[Reviews - 117]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3147 times

- Text Size +




Chapter Thirty-five

Hours of discussion about wedding dresses, possible sites, attendants, and other issues that apparently required double X chromosomes to appreciate, later, Spike was relieved to find himself walking back toward the apartment in blissful silence. Blissful silence that lasted only a few blocks.

“Spike? What do you think? A big wedding in the Knights of Columbus hall or a smaller one in Mom’s backyard?”

He stopped her in mid-stride and turned her around to face him.

“Slayer. Buffy. Love of my live. I need for you to take this in the spirit in which it’s meant.”

She made a puzzled frown, her lower lip already working its way out as she waited for what he was going to say. Spike sighed heavily, hoping she wouldn’t get so angry she would damage his mother’s ring.

“Just tell me when and where I have to be, and leave me out of any discussions about flowers, dresses, decorations and such like, yeah?”

Buffy’s lip trembled. “You don’t want to be involved in planning your own wedding?”

“All I want, sweetheart, is to be married to you. All proper and legal-like. Don’t care how we get there, or how many of your bloody girl friends have to carry whatever kinds of posies to help us do it.

“ ‘M sorry, pet. I jus can’t get excited about all this stuff. Even when we were under Red’s evil spell, you might remember I wasn’t all with the planning and such. All I wanted was to make you mine, any way I could.”

“Oh, and your choices worked out so well for us,” she grumbled.

“Was it really all that bad, love?” He couldn’t hide the hurt in his voice at her casual dismissal of the claim they’d put on each other.

Her stricken eyes flew to his disappointed face and she quickly stepped closer and cupped his cheek with her hand.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that! You know I didn’t. I’m as sorry as you are that we don’t have the claim any more. And I know this wedding doesn’t mean anything in demon terms. That it’s just a poor substitute for what we had. But it’s all we’re going to be allowed and I just want it to be perfect.”

“As long as it ends up with you belonging to me, it WILL be perfect,” he rumbled, nuzzling her neck and licking the faint traces of his claiming bite. “That’s all I care about, love.”

Buffy shivered when his tongue ran over the almost invisible scars from the claim. The urge to pull on his head and drive his fangs into her neck was almost overwhelming and she moaned, unconsciously tilting her head to give him better access to his marks.

“Bloody hell, love. What are you tryin’ to do to me?” he groaned, fighting back the demon as it eagerly fought to accept what she seemed to be offering.

(Got to be strong for her. It would be so easy to just slip my fangs back into those marks. Would taste so good. Make her mine forever.)

(It would be so easy to let him bite me again. It would feel so good. And we’d be married in both worlds – his and mine.)

“I…I’m sorry…” Buffy reluctantly pushed on his chest, eliciting another groan from the now-trembling vampire. He didn’t respond, other than to release her shoulders and step away, taking quick, unnecessary breaths in an attempt to regain control over his demon.

“My fault, pet. Never should have touched those marks like that.”

As he recovered his control, he looked at her with a cocky grin. “Had no idea I could still have that kind of affect on you, Slayer. Must be my irresistible charm and sexiness.”

“Or, you just can’t resist ME,” she shot back at him, falling back into their easy banter to avoid a serious discussion of how close they had come to slipping.

“You wish, pet. You wish,” he snarked, taking her hand and continuing their walk home.

“Oh, I KNOW, vampire. Don’t think I don’t.”

Wrapped up as they were in the euphoria of their engagement, as well as their relief at not succumbing to the lure of claiming, neither one noticed the witness to their exchange. Spike stopped once and sniffed the air with a frown, but the wind was blowing away from them and he shrugged off the faint scent he’d thought he picked up.

As the passed the street that led to the Magic Box, Buffy suddenly changed direction, pulling him along with her.

“What the…?”

“I want to tell Giles,” she said. “He might still be at the Magic Box. I want to show him my ring.”

“This can’t wait until tomorrow?”

“Nope. Can’t wait.” She paused for a second, suddenly less sure of herself. “You don’t think he’s going to react the way he did while we were under the spell, do you? Do you think he’ll be happy for us this time?”

“Happy might be overstating it a bit, pet. I think he’ll be less surprised than he was the first time around, but I doubt he’s going to be all that happy.”

“Well, he better be,” she muttered, “or I’ll just tell him how icky I think it is that he and Anya—“

The sound of a trash can lid rolling out of an alley, followed by a muttered curse, had them both whirling to stare in astonishment as a shame-faced Xander emerged from the near-by alley.

“Uh, hi, guys,” he said weakly, waving his hand.

Sincerely hoping he hadn’t heard what she said about Giles and Anya, Buffy demanded, “Xander Harris, have you been following us?”

“Well, no, yeah, sorta – but only in the I-was-going-that-way-anyway kinda way. I mean, I was heading for the Magic Box and you seem to be heading for the Magic Box, and I…”

“An you jus’ thought it would be better to skulk around in the dark than walk with us?” Spike’s disbelieving snort made the younger man color with anger and embarrassment.

“Unlike Buffy, I prefer not to walk around town in the company of the undead,” he said haughtily.

“Well then, you’ll be wantin’ to ditch your friend there,” Spike offered mildly, jerking his head toward the vampire that was just emerging from the alley where Xander had been hiding.

Giving an unmanly squeal, Xander quickly came closer to Buffy, subtly putting her between himself and the advancing vamp. The fledgling stopped in confusion, uncertain about why the humans in front of him weren’t screaming and running, but glad that he wasn’t going to have to work hard for his meal. He advanced quickly, mentally choosing between the larger, dark-haired meal, and the more tender-looking blond girl. He ignored, for the moment, the grinning, thinner man, concentrating on the two delicious looking meals first.

Deciding to try to have them both, he backhanded Xander to the ground while he leaped at Buffy with his fangs already aimed at her throat. His surprise at finding himself impaled upon a wooden stake rather than ripping her throat out, was short-lived as he exploded into a dust cloud before he could even protest.

“Wanker,” Spike snorted in disgust, as he brushed the dust off his shirt. “Doesn’t recognize a Slayer when he sees one.”

Buffy helped Xander to his feet and apologized for the fat lip he was now sporting.

“Sorry, Xan. I thought he was just going for me.”

“Cause you’re the vampire magnet,” he grumbled, not noticing Buffy’s tiny flinch and the vampire’s narrowed eyes.

Without answering, she turned away and started toward the Magic Box again. Spike gave the boy a hard look, but resisted the urge to chew him out, extending his stride to catch up to Buffy. Xander trailed behind them, making an effort to stay closer now that they knew he was there. He’d seen them earlier when Spike had been so close to biting Buffy again and vowed to tell the Watcher what happened.

(Surely the G-man will stake him if he thinks Spike is going to reinstate the claim. He just needs to understand how bad the situation is.)

Satisfied that he had the solution to his problem, he scampered to keep up with the super-powered beings in front of him, anxious now to reach his destination.

They reached the shop to find that the door was locked, although the lights were still on, indicating either Giles or Anya was still around. Xander hadn’t seen Anya, except from a distance, in several weeks as she apparently only went to her apartment when she could be sure he was at work.

The one evening she had shown up while he was waiting, the Watcher had been with her and, remembering Giles’ threat if he didn’t stay away from the ex-demon, Xander had refrained from approaching them. Instead he watched as she entered the apartment with Giles, emerging sometime later with a large suitcase. The ex-watcher was carrying an additional armful of things, as well as a rather large box.

Xander frowned in confusion as he watched them load the things into Giles’ car and head back upstairs. When they returned with more armloads of her belongings, he began to worry. If Anya was moving to a new apartment, he would really have a hard time seeing her since the only other place he knew he could find her was at work at the Magic Box where the older man who had appointed himself her guardian was sure to be.

Hoping he could distract Giles from helping Anya by giving him something else to worry about, Xander determined to tell him about Spike and Buffy’s growing closeness. He told himself he had only been spying on them for Buffy’s own good, and he was hurrying to tell the Watcher about the almost-bite when he had to duck into the alley after realizing that he’d almost run into them.

The fact that the people he was going to be discussing were now present did not deter him from his purpose, and he moved closer to the shop and waited for someone to open the door.

Buffy peered in the window, moving around until she could see most of the store. Suddenly, she leaped back and got between Xander and the window, saying, “I guess nobody’s there. We should go now.” She gestured to Spike with her eyes.

His vampire hearing had already picked up the unmistakable sounds of enthusiastic lovemaking from within the small shop, and he grinned widely as he agreed with the Slayer.

“Right you are, pet. Nobody there. Nothing to see here. Let’s just all go home and try again tomorrow.”

Buffy was finding it difficult to remain between Xander and the window and at the same time appear to be leaving. Her friend frowned at her odd behavior and edged closer to the window saying, “We should knock on the door. He might be in the back – or maybe just wrapped up in some musty old book…”

His voice trailed off as he pushed the protesting Buffy out of the way and got his first clear look inside the store. All the color left his face when he realized what he was seeing. Anya was lying across the table in the back of the store, her skirt up to her waist and the watcher’s face between her legs. While Xander stared in undisguised horror, the older man raised his head and slid up to nestle his hips between her thighs. As he did so, her legs came up to wrap around his back and they began to rock together in a timeless rhythm.

Even the vampire felt a twinge of sympathy for the boy as he backed away from the window looking as though he might be physically sick at any minute.

Buffy reached a tentative hand toward her old friend and ventured, “Xander? I…I’m sorry, I—“

He cut her off with a chopping motion of his hand, still backing away from what he’d seen, as well as from the concerned looking couple staring at him.

“No!” he shouted abruptly. “This is all your fault. If you’d never got involved with Spike….”

“Easy there, whelp,” the vampire growled. “I know you’re upset, but don’t go blaming it on Buffy.”

“Oh, it isn’t just Buffy I’m blaming here, bleach boy. It’s Willow and her stupid magic spells. It’s Buffy and her disgusting yen for the undead. It’s you and your…your…whatever. I wish I’d never met any of you!”

He whirled and ran off into the night, leaving Buffy to be comforted by her undead lover as she mourned the possible loss of one of the first friends she’d made when she moved to Sunnydale.

“Don’t take it to heart, pet. He’s just hurt and angry and he took it out on you ‘cause you were here. Trust me, that’s not the most pleasant way to find out your lover has moved on.” He grimaced slightly, flashing back to Dru and her Chaos demon lover.

“I hate this! I want to be happy for Giles that he’s found somebody else. After Jenny he didn’t date at all for the longest time. But now somebody else I care about is hurting because of it. This just sucks!” Her lower lip came out in a pout.

“Not to mention, takes some of the shine off your engagement, doesn’t it, love?” Although his tone was teasing, she could read genuine caring and sympathy in his eyes and she looked down and blushed.

“Is that incredibly immature and selfish of me?” she asked in a small voice.

“No, pet. It’s just human.” He kissed her forehead and the tip of her nose before pulling her pouting lower lip into his mouth and biting down on it gently. “But I’m thinkin’ now is probably not the best time to be showing your Watcher your new bauble, yeah?’

“I guess you’re right,” she said ruefully, allowing him to pull her away from the shop. “I’ll come to the shop tomorrow.” She suddenly looked at him in horror. “Oh my god! I’m going to be afraid to come here from now on. What if they’re…and the table! We put food on that table!”

Laughing at her babbling, he led her back toward their home, promising to make her forget all about everything she’d seen that evening.

“Promise?” she pouted.

“You have my word on it, Slayer. Gonna put those two amateurs and their pitiful attempts at shaggin’ right out of your pretty little head.”

“Race you home, then,” she said suddenly, sprinting toward the building and laughing at his indignant, “Hey, no fair starting without me!”

They fell into the elevator, laughing and groping each other, completely oblivious to the stares of the other residents in the lobby. Just as the doors began to slide shut, Buffy astonished Spike and everyone else by popping back out and waving her ring as she exclaimed, “Look, everybody. We’re engaged! We’re going to get married!”

Bemused looks gave way to enthusiastic applause as the onlookers realized the Slayer was actually sharing her happiness with her demon neighbors. Soon there was a small group of female demons surrounding her and admiring the ring with a chorus of “ooooohs” and “ahhhhs”, while Spike accepted handshakes and back slaps from those who knew him well enough to respond with familiarity.

When they were once again in the elevator and the doors had shut them off from the cheering residents, he pulled her against his body and growled, “I didn’t think I could love you any more than I already do, but I was wrong. You are amazing, pet.”

“You’re pretty special yourself, vampire,” she whispered, going up on her toes to kiss his soft, willing lips. When she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing her heated core against the bulge she knew would be there, he slammed his hand onto the “stop” button, freezing the elevator between floors.

“We’re almost home,” she whispered, even as she was unbuckling his belt.

“Don’t care. Want you now.”

He was pulling her skirt up and pushing aside her underwear before she could protest again, and was soon lodged inside her, basking in the warmth surrounding him. Her gasping whimpers and moans as she rode his straining cock soon turned to cries of pleasure as she clenched him in her strong walls, bringing on his own shout of release.

“I love you, Ms Summers,” he breathed in her ear as she slid down to place her feet on the floor.

“I love you, too, Mr. Carlisle,” she responded, clinging to his strong arms until her legs would support her again. “And if you start this elevator back up so we can get home, I’ll prove to you exactly how much.”

“As good as done, love,” he grinned, pushing the “start” button.

“Hope nobody was monitoring the elevator camera just then,” he added, laughing at her horrified face. “Jus’ kidding, Slayer,” he swore, still laughing as she chased him through the door of their penthouse, promising his dusty demise if there was any chance of anyone having seen them. He made a mental note to get and destroy the tapes as soon as she was soundly asleep for the night.





You must login (register) to review.