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Chicago, 1942


Buffy grasped the door frame to regain her balance. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. The bright light brought on an instantaneous headache. Buffy wanted to scream. She wanted to cry. She wanted to tear someone apart. Buffy was livid and hurt.


“I always enjoy our time together, Buff.” Angelus declared mockingly as he patted her back just a little too hard. Pain rippled through her and she could taste the blood gathering in her mouth. Buffy took a step out into the hallway and turned to face the sadistic fuck that had once again put her through hell. She raised her eyes to meet his and gave him the nastiest glare she could muster. Quite a feat when she could barely see him. Blood dripped into her eyes.


“Fuck you, Angelus.”


A big grin broke across his face. His laughter boomed, rubbing a hand up his bare chest. Buffy flinched, wishing he would shut the fuck up. He wasn’t helping her headache. “Such fire. Go fetch Dru and I some food. Worked up quite an appetite cutting your cute little face up.”


A guttural purr resounded from behind Angelus and Drusilla emerged from the darkened room. She wrapped her arms around Angelus and smiled wickedly at Buffy. Buffy hoped she wouldn’t say anything. She didn’t know how much of this vampire’s psycho babble she could take.


“Mmm, get me something...” Drusilla thought for a moment before grinning and snapping her teeth, “Pretty.”


Buffy rolled her eyes. “Aye, aye, captain.”


She stumbled slightly as she walked away. She could barely contain the snarl that threatened to spill from her lips as Angelus laughed at her once again. As she walked through the living room towards the restroom, she passed a few of the new minions.


“Andrew, Brandon, Clair. Get your shit together. We’re going out in ten.”


Clair looked at Buffy with disdain. “Who put you in charge?”


Buffy stopped walking and gave the stupid new fledgling a disbelieving look. She curse Spike once again for killing off all the minions. To say Angelus had been pissed was an understatement. But Angelus didn’t have to deal with weak, disobedient, and sardonic new vamps daily. Buffy did and it did nothing to quell the anger that had been building over the last few weeks. There was nothing Buffy hated more than new minions. They still thought that what they wanted mattered. They thought their input was valued. Buffy hoped Angelus would break this new vamp soon.


“Do you really want to do this? Right now?” Buffy asked warningly.



Clair raised her chin insolently and crossed her arms over her chest. Buffy stared. She was drained and sore and the last thing she wanted to deal with right now was a damned fledgling trying to act tough. Buffy strode purposefully towards the tall redheaded vamp. Stopping right in front of her, Buffy wrapped her fingers around the vamps neck and squeezed. “Have you ever had your throat ripped out?”


Clair’s eyes widened, she made a sound from deep in her throat. Her arms dropped to her sides and she looked away from Buffy’s intense glare.


“It won’t kill you.” Buffy said as she dug her nails into the girls throat. “But it will hurt like a bitch.”


The other two minions watched with excited eyes. Fucking fledglings. All they ever wanted was violence. Buffy was sure that they had put Clair up to talking back to her. She couldn’t bring herself to care. This vamp was an idiot.


“So tell me, Clair. Are you going to behave like a good little puppy or am I going to have to make an example out of you?”


“I’ll just go get my jacket.” Clair whispered, embarrassed.


Buffy shoved the vamp away from herself. She gave her a disgusted look, glared at the other two vampires. Stomping to the bathroom, she shouted, “Be ready to leave when I get out.”


She shut the door behind her. Buffy stared into the mirror, glad she didn’t have a reflection. She knew she looked like shit. She inspected the ends of her hair, stiff and red from dried and drying blood. Delicately running her fingers over her face, she counted the gashes. Frowned. For some reason Angelus had gone easy on her tonight. She turned on the faucet, cupped her hands to catch some of the water, and sipped at it. She swished and spat, cringing at how pink the water was.


Buffy pealed the bloody shirt off her back. Her flesh was various shades of black, blue, purple, and green. Her cuts were already starting to heal. She grabbed a rag and started to rinse the blood away. Buffy’s shirt was ruined. She tossed it into the trash bin and glanced around the small room for something else to wear.


There was a shirt laying in the corner but she could smell Spike on it. No, that wouldn’t do. She was too annoyed by that vampire to borrow his shirt. It had been a long shot to expect much from him. Spike had been avoiding her. He ignored her and when talking to her was inescapable, he was all business and unpleasant.


She didn’t know what she had been expecting. Being a master vampire meant you show no weakness and she had walked in on a sort of break down. While he had seemed grateful at the time for a distraction, now he was obviously angry at her for witnessing it. Or maybe he was angry at himself.


Buffy didn’t know, and quite honestly, she didn’t care. If Spike wanted to be a dick, he can be a dick. It wasn’t her place to judge. It was her place to deal with their fucking mood swings. Hell, she was lucky he was just avoiding her. He could be beating the shit out of her, like Angelus.


Buffy tried to rinse as much of the blood out of her hair as she could. She wished that she had time to take a shower before going out, but the sun would be up in a few hours. She growled in frustration when she realized there weren’t any towels, so she wrung her hair out as much as she could before stepping out of the bathroom. She made a quick trip to her room to grab a shirt.


The new minions were standing in the living room, waiting for her. Buffy was glad they didn’t say anything. They followed her out of the mansion.


“Get yourselves some dinner. Grab something for Angelus. I’ll get Drusilla’s. Meet me back here in an hour.” They nodded and started to walk off. Buffy called out to them, “Don’t show up here with another homeless guy for Angelus unless you want to see the sun tomorrow. “


Buffy made her way in the other direction. She needed to feed if she wanted to heal faster, but she just had no appetite. She wondered the streets of the city for about twenty minutes before she found what she was looking for. A pretty young girl wearing a long red dress. She was alone and she looked a bit lost.


“Two in one.” Buffy said to herself, “Drusilla gets dinner and a new dress.”


She glanced down the street. Seeing noone, Buffy decided to take advantage of the situation. Buffy quietly walked up behind the girl. She reached for the girl’s elbow and said in her politest voice, “Excuse me, miss.”


The girl jumped a bit and spun around just to be greeted with Buffy’s fist. The girl went down quick and easy. Buffy smiled at a job well done. This was different for Buffy. She was used to luring dinner home but she knew that wouldn’t be happening tonight. Not with the way she looked. If the girl had seen her face, she probably would have run in horror. She picked the girl up off the ground and strided in the direction of the mansion.


Buffy couldn’t help but groan with each step. Pain radiated from her hip and for the unlife of her, she couldn’t remember why. It had been a long night and she had blacked out a few times while Angelus and Drusilla were ‘playing.’ Buffy set the girl down onto the bench in front of the mansion and took a seat next to her. Sitting didn’t help the pain much but it was better than standing.


A few minutes later she could see the new minions down the street struggling to hold onto a large male human. She spared a glance at the unconscious girl next to her. The girl would be out for a bit longer. Buffy stood and jogged towards the vampires.


“You fucking dumbasses. Can one of you please explain to me why, out of all the humans to pick off, you pick the one human you can’t handle?” Buffy shouted. She slowed her pace. The pain in her hip was too much and she had to struggle to keep walking.


Buffy felt rage build in her. In actuality, she was only slightly annoyed by the minions. She hadn’t been able to tell which humans she could and couldn’t handle either when she had first been turned. She had made their mistake quite a few times. Luckily for Buffy, Angelus had wanted her around so he had helped her out. For a price. But the combination of the night’s earlier activities with Angelus, her annoyance with a certain blue-eyed vampire, and the excruciating pain emitting from her hip had her on the verge of snapping.


Clair glared at her and let go of the human. Andrew and Brandon struggled to hold onto him without her. She took a step towards Buffy. “We thought-“


“Jesus fucking Christ, do you ever shut your fucking mouth?!” Buffy pushed all the air out of her lungs. She tossed her eyes toward the sky, trying to focus on anything but the pain.


“Excu-“


Clair didn’t even get her offended reply out before Buffy was on her. Buffy’s nails sunk into her skin like butter and in seconds, Clair was on the ground. She was clearly trying to scream, but only succeeded in making revolting gurgling noises. The human froze in horror, as did the two other minions. Clair looked at Andrew and Brandon for help. Her skin was paler than usual and blood poured down her chest. Where her throat had been, was now nothing but a mess of flesh and tendons.


Buffy wrapped her bloody hand around the human’s bicep and guided them to the mansion. Andrew and Brandon struggled to keep up as they pulled Clair along.


“Grab the girl.” Buffy ordered as the passed the unconscious beauty on the bench.


Dropping Clair off in the living room, the minions trailed behind Buffy into the basement. They set the girl down against the wall. Buffy instructed the large male human to sit down next to her.


Buffy turned to the minions. “Get out of my sight.”


They left in a hurry.


Buffy clasped the shackles around the wrists of the male. As she was doing the same for the young girl, the male spoke.


“What happened to you?” He didn’t sound scared. Just curious. Buffy looked at him for a moment.


“Unlife.”


He was confused, that much was apparent. “Is that what’s going to happen to me?”


“No. You’ll have the luxury of staying dead when they kill you.”


He was quiet after that and she left.


Buffy had to walk passed Spike’s room to get to her own. She paused and peaked in the open door. The blonde vampire was passed out on his bed, shirtless, with a bottle of Jack dangling from his fingers. Typical. He spent all of his time drinking, feeding, and sleeping now days. Drusilla had tossed him aside for her sweet Angelus and he wasn’t taking it so well. Buffy tried not to feel sorry for him. He got what he deserved.


She continued her walk to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Except it didn’t shut. A boot had been slipped between the door and the door frame, preventing it. Buffy slowly opened it, hoping that that boot wasn’t on the foot of the vampire she really didn’t want to deal with.


Spike stared at her through hooded eyes. He was obviously still very drunk.. Buffy couldn’t help but admire his beauty. She cursed herself. She had been certain she’d gotten over her silly crush when he had started acting like an ass towards her. But how was it possible to get over such a gorgeous creature?


Spike brought his hand up and placed it onto her shoulder, tracing the strap of her bra, running his fingers up her neck and onto her cheek. Buffy stood there confused as to what he was doing. A very unmanly giggle slipped from his lips.


“Cor, luv, you look bloody terrible.”


Buffy made a disgusted sound before slapping his hand away. “Leave me alone.”


“Wait.” He murmured, grabbing her hip.


Blinding white hot pain.


And when it was gone, Spike was on the floor holding his bloody nose, cursing. Buffy clutched her hip.


“The hell is wrong with me tonight?” She grumbled, annoyed. Buffy flexed her fist, regretting hitting him. The hand that clutched her hip grazed over something small and hard. It was only then that she realized that the long needle Drusilla had used to ‘carve the stars’ into her hipbone was still inserted in her pelvis.


“Fuck.” Buffy whispered, harshly. She walked over the desk in the room, and turned on the lamp to get a better look at it. The very end of the needle could be seen poking out of her skin.


“Let me.”


Buffy didn’t even look at him. She ran her thumb over the needle and bit her lip in pain. “You’re drunk.”


He dropped to his knees in front of her and leaned in close to look at it. Before Buffy could stop him, he pinched the end of the needle and quickly pulled it out. Her hand shot out to grip the edge of the desk and she let out a strangle cry.


Spike looked up at her and smiled a big, boyish smile. Blood dripped from his nose. Despite herself, Buffy couldn’t help the start of a smile. She grabbed his hands and pulled him up to stand. He leaned forward onto her and she had to push him back a little. Buffy looked up at him. She pulled his arm to turn him in the direction of the door. “You should go to bed. You’re shitfaced.”


“Yeah, I know.”


Buffy raised an eyebrow at him when he didn’t move to leave. She gave him a gentle shove. He nodded and left, needle still in his hands.


She shut off the lamp and carefully stripped off her bloody clothes. Her tummy rumbled and she wished she had gotten something to eat while she was out. Buffy rubbed her hip once more. She threw on an oversized shirt and pulled the covers down on her bed. She was actually supposed to share the room with other minions but the new minions had been so put off my her horrible mood the last couple of days that they all crammed into three other rooms on the other side of the mansion. Buffy sighed at the feel of the silk sheets against her legs.


Buffy woke about an hour later at the feel of strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist. The alcohol-tinged scent of Spike surrounded her. She leaned into him and felt all the pent up rage that had built up in the last few weeks drain away. She smiled contently, Spike nuzzled into her hair. She’d deal with the consequences in the morning.


“I’m sorry for hitting you.” Buffy whispered before drifting into the deepest sleep she’d had in years.


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