Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own anything in this story. Sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones, but that's the way it works. Hope ya like the latest chapter!
Pain
She was aware of the pain.
Every part of her body screamed in agony, as if someone had lit all of her nerve endings on fire. Though she had yet to move, she knew that once she did the pain would only increase tenfold.
She could not remember the last time every part of her body had been in such pain. The only thing that came to mind that she felt she could compare to the pain she was feeling was the agony she had gone through when she had jumped into the portal to save the world. It was almost the same feeling – like fire was licking every part of her body, burning her slowly. Like she was dying all over again, with every movement painful.
Only this time, she knew she would not have the luxury of feeling the peace she had felt after the pain from the portal had subsided. When she became aware of her surroundings this time, it would not be warm. It would not be peaceful. It would be cold and harsh. Just like the day she had dug her way out of the coffin.
She eyes fluttered slightly open but were quickly shut again as the harsh light brought her back to reality. She opened her eyes once again, this time slowly and carefully, hoping it would give her eyes the needed time to adjust to the light. It helped a bit, though not enough. For a few moments, everything around her was bright white in color. She could see nothing else but the white.
Wait a minute – this room IS white, she thought. Who would make an all white room anyway?
She slowly pushed herself up from the ground, a groan escaping her lips as her body protested with every movement. She sat there for a moment and looked around the room, frowning as she saw that nothing else was in the room. No furniture, no rugs, not even a door. It was like she was in a box of some sort. She absently rubbed her arm as she glanced around, trying to find a way out.
A sudden noise from behind caused her to jump to her feet, her reflexes a touch slower than usual. She noticed it momentarily but pushed it away as a door appeared where none had been before. Her eyes narrowed as Frost walked in, a smirk plastered on his face.
Her hands clenched into fists as memories of what had happened before she had passed out came back to her. Memories of what happened before he had knocked her out.
"About time you woke up Slayer," he remarked dryly, watching her carefully. "I thought that you'd never fuckin' wake up. Was hoping that it took more than a blow to the head to keep you out for good."
"What do you want with me?" she demanded as she glared at him, anger falling off of her in waves.
He merely chuckled at her, shaking his head. The door behind him closed suddenly, leaving no trace of the opening that had been there just a moment earlier. "I've never met a Slayer before. I wanted a chance to study one before the British bastard got his chance at her."
Buffy's eyes blazed as thoughts of Travers came to her head. "I won't let him touch me."
"You might not have a choice on that one, little girl."
Without warning, she lunged at him. Warning bells went off in her head as she moved slower than normal but she ignored them and instead punched Frost directly in the face. Though she had punched him as hard as she could, he barely flinched at the contact. He grabbed her wrists and with barely any effort, he threw her across the room.
She slammed into the wall, the breath knocked out of her instantly. She fell to her hands and knees, taking deep gasping breaths in order to fill her crying lungs. She slowly pushed herself to her feet, staring at Frost in shock.
"Ok, what's going on?" she asked, crossing her arms across her chest.
He smirked at her once again and pulled an object out of his back pocket. He held up a small needle, its contents emptied. Buffy stared at him uncomprehending for a moment before sudden, horrible, realization hit her. She looked down at her arm, at the spot she had rubbed just moments earlier when she had woken up to find herself in the room.
A small puncture mark, recently made, stood out on her arm.
A short, harsh laugh escaped her as she looked back up at him. "Too afraid to deal with a real Slayer, Frost? Gotta drug me in order to fight me? For being such a tough vampire, you really don't have the balls to fight against someone who knows what they're doing?"
The door opened once again before Frost could answer. Her blood turned to ice as Travers walked in, smiling coldly at her.
"Actually, that was not Mr. Frost's idea," he said. "You are more than enough trouble when you do not have your strength. I do remember the test we administered, Miss Summers. Did you really believe that I would let you wake up with all of your strength? I do have more sense than that."
Buffy glared daggers at him, trying to control her anger enough not to lunge at him. After all, she did not know how weak she truly was yet – and she knew that Frost had more than enough strength to knock her out again.
Travers smiled once again at her. "I'll leave you two then. And, Miss Summers, I do hope that the drugs have not had any…adverse effects at all. That would be such a shame if they did."
"Bite me," was her response with a growl good enough to rival any vampire.
"Charming," Travers answered back. "But I think I'll leave that to Mr. Frost. Good day, Miss Summers."
He walked out the door before she had to a chance to reply. Once again the door closed, once again leaving no trace that it had been there moments earlier. Buffy stared at the white wall for a moment before turning her attention back to Frost, who had been unusually quiet during the moments when Travers had been in the room.
He was leaning casually against the wall, his eyes half closed as he studied her, taking in all of the emotions that emulated off of her like waves. When she wanted to, she could close off her emotions to anyone around her. But when she lost control – anyone could tell her feelings. She wore her heart on her sleeve.
"What do you want with me?" Buffy asked him again, breaking the silence of the room. "Can't leave a girl hanging like this, Frost."
He pushed off from the wall and swaggered over until he was only a few feet away. "You've ruined a lot of my plans, Slayer. You ruined my only chance to bring about the fuckin' Armageddon. I owe you for that."
She shrugged, a cold smile on her face. "I have a tendency to ruin the plans of big-bad evil. One of the few rules in the handbook that I follow. But I do it my way. And if I had the chance, I'd do it again. Over and over again. I'd never let you take over the world, Frost, no matter what I had to do to stop you."
"I've gotta hand it to you, you've got fire," he said softly, taking another step forward. "And guts. Not many people can stand up to me."
"That's surprising," she retorted. "Guess all the vamps here are cowards compared to the ones I faced on the Hellmouth. Compared to the demons I've fought, you're nothing. The tough guy attitude? Doesn't work on me. Seen it before, dealt with it. Gimme something new, Frost."
He surprised her by the sudden leap towards her. He grabbed her wrists and slammed her into the wall, holding them above her head.
She struggled vainly to escape his grasp, but her strength was completely depleted because of the drugs that had been pushed into her system. Her eyes blazed with fury as they met his.
"Let. Me. Go."
Her words her cold and deliberate as she glared at him. He merely stared at her, shaking his head slowly. "I don't think so. I just got you. I'm not going to let you go until I have everything I want from you."
Her eyes widened and she struggled against his vice like grip renewed as his gaze traveled slowly up and down her body, as if studying her and sizing her up. She felt exposed at his leveling gaze, as if everything was being bared for him to see. Her heart skipped a beat as his eyes once again met hers.
"And I always get what I want," he whispered. "Everything else be damned."
He transferred her wrists into one hand and, ever so slowly, pulled out another object from his pocket. It was another needle, though one could tell with barely a glance to it that this one was not emptied of its contents. Instead, they swirled around in the needle, the color of the mixture turning alternately black and red in color.
Buffy stared at the changing colors in apprehension before turning her gaze back to him.
"Ya like that?" he whispered, raising an eyebrow at her. "The British bastard isn't the only one who can play around with magic. I had a bunch of my boys working on this toy ever since he told me who you were. Ever since he told me you were the fuckin' Slayer."
"Planning on drugging me again Frost? Going to take away any strength that I have left?" she asked.
He chuckled at her response. "Please. I think I can handle you right now. I could probably handle you when your strength came back. No, this baby is much more exciting than that. But I guess you'll just have to find out what it does on your own."
In the blink of an eye, Frost jabbed the needle into her skin, in the same exact puncture as the previous needle had been. Buffy gasped as the foreign material traveled through her body. She could feel whatever had been in the needle flowing through her, passing through every vein in her body. She slumped against the wall, pain overtaking her so much that she no longer had the energy to stand. Frost kept her from falling though as he slowly pulled the now-empty needle from her body.
He watched in mild fascination as red and black energy seemed to flow up and down her body, almost as if mimicking how the material was traveling through her body. He looked into her eyes and was surprised to see the randomly colors it was turning. While he had expected the black and red, he did not expect to see random spurts of green to overtake the black and the red.
"What the fuck?" he asked out loud. He received no response from Buffy as her eyes rolled up in the back of her head.
Her body began to twitch and suddenly, without any warning, she screamed. The scream filled the room, echoing off of the walls and almost causing Frost to cover his ears in pain. He held onto her, though, and slowly lowered her to the ground.
"I hope it doesn't kill her," he said to himself as he allowed his gaze to once again roam over her body. "She could be a lot of fun once the drugs take effect."