Chapter 33
Disappointed, annoyed, angry at herself and above all, unsatisfied, didn’t even begin to cover how she was feeling at the moment. Dear God! She’d known intimacy with Angel was going to be insipid to say the least, but it had been so much worse than that.
He had been the disappointment of a lifetime. He’d been so drunk when he’d joined her in their bedroom that he’d just taken his pleasure off of her and promptly fallen asleep, without caring if he’d hurt her or at least trying to give her a little bit of pleasure. He didn’t even notice or care if she was a virgin or not. If she’d known he’d do that she wouldn’t have bothered with the first part of Tegua’s treatment at all!
Aimée shuddered visibly as she remembered what the last step in the curandera’s treatment had consisted in. She still couldn’t believe that she’d had the courage to put the contraption Tegua had sent her inside herself. It had seemed to be like a small bag, made out of some sort of animal skin, and it had had something inside, but she really hadn’t even dared to imagine what it was, let alone ask Teresa if she knew what it was. It had been bad enough that she had to use it and it wasn’t as if at that moment she’d had any other option but to use it. The vial hadn’t been any better, as it seemed to contain blood, which she had to pour over the sheets and her thighs. And leave it there all night. That had been the worst part, to feel whatever had been inside the bag dripping out from her mixed with Angel’s… ew!
And then, as if it hadn’t been enough, she’d had to go through the humiliation of her Aunt Darla’s inspection. Oh, God, she never expected the woman would want to examine her bloodied thighs, at least she hadn’t asked to check on Angel’s … er, thing to see if it was bloodied or not, too.
That was the only thing she’d been truly grateful to Tegua for, if it hadn’t been for her she would have been discovered. Even with all she had to endure at the curandera’s hands, she realize she’d be truly lost otherwise. No matter how good of an alternative that sounded like at the moment so she could escape this marriage from hell. But she wanted to do it with her reputation intact. There had to be another way to do it.
At least now she was all cleaned up, but it had taken a very good amount of scrubbing to make her feel a bit more human again. And Teresa, if she knew what was good for her, would dispose of the remains of the damned contraption and the vial and she would never have to care about that again.
She moved to the window and watched the vastness of Campo Real lands. Could it be possible that she’d been wrong all along and all this wasn’t worth it just to make her sister suffer? No, she couldn’t be wrong, she refused to be.
*~*~*
“Oh, this seems like a good enough place,” Teresa said to herself, looking around to check if there wasn’t anyone nearby as she dumped the bag her niña Aimée had given her underneath some rubble.
Maybe it would have been a good enough place to hide them, if it hadn’t been for the fact that she hadn’t noticed that she was being watched by two of Campo Real’s maids. And as soon as Teresa returned to the main house, the girls came out of their hiding spot and retrieved the bag.
*~*~*
“Dona Darla?” Cordelia asked, after knocking on the bedroom’s door.
“Yes, come in, Cordelia,” Darla said as she lay unhappily over her bed. She had the worst headache and it had a name, Aimée. Oh, God, what had her son seen in that tramp? Although, maybe not as much a tramp, since she’d at least she appeared to have been a virgin when she’d joined Angel in their nuptial bed; but she definitely was a gold digger, that’s for sure. No way was she going to believe that she had fallen in love with her son at first sight, maybe with his money and possessions, but not with him. It was written all over her face and nothing and no one would change her mind about that.
“Consuelo and Leticia are outside and want to show you something.”
“Not now, Cordelia, I’m not in the mood to handle any staff issues. Tell them I’ll see them when I feel better.”
“I think you’ll feel better once you see what they want to show you,” Cordelia stated, a smile blooming in her face. She’d been as distraught as doña Darla when they’d seen that Aimée Summers had been a virgin and there wasn’t any chance to annul the marriage. She still dreamed that somehow don Angel would look at her as a woman and not simply his mother’s lady-in-waiting. And after he found out what she now knew, he’d need someone that comforted him and she was planning on being that someone.
“All right, tell me, what is it?”
“I’ll do something better. I’ll show you, doña Darla,” she said, walking towards the bed. Once she got there, she took her right hand from behind her back and showed her the bag the maids had found.
Darla looked at her with curiosity, but took the bag from Cordelia’s hands and opened it, inspecting its contents. “What is the meaning of this, Cordelia? Is this some kind of joke?”
“O-of course n-not, d-doña Darla,” the girl stuttered, paling as her lady’s anger seemed to be directed towards her now.
“Then what is this?” she grounded, getting angrier by the minute. How dare this girl bring her these…these things, whatever the hell they were!
“Ac-according to Consuelo and Leticia, eh… well, it seems these are the remains of a deceit.”
“A deceit?” Darla asked, more confused now than angry.
“Your daughter-in-law might have tricked you and don Angel into believing that she was a virgin using these things, doña Darla.”
“Do you have any proof of this?”
“The maids saw Teresa, doña Aimée’s lady-in-waiting, hiding the bag under some rubble just outside the staff quarters.”
“Hmm, and will these girls repeat all these for me and my son?”
“Of course they will. They’re completely faithful to you, doña Darla, which is why they came to you first.”
“All right, tell them not to say anything about this to anyone, Cordelia, and that goes for you, too.” She dismissed the girl with a wave of her hand.
And after she left, Darla smiled, things were about to make a turn for the better for her and for the worse for her dear daughter-in-law. She wouldn’t say anything to Angel, not yet. She would let the little tramp think she’d fooled them for a while and then she would strike. The poor girl would never know what hit her when she did.
*~*~*
Spike spurred his horse until it was practically flying down the road to Campo Real; all the while hoping that Giles had somehow been mistaken. Dammit! He had to be; otherwise it would mean that Buffy had been lying to him or worse. Millions of possibilities ran through his mind, every one of them worse than the other. Maybe she’d been forced to marry his brother? Things were so different in the world they moved in, that he imagined it could be possible. Although the reason didn’t matter to him, she was his and even if she had marry his brother, he’d rob her and take her with him to the Satan and then set sail and they’d never see them again.
He refused to give up the only person he’d felt like this for. Wasn’t it enough all he’d gone through in life, that it had to steal Buffy away from him? It’d be some cruel joke of destiny if it had let him experience what love was and then took it all away.
‘Oh, God! I haven’t asked you for much in life, I’m not sure if I should believe in you as I’ve never found proof that you exist or care for whatever happens to me. But if you do exist, I just want to ask you for her, for Buffy and her love and to have the chance to love her in return. I don’t care of having a fancy last name or a fortune anymore, as long as I can have her,’ he pleaded as he finally saw the gates to Campo Real in front of him.
*~*~*
Aimée was outside the house in the garden, when she saw William arriving to Campo Real. Her heart began beating harder in her chest as she drank his image. He’d come for her. What would she do now?
She ran to his encounter, reaching him just as he was getting off his horse. He hadn’t even noticed her; he’d been too lost to his thoughts to notice anyone that wasn’t Buffy.
“William, you came for me!” she said, embracing him tightly, catching him by surprise. “I promise you it wasn’t my fault, they forced me.”
Spike stayed still for a few seconds, what the hell was this? The little chit thought he’d come for her? He tried to pull away from her, but she was hanging on to him like a limpet. “Aimée…” he started.
“No, don’t say anything. I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have married him, but I was forced by the circumstances. But it’s you I love, my darling, I promise.”
Aimée was married? If there was a God, maybe it was her that married Angel and not Buffy?
“You’re married?” he asked. “To whom?”
“Of course I’m married, but you already knew that and that’s why you came here to steal me away from Angel De Alcazar,” she stated, moving a little away from his chest but without releasing him as she tilted her head to smile coquettishly at him, misinterpreting the relief that was clearly shown in his face. “You don’t have to deny it any longer, darling. I imagine you are a little mad because you didn’t know that I was marrying, but my mother forced me. Elizabeth was the one that was supposed to marry Angel, they even were betrothed, but when he met me he decided he preferred me,” she said in a tone that left little doubt that in her mind there was no chance than anyone would prefer her sister over her.
Spike cocked an eyebrow at her tone. Seemed Aimée was in for more than a few surprises. What was it that he’d once saw in her? Yes, she was beautiful, but that was all, she had no substance. She simply wasn’t Buffy. Buffy, his Buffy, that wasn’t married to his brother; he wanted to jump up and down with joy. Maybe God did exist after all.
“You have to understand I can’t leave with you, though. But maybe…we can continue seeing each other. I can convince Angel of giving you a job here or tell him I need to visit my mother every week and meet you at your cottage, isn’t that a wonderful idea?”
“No, it isn’t a wonderful idea and it isn’t why—” he began, moving his hands upwards to take Aimée’s hands from his neck, intent on setting her clear on the fact that he hadn’t come looking for her and that he certainly didn’t want to continue their relationship, before doing what he really wanted and look for Buffy, when he heard a gasp behind him.
“What is the meaning of this?” He heard and closed his eyes. Damn! Of all the ways he’d pictured his encounter with Buffy after so long, this definitely hadn’t been one of them.
He forcefully managed to extricate himself from Aimée and turned until he was in front of Buffy. A Buffy that looked even more beautiful than he’d ever seen her.
“I-I,” Aimée said, trying to think of an excuse as to why could she be embracing the man she’d told her sister that was only a casual acquaintance.
Buffy looked at her then at William, her eyes full of hurt and jealousy. She’d dreamed so many times of how it would be when she saw him again, but she hadn’t expected to find him in the arms of her sister, her married. Why did she believe him when he’d told her he loved her? It wasn’t as if she hadn’t expected it, though. It seemed that when it came to Aimée, she’d always be second best, at least when it came to love. But, God, why did it have to hurt so much?
Precisely at that moment, Angel came out of the house.
tbc
Not sure when I’m going to be able to update, but if I can’t squeeze another update this week, you’ll have another by June 20 for sure.
I’ve been meaning to do this for a while, but I hadn’t had the chance to do it until now. I want to share with all of you the lyrics (and their translation) of the main theme of the soap opera this story is based on. I hope you like it as much as I do. If you wish to listen to it, you can download it here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/5uedb5
Corazón salvaje
Manuel Mijares
Y como cobrarle a la vida
Cuando todo te ha salido siempre mal
Como cerrar tantas heridas
Si la sangre no ha dejado de brotar
Cuando el precio de la vida
Es tan difícil de pagar.
Como rogarle al destino
Cuando estoy acostumbrado a arrebatar
Por que hoy que te he encontrado
No te aparte de mi lado,
No derrumbe nuestros sueños,
Ni se atreva a separarnos.
Voy a exigirle a la vida
Que me pague contigo,
Que me enseñe el sentido del dolor
Porque ya fue suficiente el castigo
De no haberte conocido
Y dejar de ser por siempre un mendigo del amor,
Corazón salvaje.
Como explicar a los instintos
Que mi búsqueda contigo terminó
Que dos caminos tan distintos
En algún momento el tiempo los unió
Quien lo dijera entregar la libertad sin condición.
Voy a exigirle a la vida
Que me pague contigo,
Que me enseñe el sentido del dolor
Porque ya fue suficiente el castigo
De no haberte conocido
Y dejar de ser por siempre un mendigo del amor,
Corazón salvaje.
(translation)
And how to make life pay
When everything has always gone badly for you
How to close so many wounds
When the blood has not yet stopped flowing
When the price of life
Is so difficult to pay
How to beg Destiny,
When I’m used to take what I want,
That now that I’ve found you
It doesn’t take you from my side,
It doesn’t crush our dreams
Or dares to even try to break us apart
I’m going to demand that life
Pays me with you
That it teaches me the reason for the pain I’ve gone through
Because not meeting you before
Has been already enough punishment
And to let me stop being always a love’s beggar
Wild heart
How to explain to my instincts
That after finding you the search is over
That two roads that are so different
At some moment were tied by time
Who would have thought, to give up freedom without regrets
I’m going to demand that life
Pays me with you
That it teaches me the reason for the pain I’ve gone through
Because not meeting you before
Has been already enough punishment
And to let me stop being always a love’s beggar
Wild heart
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Thank you: Angie, SpaceLord, katakata, jt, Klai, Melissa, Amelia-Jane, spikestheman, Kimber, Devin, Mali, DaniD, Vette and Jam, for reviewing. I’m so glad you liked the past chapter; I hope you enjoy this one as well.
This chapter is unbeta’d, so please forgive any glaring mistakes. I gave it a second read today and fixed some things, hope it isn’t too bad. As soon as I get the beta’d version back, I’ll post it.
This chapter is unbeta’d, so please forgive any glaring mistakes. I gave it a second read today and fixed some things, hope it isn’t too bad. As soon as I get the beta’d version back, I’ll post it.