Disclaimer: As always, BTVS and all it entails does not belong to me.
Reviewers:
Bungle-in-the-Jungle: Okay, I'll check it out. I'm glad you are enjoying my story. Hope you like this chapter.
spuffy fan: Glad you like it. Hope you like this chapter.
Chapter 8. Halloween
Buffys' thoughts were full of Spike. She hadn't been able to forget about him since he kissed her. Angel had even noticed how distant she was.
Halloween was coming up and most of the students were stuck taking little kids around trick or treating. Snyder had basically forced her,Xander and Willow to sign up. Buffy was wondering what she would go as.
'I could always just go as a vamp.' She thought bitterly. Built in costume and all. Then she smiled. 'Actually that could be really funny. But a costume, not the real thing.'
"You coming Buffy?" Asked Willow. They were about ready to head to the costume shop.
"Yep." She replied, gathering her things into her backpack.
"So you have any idea what you're going as?" Asked Willow as Buffy caught up with her.
"I was thinking it would be funny if I went as a vampire."
Willow laughed. "You're right. That would be funny."
"What about you?"
"I don't know. I think I'm just gonna have a look around when we get there."
Buffy nodded. She sighed to herself. Her thoughts going out to Angel and Spike. She was with Angel, no qusetion; but it was hard to sort out what she felt for Spike. She had definately felt something when he pressed his lips to hers; but what was it? He wasn't like Angel. He had no soul. Yet, he'd had the perfect opportunity to kill her and hadn't taken it.
Willow was saying something and Buffy tuned in to her last few words.
"....place Ethans?"
"What was that' Will?"
"I said, do you want to look at the new place Ethans?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not shop at Party Town. Cordielia shops there."
"Yeah, you're right."
They made thier way across town and went into the new shop. Buffy immediately went to the section with vampire teeth. She was browsing the different brands when Willow came up with a costume in a bag. She held it up. It was a ghost with BOO written on it in black letters.
"Wills, I think you're missing the point of Halloween." Said Buffy.
"Free candy?" Willow asked cheerfully.
"No, it's come as you aren't night. You should try something different. No one's gonna notice you in that."
Willow looked down at the costume she had. "That's kinda the point."
Buffy smiled. "Just think about it, okay?"
Xander came up with a bag. "Hey."
"Hey Xander, what did you get?" Asked Willow.
He pulled out a toy gun and announced, "Just call me the king of two dollar costumes."
"That's not a costume." Remarked Buffy.
Xander looked at her, he was still miffed about what happened eariler in the day with Larry.
"I have army fatigues at home." He replied.
"Look Xander, I'm sorry about earlier. I promise from now on I'll let you get beat up."
"Well, okay." Xander said.
Buffy smiled and hugged him.
Something caught her eye and she went to look at it. It was a dress. A deep green with black lace sewn over it. It also had black lace at the collar and sleeves. The bodice laced up with a ribbon at the front and it looked as if someone had actually hand made it. It was beautiful, and Buffy liked it immediately. She walked over and took a sleeve in her hands. It was satin. She'd never be able to buy it.
"Hey, this is supposed to be our touching reunion moment." Xander said indignantly.
Buffy was staring at the dress, when the proprieter of the store came over.
"Pretty isn't it?" He asked.
Buffy nodded.
The man took the dress down. "Let's see how it looks."
He held it up in front of Buffy.
"I can't afford this." She said softly.
"I think for you I can make a deal." Said the shop owner silkily. "It looks too nice for you to walk out of here without it."
He threw in a wig for free. It was blonde with long curls. "That should top it off nicely. You'll look the perfect Victiorian vampire" He said with a smile.
The next night, Buffy and Willow were getting ready at Buffys' house. She'd talked the shy redhead into putting on something sexy. Willow now had on a short black skirt, a belly shirt, black net hose and black boots.
"I don't know if I can do this Buffy."
"You'll be fine! I can't wait to see the boys go nonverbal when they see you!"
She was just putting the finishing touches on Willows makeup when the doorbell rang. She trotted down to get it, holding her skirt out of the way.
"Hi!" Xander said as he came in. He stopped as he saw Buffy.
"Wow. Buffy, you have to be the prettiest vampire I ever saw."
She laughed. "If you like this wait til you see...."
WIllow came down the stairs in her ghost costume.
"Casper." Buffy finished lamely.
"That's a nice BOO you got there WIllow." Xander said. "Ready to go?"
They headed to the school to pick up thier charges. Snyder brought Buffys' trick or treaters over.
"This is your group. You don't need to speak to them. We wouldn't want them corrupted."
Buffy sent a dirty look at his back and then turned to the kids and leaned down. "Hi."
"Ah-Ah." Snyder called over to her.
She frowned and stood up. "Lets go."
Trick or treating was on in full force when Ethan began his spell. 'The slayer should have a fun time with this.' He took up the Janus statue and began to chant.
When his spell was complete, he sat back in exhaustion. "Let the fun begin."
Buffy was walking away from a house with her charges. "What did she give you?" She asked.
All of the kids pulled out toothbrushes. Buffy giggled. "Okay we can hit one more house before I have to get you guys back."
Willow was leading her group up to a doorway. They rang the bell and when the elderly woman answered the door they all said, "Trick or treat!"
"Oh! Arent you all so adorable!" The woman exclaimed. She looked down into her bowl and frowned. "Oh, am I out of candy? I could have sworn I had some more."
The children suddenly began to change.
"I'm sorry Mr. Monster, you'll have to..." She cut off and began screaming when one of the kids attacked her.
Willow watched in fear as two of the kids started fighting violently. "What are you doing?!" She yelled; but suddenly she couldn't breathe. Gasping she fell to the ground.
Xander looked around in confusion as people started screaming and running in panic. He nearly fell when someone knocked into him. As he straightned up he was holding a real gun and he had no Idea what was going on.
Willow stood up. She wasn't wearing her ghost costume anymore. She squeaked and covered up her midsection, which was bare due to the belly shirt she was wearing. She looked down to see her own body lying on the step.
"I'm a real ghost!"
Xander was in the middle of shooting at the strange creatures that were running around wild on the streets.
A girl in a skimpy outfit came running up to him. "Xander!"
"Who are you?" He asked suspiciously.
"You don't know me? I'm Willow. Your best friend..Oh nevermind. Where did you get that gun?"
"I don't know any Willow. And I don't like this." He started to move off and Willow went to stop him; but she went right through him.
He turned and aimed his gun at her. "What's going on? What are you?" He demanded.
"Im a ghost. I don't know what's happening." Willow replied. "Wait, where's Buffy?"
"I don't know who you're talking about."
After a second Willow saw Buffy and yelled to her.
Buffy saw WIllow and Xander and sauntered up to them.
"Buffy what's happening?" Asked WIllow.
"Don't know." Buffy replied lazily, eyeing them.
"Buffy?" WIllow asked, not liking the look on her friends face. Suddenly a cadre of vampires appeared, growling as they advanced on the trio.
"Buffy what do we do?" Asked Willow. She turned around only to scream.
Buffy stood behind them in full game face.
"Whoa!" Xander shouted as he saw her.
Willow grabbed his arm and they took off towards Buffys house.
Vampire Buffy took off after them. "More fun when they run." She giggled.
In the middle of town Spike was walking around with his game face on. He smiled cockily as as looked around. "Well this is just, neat." At the same time he couldn't help wondering what Buffy was up to. She was probably fighting somewhere with her little friends.
Willow led Xander to Buffys house, and thankfully the door was unlocked. They went in.
"WIll she be able to get in here?" Asked Xander.
"I don't know." Answered Willow. She hadn't thought about that. It was Buffys house. She wasn't aware of the rules in this situation.
She wasn't about to find out though. They quickly put something heavy in front of the back door, and Xander stood guard at the front with his gun.
Buffy was angry. They were in her house and she knew she couldn't go inside now. "Whatever, I'll just go find someone else to eat." She was gone in an instant.
Xander heard cries for help coming from up the street. He went outside.
"What are you doing?" Yelled Willow.
He came back a few minutes later with a terrified Cordy.
Willow came up. "Your name is Cordielia and you're not a cat!"
"Um duh, Willow. Xander what's going on?"
"You know us?"
"Yeah, what planet are you from?"
"It's the costumes. Xander doesn't know who he is. And Buffy's a vampire." Said Willow.
"Oh no." They turned to see Angel standing there.
"Angel, thank god. Did you see Buffy out there?"
"No." He answered numbly.
Cordielia sidled up to him. "Hi. How are you?"
He ignored her. "Where would she go?" He asked.
"I don't know." Said Willow miserably. "She was chasing us and she must have left when we came in here."
Angel took controll. "Willow, go to Giles and let him know what's happening. Xander, Cordielia come with me."
"Right." Said WIllow. She walked through the wall. She wasn't worried about herself. For once, nothing could hurt her.
Buffy was standing on the roof of the Bronze scanning the crowd for a snack. There weren't any humans as far as she could tell. Just lots of vampires and demons. She spotted a shock of bright blonde hair and smiled.
Jumping down, with her long blonde curls flowing behind her, she made her way over to him.
"Slayer?" Spike said as the beautiful blonde approached him in a predatory way. "What are you doing?" He eyed her hair. How the hell had she done that? Maybe it was those extension things he'd seen on the telly.
The demons and other vampires shrank away from her in fear. Spike watched as she walked up to him and stopped barely an inch away from him. Something was different about her.
She smiled and grabbed his head pulling him in for a fierce kiss. At first he stiffened,but then relaxed and kissed her back. He froze, though when he felt something unusual. Whe he pulled back he was met with yellow eyes and ridges.
"Who turned you?" He yelled angrily. "Who was it?"
"I thought you'd be happy." She pouted. "I know you wanted me to be a vampire."
He stared at her. "Not really." He admitted softly. Not that he needed to. The demons and other vampires had backed off to give them room. "But that's allright. Now we can be together forever."
She smiled.
"But who turned you? I'll kill the wanker!"
Giles was sorting the card catalouge when he heard strange noises coming from the outside. He was about to go investigate when Willow walked through the wall.
"Gyah!" Giles jumped and threw all of the cards he'd been holding in the air. "Willow? What happened to you?"
"GIles you're not going to like this.." Willow started.
"Oh god, what?"
"Xander and a whole bunch of other people don't know who they are, and Giles..Buffy's a vampire again."
GIles was nearly floored. His slayer was dead. Again. "When?" He asked numbly.
"Wait." Willow said. "She's not really a vampire. She went for Halloween as a vampire. Everyone's turning into thier costumes."
"Costumes?"
"Yeah! Xander went as a soldier, and now he IS a soldier."
"A-and your costume?" Giles indicated Willows outfit.
"I'm a ghost!" She said defensively, covering herself again.
"The ghost of what, exactly?"
"This is nothing! You should have seen what Cordielia was wearing. It was a skin tight cat thing.. with ears and stuff."
"And she thought she was an actual feline?"
"No... She was just Cordielia. Only in a cat suit." Willow thought for a second. "Party Town! She got her costume at Party Town."
"And?"
"We all got ours at a new place, Ethans."
Giles' face hardned. "Come with me, WIllow."
Buffy and Spike were stalking prey. There weren't many humans out at all. Most of them had already sought cover.
"Spike, I'm hungry." Buffy whined. Her stomach growled as if to prove her point.
"I know luv; but food is scarce tonight. We might just have to bag it."
"Huh?"
"Get some from the butchers." He elaborated. "That's what I do when we're driving. Makes it so I can eat during the day and we don't have to stop as often."
"Oh. But Spike, I want to feed. I mean really feed."
"Tomorrow night pet, when this bullocks is over with." He took her hand and gave it a tug.
She pouted; but followed him.
They were on thier way to the butchers when Angel appeared in front of them.
"Spike." He ground out.
"Leave us alone." Said Buffy angrily, stepping in front of Spike with her game face on.
Xander stepped up beside Angel with his automatic rifle. Spike nudged Buffy. "That won't kill us luv; but it can do a lot of damage."
They slowly backed away, Angel coming after them, unitl they turned tail and ran.
They didn't stop until they got to the Bronze. Going inside, Spike called out his minions who were lurking around.
Giles and WIllow went into Ethans. He didn't seem to be there. Giles marched right in to the back room, and saw all of Ethans spell equipment.
Soon the culprit showed himself. "Hello Ripper."
"I thought I told you I never wanted to see your face again." Giles growled at him.
"I'll never learn." Ethan replied mockingly.
Willow looked on until Giles told her to go. When she protested he yelled at her. "Just go Willow! I'll be fine."
Willow ran off to try and find the others. She decided to try the Bronze first,and luckily she was right.
Not so luckily, Spikes' minions had got ahold of Angel, Xander and Cordielia. Spike was in the middle of gloating to Angel when Willow came in.
"Hello Red. Nice of you to join us."
The minions tried to grab her; but went through her.
"Ghost here." She said.
Spike continued to taunt Angel who was being held by about six miniature demons.
Buffy was getting impatient. " Spiiiike, when can I eat him?" She asked, toying with Xander.
"Just wait luv. Not long I promise."
GIles was using a hankerchief to clean his glasses and Ethan was crawling on the floor in pain.
"How do I undo the spell?" Giles asked.
"I don't know." Ethan said.
He was obviously lying, so Giles gave him a good kick in the ribs. "Tell me!"
"Nice to see RIpper come out to play." Ethan wheezed. "I thought you were past all this torture."
"I'm making an exception for you." Giles replied, giving him another kick.
"Come here luv." Spike beckoned to Buffy, who was busy terrifying Xander and Cordielia.
She snapped at them one last time, and obeyed him. When she reached his side he took her hair in his hands and initiated a brutal kiss. She responded in kind, and Angel stuggled violently against his captors.
"Tell me!" Giles roared with a particularly voilent kick.
"Janus! Break the statue!" Ethan said, having had enough.
Giles ran to the statue and broke it. A swirling mist rose and dissapeared. He sighed in relief. When he turned around Ethan was gone.
Spike stiffened as Buffys' mouth grew hot against his. Something was wrong. He heard children crying. Why were children crying? And where had they come from?
"Buffy!" Someone called, and she broke the kiss. Her wig slid off in Spikes' hand.
"What the?" He slowly looked up at the slayer and everyone else in the room staring at them. The minions were now children in costumes.
There were tears in Buffys' eyes.
"Just go." She whispered. "Before he stakes you."
Spike wasted not a second in getting the hell out of there. He snarled angrily as he jumped out of a broken window.
Angel was staring at Buffy.
"Angel, I..."
"Don't." He said. "Not now."
Buffy looked around at all of the children who were crying and calling for thier parents. "Come on guys. Let's get you home, okay?"
"Where's Willow?" Asked Xander.
Willow got up from her position on the eldrely ladys' front step. She struggled with her costume and took it off in annoyance. Seeing her clothes underneath, she went to cover herself; but decided against it. She tossed her ghost costume to the ground and walked across the street.
A van was sitting at the side of the road with it's headlights on. Oz stared from the drivers seat as Willow walked by. "Who is that girl?" He wondered aloud.
After Buffy made sure that all of the children had gotten home safely, which surprisingly they all had, she went to face the firing squad.
Angel was sitting in Buffys room when she came in. "Just give me a few minuets to change." She said quietly as she grabbed some sweats.
She took out her vampire teeth and threw them in the garbage. "Not like I need them anyway." She muttered. The demon was still inside. She could feel it raging. It was becoming hard to contain it because it had almost tasted blood and was enraged that it hadn't.
She took calming breaths while she changed her clothes. She was nervous about talking to Angel and the demon wasn't helping. She needed to blow off some steam; but that wasn't going to happen tonight.
She sighed when there was nothing left to do; but go and face him.
She made her way into her room and opened her mouth to start talking.
"I understand." Angel said before she could say a word. "It wasn't you. You were a demon for whatever amount of time the spell lasted."
Buffy nodded. "I was there; but I couldn't get out." She said. "It was driving."
This was a partial lie. Buffy had been there too, sharing the experience instead of just being along for the ride like the others. But the demon side had definately been in controll. She supposed it was because of her being part vampire already.
Angel nodded. "Xander told me what it was like. I don't blame you at all."
Buffy sighed in relief.
"But I do blame Spike."
"It really wan't his fault either." She said. "Not that I'm sticking up for him or anything. Giles said it was that Ethan guy who sold us the costumes."
"I know; but he could have killed any of us and I know you would have felt responsible for it."
She nodded. "Yeah I would have." The toll of it had hit her as soon as her lips had left Spikes'. She had been going to drain one of her best friends. "But he made me wait, so he did save Xander in a way." She added.
"Why are you doing that? He would have let you drain Xander eventually."
"I know."
After awhile, Angel left, and Buffy stared out of her window, thinking of how much the bleached vampire must have been hurting. 'What am I doing, thinking about him? It's Angel I should be thinking about!'
She was startled when she saw Spikes' face pop up. He was in the tree she often used to climb in and out of her window.
"What are you doing?" She asked. "If Angel catches you here you're as good as dust!"
"I know." He replied sadly. "I just wanted to say I was sorry, and make sure you were okay."
"I'm fine." She replied softly.
"Okay. NIght then." He started to move away from her window.
"Spike?"
He stopped. "Yeah?"
"Did you mean what you said?"
"When? I said a lot of things tonight."
She scowled. "When you said you didn't want me to be turned."
He nodded. "Yeah. I meant it. Why?"
She shook her head.
He paused for a moment. "I thought about turning you the first time I saw you." He admitted. "But after I kissed you, I never thought about it again."
Buffy looked up; but he was gone. She sighed. She had a huge problem. There was no way to get out of it without hurting herself and someone else.
"What do I do now?" She asked herself miserably.
AN: Okay, that one was tough. It took me hours to work it out to my satisfaction, so I hope you all appreciate it. Let me know. Be kind and review!