All she did was watch. She watched the Slayer and her friends. Watched them laugh and talk and shoot dirty looks at the bleached-blonde at the bar. She knew who he was. He was a master vampire from the Order of Aurelius. He was William The Bloody. Also Known As Spike, The Slayer Of Slayers.
But he was more than that to her. He was an old friend and the last thing she was going to do would be to let him just sit there and soak up the abuse. She’d let him have a little fun of his own-with her.
Spike sat at the bar, not knowing why he was even at the Bronze. It wasn’t like he could eat any of the young people-hadn’t been able to in two years. He wasn’t even sure he still wanted to. And he was setting himself up for trouble by being there while the Slayer and her friends were.
A woman with long blonde hair that ran down her back in soft waves and blue-gray eyes stood up from her table in the corner of the club. She made her way from the table to the bar. More specifically, to Spike. When she reached him, she ran her hands from his shoulders down his chest and abs and leaned her mouth to his ear.
“You do know that nothin’ good comes out of being in Sunnydale, don’t you, William?” a soft, female British voice whispered in his ear. It still held the hard edge of the rough neighborhood she was from an odd couple of centuries ago.
Spike turned around at the familiar voice and grinned. “Yeah, especially when you’re in Sunnyhell. Speakin’ of which, why are you here?” he asked as she sat on his lap.
It seemed like everyone on the entire bloody club was watching them as the blonde straddled Spike’s lap. But it was only the Scooby Gang watching in surprise and disgust.
Buffy especially couldn’t believe the girl. “Does she know what he is? He’s a vampire-“
“That can’t bite anything.” Xander added. “Let him have some fun. Not like she’ll stay with him anyway. Why are we even talking about him?”
The female wrapped her arms around Spike’s neck. “Hiatus. A very long hiatus. If I like it, I just might move here.” She paused and they each took in the others’ appearance, appreciating and liking what they saw. “I don’t believe you.” She hit his chest, playfully feigning disbelief.
“What did I do?” Spike asked her, amused by her actions.
“Haven’t seen you in three soddin’ years an’ you still haven’ given your fave girl a kiss.” She said to him, a pout on her face.
Spike continued to grin. Why should he dwell over Buffy when a perfectly beautiful woman was willing to be with him at the moment? Buffy ended it with him. Time to cut his loses, move on.
Spike put his hands on his friends’ hips as she leaned towards Spike slowly. Their lips met and they both took it further, opening their mouths and pushing their tongues into the others’ mouth. Spike pulled her closer to him, unable to believe he forgot how great a kisser she was.
Back at Buffy’s table, Anya announced, “I think they’re orgasm friends.” Everyone looked at her. “Sorry.” She said, even though she didn’t regret it. She still hadn’t recognized her old friend.
“That’s just…really uncalled for.” Buffy said, watching the couple make out in the bar. Oh, yeah. And a couple months ago after Willow’s botched memory spell you didn’t do the same thing against the pillar. She thought sarcastically. For a minute, she wished she were in that woman’s place. That was just a bad thought. You don’t want Spike. You just told him it was over. And you meant it.
“No offense, Buff, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were jealous.” Xander commented.
Well you don’t, say so … Buffy thought.
But he didn’t stop there. He continued. “But then again…that’s Spike. The Evil Undead. A vampire. What’s there to be jealous of?”
“He has the bad boy look and a tight muscular body. There’s the sexy British accent. The fact that that girl is straddling him and he has a nice ass.” Anya answered the rhetorical question with absolutely no tact whatsoever.
“Uh, Ahn,” The dark haired boy turned to his fiancé, “when and why were you looking at Spike’s ass?”
“When he was living at Giles’. I was bored. But don’t worry honey, yours is probably better naked.” Anya turned to look at the two blondes again. ”Ooh, they’re leaving. Orgasm friends.” She confirmed proudly.
Buffy looked at the back exit to the alley where they were, in fact, leaving. They looked like they knew each other for years, but somehow, Buffy doubted that.
From their table near the exit, they could barely hear the scream of a female over the music, but it was still there. Buffy automatically jumped out her seat and sprinted out the door, wondering how much she’d have to kill Spike. Her friends followed suit, as always.
Outside, a fledgling vampire was in the act of trying to bite a girl who was screaming her lungs out. Spike’s friend looked at the fledgling and, disturbingly calm, said, “Y’know, I think you should leave the bird alone.”
The vampire turned from the girl’s neck. “Or what?”
“Or you’ll be a big pile o’dust in a min.” The woman said.
Spike smirked. “Now, now, Katherine, let’s not patronize the helpless vamp.”
“Why not?” Katherine asked. She stepped forward towards the vampire. “No one’s ever taught you properly, have they? You’re pathetic. I mean, you go to the one place the Slayer is known to be, and you try to feed. Well, I may not be the bloody Slayer, thank the Powers, but I can kill you. An’ I will.”
Buffy and the gang watched as the fledgling roared in outrage and lunged at Katherine. Katherine was ready and expecting it, so she easily and instantly kicked him in the gut. She immediately followed with a spin kick that threw the vampire into the wall.
Spike and Katherine shared a smile as the blonde vampire leaned up against a wall and took out a cigarette. He pulled a stake out his duster and tossed it to her. She caught it perfectly and turned back to the vampire. He got up slowly and lunged at Katherine again. Katherine ducked and threw him over her shoulder.
“I’d think that by now, “ she kicked the down fledgling in the ribs. He flew two feet above ground and back into a wall. “You’d have thought, ‘I should get my soddin’ ass the hell outta here ‘cause the demi-god’s going to kill me’. But noooo. You continue.” When the fledgling couldn’t get up, she stalked towards it. “Bored now.” She sounded much like Vamp Willow to the Scooby Gang’s horror. She staked it and stepped back before it turned to a cloud of dust.
Katherine tucked the stake into her jacket as Spike stubbed out his cigarette. She headed over to the traumatized girl and noticed Buffy and her friends. “Ooh, an audience.” She rolled her eyes and continued her journey.
“Thank you.” The girl whispered. Her eyes were full of gratitude and fear.
Katherine shrugged at the girl. “It was fun. Close your eyes.” The girl complied. Katherine pressed her right hand to the girl’s forehead. “You’ll never travel ‘lone at night. You’ll never leave public places with cold, extra-pale men or women an’ you’ll start to wear the gold an’ silver cross you grandmother gave you. You’ll carry a bottle of holy water in your purse with your mace and never go into the park, cemetery or alleys after dark. Open your eyes.”
The girl opened her eyes and Katherine helped her stand. “Thanks. I better call a friend to pick me up. Y’know, it’s not safe to walk around after dark and all, Especially with the weird things around in Sunnydale.” The girl walked to the end of the alley and stayed under a street lamp as she pulled out her cell phone.
Buffy, Xander, Willow and Anya looked baffled at the display. Anya finally recognized her old friend as Katherine turned to them. Her eyes locked with Buffy’s, blue-gray to green.
“You!“ Katherine stated, “Need to realize some things.” Buffy blinked and looked away; embarrassed Katherine was able to control her like that.
The blonde then turned to Willow. Blue-gray met green. “You can’t just stop completely you’ve got to realize dark ain’t the way to go an’ neither is none at all. Practice the right way. If you want her back.” Willow did the same as Buffy and looked away.
Katherine turned to Xander. “Tell her everything if you hope for it t’work out. Don’t hide. Don’t wait until that day. If you do, nothing will be the same.” Xander continued to stare at the demi-god, letting her words sink in.
Katherine turned to Anya and smiled at the ex-demon. “Anyanka, let him know you’ll understand. Tell him your fears or nothing will be the same and the day will be ruined. Don’t let that happen.”
Anya smiled at Katherine. “I haven’t seen you since fourteen eighty-five. How are you, Katherine?”
“Fine. You could a told a bird you were getting hitched. Not like I wouldn’t a shown.” Katherine said. “How ‘bout I come by the Magic box t’morrow? We can talk then.”
“Of course. You can see how much money I make.” Anya nodded in agreement with the meeting.
“An’ the ring…well, got to go. Will, y’ready?” Katherine turned to Spike and raised an eyebrow.
“Whenever you are, Kat.” Spike said. “No teleporting, though. Can’t stand that.”
“Fine. We’ll walk.” Katherine and Spike left the alley, probably heading for his crypt.
Buffy, Xander and Willow turned to look at Anya. “What was that about?” Buffy asked for the other two.
“Katherine is a demi-god. She was born in the fourteen hundreds. By the time she was fifteen, she was an experienced sorceress in light magic. Despises the dark stuff. Powers That Be saw her potential and gave her the chance to become an agent for them. Became a demi-god at age twenty-three, which was when she decided that she officially wanted to work for them. Known her for a long time.
“The minute she looks into your eyes, she knows your life story and your feelings. She also sees your possible future. If it’s bad, she tries to change it.” Anya explained.
“Creepy, “Xander commented. “She told us all something about ourselves.” He paused. “Can we talk about this tomorrow? I’m ready to go home, aren’t you, Anya?”
“Will there be lots of sex?” Anya asked as Xander led her away.
“Yeah, Ahn. “ Xander’s face showed embarrassment of his fiancé but his friends were no longer paying attention.
Willow turned to look at Buffy. “So, what do you think of her?”
I’m jealous and angry. I just want her to go away and leave my Spike alone. Yeah. He’s my Spike. He’s in love with me, so, yeah, I’m jealous. And-
“I don’t like her.”
“So that’s the one you’re all hung up on?” Katherine asked as they walked through one of the many cemeteries of Sunnydale- well, the one with Spike’s crypt.
“Yeah, unfortunately.” Spike answered resentfully. A little too resentfully.
“William, I love you and I know you. In truth, you ought to get over the bint. She’s shoddier than Dru and at least Dru was mad.” Katherine said. Spike decided to overlook that remark.
A fledgling came out of the shadows with six of its cronies.
Katherine turned to look at Spike. “Doesn’t this ever tire you?”
“Only way to get my violence out.” Spike responded.
“It’s the turncoat with the Slayer.” The lead vampire said.
“Are you kidding me?! I don’t look a thing like ‘er! I’m way more elevated on the cosmic balance than a bloody Slayer!” Katherine exclaimed, indignant at being called the Slayer.
Spike laughed to himself as he attacked three vampires. He kicked a vampire and took a punch from another. He punched the vampire once, twice, three times before staking it. The other punched him in the face and then kicked him in the gut. He fell, but got to his feet quickly. Spike threw his own punch at the vampire. He was smirking when he heard bones cracking and knew Katherine was taking out her annoyance of being called the Slayer on the vampires. He back handed the fledgling and the kicked it in the gut, exclaiming, “This is fun!”
“Are you off your rocker?!” Katherine ducked punch after punch, throwing ones of her own. She heard bones cracking as she connected with jaws and ribs. She jumped in the air and front-kicked a vampire with her right leg, and then she spun in the air and side-kicked another vampire in the face. She landed on the ground with a grace the Slayer would never be capable to beat and turned in enough time to stake the vampire approaching behind her. It turned to dust and she flipped onto a gravestone that stood at least nine feet tall.
“No, just enjoying a fight, Kat!” Spike staked the last two in quick succession and, after the dust settled, he watched Katherine.
The vampires looked around, uneasy as to where the blonde went. Katherine dropped like a ghost behind a vampire and staked it. It yelled out as it turned to dust and the two lasting turned to her and advanced.
“I just about forgot you were a sadistic vampire, Mr. I-Love-Railroad-Spikes.” Katherine ducked a punch from one and back-kicked the other in the gut and then the face to get both feet off the ground and flip over the one in front of her. The vampires turned to face her at the same time and with a simple spell her stake turned into a long, sharp stick. She shoved it through both vampires’ hearts and they collapsed to dust simultaneously.
“Right you are on that one, ducks. Nice to see you fight again.” Spike said, smiling.
“Oh, yeah. ‘Cause the last time you saw that was when I helped you and Dru in France. And…then Italy…and Prague…oh, a-and Brazil! Then I had to help you, all lonesome in Spain, and then England. Trouble follows you.” Katherine said. She walked over to Spike and put her arms around his neck.
“I’m a trouble maker.” Spike murmured.
She smiled, laughter palpably in her eyes. “Yes, you are-“
“Well, isn’t that just cozy?” The Slayer’s voice rang out.
Katherine turned her head to the other blonde. “Is there a cause for your butting in?” Katherine turned back and looked Spike in the eyes. It was a look that said, “I’ll handle this. She’s getting on my nerves.” Or did she say it telepathically?
“No, not really. Just wanted to observe the Kodak moment- in a damn near rated NC-17 kind a way.” Buffy countered frigidly.
Katherine took her arms from around Spike and he couldn’t feel her body heat anymore. She’d turned colder than ice as she turned to Buffy. “Yeah, well, if that’s what you were doing, then you really don’t have a life outside of slaying, do you? And, um, divergent to one’s self-involved worldview, nearby are citizens who don’t know you. And, damn, do I envy them.”
Buffy’s eyes widened and then she narrowed them. In an even harder voice she threatened the blonde demi-god: “You should leave Sunnydale before I kill you.”
Katherine laughed as an inexplicably cold wind blew through the cemetery. Really peculiar for the time of the year it was. “Newsflash, Slayer. Not every non-human can be killed. I sure as hell can’t. But, I’ll tell you what. You leave now and I won’t kick your ass.”
“How about this: I kick your ass and you leave, or I kick your ass and find a way to kill you.” Buffy took a step towards the demi-god.
Katherine stalked until she was nose-to-nose with Buffy. The Slayer could feel the ice coming off the older blonde in waves. “I can’t wait to burst your ego.”
Buffy threw punch after punch only to have it blocked by Katherine. She kicked Katherine in the stomach and Katherine either scarcely felt it or didn’t acknowledge it. She moved to the left when Buffy threw a right-handed punch. She grabbed Buffy’s right wrist with her left hand and, with her right hand-palm open, hit the Slayer in the chest. The wind was knocked out of her and Buffy flew into a gravestone that broke on impact.
The blonde made her way back to Spike, her temperature rising to normal. “Will, I came here because I had this pesky sense I had to be here. So, that’s why I’m here. Let’s have some fun while I am?” It was a question. For a powerful entity, she was questioning their hanging out together. Then she added, “and while you do that, think about this. Why do you live? Or unlive, as the case may be? Whom would you do anything for?”
“Kat-“ he started.
“Think about it. You know how to reach me right?” Katherine asked. She waved her hand and Spike was instantaneously in his crypt. She then teleported herself to the front of her apartment edifice that she now resided in. “Please, think about it.”
YOU ARE IN LOVE WITH THIS VAMPIRE. WHY?
“You wouldn’t have a handle on it.” Katherine responded, entering the building and stepping on to the elevator. It was vacant, fortunately.
ENLIGHTEN US.
“He’s not just as vampire. And he’s not like other ones. You know that or you wouldn’t be inquiring my judgment on him. But I know a little you don’t. He can love. He can love with his entire feeling. Every time I saw him with Drusilla, he gave her anything and everything she wanted. And she let him go. Unfortunately, right now he loves the Slayer. I wish I had someone to love me like that. More significantly, I wish it were him. Yes, he’s killed thousands upon thousands of people, but that was before. Before Sunnydale. He’s special. He’s changed now. I know it. I can tell.”
YOU HOPE YOUR VISIT WILL INFLUENCE HIM TO FORGET HER?
“Noticeable much? Hell yeah!”
ARE YOU SURE IT WILL WORK OUT?
More positive than she in fact was, she said, “It will. Don’t worry your pretty little Powers That Be heads…do you have heads? Do you even have bodies…? Never mind.” She stepped off the elevator at the twelfth floor and entered her apartment. “It’d better.”
“I’m swearing up and down. She is evil.” Buffy said to her friends in the Magic Box.
After making a sale, Anya waved the customer out. “Come again and buy more goods!” She turned to Buffy. “Katherine’s my one non-evil friend, Buffy. She’s anything but. And it’s recognized that she works for the Powers That Be. She controls the elements of wind and fire. And her temperature mostly decides on her mood.”
“She is so smart.” Xander smiled at his fiancé and she returned the smile.
“Well, then, she’s been corrupted by Spike.” Buffy said, as the bell rang to signify a customer entering the shop.
“I’m quite sure I was like this before William was born and I think it’s the other way around.” The soft British voice wafted through the magic shop as Katherine entered.
She looked at Willow. “You want to get better but you don’t know how. How about I help you work at it? Help you control yourself…your magic? Then you can talk to her…”
“I-I can’t use it at all because then I-I-I might do something wrong and I’ll-“
“Redhead.” Katherine effectively broke Willow’s ramble. “The magic’s in you. A part of you. If you shut it out, off, entirely, it’ll be bad. When a feeling overcomes you-anger…grief-you’ll let it control you and no one will be able to stop you. Not even me. An’ then, there’s only one alternative.” she paused, “I think you know what.”
Willow’s eyes widened and she nodded of images of her friends having to kill her raced through her mind. Buffy stepped in front of Willow so that the redhead was out of Katherine’s line of vision. “Leave. Now.”
Katherine smirked and it looked like Spike’s. “You don’t tell me what to do. The only beings in this bloody God-forsaken world that tells me what t’do are the Powers that Be.”
“How do you know Spike?” Buffy demanded, crossing her arms over her chest.
“None of you soddin’ business. Since you don’t care about the ‘thing’, don’t worry about his unlife.”
“So…what? You think you’re better than me?” Buffy’s voice was colder than ice.
“Yep, you’re beneath me. An’, if I’m right, you said those words to him a year ago.” Katherine answered, her voice colder, but her rage rising.
Willow, Anya and Xander watched the exchange in silence and hoped to whoever was watching over them that they didn’t get set in the middle. Well, Willow and Xander was. Anya just hoped they didn’t fight and ruin her store.
“So what?”
“He was going to kill you that night.” Katherine looked at Buffy heatedly.
“No. No, he wasn’t.” Buffy denied as if Katherine didn’t know what she was saying. As if she knew so for a fact.
“Oh, yeah. And he showed up at the back porch of your house with a bloody double-barreled shotgun for his health that he doesn’t need.”
“The-they were just words.” Buffy said, now her anger spreading to Spike.
The air in the shop seemed to rise in temperature. Xander turned to the other two. “Is it hot I here, or is it just me?”
“Katherine’s angry, hence temperature changes. They better stop before Katherine lights my shop on fire.” Anya commented.
“You know nothing about him, do you? So bloody typical. Hate first, ask questions later.” A manifestation of fire could be seen in Katherine’s eyes. “Once upon a time, a certain day in eighteen eighty, a certain mortal named William went to a party. This William was desperately in love wit’ a fair maiden-a stuck-up, snobbish, haughty, ‘igh class bitch named Cecily. When he told her how he felt, she told him three words, an’ they weren’t ‘I love you’, what's more. They were…’you’re beneath me’. Know what happened that night? Our darling William walked down a street, his heart broken. Bad move for him, I’d say. By chance he bumped into one of three master vampires from the Order of Bloody Aurelius. Not that he knew that, of course.” Katherine sneered at the looks on the humans’ faces. She didn’t give a damn what they meant, as long as she was getting through to them. “You guessed right: Darla, later to be known as the ‘whore’; Angelus, later to be known as his ‘poof of a grandsire’; and Drusilla, later to be known as his ‘Ripe Wicked Plum’. So, our William goes into a murky alleyway where he rips up his poe-stuff. Drusilla…such a…lovely…exquisite…charming…psycho…bitch charms ‘im with her words and he agreed to eternity-with her—“
“Seems live eternity ended four years ago to me.” Xander commented.
Willow nodded in accord.
“Do you mind? I’m tellin’ a story here! And he agreed to eternity-with her. An’ ‘William The bloody’ isn’t from being mean, nasty, and evil, as you may think. It’s from- something else that I won’t tell.” Katherine stopped.
She looked at all of them. “Time for some hard truths, people!”
Her gaze stopped on Xander. “Day after day, you say the same thing. ‘He’s an evil, soulless thing’. ‘He’s a monster’. Do this for me: Look your fiancé, former vengeance demon Anyanka who’s been alive for a thousand plus years and eviscerated millions, and talk about how bloody evil demons are.”
Xander’s eyes widened as he took in what the blonde
said. “Ahn…?”
“I’m scared Xander. What am I supposed to do when one day you realize I’ve done worse than Spike and you decide that you don’t love me anymore?” Anya asked.
Katherine barely heard them as she turned to the redheaded witch. “I’ve really nothing to say to you. You’re doing it all yourself. But there’s the fact that you need to continue your magic. For your own good.”
Willow had long moved from behind Buffy. “You’ll help me?”
Katherine nodded. “Of course. Y’know, if you get good at it…well, great at it, you might get a job like mine.” She paused. ”Like…” confusion marred her face as she heard something from what the humans guessed was the Powers That Be.”…Will?”
“What job?” Buffy asked.
Katherine ignored the Slayer. Xander and Anya had long retreated to the training room to “talk” and Willow was giving Katherine the “you’re my savior” look. “See ya later, Redhead.”
Katherine disappeared and Buffy turned to Willow, who was smiling with renewed hope. “Am I the only one who thinks she’s evil?” Buffy asked her redheaded best friend.
“Buffy, as much as I love you, and I am your best friend, but you and I both know, she’s not evil.“ Willow said. “I’m gonna go look for non-dark arts books to show Katherine. See you later, Buffy?”
“Yeah.” Buffy answered as her friend left. “I know she’s not evil. That’s what bothers me.”