A/N: For my dear Spuffy supporters. Now, don't say I never give you anything...
Buffy's first instinct was to press her fingers to Spike's throat to check for a pulse. Then she cursed her stupidity. Obviously he would not have a pulse because he was a vampire. She knew this stuff. The panic had made her logic fly out of the window. The Slayer started to shake him gently at first but then her desperateness made her shake him more violently.
"SPIKE!" She yelled.
Still there was no response. Buffy pulled back her fist and was about to take drastic measures when a hand curled around her wrist and stopped her. She turned back and found Giles standing there looking grave.
"That is perhaps not the best course of action, Buffy" He said, kneeling down next to her.
"I have to try something!" She said, desperation creeping into her voice.
"There are more pressing matters at hand"
Buffy was about to ask what the hell could be more pressing then Spike laying prone on the floor when she sensed movement behind her. The water-feral demon had risen up onto his blue, muscled, legs. Its body was sinewy, hard muscle compacted into a lithe figure. Strangely with the white hair and the body shape it looked like a blue version of Spike.
The Slayer stood and put herself between the demon and her demon on the floor. She put her hand to her side and motioned for Giles to see that Spike did not get hurt. Willow and Dawn stood on the other side of the wall by the windows, Dawn was pressed into Willow in a suffocating hug as the witch tried not to show how shaken she too was.
Xander had slumped into a chair in confusion but now began to arise as he saw the demon stretching its body as if getting a feel for it. The water-feral looked down at its hands and then down the length of its body and it grinned. It grinned.
That one grin made Buffy snap.
This thing had taken over Spike, had hurt Spike and it had the audacity to be happy about it!
She balled her fist and then released her fingers before balling them again. Buffy moved her neck in a circle cracking the bones back into place. The sound drew the water-feral's attention to her and it blinked showing off those completely blue eyes. It tilted its head in a manner that reminded her far too much of the vampire on the floor.
"You shouldn't have taken him" Buffy said through gritted teeth, she felt her legs itching to move forward, to jump up and slam her foot into it's head, to feel it's neck crack underneath her power "He wasn't yours to take"
The demon tilted its head to the other side "Yours?" the voice came out sounding oddly serpent like.
"That's right"
"I left him. I could have stayed in there" The demon informed her.
"No," Buffy shook her head "We had a way of getting you out"
"Well," The demon stuck the tip of its tongue out, again way too Spike-like "Looks like I made the right decision then. If you let me pass I will not bother you again"
"So you can infect some other guy? Or prey on women to fulfill your need to mate? I don't think so"
"We mate only once. I don't need to any more" The water-feral hissed.
"Once? Well, when did you –" Xander started to ask.
The demon made a break for it rushing towards the door. Buffy lunged and caught it around the midriff, wrapping her arms around it's torso and using the force of the impact of her body to drive it, and her, to the floor.
Buffy fell on top of the slightly slick demon and let out a scowl of disgust. It reached up and sliced its claws down her cheek making the wounds flare up like a red hot flame. She winced and punched the thing in its face. She punched it again and again. Now, this was letting out the anger. Everyone should try this for therapy.
The demon grabbed her wrist and managed to get its foot up to her abdomen where it promptly kicked her off.
The Slayer went flying across the room and hit the stone fireplace in the centre of her back. Pain hit her like a baseball bat hitting a ball. She let out a deep moan as she fell to the floor. If she had been human that would have broken her back. Now she was really pissed.
Xander charged at the demon as it made a break for it again. The demon elbowed him in the face and then kicked him in the stomach. He careened backwards into Dawn and Willow who was attempting a spell. All three of them fell to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
Giles stood up and took the demon by surprise from behind, punching it in the kidneys...if the thing even had kidneys. It growled and turned around just in time to get a face full of Giles fist. The water-feral stumbled backward and Giles hit it again this time in the gut making it double over. The Watcher took the opportunity to knee it in the head, and it sprawled backwards again.
Giles tried for another hit but the thing was not as dazed as he first thought. It grabbed his fist in mid-air and held onto it whilst it backhanded him across the face. Then it let go of his fist, jumped up, and hit Rupert Giles in the head with a devastatingly hard roundhouse kick.
Giles went down and didn't get back up.
But Buffy did. She looked at her fallen friends and let out a cry of pure rage. She ran at the demon and blocked some pathetic attempts to catch her off guard again. She punched it so many times in the face that she lost count. The then delivered a vicious snap kick to its chin.
The demon stumbled backwards and hit a wall. Buffy grabbed it around the neck with one hand, throttling it. She lifted it off the floor and held it pinned to the wall like some pretty blue butterfly. It struggled and jerked around reminding her strangely of a scared rabbit. Not that she knew what a scared rabbit looked like. No, sir.
"So, you want to die quick....or slow?" Buffy gritted her teeth, squeezing her fingers deeper into its neck.
The demon choked and spluttered but still managed to grin, cocky "Lady's choice..."
And in that moment Buffy hesitated and released the pressure a little from it's neck. The last time she had heard that phrase it had come from Spike's lips but...had it really been Spike that had said it? Or had she been manipulated the whole time?
The demon took advantage of her faltering and slammed its arm into her head knocking her off balance and causing her to release him. It did not waste a second before kicking the Slayer with all it's force into the side of her head.
Buffy fell to the side on the floor. She tried to get up and managed to get to her knees but there were dots swimming before her vision.
"That's right," The water-feral slathered kicking her in the face, so she went down again "It was me"
Buffy blinked up from the floor and the bottom of a blue foot struck her in the face again, making her nose explode with pain.
"Not your vampire" It reached down, grabbed her by her shirt and lifted her up.
It swung her around so abruptly and fast Buffy thought she might throw up. Instead her legs hit Xander in the face when he had been coming to her aid. He fell back again and hit his head against the wall, sliding to the floor.
The demon tossed her away into the wall hard enough to crack the bricks.
"So, really," The demon grabbed up a heavy the heavy wooden weapons chest Giles had, and that thing weighed a lot "You haven't seen the real vampire for...days"
Buffy blinked at it, lips trembling blood from her nose and various cuts running down her face. The demon was injured badly too, it was limping, it's face was swelling disgustingly. But it still looked at her impassively as it lifted the weapons chest above it's head.
Willow started to chant as she stood shakily. The demon shook it's head and lashed out at the witch with its foot catching her in the chin and making her cry out as she crumpled to the floor. Then it turned back to Buffy, grinned and threw the chest at her with incredible speed.
Buffy managed to curl into a ball and shield her face with her arms before the thing hit her.
It was like being hit by a car, or at least that's what it felt like. One corner of the chest struck her in the ribs and a shooting pain like an arrow sliced through her body. The chest was filled with axes and swords and other heavy things and it shattered against the Slayer's body. The weapons fell upon Buffy until she lay on the floor, covered by the contents of the chest.
Her body felt like everything was broken and she was finding it hard to breathe from the blow to the ribs. She groaned but couldn't move with the heavy tools on her. She reached up and pushed an axe off of her, taking steady, painful breaths.
The demon was looking at her. It had picked up a wicked looking axe.
"I liked you," It's eyes traveled down her body "You were good"
Somehow she didn't think he was talking about her moral standing. Also he was talking in past-tense – not a good sign.
The demon took a step back and then ran at her and whirled the axe in an arc which would land in the centre of her skull and most likely cleave it in to.
An arm shot out and the demon ran bodily into it. The air was knocked from it's lungs and it was knocked to the floor in a rather humorous manner...or it would have been funny if Buffy hadn't felt like she may be dying.
"I don't think so, mate" The voice that owned the arm said "I'm the only one that gets to stick something in her"
The pun was unbelievably crude but Buffy Summers really didn't care. Because it was Spike. And he was okay. She tried to get up and run to him but instead pain zigzagged through her and she let out a whimper.
Spike turned his eyes to her, they softened "You gonna be alright to help me finish this one, luv?" He clutched his own side, his voice raw.
But then her voice would probably be raw if a demon had just crawled out of her throat.
"You bet I am," She tried for a small smile and pulled it off successfully.
Spike gave her a crooked grin and held his hand out to her. She took it and carefully, with him half-pulling her, got to her feet. Her body screamed at her to curl up in a corner and die but she ignored it. Spike let go of her hand and picked up two axes, he handed one to Buffy and kept the other for himself.
The demon let out an odd gurgling sound and started to stir on the floor.
"Count of three?" Spike tilted his head, eyebrow arched.
"Think I can manage that" Her smile widened.
The demon craned it's head up and saw them, it's eyes widened "She...she'll never...never..."
"One" Spike said.
They started forward.
"She'll never love you!" The demon cried.
"Two" They advanced quickly.
The demon stuttered "I was in your head – you know, everyone does. She could never love –"
"Three!" Spike growled, morphing faces.
Buffy and Spike both brought their axes up and then sharply down.
A spray of blood leapt into the air.
The demon was silenced.
Buffy dropped the axe and put the back of her arm to her forehead "Why do they always have to try and announce a revelation?"
"Well, it's all about the showmanship, pet" He grinned then dropped his axe too and promptly started to fall.
Buffy caught him around the waist and let out a cry of pain at her own aching body. Spike steadied himself by putting an arm around her waist. They kept each other standing.
"Buffy..." Giles was starting to stand.
Xander and Willow and Dawn had each recovered enough to see the whole show too but they remained on the floor, exhausted and hurt.
"You okay?" Buffy whispered to him.
Spike gave a nod "You?"
"I'll live"
He chuckled "I won't"
She looked at him and shook her head, a smile on her face although it was a faint one.
"Fulfilled!" Andrew cried from behind the sofa.
Buffy frowned and everyone turned to the geek as he crawled out carefully into the open.
"Andrew, what are you talking about?" Giles sighed, wincing at some pain.
"That...that's the word. The missing word" Andrew stated "The missing piece of the puzzle. The icing on the cake. The cryptic clue"
Willow looked clueless as everyone else then her eyes brightened "Oh! The cure...the cure we don't need anymore" She picked up a piece of paper and read "To change a host back to what it once was, the curse...must be fulfilled. Once that is done all shall return to what it once was'"
Xander rubbed his head "Fulfilled? The curse was fulfilled? What?"
"To fulfill the curse means that the water-feral must have served it's intended purpose and that was to..." Giles stopped, and left the sentence hanging.
Willow picked it up "To mate"
There was a long moment of silence and everyone turned to stare at the Slayer and the vampire who stood with their arms around one another. Buffy felt the heat flare up in her cheeks and didn't dare steal a glance at Spike.
"Oh" Dawn said, getting it.
"Oh" Willow nodded, eye's wide.
Giles took of his glasses "Indeed, "oh"
Xander frowned "Oh, what?"
They all turned to look at him.
"What?" Xander just looked confused.
Dawn leaned into him and whispered into his ear.
His eyebrows shot up "Ohhh"
A/N: So, there ya have it. Don't you just love me? I have knack of going from one bad/embarrassing situation to the next. It's hard to be this cruel to Spuffy, you know. Mwhahahaha!