"The Burning."
Part twenty-three of the
"What Am I?" series.
Rating: R. for the entire
series.
Spoilers: I don't have the
time or the energy to go through and state exactly what spoilers are contained
in my fics just assume that anything that has aired in the US is fair game.
Disclaimers: Joss owns everything
fun. I only borrow it for a while.
Feedback: Let me know what
you think. (ladyduvessa19@icqmail.com)
They sat there and he held her. He had been surprised at everything she said. How she admitted she was a demon and how the demon gave her strength. How she said they were the same. That they were half-breeds. And how for the first time she said that she loved him. He could stay like this forever. Silent with her. And then she spoke.
"Do you think you could take these off now." She said raising her wrist that was still cuffed to his.
"You promise not to up and leave?" he asked.
"Spike." She said annoyed.
"What? I'm supposed to trust that you're not going to just up and leave." He said.
"I'm not going anywhere. I love you. And I'm going to prove it. I'm going to tell my friends. I'm going to stop pushing you away. I'm going to stop being so violent."
"I don't mind the violence, luv. I get off on it. We both do. I just don't want your violence turning me into a big pile of dust."
"Check. No pile of dust." She said and then smiled at him. He reached in his pocket and got the key for the cuffs.
"There you go. You're free." He said as he unlocked them.
"Yep I'm free and I'm staying right here." She said leaning back onto his chest.
"I love you Buffy." He whispered in her ear.
"Yeah me to." She said lifting herself off him. "What is she doing here?"
"What?" he asked and then realized what Buffy was looking at. "Oh her."
"Yes her. What is she doing here?"
"A bit jealous are you." He said as they stood.
"Please. Me jealous of little miss 'I'm a slayer/vampire.' I don't think so."
He decided that he should just drop it. He didn't want to piss Buffy off and arguing with her about her being jealous of Aurora would surely piss her off. "I was mad at you after I saw you and Angel in the Magic Box. I decided that my life would be better off without you women in it. So I drugged her and put Drusilla in the coffin."
"You what? Drusilla's in the coffin? Why?" she said, each sentence part of a different thought.
"I was going to kill them. I was going to kill you." He said.
"You were going to what?" she yelled.
"That's right. I was going to kill you. You and Dru and I was going to cut Aurora into tiny little pieces so that even if she didn't die she wouldn't be much of anything. I didn't want to look at you. I did catch you and peaches you know. Not something I was all too happy about. I decided that the reason I was always so unhappy was because of you women. So I was just going to get rid of you." He was very calm when he spoke.
"I see. Things get to hard and your solution is to just make them go away." She yelled.
"Yeah. That's about right." He said and he could tell that she was becoming furious. "But I could have never done it. Not to you anyways. I tried to think that I could. Because I hated what you did. But the truth is I'd kill myself before I'd kill you."
"You know you really should learn how to deal with your anger." She said half joking.
"Yeah I heard that already from Dawn. Look I'm sorry. I would have never hurt you."
"I know." She said and then kissed him on the cheek. "Why don't we go. I've got some things I need to tell my friends."
"Alright then." He said and they headed out the door.
"I'll never understand it." She said as they walked.
"Understand what?"
"Us." She said and he stopped walking.
"You go on ahead. I just remembered I left some candles burning downstairs don't want the place to burn." He said.
"I'll come with you."
"No it's ok. I'll catch up." He said and then he headed back to his crypt. When he got inside he walked to the coffin Dru was in and started talking to her. He wasn't sure if she could hear him, but he kept talking.
"I didn't think it'd ever come to this. Thought we were eternal. Literally. But I guess even I'm wrong sometimes. I just want to thank you. For giving me this. If you hadn't have taken pity on me all those years ago I would have died alone, unhappy. And you probably didn't know it then, or maybe you did, but you gave me the chance to be loved. You made it possible for me to know her. You gave me Buffy. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry you'll never know what that feels like. I'm sorry that Angel made you crazy. That he made you weak. But me being sorry doesn't change you. You were the one I thought I loved for so long. You were the one who gave me life. But she's everything and I can't let you take that away." He grabbed the can of gasoline that he had bought when he thought that he would be killing Buffy and he poured it over everything, including Aurora. He opened the coffin and poured what was left in the can on top of Drusilla. She was sleeping. He took his lighter out of his pocket and he threw it in the coffin with Dru. As she started to burn he said "Goodbye." And he left.
He walked in the direction of the Magic Box where he and Buffy had been headed. He tried not to think about his crypt burning. He had said goodbye and he knew it was for the best. He didn't love Dru and she wanted them to be a family again. It was better for him. It was better for her. As he continued to walk he saw Buffy. "You waited." He said.
"Yeah. I didn't want to walk alone. Did you put the candles out?"
"Yep. It's all taken care
of." He said and she put her hand in his and they continued their walk
to the Magic Box. He didn't know what would happen. He had no place to
live, he killed Dru, and even if it was true and Aurora couldn't die she
would still be quite crispy in the morning. But he had Buffy and it all
didn't matter.
Part 22 || Part 24