Thank You to my Beta Readers Kirsty, Darcy and Rebecca.....Thank You!!!
***Chapter Five***
**First Damage**
Buffy twitched and swiped her nose, some annoying 'thingy' kept brushing the tip, and all she wanted to do was sleep. . It wouldn't relent in its persistence of irritating the crap out of her, she waited for the right moment, and pounced. Grabbing what she thought was an insect, Buffy squashed Spike's fingers, he yelped in agony, as he felt the bones break.
"Bloody hell Slayer! Why'd you have to go do that?"
"Oops!"
"Oops!!" Spike cradled his hand against his chest, as he tried to assess the damage. "Is that all you can say! You've broken my bloody hand!"
"At least it wasn't the nose Spike!" Buffy tried not to laugh too hard at Spike's dilemma, she knew deep down he wanted a little sympathy, and if she knew him right, something else as well. She could break his back, and he'd still want you to go right ahead and climb on top. His hunger was always intense, never satisfied. He was like a child with candy, they always want more!
"You and my bloody nose! God sometimes you'd think I was walking around with a bullseye on it!"
"Hmmmm...Anyway I'm sorry Spike, are you alright? I thought it was a fly or something. I forgot where we were for a moment, I thought we were back...back"
"Home luv?"
"Yeah. Reality sucks!!"
"It has its advantages sometimes though!" Tilting his head towards the mirror with a slight smirk on his face, "Want another round luv?"
"Is that all you think about?"
"As far as you're concerned, sometimes yes!" Spike leant over to her and lightly kissed her on her mouth, "But most of the time lately, no. Things are different now, things have changed Buffy, and so have I."
"If anyone knows that, it's me! Both of us have changed my love, both of us. I think we're more than we were ever meant to be?"
A slight breeze moved through the cavern, disturbing the gossamer curtain that shielded them from the rest of the cave. It fluttered in the wind, slightly parting, drawing their attention to outside of the bedroom. The light emanating from the white moth like balls intensified, and brightened the rooms within. It looked like their wake up call had been delivered.
"Looks like we have to skip the morn'in exercise routine."
Spike stated the obvious, pulling off the covers of the bed, and dressing in his old clothes. Buffy quickly scooted out the other side and drew on her clothing, joining Spike at the edge of the curtain. Parting it, she moved into the main room of the cavern, with Spike a step behind her. Looking around there was no one there, only shadows cast by the two of them and the furniture in the room. The breeze whirled around them, gently whispering around their clothing and hair. Pulling it back into place, Buffy could feel the hair on the back of her neck raise and stand on end, her arms goose bumped as her Slayer instincts cut in. She could feel the presence of something in the room, and whatever it was, it wasn't corporeal yet. Spike looked at Buffy, his vamp senses firing in all directions, he couldn't locate what was in the room, it was all around them, everywhere but nowhere at the same time.
" Bleedin hell Buffy! What is it?" Spike moved as closely as he could to her, ready to protect them from whatever presence was there. The sensation of the entity was creating havoc with his mind, he felt the impending darkness overshadow him. An intense pain filled his mind, incapacitating the vampire, as he fell to his knees; it was more intense than any pain the chip had given him over the years. Buffy went to his aid, trying to stop him from falling to the ground, laying him down gently as she could on the floor. The wind around her picked up with intensity, it swirled wildly around the two, it did not disturb anything else in the room. Buffy felt the bile rise in her throat, as she saw the rising of the presence taking form before her. She tried to shield her lover from the creature in front of her.
The First Slayer.
"Stop your games! NOW!"
"Games Slayer! You play games!" The First Slayer pointed towards the vampire. "You play games with your enemy!"
"What would you know? Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"I am the First. I am the beginning. I am the end."
"No I am the end! The end of the line! I am one but I am many."
"Now who speaks in riddles Slayer." The First Slayer looked unsure of the woman in front of her.
"Riddles are your game, not mine! Mine is to fight, to win and to live"
"Fight, yes! Death is your gift!"
"No death is your gift. You see I finally worked you people out, death is your gift. Death to the Slayer! Death to everyone you have enslaved over the generations, to fight your fight. It's different now. Now I am the Bringer of Death. Now I control the Slayer Line, I am the First Slayer! Not you! I am the beginning now, and I will be the last! I am one, but now I have many. Many generations of Slayers are one, united and they are mine. I am one but I am many!" Buffy spewed her speech forth, from somewhere deep inside her came the words, from where she didn't know, but out they came with such force that the First Slayer retreated, turning to dust that disappeared on the retreating wind.
"We are the Bringers of Death....." The voice of The First echoed off the walls in a whisper.
Turning her attention back to Spike, she gently touched his face trying to rouse him from unconsciousness, his cheek muscle twitched, bounding out of control. His face twisted in agony, even in this state he was experiencing immeasurable pain, and he wasn't responding to her touches. Pulling his head into her lap, she bent her head down upon his, her tears forming and falling down onto his face. She didn't know what to do. For the first time in an eternity, she felt hopeless.
"Let him go!" Buffy screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice bounced off the walls of the cavern and echoed in the room, it intensified in pitch, and pierced her ears as her words were thrown back at her.
****************************************************************
Resting on the bed in the cave, Spike slowly opened one eye, the pain in his head had somewhat subsided, but had not dissipated. A sleeping Buffy lay by his side, her eyes shadowed by circles of worry, and her forehead tightened in anguish. He felt like someone had scraped out his brain, and scoop by scoop had put it back, and had forgotten to turn off the jackhammer in his head. He tried to move his head a fraction, but it only intensified the pain ricocheting in the base of his skull, and made him even more nauseated than he already felt.
He lifted his hand to her face with all the energy he could muster, brushing aside a stray clump of hair from her face with his hand. A parched voice squeaked out of him.
"Buffy."
Immediately she opened her eyes and sat up, knocking him in the head with her arms flying in all directions. His scream of agony was enough to make her cringe again deep down inside her being.
"Spike, I'm sorry! Are you okay? What happened?" Buffy quietly asked the man that lay in her arms, silently and so still.
"I don't know luv. But I've got a killer of a headache! Wouldn't have an aspirin on you would you?" Spike tried to smile, but his whole face ached in pain.
"No, but I'll try and make it better." Buffy tenderly brushed his temples with light kisses, and soothing brushes of her hands. She lay back down beside him, cradling him in her arms. Trying to relieve some of his pain with just her presence. Spike closed his eyes, he just wished for the pain to go, he felt like he'd done ten rounds with a thousand legions of the First.
"What happened while I was having a little beauty sleep?"
"The First Slayer decided to make her presence known."
"The First? I though we annihilated them?"
"No Spike, The First Slayer....you know girl, with bad hair and teeth, happens to be the first slayer." Buffy tried to explain to Spike the difference, obviously his hearing was being affected, or maybe it was just his usual fuzzy logic brain.
"The First Slayer, here?"
"Wow you really went down for the count!"
"Yeah, feels like someone turned out all the lights with a baseball bat."
"Maybe you should try and sleep. Try to rest, and get your vamp strength back....I mean we haven't had much sleep."
"No pet, you sucked all the energy out of me" Spike tried to make light of the situation, "Buffy could you please get me something to eat, I'm famished."
Buffy complied with his request, leaving the bed, pushing the curtain aside she went to the table which they'd seen earlier, she retrieved a glass with a knife. Making her way to the darkened alcove, she took the glass and half filled it with the dark fluid. Taking the knife to her hand, she skilfully slit a cut to her wrist, she let the blood flow, filling the glass. Returning to him, she offered it to him, he could do nothing but stare at her with a deep gratitude in his eyes as he took the glass, drinking deeply from it until no fluid remained. His words, a silent whisper echoed through the room.
"Thank you."
"Sleep Spike." Her words resonated though the room, she returned to him on the bed, and closed her eyes. Her mind was not so silent, as it tried to understand her meeting with the First Slayer. None of it made sense, if anything the overwhelming feeling of dread further penetrated her being, petrifying her soul. Her little speech also caused her great concern, she didn't know where that little melody came from, or what it meant yet. The fact that they were here at all still baffled her, they should have died on the Hell Mouth. None of it made sense, none of it at all.
The fact that this was the birthplace of the Slayer Line was enough to have her worried, but then there was the second fact that The First Slayer was here, despite her last visit of wiping out what she called the 'Three Wise Men' . What caused her the most concern was that Spike was here. Full stop Did he yet have a role to play in this? The bigger question as far as he was concerned was what was it? What vital role did he have to play in the scheme of things to come? Watching him as he lay in his quiet slumber, Buffy remembered parts of him from her life before, that had lead them to here and now.
The day he trashed the high school with his minions, and tried to annihilate her in the hallway with his bare hands. The time he came back and took Willow and Xander hostage, so he could get Dru back. Buffy smirked at that memory, running her hand down his hair, feeling it curl under her fingers, it had taken a spell for her to welcome his kiss and embrace, despite them their mutual hate. A sad smile filled Buffy's mouth, as she remembered the last two years, coming back from paradise, only to be reborn into a lost self, lonely and fragmented. Self-inflicting pain upon herself, using him as the instrument to exact punishment, causing so much damage in her wake, to herself and him.
She tried to remember that he'd caused some of the damage, both to her, and to himself. He'd just been doing it for so much longer to himself. His continual feeble attempts to impress her had always backfired in his face. He'd begged her even for a crumb of affection, or what he'd thought was affections, and she'd given it to him last year. That night in the abandoned house had changed everything between them forever, she'd opened the door and let him in. Allowing an obsession to grow into insanity, that had resulted in that incident in the bathroom, as it consumed him, and created the most damage between them.
Even through all their mistakes, and self-inflicted punishments, they had risen above them to this point. Looking at him now, who would have believed that she would have finally accepted him? In a way she was bound to him. The amulet had let her see that, their 'joining' she supposed she could call it, had revealed more of him to her than any other time, she knew all of him, every molecule. He had become more than just the vampire she knew, but could she become whatever she was meant to be now she wasn't the only Slayer?
This weighted heavily in her mind as she closed her eyes, and allowed the relief of slumber to overtake her.
***Chapter Five***
**First Damage**
Buffy twitched and swiped her nose, some annoying 'thingy' kept brushing the tip, and all she wanted to do was sleep. . It wouldn't relent in its persistence of irritating the crap out of her, she waited for the right moment, and pounced. Grabbing what she thought was an insect, Buffy squashed Spike's fingers, he yelped in agony, as he felt the bones break.
"Bloody hell Slayer! Why'd you have to go do that?"
"Oops!"
"Oops!!" Spike cradled his hand against his chest, as he tried to assess the damage. "Is that all you can say! You've broken my bloody hand!"
"At least it wasn't the nose Spike!" Buffy tried not to laugh too hard at Spike's dilemma, she knew deep down he wanted a little sympathy, and if she knew him right, something else as well. She could break his back, and he'd still want you to go right ahead and climb on top. His hunger was always intense, never satisfied. He was like a child with candy, they always want more!
"You and my bloody nose! God sometimes you'd think I was walking around with a bullseye on it!"
"Hmmmm...Anyway I'm sorry Spike, are you alright? I thought it was a fly or something. I forgot where we were for a moment, I thought we were back...back"
"Home luv?"
"Yeah. Reality sucks!!"
"It has its advantages sometimes though!" Tilting his head towards the mirror with a slight smirk on his face, "Want another round luv?"
"Is that all you think about?"
"As far as you're concerned, sometimes yes!" Spike leant over to her and lightly kissed her on her mouth, "But most of the time lately, no. Things are different now, things have changed Buffy, and so have I."
"If anyone knows that, it's me! Both of us have changed my love, both of us. I think we're more than we were ever meant to be?"
A slight breeze moved through the cavern, disturbing the gossamer curtain that shielded them from the rest of the cave. It fluttered in the wind, slightly parting, drawing their attention to outside of the bedroom. The light emanating from the white moth like balls intensified, and brightened the rooms within. It looked like their wake up call had been delivered.
"Looks like we have to skip the morn'in exercise routine."
Spike stated the obvious, pulling off the covers of the bed, and dressing in his old clothes. Buffy quickly scooted out the other side and drew on her clothing, joining Spike at the edge of the curtain. Parting it, she moved into the main room of the cavern, with Spike a step behind her. Looking around there was no one there, only shadows cast by the two of them and the furniture in the room. The breeze whirled around them, gently whispering around their clothing and hair. Pulling it back into place, Buffy could feel the hair on the back of her neck raise and stand on end, her arms goose bumped as her Slayer instincts cut in. She could feel the presence of something in the room, and whatever it was, it wasn't corporeal yet. Spike looked at Buffy, his vamp senses firing in all directions, he couldn't locate what was in the room, it was all around them, everywhere but nowhere at the same time.
" Bleedin hell Buffy! What is it?" Spike moved as closely as he could to her, ready to protect them from whatever presence was there. The sensation of the entity was creating havoc with his mind, he felt the impending darkness overshadow him. An intense pain filled his mind, incapacitating the vampire, as he fell to his knees; it was more intense than any pain the chip had given him over the years. Buffy went to his aid, trying to stop him from falling to the ground, laying him down gently as she could on the floor. The wind around her picked up with intensity, it swirled wildly around the two, it did not disturb anything else in the room. Buffy felt the bile rise in her throat, as she saw the rising of the presence taking form before her. She tried to shield her lover from the creature in front of her.
The First Slayer.
"Stop your games! NOW!"
"Games Slayer! You play games!" The First Slayer pointed towards the vampire. "You play games with your enemy!"
"What would you know? Who the fuck do you think you are?"
"I am the First. I am the beginning. I am the end."
"No I am the end! The end of the line! I am one but I am many."
"Now who speaks in riddles Slayer." The First Slayer looked unsure of the woman in front of her.
"Riddles are your game, not mine! Mine is to fight, to win and to live"
"Fight, yes! Death is your gift!"
"No death is your gift. You see I finally worked you people out, death is your gift. Death to the Slayer! Death to everyone you have enslaved over the generations, to fight your fight. It's different now. Now I am the Bringer of Death. Now I control the Slayer Line, I am the First Slayer! Not you! I am the beginning now, and I will be the last! I am one, but now I have many. Many generations of Slayers are one, united and they are mine. I am one but I am many!" Buffy spewed her speech forth, from somewhere deep inside her came the words, from where she didn't know, but out they came with such force that the First Slayer retreated, turning to dust that disappeared on the retreating wind.
"We are the Bringers of Death....." The voice of The First echoed off the walls in a whisper.
Turning her attention back to Spike, she gently touched his face trying to rouse him from unconsciousness, his cheek muscle twitched, bounding out of control. His face twisted in agony, even in this state he was experiencing immeasurable pain, and he wasn't responding to her touches. Pulling his head into her lap, she bent her head down upon his, her tears forming and falling down onto his face. She didn't know what to do. For the first time in an eternity, she felt hopeless.
"Let him go!" Buffy screamed at the top of her lungs. Her voice bounced off the walls of the cavern and echoed in the room, it intensified in pitch, and pierced her ears as her words were thrown back at her.
****************************************************************
Resting on the bed in the cave, Spike slowly opened one eye, the pain in his head had somewhat subsided, but had not dissipated. A sleeping Buffy lay by his side, her eyes shadowed by circles of worry, and her forehead tightened in anguish. He felt like someone had scraped out his brain, and scoop by scoop had put it back, and had forgotten to turn off the jackhammer in his head. He tried to move his head a fraction, but it only intensified the pain ricocheting in the base of his skull, and made him even more nauseated than he already felt.
He lifted his hand to her face with all the energy he could muster, brushing aside a stray clump of hair from her face with his hand. A parched voice squeaked out of him.
"Buffy."
Immediately she opened her eyes and sat up, knocking him in the head with her arms flying in all directions. His scream of agony was enough to make her cringe again deep down inside her being.
"Spike, I'm sorry! Are you okay? What happened?" Buffy quietly asked the man that lay in her arms, silently and so still.
"I don't know luv. But I've got a killer of a headache! Wouldn't have an aspirin on you would you?" Spike tried to smile, but his whole face ached in pain.
"No, but I'll try and make it better." Buffy tenderly brushed his temples with light kisses, and soothing brushes of her hands. She lay back down beside him, cradling him in her arms. Trying to relieve some of his pain with just her presence. Spike closed his eyes, he just wished for the pain to go, he felt like he'd done ten rounds with a thousand legions of the First.
"What happened while I was having a little beauty sleep?"
"The First Slayer decided to make her presence known."
"The First? I though we annihilated them?"
"No Spike, The First Slayer....you know girl, with bad hair and teeth, happens to be the first slayer." Buffy tried to explain to Spike the difference, obviously his hearing was being affected, or maybe it was just his usual fuzzy logic brain.
"The First Slayer, here?"
"Wow you really went down for the count!"
"Yeah, feels like someone turned out all the lights with a baseball bat."
"Maybe you should try and sleep. Try to rest, and get your vamp strength back....I mean we haven't had much sleep."
"No pet, you sucked all the energy out of me" Spike tried to make light of the situation, "Buffy could you please get me something to eat, I'm famished."
Buffy complied with his request, leaving the bed, pushing the curtain aside she went to the table which they'd seen earlier, she retrieved a glass with a knife. Making her way to the darkened alcove, she took the glass and half filled it with the dark fluid. Taking the knife to her hand, she skilfully slit a cut to her wrist, she let the blood flow, filling the glass. Returning to him, she offered it to him, he could do nothing but stare at her with a deep gratitude in his eyes as he took the glass, drinking deeply from it until no fluid remained. His words, a silent whisper echoed through the room.
"Thank you."
"Sleep Spike." Her words resonated though the room, she returned to him on the bed, and closed her eyes. Her mind was not so silent, as it tried to understand her meeting with the First Slayer. None of it made sense, if anything the overwhelming feeling of dread further penetrated her being, petrifying her soul. Her little speech also caused her great concern, she didn't know where that little melody came from, or what it meant yet. The fact that they were here at all still baffled her, they should have died on the Hell Mouth. None of it made sense, none of it at all.
The fact that this was the birthplace of the Slayer Line was enough to have her worried, but then there was the second fact that The First Slayer was here, despite her last visit of wiping out what she called the 'Three Wise Men' . What caused her the most concern was that Spike was here. Full stop Did he yet have a role to play in this? The bigger question as far as he was concerned was what was it? What vital role did he have to play in the scheme of things to come? Watching him as he lay in his quiet slumber, Buffy remembered parts of him from her life before, that had lead them to here and now.
The day he trashed the high school with his minions, and tried to annihilate her in the hallway with his bare hands. The time he came back and took Willow and Xander hostage, so he could get Dru back. Buffy smirked at that memory, running her hand down his hair, feeling it curl under her fingers, it had taken a spell for her to welcome his kiss and embrace, despite them their mutual hate. A sad smile filled Buffy's mouth, as she remembered the last two years, coming back from paradise, only to be reborn into a lost self, lonely and fragmented. Self-inflicting pain upon herself, using him as the instrument to exact punishment, causing so much damage in her wake, to herself and him.
She tried to remember that he'd caused some of the damage, both to her, and to himself. He'd just been doing it for so much longer to himself. His continual feeble attempts to impress her had always backfired in his face. He'd begged her even for a crumb of affection, or what he'd thought was affections, and she'd given it to him last year. That night in the abandoned house had changed everything between them forever, she'd opened the door and let him in. Allowing an obsession to grow into insanity, that had resulted in that incident in the bathroom, as it consumed him, and created the most damage between them.
Even through all their mistakes, and self-inflicted punishments, they had risen above them to this point. Looking at him now, who would have believed that she would have finally accepted him? In a way she was bound to him. The amulet had let her see that, their 'joining' she supposed she could call it, had revealed more of him to her than any other time, she knew all of him, every molecule. He had become more than just the vampire she knew, but could she become whatever she was meant to be now she wasn't the only Slayer?
This weighted heavily in her mind as she closed her eyes, and allowed the relief of slumber to overtake her.