"Spikey," Harmony's voice intruded upon his thoughts. "Aren't you coming to bed?"
He put the journal down as the vampiress glided into the room, dressed in a silk nightie and sheer robe. He gave her a weary glance, mentally shaking his head.
'I have to get her out of here'
"Not right now, luv. Not tired."
Harmony leaned over his shoulder and nibbled on his ear. "But I need you to keep me warm"
"We can't keep each other warm, Harm, we don't have any body heat. We're dead, remember?"
She giggled. "Doesn't mean we can't snuggle and make other heat."
He took a deep breath and let it out on a count to three.
"Maybe later, luv."
Harmony whined and pouted. "You've done nothing but write in that damn book ever since you got back," she huffed.
"It's important, luv. I told you. I'm making plans."
"Plans to kill the Slayer?" she asked hopefully.
He gave her an evil smile. "You know me too well, pet," he lied.
She grinned and clapped her hands. "Oh! Can I be the one to kill her? Since you can't bite her without getting, y'know, zapped? I'd let you have some too."
Ignoring the revulsion he felt at the idea, he managed to keep his smile. "You're too good to me."
"Ooo! It'll be so much fun, and after the Slayer is dead, Sunnydale will be, like, ours!"
"That's right, luv. Now you run along to bed and I'll join you later."
Placated, Harmony kissed him and hurried off. "Don't stay up too late. I still need my Blondie Bear to cuddle."
"Right, luv, be there soon," he answered absently, waiting until she'd gone to bed before picking up the journal again.
He'd been writing for hours, pouring his memory into the stolen blank tome. He had learned much from Dawn during the summer of Buffy's death about what had happened and the events that had occurred during that horrible year. Now he had a general gist of events and a tentative timeline, but he wasn't sure of exactly when things were going to happen. He knew that soon Buffy would cast an unveiling spell that would reveal Dawn's true nature and have her first run-in with Glory. Shortly after, Glory would send the Lei-ach demons after Buffy, and Glinda, afraid that the Scoobies would discover her "demon" would cast her spell of non-seeing. He was of two minds as to what to do about that. He knew he couldn't change things too drastically.
Then would come Joyce's surgery and the Quellar demon. He made a note about that. If he was lucky, he could get the demon before it hurt Joyce, but then he remembered that the Quellar had struck during the day.
'Just have to be in the house again, s'all.'
After that would come the snake demon.
'Be at the Magic Box, take it out before it sees Nibblet.'
From there, he wasn't sure what to do. He knew that he wanted to prevent Buffy from discovering his attraction to her, and thus prevent the whole Buffy-bot fiasco. But that would also mean that Glory would never get him and he would never suffer the Hell Bitch's torture. And while he hadn't really enjoyed getting carved up and beaten to a pulp, his refusal to give Dawn and Buffy away had scored him major points with the Slayer.
'I'll just have to score points with her in other ways'
His soul stirred and reminded him that love was unselfish and did not act with ulterior motives. His demon growled and stamped it down, but then grudgingly had to admit that the soul was right.
'Can't win Buffy if she thinks I'm only doing it to get in good with her.'
The soul gave a victory cheer and he scowled.
'Shut up, you. No wonder Peaches spent ninety years eating rats, and brooding like a poof. This whole bloody soul thing is like having Jimminy Cricket living in your bloody head!'
Still, at least being back in time had given him something else to focus on aside from all the killing and maiming he had done. While he had come a long way in assimilating his new soul during his convalescence in the African cave, he knew that he still had a great deal further to go before he would be fully reconciled with his new "addition." Concentrating on the task at hand helped him set aside the nightmare that was his bloody past. But he hadn't tried to sleep yet.
'Wonder how Harm would react to a screaming lunatic in her bed.'