dampersnspoons - Delust or Dust 9/?
Title: Delust or Dust
Rating: NC-17 for adult language and sexual situations
Warnings: Graphic sex (eventually) Probably blood play. And foul-mouthedness
Season/Pairing: BtVS Season 3, Buffy/Spike, Willow/Oz, Xander/Cordelia, Angel/his discontent, Giles/missing spatula
Spoilers: Starts with the episode Lover's Walk, so anything up until that point could be mentioned. Some lines from the episode will be used in this fic.
Genre(s): Comedy, Romance
Beta(s): xtanitx
Summary: Starts off with the episode Lover's Walk and then goes AU practically from the start. Spike has returned to Sunnydale, heartbroken that Drusilla has left him. When a love spell goes horribly wrong, how will the Scoobies react when the slayer gets involved with yet another vampire? Will Giles wipe his glasses in disapproval? Will Xander not understand but be too enamored with the visuals to say anything? Is Angel going to brood about it or will he do something more? WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
Chapter Word Count: 3,523
Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy and I in no way mean to infringe on anyone's rights, nor do I use these names for profit. This is for entertainment and Tom-foolery only. Carry on.
For Previous Chapters Click Here!
Be sure you read Chapter 8 first! I updated last night. :)
Chapter 9
“What type of man do you attract?” Buffy read aloud from the magazine in her lap. “Ooh, I’m totally taking this quiz. Do you have a pen?” She extended her hand across the cafeteria table towards Willow where they were sitting eating lunch at school that day.
“Yeah, sure.” Willow dug into her purse and retrieved a pen, handing it to her with a sad expression that went unnoticed by her friend.
“Thanks. Do you think Spike is more the outdoorsy type or the hip jetsetter?” She tapped her pen on her chin as she looked at Willow but answered her own question before she could respond. “Well, he’s not that hip. I love him, but those clothes are so ten years ago. Oh wait, here it is. The bad boy. That’s definitely Spike.”
“Yeah,” Willow agreed mechanically as she sipped from her juice box.
“According to this, the bad boy has a sweet spot for girly-girls. Wills, do you think I’m girly?”
“Yeah,” she replied again, taking the last sip from her juice box with a loud slurping noise.
“You do? I don’t think I’m a girly-girl.”
“Hey, guys,” Harmony Kendall said to them as she walked up to their table.
“That...is a girly-girl,” Buffy said, pointing to Harmony with her pen. Then she turned to face her, frowning when she noticed Harmony’s red nose and bloodshot eyes. “What’s up?”
Harmony sniffled and wrung her hands together. “Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Stephanie is dead!” she shouted, suddenly bursting into tears. Willow and Buffy shared a look with one another and then shrugged.
“Who’s Stephanie?” Buffy asked.
Harmony huffed incredulously and wiped beneath her eyes as she continued to cry. “She was only the captain of the cheerleading squad! God, don’t you freaks have any school spirit?”
“Sorry,” Buffy said sincerely. “I didn’t know her. How did she die?”
“Well, we were supposed to meet up at the Bronze on Friday night and I was wearing this really cute white dress because Lance was going to be there, even though Stephanie was totally crushing on him but I didn’t know she was going to die or else I totally would have worn the pink dress but,” she inhaled through her bubbling tears and continued, “I wore the white one and now she’s dead which means that Cordelia is next in line to be the captain and she’s going to be such an uber bitch and I hate this mascara!” She looked at her fingers that were tinted grey from her makeup-laced tears and pouted. “It’s supposed to be waterproof!”
“It’s a barrier, not a miracle worker,” Cordelia said from behind Harmony as she approached them. Willow flinched at the sound of Cordelia’s voice but had otherwise remained silent, staring at the table dejectedly. “Hey, guys. I take it Harmony filled you in on Sunnydale’s latest mystery?”
“Kind of...something about the Bronze, a white dress and...who’s Lance?” Buffy asked confusedly.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. “She went missing sometime Friday and Stephanie’s dad found her on Saturday night on the side of the road. Puncture wounds in the neck.” She whispered the last part to Buffy so that Harmony wouldn’t hear.
Buffy’s eyes widened with recognition. “Ohh...that’s...how sad for her family,” she said lamely, her mind focusing on the patrol she had ahead of her. Most vampires in Sunnydale knew a slayer was calling the shots and wouldn’t make such a bold kill without wanting her to know about it. They certainly wouldn’t do it without cleaning up after themselves so she wouldn’t find out so quickly. If a vampire was trying to challenge her in her town, she’d have to put an end to it. Or him. Her. Whichever.
“Anyway, you should um, look into that,” Cordelia said with a bright smile and wide eyes. “What’s with you?” she asked Willow, nudging her in the arm and successfully jarring her from her daze.
“What? Oh, uh...nothing. Just...tired.” She smiled tightly at her and Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
“Ohkay...well, I better go. I have study hall with Xander next period and I need to freshen up. Harmony, you better do the same. You look like a raccoon.” Though Cordelia knew all her friends talked about her behind her back, especially since she started dating Xander again, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Harmony. She and Stephanie were really close. Offering an olive branch, she said, “You can borrow my YSL lip liner.”
Harmony sniffled and nodded with a tiny smile. “Ok.”
The two walked away side by side and Buffy turned back to her magazine. Willow’s chin trembled when her eyes started to sting with the threat of tears and Buffy, unaware, lifted her head to say, “Do you think Spike is more a giver than a receiv-oh, boy, what’s wrong?” She set her pen and magazine down and looked at Willow’s sad expression.
“Nothing,” she said, making a gurgling noise as she choked back a sob.
“Nuh-uh, you have quivery face. What happened?”
“I did something really bad, Buffy,” she said, sniffling.
“Did you kill a man?” Buffy tried to joke to lighten the mood, but Willow started crying harder and she stumbled for the right words to calm her down. “Whoa, ok, ok, sorry...bad joke. I’m listening now, no more Xanderesque levity.”
“Oh, God.” Willow cried louder at the mention of his name. “Xander and I kissed, Buffy.”
Buffy blinked. “Huh?”
“Yeah. A while ago. A-and there was tongue. And we kept doing it and no one knows and I…I tried to get a delust spell so that we wouldn’t have the urge to do it any more and that’s when Spike found us and...everything is my fault! Oz is gonna hate me and Cordy will probably do something really evil to me and you’d never be in love with Spike if it weren’t for me and my stupid, stupid hormones. God, you hate me now, don’t you?”
“Uh...well...” She swallowed as she tried to get her thoughts organized. “So...you and Xander.”
“Yes.”
“Xander?”
“Yes, Buffy! Alexander LaVelle Harris!”
“And you got a spell to make your urges go away but Spike found you.”
“Yes! You’re just repeating everything I said.”
“But, Willow, my unwavering love for Spike isn’t your fault. I’ve always longed for his embrace and his sweet kisses. You had nothing to do with that.” She patted Willow’s hand reassuringly.
Willow hiccupped as her sobbing grew louder. “You don’t understand, Buffy. You’re...and Xander is so...well, he’s a lot stronger than I am and he’s doing a good job of acting like nothing happened-”
“Will,” Buffy whispered when Oz walked up behind her, but Willow was too distressed to notice.
“-but Oz is going to find out sooner or later and I can’t lose him.”
Buffy laughed nervously and said, “Hey, Oz! Boy, we’re just all worked up over that Stacy chick dying, right, Willow?”
Willow’s eyes widened and she looked at Oz, her chest heaving as she realized he might have heard the last thing she said. “Uh...uh...”
“Her name was Stephanie,” he said to Buffy with a small, sad smile.
“Right. Stephanie. I knew that! It’s just that...it’s so sad…that I forgot,” she said, fake sniffling in the hopes of saving her friend, but Oz saw right through it.
He ignored Buffy’s poor acting and turned to Willow. “We need to talk.”
Resigned to the fact that she could no longer hide the truth from Oz, she nodded sadly and rose from her seat. Oz stepped to the side to wait for her to gather her things.
“Thanks for trying,” she said to Buffy, then slung her purse over her shoulder. “Wish me luck?”
Buffy held up her hand to show her crossed fingers, smiling compassionately as Willow walked away. She let out a puff of air and then turned back to her magazine. “How to please your man using only your mouth.” She smiled and clicked the end of her pen in excitement, ready to take notes.
* * * *
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Giles said when Buffy entered the library after school. He closed the book he was reading and stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned to face her. “I wanted to speak with you about this love spell.”
“No can do, Giles,” she said, flinging her backpack in a chair. “We have bigger problems right now.”
“What could possibly be more important than your wellbeing?”
“Vampire problems. A girl at school was killed this weekend and I want to find the demon that did it.” She folded her arms authoritatively as she leveled with Giles. “I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, bait, or a message, but whatever it is, I’m not happy.”
Giles removed his glasses for a good cleaning. “I see. Do you have any other information?”
“Well, I’ve been asking around and from what I can tell, she was found just on the border of Sunnydale. Her windshield was smashed and it was reported as a car wreck, but I’ve also heard that she had puncture wounds on her neck.”
“Which is probably more likely the reason for her death,” he added with a somber nod. “All right, well, I suppose you should patrol this evening, ask around and see what you can find out.”
“I’ll get Spike to come with me!” she said with a beatific smile.
“Buffy, I don’t think that’s wise.”
“Why not? Giles, if we’re gonna be an item, he’ll have to get used to my schedule. Angel came with me on patrol all the time and you didn’t have any problems with it.”
He sighed and laughed cynically, rubbing his forehead. “Yes, what was I thinking?”
“See? Nothing to worry about. Besides, I bet Spike has all kinds of connections with the demon world. He’d probably find the killer much faster than I could. God, he’s so dreamy,” she said with a sigh, looking off in the distance as she pictured him wearing nothing but his duster and slaying demons at her side.
“Yes, well, be that as it may, I urge you to use caution when dealing with Spike.”
“I know. He’s really upset about Drusilla and everything, but I think he’s coming around,” she said, missing his point entirely. “I’ve been very understanding.”
“No, that’s not what-”
Giles was suddenly interrupted when Xander barged through the swinging library doors. He ran to the table and propped himself up with his hands, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“What happened?” Buffy asked with concern, coming to his side.
“Just...a minute.” He held up a pointed finger while he gasped for air. “She’s trying to kill me.”
“Who? Xander, tell us what’s wrong!”
“My car...covered in eggs and…some kind of slimy thing. I think it might be animal related.”
“Someone egged your car?” Buffy asked.
Finally calmed down enough, he stood up straight and said, “Oh, that’s not all. I was in the parking lot to go home. I see the car and I turn around to go back inside to get towels or something to clean it off.”
Buffy nodded. “Makes sense.”
“I know. I’m a clean guy. So anyway, as I’m walking back to the building, every girl I pass is scowling at me and whispering to one another like I have something on my face.”
“Did you?”
“No, I checked. Enough with the interruptions, Buff.”
“Sorry.”
“No problem.” He smiled slightly. “It was like the exact opposite of that love spell from a while ago. When I say every girl, I mean every girl. The closer I get to the building, the more obvious their hatred of me becomes and I head to the men’s room in C hall.”
“Oh, by your locker!”
“Buffy.” He closed his eyes.
“God, sorry.”
“It’s ok. So, I pass my locker…as you just mentioned…and someone had written on it in big black letters: Xander Harris is a cheating bastard.”
Buffy snorted, covering her mouth to hide her laughter. Giles cleared his throat, though he was smiling, too.
“Gee, thanks for the support guys,” he said miserably.
Buffy pouted in sympathy and rubbed his arm. “I’m sorry. How awful for you.”
“It gets worse. So, I’m looking at the locker and I realize that everyone in school now knows what I’ve done and…I’ll get to that in a second,” he amended, unaware that Buffy already knew about he and Willow. “So I turn around to get the heck out of there when the entire cheerleading squad starts marching after me. Marching. Like little soldiers in skirts.”
“Oh, God.”
“I know! I mean, I’ve never seen anything so frightening in all my life. I’ve had dreams about that sort of thing only, they weren’t wearing unhappy faces. The dream is ruined! They looked like they wanted to murder me!”
“Which is why you so bravely ran to the safety of the library.”
“Well, I figured...last place they’d look?” He shrugged sheepishly. When Buffy didn’t seem amused, he sighed. “Sorry, I forgot you used to be a cheerleader.”
“And that you dated one.” She rolled her eyes and picked up her backpack. “Remind me never to get on Cordy’s bad side. Good luck, Xander, you’ll need it. Giles, I’m off.”
“Right. I expect a full report tomorrow. And do be careful!” he said as she walked away.
“Buffy!” Xander shouted in a panic. “How about a little slayer protection on the way to my car?”
“You’re on your own, Xan,” she said, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she exited the library.
“Giles?” he asked hopefully.
“Be a man,” Giles said with a disappointed expression and turned away from him to get back to his research.
“Right. A man,” he said to himself, puffing out his chest as he turned to the swinging doors. Thinking about it for a minute, he said, “A man who waits for everyone to go home for the day before he leaves.”
* * * *
“Honey, you baked,” Spike said teasingly as Buffy entered the factory, carrying a Ziploc bag filled with cookies.
“If slicing pre-made cookie dough and putting it on a cookie sheet is considered baking, then baking I did. Here you go.” She handed him the bag, kissed him on the cheek, and walked further inside, removing her coat.
Spike opened the bag and pulled one out as he followed after her, stuffing it in his mouth. “Mmm, tasty. What brings you here?” he asked with a mouthful of cookie.
“Are you complaining?” She smiled at him and sat on his bed.
“No.” He returned her smile and took another bite of his treat. “You look nice. Is that velvet?” He tilted his head as he looked over the outfit she was wearing. She had on a long, navy blue dress with a low-cut neckline and belled sleeves. It had lacing up the front of it to show off her tiny waist and black trim along the hemline. It looked like something Dru would have worn. He swallowed his bite, trying not to choke on it when it dawned on him what she’d done.
She’d dressed up like Drusilla because she thought that’s what he wanted. Baked him cookies. Of course, her insecurity made sense. He’d yet to tell her how he felt, still unsure of what might happen when her friends sorted her out. But she was trying too hard to please him and it made him sad. How often had he done the same for Dru? How often had he changed himself, reinvented himself, to garner her affections?
“Do you like it?” she asked nervously. “I know it’s a little dressy for patrol but...I can move around easily in it. I double checked.”
Spike sighed forlornly, his eyes lowering to the bag of cookies in his hand. He closed it up and set it down on the nightstand beside her and squatted in front of her, taking her hands in his. “You don’t have to do this, Buffy.”
“Do what?” she said innocently, chewing on her bottom lip.
“I like you the way you are.” He ran his fingers through her hair and smiled at her.
“You like me, huh?” she said quietly, hope and love shining in her eyes.
“Yeah.” He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her forward to the edge of the bed so he could embrace her. “I like you.” He kissed her, pulling away to say, “You don’t have to dress like Dru for me to notice.”
“But last night you said that-”
“Know what I said, love. Shouldn’t have said it like that.” He cupped the sides of her face and gazed into her green eyes, wanting so badly to tell her how he felt. But if he admitted it out loud, he knew he’d be doomed if he wasn’t already. “Let’s both of us try to forget about Dru. What do you say?”
She smiled so beautifully at him, so grateful and warm that he was afraid she might cry. Luckily, she didn’t. She just sighed happily and nodded. “Ok.”
He kissed her forehead, taking a moment to smell her hair, and then pulled away with a roll of his eyes. He knew he was fucked when the hair sniffing began. It would be all downhill from here.
“Besides, I like those short skirts you wear.”
She giggled and said, “Thank God. This dress is so uncomfortable.”
“Then let’s get you out of it.” His hands were already sliding up her legs beneath her long skirt.
“No, sir,” she said firmly, but made no move away from him. “We have to patrol.”
“Patrol?” He groaned like a petulant teenager. “But that’s awfully boring. Wouldn’t you rather stay here with me all night?”
Her breath quickened as he caressed her bare legs and she moaned softly at the prospect of spending hours with him in naked bliss. “Of course I’d rather. But I have something important to take care of and I need your demon rep to help me find someone.”
She needed him. He really liked this being needed thing. It was a new concept that he could definitely see the benefits to. However, she was asking him a huge favor, one that could likely get him killed or turn him into an outcast in the demon world. Not a nice place for a master vamp to be in. He wasn’t a white hat, would never be a white hat.
So, he hadn’t killed anyone since he arrived in Sunnydale. Except that uptight bird with the perfume. But ever since the spell, he hadn’t killed. Not once. Sucked on a drunk girl outside of the Bronze the night before, but he hadn’t drained her. He convinced himself that she didn’t taste right at the time, but Spike knew the real reason why he’d stopped. Buffy would have hated him for killing a human.
It was with that final thought that Spike was overcome with a horrifying realization: he was turning into a wanker.
“Don’t know if I can help, pet.” He stood up, needing to put distance between them. Without her even asking him to, Spike was changing to please her. Just as she came to him wearing a dress fit for a renaissance festival, he’d been leaving his victims alive.
“But of course you can help! Even if you can’t get any information, you’ll be keeping me company. And we can fight together if anyone crosses our path. Doesn’t that sound like fun?” She looked at him expectantly.
A bit of violence did sound all right. He wasn’t a white hat, though. Wasn’t turning into one of her mates. He was just along for the ride and if some nasty happened upon them, wouldn’t be his fault if he partook in the fray. He shrugged. “Yeah, all right.”
She beamed at him and stood up. “Great. We just have to find the bastard that killed one of my classmates on the Sunnydale border Friday night and stake him!” She bounced past him towards the door and Spike’s eyes grew wide in fear.
“Uh, who’d you say this bird was again?” He nervously reached for his duster to slide it over his shoulders.
“I didn’t really know her. Some rich girl named Stephanie who was the captain of the cheerleading squad. The police found her on the side of the road, next to a Lexus with a smashed windshield. But the puncture wounds on her neck are what tipped me off.” She grabbed her coat and said sternly, “Whoever did this is going to pay. No one messes with my town.”
Spike was torn between being turned on from the dominating tone she was using and being very, very afraid of the dominating tone she was using. Taking a deep breath he said, “Right, well, let’s go...kick some demon ass.”
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek and walked outside. Spike followed after her, scratching the back of his head. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this one.
Chapter 10 >>>
Rating: NC-17 for adult language and sexual situations
Warnings: Graphic sex (eventually) Probably blood play. And foul-mouthedness
Season/Pairing: BtVS Season 3, Buffy/Spike, Willow/Oz, Xander/Cordelia, Angel/his discontent, Giles/missing spatula
Spoilers: Starts with the episode Lover's Walk, so anything up until that point could be mentioned. Some lines from the episode will be used in this fic.
Genre(s): Comedy, Romance
Beta(s): xtanitx
Summary: Starts off with the episode Lover's Walk and then goes AU practically from the start. Spike has returned to Sunnydale, heartbroken that Drusilla has left him. When a love spell goes horribly wrong, how will the Scoobies react when the slayer gets involved with yet another vampire? Will Giles wipe his glasses in disapproval? Will Xander not understand but be too enamored with the visuals to say anything? Is Angel going to brood about it or will he do something more? WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
Chapter Word Count: 3,523
Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy and I in no way mean to infringe on anyone's rights, nor do I use these names for profit. This is for entertainment and Tom-foolery only. Carry on.
For Previous Chapters Click Here!
Be sure you read Chapter 8 first! I updated last night. :)
Chapter 9
“What type of man do you attract?” Buffy read aloud from the magazine in her lap. “Ooh, I’m totally taking this quiz. Do you have a pen?” She extended her hand across the cafeteria table towards Willow where they were sitting eating lunch at school that day.
“Yeah, sure.” Willow dug into her purse and retrieved a pen, handing it to her with a sad expression that went unnoticed by her friend.
“Thanks. Do you think Spike is more the outdoorsy type or the hip jetsetter?” She tapped her pen on her chin as she looked at Willow but answered her own question before she could respond. “Well, he’s not that hip. I love him, but those clothes are so ten years ago. Oh wait, here it is. The bad boy. That’s definitely Spike.”
“Yeah,” Willow agreed mechanically as she sipped from her juice box.
“According to this, the bad boy has a sweet spot for girly-girls. Wills, do you think I’m girly?”
“Yeah,” she replied again, taking the last sip from her juice box with a loud slurping noise.
“You do? I don’t think I’m a girly-girl.”
“Hey, guys,” Harmony Kendall said to them as she walked up to their table.
“That...is a girly-girl,” Buffy said, pointing to Harmony with her pen. Then she turned to face her, frowning when she noticed Harmony’s red nose and bloodshot eyes. “What’s up?”
Harmony sniffled and wrung her hands together. “Did you hear?”
“Hear what?”
“Stephanie is dead!” she shouted, suddenly bursting into tears. Willow and Buffy shared a look with one another and then shrugged.
“Who’s Stephanie?” Buffy asked.
Harmony huffed incredulously and wiped beneath her eyes as she continued to cry. “She was only the captain of the cheerleading squad! God, don’t you freaks have any school spirit?”
“Sorry,” Buffy said sincerely. “I didn’t know her. How did she die?”
“Well, we were supposed to meet up at the Bronze on Friday night and I was wearing this really cute white dress because Lance was going to be there, even though Stephanie was totally crushing on him but I didn’t know she was going to die or else I totally would have worn the pink dress but,” she inhaled through her bubbling tears and continued, “I wore the white one and now she’s dead which means that Cordelia is next in line to be the captain and she’s going to be such an uber bitch and I hate this mascara!” She looked at her fingers that were tinted grey from her makeup-laced tears and pouted. “It’s supposed to be waterproof!”
“It’s a barrier, not a miracle worker,” Cordelia said from behind Harmony as she approached them. Willow flinched at the sound of Cordelia’s voice but had otherwise remained silent, staring at the table dejectedly. “Hey, guys. I take it Harmony filled you in on Sunnydale’s latest mystery?”
“Kind of...something about the Bronze, a white dress and...who’s Lance?” Buffy asked confusedly.
Cordelia rolled her eyes. “She went missing sometime Friday and Stephanie’s dad found her on Saturday night on the side of the road. Puncture wounds in the neck.” She whispered the last part to Buffy so that Harmony wouldn’t hear.
Buffy’s eyes widened with recognition. “Ohh...that’s...how sad for her family,” she said lamely, her mind focusing on the patrol she had ahead of her. Most vampires in Sunnydale knew a slayer was calling the shots and wouldn’t make such a bold kill without wanting her to know about it. They certainly wouldn’t do it without cleaning up after themselves so she wouldn’t find out so quickly. If a vampire was trying to challenge her in her town, she’d have to put an end to it. Or him. Her. Whichever.
“Anyway, you should um, look into that,” Cordelia said with a bright smile and wide eyes. “What’s with you?” she asked Willow, nudging her in the arm and successfully jarring her from her daze.
“What? Oh, uh...nothing. Just...tired.” She smiled tightly at her and Cordelia raised an eyebrow.
“Ohkay...well, I better go. I have study hall with Xander next period and I need to freshen up. Harmony, you better do the same. You look like a raccoon.” Though Cordelia knew all her friends talked about her behind her back, especially since she started dating Xander again, she couldn’t help but feel sympathy for Harmony. She and Stephanie were really close. Offering an olive branch, she said, “You can borrow my YSL lip liner.”
Harmony sniffled and nodded with a tiny smile. “Ok.”
The two walked away side by side and Buffy turned back to her magazine. Willow’s chin trembled when her eyes started to sting with the threat of tears and Buffy, unaware, lifted her head to say, “Do you think Spike is more a giver than a receiv-oh, boy, what’s wrong?” She set her pen and magazine down and looked at Willow’s sad expression.
“Nothing,” she said, making a gurgling noise as she choked back a sob.
“Nuh-uh, you have quivery face. What happened?”
“I did something really bad, Buffy,” she said, sniffling.
“Did you kill a man?” Buffy tried to joke to lighten the mood, but Willow started crying harder and she stumbled for the right words to calm her down. “Whoa, ok, ok, sorry...bad joke. I’m listening now, no more Xanderesque levity.”
“Oh, God.” Willow cried louder at the mention of his name. “Xander and I kissed, Buffy.”
Buffy blinked. “Huh?”
“Yeah. A while ago. A-and there was tongue. And we kept doing it and no one knows and I…I tried to get a delust spell so that we wouldn’t have the urge to do it any more and that’s when Spike found us and...everything is my fault! Oz is gonna hate me and Cordy will probably do something really evil to me and you’d never be in love with Spike if it weren’t for me and my stupid, stupid hormones. God, you hate me now, don’t you?”
“Uh...well...” She swallowed as she tried to get her thoughts organized. “So...you and Xander.”
“Yes.”
“Xander?”
“Yes, Buffy! Alexander LaVelle Harris!”
“And you got a spell to make your urges go away but Spike found you.”
“Yes! You’re just repeating everything I said.”
“But, Willow, my unwavering love for Spike isn’t your fault. I’ve always longed for his embrace and his sweet kisses. You had nothing to do with that.” She patted Willow’s hand reassuringly.
Willow hiccupped as her sobbing grew louder. “You don’t understand, Buffy. You’re...and Xander is so...well, he’s a lot stronger than I am and he’s doing a good job of acting like nothing happened-”
“Will,” Buffy whispered when Oz walked up behind her, but Willow was too distressed to notice.
“-but Oz is going to find out sooner or later and I can’t lose him.”
Buffy laughed nervously and said, “Hey, Oz! Boy, we’re just all worked up over that Stacy chick dying, right, Willow?”
Willow’s eyes widened and she looked at Oz, her chest heaving as she realized he might have heard the last thing she said. “Uh...uh...”
“Her name was Stephanie,” he said to Buffy with a small, sad smile.
“Right. Stephanie. I knew that! It’s just that...it’s so sad…that I forgot,” she said, fake sniffling in the hopes of saving her friend, but Oz saw right through it.
He ignored Buffy’s poor acting and turned to Willow. “We need to talk.”
Resigned to the fact that she could no longer hide the truth from Oz, she nodded sadly and rose from her seat. Oz stepped to the side to wait for her to gather her things.
“Thanks for trying,” she said to Buffy, then slung her purse over her shoulder. “Wish me luck?”
Buffy held up her hand to show her crossed fingers, smiling compassionately as Willow walked away. She let out a puff of air and then turned back to her magazine. “How to please your man using only your mouth.” She smiled and clicked the end of her pen in excitement, ready to take notes.
* * * *
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Giles said when Buffy entered the library after school. He closed the book he was reading and stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets as he turned to face her. “I wanted to speak with you about this love spell.”
“No can do, Giles,” she said, flinging her backpack in a chair. “We have bigger problems right now.”
“What could possibly be more important than your wellbeing?”
“Vampire problems. A girl at school was killed this weekend and I want to find the demon that did it.” She folded her arms authoritatively as she leveled with Giles. “I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, bait, or a message, but whatever it is, I’m not happy.”
Giles removed his glasses for a good cleaning. “I see. Do you have any other information?”
“Well, I’ve been asking around and from what I can tell, she was found just on the border of Sunnydale. Her windshield was smashed and it was reported as a car wreck, but I’ve also heard that she had puncture wounds on her neck.”
“Which is probably more likely the reason for her death,” he added with a somber nod. “All right, well, I suppose you should patrol this evening, ask around and see what you can find out.”
“I’ll get Spike to come with me!” she said with a beatific smile.
“Buffy, I don’t think that’s wise.”
“Why not? Giles, if we’re gonna be an item, he’ll have to get used to my schedule. Angel came with me on patrol all the time and you didn’t have any problems with it.”
He sighed and laughed cynically, rubbing his forehead. “Yes, what was I thinking?”
“See? Nothing to worry about. Besides, I bet Spike has all kinds of connections with the demon world. He’d probably find the killer much faster than I could. God, he’s so dreamy,” she said with a sigh, looking off in the distance as she pictured him wearing nothing but his duster and slaying demons at her side.
“Yes, well, be that as it may, I urge you to use caution when dealing with Spike.”
“I know. He’s really upset about Drusilla and everything, but I think he’s coming around,” she said, missing his point entirely. “I’ve been very understanding.”
“No, that’s not what-”
Giles was suddenly interrupted when Xander barged through the swinging library doors. He ran to the table and propped himself up with his hands, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“What happened?” Buffy asked with concern, coming to his side.
“Just...a minute.” He held up a pointed finger while he gasped for air. “She’s trying to kill me.”
“Who? Xander, tell us what’s wrong!”
“My car...covered in eggs and…some kind of slimy thing. I think it might be animal related.”
“Someone egged your car?” Buffy asked.
Finally calmed down enough, he stood up straight and said, “Oh, that’s not all. I was in the parking lot to go home. I see the car and I turn around to go back inside to get towels or something to clean it off.”
Buffy nodded. “Makes sense.”
“I know. I’m a clean guy. So anyway, as I’m walking back to the building, every girl I pass is scowling at me and whispering to one another like I have something on my face.”
“Did you?”
“No, I checked. Enough with the interruptions, Buff.”
“Sorry.”
“No problem.” He smiled slightly. “It was like the exact opposite of that love spell from a while ago. When I say every girl, I mean every girl. The closer I get to the building, the more obvious their hatred of me becomes and I head to the men’s room in C hall.”
“Oh, by your locker!”
“Buffy.” He closed his eyes.
“God, sorry.”
“It’s ok. So, I pass my locker…as you just mentioned…and someone had written on it in big black letters: Xander Harris is a cheating bastard.”
Buffy snorted, covering her mouth to hide her laughter. Giles cleared his throat, though he was smiling, too.
“Gee, thanks for the support guys,” he said miserably.
Buffy pouted in sympathy and rubbed his arm. “I’m sorry. How awful for you.”
“It gets worse. So, I’m looking at the locker and I realize that everyone in school now knows what I’ve done and…I’ll get to that in a second,” he amended, unaware that Buffy already knew about he and Willow. “So I turn around to get the heck out of there when the entire cheerleading squad starts marching after me. Marching. Like little soldiers in skirts.”
“Oh, God.”
“I know! I mean, I’ve never seen anything so frightening in all my life. I’ve had dreams about that sort of thing only, they weren’t wearing unhappy faces. The dream is ruined! They looked like they wanted to murder me!”
“Which is why you so bravely ran to the safety of the library.”
“Well, I figured...last place they’d look?” He shrugged sheepishly. When Buffy didn’t seem amused, he sighed. “Sorry, I forgot you used to be a cheerleader.”
“And that you dated one.” She rolled her eyes and picked up her backpack. “Remind me never to get on Cordy’s bad side. Good luck, Xander, you’ll need it. Giles, I’m off.”
“Right. I expect a full report tomorrow. And do be careful!” he said as she walked away.
“Buffy!” Xander shouted in a panic. “How about a little slayer protection on the way to my car?”
“You’re on your own, Xan,” she said, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she exited the library.
“Giles?” he asked hopefully.
“Be a man,” Giles said with a disappointed expression and turned away from him to get back to his research.
“Right. A man,” he said to himself, puffing out his chest as he turned to the swinging doors. Thinking about it for a minute, he said, “A man who waits for everyone to go home for the day before he leaves.”
* * * *
“Honey, you baked,” Spike said teasingly as Buffy entered the factory, carrying a Ziploc bag filled with cookies.
“If slicing pre-made cookie dough and putting it on a cookie sheet is considered baking, then baking I did. Here you go.” She handed him the bag, kissed him on the cheek, and walked further inside, removing her coat.
Spike opened the bag and pulled one out as he followed after her, stuffing it in his mouth. “Mmm, tasty. What brings you here?” he asked with a mouthful of cookie.
“Are you complaining?” She smiled at him and sat on his bed.
“No.” He returned her smile and took another bite of his treat. “You look nice. Is that velvet?” He tilted his head as he looked over the outfit she was wearing. She had on a long, navy blue dress with a low-cut neckline and belled sleeves. It had lacing up the front of it to show off her tiny waist and black trim along the hemline. It looked like something Dru would have worn. He swallowed his bite, trying not to choke on it when it dawned on him what she’d done.
She’d dressed up like Drusilla because she thought that’s what he wanted. Baked him cookies. Of course, her insecurity made sense. He’d yet to tell her how he felt, still unsure of what might happen when her friends sorted her out. But she was trying too hard to please him and it made him sad. How often had he done the same for Dru? How often had he changed himself, reinvented himself, to garner her affections?
“Do you like it?” she asked nervously. “I know it’s a little dressy for patrol but...I can move around easily in it. I double checked.”
Spike sighed forlornly, his eyes lowering to the bag of cookies in his hand. He closed it up and set it down on the nightstand beside her and squatted in front of her, taking her hands in his. “You don’t have to do this, Buffy.”
“Do what?” she said innocently, chewing on her bottom lip.
“I like you the way you are.” He ran his fingers through her hair and smiled at her.
“You like me, huh?” she said quietly, hope and love shining in her eyes.
“Yeah.” He placed his hands on her hips and pulled her forward to the edge of the bed so he could embrace her. “I like you.” He kissed her, pulling away to say, “You don’t have to dress like Dru for me to notice.”
“But last night you said that-”
“Know what I said, love. Shouldn’t have said it like that.” He cupped the sides of her face and gazed into her green eyes, wanting so badly to tell her how he felt. But if he admitted it out loud, he knew he’d be doomed if he wasn’t already. “Let’s both of us try to forget about Dru. What do you say?”
She smiled so beautifully at him, so grateful and warm that he was afraid she might cry. Luckily, she didn’t. She just sighed happily and nodded. “Ok.”
He kissed her forehead, taking a moment to smell her hair, and then pulled away with a roll of his eyes. He knew he was fucked when the hair sniffing began. It would be all downhill from here.
“Besides, I like those short skirts you wear.”
She giggled and said, “Thank God. This dress is so uncomfortable.”
“Then let’s get you out of it.” His hands were already sliding up her legs beneath her long skirt.
“No, sir,” she said firmly, but made no move away from him. “We have to patrol.”
“Patrol?” He groaned like a petulant teenager. “But that’s awfully boring. Wouldn’t you rather stay here with me all night?”
Her breath quickened as he caressed her bare legs and she moaned softly at the prospect of spending hours with him in naked bliss. “Of course I’d rather. But I have something important to take care of and I need your demon rep to help me find someone.”
She needed him. He really liked this being needed thing. It was a new concept that he could definitely see the benefits to. However, she was asking him a huge favor, one that could likely get him killed or turn him into an outcast in the demon world. Not a nice place for a master vamp to be in. He wasn’t a white hat, would never be a white hat.
So, he hadn’t killed anyone since he arrived in Sunnydale. Except that uptight bird with the perfume. But ever since the spell, he hadn’t killed. Not once. Sucked on a drunk girl outside of the Bronze the night before, but he hadn’t drained her. He convinced himself that she didn’t taste right at the time, but Spike knew the real reason why he’d stopped. Buffy would have hated him for killing a human.
It was with that final thought that Spike was overcome with a horrifying realization: he was turning into a wanker.
“Don’t know if I can help, pet.” He stood up, needing to put distance between them. Without her even asking him to, Spike was changing to please her. Just as she came to him wearing a dress fit for a renaissance festival, he’d been leaving his victims alive.
“But of course you can help! Even if you can’t get any information, you’ll be keeping me company. And we can fight together if anyone crosses our path. Doesn’t that sound like fun?” She looked at him expectantly.
A bit of violence did sound all right. He wasn’t a white hat, though. Wasn’t turning into one of her mates. He was just along for the ride and if some nasty happened upon them, wouldn’t be his fault if he partook in the fray. He shrugged. “Yeah, all right.”
She beamed at him and stood up. “Great. We just have to find the bastard that killed one of my classmates on the Sunnydale border Friday night and stake him!” She bounced past him towards the door and Spike’s eyes grew wide in fear.
“Uh, who’d you say this bird was again?” He nervously reached for his duster to slide it over his shoulders.
“I didn’t really know her. Some rich girl named Stephanie who was the captain of the cheerleading squad. The police found her on the side of the road, next to a Lexus with a smashed windshield. But the puncture wounds on her neck are what tipped me off.” She grabbed her coat and said sternly, “Whoever did this is going to pay. No one messes with my town.”
Spike was torn between being turned on from the dominating tone she was using and being very, very afraid of the dominating tone she was using. Taking a deep breath he said, “Right, well, let’s go...kick some demon ass.”
She smiled and kissed him on the cheek and walked outside. Spike followed after her, scratching the back of his head. He had no idea how he was going to get out of this one.
Chapter 10 >>>