[Reviews - 137]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 1434 times

- Text Size +




“Do you understand Buffy? Forever. That means till the end of our existence. There is no get out clause, no separation, no divorce. I am now bound to you and you to me, until one of us dies.”

Spike waited for the inevitable fireworks from the slayer. Instead an awful frozen look slid over her features that said “I don’t want to talk about it,” and wrapping her arms round herself, she silently left the room

He watched her leave. When the door was safely shut, he put his head back into his hands and let out the sob that had been choking him.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy sagged against the wall and then slid down it until she was crouched on her heels. Joined forever! Bound to each other until death! The whole idea was terrifying; they had only just started the relationship. Of course he said that he’d loved her for a long time – but it was so new for her.

She looked up and saw Giles approaching.

“Are you alright Buffy? What has he been saying to upset you?”

Buffy shakily tried to explain the situation, “he says we’re bound together now”

Giles straightened, “What rot! I’ll have a word with him and sort this out.”

Buffy watched him enter the dormitory, not knowing what to feel.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike looked up, hope surging in his chest. Then he saw it was Giles.

“Oh great,” he snarled, “My bloody day is made. What do you want watcher?”

“What is this load of poppycock you have been filling Buffy’s head with? Do you think she will really believe that she has to spend the rest of her life with you, just because you say so?”

“Oh sod off you prick! I don’t need to listen to you whinging on.”

“I have never heard of this “binding” of vampires, it’s just a pathetic excuse to get your own way.”

“I’ll explain this to you once – and then you leave me alone! The reason you haven’t heard of it – apart from the fact that you are a crappy excuse for a watcher – is that it is extremely rare.”

“Mmmm, very convenient.” Giles’ voice dripped with sarcasm, “no-one seems to have heard of it except you.”

He ended the sentence with an undignified yelp. Spike had moved in a blur and was suddenly face to face with the watcher.

“You believe what you sodding well like. Now get out!”

Giles moved instinctively. He pulled out a stake from his jacket and plunged it towards the vampire’s chest. Spike grinned maniacally, caught the watcher’s wrist and twisted. Giles cried out in pain, dropped the stake and fell to his knees.

“Bloody hell, the chip. The chip didn’t activate!” The watcher gasped and the enormity of this thought blocked out the pain as he looked up at Spike in confusion.

“How long?”

Spike’s reaction was not what he was expecting. The vampire’s shoulders drooped; he retreated to the bunk and slumped down, his face a mask of misery.

“Just bugger off will you. If anyone’s going to dust me, it’ll be Buffy.”

He refused to say any more, just pulled his knees up and rested his head on them, wrapping his arms round his legs.

Giles backed out of the room and shakily made his way back to the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Buffy heard the raised voices and suddenly it was too much for her. She had to get away, be alone and think about what had happened. Without a backward glance she ran down the tunnels towards the exit.

Wandering through the sunlit streets, she marvelled that people were just carrying on their normal lives as if nothing had happened. She had had a literally life changing experience and no-one knew. The sound of trucks thundering by was too distracting, she desperately needed to be somewhere quiet so she turned down a side road. At last she came upon a small, green oasis called St Matthew’s Gardens. It was a churchyard complete with gravestones she noted wryly.

Sinking down on a bench she forced herself to think about what had just happened. What had she done? It didn’t seem to matter that what had happened had been an accident; there was no choice in the matter.

And that was the crux – no choice. She had been given no choice when she was made a slayer. Angel had given her no choice when he’d left her and neither had her dad. Now it seemed as if she had no choice but to be with Spike for the rest of her life.

But, she reasoned, it wasn’t Spike’s fault – he’d had no choice either. She now knew without a shadow of a doubt that he loved her, the question was – did she love him enough?

OK, she thought - pros and cons. Life without Spike. She’d go back to America and pick up her life where she’d left it. With a guilty pang she remembered she’d got a boyfriend to go back to. Riley – she’d not given him a thought in days. Hmm, back to him, with his polite and appeasing ways – the exact opposite of a certain vampire.

Life with Spike. Being with him 24/7. Him with his irritating, exciting, cruel, loving ways. Never knowing what to expect from one moment to the next. Always having someone to watch her back, never ceasing to love her even though he knew her inside and out, never leaving.

If she did decided against the bonding – what would happen then? Spike had said they were bound until one of them died. Would she have to stake him?

She began to feel a little woozy, an aching pain in her chest. It must be too much sun after such a long time underground she thought.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


The witches stared at Giles in shock as he told them what had happened.
“Oh goddess!” Willow whispered. “Will he kill us all now? He’s tried to kill me a few times and I mean, it’s not something I wanna go through again. I mean he was all growly and fangy and really, really frightening with the glass in the face and the….”

“Hush sweetie, you’ll be OK. I’m sure that you are more than a match for him now.” Tara looked fondly at the red head.

“Don’t you think that if he wanted to kill us he would have done so by now?” Hilda said impatiently. “We all know he’s hungry – he’s been surviving on pig’s blood and that ran out ages ago. We used most of it to fool Alice into thinking he’d attacked us remember?”

“He didn’t attack me just now.” Giles admitted reluctantly, “He just disarmed me and then walked away. I don’t understand – now that he’s not limited by the behavioural chip, he’s free to do what he wants.”

“Obviously what he wants doesn’t include us for lunch.” Hilda felt angry that none of them saw the vampire as part of their group after all that they’d been through.

Giles and the other witches began to speculate upon what Spike’s next move would be. Hilda backed away and slipped through the door.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Spike heard someone enter but didn’t have the heart to look to see who it was.

“Not good company – I’d leave if I were you, while you can.”

The person ignored his advice and plonked themselves down at the other end of the bunk.

He sighed and looked up to see Hilda regarding at him. “Didn’t you hear me?” He said rudely.

She said nothing, simply smiled at him. He shrugged, well if that’s what made her happy, he’d not got the energy to argue any more. He lowered his head back on to his arms and sighed.

They sat in silence for a while and, after the initial irritation, Spike began to draw comfort from her presence.

“Didn’t want to love her you know. In fact I didn’t realise that I was in love with her for a long time – just wanted to kill her as was right and proper. But then there she was - part of me. I fought against it but she won in the end, even though she didn’t know it.” His laugh came out as a sob and he found that he was telling Hilda everything about his love.

He’d never talked to anyone like this – not in his human life and certainly not in his vampire unlife – this must be what friendship was. Some of the tension leached out of him so he uncurled and leaned back against the wall.

“Don’t know what she’ll do now. She sets such store on what the watcher and her friends think and I don’t need to be a brain surgeon to know what that is.”

Hilda watched him unburden himself and longed to take him in her arms, but didn’t know what his reaction would be.

“You know the chip doesn’t work right? Aren’t you afraid I’ll take a bite now?” His attempt at humour was spoiled by the unshed tears in his eyes.

“No.” she said simply.

He swallowed hard, “I’m glad I met you Hildy.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek.

It was her turn to swallow hard and she tried not to let him see how it affected her.

“Ditto.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TBC

Thanks to those of you who sent feedback - it keeps me updating regularly!! I have been replying to them all individually, but its kinda got away from me now - but please be sure I value every one of them.





You must login (register) to review.