Chap 3- Blood and Smokes

Blood swam. Blood flowed. It glistened and shined and glimmered. A thick, sweet metallic tang cleansing his mouth and gliding down his throat. All hot and life-like. Making him warm, making him whole…making him feel. Plus, it's probably filled with some alcoholic drink that'll make me deliciously numb soon.

Spike took another drink of his spiked blood (no pun intended) and looked around. He was at Willy's. Where else would he be when he wanted to get sloshed and forget about everything? Including the slayer. She had been confusing the hell out of him lately with her roller coaster of emotions.

"I mean sure, the chit got pulled outta heaven, that stings yeah, but can't she take it out on the people that actually did it and not the fella who loves her and is trying to help her?"

He noticed other demons staring at him and realized he had said that out loud.

"Bugger. Drink must be working then. Give us another one, Willy."

"Yeah. Yeah, sure, Spike. Comin' right up."

Buffy. Buffy. Buffy. No matter what he did it always came back to her.

"An' the girl will never know wha' the hell she soddin' wants. Like I said…seventy-six bloody trombones…"

Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he was talking out loud again…but he just didn't care. His accent got thicker the more he drank and he was losing control of his t's.

"I mean, come on, could she decide already! One day she hates me, then we're allies, then we're friends, then we kiss, and now she's back to hating me. I know last year she just hated me but at least she was consistent."

And yet…and yet he wondered.

There was something different about her the other night in the graveyard. Something…changed.

"Girl troubles man?" said Willy in an attempt to get more money and possibly useful information and demon gossip out of him. But, Spike was just pissed that Willy broke his train of thought. Which, seeing that he was drunk, was going kinda slow already.

"Piss off, Willy. I'm not in the mood." he growled at him. Willy took the hint and left.

Pulling his pack out, Spike lit a fag and continued to think about Buffy. Had he been imagining things? Had he really become so pathetic that his hopeful, wishful thinking was becoming a delusion? For some reason he didn't think so. There was something in her eyes that night. She had some kind of realization and it had scared the crap out of her.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he rubbed his eyes and stretched a bit. He could already feel himself sobering up. Stupid vampire stamina.

"Come on mate. You're not going to figure out the mystery that is Buffy Summers here."

He put a few bucks on the counter and left the bar.

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He walked through the cemetery hoping to run into a demon or two. It would take his mind off her. Besides, it was almost sunrise and he usually needed a spot of violence before bedtime. Lucky for him violence that night was in pretty good supply.

Four vamps were walking through when they spotted Spike. They were decked out in typical vampire fashion. The one in the middle with fuzzy hair was an older, more experienced demon, but the other three were fledglings.

"Hey look it's the Slayer's pet vampire William the Formerly Bloody!"

They all started laughing at the ring leader's dumb joke. Spike, however, just ignored them and started fighting. He wanted a good brawl, not an exchange of pathetic verbal barbs.

He quickly dusted the two on the right and chuckled as the one on the left ran away. That left Fuzz Head. He snarled at Spike, "Please, you think you're so tough. They were just fledglings. But, I'm gonna be a challenge for you."

"And that's exactly what I was looking for, mate." he said with ferocious fangy grin, his usual blue eyes turning a deep golden yellow.

They exchanged punches and kicks. Back and forth and back and forth. Fuzz Head wasn't half-bad for such an idiot, even though Spike could've killed him by now. But then who would he fight? After a few minutes though, his smug grin was just pissing Spike off. So, he kicked his legs out from under him and plunged the stake into his heart.

"Well it wasn't that great, but it was good enough" he said to the rapidly disappearing dust.

"I'll bet you say that to all the vamps" a voice said behind him.

He turned around, a bit startled, "Buffy?"

Oh the suspense…yes, I can be evil ;) Next chap: Buffy and Spike finally talk. Please review!