Daydreams and Demons
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer story by Merrie
Disclaimer: They are mine, didn't you know? At least, that's what the little voice in my head tells me. I like that voice.
Summary: Spike is poisoned by a demon out for revenge. Can he convince Buffy to help him before it's too late?
Characters: Spike, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, Dawn and Maximillian Dominus a little OFC I have created.
Author's Note: Thank you to the few of you who actually reviewed last chapter. This one's for you. Hope you like it. Again, this story is completely AU after the episode the beginning of Lessons. Also, Willow is back from England earlier than on the show and living with Buffy and Dawn again.
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
Chapter Three
"There you go, Dawn." Xander said, pulling up in front of the new Sunnydale High. "Remember, if you see anything weird or generally other- worldly, give Buffy or I a call. Our numbers are in your new cell phone. And don't forget to explain about Buffy's absence. Make up something. You're good at that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I got it, Xander. I'm sure I'll be fine. I mean, if you survived 4 years here, I'm sure I should have no problems." She smiled to let him know she was teasing.
"Yeah well, I had help." He smiled a moment, remembering. "You go on to school now. I'll be here to pick you up when school's over. Now, I have to miss work to go back to your house to check on the guy I nearly killed with my car. Joy."
"I'm sure he'll be fine, Xander. And it wasn't your fault, I'm sure of it." She sighed. "I guess I'm off then. See you later."
"Bye." Xander drove off, leaving Dawn to stare up at the school that had caused her sister and her friends so much trouble once upon a time. "Of course, this isn't the same school, Buffy blew that one up." She mumbled out loud. Taking a deep breath she made her way into the building. Upon first glance, it didn't seem so bad. It was brightly lit, and looked like what a high school was supposed to be. Dawn didn't know exactly what she had been suspecting, but she was a little disappointed when she didn't see any dark shadows, creeping fog, or anything supernatural at all. 'Don't jinx yourself!' she admonished. 'Oh great, now I'm totally doomed. I might as well just leave now and save myself the trouble.'
Xander couldn't help but worry about the events of the morning as he drove back to Rivelo Drive. As much as he wanted to believe that hitting, Max? wasn't his fault, he worried that he hadn't been paying attention. With everything that had gone on in the last year, breaking up with Anya and leaving her at the alter, Willow going evil after Tara's death and trying to destroy the world, leaving for England and returning again.his mind really hadn't coped with everything yet. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for Buffy. If he had had a tough couple of years, hers had been plain hell. First Joyce died, then Buffy died saving the world, again, was torn out of heaven by Willow, the whole evil Willow ordeal, Spike trying to rape her.Xander's fists clenched as he thought of what he would do to a certain bleached vampire if he ever laid an eye on him again. Buffy never spoke about it. She never even mentioned it. But Xander knew she thought about it. He had seen Spike's duster hanging on a hook in her closet. Why she kept it, he had no idea. Seeing it had only reminded him of how much he wanted to dust Spike, he couldn't imagine what it reminded Buffy of. A small voice inside of Xander whispered that she cared for him, that she had never been able to kill him before, and wouldn't now even after what he had done. Xander couldn't deny seeing the looks passed between the two. And after Buffy's..it still hurt to even think it, her death, Spike had tried to kill himself more than once. He would have walked out into the sun that very morning if Dawn and Willow hadn't stopped him. It hadn't been easy being on suicide watch for a vampire who was intent on forgetting that he didn't tan, but they had managed and he had gotten better. 'And look where it got Buffy!' He yelled at himself. 'We should have just let him stake himself. Buffy would have been safe.' He had hesitated before to do what he thought was right out of pity for the vampire. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.
Spike sat and stared at the wall of the musty room he was in, appearing even more dead to the world than usual. If not for the fact that he was sitting cross-legged on the floor without falling over, his blue eyes wide and unblinking, he resemble the corpse he was supposed to be quite acutely. However, corpses also didn't mumble to themselves nonsensical words over and over again. If one were to actually have the courage to come closer to an unkempt-looking stranger sitting in the middle of a room in the basement of the new Sunnydale High and listen to what he had to say, they would no doubt come to the conclusion that he was quite mad and not to be messed with. It wasn't so much the words uttered themselves, but the matter in which they were spoken. The phrase 'Oh God, what have I done?' passed repeatedly through Spike's dry, bloodless lips. But the manner in which they were pronounced would fill any listener with both an extreme sense of pity and of curiosity as to what this broken man might have done.
Spike was in hell. He had to be. Only hell could ever be this awful. His mind was flooded with images of every body, every bloodless and broken person he had ever killed. The corpses piled high to the ceiling under his feet. He teetered on the high pile of bodies, their arms outstretched and urging him to tumble into the abyss. He held his hands up to his face, and all he saw was blood. Blood that would never come off. Blood that would never go away. Ever. There was nothing he could do to make the blood go away. His soul was drenched in it. He was drowning in it. He had tried to cut out the guilt of the thousands of murders, he had clawed at his chest until he felt his own flesh tear beneath his fingertips, and his blood run down onto the floor. Spike didn't mind the pain though. The pain was life. The pain was the only thing that made him feel real. When he couldn't feel the pain, he would cease to exist. Maybe then he would be free. No, it was too horrible a concept to imagine. He didn't deserve to be free. He didn't deserve anything but the pain and torment for what he had done. For what he had done to Her. He had hurt Her, and now he would pay. The demon was right. He had gotten what she had deserved. She deserved his never-ending torment. That was why he had made it back to this place. Back to where the sun was fire on his pale dead flesh, back to where everything had started. He had made it across the world and back again for Her. To give his life and death to Her because that was what She deserved. She deserved his death. The new pain he had been feeling the last few hours came back again with a vengeance. Her vengeance. He knew the pain must come from her. Where else could it come from? Before he could begin to try and figure that out, another blood packet landed at his feet. Spike looked up this time hoping to catch a glimpse of his supplier, but the room was empty save for the ghosts of his thousands of victims. With a quick shake of his head to push their voices away for a little while, Spike sank his fangs into the bag and drank deep.
Willow didn't know what she was feeling exactly, but she wasn't sure she disliked it. The way Max looked at her made her feel alive again for the first time since Tara's death. She hadn't imagined then that she would ever be able to feel anything but hate and vengeance ever again. Xander's love had first changed that. Not a whole lot, but enough to keep her from ending the world. Then Giles and the Coven had taken her in and tried to help her. They had accepted the darkness in her soul and helped her deal with it. It wasn't all gone, it never would be, but she had learned how to keep it at bay. Most of the time at least. She still felt the stirrings of something dark within her being whenever she thought of what had been done to Tara. She felt her vision begin to cloud as her eyes attempted to turn black. She was even sure that if whenever she felt these stirrings she had glanced at a mirror, her natural red hair would be changing to a decidedly unnatural black. But seeing the was Max had smiled at her gave her hope that one day she would be able to control the stirrings completely, or if that wasn't possible, that he would understand and help her through them. His warm smiles made her want to do anything he wanted, just to keep him looking at her that way. It never occurred her to think of anything else.
Buffy couldn't keep a small smile off of her face at the look on Willow's face. She had to admit however, that she was a bit surprised to see a look of almost love so soon after Tara's death, but she was happy to see it nonetheless. An unusual feeling came over her though at witnessing the looks the two of them shared. 'It can't be jealousy, can it? There's no way in hell I'm jealous of the affections of a guy I just barely met.he does have amazing eyes though..and that skin; so pale and beautiful that he could be mistaken as a vampire.' At the mere thought of the word 'vampire', Buffy's jealousy came to an abrupt halt. She winced at the memories that particular word came attached with, especially concerning relationships. 'Slutty the Vampire Layer.' Buffy thought grimly. 'That's me." It was a much more desirable alternative to slaying though, she had to admit. She also had to admit, that she was damn lucky to have slept with two of the most gorgeous men she had ever come across. Sure, Reily had had a farmboy, earthy charm and handsomeness, but he wasn't near as downright beautiful as Angel and Spike were. Maybe it's something to due with being made a vampire? No, she had seen some pretty downright ugly vampires in her life as well, that wasn't it. Perhaps instead, they were made vampires for the very reason that they were, no are still beautiful. It sure is easy to pick them out in a crowd. They must have been walking vamp-magnets.' She smiled a moment as another thought came to her. 'Not to mention that both of them were made vampires by women. Angel by Darla, and Spike by Drusilla. As much as she hated the two vampiresses, she had to admire their taste in men. Of course, she knew that by placing Spike in the company of Angel, at least part of her subconscious considered Spike an ex-boyfriend, or at least worthy of being named one. Buffy grimaced at the thought and tried to remember why he could never have that title, no matter what he did or didn't do. She remembered the bathroom and the events that had occurred there. She remembered telling him to stop, asking him to stop.she remembered the coldness of the tile floor.she also remembered his face afterwards. She remembered the look of absolute horror that crossed his face before he ran. Xander and Giles would no doubt tell her that it was not his reactions that mattered, but his actions. He may have looked regretful afterwards, but that didn't change the fact that he tried to.it was still hard to say the word even in her own head, that he tried to rape her. She winced again as yet another part of her decided it would be fun to play devil's advocate for a change and confronted her with the fact that their relationship hadn't exactly been hugs and puppies. It was centered around violence and it shouldn't have been a surprise that that was how it ended. The devil's advocate went on to remind her that Spike hadn't hurt her in anyway before the.incident, but Buffy certainly had. She had left him for dead in that alley without even a backwards glance. And yet, even after that, Spike had come back to her, still looking for her approval, for her love. He was persistent, if nothing else. That was most likely yet another reason the event turned out how it did. Maybe Spike wasn't the only one to blame after all. Maybe-Buffy's thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the front door. She looked over to where Willow and Max still sat, animatedly discussing something or other, neither one of them looking inclined to answer the person at the door. Buffy rolled her eyes at the display and got up to answer it herself.
"Hey, Buff." Xander said, greeting her at the door. "How's my victim doing?"
"Hello, Xander. Why don't you ask him yourself? Oh, and you did remind Dawn to let the school administration know there was a reason I didn't show up for my first day, right?"
"No worries, Buffy. The Dawnster will let the principal know what's going on. She's a responsible enough young woman." Xander paused, a shocked look on his face. "Whoa, hold up a second. Did I just say what I thought I said? Dawn? A responsible young woman? On second thought, Buffy, maybe you should just assume you're fired already, and save yourself a lot of trouble."
"Ha, ha Xander." Buffy rolled her eyes. "Very funny. Now, let's cut the chit-chat and go talk to the guy you were responsible enough to run over this morning."
Xander sighed, nodded, and followed her into the house. "Yes, let's." Upon seeing Max relatively unharmed and near talking Willow's ear off, Xander let out a breath in relief that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "It's good to see you're, alright man." Xander said, coming over to the couple.
Max smiled. "Oh yeah. It wasn't as bad as it looked, really. Although, the fact that I've had such attentive care might have had something to do with it." He smiled at Willow and Buffy, causing Willow to blush. "You needn't worry about me. I'm not going to file charges against you or anything. I'm almost certain the whole thing was as much my fault as it was yours. I'm always wondering around not paying attention to the world around me. I have a bad habit of daydreaming at the worst of times. It was only a matter of time before something happened because of it. I'm actually surprised it took this long, to tell you the truth."
"Glad to hear it. I'm glad you're ok. You really had me worried there for a moment when I saw all that blood." He gave Max's head a quick once- over and had to suppress a gasp of shock. "I mean, I know they always say that head wounds usually look worse than they really are, but you don't look like you've got a scratch on you." Warning bells went off as he associated pale skin with an ability for fast healing, and he glanced nervously at Buffy.
Catching what Xander was trying to tell her, Buffy nodded towards the open window, sunlight shining brightly through.
Max had to suppress a smirk himself as once again he was taken for a vampire by these people. 'Are they really that dense? I was outside in broad daylight, for Pete's sake! I talked to them! Hello, skin not smoking? Body not turning into a pile of dust? God, it's going to be so easy to trick these people. I've already got the red-headed witch in the palm of my hand, and for a moment there it looked like the Slayer was about ready to join her. I wonder what she started thinking of instead? Whatever it was, it must have been a pretty involving thought to grant her temporary resistance to my charms. Pfft, women are so easy. It's the bricklayer here who'll take some convincing. But it's all a matter of time, and I've got plenty.'
Xander didn't know what it was, but he felt something 'off' about Max. Over the years, he had imagined that he had developed a kind of supernatural radar after spending so much time around it. Something about the way Max smiled at Buffy and Willow sent that radar blaring, and he didn't like it. 'Wait a second here. What the hell am I thinking? I just nearly ran the guy over with my car and now I think he's out to get us? Xander, you have been on the Hellmouth waaaaay too long.'
TBC
A/N Sorry for the lack of Spuffy interaction, but it's coming soon, I promise. Thank you to the few of you who read my last chapter and reviewed. I'm begging all the rest of you, please please please please please review my story! This is my first attempt at writing Buffy fanfiction, and I worry that it's no good if no one is reviewing it. Thanks again, and remember, all you have to do is click that little button at the top of the page and write a few words in the box. That's it, I promise! Please?
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer story by Merrie
Disclaimer: They are mine, didn't you know? At least, that's what the little voice in my head tells me. I like that voice.
Summary: Spike is poisoned by a demon out for revenge. Can he convince Buffy to help him before it's too late?
Characters: Spike, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, Dawn and Maximillian Dominus a little OFC I have created.
Author's Note: Thank you to the few of you who actually reviewed last chapter. This one's for you. Hope you like it. Again, this story is completely AU after the episode the beginning of Lessons. Also, Willow is back from England earlier than on the show and living with Buffy and Dawn again.
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
Chapter Three
"There you go, Dawn." Xander said, pulling up in front of the new Sunnydale High. "Remember, if you see anything weird or generally other- worldly, give Buffy or I a call. Our numbers are in your new cell phone. And don't forget to explain about Buffy's absence. Make up something. You're good at that, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. I got it, Xander. I'm sure I'll be fine. I mean, if you survived 4 years here, I'm sure I should have no problems." She smiled to let him know she was teasing.
"Yeah well, I had help." He smiled a moment, remembering. "You go on to school now. I'll be here to pick you up when school's over. Now, I have to miss work to go back to your house to check on the guy I nearly killed with my car. Joy."
"I'm sure he'll be fine, Xander. And it wasn't your fault, I'm sure of it." She sighed. "I guess I'm off then. See you later."
"Bye." Xander drove off, leaving Dawn to stare up at the school that had caused her sister and her friends so much trouble once upon a time. "Of course, this isn't the same school, Buffy blew that one up." She mumbled out loud. Taking a deep breath she made her way into the building. Upon first glance, it didn't seem so bad. It was brightly lit, and looked like what a high school was supposed to be. Dawn didn't know exactly what she had been suspecting, but she was a little disappointed when she didn't see any dark shadows, creeping fog, or anything supernatural at all. 'Don't jinx yourself!' she admonished. 'Oh great, now I'm totally doomed. I might as well just leave now and save myself the trouble.'
Xander couldn't help but worry about the events of the morning as he drove back to Rivelo Drive. As much as he wanted to believe that hitting, Max? wasn't his fault, he worried that he hadn't been paying attention. With everything that had gone on in the last year, breaking up with Anya and leaving her at the alter, Willow going evil after Tara's death and trying to destroy the world, leaving for England and returning again.his mind really hadn't coped with everything yet. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for Buffy. If he had had a tough couple of years, hers had been plain hell. First Joyce died, then Buffy died saving the world, again, was torn out of heaven by Willow, the whole evil Willow ordeal, Spike trying to rape her.Xander's fists clenched as he thought of what he would do to a certain bleached vampire if he ever laid an eye on him again. Buffy never spoke about it. She never even mentioned it. But Xander knew she thought about it. He had seen Spike's duster hanging on a hook in her closet. Why she kept it, he had no idea. Seeing it had only reminded him of how much he wanted to dust Spike, he couldn't imagine what it reminded Buffy of. A small voice inside of Xander whispered that she cared for him, that she had never been able to kill him before, and wouldn't now even after what he had done. Xander couldn't deny seeing the looks passed between the two. And after Buffy's..it still hurt to even think it, her death, Spike had tried to kill himself more than once. He would have walked out into the sun that very morning if Dawn and Willow hadn't stopped him. It hadn't been easy being on suicide watch for a vampire who was intent on forgetting that he didn't tan, but they had managed and he had gotten better. 'And look where it got Buffy!' He yelled at himself. 'We should have just let him stake himself. Buffy would have been safe.' He had hesitated before to do what he thought was right out of pity for the vampire. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.
Spike sat and stared at the wall of the musty room he was in, appearing even more dead to the world than usual. If not for the fact that he was sitting cross-legged on the floor without falling over, his blue eyes wide and unblinking, he resemble the corpse he was supposed to be quite acutely. However, corpses also didn't mumble to themselves nonsensical words over and over again. If one were to actually have the courage to come closer to an unkempt-looking stranger sitting in the middle of a room in the basement of the new Sunnydale High and listen to what he had to say, they would no doubt come to the conclusion that he was quite mad and not to be messed with. It wasn't so much the words uttered themselves, but the matter in which they were spoken. The phrase 'Oh God, what have I done?' passed repeatedly through Spike's dry, bloodless lips. But the manner in which they were pronounced would fill any listener with both an extreme sense of pity and of curiosity as to what this broken man might have done.
Spike was in hell. He had to be. Only hell could ever be this awful. His mind was flooded with images of every body, every bloodless and broken person he had ever killed. The corpses piled high to the ceiling under his feet. He teetered on the high pile of bodies, their arms outstretched and urging him to tumble into the abyss. He held his hands up to his face, and all he saw was blood. Blood that would never come off. Blood that would never go away. Ever. There was nothing he could do to make the blood go away. His soul was drenched in it. He was drowning in it. He had tried to cut out the guilt of the thousands of murders, he had clawed at his chest until he felt his own flesh tear beneath his fingertips, and his blood run down onto the floor. Spike didn't mind the pain though. The pain was life. The pain was the only thing that made him feel real. When he couldn't feel the pain, he would cease to exist. Maybe then he would be free. No, it was too horrible a concept to imagine. He didn't deserve to be free. He didn't deserve anything but the pain and torment for what he had done. For what he had done to Her. He had hurt Her, and now he would pay. The demon was right. He had gotten what she had deserved. She deserved his never-ending torment. That was why he had made it back to this place. Back to where the sun was fire on his pale dead flesh, back to where everything had started. He had made it across the world and back again for Her. To give his life and death to Her because that was what She deserved. She deserved his death. The new pain he had been feeling the last few hours came back again with a vengeance. Her vengeance. He knew the pain must come from her. Where else could it come from? Before he could begin to try and figure that out, another blood packet landed at his feet. Spike looked up this time hoping to catch a glimpse of his supplier, but the room was empty save for the ghosts of his thousands of victims. With a quick shake of his head to push their voices away for a little while, Spike sank his fangs into the bag and drank deep.
Willow didn't know what she was feeling exactly, but she wasn't sure she disliked it. The way Max looked at her made her feel alive again for the first time since Tara's death. She hadn't imagined then that she would ever be able to feel anything but hate and vengeance ever again. Xander's love had first changed that. Not a whole lot, but enough to keep her from ending the world. Then Giles and the Coven had taken her in and tried to help her. They had accepted the darkness in her soul and helped her deal with it. It wasn't all gone, it never would be, but she had learned how to keep it at bay. Most of the time at least. She still felt the stirrings of something dark within her being whenever she thought of what had been done to Tara. She felt her vision begin to cloud as her eyes attempted to turn black. She was even sure that if whenever she felt these stirrings she had glanced at a mirror, her natural red hair would be changing to a decidedly unnatural black. But seeing the was Max had smiled at her gave her hope that one day she would be able to control the stirrings completely, or if that wasn't possible, that he would understand and help her through them. His warm smiles made her want to do anything he wanted, just to keep him looking at her that way. It never occurred her to think of anything else.
Buffy couldn't keep a small smile off of her face at the look on Willow's face. She had to admit however, that she was a bit surprised to see a look of almost love so soon after Tara's death, but she was happy to see it nonetheless. An unusual feeling came over her though at witnessing the looks the two of them shared. 'It can't be jealousy, can it? There's no way in hell I'm jealous of the affections of a guy I just barely met.he does have amazing eyes though..and that skin; so pale and beautiful that he could be mistaken as a vampire.' At the mere thought of the word 'vampire', Buffy's jealousy came to an abrupt halt. She winced at the memories that particular word came attached with, especially concerning relationships. 'Slutty the Vampire Layer.' Buffy thought grimly. 'That's me." It was a much more desirable alternative to slaying though, she had to admit. She also had to admit, that she was damn lucky to have slept with two of the most gorgeous men she had ever come across. Sure, Reily had had a farmboy, earthy charm and handsomeness, but he wasn't near as downright beautiful as Angel and Spike were. Maybe it's something to due with being made a vampire? No, she had seen some pretty downright ugly vampires in her life as well, that wasn't it. Perhaps instead, they were made vampires for the very reason that they were, no are still beautiful. It sure is easy to pick them out in a crowd. They must have been walking vamp-magnets.' She smiled a moment as another thought came to her. 'Not to mention that both of them were made vampires by women. Angel by Darla, and Spike by Drusilla. As much as she hated the two vampiresses, she had to admire their taste in men. Of course, she knew that by placing Spike in the company of Angel, at least part of her subconscious considered Spike an ex-boyfriend, or at least worthy of being named one. Buffy grimaced at the thought and tried to remember why he could never have that title, no matter what he did or didn't do. She remembered the bathroom and the events that had occurred there. She remembered telling him to stop, asking him to stop.she remembered the coldness of the tile floor.she also remembered his face afterwards. She remembered the look of absolute horror that crossed his face before he ran. Xander and Giles would no doubt tell her that it was not his reactions that mattered, but his actions. He may have looked regretful afterwards, but that didn't change the fact that he tried to.it was still hard to say the word even in her own head, that he tried to rape her. She winced again as yet another part of her decided it would be fun to play devil's advocate for a change and confronted her with the fact that their relationship hadn't exactly been hugs and puppies. It was centered around violence and it shouldn't have been a surprise that that was how it ended. The devil's advocate went on to remind her that Spike hadn't hurt her in anyway before the.incident, but Buffy certainly had. She had left him for dead in that alley without even a backwards glance. And yet, even after that, Spike had come back to her, still looking for her approval, for her love. He was persistent, if nothing else. That was most likely yet another reason the event turned out how it did. Maybe Spike wasn't the only one to blame after all. Maybe-Buffy's thoughts were interrupted by a knocking on the front door. She looked over to where Willow and Max still sat, animatedly discussing something or other, neither one of them looking inclined to answer the person at the door. Buffy rolled her eyes at the display and got up to answer it herself.
"Hey, Buff." Xander said, greeting her at the door. "How's my victim doing?"
"Hello, Xander. Why don't you ask him yourself? Oh, and you did remind Dawn to let the school administration know there was a reason I didn't show up for my first day, right?"
"No worries, Buffy. The Dawnster will let the principal know what's going on. She's a responsible enough young woman." Xander paused, a shocked look on his face. "Whoa, hold up a second. Did I just say what I thought I said? Dawn? A responsible young woman? On second thought, Buffy, maybe you should just assume you're fired already, and save yourself a lot of trouble."
"Ha, ha Xander." Buffy rolled her eyes. "Very funny. Now, let's cut the chit-chat and go talk to the guy you were responsible enough to run over this morning."
Xander sighed, nodded, and followed her into the house. "Yes, let's." Upon seeing Max relatively unharmed and near talking Willow's ear off, Xander let out a breath in relief that he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "It's good to see you're, alright man." Xander said, coming over to the couple.
Max smiled. "Oh yeah. It wasn't as bad as it looked, really. Although, the fact that I've had such attentive care might have had something to do with it." He smiled at Willow and Buffy, causing Willow to blush. "You needn't worry about me. I'm not going to file charges against you or anything. I'm almost certain the whole thing was as much my fault as it was yours. I'm always wondering around not paying attention to the world around me. I have a bad habit of daydreaming at the worst of times. It was only a matter of time before something happened because of it. I'm actually surprised it took this long, to tell you the truth."
"Glad to hear it. I'm glad you're ok. You really had me worried there for a moment when I saw all that blood." He gave Max's head a quick once- over and had to suppress a gasp of shock. "I mean, I know they always say that head wounds usually look worse than they really are, but you don't look like you've got a scratch on you." Warning bells went off as he associated pale skin with an ability for fast healing, and he glanced nervously at Buffy.
Catching what Xander was trying to tell her, Buffy nodded towards the open window, sunlight shining brightly through.
Max had to suppress a smirk himself as once again he was taken for a vampire by these people. 'Are they really that dense? I was outside in broad daylight, for Pete's sake! I talked to them! Hello, skin not smoking? Body not turning into a pile of dust? God, it's going to be so easy to trick these people. I've already got the red-headed witch in the palm of my hand, and for a moment there it looked like the Slayer was about ready to join her. I wonder what she started thinking of instead? Whatever it was, it must have been a pretty involving thought to grant her temporary resistance to my charms. Pfft, women are so easy. It's the bricklayer here who'll take some convincing. But it's all a matter of time, and I've got plenty.'
Xander didn't know what it was, but he felt something 'off' about Max. Over the years, he had imagined that he had developed a kind of supernatural radar after spending so much time around it. Something about the way Max smiled at Buffy and Willow sent that radar blaring, and he didn't like it. 'Wait a second here. What the hell am I thinking? I just nearly ran the guy over with my car and now I think he's out to get us? Xander, you have been on the Hellmouth waaaaay too long.'
TBC
A/N Sorry for the lack of Spuffy interaction, but it's coming soon, I promise. Thank you to the few of you who read my last chapter and reviewed. I'm begging all the rest of you, please please please please please review my story! This is my first attempt at writing Buffy fanfiction, and I worry that it's no good if no one is reviewing it. Thanks again, and remember, all you have to do is click that little button at the top of the page and write a few words in the box. That's it, I promise! Please?