By Night - Chapter Seven

by Angel Eternal aka Angeline

email: spikes_angel01@yahoo.com.au

Website: In Dreams and Shadows
http://www.geocities.com/spikes_angel01/index.html

Rating: R

Pairings: Primarily S/B, but also has W/T and X/A

Summary: Secrets revealed have a disastrous aftermath.

Author's Notes: This is set S6, and is loosely based on spoilers concerning the season. I just want to point out
though that I haven't seen S6 and won't for a while, so if things aren't quite right, you'd know why.

Distribution: "In Dreams and Shadows", "Shadow Borne", "Shelby's and Erin's Place" and at FF.net but it you want to
archive it go ahead, but just let me know first - I kinda like to know where it's going, and plus I find out about more
S/B shipper sites! ::grins::

Disclaimers: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is owned by Joss Whedon, several companies and God knows who else.
One thing is certain - I don't own any of it! Nothing - zip - nada!






He watched her, his amusement growing by leaps and bounds.

The Slayer's graceful walk had vanished into thin air, as she vainly tried to walk, the sword strapped to her back,
forcing her to hold her back at an uncomfortable angle.

Buffy had spent a good fifteen minutes in front of the weapons closet, eyeing one sword after another, testing each
one's heft and edge. Spike noticed there was one sword she steered clear of, like the wise creature that he was, he
held his tongue.

Finally, she had settled on a light samurai sword, gleefully she swung it around. Spike had growled at her, and
Buffy, appropriately contrite, allowed Xander to slide it into its sheath and strapped it to her back.

When the Slayer had complained about her inability to hide the sword, Spike, with much dramatic mutterings had
shucked off his duster and draped it on her slender shoulders.

Now the Slayer pranced ahead of him, delighted at what she called 'the swooshing effect'.

Buffy spun around, duster flaring behind her and fixed him with a glare. Startled, Spike took a step back.

A smile lit up her features "Ha! This is so cool!"

With a shake of his head, Spike merely followed her, internally grinning at the display of child-like glee. Something
that he hadn't seen in too long.

A vampire leapt out of the bushes; Buffy swiftly unsheathed the sword, insanely grinning about the lethal hiss.

Startled, the vampire stepped back, eyeing the deadly weapon. Taking advantage, Buffy cleanly sliced the vampire's
head off, it erupted into a puff of dust.

Disappointed, she slid the sword back into it's sheath. "This could get tiring you know. Stakage is just so much
easier. Stake up sleeve, stake slides into hand and into vamp's chest. Simple."

Spike grinned, "And now you have that annoying sword to handle - poor Slayer."

Buffy sighed, and continued walking. "Why can't anything be easy? Everything has to be all complex!"

Spike nodded, "That's just the way it is luv, besides, it won't be as entertaining if everything was easy now would it?"

Buffy stopped, and turned to regard him, "Are you saying that you'd rather life was hard and depressing, because it
would be more entertaining?"

He grinned at the note of incredulity he heard in her voice. "Luv, it's all philosophy, how you look at things. If things
were all ways bright and happy, you wouldn't appreciate it, 'cuz you won't know what misery is." He slipped a
cigarette into his mouth, "Besides..." he lit it up. "It'd be boring as hell, don't you think pet?"

Buffy eyed him, she sighed, and merely resumed walking, Spike trailing after her.

Caught up in appreciating her ass, he didn't notice when she stopped - he walked right into her.

"Ow! Bloody hell Slayer, why don't..."

A small hand clamped over his mouth, effectively silencing him. Once she was assured of his silence, Buffy dropped
her hand.

Spike studied her. Buffy's back was lance-straight and rigid, one hand was clenched at her side, the other poised to
grab her sword.

Spike moved to stand beside her, stretching out his senses. From the corner of his eye, he could see her scanning the
area around her, he could tell she was sensing something. He, on the other hand, sensed nothing. And that worried him
more then if he actually did sense something.

The tingles raced up and down her spine, raising her hackles. The presence was all around her, consuming her.
She found it difficult to breathe...almost as if something was suffocating her.

Instinctively, Buffy spun around.

He stood in the shadows, for a moment, the darkness enveloped him, and he stepped into the light.

The first moment that Buffy laid eyes on him, she was overwhelmed with an unsettling sense of deja vu. She couldn't
place a finger on it, and she frowned as she watched him walk closer.

Spike stiffened, he kept his eyes focused on the vampire. He had no idea who he was, but it was easy to say that this
vampire was no fledgling, and that worried Spike. He knew all of the Master vampires, and yet he did not know
this one.

The vampire halted a few metres from them. He nodded, yellow eyes flashing. "Slayer."

Buffy kept still, keeping her eyes on the vampire, she unsheathed her sword.

Spike's attention snapped to Buffy, for once she had no witty reply to the vampire's greeting. Instead, she was eerily
silent, grasping the sword firmly.

The vampire's attention shifted to Spike, his yellow eyes flared with anger. "Traitor."

The word came out in a venomous hiss. Spike had been called that many times now, but the way this unknown
vampire said it raised Spike's hackles.

Drawing himself up, Spike glared at the vampire, "What do you want?"

The vampire laughed, "I always did like you Spike, I'd recently forgotten."

Spike stepped back warily, he detested that this adversary knew more about him, then he did of him. "Have we
met before? I can honestly say that I don't know you."

The vampire grinned, and Buffy's eyes narrowed. "Of course you know me Spike."

Moonlight glinted off her sword, as she swiftly moved to slice the vampire's head off.

A hand stopped the sword's deadly swipe, the vampire's gaze swung to meet Buffy's. "And I remember why I like
you."

Wordlessly, Buffy pressed, the sword effortlessly slicing through flesh.

Time seemed to stand still.

The vampire laughed, his head falling off, but before the laughing head could hit the ground, he disappeared.

Simply disappeared, no dust to signal the death of a vampire, nothing.

Buffy shivered, the sword slipping from her hands.

"This is not over yet, my love." the voice wrapping around her, she could almost feel a tongue stroking the lobe
of her ear.

Buffy spun around, eyes wide.

Spike caught her, murmuring into her hair, babbling soothing nothings.

When she finally calmed down, she grasped his arms, desperately needing his strength. She couldn't explain why
she was so rattled.

"What was that?

Her voice sounded odd to her, harsh and rasping, she looked up, finding comfort in Spike's blue eyes.

Spike shook his head slowly, "I don't know luv. I have no idea."


* * *

"Willow? Are you home? Spike and I..."

Buffy stopped, when she saw Willow curled up on the bed, head tucked into a pillow.

Momentarily forgetting about vampires and monsters, Buffy went to her friends' side.

When Willow felt the bed shift, she looked up, "Tara?"

Buffy shook her head, her heart breaking for the pain she could see that Willow was going through, "No Wills, its me."

"Buffy, I..."

Wordlessly, Buffy grasped her hand, offering her strength and comfort.

They stayed like that, Buffy squeezing Willow's hand, as Willow lay, eyes glassy.

Finally Willow pulled herself together, sitting up.

"You want to talk about it?" Buffy asked.

Willow sighed, and then began. The words flowing from her lips as she kept her eyes on the bed, unable to meet
Buffy's clear gaze.

Silence fell, and Buffy merely opened her arms, and Willow fell into them, desperate for comfort.

Willow pulled away, smiling, "Thanks Buffy. I needed that."

Buffy nodded, "I know that I haven't really been there for you as friend recently, and I just..."

Willow nodded, cutting her off. "I know." she shook her hair out of her eyes, "So, you were saying before?"

Buffy frowned, then she remembered, "Oh yeah, I was gonna tell you that when Spike and I were patrolling, we
came across...something. It looked like a vampire - I hacked its head off, then it just disappeared..."

"Maybe you killed it - maybe, it was the Imitorlamia..."

Buffy shook her head, "I didn't say anything to Spike, but it felt familiar, the vam...thing, I mean. Like I knew who it
was...like I've met it before. He was just so...familiar."

Willow frowned, "So...you don't think it was the imitor?"

"I don't know. It seemed to know us...me and Spike...and...I took its head off right? But I heard his voice whispering
to me, saying it's not over."

"Maybe it was trying to give you last minute wiggins?" Willow put in helpfully.

Buffy sighed, "You're probably right."


* * *


"I comes home 'aright? Trip trip in, and know wha?"

Spike eyed the very drunk Xander warily, "No, what?"

Xander looked the vampire straight in the eye. "Gone. She was gone." for a moment, the slur left his speech. He
downed another shot, dropping his head on the counter.

Spike sighed, unsure what to do for the boy. He had sauntered into Willy's bar, looking to stock up on his supply,
instead he found Xander, chummily singing with an equally drunk vampire.

The vampire had recognised Spike, and had stumbled away, leaving him to deal with Xander.

Xander had progressed beyond being boisterous, to being contemplative and depressed. He switched between
spouting some drunk wisdom about life, and sobbing about his lost love.

Spike wondered if he had ever been this pathetic.

"Come on man - I'll take you home."

Xander protested violently, "No! Dun wanna! Ish emphy and cold..."

Ignoring his protests, Spike hauled him up, "Come on Xander - you can puke your guts out in your own bathroom!
Imagine that?"

Stumbling out of the bar, Spike remembered that he had brought his bike. He didn't know if he could trust the
inebriated whelp to hold on.

But Xander solved the problem for him, pulling out the keys of his car, and waving them around.

Spike grabbed them, and hauled Xander into his own car, slipping into the driver's seat, he drove to the Xander's
apartment.

When Spike made a move to haul Xander out of the car, Xander held up his hand.

"Spike...can...can I just stay here for a little while? I...I don't..."

He said it so quietly, looking so lost, that Spike caved in, and let him lie back down.

Neither of them moved for a long time, both preoccupied with their own thoughts, and staring up at the starry
sky through the windshield.

"Spike?"

Xander's voice abruptly broke the silence; Spike glanced at him. "Yeah?"

"Does it ever stop hurting?"

Spike snorted, "Bloody hell..." He thought for a moment, and wondered if he should feed the boy some honeyed
crap to make him feel better. "No...But the pain lessens, till it's just a throbbing reminder that twitches every so often."

He glanced at Xander, slumped in the seat. "Given up then?"

"I don't know."

Spike shook his head, "Should be last thing you do - give up, that is. If there's anything, a glimmer, even if it's all in
your imagination...don't."

Xander finally glanced at him, "Yeah - I just have to look for the glimmer.

They fell into silence once more, the silence stretching and finally Xander fell into drink-induced sleep, and Spike...
Spike wanted to dream.


* * *


Xander blinked, hissing as sunlight poured into his eyes, and spearing his pained head.

With a groan, he bent over, and rested his head on the dashboard. Blinking a couple of times, he tried focusing his
uncooperative eyes.

Slowly, he straightened, hand grasping the door, he glanced over to the driver's side, fully expecting it to be empty.

What he saw nearly shocked his hangover out of him. Nearly.

Xander blinked, then blinked again, certain that he was hallucinating - an after-effect. It just wasn't...

Spike lay on his side, his back turned to Xander, sunlight glinting off his peroxide blonde hair.

His hand trembling, Xander reached out to shake the vampire, unsure whether or not to touch him for fear of him
collapsing into dust. Tentatively, he touched Spike's leather clad shoulder, and shook him.

When he got no response, he shook him a little harder, this time eliciting a groan from the vampire. who shifted, "Bloody hell, don't you damn Scoobies ever know what the bloody time is?!"

Spike rolled over, growling.

"Uh Spike..."

"What now whelp? Need help finding the toilet bowl?"

"Spike?"

Still sleepy, Spike growled at Xander, "What?!"

Mutely, Xander pointed to the windshield.

Spike turned, and was nearly blinded by the sunlight glinting into his eyes.

Spike growled again, frantically dabbing at his eyes, trying to....

The vampire pulled his hands away, realising that he was bathed in sunlight. He turned wondering eyes back to the sun.
He squeezed his unaccustomed eyes shut.

"Bloody hell."



~To be continued~