Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant enemy et al. I receive no monetary gain from writing or posting this story.

Part 1/2

She'd been sitting on the sarcophagus for twenty minutes now. Her legs were pulled tight up against her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She rocked back and forth. For the past ten minutes she'd cried. She hadn't said a word the whole time and was trying to repress the sounds of her crying.

There was nothing Spike could do except watch her from across the room with his guts twisted into painful knots. He hated seeing her like this. He hated not being able to do anything for her. This scenario wasn't new. She came to him to be alone. She could be alone with him there. Sometimes they talked a little. Sometimes he talked and didn't know if she was listening or not. And sometimes, like today, they didn't say anything at all.

There had also been tears before and from experience he knew that offering her comfort would only send her running. After another five minutes the whimpering receded a little and the tears dried on her cheeks, though she kept sobbing occasionally.

She was looking at him now, acknowledging his presence even. She wasn't alone any more. Her look was confusing. There were hints of anger in it, he knew the signs for that. There was also hurt, lots of that, and something else as well. Something he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Would you like something to drink? Water, beer, whiskey?" he asked feeling he should say something. She didn't answer but jumped off the sarcophagus and slowly walked over to him, her eyes fixed on him. She came to a halt directly in front of him, closer than he would have thought she'd like.

Without breaking eye contact she wiggled her jacket off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor leaving her in a chocolate brown satin blouse. Her hand held her hair away from one side of her neck. She tilted her head a little to the side making her bare neck appear even longer than it was.

"Bite me, Spike."

It took him a while to understand the words she'd just said. Just like that, like it was no big deal. When he finally realized his eyes flew open and met hers. She looked dead serious. His eyes went down to her exposed neck, back to her face and down on her neck again where they lingered, caressed the milk white soft looking skin. He didn't know how long he lost himself in admiration of the smooth hollows of her neck but was repelled by his own thoughts when he came to his senses.

"No," he said.

"Why not?" Her tone of voice sent a chill down his back.

"I'm not goanna kill you no matter how nicely you ask me. And believe me, if you think you can find someone else who'll do it I'll do whatever it takes to stop him." He spoke calmly but his voice was strained with anger.

"Spike, I don't want to die. I just want you to bite me."

"Why?"

She lowered her eyes to the floor. "I want to feel what it's like."

"You've been bitten before." He pointed to the other side of her neck where the scars of her previous bites were well visible.

He could see her poise faltering. She started walking around. At least she was still talking and not running away. "I want to feel it voluntarily. Preferably not ending up at the hospital or waking from a thrall afterwards."

"Is this about the soldier boy?" He hated to say it but he seemed to have hit a spot that was still sore. She wouldn't look him in the eyes any more.

"No." Silence. "Maybe. I want to know what it was that he had to find elsewhere."

He took her hand and led her to the couch where they sat down. "Buffy, if I bite you it won't be anything like what he felt. What he got were cheap, out of the world whores who see this kind of stuff as a two for one deal for easy blood and easy money to buy drugs. I'm a master vampire and I love you. You'd feel much more than he did."

"I just want to feel something." A single tear spilled from her eyes and ran down her cheek and she was whimpering again. Without thinking about it Spike let his instincts kick in and pulled her into his arms stroking her hair and back while she cried. This time it didn't last long.

"I just want to feel something," she told him again. "I know that it would mean something to you, Spike. I know that it would be powerful. I don't want to take advantage of you or lead you on. I just want to feel something."

Reluctantly he let go of her and thought about what she was asking him to do. Of course he was tempted. He'd dreamed about this… not exactly like this but… Could he find the strength to flat out deny her? He doubted it, he would never be able to get the word out. Maybe if she… "I have some conditions. If I do it I want to do it right."

She'd never agree to this, he thought. "It would be sexual you know… that's actually not a condition, it's a fact. It would always be sexual between us. intimate, but I'd want to take it up a notch."

Her look didn't falter an inch. He wasn't sure if he should be thrilled or worried. "I want you to be naked and that you let me have complete control over this. You know I'd never harm you." It didn't really sound like he didn't want to do this, but it was the best he could do.

"What's in it for you?" she asked.

He snickered. "Slayer… seeing you naked, being able to run my fingers over your silken skin, having your blood on my tongue…"

"Okay stop. I get it. Dream come true." Why did she need time to think, she would never… "Alright."

"Excuse me?" He was completely thrown. It hadn't really occurred to him that she might actually agree.

"I said alright. You can do whatever you want, just as long as it's not too obvious to see afterwards what I let you do."

"What you asked me to do, Slayer" he corrected.

"Should we go downstairs?"