A/N: Okay, I want to take this opportunity to apologize for my two month absence. Real life interfered, not to mention writer's block. But I'm back now and I should be getting back to a regular basis of posting.
Part Six
Lorne took a seat and sighed, "I gotta tell ya. This Slayer of yours? She really must be something if she managed to get two vampires to fall in love with her."
"So, he's really in love with her?" Angel asked.
Lorne laughed, "Oh, yeah. He's in real deep."
"Damn right he's in deep," Xander exclaimed angrily as he dug around in Buffy's weapon chest.
"But you heard what Buffy said. She doesn't want any of us to intervene," Tara tried to convince him to drop his vendetta as she and the girls watched.
He held up an ax, "Buffy's not in her right mind right now. Who knows what kind of drugs the doctors gave her."
"Xander, how do we know it's not you who's not in his right mind?" Anya asked.
"Anya's right," Willow said. "We all know you never liked Spike. For all we know, you're just using this opportunity to get rid of him."
Xander's anger rocketed, "He attacked Buffy! He could have killed her."
"But he didn't," Dawn exclaimed. "We don't know what exactly happened."
"Yes, we do, Dawn," Xander argued, "Spike attacked your sister."
"I don't know about you, but I didn't hear Buffy say that. She never said those words," Dawn defended Spike.
Xander shook his head, "I don't need to hear this." He took the ax and left the house.
The girls were fast behind him.
"Xander, where are you going?" Willow asked.
"To look for that bastard."
"What are you going to do if you find him?" Dawn asked nervously.
"I'm going to ask him if he'd like some tea and crumpets," Xander answered sarcastically. "What do you think? I'm going to kill him."
Lorne sobered, looking at Spike, "The thing you're so worried about but can't ask anyone? You're not. You haven't been in a while. What happened? It was a test."
"A test?! I almost ki-" he stopped himself. He collected himself before continuing, "How is something like that a test?"
"What in life isn't a test? But the important thing is that you passed."
"Passed?" Spike laughed humorlessly. "Then how come I feel like I failed?"
Lorne looked at Spike sympathetically, "I know it feels like you failed, but consider what could have happened if you couldn't hold back."
"The only way I would have passed this bloody test of yours was if I didn't let it go as far as it did. If I controlled my demon. No. I failed. And now I've lost everything." And with that, Spike fled the Hyperion, with a confused group watching.
Lorne turned to them, "Don't worry; he'll be back. Just needs to blow some steam."
"What was that all about?" Gunn asked.
"Sorry, can't say," Lorne said.
"Well," Angel said, "how can I help him?"
Lorne shook his head, "It's not your help he needs." He turned back to the front door, "It's hers."
Xander threw the ax back into the chest, "Dammit!"
The girls watched silently as he continued his tirade. Their search for the blond vampire turned up empty. He wasn't at his crypt, Willy's or any other place in Sunnydale they figured he could be. Xander had wanted to check the hospital to make sure he wasn't there to "finish the job." But Tara stopped him by explaining that it's doubtful Spike even knew she was in the hospital much less which one. It was determined that he left town.
"So, Spike's too much of a damn coward to stay in town. Well, good for him. Maybe this time, he'll stay away," Xander said.
"You don't mean that," Dawn said.
"Like hell I don't!"
"Just the other day, you were acting like Spike wasn't really all that bad," Dawn continued to defend her friend.
"Yeah, well, that was before he decided your sister would make a good midnight snack," Xander retorted harshly.
"He *loves* her!"
"Didn't seem to make much difference when he was chewing on her neck!"
Dawn's eyes teared up, "It doesn't matter to you what really happened. You've always hated Angel, because Buffy loved him. Maybe you're just using this opportunity to get rid of Spike because, this time, you can't stand the fact that Buffy chose to love another vampire instead of you!"
"That was a long time ago and you know it!" Xander said.
Dawn shrugged, "And Buffy and Spike love each other and you know it."
Tara decided it was time to act when she saw Xander prepare to say another retort, "Okay, guys, enough! Buffy is coming home from the hospital tomorrow and the last thing she needs it the two of you at each other's throats about Spike. Give her time and when she's ready, she'll tell us what really happened, okay?"
Xander backed off, "Fine. I'll stop, for Buffy's sake."
Dawn shrugged, "Fine. I'm going to bed." She stomped up the stairs to her room.
True to Lorne's word, Spike did return. Thirty minutes before sunrise and drunk as a skunk. Gunn and Angel together managed to get him to a room protected from the sunlight. And that's where he collapsed, falling into deep unsettling dreams of his hurting Buffy again and again.
In Sunnydale, Buffy was coming home. Xander volunteered to drive her home after promising Tara he wouldn't mention the word 'Spike.' And as Xander drove home with Buffy beside him, he couldn't help but feel unnerved by her silence. She just stared out the window, occasionally fingering with the bandage on her neck.
"Buff?" he asked worriedly.
She looked at him.
"You okay?"
She looked away, back to the window, "Yeah, of course. Why wouldn't I be?"
Xander knew that wasn't true. He heard the waver in her voice. He saw the way she avoided looking at him.
"Buffy," he said.
"What?"
"Is it true?"
"Is what true?" she asked, confused.
Xander knew that he promised Tara, but he couldn't help it. He *had* to know. "Did...did Spike....Did he do that to you?" he asked, pointing to the bandage on her neck.
Her fingers flew back to her neck as she refused to look at him. "Why are you asking me this?" she asked weakly.
"Because if he did do this, I have to kill him."
"You can't," she said.
"Why not?" he demanded.
"Because I love him," she said in a quiet voice.
"But he almost killed you!"
She flinched at the harshness in his voice. "But he didn't."
"I don't care! Next time I see him, I will kill him."
Spike opened his eyes. He was in the forest again. Screams could again be heard in the distance. He tried to block them out, but his demon relished them. The demon grew excited, hungry. He wouldn't let himself be controlled this time. He couldn't. He had already failed. Failed her. Failed himself.
He was startled by a rustle behind him. Funny, he should have sensed whoever it was a long time ago. He turned around. Buffy stood before him, smiling.
"Buffy?"
She moved towards him. Slowly. Agonizingly so.
"Buffy?" he asked again.
"Yes?" she asked sweetly, finally getting within arms reach.
"Are-are you okay?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah? Why wouldn't I be?" she asked, a look of confusion on her face.
"Because-" he started to yell before reigning himself in, "Because I-I hurt you."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, "Oh, that? Just a scratch. I'm fine."
"You sure?"
She nodded.
"Oh, Buffy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want to do it. You know I love you, right? I would never try to hurt you. You know that, right? Please, forgive me."
"Shh. It's alright. Really," she said, brushing aside a tear he didn't even notice slide down his face.
He rested his forehead against hers, "I don't know what I'd do if I hurt you again."
"You won't," she said matter-of-factly.
"How do you know that?" he asked sadly.
"I just do," she said before kissing him slowly.
His arms moved to encircle her waist, pulling her closer.
"I love you," he mumbled against her lips.
"Love you, too," she whispered, breaking the kiss. She brushed light kisses along his jaw and down his neck.
He groaned. But that groaned swiftly turned from one of pleasure to one of pain as he felt something sharp penetrate the skin on his throat. He jerked away to see Buffy, grinning, his blood dripping from her mouth. But she wasn't his Buffy. This one was a demon. A vampire.
He looked at her, a pained expression on his face. He did this. He killed Buffy and now...this...*thing* was all that remained of his love.
"What's wrong, Spike?" Buffy asked. "Isn't this what you wanted?"
He shook his head vehemently. "No. You're not Buffy."
She looked at him as if he grew another head, "What are you talking about? Of course, I'm Buffy."
"No."
She just grinned at him, "Now, now. We mustn't be sad. This is what you wanted, remember?" She launched herself at his throat again.
He stood there unmoving as she drained him of blood that should have stopped flowing a century ago. Before he slipped away, he was vaguely aware of the tears that made their way down his cheeks unchecked.
End Part Six
A/N: Please, review! I just might get the next part out faster...
