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Chapter Twenty-Two

Buffy raced through the streets of Sunnydale until she was exhausted, searching for any sign of the blond vampire. She prowled through the cemeteries, pausing occasionally to sniff the air for cigarette smoke and extending her Slayer senses as much as possible hoping to pick up some trace of Spike.

Willie swore he hadn’t seen him, the Bronze was half-empty as it usually was on a week-night, and she found nothing in the cemeteries except some vampire dust here and there. When she found the body of a Grtxak demon lying near the entrance to Restfield, and saw the fang marks on it’s broken neck, she smiled through her tears, knowing Spike was somewhere around.

She couldn’t feel him anywhere in the cemetery, though, and sat down on a bench to rest and catch her breath. Suddenly she realized it was the same bench they had sat on months ago when she told him why she knew him so well. Putting her face in her hands, she sobbed quietly, wondering if he’d stay around long enough for her to explain that he hadn’t seen what he thought he saw.

Buffy was so wrapped up in her own misery, she didn’t register the warning signals her Slayer senses were sending until the vampire had tackled her over backwards, temporarily stunning her and pinning her to the ground. While Buffy struggled to regain her senses and focus her eyes, the vamp reached for her throat with his mouth, only to encounter the weak signal from Spike’s marks.

He flinched back momentarily, then shook his head and snarling something about “half-assed claims”, he ran his tongue up her neck, licking the spot he intended to bite. Buffy was gradually regaining her awareness of the danger she was in, but the large vamp had her thoroughly pinned down and all she could do was try to buck him loose.

When an outraged snarl from behind caused him to lift his head, she took advantage of his momentary distraction and butted the side of his face with her forehead.

(ooooh, Buffy. So not a good idea… ) she had time to think before she briefly lost consciousness again.

Somewhat to her surprise, she didn’t wake up bleeding and dying. She was still lying on the ground, but instead of being bitten by the vamp, she was treated to the sound of a familiar voice. Raising her aching head, she stared blearily toward the two vampires now circling each other and snarling threats.

The one that had been trying to bite her was insisting that she was his meal, and that the other could just “go find your own stupid blond”. Spike stopped his snarling long enough to ask in amazement, “Do you really not know what you have there, you stupid git?”

“I have dinner. Looks like somebody got a piece of her once before, but the claim isn’t strong enough to keep me away,” he bragged. “I say finders keepers – the vamp that claimed her should’ve stayed around to watch his property.”

Spike visibly flinched at his words and he shot a glance at Buffy to see if she’d heard, before turning back to the other vamp to ask in a deceptively mild tone of voice, “What’s makes you so sure he didn’t?”

Shifting into game face, he leapt at the other vampire, the demon taking over completely once Spike released it. He grabbed the larger vampire by the throat and easily lifted him with one hand until the other’s feet were off the ground.

“D’ ya really think anything but a master vampire could’ve laid claim to the Slayer, you ignorant pillock?”

The other’s eyes widened in understanding as the girl he’d thought was down for the count, jumped gracefully to her feet and came to stand beside the angry, and obviously much, much older, vampire holding him in the air.

“You want to do the honors, pet, or can I rip his head off?”

“If you want him, you can have him, just make it quick.”

Spike cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at her, but obediently tightened his hand around the other vamp’s neck and squeezed until the head lolled to one side and he could use his other hand to twist it off. He watched the dust drift away with some satisfaction, although he was disappointed that he wasn’t allowed to take his time making the unfortunate vamp sorry for having touched his Slayer.

When he could no longer see the remains floating away, he turned reluctantly to find Buffy looking at him anxiously. Now that the danger was gone, he remembered why he’d been away from her in the first place and he stiffened, trying to ignore the pleading in her eyes.

“What the hell were you doin’ out here at this time of night, anyway?” he asked gruffly. “Shouldn’t you be doin’ some more birthday snoggin’ with the great poof? There’s nothin’ left out here to slay tonight.”

“So I noticed,” she said softly, moving closer to him.

When he stepped back, maintaining the distance between them, her eyes filled with tears again and she reached out to touch his arm. The heat from her hand felt like it was burning him even through the leather of his coat.

“Yeah, well, I had some…I was bloody pissed off. Took it out on any sorry wankers that crossed my path tonight.” He tried to ignore the effect her touch was having on his body.

“You didn’t answer my question, pet,” he continued when she all she did was look apologetic. “What were you doin’ out here?”

“Do I really need to answer that? Don’t you know?” Her steady gaze dared him to deny that he knew she was looking for him. “Why did you run away? I was on my way to the kitchen to see who Mom was talking to when…”

“When you stopped to have a snog with Angel?” he asked, unable to hide the hurt in his voice.

She flinched again, then raised her head and said clearly, “He grabbed me as I went by. He knew you were there, but I didn’t. Not until the marks tingled. I…I wasn’t expecting to see you yet and I thought I was just feeling Angel’s signature when you came in.

“I was already pushing him away when you ran out, and he stopped me from following you. As soon as Mom told me it was really you I felt, I left to find you.”

“And the poof? What’d you tell him?”

“Uh, I didn’t…I just kinda…hit him. I’m gonna have to fix my mom’s stove when I get home. I think I broke it.”

She peered up at him from under her eyebrows and was relieved to see a reluctant smile come over his face.

“Any chance you broke him too?” he inquired hopefully.

“I didn’t stop to check,” she said, trying once again to move closer to him. “I had something more important to do.”

“And what’s that, pet?” he asked, stepping toward her. He kept his hands jammed into his pockets to prevent them from touching her the way he wanted to. His pride, which had been already injured once when Drusilla kicked him out for the Chaos demon, had taken another hit when he saw Buffy with Angel and it kept him from following his inclination to kiss her senseless.

“This,” she whispered, going up on her toes to brush her lips across his.

“You have Angel breath,” he muttered, even as he leaned toward her to maintain contact with her mouth.

“Make it go away,” she murmured back, running her tongue around his lips and touching it gently to his sensitive teeth.

With a groan, he conceded defeat and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his body as he began to kiss her in earnest. Buffy almost cried with relief when she felt him give in, and she melted against him, letting her tongue and lips tell him how much she’d missed him.

Her arms went up around his neck and he lifted her off the ground, holding her against him in a way that would have crushed the ribs of an ordinary human woman. But Buffy was not an ordinary human, and she clutched him back with equal strength as she lost herself in the sensation of being once more wrapped in his arms.

With each of them being the other’s favorite kisser, it wasn’t long before their lips and tongues had the inevitable effect and Spike’s hard length was pressed against her stomach while his nostrils flared at the scent of her arousal. He pulled one leg up to his hip and she quickly brought the other one up so that her legs were around his waist and her warm, damp crotch was pressed against him.

She began to whimper when he pushed his hips forward, increasing the contact between them and setting up the need for more friction between her legs. He slid his hands down to her ass and pulled her tightly against him, grinding his erection into her.

Words he never intended to say to her flew out of his mouth as he moved it down her throat, leaving a trail of kisses and small bites.

“Missed you, Slayer. Never stopped thinkin’ about this; about you and what you do to me. Want you so much, luv. Need you…”

Buffy continued to grind against him, desperate for both the release she craved and the need to feel him against her from head to toe. She whimpered with unfulfilled desire, wanting to stop and tear their clothes off and too caught up in what they were doing to let go.

When he suddenly lifted his head with a snarl and dropped her to the ground, she almost cried out in disappointment, but her Slayer training forced her to overcome her feeling of deprivation and to fall into a fighting stance at his side. Spike had whirled to face the gate of the cemetery and went into game face as soon as his grandsire appeared. He’d felt Angel’s presence before the older vampire was close enough to see what he and Buffy had been doing and his earlier rage came flooding back as the dark haired vampire strode up to them.

“Buffy! There you are! I’ve been hunting all over Sunnydale for you. Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

He turned to Spike and growled dismissively, “I don’t know why you came back here, Spike, but you’re not wanted or needed, so go back where you came from. If you leave right now, I won’t kill you.”

“I’m here because I want to be, you arrogant wanker, and I’ll stay till somebody worth listenin’ to tells me to leave.” He stepped forward. “And anytime you want to try…”

“Spike.” Buffy’s soft voice and touch on his arm stopped him immediately and he dropped his vamp face to look at her. He tried to read her expression, vowing to himself that if she looked worried about Angel he would leave Sunnydale and never return – dreams of warm, loving kisses be damned.

All he saw in her eyes was the warmth and affection he’d been seeing there since he first came to Sunnydale, along with just a touch of sexual frustration and anger. Relaxing his shoulders, he shrugged and said softly, “Alright, pet.”

Angel blinked at them in confusion as Spike moved away to sit on the bench. He noticed that the younger vampire never took his eyes off the Slayer, not even to cast a threatening look at his grandsire and he looked back and forth between them with narrowed eyes. He could smell Buffy’s arousal on the air and suspicion began to work it’s way into his self-centered brain.

“Buffy,” he growled, “I think you need to tell me exactly why you are in a cemetery at this hour of the night with a vampire whose only claim to fame – except for his awful poetry - is killing slayers. How can you possibly trust him not to-“

“I trust him because I know him, Angel. Just as I know you…and Angelus.”

“You trust him because he helped you put my soul back? You know he just did that to get Dru away from me- er, Angelus. Not because he cares what happens to you. He has no reason not to kill you now.”

“Actually, I have a…” Spike started then broke off at a glare from Buffy. “Right, shut up, Spike. Got it.” He settled back on the bench, sending his grandsire a smirk. “Still waitin’ to be thanked for that whole soul thing, by the way, Peaches. Or are you not so happy about having it back…Angelus?”

“If it weren’t for this soul, I’d have killed Buffy AND you a long time ago,” he growled, turning his back on the annoying blond vampire.

Turning around put him face to face with a very angry slayer and he suddenly remembered that she had sent him across a room with one punch, and kicked him into unconsciousness when he’d lost his soul.

“I didn’t really mean that, Buffy. You know I wouldn’t ever hurt you. I want you to be happy and safe, that’s all.”

“If that’s really true, Angel, then you need to leave now. Because I am perfectly safe here. And I was working on being very happy before you interrupted!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Buffy knew she’d made a mistake. The anger that flared in the suddenly amber eyes of the old vampire reminded her that he still viewed her as his just-turned-seventeen-year-old virginal ideal to be kept on a pedestal.

Through the angry haze her words created, Angel remembered what she’d said to him when Angelus was threatening to take her virginity, and he stared back and forth from the girl he idolized to the grinning vampire on the bench. With a roar of outrage, he launched himself at Spike, fully intending to rid himself of the younger vampire forever.

However, Spike hadn’t lived as long as he had without learning to read Angelus and his moods very well, and he was already on his feet and moving before the older vampire had covered the distance between them.

Suddenly Buffy felt the limitations of her younger, less trained and fit body as the two master vampires she cared about fell to the ground in a snarling tangle of fangs and claws. She watched anxiously, hovering around them, ready to step in if it looked like either one was going to be dust.

After the initial flurry of fangs, the two demons split apart and began to exchange punches and kicks, leaping from the tops of crypts to the ground and hurling tombstones at each other. Feeling slightly less worried that they were going to kill each other, Buffy perched on top of a mausoleum where she could see the course of the fight and step in quickly if needed. The two powerful creatures fought until they were both exhausted, pausing by mutual consent to inhales large gulps of unneeded air and rest their weary arms.

Before they could begin again, Buffy stepped between them and held out her hands to keep them apart.

“If the testosterone levels have dropped to reasonable levels, can we agree that this was a tie and go home before the sun comes up and fries you both?”

“This isn’t over, William,” Angel said with a deadly glare. He looked at Buffy sadly for a minute and said coldly, “And you’re not what I thought you were.”

“I’m not WHO you thought I was, Angel. I’ve been trying to get you to see that for months. “ She looked at him sympathetically. “I know it was a shock to find out that your innocent little Buffy was gone and a much older, bitchier one had taken her place, but that’s just the way it is. I’m here, and unless we can find out how I got here and reverse it, I’m not going anywhere. Get used to it or leave town.”

“Could leave town anyway, used to it or not,” came from the vampire who had moved up to stand behind the Slayer. “Ow! Slayer. What the bloody hell was that for?” He bent over holding the tender spot on his stomach where Buffy had elbowed him.

With a final glare at them both, Angel turned around and left them standing in the early morning dampness. Buffy cast a glance at the lightening sky and pulled Spike with her toward the crypt they’d hidden in when the Faryls chased them.

“Come-on, let’s get you out of the sun. We’ll take the sewers to my house and I’ll clean those wounds up. You can stay in the basement for the rest of the day.”





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