[Reviews - 111]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3047 times

- Text Size +




With This Ring - by Lilachigh

Chp.6 Across the Darkness


Buffy and Spike are back from the other Sunnydale, married and deeply in love. But in this world they have to part....


The Sunnydale graveyard was dark and quiet at three in the morning. A couple of newly risen vampires had dragged themselves out of their graves earlier and staggered off into the night, puzzled and confused by what had happened to them, but now all was silent.

A tiny sliver of moon cut the dark sky but gave no light to the grassy mounds and moss encrusted tombstones.

Suddenly, a bright orange and purple circle appeared behind one of the tombstones and with a hissing flash, a couple, kissing deeply, passionately, fell through it and rolled onto the grass.

At last a platinum blond head was lifted and Spike gazed round. ‘We’re back, pet,’ he said drearily.

Buffy kept her hands clasped tightly behind his back. ‘I don’t want to know.’

‘Hey, denial girl, I’m with you on this one, but don’t think we’ve got much option, luv. This is what we planned. You’re the Slayer and you’re needed here.’

Buffy pressed her whole body against his, revelling in the feel of it, hard where she was soft. How could she give this up. It wasn’t fair.

‘I resign,’ she muttered, burying her face in his neck.

Spike ran his hands over her body. He knew it would the last time, probably for ever, that he would get to touch her like this. He had no illusions about the future. He knew that once Willow got her spells right, he’d be back to being the despised ex big bad, chipped by the military and unable to do much to anyone. Buffy wouldn’t let him so much as touch her foot once that happened.

So for a few more long minutes he could hold her, smell her hair, the scent of her skin, the musk of her arousal triggering all his emotions once again.

Then he lifted his head, his acute vampire hearing a blessing and a curse. ‘We’ve no time left, sweetheart. Judging by their famous impression of a herd of wild elephants, I can hear your Watcher and Red and the boy coming across the cemetery. They must have heard the portal open.‘

Buffy reluctantly let him go and stood up. She pushed her hand into the pocket of her jeans where her wedding certificate still lay.

She remembered the little chapel Spike had found in the other Sunnydale, the elderly clergyman who’d agreed to do the ceremony. There had been white flowers everywhere - lilies, roses, gardenias - a forest of white candles, and WillTwo and XanTwo, the witnesses, only too happy for them to be married.

The words, so old but still so true, rang in her mind. ‘For richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health...till death do you part.’

She could still see in her mind the candlelight reflecting in the vampire’s blazing blue eyes, feel the pressure of his hand as he slipped one of his rings on her finger. Her lips still ached from his kiss - her husband - her life.

And now -

‘Buffy! Are you there? Buffy, answer us?’ It was Giles.

Without thinking, she pulled Spike down behind a large gravestone so they couldn’t be seen.

‘They’re going to do the rest of the spell to make us go back to what it was like before - hating each other again,’ she said in despair. ‘We’re going to forget all about this, aren’t we, about being married, about the other Sunnydale.’

Spike stroked her hair. ‘I’ll go back to being your enemy, even if I have got this rotten chip in my head, and you’ll go back to college and your boyfriend. That’s the way it’s meant to be in this universe, Buffy. You know that.

‘You’re the Slayer and you’re needed here. I’ve no idea what I’m needed for. Except to annoy the hell out of Xander, I suppose! But, listen to me,’ - his voice became deeper, more urgent, ‘ I’ve lived for a hell of a long time, and I’ve seen all kind of weird and wonderful things.’

He put a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to the starlit sky. ‘Believe me, Slayer. We’re meant to be together. In your heart, in your soul, you know it and so do I. True, I might not have a soul, but I feel it with every sinew, every nerve in my body. Maybe not now, maybe not even soon, but one day, believe me, in this Sunnydale not just the other, you’ll tell me you love me.’

‘But we’re married, Spike. How can I go on seeing Riley. What happens - ’ she faltered to a stop, almost unable to put the next words into a sentence, the pain was so great. ‘What happens if one day someone else asks me to marry them? I’m your wife, Spike! It doesn’t matter which universe I’m in, I’ll always be your wife.’

Spike pulled her closer still until their bodies merged into one. ‘I’ve no idea what’s going to happen to us, Slayer. But I do know this - even if they make me forget what’s happened, I’ll never hurt you and I’ll always be there if you need me.’

Buffy reached up, running her fingers through the mussed up curls and kissed him passionately. ‘And even if I don‘t remember, I promise you this, William - I’ll never marry anyone else, I’ll never hurt you and you’ll always be in my heart.’

She could hear her friends getting closer and knew their time together was nearly up. She held up her hand and Spike, without a word, gently pulled off his ring from her finger.

He started to put it in his pocket, but Buffy stopped him and, kissing it, slipped her wedding ring down inside her bra, next to her heart.

With a gasp, she stood up, knowing if she didn’t move now, she would never let him go. She could hear Giles and Willow shouting, hugging her, explaining about the spell, how great it was to have her back, Xander was telling Spike in exasperated tones to ‘let go of Buffy’s hand, bleach boy,’ and she felt a great sense of bereavement as they pulled her away from him.

They were laughing, crying and Willow began chanting yet another spell. And Buffy knew exactly what this one was for - it was the one that would part them for ever.

Desperately, she turned to look for him; he’d already moved away and was standing a little way off in the shadow of a crypt. Even as the world shimmered magically around her, she saw him lift his hand to his mouth and blow her a kiss goodbye across the darkness.

But as life in this Sunnydale swung back to normal, behind the nearby moss encrusted gravestone, the tiny orange and purple portal to the other place flickered once, twice, but remained open!


to be continued





You must login (register) to review.