New Horizons: Chapter Twenty
By Annie
05-08-2002
Mrs. Jenkins voice was ringing in Buffy's head.
"When you sit down, do so by stepping in from the left and to the right, usually the gentleman seated to your right will pull out the chair for you."
"When you have been seated, be sure to have a look-see to make sure that you are not the only one picking up your napkin, and when you then do, pick it up and place it with an elegant movement in your lap, no need to look down or fold it any unnecessary way, only place it on-your-lap."
"Repeat after me, my dear: soup course, fish course, sorbet course, meat OR fowl course, salad course, dessert course, coffee course."
Buffy stared at the setting in front of her on the table. She thought she had a pretty good hang on the silverware, but the darn glasses! The only glass she could really remember was the water goblet and of course she recognized the champagne flute, but that small one! And the wine glasses, was it the larger one or the smaller one that was for white wine?
"Are you all right, my dear? You look rather pale," a deep voice asked to her right and she turned to the man, a rather plump looking character with a happy and kind face.
He had, indeed, pulled the chair out for her, and she had given him a smile before looking up the table to her right and seeing Spike do the same thing for a pretty young lady who had smiled a little too brightly as a 'thank you', or so Buffy thought.
Now he seemed involved in a deep conversation with the same lady and even though Buffy had tried to occupy her thoughts with more important matters, such as which glass was which, she couldn't ignore the wish in the back of her head.
I wish I could have been seated with him, I wish I could have been seated with him.
She turned her head to the man and pressed a smile, sighing.
"Thank you, sir, I am all right," she said, trying to sound as formal as she could and desperately going through some expressions of Giles'.
Expressions from Spike would do her no good, she concluded, unless she could curse the food, the host and the guests in a nice way.
She stifled a laugh at the thought and looked back on her plate.
"Tell me, child, are all Americans this talkative? For I must say, I can't seem to get a word in edgewise," the man's voice was heard again as he reached out his hand. "Sir Bernard Locke, at your most truthful service, dear lady."
Buffy turned to him and smiled at that statement, taking his hand and saying:
"Ms. Buffy Summers, grateful for your company and.not sure what explanation to give to your first question."
He smiled as he let her hand go and nodded down the table, to Spike.
"He seems like a good enough lad," sir Bernard said and Buffy, who had followed the gesture, raised her eyebrows a little, trying to beat down the sudden hurt in her chest as the strange girl made him laugh.
"I suppose," she mumbled, getting lost in thoughts of long nights patrolling and hard and passionate kisses underneath the stars.
She looked away, trying to remind herself the thousands of good reasons why she had ended it but feeling the all so familiar craving for him start to bite inside of her. And now that girl only made it wors; pushed the wanting of him almost over the edge somehow.
She swallowed hard.
"Dear girl, you look absolutely devastated! Have some water, I must insist!" sir Bernard said, reaching for her water goblet.
"No," she said, shaking her head and once more turning to him. "No, thank you. I. I don't need it. I'm sorry, I think I had a little too much sun this afternoon, that's all. I will be all right."
Sir Bernard nodded, and she drew a small breath of relief but couldn't help turn her eyes back at Spike.
Now he made the GIRL laugh and Buffy almost wanted to throw the whole damn army of knives at the right side of her plate at her. Then Spike suddenly turned his head Buffy's way and he met her gaze for a short second before she realized that he was staring at her and she looked away.
"Oh my God," she whispered with her eyes at her, all of a sudden, more than interesting plate, and reaching up a hand to correct the silverware, trying to look more than casual.
How lame am I, looking AWAY! Great move on the oh-I-wasn't-staring-at-you front, Buffy. Just wonderful, her thoughts trembled in her head and she shut them out.
So what if she had looked away, maybe she didn't want him to think that she had been staring at him, which she HADN'T been, she had only been observing him a little. Before she could stop herself her eyes traveled his way again, meeting the slightly questioning and as always infuriatingly teasing gaze of those baby blues.
Dammit! she yelled in her thoughts, and then smiled a little at him, shaking her head as a small sign for him not to bother thinking more about her behavior.
He smirked and then she could tell the question in his eyes: are you okay?
She shrugged almost unnoticeably, realizing she had that annoying smile still curving her mouth.
Then he smiled with a small nod: good, before turning back to his lady friend.
They're probably not even friends, Buffy thought sourly turning her head away from the sight. They probably get on each other's nerves and still he'll find a way to get her out to the barn for a God damn "roll in the hay".
Her eyes growing larger at the pure jealousy in her chest and she reached for her water, bringing the glass to her lips and taking a sip she tried to shut her mind off to anything even remotely related to the bleached vamp.
She suddenly realized that they had just communicated without speaking one word to each other and that there must be at least ten people on each side of the table between them and still they.
"Snap out of it," she instructed herself and sir Bernard turned to her with a:
"I'm sorry, my dear, did you say something to me?"
"No, sir Locke, I didn't," she answered him apologetically. "You will have to excuse me, you must think all Americans are only talkative when it comes to conversations with themselves," she added with a smile and sir Bernard let hear a laugh.
"Delightfully straight to the point, aren't we, Miss Summers?" he asked merrily before leaning a little closer and saying: "Now, if I did not know for a fact that my good friend lord Hart wants to have the first dance with you for himself, I might have been so blunt as to ask you to hold it for ME."
She smiled a little at that.
"I would have been delighted to oblige, but I wouldn't dare go against our host's wishes," she said and sir Bernard once more laughed.
"You have quite the tongue on you, dear lady. Well, it is all as it should be, I think," he stated plainly. "And you are so much like Miss Sarah, darling girl she is," he added and Buffy smiled at that.
"How long have you known lord Hart?" she asked, knowing that she shouldn't use the kind man the way she intended, but not able to let the opportunity slide just because she might like the man.
"Oh, since he was a child," sir Bernard answered.
"Really?" Buffy asked, putting on an intrigued expression and getting a little bit more comfortable on her chair. "What is he like?"
***
"You won't believe what I've found out," Buffy said in a hushed voice to Sarah as the two finally met by the entrance to the grand hall.
It was close to eleven o'clock and the band had been playing for nearly an hour. Strauss seemed to be the pick for the evening, and the music was an incredible soundtrack to the beauty of the evening, the grandeur of the interiors and the splendid guests' performances on the dance floor.
"What?" Sarah asked breathlessly as Buffy's eyes beamed at her. "Well, TELL me!" Sarah urged and Buffy looked around to see if anyone was too close for comfort.
"Let's go outside," she said and they left the laughter and dancing behind as they went out onto the terrace.
The moon stood bright and full in the sky, and the stars were as twinkly as ever.
"Well?" Sarah asked in anticipation and Buffy smiled.
"I was seated next to a sir Locke at the table earlier and we had a very long conversation about the lord," she said, her voice low as they weren't the only ones outside.
Sarah's eyebrows shot up in excitement.
"And?" she asked.
"Well, it seems that lord Hart has taken into a rather strange hobby," Buffy said and Sarah stared at her looking ready to shake her for not talking faster. "He has started to collect urns," she finished.
Sarah furrowed her brow.
"Urns?" she asked. "Does that tell us anything?"
"Well, we haven't read anything about it, but it's my experience that something freaky always comes delivered in an urn," Buffy said. "I mean, MAYBE they MIGHT be the place where the nine offerings are supposed to be kept."
Sarah started to look excited again, her eyes growing large as she nodded.
"Yes, yes, of course!"
Buffy hushed her, looking around, but smiling at the glow in Sarah's eyes. The latter couldn't help but giggle.
"I'm sorry, Buffy," she whispered. "It's just that.this is a really big step!"
"I know," Buffy nodded. "But we have to take an even bigger one, somehow, before we go back to London. We have to find those urns and check them out. I mean, we can't just throw accusations in his face."
Sarah nodded agreement.
"No, of course not, that wouldn't be fitting at all now would it?" she said thoughtfully. "Well, you and Spike will have to get to it," she added and when she noticed the expression on Buffy's face stiffening a little she paused for a moment before asking: "Is anything wrong?"
Buffy smiled weakly, shaking her head.
"No, nothing's WRONG. It's just that he's been all.I don't know. Surrounded by women the whole evening, kind of, and it just feels a little.strange," she said, hearing the words actually spoken making her feel even more stupid for thinking them.
Sarah smiled a little and placed a hand on her arm, a little comfortingly and Buffy couldn't help but continue:
"It feels strange not to have him close. I mean, not that I really WANT him there, or NEED him there," she hurried to add and Sarah shook her head of- course-not. "I'm just used to it, I guess. And I'm so selfish right now I could kill myself."
She sighed.
"It's not surprising that you feel this way, Buffy. Whether or not you like it you still count on him to be a part of your life," Sarah said, turning to the view of the darkened grounds stretching out beyond the terrace's stones.
Buffy drew a deep breath at that.
"Yeah, well," she sighed again.
Sarah smiled at her.
"What's that's supposed to mean?" she asked and Buffy leaned against the low stone railing of the terrace as she shook her head.
"I don't know," she mumbled. "Time to let go, I guess."
Sarah looked at her for a moment.
"Why so sad, then?" she asked and Buffy turned to her, looking a little surprised at the question.
"I'm not SAD," she stated firmly. "Like I said, it's just a little strange."
"Isn't it what you want?"
"YES! I mean, it really is, why wouldn't it be? I mean, there's no reason for.or, well, no GOOD reason for it not to be. I want him, but not in the right way. Even if he was all evil it wouldn't be in the right way, and.well, he's NOT evil.Sometimes he's even." she shook her head a little. "I'm just saying that he will still be a part of my life, it's just, after coming here.No, before that, after he saw you something's changed."
Sarah smiled again before saying:
"Of course he is changed, he's home again, with people who know him for who he is not WHAT he is or who he WAS. But I think you're missing the details and I don't know if it is because you choose to or because you simply cannot see them."
Buffy looked at her, eyebrows rising.
"Oh, Buffy. Let William out of your thoughts for tonight and enjoy yourself," Sarah said, linking one arm with the Slayers and moving towards the door to go back inside. "After all, HE is, isn't he?"
Buffy felt like Sarah had just punched her in the stomach with that question and then she started to, once more, feel the anger with herself over how petty she was. How COULD she be so jealous of someone she didn't WANT?! It was driving her crazy and she thought, yes, she should do exactly that.
***
The young girl smiled at him as he told her about the year he had spent at a boring school studying languages and math and geography and all that crap. Well, he didn't use the word 'crap' necessarily, but still.
His eyes kept wandering around the hall in search for a green dress but he had lost it a little while earlier and now it seemed to be nowhere to be found.
God, how these English pawns made him almost nauseous. They were pretty, of course, intelligent beings with a pulse he had to fight hard not to hear.
The bloodlust was not getting the better off him but still his mind couldn't help but wander to thoughts of starting to turn the guests, silently and quickly. By the next morning he could have turned a third and after that the rest was fair game.
What a feast he could have!
He shook it off, smiling a little to himself remembering Buffy's startled expression as he had caught her looking at him earlier. She had looked more dangerous than he had ever seen her, thing had been that she hadn't been looking at HIM, but at Fiona, the girl sitting by his side.
Now he shrugged. He knew she got jealous, and he knew that deep down she didn't care, not really. So no use bloody lingering at that subject.
He had been talking with a lot of ladies, he concluded to his satisfactory. And he had learned some interesting facts about the good lord that he needed to tell Buffy before she went to see him. IF she wanted to see him after learning the little nasties he had to spill about the bloke. They were a little unsettling.
Then he spotted her, entering the grand hall through the large doors to his left.
He was about to say his excuse to the girl when the familiar shape of lord Hart stood before Buffy, bowing gently he reached out a hand and she smiled at him before taking it, letting him escort her onto the dance floor.
Spike stared at her, she looked.happy, somehow. Out there with lord Prancy's arms pulling her closer in a soft waltz.
The jealousy he had tried to hold back ever since he found out that she was actually going through with the whole seduction scheme now started twisting in his chest with more force than he had wanted to allow.
The pictures he had tried to block out, the lord's lips on hers, the lord's hands touching her, came tumbling into his head and with it the overwhelming fear that she would like it, that she would enjoy it. That having someone's heartbeat next to her, the warmth of someone's skin against her own would fully take her away from him.
He tried to look away from them sweeping together on the dance floor, the firm grip with which the lord held her, the smile on her face as he said something, probably complementary, but he couldn't do it, his eyes were locked on them.
They made a stunning couple.
The jealousy starting to rip in him, the anger coming with it, with her not understanding one bloody thing about what the hell she had done to him, WITH him; and then the gutting pain of the thought of really and truly loosing her.
He finally looked away and then smiled a little at the girl he had been talking to earlier before mumbling a hoarse excuse and walking towards the doors leading into the hall and the stairs.
Buffy looked up and saw him disappear in his usual, quick manner.
Wonder what he's up to.she thought as she tried to direct her attention to the lord once more.
His grip was too tight and his eyes were too sharply staring at her, she felt so uncomfortable that she just wanted the dances to be over, knowing that she would have to dance a second time with him as was the custom.
He kept telling her how beautiful she was, but the words were so emotionless that she almost shuddered, and he kept STARING!
Oh, she just wanted to get out of his arms. She couldn't take it much longer.
She almost felt like she wanted to get to the nearest bathroom and scrub every last trace of his scent and his touch off of her. He made her feel.dirty.
'I may be dirt, Slayer. But YOU'RE the one who likes to roll in it.'
She closed her eyes briefly.
That was.different, she thought tryingly in her head.
Then the lord spoke again, all the charm he had held that morning seemed to have crept off him and now all he did was creep her out! She kept the stale smile on her face for him, but when the second dance was over she quickly excused herself and slipped out of the grand hall to go look for Spike.
Something was up, and she had to know what it was.
By Annie
05-08-2002
Mrs. Jenkins voice was ringing in Buffy's head.
"When you sit down, do so by stepping in from the left and to the right, usually the gentleman seated to your right will pull out the chair for you."
"When you have been seated, be sure to have a look-see to make sure that you are not the only one picking up your napkin, and when you then do, pick it up and place it with an elegant movement in your lap, no need to look down or fold it any unnecessary way, only place it on-your-lap."
"Repeat after me, my dear: soup course, fish course, sorbet course, meat OR fowl course, salad course, dessert course, coffee course."
Buffy stared at the setting in front of her on the table. She thought she had a pretty good hang on the silverware, but the darn glasses! The only glass she could really remember was the water goblet and of course she recognized the champagne flute, but that small one! And the wine glasses, was it the larger one or the smaller one that was for white wine?
"Are you all right, my dear? You look rather pale," a deep voice asked to her right and she turned to the man, a rather plump looking character with a happy and kind face.
He had, indeed, pulled the chair out for her, and she had given him a smile before looking up the table to her right and seeing Spike do the same thing for a pretty young lady who had smiled a little too brightly as a 'thank you', or so Buffy thought.
Now he seemed involved in a deep conversation with the same lady and even though Buffy had tried to occupy her thoughts with more important matters, such as which glass was which, she couldn't ignore the wish in the back of her head.
I wish I could have been seated with him, I wish I could have been seated with him.
She turned her head to the man and pressed a smile, sighing.
"Thank you, sir, I am all right," she said, trying to sound as formal as she could and desperately going through some expressions of Giles'.
Expressions from Spike would do her no good, she concluded, unless she could curse the food, the host and the guests in a nice way.
She stifled a laugh at the thought and looked back on her plate.
"Tell me, child, are all Americans this talkative? For I must say, I can't seem to get a word in edgewise," the man's voice was heard again as he reached out his hand. "Sir Bernard Locke, at your most truthful service, dear lady."
Buffy turned to him and smiled at that statement, taking his hand and saying:
"Ms. Buffy Summers, grateful for your company and.not sure what explanation to give to your first question."
He smiled as he let her hand go and nodded down the table, to Spike.
"He seems like a good enough lad," sir Bernard said and Buffy, who had followed the gesture, raised her eyebrows a little, trying to beat down the sudden hurt in her chest as the strange girl made him laugh.
"I suppose," she mumbled, getting lost in thoughts of long nights patrolling and hard and passionate kisses underneath the stars.
She looked away, trying to remind herself the thousands of good reasons why she had ended it but feeling the all so familiar craving for him start to bite inside of her. And now that girl only made it wors; pushed the wanting of him almost over the edge somehow.
She swallowed hard.
"Dear girl, you look absolutely devastated! Have some water, I must insist!" sir Bernard said, reaching for her water goblet.
"No," she said, shaking her head and once more turning to him. "No, thank you. I. I don't need it. I'm sorry, I think I had a little too much sun this afternoon, that's all. I will be all right."
Sir Bernard nodded, and she drew a small breath of relief but couldn't help turn her eyes back at Spike.
Now he made the GIRL laugh and Buffy almost wanted to throw the whole damn army of knives at the right side of her plate at her. Then Spike suddenly turned his head Buffy's way and he met her gaze for a short second before she realized that he was staring at her and she looked away.
"Oh my God," she whispered with her eyes at her, all of a sudden, more than interesting plate, and reaching up a hand to correct the silverware, trying to look more than casual.
How lame am I, looking AWAY! Great move on the oh-I-wasn't-staring-at-you front, Buffy. Just wonderful, her thoughts trembled in her head and she shut them out.
So what if she had looked away, maybe she didn't want him to think that she had been staring at him, which she HADN'T been, she had only been observing him a little. Before she could stop herself her eyes traveled his way again, meeting the slightly questioning and as always infuriatingly teasing gaze of those baby blues.
Dammit! she yelled in her thoughts, and then smiled a little at him, shaking her head as a small sign for him not to bother thinking more about her behavior.
He smirked and then she could tell the question in his eyes: are you okay?
She shrugged almost unnoticeably, realizing she had that annoying smile still curving her mouth.
Then he smiled with a small nod: good, before turning back to his lady friend.
They're probably not even friends, Buffy thought sourly turning her head away from the sight. They probably get on each other's nerves and still he'll find a way to get her out to the barn for a God damn "roll in the hay".
Her eyes growing larger at the pure jealousy in her chest and she reached for her water, bringing the glass to her lips and taking a sip she tried to shut her mind off to anything even remotely related to the bleached vamp.
She suddenly realized that they had just communicated without speaking one word to each other and that there must be at least ten people on each side of the table between them and still they.
"Snap out of it," she instructed herself and sir Bernard turned to her with a:
"I'm sorry, my dear, did you say something to me?"
"No, sir Locke, I didn't," she answered him apologetically. "You will have to excuse me, you must think all Americans are only talkative when it comes to conversations with themselves," she added with a smile and sir Bernard let hear a laugh.
"Delightfully straight to the point, aren't we, Miss Summers?" he asked merrily before leaning a little closer and saying: "Now, if I did not know for a fact that my good friend lord Hart wants to have the first dance with you for himself, I might have been so blunt as to ask you to hold it for ME."
She smiled a little at that.
"I would have been delighted to oblige, but I wouldn't dare go against our host's wishes," she said and sir Bernard once more laughed.
"You have quite the tongue on you, dear lady. Well, it is all as it should be, I think," he stated plainly. "And you are so much like Miss Sarah, darling girl she is," he added and Buffy smiled at that.
"How long have you known lord Hart?" she asked, knowing that she shouldn't use the kind man the way she intended, but not able to let the opportunity slide just because she might like the man.
"Oh, since he was a child," sir Bernard answered.
"Really?" Buffy asked, putting on an intrigued expression and getting a little bit more comfortable on her chair. "What is he like?"
***
"You won't believe what I've found out," Buffy said in a hushed voice to Sarah as the two finally met by the entrance to the grand hall.
It was close to eleven o'clock and the band had been playing for nearly an hour. Strauss seemed to be the pick for the evening, and the music was an incredible soundtrack to the beauty of the evening, the grandeur of the interiors and the splendid guests' performances on the dance floor.
"What?" Sarah asked breathlessly as Buffy's eyes beamed at her. "Well, TELL me!" Sarah urged and Buffy looked around to see if anyone was too close for comfort.
"Let's go outside," she said and they left the laughter and dancing behind as they went out onto the terrace.
The moon stood bright and full in the sky, and the stars were as twinkly as ever.
"Well?" Sarah asked in anticipation and Buffy smiled.
"I was seated next to a sir Locke at the table earlier and we had a very long conversation about the lord," she said, her voice low as they weren't the only ones outside.
Sarah's eyebrows shot up in excitement.
"And?" she asked.
"Well, it seems that lord Hart has taken into a rather strange hobby," Buffy said and Sarah stared at her looking ready to shake her for not talking faster. "He has started to collect urns," she finished.
Sarah furrowed her brow.
"Urns?" she asked. "Does that tell us anything?"
"Well, we haven't read anything about it, but it's my experience that something freaky always comes delivered in an urn," Buffy said. "I mean, MAYBE they MIGHT be the place where the nine offerings are supposed to be kept."
Sarah started to look excited again, her eyes growing large as she nodded.
"Yes, yes, of course!"
Buffy hushed her, looking around, but smiling at the glow in Sarah's eyes. The latter couldn't help but giggle.
"I'm sorry, Buffy," she whispered. "It's just that.this is a really big step!"
"I know," Buffy nodded. "But we have to take an even bigger one, somehow, before we go back to London. We have to find those urns and check them out. I mean, we can't just throw accusations in his face."
Sarah nodded agreement.
"No, of course not, that wouldn't be fitting at all now would it?" she said thoughtfully. "Well, you and Spike will have to get to it," she added and when she noticed the expression on Buffy's face stiffening a little she paused for a moment before asking: "Is anything wrong?"
Buffy smiled weakly, shaking her head.
"No, nothing's WRONG. It's just that he's been all.I don't know. Surrounded by women the whole evening, kind of, and it just feels a little.strange," she said, hearing the words actually spoken making her feel even more stupid for thinking them.
Sarah smiled a little and placed a hand on her arm, a little comfortingly and Buffy couldn't help but continue:
"It feels strange not to have him close. I mean, not that I really WANT him there, or NEED him there," she hurried to add and Sarah shook her head of- course-not. "I'm just used to it, I guess. And I'm so selfish right now I could kill myself."
She sighed.
"It's not surprising that you feel this way, Buffy. Whether or not you like it you still count on him to be a part of your life," Sarah said, turning to the view of the darkened grounds stretching out beyond the terrace's stones.
Buffy drew a deep breath at that.
"Yeah, well," she sighed again.
Sarah smiled at her.
"What's that's supposed to mean?" she asked and Buffy leaned against the low stone railing of the terrace as she shook her head.
"I don't know," she mumbled. "Time to let go, I guess."
Sarah looked at her for a moment.
"Why so sad, then?" she asked and Buffy turned to her, looking a little surprised at the question.
"I'm not SAD," she stated firmly. "Like I said, it's just a little strange."
"Isn't it what you want?"
"YES! I mean, it really is, why wouldn't it be? I mean, there's no reason for.or, well, no GOOD reason for it not to be. I want him, but not in the right way. Even if he was all evil it wouldn't be in the right way, and.well, he's NOT evil.Sometimes he's even." she shook her head a little. "I'm just saying that he will still be a part of my life, it's just, after coming here.No, before that, after he saw you something's changed."
Sarah smiled again before saying:
"Of course he is changed, he's home again, with people who know him for who he is not WHAT he is or who he WAS. But I think you're missing the details and I don't know if it is because you choose to or because you simply cannot see them."
Buffy looked at her, eyebrows rising.
"Oh, Buffy. Let William out of your thoughts for tonight and enjoy yourself," Sarah said, linking one arm with the Slayers and moving towards the door to go back inside. "After all, HE is, isn't he?"
Buffy felt like Sarah had just punched her in the stomach with that question and then she started to, once more, feel the anger with herself over how petty she was. How COULD she be so jealous of someone she didn't WANT?! It was driving her crazy and she thought, yes, she should do exactly that.
***
The young girl smiled at him as he told her about the year he had spent at a boring school studying languages and math and geography and all that crap. Well, he didn't use the word 'crap' necessarily, but still.
His eyes kept wandering around the hall in search for a green dress but he had lost it a little while earlier and now it seemed to be nowhere to be found.
God, how these English pawns made him almost nauseous. They were pretty, of course, intelligent beings with a pulse he had to fight hard not to hear.
The bloodlust was not getting the better off him but still his mind couldn't help but wander to thoughts of starting to turn the guests, silently and quickly. By the next morning he could have turned a third and after that the rest was fair game.
What a feast he could have!
He shook it off, smiling a little to himself remembering Buffy's startled expression as he had caught her looking at him earlier. She had looked more dangerous than he had ever seen her, thing had been that she hadn't been looking at HIM, but at Fiona, the girl sitting by his side.
Now he shrugged. He knew she got jealous, and he knew that deep down she didn't care, not really. So no use bloody lingering at that subject.
He had been talking with a lot of ladies, he concluded to his satisfactory. And he had learned some interesting facts about the good lord that he needed to tell Buffy before she went to see him. IF she wanted to see him after learning the little nasties he had to spill about the bloke. They were a little unsettling.
Then he spotted her, entering the grand hall through the large doors to his left.
He was about to say his excuse to the girl when the familiar shape of lord Hart stood before Buffy, bowing gently he reached out a hand and she smiled at him before taking it, letting him escort her onto the dance floor.
Spike stared at her, she looked.happy, somehow. Out there with lord Prancy's arms pulling her closer in a soft waltz.
The jealousy he had tried to hold back ever since he found out that she was actually going through with the whole seduction scheme now started twisting in his chest with more force than he had wanted to allow.
The pictures he had tried to block out, the lord's lips on hers, the lord's hands touching her, came tumbling into his head and with it the overwhelming fear that she would like it, that she would enjoy it. That having someone's heartbeat next to her, the warmth of someone's skin against her own would fully take her away from him.
He tried to look away from them sweeping together on the dance floor, the firm grip with which the lord held her, the smile on her face as he said something, probably complementary, but he couldn't do it, his eyes were locked on them.
They made a stunning couple.
The jealousy starting to rip in him, the anger coming with it, with her not understanding one bloody thing about what the hell she had done to him, WITH him; and then the gutting pain of the thought of really and truly loosing her.
He finally looked away and then smiled a little at the girl he had been talking to earlier before mumbling a hoarse excuse and walking towards the doors leading into the hall and the stairs.
Buffy looked up and saw him disappear in his usual, quick manner.
Wonder what he's up to.she thought as she tried to direct her attention to the lord once more.
His grip was too tight and his eyes were too sharply staring at her, she felt so uncomfortable that she just wanted the dances to be over, knowing that she would have to dance a second time with him as was the custom.
He kept telling her how beautiful she was, but the words were so emotionless that she almost shuddered, and he kept STARING!
Oh, she just wanted to get out of his arms. She couldn't take it much longer.
She almost felt like she wanted to get to the nearest bathroom and scrub every last trace of his scent and his touch off of her. He made her feel.dirty.
'I may be dirt, Slayer. But YOU'RE the one who likes to roll in it.'
She closed her eyes briefly.
That was.different, she thought tryingly in her head.
Then the lord spoke again, all the charm he had held that morning seemed to have crept off him and now all he did was creep her out! She kept the stale smile on her face for him, but when the second dance was over she quickly excused herself and slipped out of the grand hall to go look for Spike.
Something was up, and she had to know what it was.