Chapter 10
She didn’t want to get out of bed, didn’t even want to be awake, really, but knew she had to.
There were chores to be done, Slayer dreams to be shared with the gang for analysis, and most of all, groceries and blood to be bought, because two vampires on a Slayer-only diet was not a very good idea in the long run. Especially if said Slayer only had eggs and power drinks in her fridge.
She tried to sneak out of bed – having ended up on the right side at some point during the night – but William’s arm wrapped around her, holding her in place.
“Where are you going, luv?” he mumbled against the pillow, turning to face her. Her heart constricted at how beautiful and innocent he looked, still half asleep. How had she not noticed that in the past? Or, rather, how had she resisted?
“I have some stuff to do. Feel free to wait for me in bed,” she replied, sounding more cheerful than she felt.
“You sure?” Spike’s voice came from the other side of the bed. “We can be up and runnin’ in-”
“In about six hours, minimum.” She got up. “It’s still high noon, guys, and you need your beauty sleep.”
William reached for her again, but found only thin air when she side-stepped. “I will be back. Sheesh. Sleep!”
They didn’t protest more, both grudgingly realizing she needed some time to herself.
She grabbed her clothes and left the room, knowing they would hear her getting dressed anyway, but wanting to make at least the token effort not to disturb what was left of their rest.
Her sobs a few minutes later had them foregoing their sleep and rushing to her anyway.
The previous night ~~~~~
William saw the blond shake his head no, as he came inside his mate. Buffy must have felt that, or maybe it was the lack of teeth sinking into the side of her neck that made her eyes widen in a silent disappointed question as her body betrayed her, writhing in orgasm.
William withdrew from inside her and rolled to the right, giving her room to climb off Spike, knowing the younger vampire’s release wouldn’t be on the top of her priority list just then.
She tried to sit up, pull away, but Spike’s arms closed around her. “Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”She unwrapped his arms from around her waist and let his cock slip out of her as she stood and stalked away from the bed, resisting the need to groan as her sore muscles demanded.
William was behind her in an instant, preventing her from making the dramatic exit she was planning on. He turned her to face the peroxide blond who still lay in bed, face buried in his palms.
“Don’t feel betrayed?” she spat out. “Don’t feel like my heart is breaking because the man I love doesn’t want to be with me?” She stomped her foot, which made the ache between her legs worse, but she didn’t care.
William rested his chin on her shoulder and whispered, “Don’t take it that way, luv.”
She took a deep breath, getting ready to yell at both of them about how there was only one way to take it, really, Spike didn’t want her, but William’s arms tightened around her imperceptibly, and his voice sounded in her head. *Let him tell you why.*
Her head snapped to the side, and then back towards Spike, when the voice in her head went on, *Telepathy. Brilliant bonus on the mating. Wasn’t sure it’d work.* He kissed the top of her head. *Don’t let on yet, it’ll be like we’re rubbing it in.*
She tried to send her thoughts to him. *Rubbing it in? He didn’t want this.*
*He can’t have it. Ask him why.* He insisted when she stubbornly refused at first.
“Spike?”
He shook his head, the heels of his hands furiously rubbing tears away from his eyes.
“Spike, why?”
She didn’t expect the outrage and despair in her lover’s voice, when he bellowed, “Because I have to leave you. For once in my life I have everythin’ I want, only it’s not mine. It’s his.” He pointed at William, jabbing his index finger at him repeatedly. “I can’t soddin’ claim you, and then go to another universe where I’ll be nothin’ to you, and add the hurt of a claim on top of the pain of not bein’ with you.” His voice was roaring, but Buffy’s heart was breaking for the pain in his eyes.
“Hurt of the claim? Won’t you feel complete if we-”
“You feel complete when you’re with your mate,” William cut in. “Or you die trying to get to them.”
“I didn’t think…”
Spike glanced at her. “No. You didn’t.” He rolled over, burying his face in the pillow, and both his lovers joined him in bed to offer as much comfort as they could.
Before she fell asleep, Buffy heard William in her head, promising they’d find out more about the claim when things were more settled. When she demanded he explain what he meant by find out, he just sent her a mental image of Garfield shrugging, with a caption that said “Never done this `til now, luv.”
~~~~~*~~~~~
Buffy had managed not to cry when Spike explained why he couldn’t claim her; it was he who was hurt the most, and his turn to let it all out while being held and loved.
She didn’t shed a single tear when some of William’s dreams seeped into her subconscious once sleep finally claimed them all, and she saw herself treating him like garbage again and again. She just held him closer.
Reading Giles’ letter, however, she couldn’t hold back. It was so unfair that she couldn’t hate him. She resented how his words touched her heart, and how even now, after everything, she longed for him to approve of her life. Every I am sorry he’d written brought a sob up her throat, a sob that she tried silencing, but to no avail.
She was reading the letter for the second time, sniffling and muttering about stupid Brits, when two naked vampires ran to her side, staying away from stray rays of sun as best they could.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Having to use every last vestige of strength, Kennedy managed to open her eyes, only to let her heavy lids drift shut again when the room seemed too mobile for her taste.
“What the fuck…?”
She half-rolled to her side and lowered her feet to the floor, fully meaning to jump out of bed – the strange bed she was in, which she didn’t remember getting into – and failing miserably to even lift a finger.
“Oh God, the champagne.”
Of course it was the champagne.
Having champagne in a car with a stranger – two strangers, even; she didn’t know Sofia either – while driving to his extravagant castle was a bit off, even in the weird world of Slayers. It hadn’t felt that way when he’d said a little alcohol might sooth her and Sofia’s nerves, and apologized for only having champagne in the car. Sofia had had some too, she remembered her holding her glass to be filled. Did she see her drink it? No. Maybe she had drunk it and now lay drugged somewhere else in the huge castle. She felt so stupid and would gladly smack her forehead, if it weren’t for the sense that there was a heavy metal concert behind her eyelids. Or if she could move her arm.
Refusing to succumb to panic, she took a deep breath and recalled a breathing exercise she’d been taught by Giles. It was simple, really, just timed breathing that helped her mind relax and her heart stop trying to burst out of her chest. She focused on her breathing while assessing the situation. She wasn’t dead, for one. That meant that whatever Berto had in mind for her, it didn’t demand her death. She didn’t feel hurt or violated, so he hadn’t tortured or raped her. Still, why had she been drugged? There was no doubt in her mind that she had been; she could always hold her alcohol, and she hadn’t even had that much. A suspicion reared its ugly head out of the blue. Whatever it was that the Italian charmer wanted of her, it would be much worse if he knew who she was. What she was. Did he know?
Frantically, she began recounting what she remembered since saving Sofia from the vampire, what she assumed was that morning. If she hadn’t been passed out for days, that is.
They hadn’t talked much during the drive; just the usual small talk among strangers, during which Kennedy had tried and failed, to find out more about Berto than his name and the fact he was a businessman. “It is all so boring, cara. Tell me about you. How come you were out in the early hours?” She’d told him she’d been up studying all night and had needed to go out for some fresh air. He hadn’t asked what she was studying, or how come she didn’t offer to take Sofia home with her if she lived within walking distance from where he’d found them. Kennedy had been grateful for that.
By the time they arrived at the castle, she was feeling wiped out and couldn’t stop yawning. Berto had offered to prepare a room for her, and she’d initially refused. When her body betrayed her and she had trouble holding her head up while sitting in his living room, waiting for his butler to bring them something to eat, she told him she had to call someone to come pick her up. He smiled, nodded, and asked for that someone’s name and number, so he could call them for her.
She was too stubborn to call Willow after the way they’d left things, and wouldn’t give anyone else from the mansion the pleasure of seeing her so weak. She could call one of the younger Slayers, but that would probably lead to a lot of gossip, and she wouldn’t have that. She was thinking of how there was really nobody she could ask for help, when she realized her eyes had been shut for some time.
The last thing she remembered was a voice saying, “Her room is ready, sir.”
It was Sofia.
“That bitch! After I saved her!” Saying the words out loud, she realized how silly she was being. Sofia hadn’t needed her. “She was in on it!” It all made sense suddenly; it was all a trap. Sofia knew about vampires because Berto did. And they knew about her. This time she managed to slap her forehead and was extremely relieved by it. She managed to raise her upper body using her elbows to hold her weight, and for the first time saw the room she was in.
She had it really well for a captive.
She was lying on top of the covers of a four poster bed. The canopy was tied to the poles, allowing her see the beautiful tapestries on the walls, the heavy ceiling-to-floor drapes that covered the windows, and the breakfast cart that stood by the foot of the bed. The delicacies on the latter made her stomach protest, but she didn’t even consider tasting them, fearing they would be drugged, like the champagne.
She tried sitting up, and when her head didn’t swim, got out of bed and wobbled to the door. Taking slow breaths until she felt confident her legs would hold her, she tried the knob. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t turn either way. She grimaced, took a step back, and kicked the door with all her strength.
She only noticed the needle prick in the bend of her elbow when she fell flat on her ass, the heavy door mocking her as it stood locked and unyielding.
~~~~~*~~~~~
Giles ran his fingers through hair that had never before been so messy. Miss Harkness had been right, not that the woman had ever been wrong, as far as he could remember. Finding the exact universe and point in time Spike had come from, would take decades in the most optimistic scenario.
Dawn and Willow had spent hours trying to locate the alternate universe he’d come from, but with no luck. They’d only managed to open two doors, each time channeling Dawn’s powers as the Key through Willow. Other than time consuming, that process was vague. It didn’t take all the mumbo-jumbo, as Xander had called it, of chants, incantations and spells. Dawn would use a razor on her inner arm to let out some of her blood for Willow to dip her fingers in and cover her eyelids with. Then the wicca would choose a portal and spread her senses through it as far as they would go, zeroing in on Buffy.
Once a Buffy was spotted, the redhead would let her essence flow into that universe, seeking Spike. If there was no Spike there, and the time was before the fight with The First, they would warn AU-Buffy about things to come and all would be well.
Thing was, there was an infinite number of Buffys out there, and both Witch and Key were exhausted after only two failed tries. If they kept at it, they ran the risk of either Dawn collapsing and the door between their universe and the one they were visiting growing uncontrollable, or Willow’s soul separating from her body and becoming lost forever in the great beyond. Neither was a risk Giles was about to take, despite the girls’ protests that they could at least try once more before resting.
“But we have to do it, Giles. We have to,” Willow insisted. “I know we can.”
“No, Willow. It’s futile. Even if we do find the right universe, which I highly doubt, our meddling could prove disastrous. I don’t know why I even let you try; I should have known better.”
Dawn closed her eyes, fighting the shooting pain bursting at the back of her head. “And what’s the alternative, Giles? Tell Spike to pack and go?” She opened her eyes again, pinning him with her fiery gaze. “I don’t see that going down so well, and I’ll be on Buffy’s side on this.”
“There is no side but Buffy’s on this, Dawn,” he replied haughtily, while thinking what a waste it was that Dawn wasn’t a Slayer. Her crossed arms stance and her glare were as fierce as her sister’s; all she needed was to pack a matching punch. “Your sister and Spike will decide what they want to do and we’ll all support them.” He swept his gaze around the room. “Are we clear on that?”
The girls nodded, as did Xander, while Andrew held his right hand over his heart and said, “I solemnly swear.”
“Right. Now, whatever they decide upon, we need to know where Spike came from, but this is not the way to go.”
“Oh, I see the G-man has a plan.” Xander wrapped an arm around Dawn’s waist, seeing her shoulders sag with defeat.
Giles shot him a warning look that he knew would have no greater effect than it had for years now, and nodded. Shooting blind wasn’t the way to go; he would have to go to the source of their problems.
Tbc.
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Author's Chapter Notes:
I’m really sorry for the delay, and I hope you like the update. Things will start happening faster after this chapter!Thank you Tina for the betaing, and thank you Andrei for the proof reading. I love you both and if it weren’t for the two of you I doubt this story would have ever been written. Thank you for reading and reviewing. It means a lot!
Chapter End Notes:
This story is being a pain. I have the plot all in my head, but the muse wants to write smut and fluff instead. I’m not giving up on it, though; I’m just hoping you’ll be patient as I try to shape each chapter to exactly what I have in mind. And yeah… I think that after this I’m going back to AU-AH fic and staying there :P Please take a moment to let me know what you thought of this chapter!