Buffy stepped out of the shower feeling completely refreshed and rejuvenated. Wrapping the soft red cotton towel around her body, she crossed the bathroom to the sink and vanity, being quick to wipe away the condensation that had formed against the glass of the mirror. She assessed her reflection, noting the changes that the shower alone had made to her. For the past two and half days she had been laid up in her bed battling something that was quite uncommon for the Slayer to come across. One of her body’s greatest foes.
A cold.
Sniveling away, creating a complete circular barrier of tissues around her bed, Buffy had slept and drank enough fluids to last a lifetime. Her body had produced more flem than some of the slimiest demons she’d ever waged a battle against. She had been bed ridden, being forced to call in sick due to the overwhelming exhaustion her sickness had left upon her. The Slayer had nearly been driven crazy with the silence within the house, having been the longest time she had spent in the house, a grand reminder her all too well that she was alone.
As if she could forget.
Buffy had mostly forced herself to sleep, wanting to escape the fact that it would be futile to hope that maybe her mother would bring her chicken soup, or that Willow and Xander would stop by, enduring the chances of getting sick to keep her company and watch movies. She was utterly alone, and slumber was the only escape with her condition. Now she remembered why she was only home to catch Z’s, mostly occupying her time with working and patrolling.
And now, after she was sure her cold had let up, Buffy fully intended on getting back to her duty, seeing as it was the only thing she had left, and the fact that tonight was actually her scheduled night off. Planning to hit many places where vamps frequented Buffy had hopped in the shower, which made her feel ten times better in it of itself.
Humming a slow and useless tune as she blow-dried her hair, Buffy planned out her patrol for the night, planning to hit the Bronze first. She hadn’t stopped by the local club in nearly a month, even before that visit, patrolling there had been far and fewer trips. Rarely did she ever check to make sure vamps weren’t feeding off the hormonal youngsters. It simply reminded her too much of the better times. Hanging out with Willow, Xander, Oz, and even Cordy on nights just because they could. Occasionally Buffy had escaped to stake some vamps that she found but that was never the intended reason for their visits to the Bronze. Now…it was the only thing that motivated her to go near the place.
As much as it was their ‘high school hangout’ college students from UC Sunnydale still attended and she had no doubt her old friends still spent time at the club, another reason that kept her from the Bronze.
Putting away her hair dryer, Buffy scanned herself in the mirror not liking what the shell of a body she had become. Her eyes were cold, nothing that remotely gave a sign that they had once held a spark for life. Her body was thinner, which Buffy blamed to the fact that she had gotten older, when really it was the lack of good nutrition. There were no longer home cooked meals coming out of the kitchen downstairs. She hadn’t set foot into the room in nearly five months, truth be told. For over the past year she tried to avoid her reflection, just like everything else she had grown to avoid. Rooms in her own house, such as the living room which was exactly how she had left it nearly a year ago, only now she had thrown movers sheets over everything to avoid the constant reminder. Places in town, she completely avoided certain neighborhoods that her old friends resided in. Besides being good at cutting herself off from everything, Buffy was an expert by now in avoidance.
Stepping into her room, Buffy quickly dressed in some dark form fitting jeans and a red halter-top. She donned one of her favorite pair of black boots before sitting down to do her make-up, hoping it would put some life into her. She ended by polishing her lips off with a cherry red lip-gloss.
She knew tonight would bring heavy fighting, or at least she hoped, so she stepped over to the chest that stood at the foot of her bed and armed herself with a couple stakes, stuffing her favorite dagger into the leg of her boot. Before walking out of her bedroom she surveyed it, taking note of where everything was placed, even in it’s scarcity, before throwing on a black zip up hoodie. Donning the hood, she walked out of the darkness of her house and into the cold night, ready to take on her nightly battle. Alone.
“I don’t like this Giles, I haven’t seen anyone come out of her house almost over a week. No lights have been turned on, it’s as if it were abandoned. If it wasn’t so kept up with the lawn I would never guess anyone lived there.” Willow said as she sat down on the couch, dropping her book bag next to her feet on the ground.
Giles thought pensively as he set down a tray of freshly boiled water and cups. Xander instantly leant forward and snatched up a couple of cookies off the tray and began stuffing them in his mouth as if his life depended on it.
“Well if it seems as if no one’s there, how is the outside so kept up like you say?” Giles pondered pouring himself a cup to begin making his tea.
“Xander thinks it’s hired help. Like a gardener. I mean we can’t be for sure because I have classes during the day and Xander is working but how else would it? I asked her neighbor across the street and she says she hasn’t even seen Buffy in a week either.”
“If it were a landscaping gardener they usually get paid in advance and just do the yard on the scheduled days. My uncle Rory got it when he actually found a job.” Xander chimed in, his mouth full of cookie crumbs.
“Giles! I’m worried. She hasn’t been seen coming out in or out of the house, dead bodies are popping up out of nowhere at a unusual rapid pace, and there’s been no sightings of the slayer in the demon community.”
Giles looked between the two young adults sitting on his couch. They had shown up after Willow had gotten out of her final class for the Friday, claiming they had done random walk-bys of his former charge’s home. The news of the lack of sightings of Buffy cut deep in his stomach and worried him endlessly.
She had strayed from the group because of them. Because of him. Guilt would plague Giles until his funeral for if anything happened to her because he was not there to take care of her.
Yes Buffy was a very independent woman. She had learned how to take care of herself against the evils of the world beyond normal human knowledge by force and because of that she was always a mature young woman to the British former watcher. A little sidetracked easily by normal teen things but that’s just who Buffy was. The past two years she had been put through the ultimate ringer, and to think that she would possibly die alone made bile rise in his throat. Though as much as she was self-sufficient and well off in taking care of herself, Buffy was vulnerable. While she was strong, resourceful, and cunning in her duty, she was naïve to everything that plagued the world. Her reaction and the way she mourned her losses in the past year and half proved that.
He’d never had enough time to properly teach her, not that she’d take well to it anyway if he and her still trained together. Buffy was never one for needing to understand her calling and all it surrounded. She was a natural without the knowledge, got the job done, and she kept the world safe and because of that Giles never felt the need to teach her.
Slayers were to live out their calling and fulfill their destiny alone, but with their watchers at their side. They weren’t there to simply teach the slayer, but to comfort and be there for them as well. Buffy was the only one of her kind no matter how long she lived, there would never be someone who was like her. She had always needed him to help her understand the difficulties that were brought to her when life and her calling were tied together. The watcher would always understand their loneliness, and in most cases throughout the generations were the last ones the Slayers were to come in contact with before their deaths. This was why the bond was so strong. A slayer could go through various amounts of watchers, it had happened many times before, but with each watcher, the Slayer created a unique bond with each.
Which was why as much as there was too much circumstantial evidence to show that Buffy might just have met her demise, Rupert Giles knew his slayer was not dead. Along with that dreading feeling he held in his stomach, the gut feeling that she was still alive was stronger.
“What can I get you Buffy?” Jim the bartender of the Bronze turned towards the little blonde slayer, having just finished with one customer.
“I’ll just take a water. The coldest one you have, please.” She forced a smile to her lips to show her gratitude and Jim nodded.
“You know, I saw your good old pals in here a couple days ago. Surprised I didn’t see you with them.”
Buffy looked up from where she was drumming her fingers against the wood of the bar. Jim, a silent partner in the Bronze ownership had been around since before Buffy had moved to little ‘Sunnyhell’. He knew, from seeing on a regular basis, who was who and in which group they hung around. However it was obvious that he hadn’t really noticed that Buffy had not been with her old group of friends for over a year. She didn’t really feel like trudging up some icky memories so instead opted for shrugging her shoulders, as Jim passed a cold water bottle over the bar.
“Been busy. Thanks Jim.”
Jim nodded and walked to the other side of the bar, ready to help a new customer. She cracked the water bottle open, turned her back to the bar and leaned against it, as she surveyed the whole bottom floor of the Bronze. It was packed tonight. Both with high school and college students covering the dance floor and taking over the tables and booths. Couples and groups seeking a little more peace coexisted on the upper balcony. The ground vibrated with the beat of the music and people in a large mass on the dance floor grinding together.
She closed her eyes, the music encompassing over her whole being. She felt her skin raise as tiny tingles shot through her body to the pulsing beat that made her blood pulse. The slayer, the side of her that kept on working, even in a crowd, honed on her senses trying to find that exact signature she was seeking. The one that read different from that of a human, and made the back of her neck tingle when it locked in on the creatures. A few seconds later she opened her eyes knowing exactly where they all were. Two were up in the balcony, another in the bar, and a fourth somewhere near the entrance. The fourth was heavier, seeded with power and the idea of a good fight coursed Buffy’s body to new limits. The other three were posing no threat to innocents that crowded the bar so she focused mainly on the heavy essence. It had a familiar tingle to it, as if she had felt it before, and was widely familiar with it, which Buffy’s heart sunk with dread.
She knew full and well this signature gave her, and it would seem reasonable that the essence was so strong and high in ranking. It belonged to the same vampire line that had killed her as well as broke her heart. The Aurelius line, a distinct and ancient vampire family, both powerful and intimidating.
The slayers heart raced at the possibilities of someone from this line being in Sunnydale. The Master and Darla were dead, and she killed off most of the followers that had been with Master in Sunnydale. So that could only leave Angel of those that she knew were in the Aurelius line, and the idea of that was no more comforting.
The ensouled vampire who had broken her heart. Abandoned her when his ultimate destiny was to protect her and been one of the many leading factors in the path of her most darkest times. Buffy wasn’t sure if she should be happy or enraged if it was truly Angel who she was feeling. She pushed herself off the bar and into the crowd on the dance floor, trying to get lost in the mass of dancers while still staying in tune to the signature she felt. She could feel the vampire moving along the dance floor almost in every direction that she went. Buffy camouflaged herself by moving her body with the beat of the music.
While trying to focus on the signature she didn’t realize a male patron come up behind her and begin to try and engage her in a little bumping and grinding. Feeling the man’s hands on her hips as he attempted to pull her close to his own body caused Buffy to drop the connection she had on vamps signature. She cursed and glared at the man that dare cause her to fuck up on her hunt. Sending lethal daggers his way, Buffy made it clear that she was notthe girl to be trying to swoon.
Buffy turned about on the dance floor once the baboon of a man left her alone, hoping to lock in on the signature but to no avail it was lost in the crowd which did nothing to settle her worries. Suddenly she noticed out of the corner of her eyes one of the vamps she had sensed earlier were attempting to lead a naïve girl out of the bronze via back door. She assessed the man’s fashion tastes noticing the heavy 70’s rock references in his wardrobes which could only affirm that her sense skills were in face right.
Making her way back through the crowd towards the back exit, trying to keep up close to the vamp and his intended prey, Buffy reached behind her and felt for the stake that was tucked away in the waistband of her pants under her jacket and top. Kicking the closed back door she broke out into a jog following the sounds of what now seemed to be a struggle, not once picking up on the familiar signature that followed close behind her again.
“Don’t women ever learn…never go into dark alleys with strangers?” Buffy muttered to herself as she whipped the stake out from behind her and ran towards the sound of the woman’s screaming voice.
“You know, when they’re shrieking like that, it should be a clear indication that they are so not interested.” Buffy said announcing herself. The vamp that had pushed the woman against the wall was attempting to keep her still and pull blood.
The vamp turned its head, full game face and all, towards Buffy and growled low. It practically echoed off the walls of the narrow alley, but in no way did it phase Buffy. Kittens could do better she figured in her head. “Get lost, bitch this is none of your business!”
Buffy sighed as she looked down at her nails feigning boredom. “I tried that approach many years, but let me tell you, it’s like being the slayer it is ingrained into me to not turn my head away from idiotic vamps like yourself who do not live in the now,” Buffy waved her hand at the vamps ensemble. “and attempt to bite the live ones. Sorry dude, but as Vampire Slayer it would be really bad resume if I didn’t do exactly as my job entailed.”
The vampire stared at Buffy wide eyed, understanding exactly what she was saying, realizing that this girl that had interrupted him was no stupid wanna be heroine. She was in fact the Slayer, the very being that haunted the existence of most vamps – at least the ones that were not overly cocky.
“Now, let the girl go and I’ll be sure not to beat you too much to a pulp as I stake you, deal?”
Without knowing, the vampire charged at Buffy allowing the girl a chance to escape who was not as naïve as Buffy thought to take it. Buffy braced herself and upon close proximity she unleashed a round house kick to the vamps face before delivering a hard kick to his contracted abdomen, which sent him flinging into the alley wall. With ease she picked twirled the stake and weighed it in her hand before flinging it across the distance in the alley. It hit its mark, staking the vampire straight in the heart, and allowing it to crumble to dust, only the stake clatter to the ground.
Buffy walked over to bend over and pick it up before she heard a low and highly amused chuckle and suddenly that familiar signature came rushing back to Buffy. She stood straight and turned towards the darkened corner that she knew the laugh came from.
“This is just bloody rich.”
I know that voice…
With heavy steps the figure stepped out of the shadows and the familiar face of high-defined cheekbones and show stopping blue eyes became apparent to Buffy and all she could do was gasp.
“Bloody rich it is!”
Spike looked annoyed, amused, and confused as he assessed Buffy standing there fish like with her stake. He looked towards the heavens and spoke either to himself or something, Buffy was not quite sure. “Of course the one woman that I am attracted to, that I see as a potential mate is the bloody, fucking Slayer. You have a sick sense of humor, damn bugger!”
It all dawned on Buffy, and she realized that the signature of the Aurelius line was in fact hooked and covered to Spike. Which could only mean one thing. Spike was a vampire.
She threw a mini child like tantrum in her head that she wished to not acknowledge. And the first man that I am attracted to has to be a vampire! Let alone one that’s somehow related to Angel! This isn’t fair! How had she not picked up on this the first time she met Spike. How had the tingles that he made her feel at work not been clue enough that he was cold, dead, and very much a bloodsucker. Because the tingles he made you feel were not the same, duh!
Buffy stomped that down. She was not going to acknowledge the attraction she felt for Spike. She could not go there now. It was dangerous and so not worth it. But it wasn’t fair!
The slayer continued to stand there in complete shock as Spike moved closer which then sent her senses to be aware. She took a step back.
“Don’t come near me! God, was that night just some ploy to get close, and asses me!” Buffy screamed raising her stake. She immediately took the offense, in desperate need to protect her. This man was all charm, wit, and she had no doubt from both his personality and the power emanating from him, he was very strong.
Spike, who continued to look onto her, amused, just continued to chuckle. “Hardly pet, had no buggerin’ clue you were the Slayer. But I should have guessed it…the power that was coming from you was addicting. But I let my dick think for me as well as my demon’s want for a mate.”
Staring at him completely baffled Buffy blushed a deep crimson as Spike admitted that he was drawn to her truly because he found her deeply attractive. She tried to remember this was a vampire and not to sway by girly matters. Spike was evil. Evil over rode cute. Or at least Buffy tried to continually remind herself that.
“And the bloody irony of it all, my demon and I will admit myself wants to take you, as mine. I want a different dance than what I’m used to with Slayers.” His voice was low and his eyes bore into Buffy’s making her breath hitch. She watched as he stepped closer and closer to her, but she was so shocked to stop him. His words wrapped around her like silk and she got lost in his deep accent.
“What are you talking about…?” She stepped to the side trying to keep the same distance from Spike. Instead he followed, walking towards her as if she were a prey. She didn’t like being the prey very much.
His lips formed into a knowing smirk. “You know what I’m talking about pet, you felt it that night. The fire and spark. Could only mean one thing if both my demon and your slayer overlooked that.”
“This is absurd! I don’t even know you!”
“Spike, A.K.A. William the Bloody, Slayer of slayers.” Spike said, and suddenly he was right up close to her. She cursed vampire speed as he took her hand in his and brought it to his lips to kiss it gently.
Spike shoved off the fact that this was the slayer. He had set out to kill his third slayer but most of all he had set out to find his mate, and his demon was raging for him to take her as his right now. If it was one thing that was known, it was that Spike was never one to follow traditions. He followed his blood and instincts, which had gotten him this far. And Spike was never one to argue with his gut.
So she was the slayer, Spike was never the type of vampire that took pride in true evil. He killed for the fight and for the need to feed. He left the torture and true evil to his predecessors of his vampire family line. When it came to the women he tied himself to he could adapt, and looking into Buffy Summer’s eyes, the depths of deep green orbs, he’d lay his life down for her. Protect her from the Slayer’s short life span and would help her become that slayer he knew she could be. Knowing the second that Spike laid eyes on this blonde she had him by the balls, and he was making sure she would be his.
Buffy’s hand tingled as Spike’s lips gently placed a kiss on her closed fingers. She caught her breath and suddenly she realized she was standing with a vampire who apparently was very dangerous and he was charming her into whatever this mating thing he kept speaking of.
“No! I can’t do this. It’s wrong. You’re a vampire and I’m the slayer. I’m meant to be alone no matter what our…essences call each other doesn’t mean anything.” Buffy tore her hand away from Spike’s and did the most reasonable thing she could think of. She ran like bat out of hell for the exit of the alley, leaving Spike to stare after her, the vanilla scent that was purely her still wafting up his nose.
“Oh kitten…I will make you mine.”