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CHAPTER NINE

Spike dropped Buffy and Dawn off at their house, then continued over to the gallery to check on the shipments and try to get them out of the floor. Joyce’s employees were used to seeing the blond vampire come and go in the evenings and didn’t question his right to be there when he came in and began opening crates.

Before they left for the evening, he got them to promise to display everything that he got unpacked and inventoried during the night. He promised he would place the heavier objects on the floor, leaving them to present the smaller ones.

When he had finished his work and checked the books, he slipped quietly out the back, locking the door behind him. Satisfied that he had done as much as he could for one night, he headed back toward Revello drive, not sure what he would find there, but knowing it was where he needed to be.

He arrived just in time to see an irate Riley Finn banging on the front door while a terrified Dawn stood on the other side, refusing to let him in. In a second, Spike was on the porch and standing between the much larger man and the door.

“Havin’ trouble understandin’ the word, ‘no’ again, are you, wanker?” he growled threateningly.

The ex-commando drew himself up to his full height as he glared down at the lean blond.

“Get out of my way, Spike,” he blustered. “I need to see Buffy and I’m going in there.”

“She’s not here!” Dawn shrieked. “I told you that already. She went on patrol.”

“I’ll just come in and wait for her,” he said firmly. “Let me in, Dawn.”

“Don’t do it, Nibblet,” Spike said quickly as he suddenly realized what was off about the tall man. “The wanker doesn’t have a heartbeat anymore.”

Riley dropped all pretense of being human and slipped into a vampire’s ridged face.

“That’s right. I don’t. I’m also just as strong as you are now – and you’re still chipped.” He leaped at Spike as he finished speaking, only to find himself flying through the air off the porch and on to the sidewalk.

As he rose to his feet, Spike was swaggering toward him, landing a hard right on the fledgling vamp’s jaw as he ground out, “Number one -You have been a vampire for less than a day. I,” he punctuated with another fist to the face, “have been around well over 100 years. You aren’t even close to being as strong as I am yet.” For emphasis, he threw Riley into a large tree, then pulled him up and punched him again as he continued, “Number 2 – the chip doesn’t work on demons, you moron. So I can hurt you all I want.”

With a roundhouse kick to the chest he sent the larger vampire back to the ground as he growled, “And trust me, I really, really want.” As he advanced on the now cringing fledgling, he sensed Buffy and looked away for a second to see where she was, As soon as he wasn’t glaring at the other vampire, Riley leaped to his feet and ran off into the darkness.

With a snarl, Spike went to run after him, but a small hand on his arm stopped him.

“No, Spike, let him go. This is my problem and I should deal with it. He’ll be back and I’ll stake him then.”

He looked at her carefully but could see no sign of anything except acceptance and resignation on her face.

(I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let her do that to herself again. She liked the big git, even if she wasn’t in love with him like she thought. I’m gonna see to it that he’s a pile of farm dust before she ever has to.)

“Alright, love. But if I see him first, or if he’s threatening the Nibblet again....”

‘It’s my mess, Spike,” she said firmly. “I’ll clean it up.”

“Bloody fuckin’ hell, Buffy! Didn’t you listen to anything Rupert said to you? That soddin’ prat’s inadequacies are NOT your fault! “

He stopped yelling and stared at her, breathing hard and unnecessarily. He softened his look and his tone.

“Let me do this for you, love. You don’t need to hurt yourself like that. If you don’t want me to do it, ask your watcher.”

“It’s my JOB, Spike,” she growled at him.

Suddenly he remembered how angry it made her when Riley tried to impinge upon her slayer duties and he raised his hands in surrender.

“Alright, love. Wasn’t tryin’ to get in your business. Jus’ tryin’ to spare you some unnecessary emotional pain.”

Buffy’s shoulders slumped and she leaned against him in apology. “I didn’t mean to yell at you, Spike. I know you wanted to spare me. But, hey, comes with the territory, you know? I learned very early in my Slayer career that I had to be prepared to slay somebody I cared about it if they became dangerous....” Her voice trailed off and he knew she was thinking of Angelus and how he’d killed her watcher’s girl friend when she couldn’t bring herself to kill him the first time they fought.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

“It’s okay, love. I know you can do it. I just hate to see you unhappy. Makes me say and do stupid things.”

Even as he petted her and assured her that he would not interfere, he was vowing to himself that Riley was going to disappear long before the Slayer was able to find and kill him.

(I‘ll talk to the watcher tomorrow. Maybe between the two of us we can make this go away.)





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