Daydreams and Demons
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer story by Merrie
Disclaimer: If they were mine, you think I would have seen my name in the credits, wouldn't you? Alas, I looked and they weren't there. Sigh..
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, Dawn and Maximillian Dominus a little OFC I have created.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to post. I hope it'll be worth the wait!!
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
Chapter Seven
The Caligual demon watched from the shadows as his vampire was rescued by a group of people. He sniffed the air and drew back with a grimace. 'The Slayer.' He thought, a dark look crossing his features. He wasn't really surprised, however. Unlike many of his brethren, he was actually quite intelligent and figured that the Slayer and her friends would come for the vampire eventually. This situation presented a problem, however. The poison he had been given by the pale magician had to be continuously administered for a week straight or the vampire had a chance of recovering. That would simply not do. All vampires had to die. There very existence was an insult to demonkind. The poison had to work. Once it did and the vampire was dead, he could put other demons like him to work to make more. And if they couldn't figure it out on their own, he would simply capture the magician and torture him until he told them how. If he had his way, the entire.race, he sneered at the word, or vampires would die a slow and horrible death. He looked down at the paper bag full of tainted blood he had been planning to give the vampire. 'But how?' An idea came to him almost immediately. 'Now, if only I can get them to notice me.' With a roar, he charged at the group of humans and the unconscious vampire.
"Demon!" Xander shouted, his eyes wide. "Man, you can't go anywhere in this town anymore without being assaulted. I think you're slipping, Buffy. Are you slipping?" He turned to Dawn and Willow. Am I the only one who thinks she's slipping?"
"Shut up, Xander. I am not-" She was cut off as the demon tackled her, throwing her away from Spike and Xander and on to the ground. Spike's limp form, now unsupported by Buffy and Xander's arms, dropped listlessly to the ground. Xander noticed and frowned slightly.
"Whoops. Sorry about that, Spike. But you know Buffy. Her work is never done." He stayed back with Willow and Dawn as they watched Buffy fight the large demon. Xander was relieved to see that Buffy didn't seem to be having any trouble. In fact, the demon didn't even look like he was trying to fight back. Xander noticed an overturned bag on the grass near where it and Buffy were fighting. 'It looks like a grocery bag. Do demons shop?' He resolved to ask Spike when he was less insane. With a final roar, the demon ran off quickly, seeming to realize that it wasn't going to win this fight. Xander noticed it had left it's groceries behind. Seeing that the danger was past, he walked over the bag and inspected its contents. "Hey Buffy, this bag's full of blood!"
"What? What do you mean? Wouldn't it spill out?" Buffy asked, a confused look on her face.
Repressing the urge to roll his eyes, Xander clarified. "I mean it's full of blood bags. It looks like they're from the hospital. Do you think we should take them? I mean spoils of war and all? And we do have a vampire now who could probably use them. It'll save us a trip to the butchers."
"Cool." She turned to where Willow and Dawn were hovering beside Spike's still form. "Willow? Dawn? Can one of you grab this bag and bring it with us? We're almost to Xander's car." Willow nodded and walked over to grab the bag. "Thanks." Buffy turned back to Xander. "Come on, let's get Spike to the car." Xander nodded and the two of them walked back over to Spike, and picked him up and draped him over their shoulders again. They reached Xander's car without further incident.
Dawn took a look at the five of them, and then took a look at the car. "Um, how are we going to manage this?" She asked, looking at the lack of space in Xander's car.
"We'll manage." Buffy said. "Xander and Willow will be in the front. Since you're the smallest Dawn, you, Spike and I will be in the back. It's not a long drive."
"Technically, you're probably the smallest." Dawn cut in with a grin, trying to lighten the mood. At Buffy's look, her smile dropped and the group got into the car like Buffy instructed.
"Everybody in?" Xander asked once all the doors were shut. "Whoa, that's freaky."
"What now, Xander?" Willow asked, her eyes darting around for more demons.
"Check out the mirror. It looks like Buffy and Dawn are leaning on the air." Xander said, pointing to the rearview mirror and Spike's lack of reflection. Dawn looked at the rearview mirror in the front of the car and saw the scene reflected as Xander had described it. It did indeed look like her and Buffy were leaning on air. She paused at that. She had felt herself naturally leaning toward Spike's lean frame for comfort, her body knew and loved him, ready to forgive him anything even if her head and heart didn't yet. But why was Buffy leaning on him too? Wouldn't she want to get as far away from him as possible after what happened? She saw that Buffy seemed to be having the same thoughts, and filed her sister's response away to confront her about later.
Willow rolled her eyes. "He is a vampire, you know? Vampire equals no reflection. You'd think you'd be used to this by now."
"I am, it's just.nevermind." He started the car and headed out of the parking lot to Buffy's house.
***
"Well that was fun." Willow said dryly as Xander and Buffy laid Spike down on the couch. A fresh black eye was forming on his already bruised face.
"You didn't have to hit him so hard, Buffy. It's not his fault he was freaked out. He's sick." Dawn said, crossing her arms across her chest in an attempt to look authoritative. Spike had decided to wake up a couple of miles away from the high school. Needless to say, he was pretty freaked out at his current situation, and Buffy was forced to knock him out again.
"Stupid vampire healing." Buffy muttered under her breath. Out loud, she said, "Willow, could you hand me that bag, please?" Willow acquiesced and Buffy looked inside. "Hmm.ten bags. I'm not sure how long that'll last, especially since Spike's injured. It looks like one of us will have to make a blood run eventually after all, Xander."
Xander sighed. "I'll do it. I'm the one with the car, remember?"
"Thanks. It doesn't have to be done now, though. This should last us a few days. Who knows? Maybe whatever Spike's going through won't last that long and he'll be back in his crypt.er..well wherever Spike's staying now." Buffy said, remembering that she had blown the crypt up.
"I don't think he has a place to stay." Dawn said quietly. "Why else would he have been in the basement? And where has he been these last few months?"
"All good questions, Dawnster. Along with the sixty thousand dollar one, how does a vampire get sick? We still don't know what's wrong with him."
"Hopefully he'll be able to tell us something when he wakes up." Willow said, trying to sound optimistic.
"If he wakes up. Buffster here really clocked him good." Xander commented, casting a sideways glance at Buffy. At her look, he backpedaled, wondering where his new found desire to defend Spike had sprung from. Hadn't he started the day wanting to kill him? "Not that it wasn't needed, of course." He reassured himself and the group.
"No, you're right. I probably didn't have to hit him so hard." 'It should have been harder.' A small voice spoke loudly inside her head. 'You should kill him for what he did to you.' "What he tried to do." She absently reminded herself aloud.
"Did you say something, Buffy?" Willow asked, having heard Buffy's comment.
"What? No, I didn't say anything." Buffy assured her friend, trying to stay calm at her unintentional slip of the tongue.
Xander however, had heard her comment and had figured out what she had meant by it. Spike had done a lot of horrible things in the past few months, trying to rape Buffy had just been the worst. What he had done with Anya.no, Xander refused to lie to himself any longer that what had happened between him was Spike's fault. Lying to himself about the truth of his feelings had been what had driven him and Anya apart in the first place. It hadn't been Spike's fault. It wasn't even Anya's. She had been hurt and was looking for comfort. The fact that she received it from Spike didn't give him any pleasure, but he didn't blame either of them. Not anymore. As for what happened between Spike and Buffy.he truly wanted to blame Spike for that, but he knew his best friend. He knew that Buffy wouldn't be trying to reassure everyone that Spike tried and failed to rape her rather than focussing on the fact that he tried in the first place if she didn't feel some blame for what had happened. The fact that they had been..sleeping together for weeks before what had happened only served to tell him that there was most likely much more behind Spike's attempted rape than what he had seen with his own eyes. His musings were cut off however from a groan in the direction of the couch in the living room. The couch on which he and Buffy had placed Spike.
"I think he's waking up again." Xander said, walking over to Spike's side. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the blond vampire, but he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't be fun. When he saw the look on Spike's face after he finally opened his eyes and sat up on the couch, he knew his feeling had been accurate. His demonic visage firmly in place, Spike seemed to have lapsed back into catatonia. Xander sighed and waved a hand in front of the vampire's face. He was discouraged when the blond didn't move a muscle. "Ok, this is getting annoying. I didn't think I'd ever see the day when I'd actually miss Spike's mouth." Realizing how that must have sounded, he amended quickly. "I mean his talking! His talking!"
Dawn rolled her eyes at him. "Pervert." She said with a small smile. She walked over to Spike, and attempted to lay a hand on his shoulder. Spike snapped out of his catatonia long enough to snarl at her touch, then retreated in on himself again.
"I knew it was the touching. He only snaps at people if they touch him. Did you see how he reacted when Dawn laid her hand on Spike's shoulder? And did you see the fear that flashed in his eyes just before he snapped at her? Something really bad must have happened to him to provoke a reaction like that. Not to mention the whole catatonia deal. That's pretty bad too." Willow said, wishing she hadn't been right.
"You saw all that? I barely had time to react to him snapping at Dawn again let alone gauging his reactions while he was doing it." Xander said, amazed at Willow's intuitiveness. She seemed to have gained a bit of Tara's empathy towards others. "Well whatever's wrong with him, we've got to bring him out of it. I can't stand seeing him like this. I've never really been on the 'defend Spike' bandwagon as you all very well know, but he doesn't deserve whatever's happening to him right now." His last comment was directed toward Buffy, hoping to convince her of the same fact.
"Let me try." Buffy said quietly, walking over to where Spike sat, still as death, on her couch. A part of her wanted to smile at her bad joke but found herself lacking the energy. "Spike? It's me. It's Buffy." After a momentary pause, she added. "It's your slayer." Spike turned his golden eyes towards her and she gasped at the depth of feeling she saw within them even in their demonic state. In the dim light of the school basement, she had been unable to catch but the briefest of clear glances at him, not really seeing him at all. But now in the warm light of Buffy's home she couldn't turn her eyes away from his, no matter how he might have looked. Unbidden, a rebellious hand made it's way to cup Spike's face, her fingers trailing the line of one of his strong cheekbones. He growled at her softly, a deep rumble that made her entire being quiver, but didn't turn away from her touch. "What happened to you, Spike?" He started at the sudden loudness of her voice in the quiet room, his eyes quickly darting around him. "No, stay with me! Keep your eyes on me!" Buffy commanded him sternly, her hand not leaving his face. "Tell me what happened to you, Spike."
"I-I." Spike stuttered, unable to form words when confronted with the very face that had haunted his dreams every day since he had left. Since he had left her.
"That's it, tell me what happened Spike. You're ok now. We need to know what's wrong with you so we can help you."
"Don't deserve..I don't deserve your help. I'm bad, evil, a monster, beneath you. You should know, you said it. I've always been beneath you. Tried to.oh God, Buffy I tried." He trailed off as bloodied tears began falling down the contours of his face. The image was startling to say the least. Buffy had seen him cry perhaps once in all the time she'd known him, and he had cried normal clear tears.
"Guys?" She called worriedly, drawing attention to Spike's bloodied face.
"Oh God, what did you do to him? How could you hurt him at a time like this?!" Dawn shouted at her, seeing the blood, not the tears.
"No, it's not like that! I think they're tears, Dawn. He's crying blood tears." Buffy said slowly.
"That can't be good, can it?" Xander cut in before Dawn could reply. "I mean vampires don't cry blood tears, right? That's just a myth. Willow, Dawn, you guys saw him cry after Buffy left.there was a lot of blood on his face so it was kinda hard to tell, but it looked like he was crying normal tears. So what's with the Anne Ricey waterworks, Buff?" Xander asked aloud, hoping someone would have the answers he lacked.
"I'm not sure. Spike? Please don't cry. You're scaring us." Buffy said, rubbing her hand across his face, not caring that her fingers came back wet with shed blood.
"Scare you.that's what I should do. I'm a monster pet, don't you know that?" Spike asked her in a moment of lucidity.
"It was wrong of me to say that. You're no more a monster than I am. As for what happened between us." She didn't want to be having this conversation in front of Dawn and her friends, hell she didn't want to have this conversation ever, but there were some things that needed to be said. "It wasn't entirely your fault, what happened, Spike. I led you on for so long, acting like I didn't want you when I really did, I should have known better."
"No! Don't you EVER blame yourself for what you did! I'm the monster.not a man.not even a vampire anymore.I hurt you..I deserve it all.I'm feeling it all." He cut off with a groan, grasping at his stomach.
"No, don't go away again!" Buffy shouted at him, seeing his moment of lucidity was passing. "Tell me what you're feeling! Tell me what happened to you! You're stronger than this, damn it! Let us help you!" Her tirade was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat from the direction of the front door.
"Uh hi, I take it our dinner plans have been changed." Max said, trying not to look too surprised to see the very focus of his hatred seated on Buffy's couch. 'Well it's your own fault, really. You said it yourself, and now dinner has definitely gotten more interesting.'
TBC
A/N: Give it to me straight, is this story getting long-winded? I tend to ramble on with no one to remind me that I'm doing so. And with at least two other major plot lines in store for this story, I worry that it's going to become horrendously long. Please don't let that frighten you away. Just give me a few simple directions like 'Merrie did you really need that scene in there?' in your reviews. Thanks for that. Until next time!
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer story by Merrie
Disclaimer: If they were mine, you think I would have seen my name in the credits, wouldn't you? Alas, I looked and they weren't there. Sigh..
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, Dawn and Maximillian Dominus a little OFC I have created.
Author's Note: Sorry this took so long to post. I hope it'll be worth the wait!!
Rating: This story is rated PG-13 for violence and language.
Chapter Seven
The Caligual demon watched from the shadows as his vampire was rescued by a group of people. He sniffed the air and drew back with a grimace. 'The Slayer.' He thought, a dark look crossing his features. He wasn't really surprised, however. Unlike many of his brethren, he was actually quite intelligent and figured that the Slayer and her friends would come for the vampire eventually. This situation presented a problem, however. The poison he had been given by the pale magician had to be continuously administered for a week straight or the vampire had a chance of recovering. That would simply not do. All vampires had to die. There very existence was an insult to demonkind. The poison had to work. Once it did and the vampire was dead, he could put other demons like him to work to make more. And if they couldn't figure it out on their own, he would simply capture the magician and torture him until he told them how. If he had his way, the entire.race, he sneered at the word, or vampires would die a slow and horrible death. He looked down at the paper bag full of tainted blood he had been planning to give the vampire. 'But how?' An idea came to him almost immediately. 'Now, if only I can get them to notice me.' With a roar, he charged at the group of humans and the unconscious vampire.
"Demon!" Xander shouted, his eyes wide. "Man, you can't go anywhere in this town anymore without being assaulted. I think you're slipping, Buffy. Are you slipping?" He turned to Dawn and Willow. Am I the only one who thinks she's slipping?"
"Shut up, Xander. I am not-" She was cut off as the demon tackled her, throwing her away from Spike and Xander and on to the ground. Spike's limp form, now unsupported by Buffy and Xander's arms, dropped listlessly to the ground. Xander noticed and frowned slightly.
"Whoops. Sorry about that, Spike. But you know Buffy. Her work is never done." He stayed back with Willow and Dawn as they watched Buffy fight the large demon. Xander was relieved to see that Buffy didn't seem to be having any trouble. In fact, the demon didn't even look like he was trying to fight back. Xander noticed an overturned bag on the grass near where it and Buffy were fighting. 'It looks like a grocery bag. Do demons shop?' He resolved to ask Spike when he was less insane. With a final roar, the demon ran off quickly, seeming to realize that it wasn't going to win this fight. Xander noticed it had left it's groceries behind. Seeing that the danger was past, he walked over the bag and inspected its contents. "Hey Buffy, this bag's full of blood!"
"What? What do you mean? Wouldn't it spill out?" Buffy asked, a confused look on her face.
Repressing the urge to roll his eyes, Xander clarified. "I mean it's full of blood bags. It looks like they're from the hospital. Do you think we should take them? I mean spoils of war and all? And we do have a vampire now who could probably use them. It'll save us a trip to the butchers."
"Cool." She turned to where Willow and Dawn were hovering beside Spike's still form. "Willow? Dawn? Can one of you grab this bag and bring it with us? We're almost to Xander's car." Willow nodded and walked over to grab the bag. "Thanks." Buffy turned back to Xander. "Come on, let's get Spike to the car." Xander nodded and the two of them walked back over to Spike, and picked him up and draped him over their shoulders again. They reached Xander's car without further incident.
Dawn took a look at the five of them, and then took a look at the car. "Um, how are we going to manage this?" She asked, looking at the lack of space in Xander's car.
"We'll manage." Buffy said. "Xander and Willow will be in the front. Since you're the smallest Dawn, you, Spike and I will be in the back. It's not a long drive."
"Technically, you're probably the smallest." Dawn cut in with a grin, trying to lighten the mood. At Buffy's look, her smile dropped and the group got into the car like Buffy instructed.
"Everybody in?" Xander asked once all the doors were shut. "Whoa, that's freaky."
"What now, Xander?" Willow asked, her eyes darting around for more demons.
"Check out the mirror. It looks like Buffy and Dawn are leaning on the air." Xander said, pointing to the rearview mirror and Spike's lack of reflection. Dawn looked at the rearview mirror in the front of the car and saw the scene reflected as Xander had described it. It did indeed look like her and Buffy were leaning on air. She paused at that. She had felt herself naturally leaning toward Spike's lean frame for comfort, her body knew and loved him, ready to forgive him anything even if her head and heart didn't yet. But why was Buffy leaning on him too? Wouldn't she want to get as far away from him as possible after what happened? She saw that Buffy seemed to be having the same thoughts, and filed her sister's response away to confront her about later.
Willow rolled her eyes. "He is a vampire, you know? Vampire equals no reflection. You'd think you'd be used to this by now."
"I am, it's just.nevermind." He started the car and headed out of the parking lot to Buffy's house.
***
"Well that was fun." Willow said dryly as Xander and Buffy laid Spike down on the couch. A fresh black eye was forming on his already bruised face.
"You didn't have to hit him so hard, Buffy. It's not his fault he was freaked out. He's sick." Dawn said, crossing her arms across her chest in an attempt to look authoritative. Spike had decided to wake up a couple of miles away from the high school. Needless to say, he was pretty freaked out at his current situation, and Buffy was forced to knock him out again.
"Stupid vampire healing." Buffy muttered under her breath. Out loud, she said, "Willow, could you hand me that bag, please?" Willow acquiesced and Buffy looked inside. "Hmm.ten bags. I'm not sure how long that'll last, especially since Spike's injured. It looks like one of us will have to make a blood run eventually after all, Xander."
Xander sighed. "I'll do it. I'm the one with the car, remember?"
"Thanks. It doesn't have to be done now, though. This should last us a few days. Who knows? Maybe whatever Spike's going through won't last that long and he'll be back in his crypt.er..well wherever Spike's staying now." Buffy said, remembering that she had blown the crypt up.
"I don't think he has a place to stay." Dawn said quietly. "Why else would he have been in the basement? And where has he been these last few months?"
"All good questions, Dawnster. Along with the sixty thousand dollar one, how does a vampire get sick? We still don't know what's wrong with him."
"Hopefully he'll be able to tell us something when he wakes up." Willow said, trying to sound optimistic.
"If he wakes up. Buffster here really clocked him good." Xander commented, casting a sideways glance at Buffy. At her look, he backpedaled, wondering where his new found desire to defend Spike had sprung from. Hadn't he started the day wanting to kill him? "Not that it wasn't needed, of course." He reassured himself and the group.
"No, you're right. I probably didn't have to hit him so hard." 'It should have been harder.' A small voice spoke loudly inside her head. 'You should kill him for what he did to you.' "What he tried to do." She absently reminded herself aloud.
"Did you say something, Buffy?" Willow asked, having heard Buffy's comment.
"What? No, I didn't say anything." Buffy assured her friend, trying to stay calm at her unintentional slip of the tongue.
Xander however, had heard her comment and had figured out what she had meant by it. Spike had done a lot of horrible things in the past few months, trying to rape Buffy had just been the worst. What he had done with Anya.no, Xander refused to lie to himself any longer that what had happened between him was Spike's fault. Lying to himself about the truth of his feelings had been what had driven him and Anya apart in the first place. It hadn't been Spike's fault. It wasn't even Anya's. She had been hurt and was looking for comfort. The fact that she received it from Spike didn't give him any pleasure, but he didn't blame either of them. Not anymore. As for what happened between Spike and Buffy.he truly wanted to blame Spike for that, but he knew his best friend. He knew that Buffy wouldn't be trying to reassure everyone that Spike tried and failed to rape her rather than focussing on the fact that he tried in the first place if she didn't feel some blame for what had happened. The fact that they had been..sleeping together for weeks before what had happened only served to tell him that there was most likely much more behind Spike's attempted rape than what he had seen with his own eyes. His musings were cut off however from a groan in the direction of the couch in the living room. The couch on which he and Buffy had placed Spike.
"I think he's waking up again." Xander said, walking over to Spike's side. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the blond vampire, but he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn't be fun. When he saw the look on Spike's face after he finally opened his eyes and sat up on the couch, he knew his feeling had been accurate. His demonic visage firmly in place, Spike seemed to have lapsed back into catatonia. Xander sighed and waved a hand in front of the vampire's face. He was discouraged when the blond didn't move a muscle. "Ok, this is getting annoying. I didn't think I'd ever see the day when I'd actually miss Spike's mouth." Realizing how that must have sounded, he amended quickly. "I mean his talking! His talking!"
Dawn rolled her eyes at him. "Pervert." She said with a small smile. She walked over to Spike, and attempted to lay a hand on his shoulder. Spike snapped out of his catatonia long enough to snarl at her touch, then retreated in on himself again.
"I knew it was the touching. He only snaps at people if they touch him. Did you see how he reacted when Dawn laid her hand on Spike's shoulder? And did you see the fear that flashed in his eyes just before he snapped at her? Something really bad must have happened to him to provoke a reaction like that. Not to mention the whole catatonia deal. That's pretty bad too." Willow said, wishing she hadn't been right.
"You saw all that? I barely had time to react to him snapping at Dawn again let alone gauging his reactions while he was doing it." Xander said, amazed at Willow's intuitiveness. She seemed to have gained a bit of Tara's empathy towards others. "Well whatever's wrong with him, we've got to bring him out of it. I can't stand seeing him like this. I've never really been on the 'defend Spike' bandwagon as you all very well know, but he doesn't deserve whatever's happening to him right now." His last comment was directed toward Buffy, hoping to convince her of the same fact.
"Let me try." Buffy said quietly, walking over to where Spike sat, still as death, on her couch. A part of her wanted to smile at her bad joke but found herself lacking the energy. "Spike? It's me. It's Buffy." After a momentary pause, she added. "It's your slayer." Spike turned his golden eyes towards her and she gasped at the depth of feeling she saw within them even in their demonic state. In the dim light of the school basement, she had been unable to catch but the briefest of clear glances at him, not really seeing him at all. But now in the warm light of Buffy's home she couldn't turn her eyes away from his, no matter how he might have looked. Unbidden, a rebellious hand made it's way to cup Spike's face, her fingers trailing the line of one of his strong cheekbones. He growled at her softly, a deep rumble that made her entire being quiver, but didn't turn away from her touch. "What happened to you, Spike?" He started at the sudden loudness of her voice in the quiet room, his eyes quickly darting around him. "No, stay with me! Keep your eyes on me!" Buffy commanded him sternly, her hand not leaving his face. "Tell me what happened to you, Spike."
"I-I." Spike stuttered, unable to form words when confronted with the very face that had haunted his dreams every day since he had left. Since he had left her.
"That's it, tell me what happened Spike. You're ok now. We need to know what's wrong with you so we can help you."
"Don't deserve..I don't deserve your help. I'm bad, evil, a monster, beneath you. You should know, you said it. I've always been beneath you. Tried to.oh God, Buffy I tried." He trailed off as bloodied tears began falling down the contours of his face. The image was startling to say the least. Buffy had seen him cry perhaps once in all the time she'd known him, and he had cried normal clear tears.
"Guys?" She called worriedly, drawing attention to Spike's bloodied face.
"Oh God, what did you do to him? How could you hurt him at a time like this?!" Dawn shouted at her, seeing the blood, not the tears.
"No, it's not like that! I think they're tears, Dawn. He's crying blood tears." Buffy said slowly.
"That can't be good, can it?" Xander cut in before Dawn could reply. "I mean vampires don't cry blood tears, right? That's just a myth. Willow, Dawn, you guys saw him cry after Buffy left.there was a lot of blood on his face so it was kinda hard to tell, but it looked like he was crying normal tears. So what's with the Anne Ricey waterworks, Buff?" Xander asked aloud, hoping someone would have the answers he lacked.
"I'm not sure. Spike? Please don't cry. You're scaring us." Buffy said, rubbing her hand across his face, not caring that her fingers came back wet with shed blood.
"Scare you.that's what I should do. I'm a monster pet, don't you know that?" Spike asked her in a moment of lucidity.
"It was wrong of me to say that. You're no more a monster than I am. As for what happened between us." She didn't want to be having this conversation in front of Dawn and her friends, hell she didn't want to have this conversation ever, but there were some things that needed to be said. "It wasn't entirely your fault, what happened, Spike. I led you on for so long, acting like I didn't want you when I really did, I should have known better."
"No! Don't you EVER blame yourself for what you did! I'm the monster.not a man.not even a vampire anymore.I hurt you..I deserve it all.I'm feeling it all." He cut off with a groan, grasping at his stomach.
"No, don't go away again!" Buffy shouted at him, seeing his moment of lucidity was passing. "Tell me what you're feeling! Tell me what happened to you! You're stronger than this, damn it! Let us help you!" Her tirade was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat from the direction of the front door.
"Uh hi, I take it our dinner plans have been changed." Max said, trying not to look too surprised to see the very focus of his hatred seated on Buffy's couch. 'Well it's your own fault, really. You said it yourself, and now dinner has definitely gotten more interesting.'
TBC
A/N: Give it to me straight, is this story getting long-winded? I tend to ramble on with no one to remind me that I'm doing so. And with at least two other major plot lines in store for this story, I worry that it's going to become horrendously long. Please don't let that frighten you away. Just give me a few simple directions like 'Merrie did you really need that scene in there?' in your reviews. Thanks for that. Until next time!