Buffy was sitting on the beach, staring at the moonlight reflecting on the sea. The water looked black with white sparkles, as it gently rolled in. The beach party was in full swing behind her but she was lost in thought. Spike was here, somewhere. Buffy could feel the unique tingle on the back or her neck that said 'vampire' coupled with an odd feeling of security which said 'Spike'.
Security. It was so strange to feel this way around Spike but since the 'James' incident, with the 'Spike lips', she felt safe when she could feel him near; especially now, with so much going wrong in her life. Giles was a mess. Jenny's death had hit him hard and, with Drusilla gone, he had no focus for his pain. Buffy knew that he was drinking too much but there didn't seem to be any way of getting through to him. If they could find Drusilla and stake her, he might at least have some closure.
Damn Angel. How dare he make these decisions, like he was god?
"Buffy?"
"Sorry, did you say something?" Buffy looked round at the boy who was standing behind her.
"I was asking you out but, obviously, you're not interested." Cameron snapped, before striding away, up the beach.
"You got that right." Buffy muttered.
Spike watched, with a hint of a smile, as the swim team brat was rejected. 'That's my girl.' he thought, then chuckled as she 'rescued' another boy from a freezing cold dunking. He sniffed as the short-tempered bully passed by his vantage point. 'Steroids and something else,' he thought, with disgust. 'Stupid brats, poisoning their blood, just to win a race.'
* * * * *
Gage stormed out of the Bronze, obviously in a temper. Spike watched, from the alley, as Buffy attempted to follow the boy.
"Don't bother," He said, as Buffy passed.
"Spike. What are you doing here? Don't say you want to kill me, I haven't got time." She looked around for a second, "Damn, I've lost him."
"Why yer followin' 'im?"
"I'm meant to be his bodyguard. Some fish monster's been eating the swimmers."
"No, Slayer," Spike said, with a chuckle, "The swimmers are turning INTO fish monsters."
"Huh?"
"Yeah, I saw it, down at the beach. Kid split 'is skin and came out looking like 'The creature from the black lagoon'. Went off into the sewer system."
"Seriously?"
"What, you think I'd make that up? They're all on steroids, too."
"Steroids wouldn't do THAT."
"No, there's something else in the mix, I can smell it. Something fishy." He said, with a smile.
"So, how come you were at the beach?"
"Watching you."
"My very own stalker, like Angel used to be."
"Don't compare me to that bloody wanker!"
"Sorry. You're nothing alike, he wasn't planning on killing me."
"Neither am I." Damn. Why had he said that? "Not at the moment, this stuff is far too interesting." He said, to cover himself.
Buffy looked as though she was struggling with a decision; she sighed.
"Can we talk?" She asked, as if it were something huge.
"We ARE talking."
"No, somewhere else, private."
"Ashamed to be seen with me?"
"No! Look, I haven't told the others that you're alive and if they find out, they'll expect me to..."
"Stake me."
"Yeah. Any way I can."
Spike gave her a questioning look.
"Not in a fair fight, just kill you." She looked up into his eyes, "I can't do that. And they won't understand."
"Yeah, okay. I know a place."
"Great, give me two minutes, I need to make a phone call." She disappeared back into the Bronze.
When she re-emerged, Spike had brought the car round and was holding the passenger door open, for her. She got in, feeling, weirdly, as if she was on a date; then again, she thought, lips of Spike... Inside, the car was cosy. The blacked out windows made it seem like the most private, safe place on earth. Spike slid smoothly behind the wheel and they drove off into the night.
The trip was strange, surreal. Buffy couldn't see out of the windows, so she didn't know where they were; she should be afraid. She wasn't. She trusted Spike.
An hour later, they were sitting at a small table, in a bar and Spike was asking her what she would like to drink.
"Coffee." She replied, watching his face for a hint that he thought she was being childish. He didn't react, just ordered it and a beer for himself.
"So, Slayer, what's on your mind?"
"First off, please stop calling me that. It's WHAT I am, not WHO I am. I don't call you 'Vampire'."
"Fair point, alright, Buffy...What do you want to talk to me about?"
"Vampires." She replied, then fell silent, as the waitress delivered their drinks.
"What about us?" Spike asked, intrigued, once the waitress was clear.
"I'm worried that Giles...the watchers council...have been lying to me, to slayers."
"In what way?" Spike smiled, this was turning out to be an interesting evening.
"They tell us that you're just demons in a dead human body; mostly mindless, apart from bits that you might remember from your dead host's life. Without your soul, all you care about is blood and killing to obtain it."
"And you've started to doubt this?"
"Well, yeah."
"Because of Angel?"
"Because of you. Angel has a soul, so he's meant to be different, to be able to control his urges. But you..."
"It's not that straightforward, Buffy. If it was just a demon, remembering, Dru wouldn't still be insane. The thing with the soul? Humans have souls and are still one of the most violent creatures on the planet. Whatever atrocity you can imagine committing against another person or any living creature, for that matter, has already been done. By someone else, some human. I've been around a long time, I've seen what humans can do. Vampires are nothing, compared to you." He looked across the table at her; she looked so vulnerable and sweet. "Well, not YOU, obviously, humans in general."
"Why not me?" She looked like she might cry, "I'm the slayer. I've killed." She whispered.
"Yeah, but somehow I doubt you lie awake at night, thinking up new ways of hurting the things that you kill."
"No. Are they 'things', though?" Might they be just a different kind of people?"
"You think like that and you'll get yourself killed. Vampires kill people. They don't have to, not to live but they do."
"Oh, God, you...." She breathed.
"Well, yeah but not of late. Didn't want to give you a reason to come after me before we were both ready. So, me and the gang have just been feeding, no kills allowed."
"Gang?"
"Just a few minions. I make the rules, they follow 'em or they're dust."
"Like the Master."
"Yeah. Only without the unflattering bat features."
"You knew him?"
"Same bloodline, pet. He sired Darla, who sired Angelus, he sired Dru and she..."
"Sired you?"
"Yeah. You killed the Master, yeah?"
"Yeah but he killed me first." Buffy moved her hair to show him the faint scar on her neck."
"That's why there's two slayers."
"Yeah. Angel had this book full of prophesies about the slayer. He and Giles tried to keep it a secret from me. It said that the Master would kill me."
"You knew you'd die but you faced him anyway?" Spike felt unexpected tears prick the back of his eyes at the bravery of the girl. He blinked them back.
"Well, yeah. I wanted to run away but I knew that I couldn't. Anyway, it turned out that he only escaped the hell mouth because of the strength in my blood, so if I'd run..."
"He'd still be stuck down there. So, he drained you..."
"No. He took enough to restore his strength, then dumped me, unconscious, in a pool of water. I drowned."
"Then?" He was gripped, this was way better than telly.
"Angel and Xander found me. Xander brought me back. Mouth to mouth..."
"Angel let that whelp kiss you?"
"Well HE couldn't do it, no breath." She said, as though it were obvious.
Spike laughed.
"Of course we've got breath, what do you think we talk with?"
"So, is Angel just stupid, or...?"
"I would think, pet, that he didn't want to admit that he didn't know what to do. So, you killed the Master and Darla..."
"No, Angel killed her."
"His own sire, why?" Spike was really shocked, now. If Angelus could ever have been capable of love, he would have loved his sire. He had certainly given that impression, over the years.
"She was about to shoot me."
"He must really have cared about you, so how come he's run off with Dru, then?"
"I really don't know. We were okay. Mom had grounded me, after the thing with the demon eggs and Angel sat outside my window and we really were fine. Then he said good night and walked away. Miss Calendar died that night; Drusilla killed her, Angel said, in the letter I got, saying he'd left. I can only think that he took her away, so I wouldn't stake her. He could have told me face to face, though."
"Cowardly git! How come your mum grounded you because of demon eggs?" He asked, wanting to take her mind off Dru being responsible for her watcher's impending alcoholism.
"I wasn't where she said I should be, because of this demon. Mother Buzz Saw or something. She was buried in the school basement and things hatched out of her eggs, took over peoples' minds and made them dig her up. Mom too but then she couldn't remember - after I killed the demon - so she grounded me."
"She doesn't know that you're the slayer?"
"No. I tried to tell my parents, back in L.A. when I was first called but they thought I was crazy. They locked me away." She said the last part in a frightened whisper.
"Your own parents did that? Oh, kitten..." He wanted to hold her and comfort her; tear the watchers council to bloody shreds for allowing it to happen. Weren't they meant to protect the slayers?
"It was only for a couple of weeks, I managed to convince the doctors that I was after attention because my parents' marriage was on the rocks."
"Bloody wankers. A vampire could feed on 'em and they'd come up with a rational explanation."
"We've gone off topic, a bit. I'd still like to know how come you're like a person and Angelus and the other vampires I've met, aren't."
"When you say, other vampires you've met, you mean...?"
"Staked. Yeah."
"Mostly as fledglings?"
"Mostly."
"The thing with fledglings is, when they've just crawled out of their graves, they're a bit confused. Also, bloodlust is a major theme. Actin' like their normal, once human self, isn't high on the list of priorities. At least not until they've fed. The other thing you've got to realize is, that not all vampires are created equal. A lot of it depends on how much blood your sire lets you have, before you die. A little, creates a minion - weak, easily controlled, slave like. A lot and you create an equal, more or less. Someone who might live long enough to be a master vampire - strong willed, capable of abstract thought..."
"Less bloodlusty?"
"Sometimes, yeah. Now, I didn't know Angelus, before he was turned, obviously but from what I've heard, he was an exceptionally weak willed individual. A wastrel, who was well on the way to dying of alcoholism, if the clap didn't get 'im first. Then, he gets turned. A demon comes in and finds itself in a personality with no brakes; a man whose whole life, so far, has been 'if it feels good, do it'. I think that you can imagine how THAT went."
"Giles has books."
"You've read them?"
"No. I tried to judge him on how he is WITH a soul."
"And what about me? I don't have a soul and yet, here you are."
"I trust you." Buffy said the words, without thinking. "Th...that is, not to kill me until we're both ready for a fair fight." She continued, hoping he believed her. "Which reminds me, I was wondering if you'd mind sparring with me, now and then? Only I don't really get to practice, that much. Giles tries but I have to hold back, in case I hurt him..."
"I'd like that."
"You'll know then, when I'm ready."
"Yeah." Spike replied, distantly. In his head, he was trying to work out how he had gone from wanting to kill the slayer, to wanting to date Buffy.
* * * * *
The waitress cleared away the cold coffee and the warm, flat beer after the young couple had left. She smiled to herself; young love. Obviously sneaking around - the bad boy image probably didn't endear him to the girl's parents - but so right for each other. They hadn't touched, just talked but the waitress could see auras and this couple's auras had been reaching out to each other...
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Author's Chapter Notes:
There will be sex and violence, soon, I promise. Bear with me.
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks to everyone who reviewed my previous efforts. It's wonderful to know that you're out there.