Buffy lay in her bed, flat on her stomach, with her face buried in one pillow, and the other one wrapped around her head with her arms gripping it tightly against her ears in a vain effort to block out the smell and sounds that were so viciously assaulting her. She whimpered softly and tried to convince herself that she couldn't really hear all five of the distinct heartbeats downstairs or smell the six different scents over the scent of herself and fabric softener that her pillow was full of.

She tried vainly to believe that it was all some really mean prank meant to be reminiscent of the time she had borrowed the telepathic abilities of a demon she had killed. Her senses had always been somewhat better than those of her completely, normally human watcher and friends, and they'd also been extremely inferior to those of Angel, and so probably also all the other vampires that she frequently had to deal with.

But now her senses were so strong that she would be willing to bet that they were superior to Angel's. Like she was pretty sure he had no idea that Oz had just started his van up outside the Bronze, a good two miles away, after telling his band mates that he was heading this way to look for the love of his life, Willow.

She'd also be willing to bet that he couldn't hear that strange flush in the steady rhythm of her mom's blood pulsing through her veins. A sound that wasn't there in anyone else's and therefore troubled Buffy a great deal. She heard every word they were uttering downstairs, every breath they took, and every sob that gasped out of Willow in fear for her friend who seemed to be going insane at the top of the stairs.

As if that wasn't enough she could smell them clearly too. Willow's fear, Xander's sweat and his girlfriends arousal. Her mom's concern and her Watcher's curiosity. Not to mention the infuriating smell of her somewhat, kind of a boyfriend. Each emotion seemed to have a different smell, possibly due to the different chemical reactions of different emotions. She wasn't sure where the knowledge came from, but she was certain of the emotions she was relating to each smell and she was upset that the supposed love of her life had scents rolling off of him that spoke of doubt and bemusement mixed with exasperation.

As if she were some little child telling an outrageous story to garner the attention of the long suffering adults who had to put up with all of her antics. As if she was a silly little girl that he was going along with for the sake of peace.

"I'm telling you, Giles," he was saying right now keeping his voice pitched low as if she wouldn't hear him that way. "There is no demon that passes on strengthened senses the way she describes it. I think she's imagining everything. She probably needs a break or something."

That was it!

She was getting really tired of his condescending, patronizing attitude lately, and he had just settled the last straw on the lamented camel's back. "If that's the way you really feel, Angel" she was rather proud of the way his name sounded more like a snarl than a word, even if it would probably horrify her later on that she could talk to the man/vamp she was sure she loved that way. "Why don't you come up here and we'll do a little test to see who's imagining things? But first ask Mom to let Oz in. And while you're at it, tell Oz that it smells like he has a small oil leak in the van that he might want to take care of before it becomes something big and expensive."

There was no sound from Angel even though she knew damn well that she had spoken loud enough for the broody vampire to hear, if not anyone else. It was at least a good ten seconds after she issued her challenge before she heard him grunt and smelled the surprise coming off of him. He must have just finally caught the distinctive sound of Oz's van still two blocks away.

That was quickly followed by the smell of curiosity and the sound of him running up the stairs, taking them three at time by the sound of it, and bursting into her room."How did you know Oz was on his way?" he demanded just as she noticed the faint scent of the doubt that he was still clinging to.

"Because I heard him tell his friends that he was coming over here before he left The Bronze." she mumbled into her lovely pillow. Her amazing, wonderful, sanity saving pillow.

The doubt smell strengthened.

"If you don't believe me then go tell him that the punchline to the joke his buddy forgot earlier is 'Always look both ways before you cross the street.' Devon remembered it right after Oz pulled away. You can also tell him that it's a seriously lame joke and so not worth the long buildup for the pathetic punchline."

Angel did exactly that and then he even had Oz call his buddy's cell phone to find out when exactly he had remembered the punchline. He didn't however pass on Buffy's message about the comedic merits of the stupid joke. So, knowing that Oz's senses were also heightened, thanks to his inconvenient tendency of becoming a werewolf for three days out of every month, Buffy told him herself, speaking only a little louder than she had for Angel.

"Right, as usual, Buffy." he answered softly. His voice betrayed no emotions whatsoever but she could smell the slight amusement he exuded and couldn't stop herself from smiling a little. Maybe at least now she'd have some small insight into how to take the deadpan and often seemingly random comments he was always making so stoically.

And the fact that she couldn't sense anything doubtful or patronizing coming off of him gave her her next idea. So she acted immediately and accordingly.

"You gotta help me get some kind of control over this... whatever the hell is happening to me, Oz. It's been recent enough for you having to deal with the same thing that I think you might be the only one to help me."

"Anything for my girl's best friend." he answered her desperate plea in a normal voice.

"That's not necessary," Angel insisted. "I can help you Buffy. That's what I'm here for."

All of the different scents coming off of the other people downstairs merged together for a few moments as they all felt the same thing. Confused.

"I don't think so, Angel," Buffy answered coldly. "I'd rather have someone who believes what I'm saying is going on then someone that still smells like doubt and bemusement."

This comment was followed by the sound of Oz inhaling heavily through his mouth and then the scent of what could only be disapproval coming off of the cool as cucumbers wolf. "Whenever you're ready, Buff." Oz said before turning to explain to the rest of the non super sense endowed room. Buffy dived into her closet, throwing things around haphazardly until she found what she was looking for. The small kit she had used to take with her when she was still a small child taking swimming lessons at the local pool.

Inside were the exact objects she was praying to find. Ear plugs and nose clips. She couldn't help the small giggle of relief that escaped her when she put them on and everything receded to a level that, while still much stronger than she was used to, was at least bearable. She ran downstairs and neatly dodged the big meaty Angel hand that was reaching for her. "No, Angel. I'm still mad at you for doubting me that way." she said, without giving him a chance to respond.

"I'm gonna take you someplace special Buffy." Oz whispered. She sent him a grateful smile for his consideration. "It's a place I discovered when I was trying to adjust to the changes last year and it really helped me out."

She tilted her head curiously at the smell of eagerness coming off the musically inclined wolf, but followed him out without comment after telling Angel to do patrol tonight and softly reassuring her family and friends. She also tucked away the scent of smugness coming off of Xander's girlfriend Anya, the former vengeance demon for future reference before climbing into Oz's van for her first lesson on coping with extreme over stimulation.

It only took three days at the rundown shack in the middle of the redwood forest that Oz took her to for Buffy to get a grip on herself and learn how to both focus and tone down her reaction to all the new information she was receiving through her nose and ears now. Oz stayed with her for the first twelve hours, speaking more in that time, as he explained the techniques that worked for him, than she had heard out of him in the last eight months all together.

And being able to smell the emotions he was feeling gave her a whole new appreciation for the man that was hidden behind his cryptic comments and stoic face. She was finally able to lose the slight sense of unease she had always felt in his presence and was amused with herself when she realized she was grateful that she wasn't the least bit attracted to him, and so wouldn't start to feel jealous of Willow.

When she came back on the fourth day, she had no doubt that Oz must have spoken to everyone about what she was going through because all of a sudden no one would wear perfume or speak above a whisper when she was with them. She laughed to herself about it for about a day before telling them that they could go back to acting normally around her now that she had gotten a handle on it. It had just been too overwhelming for her before, to suddenly acquire such drastically heightened senses.

But now that she was able to deal with it, she was also able to see all the huge advantages. Patrol had changed drastically. Instead of wandering around, hoping to run into baddies she was hunting them down wherever they were. The vampire population took a huge hit in the first few weeks after she was back on patrol, and she was thrilled on her first night back to realize that her senses weren't the only thing that had improved. She was stronger now too. A lot stronger. Sometimes she almost felt bad for the baddies she was killing and dusting.

With the enormous advantages she now had it almost felt like...cheating. Before she had always been on equal, if not lower ground but now it took almost no effort to perform her 'sacred duties', opening up a lot of free time to spend with her friends and yes even, god save us, doing her homework.

The constant smell of lust coming off of Xander every time he looked at her bothered her a little bit, but since he never acted on it, having mostly accepted a long time ago that he had no chance with her, she brushed it off as largely unimportant.

Willow, thankfully put some real effort into continuing to treat Buffy the same way she always had, and after a few days it no longer took effort to do, and Oz, as usual was a stoic, cryptic pillar of multi hued locks and dependability, something that Buffy quickly came to rely on almost as much as Willow did.

Angel lurked around a lot more than usual the first couple of nights that she was back, until she cornered him and told him in no uncertain terms that she was still disappointed in his reactions when she needed him, and that when she was ready to forgive him she would let him know.

Without him constantly there, stalking her from a distance, she was quickly able to move on from anger to forgiveness and then back to her usual desire to be with him. After telling him that they were good again, she asked him out on a 'platonic', friends only, movie date.

He let her pick the movie, and she chose one that she thought would be about food, vaguely thinking that she might pick up some good tips for cooking now that her skills in that regard had greatly improved thanks to her new and improved sense of super smell.

As they watched the images on the large screen, her intense discomfort with the extremely sexual nature of the film slowly morphed into arousal as she couldn't help but replace the face of the woman with her own. She imagined eyes looking up at her from between her legs and was shocked to realize that the eyes in her mind were sky blue rather than the deep introspective brown that she felt she should be imagining.

Not that the man with the brown eyes could do anything about her arousal. At the risk of losing his soul and becoming the evil Angelus again, a short moment of happy just wasn't worthy. Not to either one of them.

This thought brought back the discomfort from earlier. She felt horrible for bringing him to a movie like this when he couldn't do anything about the feelings it was surely arousing in him, and she told him so when they left the theater. No sooner than he had starting kissing her after he finished telling her that he always felt the same way about her, with or without pornographic movies, and could control his desire and still enjoy her company, an arrow shot through his chest, just inches from his heart, knocking him to the ground at her feet.

Of course, nothing in her life could be so simple as just pulling the arrow out and letting his vampire healing take care of the hole. The arrow had been poisoned with some sort of concoction aimed directly at killing vampires and he was nearly dead before Giles' research finally pulled through and they knew that only the blood of a Slayer could save him.

Even out of his mind with fever though, he refused to drink from her until after she knocked him around a bit and drew his demon to the surface before presenting her neck to him again.

He pulled the blood out of her veins in large and painful pulls. She tried to struggle away when she realized that her heart was slowing down, but she had already weakened too much to overpower him. Thankfully he pulled away under his own power before she reached the point of no return. She was grateful at first, until she heard the growls coming from his chest, then something inside her leaped to attention and seemed to take over her body. She felt an odd shifting in her mouth just before she turned and bit down on his neck. In her mind, she was screaming in disgust at the feel of his blood, or maybe it was her blood, just run through the filter of his body, flowing down her throat.

Despite the repulsion she was feeling in her mind, however, her body gloried in the taste and sensations. She kept drinking for what seemed like forever, until the same thing that was controlling her and making this happen seemed to know that he was close to dusting again. Then she detached and raised her wrist to her mouth, slicing it open with what could only be her own handy, dandy set of fangs, and presenting the bloody cut to his mouth.

It was flowing slower from her wrist than it did from her neck, she knew, so she let him suck the blood from her for what seemed a long time but really was no more than just a couple of pints. When the...thing in control of her body decided he had had enough she pulled away and began growling something that sounded like words, only it was a language she didn't know.

When she finished, Angel was looking up at her in horror as she felt the strange shift in her mouth again that she now knew must be her fangs receding back into her gums.

"Do you realize what you've just done?" Angel asked, managing to sound angry and dangerous despite the blood loss he was now suffering from. "You've just claimed me as your minion! In more than two centuries of existence, I have never been a lowly minion, and now a freakin' high school girl claims me as her minion! Why would you do something like that?" he demanded.

Buffy didn't know where the knowledge came from, but she knew what Angel had tried to do when he started growling after drinking from her, and the knowledge pissed her off on levels that she hadn't even known were possible before this. "Did you, or did you not just attempt to put a childe claim on me without asking my permission first?" she demanded angrily.

He didn't answer, but she didn't need him to say it. She could feel the truth through the claim that she had turned around on him. And he could feel that she knew. Just as he could feel her rage at the knowledge.

"You fucking asshole!" she screamed at him. "I'm in fucking love with you and you want to me to be your childe! Something beneath you that you can control! What kind of shit is that? You can't handle me as your equal, so you'll make damn sure I can no longer be one?"

"Dammit Buffy!" he yelled back, "At least I gave you enough respect to make you a childe! You made me into a goddamn minion! Barely one step above a fledgling! Talk about not wanting to meet on equal grounds! A childe at least has a chance to become a Master! A minion will never be more than a minion, and that's what you've made me!"

She was flooded with yet more knowledge from the unknown source and was able to scream back at him with assurance. "Bullshit! A Master will never truly be less than a Master and you know it! The only change I've made is that you'll never be able to even try to master me again! Why would you do that in the first place anyway? Do you like to be the dominant one? Would that make you happy?" she emphasized the word so that maybe he could follow where she was going with this. "Cuz if it would, we damn sure don't want that to happen again! And if you love me the way you said you do, why the fuck would you put me in the possible position of being under the power of your soulless counterpart? Seriously, what the hell kind of love is that? You should be goddamn grateful that I did what I did! At least now I can stop Angelus if you ever get another happy and go completely insane again! And I won't have to do it by sending the man I loved to a hell dimension next time! I can just fucking growl at him and he's mine to control, and won't be able to try to end the world!" she ranted at him.

The anger dropped off of Angel's face and was replaced with sadness. "Loved?" he asked softly, emphasizing the past tense.

Buffy's anger also dissipated, turning into sadness. "I'll always care for you, no matter what Angel. But the man I love could have never tried to do that to me, to bind me that way without my knowledge,for any reason. I obviously don't really know you if you could do that. So even if you do have the face of the man I love, I think that that man must not really exist." she said softly before turning and walking to the door.

She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, without turning she told him that she'd send Willy over with some O negative human blood to help him heal faster and then walked out the door without waiting for his response. It was time to patrol now anyway, and she was in the mood to kill something. She only hoped that what ever it was could put up a good fight.

She was so angry as she stalked to the end of town with all the newer cemeteries that she didn't notice when her vampire senses started up the alert. Not until a man wearing a pair of old fashioned spectacle and carrying some heavy books that would probably send Giles into paroxysms of researchers ecstasy.

She recognized him as the minion Spike had always sent on breaking and entering jobs. The vampire that had almost gotten away with the judge's arm on the night of her seventeenth birthday over a year ago. The night Angel had lost his soul after they celebrated their pure luck in getting the arm away.

She stopped and waited for him to notice her. When he was only a couple of feet away, he quickly glanced up, human face in place and wished her a good evening.

Then he did a double take as her identity belatedly registered with his vampire senses. He goggled in abject fear before hitting the ground on his knees and placing his forehead on her feet.

"Please..." he begged, unable to force anything more past the lump of fear lodged in his undead throat.

Before she could even reach for the stake in her waistband, she felt the same force inside her that had stopped Angel from making his claim rise up and take control again.

"Rise, Scholar," she intoned in a voice that was filled with power. He looked up at her, the fear in his eyes now sharing space with awe, and then rose to his feet in front of her.

Despite the fact that he had a good three or four inches on her diminutive five feet and four inches, he somehow gave the impression of looking up at her.

She felt the now familiar shift in her mouth that heralded the appearance of her nifty new set of handy dandy fangs and reached up to wrap her hand around his neck. She pulled his head down closer to her face and stared into his eyes, watching as awe overcame his fear as he watched the silvery glints and twinkles in her eyes.

"Swear your eternal fealty to me and I will spare you and raise you up." she said formally.

He shifted into game face while he was still so close that she could hear the tiny grinding sound of his bones when his face changed. "I swear my loyalty and my life to you and your happiness, Mistress." he promised quietly.

She gently slid her fangs into the vein in his neck and pulled the blood from him until she knew he was almost completely dry before she guided his mouth to her neck and encouraged him to drink deeply from her.

When he had drained enough blood from her to slow down her heart she stopped him and growled a few 'words' in the same arcane language she had used earlier. She knew that these words bound him to her as her childe rather than her minion, and she knew that this bond was much more powerful than the one Angel had tried to force on her.

Permission had been granted this time and the bond had been reciprocated, allowing him to sense her when she wanted or needed him to. After he growled his permission, she drank from him again, to replace the blood her body needed and to strengthen the bond even further.

She didn't take as much this time and when she finished and licked the bite mark to speed the healing he hit his knees in a gesture of submission to her again, promising to do anything she asked of him.

She pulled him to his feet and asked him to walk with her. While they walked she unloaded on him all the changes she had lived through for the past few weeks. The new and improved senses and strength. The freaky fangs and glowy eyes. The knowledge that seemed to rise up in her with the force that took over her body and had so far claimed two vampires and bonded them to her. He seemed surprised and pleased when he learned that Angel, a well known Master had been bonded as a lowly minion, he knew that the bond she had chosen to share with him was that of a childe. And not just any childe, but a cherished childe.

After she was done explaining everything to him, he leaped to the request she was working up to and promised to research and learn everything he could for her. After all, the unknown could hold unknown dangers and he couldn't take the chance of any harm coming to his mistress, the first one to ever show him love and affection in his entire existence, alive or undead.

It took five weeks for Dalton to find the information he was looking for. Buffy was only thankful that she hadn't been compelled to make any other claims on the evil undead during that time. The only freaky thing she did was renew the claim with Dalton a few times because she understood how much he needed to feel loved.

She decided to not renew the claim with Angel knowing that it would fade in time, overcome by his status as a Master, if not renewed. She had felt the need to punish him for what he had tried to do, and she felt the job was well done. Dalton had informed her that he was a laughing stock for having been given a lower position than the weak willed scholar, although none of the other demons were able to suss out who had claimed the pair, no one messed with them because of the palpable power that came off of the claim marks.

When Dalton finally found what they were looking for, Buffy was stunned.

According to the book he had found (a book that was rumored to have been ordered destroyed by the very council that Buffy had quit just after her eighteenth birthday), the Slayer powers that were passed to one girl in every generation since the beginning of time was the female of the same species that had blended with humans making the half breed known as vampires.

Where the male lived and thrived on death and destruction, the female thrived on one thing and required it to live. That one thing was love. She could get by for a limited time on any love, but was doomed to die young without the love of a male of her species.

The book went on to explain that the female was accustomed to bringing order back to that which the males had destroyed and that's why those whom she entered became Slayers. The need for order is also the reason she occupied only females and only one at a time, unlike the male who was a lot less picky about the sex of his possession and spread it as thin as he could get it.

Keeping herself contained to one body at a time kept her stronger and helped enable her to bring about the order that she craved. After so many generations with out the love that she needed however, she had been weakened anyway, allowing the human side to take precedence, an event that the council had encouraged and facilitated. So she remained in the background and all Slayers died young, overtaken eventually by the despair the demon felt and giving some lucky vamp a good day when the death wish became strong enough.

Until Buffy.

The first Slayer in centuries to have family and friends and a Watcher who allowed love to overcome his loyalty and duty to the council. The first Slayer in millenia to be loved by a vampire. Even if it was a twisted possessive love that the demon wouldn't accept, it had still helped strengthen the demon inside and help her merge more fully with her human than had been possible in millenia.

The ancient text was the diary of a long ago Watcher, and it outlined his disgust with the idea of the one created to dispose of the undead loving and being loved by one of them in return.

Apparently his Slayer had found one of the rare vampire's capable of love without a soul and they had joined. After he realized that his Slayer had joined with a soulless vampire he decided that it was his duty to dust the one that had claimed her, despite his knowledge that doing so would kill her. Then he outlined the system that the council had followed ever since which ensured that Slayer's would die young. A system that denied not only the chosen one, but all the potential Slayer's of love, guaranteeing that the demon which gave them their power would never be strong enough to fully merge with the human she occupied.

Until Buffy.

Buffy pulled the books Dalton had found out of her bag and set them on the table in front of her Watcher. She had to bite back a smile at the acquisitive gleam in his eyes and the obvious struggle he was having to control the urge to grab them and start reading and recording immediately. After a couple of moments he managed to hang on to the anger and hurt he was feeling towards his Slayer and her recently secretive nature.

She started a fast paced breathless babble before he had a chance to inquire about the obviously old and priceless books she had set before him. She figured she would only be able to say all of this once and wanted to get it all out without any interruptions. "I know you've noticed that something is going on with me, and I'm sorry that I didn't come to you right away but I didn't understand what was happening and I was afraid of what you'd do to me if I told you what I'd done, and I'm still afraid but I don't like keeping secrets from you and I can't do it anymore, but I want you to read these books tonight and we can talk about it tomorrow, but you need to know that I'm bringing Angel and Dalton and they won't let you hurt me just in case you start acting all uptight British council-y on me, but if you just give this a chance I know that you and Dalton would get along because you guys have so much in common except that he's not British and you're not...you'll see what I mean," she finally had to stop to take a deep breath. "Anyway I just needed to tell you that I love you cuz you might not let me say it later."

Giles just goggled at his Slayer, the daughter of his heart if not his loins. He was impressed in spite of himself at how much she'd managed to say in one breath. It must be the valley girl in her that made it possible. Before the words had a chance to sink in, however, she gave him a quick hug that he was sure must have bruised his ribs, spun around and nearly ran out of the library.

'Probably a smart thing to do.' he thought as his brains caught up and he began to feel even more hurt and offended that she could possibly think he would want to hurt her.

'Unless, of course, she was turned into a vampire. Which is obviously not the case.' he reassured himself watching through the window as she walked away into the fading evening sunlight.

Giles sighed and polished his glasses for a moment before giving in to his curiosity and the insatiable need for new knowledge that was a large part of who he was. He opened the topmost book and began to read. The more he read, the angrier he grew.

Buffy decided to stop in at The Bronze before patrol and check in with Xander and Willow. She couldn't stay too long but there was still about a quarter of an hour before the sun set completely.

When she got there ten minutes later she was relieved to see that Xander was dancing with Anya and she wouldn't have to deal with the scent of lust that came from him every time he looked at her. Willow was sitting at their usual table next to the dance floor watching Oz playing in the band on stage.

Buffy hadn't taken more than three steps towards her shy friend when her vampire senses started going nuts. A vampire had entered the club. She looked around but there was no one at the door behind her and the one behind the bar was still locked tight. That left the back door that was at the end of a hallway on the other side of the club. She started heading that way, while analyzing what her Slayer senses were trying to tell her.

Whoever had entered the bar wasn't just the usual fledgling or minion. This vamp had power. And there was something familiar about the signature, familiar and somehow attractive as well. The usual adrenaline rush she got as she hunted a vampire was absent. In it's place this time, her nipples tightened almost painfully and her stomach was clenching and rolling in excitement. She felt her demon raising up and trying to take over, but she fought it for a moment before deciding to let it go.

After all, it was the demon that gave her her Slayer 'powers' so it wasn't as if her demon were evil,even if it did occassionly make her do gross bloody rituals. It's not like she regretted her newly formed relationship with Dalton, and she couldn't make herself regret the humiliation she had put on Angel, not after what he had tried to do.

When she saw the vampire walking towards her down the narrow hallway, her demon wasn't strong enough to control her ingrained mouthy tendencies.

"Oh great, Spike's back! That must mean that Druscilla reverted back to her slime and antler loving psycho slutty ho bag ways."

"You might want to watch your mouth about things you know nothin' about, Slayer." Spike growled at her, rolling onto the balls of his feet in preparation for attack.

She stopped and put her hands on her hips, spreading her legs and cocking her hips just so. "Why don't you come out back with me, Spike and you can watch my mouth instead." she drawled at him in a voice that she had trouble believing could come from her.

She knew that that just had to be her demon talking, because there was no way Buffy would ever say or think something so sexually suggestive about Spike. Even if his cheekbones were completely lickable and the hard ridge that she had felt against her during more than one fight made her toes curl.

After all, he was an evil, undead, soulless creature of the night, and she was created with the sole purpose of dusting his kind. So there was no way she could be thinking what her words and her tone implied she was thinking about his tight, compact body...

She had to forcefully slam the door on that line of thought.

As she walked towards him and past him, she had to bite back a smirk at the shocked look on his face. Apparently she wasn't the only one who had trouble believing she would talk to him that way. When she reached the door his smell had changed from shock and confusion to anger. Rage almost. She wondered if it was her first words that caused it.

Spike watched with disbelief as the stupid little bint had the nerve to turn her back on him! He was a slayer of slayers and this psychotic slayer had the guts to turn her back on him? Maybe her death wish had come already and he had just mistakenly read lust and excitement instead of resignation and despair. Either way he was still furious that she would show so little regard for his lethality as to turn her back on him.

Rage was a good thing for him though. It sharpened his senses and gave more power to his reflexes, all of which would help him as he killed her in the alley tonight. After all, this bird could fight! She was resourceful and unpredictable, adaptable and very flexible. So he was more than happy to use the advantage rage would give him.

His cock twitched as he thought about just how flexible this Slayer was. She was flexible enough that when she was wearing one of her short skirts and performed a high kick, he got a glimpse of heaven wrapped in lace and satin. He had made a private game of trying to get her to kick high enough to reveal the color of panties she was wearing. He told himself that he wasn't really disappointed that he hadn't seen her wearing his favorite color yet. But when he was honest with himself, he had to admit that he was curious about how her sweet ass would look in red.

Although she had been wearing black the night she dropped that damned organ on him. He had been thinking about the quick glimpse of black string above the waistband of her pants he'd gotten during their fight that fateful night when the sensation had returned below his waist. He'd had himself a nice wank imagining her in nothing other than a black g-string and knee high boots while she submitted to his every command.

Not that he thought that the Slayer would submit to him anywhere outside of his fantasies in any way. Didn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable thought. And just because he enjoyed the thought didn't mean he was here to fuck her. He was here to kill the little bitch and show Druscilla how wrong she was. Wrapped in the Slayer indeed.

As soon as he took his first step into the alley, she grabbed the collar of his cherished duster and swung him around, slamming him against the wall opposite the door to the club, then slamming herself into him.

He reached up to grab her and throw her into the wall when the scent of her arousal hit his brain like a brick wall. His cock rallied to attention, throbbing and aching with the need to find the center of that delicious scent, at the same time that his mouth watered and his killing urge skipped away for vacation.

He tilted his head to the side and smirked at her, opening his mouth to say something that would no doubt enrage her, but he barely had enough time to register the hungry look on her face and the silvery glints in her eyes before his demon came raging to the surface, reconfiguring the bones in his face among other things on his body. His vision became much sharper and clearer, as befitting a nocturnal predator, picking things out of the shadows that he'd missed before.

Like the small fangs the Slayer was sporting just above her canines.

He'd no sooner noticed that interesting and alluring change in his favorite opponent than she lunged and pierced his jugular just below his ear while growling in the primal language that his demon understood. And his demon must have liked what she was growling because his cock grew larger than he had thought possible, straining against the zipper and begging for release. The Slayer wrapped her arms around his shoulders and climbed up him like she would a tree, settling in with her legs wrapped around his waist and her hot little core rubbing against his straining zipper. He grabbed her hips and thrust her even closer to him, digging his fingers into her hips and groaning at the sweet pressure.

She reached on hand up to tunnel her fingers into his gelled hair and began to guide his mouth to her throat. Even while he doubted she meant what he was so desperately hoping, he couldn't resist the temptation, even if it meant getting himself dusted. He gently pierced her vein at the spot where her neck began to curve into her shoulder and groaned loudly at his first taste of her amazingly flavored blood.

As she sucked at his neck and he sucked at hers, it felt to both of them as though some essential circuit had finally been completed.

After more than 120 years of existence, he felt as though he had finally accomplished the fate he had been headed towards from the first moment that Angelus and Druscilla had changed him. That monumental moment had also happened in an alley.

As the life giving blood cycled from one to the other and back again, their bodies were anything but idle. He had ripped her panties off and thrust them into the pocket of his duster even as she fumbled his jeans open and fisted his throbbing cock in her tight little hand, rubbing her thumb over the mushroomed head and spreading the pre-cum leaking from his slit. He jammed two fingers roughly into her dripping hole, uncaring about the slight hitch of pain in her cry, and began to scissor his fingers while his thumb sought and found the sweet little nubbin that would make her quiver.

She released his cock and grabbed at his wrist trying to yank his hand away and stop the sensations that were overwhelming her nearly virginal body but he continued his quest to make her scream, not even aknowledging her half hearted efforts to remove his hand from her dripping core. He continued his rough ministrations until her felt her already tight channel clamp down even harder on his fingers and then drench them in a flood of her own honeyed nectar as her body convulsed and her fangs slipped out of his vein while she cried out her release into the shelter of his neck.

He slid his fangs from her neck and gently licked the punctures closed while her body shuddered and quivered, coming down from the heights he had driven it too. Soon after, she began to gently lick the blood that had dripped out of his wounds. She followed the thin trail down to the neckline of his shirt, then back up to the holes she had given him. She lapped at them and moaned a little at the flavor of his blood, drowning in the desire she could taste in it.

Almost simultaneously, their separate demons released control of their bodies back to the human consciousness that they shared with. She looked up into his eyes in time for them both to witness the change. His amber eyes changed into cerulean blue and the silver glints of her changed back to spring green.

He groaned and looked pained as he realized that whatever had possessed her body had lost control before he found release.

Her eyes took on first a look of fear, then confusion as she seemed to be talking to herself in her mind, then acceptance as the hand that was still wrapped around his aching cock tightened and began massaging him again.

"I want you inside me." she whispered so low that he wouldn't have heard her without his vampire hearing. He moaned in relief and pleasure before lowering his head and sucking on the healed bite mark he'd just given her. She cried out in ecstasy at the shocks his suckling sent throughout her body and guided the head of his cock to her dripping entrance where she rubbed herself on him, spreading her juices and mixing them with his before she slowly lowered herself onto him and closed her eyes against the amazing feeling of his cock stretching the wall of her channel and filling her in a way she had never thought possible.

When she tried to lift herself up and start the dance they were both aching for, he dug his fingers tighter into her hips and held her still.

"Look at me," he demanded. She squeezed her eyes closed tighter and buried her face in his chest, then whimpered when she felt him jerk inside her, stretching her even more. "Look at me, Slayer. I want you to know who it is that's gunna fuck you till you quiver. Know who's cock is buried inside you. Need you to know who it is that's gonna make you scream."

She groaned at the promise in his words and lifted her head, slowly opening her eyes to look into his face. She smiled at the unmistakable look of awe and lust on his face.

"I know who you are Spike," she said softly. "But you don't really know who I am, do you?" she asked. He couldn't help the little gasp that jerked out of him when her green eyes flashed to silver for a split second. "You have no idea who or what just marked you, do you?" The shock her eyes had given him had loosened his grip on her waist and she began to move slowly up and down while looking into his eyes and speaking softly.

"You don't have a clue about the creature that just claimed you and let you claim her. Not just her either. Me too. I belong to you, and you belong to me, just as our demons do." She rubbed her clit against his pelvis and squeezed him with muscles he never even imagined existed, making them both moan. "You'll never be able to drain me dry and kill me now. There's only one way for you to kill me now, and I'm terrified that you'll succeed."

"How's 'at?" he breathed out, gripping her hips again and guiding her movements slowly up and down and around his cock.

He rolled his hips in a way that forced her eyes closed and pushed a long, low moan from her throat. "Talk...later." she said breathlessly. "Fuck me...now. Harder! Oh my god, yes! Faster faster, don't stop, oh, oh yesyesyesyesyes!"

He had lost all semblance of control when the words 'fuck me' came out of her sexy little mouth and he spun around, pinning her to the wall to free his hands up so they could rip her little halter top down to her waist and play with her hard little nipples.

"Oh god, Slayer! So tight and hot! Swear you're burning me up, never felt anything so hot before. Fuck! Squeeze me like that again! So good! So wet, love the way your tight little quim feels squeezing me and drenching my cock in your hot honey."

His voice was low and rough and seemed to growl straight out of his chest and it finally drove her over the edge, howling into an intense orgasm that ended all thought and awareness, leaving behind nothing more than a convulsing, quivering bundle of nerves.

Her pussy tightened up and clamped down on his cock when she came, pulling him over the edge with her, making him arch his head back and howl helplessly with her.

When they both ran out of breath, they automatically moved in and slipped their fangs into the marks they had made earlier, completing the circuit and cycling their blood back and forth and back again, cementing the bond that their demons had begun earlier. They pulled out and licked the wounds closed at the same time, both fiercely muttering "Mine!"

Then they pulled back to look into each others eyes again. Green met blue, both filled with awe and cautious joy. "Yours," they whispered together, his forehead lowering to rest on hers as they continued to look and search each others eyes, satisfaction warring with fear and uncertainty in both of them about the irreversible step they had just taken.

He was just about to speak to her when he became aware of someone approaching. Two someones, actually. He couldn't hear them or smell them, but he knew they were coming nonetheless. It took him a moment to realize that he was picking up the knowledge through the claim they had just performed.

"Who?" he asked simply, knowing she would understand. He pushed her tighter against the wall, expecting her to try to move away from him, and couldn't help the smirk on his face when she clenched her legs tighter around his waist instead.

"My childe, and my minion." she answered.

He raised his eyebrows and looked at her with the question clearly written on his face. "I know you're not a vampire, Slayer. You'll have to explain a little more clearly than that."

"And I will. Later, when we go to the library. I still have to explain to Giles, Angel,and the gang, so I'll just tell everyone at once."

He growled at the mention of his Sire/Grandsire and bit down with his blunt teeth on his claim mark, making her shiver and clamp down on his already hardening cock. "He doesn't get you anymore, Slayer." he growled into her neck. "You belong to me now, and I don't share."

Although Spike was still feeling shell shocked and dizzy from the sudden turn around in his life and intentions towards this girl, there was one thing he didn't doubt at all. She was his, and he'd kill anyone that tried to change it. His demon had picked her without giving Spike a choice in the matter, but amazingly, that didn't bother Spike as much as he would have thought. After all, she was a hot little number, and he'd always enjoyed trading insults with her between kicks. Hell, he even liked her somewhat scary mum! It wasn't difficult to believe that womans daughter was the Slayer.

So this could work. It just might take a little...work.

"He already fucked up, Spike, don't worry. He did something really wrong and I just...reacted instinctively. I didn't even really know what I was doing but the demon part of me seemed to think it was right. Anyway he pissed me and my demon off really badly, so we made him our very first minion." She giggled at the look of surprise that was quickly followed by a loud roar of laughter that had her bouncing around on him. She had to tighten the grip her legs had on his waist and she still almost fell off.

He finally began to calm down and was reduced to giggles and hiccups that he buried in her neck. She could feel his humor through the new claim and even how ironically right he thought it was.

"So what'd the poof do to ya to desere that then, pet?" he asked between giggles.

"It's not important. Really. And he can never try to do it to me again now. Also, he'll probably think long and hard before he tries it with anyone else too." She realized that she was somewhat afraid of what his reaction would be to Angel's attempted claim. She could already feel the intense possessiveness he felt towards her, not to mention the almost insane jealousy that seemed reserved for all things Angel.

He looked at her soberly for a moment before deciding to let it go for now.

"And your childe?" he asked.

"That happened before I knew what was happening to me. I was scared and angry, so Iwent out on patrol because I really really wanted to kill something." He smiled a little, amused to learn that she had that in common with him. Looks like the side of good had a little evil too. He raised his eyebrow, encouraging her to continue when his smile caused her brain to misfire and her voice to dry up.

"I saw him and was going to kill him," she explained, "but he was so scared and submissive, I could smell it on him. The fear, and the... desire to please. My demon wanted him so she took over and made him our childe. You know him. Dalton?"

He smiled, pleased to hear that the one who shared such a close bond with her wasn't someone that he would perceive as competition. Her minion however... They had competed with each other since the very beginning.

Just then, the two under discussion raced into the alley and stopped at the sight of their mistress joined so intimately with a vampire they both knew so well.

Dalton read the contentment his mistress was feeling and smiled, feeling happy and hopeful for her. Angel only read the way his long time opponent was wrapped around the woman he wanted for himself and growled, crouching in preparation to attack, not looking any further than his eyes could see, and therefore not realizing how closely the two were linked beyond just their bodies.

The growl that rumbled out of his chest was one that he used as a Sire to control Spike. It had always worked before and he expected no differently now.

So it shocked the hell out of him when Spike turned to look at him and growled back before swiveling his hips, causing the woman Angel loved to throw her head back and moan in ecstasy and enraging Angel further. He tensed up to attack, but before he could Buffy turned to look at him, silver glinting in her eyes and growled a low command that made his knees buckle, causing him to drop to the filthy ground in the alley. The tone of command she used was so forceful that Dalton hit the ground beside him at the same time.

To Spike's surprise, his own knees quivered for an instant with the desire to follow her command before he clamped down on the muscles holding him up. He refused to be anything less than an equal to the woman he had just performed a mating claim with. He had lived for long enough as inferior to the one he loved, but he wouldn't do it with this woman.

She clamped her inner muscles and purred her happiness with the strength he had shown in resisting her command. He could feel through their new bond that she was pleased that he wouldn't bow down to her, but would instead face her as an equal. This turned him on so much that the sudden need for release overtook him and had him moving roughly in and out of her, driving her to the same state and the same need. It was quick and urgent this time, with his fingers rubbing her clit roughly to pull her along quickly, and her massaging his cock with those wonderful muscles while he drove in and out of her, bringing them both quickly to the completion they needed.

Dalton smiled in rapture, enjoying the emotions and sensations he was sharing with Buffy through their bond, and Angel groaned in pain and jealousy unable to tear his eyes away from the train wreck that was occurring in front of his disbelieving eyes.

When they came together and clamped down on each other's necks, he finally felt the bond they had created and understood that it was too late for him to have any hope. He couldn't hurt Spike anymore because to do so would hurt the woman he still loved and that was something he could never do. No matter how angry he was that she had not only not chosen him, but had chosen Spike! whom he despised so thoroughly and had always thought of as inferior to himself, he knew he could never bring himself to deliberately hurt Buffy.

Angel also knew that Spike would be inferior no more. Not when he got to partake of regular doses of Slayer's blood. He bowed his head in defeat and cursed the tears that he felt welling up in his eyes.

Thankfully, Buffy seemed to understand his distress and let him know, silently through their bond, that he could leave if he wanted. Grateful for her understanding, he did just that.

Spike finally released Buffy, allowing her to stand on her own feet. He held onto her for a moment while she regained control of her shaky muscles then zipped himself back into his jeans and helped her repair her halter top. He smiled and kept his mouth shut when he noticed her looking around for her underwear, but she felt his smugness through their bond and glared at him. He just smirked and waggled his eyebrow, until she gave up and tugged her skirt a little bit lower.

"Since there's no way I'm going on patrol like this, we may as well go to the library and talk to Giles," she decided, shooting another glare at Spike, whom she just knew had stolen her favorite thongs.

She spun away from him and walked to Dalton who was still kneeling in the mouth of the alley. She placed her hand on his head and told him to rise, ignoring the spears of jealousy she could feel coming off of Spike when she touched another man. When she went to place her hand on Dalton's chest however, she could ignore him no longer. He grabbed her hand in a bruising grip and yanked her away from her childe. "I told you, I don't share." he growled.

"This is, apparently, one of the many things we'll need to work out. The first one would be your feeding habits." she told him, glaring again.

"I know Slayer. You can't let me kill people while we're together." he sighed petulantly. Getting to the work part of the relatioship awfully quickly.

Dalton raised his hand as if he had something to say, but Spike beat him to it. "As long as you let me sip from you every now and then, I won't need anything else. Slayer's blood is more powerful and filling than anything else, even Sire's blood." he explained.

Dalton lowered his hand and nodded in agreement.

"Good." Buffy said. "Cuz somehow, I think it would hurt me a lot if I had to dust you now."

"That was a mating claim, Slayer." Spike said softly. "If you die now, I dust. If I dust, you die. Our lives are linked."

"Oh no!" Buffy cried out in distress. "That's not fair to you! I'm mortal! I will die! Why didn't you stop me?"

"You're not really mortal anymore, Slayer. You'll live as long as I do. Even if it's centuries. You'll age at the same rate as me too. So you won' t age at all now." he explained.

"Oh." She chewed on her lip for a moment. That was a lot to take in, and she'd definitely have to think about it more at another time. But on the lighter side of immortality... "So I get to have the body of an eighteen year old forever now? And still keep my soul and not have to live on a liquid diet? That is totally of the good."

Spike laughed and wrapped his arms around her, swinging her in a short circle. "Dru was right." he stated. He started to laugh again and then just looked at her in shock when she ripped herself out of his arms and slapped him across the face.

"I don't share either, Spike. You don't belong to her anymore, and I won't let you go back to her. I'd rather we were both dead first." she growled at him.

Dalton stepped back, out of the line of fire, feeling the jealousy and rage that was pumping through her body.

"I don't want to go back to the loony bird." Spike said with an exasperated tone. "I was only noting that she really did know what she was talking about when she said I was covered in you and wasn't hers anymore. I didn't understand what she meant by that until this very moment. I am covered in you. I'm drowning in you," he said softly leaning in to whisper in her ear and nuzzle his claim mark, "and I don't want to come up for air."

Being an eighteen year old girl, she did what any sensible eighteen year old girl would do at hearing those words from this man. She swooned into his arms and melted into his eyes, lifting her mouth towards him for a slow, sweet, exploratory kiss. When he pulled his mouth away and rested his forehead on hers she groaned in fear.

"Oh my god! Giles really is going to kill me now!"

Spike growled at the implied threat to his mate and had to fight the demon to keep control.

"I mean, he definitely hates Angel more than you, but at least Angel had a soul, he couldn't argue with his help. But you don't! He'll never understand."

Spike just looked at her, feeling her fear and her despair, wishing there was something he could do to make her feel better. But this time it was Dalton who came forth with the good , it was good news to her, anyway. It actually kind of scared the hell out of Spike. Not that he'd ever admit it.

"Actually he does have a soul now. Part of one anyway. When you claimed each other and then affirmed the claim again, you shared your soul with him. I had already read about it but wasn't sure I believed it until I saw it happen. You lit up with a beautiful golden light, Buffy. Then when the two of reaffirmed the claim with bites, it poured into him until you were both filled with it and glowing." Dalton explained.

"Don't think that that means I'm gonna go all broody and depressed like the great forehead did!" Spike said.

"I sure hope not!" Buffy answered grabbing his hand and leading the two men to the library and the confrontation with the only father figure in her life.

They headed out of the alley planning to go to the high school and have the conversation with Giles that Buffy had remembered to dread again. Spike swung into step beside her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, tucking her up close to his body. Dalton fell into step behind them.

They walked in a silence that fell somewhere in between companionable and awkward. There was really nothing to talk about just now, since Buffy refused to ease any of Spike's curiosity until they met up with her Watcher.'

After a couple of block's Buffy tilted her head to the side, putting Spike and Dalton both in mind of the RCA dog. After a few moments, she cursed under her breath.

"Is it danger, Mistress?" Dalton inquired worriedly.

"No, not danger. Angel's on his way back. And judging from what he's muttering under his breath he wants to talk to me." she answered, irritation evident in her voice.

"No problem, pet," Spike said cheerfully, pleased that she showed no desire to be with Angel. "We can talk to the big poof."

"He wants to talk to me in private. He is, in fact, rehearsing different ways of requesting a private audience with me." she explained.

Spike stopped and tilted his head, straining his ears to hear what could only be amusing. He heard nothing that sounded like the big poofter. "Sure you're not just hearing voices, pet?" he asked her.

"I'm sure. I can hear a lot better than vamps now. See and smell better too. I think I might be stronger now too, but I haven't really come across anything other than fledglings since I changed. What I really want is some huge angry demon to come to town so I can really test it." she said eagerly.

Spike smiled indulgently at her and she glared at him when she smelled the same patronizing scent coming off of him that Angel had exuded on that awful morning so many weeks ago. "You're just as bad as Angel is!" she accused.

"Oi! I resent that! I'm nothing like the great forehead! You better watch that mouth, little girl!" he shouted at her.

"If you don't want me saying you're like him, than you should quit acting like him! Think I can't smell what you're thinking? You've got the same patronizing, doubtful, let's humor the delusional little girl smell that he had when this started! I mean, shit! I couldn't count on him for help, and he was supposed to be in love with me! I had to go to a freakin' teenage werewolf, of all cliches to get the help I needed, and now here you go reacting the same way!" she shouted back at him, feeling pushed and persecuted beyond all endurance.

What the hell was up with these Master Vampires anyway? Couldn't they stand the thought of a teenage Slayer being better than them at something? They really should be used to it by now, considering that she had kicked both their asses already! She'd put Spike in a wheelchair and sent Angel to hell! She'd already been better than them before the changes that had changed her life so drastically, so they shouldn't be so freaked out about her improvements.

'A little egotistical much?' she heard Spike's voice, but she knew she hadn't heard it with her ears. She looked over at him cautiously.

'That's right, Slayer. There's a little bit more to the bond than great sex and delicious blood.' She could hear the smirk in his voice even though his lips didn't move and his face remained stoic.

'I never knew that.' she though cautiously. 'Dalton? Angel? Can you guys hear me?'

'They better not be able to!' Spike thought angrily. 'This 's a benefit of a mating bond.'

'So that's what we did then? A mating bond?'

'Don't bruise my ego here Slayer! I know you haven't forgotten that fantastic mating dance we performed against the wall already!'

Buffy blushed beet red and looked down at the ground, trying not to remember. If she thought about it, she'd want to do it again and he'd know it too, what with vampire smelling. He inhaled a deep breath and waggled his eyebrows at her when she looked up.

Too late.

Spike suddenly halted and cocked his head to the side. "I'll be damned!" he muttered. Buffy just looked at him with her eyebrows raised. She already knew what he heard, and couldn't help the smug feeling she was having.

"I hear the poofter, and he's muttering to himself, but I can't tell what he's saying. You really heard him clearly, words and all a minute ago?" he asked her softly.

"Told you so." she muttered, still upset with him.

"Yeh, you did, din't you, kitten? I'm sorry for doubting you, and I'm even more sorry that I did the same thing he did." Spike said softly tilting her chin up to meet his eyes.

Her eyes were wide and filled with cautious awe. 'You're forgiven. And you also stepped right out of the Angel mold. He's never apologized for anything. Ever.'

Spike frowned a little and opened his mouth to say something, but Angel spotted them and called out to Buffy before he could. She told Angel to wait a minute and turned to Spike, looking into his eyes and communicating silently with him. 'Look, you won't have to deal with him for very long. I don't particularly want to keep him as a minion. I have no plans to renew the claim, and since he was a Master to begin with, it will fade. He's free to go at anytime that he wants to, and now that you're in the picture he probably will. He might want to say goodbye right now.' She wasn't above pleading with him, as long as no one else heard. 'Please let me walk with him. I'll keep the link open so you can know everything I know. Can you trust me that little bit at least?'

Spike growled and let her know that he wasn't happy with her turning it around like that. It wasn't her that he didn't trust. It was the ponce who seemed to delight in making him miserable with or without a soul. But when she put it that way, he really had no choice. At least not if he wanted to be allowed to touch her again anytime soon. He had some first hand knowledge of how women worked, after all. 'Fine. But only if you'll make him cluck like a chicken.'

Buffy laughed and craned her neck for a kiss. "Not gonna happen. He's been punished enough for what he did. Go to Willie's later and ask about him. You'll see what I'm talking about." With one last kiss she walked away from him to go see what Angel wanted.

They walked quite a few blocks away to let Angel feel comfortable that he wouldn't be heard. Buffy couldn't resist asking Spike every few seconds through the bond, 'Can you hear me now?' and she was kind of surprised that a one hundred and twenty some year old vampire would be knowledgeable enough about current fads to get the joke.

When they finally reached a point far enough away that Angel felt comfortable, he stopped, turned to her and asked, "Why haven't you renewed the claim you made on me? Do you really like Dalton that much more than me? I thought what we had was special, but now you don't seem to care."

Buffy was, quite simply, shocked into silence. Her eyes were huge and she had to bite her lip to keep from laughing along with Spike.

"I...uh...I thought you didn't really want to be a minion?" she phrased it as a question. "You pissed me off and I just automatically did something I knew you would hate, but I didn't intend to keep it up forever. That would be way too mean, even for me."

"Look, I know I was wrong for trying to claim you like that, without your knowledge." She barely controlled her wince as she heard Spike's roar in her head. Yep. There was the possessive jealousy she had been worried about earlier.

'Stay there, Spike!' Wow. She hadn't realized she could scream in her mind. 'Remember what I did to him! His claim failed, he's my minion and you're my mate! Just let me figure out what he wants so I can handle it.'

Unbelievably, she could actually feel him pout through the claim, but at least he quit running in their direction and tried to calm down his anger. 'Still think you oughta make him do something. The hokey-pokey maybe?'

"...I never would have done anything like that in my right mind, but I wasn't in my right mind." Shit. Angel was still talking. She hoped she hadn't missed anything important. "But what's done is done, and I think you should renew your claim on me so that I can stick around and help out and make sure you do the right thing."

Buffy's eyebrow rose into the stratosphere. The hokey pokey wasn't nearly enough for this display of ego. "Excuse me?" she bit the words out, using every ounce of will power she had to keep her anger from leaking through the bond to Angel. Spike felt it though and even caught the drift of her thoughts. He was laughing wildly and jumping up and down in anticipation.

"Well, Buffy, obviously you're not thinking straight. You just haven't gotten a handle on your demon yet. Otherwise you never would have put a mating claim on Spike. But if I help you out and keep you from renewing it, eventually we might be able to find a way to break it." he told her, looking at her with his sweetest puppy dog eyes. The ones that had always melted her teenage heart before.

For the first time in her life, Buffy could see the benefits of kicking puppies. Instead of kicking him, she released the hold she'd had on her anger and let Angel feel the full force of the rage he had pushed her to. She could hear Spike running towards them now, yelling for Dalton to hurry before he missed out on all the fun. And he was still laughing wildly.

Angel's eyes got real wide and he opened his mouth to say something, but before he had the chance Buffy growled at him and then told him exactly what she wanted him to do.

A few minutes later Oz pulled up in his van with Willow in the passenger seat, and Xander and Anya riding in the back. None of them had any idea what to make of the scene before them.

There was some guy that looked like a friend of Giles' laughing softly and shaking his head, while Spike, the evil vampire that wanted to kill Buffy, was laughing like a lunatic while he swung the Slayer around and sang her praises.

Weirdest of all though, Angel was in the middle of the deserted street with his arms held out straight in front of him and moving jerkily around while he was singing.

Willow was the first one to make the connection. "That's Thriller! The dance from the video about the undead rising and trying to take over! Kind of funny, really, but I never thought that Angel actually had a sense of humor."

Anya started laughing and Oz pulled out his cell phone so he could make use of the video recorder. Xander couldn't peel his eyes off of Spike with his arms around Buffy.

The Slayer of Slayers was holding her and she wasn't fighting! She was laughing! And oh no! Did she really just kiss him! Sick!

Sometimes he wished he was undead. Maybe then he'd have a chance.

Buffy made Angel finish the entire song and dance from the Thriller video. She had been prepared to feed him the steps and what little of the words she could remember through the minion link she had with him but to her complete and utter shock,not to mention Spike's intense amusement, he already knew the entire thing better than she did.

She was aware of the arrival of her friends but chose to ignore their reactions for now. Well...most of their reactions anyway. When she heard the unexpected and extremely rare sound of Oz's laughter she was unable to resist sending the werewolf a small smile that soon widened into a huge grin when he shot her a thumbs up while he pulled his cell phone out to record Angel's impromptu performance for the purpose of posterity. She got a huge thrill out of seeing the usually taciturn musician acting so light hearted, and Spike must have sensed it because she felt a wave of jealousy from him just before he gave her a good shake to reclaim her attention.

'Told ya Slayer, I don' share, so you better save those warm feelings for me.' he informed her through their still new mating claim.

'Cool it Big Bad,' she sent back. 'I'll save all the lustful feelings for you, but the fact of the matter is that I loved these people before I knew you existed. Well, not Oz, those warm fuzzies are more recent due to the help he gave me in adjusting to the new and improved senses, but seeing as there's nothing romantic about my feeling towards anyone else, you really need to get a little chilly with the whole possessive bit.'

Spike still didn't like it but he did manage to quell the jealousy somewhat. After all, she had a hell of a point. Just because they were mated now didn't mean he loved his dark princess any less. Although he was pretty brassed off about the fact that she'd been right in what she said before leaving him the last time.

Spike ambled down the street next to his new mate, trying to block all the nervous fear that was pouring off of her and into him through the claim. He really didn't feel like dealing with her roller coaster emotions right now. He had his own fears and doubts now that the first wave of lust and possession was over.

How the hell did he always end up in one supremely fucked up situation after another? Leave it up to him to end up being the first vampire mated to a Slayer. And not just any Slayer.

Nooo...that would be too easy for him. Nope, he had to go and claim the same Slayer who had repeatedly screwed up his life.

She put him in a wheel chair, and if that wasn't bad enough, she had to go and bring that bastard Angelus back to steal his dark princess away. And now she was the reason his ripe plum had left him for good? So he comes back to Sunnyhell to kille the little bint and prove himself worthy of Dru, and what the hell happens?

He fucks her against the wall in an alley and bonds himself to her for all eternity!

Covered in the Slayer, indeed! Was this what Dru had seen? Cuz if she had seen this going down and not warned him properly so he could prevent it, he'd hunt her down and dust the loony bint himself.

"Stop it Spike!" Buffy yelled at him, startling the other two vampires and the whelp who had opted to walk with them to the library, most likely to keep an eye on the scary vampire who was cuddling with his long time crush.

"The hell, Slayer?" Spike shouted back.

"Look, if you think I'm any happier about this situation than you are, then the peroxide must have leaked into your brain! Like I really wanted to go and mate myself to the most annoying vampire that ever existed! I think I'd rather find myself doomed to a sexless eternity with Angel, but it's too late for..."

Before she could finish that thought she found herself pinned to the large display window of the store they were passing. Spike was pushing her shoulders into the window and had his face right up to hers. His vamped out, snarling face.

And what the hell was wrong her that this possessive demon crap, game face and all, was extremely hot to her?

"I already tol' ya Slayer, you belong to me now and I dont' share. Peaches doesn't get to touch you anymore, not even in your thoughts. Understand?" he sneered at her.

"Oh, but I'm supposed to just smile and deal with it while your mourning the loss of your 'dark princess? I heard every thought going through your head, Spikey." she sneered. God he hated when she called him that! The stupid little bird knew it too. Always used to call him that when they were fighting, trying to piss him off enough to lose his cool.

She thrust one arm up into the air and twisted out of his grip, then she grabbed him by the throat and held him up in the air. Too bad I'm too short to do more than just barely get his toes off the ground, she thought with annoyance. "I don't share either blondey, so you better get those thoughts out of your head if you don't want me thinking about how it felt lose my virginity to your grandsire." She ignored his snarling and went on. "Obviously neither one of us is thrilled to be in this sitch, but it's happened. Apparently the demons in us saw something in each other that we haven't found yet." As she spoke he became aware of something like a wall in her mind that shut off the link between them. It made him feel weird to lose that connection. Wrong. Incomplete.

Not to mention insanely jealous. Did she do that so she could think of Peaches without his knowing? He snarled at the thought.

"But it happened and now we have to deal with the consequences. Like it or not, we belong to each other and we better learn how to deal with it before we kill each other," she finished before reluctantly setting him back on his feet.

Spike stood there and took a few unneeded breaths, trying to control the temper that wanted to rage out of control. "Open it back up, Slayer." he demanded. "Leave the connection open."

"No. Not until we figure out how to do this. I can't handle having you in my head telling me what I can and can't think. I'll watch what I say out of respect for the whole possessive asshole part of this claim thing, but I don't want you in my head right now. And I sure as hell don't want to hear thinking about your crazy ex. If I get another image of her naked, I'm either gonna have to puke, or dust her in front of you just before I dust you. And I don't really care at this point whether or not that will kill me. As long as I never have to listen to whine about how much you want your 'ripe plum'"

"You don't touch Druscilla, hear me!" he screamed at her, practically frothing at the mouth.

"Don't really want to. That's why I closed the link so I could quit feeling like it was necessary."

By this time they were crossing the parking lot of the high school where her friends had parked the van and gone inside to wait for them. Buffy looked back and saw Angel smirking at the fight and felt the smugness he was feeling. Even stronger than Angel's satisfaction however, was the wave of worry coming off of Dalton.

This wasn't looking good for Buffy. Her demon needed love and it didn't look like Spike was the one to give it to Dalton's beloved mistress. For the first time since Spike had turned him so he could use his medical knowledge and love of research to bring Druscilla's health and strength back, he didn't feel lonely and he didn't want to lose the woman responsible for his new sense of belonging. He only wished that the love he felt for her was the right type of love, romantic soulmate kind of love, because the way things were looking now, she wasn't going to find it with the mate she had taken.

As if that wasn't enough to worry about, it was now time to confess all to her Watcher, the man that Dalton knew was like a father to the woman he idolized. He was terrified of the man's reaction. He was closely linked to Buffy after reaffirming the childe claim so many times and so he knew that it would break Buffy to lose the love of this man.

Dalton had always been very peacable for a vampire, never enjoyed the hunt or the kill. He had been relieved when Buffy showed him that he could live without killing and helped him with controlling his demon, but if this man hurt Buffy, Dalton knew that he would kill the Brit himself. He would kill anyone that hurt his mistress.

Buffy burst through the library doors with her back held straight and her head held high. Yeah, she was terrified of the reaction her friends would have once they heard the whole story but that didn't mean she was going to slink around and act like a criminal. She was pretty sure everyone would have a huge problem with the mating claim she'd done with Spike even if they were accepting of everything else they were going to learn tonight, so she may as well as go into this the way she intended to continue. Assured in her choices and confident. Even if it was a split second decision that may have had more to do with hormones than sense.

She was feeling pretty conflicted about it herself at the moment, with Spike being such an ass, but she refused to let herself think about it right now when there was another 'battle' she had to fight. The ability to push everything else aside and focus on business was definitely one of the better things she'd gotten along with her calling. It enabled her to forget about whatever fear she may be feeling and perform her duties to the best of her abilities without distraction. So what if she went home afterwards and broke down in the shower while the radio blared away on the counter covering the sounds of her sobbing?

As long as she was in control while it was important and lives or even dimensions were on the line, noone had to know that inside the tough Slayer exterior she was still a frightened little girl. And that was why she'd closed the link with Spike earlier. The closer she came to the library and the discussion she dreaded so much, the more they were arguing over extremely stupid things. She might not like that he was thinking about Dru but he had spent a century with the...woman...vampiress...crazy ho.

She could understand that he would be thinking about her now as he stood on the verge of beginning another relationship. One that probably went against everything he thought he knew about himself. They were really in a similar situation here and she could feel for his mixed emotions about the thing, but with her freaking out so bad about the coming confrontation, and him no doubt picking up on her wild emotions, the first fight since the beginning of their 'relationship' was inevitable.

She'd closed the link so that she could keep her emotions seperate from the coming 'battle'. Otherwise there was no way she'd be able to confront this head long. Even with the link closed however, she could feel his anger and irritation and...something else, she wasn't sure what, pounding at her with an almost physical sensation of waves rolling over her. Angry waves. She thought that it might be worth trying to see if she could batter him with waves of lust, or amusement, maybe she could make him giggle like a little girl again. Some other time of course. And so it was that she knew she was ready to face this, no matter what the outcome. It was when she became irreverant and couldn't control the puns and quips and completely innappropriate to the moment thoughts that she was the most battle ready.

"So how you doing Giles? I'll bet you're a little bit dizzy right now. Having everything you thought you knew turned upside down will do that, I know." she said lightly.

With her entire focus centered on Giles and waiting for his reaction she didn't notice the slightly awed and somewhat proud look that Spike was giving her, but Dalton did and he couldn't help but smile widely. There might be hope for an eternity for his mistress after all. The happiness and hope he felt upon seeing the way Spike was looking at Buffy was transferred to her through their bond and it was obvious to the vampires and possibly the werewolf if not the humans when she relaxed and lost the feeling of defensiveness allowing her trio of protectors to relax.

Giles continued to polish his glasses, obviously searching for the words to use, and returning a small measure of Buffy's nervousness.

"So what's the what, Giles? Have you decided to kill me or keep me? Or turn me in to the council which is basically the same as killing me, only without the balls." she asked softly, somehow succeeding in keeping all confrontational tones out of her voice.

Too bad vampires were instinctually confrontational.

At the mention of a possibility of danger to her from the older man there was suddenly a wall of angry, growling fangs, amber eyes and extended claws between the Slayer and her Watcher. Giles had just replaced his glasses, having found the right words with the help of his anger at her for asking that question. How could she even consider that he would want to turn her in or even, Powers forbid, kill her himself? He was thrown off for a moment when he was suddenly confronted by three angry vampires, but he only blinked at them a few times before speaking loudly enough to be heard above the continuous growling.

"Buffy, I could never kill you for any reason. I'm sorry to say that I probably wouldn't be able to do it even if you'd been turned into a vampire, which is obviously not the case here. I love you, foolish girl. Like the daughter I never wanted." he said to the girl he couldn't even see for the wall of taller angry vampires.

Buffy was so relieved at Giles' response that the barrier she had put up in her mind to keep Spike completely out of her head crumbled to dust, obliterated by the flood of emotions that both the insecure girl Buffy and the Slayer Buffy were experiencing. When Spike was hit so unexpectedly by the torrent of raw, unconditional love that Buffy was sending to her Watcher, the force of it knocked him to his knees.

Not noticing anything other than the need to look in Giles' eyes and confirm his love, Buffy easily flipped over the vampires landing neatly, directly in front of the stunned englishman. What she saw in his eyes obviously reassured her, because she immediately flung her self into his arms, wrapping hers about his torso and burying her face in his chest, unexpectedly overcome by tears of release.

Sobbing loudly, she was finally able to relieve herself of all the tension and strain she had been feeling for so many weeks now. Although initially stunned by the breakdown of a girl that he knew was phenominally strong, both physically and mentally, Giles quickly overcame his usual hesitation towards public displays and quickly scooped her up and walked the two steps to his desk chair, where he sat with her cradled on his lap while he rubbed her back as she heaved with sobs. The teenagers stared, stunned by disbelief at first, but they were quickly overcome by discomfort at witnessing what seemed to be such an intensely personal moment and looked away. All except for Anya who merely watched with a wide, pleased grin until Xander pulled her away and turned her back to the couple.

Angel and Dalton also tried to give the two some privacy by turning and walking through the stacks as if in search of reading material. Spike however found himself pacing the area in front of the desk with a low snarl vibrating his chest.

He had been knocked for a loop by the initial wave of emotions coming from his mate and had spent a short moment feeling utter awe that anyone could feel such overwhelming emotions, but his awe was quickly followed by anger because now that he had experienced one wall that kept him completely out of her thoughts, he could recognize another, smaller one that seemed to be blocking something specific, and jealousy that those emotions weren't aimed at him.

And how stupid was that? He didn't love the Slayer and he didn't want her love, so why should he feel jealous? Then the watcher had gathered her in his arms to comfort her and his jealousy had quickly turned into a violent, possessive rage that he was fighting against with every bit of control he had ever learned.

He kept reminding himself of the words she had said to him about loving them before she knew him, but not feeling romantic towards any of them. (Which he knew was a damn lie. It was her 'romantic feelings' towards Angel that had sent him raging in to tear up Spikes relationship with Dru, dammit!) Searching her now, he knew there was nothing sexual at all, only filial thoughts in the love she was swamping him with, but all the same, his demon was enraged at the sight of his mate in the arms of another male, and Spike wasn't sure how much longer he would be able to control his demonic instincts.

Somehow, Buffy was able to feel an intense struggle going on even through her sobs of relief. It took a moment for her to figure out what the struggle was about but when she did a jolt of fear shot through her and she reluctantly climbed out of Giles' lap even though the sobs were still ripping through her body and making it impossible for her to stand up straight. As soon as her feet hit the floor Spike was there scooping her up in his arms and clutching her tightly to his chest, as a groom would do to cross the threshold with his bride.

His snarls turned into soft, comforting purrs and he couldn't stop nuzzling his face on her claim mark even as he continued pacing the floor in front of the desk. Buffy just wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and sobbed into his claim mark for a while until the release she had needed so desperately was finally achieved. After her sobs had tapered off she swiped the already healed scar on Spike's neck with her tongue and sent him a wave of gratitude.

Even through her own distress, she had sensed how hard it was for him to see her in another man's arms, and knew how badly he had needed to rip her away and cause damage to the foolish man who had dared touch his mate. He was still snarling a little every time he looked at Giles. Yet despite the demons possessive need to hurt and reclaim he had fought his own instincts and allowed her to be held by another man because he knew how much she needed the reassurance she was receiving.

When she finally lifted her head from the curve of Spike's shoulders she blushed when she became aware of everyone but Dalton staring at her and Spike. Dalton was still wandering the stacks and she could feel a smug feeling of knowledge coming through his childe bond.

Willow looked incredulous and Xander looked disgusted, while Oz, as usual had an unreadable expression. Angel was obviously upset and Giles looked thoughtful, and to Buffy's surprise, almost relieved. 'Why would he be relieved to see me in the arms of the notorious Slayer of Slayers?' she wondered. Spike had no answer. When Buffy noticed that Anya had the same expression of smug knowledge that radiated from Dalton her curiosity peaked and drew Spike's attention to the former vengeance demon.

"Anyanka!" he exclaimed. "Long time no see. It's been what, four decades?" he drew in a deep breath. "Smells like you've left the vengeance business."

"Yes." she said pleasantly. "Forced retirement. I gotta say that I'm glad Buffy picked you. Gives her a much better shot at eternity than she would have gotten with any other vampire I know, which really is a good thing since she's the only Slayer I ever liked. To think that it could have been one of the others, like Mary or Janice. Gives me cold chills."

Buffy looked at the outspoken blond with shock and tried to push out of Spike's arms. He lowered her to the floor but refused at first to let her leave his arms. She insisted however, so he reluctantly let her go.

"Just exactly how much do you know Anya?" Buffy asked.

Everyone looked at Anya expectantly. "I probably know more than you do." she said haughtily. Spike listened attentively, knowing that the ancient former demon would have a take on the situation that he would understand better than anything the watcher had come up with. She was more likely to get it right too. One of the perks of long life. "The demon essence which gives you your Slayer strength has finally found a Slayer it can fully merge with for various reasons. This will be the first time in almost a thousand years. I thought that might be what was happening when all your senses improved so drastically." The shock Buffy felt increased tenfold. Who would have guessed that the usually orgasm focused, blunt and somewhat irreverant Anya could lecture like Giles? She could probably give him a run for his money considering all the centuries of experience she had behind her. Buffy was mentally kicking her self in the ass for not having realized before that Anya could be an incredibly valuable source of information. How many hours of boring research could she have saved herself if she had only thought of this sooner?

Judging by the look on Giles' face, he was thinking along similar lines. He grimaced and began polishing his glasses after he caught Buffy's wry smile.

"When we found you out there with your own little coven of vampires and Angel doing something so totally funny and completely out of character for him I knew I was right. Like I said, I'm glad it was you, but couldn't you have just waited a few more years? In two years it would have been my decade and I could have won the prize, dammit! Oh, and also, I want the story behind how Angel became your minion. I was sure that if it turned out to be you, you'd stupidly make him your mate. I'm glad you picked Spike though. His orgasms will almost certainly be more plentiful." It was almost a relief to Buffy that Anya ended her lecture with some of her expected irreverance.

Buffy felt panic almost immediately however when she realized that Spike was about to direct the conversation into places she'd rather not go with him just yet. Luckily Xander jumped into the gap. Unluckily, he did it with the usual hypocritical demon bashing that seemed to be becoming his trademark lately.

"What do you mean she mated Spike?" he demanded loudly. "What the hell is going on in your head Buffy? Didn't you learn your lesson about soulless demons with the whole Angel/Angelus deal?" he demanded.

"I sure did, Xander," Buffy was quick to reply. Maybe she could push him far enough to steer the conversation completely away from dangerous areas. But how to really piss him off? It was time for her to finally put his jealousy to something that would be useful for her rather than awkward and uncomfortable. "That's why this time around I got myself a vampire who doesn't have a soul.
See, that way there won't be any huge changes after the happy moment. I mean, hey, it's already been almost three hours and he's still the same amount of crazy and mean as he was before. Still no signs of a split personality."

Xander's brain apparently had some difficulty processing the implications that Buffy and Spike had already had sex. He stood there for a few minutes with his mouth opening and closing and a glazed vacant look in his eyes. Giles' glasses polishing became quite focused and almost violent, while Anya smiled and mouthed 'Good job!' to Buffy and Spike. Willow blushed and looked away, still not quite sure how to jump into this conversation. She wished they would hurry up and get to the research part of the night already!

"Oh. My. God." Xander said tonelessly as his brain caught up. Buffy could smell the exact instant that the new information completely sank in, just before Xander started shouting. Disgust, jealousy, despair and wierdly enough, arousal were coming off of him.

Ew.

"When the hell did your sacred calling change from Vampire Slayer to Vampire Layer, Buffy?" he yelled. "I'm pretty sure that the PTB never intended for their 'champion of good' to whore it out to all the good looking vampires she came across! I mean..."

Suddenly he had two extremely pissed off vampires in his face, and they were both in game face and snarling yet again.

Buffy rolled her eyes. Even though she didn't want them to do anything other than snarl and growl, it was still starting to get old. She wondered how long it would be before they all adjusted enough to be able to go longer than a fifteen minutes without any snarling. Unless it was the good snarling like Spike had done in the alley earlier. The kind that vibrated through his entire body and into hers... 'Focus Buffy!' she shouted to herself.

Spike, surprisingly loosened up his crouch and chuckled at her, shooting another of his hot, game face looks at her.

'Seriously, I can't find that hot can I? No way. Must be the demon in me.'

Xander, as usual being surprisingly courageous, stood his ground in the face of the angry vampires, even though he did pale noticeably.

Then Xander felt cool breath on the back of his neck before two strong hands slammed down on his shoulders making him squeal like a little girl. "You'd be smart to watch what you say about Miss Buffy," Dalton said softly right next to his ear. "There are, after all, three vampires in here who wouldn't hesitate to kill in defense of her. Even if it's just to spare her the hurt feelings that loose lips can cause." He let go of Xander's shoulders and stepped back, barely controlling his laughter when Xander jumped away from him and right into Angel's chest.

Angel gripped his shoulders hard in the same place that Dalton had just bruised with his fierce grip. "You really should be more careful Xander," he said in a menacing tone that carried dark shades of Angelus. "We wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Just then the scent coming off of Xander changed again. Buffy decided to tactfully ignore it and pretend that she didn't notice, but apparently tact was beyond Spike's capabilities. He dissolved into helpless laughter for the second time that night.

"Hee hee hee! Scared the whelp..ha ha..so bad that he just..hee hee..just..haha..just..hahaha..just pissed his pants! That's frickin' fantastic Peaches! Hee hee hee! Do it again! Do it again!"

Buffy elbowed Spike in the stomach hard enough to choke his laughter off and didn't look at the red faced brunette as he ran from the room, the smell of embarassment mixing with the sharp odor of urine.

Willow's cheeks burned bright red with empathy for her friend, but Anya, surprisingly, looked amused.

There was an awkward moment filled with the sounds of choked back laughter before Giles cleared his throat. "So, um, Buffy, would you like to tell us about your new, uh, friends now?"

"Yeah, sure." she said hoarsely, her throat still tight with the effort to control her own laughter. So Buffy began her tale, starting with the night of Angel's poisoning. Xander came back into the room dressed in his gym shorts just as Buffy got to the part about forcing Angel to drink from her and her sudden, innate knowledge that he was trying to force a claim on her.

He edged around the room to the table, being careful to give Spike and Angel a wide berth and nervously looking around the room for the other vampire. The way Spike was glaring and growling at Angel, with game face on helped remind Xander why he should keep his big mouth shut. For now, anyway.

It was a difficult thing for Xander to do however, especially when he saw the way Buffy was looking at Spike while she spoke. The look on her face was similar to the one Anya got just before attacking him and demanding orgasms. It was even harder to do when Buffy told them about turning the claim on Angel and making him her minion. Spike, thankfully, quit glaring at this part of the story and smirked at Angel instead, feeling quite good about the fact that he had gotten the bond with the Slayer that Angel had craved since first laying eyes on a scared teenager learning about her calling for the first time ever. Even when he was without a soul and completely insane, he had wanted this bond with her, which was probably a large part of the reason he had been insanes in the first place.

Too bad! You missed out Peaches. She's mine now, Spike thought with glee and ignored the daggers Buffy's eyes were shooting at him.

"Do you think you could, erm, explain exactly what this minion claim means?" Giles asked pulling out his everready notebook and pen in order to capture this story as well as he could with out resorting to the technological advance he despised so much.

"Means she controls 'is mind and he has to follow her orders." Spike answered the Watcher's question.

"Oh!" Willow exclaimed softly. "Is that why he was performing Thriller in the middle of the road earlier?" she asked as her brain "Cuz you made him do it? Why did you make him do it anyway?"

"Because he really pissed me off and didn't want to believe the evidence in front of him that I've moved on." she said simply. Spike kissed the top of her head when her words made his chest feel somehow fuller, the sensation increasing when she looked at him with a soft smile.

"So, you have the power to make Angelus, er, Angel, do anything you want, no matter how out of character it is?" Giles asked almost hopefully.

"Yeah. I guess so." she answered with a shrug.

"Do you think you could make him do the chicken dance for me? Purely in the interest of research of course." Giles said trying and failing to sound dignified and scholarly with his request for a small petty revenge for hours of torture.

Buffy was trying to figure out a way to diplomaticaly refuse Giles' request to see Angel forced to do the chicken dance. Even though it was purely in the interest of research. Of course.

It only took Buffy about four seconds of thought to realize that she couldn't deny Giles. Not after the hours of torture he had endured at the hands of a soulless Angel.

Spike started bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, and Buffy would swear that she heard a giggle from the blonde vampire. Obviously he had picked her answer out of her mind.

She looked at Angel, trying to convey that he could do this on his own or he would be forced. He obviously understood, as evidenced by the way he jumped up and ran for the door using his vampire speed. Too bad for him that a former valley girl could talk faster than a vampire could run, even if she happened to be speaking in an ancient language.

Angel stopped suddenly in the center of the open space between the doors and the table. It was rather reminiscent of a dog reaching the end of his leash.

He spun around slowly, still fighting against the orders, and making Buffy angry. She growled louder and Willow and Xander gasped at seeing her green eyes flash silver and a small pair of fangs pushing at her bottom lip.

Angry at Angels defiance, Buffy not only made him do the dance, she also had him vocalize the silly little tune that always went along with the chicken dance.

Four times.

Oz pulled out his cell phone and began video taping the performance. For posterity of course.

Willow dissolved into a giggle fit that left her breathless with tears rolling down her face.

Anya watched with an almost indulgent smile, while Giles watched the angry, humiliated look on Angels face with a satisfied smile.

For the first time since seeing Buffy in Spike's arms, Xander wasn't exuding anger and disgust. Apparently it's hard to hold on to those emotions when you're otherwise busy laughing your ass off.

Spike was laughing and giving Angel advice. "Show some enthusiasm, man! No one wants to pay to see a lackluster performance like that! Show us those pearly whites!" Angel snarled at him, baring his teeth.

Buffy just rolled her eyes before finally releasing Angel from her bonds and letting the humiliated vampire run from the library so he could go brood in peace.

Spike turned to Buffy, mouth opening to say something that he never got the chance to say. As soon as he saw her silver eyes and small fangs, something inside him snapped. Hard enough for Buffy to feel it. Her eyes flared brighter in response, so that they seemed to be lit from within.

All signs of laughter disappeared from Spike's face as his demon took over and his face shifted. He crouched down and rammed his shoulder into Buffy's waist causing her to fold over his back. He then wrapped his arm around her legs gripping her thigh with one big hand and spun around to run from the library.

Before he made it to the door, Xander was already running to the weapons cage, searching frantically for the keys.

Giles knew that Buffy would have no problem removing herself from Spike's grip, so he merely watched.

She pulled his duster to one side, baring his denim clad ass and gripped one cheek while she smacked the other. Then she lifted her upper body away from him enough to look up and shoot her friends an evil, excited look just as they disappeared through the doors.

Willow, who was watching with a stunned look on her face turned bright red and averted her eyes to a corner of the library, being too embarrassed to risk meeting someone's eye. Oz chuckled and Anya cheered and wished them many orgasms.

Xander started swearing, being still unable to find the keys that Giles was unobtrusively slipping into his pocket. "Xander, there's no reason to go chasing after them. I'm fairly certain Buffy has no desire to be 'rescued'.

"What?!" Xander exclaimed, "did you see the way he went all bumpy before he snatched her up and ran? And now you want to just stand here while he kills her?"

"Giles is right, Xander. Buffy wanted to go with him." Willow said softly with another fierce blush. Oz chuckled.

"Oh, yes," Anya agreed, "They're about to give each other many orgasms. Honestly, I'm surprised they managed to hold off this long so early in the claim."

"Yes, erm, well," Giles paused as an image of Buffy grinning and slapping a master vampires ass replayed in his mind. "Perhaps tomorrow we could discuss all your knowledge of the claiming rituals and practices tomorrow, Anya?" Giles asked. "When she nodded, he came around the desk and began to usher the group out the door. "I think it's time for everyone to go home and get some rest for now, but we can continue this meeting tomorrow after school."

As soon as everyone was out and Giles had locked the front doors of the school he returned to his office and fell into his desk chair. He sighed and relived, yet again, the image of Buffy and Spike-his Slayer and a vampire for God's sake!- groping each other on their hasty way out the door.

"Oh good Lord." he muttered to himself just before reaching into a desk drawer and pulling out a bottle of Scotch. He had every intention of drinking until he could completely purge the disturbing image from his mind.

Spike kicked the door to the motel room shut and let Buffy slide down the front of his body until the tips of her toes touched the floor. Buffy, thrilled that her eager hands finally had access to something other than his tight ass, tilted her head back for a kiss while her hands pushed his duster off his shoulders and down his arms.

As much fun as she had had with him in the alley, she couldn't wait to finally see the tight, compact muscles she had felt flexing under her. The clothes had to go!

He grabbed her by the back of her neck while he plundered her mouth with his, nipping and sucking at her lips and tongue, while she continued to work at removing all of his clothes. He refused to release her mouth when she tried to lift his t-shirt over his head, so she just ripped it down the middle, leaving it hanging open, exposing the sexiest chest she had ever felt, glorying for a brief moment in rippling muscles under his smooth, surprisingly soft skin, before moving to the button on his jeans.

After a few moments of frantic fumbling, she finally decided that she could get him new jeans and ripped the fly open, sending the button flying across the room and mangling the metal teeth of his zipper.

"Oi! I happen to like these pants, little missy!" he protested against her lips.

She gripped his already hard cock with both hands and squeezed. "I happen to like what's underneath them more." she mumbled before attacking his lips with her own teeth and tongue, smirking at the low growl that rumbled out of his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her and spun them both about slamming her into the door. He removed her eager hands from their job of unmanning him and pinned them to the door above her head, pressing the length of his body against hers and reveling in the sensation of her heat. She was definitely wearing too many clothes he decided before switching his grip on her hands so he could hold both of her deceptively tiny wrists in one hand and ripping her halter top down the middle with the other. He chuckled at her outraged cry before muffling her complaint with his mouth, thrusting his tongue into her the same way he wanted to thrust other parts into her.

She allowed him to pin her hands to the door even though she knew she could overpower him easily. She was extremely turned on by the forcefulness he was using with her. She'd only had the one time with Angel before tonight, and he had been so tender and gentle and careful. As if he were worried he would break her.

Spike growled again and pulled his head up to look her in the eyes with a warning.

'Oops. He must have caught that.'

Spike growled again.

'You do realize that you came out better in the comparison, don't you?' she asked him silently, leaning up and trying to capture his lips with hers again.

'Don't matter, pet. I don't want you thinking about that time at all, much less when you're doing this' he dipped his knees and thrust up when he felt his engorged cock slip under the hem of her skirt, brushing only his sensitive tip against her wet core, 'with me. The only thing I want you thinkin' about right now is how hard and how fast you want me to fuck you.'

He couldn't help the smirk that curled his lips when her excitement and arousal climbed even higher at the words flowing into her mind from his. "Slayer likes it dirty, huh? Naughty girl, you are." he said out loud with his face buried in her neck. He scraped his teeth over her throbbing jugular and then soothed the slight sting with a swipe of his cool tongue.

"Ah ah ah.." he said softly, pushing her harder into the door with his body when she tried to lift her legs and wrap them around his waist. "You got to control it last time, pet. My turn now." With those words still hanging in the air, he gripped her waist and spun around flinging her in the air and enjoying the show as she landed on the bed, bouncing in an incredibly distracting manner. "I'm gonna make you so wet I can drown in it," he warned her as he slid his fingers from her knees down her calves to the zippers on her boots, barely taking enough time to actually use the zippers before ripping the faux leather off of her feet. He brought one dainty foot up to his mouth and peppered light kisses across the pronounced arch while enjoying the shadowed view he had of the delights hidden by her skirt.

She giggled at the ticklish sensation and tried to yank her foot away, but he tightened his grip, looked her in the eyes and growled. "My. Turn." he told her in a soft and dangerous voice. He couldn't help the smirk that ruined the implied threat though when he felt her desire heighten and the smell of her arousal become stronger.

Maybe he could fulfill his fantasy of the Slayer submitting to him after all, he realized with excitement.

Not just yet though. He had other plans for tonight. Plans of sexual torture to force her secrets out into the open. He was gonna makes her beg for him and she was gonna take down that last fuckin' wall in her mind before he was through.

She tensed up and pushed up onto her elbows and glared at him. 'Oops, she must have' caught that. He thought and she wanted to kick him across the room when she could hear the mocking tone of the thought.

'And why the hell not?' she wondered a split second before she jerked her foot out of his grasp, braced herself on the mattress and kicked him across the room. He slammed into the wall causing plaster dust and paint chips to shower down on him.

Moving quickly she pressed him against the wall and grabbed his cock before he could even grunt at the impact. "I don't beg, Spikey." she murmured against his mouth squeezing him and making him groan. "Not for anything."

'A challenge!' he thought happily, the mere force of his exuberance working to make her a little uneasy. She squeezed again, this time putting enough force behind it to bring him to the point of pain, hoping to warn him away from the course he had planned. She couldn't let him get through that wall! It would tear him up to not be able to help her.

She had no doubt that he wouldn't be able to love her the way her demon needed. He was a soulless vampire, after all. But just because he couldn't love, didn't mean he wouldn't want to keep her safe and happy. Wouldn't need to keep her safe and happy now that her rash actions in the alley had irrevocably tied his life to hers.

He might not be able to love her, but she was fairly certain that she could easily love him. He had already shown her a physical ecstasy that she had never imagined possible. Plus the glimpses she'd had of his child like exuberance and excitement that night had definitely endeared him to her in a way she wouldn't have thought possible. She didn't want him hurting over something he couldn't help, so she couldn't let him behind that wall.

Spike however was determined to get through that wall. He no longer believed that she was hiding thoughts of Angel behind it. Somehow, his brain had managed to work on the problem during the run across town to the motel. It had worked slowly, what with her hands running all over him wherever she could reach, but it had worked, and it had come up with a partial answer to the riddle.

What ever she was hiding in there, he was sure it had to do with something she had mentioned briefly while they were still in the alley. She had said there was only one way he could kill her now, and that she was afraid he would succeed. It was completely ridiculous, of course. While he might be physically capable of killing her, it would hurt him to do so, just as much as it hurt her. That's why he wanted to get through that soddin' wall. So he could disabuse her of her foolish fear.

He didn't like it that the fearless girl who had always messed up his plans so effectively would be afraid of anything. Now that she was his, he really didn't want her to be afraid of him. It felt like it should be against all natural laws that the one who averted so many apocalypses without seeming to bat an eye would be afraid of the one creature who was now hopelessly devoted to her well being.

And although the bond didn't actually require that he kept her happy, he wanted to. He had seen sides of her tonight that he'd never considered before. Not the sexual side of course. He'd spent far too much time considering that side of her from the first moment he laid eyes on her in the Bronze.

But the playful side she'd shown in the alley was appealing. Not to mention the fact that the vindictiveness she'd shown towards Angel was a huge turn on. He actually found himself hoping that Angel would screw up bad enough to make her kick his big broody ass. But only when Spike was there to see it, of course.

He was completely conflicted about the whole situation and wasn't really sure how he felt about the major changes his life had taken on this momentous night. He was sure, however, that Buffy was keeping an important secret from him and that he wasn't about to let her do it any longer. He'd already done the one sided relationship for more than a century now and he'd be damned if he was going to jump into another one.

Looking at the Slayer pressing him into the wall and stroking his cock in a vain effort to deny him the control he was sure she wanted him to have, it occurred to him that he was probably damned already, and not just in the afterlife...er...after dust. He ripped her hand off of him and threw her back across the room, deliberately missing the bed this time. She landed on her ass right next to the bathroom door, just as he had hoped she would.

It was time to get down to business and show the Slayer who was boss.

Buffy looked down at the faucet of the bathtub and tried to make sense of the rather alarming situation she found herself in.

Here she was- the Chosen One of the Powers That Be, weapon of destruction against the forces of darkness, named the Vampire Slayer- and she was bent over a dingy bathtub in a cheap motel room, handcuffed to the exposed pipes with a pair of cuffs that not even her super strength could break; with an angry, determined vampire hovering behind her and delightedly considering all the different forms of sexual torture he was going to use on her.

Despite the horrifying connotations of her situation, and her minds attempts to deny it, her body was reacting in ways that made it very clear to the vampire with the mind link to her that she was very turned on. That's not even considering his superior sense of smell.

Spike drew a deep breath in through his mouth, relishing the heavy and potent taste of her arousal in the air. "Tsk tsk, Slayer," he murmured in a husky voice that betrayed his own hightened arousal. He ran one finger down the crack of her ass and lightly over her dripping folds, barely managing to bite back the pleased purr that rose in his chest. "I think you're enjoying this a little too much."

Buffy gave the cuffs another hard, useless pull and turned her head so she could glare at him over her shoulder. The son-of-a-bitch was smirking!

"Spike, you better uncuff me right now before I-" she was cut off by a swift smack planted on her right ass cheek hard enough to surprise a squeal out of her.

"Don' really think you're in a position to be makin' demands right now, Pet." Spike said before soothing the bright red handprint on her ass with a gentle stroke of his cool hand.

"Dammit Spike! I swear-" another hard smack on her left cheek this time.

"Last warnin' Slayer." he warned her while admiring the twin handprints on her firm, heart shaped ass. "You don't get to speak unless I give you permission, and you sure as hell don't get to make demands."

As usual, Buffy's mouth outran her brain. "Fuck you! You're not-"

She only had a split second warning when she felt the admiration he had been sending through the bond burn away in a hot flare of anger before her words and thoughts were lost to the intense pain he administered with a long flurry of hard smacks to her ass and thighs.

She cried out, nearly screaming and tried to move her ass away, stepping to the side and bending her knees, but he merely wrapped one arm under her and held her in place as he continued the punishing lesson.

After a few minutes he finally began to wind down and eventually slowed to a stop. By this time, she had been reduced to whimpers and tears.

He kept his arm under her and continued to hold her up, only now it was because her knees were trembling and her muscles wouldn't hold her up. He could feel her anger through the bond but she kept her mouth shut other than the whimpers and small sobs that managed to escape despite her desperation to hold them in.

Since she seemed to have learned the first lesson, he showed her gentle care now, murmuring softly and and lightly stroking her heated throbbing skin while lightly kissing along her shoulders and nape.

As her tears dried and her whimpers ceased his strokes become firmer and his fingers wandered closer to her wet core. He was pleased to note that she was subtly pushing her hips up into his touch and trying to angle herself to bring his fingers to where she most wanted to feel him touching her, where she needed the friction he could give her.

He continued stroking her, but moved his hand along with her hips to deny her the friction she wanted. As the strength returned to her legs and she began to hold her own weight he began moving the hand that had been holding her up, caressing her stomach and ribs with a feathery touch. He always stopped just under the curve of her breasts and she began to moan and arch her back in an attempt to push her breasts into his hand. He stopped all movements and let his hands rest where they were.

"Ah ah ah. No more noises Slayer. I don't want to hear a sound from you unless you're telling me your little secret." he murmured into her neck. She shivered at the feel of his cool breath on the back of her neck before shaking her head and making a sound of denial, earning another smack. The hard contact on her still throbbing ass caused a groan to rip from her throat and earned another smack.

She made a hissing noise as she sucked air in past her tightly gritted teeth, but he decided to let that one slide since it wasn't a vocalization and resumed his soothing massage. He soaked in the confused feelings she was emitting, forgetting himself for a moment and drowning in the mixed up feelings swirling through her. Lust, need, desire, anger, shock, and one more that he couldn't quite chase down. He focused harder on the elusive emotion until he was able to identify it.

Shame.

She was ashamed of the fact that she was turned on by the things he was doing to her and the way he was dominating her. It occurred to him that maybe he had tried to take her too far for their first session, but he shrugged off the slight feeling of guilt and began using the bond to help her past this last inhibition. After all, if she was gonna spend the rest of eternity with him, she was gonna have to past it anyway.

The sooner the better, right?

He sent her a heavy wave of his own lust while simultaneously sliding one long finger down her sopping slit and rubbing light, teasing circles on her throbbing clit. She bit into her bottom lip, holding in the cry of relief and pleasure that wanted to soar out of her, but she had no control over the way her body otherwise reacted to the longed for stimulation.

Her stance widened, giving him more access, and her hips circled, pushing into the delicious friction she'd been craving so badly.

While rubbing her clit with one finger he began to rhythmically dip his thumb into the opening of her hot, tight canal, only enough to barely breach her soaking lips, knowing that this would amp up her frustration rather than relieve her.

He searched her emotions again and was pleased to find no hints of shame this time. Only lust and desire and need.

He began to lightly spank her with his other hand, alternanting cheeks with each stroke and ever mindful of the fact that his overly enthusiastic lesson had left her sore. Still no shame.

The feeling of need had increased alot though.

As soon as her thighs began to quiver he ceased all ministrations and removed his hands from her body. She turned to look at him over her shoulder again, this time with no anger on her face. She had a plea in her eyes, begging him without words.

"Is there something you'd like to say Pet?" he asked gently, resting one hand on her back and gripping his rock hard erection with the other.

She nodded but didn't speak and he sent her a wave of pride.

He looked at her face for a few moments, glorying in the submission she was giving him, while he stroked his painfully engorged cock, rubbing his thumb over the tip with each stroke.

Her eyes jerked down, drawn by the movements of his hand and her desire reached an all time high. When her eyelids became heavy and she licked her lips while watching him fondle himself, he had to stop his stroking and grip himself tightly at the base of his cock to stop himself from cumming just at the sight of her, hungry for him.

While regaining control of himself, he took in the glorious sight before him. Buffy, bent over and helpless, submitting all the power to him with dew running down the inside of her thighs and glistening on her dark curls.

He had a moment of disbelief. Surely this couldn't be any more than an amazingly vivid wet dream? Where else but in his dreams could he have this gorgeous sun kissed beauty laid out before him with her ass fiery red and her eyes begging him for release?

"You can speak." he granted her permission, needing to hear her voice, needing the proof that this was real and not just the best hallucination of his existence.

She turned her head away from him and looked down. He could feel a curious mix of embarrassment and determination coming from her. "Spike..." she moaned, still not looking at him. Good thing it was too, just the sound of his name said in her voice so thick with desire tested his restraint yet again. "I want... no, I need to feel you inside me."

Fuckin' glorious! He was certain it didn't get any better than this. He would probably wake up any minute now.

May be could make her beg first though. After all, this was his fantasy...

Spike looked down at the Slayer, His Slayer. He was enjoying the thought that he might be able to make her beg before the night was through, but first, if he was going to have any chance in hell of holding onto his own need to feel her cumming and clenching those glorious Slayer muscles on his aching cock, he was going to have to find his own release. If not, there was no way he would be able to hold out long enough to hear her beg.

In a way it was rather infuriating to him how much he needed this tight little beach bunny body in front of him. In all of his decades he had never been this close to losing control when he wanted to keep it. So he would see to his own release, and then he would see to making the proud warrior beg.

"Alright, Pet. I'll let you feel me inside you then since you asked so nicely." Of course, she hadn't been specific about where inside her she needed him...

He slipped three fingers into her dripping cunt with no warning, her shocked cry of pleasure causing his cock to jump and twitch. He lightly smacked her ass and reminded her that she wasn't to make any noises until he allowed her to do so before he began to circle her puckered asshole with one of the fingers he had lubed with her juices. She tensed up and jerked away, every muscle protesting what she now realized he intended to do, and turned her head to glare at him over her shoulder.

'You might enjoy something like that being done to you seeing as how you're a soulless vampire, but I can tell you right now it isn't going to happen to me!' She yelled at him in her mind.

He just grinned cockily at her and shoved his finger into the tightly clenched hole, knowing that it would hurt while she was so tensed and clenched. She was unable to stop the cry of shocked pain that escaped her delicious lips so he smacked her ass again, not so lightly this time. "Told you to be quiet, little girl." he warned one last time. If she did it again he would make her really regret not following his orders. She must have picked up his determination because she bit her lip hard and turned her head forward again with every muscle in her body tensed up so much she was trembling. "You might want to relax now, Pet, or this'll hurt alot more than it has to." He warned her before shoving another finger inside her with no ceremony. She jerked and clenched tighter for a moment, trapping his fingers with her powerful muscles. 'Why the hell would a Slayer need to have super strength there?' Spike asked himself, knowing she could hear him through the bond. 'Oh yeah. In case an evil, soulless vampire wants to violate all of her most personal places.'

She was taking deep breaths through her mouth and exhaling loudly through her nose in an attempt to relax her muscles and he waited. Not like he could really do anything anyway while she had a death grip on his fingers. If he had circulation, she'd be cutting it off right now. He couldn't wait to feel that power around his cock.

After she finally managed to relax her muscles, he rewarded her by rubbing light circles on her clit while he moved his fingers slowly in and out of her tight asshole, scissoring them to stretch her out more. When she began to move with him and little whimpers escaped her throat he added a third finger. She tensed up again a little, but quickly forced herself to relax.

He quit rubbing her nubbin and scooped up the juices that were flowing from her and running down her thighs before smearing them on his cock. The perfect lube.

He removed his fingers and quickly replaced them with his aching length pushing into her with one long steady stroke until his balls were nestled tightly against her dripping pussy. He could feel what she felt through the bond and while she wasn't enjoying this at all, the pain was minimal. As minimal as it could be anyway, considering his width and length.

He held himself still for a moment, clamping down on his control, wanting to enjoy this as much as possible. He reached around her and began to stroke her again, waiting to begin his own strokes until she responded and began to move with his fingers. He pulled out of her slowly and thrust back in hard, shaking her with the impact. He set up a steady pace and began to pump in and out of her, losing control of the filter between his brain and his mouth.

"Fuck!...feels so good, pet...hot and tight...love the way you feel around me...all of you...so good...so hot..." He was just barely managing to rein himself in with her gripping his entire length this way but he was determined to get the most out of this, just in case it didn't happen again for a few decades or so.

Then he realized she was moving back into him and her legs were begining to quiver.

Fuck! The Slayer was about to cum from nothing more than his cock pounding into her ass! He rolled his eyes up and sent a sincere thank you to the Powers That Be and then released the tight grip he had on himself, losing the slow steady rhythm and pounding hard, fast and erratically. It only took about three more strokes to bring him over the edge and send him headfirst into the second most intense orgasm of his life. He ground himself into her as he shot his cold seed into her heated depths with a primal roar and then collapsed over her back with his cock still buried inside her and his head resting between her shoulder blades.

Her legs were still quivering but the low hum of frustration and need that had been pouring out of her since he threw her over his shoulder and ran out of the library so long ago had increased to a roar.

Good.

She had come really close this time, almost too close, but she still hadn't found relief, and he now had more control over himself. Plus, he had learned that she really liked anal sex, whether she was ready to admit it or not.

Life was good.

When he managed to regain control over his muscle function and pull himself out of her he stood up and reached over her to unlock the cuffs. Her arms fell limply into the tub, useless until her circulation returned. He scooped her up and carried her bridal style to the bed placing her gently in the center, and ignoring the glare she was shooting at him. He rolled her over onto her stomach and began to rub her back, massaging the muscles that had tightened up from being bent over for so long.

She moaned in pleasure whenever he attacked a particularly tight muscle but he let it slide without any punishment. He had tried force to get her secrets from her, and although he was thrilled to learn that she liked all the things he had done to her so far, it hadn't achieved his goal. She still kept her secret. So maybe if he tried gentle and loving...

It would still be a form of torture though since he still had no intention of letting her cum, but he found himself, oddly enough, wanting to be gentle and loving with her. Wanting to caress her soft skin and kiss every inch of her tiny but powerful body. He wanted to worship the goddess laying before him with his body and make her cry from the exquisite pleasure.

So far they'd only had rough and hurried, and then violent sex. He wanted something he'd never had before.

He wanted to make love to her.

Spike looked down at the naked, heaving body of the Slayer sprawled out on the bed before him. He was begining to become accustomed to the feeling of awe that had continuously struck him dumb throughout this amazing, unbelievable night.

He had begun the night with firm plans to find, fight and possibly kill this tiny being. Yet here he was now, tied to her for the rest of eternity and trying to decide which part of her body he wanted to worship first.

Somewhere, he knew the Powers That Be were rolling on the floor laughing at their ruination of yet another of his brilliant plans.

They had a million problems ahead of them thanks to the impulsive decision of their demons earlier on this monumental night, but he couldn't bring himself to care about any of that. For the first time in over a century, he felt that he belonged. He had a purpose now even if he hadn't quite sussed out exactly what it was yet.

This amazing creature wanted him. Spike. William the Bloody. Even though he couldn't control the insane jealousy that ripped through his body at the thought that Peaches had ever touched her hot, soft skin, he had no doubt that she didn't see him as a replacement, a placeholder for the great Poof the way Dru had always done. This little girl looked at him with a fire burning hot in her lovely eyes and it was a fire that he knew burned only for him. Had always burned for him since the first moment he had stepped out of the shadows clapping and congratulating her for killing the minion he had brought with him as bait.

Even then he had seen and recognized the flare of attraction in her eyes that had turned into one of hatred and disappointment only when she realized what he was and what he planned for her. But the fire was still there, burning hotly every time they came up against each other trading sarcastic comments and blows in a dance that had never failed to turn the both of them on. There had been no mistaking the scent that had wafted around him every time they fought, teasing his senses and making him hard as a rock while trading blows with her.

And now he knew where he wanted to start his worship of her tight little body. Right at the source of that enticing smell. He grinned at her and curled his tongue behind his teeth, taking delight in the way her breath hitched and her heart skipped a beat when he grabbed one of her shapely feet and lifted it up for the kisses and licks that he began to place on the arch of her foot. The hitch in her breathing over the little suckling kisses he gave to each one of her red tipped toes before traveling up the graceful curve of her powerful calf, kissing licking and nibbling on the soft silken skin with his eyes trained on the prize nestled between her thighs. The glistening, dripping, swollen prize that he now knew was capable of burning him with the intensity of the sun in the best way ever. The little piece of heaven that now belonged completely to him. He'd kill anyone for daring to think about touching what was his, and he'd make it a slow painful death.

Buffy looked at the platinum head that was traveling up her leg and almost gave in to his demands. The bright blue eyes that shone with something that could almost be love as he looked back at her. For a moment she was almost fooled into telling him how much she needed his love, how much she was already begining to feel the same for him. The wall in her mind weakened and Spike, sensing his coming victory dove down to give her a long firm lick from the anus he had plundered so joyfully up to the swollen nubbin that burned for him. He looked up at her with his face buried in her dripping folds and smirked, pleased with the coming victory.

It was that smirk, the same one he always shot her when he gained an advantage in their battles, that strengthened the walls protecting her secret. The same smirk that had always infuriated her and given her that extra boost of passion that she needed to fight him to a draw. She had always known that it was her emotions that made her so good at her calling, and she had no doubt it was the anger that smirk always ignited in her that made it possible for her to succeed against Spike. After all, he had a century of studying and fighting and loving the fight passionately, as compared to her handful of years and innate ability. The passion that he had always ignited in her, in one form or another, was the only thing that kept them equal during the dance.

She added the mental image of drywall and insulation to the brick wall that he already saw in her mind and smirked right back at him.

His satisfied look faded for a moment into a disappointed look that almost won the battle for him. How could she even consider not giving this amazing creature anything he wanted when he looked at her with so much awe and emotion? Oh, yeah. Cause this particular truth could only hurt him with his inability to give her the one thing that both the girl and the demon needed so much.

The disappointment shifted to determination and she recognized the ruthlessness in his eyes. It was the same ruthlessness that Angel had warned them about so long ago, and she felt a shot of trepidation. She was stubborn as hell, but he had a centuries worth of experience in the art of stubborn determination. She forced the trepidation down and replaced it with determination that matched his. After all, their many fights had already shown that experience had nothing against the determination of a Summers woman. She refused to hurt him with the knowledge when she knew that he could do nothing about it.

She pushed aside the little voice that asked how he could have his feelings hurt if he didn't have a soul. After all, if she was so sure he could and would feel emotional pain, how could she be so sure that he couldn't feel love? She relied on her so called knowledge that lack of a soul meant incapable of love, and the fact that he did have emotions made no difference to his inability to love. After all, Angel had ceased to love her when he quit with the soul-having, so that must mean that you needed a soul to love, right? But she did have a soul and she was already close enough to loving Spike that she didn't want to hurt him. Somehow, that would have to be enough for both her and the demon, to know that he would be hurt by his inability to love her and to know that she loved him anyway.

Spike sucked her clit in between his lips and growled a warning at her, having picked up on the fact that her thoughts had drifted to Gel Boy again. The vibrations of his possessive growl effectively shot any and all coherent thought out the window and she started quivering, having been brought to the brink of orgasm that quickly. Recognizing the signs of impending release, Spike let go of her clit and moved his tongue down to her dripping hole plunging just the tip of his tongue into her repeatedly, his eyes rolling a little bit at the flavor of her exploding on his tongue.

"Taste so bloody amazing, Pet." he murmured into her folds. "Could spend the rest of eternity fuckin' you with my mouth." His smirk returned when a fresh wash of her juices coated his tongue at his words. He shifted into game face and began to give her pussy long, leisurely licks with the roughened surface of his tongue, snickering when she jerked in shock at the new sensation and cried out in frustrated pleasure.

When even that brought her close to the brink yet again he began to move up her body, still licking and occassionly scraping lightly on her skin with his fangs so he could lick up the few drops of blood he'd released from her. Buffy grabbed onto his hair and tried to shove his face back down, wanting his tongue and, yes, even his teeth back at her most intimate area but he ignored the urgent demands she was making and continued his way up her delectable little body. When he reached her breasts he circled one nipple with his tongue and massaged the other one with his hand. The noises coming out of her were enough to bring his own body back to the almost painful point of need that he had delayed earlier by fucking her amazing ass. He wanted nothing more than to jerk her legs apart and pound into her with all his strength until neither one of them could move, but he had a plan and he was bloody well sticking to it.

Although infamous for his impatience and inability to wait for all the pieces to fall together before implementing his ideas, he would have no problem delaying this time. As long as he could continue to feast on Buffy, he would have all the patience in the world. After all, he had finally found an interesting enough diversion to keep his boredom from ruining a well thought out plan.

He continued moving up her body, taking his sweet time at her neck, licking and nibbling on the column of her neck, and taking a moment to suck furiously just beneath her jaw, marking her yet again on the other side from his bite mark before moving to the other side and licking her claim mark repeatedly knowing that it would send shocks through her body everytime he touched it, continuously building her up more and more without actually granting her release.

"Taste so good, Slayer." he whispered huskily into the shell of her ear, positioning his body so that the blunt head of his cock nudged on her folds. She spread her legs wider and writhed around in an attempt to position his dick where she most wanted to feel it but he simply pulled away from her, holding himself above her body with locked arms, not touching her anywhere other than his lips against her ear. "Makes me wanna slide into your hot cunny and pound you into the mattress, make you quiver and shake and scream my name. Wanna feel your tight little pussy grippin' my cock, milkin' me dry while I fuck you till you can't think bout anythin' cept how good it feels to have me throbbin' inside ya, pulsin' and pullin' in an' out of your amazing little cunt, my little piece of heaven, burnin' me up in your fire. Wanna be inside you so bad Buffy..." he sucked the lobe of her ear into his mouth and nibbled lightly.

"Then do it!" she gasped, arching her back and trying to bring his cool body back into contact with hers. "Fuck me already Spike!" she demanded.

"Can't do it, Love. Not until you give me what I want. Let me inside your head, baby, so I can come inside your body, just let me know what I want to know then we can finally do what we both want to do. Let me in, please Buffy." he gasped.

Fuck.

So much for the making her beg then. God, the things this girl did to him! Here he was, in complete control of the situation, he was the one to deny them both the release they needed, and he's the one who's begging!

Yep.

The fuckin' powers were definitely gettin' a laugh out of this.

"Oh god Spike, I can't! I don't want to hurt you like that! Please, please just fuck me already. I want to show you some slayer muscles you don't know about yet. They can grip and massage and I want you inside me so bad. Let me show you those muscles, please?" she begged.

Damned contrary little bird she was! Doesn't beg when he pulls out all his tricks, but he begs and that's what it takes to make her beg?

Oh well, at least she did beg!

Not that it made any difference though. As much as he wanted, needed, to be inside her she still hadn't given up on her little secret and Spike was determined that she, and therefore he, wouldn't get what they needed until he got into that goddamn compound in her head. He buried his face in her neck and groaned in pain. "Just let me in, Pet and we can end this torment. You're killin' me here. I want to be inside you so bad it fuckin' hurts, but I need to be inside all of you. Inside your head, inside your heart, and inside your delicious little quim. All or nothin', Buffy. I won't settle for less than everything this time. Not with you. Much as it would tear us both up, I'd leave before I settled for less with you."

They were both surprised by the force of the fear that swept through Buffy at the thought of Spike leaving her. An emotion that strong wasn't just because of the claim. It swept through her soul and slammed into the walls in her mind blasting them into dust and Spike's body stiffened as the knowledge that she had been hiding from him swept over him.

She was falling in love with him! This amazing, generous creature of the light, force of good, warrior against evil, was falling in love with him! Sure, she was terrified of that love, but it was there nonetheless! His mind stalled on that for a few moments before the rest flooded him, filling him with an emotional maelstrom that he was unable to sort out.

He felt awe and gratitude that she thought it was even possible that she could love him even a little, anger that she honestly believed he could never love not just her but anyone, because he didn't have a soul, and shock and no little bit of love for her that she was so worried about hurting him with the knowledge that, as far as she could see he would never be able to give her the one thing she needed the most. That she could care for him enough to not want to hurt him with the knowledge that she needed his love, at risk of her own heart and maybe even her life...

He plunged into her heated core balls deep, with both of them sighing in contentment at the feeling of being full and surrounded. "Stupid little girl." he muttered as he started a slow rythm of long, deep strokes in and out of her heat, his anger the only thing that allowed him enough focus to continue his chastisement. "You really need to stop comparing me to your precious Angel." He pounded into her hard when he said the name of his grandsire making her cry out in both pleasure and pain. "Just cause he doesn't know the first thing about love, with or without a soul, doesn't mean it's the same for me girly." He began to pound harder into her. "And you already knew that, already knew that I'm able to love, if you didn't, you wouldn't have thought to use my love for Dru against me so many times. In the bunker when you're little friend sold you out. When we formed a truce to take down Angelus" again with the painful lunge when he said that hated name.

Buffy lunged up and sank her blunt human teeth into his chest and growled loudly. He jerked in shock and she used that moment to flip them over so that she sat astride him with her teeth still buried in his chest, the sharp, tangy, and somehow sweet taste of his blood on her tongue. She growled and shook her head a little, ripping the flesh a little and pulling a groan of both pain and excitement from his throat. When she finally released his flesh and sat up to look at him with angry fire in her eyes he shuddered in ecstasy. The heat of her anger, the muscles of her hot little cunt gripping him and most of all, the sight of his blood dripping from her mouth and down her chin almost pushed him over the edge.

"You don't get to talk about her while you're inside me anymore than I get to talk about him. Do you understand me, vampire?" she growled at him.

"Why? You gonna punish me Slayer?" he asked with a smirk.

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before she gave him a smirk of her own. "Yes. You wanna know how, Spikey?" she asked.

He chuckled a little bit at the mischievious glint in her eyes, thinking there was no way she could punish him the way he could punish her. She didn't have the know how and she had too many inhibitions. "Sure Pet. Tell me how you think you're gonna punish me."

"Remember those Slayer muscles I mentioned?" she asked innocently flipping her hair in a very valley girl way.

He nodded with his smirk still firmly in place.

"I'll use those to punish you." she said bracing her hands on his chest. What she did next didn't feel like any kind of punishment Spike had ever heard of or considered. The muscles in her pussy began to massage up and down his cock in a deliberate wave of motion that he had never thought was possible. Every thing went dark and he was blinded by the feel of her sitting so calmly on him and working her unseen muscles so quickly and efficiently. The sensation pulled him to the edge of orgasm and pushed him over but just when he was about to shoot his load into her with or without his conscious permission, one muscle clamped down on the base of his cock, stopping him from cumming and hurting him in the process.

"Holy f...fuuuck! Let go, you gotta let go now, Pet, please."

"Who are you thinking of now, Spike? Are you thinking about your Dark Princess now?" she clamped down harder. "Are you thinking about the mentally challenged psycho now, or are you thinking about how much you want the Slayer to let you cum? Maybe you're thinking about all the different things I could do to your cock that you never even imagined possible? You know I can use these muscles to make myself cum without anything else? It's not even necessary for me to touch myself at all." He groaned loudly and gripped her hips, digging his fingers into her and trying to pull her off of him but she wouldn't budge. "Does that make you wonder if I ever did it around you? Or maybe later, because of you? Thinking about the way you move when we fight, wondering how you're body would feel?" He jerked his hips in an effort to get the friction he so badly needed but she only rose with him, riding his movements. "Did you ever wonder what Angel's problem was with everyone after that Halloween that I wore the old timey dress? He wasn't pissed off because you came so close to killing me, he was pissed off because because after the spell was broken and you took off I was thinking about the way you had bent me backwards and were pressing into me, getting ready for the kill, and just the thought of it made all my muscles clench up. He could smell it when the thought of your body against mine made me cum, and he suspected that it had nothing to do with his 'daring rescue."

Daring rescue, what a laugh! He just stood there looking stunned at the sight of Spike pressed against her so intimately, it was Giles who had saved her that day by breaking the spell. When she came back to herself Buffy was the one who punched Spike and sent him running while Angel just continued to stare and do nothing.

"Buffy...." Spike growled and his demon came forth again. Buffy was rather shocked to realize that his face, teeth and tongue weren't the only thing affected by this. She felt him swell inside her, becoming thicker and longer. The shock caused her muscles to relax for a brief second.

That was all that Spike needed. He was done with conversation, punishment and reprimands. He flipped them back over so that he was sitting on his knees between her legs and grabbed her ankles pushing them down and pressing her knees into her chest. He moved his hands to grip her behind her knees and hold her in place and then began to pound into her without holding anything back. It only took a few moments of this bruising pace to bring them both to shuddering shaking screaming climax and he let go of her knees and collapsed onto her as she wrapped her legs and arms around him, holding him close to her while they both gasped for air.

"Oh god, I know exactly how I'm gonna die now and it's not gonna be from the lack of anything." Buffy panted.

Spike chuckled weakly. "Yeh, but it'll be with a smile on your face I'm guessing." he said as he rolled off of her, pulling her with him so she was draped across his chest.

This girl really was gonna dust him if she had any more tricks like that up her sleeve. So why didn't that thought bother him? He supposed that death by pussy clamp really was the way to go.

Spike lay on the bed with his head propped up in his hand, staring at the warm beauty who was curled up, using his chest as a pillow and still sleeping. He hadn't been able to sleep yet tonight after coming down from his amazing orgasm induced high earlier. He hadn't been able to take his eyes off of his new mate since she had drifted off to sleep on his chest six hours before. The bruises he had left on her had healed rapidly, leaving him in awe at actually being able to see the colors shifting and disappearing as the blood was absorbed back into her body.

At one point she had become restless in the throes of a dream, she had called out his name a few times while in the midst of a dream, twice with lust in her voice and once with fear, but he had no idea what she had been dreaming about. When he had tried to peek into her thoughts to see her dreams he had only 'seen' blindingly bright light that he was unable to penetrate while only sensing her emotions. Her thoughts had been blocked by the light.

Strangely enough, a little later he had no problems at all watching her dream about being at an amusement park with the Scoobies and her watcher. There was a gigantic white bunny chasing them among the amusement rides. For some reason the demon girl-former demon now-was dressed like a gigantic carrot. Spike had trouble for a few moments controlling his laughter enough to let her sleep uninterrupted when dream Buffy climbed to the top of the stalled ferris wheel in an attempt to attack the bunny from above and fell down the rabbits ear. He lost control of his laughter and nearly did wake her when she climbed out, gripping handfuls of the silky white fur and covered in ear wax. The expression on dream Buffy's face was classic Buffy. The same expression of disbelief and disgust she used to give him when he would make any sexual comments during their fights.

As if he couldn't smell how she really felt.

He had been laying there for hours now just watching her and feeling things that he didn't want to dwell on or even understand when she finally began to stir.

He probed the bond while she became aware of her surroundings, following her emotions and thoughts from muddled to clear, curious about her reaction now that it was the 'morning after'. Would she remember and be alright with everything that had happened the night before? Would she suddenly come to her senses and be horrified at the things that she had done? Or the reaction he expected and feared the most, would she be angry and hateful? Blame him for ruining her life?

Buffy slowly came to her senses with her mind flipping channels between what she was sure was a prophetic Slayer dream she had had last night and the dream that she fervently hoped wasn't prophetic. Her first clear thought was that if she saw Anya dressed like a giant carrot-ever-she would turn right around and go back to bed immediately, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. As soon as she thought this her attention was jerked to the low rumbling laughter of her cool man shaped pillow and she was slammed with a tsunami of images from the night before.

She briefly felt shocked and disgusted with herself for the alley scene with Spike, her new mate, but that was quickly followed by amusement and satisfaction at Angel's humiliation, joy at Gile's acceptance of her new circumstance and finally, a strong wave of lust when she remembered the rest of the night alone with Spike in the motel room.

The motel room she was still in.

Shit!

Panic set in and she jumped out of bed and ran for the phone, noticing the mixed expression of resignation, anger and sadness on Spike's face, but too freaked out about her Mom's reaction to her not having come home all night to deal with him right away. She quickly dialed her home number, not surprised at all when her Mom answered before the first ring was even finished.

"Buffy? Is that you? Are you okay?" her Mom demanded immediately. So much for the time honored tradition of answering with a hello.

Shit, shit, shit!

Her Mom was gonna kill her for making her worry like this, and yet she couldn't stop thinking about the things that Spike had done to her last night.

"I'm fine Mom, I'll be home in a little while and I'll explain everything. I'm sorry I didn't call before this but everything is fine. I'm not hurt," just a little sore, but it was a good kind of sore and she wasn't complaining. "There's not an apocalypse and I'll be home in..." it would take ten minutes to get dressed and out the door, fifteen minutes to walk home... "Two hours. I'll explain everything then, okay? Just don't worry about me, nothing's wrong, it's just... well there are some new developments with the whole Slayer improvement package thing, and I'll tell you all about it when I get home. Okay?" Now she just had to hang tight for some more Mother-of-the-Slayer freak out. She'd gotten used to calming her mother down ever since her mom had found out that her daughter's life was in constant danger and she couldn't do anything about it. There was no way for her to protect her baby girl from saving the world.

"Buffy Ann Summers! Don't you ever do that to me again! Why are you calling me from the Sunnydale Inn, and where is your cell phone?! I bought that for you so you could let me know if you got held up on patrol, I have been sitting up all night long worried to death about you and terrified that Rupert was going to call and tell me that a new Slayer had been called! I know that you have the weight of the world literally sitting on your shoulders, but would it have killed you to take two minutes and let an old woman relax?!"

That was a joke. Ever since her mom had found out about her being the Slayer she hadn't been unable to relax unless Buffy was home, safe and sound.

"No Mom. I'm really sorry I didn't call, I left my phone at home because I forgot to charge it, but you can quit worrying now. I'm alive, unharmed," She was mostly unharmed anyway. There was nothing wrong with her that she wouldn't like to be wrong again. Preferably soon. "I will be home in two or three hours with a full explanation. I even have documentation. It's nothing bad or apocalypse-y, it's just...different...and really unexpected, but everything is fine and I'll see you in a while, okay? I love you Mom. Bye now." Buffy hung up without giving her mom a chance for anymore recriminations and turned to Spike, wondering what the best way to jump his bones would be.

The look that was still on his face however made her realize that the jumping of sexy vampire bones would have to wait.

She should have told her mom she'd be home in four or five hours.

She just stood there by the phone with her hands hanging uselessly down at her side and looked at him, letting what he was thinking and feeling wash over her and amaze her.

He was afraid.

The cocky, belligerent and fearless enemy that had caused her many sleepless nights over the years for many different, sometimes terrifying, sometimes embarrassing, and always infuriating reasons was afraid.

Not of her, but of her reaction to everything that had happened the night before and all the changes that had been made in her life. He seemed certain that she would now try to beat him up and blame him for something that she herself had initiated. Stupid vampire, it was almost like he didn't have a direct connection to Buffydom and all the crazy thoughts flying through there.

She smiled softly at him and walked slowly towards where he was now sitting on the edge of the bed watching her as intently as she had ever watched an attacker, ready to defend himself.

"Do me a favor Spike?" she asked him softly. He cocked an eyebrow and waited. "Since you so...vehemently insisted that I let you into my head last night, will you please do me the favor of taking a peek in there again this morning and then telling me why you look like I kicked your puppy?" she asked him as she finally stood in front of him and rested her hands on his broad shoulders.

Spike looked at her, confused for a moment, before granting her request and opening the link he had shut off when she jumped out of the bed in a panic. What he found there now amazed him for a brief moment. The main thought on her mind was getting him back into bed and shaggin' his brains out again before she had to go and face her duties as a daughter and a Slayer again. Behind that was the same fear that he had. Fear of rejection, of him becoming cruel and sadistic as her first, and until last night, only lover had done.

Without any conscious thought from him his hands reached out and wrapped around her waist and he buried his face in the soft skin of her bare stomach, tightening his grip on her and pulling her close between his legs. In that moment he wanted no more than to just feel her in his arms. She was holding just as tightly onto him as he was holding onto her. The dirty lascivious plans that he didn't object to in anyway would have to wait for a few moments. Right now they just had to revel in this pure moment of relief and not quite love or affection, but something. Something new that they had no doubt would continue changing everything for the both of them.

They just hoped they would be able to survive the changes.

Buffy looked down at the blonde head that was nuzzling her stomach and was rather surprised at the warm feeling that washed over her. A feeling of...she wasn't really sure what to call it. Affection she supposed. It was a mix of wanting to comfort and protect him, make him smile and laugh, be there with him to hold him, and touch him, and kiss him. She couldn't help the snort that escaped her at the thought of wanting to protect him.

As if he would ever really need her protection. He was after all, a vampire who had not only survived but thrived for over a century now. Hell she was barely seventeen and had already died once. Although to be fair, he had died once too. But he had thrived afterwards and could she really say the same?

No.

She was a little ashamed to admit that she couldn't say that she had thrived. Hell, she barely lived. Sure, she still did her patrols and went out with her friends a couple times a week to dance at the Bronze. Had even gone on a couple of dates with interested boys from school. But she hadn't really thrown herself into anything. Not since defeating the Master. She had done as she was expected to do and that was about it.

Sure, she still had emotions running through her, she hadn't gone numb or emotionally catatonic, but until recently, she hadn't really felt anything at the same intensity that she had previously approached all aspects of her life with. Her intense rage at Angel when she had realized he was trying to put a claim on her was the first time she had felt that intensity in a long time. Not even her shock and fear when he had returned from hell had come close.

She felt a strong sense of calm pleasure after claiming Dalton and it was renewed every time she had renewed the claim, but that had been it until Spike strolled back into her life. From the moment she had spotted him in the club she had been riding a wild roller coaster of overwhelming emotion.

Of course, looking back at their history together, he had always had that effect on her, from the very first time he had stepped out of the shadows applauding her victory over one of his minions and threatening, no promising, to kill her in a few days time. Maybe it hadn't been at the same level as he affected her now, but even then he had stirred her more than anything else did at the time. Always while in his presence, and even while just thinking about him, she had felt a confusing whirlwind of emotions. Desire, anticipation, irritation, fear, hatred and respect.

She had to respect anyone who could fight as well as he did and still keep up with and return all her taunts and puns while simultaneously kicking her ass even as he was getting his own ass kicked. And who wouldn't desire a body such as his? Especially when he used it with such fluid and deadly grace and precision. He was the only vampire that could really give her a run for her money after she finally gave up on trying to deny her calling and started to take her training seriously. She had always taken it a little easy on Angel when they sparred, not wanting to hurt him. Even after he had lost his soul and took up the moniker Angelus, her hope that the man she loved would come back to her had caused her to do no more than fight him off, even though she was sure she could have killed him with just a little more effort.

The Master may have killed her, but he had only been able to do so because of that stupid thrall he placed on her. Somehow, she had come back from the dead impervious to his thrall. Then when he had to actually fight her, he had quickly lost. Other vamps since that fateful night had tried to put her in thrall and failed. leaving her to wonder why.

Could vampires put other vamps in thrall? Maybe it was the death itself that had made her immune to it. Definitely a subject to bring up with Giles. Her mind began wandering off in this tangent until Spike brought all thought to a screeching halt by licking a cool path from her belly button down to the top of her mound.

Her eyes jerked down to him and she felt her stomach clench and her center begin to seep just from the way he was looking up at her through his eyelashes with that pointed, slightly evil, and oh so capable tongue tracing tiny circles on her skin. Her fingers tangled into his soft platinum curls and her breathing sped up.

Content that he now had her full attention back on himself where it belonged, Spike moved his hands down her back, trailing his fingers over the crack of her ass and gripping her thighs. Her golden, toned thighs that felt so wonderful resting on his shoulders and gripping his head. He dug his fingers into the thighs he could write reams of poetry about, getting a good grip and lifting her as he stood up from the bed before he around so that he could let her fall to the bed while still keeping his grip on her thighs. He immediately sank to his knees and pulled her down the mattress with her legs spread wide for him, giving himself a glorious view of his own little piece of heaven, glistening wet and flushed a dark, delicious shade of pink. The most beautiful color he had ever seen.

Buffy propped herself up on her elbows with the intention of giving him hell for manhandling her that way, but the sight of him staring at her most private, vulnerable place with a look of such awe on his face ripped any words of recrimination from her mind and replaced them with equal measures of embarrassment and lust. When he began to purr his pleasure at the sight before him she lost her muscle control and flopped back down on the mattress with a moan.

Spike returned the moan briefly when her juices began to trickle out of her before he lunged down to devour the tastiest thing he had ever had on his tongue. Buffy was incapable of anything other than writhing and moaning so Spike sent a wave of lust through the bond hoping to further incapacitate the tiny Slayer who had been the bane of his existence for so long now, yet had become the center of it last night. She jerked her hips up when he began to circle her clit with his dextrous tongue and moaned in disappointment when he pulled away to look at her pussy again.

God, why was he so interested in looking at it? She had taken a close look at herself after they had covered the reproductive system in health class and she couldn't understand his fascination with the sight now. She had thought it all looked rather...ewww, but in the end decided that it was still preferable to the high amusement value of having all your most vulnerable and sensitive bits dangling in front of you like a huge target. That was probably why Slayers were girls.

Not that the sight of an aroused Spike amused her. Nothing amusing there, especially the first time she actually saw him, the only thing she had felt was a sharp, almost painful stab of arousal and anticipation. Amusement was the farthest thing from her mind now too, when he lunged back down and began to fuck her with his tongue, moving his hand around to rub rough circles on her aching clit. She looked down at him, enjoying the sight of his bleached head between her legs, when he looked up at her while he was still plunging his amazing, wonderful, heaven sent tongue into her tight entrance. While they stared into each others eyes his blue orbs flashed golden as he let his demon out and all of sudden his tongue was no longer just fucking her entrance. It was plunging deeper inside her than should have been possible, twirling around and brushing repeatedly against the spongy bundle of nerves hidden away inside of her.

Her head slammed down into the mattress and her back arched to an extreme angle as she pushed herself higher into him, fucking herself on his face and crying out to the heavens that hadn't sent his tongue to her after all. That organ could have only come from the deepest pits of hell. She was pretty sure that it was forked. And the forks may or may not be able to move independently of each other, seeing as how he seemed to be licking her insides everywhere all at once.

His circling finger stopped it's motion on her clit and suddenly pinched her bundle of nerves. Hard.

She screamed through the intense orgasm that was suddenly wracking her body, bucking wildly while he happily swallowed every last drop of cum that came gushing out of her. When her wild thrashing subsided to tremors and shudders he continued to lick her clean with his roughened and most definitely forked demon tongue, relishing every last bit of her honey.

He was fairly certain now that her pussy tasted even better than her blood, and his demon seemed to agree with that assessment as it was still purring in contentment, the vibrations from his contented rumbling passing through his tongue and into her body, which responded with it's own trembles and shudders. He reluctantly moved away from his heaven and began to lick, kiss and nibble up her flushed, sweat slicked skin, detouring to suckle at her nipples and give special attention to his claim mark on her neck before continuing on to her mouth.

When he licked across her lips, requesting access to the dark cavern of her mouth, she immediately granted it to him and gripped him tightly with her fingers wrapped up in his hair and holding him close to her. His hands traveled all over her body, alternating his touch from soft and barely there to almost bruising as he did.

She wrapped her legs around his waist and held him close to her, moaning in pleasure at the feeling of his thick seeping head rubbing against her clit.

After a few seconds though, she wanted more and tried to angle her hips so he could slide inside her and fill her up, but he straightened his arms and pushed his body away from hers, denying her. She growled softly and tried to force him back down to her with the grip she had on him with her legs. To her surprise he was easily able to hold himself away from her even though she was putting all her strength into the effort.

What the fuck!?

She was scary strong now and hadn't had a decent challenge ever since the Slayer had fully merged with the girl so many weeks ago, but he could resist her?

"Was there something you wanted, Pet?" he asked her softly, taking way too much pleasure in her frustration.

She tried to pull him down to her again, growling louder this time. He just laughed and stayed where he was. "If you ask me nicely, Love, I might be persuaded to grant your request. Just tell me what it is that you want, Pet."

Somehow she was able to quiet the growl that she hadn't even realized was rumbling in her chest and find her words. "You know damn well what I want, Vampire." she snarled and continued to try and force him down.

"I want to hear you say it Slayer. Tell me exactly what it is that you want from me."

She glared at him but tried to give him what he wanted. "I want you inside me, Spike." she said shortly.

He grinned and lifted one hand from the bed near her head, sliding it down her body and plunging his fingers into her pussy, collecting moisture on them before pulling them back out and moving them down to her puckered asshole, circling it briefly before applying pressure and slowly sliding one finger inside the tight, hot grip of her ass.

"You know that's not what I meant, dammit!" she squealed at him, helpless to stop from pushing up into the delicious sensation.

"How can I possibly know that if you don't tell me what you mean? You said you wanted me inside you. That could mean all kinds of things. It could mean my tongue in your mouth, my fangs in your throat, or my finger in your ass. I am inside you, after all. I want to hear you say exactly what you want Pet. Do you want my hard cock in you? If so, where? I could put it in your mouth and fuck your face the way you just did to me. Or I could fuck your tight little ass again." He added another finger as he talked about it, plunging them in and out of her faster and harder, loving the way she was thrusting into his hands while he finger fucked her ass. "Tell me what you want Slayer, and I'll give it to you." He was determined to keep breaking her inhibitions until there were none left. There was no sense in losing the momentum he had gained the night before.

She glared up at him with her best 'Beware the Slayer' stare but it only seemed to amuse him. Damn Vampire. She finally gave him what he wanted, but she spoke through tightly gritted teeth. "I want your cock in my pussy, and I want it now, before I give in to temptation and stake you. You stupid. Egotistical. Vampire. Is that clear enough for- aaah fucck!" Before she could finish goading him; because who could resist goading such a cocky asshole, even while you were giving him exactly what he wanted; he grabbed her hip and plunged deep into her warmth in one hard thrust that would have probably broken her pelvis if it weren't for all her mystical Slayer powers.

Thank god for Slayer powers too, because there was no way in hell she would ever be willing to give up a feeling this intense and all consuming, she thought as her mind began to fuzz out into incoherency while he continued with his long, hard rhythmic strokes until they both shouted out their completion and he collapsed on top her while they both waited for the feeling to return to their bodies.

After recovering enough that she felt she could trust her legs to hold her up she jumped out of the bed and headed towards the shower. "We better get cleaned up and presentable looking, time to meet the parents." she said in a falsely cheerful voice.

She couldn't hold in her wicked giggling when he groaned and she felt a trickle of nervousness through their bond.

Buffy sat on her couch watching Spike charm her mother. She was sipping on a cup of hot chocolate and trying to sort through her rather ambivalent feelings. On the one hand, it was a good thing that her mom liked Spike. Maybe it would make it easier for Joyce to take the news that he was having incredible sex with her daughter.

Hopefully.

On the other hand, she found it just a little bit disturbing how warmly her mother welcomed into her home what she knew to be a vampire who had repeatedly tried to kill Buffy. Okay, so yeah, he had helped her save the world that one time, but it was for totally selfish reasons! Then, totally ignoring the deal they had made, he came back a few months later and kidnapped Willow and Xander. And again with the selfish reasons. Although, when you stop and think about it, is kidnapping ever an altruistic activity?

She was also a little disturbed to realize that she had never revoked Spike's invitation to her house. She had revoked Angel's. Twice. Once when he went all evil soulless dickhead on them, and then again when he tried to put that claim on her and pissed her off more than she had previously thought possible. So why hadn't she added Spike's name to the spell the last time? Or done a disinvite spell specially for Spike at the appropriate time, like the moment he had last walked out the door?

Seriously, what the hell?

As the Slayer, her first priority should have been ensuring that a known Slayer of Slayer's did not have access to her home, where he could slip in and slaughter her and her mother in their sleep, so why had she never even thought about doing a disinvite, much less done it?

To make matters just a little bit worse (because even the PTB need a good laugh every now and then) the only reason she had even noticed her huge lapse in judgement was the look on Spike's face when he was able to walk in unhampered without a new invite. Then she was unable to feel as mad at herself as she wanted to be thanks to the wave of warmth and happiness flooding her through the bond as Spike oh-so-politely helped her out of her coat.

Damn vampire with his warm fuzzy feeling and good manners. What the hell kind of vampire has warm fuzzies anyway? Just then she noticed the play of muscles under his tight t-shirt as he reached across the table for more tiny marshmallows, which made her feel her own warm fuzzies right in the pit of her stomach.

Her kind of vampire, obviously. Damn vampire.

"So, Buffy," her mom interrupted her mental ramblings, "what are these new developments you mentioned on the phone this morning?" Joyce asked.

Buffy wasn't the only one who was wallowing in ambivalent feelings. Joyce still hadn't decided how she felt about all the changes that had occurred for Buffy the last month or so. It was great that Buffy was stronger and faster now. Anything that made her harder to kill was a good thing, but Joyce still resented the hell out of the whole original Slayer package. It put an expiration date on her baby girl. The baby girl who hadn't even had the chance to really experience life yet, was now put in the middle of so many terrible situations. Situations that would cost most people to lose their minds but only made Buffy's eyes look older. Too old. And now with what Buffy referred to as the 'Slayer improvement package' it was just another thing that pulled Buffy even further away from the normal, happy life Joyce wanted most for her daughter, and apparently the so called 'improvements' were still coming in.

"Well," Buffy tried to start, but this whole conversation wigged her out, big time. How the hell do you tell your mom that you're 'married' to a soulless killer who is about a hundred years your senior? Not even the fact that Joyce genuinely like Spike was going to help smooth this over. Oh, well. It had to be done. May as dive right in. "When I went to stop at the Bronze last night and say hi to the gang before patrol, I happened to run into Spike."

Or I felt his signature, tracked him down, dragged him to the alley and molested him. Same diff really.

"For some reason, the whole demony, must claim thing with the eyes and the fangs happened, so I dragged him into the alley and we performed a claim...ceremony...thing."

"So now he's your...oh what is it? Oh! Your childe, like that nice Mr. Dalton then? Surely you didn't make Spike your minion, from what you told me about what happened with Angel, it sounded more like an assault than a ceremony when you made him your minion." And yep, her mom just sneered when she said Angels name, just like she always had. And yep, Spike giggled like a little fangirl at the reminder that a highschool girl had made his grandsire her minion.

Lovely.

Joyce and Spike would probably spend many wonderful hours bonding over their mutual hatred of Buffy's ex. If they all managed to survive this conversation. "Surely that's not a bad thing either way, though Buffy. So why are you acting so nervous.?"

"Well it's kind of like what happened with Dalton, but it's a different kind of claim this time." She looked down at her fingers twisting together in her lap, unable to meet her mothers eyes as she tried desperately to think of something to call a mating claim that didn't actually involve the word 'mating'. Nobody wanted Joyce to think of Spike and her daughter mating, that could only ever be of the bad.

"Well what kind of claim? And just how many different kinds of claims are there that you can perform anyway Buffy?" Joyce asked.

Buffy refused to look at anything other than the busy fingers in her lap that were trying to twist each other right off of her hands.

Spike finally stepped in, much to Buffy's relief. Let him be the one who used the dreaded word. She would give him some blood afterwards to help speed up the healing he was sure to need. "There are only three kinds of vampiric claims Joyce. The one that Buffy and I have entered into runs much deeper and stronger than the other two, then all of the others, really. They all work differently, it's actually quite fascinating,"

Buffy looked at Spike in awe. Not only was he heroically saving her from being the one to tell her mom this, but as soon as he started talking about vampy bonds everything about him changed. His posture, his accent, and even the rhythms of his speech now closely resembled Giles when he was giving a lecture.

Who would've thunk it? Spike was not only intelligent and educated, he was well bred too! Oh this would make good tease material at the right time! "The minion bond can be forced on anyone by a vampire with power, human or vampire. Both can be made minions by the act of biting and saying the proper words in the ancient language. It's rather like having having a robot slave in some aspects, as a minion will be physically incapable of refusing to carry out an order from their master spoken in the ancient words. The childe claim however can only be formed between two vampires. Usually..." he looked at Buffy out of the corner of his eye. She didn't let it bother her, she was used to being a freak in the world of humans already so she could care less if she was now a freak in the demon world as well.

It didn't bother her at all.

Really.

"A childer claim can not be forced as some amount of heartfelt agreement must be felt at the time of the ceremony when the words are spoken. One can be tricked into it, but even if you forced someone to say they agreed, if they didn't really feel agreeable the claim will be unsuccessful. If however you get them to think about agreement at the right time, it doesn't matter what they think they are agreeing to. As long as the feeling of aggreement is truly felt then the claim will succeed." he paused and took a sip of his hot chocolate.

Too bad Joyce knew a stall tactic when she saw one.

"What about the claim between you and Buffy now?" she asked.

"Well it's very different from the others, as there has to be reciprocation as well as agreement, which basically means that I have the same claim on her as she has on me, and this claim can only be shared with one other, whereas you may claim multiple childer and The claim we have upon each other is only ever shared with one other, and the bond created cannot ever be broken, not even by death. When one of us dies, the other will shortly follow. Because of this the link between us is much stronger than what you have with the other claims. Where they can feel emotions and sometimes even thoughts that she sends out intentionally, we have to actually work at blocking them away from each other, although we will probably never be able to block the emotions. I believe it is a survival tool. Since our survival is now so closely linked to each other, it is a good thing that we can alway sense when the other is in danger. And if we're too far apart to reach other strength can actually be sent through the bond to the one in danger."

"That is totally of the good! " Buffy couldn't help but interrupt. "So I could send you on patrol and stay home watching my shows and sending you the muscle power! We gotta try that out!"

Joyce rolled her eyes and tried to look annoyed with her daughter, but really this was probably the best Slayer related news she had heard yet. Buffy now had a very strong and capable fighter who would stand steadfastly in her corner. Spike was nothing if not a survivor.

However, all that aside, Joyce was no fool and knew that there was still something they were hiding. "Well that is fantastic news. I'm very glad to know how this claim works, now you just need to tell me exactly what kind of claim this is."

Spike and Buffy looked at each other nervously before Buffy returned to her determined monitoring of the twisty fingers in her lap.

Nuh-uh.

There was no.

Way.

She would not be the one to tell her mom this last bit of news. Spike better suck it up and get it over with, because Buffy could sit here and count the pores in her hands for hours.

Spike rolled his eyes at her cowardice and bit the bullet. "Itsamatingclaim." he rushed through the words quickly and softly, but Joyce heard anyway.

"A. Mating. Claim." Joyce repeated slowly the word bouncing around in her head. She took a few moment to process this information. "When, exactly, does the mating part of a mating claim come into play?" she asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Spike looked around for a way out of the coming conversation and the hazards he was sure it represented to his health, but found nothing. Cowardly damn Slayer was still counting the wrinkles in her knuckles.

"Whentheclaimisfirstformed." Spike finally answered in a rush, still afraid to meet the woman's eyes, but even more afraid of taking his eyes off of her. After all, Buffy was always pulling stakes out of pockets that couldn't exist on outfits that barely existed. She might have gotten her ability to pull weapons out of midair from her mother, it's not like the other Slayer's he had faced had displayed this disturbing skill.

"So when you were out all night last night..." Joyce led, and Buffy, much to Spike's dismay, followed.

"We were...strengthening the claim." Buffy tried to be diplomatic, she really did, but Spike couldn't help but wish she had kept her mouth shut and just let her mother reach her own conclusions. The look on her face was becoming more frightening by the moment, but at least she wasn't reaching into God knoows what or where for an axe yet. Still, her silence and her absolute stillness were starting to seriously freak the blonde couple out. The two warriors were sitting tensely on the edge of their seats ready to bolt at the slightest provocation.

After what had to be the longest five minutes of his unlife, she finally raised her eyes and glared at the nervous vampire with fire in her eyes. "So you spent all night...mating...with my daughter in an alley?" she asked hoarsely.

"We left the alley, Mom, Spike has a motel room..." Spike grabbed her hand and squeezed it in warning. He squeezed hard, but it was too late. The words were already out there. He watched Joyce's hands very closely hoping to at least see the pocket in reality where the Slayer hid her weapons before he dusted. The look on this middle aged woman's face had him feeling closer to dust than he had ever felt before.

"So you had my teenage daughter in a motel room all night. Mating." She stood up and took a step in his direction. Nerves jumping and fear running through his limbs he jumped up and did something he hadn't done since he was turned. He skittered away.

Fucking.

Skittered.

He was sure he'd be ashamed later, but for now he was too busy skittering from the terrifyiing woman stalking him to worry about later. Right now, he wasn't sure there would be a later. Buffy jumped and put herself between Spike and her mother, yelling to get her mom's attention. "You can't kill him, Mom! If he dies, I die!"

Joyce's eyes never wavered from the peroxide blonde as she continued to stalk him. He backed out of the living room and into the dining room with a look of panic in his eyes.

And yes, he was ashamed to say he was still skittering.

Maintaining eye contact with her prey, Joyce bent and grabbed an axe from underneath the chair without missing a step.

"I won't kill him baby. I just need to hurt him a little." Joyce growled.

Spike's emotions were practically crippling Buffy now as he began to outright panic. Joyce had just fucking growled at him! He'd always wondered about the heritage of Slayer's but not anymore. Obviously they were descended from demons!

"If you hurt him, you hurt me! That's the way a mating claim works Mom!"

Why the hell did she keep using that word? Was she trying to get him killed?

"I feel what he feels and he feels what I feel."

Joyce paused. "Really?"

"Yes!" they both shouted.

Joyce dropped the axe, then reached out and smacked Buffy upside the head, smirking victoriously when Spike cried out just as loudly as Buffy. "What the hell, Mom?!" Buffy yelled.

"He touched you, Buffy." Joyce yelled back. "He...he...mated with you! In an alley! My teenage daughter, mated in an alley! Joyce started stalking him again, but at least the axe was now hanging at her side and not propped up on her shoulder. Buffy and Spike were both skittering away from her now. "Why would he even tie his life so closely to yours in the first place? You're the one who's always reminding me that Slayer's come with an expiration date, so does that mean he's suicidal? I just don't understand what would lead him to mate with my daughter! IN A FREAKING ALLEY!" Joyce was screaming by the end.

"No expiration date now Mom!" Buffy saw a way out of this. "I heal like he does now, and I won't age, so the only thing that can kill me now is a stake to the heart, beheading or fire! It's like being a vampire, without losing the sunlight or drinking blood to survive!"

Well, she drank his, but this didn't seem like the time to get into that too deeply. They were backed against the kitchen door now and there was no where else to go.

Joyce stopped and dropped the axe, staring at her daughter, stunned. "No more expiration date?" she whispered.

"No more expiration date," Buffy said, matching her mother's tone and trying to ignore the way her big bad vampire was cowering behind her. "I'm like a twinkie now, so full of preservatives I'll outlast time itself. And Mom, I'm not fighting alone anymore." Tears started rolling down Joyce's face and Buffy took a small, cautious step forward. "I'll never live a normal life the way you want for me," Another small step. "No kids for me. But that's okay because they're gross anyway with all leaky and loud." One last step and she kicked the axe behind her "But I have a real partner now. One who can help me in the fight and won't be a distraction or a hindrance, because he's just as strong as me." Spike grabbed the axe and threw it out the door behind him. "And I'm not gonna die anytime soon, if ever." Buffy finished.

Joyce threw her arms around her daughters neck and the two women sobbed on each other as they slowly sank to the floor. "Normal is overrated anyway." Joyce finally said between sniffles as they both calmed down. "I only ever wanted you to have a chance to live. And if being...." she just couldn't say the word again, she could still feel the outrage burning inside her, waiting for an excuse. "If being with Spike will give you that chance, then I have no objections."

"Thank you Mom." Buffy whispered, standing and walking over to Spike to help him up from where he still sat against the back door. "Can we go back to the living room now and discuss this calmly? No yelling, no stalking, no weapons, and no skittering or cowering." She shot a derisive look at Spike with this last.

"Oi! You were skittering too, little missy!" he pointed out. He may have sacrificed a large piece of his manhood tonight, but if he was going down for it, she'd go down with him dammit!

"Maybe so, but at least I didn't cower!" she shot back. Joyce rolled her eyes and led them back to the living room. It was going to be a long day if they acted like this the entire time they were hammering out the detail of this new arrangment.

Joyce sat on her chair warming her hands on her rapidly cooling mug of hot chocolate and taking great pains to not look at the blonde couple sitting on the couch. The couple sitting way too closely together. Their clasped hands were resting comfortably on the thighs that were pressed together where they sat as close as they could get without actually being on top of each other. She very determinedly kept her mind away from recognizing the fact that they had been much closer the night before.

Mated.

Her teenage daughter, barely recognized as an adult by the laws and customs of their time and still recognized as a child to be protected and sheltered by the frustrated and confused mother they faced, was mated to an incredibly old vampire. A vampire who had always brought naughty thoughts of straining bodies twisting and rubbing on each other to Joyce's mind. Only now she knew that one of those bodies was her daughter. The daughter who, despite facing and defeating evil on a nightly basis, still exuded an air of innocence and naiveté. Especially when it came to the opposite sex that she had so assiduously avoided after her one disastrous romance.

A romance with a vampire.

A romance which had ended in death and murder and resulted in putting a dark knowledge in Buffy's eyes that had not dimmed her aura of innocence, but had put bleak spots on her soul if you only looked closely enough.

Of course, Joyce had never really liked that vampire anyway. He made her feel uneasy and she had never liked the dark look in his eyes when he looked at Buffy.

Yet Joyce had always felt comfortable around Spike, aside from that first meeting when he had been towering over Buffy, preparing to kill her. The next time they had met, that horrible night when she had learned the truth about her daughter and the dark edges of the world that she lived in, Joyce had learned the truth about Spike and what he was. She had screamed in fright when his features shifted and bumped out, showing the demon hidden inside. Yet, despite the fact that he exuded sexuality and proudly admitted to being a soulless evil creature of the night, Joyce had felt comforted to learn that he was on Buffy's side in their battle against Angel.

Or Angelus, or whatever the hell he happened to be calling himself at any particular time.

Joyce had seen something hidden in his eyes and demonstrated by the steady way he met her gaze, something that Angel had never done. She had seen something that night that comforted her.

She had since heard the whole argument about Angel's soul, and how he was good with it, and evil without it. Having met Spike and seen how heartbroken he was when that other vampire cheated on him and kicked him to the curb, Joyce was not so convinced about the importance of the soul.

After all Hitler was human. At least, she was pretty sure he was, she'd have to ask Mr. Giles later. So was Ted Kaczynski, and Jeffrey Dahmer. All of those monstrous creatures were technically human and had souls, but that had not stopped them from doing horrifying and evil things.

Joyce felt certain that the good versus evil debate really had nothing to do with having or not having a soul. She was certain that it had more to do with something more ephemeral and less considered. Something that she knew Spike had in abundance, and Angel was severely lacking in.

Heart.

She had read the Watcher's diaries. She'd read them far more extensively than Buffy ever had, wanting to know as much as she could about the dark life her daughter was leading, and she knew that the man Spike was before he was turned had had plenty of heart. Perhaps even too much, seeing as that was what had led him to accept Druscilla's offer of a new life with new rules.

She could see that heart in Spike's eyes, and the fierce passion that he displayed when he spoke of something important to him. Knowing that that fierce passion was now directed towards her daughters life and safety was a huge relief to Joyce. This man would not let anything stop him from achieving his goals and Joyce was happy that his main goal now was the continuance of Buffy's life.

When it had been explained to her that Angel's goal was to protect and help Buffy with her calling, Joyce had felt no comfort at all. The man he had been before being changed was nothing short of an alcoholic scum with tendencies that leaned towards child molestation if the reports from his parents servants were to be believed.

Joyce was far too aware of her daughters youth and how her innocence would call to such a man. She didn't really care if he had a soul or not since the man he had been with a soul was really only a tiny bit better than the murderous bastard he became without one. If allowed to continue in his life instead of being changed, Joyce wasn't certain he still wouldn't have eventually fell into murderous activities, soul or not, and there was nothing she had liked about the thought that he was the one chosen by the powers to aid and champion her daughter in her calling.

She was quite certain, in fact, that the powers had likely made a huge mistake by choosing a vampire that had soul instead of heart and she liked that they were obviously taking steps to correct that mistake.

But still...

Mated...

Surely there was a better way to go. One that didn't involve the awful thought of her daughter mating, with anyone or anything.

Ever.

The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that perhaps the powers should consider including abstinence in the package deal of calling Slayers.

"It's sort of like a marriage, Mrs. Summers." Spike interrupted her brooding. "Except that the whole till death do us part is a lot more serious." He had a good idea, based on the dark frown that was gathering on her face where her thoughts were heading, and he really didn't want her thinking about that while he was still near.

Just because he had tossed the axe outside didn't mean she didn't have anything else laying around. Like another axe perhaps.

After all, the Slayer did live here.

There were likely weapons hidden all over the house, not to mention those holes in space and time that Buffy apparently had access to and where she hid extra weapons.

"Her safety and happiness is now my one priority in life…er, existence. It's absolutely crucial in fact. The saying, happy wife happy life takes on a whole new meaning when you can feel everything she's feeling." he said definitively.

Buffy couldn't stop shooting little glances at him out of the corner of her eyes. He was still talking like Giles did, the same rhythms, accent and cadences, and Buffy wasn't entirely certain what she thought about it.

On the one hand, she liked the way he seemed so intelligent and sophisticated, it was kind of a turn on and made her want to get him some of those half glasses and pretend to be the teacher's pet. But then she would remember that he sounded like Giles and would feel totally squicked out about being turned on.

That whole thought process was just all full of the gross, and she probably needed another shower now, but then she thought of Spike in glasses again and once more with the turned on.

Spike was feeling itchy and twitchy from the rapidly changing and entirely opposing feelings coming from his mate and wanted nothing more than to get out of here and away from the possible threat of an upset mother. He would also like to know what thoughts could possibly have Buffy feeling aroused one moment to suddenly switch to disgusted and then right back to aroused, but she had closed the bond down just a little. Enough to keep her thoughts private and drive him absolutely mad with curiosity about the emotions she was sending out.

"I'm happy to hear that Buffy has a strong partner in her fight now, especially since it's you and she no longer has to rely solely on Angel for extra muscle," Joyce decided she would ignore the low growl Spike let out at the mention of Angel, "but I think what I need now is some time alone with my thoughts," and her liquor cabinet, "so I can try to come to terms with this my own way. Maybe we should further discuss this tomorrow."

Hopefully after she recovered from the huge hangover she planned to have.

"That's okay," Buffy said, eager to escape, "it's about time for me to patrol anyway. So we'll come back tomorrow afternoon around when you get back from the gallery." Spike was barely able to contain his groan. Was the chit trying to get him dusted?

"Tomorrow? You'll be…staying out again tonight?" Joyce asked hesitantly. 'Don't think about a seedy motel room!' She thought frantically. 'Don't think about mating, don't think about motels. God, I really need a drink.'

"Oh! Well, um…" Buffy was really uncertain about how to go about this. Damn, she should have just kept her mouth shut!

Just because the whole situation felt kind of natural and maybe even inevitable to her didn't mean anyone else would see it that way. Especially not her mother. Fortunately for her, Spike was eager to get the hell out of there too, so he stepped in to save her and extricate them from the house that he was beginning to feel certain would witness his end if he didn't get his mate and her verbal diarrhea the hell out of here.

"The thing is, with the claim being so new and all, it's actually painful for us to be separated, and until we can work out new living arrangements…" he just kind of let the thought hang, much to the relief of both women in the room.

"Of course. It would probably be more comfortable for all of us then if you stayed…out…" don't think about the seedy motel room…" until we can work something else out." Joyce quickly agreed. She really wanted to get to the liquor portion of her evening. "So…be careful on patrol you two, and I will see you tomorrow evening."

They quickly made their goodbyes and left, eager to get outside. Buffy felt certain that she would rather face another apocalypse than ever discuss this situation with her mother again, but since it was unavoidable, she was more than happy enough to put it off for another day. She was also eager to go work out all of her tension on some evil baddies. Too bad she actually had to patrol, it would be a lot more fun to work out her tension with her evil baddie, but oh well. She'd make do with what she had. Didn't mean she couldn't mess with him though.

"Never thought I'd see the Big Bad skittering away from my mother. Especially since you never skittered away from the one who was chosen to slay your kind and repeatedly whupped your butt back in the day." she teased.

"Wasn' the only one skittering away in fright back there though, was I Pet? You know as well as I do that your mum is damn frightening when she wants to be." he reminded her. "Wonder if she was a potential Slayer that never got called." he said thoughtfully.

"It wouldn't surprise me if she was." Buffy admitted honestly. "I haven't met the person yet who's not afraid of Mom when she gets like that. You should have seen Giles when she went after him and blamed him for me being the Slayer. First I thought he was going to polish his glasses into dust and then I was sure he was going to resign as a Watcher and try to enter a field that was less life threatening. I'm sure he thought about it anyway. She was over there every day for weeks grilling and questioning him about everything. She probably knows more about being a Slayer than I do. Maybe even more than he does by now."

"She's definitely fierce when it comes to you Luv. Haven' been that scared of dusting since I was turned." he admitted. Buffy laughed lightly and opened her mouth to tease him some more but she was interrupted by the last voice either of them cared to hear just then.

"Why doesn't it surprise me to learn that you're afraid of a middle aged woman when you never had the sense to be wary of the truly dangerous things in life Spike?"

Spike grabbed Buffy's hand and squeezed it hard, both in warning and to hold her back when he felt her instant rage at the poofter's mocking words. As much as he would like to see her kick Angel's ass, this was his fight and letting her take it would only seem to confirm that Spike was as weak as the ponce was implying.

"Whatsa matter Peaches?" he asked with a low chuckle that sent shivers up and down Buffy's spine. "Still tweaked that I never cowered before the greatness of your gigantic brow?"

Buffy's giggle only caused his smirk to widen. 'I never really noticed before, but you're right. His forehead is huge' she said to him through the claim.

'Off course I'm right. I'm always right. And how could you not notice something so glaringly, painfully, and obviously huge?'

Buffy quickly shut off the communication part of the link, not wanting him to pick up on the fact that she had always been too busy trying to figure out how to get him to kiss her to worry about his forehead. Spike shot her a thoroughly disgusted look, her reaction having given him a clear idea as to the answer.

"Do you mean am I still upset that you never showed proper respect for your elders and betters? Am I still determined to teach you the proper way to…respect me? Yes, as a matter of fact, I am." Angel answered his mocking question in a smooth voice that Buffy had thought was gone with Angelus as he stepped forward in a predatory way. Buffy could feel her anger flowing through her body, preparing her muscles for battle. Spike pulled her behind his body, determined to handle this himself.

'I got this Pet. I've been waiting for this too long to let you fight this one for me.' he sent to her.

Not being accustomed to standing on the sidelines during a fight, Buffy was unable to stop the grumble that came out of her, but she acquiesced and stayed back. She could understand where Spike was coming from on this one.

"Let's have us a class right now then Teach." Spike said cheerfully, bouncing on his toes in a way that Buffy had always thought seemed like an excited kid waiting for a rollercoaster. A thought which both amused and intimidated her every time it crossed her mind before they fought. "I seem to have forgotten my lessons from before. Suppose you weren' such a great teacher, yeh?"

Angel roared loudly and charged at Spike, arms open wide with the painfully obvious intention of grabbing the smaller man and using his greater size to subdue him. He didn't even get close.

Spike waited for the right moment, still bouncing on his toes, then jumped in the air and spun around, his combat boot connecting with Angel's jaw with an audible crack that Buffy recognized as a broken bone. Angel stumbled to the side, recovered quickly and tried to take Spike out with a roundhouse. Again, he didn't come close. Spike ducked under his arm and quickly punched him in the gut, immediately following up with a sweeping kick to his ankles, effectively knocking the bigger man onto his back. Before Angel had the chance to push himself up both of Spike's boots landed on his chest, with Spike's full weight perched above them, crouching on top of his grandsire. "Sorry Teach, I must have missed class the day you had lessons on how to get your ass handed to you by a better fighter. You obviously aced that one, I see. Of course, I have yet to meet a better fighter than myself." he said, giving a light smack to Angel's broken jaw, his smirk growing impossibly wider at the sound of pain the light touch elicited.

"Hey!" Buffy protested his claims to superior fighting skills. How many times had she kicked his butt? Angel used the momentary distraction to try and buck the wiry blonde off of him but Spike merely pulled back and jabbed him in the temple, knocking him out, before looking up to grin triumphantly at his mate.

The mate who was feeling rather aroused from watching him beat down the poofter, he noticed. Unfortunately she had been joined by the whelp, Demongirl, Red, and Wolfboy. He started trying to think of an excuse to leave her friends behind.

"Sorry Pet, but you're really not a better fighter than me. You're just the only one who's good enough to fight me to a draw. I'd say you're my equal though." he grinned. Finding herself completely unable to resist his wide smile and sparkling eyes Buffy smiled back even though she felt only slightly mollified. She knew she was a better fighter than him. It was just the circumstances that had kept her from definitively beating him before.

"All right! Angel got his butt kicked, now all I need is for Buffy to kick Dead boys ass here and this will be the best night of my life!" Xander shouted enthusiastically.

One of Spike's eyebrows propped up and he looked at the whelp derisively. "Whelp needs to get laid, don' he? Why aren't you taking care of the boy all proper like, Anyanka?"

"Hey!" Xander protested loudly. "I'll have you know we-"

He was cut off when the girl in question shoved him aside to step forward and look down at the unconscious vampire as if he were an insect she was studying. "I've given him plenty of orgasms, but there's just no accounting for the preferences of teenage humans." she said almost absently. "Why isn't he dusty yet? It usually happens quicker than this." she asked curiously.

"Wasn' trying to dust him. As long as his minion claim is still strong, the Slayer'll feel it when he dusts, and with her being this close, it'll likely hurt a great deal seeing as how she had 'feelings' for him beforehand," he answered with a sneer stepping off of the brutally vanquished brunette and walking over to his mate. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close to his body and nuzzled his face into her silky, sweet smelling hair, and sending chills down her spine. "Liked that, did ya?" he asked, whispering softly for her ears only. Well the wolf boy probably heard but Spike wasn't concerned about that. The only thing he was concerned with right then was the wonderful scent of arousal rising off of his mate.

"It's always made me hot to watch you fight." she admitted, whispering softly so no one could hear. He was nibbling on her ear lobe and licking the column of her throat now. Two could play this game, she decided, feeling just a little irritated that it was so easy for him to get her aching to jump him. Maybe she could do the same to him with just words. "Especially when it was me you were fighting. I always had to go home and take care of myself after a run in with you unless I wanted to hear all the other vamps wonder what had me so excited." Spike growled and clutched her tighter digging his fingers into her hips. Just as he was deciding to throw her over his shoulder and take off like he had done the night before, Oz coughed softly, making Buffy aware that there was someone else who could hear her despite her whispers. She pulled away from Spike, growling softly when he tightened his grip but he wouldn't let her go.

She turned mortified eyes to Oz and blushed a deep red, making him smile and Spike laugh. She tried to jab Spike in the stomach but he was still holding her too tightly and she didn't have the room for enough leverage to do him any real damage. "Isn't Giles expecting us in the war room?" she asked desperate for a distraction to stop the questions she could see in Xander's expression from being asked. Oz would be polite and keep his mouth shut, but she had no doubt that Spike would be more than glad to tell everyone what she had said.

Damn evil vampire.

Just then she got her distraction. Angel moaned and started to stir as he woke up and everyone turned to watch him.

It took a few moments, but he did eventually open his eyes and look up, dismayed to see how many had witnessed him lose a fight to his grand childe. It was bad enough that Buffy, of all people had seen that, but at least she wouldn't tease him about it. Xander however… He wouldn't hear the end of this as long as the boy was living, he just knew it.

Too bad Angelus hadn't taken care of that while he was around and Angel had a working conscience that wouldn't allow him to do so.

"Yes." Anya answered Buffy's desperate query. "He gave me a call earlier to make sure I'd be there. I suppose he wants to grill me for information now, and the questions will never end. I should have kept my mouth shut yesterday and kept letting you people overlook me." She was smiling slightly despite her words and Buffy thought that maybe she was glad to finally have her knowledge and experience acknowledged.

"Speaking of which, I feel really stupid for not having realized that before Anya. I mean really, how did I not ever consider that we had over a thousand years of experience right there?" Buffy felt compelled to blurt out. She had thought about this a little bit earlier and decided that she blamed Xander just as much as she blamed herself. He was always treating Anya as though she wasn't all there, and Buffy had gone along with it just because he was the one that brought her around. That didn't stop Buffy from feeling foolish for never having thought about it before though..

"Yeah, that was kind of dumb Pet." Spike had to throw in. Just then Angel finally managed to get to his feet moaning loudly when he didn't get any of the pity or concern he felt that he should, and drawing Buffy's attention to him, saving Spike from any revenge she might have taken for him calling her dumb.

"As for you." she said coldly, the silver shine in her eyes making it clear that the Slayer was in control right now. "You will never speak to my mate that way again. He is now your master as much as I am your mistress, and you will show him the deference he is due as such. Go home, heal and then tomorrow I want you to leave Sunnydale. Go find out more about your curse and ways to anchor your soul to you permanently. Maybe once you can get laid every now and then you won't piss me off so much."

If he could have flushed, Angel would have, as it was he nodded, hung his head and began the walk of shame back to his apartment, followed by the sound of Spike and Xander's almost hysterical laughter.

Chapter 19

Buffy's head landed on the dark wood of the 'war table' they were all gathered around with a painful sounding thump. She closed her eyes tightly, clasped her hands together under the table, and prayed for a hellmouthy event of the time travel kind. A spell, or a demon, or a quirk in the time-space continuum that would enable her to prevent the current torture she found herself enduring. Something that would stop her from encouraging Anya to share the experience and knowledge she had gained in over a thousand years as a vengeance demon. She wouldn't have kicked herself so hard for overlooking this font of information if she had realized that Anya would want to share all of her experience and knowledge in one sitting.

One.

L-o-o-o-n-g.

Sitting.

She had spent the last three hours trying her best to stay focused and engaged in an effort to make up for her previous idiocy, but super strong Slayer infused with the powers of goodness or not, there was only so much she could take. Admittedly, there were a few stories that had her laughing her ass off, and more than a few useful tidbits of information, but Buffy was now convinced that 'boring monotonous lecture speak' was a skill that came with either being British, or having more than one lifetime worth of years under your belt in which to practice. The theory frightened her a little bit considering that her mate had both qualifications. His lectures would probably be twice as boring and long then, and she had tied herself to him for eternity.

She looked at him speculatively, only to see him giving her one of his patented tongue rolled behind his teeth, eyebrow in his hairline smirks. She felt the heat crawling over her body and glared at him. He knew damn well what that look did to her, and was doing it on purpose. Well, that's probably no more than she deserved for mating with an evil vampire. A mate that would use his wicked sexy smirk and his unredeemable evil tongue to heat her up at the most inappropriate times.

Two could play that game though.

She uncrossed her legs under the table and spread her thighs apart, allowing the aroma of her arousal to slowly filter up to his senses, and sent him the tactile memory of how it felt when he'd had her cuffed to the tub and spanked her mercilessly for breaking his 'rules,' the pain mixing with the pleasure in an intense swirl of sensation that drove her to the very edge of sanity. His eyebrow dropped and his smirk disappeared. He sent her the promise of a repeat performance and began to send her an image of her own heart shaped ass covered in his red handprints and jiggling with ever smack, but then his nostrils flared before he could take the imagery any farther. He could smell her arousal now and he abruptly sat down in one of the chairs he had scorned earlier, claiming to be too hyped up from the disappointingly short kicking of his Grandad's ass. He scooted up to the table to hide his own arousal from the rest of the Scoobies and glared at Buffy. She just smirked.

Chosen One for the Powers of Good:1

Wicked vampire with the evil Powers of sexy: 0

"…and that's when I learned about the true evil of bunnies." Anya concluded a story that Buffy had completely missed.

Buffy's head jerked up and took in the slightly horrified and disgusted expressions of everyone that had actually heard the story. She moaned in self pity and thumped her head down onto the table again, following up this time with a few more good thumps. Naturally, she would miss the story that pertained to the possibly-a-Slayer-dream she'd had last night.

Okay, that was it, she was done for now, the rest of the lecture would have to wait for a time when her brain didn't feel like it was going to implode from and information overload. "I gotta go on patrol now if it's gonna get done tonight." she exclaimed before Anya could start her next anecdote, jumping up and heading for the door without meeting any of the shocked or knowing eyes around the table. Spike jumped up and followed her, just as she'd known he would.

"Will you be back later to make your report?" Giles asked.

"No. Unless something comes up, we'll wait for tomorrow to do that." She already knew what was going to come up, and it wasn't something she particularly wanted to report back to her father figure about. Ever. The two bottle blondes swept out of the library, completely ignorant of the mixed emotions in the gazes that followed them. Emotions that ranged from pleasure to disgust, amusement to jealousy, and envy to hatred.

Buffy stopped at the top of the stairs when she got outside and tilted her face up to the sky with her eyes closed. Spike stopped next to her and looked at her, puzzled. The pose she was in was a familiar one to him, but not one he expected to see on the Slayer. It was the stance of a hunter, seeking prey. Slayers may be chosen to kill his kind, but that did not make them hunters. He knew from studying them as much as he had that they acted more like prey, luring the hunter to them and then taking them out, but she was pulling large drafts of air into her lungs, mouth opened as she tasted the air, just as a lioness would do in search of prey. Just because she looked like she was hunting didn't mean she was. After all, she wasn't a hunter, she was a defender. Maybe she was just taking in the night air and enjoying the moment of peace and quiet. Spike didn't particularly care for peace and quiet.

"What the bleedin' hell are ya doin then Pet?" he demanded, smirking when she jerked her head around to glare at him.

"I'm hunting Spike. What the hell does it look like I'm doing?" she said testily.

"Well, it looks like you're huntin, I just didn't figure it to be all that likely." he admitted. "You are the snack after all, not the snacker." he admitted.

"Not anymore." she said with a smug smile. "My job got a whole lot easier with the whole Slayer merge-y thing. I don't have to hang around cemeteries and dark alleys waiting for them to come to me anymore. Now I can just sniff out their hidey holes and take out the whole nest. Now shut the hell up for a minute and let me concentrate."

"This I have to see to believe." he said softly, infusing his words with doubt even though he really didn't doubt her. At this point, after the last twenty four hours, he was pretty much open minded about anything that had to do with this chit. So he waited, if not patiently, at least quietly while she scented the wind and listened to the night. It didn't take long before she lowered her head and began to jog towards the old warehouse district he had so recently taken her friends to in search of a love spell. He could feel her excitement through the claim as her adrenaline surged and prepared her for the fight ahead.

"There's a nest of fifteen, mostly fledges about two miles away. One of them, probably the leader, is older. Not as old as you though." she informed him rubbing the back of her neck as she interpreted the vague feelings she referred to as her 'spidey senses', a skill that she had picked up after the big merger. Before she'd always been able to sense the presence of vampires, and occasionally differentiate between a fledgling and a Master, if the Master was powerful. She had also been able to feel a slight difference in the signature of vampires from the Aurelius line, something she attributed to her death at the hands of the bat faced Master, but she'd never been able to count and categorize the feelings until she'd merged with her demon and they'd begun to work together. Spike shot her a glance as he jogged along beside her, not quite sure which issue he wanted to address first. The sight of silver flashing in her eyes and delicate fangs poking out of her mouth distracted his mind from questions about her certainty and pushed it right into the gutter, where he'd like to bend her over and take her in front of anyone and everyone, let the world know that she was his.

"Fight first, fuck later." she said, picking up on his sudden lust. "I always get worked up anyway taking out so many vamps at once, now I've got you to take care of the after burn." His anticipation level shot through the roof, but her casual comments brought him back to the questions he'd wanted to ask a moment ago.

"You don't really think you can take out that many alone, do ya Pet?" he asked. "Fledges or not, that's a bit much to believe. No worries tonight though, with me here you won't have much left over."

"How about a little wager then, since you doubt my mad slayer skills?" she asked, having a pretty good idea that he wouldn't be able to turn down a bet.

"What kind of wager?" he asked as they came to a stop a block away from the nest she was taking them to. The gleam in his cerulean gaze told her everything she needed to know about his affinity for gambling. Between that and the inability to ignore a challenge that she had seen last night, she could probably get him to do anything she wanted.

"You stand back and watch me take them out. Don't interfere unless one of them actually manages to get some fang in me or otherwise incapacitate me. If I can take them all out, with no help from you in less than five minutes, I win. If it takes me longer than that or if you have to help me out, you win." she said confidently.

That damn eyebrow went up again and he just looked at her speculatively as if calculating the odds. He had to admit, to himself anyway, that her confidence threw him a little and made him doubt his own assumptions. "What are the stakes then?"

"I win, you have to carve all my stakes for a month." she responded quickly, eager to get out of her least favorite chore as a Slayer.

"And if I win?"

"What do you want?" she asked, looking up at him with silver flashing in her eyes and fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

"A sex slave for a month." he answered without hesitation.

"I don't know…" she said, dragging her words out. "Depends on who this bitch you want is and whether she'd win in a fight against a pissed off, possessive Slayer."

"You, ya silly bint. I win, and you do whatever depraved sexual acts I want, without question or hesitation, for the next month."

"That doesn't sound like an equal trade for carving stakes." she hedged. He sensed weakness, and thought that maybe she wasn't quite so confident after all. Time to move in for the kill.

"Not my fault you've got no imagination. That's what I want if I win."

"Fine. But if I win, you carve my steaks and wash my clothes for the month." she countered. This way she could also get rid of the tiresome chore of washing demon goo, vamp dust, and all the other general nastiness out of her clothes that she hid from her mom. Not that she had to hide anything anymore. But all the same, it had taken her most of the last three years to learn how to get purple demon blood and red skin acid out of her clothes.

"Deal." he accepted eagerly, feeling certain that he had just earned himself a Slayer slave. "Now, how's about we get this show on the road?"

"Alright, just remember, you stay back and watch the artist perform." she said setting off for the abandoned warehouse at a lazy lope that ate up the ground surprisingly quickly. He stayed behind her, but he also stayed close. He didn't doubt that she'd get off to a good start, but there was no way he was going to wait until some filthy fledge actually managed to get their mouth on his mate. Just the thought had him growling low in his chest. She was his. Her blood was not meant for any other and he wouldn't give anyone else the chance to taste her ambrosia. He still had to put his foot down about her sharing her blood with Dalton. As much as he'd always liked the quiet, peaceful vampire, he still didn't intend to share his Slayer with anyone. Not even someone that reminded him a little of his own poncy self before he'd been brought into the strength he now owned.

Picking up on his thoughts, Buffy quirked a curious eyebrow at him and let him know that she had questions for later, then gave him an eager grin that he recognized from having been on the other side of such a bloodthirsty look many times just before he engaged in battle. She kicked the door tucked into the corner of the warehouse open and walked in as though she owned the place, Spike hot on her heels and not happy about her obvious sense of over confidence.

"Did somebody place an order for delivery?" she quipped to the astonished vampires milling around the victims they had brought back to share. Then she did something that made him want to crow in pride and scream in frustration all at once. She leaped over their heads and landed right in the middle of the crowd standing over one of the unconscious girls they'd been feeding on. He was definitely going to have punish her for putting herself in such a precarious position, he decided, just as soon as he saved the girl and killed the wankers who were quickly regaining their composure and moving in for the kill. He moved in to help her but before he got further than one step she'd started whirling and twirling, kicking, punching, staking and leaping around with such speed and grace that he found himself dumbfounded.

She hadn't been kidding when she'd claimed she was an artist, he realized. He'd never seen anything as beautiful or as arousing as this little spitfire, running circles around fifteen hungry vampire, humiliating, confusing, and taking them down before staking them. She had no hesitation and didn't fumble or stumble at all. She was glorious. Poetry in motion. A stake in each hand and vampire dust shimmering and filling the air around her as she took out three vamps with one swing. After taking out all of the fledglings she was left facing one more. The so-called Master of the motley crew she had decimated in less than two minutes. The sallow vamp opened his mouth to say something, no doubt one of the insipid threats that she always heard from overconfident vampires, but before he got a word out she shifted to her left foot while her left shot out and landed right over his heart, impaling him with the long wooden heel she'd customized for all of her boots. She quickly jerked her foot away, before his dusting could hurt her stylish yet sensible shoe and was left standing alone in the middle of the echoing warehouse, surrounded by dust that was still drifting to the ground and five half drained, unconscious blood bags.

She looked over at Spike with a smile of pure joy on her face, exhilarated by the exercise, proud of her good showing, and relieved to have won the bet.

He was speechless.

He'd always known that she was a damn good fighter, but what he'd just witnessed should have been impossible. It was amazing, beautiful, glorious, poetic, fierce, and without a doubt, the sexiest thing he had ever seen. His chest felt full and his zipper was strained, he was ready to 'take care of the after burn' for her, right here, right now. He moved in to do just that, pinning her in place with the intensity of his golden gaze, but she shook her head sharply, fighting off the almost enthralled feeling his lust was engendering in her and stepped away from him. "Gotta call for help for these guys first, then go somewhere else. I don't like to hang around for the cleanup." she said in a husky voice that just made him more determined to mark her, claim her, have her, now. His demon was in full control and wanted his mate in the most primal, animalistic of ways.

He growled at her, not willing to wait for anything. She was his mate and he would not be denied. She growled back, thinking to stand her ground until she probed the claim and realized that Spike was gone. She was facing nothing but the demon now, and the demon was acting on primal needs. So she spun around and ran to the back of the warehouse, jumping out a smashed window and fumbling her cell phone out of her pocket to place a call to 911 for the victims she'd left in the warehouse. She could hear his outraged roar and the sound of his boots slamming the ground behind her as he chased her into an empty lot overgrown with waist high grass. The adrenaline that she'd expelled in the fight was surging through her veins again as she ran from the furious demon chasing her down. She gave breathless directions to the dispatcher on the other end of the line, another one of the Sunnydale's willingly blind citizens, despite the fact that she had an insight into the darkness that thrived so well here. Just as she hit the end button, disconnecting the call, Spike slammed into her from behind, carrying them both to the ground and knocking the breath out of her when he landed solidly on her back.

She tried to gather the black spots floating in front of her eyes into a coherent vision while desperately attempting to suck in more than the tiny gasps of air that Spike was allowing her. He pressed his body firmly into her, grinding his erection into the curve of her ass and snarling at her still for daring to run from him. Buffy wanted, more than anything to flip him off of her and dominate him the way he seemed determined to dominate her, again, but the position he had her in made it impossible to do. His entire body was laying flat on her, crushing her breasts into the soft grass beneath her, hurting her sore ribs and limiting the amount of air she was able to breathe, the black spots wouldn't go away, they were becoming larger, meeting and connecting, the darkness taking over her vision and she began to feel panicky. It didn't matter that the demon who had her so helpless was her mate, shared her soul and was inextricably linked to her life. What mattered was that it was pure demon, with no traces of the immature, yet strangely wise, cocksure, incredibly sexy man that she was foolishly starting to fall for, and the demon was on the verge of knocking her completely out.

Then he braced his hands beside her useless arms and pushed his chest up, allowing her to breathe freely again, while grinding his cock even harder into the sweet curves of her ass. After a few grateful gasps of air, she tried to put her hands under her and get the leverage to push him off of her. He grabbed her wrists and held her hands down, pushing them roughly into the ground beneath her as he kept his chest up, allowing her to continue breathing.

"You think you can run from me?" he demanded harshly, voice rough and deepened under the influence of an angry demon. "You are mine!" He pushed his hips into her roughly, thrilling at the pained grunt this elicited from her. "You belong to me. Your ass belongs to me. That hot little pocket of heaven between your thighs belongs to me." He was speaking almost in rhythm with his thrusts as he continued to grind his hips into her breathing his words of ownership into the curve of her ear. "Your blood belongs to me. Even soul belongs to me Slayer, and you will not run from me. Ever. Again." With his last word he bit her savagely, digging his teeth into her slender throat, ravaging the flesh below her ear and gorging on the ambrosial blood that pulsed into his mouth with every beat of her heart. "Mine!" he snarled, desperate to reaffirm his claim after she had denied him and run from him. When she didn't confirm his claim and only whimpered instead he shook his head, like a dog with it's favorite chew toy, ravaging her neck even further. "Say it bitch!" he growled.

With those words Buffy, and more importantly the demon inside her, had had enough. He had shown her last night that being dominated wasn't a horrible thing under the right circumstances, but she was damned if she was going to let this kind of behavior slide.

Chapter 20

Buffy's mind was rapidly going over her options. Her mate had an important lesson to learn about just how far she was willing to let him dominate her. Unfortunately for her plans, he had her in a pretty submissive position and she was having technical difficulties with trying to figure out how to get out of it. She couldn't slam her head back into his face, seeing as how his face was currently buried in her neck, tearing the flesh as he tried to lay his claim on her again. She couldn't buck him off of her thanks to the way he had her hands spread out to her sides and was pressing her wrists harshly into the ground with all of his weight. Well, all of his weight that wasn't currently busy grinding into her ass. And how was it that the position he had her in and the way he was rubbing himself into her was both humiliating and a major turn on, all at once?

She seriously suspected that if she was ever granted the chance to slow down and just listen to herself think for the first time since being called to be the Slayer, she'd probably feel deeply disturbed at just how large her freak flag apparently was, and how merrily it waved in the slightest of breezes. Not that Spike was a slight breeze. He was hurricane force gales tearing through her life, her body, her soul, and Powers protect her, her heart.

Damn evil vampire, so had it coming to him if she could just figure out how to get herself out of this weak position and regain control.

"Mine!" he roared around his painful grip on her neck. "Say it dammit! Your mine!" he demanded. Buffy was starting to think there was no way she could regain the power in this particular confrontation but then she flashed back to the night before, when she'd been on her knees in front of him, his hand tangled in her hair and controlling her movements as he fucked her face. As demeaning as she'd always thought blow jobs were, she'd known last night, with his length sliding in and out of her mouth, nudging the back of her throat and compromising her ability to breathe, even with his hands taking control and moving her head at the pace he wanted, she'd still known that she was the one with the power. She was the one that could make him babble incoherent obscenities with a swirl of her tongue. She was the one who was making him whimper and moan when she swallowed around the thick head of his cock. It was her humming moans that wrenched a primal roar from the depths of his body as he shot his cool seed down her throat.

So maybe she didn't have to fight him to regain the power. Maybe she could convince him to give it to her…

She stopped her efforts to tuck her chin in and block his access to her neck, arching her head to the side and stretching the skin under his soft lips and sharp teeth and moaned softly, giving in momentarily to the heady mix of pleasure and pain caused by the harsh grip of his teeth and the long, slow, suctioning pulls on her veins. His grip relaxed slightly but perceptibly and the steady hard rhythm of him grinding and pushing and rubbing against her ass slowed a tiny bit. She pushed her ass up against him and increased the pressure on his swollen cock. He moaned and loosened his grip a little more. She slid her thighs apart allowing the strained crotch of his jeans to slip down and rub against her heated core. His bruising grip on her wrists released and he slid his hands up the bare skin of her arms, curling his heavy hands around her deceptively vulnerable shoulders. He began to circle his hips with a little twist on the down stroke. He was no longer mindlessly rubbing himself against her in search of his own pleasure. He still needed her to affirm the claim, but the fact that she was no longer struggling and was reciprocating his attentions instead calmed his demon down a little bit. She was acquiescing to him and that was what he needed. He released his hold on her ravaged neck and kissed the smooth, blood streaked skin beneath the ragged wound he'd given her. "Mine." he said softly, nuzzling his face into her orange and vanilla scented hair.

Knowing that his gentle attention wouldn't last long once he realized that she still had no intention of agreeing and saying the one little word he was trying to drag from her, she made her move, bucking into him and slamming her ass into his crotch, letting the motion travel up her body in a sinuous wave of violent intent and bucking him off of her back. Before he even had a chance to register the change in circumstances she had flipped her self over and was straddling him, with his arms pinned to his sides by her powerful thighs, her wet crotch resting against his heaving and bucking stomach. She wrapped her hand around his throat, knowing that cutting off his breathing would be no more than an annoyance to him, but using her weight to pin his head down and prevent him from gathering enough leverage raise his shoulders and buck her off.

He was growling and snarling, his demon infuriated at this unexpected turn of events, his body writhing and twisting and bucking ineffectively. She didn't bother trying to force him into holding still, merely slid her hips down so that she could rub her throbbing core against his thick erection and rode out the waves of his undulating body.

The rush of power she felt at having him in this position, under her control, combined with the friction between her legs pushed her quickly to the edge of sanity. She decided to use one of his evil powers of sexy on him and began talking. "Ooooh yeah, that's a good boy. Rub me just like that. Right there. Such a good little vampire, taking care of me this way. Feel so good rubbing your cock against my pussy. Can you feel how hot and wet I am?" she babbled stream of consciousness at him the way he did to her when she sucked him off. She could feel his arms twitching underneath her as he tried to free his hands, so he could grab her hips, pull her down onto him harder, massage her breasts, pinch her nipples, rip her pants off and fuck her till she passed out, but the grip she had on him with her thighs was too strong. He couldn't free himself. His demon snarled and gnashed his teeth, needing to assert his dominance of his mate. His beautiful, sexy, amazing mate who was dry humping him and pinching her own nipples through the thin material of her top. The wonderful woman whose passionate nature had called to him the first time he laid eyes on her dancing with her pals in the Bronze a year before. His sensual mate who was cumming on top of him right now, rubbing her center against him almost painfully as she cried out her fulfillment. The fight was momentarily stunned right out of him as he enjoyed the sight above him. Her head thrown back, hands squeezing her perky little tits, eyes scrunched shut and skin drawn tight over her euphoric expression, a light sheen of sweat covering the minimal amount of exposed skin.

He was so entranced by the sight that he completely forgot about regaining the dominant position and just enjoyed the view as he felt his own pleasure climbing higher and higher, seeking out that sharp peak of felicity. It felt so good that he didn't even care that he was about to cream in his jeans like some wet behind the ears young piece of vampire bait in the back of daddy's car, the only thing he cared about was the way she was rubbing her swollen core against him, rocking her body and screaming out her own ecstasy. Just when he felt the dull throbbing in his lower back that preceeded his own orgasm, she stopped all motion and lifted herself off of him. He looked at her, stunned by the sudden lack of friction and motion, a question glaring at her from his fierce eyes, his arms twitching violently as he tried to free himself from the grip of her thighs. How the hell could such slim, shapely thighs have so much power in them, anyway?

However the physics worked out, the fact of the matter was that he was trapped. His cock was throbbing on the edge of painfully denied release, aching for contact, friction, crying for release. Instead of granting him what he so desperately needed, his evil, torturous mate was hovering over him, denying him what he so desperately needed. When did she learn to lift one eyebrow like that? She leaned forward, holding her face over his and smirking down at him. Something warm splashed on his sharp cheekbone, and trickled down the side of his face and towards his ear, drawing his eyes to her ravaged throat. Guilt slammed into him, instantly overcome by worry. He had really torn into her and he was sure he had drunk heavily from her while he was trying to force her submission, and here she was, still heavily bleeding from the ragged wound he had inflicted on her. How the hell was she still conscious?

And how the hell was she taunting him?

"What's the matter, baby? Didn't you get your reward for taking such good care of me?" she asked him in a sing song voice. He jerked his arms, still determined to get free, although for different reasons now. His demon was still in control, but he was no longer worried about asserting his dominance. He was now worried about her and wanted to take care of her, needed to make up for hurting her. Although her grip was weaker, she was still strong enough to keep him under her control. She lowered her hips and rubbed against him, softly, briefly. His hips jerked up and a snarl erupted from his throat. She swayed slightly and her grip on him slackened even more as the endorphins from her orgasm wore away. He held still and waited for the inevitable. Her eyes glazed over and she slowly and gracefully slumped over him, giving in to the result of massive blood loss as she passed out. He extricated himself from underneath her and sat up, shifting her body gently so that he was cradling her in his arms. He leaned over her, licking the ragged wound and sealing it closed. It was not as easy as usual. This bite was wide and ragged and didn't close as easily as his other more cautious bites.

After an agonizingly long handful of minutes, he was finally able to stop the bleeding and seal the wound. He was trying to assuage his own guilt, kissing her face and gently nuzzling her neck as he cradled her close and stood with her cradled bridal style in his arms, growling softly, ancient words of sorrow and devotion, adoration and reparation. She turned her head into his carresses, causing his unbeating heart to soar with relief. She would be okay! She had to be okay, he needed her. All of him needed her, needed to cherish and worship her, needed to dominate her, bend her to his wants, needed to submit to her needs and give her everything she desired. She was responding to him, however slightly, and he was sure she would be fine.

He was sure that he hadn't irreparably harmed the center of his universe. Until her heartbeat began to slow and started to stutter.

Spike kicked down the door to the mansion and ran over the threshold without giving a second thought to the vow he had made the year before, in what now seemed like someone else's life, to never darken that particular door again. He had his Slayer cradled gently in his arms exerting great effort to not jostle her in any way. His gentle handling of her was in great contrast to the fierce look on his face.

To an outside observer, he appeared ready to kill someone in the most painful way he could. Most likely the deviant who had hurt the petite woman he was fretting over as he gently laid her on a soft mattress before running from the room at inhuman speed and dashing into the kitchen.

The outside observer wouldn't know that the fierce look of hate on his face was directed inwardly. After all, he was the deviant who had hurt her so terribly. He was beyond pissed at himself for losing control the way he had. He and the demon that granted him such an unnaturally extended life had always gotten on well together. He had become a Master vampire at such an early age because he had an accord with the demon inside. The poncey poet that he was in his 'real' life had wanted the strength, power, and most importantly, the confidence provided by the demon, and the demon wanted a host with enough intelligence to not only survive, but to thrive. In return, William reluctantly accepted the demon's need for blood and violence, and the demon reluctantly accepted William's need for love and affection.

Despite the internal conflict he felt over moving on from his beloved Dru, both demon and man knew they had hit the jackpot with Buffy. She was perhaps the one being that could fulfill all of the needs of both of them. She was the one creature in the world who could satisfy the collaborative union of the demon and William, the collaboration that had adopted the name Spike.

She was, for Spike, the ultimate pinnacle of everything that every side of him had ever yearned for and he had hurt her badly. May have killed her even, all because the demon lost control, and even worse, William had lost control of his demon.

He finally found what he was searching so desperately for. The emergency room quality first aid kit that Angelus had always kept well stocked in order to keep his victims alive longer. He grabbed it out of the cupboard it had been hiding in and ran upstairs to do what he could for his mate. It didn't take long for him to apply the pressure bandages to her neck and then he began to pace back and forth in the large bedroom, yelling at himself for his foolishness.

"Fuckin' genius you are, finally get everything you ever dreamed of wrapped in a beautiful package, and leave it to the Big Bad to fuck it all up!" He paused in his ramblings and went back to the bed to check on Buffy, hoping for some sign of improvement.

Nothing. She was still too pale under her tan, breathing shallowly and her heartbeat was still too slow, so he resumed his useless pacing and ranting. "God only knows what would show up on the machines at the hospital so ya can't take the risk of puttin her in the hands of doctors, so what do you do ya stupid git? You rip her damn throat out and damn near drain her when she can't even go and get a damn transfusion…" The light bulb flared and he stopped in his tracks lifting his head up in sudden comprehension.

Of course! Her demon was the same as his wasn't it. Meaning she didn't need IV's and machines and bags of blood for a transfusion, she just needed a fresh supply! He briefly considered going out and finding her a happy meal on legs but the idea wasn't even fully formed before he dismissed it as impossible. There's no way in hell she would ever forgive him if he fed her one of the innocents that she was called upon to protect.

Gods blood, he really was a stupid git! She'd already shown her preferences in that area, hadn't she? Before he even thought about it he was at her side in game face and ripping into his right wrist with the same violence he had used on her creamy throat earlier before he placed the gaping wound he'd inflicted on himself over her parted lips and allowed his thickened dead blood to slowly drip into her mouth.

Putting on his game face effectively put the demon in control, but William had a firm grip on the demon this time, threatening to walk out into the sun if he ever did something so foolish again. The threats were pointless and needless though. The demon was looking down at his bandaged and bloody mate with remorse pouring out of his golden eyes. He had done this to her. He had hurt his own mate and put her on death's door, it was his job, his duty, to fix this. He began to croon softly to her as he brushed her hair away from her face. It was a soft animalistic sound, somewhere between a whine and a purr. She finally began to respond. Her fangs popped out with a light clicking sound and her mouth latched onto his wounded wrist with enough force that his crooning ceased and was replaced with a pained hiss.

With the absence of his soothing crooning, her own demon began to feel agitated. Buffy was still unconscious but her demon was suddenly aware and confused and angry.

Beyond angry, she was in a rage. She plunged her fangs deeper into Spike's tendons and ground them down relishing the cry of pain he let out. As musical as his pain was to her ears it wasn't enough. Not for what he had done. She ripped her fangs out roughly, making sure to take a chunk with her. After looking up and spitting the chunk into his face, she sat up and buried her fangs in his neck with a loud growl, she shook her head back and forth as he had done to her in the empty lot and then began to gulp down the thick cool liquid as she sat up and pushed him down underneath her.

He had seriously injured her, almost killed her in an attempt to show his dominance over her. That alone was enough to piss her off, but when it was coupled with the way he had dominated, demanded and received her submission the night before, the fact that he would attack her, injure her, and nearly kill her for the submission he already knew he could easily gain was enough to make her lethal.

It was time for him to die now. She wouldn't let him fight her off or stop her in any way. The fact that he was her mate wasn't going to be enough to stop her this time. The fact that his demon had been tending to her and crooning apologies wasn't going to save him. Neither was the fact that he wasn't fighting her at all.

DAMN IT!

She snarled in frustration and pulled her fangs out of his neck, pushing herself up so she could look down at him. His eyes were closed and he had a look of peaceful acceptance on his paler than usual face. "Look at me!" she growled angrily.

His opened his eyes and the remorse he felt was clearly displayed in his still golden eyes.

Damn it!

He reached one hand up to touch her now flushed cheek, relief shining clearly on his all too expressive face, but she jerked away so roughly that she nearly threw herself off of the bed. "You don't get to touch me anymore!" she hissed at him. "You nearly killed me just because I said you had to wait for sex! What the hell, Spike?" Her voice was getting louder with every word and the look of betrayal in her eyes broke his unbeating heart.

"Buffy, Love…" whatever he was going to say was cut off by the resounding slap she landed on his cheek.

"You don't get to call me that anymore!" she screamed at him. Then she looked down at the palm of the hand she'd slapped him with. The angry betrayed look left her face and was replaced with horror. There was a fine coating of dust on her hand that hadn't been there before she slapped him. She looked up at his face and gasped. Her handprint was clearly outlined on his prominent cheekbone.

It was outlined in dust and she could see teeth and muscles inside the perfectly delineated hand print.

Under her horrified gaze, more of his skin began to slowly flake away. Oh God! He may have nearly killed her, but she had without a doubt killed him in return. So yeah, that's what she had wanted when she was angry, but now that it was happening she began to scream and cry in denial. She leaned down and pressed the uninjured, unbandaged side of her neck against his lips. "Drink!" she ordered. He merely turned his head away and pressed his lips together. She grabbed his chin, intending to place his mouth back on her neck, but she could feel his skin dusting and flaking away under her fingers and she pulled away, afraid of causing him more damage.

"Get out." he said in a low voice. He refused to say anymore but she searched through their link and could see that he intended to let himself die. Stupid retard thought she could find herself a better mate if he died, one that could do right by her.

"If you die, I die remember!" she yelled down at him, trying desperately to make him see sense.

"Claim's new kitten. Might hurt a bit, but you're just stubborn enough to make it through that part and move on." he whispered hoarsely determined to follow through. After what he had done he had no doubt that she could find someone better for her. Someone who wouldn't nearly kill her just because their demon wanted to play. "Now leave. This may take a while and you should be someplace safe when the pain hits you."

"Just what am I supposed to do if you die?" she asked, tears running down her face. "I will not make it through the pain and I will not move on! If you're so determined to die here at my hands, then I will die with you. I don't want to be immortal if I have to do it alone." Please please please let him see sense.

"Nah. 'S not like you to give up Slayer. You're the strongest woman, the strongest Slayer, I have ever had the honor of knowing. You might grieve, but you will survive. You will find somebody else and move on."

At his assertion her demon stepped into control and growled at him.

"I have been jumping from one body to another for thousands of years looking for someone I could love fully, someone who could love me back. In all those centuries I have only found love for and from my own kind three times. The first one that I loved was dusted a long time ago. The second one that I loved could never love me in the way I need to be loved. The third one is you and I will not let you die, no matter how selfish and overdramatic you want to be. So help me Spike, if you don't drink from me, I swear on everything that I have ever held dear that I will go to Angel. I will do what it takes to shove his soul out and I will spend the next thousand years with 'Angelus' just because I know you will be able to see us from hell!"

There it was! He growled and reached out, grabbed her by the hair that was hanging over her shoulder and yanked her down to him, placing his mouth at the almost entirely healed wound on her throat. Having achieved the goal, Buffy's demon receded as soon as she saw that he would feed and live. Or unlive. Whatever.

Despite the rage that had shown in his eyes at her threat he was gentle as he carefully probed the small mark left on her throat with his tongue. Receiving only a drop or two and knowing that it would not be enough he slid his fangs into her supple flesh as gently as he could and took small, slow sips of her blood. Buffy couldn't help but compare the contrast of his gentle suction with the unforgiving grip he had on her hair and the ferocious growls rumbling out of his chest and she was confused by it. He was in game face, so his demon was in control just like it had been earlier but he was being so gentle and almost loving. Well, as long as she ignored the fact that her scalp was stinging where he was busily wrapping her hair tighter around his fist.

As horrified as she was at the way he was turning to dust under her touch, and as much as she wanted him to stay…not really alive but here with her, she had still been afraid of allowing him to feed from her again. Her fear was quickly eased with the tenderness of his lips and fangs though and her horror was fading as she could see out of the corner of her eye that his cheek was healing even as he fed from her. It was almost fascinating to her to watch his skin growing to cover her handprint and hide the muscles and bone that had been exposed when she smacked him.

She wanted to protest when he pulled his fangs out and licked her neck to close the small punctures. Her handprint still showed clearly, the new skin was not finished growing yet and was a startling bright pink against his pale face. The sight made her feel guilty, not for smacking him because he so totally deserved that, but for draining him to the point where a well earned smack could cause his beautiful face to crumble into dust. He may have nearly drained her, but she had no doubt that he had come closer to death tonight than she had, and the only result that would please her right now was him being as nearly completely healed as she was.

"That's not enough, you need more." she stated calmly as she pressed her neck to his mouth.

"If I take any more from you it will just be a repeat of what we've already been through. I will not leave you weakened to heal me from my own mistake."

"But Spike," she began to protest. She was still pissed at him and she needed him back to complete health so she could take her anger out on him. If she had been thinking clearly when she came to with his blood pouring down her throat she would not have done what she did. Two wrongs don't make a right and all that crap.

"No Buffy. I don't even deserve what you've already given me after what I've done to you." he insisted firmly.

"Oh drop the broodiness Spike. I sent Angel away for a reason you know." she mumbled as she pushed herself off of the bed and walked towards the bathroom to clean herself up a little. She had preperations to make since Spike had made it clear that he was too busy playing the self flagellation game to worry about the fact that she needed him healthy…or…whatever you call a member of the undead in fit condition, and she had better things to do. Like not laugh at the loud snarl coming from behind her.

"I swear to everything I ever held dear that if you ever compare me to bloody Peaches again, or even so much as mention his name one more time tonight I will rip your fuckin' tongue out. Am I clear Blondie?" he shouted at her when she closed the door behind her after entering the bathroom without responding to his angry snarls.

"If you don't want the comparison then maybe you should stop acting the part.' she thought at him.

"Goddamn it Slayer! If you're feeling well enough to talk shit to me then why don't you come out here and do it to my face!" he shouted through the door. Stupid little bint couldn't respect the fact that he felt regret for what he had done to her and just let things be. Nooo… she had to poke the bear and compare him to the big broody Forehead. Even worse! He was pretty sure that she'd said something about spending eternity with his dear ol' granddad just as everything started to get dark. The soulless evil prick version no less! As soon as he got his strength back he'd…he'd….well he'd damn well do something that she wouldn't like even if he didn't think he could bring himself to hurt her again after tonight.

She couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge the fact that he, an evil soulless vampire felt regret for his actions, something that was unheard of!

Buffy heard all of his silent ranting but she was too busy trying to clean dried blood off of her self with out any water to do more than smile a little. She needed to look somewhat respectable for what she was about to do. Maybe they were right when they said that two wrongs don't make a right, after all she felt really bad for doing to Spike what he had done to her, but that didn't stop her from wanting to go out and see if three wrongs could make a right…