They had fallen asleep in a lovers tangle, limbs wrapped around each other and holding the other tightly. Their sleep was disturbed by the maid coming to wake Spike; it was time for him to hunt.
Spike, of course, would rather have stayed in the arms of his lover but he also knew where his responsibilities lay. The bleached vampire had a busy day ahead of him and the sooner he started it the sooner he would get back to his mate.
The Slayer was still sleeping, but her vampire lover needed to feed before his outing. He carefully reached a hand down to her cunny to rub her clit in a soft circular motion. He didn’t want to wake her, but instead wanted her to stay asleep and dream of him.
Just as he thought, she had stayed asleep but her moans and whispers filled the room. She groaned his name as he slipped a finger inside of her, thrusting it as he sucked down her neck.
He closed his eyes before biting into her neck because he knew of the ambrosia that was about to fill his mouth. Buffy moaned when his fangs entered her flesh. Her walls clenched around his digit, signaling her orgasm. Satisfied, Spike moved his hand away and to her breast, where he massaged them gently as he finished his feeding.
Spike wasn’t sure how tiring hunting or the battle prep would be so he was certain to take enough of his mate’s blood to make it through the day and to be in good shape.
It surprised him how much of her blood he could take before her body started to protest. As he continued to massage her breasts she snuggled closer into his lap. His massaging matched the tempo of his feeding and his supernatural hearing was keeping a close ear on her heart beat.
When he picked up a flutter in her heart beat he pulled away, gently closing his mark with his rough tongue. Spike placed a gentle kiss on the bite marks, hoping that she would sleep most of the day so her body could replenish itself.
He closed his eyes, enjoying the feeling of love racing through his system before getting up and getting dressed into the outfit of the day that had been chosen for him. The outfit consisted of a green vest and green pants, more of an olive color really. A dark brown leather shirt was laid out for him to wear under the vest.
Spike grabbed Fuzzball and placed him on his favorite sleeping pillow so he would stop nudging Buffy on the bed. He wanted his mate to sleep the day, so he gave Fuzzball enough leaves to entertain him until the vampire's return.
As he walked out of the room he took a look at his attire. He sighed at what he was wearing; he didn’t like it at all. The sooner the day was over with the sooner he could take the horrendous outfit off, he thought.
Next, he donned his butcher knife and picked up the sword that the maid had left for him.
He was now ready for a day of hunting and battle prep.
Buffy woke up past noon and stretched, noticing she was alone in bed.
Just as she was trying to remember if Spike had said goodbye this morning, his voice came softly to her ears.
‘Morning, my love.’
His voice startled her so she sat up in her bed to look around for him. When she couldn’t sense his presence anywhere she spoke.
“Where are you? I‘m not getting my usual tingles in the back of my neck when you‘re around,” she spoke aloud.
A few moments later his voice came to her again.
‘Buffy, luv, can you hear me? Use your thoughts to respond to me. I’m not able to hear you speak out loud.’
Buffy remembered how Willow had once used this method of communication just as she heard Spike’s voice again.
‘Think of something to say while thinking of me, love. Just keep focusing on me and I’ll hear it as clearly as if I were there with you.’
Buffy closed her eyes tight and thought of her lover.
‘I wish you were here with me.’
’As do I, my love. We are heading back to the fortress but I have an afternoon left of, what they call battle prep. It will be a while until I can return to you. I have five battles to fight.’
Buffy suddenly saw as though she was looking at it in front of her, a scene of the Natives all dressed up in armor battling each other. She could smell the scent of blood and hear the sound of armor clashing together.
‘Wow, Spike. I can see all of that. It’s incredible. It’s like I’m there with you.’
‘That’s impressive, pet.’
Buffy frowned and thought out unhappily, ‘Did you know about this? Is this how sire bonds work?’
Spike sent back to her in a comforting tone and she could almost feel his arms surrounding her as he said, ‘No, I can sense my vampire relatives but not talk to them. The communication between mates can be turned off and on; I’m guessing like a sire’s claim but it seems to be more powerful. It’s amazing, actually.’
Buffy sighed. It’s like you’re here with me even though you’re far away. I still miss you, though. This isn’t the same.
‘I miss you too, Buffy. Why don’t you get some food, I fed from you this morning while you were sleeping so I’d heal up better after they beat the shit out of me this afternoon. I hope you don’t mind but I didn’t want to wake you. Perhaps go for a swim and then I’ll be home, ok pet?’
She sent back a nod and imagined kissing him and Spike felt it as though it were real. He sent her a kiss back and thought, ‘I’m sorry, luv, but it’s almost my turn. I have to concentrate. I’ll see you soon.’
‘I love you…’
‘Love you too, Slayer.
Just as Spike blocked the communication they had she felt empty inside, but at the same time a strange sense of completeness.
She got out of bed to pick up Fuzzball and hold him tight.
“I’m going to find you a companion in a few days. Then you can have a partner to always be by your side, too. You can help pick her out if you’d like.”
After placing him back on the soft pillow she went to the hot bowl of soup that was left for her when she awoke. It would never stop amazing her how the maid always had a hot meal ready for when she awoke.
The soup tasted marvelous, even more so than usual because she hadn’t eaten anything in a while.
She wished that Spike would return home to her, and was almost tempted to open the communication barrier again to see how he was faring, but she rather not distract him. Perhaps they could find a way to check up on each other’s without disturbing each other someday but today wasn’t a day to test that.
Once she finished her meal she twirled around the room and hummed a song; a way to distract her mind from thinking of Spike.
She changed out of her robe and into the day’s ensemble that was laid out for her. Buffy was happy to see that Spike had left her a paper with the native language written on it. When she saw Dawn’s name on it, she knew it was for visiting her. She was so thankful to have Spike in her life.
The Slayer had no idea what it said but she hoped it was enough to get her to see Dawn without a problem.
She whistled as she left her room and handed the paper to the guard who looked her up and down before opening the door to let her pass. She handed the piece of paper to the next guard who handed it back and nodded before allowing her passage, as well.
Buffy ran to Dawn’s door and knocked as she saw her younger sister prepping herself in the mirror.
When Dawn noticed her sister, she ran into her arms for a hug.
“You’re alone again? Everything’s ok, right? Did things work out for you and Spike? Wow what’s that on your neck?”
Buffy giggled at Dawn’s excitement, “Sit down already, because I guess I have lots to tell you. You’re ok with Spike and I being together, right?” Dawn nodded as she sat down on the bed and Buffy smiled slightly, “Well we um, well, we…”
Dawn looked at her and shouted excitedly, “Mated!!!”
Buffy gasped, shocked that her sister would know such a word and she asked nervously, “Um, how did you know that? You’re fifteen years old and I didn’t even know that at twenty-one.”
Dawn grinned. “I read a lot.”
Buffy sighed, knowing she couldn’t protect her sister from everything in the world.
“Yes, we are mated. You’re ok with that,” Buffy asked her sister.
“Tell me all about it,” Dawn asked with a grin.
Buffy looked shocked. “No, I will not tell you all about it but the results are pretty cool. I can sense him, like where he is and…”
Buffy frowned as she realized she could tell he was hurting.
“…and what?” Dawn urged her to continue.
The older Summers shook her head. “Nothing. I just can sense where he is and what he’s doing and… oh God, want to know something you can never, ever tell a living soul as long as we all shall live?”
Dawn grinned and nodded glad to have a secret that only she and Buffy would know. Buffy knew how important it was to make Dawn feel sisterly.
“I can hear him as he talks to me. We have our own little way of communicating in our minds. I can hear his voice as though he’s there even when he’s out hunting,” The Slayer shared with her sister.
Dawn stood up, clapping her hands together. “That’s just so cool. I need to find me one of those.”
“You will not date vampires. You will not even dream of dating vampires. You will have nothing to do with any other vampires other than Spike,” Buffy spoke in a stern voice.
Dawn grinned. “Yay, I don’t have to deal with Angel either.”
“Ok, Angel is ok too, but you will not have anything to do with vampires other than have me stake them. Understand, missy?”
“I still think it’s cool that you and Spike hooked up and are now mated. That’s like forever, right? So he’ll never be able to leave like dad left mom, right?”
Buffy nodded and realized she had been thinking the same thing last night when she had agreed.
Their visit was short lived because the guard at the door had cleared his throat; his way of making it clear it was time to move on.
“I don’t think we can see each other until the big day, which is in three days. You be strong until then, Dawn. Spike will rescue you and we will be out of here. Just be strong for me and him, ok?”
Dawn nodded and gave her sister a big hug as she whispered, “Spike will be fine. He’s the strongest guy I know and would die for us.”
Buffy nodded, hoping that it wouldn’t be necessary to test that theory. She gave Dawn another squeeze then waved as she was ushered out of the room.