I allow Spike to take me into a searing kiss. I don't say a word and I he understands from my harsh gaze that he's not to speak either. Quickly and without thought I slide my hands up under his shirt, feeling the cool expanse of muscle that lies underneath.

A low growl erupts from him as my I continue to play with the taught skin. He slides a hand around my waist to pull me closer, and I'm not protesting. Quickly, I tear the shirt off, leaving the garment in two halves as I throw it across the crypt. I brutally attack him with my lips and wrap my arms around his neck.

"I liked that shirt Slayer." He whispers as I pause to take a breath.

"I'll buy you a new one." I mummer back, beginning to nibble on his neck.

His body is reacting to mine as we crash onto the floor, for once I'm on top.

I'm going to be the one with the control tonight. For once, I need to be superior.

It took me a moment to realize that my own blouse had been tossed aside. If it had been ripped in the process, I don't know, and I really don't care either as I'm to preoccupied with the callused hands that are playing with my breasts.

I shrug myself out of my bra and throw it in a corner. It had been expensive and chances are if I had left Spike to take off it, it wouldn't be in one piece when I gathered myself together after we were through.

We were both bare from the waist up now, and the vampire had replaced his fingers with his tongue over my erect nipples. I arch against him as pulses of lust and pleasure drive themselves through me.

I push him away and busy myself with my getting out my jeans. Spike caught on quick enough, and pulled his own pair off.

"Fuck me, please." I gasp lowly. He give me a wicked smile, but his eyes hold confusion.

Foreplay could wait, right now all I wanted was release.

~ ~ ~

Today had not been a good day.

I had been so relaxed the night before that I fooled Riley into believing that everything was all right. There had even been a brief moment where he leaned into kiss me, and I would've let him too, I was so damned relaxed. The phone rang though.

I'm not sure what it is anymore that I'm sick of. I love Riley, and my passion has always been to the fight against the darkness and evil. But now. . . I'm leaving my husband to fuck a demon, so I'm not sure I can even be considered a savior anymore.

From the Magic Shop, Riley and I had gone off to grab breakfast at Denny's. The meal had been decent, but the conversation. . . not so much.

I had taken the seat opposite him, and after we had ordered I had kept my attention more toward my coffee then his eyes.

"Buffy?" The word he spoke nearly made me spill my drink. I looked up to meet his gaze and gave a small grin, prompting him to go on. "I'll take the night off, I think you'll want backup on this thing."

He was referring to the demon and I inwardly cringed, not because I didn't need the help, because I probably did, but because I didn't want him tagging along. Slaying is my time to unwind, and after high school, I found it was the time I most liked being alone.

"I think I got it." I said, taking another sip of the coffee.

He locked his eyes on mine. "You sure? The way Willow and Tara tell it, this thing won't be easy."

"I said I got it." I let the words come out nonchalant and he didn't have time to argue back as our food arrived.

We never did get around to resolving the issue, driving the conversation to what he must of that would be a lighter note.

"Where's your weeding ring?" He asked almost suddenly after I had picked up my fork to make work on the hashbrowns scattered on my plate.

I inwardly cursed, he really did have me there. After that first night with Spike, I had taken the band off, putting it into the same case I kept Angel's cross. I'm sure there was some poetic justice in that action, but I've never been to good with words.

I scrambled for something to say. "It's hard to fight with it on, I keep it at home." The lie was lame, and he knew it as well as I did.

We finished the meal in silence, and as I bit into my pancakes, I noticed they were cold.

~ ~ ~

I had arrived at the cemetery alone that night and relaxed in the shafted moonlight. Ever since that last time with Spike. . . I've just been tense. I'd convinced myself that the vampire was incapable of kindness, but he keeps surprising me.

We fuck, that's all I do with Spike because if I really did with Riley what I do with the demon. . . I would probably break him. But what we did that night was gentle and calming. . . I don't want to use the words 'made love' but I can't think of any other way to explain it.

And the fact that I can get more out of a vampire then I can get out of the man I married myself to just sickens me.

So being around Riley has been stressful, and finding him, along with Xander and Anya was more then I could handle at the moment.

"What are you guys doing here?" I snapped at them. Anya cringed at my tone, yet I couldn't find the energy to care.

"We're here to help." Riley plainly explained.

I took in a sharp intake of breath. "I said I could handle this."

Xander shook his head as though he knew everything that was going on. I love Xander, I really do, but he just talks at the wrongs moments. "Buff, calm down, we're in this together."

I scoffed at him. "Xand, I'm the Slayer, I'm in this alone."

"No your not." Riley countered. It was then I noticed he was decked out in his Initiative uniform. God how I hated that.

"I can see we're not wanted here." Anya said. One of the ex vengeance demons best traits was that she could take a hint. She gave a look toward Xander who didn't share her train of thought. "I'll be leaving then."

Xander gaped after her, but he seemed more intent on talking to me then going after his girlfriend.

Why is it that he always takes Riley side on everything?

"Go home." I said a bit pained and stared at both of them in turn. "Please. I can do this by myself."

Riley shook his head. " Buffy, we want to help."

I noticed Xander was preparing to say something, but a shrill scream cracked the air. Without a second glance toward either of them, I took of running.

~ ~ ~

We're laying tangled in the carpet. Our exploits have exhausted us both past being able to work out legs.

"Well Slayer, that was a bloody fantastic display. Bet you never give the soldier boy a go like that." He says it slowly, and even though it could be said as a taunt, the tone keeps it being anything but impassive.

I let my gaze wander toward the carpets designs. "Let's not bring him into this."

His eyes soften, and I look into them and don't feel anything but comfort. That scares me.

"What happened pet?"

I take in an unsteady breath and tell him the days events, stopping at the point where I had run off toward Anya to dig myself deeper under the carpet, I was getting cold.

"I killed the demon, wasn't to hard, and. . . I didn't have the energy to deal with Riley or Xander at that moment."

"So you ran to my crypt." He added in for me and I gave him a pained look as my answer. Spike draws himself closer toward me so he can take me into a lenient embrace.

"Tell me something pet, if you had the choice, would you leave here?"

I don't know how to reply to that. "What do you mean?"

"Well." He says, placing a small kiss on the side of my neck. "I've got a friend that asked me to look over his place for a while." I shoot him a confused look and he explains. "Bloke lives in the city, nice place, but he's got his share of enemies that would trash it in no time."

"So your leaving." I mummer. Really, I should not be feeling bad about this, but I do.

"If you want to join me, your welcome to." My eyes are caught in his as he says that.

It flashes through my mind that I could, fucking in the day and fighting in the night, but I quickly banish that away. "I couldn't leave."

"Why, what's keeping you here?"

Why is he asking this. . .?

I take in another breath that does little to keep my thoughts straight. "I'm married Spike, I cant just leave."

Seemingly giving up defeat, the vampire stretches away from me and yawns.

"I'll think about it." I tell him as his attention drifts off, and he pulls me into a kiss. Whether it's to convince me that I need him, or to just be in contact, I don't know, and I really don't care.