[Reviews - 148]
-
Table of Contents [Report This]
Microsoft Word Chapter or Story | ePub eBook Chapter or Story | Printer Chapter or Story

Has been viewed 3745 times

- Text Size +




“I can explain, pet.” Spike said taking a step towards her. He had just met her but he still felt like he had betrayed her.

“Let me guess Har’tuh paid you a small fortune to protect me from some big ugly from his past.” Buffy asked, crossing her arms over her chest, stifling a wince from the pain in her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Spike said a little surprised. “But I called my partner and quit after we danced.”

She laughed but she still wasn‘t ready to forgive him yet. But she wasn’t ready to let him go either, which sent her scouring her mind for some sort of compromise. “I’m good honey, but not that good. Call and let your partner know that your back on the job.”

“Your father may have already cancelled the contract.”

“He’s not my father, just the sperm donor. My father lives in England.” She corrected him coldly. “But Hank isn’t hiring you I am.”

She saw something flicker in his eyes. “Don’t worry, I can meet your fee.”

“That’s not what I worried about, I wondering what your hiring me for?” He walked over to stand in front of her and jerked his head at the demon. “You more or less took this bastard down without any help from me and when he told you my profession you didn’t exactly seem grateful. So what exactly do you want from me Buffy?”

Unable to resist, she flicked her gaze down the long length of his body.

“Now wait just a damn minute,” Spike said taking her arm. He wanted her so badly it hurt, but he had his pride…no matter how delightful the job sounded. “I’m not a whore. You can buy my professional services and I’ll guard your body but I’m not about to let you buy me.”

Judging by the steam all but pouring out of his ears, she figured they were even. “Get over yourself Spike. If I want a man, I don’t have to buy one. This isn’t the first time this has happened and since I am part human I could use some help. You took a bullet and didn’t run screaming so that shows me you can handle yourself. But it’s my life so we do this my way.”

She pulled her arm away and looked into his eyes. “I want you Spike but we will handle that on my terms as well. If you got a problem with that, walk away now.”

Wanting no more misunderstanding, he reached up to touch her face. “I might be bad for you luv, I’ve got a past and it isn’t pleasant. So maybe I should be saying the same thing to you.”

She thought about her own past, the blood, the pain, the demons. She had seen and done things that she knew from experience could make a man look at her like she was his worst nightmare made flesh. “Everyone has a past, mine is painted with blood and filled with screams of terror and pain. That’s also my future and my present, I might hurt you before this is over Spike.”

“Then so be it, I’m not about to walk away.” He brought his lips to hers and whispered against her mouth. “I might be the one who hurts you.”

With his lips a breath away from hers, she knew there was no going back now. She didn’t believe for a moment that she would live to see her golden years so her only choice was to live each day she did have well. Without passion, without heat you might as well be another cold body on a slab.

She couldn’t imagine a worse fate than that. No torment of hell could be worse than potential unfilled and every time her lips met his, she felt the potential for something more. Something that she wanted in the deepest crevice of her heart…to love and be loved in return.

“Then make me burn until then,” she whispered closing the distance between their lips. Dimly she heard the wail of sirens slicing through the night like the weeping call of a nightingale but nothing mattered but him. There was no end or beginning of time, just this moment.

Needing to feel her skin under his fingers, he pulled her closer, wrenching a pain filled gasp from her throat. “Bloody hell,” He muttered pulling away to study her shoulder. He had completely forgotten they had been shot and since she was the only one in danger of bleeding to death, he was surprised she hadn’t brought it up.

The skin was ragged and red, like a fire raging beneath her pale skin but to his surprise the thumb sized hole had already began to close. She was healing faster than he was and that thought alone, reminded his own brain that he too was in pain. Since he was more concerned about her it was easy to ignore it. Wanting to see how badly she was hurt, he prodded around the wound gently causing her to wince sharply. “I can’t believe you.”

“Yeah that me, natures mystery.” She muttered dryly pulling away.

“Not the healing, which is impressive by the way, but your fussing now more than when you were actually shot.”

“Well I was a little busy at the time.” She told him with a wicked smile. “I don‘t mind a little pain as foreplay, but even for me this was a little extreme.”

“Want me to kiss it and make it better, baby?” He shot back, liking the way it sounded.

“Vampires.” She said rolling her eyes. “It’s always about the blood lust and not about the lust.”

“You knew?” Spike asked, unable to believe she had surprised him yet again. Every time he thought he had her figured, she did the last thing he expected. He loved that in a woman and once you add in the rough foreplay, she was close to becoming his ideal girlfriend.

“The whole no heartbeat thing, gave it away on the dance floor. But it’s not really a problem for me, I need a man with a little more stamina than the average human. We got demons to deal with and Joe Regular doesn‘t really thrive in that environment.” She told him switching her focus away from her throbbing glands and insistent libido. Before she had time to say anything else or ask any questions she heard the sound of the front doors being thrown open.

Only one man she knew entered a room like that and she wasn’t really in the mood for another confrontation with Detective Angelus. “Follow my lead, you’re now on the clock.” She told Spike quickly, while Angel made his way over to them.

“What in the hell happened here?” He demanded, motioning for his men to assist the demon on the ground.

“Self defense, he shot me, I kicked his ass. Case closed.” Buffy told him harshly. His tone implied that this was some how her fault and that more or less told her how the rest of the conversation was going to go…badly.

“You don’t look badly injured while he is unconscious. That doesn’t say self defense to me.” He told her crossly, glaring at the man just over her shoulder. He could see she was bleeding but more importantly he recognized the man as the one she had been dancing with earlier. That just put him in a bad mood, even though they weren‘t together anymore he didn‘t care to have his nose rubbed in it.

“I’m the slayer in this conversation, Detective” Buffy said, leveling him with a icy glare. “So that means what you think doesn’t mean shit. I outrank you, so I don’t need your permission to deal with a violent assailant. He shot me in a crowded club full of innocent bystanders and if it had been a few inches lower I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you. So what in the hell did you expect me to do Angel, ask him to wait nicely until your team could get here to arrest him?”

“You may be a slayer, but what about your friend here?” Angel asked, making sure that by friend he meant lover. “Did have a part in this?”

“He’s my body guard Angel and he was shot…so yeah he had a part in this. He knocked him out and disarmed him but the rest was just little old me. If he hadn‘t, you’d have a body on your hands, so you might say thank you.” Buffy said mockingly.

“Would you have really killed him?” Angel asked her quietly.

She met his eyes, letting him see the darkness she was capable of in matters of life and death. “You know the answer Angel. I don’t go down easy, I fight.”

“There has to be more to life than kill or be killed, or else what in the hell’s the point.” He asked, running a hand through his hair.

“Living Angel, that’s the point.” Buffy said laying a hand over the wound. The blood had dried so she slipped her finger into the wound to gather blood on her finger tip. She rubbed her finger over her palm to smear the blood over her hand before lifting it up to show it to him. “You don’t drink blood because it’s the color of fresh roses, you drink it because there’s life stored away in every single drop. This is my life, one drop at a time and I’m not ready for it to be over yet. That’s worth fighting for, I’m worth fighting for and I sure as hell don’t have to stand here and defend myself to you.”

“Why are you afraid you new friend here might suddenly see you the way I do?” Angel shot back, his mouth watering at the sight of blood warm and fresh on her hand.

Oz’s words floated back to her and she realized that he had been right. “I may be just another monster to you Angel but your nothing to me. Poor tortured Angel, can’t be a monster, can’t be a man. You are pathetic and the real reason your so pissed off is because I figured that out a long time ago. Your beneath me…”

He cut her off with a sharp backhand, knocking her a full step back. Every eye in the place turned to the sound as it echoed through the nearly empty building and up to the rafters above.

Which Spike took as his cue to step forward. Not as her body guard but as the man currently in her life. If she had a problem with that, then….they would talk about it later he decided. He stepped forward and hit Angel with a solid right cross wearing a sadistic smile the entire time. “Hit a nerve did she?”

Buffy laid a hand on Spike’s forearm, stopping him from taking another shot. She dabbed at the blood gathering in the corner of her lip. “It looks like I’m not the only one who is a monster.”

Realizing what he had done, Angel’s eyes filled with remorse. “Buffy…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just get the fuck out. Your not welcome here anymore.” She turned around and left him standing there and she never looked back. Angel was her past, a past she didn’t care to repeat, while Spike…well she wasn’t sure what he was yet.

Both vampires eyed each other while the click click of her stiletto’s on the floor got father and father away. Spike’s first instinct was to go after her but he reckoned she needed a little time to get her mind together. It was obvious these two had been involved but since it was also obvious that it was very much over, he wasn’t threatened by this git in the least, he told himself.

They stood there watching each other in silence both fully aware that everyone in the room was waiting to see what would happen next. Figuring he had done enough damage for the night, Angel turned on his heel and left without another word. He had a lot to think about.


______________________________________________

“Buffy are you alright?” Willow asked running into her office only seconds after Buffy had pulled the door shut.

“My arm aches but it’s nothing my favorite Wicca can‘t help.” Buffy hinted, walking the rest of the way over to her chair.

“I’m not talking about that, I talking about what that bastard Angel did.” Willow said, her voice laced with hatred and disgust. She walked over to Buffy and laid her hands gently over the wound. Reciting the incantation in her head she could feel a ball of warmth flow into her hands. She visualized pushing that power into Buffy. When she pulled her hand away the wound wasn’t completely healed, but it was closed and some of the inflammation had faded.

“I am so over him Willow.” Buffy said rolling her arm gently. It still throbbed but it was barely even a one on her pain scale. Sometimes it was good to have a witch as a best friend and this was just one of those times, Buffy thought with a grin. But there were things she wanted to do tonight, most of them involving Spike, and she wanted to get started before she talked herself out of it. “Call the cleaning crew and have them handle the main floor first thing in the morning. Then talk to Xander and have him make sure the staff understands that this is an in house matter and that anyone caught talking it over with the patrons will be fired. I’ll handle the press but I will need you to run things around here for a little while after that.”

“So this wasn’t just a one time thing huh?” Willow asked, leaning back against the desk. She knew things like this happened a lot in Buffy‘s life but this was the first time it had happened in the club. Buffy loved this place and Willow understood why that was her first priority but she still wanted to what this would mean for her friend.

“Nope, just another unwelcome gift from Hank.” Catching the look of concern in her eyes, Buffy gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry I’m not solo gal, he also hired me a bodyguard.”

“So that’s what Blondie was doing with you at the base of the stairs…guarding your body.” Willow asked innocently. She had been two steps behind her when they had started their impromptu make out session. And even though she had been standing there in a public place, she had felt like she had walked in on them without knocking first. It was like they had secreted unrestrained desire into the air, which is why she left them to it and went back upstairs to get a kiss or three from her own husband. Blushing at the thought of how hot she had gotten watching them, Willow pushed those feelings aside.

She hadn’t been fast enough, Buffy saw the faint blush creeping down her friends neck. “Trust me Will, it was even better than you can possibly imagine. I was there and I’ve never been so turned on in my entire life. It was like the rest of the world was gone and all that mattered was feeling his lips against mind. Which is why I decided to hire him.”

When Willow gaped at her in shock, she quickly explained what had been going on. When she had the gist of it, Buffy leaned back in her chair. “So since I want to keep him around for awhile, I figured I might as well hire him to help me deal whatever mess Hank’s gotten me into this time.”

Since Buffy had only been enjoying brief affairs since her break from Angel, Willow was overjoyed that her friend was finally interested in someone for more than a one night stand. She knew what infatuation looked like on her friend and this wasn’t it. This was something deeper and since she had seen him punch Angel, she liked this new guy already. Now all she had to do was make sure Buffy didn‘t ruin it before it got started. “Take as long as you need, we can handle things here.”





You must login (register) to review.