”Six fucking days!”
The fledgling flinched and tried to look sympathetic as he attempted to inch his stool away from the obviously crazy master vampire. Said vampire threw back his – god knew which number – shot and nailed Randall to the stool with his glare.
“Why do you think she does that?” the blond vamp asked.
“Perhaps - ” The word came out as a squeak. “ – you came on too hard?”
A low growl split the air and the vampire reached for the bottle, this time not bothering to fill his glass but just taking a gulp.
“I bloody well did not!” Another gulp. “What was I supposed to do?! She just ran off.” His voice took on a falsetto tone. “I’m Heaven’s Chosen one, so what if...”
Randall could only stare. He wasn’t talking about... it couldn’t be...
“... bloody Slayer!”
A blink. This vamp’s insanity was now definitely proven. Randall stood, as slowly and carefully as possible, gaze locked on the blond to make sure he was totally focused on the half empty bottle. Just as Randall was about to take his first step to safety a hand grabbed his arm. Effortlessly he was pushed back onto the stool.
“Thought you’d sneak off, huh?” First now the other vamp raised his gaze to let it travel over Randall’s form. “You’d be perfect to meet on patrol; the Slayer could use some easy practice.”
Randall pulled back, opening his mouth so as not to insult the vampire by not answering. No sound came out. He cleared his throat.
“Uhh... thanks.” Another squeak, people would think he hadn’t left puberty yet.
So much for not insulting the blond, the vampire didn’t even seem to hear him.
“Should’ve known nothing good would come out of joining forces with the Slayer...” he grumbled, taking another swallow. “Doesn’t make it better that the girl is out of her mind.”
Randall flinched again. A Slayer who was out of her mind? Maybe he should leave town. Who knew what an insane Slayer could do... he shuddered.
“Hey mate, what’s your name?”
“Um... Randall.” Yay. Only half way to a squeak and he received a hard slap on the back.
“Tell you what,” the blond said, “if I ever sort this mess out, I’ll tell the Slayer not to stake any vamps named Randall.”
“Really?” Randall asked doubtfully.
“Damn right.”
Randall could feel his whole being light up. Maybe something good would come out of this meeting after all.
“Probably won’t listen to me though.” The blond continued, tilting the bottle back again, only to find it empty. “She never listens.” He raised his voice; “Hey! Willy! Gimme another bottle!”
Randall’s shoulders sagged and for the first time this evening he tasted his own drink.
“You would’ve thought she knew I’ve killed people.”
“Mmm.”
Suddenly the blond looked at him, really looked at him. Studied him as if he was a statue and then tilted his head to the side. “You ever met a girl who didn’t like you killing?”
“Er... I was turned a month ago.”
“Huh.” The master vampire returned to his drink. “Were you a murderer as human?”
“Er... no.”
“Figured.”
There was silence and Randall shifted uneasily in his seat. Willy came over to them after a long minute and hesitantly placed a bottle on the bar.
“S-Spike, you don’t think –” Willy giggled in a slightly emasculate way. “– you’ve had enough?”
“Fuck off, Willy.”
“Right.” The bartender hurried away while Randall stared longingly at the other customers in the bar; everybody had made sure to sit as far away as possible from this ‘Spike’.
“Everyone knows I’ve been hanging around the Slayer,” Spike said.
Randall jumped a little, hastily turning his focus back to the other vampire, who had an amused smile on his lips.
“Are you very drunk?” Randall asked. Perhaps he should encourage more drinking and then, when the vamp was drunk enough, he could flee.
“Not too drunk.” The vampire leered, licking his lips, and Randall nearly fell off his stool. A deep chuckle rumbled through the older vampire’s chest. Randall wondered if the chuckle meant ‘it was a joke’ or ‘I meant it but haha you almost fell off your stool’. But it almost seemed like he and the Slayer had some kind of relationship. She’d kill him for sure if she thought he’d tricked her lover into cheating on her.
“Uh... aren’t you and the Slayer like, together?”
Next second a snarl erupted from the master vampire as he slipped into game face. Randall tried to make himself as small as possible. It had suddenly become very quiet in the bar.
“Not with the Slayer.” Randall found he had gone back to squeaking. “I get it.”
Yellow eyes stared at him for a moment, and then turned to glare at their audience. The other customers quickly returned to their drinks and Spike’s features melted back to human.
“I’m outta here,” he muttered, grabbing his bottle and standing. After swaying for a second, he disappeared out through the door.
Randall drowned the rest of his drink and thanked whatever gods there were.
He needed to kill something.
”Of course.”
The brunette lay a hand on Buffy’s arm, a hand with pink-painted nails. Pink was a new color. During the last week Buffy had seen it change from the ordinary red to blue, striped and finally this.
Alex lifted her free hand and held it up in front of her face, studying it.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Buffy said. “I never thought that pink would be a color you’d go for, but it suits you.” She looked at the nails again. “In a weird way.”
The other girl scowled at her, but the expression quickly turned into giggling instead and Buffy found herself grinning as she stood.
“I need to go to the library,” she said, picking up her bag.
“Again? You go there every day.” Alex arched an eyebrow. “I would never have guessed you liked reading so much.” Her expression turned serious. “Tell me the truth; are you crushing on the librarian?”
“What?!” Buffy opened her mouth, then snapped it shut. “Giles is like, way old and...” Suddenly she noticed the sparkle in the other girl’s eyes. “Think you’re funny, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
Shaking her head, Buffy gave an amused smile before she started walking away. She’d only taken a couple of steps before Alex was by her side.
“I figured I’d go with you,” the brunette said, “There’s a couple of books I’d like to borrow.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Now she wouldn’t be able to talk to Giles freely. Perhaps she wouldn’t have to lie about patrolling again – the patrolling that was supposed to happen but hadn’t. The thought of walking through the cemeteries on her own had her heart thundering. Giles had offered to go with her more than once, but she truly felt like she should go on her own. If she could just build up the courage to step outside the door.
He had been quiet the last days. Was he biding his time? Buffy didn’t want to think about it. Repression was a great thing. If it worked. There were a whole lot of things she’d like to repress.
Him.
Spike.
It felt like something heavy was weighing down her shoulders. Spike had come by her house five times after that night, each time yelling at her and demanding she talk to him. She hadn’t been tempted to. Just looking at his face, all she could see was blood.
They reached the library and Alex went in first, holding one door open for Buffy. She tried to force all memories away. Giles looked up when they entered. He was standing by the issuing counter, one book lying open on it next to a stack of others.
“Hi Giles,” Buffy said.
“Hello Buffy.”
Alex smiled at Giles before sending Buffy a curious look. She should probably have told Alex that Giles was an old friend to the family or something.
“I’ll go look for those books,” Alex said to Buffy, who nodded.
Quickly she crossed the room towards the stairs.
“Just tell me if you need any help,” Giles called after her.
Alex halted for a second and threw a look over her shoulder. “Thanks.”
Turning back to the book he’d been reading, Giles closed it and put it a top of the pile. Walking closer, Buffy saw that all of them, or the few she understood the title of, had something to do with vampires.
“Vampire mating rituals?” she said, continuing in a tone of mock seriousness. “Giles, is there something you want to tell me?”
A slight blush actually crept up Giles’ cheeks and he hastily took off his glasses and started to polish them.
“I’ve been studying vampire bites,” Giles said, in a quiet voice, “I want to be sure that Spike’s bite won’t affect you in any way.”
Buffy frowned. “It’s already healed, you know that.” She took a step forward. “Has something happened?”
“No, no.” Then he sighed. “Hopefully nothing will happen either; I just want to make sure that nothing won’t happen.”
She didn’t want to know. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to know.
“Okay,” she said quickly. “So, you’ll tell me if you find this... nothing?”
“Of course.”
Giles put his glasses on and pushed the handkerchief back into the pocket of his trousers. A sound came from the bookshelves in the other end of the room and they both looked that way. It sounded like Alex had dropped something on the floor. Buffy mentally shrugged and turned back to her Watcher.
“A friend of yours?” he asked, failing in hiding the happy twinkle in his eyes.
Wow, he and Mom could still become best friends.
“Yes,” Buffy said. “Alex. She just moved here.”
“I’m glad you’re making friends, Buffy,”
It took all her power not to roll her eyes. This reminded her of the talk she’d had with her Mom a couple of days ago, when Joyce had asked “Honey, are they mean to you?” But then again, she couldn’t really blame either of them.
“Did Spike come by your house yesterday?” Giles asked as he picked up some of the books from the pile and started for his office.
“Actually no,” Buffy said, following him. “It’s a first since... you know.”
He placed the books on his desk and for a minute silence filled the air. Then he slowly turned to her again. For a moment she thought she saw something flash in his eyes.
“I’m coming with you on patrol tonight,” Giles said. “And you better tell your mother where you’re going.”
Their gazes met.
“Right,” Buffy murmured.
Another sound from the library had her looking over her shoulder and she saw Alex stumbling down the stairs, carrying two large books. She noticed Buffy looking at her and smiled.
“I found them!” she said. “And wow, does this library have a lot of book on the occult.”
Buffy’s heart jumped. “Giles has always been big on the weird stuff...” She gave an uneasy laugh. “...you know, demons, ghosts, vampires and... such. Right, Giles?”
“It has always fascinated me,” Giles said from the office; he’d turned back to his books.
Alex just shrugged, dropping her books on the counter and Buffy walked over to her side. Two novels, she didn’t recognize either of the authors. Then again, it wasn’t like reading was one of her biggest interests.
A few seconds later Giles came out to them.
“Ah,” he said, when he saw what Alex had chosen. “Excellent choices.”
“I know.” Alex actually looked a little embarrassed. “I’ve already read them thrice.”
Giles smiled. “Nothing wrong with rereading a book.”
A minute later he handed the books back to the girl.
“Thanks,” Alex said, and then turned to Buffy. “Shall we?”
He remembered the fear the most. Because after the fear disappeared, she hadn’t felt much of anything. But when the fear had still been there, she’d been constantly reminded that she was the Slayer and that she was supposed to fight Angelus’ kind.
Spike found himself staring into nothing; he’d been doing that a lot these days. Especially when he was suffering from a hangover. Which had also been more often than not the last days.
He’d tried to speak to her, more than once, but she wouldn’t even open the window. He’d even considered knocking on the door and asking Joyce to let him in. But on the other hand, the odds were big that the Slayer had told her mother what had happened; if only to make sure she wouldn’t let him in. They might even have performed an uninviting spell by now.
This was all that bloody demon’s fault. If it had never shown up, then none of this would’ve happened.
Spike let out a low growl.
Right now, he just wanted it all over with. Wanted to dust Angelus and Dru so he could be on his merry way. Away. Away from Sunnydale. Away from the Slayer. Away from everything.
“I know you haven’t been patrolling, Buffy.”
Buffy thrust the stake into the fledgling’s chest and watched as it turned into dust.
“How?” she asked finally.
“Let’s just say you aren’t the greatest liar on the planet,” Giles said. “And besides, I’ve never heard of a pink demon with long, slimy tentacles.”
“I panicked, okay?” She blushed a little. “You asked what the demon looked like and I... demons always look weird.”
She glanced at him. He didn’t look mad, not really, more like... disappointed. She shouldn’t be surprised. When was the last time he’d been mad at her? He was always just... disappointed. Sighing, she started to walk again and Giles fell in beside her.
“So, is Angelus the only reason you didn’t want to go on patrol?” Giles asked.
Swallowing hard, she fiddled with the stake in her hand. “And Spike.” It came out as a whisper.
“Of course,” Giles said. “I hope you know I was just waiting for you to ask me to come with you.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t expect you to go out alone these days.”
“Thanks.” She smiled a little.
They walked in comfortable silence for a while. A worry was nagging at Buffy’s mind though, something that refused to go away. Another minute passed before she opened her mouth.
“Giles?”
“Yes?”
“What are we gonna do about him?”
A woman was coming down the street towards him. She looked rather pretty under the streetlights, even though normally she would be a bit too old for his taste. Right now Spike was too hungry to care; it had been days since he last fed.
The woman walked with confidence on her high heels, chin raised. At least he liked that about the woman. Spike stepped out from the shadows as she came closer. For the blink of an eye her gaze wavered to him and her heart beat faster. He grinned. It seemed like she contemplated walking over to the other side of the street; she glanced that way. But then she straightened herself even more and he saw the muscles in her jaw flex as she went to pass him.
Quick as lightning, he grabbed her by the waist and pressed her body against his. When she opened her mouth to scream he clamped a hand over it and the smell of fear became stronger.
Her wide eyes were fixed upon him. Spike gave a small chuckle and tightened his hold. A shiver ran through her.
She wanted to beg him to stop, but the words were stuck in her throat. The arm around her middle dragged her closer, so close that she could feel every contour of his body.
Spike shook his head, but the image was stuck. He stared down at the woman in his arms. If he didn’t... It wouldn’t have to last forever, just until Angelus and Dru were dust. Perhaps that would make her see...
His fangs sliced into her skin and blood filled his mouth. He heard her pained gasp but she didn’t struggle as he drank, had probably given up already. All too soon her heart’s rhythm picked up even more.
Abruptly he pushed the woman away. Blood was trickling down her neck, but he hadn’t bit into the artery so she shouldn’t be in danger.
He didn’t look back as he swung around and walked away.
TBC