Chapter 27: Vampire Tears

Disclaimer: No ownership. I've got most of the DVDs, though!

Rating: I think I'm boring everyone to death repeating the same thing each time. See the first fourteen chapters if you haven't, yet :)

A/N (Ah, thanks to Dieu Anonyme, Blu, and Kim! You all gave me the motivation to get this one out quickly! Thank-you for not denying me the pleasure of coming back to review-alerts, all of you:D. I'm glad you liked Spike's bantering, Dieu Anonyme, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story, Blu. : ). Brian and Mia are quite minor characters, but they will be making a few reappearances as the series go on, and I know the part with Dawn was a bit strange, but just think of it as one of the several reasons this is AU.

So thanks for reviewing again, people! Now onto our regularly scheduled chapter. Enjoy!)

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The air rushed past my face as I ran. Lights sparkled on and off in front of me, and the night air enveloped my body familiarly, almost like a blanket.

Why am I running?

It was a good question that I didn't want to answer. Such a good question that I ignored it.

The night was burning. Cool, but like fire as something bit inside me, gnawing away at my liver. The stars shone subduedly, caught by waves of clouds and pale next to the comforting moon, dripping of silver. A night of secrets unwound and nature unfolding.

Yeah, I can 'wax lyrical' as Giles would say when I'm upset. So sue me. It's probably because I'm channelling someone else who can speak like that. I jerked back to the present, watching the cemetery speed past. I would find no refuge there tonight. Or would I? I did a quick about-turn, and just as I entered the iron-wrought gates, I saw a shadow sneaking by. Instantly, my Slayer senses registered it as part of the non-heartbeat society

"Isn't this my lucky day?" I commented viciously. The vamp turned towards me. For a second, I thought she looked familiar, but I brushed it away. Just because she was blonde didn't mean anything.

"Oh cra…"

"Yeah," I smiled. I don't think it was a very nice one. "What are you up to this time?"

"Me? But you don't even…"

She hit me first, but I saw it coming a mile away. I let her. It pulled me straight back into my body, back into the body that let me pour out all my rage. Her claws raked across my cheek, but I relished the pain. I came in with a left uppercut that sent her reeling backwards, and then I spun around in a high-kick. Each blow vented my anger and my hurt.

I slowly descended into some place in the depths of my being that frightened me. It wasn't the same primeval feeling that had swamped me when I'd fought Adam. It was something lighter than that. Like a pale shadow of it. Somewhere along the way, another two vamps had joined in. I concentrated on them, as the female vamp lay dazed against a headstone. I only noticed the tears as I started to choke on them.

"Buffy!"

The words finally seeped through my rage. They were hoarse, almost scratchy, as if the owner had been running for a long time, and then shouting for a long time. I recognized it after a dim moment of searching, and the anger blazed anew.

"Go home, Riley," I growled. It sounded feral in my ears, and by the startled look on his face, I knew to him it probably sounded even worse.

"Buffy…"

"Go home!" I snarled, even as the vampire in front of me turned to dust. I almost screamed in frustration. Spike told me later that I looked like I was about to hit him. Well, of course, not in those words. More like that with lots of 'pricks' and 'bloody hells' and 'you should have' and such.

Instead, I ripped the stake out of his hands, and tossed it away. I kicked the other vamp in the head to give us a few seconds reprieve, and then turned back to him.

"Riley, get out of here now."

He shook his head. "No, let me explain…"

"There is no explaining! You don't need to explain anything! Just get out of my sight!"

"No, you…"

To this day, I wonder what would have happened if I'd hit him. I was so tempted to. The Powers knew I was tempted. I don't even know how I stopped myself. Instead, I ignored him completely and utterly. As the vamp rose, I began beating him to within an inch of his life. Riley tried to help, but as one of my blows almost broke a rib, he knew it was useless. But when he somehow managed to get in from behind, and the vampire crumbled, I just turned to the female as she groggily rose.

"Buffy…"

I didn't reply. He stood there helplessly, as this time, I left him no openings.

So he tried another tack.

"Buffy, I know you're listening to me. Honestly, I didn't know. I'm sorry. But I didn't sleep with her. I slept with you. Can't you understand that?"

Spike knew. How come you didn't?

He obviously couldn't read me. He kept going.

"You know I wouldn't do something like that on purpose."

Punch.

Crack.

Blood.

High kick.

Thud.

Blood.

"Come on, Buffy. We've been through some tough times together…"

Were you there when I died? When I had to face Angelus? No, I didn't think so.

Punch.

Cry.

Tears.

Warm.

Liquid.

Blood.

"And I know you…"

You don't know anything about me.

Punch.

He gave up, then and just stood there for about five minutes, watching helplessly as I reduced the vampire to stolen blood and crushed bone.

Then he turned away, sickened, and I felt him leave. Physically.

I felt salt stinging cuts on my hand, and startled, I looked at her. Actually did.

Two words hit me.

Beautiful.

Crushed.

Had I really ever looked? Into the faces?

She was beautiful, even through the ridges of her gameface. Or she had been, before I'd crushed her. Tears ran down her cheeks. I stared. Tears?

"What the…?"

Golden eyes glittered as her gameface contorted in pain. "Why are you doing this?"

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly, I felt the anger drain out of me. It was her eyes. Golden and unblinking.

She leapt at me, then, when I was caught off guard. Slammed my shoulder to the ground with a sickening thud, but regaining my senses, I levered my legs underneath her and sent her flying. She collapsed this time, and I knew she wouldn't get up again.

I got the strangest feeling as I finally dusted her. Her golden eyes followed me the whole way, as I raised the stake and plunged it down into her chest. And then I stood, watching the wind lift the ashes away.

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I could tell that she felt my presence then. Perhaps she'd felt it all along, but she didn't even turn around. Just stood there, staring at sky and air as the breeze danced through the trees and took the remnants of a creature of the night with it.

"I never knew vampires cried," she whispered.

"Didn't Peaches ever cry in front of you?" I snorted. "Just like him, the old…"

I deliberately left my sentence hanging as she tensed. I prepared myself to dodge, but the fist never came. Instead, she raised her eyes to the stars.

"You know what? I never really actually got it when the science teacher said each of those stars supported an x number of planets, and then an x number of life. But then they die, don't they?"

"And we still see them, long after they die," I murmured, wondering. What flight of fancy had caught m… the Slayer's eye?

"Yeah," she shivered, and without thinking, I took off my precious leather duster and offered it to her.

She looked at me, shocked, and I suddenly realized how stupid I looked. "What are you doing?"

"Um… well… you're cold… so I… I…" growling in frustration, I slung the coat on again. "Forget it."

She stared at me oddly, and I felt the sudden urge to close my eyes and wait for the inevitable. But then, most astoundingly of all, she smiled. Tiredly.

"Thanks. I… what would Giles say? Appreciate the sentiment."

"No problem," I said gruffly.

We started walking. Or rather, she started walking, and I followed her. I got a strange sense of déjà vu. Which was strange, considering… I don't know. It was just strange. The two of us, walking out in the open. Not patrolling, not fighting, nothing. Just walking. Oddly, I felt like reaching out to her. The prick had driven his sword in right well, even if she wasn't showing it. Nothing but the blood on her hands showed that. And her eyes, and the way she walked, but…

"You should wash those," I said softly.

"Huh?" she stared at me, coming back from wherever she'd drifted off to.

"The cuts," I pointed at her bruised hands. "Just in case they get infected."

She gave me another 'look'. "Bollocks," I snarled. "I was just trying to help. If you don't…"

The night was becoming stranger and stranger. On one hand, I wanted to run the hell away from her to my crypt, and push all my thoughts away and get drunk. On the other hand, I wanted to stay, I wanted to…

Bloody hell. Didn't know what I wanted.

"Yeah," she said slowly, bringing me back to reality this time. "I probably should."

She kept on walking, but I stopped and stared.

What was that?

Had the Slayer just agreed with me?

"W-w-what?"

She turned around and raised an eyebrow inquiringly as I gaped like a fool. "What?"

I shook my head, and caught up to her in three quick strides. "I'm sorry, Slayer, but did you just agree with me?"

She stopped this time in midstride, and her eyes went wide. "My God, I did, didn't I?"

I looked around theatrically. "Hello?" I called. "Where's the apocalypse?"

Unbelievably, she laughed, and whacked me on the shoulder. "Cut it out. I'm sure I've agreed with you before."

I snorted. "Like hell. Anyway, how 'bout I patrol for the rest o' the night? You're lookin' a little knackered. Go home and wash the blood off. Get little bit to help you, or Mum."

Just like the Slayer, she only focused on the last bit. "Since when did you start calling my mother 'Mum'?"

"Since whenever I decided to," I retorted. "I don't know, don't keep a bloody calendar kicking around. Besides, she that I could."

Again, that studying, speculative look. "How'd you two get so close?"

I coughed into my sleeve. "Just talks," I said weakly. "Anyway, as I said, I can patrol for the rest o' the night. You go get some rest and look after those hands."

As if my words had actually made her realize how tired she was, she suddenly sagged like a… like a… like a sagging, beautiful Slayer, I guess. "Would you… really?"

In the face of her hopefulness and little girl smile, I felt my undead heart seep into my ribs and trickle down into my insides. I swallowed. "Yeah, sure, love."

I watched her stride away, but at the cemetery gates, she suddenly turned around.

"Hey, Spike!"

"What?"

"Thanks!"

She was gone before I could clear the blissful stars from my eyes. I was ecstatic. For no reason.

Very manly, of course, in my glee. Really I was. No dancing around in the graveyard, this time. Kept it to m'crypt, after the patrol.

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Daniel's breath misted in front of him as they hurried along the pavement. Occasional cars slid past, and scattered unevenly ahead of them were shops still open, casting their fluorescent light across the street. But still, Cassandra held his hand in a death-grip.

"This isn't good. This isn't good."

"Relax," he tried to comfort her, even though his own heart was beating painfully fast. "What could possibly happen?"

She tightened her hold, and he winced. "Do I even have to answer that?"

He thought about it. "No, I don't think you do."

The street slowly blurred into darkness broken only by lamps positioned erratically along their path. Cass quickened her pace, and Daniel along with her, not daring to talk anymore. A hidden instinct seemed to sweep over the both of them. They weren't quite running yet, but they were close.

Out of the blue, Daniel stopped. Just like that. And Cass almost got her arm wrenched out.

"What?" she hissed.

He didn't reply. He merely pressed a finger to her lips. That was when she heard it.

A whispered chanting drifted past her ears, carried on the light wind that ghosted through the trees. From ahead, a soft, slightly incandescent blue glow caught their eyes.

Daniel took a step towards it.

"Daniel!"

He placed his finger to her lips again, and continued. Helpless to resist, Cassandra crept along with him silently as they neared their destination, and the chanting grew louder.

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