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Chapter 25: "Heartbeat"

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Rating: R



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"What are you...?" Buffy stumbled over her words.

Vanessa's mouth hung open in shock, while her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. She stretched her arms out and pulled Buffy into a tight embrace.

Buffy's arms stayed glued to her sides. She glanced at Spike over Vanessa's shoulder, her mind full of questions. Why was Spike with Vanessa? How did they know each other?

Vanessa broke the hug and stepped back. "I can’t believe it's you. I never thought we'd see each other again."

"I’m just as shocked as you are." Buffy joked weakly. "What are you doing in Sunnydale?"

"Hiding from my brother," she answered, her voice laced with hatred. "You remember Johnny, right?"

Buffy blushed. Of course she remembered her long ago best friend's brother. The very same brother she had the biggest crush on growing up.

"Yes, I do."

"I just had to get away from him. He's on some sort of power trip now." Vanessa explained.

She was so busy babbling on and on that she didn’t notice the looks Spike and Buffy were exchanging.

It finally dawned on Buffy who Vanessa was in relation to Spike. This was the very girl whom he got caught with, resulting in his needing to lay low. Vanessa was the girl who was supposed to marry, but didn’t because Spike ruined her. So, that meant that Johnny was the vampire brother and also the very vamp Spike was on the run from.

Buffy scoffed quietly. She so wished she could kill Spike right now, not just for him being who he was, but now because of his own stupidity.

"I remembered meeting Spike through Johnny and decided to look him up. And now, here I am." Vanessa finished, drawing both the Slayer and Vampire's attention back to her.

Vanessa glanced between the two enemies. "Do you two know each other?"

"We're acquaintances," Spike responded first. "Very close acquaintances."

"Actually, "Buffy rebutted. "Spike and I are working on a class project together. So, that’s all we are.....classmates, that’s all."

Buffy felt like crawling into a hole after the last word passed over her lips. She could almost hear Spike grinning, that smug look spreading across his face. What the hell had she been thinking? Classmates? Class project?

"I thought Spike was a vampire," Vanessa stated, saying it almost like it was common knowledge that vampires roamed the earth.

"How can he be a student at your school? Daytime and everything."

"You’re right, I don’t know what I was thinking. Spike's an annoying pain in my ass, so I guess I just got him and the whole class project thing mixed up, cause you know I hate them both."

Buffy sent an icy glare in Spike's direction, to which he returned one of his own.

Spike ground his teeth together. "As much as I would love to stay around and continue to listen to the Queen Bitch insult me, I have other more interesting things I could be doing."

"There’s no love lost between you two," Vanessa commented. "Is it just me or did the temperature in this place fall a couple hundred degrees?"

"Fine go! See if I care," Buffy yelled, forgetting that a very confused Vanessa was still there. "Just…..just stay away from me."

"I plan to."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Buffy grunted loudly before stalking away.

Spike growled low at her retreating form before he himself left.

Vanessa stood alone, bewildered by what had just taken place before her."What the hell was that about?"

"Hey Buffy what happened?" Xander asked when he saw her coming towards the table.

Buffy reached the table and jerked her coat from the back of her chair.

"I don’t know why I haven’t killed him yet," she mumbled to herself, thrusting one arm into the coat. "Uses my body for his little playground then makes a fool of me in front of my friend."

Willow and Xander exchanged questioning glances. Both wondered what their friend was talking about.

"Um, Buffy."

Buffy struggled with the other sleeve, pulling and tugging at the coat, and failing miserably in her attempt. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes. Giving up on the coat she buried her face in her hands.

"Why is this happening to me?"All her friends heard her muffled cry from behind her hands. "Why do I feel this way? Why is he getting to me like this?"

Willow finally stood. She hated seeing her best friend in so much distress and not knowing what the cause of it was.

"Buffy its okay," Willow soothed, reaching out and placing her arms around Buffy.

Buffy jerked violently and Willow stumbled back a little. She stared at Willow with huge eyes. Her gaze shifted to Xander then Cordelia and Oz. She had forgotten they were still there at the Bronze. Her eyes grew wider when she remembered what she had been saying. How much did they hear?

"Buffy, are you okay?" Willow spoke softly, cautiously. "Do you want us to take you home?"

"What?" Buffy shook her head. "No, I’m fine. You guys stay here and have your fun. I’m going to patrol then head home."

"Are you sure?" Xander asked, not convinced she was all right.

Buffy nodded her head while finally managing to get her other arm into her coat. She continued to nod her head slowly as she turned and disappeared.

"Something is wrong," Xander said. "And, I’m thinking it has to do with a certain peroxide vampire."

"Gosh, how depressing was that," Cordelia snorted. "I wonder if she’s going to go all suicidal."

"She’s not going to go suicidal."

"I hope not. Because that is not something I want connected with my reputation. Having a friend who committed suicide," she paused, considering what she had said. "Technically she’s not my friend. I just hang out with her because I’m dating you," she reasoned and pointed to Xander. "So, if she does end up killing herself we are so breaking up. It is so much worse…."

"Cordy!"

"What?"

"Ill talk to her tomorrow. Right now I don’t think us being there will do any good."Xander nodded his head in agreement.

"Right. Tomorrow we’ll get some answers."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike had wanted to kill something, needed to kill something. He could feel the darkness in him fading away quicker than it had consumed him when he was turned. All because the slayer had entered his unlife. Ever since he had gotten a taste of her he could feel himself slipping, growing soft. But, he’d be damned if he let it continue. That’s where he had gone after leaving the Bronze, to walk the streets, looking for a victim. Any victim. One to bring him back where he belonged.

He didn’t find one though. Now he was walking back to his crypt, pissed that he'd failed. That was until he heard something. A sniffle.

"Perfect," he purred, a smirk sliding across his face. Maybe he would find that weak victim after all.

He used his vampire hearing to sense exactly where his prey was. He pinpointed a direction and started slinking quietly through grave markers and headstones.

"Oh, its you," he groaned, agitated when he saw who it was.

Buffy spun around quickly, settling her body into attack mode. She saw Spike emerge from behind a nearby tree. "What do you want?" she asked, wiping away the evidence of her tears.

"Are you crying?" Spike asked, squinting his eyes at her as he moved closer.

"No."

"Yes you are."

"No, I am not," she defended. "Some dust from a vamp got in my eyes."

Spike sucked in his cheeks. He wondered if he should let this slide or continue to push on. He decided on the former.

"Right then, goodnight."

He was turned away and half gone, but stopped when he heard Buffy ask a sudden, unexpected question.

"Why her?"

Spike peered back at her over his shoulder.

Spike casually walked over to a headstone and braced his lower body against it. He stuck his hand into his front pants pocket to retrieve a cigarette and frowned when he found nothing. He started to pat his body all over, searching all of his pockets for the pack. He smiled when he finally felt them in his front shirt pocket. He plucked one out and popped it between his lips.

"You want to know what really happened with her brother?" he asked while he lit the fag dangling loosely from his mouth.

Buffy didn’t answer him. She just crossed her arms in front of her and waited.

"Right…." he drawled, blowing out a puff of smoke. "’Ere’s the whole story, the true story. After leaving Sunnyhell last year, after you sent Peaches to ‘ell, I went to South America with Dru. Things were wonderful, couldn’t have been better, that is until she realized what I had done and how I had formed an alliance with you. Things turned ugly after that. She refused to let me touch her, hold her, be with her. All because I had betrayed ‘her daddy’. She loathed me. A hundred years I spent with her, loving her and worshiping the very ground she walked on. But, did that mean anything to her? No. Said she didn’t trust me, that I wasn’t ‘er Spike anymore. Said she…."

"Spike, I’m looking for a simple answer here. Not a history lesson."

Spike sneered at her. "Shut yer hole for a minute and maybe you’ll see that I have a point to all of this"

Buffy rolled her eyes, but nonetheless shut her mouth allowing him to continue.

"She said she could see Sunnydale all around me." he lied. Spike didn’t want Buffy to know what Dru had really said, about her being the thing Dru really saw floating around him. "I told her it was in the past, that we were finally rid of everything in Sunnydale and the Hellmouth. That wasn’t how she saw it though. Said I was holding on to something. And, that I tasted….." he had to shallow hard. The memory of what she had said making him feel sick and disgusted. "That I tasted like ashes."

"Still not seeing the point in you telling me this," Buffy complained haughtily.

"Bloody ‘ell, woman! Let me vent a little!" Spike yelled. "You want to hear what I have to say, then you’ll let me do it my way."

"Whatever."

"Dru left me. Hightailed it with some Chaos demon I had caught her with."

"Is that it? You wanted revenge on a Chaos demon so you slept with Vanessa who was supposed to marry one."

"Slayer," Spike hissed.

"Fine, go on."

"I stayed in Brazil for awhile, trying to decide how to win back my dark goddess. I realized there was nothing I could do. That was until I remembered someone telling me about love spells. Perform one on the person you desire and that person will be yours indefinitely. After realizing this I felt on top of the world again. My Dru was going to be mine again. That’s when I came to Sunnydale and the whole incident with you and the factory happened."

"Oh."

"But, I had another plan for getting Dru back," Spike flicked away the butt of his cigarette. He then pushed himself off the headstone and closed the distance between him and Buffy. " I heard about this demon who finds other demons for you."

"Like a demon detective?"

"No, luv. This demon finds other demons that one wants to kill or have a little fun with."

Buffy furrowed her brows in confusion. "Fun with?"

"Torture," he answered. "It’s kinda like the mafia, except of course it's for the demon community."

"Oh."

"He’s located in Nevada. So, I went to him and explained my situation. He said he would help, but of course there was a price. I agreed and that was that."

"And Vanessa figures into this where?"

"Haven’t you guessed yet, pet. Vanessa’s brother is the demon. He’s the vampire I made the deal with. He’s the head honcho, the big cheese, the crème de la crème."

"Okay, okay I get it. Johnny is the head of this so called demon mafia."

"Yeah. Anyway, Johnny offered me free lodging until he completed his investigation on Dru’s whereabouts and that’s how I encountered Vanessa. Johnny’s business is run out of a casino/hotel. Well, one night I was down on the main floor, having fun wasting some wealthy widow's money when Vanessa sashayed over to my table. I had a few drinks in me, cause you know Vegas " fun time, free drinks", so I put the moves on her. Of course at the time I didn’t know who she was or her relation to Johnny. Next thing I know I’m in her room and we’re going at it like wild dogs."

"Imagery, Spike. Imagery."

Spike laughed. "You wanted to know."

Spike started back to the headstone he had sat on earlier. He was about to continue with his tale when he heard a noise in the distance.

"Did you hear that?" he asked, squinting his eyes and glaring into the dark. He shifted his gaze left then right, hoping to hear the sound again.

"Spike, don’t try to avoid …."

"I'm serious," he snapped. "I heard something."

"I didn’t hear anything and I don’t hear anything now," Buffy told him. "It was probably a squirrel or something."

Spike hung his head and started to laugh. "Right, cause squirrels are a common occurrence around the Hellmouth, whereas vamps aren’t," He quipped, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Spike turned his head to look at her. He saw the annoyed look on her face and rolled his eyes. A strong need for another cigarette washed over him.

"After my little tryst with Vanessa things started to fall apart with Johnny. I tried to explain to him that I didn’t know it was his sister and that I had no idea she was engaged."

A fag was now nestled comfortably between Spike’s lips. He inhaled the nicotine, loving the calmness it seemed to settle over his body.

"Apparently Johnny isn’t an understanding type of guy. He called a stop to the work he was doing for me. To which I called him a Nancy boy fuckface wanker and left. Left his casino, left Las Vegas. Couple days later come to find out that Johnny still expected payment on services provided, i.e. the room and his sister. His sister being a service not included in the original package. I refused to pay the bloke and he sent some goons of his to emphasize that payment was expected or else. And, that is where this tale ends. You know the rest."

"That explains a lot," Buffy spoke softly after he was done. "Clarifies how pathetic you are, which I already knew. But, what it doesn’t explain is why you slept with her again. Why did you jump from my bed to hers?"

Spike cocked an eyebrow. "Are you jealous?"

"What?!"

Once again Spike closed the distance between them. "You sound a bit jealous to me, luv."

"I am not jealous," She disputed. "I only want to know why you fell back into bed with her after all that happened after the first time you did it."

"Are you sure? Not the littlest bit envious that the Big Bad decided to have fun with someone else."

"Jesus, Spike! I just want to know why her and not me!"

Spike smiled at her slip up. "So, you want to know why I went to her and didn’t stay in your bed?" he inquired, reaching out his hand to touch her.

Buffy shivered when his fingers connected with her lower arm. Her eyelids fluttered closed when he began to lightly run them up and down her skin.

Spike leaned in, pressing his mouth near the side of her face, close to her ear. "I’ll tell you, but only if you let me do it my way."

"Spike," Buffy whispered, breathless.

This time Spike was the one to shudder. He tilted his head at an angle so his nose was almost buried in the thick, golden locks of her hair. He inhaled her sweet aroma, the vanilla scent overtaking his senses, turning his thoughts into a jumbled mess.

"She doesn’t make me lose my mind from one single breath." Spike felt the hard lump forming in his throat and had to shallow hard just to get rid of it. "She doesn’t make me hard and soft from a single touch of her skin against mine."

Buffy moaned weakly as his hand left her arm and moved to wrap around her waist. ‘Get a grip Buffy.’ she told herself. ‘Don’t let him do this to you.'

Buffy pushed Spike away. Spike growled and snaked his arm around her waist again, jerking her back to him.

"Let me finish," he hissed between clenched teeth. He lowered his head until their foreheads touched. "My body doesn’t ache when I’m not touching her."

"Don’t do this Spike," Buffy pleaded softly, feeling his thumb brush the underside of her breast. "This shouldn’t be happening."

"It shouldn’t," Spike agreed. "But it is."

"Was she better then me?"

Spike separated their foreheads. He looked down at her lowered head, wondering where that question came from.

Finally it became apparent. "Angel."

Buffy choked back a sob. "Let go of me," she demanded, pulling her arms up in front of her to push him away again.Spike stilled her by gripping her wrists. He hauled her body up against his until her arms were crushed between their bodies.

"No." Was all he said before his mouth covered hers. He moved then until Buffy’s back encountered a nearby tree.

Buffy returned the kiss willingly. She put herself fully behind the kiss, giving as good as she got.  Their tongues touched and teased, both battling for dominance. They both wanted to be the aggressor. Neither wanted to show the effect the other had from one single kiss. Spike’s grip loosened enough for Buffy to move her arms down the front of his body. She found and passed over the waistband of his pants. Her hand moved further down until it came into contact with the now prominent bulge between his legs. She situated her hand so her palm was pressed fully against the front and her fingers were angled down and under so she was cupping him. She started to move her hand up and down, stroking him with the back of her hand through the fabric of his pants. Spike pushed his erection further into her hand, creating that extra friction that he desired. Buffy broke the kiss and lolled her head to the side, smiling and biting her lower lip when she felt him start to pull up her skirt. She heard Spike grunt roughly and felt him start to move down her body.

Buffy’s head jerked upright when she became aware of the fact that Spike was no longer touching her. She blinked, clearing her mind of the pleasure induced fog before seeing  him on the ground in front of her, clutching at his chest. Pain was etched all over his features. His once pale face seemed to be changing several different shades of red in less than a second. 

"Spike what’s …."

Buffy never finished her sentence, because before she knew it she was sent flying to the ground from a forceful kick to her side.

Buffy snapped her head around to see who her attacker was. Two vamps stood near the tree she and Spike had been making out against, laughing at her.

"Will you look at that Tommy," one of the vamps jeered. "Slayer’s spreading her legs for another vampire besides Angelus."

Tommy waggled his eyebrows at Buffy suggestively. "You like your vamps hung Slayer? Cause I’ve been told I could make an elephant jealous," he said, grabbing a hold of his crotch and grinding his hips roughly.

Buffy collected herself and stood. She tugged down her skirt, pulling out a hidden stake in the process.

"Boys, boys, boys," she tsked, shaking her head. "You really don’t know how to impress a lady."

"Lady?" one scoffed. "More like slut."

The vamp that called her a slut looked over at Spike who was still rolling around on the ground holding his chest. "Looks to me like he wasn’t impressive. What happened? He couldn’t get it hard enough for you?"

"All right that’s it. You guys are starting to disgust me now," Buffy stated simply. "And frankly, my sex life …. none of your business."

Tommy was the first to lunge at her. He was knocked back by Buffy’s leg kicking him in the face. The other remained where he was, keeping his distance until Buffy was vulnerable enough for an attack.

Buffy saw Tommy rushing at her again from the corner of her eye. Without moving she swung the hand containing the stake up and around, accurately connecting it with Tommy’s heart just as he reached her. He exploded into dust.

"One less ego-maniac treading the earth," she mumbled before looking back over at Tommy’s friend.

"Tommy always was the impatient one."

Buffy smiled weakly at his remark. She glanced at the stake then back at him. "How should we do this? Do you want me to fight with you for awhile before I kill you, or should I just save you the energy and kill you without the fighting?"

"Confident in yourself aren’t you Slayer."

"Its part of my irresistible charm I guess."

The vamp curled his lip in a half smile then leapt at her. His body connected with Buffy’s mid section, his force causing Buffy to lose her balance and send them both tumbling to the ground. Buffy found herself pinned underneath his heavy weight, her stake missing, having flown out of her hand midway through their fall. She wrestled with him, using all her strength to get the upper hand and have him pinned beneath her. But, it was no use. He was brutally heavy and her efforts to get him off her were pointless.

Spike managed to lift his head enough to barely make out the sight of Buffy pinned under a very heavyset vampire. He had heard the vamps jiving back and forth with Buffy while trying to regain his footing. He was now on all fours, his hand still gripping his chest firmly. The pain flowing through his upper body had come on strong and unexpectedly. He didn’t know what was happening to him or why. All he knew was that his chest felt ready to explode

"Sure wish Tommy was here to see this," he said, grinning down at her. "His brother being the one to finally take the Slayer's life. God, he’d be so pissed right now."

"How long have you been a vampire?" Buffy asked still wiggling around underneath him, trying to get some part of her body free.

The vamp furrowed his brows. "Huh?"

"How long have you been a member of the undead?"

"Four years. Why?"

"Well, for such a long standing member you should know everything there is about a slayer," Buffy told him. "Like that she always carries more than one weapon."

Buffy watched as the vamp’s eyes once again filled with confusion then kneed him in the groin. The vamp’s face distorted in agony and he rolled off her. Buffy pulled another stake form under her clothing. She kicked the vamp in the side, sending him onto his back. She sailed the stake down towards his chest and into his heart.

"And that she’s resourceful," Buffy added right before he vanished into dust. Buffy stared at the dust floating through the air. She remained that way for some time until she heard Spike’s strangled cry behind her.

"Spike what’s wrong?" she asked running up to him and kneeling by his side. She reached out to touch him but he growled at her and bared his fangs, his eyes flashing a fiery yellow.

Buffy leaned over slightly to get a closer look at his front. She saw that Spike had torn open his shirt and that his chest was covered in fresh gashes directly over his dead heart.

"What did you do Spike?" she asked, once again attempting to touch him. This time he didn’t pull away or growl at her. Her hand touched his chest briefly before she yanked it away suddenly like he had shocked her. Buffy gawked at his chest. She held the hand that had touched him tightly against her.

"Your heart….. its beating."

TBC…………….

"The one thing we have learned from history is that we haven’t learned at all."





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