Part three:
Willow wrapped the big duster around her. It was raining harder and she was freezing cold. The duster was so heavy. Plus it reeked of cigarettes. She wondered how he wore this thing all the time. Granted it was warm but, he's a vampire. Why would he need warmth? Spike had given up on trying to smoke a cigarette in this rain. Every time he lit one it was soggy after the second drag. He looked at Willow though the corner of his eye. She looked lost in his jacket. He wondered what she'd have looked like all wet and if her little nips would be beaming. Maybe he shouldn't have offered his jacket to her, after all. Damn him for being a gentleman.
"So..." Willow's dainty voice interrupted his dirty thoughts, "where'd you get the duster from?"
"I killed its owner," he replied matter of factly.
"Huh, that's...nice,"
He laughed, "You've gotta lighten up a bit, Red."
"So you're joking?"
"No."
"Oh, okay."
She breathed in a bit uncomfortably. The silence stretched between them. The gentle patter of the rain started to annoy Willow. She looked at Spike. With the chip in his head he really didn't seem that scary anymore. Not any less sexy, but definitely less scary. She liked guys that inspired bit of fear in her. Like Oz. Sweet, sardonic Oz, offset by his uncontrollable wolfy side. She had always been a dog person. Spike had more feline qualities to him. He was like a pompous cat, all sleek and sauntry. Full of himself. She wondered if he missed seeing his own reflection. Maybe he liked what was on the inside more. Lately it was becoming clear that he was proud of being evil and without his ability to strike fear in someone, he was at a loss.
"Spike, you really miss killing things don't you?" she asked innocently.
He looked at her like he was considering something for the first time.
"Yeah, it really pumps you, ya know? It's like a drug. Knowing you have complete control over a living thing. I act like its all fun and games but it's rather spiritual, now that I think about it."
"I've killed things before."
"Like what," he laughed.
"Vamps. I've dusted a few in my day," she said proud of herself.
"Felt good, huh?"
"Yeah but more in a 'yay I'm not dead' kinda way."
"Buffy feels it. She feeds off it. I know I can see it in her eyes when she's battling a big nasty. Very passionate, she is."
"You think she's pretty?"
Spike scoffed and reached around Willow's waist, dipping his hand into the side pocket. Willow nearly jumped until she felt his fingers wrap around the pack of cigarettes. Maybe it was her imagination, but she could have sworn that he kept his hand in her pocket for a few seconds longer than he needed to.
"So you didn't enjoy kissing her?" she suddenly blurted out. Instantly, he pulled his hand away. He expertly slid a cigarette from the pack and pulled his lighter up to his face. "I don't really remember it that much."
Willow raised an eyebrow.
"Look, Red, I'm not blind. She's fucking gorgeous but she's my sworn enemy. I mean she is the vampire slayer."
They walked in silence for a while. Spike secretly yelling at himself for admitting that he thought Buffy was hot, while Willow secretly wondered just how it would feel to kiss a vampire.
"What is it like to bite somebody?"
"Like biting into a big Mac. What do you think it's like?!"
"Sex?"
He choked on the cigarette smoke and started laughing. She looked hurt.
"I guess it depends on who you're biting."
"If you were to, say, bite Buffy, how do you think that would feel?"
"Like conquest," he stated simply and took another drag of his cigarette, "with a little bit of sex mixed in I suppose."
"And what would it be like to bite me?"
He furrowed his brows and stopped to look at her questioningly.
"Uhhh-"
"Look boys! Lunch!" came a voice. Willow snapped out of her reverie and saw a vampire standing a few feet ahead of them. Behind him were two more vampires.
"Shit," Willow swore.
"Willow!" Spike cried in mock horror. The vampires started to advance.
"What do we do now?" Willow shrieked.
"Run witch!" Spike yelled grabbing her arm, "if they catch you I may never see my duster again!"
They ran all the way to the magic shop. Willow desperately wrestled with the doorknob, as if turning it over and over would suddenly make it open. Spike pushed her out of the way and kicked the door in. They ran inside, slammed the door and pushed a nearby shelf in front of it. Spike looked hesitantly out the window.
"Looks like they lost sight of us," he sighed and looked at Willow, who was breathing heavily. "What's the matter? You out of breath?"
"What do you think?" she breathed.
"I don't know. I'm always out of breath."
"Okay, let's get the supplies and get out of here," Willow suggested.
She ran around the shop burying items in the coat pockets of the duster. Spike stood by the window as a lookout. He smoothly slid his eyes over to watch her study the bottles and potions. A drop of rain rolled down her cheek. It looked like a tear. He stepped towards her and wiped it away. She looked up at him questioningly.
"Like heaven," he whispered.
"What?"
"Biting you."
He brushed a piece of hair from her face and reached down to grasp her little arms in his hands. Suddenly his face scrunched into a look of confusion as he felt something hard resting against her arm. Before she could utter a word of protest, he pulled a stake out of the jacket's sleeve.
"You had a stake hidden in my jacket?!" he asked accusingly.
"Well I needed some protection. You'd go all 'ahh!' if you tried to hit anything!"
"Like you could protect yourself with this toothpick."
Suddenly she had a stake to his heart. He looked down at it in surprise.
"I always carry a spare." she said in a low voice.
She was so close to him. He could feel her heart beating under her rising chest. He slowly pushed the stake away from his heart and took it from her. Her hand remained on his chest as she looked up into his eyes. He looked away abruptly, clearing his throat.
"Right then...let's get going," he said softly and backed away from her.
"Yeah, let's," she said in a voice equally as soft.
Buffy turned the corner with Xander in tow. The rain was finally letting up.
"Buffy, how the hell are we gonna stop him anyway?" Xander asked.
"Right now all I'm concerned with is getting Willow and Spike back to the house."
They walked down the abandoned street in silence, Xander wondering just how harmless Spike really was. Buffy was too rapped up in listening for any suspicious noises to think much of anything. She heard a twig snap and stopped short causing Xander to bump into her.
"What?" he asked.
"Shh, I heard a noise," she whispered.
They waited silently for a minute, Buffy straining to hear any other noises. She heard nothing. Shrugging she continued walking followed by a more alert Xander. They crossed the street and walked onto a sidewalk lined by tall over grown bushes.
Suddenly Angelus stepped out of the bushes in front of them. Xander gasped and turned to run but slammed right into another vampire. He laughed nervously and tried to back away but the vampire grabbed his arms and turned him around.
"Let him go!" Buffy demanded.
"Long time no see, Buffy," Angelus smirked at her tightening a hand around her arm and turning her towards him, "Don't I get a kiss hello?"
"You can get an ass kicking hello," she replied knocking his hand off.
"Now, Buffy, that's not how you treat an ex-lover. Especially one who has two of your close friends' lives in his hands."
"What do you want?"
"Your head on a plate but that comes later, but for now, just your cooperation. Come with me and I promise I won't hurt Giles or The Boy Wonder."
"Since when can I trust you?"
"Since I'll kill them if you don't. Now, be a good girl and give me your weapons," he held out his hand.
She glared at him defiantly. Angelus nodded at the vampire holding Xander captive. The vampire gingerly took one of Xander's fingers and broke it with a sickening snap. Buffy winced. Xander responded with a painful scream that was quickly silenced by the vampire's hand going roughly over his mouth. She quickly took the couple of stakes she had and handed them to Angelus.
He smiled, "And the one in your boot."
She sighed heavily and bent down to retrieve that one also. He threw them into the bushes.
"Now you might take this as kinky," he said pulling some rope out of his pockets, "but I don't want to risk you getting away."
He tied her wrists together behind her back. She protested a bit but was silent for fear of Xander's remaining fingers. He was still whimpering. One of the other vamps had secured a blindfold over his eyes and tied his hands also. Angelus then tied the blindfold over her eyes. She felt herself being lifted as he swung her over his shoulder. She cried out.
"Oh would you relax?" he growled. "I'm not gonna hurt you...yet. We still have some fun ahead."
"If I found out that you hurt Giles..." she warned.
He laughed, "Please. You're grossly outnumbered. And not to mention that I could kill two people you love," he said spiting out the word 'love' in disgust, "I can assure you I can obtain your other interests. Like your mother, for example. Or maybe Willow." He felt Buffy stiffen. "I always had a thing for that witch. She would be a lovely treat...all soft and innocent, I wonder if she'd like it if I-"
"Shut up," Buffy snapped.
He just laughed at her. Her blood was boiling but she knew she was in no position to fight back. Just by the way he picked her up; she knew he was at least twice as strong as she was. She didn't mind risking her life but her friends? Her mother's? Good thing her mother picked this weekend to fly out to Boston for the gallery. She wished she could get in touch with Willow somehow. Xander was whimpering again. They walked for another ten minutes. She tried to listen to the sounds around her for a clue as to where they were being taken. It must be close to 3:30 by now. She swore she heard a train in the distance. Then felt like she was being carried down some stairs and she could hear the faint sound of dripping water. Suddenly she was dropped to the ground roughly. She heard Angelus chuckle, then a creaky door slam. She thought she was alone. Then she felt hands pulling down the blindfold and found herself face to face with Angelus.
"Hello, beautiful," he growled.
"You're disgusting." She spit in his face.
He smiled and wiped her spit from his face, then roughly grabbed her by the chin.
"You're feistier than I remember! Wait till you're bleeding and screaming in agony! Then we'll see how feisty you really are!" he licked up the side of her cheek and pushed her away violently.
She fell backwards from the force of it. He got up and metal door creaked open again. Two vampires walked in and tossed Xander to the floor. Angelus winked at Buffy.
"We'll catch up some more later, toots."
They left the room locking the door. Buffy wiggled her wrists out of the bonds and scrambled to check on Xander. She pulled the blindfold off his eyes. Soon she realized some vamp had taken a bite out him.
"Xander, you've been bitten!" she cried holding the blindfold to his neck.
"Only a little, at least it took the pain off my finger."
"Xander, I'm so sorry I got you into all this. If I had paid better attention, I could have stopped it," she said, untying his wrists careful not to hurt his finger.
"And if Cordi wasn't an idiot, none this would of happened in the first place," he murmured.
She sat up against the wall and pulled Xander's head into her lap. She rubbed his head with her hand lulling him to sleep. Buffy was left wondering how long she would have till they came back. And where was Giles? How was she going to save her friends from something evil and twice as strong as herself? Xander would be no help now; he had lost too much blood. She sighed and hoped Willow would find away to help them. Soon she herself succumbed to sleep.