Chapter Ten: Keys and Vodka
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Buffy was livid. After making an anonymous call about the now dead monk, she began to march her way to the Magic Box.
Nikole knew.
Nikole knew the whole time and hadn’t said a word to her. Buffy's hands balled into fists by her side and she slammed opened the shop’s front door.
A collective round of gasps meet her ears, followed by a round of relieved sighs. Buffy ignored everyone except for her. Nikole stood unflinching, her eyes blank as ever.
“Training room, now,” Buffy commanded, walking past the confused group of Scoobies and into the back, feeling Nikole follow her. She waited at the door till Nikole walked past and then closed it, the latch’s click echoing in the otherwise silent room.
Moving with speed only fury could produce, Buffy advanced towards Nikole and slammed her against the wall, a stake deafly pressed to the vamp’s heart faster than either one could blink.
“You bitch,” Buffy said with conviction and Nikole let out a laugh that grated that much more on Buffy’s nerves.
“Oh, so I’m the bitch? At least I’m not the one that goes around beating up defenseless people,” Nikole snapped back.
Buffy gritted her teeth, the nails of one hand digging painfully into the palm while that other bit into the wood of the stake. “You knew, and you didn’t tell me.” She pushed the stake just a bit harder into her chest but Nikole didn't react; the vampire witch had no fear.
Nikole shook her head and let out a bitter chuckle. “How was I suppose to tell you? Huh? You tell me. I’m a vampire first off all, and a witch too. You all don’t trust me and I was suppose to tell you that the person you thought was your sister is really some magical Key that didn’t exist until a couple months ago?” Nikole raised an eyebrow, waiting for Buffy’s answer, completely ignoring the stake that was very close to its target.
Hearing it put that way took all the wind out of Buffy’s sails and she let up off Nikole, taking a step back. “Well, if you want to use logic…but you still could have said something!” she complained, her stance loosening, the stake finding its place at the small of her back again.
“And when you did the denial routine, what was I suppose to do then? When I heard that you were going to do the trance, I blessed the Powers That Be. You had to see it with your own eyes and I knew that. You would have never believed me, admit it.”
Buffy gave another sigh and pouted. Boy, did this girl have her pegged. “I guess you’re right. I had to see it for myself to believe.” Buffy heaved another sigh before flopping down on the couch, burying her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, you’re right.”
“It’s okay,” Nikole replied, sitting down next to the crestfallen Slayer. “I knew it the first night I saw her, I just didn’t know how to tell you without ending up dusty.”
Nikole reached out tentatively, smoothing down Buffy’s hair. She couldn’t explain it either but she felt a connection to Buffy, something deep inside her. Being around her calmed and excited her at the same time. It was like meeting an equal. She took peace in knowing that they were equal but at the same time thrilled to find someone who could give her a challenge. It made her even more confused over what she was. She was a vamp and a witch; she shouldn’t be having this type of connection with the Slayer of all people. She’d have to mention it to Giles and see if it helped any.
“How did you find out?” Nikole finally asked.
“Maybe we should get Giles and Spike first. They’re going to need to know too,” she said quietly. Buffy felt Nikole nod and rise from the couch.
Giles and Spike returned with Nikole, neither saying a word but Buffy could feel both of their concerned gazes. Buffy quietly recapped the trance, the fading pictures, her run in with Glory, and finally everything the monk had said.
“Are you alright thought? Your last encounter with Glory--” Giles started to ask but Buffy cut him off.
“I’m fine. I high tailed it out of there with the monk before too much could happen.”
“Yes, well, I have to say our latest discovery will push the others to research more extensively, and hopefully more attentively,” Giles noted.
“No,” Buffy stated, Giles looking up at her in confusion. “No, we don’t tell the others. We’re the only ones that know and it’s going to stay that way. The others…they’d act weird around her if they knew. And like Nikole said, the fewer people who know, the better. I trust you all to keep this a secret. I don’t know…I don’t know if they could keep this a secret,” she admitted, starting own at her hands.
Silence enveloped the room as they waited for Buffy to continue.
“Dawn’s clueless in all of this. She just thinks she’s my kid sister. I trust all of you. To keep this safe, to keep her safe.” She glanced around at everyone and finally settled on Spike. “I’m trusting you to keep her safe if I can’t…if I’m not there.”
No one said anything about Buffy implying that there was a possibility she wouldn’t make it.
Spike swallowed past the lump in his throat, torn between being outraged that Buffy thought she wouldn’t make it and knowing that this was reality; but he did know that Buffy was offering him a lot in the little bit she had said. There was nothing he could deny her, especially when she was looking at him like he was her last hope in the world or something.
It took him a try or two before he could find his voice. “I know, and I promise to keep her safe.”
“Good,” Buffy said, clearing her throat and breaking the moment. “Um…I’m going to go patrol.”
“Wait a moment Buffy,” Giles spoke up, stopping Buffy in her tracks. It had not escaped his attention what had just gone on between Spike and Buffy. “Nikole, would you mind informing the others about the Dagon’s Sphere and seeing if we can find any more information on how it correlates to Glory?”
“Sure,” she answered. Nikole stood up, grabbed Spike’s hand, and began to lead him out of the training room.
Buffy had immediately turned her head when Nikole had grabbed Spike’s hand and stared daggers into the far wall, seeing nothing but red. She forced herself to keep still even as something inside her screamed out for her to get up and take back what was hers.
But she couldn’t do that. Spike wasn’t hers.
“Buffy, do you think it’s wise to include them both in this?” Giles asked once the door had closed, knocking her out of her thoughts.
“Nikole already knew.”
“And Spike?”
She heaved a sigh. She knew this was coming, so why was she even mildly surprised?
“Look, you saw how Glory batted me around like a doll. He’s the only other person that has the strength to protect Dawn. I’ve seen him with Dawn. He’ll protect her.”
“Very well,” Giles relented with a sigh. “But I still hold my reservations about including him.”
“Consider it recorded for future taunting and going ‘aha, I told you so’. Please just trust me on this one? He’s not Angel.”
She didn’t know what made her say that Spike wasn’t Angel but once I was out she couldn’t call the words back… because it was the truth.
Spike wasn’t Angel.
And that little admission sent her thoughts spinning again.
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Buffy followed Giles back into the front of the shop, intent of saying goodbye to the others and then going on patrol, she needed time to think; but the sight that greeted her stopped her.
There stood Riley, his hulking form looming over everyone and by the smells of it, wearing some of the worst cologne she’d ever smelled.
“Buffy!” He jogged over to her, reminding her of a puppy, just not the cute and cuddly kind.
“Riley,” she cried with fake enthusiasm and then was promptly smothered by his embrace. How come I never noticed how much taller he was then me? she wondered as she tried to pull back as quickly as it was politely possible. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m taking you to the Bronze, remember?”
“Of course, right,” she answered even as her mind reeled. She didn’t remember setting a time to go out with him. “I could use a little R & R. What about you guys?” Buffy turned towards the assembled Scoobies, smiling encouragingly at them.
“I don’t know Buffy, Tara and I have lots of school work to still do. Plus there was this spell Tara wanted to try tonight,” the red head answered, sharing a look with Tara, who was hiding behind the shield of her hair.
Noticing the exchange between the two, Anya leaned over and whispered into Xander’s ear, leaving him coughing. “Yeah Buffy, I had a long day too. I think me and Anya are going to call it a night.”
“Nikole?” Buffy prompted next, completely desperate for some other company.
Nikole glanced over at Spike, both already picking up on Buffy’s accelerated heart rate.
“Only if Spike wants to go,” she replied, giving him a wink out of the view of others.
“I don’t know sweets,” Spike answered, feeling the Buffy look almost pleadingly at him. “What do you wanna do?”
“Could be fun,” Nikole mused aloud. “Alright, guess we’re in.”
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The Bronze had a decent crowd by the time the two couples arrived. They quickly got through the line and found their usual table vacant.
“Your coat luv,” Spike prompted as they were about to sit down. Nikole gave him a smile and turned around, allowing him to help take off her jacket and drape it across the back of the chair.
Riley never does that, Buffy thought with a pout as she shimmied out of her own jacket.
“Right, I’ll get first round of drinks. What’ll it be?” Spike asked as he shed his own duster.
Buffy’s eyes were immediately drawn to the for once not black shirt Spike was wearing. Instead, a dark blue shirt took its place, its color that of the ocean during a storm. It brought her focus to her eye and she found herself drowning in their blue depths.
“Rum and coke,” Nikole asked, and then gently prodded Buffy, smothering a giggle at the girl’s expression. Things seemed to be going according to plan…
“Oh, um, a diet coke,” Buffy answered. Bad Buffy! His pretty much girlfriend is sitting next to you. No moon eyes at Spike. None. Remember, Riley? That lug that is your boyfriend? Buffy mentally chastised herself and turned to smile at Riley.
“I don’t trust you,” Riley said. “Who knows what you’ll do to it. I’ll get my own drink.”
“Fine you tosser, get your own drink. It’s not like I wanted to get you anything anyways,” Spike replied before turning his back and heading towards the bar.
“God Riley, think you could have been more of a jerk?” piped up Buffy, shocked at Riley's comment. Although, it wasn't far from what she expected of him. Heck, it would have been her reaction a while back. But things had changed. Something had shifted.
“Buffy, this is Spike we’re talking to. Vampire. Or did you forget?” he questioned with a pointed look.
“No, kind of hard to with the whole Slayer warning tingly thing going on. Not like there’s a shut off switch or something,” she snapped back.
Spike returned before Riley could say something else. He set the girls’ drinks in front of them respectively, keeping one beer for himself and set the extra one in the middle of the table. He took a sip from his beer, already picking up on the tension between Buffy and her beau.
“I’m not taking that,” Riley remarked with a sneer, acting very much like a two year old.
“Oh for crying out loud!” Buffy exclaimed, snatching up the beer and taking a hearty swig, Riley yelling at her to stop. She set the glass back down and wiped her mouth.
“Are you crazy? You could have died!” the former commando exclaimed.
“Riley, do you see me dying? The beer is fine if not a little blech tasting.”
“Fine,” he mumbled, grabbing the beer and taking the tiniest sip. “Happy now?”
“No, not really,” Buffy answered, turning and staring around the club.
“Spike, dance?” Nikole asked. The auras of the quarrelling couple were making her skin itch and it didn’t look like they were stopping any time soon.
“I don’t know pet, not much of a dancer.”
“Well, now you are.” Nikole got up and dragged Spike out of his chair and onto the dance floor.
Buffy watched with growing jealousy as Spike danced with Nikole. The two vampires moved like liquid, a couple people stopping on the outskirts to admire them. To make matter worse, Nikole was about Buffy’s height and she couldn’t help but notice how easily they fit together, nothing like her and Riley. He lumbered over her while she tried not to suffocate in his chest.
She sighed as Riley continued to drone on about something. She couldn’t rightly remember and was not paying attention. She didn’t even notice him get up and return with a bottle of vodka and a tumbler.
All that captured her attention was Spike and his movements, and how very much he seemed to be enjoying himself. Their mouths came extremely close to each other’s and that’s when Buffy found herself out of her chair and making a beeline for them. She latched onto Spike’s arm and pulled him away from Nikole towards a dark corner.
“Bloody hell Slayer,” Spike exclaimed as she stopped. “Could have asked for a word. Not like you’ve got to drag me like I’m a child. Well…” he pressed when Buffy just stood there.
“Spike…I…” Buffy trailed off, not sure what she was doing. All she knew was that the old green monster of jealousy had reared its head and his lips looks so soft…
Spike stood still as the Slayer wet her lips and began leaning forward. Her lips had barely brushed his when a strangled scream erupted from behind them.
Bloody impeccable timing! Spike raged in his head as Buffy rushed past him and to the crowd that had gathered.
“Ugh, now I have to go take a shower,” Nikole muttered, staring down with disgust at something on the floor next to the table. Buffy came closer and saw that it was Riley, who was clutching himself and sporting a bleeding nose too.
“What did you do?” Buffy yelled, dropping down to her knees.
“What did I do? You should ask your boyfriend what he did. He got what he deserved,” Nikole answered, the crowd agreeing with her.
“What happened?” Buffy asked as the gather people began to drift away now that the action was over.
“He tried to grope me and said some very inappropriate things. I told him to stop or he was going to regret it and you can guess what his course of action was.”
“You bitch!” Riley yelled, or at least attempted to. His voice came out high pitched and squeaky, leaving Spike in a fit of giggles and Buffy railing away from the stale stench of alcohol. She noticed the tumbler that was still clutched in his hand and the bottle that sat completely empty on the table.
“Is it true Riley?” Buffy asked, even though she doubted she’d get a straight answer out of him while he was drunk.
“Well, maybe if you’d put out a little, I wouldn't have to look elsewhere,” he slurred back at her.
Spike could hear the wind whoosh as Buffy pulled back her hand, but her fist never met its target. It was captured by a steel grip and Buffy looked up to see the chipped nail polish.
“No Buffy,” Spike simple said.
She was about to protest and wrench her arm away when the lights landed on his face for a split moment and she saw the fading bruise, taking all the fight out of her and leaving her numb. She’d almost done it, again…
Spike carefully lifted her up from the floor. “I’m gonna take her home,” he said quietly to Nikole.
Nikole nodded and began to gather their coats, talking a hold of Buffy while Spike slipped on his duster and then helping him with silent Buffy.
“You’ll be okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she answered. “I’ll take care of this chump and make sure he makes it home. Now, if he isn’t in one piece, it’s not my fault.”
Spike chuckled, kissing Nikole’s cheek, and then made his way out, a slayer tucked under his arm.
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tbc…