Disclaimer: None of the characters (Buffy, Spike, the Scoobies, etc.) belong to me, but it's fun to pretend.

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The night air whisked around Buffy's bare shoulders as she traipsed through the cemetery. The thunder in the distance grew closer with every rumble and silently, Buffy smiled to herself as she thought of the preeminent storm.

"Look's like a storms brewin'," a voice drawled from the darkness.

Buffy turned on her heel, closing her eyes to allow her slayer senses to focus. She had been so wrapped up in the bliss of the distant memory, that she had closed her mind to the vamp alerts that had been going up in her mind. Her eyes snapped open as she sensed the vampire's presence a distance behind her.

"It's you," she said, and then, pausing for effect, added, "Again. Don't you have anything better to do?"

The bleached blond male stepped into what little visibility there was in the cemetery, his strong cheekbones accentuated as the lighting flickered around them. "Better than following you around, goldilocks?" He flicked open the lighter, he had been fiddling with in his left hand and lit the virgin cigarette dangling out of his mouth. After taking a slow, sensuous drag, all the while his eyes glued on hers, he stepped closer to her. "I don't think so," he said, blowing the remainder of the smoke towards her.

Buffy wrinkled her nose at the vile habit.

"Dead or not," Spike continued, "Any man has to agree that watching you walk is quiet a pleasurable experience, pet. I mean, doesn't compare to what it would be like to sink my fangs into someone of the likes of you," he morphed into his vamp face while speaking," but still, it comes close."

"Your disgusting," she sneered.

Back in human face he ran his tough over his teeth. "Vampire, luv. It's my prerogative." Buffy sidestepped around him in an attempt to continue patrolling, but Spike moved in front of her once again. "Woah, hold on there, pet. I haven't finished with you."

"Oh, please, Spike," she whined, "I take your threats about as serious as I take Xander's propositions to fight me. You have about as much bite as, well, uhh…" pausing to consider an insult worth hurling at him, Buffy was suddenly blindsided from the left and thrown into a tree.

Seconds later Spike came crashing down next to her, but she had hoisted herself off the ground without even paying heed to that fact. A demon with a warped face and twisted features was advancing towards her at an alarmingly fast rate. Buffy threw a punch and landed it square in his jaw. The demon's reflexes were fast though, swiping at her with gnarled yellow fingernails. Buffy sprung back out of it's reach, backing into a now standing Spike with such force that they were both thrown on the ground again.

"Sodding bint," Spike grumbled. "What the hell'd you do that for?" He pushed her off of him with his big black combat boot, and stood up, brushing dirt off his duster. .

"Hey, if you hadn't been standing there like some idiot, maybe I wouldn't have fallen into you to begin with." Buffy scowled, so infuriated at the platinum vamp that she did not yell out to him as the demon crept up behind him unknowingly.

Spike was too busy wrestling with his inner demon trying to satiate the need that rose up inside him to just do away with Buffy right then. The demon grabbed Spike by the throat and threw him again, this time, right into the wall of a crypt. Buffy had now leapt to her feet, but as she did so, the demon outstretched its arm and swiped at her stomach, breaking the skin painfully, coloring the bottom of her white tank top crimson.

Making a small noise of pain, Buffy stumbled backwards, a little taken back by the sudden injury. The gap between the creature and Buffy was quickly closing and her stomach was in excruciating pain as a toxin slowly spread into her system.

Just as Buffy was about to muster up strength to kick the demon away, hands had wrapped themselves around the sides of it's neck and quickly pulled to the side, snapping it. In a futile act of defense, the creature had thrown its arm back to fend of the attacker, catching on the side of his neck and dragging the yellow enameled fingernails down the skin.

Dropping the monster into a heap, Spike stepped back, bringing his hand to his now bleeding neck. "Shit," he muttered. He looked over at Buffy who had decided to rest against the wall of the crypt he himself had been thrown up against.

She was looking at him curiously, still clutching her abdomen, her green eyes clearly reflecting a look of pain. Spike however, did not hold the same look of pain and treated the deep gashes as if they were minor cuts.

An unwonted look of concern flashed across his face and he stepped forward, "Are you alright, luv?" he asked.

Blinking, Buffy looked up at him, stepping away from her crutch. "Yeah, fine. Just not up to the usual tonight," she lied. "Are you…not hurting?"

"It doesn't really feel like much of anything. Jus' a lil' nick, is all."

"Oh," she breathed, wondering why she felt the way she did while Spike felt nothing at all. She turned to walk back to the house and felt Spike's eyes on her as she went. "And don't you dare look at my ass," she warned.

"Wasn't even thinkin' of it," Spike replied. When Buffy finally was out of sight, he rubbed his neck with his hand. A searing pain was taking over the area, and Spike began to stumble as he was brought in and out of consciousness. Before collapsing against a grave marker, he groaned, "Bloody hell."

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A/N: Please review. This is my first fanfic so any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thanks.