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He sniffed the air appreciatively. A variety of scents wafted his way, but he zoned in on one in particular. The heady mixture of several adolescent girls – he could hear them in the distance, giggling and chatting to each other. He smirked to himself and drifted towards the sound and smell. He spotted them, walking away from the night club, and proceeded to follow. One by one they split off from the group, calling noisily to each other, promising to phone and what all. He chose his prey carefully; she was perfect – just ripe and ready for harvesting. He licked his lips unconsciously as he stalked silently behind her. It was amazing how safe they felt when they were only a few minutes from home – stupid girls.

[“Spike”]

He let her become aware of his presence. It was much more fun that way, the fear that became terror, just made the chase and kill more satisfying. And she ran him a pretty race, he was grinning wolfishly by the time he was ready to pounce. She screamed satisfyingly as he sank his fangs into her ripe flesh and her hot, sweet blood poured down his throat.

[“Spike”]

He frowned as he carelessly tossed the body aside, he could hear someone calling his name. Who the bloody hell?

“Spike!”

He opened his eyes with a snarl. Blood. He could smell blood – and could see a pretty girl leaning over him. He coiled, ready to strike.

___________________________________________________


When Buffy heard some sounds coming from the basement, she was relieved. Spike had been asleep, or unconscious she wasn’t sure which, for hours. Getting a package of blood from the fridge, she warmed it in the microwave and made her way down to the basement.

He must be dreaming, she thought. He was snarling and thrashing about, as if in distress. She called his name a couple of times, but he showed no sign of waking up. Putting the mug of blood down on the floor by the bed, she shook his shoulder and shouted his name.
He woke, starving, ready for the meal which seemed to present itself to him. He reared up and then froze, his astonished gaze locked onto the Slayer’s face. Overcome with horror at what had nearly happened, all he could do was stare at her wide-eyed. He swallowed convulsively and found his voice.

“Bloody hell!”

Grimacing and shaking, he held his bandaged hands up as a signal of surrender.

“Bugger it Slayer, you should know better than wake up a hungry vamp like that.”

Relief flooded her; she had believed for a split second that he was ready to rip her throat out, but of course that was ridiculous; the chip wouldn’t have allowed him to attack her.

She grinned as she leaned over and retrieved the mug, “So, we’re feeling better are we?”

He squinted up at her, shock and fear slowly receding. Bloody hell, she was smiling at him as if nothing had happened. He had nearly gone for her throat and here she was, calmly offering him blood in a cup. Slumping back to lean against the wall, he felt exhaustion overwhelm him. Having lost so much blood, his wounds hadn’t healed at all and it was all he could do to hold his head up.

“Give us a minute, Slayer.” He mumbled, not wanting to show her how weak he felt.

“It’s okay Spike,” she said gently. “Here, let me help you.” She held the mug to his lips.

He swallowed slowly, fearing the return of the cramps in his stomach. Thankfully, he seemed to have got over the effects of Glory’s blood. He asked if he could have more and the Slayer willingly returned to the kitchen to warm some for him.

He used the time to try and get his disordered thoughts together. He hadn’t had time yesterday to think about the removal of the chip and what it would mean to him now. He was free! He was finally free to be a vampire again, to choose what he did, rather than have his decisions forced upon him. He lay back and rested against the wall again, feeling his body start to heal itself.

He sniffed the air, filled with the scent of the Scoobies, who he could hear chattering and laughing upstairs. Bloody hell, he could have any one of them, suck them dry before they knew what had happened. He fantasized about it for a few seconds, but knew that that was all they were – fantasies. He wouldn’t, couldn’t harm Buffy or her family of course, but he now found that in his mind “family” covered all her friends too. Bollocks, he’d have to go further afield then, to people that Buffy didn’t know. The only problem was, how would he identify people that she didn’t know? Off limits would have to include shopkeepers, students, neighbours – bugger it all, probably everyone in Sunnyhell.

He heard her returning, and managed a smirk in her direction to cover the confusion and dismay in his mind.
____________________________________

Buffy persuaded the vampire to join the small celebration party upstairs. He dreaded seeing them all en masse, but couldn’t think of a good enough excuse to stay in the basement.

“Spike, how *lovely* to see you.” Xander said sarcastically. “When’re you moving out?”

“Xan, play nice.” Buffy laughed.

Instead of feeling powerful and confident with his now chipless state, Spike felt frustration and anger. The stupid human still thought he could bully the helpless vampire – Spike longed to show him how wrong he was. Taking a deep, calming breath and giving his best smirk, he raised his eyebrow,

“Inviting me to your place are you? Well Harris, I didn’t realize you swung both ways.”

The Whelp’s reaction was reward enough. He coughed and then choked, going red in the face. Anya patted his back, which only made him cough harder. Anya gave Spike an accusing look.

“Xander is *my* boyfriend and I’m not sharing him with anyone.”

She pulled the now mortified Xander into the kitchen and plied him with water.

The others tried to keep their mirth to themselves; Dawn was doubled over with silent laughter “serves him right” she mouthed to Spike. Even Willow had her hand over her mouth to muffle her giggles.

For the rest of the evening, there was an undeclared truce between the two. Glares were exchanged, but no attacks, verbal or otherwise, were forthcoming. Dawn plonked herself next to Spike on the couch and leaned against him, talking to him softly.

“You saved us again, Spike.” She smiled up at him.

“Nonsense Bit, you were the one that did the saving.” He moved away from her a little, uncomfortably aware of her heartbeat and the blood swishing through her veins. Sublimely oblivious, she moved to lean against him again and reached up to kiss his cheek.

For Spike it was a nightmare – maybe when he’d had time to get used to his new status, he’d be able to relax. But for now, all he could hear was the steady thrum of their hearts, which should have been music to his ears, now it was torture.

As soon as he could, he excused himself and fled back down to the basement, cursing himself for being a “sodding poufy coward”.

What the hell was he going to do?

_____________________


Spike stayed down in the basement all the next day feigning sleep. A couple of times, Dawn had come down to see him but had given up when she failed to “wake” him. In fact, sleep was the furthest from his thoughts, as confusion and bitterness filled his mind. He still couldn’t be a proper vampire, even though the chip was gone – Buffy had taken its place. Maybe he’d have to go far away so he wouldn’t have to face her. But then, what sort of unlife would he have, apart from her? When the long, endless day drew to a close, he quickly donned his duster and crept up the stairs.

“Finally decided to show your face eh?” Buffy’s voice was light and full of laughter. “I, er, I wonder if you’d like to come on patrol with me if you’re feeling better? We could watch each other’s backs.”

Suddenly, the bitterness and confusion melted away and Spike knew what he wanted to do. He’d stay in Sunnyhell – she was right, he should find a place of his own and maybe over time prove to her that he could refrain from hunting and maybe confess to his chipless state. What she was offering was friendship and it would have to be enough for now – it was a hell of a lot more than he’d had before. And who knew – maybe there’d be a chance of something more.


FIN
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A/N

I posted the first version of this on FanFiction (http://www.fanfiction.net/~marianne2 – if you’re interested) and I continued for another few chapters after this one, then the muse packed her bags, buggered off and hasn’t been seen since (this seemed to coincide with my illness (M.E.). I hope that I’ve managed to finish this version to your satisfaction. Many, many thanks to all of you who sent me feedback – I’m deeply grateful to you - every time I read them they give me a real lift.





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