Spike had been studiously avoiding her since their encounter in the kitchen, he had thrown a few unpleasant remarks her way that morning before she left for work, but that was the extent of it. But he had almost kissed her, at least she thought he had, maybe she was completely misreading him.
She sighed in frustration, glancing at the clock on her office wall, still hours to go before she could go home. Not that the thought of going home to watch Spike flirt with her sister was terribly appealing, plus she still hadn’t called Richard.
Richard. Funny how since Spike had come crashing back into her life she had been treating him more like an inconvenience than a fiancée. Spike, it all kept spinning round to him, every circle of thought her mind made returned inevitably to the vampire.
She sighed, he hated her, even without the memories of what an unbelievable bitch she was, he hated her. God forbid he ever get his memories back.
She sighed and picked up the phone, may as well check in with Dawn.
“Ahh, hey stop that” her sisters voice came distantly across the line, as if she had her face turned away from the receiver. “Sorry, Hello” she spoke more clearly before giggling girlishly. “Don’t touch it”
“Dawn?” Buffy asked confused
“Oh hey Buffy” her sister greet before letting out a squeal that had Buffy pulling the receiver away from her ear. “Spike stop it, ahhh” she squealed again before turning her attention back to her sister, still giggling. “Sorry Buffy, what did you want?”
“I, er, what’s going on?”
“Oh, nothing we’re just. Spike let go of me! Sorry we’re just dying Spike’s hair. Ahhh!” Buffy frowned as she listened to her sister laughing wildly.
“Sorry pet, but you asked for it” Spike rich baritone sounded in the background.
“It’s ok Dawn,” she told her sister, anxious to be off the phone. “I’ll see you later”
“’K Buffy, ack! Spike!” Buffy slammed the phone down, fighting back tears. God why did this hurt so much? She slumped back in her chair. Fine, if that’s what they wanted, she loved them both enough to let them be.
She rang her boss’ office to ask for the rest of the day off, she had to go make up with Richard.
……..
Richard hadn’t believe a word she said, Buffy was almost certain of it. Still he had accepted her explanation of Spike’s presence in her bedroom, she was of course bunking in with Dawn, as her sister had a larger bed, and Willow was in the spare room.
She playfully chastised him for being a “silly, jealous man” and kissed his nose, until he smiled at her. They’d made plans to go out the following evening, dinner and a movie.
It had been and exhausting pretence, and by the time the Slayer was walking up her street her body ached with tiredness and her head throbbed.
A hundred yards from her house a soft scuffle caught her attention, spinning round she caught sight of twin sulphur fires in the darkness. Instinctively her hand groped for the stake she no longer carried in her sleeve. “Shit!” she cursed, was gonna have to start carrying weapons again.
“Willow” she called in her mind, projecting her thoughts towards the house as the redhead had taught her. “I’m just down the street, I need weapons. There’s a couple of swords in the closet”
Hoping that her friend had heard her she turned to face her would be assailants. “Here I am,” she challenged. “Come and get me”
Eight pairs of glowing eyes appeared in the darkness “Slayer” she heard the moniker in her mind “My father pledged your death on our tribes honour. Now we come to fulfil that pledge”
“Oh yeah” the Slayer retorted. “Well I made Sushi out of your father, really think you can do better?”
She heard it’s enraged growl ring through her mind just before the creature attacked and then she was fighting, punches, turns and kicks keeping her attackers away. “Come on Willow” she pleaded in her mind “Where are those weapons?”
“Slayer, catch!” somehow she was unsurprised, he always showed up when she needed him, it was kinda his thing, she raised a hand above her head, attention still fixed on the demon in front of her, and felt the heavy handle of the sword fall into her palm.
Cut, slash, kick, spin. She found herself back to back with the vampire, instinctively falling into rhythm with his movements.
“You look better” she commented as they fought, not sparing him a glance.
“Yeah I feel pretty good. Must be that healing potion Red keeps slipping in my blood” Spike replied as he decapitated one of the demons.
“Yeah she’s good isn’t she? Duck” She threw her blade over the vampire’s ducked head watching in satisfaction as it skewered an advancing demon.
Spike cupped his hands in invitation. God, this felt so right, Buffy couldn’t remember anything ever being so utterly, effortlessly right. She placed her foot in his cupped hands and he flipped her outside the circle of attackers to reclaim her sword.
Spike marvelled at the understanding they shared, he may not remember fighting alongside her, but his body did. Every move was synchronised to hers, every thrust and parry calculated perfectly to complement her fighting style. He gave a joyful whoop of excitement and launched himself into the fray.
The last demon, gurgle and spat blood as it fell to the ground, one clawed hand grasping hopelessly at its slit throat. He turned to the Slayer, a triumphant grin splitting his face. His grin faded when he saw her, flushed from the exertion of the fight and breathing hard. He move closer, breathing in her scent, sweat, overlaid with jasmine.
She swallowed hard as he approached, frozen in place by the intensity of his gaze. “Hell of a fight Slayer” he commented. God could the man make any collection of word sound provocative?
“Uh huh” she affirmed ineloquently, he was in her personal space now and she was having trouble forming coherent thought.
She was beautiful like this, there was no denying it, adrenaline still pumping in her veins heart pounding loudly, a sudden need to touch her overtook him and he brought his hand up to gently wipe a splash of demon blood from her warm cheek.
“Seems you and me make quite the team” he tilted his head, and she almost whimpered at the familiarity of the gesture. “Surprised I could forget a dance like that”
She didn’t speak, couldn’t have formed words, even if she had something to say. Instead she nodded mutely moving closer, her own hand coming up to hover just inches from the black cotton covering his chest.
“Oh thank God” Willows voice had them both jumping guiltily away.
“Buffy, are you guys ok?” Dawn’s breathless question made Buffy look at the floor. Had she been about to get up close and personal with her baby sisters boyfriend?
“We’re fine little bit” Spike answered for her when the silence threaten to become awkward. “Nothing like a bit a rough ‘n’ tumble, hey Slayer?”
Buffy looked up at him, panic written on her face. She scowled at his amused smirk, God he was playing with her, asshole, right in front of Dawn.
“You’re hurt?” Dawn was inspecting the shallow cut on her left arm. “Come on lets get back to the house and clean you up”
She liked his hair she decided as they trudged back to the house, Dawn had done a good job, the long unruly curls had been tamed into shorter spikes, blond highlights making his natural colour look darker by contrast. It wasn’t quite the bleached bad boy look she was used to but it was closer too it.
Dawn walked ahead with Willow, leaving her trailing behind with Spike, the pair casting nervous glances at one another. He turned to her a couple of time as if to ask her something, before shaking his head and looking away.
………
“It’s called The Eye of Remeunatishka” Giles informed them later that evening. “It is the talisman on an ancient Ukrainian cult of demons that were wiped out in the twelve century. The eye disappeared with them had has not been heard of since”
“Until now.” Buffy sighed, leaning against the mantle, she was so tired, she felt old, maybe she was too old for this. Slayers are young for a reason, she figured, rotating her stiff shoulder. “So” she continued “do we now what this eye of rheumatism does?”
“Remeunatishka. Well no, not exactly.” Giles removed his glasses, polishing the lenses briskly, before replacing them and studying his notes. “Some texts describe the Eye as ‘the giver of power’ others as ‘the path of energy”
“Sound’s like that’s how he’s controlling his demons then” Spike affirmed, picking at his newly blackened nails. Another part of the Dawn make over Buffy thought ruefully.
“It would seem so yes” Giles agreed, “However there are many references to the Eye being ‘without power of it’s own’ or ‘dead in it’s solitude’ I’m afraid the language is very old, and some of my translations are not entirely clear.”
“Maybe it’s a conduit.” Willow offered earning bemused looks from all but Giles.
“A conduit to other power source. It has no power in itself, but it can be used to access power from another source” she explained.
“That’s a possibility,” Giles sounded excited “Marcus could be using the Eye to channel some greater power”
“Fantastic” Xander cut in rubbing his good eye in frustration “Which leads us right back to ‘we don’t know what he’s up to’”
“Not exactly” Willow corrected. “There are only a certain number of power sources that could be channelled by the eye, and only some of them could be used for mind control. We have something to work with now.”
“Yippee” Dawn chimed “Grab those ancient texts its research time” her enthusiasm earned sceptical looks from her sister and the vampire beside her. She smile sheepishly “it’s been a while since we hit the books, I kinda missed it”
Buffy raised her eyebrows and gave Dawn an amused look, then the amusement fell from her face. “But I’m not really research girl” she told Giles, desperate to avoid the dusty tomes Willow and Dawn were eagerly producing. “Maybe I should patrol, see if there are anymore of those assassin demons lurking about”
“Buffy” Giles sounded concerned “These demons seem to be here with the express purpose of harming you. I don’t think its wise to go out alone”
“I’ll go” Spike offered standing up. “Don’t fancy wading through one of those” he angled his head towards the table. “Maybe me and the Slayer can dig up some info from the demon world”
Buffy flushed awkwardly, glancing nervously at her sister who seemed extremely pleased with the suggestion. “Ooh good idea. You two go out and patrol together, it’ll be like the good old times” she grinned sheepishly at their twin looks of incredulity. “Except of course you wouldn’t remember, and times where not always good, but still” She gave them both and encouraging smile “off you go”
……
They had been strolling around town for nearly two hours, passing only the occasional comment. Well at least we’re not fighting Buffy thought, that’s something.
“Well Slayer” Spike’s bored voice drew her attention. “I think we can safely say you picked the most boring town in America. No demons to fight, not even a bloody fledgling to have a go at.”
“That was kinda the point Spike.” She explained. “I’m retired, I don’t want to find demons round every corner”
He stopped, turning to look at her, his head tilted to the side, eyes appraising. “Come on Slayer” he prodded. “You must be bored out of that tiny mind of yours. Playing at being a normal girl. Don’t tell me you don’t miss it, the hunt, the kill”
“I don’t” she replied firmly. “I have everything I ever wanted. A nice normal life away from fighting and demons and apocalypses, is that a word, can you have more than one apocalypse”
He smirked at her “Bollocks” he stated adamantly.
She met his challenging stare for a moment, before sighing and conceding, “Ok maybe a little, I used to come out some nights looking for something to stake. I keep trying to tell myself that life is good, but when I’m not fighting I just feel like I have no purpose. And why am I telling you this?”
“It’s because you’re a Slayer, a creature of darkness.” He told her “You’re just wired that way is all, you shouldn’t fight it. And if your sugar daddy can’t take it, well…” He stepped back spreading his arms a little “maybe you need a real man”
Shit was he flirting? His tone was certainly suggestive, drawing her in to their old dancing patterns. She couldn’t help it the retort was past her lips before she had time to think. “Maybe I do,” She purred moving closer “Spike?” she asked, just inches away from him, she saw his eyes darken and almost crowed with satisfaction. “If you see one let me know wont you?”
With that she turned away from him, hips swinging as she went. “Bloody women” she heard him mutter as he trotted to catch her up. She smirked triumphantly at him. Waiting for the inevitable rejoinder when a shrill scream pierced the night air.
He was running before she was, reacting instinctively to the cry for help. She caught up with him on the far side of the park, she watched as he threw a young man across grass, advancing on him with smooth predatory strides. Behind him a girl of similar age pulled her tattered blouse closed and curling up into a defensive ball.
It took Buffy a moment to register that her attacker was human, and that Spike now had the helpless boy dangling by the throat. Oh God, Buffy realised, frozen to spot, he’s going to kill him.
Spike shifted into game face and growled at the boy, who whimpered pathetically in response. He was aware of the Slayer behind him, her eyes riveted to the scene. He could kill the boy before she got to them, snap his neck one handed, he thrilled at the thought, he hadn’t killed a human since his resurrection, and it was time to put that right. But she wouldn’t like it, he hesitated, in his mind he saw her face saddened with disappointment, luminous eyes filled with tears.
“Get out of here” he growled, throwing the youth to the floor.
.........
A/N Another offering, please don't worry there will be no S/D romanc in my story, just working my way slowly towars the inevitsable Spuffy.
Welcome Lizzy - I'm trying but if I devote anymore work time to this I'll get the sack ;) I love souless Spike two, wish I owned him.
Oh KMS you big softy, Hope you enjoy this, bit of Buffy unhappiness I'm afraid, but at least Spike's begining to see her.
Thanks Cali, I rewrote that line about ten time, then put it back the way it was. The Xander scene was sweet, I love him, but I can't seem to work him into the story, I had the same problem with Angel, that's why I shipped him off to help faith, what a cheap writter trick.
Hey Wendyea, is that your name? thanks for the emaill . You might not like this, but please remember that it is Buffy's interpretation that Spike and Dawn are together not the authors
Snogs and Frogs for all my reviewers, just frogs for those who don't bother
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