A dark figure stepped out from behind a tree and her Slayer tingles made themselves known. Buffy hauled up her stake. One more, then she’d call it a night. The vampire took a step forward.
Tremors started to shake her body and the stake shattered to the ground loudly.
“Hello Buff,” he grinned, “Missed me?”
A flash of bright light, then she was backed up against the tree. His face was inches away, a cold hand glided down her side slowly. A helpless whimper tore through her throat and he laughed. Next second his body had hers pinned to the tree. She couldn’t move. No, no, no.
“Buffy!”
With a gasp, Buffy shot upright in bed.
“Buffy! Are you up?”
Throwing a quick glance around the room, Buffy called back.
“Yes, mom!”
Lying back in bed she let out a deep breath and closed her eyes. Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream…
Spike was lying on the sarcophagus, staring up in the stone ceiling. During the hour he’d been doing this, he’d managed to come to two decisions. Number one; he definitely needed a bed. Number two; he needed to stop thinking about the Slayer.
Bugger.
Suppressing a groan he sat up and dragged a hand through his hair. This needed to stop right now. It had been better when he hadn’t even like her. When he didn’t feel her skin beneath his fingertips every time he closed his eyes.
Tomorrow was a new day. Tomorrow he had two things to accomplish. Number one; get a bed. Number two; get over thinking about the Slayer.
Buffy was sitting outside the school during lunch, when Alex showed up again. Just walked up to her and planted herself down on her left side. The girl sat with her legs outstretched, head tilted back a fraction so the sun would shine on her face. Buffy felt a smile tickle the corners of her mouth; the brunette was so pale, she couldn’t imagine her getting a suntan.
“Yeah, yeah, you just laugh,” Alex said, throwing a glance Buffy’s way, “I can enjoy the sun even if my skin refuses to agree with me.”
“I just hope you don’t get burned,” Buffy said.
Her only answer was a shrug and then Alex closed her eyes. Buffy slowly turned her hands in her lap, thinking back to the dream she’d had. It had been a couple of weeks since she’d dreamt about him. There had been a time when she’d woken up gasping and trembling every single night. She knew what had triggered this dream. The feeling of Spike touching her cheek, of him pressing up against her, cornering her... and would she always react like that? A guy touched her and she wanted to flee? When she had danced with Owen that night she’d flinched just because he put his hands on her waist. God, Owen. She was so happy she hadn’t run into him again; the next meeting would either be her brushing him off, or him… she didn’t know. Since Giles’ had told her the boy had asked for her, she just couldn’t figure out what he would want with her.
“What are you thinking about?”
Buffy startled, looking over at Alex. The girl’s eyes were still shut.
“Nothing really,” Buffy shifted in her seat. “What were you thinking about?”
“My mother.” As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
Something in the girl’s tone made Buffy refrain from asking more.
“I was thinking about a guy,” she heard herself saying, then almost grinned; it sounded so girlish, “That’d even be ‘guys’ actually. Plural.”
“Yeah?” A hint of the smirk returned. “Are they worth thinking of?”
Were they? Owen, definitely not. She and him were too different, she doubted they would even be able to become friends. Spike? He definitely didn’t strike her as the perfect dating material; a soulless vampire who’d killed two Slayers. He deserved some ‘thinking’ though, after all he’d saved her from him, helped her patrol and sparred with her... for his own selfish reasons... but still. She liked to think they’d become... what exactly? Friends? Patrol-buddies?
“Ah – I know that look.”
Buffy turned to Alex again.
“Trouble,” the other girl clarified, “He doesn’t like you? Hasn’t noticed you? Or is it some unspeakable force keeping you apart?”
“I’m not… It’s an unspeakable force.”
Just as Alex was going to reply Buffy noticed Giles heading towards them, a small wrinkle marring his forehead. In a couple of seconds he’d reached them.
“I need to talk with you, Buffy,” he said, then he glanced at the brunette beside her, “It’s about the things we discussed yesterday.”
“Oh. Right,” Hastily, Buffy stood, looking at Alex she said; “I have to go, sorry.”
“No problem.” She had already closed her eyes for the sunshine caressing her face.
When they entered the library Giles’ immediately disappeared into his office. When he returned half a minute later he was carrying two leather-bound books. He walked up to the table in the centre and placed both of them on it, opening one. All the while Buffy stood in front of the closed doors, following his moves with a growing worry. As he sat by the table, he looked up at her, surprise in his eyes.
“Buffy?”
Slowly she moved towards him. “What is it?” she asked, “What did you find?”
Giles’ expression softened a little. “Come sit down,” he said, not waiting to see if she did as he’d told but skimming through the book he’d opened.
Buffy sat across from him on the edge of the chair. Placing her both hands on the table she stared at them again. Her nails weren’t well manicured. She remembered a time when she’d spend time and time to cut and file and paint them. Alex had red nails. Spike’s were black. She could no longer find it in her to care about her own. At least she didn’t bite on them. She raised her gaze slightly and it fell on Giles’ fingers. His nails were very short; the white couldn’t be more than a millimeter. When her eyes went back to her own hands she saw they were shaking. Hastily she clenched them into fists.
“Giles,” she said, fighting to keep the tremor from her voice, “Please tell me what’s going on.”
The Watcher pushed the book he’d been reading in front of her, then reached for the other, opening it at the place marked with a piece of paper. It was a picture of the demon she and Spike had fought outside the insect woman’s house.
“The text,” Giles said without looking up from his book, “Read the text.”
She glanced from him, down in the book, to him again.
“Er... Giles...”
“Yes?”
“It’s in Latin.”
“Oh.” Giles stopped leafing through the pages for the hair of a second. “Just a moment...” He turned another page. “Ah, here it is.”
He stood and walked over to her side of the table, bringing the book with him and putting it down beside the one Buffy had looked in. There were no pictures in it and the text was written in a foreign language. She still found herself just staring at it.
“I’ve been mistaken about this breaking point,” Giles said. “Buffy, it will start over again.”
“What?”
He pulled up a handkerchief from his pocket and took off his glasses. “These demons,” he began, “they have no secrets from each other. Every thought and memory are shared.”
“You mean...”
“Very soon the mind-reading will start again,” he said, “It will go on until something triggers you to let the memories flood between you again.” He drew in a deep breath. “I have no idea how you managed to come back to yourselves last time, your whole pasts should’ve been shared.”
The feeling of fangs sliding into her neck. Automatically one of her hands went to her neck, fingering the punctures. Giles' eyes followed the move, then they went wide. He shook his head. “Buffy, tell me he didn’t...”
“He b-bit m-me and it disappeared.”
For a moment her Watcher just stared at her. “Buffy, how come... and he didn’t hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Maybe... Blood sharing is one of the oldest...”
Silence filled the room for a moment.
“Giles? Is there a way to remove this... thing?”
“Huh?” He turned to her, but she didn’t think he really saw her. “Maybe… blood sharing… it must have fooled the mind-bounding... perhaps if…”
“Giles? What are you talking about?”
He had never seen her pace before. She had told him to sit on the porch and was now walking back and forth in front of him. After half a minute she ran a hand through her hair, opened her mouth... and began to pace again.
“Alright, Slayer,” he said, “What’s going on?”
A blink, then she halted completely. When she just stared at him Spike felt an amused smile spread over his lips. Shaking his head he patted the wood beside him. There was no hesitation as she took her place and he almost breathed a sigh of relief. He’d feared that she’d be afraid of coming close to him after yesterday. When she’d started the pacing he’d almost thought she’d come with some speech how she never could see him again.
“I talked with Giles today,” she suddenly said.
“Yeah? What did the Watcher say?”
She bit her bottom lip. “He’d looked up that demon we fought, you know? Outside the insect lady’s house?” At his nod she continued. “I had to tell him how we suddenly got our voices back so... Anyhow, he –“ Spike turned sharply towards her.
“Did you tell him about...”
“No. Nothing,” she said, shaking her head vigorously and he relaxed. He didn’t really think she would tell the Watcher anything, but you could never know.
The girl drew in a deep breath. “It will start again,” she blurted. “Giles said you biting me last time was what triggered it to stop, something about blood rituals that I so didn’t get. But then he said when the mind-reading starts again you’ll bite me again because you can’t trust evil vampires and –“
“Hold it, love,” Spike said, trying to summarize what she’d just told him, “Giles said the mind reading would start again?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Slowly she tucked her hair between her ear, exposing her neck to him. The punctures were barely visible. He had to stop himself from reaching out to touch them.
“When they are completely healed.”
TBC