Be Mine

The sun brightly shined through the kitchen window of the Summer's house as Willow made a clean diagonal cut through the bologna and mustard sandwich. She smiled at Tara sitting across from her at the island and pushed the plate towards her feeling particularly proud at how delicious she made it look.

"Oh sweetie." She paused and produced a curly smile. "It's perfect."

"Well you know, there's the bologna, mustard, lettuce, some . . . magic spices and a piece of cheese- not that processed stuff, it's all natural and stinky."

"Did you say magic spices?" She frowned shyly.

"Well yea. With that whole thing you have today, I had to make it extra special just for you."

"Will that's nice. But I would really prefer it if you didn't put magic in the things I eat." She didn't do well to hide the lecturing tone so she smiled again. "It might make my stomach all wonky."

"Are you angry because I used magic?"

"It's just, it's just that you're starting to use it for everything; for everyday stuff and it isn't right."

Willow snorted. "What's going to happen? The witch and warlock police are going to arrest me? Tara it's just magic; harmless magic."

Tara picked up half a sandwich and held it up in her palm. Her innocent smile was gone, replaced with a twisted sinister one. "Just magic?" Her fingertips wriggled teasingly around the sandwich and she spoke in a voice that wasn't her own. "The time is now, for heads to roll. Willow darling, are you ready for the power to take its toll? Your friends better run because I burn from within. The clock strikes six, so let this deadly game begin." In a fiery flash, the sandwich disintegrated in her hand and as the atmosphere around Willow started to change, so did Tara. Her head started to warp into a mangled shape as her mouth widened showing monstrous canine teeth. Her eyes became angled slits that were pitch black. The shrieking laugh that came sent chills through Willow's body.

Willow backed away from the horrifying sight but she was too frozen to do anything else. The demonic looking Tara lunged forward to wrap her hands around Willow's neck. With heart racing, Willow sat up, her eyes open to a dark room. Thank god, it was just a. . . She looked to her right seeing the empty side of the bed.

Willow was breathing heavily as wet beads crawled down her back. After taking off her sweater, she laid back down and stared at the ceiling. The demon's rhyming words played through her head without much comprehension. She was starting to forget. Time for heads to roll? Clock strikes seven? six? Something about a game . . . Willow had a feeling the demon she absorbed from the blood stone had something to do with it. Maybe it was trying to get loose again. She looked at the digital clock to her left. It read 5:59. She waited a moment for it to strike six, expecting something to happen. Don't be stupid it was just a nightmare. The numbers changed to 6:00 and after a moment, she let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, something punched the center of her chest. The thumping got heavier and she grasped her chest in a panic. Her insides were burning, her lungs releasing hot air. She was losing control of the demon. She knew it, but there was nothing she could do to make it stop.

. . . .

The candle flames flickered against the stone walls as Spike put the cigarette to his lips. Just a moment ago, his crypt was full of people he couldn't care less for. Filling his peaceful room with their troubles; arguing over who was more of an idiot. The truth was: everyone including himself was an idiot. The only difference between them was how much idiocy they were willing to show. Buffy was in pain he could see that clearly. He planned to sneak over to her house and creep through her window. He just wanted to be with her, only he didn't know what he would say that wouldn't cause her to hurt even more. His hands touched the bottle of whiskey just as the crypt door creaked open.

"What's wrong love? Quarrelling keep you up all night?"

"No I- well yeah, Tara and Willow had a fight, but that's not why I left. I had to kind of sneak out of my window and jump off the roof so Dawn wouldn't think I was running away or anything."

"Right, because that's exactly what you don't do when you want to run away."

Buffy hugged her bare arms and looked to the floor.

"You, uh, wanna sit down?" He wiped the garbage from a stone bench and offered her the seat, which she accepted.

Neither said a word for about a minute when Buffy looked at him. "What do you see when you look at me?"

Spike frowned. "I see you Buffy. It's Drusilla's body, but you're inside it. There's no doubting that." He studied her bruised face and arms. "What happened?" He reached to touch her arm and was surprised when she didn't recoil.

"Oh. Vampire. Well two actually. Are steroids the new thing lately with you guys? One of them threw me ten feet in the opposite direction like I was a bag of groceries. Maybe it's just me but I honestly don't remember them being that strong. It's probably this body. A bit frail I think, no wonder Drusilla never wanted to fight me."

"Buffy." He sat down beside her and took her hands in his own. "You don't belong with them."

She looked confused. "I don't belong with who?"

"Buffy, you and I, we're the same now. You don't have to be afraid to be with me anymore."

Buffy stared at him for a moment then broke into laughter. "Are you serious?"

Spike got up from the seat feeling slightly hurt from her reaction.

"Well gee slayer, now that you're a vampire too come and be mine forever?" she said in an impersonating voice.

"Why do you do that?" he said sounding frustrated. "Why do you always hide your feelings. I saw you, back in the graveyard. You felt something for me I saw it." He was practically shouting.

"It was a life or death situation, I was just happy that we made it through alive! Of course only you would see it as a romantic occasion."

"Don't you get it slayer? Look at yourself. You really think you can have a normal life with your friends? There will be no more going out to the park on a sunny day. You'll always be drinking blood from a coffee mug. Let's not forget you don't even look like Dawn's older sister."

"Still not seeing any reason why I should abandon my friends to live with you. And, hello, I only go to the park at night to slay vampires."

"What about college? A job? You can say goodbye to those."

Buffy got up, her calm and controlled expression of Drusilla's face mimicked Buffy's. "I don't know alright? But I am not going to abandon my little sister for some pathetic love-sick vampire." She turned to leave and as she did, her black gown turned to pure white. Drusilla's hair fell softly on her soldiers and when she looked back to glace at him, she was glowing.

He stepped forward angrily to shout something hurtful back but the words faded. "Why did you come here?"

"I came here because," she paused and looked at the ground. "I didn't know what I was living for." She turned and walked out the door, closing it behind her.