[Reviews - 0]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 199 times

- Text Size +




CHAPTER TEN

She returned to Spike’s crypt, carefully putting the bar across the inner door before even looking for him. When she saw his jeans and tee shirt in a heap on the floor she sighed. “So, you’re a bat again?”

An angry squeak was the only response.

“Wonderful. Now I don’t know what to do with you. I told Riley to leave you alone, but I don’t think he’s going to. He thinks he can beat you up like he did the just-out-of-his-grave kid he was pummeling when I caught up with him. I told him he couldn’t, but that might just mean he’ll bring out more vamp weapons.”

Spike’s angry squeals weren’t hard to translate into “I’d like to see him try,” and Buffy rolled her eyes.

“Well, if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather not see him try,” she said. “I’ve got to find a way to fix this.”

Spike flew to a shelf at eye level and cocked his head at her. She automatically put out her hand, biting her lip when he flinched back from it rather than curling around her fingers. She met his eyes and flushed, realizing he had yet to touch her.

“Okay. I know we can’t talk when you’re like this, but does that mean I can’t touch you?”

He gave a little bat shrug and hopped to her shoulder, but remained on the outer edge where she couldn’t feel his soft fur or normal caresses on her neck.

“Fine. You’re mad at me. Go ahead and be mad.” She stomped over to the couch and plopped down, not caring if he was jarred off her shoulder or not. “This is hard for me, Spike. I’m trying to think of some way to keep you in my life, without having to explain to my watcher that I trust you not to go on a killing spree. I’m thinking ‘because he loves me and rocked my world today’ isn’t going to work. “ She crossed her arms and settled back with a pout.

Spike clung to her jacket a little longer, then moved closer and nudged her neck making his “sorry” sound. Buffy waited a little longer, then stroked his back softly. “It’s going to be hard,” she said. “It’s hard for me, because every slayer instinct I have is screaming at me that you’re dangerous.” When he recoiled and growled, she sighed again. “I know it’s not true. At least as far as I’m concerned, and I guess Mom and Dawn, but we’ve got a whole bunch of other people to convince, and that’s going to be a lot harder….”

She turned her head to nuzzle him, turning the growl into a much happier sound. “I’m not going to give you up,” she said, kissing the top of his head. “I’m just trying to figure out what to do. You’ll have to give me some time.”

He made an agreeable sound and did his ‘okay’ nudge to her neck, before licking her and leaving little bat kisses.

“So, if we’re not fighting anymore, let’s go tell Giles about Riley and see if he has any ideas.”

Spike flew to the door and waited there, hanging by his feet from the bar. Buffy laughed as she lifted the bar and took it off. “You’re going to miss all this flying and hanging from things, aren’t you?”

Before she opened the door, she looked around the room and at the rumpled rug over the door to his bedroom. “I wonder if there’s some was to hide that, without making it look like we’re hiding something? Maybe just doing some furniture re-arranging? We need to work on that when we get back.”

XXX

Buffy chose to take the long way to Giles’s, both because it was a little early for her to have ended a patrol, and because she thought she ought to have something else to report other than she’d rushed to Spike’s crypt as soon as the sun went down. Four vampires and a smelly demon later, she felt justified in knocking on Giles’s door before walking in.

He glanced up from where he’d been reading at his desk, and smiled at her. “You’re alright,” he said, looking relieved.

“Did you expect me not to be?” Spike had left her shoulder for his normal place on the curtain rod.

“I’ve had a rather garbled and confused call from your, I’m assuming former, boyfriend to the effect that Spike had such a strong thrall he managed to include him in it, and to appear in front of him without warning and without clothing.” Giles shot a quick look at Bat-Spike, who just blinked at him. “He seemed quite certain you were in imminent danger and that I should go to your rescue prepared to stake Spike.”

“Wow. He didn’t waste any time, did he?” Buffy shook her head and sat in the big chair. “So, here’s the sitch….” Without going into detail about what they’d been doing all day at her empty house, or the fact that Spike’s chip was no longer working, Buffy managed to give a short summary of not only the probable change in their relationship, but Riley’s attempts to kill both Bat-Spike and vampire Spike. She also mentioned the fledgling that Riley had been essentially torturing until she put an end to it, and that he seemed to think he could and should do the same thing to Spike.

Giles sighed and pulled off his glasses to polish them vigorously while Buffy rolled her eyes and waited patiently for him to say something. To her shock, it was not what she expected to hear.

“I’ve been doing some research,” he began, “based, I will admit, on Riley’s insistence that you have an unusual attraction to vampires. As it turns out, such an attraction is not all that unheard of for slayers. Not that it’s common or expected!” he hastened to add. “But, it seems that as slayers age and gain more experience, they have been known to form relationships with older vampires. The Council, needless to say, is not fond of these relationships, but they are so rare as to not have a set protocol for them. They weren’t concerned about your relationship with Angel because, not only did he have a soul and was someone the Powers felt had potential as a champion, but you were too young to be forging a long-term relationship with him.”

He waited for her to stop muttering about the Council minding its own business, and for Spike to stop growling at the mention of Angel’s name before continuing.

“Even making allowances for Riley’s obvious jealousy and anger over your ending the relationship with him in favor of what he still insists was a pet, it is obvious that you and Spike do have an affinity for each other. Beginning with your truce to fight Angelus—a truce, I might add, you should have shared with me at the time—” he gave a glare at both Buffy and Spike. “—and your obvious romantic feelings last year when Willow only wished you marriage, not devotion, and the rather obvious relationship between you now, I’m assuming that this may be the beginning of one of those rare slayer/vampire relationships mentioned in the Council’s records.”

Buffy stared at Spike, who blinked back at her before floating down to her shoulder. “Does this mean it’s okay if he… I mean, if I… if we… it’s okay? I don’t have to fight anybody about it?”

Giles sighed. “I believe ‘okay’ may be a bit too strong, but it is not unheard of, and may or may not be sanctioned by the Council.” He gave Spike a hard glare. “The fact that Spike’s chip means he’s harmless is definitely a factor in your favor. However, Riley seems to be under the impression the chip is no longer functional—although given he cannot seem to make up his mind whether he knows that for a fact because Spike did, indeed, cause him pain without any obvious consequences, or that it was all part of the over-all thrall that’s making him appear to be a bat.” He waited for clarification, frowning when Buffy’s face fell and she fumbled for what to say.

“He’s right. Spike did stop Riley from staking him by squeezing his hand to make him drop the stake. But it was really self-defense, and Spike already knew he could protect himself as long as he didn’t try to hurt anybody. So, maybe….”

“Maybe you’re reaching for straws because you know he’s free to kill again?” Giles asked dryly.

“Maybe?” Buffy put her hand on Spike, who had snuggled up against her neck.

“And you’re comfortable with that?” Giles didn’t allow her to look away from his piercing gaze.

“I trust him,” she said. “If he promises not to kill anybody, and to keep buying his blood from the butcher, I trust him. Spike doesn’t lie to me.”

Giles sighed and shook his head. “I’m not sure that after dealing with Angelus, anyone is going to be willing to trust your judgement on this issue. You may have a hard time convincing anyone—including me,” he added, in case she hadn’t noticed his lack of enthusiasm.

Spike nuzzled Buffy’s neck, leaving a little bat kiss, then flew out of the room and upstairs. He was back within a few seconds, in his normal form and wearing what was apparently Giles’s bathrobe. Ignoring the incongruity of appearing in loungewear that was too big for him, he walked up to Giles and met his eyes firmly.

“The Slayer knows me better than anyone else in this town, and if she trusts me, you should trust her.”

“Buffy’s judgement has been skewed in the past by allowing her emotions to get in the way.”

Spike growled. “Not him. Not like him, never was, and never will be. And Buffy’s a grown woman, not a starry-eyed teenager with terrible taste in men. She’s an amazing slayer, and even more amazing woman, and I would never do anything to break her trust or give her reason to want to dust me.”

“So, you’re saying developing a relationship with Buffy is all it takes to turn you into a pussycat?” Giles scoffed, but waited for a response.

“I’m not saying that. I’m saying if she lets me into her life, I’ll never do anything to make her change her mind about it, or be sorry that she did it. And I’ll do my best to have her back and see to it that she is the longest-lived slayer ever. That’s all I’m promising.” He glanced at Buffy, then back Giles, saying firmly, “I am the demon I am, and there may be times when that’s just what she needs to have on her side.”

He finished speaking just in time to mutter, “Fuck!” before the robe collapsed to the floor and an angry bat crawled out from under it. Giles picked up his robe and draped it over a chair as he watched Bat-Spike fly back to Buffy’s shoulder.

“It seems he is learning to control this,” he observed, watching Spike intently. Buffy nodded.

“I think he’s getting there. That’s twice tonight, but he can’t stay himself for very long.”

“And threats to you are, again, what allows him to change.”

“You weren’t threatening me!” Buffy glared at Giles, remembering that he had been discussing Spike’s lack of a chip’s restraint in a less than positive fashion. “Not exactly….”

“The question remains, vampire or bat, you are trusting a very dangerous vampire to control his demon for no better reason than his desire to remain in a relationship with you.”

“I think that’s a damn good reason,” Buffy muttered, as Spike snuggled into her neck.

“And that may turn out to be the case,” Giles said with a sigh. “But I strongly suggest that you keep both your non-bat relationship and Spike’s lack of restraint as much of a secret as is possible. I‘m quite sure I am not the Council’s only source of information in Sunnydale.” He gave Spike a hard glare. “Obviously, that secrecy will preclude any public displays of affection, as well as any conflicts with humans that don’t result in painful headaches for Spike.”

“I already knew we would have to get everybody used to the idea we don’t hate each other before we could move on to… to anything else. I mean everybody knows he’s with me all the time when he’s a bat, so it shouldn’t be too hard to kinda ease our way into being friends. Really close friends,” Buffy added, stroking Spike’s back.

“I don’t want to know,” Giles groaned, pouring himself a stiff drink.

“Okay, Giles. It’ll just be our little secret. Just the three of us… or maybe five of us. Mom and Dawn would never forgive me, but they both like Spike, so they’ll probably be fine with it.”

“The more people who know, the more difficult it will be to keep it a secret. I will do what I can to prepare the Council for eventual knowledge, but it will take time. Time in which Spike can be proving himself as a member of your normal companions and occasional helpers.”

Spike nudged her neck again, then nodded his agreement. Frustrated that she couldn’t talk to him about it while he was a bat, Buffy huffed her acceptance of the situation.

“Now all I have to worry about is Riley. He said something the other day about being asked to go demon-hunting in South America. Maybe he’ll do that, now that he knows we’re broken up and there’s nothing for him here.”

“It would be the best of solutions. Perhaps you can encourage that idea in some way?”

“I don’t really want to talk to him if I don’t have to, but if I get a chance, I will. And if he comes whining to you again about Spike, maybe you can say something encouraging about leaving Sunnydale.”

“I suppose that is the limit to what we can actually do to influence him. That, and to hope that as his jealousy wanes, so will his need to punish Spike.”

There was a tiny scoffing noise from Spike, and Buffy shook her head as she walked to the door.

“It needs to wane pretty fast, I can’t be with him 24/7.”

Spike’s angry squeaking made her stop and snap at him. “Okay, okay, yes, you’re a big bad vampire and you can kick his ass. The point is, we don’t want him to know that for a fact. The longer he thinks you’re still chipped, the safer you’ll be, and right now all he knows is that you can stop him from staking you. He doesn’t know for sure that you can fight back.” Buffy remembered the things she’d said to Riley about Spike not being a fledgling, and frowned. “At least I hope he doesn’t.”

“Perhaps,” Giles said, “a public exhibition of how the chip is still at work might be in order? If we can arrange something where Spike appears to attack someone, then is incapacitated by the chip….?”

“That’s a thought, I guess. He could just start a fight somewhere public and then pretend the chip fired when he threw the first punch.” She frowned and glanced at Bat-Spike, who was looking much too pleased about starting a fight. “It’s going to have to be somebody we know won’t really beat you up,” she said. “Or else somebody will have to be there to save you….”

Spike nudged her with his nose, and squeaked a question.

“Well, yeah, obviously I could do it, but it would be better if I wasn’t around to do it. It has to look like you needed to be saved, so Riley… and the Council! can see that you can’t harm humans and I don’t need to stake you. Maybe Xander….”

Giles and Bat-Spike gave matching scoffs of disbelief, although Spike’s tiny scoffing noise sounded more like a sneeze.

“Okay, fine. Maybe not Xander…. We’ll find somebody. If worse comes to worst, we’ll do it when I’m around. But I think Xander might surprise you.”





You must login (register) to review.