Chapter 8

Adam stared as the blond vampire jumped behind the counter with the Slayer, shielding her from the bullets with his body .

This vampire was a complete failure. All the data loaded in his memory couldn't explain how he had managed to survive for so long without the necessary detachment.

The hybrid had believed he had convinced the vampire to join the demon insurrection. But no, the subject had chosen the human side, and specifically the Slayer side. He was helping her to fight him. And now, he had taken a bullet in her place, possibly saving her life.

Adam couldn't understand.

His data in this regard were incomplete or missing.

He knew betrayal was in a vampire's nature, so he had predicted that possibility. But to betray him to side with the Slayer? That was unpredictable. He knew Spike was attracted to the woman, but its database said that vampires couldn't feel affection or compassion. They always stood on the powerful one's side, on the winning side.

So maybe... Spike knew that Adam would have failed and the Slayer would have won this battle?

He didn't understand that either, how this could happen. Despite all the variables he had tried, the patterns he had followed to the letter. He had done everything by the book, everything was done correctly. Everything had to go as planned.

Instead...

The vampire didn't deserve his gift.

-o-

The vampire started screaming inexplicably, holding his head in his hands.

Buffy's head snapped toward him, concern evident in her features. "What's going on?"

Spike stood up from their hiding place and faced Adam. "You bloody tosser! What's happening to my chip? I thought you removed it!"

"No. I just turned it off."

"What?" Spike roared, his hands to his head. "And what was that? A shock test? Or did you break it once and for all?"

"The shock test tells the chip is back on."

"What the hell?"

"Since you betrayed me, I felt right to cancel my medium of exchange."

"No!" Spike yelled, pointing a finger at him. "You sodding wanker! Disable this bloody chip immediately!"

Buffy rolled her eyes. She wished she had a camera to film him. The look on Spike's face in that moment was priceless, halfway between despair and bewilderment. "Look at it this way. He did you a favor," she said to the vampire, barely holding back her joy. "Now I won't be forced to kill you."

Adam had found the perfect way to make him pay. Spike was forced to stay in Sunnydale under their protection and won't be able to hurt a fly. And strangely, she liked that idea.

"I showed you what you were still capable of. But you didn't earn it. I made you believe you were free, this is your punishment."

Adam raised his arm and this time the machine gun was replaced with a cannon. Buffy and Spike quickly dropped behind the counter, while Adam fired. Through the smoke that followed, Spike saw Buffy groan and bend forward. For a terrible moment he thought she was injured and felt an intense pang inside his heart, or inside what was left in its place. He approached her and gently grabbed her by the shoulders. "Slayer! Buffy?" He called, surprised at how upset his voice had come out .

Gingerly, he took her face in his hands and saw that her green eyes were wide open and ... no, they were no longer green. Now Buffy was staring at him with yellow eyes and a very cold and firm look, like a plain killer. She started to get up on her own, with measured movements, and speaking in a strange language. It gave him the creeps, but caused an immediate reaction in his lower parts anyway. 'Bloody hell!', he thought, adjusting his pants. Pissed Off Buffy always made him horny.

Wide Blue eyes stared fixedly at her as she turned around the counter they were hiding behind, and moved toward Adam. Spike stood up from his hiding place, not wanting to miss the show. Buffy kept talking- no, kept chanting - in that strange language, as she approached the hybrid, and Adam kept staring impassively at her. "Interesting," he said at one point, and loaded the gun on his arm.

Spike was about to spring forward and go to her aid, but then realized this had to be her secret weapon and decided to give them space. The Slayer didn't need his help, now. Although, sitting still on the sidelines, without being able to intervene, was driving him mad.

Adam fired his weapon and the bullets remained suspended in mid-air between them, as if there was an invisible barrier in front of Buffy. "Very interesting," Adam said, now slightly worried. Buffy swung her arm in front of him, her palm facing Adam, and the bullets fell to the ground. Then the hybrid's arm dropped to his side and the machine gun dismounted by itself, its pieces falling on the floor. Spike hoped this would end as soon as possible, because at that point he was so horny, if Buffy moved her hand or talked again or something, he would come in his pants.

But no, the Slayer didn't take pity on him, and now that Adam had lost its military weapons, the two opponents began an intense hand-to-hand combat. This time, however, their strength was equal, and Buffy could easily block his shots. The hybrid soon had its back against the wall and gasped as Buffy pierced his chest with her bare hand and extracted his uranium core.

Spike groaned at the sight and grabbed the counter top with both hands, his legs giving way beneath him. "Fuck!" He cursed under his breath. He shook for several seconds and then dropped behind the counter, cursing the hot Slayer and now sticky pants.

-o-

Adam looked at the uranium core in the Slayer hand, his vital essence.

He was built to regenerate any part that got injured in a fight, even his head. He had been programmed not to be deceived by the enemy. He was created because he was the perfect soldier, the perfect combination of man and machine and demon. The 314 project was the future, the result of evolution.

Still, he had failed.

The Slayer was holding his artificial heart in her hands and he simply shut down like a common appliance to which someone had removed the electrical link.

-o-

Something heavy fell to the floor and Spike stood up with difficulty to see what it was, supporting himself with trembling legs. Adam was lying on the ground. Its uranium core was hanging in the air in front of Buffy and was wrapped in a brilliant green light. The vampire watched as she disintegrated it with the sole force of her gaze.

Then Riley appeared at the door, a bloodied hand resting on his chest. "Buffy?" He called, and as he approached her, she went limp in his arms.

-o-

"Buffy?"

Recognizing the familiar voice, the girl regained consciousness and opened her eyes. Slowly sitting up, she realized she was perched on one of the lab steel gurney. She looked around.

"Are you hurt?" She asked Riley, staring at his blood stained jacket.

"Had to cut myself to extract the behavioral chip Dr. Walsh had implanted in my chest without my knowledge," he explained. "Adam activated it last night after we split up, making me come here against my will. That's why I couldn't speak to you."

Buffy approached him to check the wound. "What's he doing here?" Riley asked, pointing with his chin toward the figure behind her.

Turning around, she saw Spike sitting on the ground, a weird blank stare in his eyes as he looked in front of him. "He came to help us," she explained, as the memories swiftly came back to mind. "But Adam thought it was more fun to reactivate his chip."

The corners of Riley mouth turned upwards. "That's what he deserves."

While Buffy helped Riley to walk toward the exit, Giles, Willow and Xander ran to meet them.

"How did it go?"

"Wonderfully," Buffy smiled at them. Then, "Um, Giles? Could you help Spike up?"

-o-

For her friends, things couldn't have gone better. Xander seemed to have found his soul mate in the former vengeance demon, Willow had finally admitted that Tara was her girlfriend, and Giles seemed to have recovered from his mid-life crisis and decided to buy Sunnydale's magic shop, turning himself into a businessman. It was really a clever choice, actually. The place had a huge back room that could be equipped as a gym for workouts, had tables and shelves full of books, perfect for research, as well as everything you needed to make masses of spells! And everyone seemed to have rediscovered the enthusiasm of being together.

Riley was admitted to a military hospital along with his former colleagues who survived the carnage. The doctors had stitched him up and were keeping him under observation, to test any side effects due to his chip activation. When they were satisfied, he would leave right away for overseas.

And Spike... Well, Spike had surprised everyone. Even if Adam hadn't reactivated his chip, Buffy wouldn't have the heart to turn him into dust, not after he had helped with Forrest and had taken a bullet to protect her. Not that a bullet would have killed him, though the gesture had to count for something.

Buffy arrived at her destination and knocked gently on the crypt door, for once avoiding tearing it down. Not hearing any response, she cautiously opened it and saw a dim light coming from downstairs. As she was approaching the trap door, Spike's disheveled head appeared.

"Oh, it's you."

"Can I...?"

The vampire blinked, confused for a moment. "I ... I was going to bed."

"To bed?" She looked at him incredulously.

"Well, it's been an exhausting day."

"Yeah, well. I thought we could talk a little. About what happened today."

Spike sighed and climbed down the stairs, making room for her.

"There's nothing to talk about," he began, looking around uneasily.

Uh-huh, Big Bad's afraid of me? The Slayer wondered, as she looked around to see where he lived, as she had never seen the underground of his crypt. She did it also to avoid looking Spike in the face. He was just too adorable with all those unruly curls on his head.

"What are you going to do, now?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. But I'll probably leave this hellhole for a while."

She stepped closer and sensuously began to stroke his chest through his black cotton shirt. He winced and Buffy smiled to herself. "You know, I was thinking ..." she began, trying to draw out her most seductive voice. "That you might stay here to help us."

The look in his eyes made her feel ablaze.

"Um, and what do I get in return?"

Buffy smiled and lowered her hands to grab the hem of his shirt. Spike raised his arms and let her pull the garment over his head. Then she threw the shirt behind her, not caring where it landed. When she placed her hands on the vampire's chest, Spike's pupils widened and his breathing became labored.

"I hope this isn't a joke, because-" he began, as Buffy grabbed his head and crashed her lips to his...

-o-

What a lovely couple they were, enemies but lovers. And as long as Spike had his chip, Buffy felt a bit safer. He would be forced to stay in Sunnydale for protection, he could help them, and the two of them could see each other in secret, in a kind of friends with beneficts situation.

She couldn't explain why, but she needed him. Perhaps to vent all the adrenaline she had accumulated during the fight with Adam, or perhaps to try to fill the void Riley had left in her... She needed Spike and she would take him. Again and again. It wasn't as if he minded. And knowing that she had that freedom, to have him every time she wished, knowing that she had that power over him, make her feel wonderful.

"You know this time your boyfriend didn't do anything, right? He just sat there, bound like a sausage without even talking, while I was working to help you."

Buffy smiled as she straddled him, rocking gently over his body.

"And then he cut his chest, just to make himself look good. You know he's an idiot, right?"

Buffy stopped, unable to hold her laughter anymore. She let herself fall onto his chest, her hair cascading like a waterfall on his shoulders. Then she cocked her head and started to draw some imaginary patterns with her finger on his flesh. "You know Riley and I aren't together anymore, right?" She looked at him. "So stop being jealous."

Spike grinned. And it wasn't simply a grin, it was her favourite grin, the one that made her legs quiver. And then he drew her into his arm to kiss her properly.

THE END