Author's Note: Once again, the Buffster and Spike are not mine. They belong
to Joss and UPN. Sit back, chill out, and find something to drink and enjoy
the next part of my story. Also, this is where it gets smutty, so, if the
idea of Buffy and Spike having sex disgusts you, turn away.TURN AWAY NOW!!!
muwahahaha = ) B. Allen xxoo
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Chapter Nine
Sealed With Kisses.
His hand was tangled in her hair. He'd unconsciously been running it through her hair as they slept. When she woke and went to sit up, she winced before realizing just how tangled her hair had become.
"Have you never heard of hairbrushes?" Buffy called into the darkness. "Of course not," She grumbled to herself as she tried her best to smooth away her tangles with her hands, "Eurynome must look perfect all the time, she doesn't need a mirror cos, hey she's beautiful twenty-four seven. Must be easy being a Goddess, have people worship you, a hottie for a partner, you get immortalized for, like, ever. Not to mention beauty that is found not only outside, but inside as well." She continued to grumble to herself as she set about trying to find some food for her to munch on until Spike woke up.
"She did have a nice laugh though Luv, you have to admit that." Buffy let out a strangled cry as she jumped at the sound of Spike's voice.
"I thought you were still sleeping?" She walked over to him and sat down with her backpack in hand.
"I was, but then I felt you move away from me." He looked at her questioningly.
She searched his face then blushed, "Sorry, I just .hair. and food. I'm not like you; I don't get to look all. perfect. when I'm asleep. I have to deal with the bed hair and the.morning breath." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a packet of gum, popping a piece into her mouth.
He smiled. She was so cute when she rambled, the way her brow furrowed in concentration, the way her nose screwed up when she said morning breath. He thought that the way she tried to ease out of the uncomfortable silences that drifted between them now and again was sweet. 'Oh hell, she regrets it, doesn't she?' He thought to himself. 'No mate, just, calm down and ask her.gather up the stones and just ask her.' "Buff." He was cut off just before he had the chance to ask her.
"Bells." She said with a definitive nod of her head.
"What Luv?" He asked craning his head, trying to see if he could hear the 'bells' that she had just spoken of.
"Eurynome's laugh." She replied. "It sounds like soft bells. Not the ones you hear in a bell tower, more like the ones you put on a cat's collar. Or the sound of wind chimes. Just after a soft summer breeze has knocked them about to make them tinkle. It's really a very pretty laugh." She looked at him.
"Oh, THAT'S what you where talking about." He nodded in agreement with her observation.
"You weren't listening to me at all just before were you?" She glared at him. Her big, green eyes sparkling with love and a hint of anger.
"Sorry Pet, I was lost deep in thought." He reached out to pat her shoulder, his eyes pleading with her to forgive him. 'Wouldn't do to have you bugger up a relationship before it began now would it William?' He chastised himself silently again. He'd gotten so good at bawling himself out in the last one hundred and twenty-six years, he'd often had to do it when he'd said something to make Dru upset or go off in one of her rants.
"What where you thinking about?" She asked turning her eyes down. 'Please let him have been thinking of me.oh please.I wonder if he had dreams like the ones I had last night.Laying together, in each other's arms, petting, kissing, touching. Oh lord, please let it be me he was thinking about.' She peeked up at him through her eyelashes.
"I was actually thinking about how cute you were when you ramble on a bit Buffy." He tipped her chin up and looked at her eyes. "Your eyes betray what you are thinking Luv." He whispered softly before dipping his head to hers, brushing his lips against hers.
"They always do.have.do." The words tumbled over her lips before she could think. "Do you." She pulled back a little, half-hoping he'd not answer, half-hoping he would.
"Not in the least. You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few, what with being one hundred and twenty-six years old and all that." His fingers gently stroked her cheeks and his eyes sought hers. "Do you regret any of this?" He asked, holding her gaze.
"Just that you're a vampire, and that it took me long enough to realize my feelings." She touched his cheek as he bent his head.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Don't be. Maybe it's part of our destiny. The rules say I slay vampires, no where does it say I can't love them." She lifted his head and kissed him gently on the lips. 'Not like I haven't visited the undead boyfriend road before.' She thought as she felt his hands pull her head closer to his, deepening their kiss.
A moment later, they broke the kiss so Buffy could catch her breath. Her eyes had become hazy and glistened with passion and desire. Spike was sure that his gaze was a mirror image of hers. His deep blue eyes glassy with love for the sweet, young slayer. She pillowed her head on his chest; she couldn't hear his heart beating as hers was. She couldn't feel his chest rising or falling to regulate his breathing. The only thing she could do, was listen to her own. Everything was so one sided. The same way it was with Angel. However, with Spike, she knew that, even though a beating heart and racing pulse and heaving chest were one sided, she knew that the love was two sided. With Angel, it was a one-sided love, one-sided life and one sided guilt trip. Since she had returned from L.A. after the summer, being around him gave her an ache in her heart. Even though she loved him and didn't care what the council or Giles or anyone thought, it was he who felt guilty because of the love and friendship that had blossomed between them. With Angel's guilt, came her own contrition about her feelings towards the tall, dark stranger that had helped her escape from The Three and helped her defeat the Master last spring. Spike wasn't making her feel sorry for her feelings. Nor was he making her feel like she was the only one who felt that what they were doing was wrong and something to be frowned upon.
Spike's eyes had closed and he focused on hearing her heart slow down to a regular pattern. If he focused long enough and hard enough, he could imagine that his heart and hers had become one and beat with the same steady rhythm, even though he knew it was impossible, he still liked the possibility that it could of happened. "Ellie." He whispered softly. "Darling?" He shook her gently and kissed the top of her head.
"You called me Ellie." Came her whispered reply. "No one ever calls me Ellie anymore. Not even." She trailed off as her mind wandered back to happier memories of happier times, when her family was still a family.
"We have to get going." He wanted to know what was going on inside her mind, but he knew better then to push the issue. If she were going to tell him, she'd tell him in her own time. He felt her nod her response and they began packing their backpacks before leaving the safety of the shelter and walking out into the maze.
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They had been walking for two hours, a comfortable silence falling between them not long after they left the shelter. It was half an hour after leaving that they had slain their first demon. He'd tried to lift Buffy and take her away over his shoulder. Spike had ended up kicking the demon in the back of the knees, dropping it to the ground, inadvertently having Buffy thrown from its hold into a near-by thicket of hedge. Spike had never felt such anger since that night with Cecily. As he called to see if she were all right, Spike kicked the demon in the stomach and snapped its neck, popping it's head from its neck like it was no more then the head of a flower. "MY slayer." Spike had whispered to the demon head as he flung it across the maze wall.
Now, they walked silently abreast each other. Each nursing silent thoughts of how to start a conversation. Suddenly, Buffy's hand found Spike's and he felt her fingers entwine with his and her palm slip next to his. 'His hand isn't big like Angel's, it isn't weak like Pike's.' . it seemed to fit her hand nicely. 'Not too big that it envelops my entire hand and half my wrist, not too weak that I'm afraid that if I grip it tight enough, I'll break it.'
"Give you a star for your thoughts Slayer?" Spike whispered quietly.
"Oh, just thinking about your hands." She replied smiling at him. "Can I ask you something?" She asked looking up at him in the moon and torchlight of the maze.
"Anything Luv."
"The vampire outside The Bronze, he called you Spike. But, Ophion called you William. I sorta figured William was your real name, but, why do you go by Spike as well?"
He chuckled, "I suppose it was a bit of a shock hearing Ophion call me William. Hell, even I was shocked." He pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "My mum and dad, named me William. It was part of our family's heritage, eldest son.family name. that sort of thing." She was watching him intently, her mind going over each word he was uttering. "Then, when I was turned by my sire, I began to follow his lead of torturing victims before killing them, so I tortured my victims with spikes from the railroad before killing them. We used it as a.bonding.experience." He could feel her body tense at the mention of his bloodied past. "I'm not like that now." He whispered, "I. I still like the thrill of the hunt and the kill. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed being a maniacal vampire on one big, long killing spree, but now. Buffy, I'd move the stars for you, I would." He stopped and turned to face her.
"I know." Her heart began to beat faster at the intense gaze. "I." She was cut off by a vampire jumping from the hedge closest to her. "EXCUSE ME! I WAS TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT HERE!" She yelled as she beat the vampire down with a roundhouse kick to the head, followed quickly by an uppercut. As he stumbled toward her, with outstretched arms and blood lust in his eyes, Buffy thrust out her palm to connect with his nose.
Spike grinned evilly as he heard the cartilage snap as the vampire's nose was broken and forced up into its skull. If he had been mortal, the blow would have killed him. She was so graceful and fluid in her movements, so quick. He didn't even realize she had dusted the vampire until its face began to crumble and was slowly, quietly moved off with a light breeze.
Brushing her hair back from her eyes, she grinned and moved back to take his hand. "WHAT I was going to say," She continued. "I would move the stars for you too." She leaned up and kissed his nose before moving slowly back through the row of hedges.
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Chapter Ten
The Past Revisited.
They had spent another two hours in silence. Spike's excuse for the quiet was that, his moment of revisiting his past was enough for the time being. 'No need to give the girl's brain an overload of information.' He smiled when he felt her snuggle closer to her. As he bent down to kiss her head, he took a deep unneeded breath. She still smelt of apples and cinnamon. If he were ever to be away from her for longer then two nights, he'd be sure to have something close by to remind him of her. Maybe he'd ask what lotions she used on her skin; maybe it was just a natural sent for her. Her own unique scent. He liked that idea. 'From now on, whenever I smell apples and cinnamon, I swear I will think of my Buffy.' He silently vowed to himself.
"William?" She asked so quietly even his vampiric hearing almost didn't pick it up. "I can call you William, can't I? That's okay?" She looked up at him, her eyes round and glowing with love.
"You can call me anything you want Pet, as long as you tell me why you call yourself Buffy instead of Ellesbeth." He kissed the tip of her nose.
She let out a long sigh. "It could take a while to explain everything."
"That's okay Luv, we've got at least another four hours 'till sunrise. And I promise, I'll stake any vampires before they get a chance to interrupt you." Then, as if on cue, a vampire and purple horned demon came hulking out of the bushes. Before they even had a chance to knock Buffy out of his way, Spike had staked the vampire with the demon's wooden club and had left the demon lying, dead on the ground with a knife in it's chest. "See?" He asked holding his arms out to his side, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
Her laughter filled the space between them and she held out her hand to him. "C'mon William, I'll tell you my life story now." She wrapped her arm around his waist as he came closer. "So, my name.Ellesbeth.God, that's something I haven't heard in a long time, not since the day of the hearing." Her silence was one of shock, not of bad shock that leads to hysteria, but the shock of someone who can't believe that something bad happened to them.
"Anyway, my mom named me Ellesbeth. Not because it has any relevance to our family, cos, it doesn't. But, her. best friend Aunt Katie, had named her daughter Elizabeth. The story goes. Mom loved the name Elizabeth, she had this big thing for the Royal Family of England, and so, mom made Aunt Katie promise not to name her first daughter Elizabeth. Then, mom, before hooking up with my dad." Her eyes misted over as the image of her mother and father and happier times made itself evident in her minds eye. "Got this really great job as a curator at some really posh museum/gallery thing over seas. Google Museum. or something like that."
"Do you mean Guggenheim?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, I think that's it. It was before I was born." She nodded slowly, "Anyways, she met dad over there while he was on vacation. He'd just graduated business school and was going to work as a manager at my grandfather's business.something to do with building companies or buildings. I have no clue. So, they met, they fell in love, they got married, they had me. And, well, just before I was born, mom was invited to visit Aunt Katie, they'd kept in touch when she first moved away. But hadn't spoken in a few months, so, they caught up and Aunt Katie had a baby with her and introduced her to my mum as her newborn daughter, Elizabeth. Mom was really upset that her best friend had used Elizabeth as the name for her first daughter, so she went back to reading books trying to find a girls name that was like Elizabeth, only better and more unusual. Finally, her and dad decided on Ellesbeth." She stopped walking for a bit and looked up at the stars.
He could see her lips trembling as vision upon vision of a happier time when her father was still in the picture flashed before her. "It's okay Luv, you can stop if you want." His arms had wrapped around her waist, spooning her back against his chest.
"No, I can go on." She whispered as she wiped at the lone tear that slipped over her cheek silently. "So, I was born three weeks after that awful lunch, and mom and Aunt Katie made up, saying that. it was silly of them to fight over a child's name. And that, she is glad Aunt Katie used Elizabeth to name her daughter, cos then she'd never have found Ellesbeth, which suited me better then Elizabeth." Her grin widened a little. "Elizabeth and I became really good friends. We were inseparable through most of elementary school, and the start of high school. We were so inseparable; it became impossible for people to call us 'Bethy' or 'Beth' because we would both turn around. SO, one night at one of our many sleepovers, we came up with Buffy and Baffy." She giggled and started walking down the rows again, taking a left turn.
"She was Baffy, I was Buffy. At first it was supposed to be Bathy and Buthy, but Elizabeth had a speech problem and couldn't pronounce her 'Th' properly, so it came out Baffy and Buffy. And it stuck. It was really quite genius for girls of the grand old age of four. All our friends started calling us Buffy and Baffy, then our parents picked it up, and then our teachers. Then." She turned to him, tears in her eyes. "We were waiting for my dad to pick us up from the Cineplex one night, and it was raining and out of the alley next to the theatre, this.monster.came up and grabbed her. He dragged her back into the alley and I could hear her screaming, and calling for me and her mom and dad. She kept screaming for me to help her. I ran after her in the alley and began hitting the man, I kicked at him and I bit him.
"I was always the bigger one of the two of us. He had begun to rape her just before I ran into the alley. He didn't think I'd come in after her. But, I did. He disappeared not long after I started hitting him. I thought it was me, but he had heard my dad calling for us and honking the horn. All I could do was just sit there." The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now. " I held my best friend in my arms until the ambulance came. When dad found us, he told me he could have sworn that I had handfuls of hair clenched in my hands. I rode with her all the way to the hospital. She kept calling to me. Sometimes I wake up and can hear her still calling out 'Buffy'. Three days later, she died. It's my fault she died, I saw him standing there in the shadows as we walked out of the movie. I thought he was just waiting for a ride. But, just before he grabbed her, I turned around to look at a poster of a new film and saw him walk out under the light." She was sucking in great gulping breaths of air.
"Was it a." Spike asked gently.
"Nope. Just your regular, everyday, run of the mill sleazeoid. They picked him up at a bar the day Baffy died. He was bragging about how he had just taken "two little cock teasers", and shown them what happens to little girls who want to play with big boys. His first big mistake was that, he had stepped into the light a few minutes before, giving me a clear look at his face. His second, was sitting in a bar that happened to have my 'soon- to-be-Watcher' sitting in it."
"What happened?" Spike asked wiping at his own tears that threatened to trickle down his cheeks.
"Merrick, grabbed him and beat the crap out of him and took him to the police station." She smiled as she remembered the day she had read that in Merrick's journal. Just after he had died, she had been delivered a box of his belongings in the mail. In them had been his Watcher's Journal.
"And you've stuck with Buffy ever since?" Spike asked taking her hand and moving along the rows.
She nodded her head. "Yup. Since Baffy died, I insisted on being called Buffy. If anyone called me anything else, I wouldn't answer. Mom even had all my school records changed to Buffy. She said, if I still felt the same way when I turned eighteen, I could legally change my name from Ellesbeth to Buffy. The only person to ever call me Ellie or Ellesbeth since Baffy, was my dad. But, since he and my mom divorced, he just calls me Buffy like everyone else. The last person to ever call me Ellesbeth, was the judge when he finalized the whole custody thing in the divorce." She sighed loudly and closed her eyes for a brief second, exhaustion sweeping over her.
"Luv, let me carry you." Spike asked gently.
"Okay." She was too tired to argue with him. Her trip down memory lane had taken an emotional toll on her. Things she had longed to repress had presented themselves in this 'get to know your lover' talk with Spike. "And that's all there is about me." She sighed and closed her eyes as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her for the remaining two hours that it took to find the shelter for the fast approaching sunrise.
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Chapter Eleven
Just In Time.
She had fallen asleep shortly after he offered to carry her to the next shelter. His only problem was that he had at least three hours until sunrise and he didn't know which way to go. She was light in his arms, so that wasn't a problem. They had come to a juncture, however, in the walls of the maze. To his left there was an opening in the wall of hedge down one side, to his right there was another opening, directly in front of him, was a wall with another opening, that turned sharply to the right.
'Bugger this.' He thought to himself, 'What was that thing that Dru was always singing? Damn Spike, think.think.Something about the lambs and blackberry.jam?' "Aha!" He said aloud. He shifted Buffy in his arms and stood in between all three openings. Using the index finger of his left hand, he pointed to each door and whispered, "Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch." As he whispered the old rhyme, he turned with each word, pointing at each opening. "Run and catch." he began again. Finally ending up with his index finger pointed straight ahead. "Straight it is."
He moved through the corridor of mazes swiftly, stopping only twice to stake a vampire and brake the neck of a chaos demon. Suddenly, he came up flush against a wall of brick. The first brick wall he had seen since they started the quest. He cursed silently; he could smell the sunrise. It was only approximately three-quarters of an hour away. He turned and ran back down the row, holding Buffy closely to his chest, hoping that she wouldn't wake up and worry about what was going on.
Finally, he came to an opening in the hedge on his right and took it. 'Buffy had been going about it the right way, so why didn't you just keep taking right turns?' He rolled his eyes, he should have known, woman's intuition and the slayer sense that was part of what made Buffy so strong, is what was helping get them through the endless rows of hedge. He followed the path between the hedges, taking another right turn before finally slowing down. The sunrise was getting closer; he could smell the wind change and the air around them shift. He walked along for a few minutes before coming to another opening. He stepped inside the opening and looked towards the left. At the end of the left corridor, he could just make out the shape of the shelter. He had only a few more minutes before the sun crested the horizon, gathering his strength; he hugged Buffy closer to his body and made a beeline for the door of the shelter.
He pushed the door open and slammed it closed behind him as he stepped into the darkness of the small room. He let out an unneeded breath and gently shook Buffy awake. "Luv.Ellie." Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled. "Hey there sleepy head." He smiled and kissed her nose. "Are you okay?"
"Okay? I'm not a sleepy head. I've been wide awake.unless. OH!" She exclaimed as what happened began to register with her. "I'm so sorry Spike! I must have been so heavy for you to carry. You should have woken me up." She reached up to hug him and kiss him softly on the lips. "You can put me down now William." She smiled and wriggled in his arms.
"Yes, you did fall asleep, and, don't be ridiculous, you weigh practically nothing. And, I didn't hurt you? We just spent almost an hour running through the maze." He looked down at her sheepishly. "I sort of got us lost."
She giggled. "Aww, you got us lost. It's okay; it was bound to happen, so many turns and what not. You gonna put me down or hold onto me all day?"
"Hmmm, I'm thinking of .holding onto you all day. You looked so peaceful wrapped in my arms."
He smiled at her, his eyes dancing with good humor and love. Suddenly, she had swung her legs around his waist and planted a soft, lingering kiss on his lips. He responded slowly. His arms sliding around her waist and up to her neck. Gently, she pried his lips open, her tongue sliding out to trace along his bottom lip before begging entry into his own mouth. Her hands danced across his shoulders, sliding down his chest and under the lapels of his long black duster, pushing and slipping it down his shoulders until it fell to the floor.
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"How did you know this would happen?" Ophion turned to ask her.
"It's in her eyes, it's in her heart," She replied smiling softly down at the pool that reflected Buffy and Spike's passionate embrace. "Most importantly, it's in her destiny."
"What exactly is her destiny Eurynome?" Ophion took her hand and led her to a silver throne.
She looked up at him with big eyes. "She will need his help.Our help. Angelus won't be the only thing that will try to brake her."
Ophion paled slightly. "He won't?"
"No, I told you about Glorificus, well, She is just one of many. The wrath of Angelus will be the first of many deadly battles, that, unless she has alliances in high places, she will die. We need her to be alive. She is the first slayer that will be.taken from the heavens to shine her light in the world again." Eurynome moved back to the small pool of water and waved her hand over it. "See.
"These are the images of what will be, if Angelus succeeds in pulling the sword from Acathla." The image changed. Suddenly, the pool was full of Buffy's friends, crying, and the walls around them strewn with bloodied bodies. Her watcher had his glasses in his hand and was visibly shaking with sobs, his pain clearly evident as he stood over the small frail blond body. Her face, a picture of distorted horror and pain. "This is what will happen if Angelus doesn't succeed." Once again, the image changed. Buffy, the slayerettes and Giles sat around a big kitchen table. "Thanks-giving, two years from now. If she stops Angelus, and stops The Ascension of Richard Wilkins."
"Isn't that.." Ophion looked closer at the pool to a second blond girl. She was sitting next to Xander.
"Yes, it is Anyanka. If Ellesbeth stops Angelus, the demon Anyanka will have her demonic powers stripped and she will be returned to a mortal girl." Images of school-aged children, families, werewolves, demons, people, tears, funerals, weddings, magical beings and magical workings, all flashed across the pool. "So many lives, so many destinies. All of them are centered on that young girl and that young man in there. If they can fall in love as easily as they have in our maze, then, the alliance will be made when the time comes and the world will be safe from Acathla's and Angelus' rage. We must help. We must."
Ophion looked at her. "But, how did."
"There was a shift." She continued when Ophion looked at her confused. "The was something.it stirred in the universe. The other Goddesses could feel it too. Selene sensed it in the forest; I could sense it in the air. And, seeing as I am the oldest, it was left up to me to find a solution." She waved her arm over the pool again, the images coming faster, more and more faces filled the small pool, until it became nothing but a blur of colors in quick succession.
"Yes my love, I understand now." Ophion nodded.
Suddenly, Eurynome slumped to the floor. The magicks she had conjured to help her lover understand exerted her more then they should have. Her breathing came in heavy rasps. "I'll be fine Ophion. The change in the atmosphere has just taken a lot out of me."
He sighed, "Please rest Eurynome. It is almost over. Your Ellesbeth will be fine. Relax." He soothed her hair as he lay her on a bed of lavender satin. "All will be fine, relax."
He chanced another gaze at the pool. "She MUST succeed." He whispered more as a comfort to himself than any other. The images in the pool faded, the mists slowly moving back to their place above the water's surface.
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Chapter Twelve
Just a Little Tenderness.
Her hands had tightened as the ran through his hair. Her legs slipped from around his waist until she was planted firmly on the floor. "William." She whispered softly as she pulled away from his kiss, a soft moan escaping both their throats.
He silently cursed Angelus for finding him and turning him. Being a vampire had a lot of perks, sure. But, when it came to loving and falling in love, the demon that had set up residence in his body was most unwelcome and almost always intrusive. "I'm sorry Ellie."
She looked at him as his voice came out in a husky whisper. "I'm so scared." She admitted, looking up into his eyes. "I've never." she looked down, ashamed of her inexperience.
"Oh no. No Pet, don't ever be sorry for not rushing to give that part of your soul away." His tipped her chin up and rested his forehead against hers. "I mean, not until you are sure you're in love with." He was silenced by her kiss.
'A soulless demon.' She thought to herself, 'He's not scared, he's not pushing, he's not.anything.' Her hands slid up his arms to his shoulders. "I love you William."
He could feel her heart begin to quicken, her blood rushed to her face, "Are you sure Buffy?" his fingers traced along her cheekbones and jaw, his thumb gently brushing her lips.
"Yes." She breathed, her fingers dancing along the nape of his neck. "Please?" her tongue darted out to trace his lips, kissing him softly.
"Oh Ellesbeth." He let out an unneeded sigh, he knew that if he had a beating heart, it would be racing and pumping the blood through his system almost as fast as hers was.
He pulled her to him, his head tilting to deepen their kiss. Her fingers massaging his scalp and neck. She smiled tentatively as his lips moved to her neck, nipping and sucking gently at her collarbone with his blunt teeth. Her fingers slid over his chest, grazing his nipples. He moaned as her fingers continued to travel slowly down his torso. His lips continued their decent, moving from her collarbone, to the hollow of her neck, to the lace edge of her top.
"William." She gasped, her hands fumbling to pull his black shirt off.
He complied, stepping back and pulling his shirt over his head to reveal his white chest. Buffy's eyes widened slightly as the soft light made his chest shimmer like soft marble. "Are you sure about this Ellie?" He whispered as she reached out and ran a hand down his smooth chest.
She nodded and stood up on her toes to brush his lips against hers. He slid his hands around her waist to cup her buttocks. She giggled against his mouth as she felt him harden against her stomach. Slowly she began to grind against him, her own arousal filling his nostrils with a heady musk. He picked her up and carried her to the center of the room. She smiled at him as they lay down, pulling her top off slowly. His blue eyes shone as he took in her breasts. He smiled at the innocence she displayed in her choice of underwear. Slowly, he reached his hands along her back until he found the clasp, he pulled the bra slowly from her shoulders and chest, leaving soft, tiny kisses in it's wake.
Her hands tangled in his hair as he continued down. Her legs opening slowly to allow his body to slide between them. His tongue dipped into her navel, making her stomach quiver with trepidation. He undid her pants and she raised her hips slightly as he slid them down her legs. He smiled as she moved her hands to cover her matching panties, a faint blush coloring her skin. He bent his head and placed kisses on all the purple stars, avoiding the stars that covered her dampening sex.
'So innocent, yet so wise.' He thought as he squeezed her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. He was amazed at how she still was able to maintain a form of innocence when she knew that there was true darkness in the world.
The dull ache that had begun in her stomach had now spread to her sex and legs, making her thankful that she was lying down. 'I'd never be able to stay standing if he continued.' She wrapped her legs around his shoulders as he began to slowly drag his tongue over the stars in the crotch of her panties. Urging him closer to her body, Buffy pushed his head gently towards her clit. She moaned loudly as his tongue brushed the silky material of her panties against her clit.
"William." She panted, her breath coming in short ragged gasps. "Please." Her eyes pleading with the bobbing blond head below her.
He inhaled purposefully as she continued to writhe beneath the ministrations of his tongue and lips. Her own hands covering his as they squeezed and tug at her nipples. He looked up just in time to see her mouth part in a silent scream of ecstasy, 'God, her mouth looks so inviting. So.' His thoughts interrupted as she began to thrash about on the floor in her first orgasm. He smiled to himself as he lapped at her cum as it seeped through the fabric of her panties. Only was it now that he noticed his own erection and how painful it was becoming.
He slowly slipped his fingers beneath the elastic of her damp panties, drawing them down over her thighs, knees and finally over her feet before adding them to the rest of the pile of clothes that had collected in the center of the room. He knelt above her, bending down to sear her lips with a kiss. She moaned as she opened her mouth to his, each tongue fighting for dominance over the other.
"Ellie." His voice hoarse with passion and desire.
Her eyes searched his face, finding her answers in his blue eyes. He loved her. Somehow, the demon never claimed the part of what made him such a gentle man; it was just hidden by the façade of an evil, ruthless killer. She silently thanks whatever Gods had kept the man inside Spike safe for the last one hundred and twenty-six years. Her swollen lips parted, bringing his head down in another kiss. Her hands scratching down his chest, over his nipples to his hard cock. Her slender fingers gently brushing over the tip before guiding him slowly to her entrance.
"Ellie." He asked again, his voice barely a whisper.
"Yes William." She nodded. Her lips brushing against his earlobe before biting into it gently.
He had to control the demon from surfacing. He was NOT going to scare her their first time together. He wanted to be the perfect gentleman, taking it slowly, being tender. He pushed slowly, letting the tip of his cock part her pussy lips slowly. He looked down and saw that her eyes had fluttered closed, he could feel her clench around him. Gently, he began to ease himself into her slick channel until he was buried to the hilt. He gently kissed her lips, her nose, her eyes and her cheeks, pleading silently that she would look at him.
Gradually, he began the rocking motion that would take them both over the edge. He could feel her muscles contracting around him, squeezing him tighter with each thrust. As she grew accustomed to the rhythm, he made harder, longer thrusts. She looked up at him and smiled, her fingernails raking across his shoulders. She let her hands drag down his chest, brushing his nipples. Her eyes widened as a low growl escaped his throat; she grinned to herself and repeated the motion.
He knew what she was doing. He'd seen Dru do it a million times when she'd seduced their prey. 'Testing the waters', people called it. He bent down to kiss her slowly as he slid his hand between their sweat, slicked bodies. Suddenly, Buffy was changing the pace, her thrust became quicker, her hips bucking up to meet his, her muscles clenching around him tighter and longer. He began to stroke her clit harder with each thrust, intent on driving her to the edge of another orgasm.
She pulled his head closer, biting into his earlobe. "Love you William." She whispered before screaming his name out into the dark recesses of the room.
He thrust twice more, "Love you too Ellesbeth." He took her mouth in his, biting and licking at her swollen lips before growling and calling her name out so loud the sound reverberated through his chest and into hers. She came again, her eyes opening in surprise before closing again as a blissful moan. The moment he sensed her coming again, he let himself get swept off in the tide, his cum coating her inner walls.
Her breathing had become erratic as they both came down from their orgasms. Spike cradled her in his arms, placing small kisses in her hair and on her forehead. Buffy was content, her face shone with a happiness she hadn't felt since before.since before Merrick had come to her about her calling. 'No Buff, Think Happy thoughts.' She smiled and stretched, pulling her backpack to her and removing the blanket from it.
"Here, let me." Spike placed the blanket around them before laying down and pulling Buffy back into his arms. He kissed the top of her head before closing his eyes, listening to her heart slow and her pulse return to normal.
"You are the most amazing woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." Spike whispered before kissing her nose. "You were wonderful."
She smiled, 'He sure does know how to make a girl feel special.' "You weren't so bad yourself Spike. But, then, I guess one hundred and twenty- six years worth of experience would sorta lead to that wouldn't it?" She blushed. All thoughts about the future forgotten for the moment.
He chuckled, "C'mon Luv, sleep now. Tomorrow we go home and can talk about experiences."
She sighed and closed her eyes, her head resting on his chest. "I do love you William."
"And I love you Ellesbeth, now sleep." He lightly admonished. He smiled as he realized that her breathing had already become regular and deep.
Knowing that she was safe and warm, he closed his own eyes and fell asleep to the sound of her steady heartbeat.
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Chapter Nine
Sealed With Kisses.
His hand was tangled in her hair. He'd unconsciously been running it through her hair as they slept. When she woke and went to sit up, she winced before realizing just how tangled her hair had become.
"Have you never heard of hairbrushes?" Buffy called into the darkness. "Of course not," She grumbled to herself as she tried her best to smooth away her tangles with her hands, "Eurynome must look perfect all the time, she doesn't need a mirror cos, hey she's beautiful twenty-four seven. Must be easy being a Goddess, have people worship you, a hottie for a partner, you get immortalized for, like, ever. Not to mention beauty that is found not only outside, but inside as well." She continued to grumble to herself as she set about trying to find some food for her to munch on until Spike woke up.
"She did have a nice laugh though Luv, you have to admit that." Buffy let out a strangled cry as she jumped at the sound of Spike's voice.
"I thought you were still sleeping?" She walked over to him and sat down with her backpack in hand.
"I was, but then I felt you move away from me." He looked at her questioningly.
She searched his face then blushed, "Sorry, I just .hair. and food. I'm not like you; I don't get to look all. perfect. when I'm asleep. I have to deal with the bed hair and the.morning breath." She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a packet of gum, popping a piece into her mouth.
He smiled. She was so cute when she rambled, the way her brow furrowed in concentration, the way her nose screwed up when she said morning breath. He thought that the way she tried to ease out of the uncomfortable silences that drifted between them now and again was sweet. 'Oh hell, she regrets it, doesn't she?' He thought to himself. 'No mate, just, calm down and ask her.gather up the stones and just ask her.' "Buff." He was cut off just before he had the chance to ask her.
"Bells." She said with a definitive nod of her head.
"What Luv?" He asked craning his head, trying to see if he could hear the 'bells' that she had just spoken of.
"Eurynome's laugh." She replied. "It sounds like soft bells. Not the ones you hear in a bell tower, more like the ones you put on a cat's collar. Or the sound of wind chimes. Just after a soft summer breeze has knocked them about to make them tinkle. It's really a very pretty laugh." She looked at him.
"Oh, THAT'S what you where talking about." He nodded in agreement with her observation.
"You weren't listening to me at all just before were you?" She glared at him. Her big, green eyes sparkling with love and a hint of anger.
"Sorry Pet, I was lost deep in thought." He reached out to pat her shoulder, his eyes pleading with her to forgive him. 'Wouldn't do to have you bugger up a relationship before it began now would it William?' He chastised himself silently again. He'd gotten so good at bawling himself out in the last one hundred and twenty-six years, he'd often had to do it when he'd said something to make Dru upset or go off in one of her rants.
"What where you thinking about?" She asked turning her eyes down. 'Please let him have been thinking of me.oh please.I wonder if he had dreams like the ones I had last night.Laying together, in each other's arms, petting, kissing, touching. Oh lord, please let it be me he was thinking about.' She peeked up at him through her eyelashes.
"I was actually thinking about how cute you were when you ramble on a bit Buffy." He tipped her chin up and looked at her eyes. "Your eyes betray what you are thinking Luv." He whispered softly before dipping his head to hers, brushing his lips against hers.
"They always do.have.do." The words tumbled over her lips before she could think. "Do you." She pulled back a little, half-hoping he'd not answer, half-hoping he would.
"Not in the least. You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few, what with being one hundred and twenty-six years old and all that." His fingers gently stroked her cheeks and his eyes sought hers. "Do you regret any of this?" He asked, holding her gaze.
"Just that you're a vampire, and that it took me long enough to realize my feelings." She touched his cheek as he bent his head.
"I'm sorry." He whispered.
"Don't be. Maybe it's part of our destiny. The rules say I slay vampires, no where does it say I can't love them." She lifted his head and kissed him gently on the lips. 'Not like I haven't visited the undead boyfriend road before.' She thought as she felt his hands pull her head closer to his, deepening their kiss.
A moment later, they broke the kiss so Buffy could catch her breath. Her eyes had become hazy and glistened with passion and desire. Spike was sure that his gaze was a mirror image of hers. His deep blue eyes glassy with love for the sweet, young slayer. She pillowed her head on his chest; she couldn't hear his heart beating as hers was. She couldn't feel his chest rising or falling to regulate his breathing. The only thing she could do, was listen to her own. Everything was so one sided. The same way it was with Angel. However, with Spike, she knew that, even though a beating heart and racing pulse and heaving chest were one sided, she knew that the love was two sided. With Angel, it was a one-sided love, one-sided life and one sided guilt trip. Since she had returned from L.A. after the summer, being around him gave her an ache in her heart. Even though she loved him and didn't care what the council or Giles or anyone thought, it was he who felt guilty because of the love and friendship that had blossomed between them. With Angel's guilt, came her own contrition about her feelings towards the tall, dark stranger that had helped her escape from The Three and helped her defeat the Master last spring. Spike wasn't making her feel sorry for her feelings. Nor was he making her feel like she was the only one who felt that what they were doing was wrong and something to be frowned upon.
Spike's eyes had closed and he focused on hearing her heart slow down to a regular pattern. If he focused long enough and hard enough, he could imagine that his heart and hers had become one and beat with the same steady rhythm, even though he knew it was impossible, he still liked the possibility that it could of happened. "Ellie." He whispered softly. "Darling?" He shook her gently and kissed the top of her head.
"You called me Ellie." Came her whispered reply. "No one ever calls me Ellie anymore. Not even." She trailed off as her mind wandered back to happier memories of happier times, when her family was still a family.
"We have to get going." He wanted to know what was going on inside her mind, but he knew better then to push the issue. If she were going to tell him, she'd tell him in her own time. He felt her nod her response and they began packing their backpacks before leaving the safety of the shelter and walking out into the maze.
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They had been walking for two hours, a comfortable silence falling between them not long after they left the shelter. It was half an hour after leaving that they had slain their first demon. He'd tried to lift Buffy and take her away over his shoulder. Spike had ended up kicking the demon in the back of the knees, dropping it to the ground, inadvertently having Buffy thrown from its hold into a near-by thicket of hedge. Spike had never felt such anger since that night with Cecily. As he called to see if she were all right, Spike kicked the demon in the stomach and snapped its neck, popping it's head from its neck like it was no more then the head of a flower. "MY slayer." Spike had whispered to the demon head as he flung it across the maze wall.
Now, they walked silently abreast each other. Each nursing silent thoughts of how to start a conversation. Suddenly, Buffy's hand found Spike's and he felt her fingers entwine with his and her palm slip next to his. 'His hand isn't big like Angel's, it isn't weak like Pike's.' . it seemed to fit her hand nicely. 'Not too big that it envelops my entire hand and half my wrist, not too weak that I'm afraid that if I grip it tight enough, I'll break it.'
"Give you a star for your thoughts Slayer?" Spike whispered quietly.
"Oh, just thinking about your hands." She replied smiling at him. "Can I ask you something?" She asked looking up at him in the moon and torchlight of the maze.
"Anything Luv."
"The vampire outside The Bronze, he called you Spike. But, Ophion called you William. I sorta figured William was your real name, but, why do you go by Spike as well?"
He chuckled, "I suppose it was a bit of a shock hearing Ophion call me William. Hell, even I was shocked." He pulled her closer and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "My mum and dad, named me William. It was part of our family's heritage, eldest son.family name. that sort of thing." She was watching him intently, her mind going over each word he was uttering. "Then, when I was turned by my sire, I began to follow his lead of torturing victims before killing them, so I tortured my victims with spikes from the railroad before killing them. We used it as a.bonding.experience." He could feel her body tense at the mention of his bloodied past. "I'm not like that now." He whispered, "I. I still like the thrill of the hunt and the kill. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed being a maniacal vampire on one big, long killing spree, but now. Buffy, I'd move the stars for you, I would." He stopped and turned to face her.
"I know." Her heart began to beat faster at the intense gaze. "I." She was cut off by a vampire jumping from the hedge closest to her. "EXCUSE ME! I WAS TRYING TO HAVE A MOMENT HERE!" She yelled as she beat the vampire down with a roundhouse kick to the head, followed quickly by an uppercut. As he stumbled toward her, with outstretched arms and blood lust in his eyes, Buffy thrust out her palm to connect with his nose.
Spike grinned evilly as he heard the cartilage snap as the vampire's nose was broken and forced up into its skull. If he had been mortal, the blow would have killed him. She was so graceful and fluid in her movements, so quick. He didn't even realize she had dusted the vampire until its face began to crumble and was slowly, quietly moved off with a light breeze.
Brushing her hair back from her eyes, she grinned and moved back to take his hand. "WHAT I was going to say," She continued. "I would move the stars for you too." She leaned up and kissed his nose before moving slowly back through the row of hedges.
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Chapter Ten
The Past Revisited.
They had spent another two hours in silence. Spike's excuse for the quiet was that, his moment of revisiting his past was enough for the time being. 'No need to give the girl's brain an overload of information.' He smiled when he felt her snuggle closer to her. As he bent down to kiss her head, he took a deep unneeded breath. She still smelt of apples and cinnamon. If he were ever to be away from her for longer then two nights, he'd be sure to have something close by to remind him of her. Maybe he'd ask what lotions she used on her skin; maybe it was just a natural sent for her. Her own unique scent. He liked that idea. 'From now on, whenever I smell apples and cinnamon, I swear I will think of my Buffy.' He silently vowed to himself.
"William?" She asked so quietly even his vampiric hearing almost didn't pick it up. "I can call you William, can't I? That's okay?" She looked up at him, her eyes round and glowing with love.
"You can call me anything you want Pet, as long as you tell me why you call yourself Buffy instead of Ellesbeth." He kissed the tip of her nose.
She let out a long sigh. "It could take a while to explain everything."
"That's okay Luv, we've got at least another four hours 'till sunrise. And I promise, I'll stake any vampires before they get a chance to interrupt you." Then, as if on cue, a vampire and purple horned demon came hulking out of the bushes. Before they even had a chance to knock Buffy out of his way, Spike had staked the vampire with the demon's wooden club and had left the demon lying, dead on the ground with a knife in it's chest. "See?" He asked holding his arms out to his side, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
Her laughter filled the space between them and she held out her hand to him. "C'mon William, I'll tell you my life story now." She wrapped her arm around his waist as he came closer. "So, my name.Ellesbeth.God, that's something I haven't heard in a long time, not since the day of the hearing." Her silence was one of shock, not of bad shock that leads to hysteria, but the shock of someone who can't believe that something bad happened to them.
"Anyway, my mom named me Ellesbeth. Not because it has any relevance to our family, cos, it doesn't. But, her. best friend Aunt Katie, had named her daughter Elizabeth. The story goes. Mom loved the name Elizabeth, she had this big thing for the Royal Family of England, and so, mom made Aunt Katie promise not to name her first daughter Elizabeth. Then, mom, before hooking up with my dad." Her eyes misted over as the image of her mother and father and happier times made itself evident in her minds eye. "Got this really great job as a curator at some really posh museum/gallery thing over seas. Google Museum. or something like that."
"Do you mean Guggenheim?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, I think that's it. It was before I was born." She nodded slowly, "Anyways, she met dad over there while he was on vacation. He'd just graduated business school and was going to work as a manager at my grandfather's business.something to do with building companies or buildings. I have no clue. So, they met, they fell in love, they got married, they had me. And, well, just before I was born, mom was invited to visit Aunt Katie, they'd kept in touch when she first moved away. But hadn't spoken in a few months, so, they caught up and Aunt Katie had a baby with her and introduced her to my mum as her newborn daughter, Elizabeth. Mom was really upset that her best friend had used Elizabeth as the name for her first daughter, so she went back to reading books trying to find a girls name that was like Elizabeth, only better and more unusual. Finally, her and dad decided on Ellesbeth." She stopped walking for a bit and looked up at the stars.
He could see her lips trembling as vision upon vision of a happier time when her father was still in the picture flashed before her. "It's okay Luv, you can stop if you want." His arms had wrapped around her waist, spooning her back against his chest.
"No, I can go on." She whispered as she wiped at the lone tear that slipped over her cheek silently. "So, I was born three weeks after that awful lunch, and mom and Aunt Katie made up, saying that. it was silly of them to fight over a child's name. And that, she is glad Aunt Katie used Elizabeth to name her daughter, cos then she'd never have found Ellesbeth, which suited me better then Elizabeth." Her grin widened a little. "Elizabeth and I became really good friends. We were inseparable through most of elementary school, and the start of high school. We were so inseparable; it became impossible for people to call us 'Bethy' or 'Beth' because we would both turn around. SO, one night at one of our many sleepovers, we came up with Buffy and Baffy." She giggled and started walking down the rows again, taking a left turn.
"She was Baffy, I was Buffy. At first it was supposed to be Bathy and Buthy, but Elizabeth had a speech problem and couldn't pronounce her 'Th' properly, so it came out Baffy and Buffy. And it stuck. It was really quite genius for girls of the grand old age of four. All our friends started calling us Buffy and Baffy, then our parents picked it up, and then our teachers. Then." She turned to him, tears in her eyes. "We were waiting for my dad to pick us up from the Cineplex one night, and it was raining and out of the alley next to the theatre, this.monster.came up and grabbed her. He dragged her back into the alley and I could hear her screaming, and calling for me and her mom and dad. She kept screaming for me to help her. I ran after her in the alley and began hitting the man, I kicked at him and I bit him.
"I was always the bigger one of the two of us. He had begun to rape her just before I ran into the alley. He didn't think I'd come in after her. But, I did. He disappeared not long after I started hitting him. I thought it was me, but he had heard my dad calling for us and honking the horn. All I could do was just sit there." The tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now. " I held my best friend in my arms until the ambulance came. When dad found us, he told me he could have sworn that I had handfuls of hair clenched in my hands. I rode with her all the way to the hospital. She kept calling to me. Sometimes I wake up and can hear her still calling out 'Buffy'. Three days later, she died. It's my fault she died, I saw him standing there in the shadows as we walked out of the movie. I thought he was just waiting for a ride. But, just before he grabbed her, I turned around to look at a poster of a new film and saw him walk out under the light." She was sucking in great gulping breaths of air.
"Was it a." Spike asked gently.
"Nope. Just your regular, everyday, run of the mill sleazeoid. They picked him up at a bar the day Baffy died. He was bragging about how he had just taken "two little cock teasers", and shown them what happens to little girls who want to play with big boys. His first big mistake was that, he had stepped into the light a few minutes before, giving me a clear look at his face. His second, was sitting in a bar that happened to have my 'soon- to-be-Watcher' sitting in it."
"What happened?" Spike asked wiping at his own tears that threatened to trickle down his cheeks.
"Merrick, grabbed him and beat the crap out of him and took him to the police station." She smiled as she remembered the day she had read that in Merrick's journal. Just after he had died, she had been delivered a box of his belongings in the mail. In them had been his Watcher's Journal.
"And you've stuck with Buffy ever since?" Spike asked taking her hand and moving along the rows.
She nodded her head. "Yup. Since Baffy died, I insisted on being called Buffy. If anyone called me anything else, I wouldn't answer. Mom even had all my school records changed to Buffy. She said, if I still felt the same way when I turned eighteen, I could legally change my name from Ellesbeth to Buffy. The only person to ever call me Ellie or Ellesbeth since Baffy, was my dad. But, since he and my mom divorced, he just calls me Buffy like everyone else. The last person to ever call me Ellesbeth, was the judge when he finalized the whole custody thing in the divorce." She sighed loudly and closed her eyes for a brief second, exhaustion sweeping over her.
"Luv, let me carry you." Spike asked gently.
"Okay." She was too tired to argue with him. Her trip down memory lane had taken an emotional toll on her. Things she had longed to repress had presented themselves in this 'get to know your lover' talk with Spike. "And that's all there is about me." She sighed and closed her eyes as he scooped her up into his arms and carried her for the remaining two hours that it took to find the shelter for the fast approaching sunrise.
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Chapter Eleven
Just In Time.
She had fallen asleep shortly after he offered to carry her to the next shelter. His only problem was that he had at least three hours until sunrise and he didn't know which way to go. She was light in his arms, so that wasn't a problem. They had come to a juncture, however, in the walls of the maze. To his left there was an opening in the wall of hedge down one side, to his right there was another opening, directly in front of him, was a wall with another opening, that turned sharply to the right.
'Bugger this.' He thought to himself, 'What was that thing that Dru was always singing? Damn Spike, think.think.Something about the lambs and blackberry.jam?' "Aha!" He said aloud. He shifted Buffy in his arms and stood in between all three openings. Using the index finger of his left hand, he pointed to each door and whispered, "Run and catch, run and catch, the lamb is caught in the blackberry patch." As he whispered the old rhyme, he turned with each word, pointing at each opening. "Run and catch." he began again. Finally ending up with his index finger pointed straight ahead. "Straight it is."
He moved through the corridor of mazes swiftly, stopping only twice to stake a vampire and brake the neck of a chaos demon. Suddenly, he came up flush against a wall of brick. The first brick wall he had seen since they started the quest. He cursed silently; he could smell the sunrise. It was only approximately three-quarters of an hour away. He turned and ran back down the row, holding Buffy closely to his chest, hoping that she wouldn't wake up and worry about what was going on.
Finally, he came to an opening in the hedge on his right and took it. 'Buffy had been going about it the right way, so why didn't you just keep taking right turns?' He rolled his eyes, he should have known, woman's intuition and the slayer sense that was part of what made Buffy so strong, is what was helping get them through the endless rows of hedge. He followed the path between the hedges, taking another right turn before finally slowing down. The sunrise was getting closer; he could smell the wind change and the air around them shift. He walked along for a few minutes before coming to another opening. He stepped inside the opening and looked towards the left. At the end of the left corridor, he could just make out the shape of the shelter. He had only a few more minutes before the sun crested the horizon, gathering his strength; he hugged Buffy closer to his body and made a beeline for the door of the shelter.
He pushed the door open and slammed it closed behind him as he stepped into the darkness of the small room. He let out an unneeded breath and gently shook Buffy awake. "Luv.Ellie." Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled. "Hey there sleepy head." He smiled and kissed her nose. "Are you okay?"
"Okay? I'm not a sleepy head. I've been wide awake.unless. OH!" She exclaimed as what happened began to register with her. "I'm so sorry Spike! I must have been so heavy for you to carry. You should have woken me up." She reached up to hug him and kiss him softly on the lips. "You can put me down now William." She smiled and wriggled in his arms.
"Yes, you did fall asleep, and, don't be ridiculous, you weigh practically nothing. And, I didn't hurt you? We just spent almost an hour running through the maze." He looked down at her sheepishly. "I sort of got us lost."
She giggled. "Aww, you got us lost. It's okay; it was bound to happen, so many turns and what not. You gonna put me down or hold onto me all day?"
"Hmmm, I'm thinking of .holding onto you all day. You looked so peaceful wrapped in my arms."
He smiled at her, his eyes dancing with good humor and love. Suddenly, she had swung her legs around his waist and planted a soft, lingering kiss on his lips. He responded slowly. His arms sliding around her waist and up to her neck. Gently, she pried his lips open, her tongue sliding out to trace along his bottom lip before begging entry into his own mouth. Her hands danced across his shoulders, sliding down his chest and under the lapels of his long black duster, pushing and slipping it down his shoulders until it fell to the floor.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"How did you know this would happen?" Ophion turned to ask her.
"It's in her eyes, it's in her heart," She replied smiling softly down at the pool that reflected Buffy and Spike's passionate embrace. "Most importantly, it's in her destiny."
"What exactly is her destiny Eurynome?" Ophion took her hand and led her to a silver throne.
She looked up at him with big eyes. "She will need his help.Our help. Angelus won't be the only thing that will try to brake her."
Ophion paled slightly. "He won't?"
"No, I told you about Glorificus, well, She is just one of many. The wrath of Angelus will be the first of many deadly battles, that, unless she has alliances in high places, she will die. We need her to be alive. She is the first slayer that will be.taken from the heavens to shine her light in the world again." Eurynome moved back to the small pool of water and waved her hand over it. "See.
"These are the images of what will be, if Angelus succeeds in pulling the sword from Acathla." The image changed. Suddenly, the pool was full of Buffy's friends, crying, and the walls around them strewn with bloodied bodies. Her watcher had his glasses in his hand and was visibly shaking with sobs, his pain clearly evident as he stood over the small frail blond body. Her face, a picture of distorted horror and pain. "This is what will happen if Angelus doesn't succeed." Once again, the image changed. Buffy, the slayerettes and Giles sat around a big kitchen table. "Thanks-giving, two years from now. If she stops Angelus, and stops The Ascension of Richard Wilkins."
"Isn't that.." Ophion looked closer at the pool to a second blond girl. She was sitting next to Xander.
"Yes, it is Anyanka. If Ellesbeth stops Angelus, the demon Anyanka will have her demonic powers stripped and she will be returned to a mortal girl." Images of school-aged children, families, werewolves, demons, people, tears, funerals, weddings, magical beings and magical workings, all flashed across the pool. "So many lives, so many destinies. All of them are centered on that young girl and that young man in there. If they can fall in love as easily as they have in our maze, then, the alliance will be made when the time comes and the world will be safe from Acathla's and Angelus' rage. We must help. We must."
Ophion looked at her. "But, how did."
"There was a shift." She continued when Ophion looked at her confused. "The was something.it stirred in the universe. The other Goddesses could feel it too. Selene sensed it in the forest; I could sense it in the air. And, seeing as I am the oldest, it was left up to me to find a solution." She waved her arm over the pool again, the images coming faster, more and more faces filled the small pool, until it became nothing but a blur of colors in quick succession.
"Yes my love, I understand now." Ophion nodded.
Suddenly, Eurynome slumped to the floor. The magicks she had conjured to help her lover understand exerted her more then they should have. Her breathing came in heavy rasps. "I'll be fine Ophion. The change in the atmosphere has just taken a lot out of me."
He sighed, "Please rest Eurynome. It is almost over. Your Ellesbeth will be fine. Relax." He soothed her hair as he lay her on a bed of lavender satin. "All will be fine, relax."
He chanced another gaze at the pool. "She MUST succeed." He whispered more as a comfort to himself than any other. The images in the pool faded, the mists slowly moving back to their place above the water's surface.
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Chapter Twelve
Just a Little Tenderness.
Her hands had tightened as the ran through his hair. Her legs slipped from around his waist until she was planted firmly on the floor. "William." She whispered softly as she pulled away from his kiss, a soft moan escaping both their throats.
He silently cursed Angelus for finding him and turning him. Being a vampire had a lot of perks, sure. But, when it came to loving and falling in love, the demon that had set up residence in his body was most unwelcome and almost always intrusive. "I'm sorry Ellie."
She looked at him as his voice came out in a husky whisper. "I'm so scared." She admitted, looking up into his eyes. "I've never." she looked down, ashamed of her inexperience.
"Oh no. No Pet, don't ever be sorry for not rushing to give that part of your soul away." His tipped her chin up and rested his forehead against hers. "I mean, not until you are sure you're in love with." He was silenced by her kiss.
'A soulless demon.' She thought to herself, 'He's not scared, he's not pushing, he's not.anything.' Her hands slid up his arms to his shoulders. "I love you William."
He could feel her heart begin to quicken, her blood rushed to her face, "Are you sure Buffy?" his fingers traced along her cheekbones and jaw, his thumb gently brushing her lips.
"Yes." She breathed, her fingers dancing along the nape of his neck. "Please?" her tongue darted out to trace his lips, kissing him softly.
"Oh Ellesbeth." He let out an unneeded sigh, he knew that if he had a beating heart, it would be racing and pumping the blood through his system almost as fast as hers was.
He pulled her to him, his head tilting to deepen their kiss. Her fingers massaging his scalp and neck. She smiled tentatively as his lips moved to her neck, nipping and sucking gently at her collarbone with his blunt teeth. Her fingers slid over his chest, grazing his nipples. He moaned as her fingers continued to travel slowly down his torso. His lips continued their decent, moving from her collarbone, to the hollow of her neck, to the lace edge of her top.
"William." She gasped, her hands fumbling to pull his black shirt off.
He complied, stepping back and pulling his shirt over his head to reveal his white chest. Buffy's eyes widened slightly as the soft light made his chest shimmer like soft marble. "Are you sure about this Ellie?" He whispered as she reached out and ran a hand down his smooth chest.
She nodded and stood up on her toes to brush his lips against hers. He slid his hands around her waist to cup her buttocks. She giggled against his mouth as she felt him harden against her stomach. Slowly she began to grind against him, her own arousal filling his nostrils with a heady musk. He picked her up and carried her to the center of the room. She smiled at him as they lay down, pulling her top off slowly. His blue eyes shone as he took in her breasts. He smiled at the innocence she displayed in her choice of underwear. Slowly, he reached his hands along her back until he found the clasp, he pulled the bra slowly from her shoulders and chest, leaving soft, tiny kisses in it's wake.
Her hands tangled in his hair as he continued down. Her legs opening slowly to allow his body to slide between them. His tongue dipped into her navel, making her stomach quiver with trepidation. He undid her pants and she raised her hips slightly as he slid them down her legs. He smiled as she moved her hands to cover her matching panties, a faint blush coloring her skin. He bent his head and placed kisses on all the purple stars, avoiding the stars that covered her dampening sex.
'So innocent, yet so wise.' He thought as he squeezed her nipples between his thumb and forefinger. He was amazed at how she still was able to maintain a form of innocence when she knew that there was true darkness in the world.
The dull ache that had begun in her stomach had now spread to her sex and legs, making her thankful that she was lying down. 'I'd never be able to stay standing if he continued.' She wrapped her legs around his shoulders as he began to slowly drag his tongue over the stars in the crotch of her panties. Urging him closer to her body, Buffy pushed his head gently towards her clit. She moaned loudly as his tongue brushed the silky material of her panties against her clit.
"William." She panted, her breath coming in short ragged gasps. "Please." Her eyes pleading with the bobbing blond head below her.
He inhaled purposefully as she continued to writhe beneath the ministrations of his tongue and lips. Her own hands covering his as they squeezed and tug at her nipples. He looked up just in time to see her mouth part in a silent scream of ecstasy, 'God, her mouth looks so inviting. So.' His thoughts interrupted as she began to thrash about on the floor in her first orgasm. He smiled to himself as he lapped at her cum as it seeped through the fabric of her panties. Only was it now that he noticed his own erection and how painful it was becoming.
He slowly slipped his fingers beneath the elastic of her damp panties, drawing them down over her thighs, knees and finally over her feet before adding them to the rest of the pile of clothes that had collected in the center of the room. He knelt above her, bending down to sear her lips with a kiss. She moaned as she opened her mouth to his, each tongue fighting for dominance over the other.
"Ellie." His voice hoarse with passion and desire.
Her eyes searched his face, finding her answers in his blue eyes. He loved her. Somehow, the demon never claimed the part of what made him such a gentle man; it was just hidden by the façade of an evil, ruthless killer. She silently thanks whatever Gods had kept the man inside Spike safe for the last one hundred and twenty-six years. Her swollen lips parted, bringing his head down in another kiss. Her hands scratching down his chest, over his nipples to his hard cock. Her slender fingers gently brushing over the tip before guiding him slowly to her entrance.
"Ellie." He asked again, his voice barely a whisper.
"Yes William." She nodded. Her lips brushing against his earlobe before biting into it gently.
He had to control the demon from surfacing. He was NOT going to scare her their first time together. He wanted to be the perfect gentleman, taking it slowly, being tender. He pushed slowly, letting the tip of his cock part her pussy lips slowly. He looked down and saw that her eyes had fluttered closed, he could feel her clench around him. Gently, he began to ease himself into her slick channel until he was buried to the hilt. He gently kissed her lips, her nose, her eyes and her cheeks, pleading silently that she would look at him.
Gradually, he began the rocking motion that would take them both over the edge. He could feel her muscles contracting around him, squeezing him tighter with each thrust. As she grew accustomed to the rhythm, he made harder, longer thrusts. She looked up at him and smiled, her fingernails raking across his shoulders. She let her hands drag down his chest, brushing his nipples. Her eyes widened as a low growl escaped his throat; she grinned to herself and repeated the motion.
He knew what she was doing. He'd seen Dru do it a million times when she'd seduced their prey. 'Testing the waters', people called it. He bent down to kiss her slowly as he slid his hand between their sweat, slicked bodies. Suddenly, Buffy was changing the pace, her thrust became quicker, her hips bucking up to meet his, her muscles clenching around him tighter and longer. He began to stroke her clit harder with each thrust, intent on driving her to the edge of another orgasm.
She pulled his head closer, biting into his earlobe. "Love you William." She whispered before screaming his name out into the dark recesses of the room.
He thrust twice more, "Love you too Ellesbeth." He took her mouth in his, biting and licking at her swollen lips before growling and calling her name out so loud the sound reverberated through his chest and into hers. She came again, her eyes opening in surprise before closing again as a blissful moan. The moment he sensed her coming again, he let himself get swept off in the tide, his cum coating her inner walls.
Her breathing had become erratic as they both came down from their orgasms. Spike cradled her in his arms, placing small kisses in her hair and on her forehead. Buffy was content, her face shone with a happiness she hadn't felt since before.since before Merrick had come to her about her calling. 'No Buff, Think Happy thoughts.' She smiled and stretched, pulling her backpack to her and removing the blanket from it.
"Here, let me." Spike placed the blanket around them before laying down and pulling Buffy back into his arms. He kissed the top of her head before closing his eyes, listening to her heart slow and her pulse return to normal.
"You are the most amazing woman I've ever had the pleasure of knowing." Spike whispered before kissing her nose. "You were wonderful."
She smiled, 'He sure does know how to make a girl feel special.' "You weren't so bad yourself Spike. But, then, I guess one hundred and twenty- six years worth of experience would sorta lead to that wouldn't it?" She blushed. All thoughts about the future forgotten for the moment.
He chuckled, "C'mon Luv, sleep now. Tomorrow we go home and can talk about experiences."
She sighed and closed her eyes, her head resting on his chest. "I do love you William."
"And I love you Ellesbeth, now sleep." He lightly admonished. He smiled as he realized that her breathing had already become regular and deep.
Knowing that she was safe and warm, he closed his own eyes and fell asleep to the sound of her steady heartbeat.