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Chapter 9 - Epiphanies
Earth, Sunnydale, Angels mansion,
"I love you." Spike tell her.
Buffy closes her eyes and grimaces in disgust. "Oh my god."
"No, look at me!" Spike says and grabs her chin and forces her to look at him "I…love you." Buffy jerks her chin out of his hand "You're all I bloody think about. Dream about. You're in my gut…my throat…I'm drowning in you, Summers, I'm drowning in you."
Dru begins to laugh. Spike turns. "I can do without the laugh track, Dru."
"But it's so funny. I knew…before you did. I knew you loved the Slayer. The pixies in my head whispered it to me." Dru informed him.
Spike turns back to Buffy as Dru continues talking. "You can't tell me that there isn't anything there between you and me. I know you feel something."
"It's called revulsion. And whatever you think you're feeling, it's not love. You can't love without a soul." Buffy told him.
"Oh, we can, you know. We can love quite well. If not wisely." Dru informed the slayer.
"No you can't. You feel lust, the need to overpower and control the other. You don't fee love if you did then Angel would- Angelus would have loved me. But he couldn't. Instead he wanted to break me. Wanted to kill everyone I loved so I would be alone and when he finally turned me he would be all I would have. Of course when things didn't go his way he tried to turn me before he killed my friends and when that didn't work he tried to get the world sucked into hell. So whatever it is that you're feeling I'm never going to submit to you. I never did to Angel or Angelus and I loved Angel more then I will ever love anything in this life." Buffy told them.
Buffy had a sudden disturbing discovery while she was saying that, she didn't voice it, she couldn't . It troubled her, part of her was disgusted by the part she had just discovered. Some dark twisted part of her wanted to be dominated by Angelus. Would love to feel him claim her as his, doing the same in return. That part wanted to fuck the demon like an animal, fuck him and make him beg her for more. Buffy suppressed a shudder at the disgust she felt with herself, not just for the thoughts by her own arousal from the images her mind played before her eyes. She shoved it away and faced Spike hoping he wouldn't smell her sudden wetness.
"I do love you!" Spike told her loudly as if he never heard her speech "You still don't believe. Still don't think I mean it. You want proof, huh? How's this?" he grabs a stake off the table, turns and puts the stake against Dru's chest. He looks over at Buffy. "I'm gonna kill Drusilla for you." Dru begins laughing again.
"That doesn't prove anything…except that you're a sick miserable vampire that I should have dusted a long time ago. And, hey, already there." Buffy told him mockingly glad he hadn't noticed her earlier arousal.
"Don't mock this." Spike told her.
"Go mock yourself." Buffy replied annoyed with Spike.
"This is Drusilla, girl! You have the slightest idea what she means to me? It's the face of my salvation!" Spike tells her and looks at Dru who smiles slightly "She delivered me from mediocrity. For over a century we…cut a swath through continents. A hundred years, she never stopped surprising me." He caresses Drusilla's cheek ad she leans her face into his hand. Quietly he adds "Never stopped taking me to new depths. I was a lucky bloke." Dru smiles "Just to touch such a black beauty."
Buffy looks bored at the two as Spike continues stroking Dru's face as she smiles. "Aw…" she exclaims then suddenly Spike lifts the stake again and puts it firmly against Dru's chest. She gasps and winces. "Ow."
Spike turns to look at Buffy "So you see, it means something."
"Not to me. Kill her, why do I care?" Buffy tells him.
Spike looks surprised, takes his hand down. "Here's why." He walks toward Buffy "If you don't admit…that there's something there…some tiny feeling for me…then I'll untie Dru, let her kill you instead." He then pauses before adding "Or I'll just kill Red, or better yet turn her into a vampire."
Drusilla nods quickly "Yes, please. I like that game much more."
"Just…give me something…a crumb…a barest smidgen…tell me…maybe, someday, there's a chance." Spike tells her pleadingly.
Buffy looks intensely at him. He moves right up close to her. "Spike…" she says and he looks hopeful.
"The only chance you had with me was when I was unconscious. I'm still in love with Angel, and when he finds out what you did. That you're trying to make me yours…you're going to wish I dusted you a long time ago. I'm sure travelling with Angelus as long as you did you'll know what to expect."
Spike looks puzzled for a few seconds "Oh, what…" Spikesays then makes a face of extreme frustration "Ohh!" He turns away, throws the stake away and gives a loud angry yell. "Gaaah! What the bleeding hell is wrong with you bloody women!? What the hell does it take!? Why…do you bitches torture me? What the hell is it that poof has that I don't!?"
"Which question do you want me to answer first?" Buffy asks him.
"Look, I, I'm at the end of my bleeding tether. You know? I don't even know why I even bother, you know." Spike says then points at Dru "This is your fault. You're the one to blame for all this."
"Am I?" Drusilla asked.
Shouting Spike answers "Bloody right you are! If you hadn't left me for that chaos demon, I never would have come back here! Never would have had this sodding chip in my skull! And you" he turns to Buffy "wouldn't be able to touch me, because this" pointing to Buffy, then to himself "with you, is wrong. I know it. I'm not a complete idiot" He stomps past Buffy, then turns back.
"You think I like having you in here? Destroying everything that was me, until all that's left is you, in a dead shell." Spike tells her and scoffs "You say you hate it, but you won't leave. You know, what I should just do, is get rid of both of you. Burn you. Cut you into little pieces" he makes scissor gesture with his fingers "so there won't be any more bints to cock up things for Spike-" a minion interrupted him.
"Spike, the slayers friends are taking the bait." Sheila informed then glances at her tied up sire.
"Bait? What bait?" Buffy asked.
"You, luv. I had a robot made in your image and had it rescue Red so your friends won't be coming to your rescue. You're going to be with me luv. Even if you don't want to right now." Spike tells her.
"They'll be able to tell it's a robot instead of me." Buffy states confident in her friends ability to distinguish her from a machine.
"Yeah, how long did it take your friends to suspect anything was wrong when that other slayer swapped bodies with you? And now Dru did an aura duplication spell so Tara won't be able to sense anything wrong. Nor will you be there to tell them you're not you." Spike told her smiling.
Fear for her friends and for herself crept up her spine but she pushed it down, not going to allow Spike the satisfaction of smelling her fear.
ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS SG SG-1 ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS SG SG-1 ATVS SG SG-1
Earth, L.A.,
A taxi pulls up in front of the Sharp's house and Cordy gets out. Cordy sees that the house is completely dark and stops on the sidewalk. Looks at the taxi pulling away, back at the house.
The door to the house is partly ajar and after some knocking Cordy peeks into the house.
"Hello? Mrs. Sharp?" Cordy calls and inches her way in"Anybody home? Cordelia Chase here. Uhm, I hope you haven't gone to bed already. Took me a little longer to get here than I expected. Hope that doesn't mean you changed your mind about paying your bill, which I, I just happened to bring along with me. Hello?" Cordy takes a few steps deeper into the house and looks in through the doorway into the kitchen to see the Sharp's bodies lying on the floor there.
Cordy ups a hand to her head as she gets a blurry vision of her trying to leave the house but encountering a Skilosh demon instead. Cordy, takes a deep breath, gets up and hurries to the door only to recoil from the sight of a Skilosh demon standing right there, blocking her way.
"That was helpful!" Cordy yelled sarcastically. The Skilosh growls at it jumps at her.
Cordy, sitting back against the wall in the Sharp's house, slowly comes to. Touching the back of her head she gets on all fours.
"Human." The Skilosh demon says.
Cordy lets out a startled yell and looks up. "Destroyer of our Spawn."
"Destroyer of your... Have we met?" Cordy asked confused.
"The others. You will make them come to us." The demon tells her.
"Huh? What others?" Cordy asked still confused.
"Three are responsible. Three must pay." The Skilosh demon tells her.
"Look, I think you must have me confused with someone else. I haven't destroyed anyone's spawn. Promise." Cordy tries to convince the demon.
Two more Skilosh come in and speak to the first one in Skilosh. As the first Skilosh turns around, Cordy gets to see the back of its head for the first time. "Hey! You've got a third eye in the back of your head just like that little girl did…before…we…destroyed your spawn."
"We've located the wheeled one. Where is the other?" the Skilosh demon asks her.
"Wheeled one?" Cordy questions.
ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS SG SG-1 ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS SG SG-1 ATVS SG SG-1
Earth, L.A., Wes's apartment,
Wesley rolls around his apartment in his wheelchair. Takes the stack of books off his lap and sets it on a side table, not noticing the demon outside his window watching him with the third eye on the back of its head.
Wesley picks up some dishes and puts them on his lap. Stops as he hears some banging followed by an indistinct but rather upset voice talking. Continues his way towards the kitchen. Again there is banging and the voice gets a bit louder, though no more understandable.
Wesley rolls his chair back against the wall, ignoring the dishes spilling form his lap in the process. Looks around, sees the demon outside his window just ducking away. Wesley rolls over to a walk-in closet and after some trouble gets the door open and wheels inside. Can't quite reach the shelf above his hanging clothes. Tries to stand up, but sinks back with a groan. Grabs the broom and uses its handle to move the shotgun resting on the top shelf. It falls off the shelf, hitting him in the process but he manages to hold onto it.
He cracks it open to find that it is not loaded. Looks at the box of shells up on the shelf. He manages to knock them down using the broom, but the box lands on the floor spilling shells everywhere. Wesley pushes two shells into the double barrel and closes the gun.Rolls back out of the closet. Stops with his back to the door to the hall and aims the gun first at the window, then at the doorways leading to the other rooms in turn, then back at the window.
The door behind him crashes open and Wesley spins around, gun aimed one handed, to find Angel standing in the hallway. "Angel!" Wesley called surprised.
Angel is looking past Wesley, shifting on his feet, but doesn't come in.
"Invite me in! I've never been here before, Wesley, you have to invite me in!" Angel tells him.
"Well, perhaps if you'd shown a bit of interest…" Wesley starts to tell him after he had lowered the shotgun.
Angel still looking past Wesley "Wesley…" he calls urgently.
Wesley turns to look over his shoulder just as one of the Skilosh crashes in through his window. "Yes. No.Absolutely. I invite you in. In I invite you!" Wesley tells him in a hurry.
Angel rushes past Wesley, spinning his chair around in the process and engages the two Skilosh demons.
"Do you know what these things are?" Angel asks Wesley as he fights the two demons.
"I believe the third eye indicates adult Skilosh, though this is the first time I've had occasion to…" Wesley starts to tell him.
Having temporarily knocked both demons across the room, Angel leans down on Wesley's chair. "How do I kill them?" he asked the former watcher.
"Well, uhm, there are a number of ways…" Wesley begins to tell him then one of the Skilosh tackles Angel away from Wesley and knocks him into the wall.
"Wesley!" Angel calls to him.
"Yeah, right, yes, uh, ah," Wesley starts when the other Skilosh grabs Wesley by the neck "hack it to pieces!" he manages to get out.
Angel grabs an ax mounted on one of Wesley's walls, kicks his Skilosh away and knocks the other away from Wesley with the ax. Then follows it where it landed behind the sofa and hacks it to pieces, splattering the wall with thick yellow gore.
The other Skilosh launches itself at Wesley, and he brings up his shotgun and fires. Yellow gore spatters Wesley's face as the demon is thrown back by the blast.
Wesley looks at it lying on the floor, steaming slightly, with plaster from the ceiling raining down on it. "I think I got it." He says a bit stunned by that.
Angel is getting up, having finished his demon. Wesley takes off his glasses and squints up at the ceiling. "I can only pray Mrs. Starns isn't at home." Wesley tells Angel. Wesley and Angel look at each other. A smile starts to spread over Wesley's face but disappears into a frown as Wesley looks away.
Wesley puts his glasses back on "What are you doing here." He asks the soulled vampire.
Angel straightens up, the slight smile on his face vanishing with a sigh.
ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS ATVS SG SG-1 BTVS ATVS
Earth, between L.A. and Sunnydale,
A brunette woman sat in the mostly empty cargo compartment thinking about the reaction of her sister slayer and her friends. Charlie had hopefully been able to convince them she was on their side and wanted to help, to make up for her past, if that was possible. Still seeing Angel try to make up for his demon, who had done a lot more and horrible things in his time filled Faith with hope that one day she will be able to say she has made up for her past.
The cargo compartment shook a bit but Faith remained seated silently deep in thought.
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