheeks.


“Great! Just great! A perfect end to a perfect day! Not only does he deny letting me get out my aggressions, but he also saw me blubbering like a big baby!”

The more Buffy thought about the encounter, the more she was confused about Spike’s actions.

He left when he saw I was in pain. When did he get a conscience?

It had been a day not unlike any other day since he left Sunnyhell to make things right with his black goddess. The night before they had hunted the various homeless on the streets of LA, Dru had even caught herself a child to spice things up a bit. As with Drusilla’s games, it didn’t last long. She had befriended the child, told her that she was leading her to endless supplies of chocolates and candy, and eaten her when they got back to the motel room.

Spike didn’t quite understand Dru’s fascination with children, and did not want to ask. As daylight progressed they shagged like rabbits in the comfort and boredom of their hotel suite. He wanted it to be like it was, before the Slayer, before Sunnydale, before Angelus claimed her as his own once again. But that didn’t seem to happen, and all Spike could think about was killing the slayer. Whenever he did, Drusilla seemed to pick up on it and use a little more torture in their daily games, not that Spike minded. It put the passion back in their relationship and that seemed bloody right to him.


While Spike lay in the mediocre double bed with his dark princess tangled in the sheets beside him, something was nagging him in the back of his mind. Lately Drusilla had seemed more distant, well, more than usual considering she was a bit off in the head. It hurt him more than he would’ve admitted that she seemed to be losing interest, and usually he would have killed a whole town of innocent people to prove himself once again except…their was the slayer. Ever since he made that deal with her it seemed that she wouldn’t leave him alone! His bloody angel on his bleedin’ shoulders!


If only I had killed her when I had the chance! Show Dru that I’m demon enough for the likes of ‘er


“Spike…”


“Yes, my ripe wicked plum” Spike looked at her face and was scared to see complete disinterest.


“Ashes, ashes, on my tongue.” She motioned to her tongue and ran her finger down it, showing disgust.


“What is it pet? Is something wrong?” He knew that this time would come, when his everything told him what had her down in her thoughts.


“Your head. It’s filled with her, the slayer. Nothing will bring your thoughts away. Will you go fetch me a newborn child to eat? No that’s right, you wont, wont, wont! There she stands with whip in hand and you are her faithful little puppy. Will you bring me a puppy…” Spike sat their slack-jawed, he could not believe what he was hearing! She was continuing to ramble about puppies and pixies and god knows what else when he decided he had enough.


“STOP! Dru…my sweet…I’m commanded by no one, I swear! You’re the only girl for me; I only used the slayer to help save you. Please understand, pet, its all for you.”


“I can’t hear anymore Spike! When I look at you all I see is the slayer. Your nothing to me anymore, you’re beneath me.”

Realization and pain hit him in the central nerve of his being as she said the last three words. The past came flooding back as he pictured Cecily standing over him, proclaiming that he was a lower being in that exact same phrase. It was amazing to him how one phrase was enough to bring forth so much rage in him. He tore himself out of the bed where they shared their days and picked up the nearest table.


“Beneath you! Beneath you! Bloody fuckin’ hell Dru! What do I have to do?” Spike roared as he threw the table across the room into the wall. Shards flew violently in the room, just barely missing Spike.


“There is nothing you can do now, nothing you will do to please me sweet William.” Drusilla knew she had hit a nerve in Spike and chose to play it through to the end, no matter what that might be.


“Fine! Drusilla, you play with you little dollies leave me the hell alone! I’m done bein’ your lap dog, just say the words and I’m gone from your unlife forever.” He started to waver when the realization that their love that had gone on for a century could truly be over.


Maybe she doesn’t mean it, maybe it’s just a suspicion, maybe there’s something I can do, maybe…


“No Spike, Miss Edith is cross with you and has made up her mind, you taste like ashes.”


“Make up your own mind baby, you don’t really want me gone, your black knight…”

Hints of desperation seeped through his cracking voice as he laid a trail of kisses up her arm.
“We cannot be together as sun and the moon, it is not how the earth is set. She has given you the sun, so the moon doesn’t want you.” The finality in Drusilla’s voice turned Spikes gaze cold as he stood up and walked out into the night.


***

Not demon enough for her! I bloody well knew it! Slayer always mucking things up for ol’ Spike! Well I’ve bloody had it with crazy bint anyway, don’t need her, don’t want her; I can take care of myself! Bloody had it with women! Listen up ladies! Love’s bitch is off the proverbial bleedin’ chopping block so you can all quit controllin’ his puppet strings.


It seemed nothing could lighten his dark mood this night, this was a great bloody day in frickin’ history it was! As he menacingly strode down the dark alleys in search of a meal to release some of his tension, although he could definitely see a trip to the closest bar in the near future. Like in all times of his life, the unexpected inevitably happened when he caught the scent of a Slayer. If he wasn’t mistaken, the Slayer was still Buffy Summers, the bain of his existence, the bloody thorn in his bloody side, the…


“Oof!” A clearly distressed girl bumped strait into him, which would have meant this was her last night on earth except…


“Slayer!” For what it was worth she seemed to be just as surprised as he was if not more to see her former ally, former former mortal enemy standing in her way. He knew he should be angry, but all he felt was familiarity and perhaps something less than loathing? That’s not right! She’s the reason Dru left me! I should be ripping her head off, but I don’t seem to want to. I have to prove that I’m not a soft wanker!


“Fancy meeting you here, away from all the comfort of home…” He felt a rush of desire overcome his senses as he looked her up and down. So goddam hot… wait, what am I THINKING! Think unsexy thoughts, think unsexy thoughts…55 old grannies in short skirts, the Master naked, Angel naked… The last one especially worked, so he was back on track, and wondering if Drusilla’s insanity was rubbing off on him.


“Speaking of egotistical poofters, what became of your precious Angelus? I assume he’s failed his master plan in destroying the world…with it being here, and all that”

That’s right, I know that’s a sensitive subject for you Slayer, and I don’t care because I’M EVIL!

Spike tried to convince himself of that fact but it was getting harder and harder as the Slayers eyes reflected the same pain and suffering that he had just endured.


“Stay away from me Spike.” He could not believe that the once spitfire Slayer of snappy comebacks and insults was giving in so easily. Must be because of my great sod of a grandsire, he really knows how to mess with a human’s mind, twist their psyche. Or maybe, he’s dead. I bloody well hope so, can’t have him tryin’ to destroy the world all of the time, I kinda like it ‘ere.


“So that’s how it is then? Peaches sure does leave a good impression when he’s gone, I gotta’ give him that. Not even up for a good rough and tumble slayer?” Spike was starting to feel very hot and bothered by this tiny-framed girl and wanted to get it out in a good brawl. That way he wouldn’t try other things that were so very wrong for a vampire to be feeling about a slayer.


“You don’t know shit! If it’s a fight you want, you’ll get one, but leave Angel out of this!” The obvious pain came charging towards Spike in waves and would have knocked him down if not for his vampiric strength. He felt the connection between himself and his slayer, and didn’t want to break that.

Why do I FEEL her pain, why do I BLOODY care! It used to be so simple. Vampire. Slayer. Vampire kill slayer. This is all Dru’s fault, and the only way to fix it is to see her again.


“Be seeing you round, Slayer.”


“Looking forward to it” She managed to recover after expecting a to the death battle scene.


“Bet you are, pet.” Was all he managed to say as anything else would have given away his sodden’ crazy affection towards the girl. Loving a grand exit, he used all the power in his legs to jump up onto the nearest building rooftop and disappear into the night.


I hate it when Drusilla’s right.

“What a perfect way to end my oh so perfect day…” Buffy grumbled as she shuffled down the apartment hallway towards her so called ‘suite.’

Turning the key in the lock and entering her low rent flat she wondered why she didn’t just go back to the comforts of home. She had tried her very hardest to make it on her own, but it was getting harder to keep up with the rent and growing necessities like food and clothes.

Her hair was falling out from stress and she didn’t even want to look in the mirror, dark circles were the last things she wanted to see under her eyes right now. Turning on her 16 inch black and white TV, Buffy’s attention was caught by strobe lights and shirtless dancing men!

It would be completely out of character for her to catch one of those shows, but this slagged Buffy needed a break. “I don’t need to have electricity…” The idea intrigued her so much that she quickly threw on a short pink dress with tiny red roses trailing up to the silky straps on her shoulders, and raced out the door.

‘Now this will be fun’

(((((

“Show her I’m just as bad as ever…As if I’d love the slayer…pfft!” Spike was mad, really mad, and looking for revenge. The more he thought about Dru, the more her outburst made no sense.

“I’ll just kill all the happy citizens of Los Angeles! That’ll get her back! I’ll always be the Big Bad! Yeah!” As Spike grumbled down the dark alleys of Hollywood Boulevard, he didn’t even notice the frantic bantering going on between two women by a glowing neon sign.
“What are we going to do? How could he quit on us?” Said the tall blond woman whose face said that she had smoked a few too many cigarettes.

“He said that his girlfriend made him, something about not sharing him with others” Explained a robust little woman with very full cheeks of rosy-pink. Spike strode by in all his magnificent edgy charm and caught the tall one’s eye.

“Hey hottie, wanna do us a favor?” Spike was knocked out of his menacing thoughts to view this leather-faced woman and her piggish friend.

“And what would this favor be, exactly?” He laid on all of his smooth charm, hoping for a midnight snack.

“Oh, not much, your perfect for the gig, you’ll fit right in. Not to mention the money we’d pay you for this great service you’d be providing.” The small woman blushed bright red and Spike could smell the excitement in the air.

“Paid huh? What’s the gig?”

“Exotic dancer!” The shorter one blurted out. Spike was surprised, but not shocked. His ego knew exactly how much he could use his looks for his benefit. The notion dancing erotically on stage in front of a large crowd of man-hungry women would have scared off a lot of men, but not Spike. He had been with Drusilla long enough to know what women wanted and to lose the prude inside.

‘Let’s see how Dru likes sharing me with 200 women!’ He finally had a way to get back at her, and he was going to use it to his full advantage.

The women led him inside the backdoor into a tiny hallway that led to a large studio filled with scantily clad men. A tiny man who obviously enjoyed more than just the high quality of the onion blossoms greeted Spike with literally open arms and began to lead him to a separate room.

“So you’re the new hottie, right hun?” Spike did not like the way this man had his arm around his waist.

“Uh, yeah. I could use the extra dough.” He tried to move away from the little man’s influence, causing the organizer to stop and look Spike up and down.

“You’ll do well here, I love the leather look…”

“Right…well send me to the stage then…” He just wanted to get to the ladies, before this poofter tried to rub off on him.

“Oh no! You can’t go on just yet muffin! You need to tell me the song you want to dance to!” Spike thought about it for a minute, and came up with the perfect one. After telling the guy his song, he was going to ask again where to go but the tiny man just shoved a tiny leather scrap of fabric in his hands.

“What the hell is this?” It was a couple of stretchy black strings attached to a leather triangle in the front. It looked like…

“A thong! Silly, got to impress the ladies, although I know you will anyway! And, you can keep the coat too, it really works with the hair.” He pointed to the change room they were standing beside, so Spike walked inside.

“Can’t wait to see you out there! Bye!” With that last creepy comment, the organizer shut the change room door.

The outside of the “Naked Knights” Strip Club was absolutely packed according to Buffy’s lack of patience at this moment. The lineup to get inside was all the way down the street! She was just going to admit defeat and go home when a bouncer waved her over.

“Hey Miss, you want to get in?” He was African-American and quite hot-some in Buffy’s opinion.

“Yeah, thanks.” She smiled in a flirty way as the bouncer pushed through the people waiting in line to get her to the front door. The front doors were fancy dark wood doors with red velvet curtains at each side.

“This is just what I needed.” She giggled to herself as she spied five men dancing on the far-off stage in barely there raincoats. And guess what song was playing?

It’s raining men! Hallelujah! It’s raining men…

Gliding into the main viewing hall, Buffy found a table for one near the front. She felt kind of weird going to a strip club without any friends to accompany her, but its not like she had a lot in LA.

‘Screw it! I’m going to have fun tonight, and no one can ruin it for me!’ She thought with determination the men in raincoats flung their clothing to crowd and swayed their bare hips violently.

The women around her were all crowded around the stage, hoping to get up close and personal. A few times during the next performances she watched some women being pulled on stage to dance with the well-endowed men who had perfectly muscled stomachs.

Although the men were good looking, Buffy wasn’t completely enthralled by any of them. Strangely enough, her mind kept going back to her encounter with Spike.

Buffy had never really thought of her ex-nemesis in a sexual way, but she was curious as to what he looked like under his usual black get-up. ‘Bad thoughts, bad thoughts!’ It was harder to get his picture out of her head with every increasing tempo of the music. She felt cheap and desperate for fantasizing about a vampire, but how could she not when he looked like he did?


‘He’d sooner rip you a new throat then give you the time of day, so stop even thinking about it!’ She knew she had been alone for way too long, and her visit with Spike didn’t help her loneliness any.

Snapping back to present time, Buffy noticed that the men were gone and the stage was dark except for a single spotlight focused on the red curtain.

“Ladies and more ladies, thank-you for joining us here at “Naked Knights!” We hope you enjoy your stay!” The crowd whooped and hollered at the anticipation.

“As a special event tonight, we bring you a new dancer straight off the streets of Los Angeles!” The women cheered in anticipation of the mystery stripper.


“Now as all you regulars know, before we reveal this exotic creature we have to choose one girl to be up on stage…cue the spotlight!” The bright red spotlight spun around the room, looking for its prey. Buffy hoped it wouldn’t be her, she really didn’t want to be up in front of people tonight. Casting its gaze on the next victim, Buffy was glazed over with the red light.

“Shit.”

The crowd parted, many women looked envious as they waved her up to the main stage.

“DO YOU LADIES WANNA SEE WHAT WE HAVE FOR YOU?”

“YEAH!” Screams from the audience made Buffy focus more on the entrance where the sex god was going to be in moments.

“GET READY FOR…MR. NAUGHTY!” The lights in the club all dimmed except for the velvety red light that now cast its gaze to the stage curtain.

~~~

The little piece of black leather was almost painfully binding against his member.

“Guess the other guys here aren’t quite as manly as I am” Spike thought with a chuckle.

“I’ll just have to make sure that I take it off quickly.” A sly grin spread across his face. This experience was definitely swelling his ego, among other things… In the background he heard the loudspeaker talk about finding a girl to go up stage, which only intrigued him more.

“Gotta have someone to work with to make the show last.” He knew that he could go up there and dance while still keeping his bad ass image, especially with the song he picked out for the event itself.

“This is gonna rock.”

~~~

The anticipation was making Buffy very nervous. She was thinking about how she had never done anything this risky before when a stagehand creeped onto the stage and put a blindfold over her eyes.

“Keep this on, it adds to the show.”

“Uh…o-okay.” Now she was nervous and blind! ‘What have I gotten into?’

A deep, emanating beat sounded through the various speakers near the stage, signaling the beginning of the song.
She knew it well, it was the “Queen” single, “Another One Bites the Dust”.
The guitar started, followed by the screams of girls.

“Steve walks warily down the street
With his brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet
Machine guns ready to go…”

Spike strode out onto the stage, immediately looking at the girl on stage. She looked familiar but he couldn’t place her cause of the blindfold.

“This will be interesting…”

Using the beat as his guide, he swept down the stage walkway and stopped, swaying his hips beside the waiting girl.

The screaming electric guitar sounded through the air as he swiftly pulled his leather coat off, revealing his rippling abs and toned muscular body.

Buffy desperately wished that she didn’t have to wear this blindfold, it made her feel extremely vulnerable to whoever this man was.
Even though she had never been to a strip club before, there was one thing that she knew instinctually, he was going to start something on the chorus.

“Another one bites the dust,
Another one bites the dust…”

‘This is it…” Buffy could feel the electricity start to build up around her in anticipation. Cool arms made her jump when they slid around her midsection. She could feel how muscular his body was as he pressed his front up against her back and continued to gyrate.

The crowd sounded excited from their desperate screams and catcalls, and Buffy even started to feel articles of clothing being flung her way.
The unknown man moved away from her causing an overall warm feeling, like returning from near death. Her slayer senses were definitely tingling, but she chose to mistake it for the arousal that was building in her rapidly.

Spike however, had noticed something. Now way could he have killed two Slayers in his unlike without being able to spot ones scent. That was Slayer blood pumping through her veins right now and Spike found himself in a rather awkward situation.

This girl, undoubtedly Buffy was making him feel lust for her unlike any he had ever felt towards a human. Knowing this, he was also torn between killing her quick to prove his love to Drusilla, or putting on a good show and gaining some extra bucks.

The crowd by the looks of it wanted the latter, but what did his demon (who usually won the argument) want?

Take her…Taste her…Make her weak…

Spike knelt down by her midsection and stuck his tongue in her belly button, tracing it up to the hemline just below her breasts. He slowly moved his arms up her own and dipped his head forward, pushing himself even closer to the Slayer.

Do it, you know I want you to…