TITLE: Harmony's Song
AUTHOR: Theresa L. Griffin
SPOILERS: None
SUMMARY: Harmony spends some time surveiling Buffy and Spike, and her feelings as well.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The time period is right after Spike gets implanted by the Initiative.
RATING: PG, angst, some humor
NOTE: If you want to post this, please ask permission first. Feedback gleefully received. Click here.
Uncreative flames are staked without mercy.
The blackness of night covered the wooded campus of Sunnydale University. Long rows of hedges lined the perimeter, weaving around the parking lot. Apart from the sparse outdoor lighting, the cloudless sky flickered with a few stars. The moon was absent, sleeping somewhere in the midst of space.
Soon, soon it would return.
From a ledge, a pink-clad figure watched the goings-on inside. She saw Spike, her sire, lounging in Buffy's dorm as if it was completely natural, a Slayer and a vampire. Her interest was piqued. She listened in.
"So, Buffy, what do you suppose we do now? Wait for the wanker to come out and play? Really, I hate all this sitting around."
The Slayer came to within inches of his face. "You will do what I tell you or I've heave-ho you back to the commandos!"
He stood. "Petty crap! I'll go back to my lair and," thinking about the reality of his situation, he reconsidered. "Aw! All right, I'll do what I can to get your friends back, but first, make me a cup of warm java, you know the kind I like."
"Make it yourself," she shot back.
"No dice, love. And I want it warm, not bloody room temperature!" He sat back down on the couch and smiled, watching her like a leech.
From outside, the female vampire was shaking with fury. Her sire was acting like a helpless puppy this whole time! What had happened to him? Why was he looking at the Slayer-sworn enemy of his kind-like that?! Had he simply forgotten about the moments they'd shared, the promises made?
But, he was Spike. And Spike only cared about his own skin. She reached inside her quilted satin jacket and fingered the stake.
Buffy snorted and headed for the kitchenette. A few moments later, she emerged with a mug full of blood, and handed it to him.
Now she feeds him? What is he even doing there? He hates her. He should be hunting for himself, not a lapdog to the Slayer. Slayer's lapdog. That's what Spike had dubbed Angel, the Slayer's ex. Harmony and he had shared some times then. It was great, but he was obsessed with his ex, Drusilla. Recently, he'd become violent with Harmony. He staked her, but the gem of Amara had protected her. That is, until he took it and fled. Staked her! He never would have tried that with Drusilla. He would talk about her in his sleep, and though he denied it to her face, Harmony knew that he had never fully his ex extracted from his heart. Now she wanted to rip out his.
Spike sipped the blood, and his face changed. His voice deepened. "Perfect." He closed his eyes, and Buffy affixed him with a look that could make a polar bear shiver.
"Great," she intoned sarcastically. "Now get rid of that blood breath. It's almost time that we headed out."
She turned her back to him, disgusted with herself for giving in to him. He rose, went to the bathroom and rinsed his mouth with Scope. He borrowed some Obsession for Men, relishing that it was most likely a past possession of one of the Slayer's men. Maybe that chap who used and dumped her.
He returned, weaving his way towards the Slayer. He exhaled in her face, blowing a fresh minty stream of air in her direction. He had no need to breathe, but he loved to brass her off, in the littlest annoying ways.
"Uh!" she growled, "You didn't have to do that in my face."
She strode towards the door. He grabbed her by the elbow and turned her towards him. "Come on!" he protested, "I put something on…just for you."
Harmony's face changed, her eyebrow ridges grew more prominent as she switched to vamp. Jealousy was boiling over, but she couldn't move just yet. Not with the Slayer around.
"What is it?! Oh," Buffy sniffed, getting a good whiff of cologne. "What did you do that for?"
"For you, love," he replied. Then he kissed her. She whacked him in the face. "You bastard!"
He ran out the door, chased by her. Halfway up the hallway, he feigned peace and then pinched her ass. He howled with laughter as she pummeled him.
Thoroughly aggravated, Harmony jumped down from her hiding place. This was the last time she would allow him to hurt her. She felt her heart hardening, the pain stretching it out like a drum, even though it didn't beat anymore. She closed her eyes, stretched out her preternatural senses and followed after The Slayer and her misbegotten ex.
The moonless sky offered no promises. Once again defeat was hers, rich with the agony of her foolishness of judgment. She shook away the tears that threatened at the corners of her eyes. The shadows of night swallowed her up, and a vengeance took hold. She unsheathed the stake and headed off into the night.