NOTE: Speech in italics between Buffy and Spike is telepathy.
Buffy gripped the flashlight tightly in one hand while her other was being held firmly by Spike. She glanced down at their hands, her small fingers interlocking with his and his thumb absentmindedly caressing hers. She wondered if he knew how much he calmed her by doing that. To the eye it seemed like a tiny display of affection, but inside it felt like a whole mountain of tenderness.
Raising her head, she shone her light into the darkness ahead of them, the honeycomb of tunnels that had probably been here for centuries felt cold and foreboding to her. Bad memories lingered around each corner and the only thing that was keeping her moving forward was the perpetual motion of Spike's thumb against hers.
Her plan was a simple one-or at least it seemed simple on the face of it. They needed to return to the caves to find the Gem of Amara and then get back to her house where her friends would be waiting for them. From there, they would journey to LA to find Angel.
She just hoped that finding the Gem wouldn't take as long as it sounded and that the lingering voice in the back of her mind was wrong-Spike wasn't going to lead her in circles long enough for Angel to be dust in the wind.
She knew that their history was against her. Spike didn't really want to rescue his grandsire from a painful death, not even after he had been saved by him. No, Spike wasn't doing this for Angel.
He was doing it for her.
She'd seen in his eyes that his only reason for going with her now and travelling back to LA to play the hero to her heroine was because she had asked him to and he couldn't let her go alone.
She'd seen a lot more in his eyes besides that.
He wasn't hiding anything from her anymore. She'd seen everything he needed to tell her, and for some reason, it didn't scare her.
It didn't scare her, because she knew that she felt the same way. Even though she couldn't bring herself to admit her feelings out loud, deep inside she knew they were the same as his. The claim she had placed on him was testament to how she felt and it was only a matter of time before she built up the courage to let the whole world know.
Buffy was dragged out of her warm reverie by Spike suddenly coming to a halt. She shone her flashlight in a wide arc in front of them to try and see why he'd stopped.
"Two paths." She raised her brows and looked up at him for an answer.
As he slipped into game face, she let her eyes widen slightly and felt her heart skip a beat. She remembered when he'd tried to throttle her on the bed and the effect it had had on her.
Spike let his eyes slide across to rest on her face as he listened to her heartbeat accelerating. He wondered for a moment if it was just an instinctive reaction to seeing him in vampire guise or whether there was something else at work. Inhaling deeply under the pretence of discovering which direction to go in, he resisted the temptation to smile as he caught the scent of her arousal in the air.
He gave her a sly look and watched her cheeks darken.
Buffy dropped her eyes to rest on the flashlight and tried to ignore the way his gaze seemed to burn into her.
"This way." Spike pointed and then realised she wasn't looking. She was staring at the torch with her head turned slightly away from him in a shy manner.
He'd given up trying to pretend he didn't feel anything towards her. Half way through his shower he had been pondering their interlude in the bathroom and it had dawned on him that if she wanted to know how he felt about her all she had to do was reach out and sense it in him.
Acting like there was nothing happening between them seemed pointless after that.
When she'd spoken into his head about wanting him to go to LA with her he'd surrendered completely to his emotions. William was well and truly free and was making the most of it. Every time he looked at her, he found his head filling with poetry he'd thought was long forgotten.
He let his eyes trace over the profile of her face as they started to walk again, taking in the curve of her lips as she concentrated on the darkness ahead of them and the way her soft golden hair framed her face so perfectly.
As she turned her head to face him he slid out of game face, his features morphing back into human form as his demon receded-forced away by the emotions that rose up on looking into her eyes.
"How close were you?"
"Close enough. Reckon a few more hours drilling and I would have been through the rock and into the chamber."
"And you're sure?" She didn't want to sound sceptical but she had been on the receiving end of Spike's plans often enough to know that they rarely went as he intended.
"Sure as I can be." He led her down a slope and then to the right.
She recognised the area as the one he had carried her through that night.
Spike felt her fingers tense and grip his hand more tightly. He gave her a reassuring squeeze and moved closer to her.
He didn't like being back in the lair anymore than she did, his memories of the place weren't good ones and he got the feeling that they probably weren't alone. Places like this in Sunnydale wouldn't have remained unoccupied for long. He just hoped that his drilling equipment was still there on the scaffolding and that the power supply was still in place.
Moving through the maze of tunnels he kept a firm grip on Buffy's hand, only relinquishing his hold on her once they had arrived in the spot he'd been drilling last.
Spike took the flashlight off Buffy and moved the beam across the room.
Buffy watched as he inched the light up a scaffolding tower and then finally came to rest on a hole in the ceiling. Or at least, the start of a hole.
"There." Spike said quietly. "I was getting close to something. The sounds of the rock was starting to change last time I was drilling, I could hear it getting weaker and thinner. Something echoed in it."
He handed her back the torch and quickly ascended the tower.
Buffy held the flashlight steady as she watched him moving about on the tower.
"Still here." He called down and held the drill up so she could see it. "Find the lamps, they should be near the corners of the room."
Walking around the room, she hummed a quiet tune to calm her nerves as she searched for the lights. The small beam of her torch seemed pathetic as she tried to illuminate the large expanse of the chamber. She frowned into the darkness and smiled as something metal reflected the beam back at her.
Fumbling up the length of the pole, she grasped hold of the switch and flicked it.
"Let there be light." She beamed up at Spike as the room was flooded with a warm yellow glow.
Spike's eyes widened.
Buffy frowned.
The vampire growled.
As he leapt down from the scaffolding, it looked to Spike like Buffy was moving in slow motion. Her eyes grew as round as saucers as she turned to face the large vampire behind her.
"Buffy!" Spike ran towards her as the vampire hit her hard across the face.
She fell to the floor; the only noise she made was the sound of her breath being knocked out of her by the hard ground.
Spike tackled the vampire and pinned him to the dirt, punching him repeatedly across the face as he slid into vampire guise himself. The rage he felt inside him was primal, like nothing he'd experienced before and he knew it was because he'd seen his mate attacked and hurt. He growled viciously as he grasped hold of the vampires head with both hands and twisted it clean off.
Slowly standing up, Spike dusted his knees down and stared at the grey ashes littering the floor. He turned to face Buffy and held his hand out to her.
Buffy looked at his hand for a moment, her heartbeat refusing to settle down and her imagination running away with her as it bought images of the other demons that could be lurking just out of sight in the caves.
Slipping her hand into his, she let him haul her up off the dusty ground. As she brushed down her backside, her eyes remained fixed on his large hand as it firmly held her small one. The thought of what they could do to her seemed to make the images of demons in her head disappear until there was only him.
Holding her hand tightly as he looked after her.
Warmth spread through her and she smiled at him.
"You alright?" Spike watched as her expression turned dreamy and he couldn't help wondering what she was thinking.
"Uh huh." She nodded dumbly and kept her eyes fixed on his as her smile widened.
"You sure?" He was starting to worry that she'd had the sense knocked out of her, the grin on her face was continuing to widen.
"I'm fine. It's just…weird." She realised from the confused look on his face that he didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "I mean, I'm usually the one doing the rescuing and it's just a little weird being the one rescued."
Spike let his brows rise as he looked up at the scaffolding in an attempt to avoid her eyes. He could feel her balancing, could sense what was coming next and he suddenly felt uncomfortable. He was a vampire. He was evil. The fact that he was slowly being pulled over into the world of fighting against evil was bad enough, but being thanked by Buffy for doing good-he didn't want to go there.
Spike wondered at just what moment his whole world had changed.
He already knew the answer-it was staring him in the face, or at least staring at his face. He let his eyes shift to rest on hers as she tried to get his attention.
The moment he'd seen her, he'd fallen. She was in his system quicker than a virus and had taken him over piece by piece each time they'd met.
He let go of her hand.
"It's nothing…" Spike started moving towards the scaffolding again but stopped when he found her hand firmly holding onto his wrist, not letting him get away from her.
"I just wanted to say…" She jumped slightly as he span quickly to face her.
"Don't! It was bad enough when you said it in your bedroom." He said sharply and saw her eyes widen. "Just…I mean…evil, love."
The way he'd spoken the word 'evil' had been enough to tell her everything she needed to know. He'd sounded so desperate to reiterate it to her, to put his point across with one little word that she understood perfectly.
She understood why it upset him better than he did.
He was scared.
Not that he'd admit it of course but she could see it clearly in his eyes.
He was scared that he was slipping into the realm of good and he felt he had to stop her before she pulled him in further by thanking him. She let go of his wrist and nodded at him, showing him that she could appreciate where he was coming from.
Watching him mount the scaffolding again, she realised that being with Spike was going to mean living with the things he had done and the things he could do. The more she pushed him to try and make him good, the more likely he was to retaliate and give Sunnydale a massacre the proportions of which it had never seen before.
Walking towards the tower, she mused how she was going to handle him.
Her favoured option of force was well out the window when it came to Spike.
She would have to play gently with him. Let him choose his own path and just give him the occasional nudge in the right direction when he stepped a little too out of line. She hoped the claim would ensure he behaved himself. That being bonded to her and the feelings he felt for her would keep him in check when it came to his desire to hunt.
Either that or she was going to be donating blood a lot.
She just hoped the residents of Sunnydale would be thankful to her for it.
A hand shooting into view caused her thoughts to leap away and she ran her eyes up it to his arm and from there to his face. He was leaning over the edge of the boarding on top of the scaffolding with a patient look on his face.
"Think it's safer if we both stay up here. Not much room, though. Might be a little snug."
Buffy smiled and clasped hold of his forearm near his elbow and squealed slightly as he grabbed her arm and hauled her up onto the platform. She definitely wasn't used to having someone around again who was as strong as she was.
Spike chuckled quietly but stopped when she shot him a glare.
"Sorry. Just never imagined you could make that noise." He picked up the protective helmet and raised his brows at her.
"I could make better noises than that." Buffy mumbled quietly and then bit her lip as his eyes narrowed on hers, the intensity of them showing her that he'd heard.
She silently cursed vampire hearing.
Spike gripped the helmet tighter and decided not to ask her for specifics about the noises she thought she could make. Maybe one day she'd show him first hand.
Putting the helmet securely on his head, he turned to face her and waited for her to laugh.
Only she didn't.
She just smiled at him, like she had the last time he'd expected her to laugh.
He was starting to get the feeling that she was less predictable than he'd always believed she was.
Picking up the drill, he pressed the ignition button and grinned widely as it gunned into life, filling the caves with a loud rattling noise.
Buffy stuck her fingers in her ears and frowned at him.
Spike shut the drill off and grabbed the pair of ear defenders on the platform near him. He'd wanted them to protect his own sensitive ears but he couldn't deny his need to look after her and he found himself offering them to Buffy.
She took them with a smile and slipped them on, wriggling them until they felt somewhere near comfortable. She didn't want to imagine how unattractive they made her look.
When Spike chuckled at her, she didn't have to.
Buffy stuck her tongue out at him and waved dismissively at the drill.
Still smiling to himself over how ridiculous Buffy looked, her small head framed by the giant yellow earmuffs, he lay on his back below the hole and fired the drill up again. He pulled the face guard down and braced himself as he started to drill into the rock.
Buffy let her eyes roam the recesses of the chamber below them as her hands toyed with the flashlight. She couldn't stop replaying the sight of Spike coming to her rescue and killing the vampire who had attacked her.
Was it always going to be like that whenever they were out together?
Would he always have her back the second she slipped up or was in danger?
Buffy surmised that he would because she would do the same for him and for the first time in what seemed like eternity, she felt safe. She couldn't deny that it was a nice feeling to have. After all the years of fighting countless demons alone or with her friends, she would finally have someone alongside her who could defend her if she needed it.
Not that she'd need it.
But it was a nice feeling to have.
Angel had protected her while on patrol and she'd been thankful for it, but Spike protecting her had a different feeling to it altogether. She knew Angel would have done anything to save her but she got the feeling that Spike would go beyond the limits of what Angel would sacrifice.
He'd die if it ensured that she'd survive.
Extending her senses and focusing on him, she closed her eyes and let her feelings wash away, only to have them replaced by his a moment later.
She frowned.
He felt tired.
His muscles were protesting over their current constant use when they had grown used to not being in demand. She could feel the struggle within him-the desperate need to keep the drill steady so he would break through the rock faster.
Buffy pulled the plug.
Spike sat up and lifted the visor. He looked at her wearily and then frowned as he saw she was the reason the drill had stopped.
"Give me the drill."
"No." Spike said flatly, but saw she wasn't going to take it as an answer.
"Give me the drill."
"No."
"I'm not asking you for the drill, Spike. I'm telling you to give me the damn drill." Buffy knit her brows and held out her hand.
"Why?" Spike frowned at her, not relinquishing his grip on the drill.
"Because you won't admit it but I know you're tired. You need a rest." Buffy watched his expression soften on hearing the note of concern in her voice. She kept her eyes locked with his as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Her heart hammered hard against her ribs. Taking a deep breath, she curled her outstretched hand up and crooked her finger. "Come here."
Spike blinked at her, unsure of why she wanted him to come to her but still getting the feeling that she was up to something.
He placed the drill down and took off the helmet, running his fingers over his platinum locks before moving slowly along the platform to her.
Buffy met his eyes again and tilted her head to one side. "You're weak still, I know you don't want that…you want to pretend that you're a hundred and ten percent again but I can feel you, Spike…I can feel that you're weak and you're tired. Drink."
Spike stared at his marks on her neck as he considered her words and her offer. They were nothing more than a few scabs and scars now. She was asking him to bite her again, to feed from her and inflict a new set of wounds on her throat. He slowly moved his eyes back to hers, and frowned.
"Angel will see." He said in a tone that expressed just how curious he was about her motives.
"It's a risk I'm willing to take. I need you strong, Spike. Feeling you this way…only makes me concerned about you…I feel like I can't concentrate. And since when have you needed someone to ask you to bite them?"
"Since I met you." Spike spoke the words quietly and moved his eyes to her neck. "Funny thing that…thought I'd bite you in a heartbeat, but turns out it doesn't feel right if it isn't consensual."
Buffy's stomach warmed up and flipped. From the look in his eyes, she could see that he was being honest with her and part of her wanted to thank him for not wanting to bite her without permission-only she remembered how well her last attempt to thank him for something went.
"It's always consensual, Spike." She blushed slightly on saying it out loud to him and could see by his widening grin that he'd picked up on the fact that she liked it.
Leaning towards her, Spike slipped into vampire guise and wrapped his arm around her waist, tugging her to him and holding her tight as he perused her neck. He was more fascinated than hungry, the thought of his grandsire seeing his own marks replaced by his childe's was too sweet a one to ignore. He brushed his lips against her neck and listened as she sighed out her breath, her head moving to grant him easier access.
Spike breathed in deeply and closed his eyes.
He was enthralled.
It wasn't just Slayer blood anymore, he was captivated by the thought that she was his-body and soul, blood and heart. He belonged to her now, was claimed by her and would be always unless she reversed it soon. He knew she didn't realise that by allowing him to feed from her she was strengthening their bond to the point where it was becoming irreversible. He didn't have the heart to tell her that of course.
He didn't have a heart.
Letting his teeth slowly puncture her throat he made the most out of it, relishing the way she bit back a moan and how her fingers threaded gently into his hair and held him against her. She was divine, a creature more perfect than any he'd imagined. She clung to him in the most exquisite way and he found himself clinging to her tightly in return.
Drinking deeply from her, he savoured each drop of blood that passed down his throat, feeling it melting into his veins and making him stronger as it became a part of him.
He'd never let her go.
It was just a matter of time before he made his move. He would wait for the moment; the very second that she showed him that she really wanted to be his and his alone.
Then she'd find that this claim between them now was just the beginning.
tbc... Also, this story is up in the Readers Choice Poll at the Vampire Kisses Awards, if you like it, please follow the link in my profile and vote for it! Thanks!
