Chapter 6
She was completely lost in sensation. The feel of his lips moving against hers and his body pressing her into the wall behind her. He slid his tongue along her barely parted lips and she opened her mouth feeling her body hum as she met his searching tongue with her own. They explored each other’s mouths as Buffy raised her arms and trailed her hands up his firm torso, sliding them up to his shoulders and slipping them underneath his duster, wanting to feel him.
If he’d been alive Spike was sure his heart would have stopped at the way she was responding to him. The way she was pulling him closer, gripping his shoulders and the way her silky tongue met his own. God the noises she was making, little whimpers and moans. Her hand came up to caress the short hairs at the back of his neck and hold him to her and he groaned. Now he knew for sure. She wanted him, she wasn’t just clinging to him for comfort or because she was vulnerable. She desired him even if she insisted on denying it.
Slowly he placed his hands on her hips and caressed the soft skin just under the hem of her shirt with his thumbs. She shivered slightly and blessed him with another little whimper. He tightened his grip, pulling her hips against his while pressing her against the wall, groaning again when he felt her warm body pressed against the ever growing bulge in his pants.
Her breath caught in her throat when she felt his very evident erection pressing into her. His kiss grew more urgent and she felt her legs growing weak and she clung to him for support, letting the wonderful sensations he was causing wash over her. When he sensed her need for air he tilted his head and kissed along her jaw while she gasped for breath. Her gasps turned to pants as he made his way down to her throat and then along her neck, placing open-mouthed kisses along her heated flesh.
Her Slayer sense was sent into over-drive at having him so close to her pulse only adding to the thrill she was feeling. She moaned when he slid his tongue back up her neck and nipped at a spot just under and behind her ear with his blunt teeth. He continued to nip gently at her flesh while she pushed his duster down to his elbows where she could grip his arms and feel the muscles under his skin flexing. Wow did he have arms. Normally they were covered with the duster but she’d felt the strength there and wasn’t disappointed.
She needed to kiss him again and caught his head with her hands pulling him back to her mouth urgently. He happily complied and they resumed their exploration of each other’s mouths.
His hands began to wander under her shirt, up along her sides sending little electric jolts running through her. He brushed against her breasts and with a gasp she ground her hips against him. His left hand darted down to her thigh and he raised her leg slightly, getting a better angle and squeezing it as he thrust against her. They both moaned at the feeling and Buffy was just regretting her decision to wear pants instead of a skirt tonight when a scream broke through the air and tore through her lusty haze.
She pulled away from Spike and noticed his eyes, darkened with desire, focused on hers while she tried to regain her breath and the ability to stand on her own two feet. The intensity of his look had her leaning toward him again when a second scream, louder and closer this time broke the spell and she remembered where she was.
He barely caught her sad, wistful expression before she pushed him away and ran off.
Duty calls he thought. He was still reeling from the experience and while it occurred to him that she might need help, his body appeared to be struggling to move, probably because of the lack of blood flowing in his brain’s direction at the minute. He realised he was panting unnecessarily, old habits dying hard.
Meanwhile Buffy was running swiftly through the cemetery, her only thought being the unknown person in trouble. Finally they came into view, a young woman, her jacket torn and mud staining her jeans fleeing from a large male vamp who was closing the distance rapidly.
The woman stumbled and fell and just as the vamp was about to pounce, Buffy hurled herself at him, sending them both flying.
He was pinned to the ground in seconds and quick as a flash the Slayer pulled out her stake and he was nothing but dust.
Standing up and brushing the remaining traces of vamp dirt off her clothes she was about to check on the woman and give her the “you-know-you-really-shouldn’t-be–walking-near-cemetaries-at-night” lecture but when she turned around she just managed to catch sight of the girl’s back as she ran off.
“Gee, let’s hope she doesn’t get into any more trouble on the way home, although from the way she’s running I doubt even I could catch her,” Buffy shrugged and put her stake away.
“Hey Buff, done with patrol already?”
Buffy turned to see Xander and Anya standing behind her. She had a brief moment of panic thinking maybe they saw her with Spike and immediately dismissed the idea from the calm looks on their faces.
“Hey guys. Yep all done, at least I think so from the lack of vamps around here now.”
“Well at least you got some action tonight right?”
Buffy’s eyes went wide as she let out a startled, “Huh…wh…what?”
Xander looked puzzled and Anya raised her eyebrows.
“Well I’m assuming that woman was running from something other than you and you look like someone who worked off a lot of her frustration recently. At least you certainly don’t seem as…cranky as you did earlier.”
Comprehension dawned and Buffy breathed a sigh of relief.
“Oh! Right, yeah, um vamp. She was running from a vamp but I took my crankiness out on a big, icky demon. It dissolved so no clean up required.”
“Ah and no demon disposal makes for one happy Buffster.”
“You betcha! So, what are you guys doing out here? Or do you always take romantic strolls through the graveyard?”
“God no. I’d much rather be at home with my pretty worldly possessions. Xander thought we might catch you on patrol, see if you needed any help.”
“Right. No help required since there really hasn’t been much going on lately, which by the way, starting to bug me since I haven’t heard from Glory lately either and as much as not running into her is a good thing I’m worried she’s up to something.”
“Hey maybe she gave up and lost interest in this key thingy she’s after,” Xander grinned.
Buffy quirked an eyebrow at him and he shrugged.
“Okay so probably not but seen as the world isn’t ending I’m guessing she hasn’t found it yet either and if she is planning something she might be in for a major surprise.”
Buffy perked up at that and crossed her arms.
“Yeah, how’s that?”
“Well Willow got those few missing ingredients together faster than she thought. Come tomorrow her and Tara should be all set to test this new spell they’ve been itching to try out.”
Anya frowned.
“Great, I just don’t see why they have to test it out in the shop.”
“Hey anything we can use to fight Glory would really be welcome right now,” Buffy put in.
“Of course. It’s just that with Giles gone I finally get to be in charge of the shop and you know Willow and magic. I just don’t want my first day running the place by myself to include going hocus pocus abraKABOOM!”
Xander wrapped his arm around Anya and gave her a reassuring squeeze.
“It’s okay honey, I’m sure the shop will be fine. Besides it’s not like the place hasn’t been trashed often enough before and you’re dating a carpenter. Cheap furniture replacement at your service.”
Anya brightened at that.
“Well that’s true, but they still better not blow anything up, or damage the money. I will not have my money harmed Xander.”
“Trust me I know.”
Buffy grinned at the exchange. They really went well together even if Anya was a little strange, but then she’d have to be to put up with Xander and fit into the gang like she had.
A tingle ran up her spine and Buffy tensed. Spike was close. Would he say something, tell Xander and Anya what they might have caught her doing if they’d come along a few minutes earlier. Something she definitely should not have been doing here, and certainly not with him.
The woman in trouble and the arrival of her friends had once again returned Buffy to the real world. The world where she and Spike hated each other. They were enemies. So why the hell had she been smooching with him earlier? She remembered how she had wanted it to go much further than it had and was overcome with shame. He was a soulless monster. How could she have…
“You alright Buff?”
She started at the sound of Xander’s voice.
“I’m fine, peachy even.”
Xander frowned but nodded.
“So, you heading home now or doing another sweep?”
Buffy could still feel Spike watching them. Apparently he wasn’t going to join them, preferring to stay away from Xander. She knew he was waiting for her to be alone and the thought made up her mind for her.
“I don’t think I’ll be seeing any more action tonight. I should go home and see Mom and Dawn. Mom really doesn’t need to be worrying about me staying out late.”
She couldn’t face him. Being near him was risky. She kept letting her defences down and he kept surprising her. Things were muddled right now. Riley had been gone a little more than a week and she hadn’t even cried over him, not really. Macking on Spike was clearly a sign of how messed up her thoughts were if her judgement was that bad. She needed to work this out and just keep her distance. Of course that was easier said than done knowing him.
“Alright, let’s go, Anya’s not the only one who’ll be glad to get out of here.”
Buffy followed her friends as they made their way home, Spike’s eyes burning a hole in her back the entire way out of the cemetary.
He was hoping she would stick around so they could at least talk. Should’ve bloody known better. Soon as she saw her friends she’d remembered she was supposed to hate him, that he was revolting and she’d run scared from what they’d done.
He narrowed his eyes and stomped off towards the bad part of town. He was sorely in need of a drink and Willy’s was as good a place as any. If she thought for one minute he was jus’ gonna forget this she had a bloody ‘nother thing coming.
***
Buffy had had a restless night. The kind where she got zero sleep and was now feeling irritable and impatient and had a severe headache to go along with her charming new mood. She couldn’t quite decide if the lack of sleep was because she hadn’t felt Spike around since the graveyard or because of the very vivid dream she’d had involving him that had shocked her awake and left her aching and damp in places he definitely should not be affecting. She suspected it was probably both.
After a very cold shower, she dressed and tried to make herself appear somewhat normal before heading downstairs for breakfast. Joyce was in the kitchen, finishing off a cup of coffee and reading the paper and looked up in surprise at her eldest daughter.
“You’re certainly up early this morning.”
“Or late depending on how you look at it,” Buffy grumbled.
“Well you came home pretty early from patrol so I’m guessing you didn’t sleep very well. Any particular reason?”
Buffy rooted through the cupboards while she decided what to eat for breakfast.
“Not really. I just have a whole lot on my plate with Glory being suspiciously quiet and this new spell Willow and Tara want to try that could literally explode in our faces and Giles going away to talk to people I hate and ask them for help, not to mention dealing with the fact I was dating a complete asshole for a year and stupid vamps that won’t leave you alone and then vanish and come back to be twice the nuisances they were…”
Joyce blinked rapidly while her daughter ranted and paced about the kitchen, opening and closing doors before picking out a box of cereal from the first cupboard she looked in and plopping down at the kitchen island to eat, eventually holding up a hand to halt the tirade.
“Okay so stupid question. Buffy are you alright. Maybe you should stay home and rest. You sound like you need it.”
“Thanks Mom but if I couldn’t get any rest last night hanging out here all day isn’t going to solve that problem and I really need to be there when Willow tests this spell later, plus the new semester is starting and I need to go check out my classes.”
“Right, of course. You missed so much school already taking care of me.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. You’re more important and you needed me, besides, I told you I’ll still be okay and I can make up my grades as long as I’m really good and work hard this semester.”
“I know but I can’t help feeling guilty that you missed so much college because of me.”
“You are crazy you realize that?”
Joyce smiled affectionately at her daughter.
“I think I’m allowed to be crazy with a hole in my head and being housebound for so long. The sooner I can go back to work the sooner I’ll become sane.”
“Well you still have a couple weeks left before then so you’ll just have to find something else to keep you someway normal.”
“Don’t remind me. I miss the gallery. Still I can understand why with all the napping I need to do.”
“That’s okay sleeping beauty, the Gallery will still be there when you’re ready. Ugh, but I should really make a move and head over to campus.”
“Alright honey, take care and I hope your day gets better.”
“Thanks Mom, love you, and say bye to Dawn for me.”
Buffy kissed her mother goodbye and left to face the world feeling slightly better but with no expectations of having a good day.
***
Surprisingly things hadn’t gone as badly as she had suspected. While some classes sounded tough and she had that one teacher that spit when he talked things were looking up and now she and Tara were headed to the Magic Box to meet Willow and try out the new spell.
Upon entering the shop, however, it appeared her first assumption of how her day would go was correct. Anya and Willow were in the middle of a heated argument behind the counter completely oblivious to the magic swirling around a crystal behind them.
“Willow!” Tara warned.
The redhead spun round but it was too late. There was a loud crack and a puff of purple smoke and the shop had a new occupant. A very large troll now stood in the middle of the shop holding an equally large hammer and he did not look pleased. With a loud roar the troll smashed the glass counter with his hammer and headed for the exit, smashing anything within range. Buffy dropped her bag and headed straight for the thing while Tara ducked out of the way and moved towards Willow who was rooted to the spot beside Anya.
Buffy didn’t even get a single hit on the troll before he knocked her clean across the room with his hammer and barrelled out through the door.
The sight of her smashing the far wall and leaving a nice, Buffy-shaped dent in it, roused Willow and Anya from their stunned silence and they raced towards her.
“Buffy!”
“My God are you okay?”
Buffy heaved herself off the floor. Perfect. Now her headache was like a jackhammer in her head and she had new aches and pains all over her body.
“I’m fantastic. What happened?”
Willow and Anya shared a meaningful look before Willow sighed and answered.
“I was getting everything ready for the spell and was just checking the translation when Anya started correcting me. Long story short it turned into this big row and I guess we kinda sorta did a twisted version of the spell and released a trollgod from one of the magical crystal thingies in the shop.”
“Wonderful. I knew this day was going to be hell.”
“Well hey it’s not like we knew there was a troll trapped in one of those crystals, and everything would have been just fine if Anya hadn’t kept interrupting me.”
“Hey! Don’t blame this on me missy, I’m just trying to look after my shop and I thought you might want to at least get your translation right.”
“My translation was perfect thank you, just because you used to be a demon with all the demon languages and the incredibly long life span…”
“Guys…” Buffy tried to intervene desperately.
“It was far from perfect and now look, just look at this place! It’s trashed! Do you realise how much it’s going to cost to repair this place? This is my first day completely in charge!”
“Guys…” Buffy tried again.
“You’re dating a carpenter! And it’s not like it hasn’t been trashed before! Besides it’s so not my fault!”
“GUYS!”
Three stunned faces turned to look at her. Tara smiled in understanding and sympathy and Willow and Anya had the grace to look ashamed of themselves. Buffy rubbed her temples.
“I changed my mind, it doesn’t matter how that thing got here let’s just figure out how to get rid of it. Any way we could trap it back in that crystal thing again?”
Tara shook her head.
“Uh uh. The crystal got destroyed when it was released. There’s no way we’re trapping it again. We might be able to send it to another dimension though, open up a portal maybe?”
She turned to Willow who nodded excitedly.
“Yeah that could work. I’ll grab what we need and we can track that thing down. We’ll have to be in range for the spell to work.”
“Great. Hurry up. Who knows what damage that thing is causing the longer it’s out there. I’m just guessing it’s leaving a big enough trail to make tracking it a piece of cake.”
The witches set about gathering their things while Buffy checked to see how much damage she’d sustained. Anya, meanwhile, assessed the damage to the shop.
***
Spike scowled dangerously at yet another person staring at him in the Bronze. They soon scarpered off leaving him alone at his table to gingerly sip at his beer around his torn lip. His foul mood had led him into a fight at Willy’s where he was already pretty unpopular and while he’d held his own for a long time, being outnumbered by demons larger and stronger than him found him tossed out the back door looking worse for wear.
It was his current appearance that had so many people staring at him warily now. Besides the injured lip he also sported a nasty black eye, his right, and bruised jaw. His left ear had dried in blood around it and those were only the injuries they could see. After being kicked out of the demon bar he’d purchased a large quantity of alcohol from the liquor store but after several bottles decided he’d had enough wallowing in his own misery and decided to share in the misery of others at the Bronze.
All the drinking had done little to erase the memories of having Buffy pressed against him and if anything had made him dwell on them more. Oh yeah, and let’s not forget her rejection of him afterwards when her friends showed up and she fled without a word to him.
He took another gulp of his beer to find it empty. He looked around for a waitress but they were keeping their distance from him and grumbling to himself, he eased out of his chair and limped towards the bar.
He was almost there when someone bumped into him roughly and he swore, wheeling around to face the idiot.
“Hey watch it mate!”
He was unsure if it was the alcohol at first but when the figure remained the same after a while Spike realised that he was in fact looking up at a troll. The troll growled at him warningly and he realised he may have just gotten himself into another fight with a much more dangerous creature in a human bar.
“Oh, Bloody hell!”
***
“Man this thing is leaving a serious mess behind it,” Buffy commented.
“At least it’s easy to follow,” Tara added.
They had just driven past yet another chaos strewn street. Lampposts and trash cans were scattered about and car alarms blared while people ran in the opposite direction. Anya had insisted she was perfectly capable of driving them so they could catch the trollgod faster but as it turned out she really couldn’t drive. She either flew around so fast they were rolling around in their seats every time she turned and clinging on for dear life or jerked on the brakes sending them flying towards the windshield only to be prevented from smashing their heads through the glass by the seatbelts they had luckily had time to secure before setting off, although they were sure they had matching sets of broken ribs by now. All this was not helped by the knowledge that this was Giles’ car. His new, shiny, red car he had left behind mistakenly believing it would be safe.
After barely rounding another corner alive the sound of a phone ringing filled the air. Buffy, turned to look at Willow and Tara in the backseat questioningly but they just shrugged.
“Oh it’s mine,” Anya piped up cheerfully, “it’s probably Xander.”
She took one hand off the wheel and rooted through her bag which led to a chorus of screaming and terrified shouts from the car’s other occupants.
“Anya!”
“Eyes on the road!”
“Keep driving I’ll get it!”
Buffy whipped the bag out of Anya’s hand so she could get her attention back on the road and searched its contents until she found the phone. Anya gripped the steering wheel with both hands again leading to a collective sigh of relief from the others while Buffy answered.
“Hey, Xander? Hi. Yeah everyone’s fine. Willow and Anya accidentally released a trollgod from a crystal and we’re on its trail now. Yeah I know. Oh no his car’s not stolen we’re in it. Ummm Anya’s driving.”
Buffy winced and held the phone away from her ear and they could all hear Xander’s shout of surprise.
“Xander calm down, we’re fine, she’s…she’s doing okay…well yeah but we’re still alive and…”
“Hey!” Anya objected.
“Look it can’t have gotten too far we’re bound to catch it soon. Okay. Sure, hopefully we’ll have it dealt with before you even get there but the more the merrier and it’s probably a good idea to have someone with a license drive us back. Okay, bye Xand.”
Buffy hung up and returned the phone to the bag.
“I’m guessing he paid a trip to the Magic shop huh?” Willow asked.
“Yup. He was worried we’d all been obliterated or something and that Giles’ car had been stolen. He’s going to follow the path of destruction and try and catch up to us.”
“Guys,” Tara spoke up, “anyone notice where this trail seems to be leading us?”
They looked at their surroundings and it clicked.
“The Bronze.” Willow and Buffy clarified.
“We’re almost there. Want me to put my foot down?” Anya asked and they all stared at her incredulously.
“Has your foot ever not been down?” Willow enquired.
“Well no, not exactly but that’s what they say in the movies right?”
A few minutes later they’d pulled up, or rather, screeched to an abrupt halt, outside the Bronze and all four of them rushed in. Whatever carnage they had prepared themselves for, nothing could have prepared them for what they actually saw upon entering. The Bronze was mostly empty and intact, aside from a broken pool table and a few people standing around, frozen at the sight that had halted the gang in their tracks. Sitting at a table in a corner opposite them sat Spike and the troll, drinking beers and eating chicken wings in the middle of deep discussion.
“What.The.Hell?” Buffy asked.
[Reviews - 25]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | 
Chapter or Story
Has been viewed 3976 times
- Text Size +
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Chapter or Story |
Chapter or Story | Chapter or Story - Text Size +
Author's Chapter Notes:
So as I said I'm posting two chapters a day. 5 just went up so don't forget to read that first. Thanks to everyone who's reading.