Chapter 9

Buffy strolled down the street, her head filled with thoughts about a certain platinum blond vampire. She walked up to her front door and looked for her keys, not wanting to wake Dawn.

She found them and didn't see the dark clad figure that emerged from the shadows.


"Finn?"

"Yeah, it's me."

"I followed her, like you told me to."

"And?"

"Hostile #17."

Riley felt the anger course through his veins.

"I'll take care of it."

Riley thought back at the call, his blood boiling with rage and walked up to the tree that stood in Buffy's garden. He smirked as he took up a paper and stuck it to the tree with a knife. 'That will teach the bitch…' He snored and spit on the ground; an evil laugh almost escaping his lips.


Buffy sighed happily as she closed the door behind her.

"B-buffy, you're…home," Buffy turned when she heard the gentle voice of Tara.

"Hi Tara!" Buffy chirped.

"Can we talk…?" Buffy's smile faded at the serious tone in Tara's voice.

"Sure," she answered "let's go into the living room…"

Tara smiled a little. "I don't think that would be such a good idea…"

Buffy frowned. "Why not?" Tara gestured to the living room, and Buffy laughed a little. Sprawled across the entire room were the Scooby Gang, sleeping.

"I see… Well, why not go up to my room?"

Tara nodded in response and followed Buffy up to the second floor.

When they were seated comfortably on Buffy's bed, Tara took a deep breath, and said;

"Buffy… Riley was here earlier tonight."

Buffy paled and swallowed. "He didn't look to happy," Tara continued. "I could feel his anger… His aura was very dark."

Tara could feel Buffy's discomfort and lay a hand on her shoulder. "Buffy… Is there a problem between you two?"

Buffy bit her lip and stared into the wall. Tara stood up to leave, not wanting to force Buffy to tell her.

Tara stood in the doorway when she heard Buffy's voice.

"He hit's me, Tara," she said.

Tara returned to Buffy's bed, a pained expression on her face.

"What?" Buffy looked up at Tara.

"It has been going on for awhile… But he's been getting rougher." Buffy touched her ribs.

Tara saw the gesture. "He did that to you?"

Buffy nodded. She looked up at Tara with tears of anger in her eyes.

"I don't know why… But I've been so stupid. I thought he only did it because there was something wrong with me… Because I wasn't good enough. But…" She fingered on the necklace she wore.

Tara smiled slightly. 'At least she has understood that there's nothing wrong with her… It's Riley that's the problem.' She pulled Buffy into a soft hug, and she could feel the Slayer's tears falling down on her shoulder.

They sat like that until Tara felt Buffy's body relax, and she lay the sleeping Slayer down on her bed. She smiled at the way Buffy's aura calmed down when she slept. Then she saw the necklace Buffy wore.

'That's pretty…' She lifted the necklace from Buffy's neck and lay it down on the nightstand. 'Oh, it has an inscription…' Her eyes widened as she read it.

I love you /William

She looked at Buffy who had a slight smile on her face. 'William… Who's William?'

Then understanding dawned on her face.

"Spike…?" Tara whispered slightly shocked, but decided to leave it for the moment, and went down to sleep beside Willow on the couch.


Next morning Buffy felt oddly calm. 'All that crying must've drained me or something… I have to find a way to thank Tara… at least she didn't find out about…'She absently fingered for her necklace, when she found that she wasn't wearing it anymore. She sat up frantically searching for it. She found it on the nightstand and let out a sigh of relief. 'Tara probably took it of me…' She saw that the necklace lay with the inscription upwards. 'Oh, shit! Tara isn't stupid… She must've figured it out… I have to talk to her!'

She sprinted out of bed and found a note on the kitchen table.

Buffy,

We're out for breakfast; we didn't want to wake you…

We'll talk when we get home, ok?

Hope you're fine!

/Tara (and the rest of the gang)

Buffy sighed and went upstairs. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror. Her eyes were puffy and her hair was a mess. 'Maybe it is good that they've gone out…" She stepped into the shower and let the cool water make her forget about the bad memories for awhile.

After putting on a dark green sundress, Buffy went down to have breakfast.

Everything she found was an empty juice box, so she sighed and sat down by the kitchen island. She sat and looked out through the window.

Then something white, fluttering in the wind, caught her eye.

She frowned and got up from her seat, and walked out to the unknown object. She gasped when she got a better look of the bloodstained paper that sat stuck to the tree, thanks to a knife.

You lying pathetic whore. Since I'm your loving fiancé, I would just like to warn you that if you want your precious William the Bloody not to be dust, I suggest that you come home, and stay there.

She ripped the note down and tried to hold her tears back. Would this nightmare never end?

She took a deep breath and a thought came to her mind. ´Didn't somebody see this? After all they went out for breakfast… Maybe they don't care about me…'

She pulled herself together and decided to go to the only place she could find peace. She ran as fast as she could, afraid that something had already happened to Spike.


Tara had gone up the stairs to wake Buffy, and when she came running down with a worried look in her eyes, Willow understood that something was wrong.

"She's not there," Tara said.

Xander came in through the door and held up a knife. "Look what I found in the tree!" He exclaimed "Now, I know that Buffy likes to play with knives but she doesn't have to overreact!"

Tara frowned and backed away from the knife. She didn't like weapons.

Willow, on the other hand took one step closer to Xander. "Can I see it?" Xander gave her the knife. "It's got blood on it…" I could probably do a spell to see who the blood belongs to."

Tara sighed quietly but let Willow do it anyway. After all, it was for the sake of Buffy's safety.


A/N Sorry for the non-Spuffiness… I will REALLY make it up to you in the next chapter. )

I have to tell you something, everytime I try to write Riley's name, something goes wrong and it comes out like Roleu, or Rilep. Something like that.. I know we probably don't have the same keyboards around the world but, hey. )

I think that's a sign that Riley is evil.

/Anna