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Chapter Two—Is Granted Upon You


..::The Next Evening::..


The Ten o’ clock News


The pale, platinum blonde anchorwoman wore an overly dramatized serious expression. “Hello, everyone. This is Harmony and I have some important news for you this evening.


“You know that slayer-watch alert that I had informed you all about this morning? Well, guess what? It’s no longer needed. That’s right, the identity of the slayer has been confirmed.”


A corner of the screen filled in with a picture of a young teenage girl with shoulder-length golden blonde hair and sparkling green eyes. Her heart shaped face was smooth with youth, and a gentle smile graced her lips. Adorned in a simple white cotton sundress, the contrast of the fabric against the girl’s tanned limbs had a very complementary affect. Her sun-kissed flesh was offset by the serene picturesque backdrop of a glimpse of the Pacific Ocean and the high-afternoon sun, which reflected light like diamonds on the cool blue water.


“Not even half an hour ago, Buffy Summers, native born L.A. resident, was verified as the slayer. Many sources, including some people who were within her circle of friends and some of the vampiric personal on the Memorial Hospital medical staff, whose senses were hypersensitive to Buffy Summers presence, alerted the authorities to their suspicions concerning her.


“The sixteen-year-old high school sophomore reportedly went to an underage drinking party around 7 p.m. this evening with her boyfriend who is also a minor. Partygoers who had permission to be interviewed by their parents stated that her behavior at the party could be described as ‘antisocial’ and ‘violent.’


“Oh, and this so sad, you guys. One teenage boy who crossed paths with Buffy Summers while attending the party is in critical condition. Poor thing… It was after he was hospitalized at Memorial Hospital that the slayer’s identity was figured out because she had been one of the teenagers to accompany him to the emergency room.


“Although we now know that Buffy Summers is in fact the slayer, she is still at large; having escaped the hospital presumably after she realized people recognized that she was the slayer. And until she’s contained, she should totally be considered dangerous.


“Her description goes as follows: she has blonde, medium-length hair; green eyes; is 5’2” tall; and,” here Harmony’s face took on an ill-concealed look of jealousy that she tried to pass off as disgust, “weighs from 105 to 120 pounds.”


Getting over her superficial bout of envy, Harmony’s gaze abruptly turned intense, bordering on extremely flirtatious. “So, Spikey…go get her.”


..::After Midnight::..


Buffy gasped as she broke through the surface of the water; hoping beyond hope that this would work, that this would give her some time.


She felt a crippling ripple of fear when she didn't see him stalking close by or hear him cursing in the shadows. Where was he? Turning in tight, frantic circles near the middle of the mission's fountain, she could only hear her frenetic, sawing breaths rasping out from her lungs. As her pulse gradually regulated to its natural rhythm, she became uncomfortably aware of her clinging—not to mention freezing—clothing sticking tightly to her body, the babbling water gushing in torrents out of the center piece of the fountain, and the sirens that could dimly be heard from far off in the distance. Her wide eyes searched through the dark as she felt warm, frustrated tears slip down onto her icy cheeks.


She was almost afraid to wonder if it was she that the wails of the sirens were trying to find.


A twig snapped. She quickly whipped around, sloshing water in her momentum. Her heart rate spiked again.


No one stood where the sound had come from. A dark, amused chuckle suddenly sounded from behind her. She moved slowly as she turned, knowing that this time she would face what she dreaded most.


His pale pink lips pulled up on one side, forming a tight grin. "That...was one nifty little trick, Slayer."


Slayer. No, Buffy thought, pressing her eyes tightly shut, as if the action would make this whole situation go away.


He slowly—predatorily, she thought as her eyes snapped open and narrowed in suspicion—started pacing around the majestic Spanish fountain. "Led us right to a little piece o' California hist'ry, din't you? Are you Catholic?" he asked conversationally.


She kept silent, stabbing him with her hateful glare. He chuckled, and she watched as a mingling of revelry and admiration animated his azure eyes as they bore into her. A flash of a neon-bright television image of him fighting a young girl, ecstasy and flecks of blood painted in sharp relief on his sculpted human face, came back to her from the night before.


God, it had only just been the night before.


"So, what now, Slayer? You gonna muck about in holy water till the sun comes up?"


She lifted her chin. "If that's what it takes."


He groaned and sat on the lip of the fountain, clearly displeased with her now. "How. Bloody. Droll. You know, I've been in this business for a long time, but I think this might be the first that I'll be bored to tears by it."


"Sorry to disappoint," she said, not sounding sorry at all.


"Oh, it's a bit of all right, I s'pose. It'll give the camera crew time to catch up, I wager," he carelessly shrugged; his eyes alight with glee. "I bet they'll just love the Little Mermaid routine you've got goin' on here."


She splashed water in his direction; he dodged most of it but a lone droplet singed his cheek. "Ohhhoohoo," he purred, caressing the inflamed area with a pronounced shudder of sensuality. "My naughty mermaid likes to play dirty. Why don't you come out here, love? Touch me with that wet, burning skin."


Buffy readied to send another splash of the destructive water in his direction.


"Hey, now," he said in high warning. His voice came from somewhere low and deep within; deadly but also resonating with something that made her thighs quiver and her blood rush hotly with a thrill that she was too ashamed to admit even to herself. His eyes caressed her form as he continued speaking, and Buffy knew she wasn't imagining the ethereal glow of gold that flecked the darkened blue of his irises. "It wouldn't be too bright on your part to keep splashin' me with that. You're already seen as a bloody terror 'cos you put a bloke in the emergency room. You'd only make everyone hate you more if you were to disfigure yours truly."


Buffy’s lips quivered. He might as well have landed a physical blow on her. “I didn’t mean to! I-it was an acciden-“


“An accident that’s left a boy lying in a hospital bed with a coma.” He gave a derisive laugh and the admiration that she had seen moments before in his eyes vanished, like he suddenly remembered himself—or remembered who she was. What she was. “But that’s how it is with your lot. Slayers. She-warriors gone wrong.” He smiled cruelly. “The only good thing about you is the fight. But that eventually leaves you, too… And I wanna be the one that makes it go away. I want to break you.”


Buffy unconsciously stepped back. “That’s not me. I’m not bad.” Her voice broke on the last word. “I was only trying to protect myself.”


“From what, your little boyfriends? If you din’t want to be gang-banged, you really shouldn’t have dressed like a tart an’ went to a kegger. It seems to me,” he tilted his head to the side, his voice full of malice, “like you were begging for it.”


Buffy saw red. She was suddenly out of the safety of the holy water and advancing toward Spike Aurelius with the intent of murder in her mind.


It was only after she was standing toe-to-toe with him that she realized he had intended to provoke her all along to get her within reach. But by then it was too late; an instinct that seemed as natural as breathing took over her and a foreign exhilaration stole through her, sending any fears she may have had to the wind. It dawned on her that this—fighting with Spike—was right. This was her element. And she wanted him beneath her.


Spike smirked knowingly. “Now that’s more like it, Slayer.”


..::Earlier That Evening::..


6:00 pm


“Woah, what are you getting all dressed up for?”


Buffy kept lining her eyes with kohl as she answered Dawn’s question. “Riley asked me to go to a party with him. He wants me to meet his friends,” she explained with a pleased smile.


Dawn walked fully into the room and sat down next to Buffy on the carpeted floor, watching Buffy put on her makeup while looking into the bottom half of her full-length mirror.


“Aren’t all of his friends seniors?”


“Mmhm,” Buffy absentmindedly acknowledged as she began to coat her eyelashes in mascara.


“I don’t think you should go to a senior party, Buffy,” her little sister said with concern that seemed too mature for someone at the tender age of twelve. "What if they peer-pressure you into doing drugs?"


Buffy met Dawn’s gaze in the mirror; she felt her heart melt with warmth at the worry she saw in the depths of the younger girl’s blue eyes. She turned and embraced Dawn in a brief hug, giving a kiss to the top of her brunette head. “Don’t worry,” she said as she stood up and observed herself at her full height in the mirror. “Riley assured me that the people he hangs out with don't do that kinda stuff; he doesn’t hang out with bad people--well, unless you count jocks and cheerleaders as bad people. Which,” she said, eying Dawn pointedly, “you probably do. But seriously, I’ll be fine.”


“Is Willow going with you?”


“No,” Buffy replied glumly. “She had to go out of town with her parents. It’s one of her cousin’s bat mitzvahs again.”


“Buffy…”


“Dawnie,” Buffy mimicked in the same voice. “Don’t be such a worrywart. Lots of worrying gives you premature wrinkles. And I know how you’re all for the eternal youth thing,” she said with a wink.


Dawn gave her a grudging smile. “Riley is pretty dopey, I guess. And bad people don’t hang out with dopey people… Just promise me you won’t do anything dumb?”


Buffy let out an indignant huff—even as she felt an amused smile threatening to spread across her lips. “People’d think you were the older one, what with the way you talk. Oh, and, hey! Riley’s not dopey—goofy, maybe, but not dopey.”


“Talk about slow reaction. Hyuck, hyuck,” Dawn said in an imitation of the Disney character.


“Ya-hoo-hooowieee!” Buffy joined in.


“What is going on in here?” Their mother, who stood in the doorway, asked with a laugh. “It sounds like you coo-coos have gotten out of the crazy house.”


“Oh no I think she’s on to us,” Buffy said as an aside to Dawn that was intentionally loud enough for their mom to hear.


“Oh, very funny, you,” her mom said affectionately. “Well, crazy or not, your young man, Riley, is waiting for you in the living room, Buffy.”


“He’s already here?” Buffy screeched. “Oh God!” She frantically looked around. “Do you see my black leather anklet boots anywhere? The ones with high heels and the zippers around the fronts?”


Dawn frowned. “But you already have high heels on your feet.”


Uh-oh, Buffy thought, as her mother took a closer look at the aforementioned silver strappy heels that adorned her feet.


“Those are my high heels.”


“Yeah, um, I meant to ask you earlier if I could borrow them.” She paused. “Can I borrow them?”


“Why do you want to find your boots then?” asked her mom with raised eyebrows.


“For comparison. They might look better,” she said in a tone that conveyed that this should be obvious.


“Are these them?” Dawn asked, holding up the exact ones she was looking for.


“Yes,” Buffy said gratefully. She hopped up and down on one foot as she took a heel off and replaced it with a high-heeled anklet boot. “Which ones?” she asked as she stood up straight.


“The silver heels.”


“The boots.”


Dawn and their mom frowned at each other. Buffy sighed and turned to her mirror to make the decision herself. She was wearing a dark blue, denim sheath dress; it was strapless, went down to her mid-thighs, and was held together by a series of brass buttons that went down the center of the front, resembling a button-fly. Yeah, zipper boots and a button-fly dress—way too perfect to pass up. “The boots it is.”


“What’s wrong with my high heels,” her mom asked, affronted.


“Nothing. But the boots go better with my dress. You’re just shoe prejudiced ‘cause the silver ones are yours.”


“Well, okay, Miss Fashionista,” said her mom. “You know better than I. But hurry up, I don’t think your date knows the rule about being fashionably late, so he might just think you’ve left him to rot.”


Buffy quickly put her other anklet boot on and then picked up her purse and left her room. Her mother and sister followed. When she entered the living room, she found Riley and her father sitting on the couch, talking about sports. When Riley noticed her he stopped talking in the middle of his sentence and just stared at her. When he finally remembered his ability of speech he said, “Wow…you look... Wow.”


“Thank you,” she replied, blushing and feeling awkward with her family standing around.


Her father cleared his throat. “Are you going to wear a jacket with that? It’s kind of chilly out there,” he stated without tact.


“It’s seventy-eight degrees outside,” Buffy said in monotone.


“Oh, Hank, leave our daughter alone. Everything’s covered up,” her mom said in her defense.


“I know, I know,” her dad grumbled. “She just looks so grown up… and she’s dating boys now. It’s a lot for a father to take in.”


Oh God, Buffy thought. Please say we’re not having a ‘moment.’ She decided to nip it in the bud. “Dad, I’ve always worn dresses, and it’s not boys that I’m dating, it’s Riley—who is one boy. I love you guys. We’re leaving. Buh bye.”


She held out her hand so Riley could take it when he got up off of the couch. Taking it, he surprised her by turning them back towards her family while keeping her gaze. He looked more shy than ever and his palm was kind of sweaty. “Actually, I was, um, planning to give you my letterman jacket sometime tonight. I-I guess now is as good a time as ever.”


Buffy dazedly let Riley drape his letterman jacket around her shoulders. When the reality of just how big a step he was taking with her sunk in, she could barely contain the giddy smile that wanted to take over her face. She leaned in on the tips of her toes and boldly gave him a kiss on the corner of his mouth.


Turning back to her parents, she saw the look of grudging approval on her dad’s face and an excited smile on her mom’s face (Dawn was in the background rolling her eyes.) She exchanged an oh-my-god-can-you-believe-this-is-really-happening?! expression with her mom when she was sure Riley couldn’t see her face. Her mom’s reaction was to smile even more enthusiastically.


"Okay, um, I’ll see you guys later." She embraced her father, then her mother, whispering her ‘I love you’s and ‘Yes, Dad, I promise I’ll be back at a decent hour.’ She turned to Dawn last. Giving Dawn a playful glare, as if in warning that there would be dire consequences if she didn't come and give her a farewell hug, Buffy held her arms open. Dawn's face expressed the emotion that she would rather do anything but what Buffy wanted; but really, she embraced Buffy willingly enough--Buffy even glimpsed a happy little smile on her sister's face at the last moment before they hugged.

 
Suddenly, as Buffy clasped her younger sister to her and felt her tall senior boyfriend's presence at her side, the rift between childhood and adulthood seemed tangible. She’d passed to the other side of the fence without even knowing it… Everything would be different now.


Buffy hugged Dawn closer to her and found herself instinctually whispering in her ear, "Love you. And no one or anything will ever make me forget my Dawnie, okay?"

 
Dawn nodded into her shoulder and whispered, "I know. Love you, too. And remember—don’t be dumb."

 
Buffy laughed in surprise and turned to meet her sister’s eyes. "Promise."

 
She turned to Riley and put her hand into the one he offered her as they walked towards the front door. A series of byes sounded from behind them and one of them called out, saying, ‘have fun!’ She promised that she would.

 
Later Buffy would find that it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t keep any of the promises that she had made that night.


TBC


Please review and let me know what you think :)


Oh, and the unveiling of the party and the extention of the Buffy/Spike fight scene will be up in the next couple of days ;)





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