A/N: Hey, guys! Wow, I haven't updated this one in a LONG time! Heh -.-' Well, that's what school and lack of inspiration does to ya, I guess. . So anyways, I hope that you guys actually enjoy this since it's been so long, and...uh...Lindsay is an original character based off of one of my reviewers, so congratulations to her! She won! LoL Every fic I try to base an original character off of a reviewer. So yeah, she was selected. Please R&R, and of course...ENJOY! ,
FLASHBACKS ARE IN ITALICS
The White Tiger was the best damned joint in all the galaxy; from the sleazy posters to the cheap wine with the not-so-cheap prices, it had it all.
Faye had recently grown very attached to this place which, thanks entirely to her own personal broodings, were all far too cumbersome to deal with since she currently had the weight of fame and glory upon her shoulders.
Her best friend, Lindsay Haskins, owned the jaunty tavern all by herself and worked there overtime as the bartender; catcalls included. The fiery redhead was often mistaken as snobbish due to the constant 'this is my bar, and if you don't like it, you can go to hell' look that always adorned her charming face like a flashing warning sign from down below, itself. This, however, had in no way, whatsoever discouraged Faye from befriending this dubious woman and learning all about her troublesome life.
So now, as she approached her friend in order to escape the fight that she and Spike were currently enduring, she did not, needless to say, expect Lindsay to utter the rather hurtful thing that she said next.
"You look like shit. Care for a vermouth? That always helps me when I'm down."
Faye grimaced at this, then had a seat upon one of the rickety old bar stools, grumbling sourly, "Gee, thanks, Lindsay. You always did know exactly how to cheer me up. You might as well start making your wakeup juice now, cuz I plan on drinking a whole lot."
Lindsay raised an eyebrow, clearly concerned. "Do you mind if I ask why? Just cuz I'm the bartender doesn't mean that I think alcohol's the answer to chasin' away the blues. Sometimes what ails ya is conversation....start talking, Faye, cuz I'm listening."
"You have got to be kidding me."
"No, I can assure you that I am not. I've told you tons about my issues with my good-for-nothing boyfriend, so surely you can spill your guts to me," Lindsay insisted, giving Faye a knowing wink before turning to serve the burly customer on the other side of her a nice gin and tonic.
Faye smiled warmly at this, acknowledging with slight reluctance, "Alright, fine...so we've swapped a few stories around the campfire. That doesn't mean that you'll be the slightest bit interested in what I have to say. In fact, I'd say that it's downright dull."
Lindsay smirked. "Try me."
Faye groaned, then put her face in her hands, muttering in resignation, "Fine, Lindsay....have it your way. If you look over there, you'll see a man by the pool table who clearly thinks that he's the shit. See him?"
She nodded.
"Well, that's Spike....my new bodyguard. I seriously think that Jet made a huge mistake about him," Faye mumbled, absolutely refusing to look over at her smug-faced comrade with the fear that he might falsely think that he was being invited to have a drink with her. "I-I mean, all he ever does is complain about every little thing that I ask him to do for me, and I mean every little thing!"
Lindsay smirked. "Ha! Well I'd say that it sounds like you two are absolutely perfect for each other since you know very well that your initials should've been MBC: Moan Bitch and Complain."
"Gee, thanks."
"Oh, quit your bell aching! You've got it easy compared to most of the other sorry saps in here!," Lindsay chided, rolling her eyes at her companion's childishness as she began to scrub furiously at a grubby spot in a mug with her dish towel. "I mean, just look on the bright side....this Spike fella's a pretty damn handsome guy, and last time I checked, Clarence most certainly wasn't."
Faye snorted. "Clarence was fifty."
"Exactly! Old and unattractive! Spike's the stunning foil to your old bodyguard!," the exuberant redhead continued, much to her friend's complete and utter chagrin. "Don't you see? You hit the jack pot....big time!"
"Ugh, shut up! You're not helping me out at all!"
Lindsay frowned, then smiled; something she actually did quite often. Turning her soft, cobalt blue gaze away from the attractive bodyguard who was currently cheating at a game of cards, she questioned rather apathetically, "So why's he so bad, anyway? I see that he cheats when he plays deuces, but who doesn't? I, myself, didn't stop cheating until I was fifteen....my older brother beat me up for winning his prized electric guitar under false pretenses. Whoops."
Faye smirked at this, ridiculing sappily, "Oh, what a heart-warming tale! Please remind me to go and throw up."
"You mock me," Lindsay accused, placing a hand on her hip and handing her friend a vermouth as a warm smile tugged at the corners of her rosy lips in a rather pleasant smile. "You know very well that I carry a shotgun in here, Faye, and I do use it."
"Are you threatening me? I can get Spike on you, you know."
"Please do," Lindsay returned, causing her friend to laugh.
"You're so gross! Just grow up for once, will ya?!," Faye urged, shaking her head with apparent amusement before she lifted the cool liquid up to her lips and took a rather tentative sip. "Spike prefers to kill, anyway, just as a little heads-up. It's just his nature, I suppose."
Lindsay gave her a dismissive wave of the hand, insisting impassively, "That's nothing, Faye. My good 'ol friend Phil Clark likes to take women and-"
"Hello, ladies."
Faye gasped, clutching her vermouth like an iron vice within her taut grasp as the tall, lanky bodyguard took a seat beside her and shot her and Lindsay a genuinely warm smile.
"What'll it be?," Lindsay suddenly questioned, seeing that that was her job; leaning forward with an interest that rarely overcame her being.
Spike smirked, immediately taking note of this as he propped his chin on his fist and returned good-naturedly, "A whiskey, thanks. It's been a while since I've had a nice, stiff drink."
"As you wish," she acknowledged, hurriedly rushing over towards the color-coated bottles of alcohol so that she could pour his drink, Spike watching on with a fascination that deeply infuriated his client.
"Don't you dare look at her like that!," Faye hissed between clenched teeth, her frail body racking slightly due to her apparent outrage. "She gets enough catcalls a day, so don't you start adding to them, you good-for-nothing slob!"
Spike gave her a look full of genuine surprise, insisting defensively, "I'm not doing anything! Since when are you in charge of where my goddamned eyes drift, anyway?!"
"Since you became my bodyguard....that's when!"
Spike drooped at this, acknowledging sourly, "Damn, you're right.....oh, well, guess there's a first time for everything."
"Oooh, you infuriating little-"
"Ssh," Spike suddenly instructed, placing a slender finger over his lips as his stunned client continued to watch him in utter astonishment. "I think we're being watched."
Faye blanched. "What?! Where are these so-called spies?! What are you going to-"
"GET DOWN!!!"
Letting out a shrill scream full of sheer trepidity, Faye felt Spike wrap his strong arms about her middle and wrench her down to the hardwood floor by the side of the bar, a brigade of bullets showering overhead and destroying the alcoholic bottles that laid in their wake in a single spray of liquid and glass.
"Lindsay!!!," Faye shrieked, immediately trying to stand up and check on her friend, only to be instantly pulled back down. "What the hell are you doing! Let me go!"
"Well what the hell are you doing?! Trying to get yourself killed?!," Spike demanded, immediately seizing her by the wrist and yanking her over to the safety of his right side. "You stay here....I'll take care of this. Under no circumstances are you allowed to leave this spot....do you understand?"
"Even if someone's able to shoot me from here?"
Spike face-faulted. "Use your common sense, Faye! Of course you can move when faced with a situation such as one of that nature!"
"But you said-"
"Nevermind what I said....just make sure that you stay away from danger!," Spike ordered, not even giving her a second glance before he retrieved his firearm from within his hipholster and dove out into the open like a crazed lunatic, his shot nailing each and every single target with a perfection that couldn't help but leave each of his adversaries a bit wary.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Faye screamed, shielding her head as yet more glass showered down upon her small frame from up above, her instincts immediately taking over as she rushed to the safety behind the bar, thus completely disregarding what Spike had instructed her to do, altogether.
"Faye!," a feminine voice exclaimed, thus causing her to look up in an instant of sheer astonishment.
"Lindsay! W-what are you doing?!"
"What's it look like?," she demanded, hurriedly placing a shell within her shotgun and cocking it with a viciousness that insured future bloodshed. "I'm protecting my bar from those black-suited ass wipes out there!"
Without another word said, Faye winced as Lindsay leapt up from behind the assurance of the bar and fired a single shot, only to immediately drop back down due to the ammunition that was rapidly being fired at them in retalliation.
Taking a brief look at her comrade, Lindsay urged rather rudely, "Either take my extra gun from out of the cash register or get out, Faye. There's only room for fighters back here....not cowards."
"I am not a coward!," Faye spat, considerably hurt by this sudden accusation.
Jutting her chin outward due to her injured pride, she immediately raced over to the cash register in a hunched over fashion and hurriedly opened it up, her hands shaking as they fumbled for the weapon and brought it abreast within her insecure grasp with the sole hopes of proving her friend wrong.
Turning back towards the unfolding battlesite before her, Faye leveled out the firearm and tried her damndest to aim properly, perspiration beading upon her flesh like the morning's dew as one of the black-suited men suddenly leapt out in front of her with a cynical grin upon his face similar to that of Spike's.
"Hiya, cutie."
Faye gasped, taking a slight step backward as she found that her mind was now blank and completely incapable of cooperating with her trembling hands, her eyes squeezing shut as she fearfully awaited her fate.
BANG!
Blood oozing forth from his chapped lips like a waterfall of thick scarlet, the man limply fell forward and to the ground like a deadweight, Spike standing not but six feet behind with his smoking Jericho in hand.
"Spike!," Faye exclaimed, never feeling so grateful to him in her entire life. "Thank you so much for-"
"I thought I told you to keep your ass put!," he interrupted gruffly, far too aggravated to acknowledge her abundant gratitude. "How do I even know that you'll do what I ask, again?!"
"Well, I-"
"Oh, nevermind....just make sure that you stay close to Lindsay," Spike instructed, immediately disregarding her presence just like before as he dashed off to the side and commenced in firing at the last of the lackeys.
Just as soon as they fell, however, the bar door swung open and in stepped a silvery-haired man, his pale blue eyes like ice caps and his stature very much like that of a lost soul, his gaze cold and empty as it suddenly slid over to the mossy-green-haired man by the barstools, whose mouth was clearly agape and trembling.
"Vicious," he gasped, taking a slight step back. "How did you..."
With one final gaze from that demon of a man, Spike immediately closed his mouth, swallowing as Vicious turned about abruptly on his heel and exited the bar just as quickly and quietly as he had come.
Faye watched all of this in silent awe, a delicate brow quirking slightly upward as she wondered in sheer amazement, "How can somebody as strong as Spike instantly turn to mush upon seeing some stranger? And yet....no, he's not a stranger. Spike called him by name......he called him Vicious."
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"Hi, uh...I'm here for my interview with Mr. Gaines."
The secretary behind the front desk hardly even gave him a passing glance, her hair drizzling down over her shoulders like a waterfall of honey as her mysterious blue eyes processed all of the information upon the computer screen before her.
Frustrated, Spike glanced over at her gold-plated nametag and grinned, trying again, "Hi, Julia....I'm Spike Spiegel. Lovely day for applying for a job, don't you think?"
"What do you want?," she demanded tiredly, getting straight to the point. "If it's a date, just go ahead and shove your high hopes up your ass. I'm not interested."
Spike laughed loudly. "Well thanks for the offer, Miss Charming, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to pass. You see, as I've stated before, I'm here for my interview with Mr. Gaines."
"Oh....oh! I am so sorry!," Julia recovered sheepishly, placing a beautifully manicured hand over her mouth as a light blush began to gently stain her alabaster cheeks. "I-it's my first week on the job, and I guess that it's just one of those days, you know? Ever zoned out before?"
Spike smirked. "All the time."
"Then you can understand my problem?," she questioned hopefully, clearly still embarrassed.
Spike's smirk only deepened, his thin frame propping up against the edge of the desk as he acknowledged slyly, "Of course I can, but now that I do, I feel that I must see you again, and soon."
"Do you, now?," Julia teased, her naturally demure features reflecting a newfound coyness that set her persuer's heart a fire. "I must warn you....I'm not far as innocent as I look."
Spike grinned broadly. "Good."
"Hey, Spike....wake up. Spike?"
He grunted, sourly rolling over onto his side upon the couch as he listened to the thunder rolling overhead, his client continuing to poke and prod him with the hopes of getting him to rise.
"Spike, come on...I really need to talk to you," she urged, giving his shoulder a rough shake. "It's about the man at the bar....that Vicious guy."
Spike immediately shot up amidst his blankets upon hearing that dreaded name, demanding fearfully, "H-how do you know about him? Have you met him before?"
Faye shook her head. "No, of course not.....today was the first time that I've ever seen him. And yet....."
"And yet what?," Spike pressed, clearly fearing the worst.
"I-I don't know," Faye admitted, her brow furrowing as she suddenly grew very deep in thought. "There's just something about him....like I actually do know him, and yet....I don't. I know that I'm not making much sense, and for that I'm sorry. I'm just really scared of that creep and would like to know how you know him."
Spike immediately shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, Faye, but that's something that I absolutely cannot tell you."
"But why? I'm your employer!"
"I know, but you'd be much better off being left in the dark on this one," he insisted, giving her an earnest look with his deep, two-toned irises that rather frightened her. "Trust me, Faye....it's for your own safety. Please forget about him."
"But what about-"
"Please."
She sighed, then nodded, agreeing softly in resignation, "Very well....if that's what you'd like me to do."
"I would," Spike acknowledged, nodding vigorously. "It's for your own good....trust me."
Faye didn't answer, a small, secretive smile forming along her full, rosy lips as she realized that, one way or another, she would make sure that she'd find out what was going on, even if it killed her in the process.
A/N: LoL, do NOT worry...Julia is dead and buried! Down in the ground! GONE! Heheh...he's just having flashbacks which are, believe it or not, pretty darn vital to the storyline since it explains how he and Vicious are tied together. And trust me, Vicious' reasons for wanting Faye are NOT what you think! Most writers portray him all lusting after her, and stuff, but no way, not me! LoL I'll leave that for Spikey-poo in later chapters. . heehee As of now, they're in their typical "love-hate" relationship that we all know so well and can't help but love, ourselves. Please do me a niiiiiice favor and review me! PLEASE??? I'm beggin' ya! You'll get a cookie! heehee Isn't bribery GREAT????
3 Kendra Luehr