"People who think their problems are so huge craze me. Like this time I sort of ran over this girl on her bike. It was the most traumatizing event of my life, and she's trying to make it about her leg! Like my pain meant nothing."

-Cordelia

Chapter 4

That was bloody brilliant!

Spike muffled his laughter as best he could, not really wanting to draw attention to himself as he replayed the last few minutes again and again in his mind. The little chit had tossed Angelus clear across the alley, like a rag doll, after she 'd pushed a stake to his back. It was beautiful. Then the little cheerleader had called him a stalker. Angelus a stalker. The thought of it tickled him somewhere inside and he found himself wiping tears from his eyes. Hell the little Slayer had just made his century. He'd never get that image out of his head.

After the laughter and tears subsided enough for him to move he glanced over the alley. Angelus still stood there, stock still, mouth gaping in confusion. Doubled him over with laughter all over again. Wheezing, for a breath he didn't need, Spike managed to clamber to his feet. Angelus was walking back into the night, shaking his head and grumbling softly to himself. For a moment Spike considered following him, after all he'd waited years to confront the sire who'd abandoned them. It was strange, that Angelus had just walked up to the Slayer with ,apparently, no intent to kill the chit. Not that he minded, the Slayer was definitely worth the time to kill. It was a shame though, she was a spunky little thing.

Shooting a curious glance at Angelu's retreating form Spike shrugged. He'd deal with the poof later, for now he wanted to wring as much entertainment as he could out of the Slayer. Who knew when another one like her would come around?

Ok so maybe she should've fined tuned the details a tad bit more. By the time she was done with Angel and back inside the Bronze both Willow and Jesse were gone. Growling low in her throat Buffy pushed through the crowd, offering only a quick "Hey, Sorry" to Cordelia as she continued on her way. Sighting her target she started yelling.

"XANDER! XANDER GET OVER HERE!" His head whipped around, eyes searching until he spotted her. He was obviously confused but he moved towards her quickly enough. Once he was in arms reach she locked her hand around his wrist and proceeded to drag him out. She barely felt his struggles, but did loosen her grip enough to prevent him from hurting himself.

"Hey Buffy what's wrong? Quit with the pulling would you? Oww"

"Shut up Xander. Look Willow walked out of her with creepy man extreme, when I came back in his buddies were talking about what he'd do to her. We gotta go get her Xander." She hadn't slowed her pace as she explained, hadn't needed to. Xander didn't love Willow, not in a romantic sense anyway, but he'd always been protective of her. The man would kill for her, she knew that. She'd seen it. So as expected as soon as Xander put Willow and Trouble together he was running full tilt. Thankful she didn't have to drag him anymore so she upped her speed. Adrenaline surged through her, she knew how things were suppose to go but Spikes unexpected appearance had unnerved her. His appearance meant that what should have been had already been fundamentally changed. Thus a lot of the rules had been tossed out the proverbial window.

Inspiration struck like lightning. Snake quick she pulled out the three crosses she had conveniently placed in her pocket before she'd gone to school. She was suppose to have given them to her friends earlier but Spike had distracted her, then Angel, it was a mess. Without explanation she forced one over Xanders head, pure silver. If he was curious about her actions he didn't say anything. His eyes so focused on the goal it almost reminded her of the warrior he'd become. Hopefully with less angst. They reached the crypt within minutes, Buffy bursting through the door just as Willow let out a horrified screech. Buffy almost smiled, she remembered this fight. More importantly she remembered the bitch in front of her.

"Well this is nice." Her voice was upbeat, damn near conversational. Xander was braced in the door way, shell-shocked. Poor guy, sooooo not his day, "A dash of paint, a few throw pillows, call it home." Same words, repeated now for the first time. Buffy hadn't moved from her space beside the door this time though, and the smile that flashed across her face was pure, unadulterated, hate.

"How ya doing, Darla?"

The blond vampire flinched, as if burned. Her younger, soon to be dusted, companion was moving towards her. Eying her up and down like a piece of candy.

"Who the hell are you?" Darla's hiss should have been threatening but Buffy found that without revolvers she was a lot less scary. Still smiling Buffy pressed the crosses into Xanders hands, not bothering on instructing him on what to do with said crosses. Pushing herself away from her place next to the door she strolled away from the hostages. Predictably the vampires followed.

"Buffy we bail now right?" She gave him points for sounding brave, too bad he had told her before that he'd been scared shit-less. She didn't blame him, she knew the feeling. As the male vampire snapped a quick, "Not yet." in Xanders direction Buffy found herself rolling her eyes. Sighing she shook her head, "You know usually I like the banter, the sarcasm, all that jazz but tonight I'm really not in the mood." Without further ado Buffy pulled a stake from the scoop of her shirt and promptly tossed it at the male vamp. It stuck him in the chest with an audible thud, he groaned, fell to the floor and poof. Grinning madly Buffy turned to Darla.

"I just love vampires, no clean-up necessary." Before Darla could retort, or even move for that matter, Buffy ran, propelled herself off the sarcophagus in the middle of the crypt, and used the momentum to land a devastating kick across Darlas face. Sending the blond vamp flying away from her friends. Taking a few steps back she reached down, grabbed her stake and, without turning around, started calling out instructions.

"Xander get Willow and Jesse out of here. Put the crosses on their necks now." Her tone left no room for argument. The added bonus of watching a man, who had looked perfectly normal one moment and then all gross the next, turn to dust made them more inclined to listen to her and get the hell out of dodge. She could hear the crosses hit their chests as the booked it out of there. Satisfied she'd done what she could for them her attention shifted to the now standing Darla. Fifteen year old Buffy would've hesitated. Memory Buffy was just plain pissed. Present Buffy was in perfect agreement with Memory Buffy. Darla opened her mouth to speak, Buffy never gave her the chance. She'd spent the last few months doing nothing but improving herself, pushing her body into a killing machine. Each muscle responding, on instinct, to what she desired. It was almost a dance, flowing like water one attack to the next. There was something satisfying in pummeling the blond vamp. To kicking her hard enough to make ribs crack, fists crunching against her nose so that blood dripped against the cold stones. Grasping the vamp by the arm she tossed her across the room where she landed in a heap. Buffy took her time walking over to the struggling woman.

"Who are you?" Darla ground out, fury evident in her voice. Buffy chuckled, readying the steak in her hand.

"You really don't know?" Buffy waited for that split second warning, the moment when Darlas eyes flashed to something behind Buffy. Ducking down she avoided the hand that had gripped her neck the last time around. Spinning she warded off a lunge. With a laugh Buffy pushed the stake deep into Lukes chest. Twisting it just a little before pushing him off of it, his body dust before he could hit the ground. Turning back she caught a fleeing Darlas foot and ripped her back to the ground. With another tug she was straddling the master vampire, stake pressed against the heart.

"You deserve worse than this for what you did to them." Pressure. Dust. Satisfaction.

It should have horrified her, did horrify her a bit, but it made no difference to her. Not really. Innocence and Future were interlocked so tightly together that the lines had begun to blur. Part of her was happy to feel her adrenaline pumping, that she had engaged in battle and come out the victor. Part of her understood that Darla, unlike Angel, Spike, and even Dru, was irrevocably irredeemable. She had no morals, no honor. She played dirty, cheated, killed anything and anyone in her way. She had created Angelus, letting loose a horror the world had never been ready for. She encouraged the torture that drove Drusilla insane, abused Spike with as much ferocity as Angelus had had. She lived to end the world, to end her own suffering. The innocent in her saw it as a mercy, the Slayer in her told her this was pure vengeance. Clapping broke the silence.

"Now that's impressive pet." The voice washed over her, heat pooled in her belly. Grinning Buffy turned.

There was no crowd of people in her way this time and she took a full minute to just look at him. His blond hair was slicked back, her fingers itched to run through the soft locks. His coat hung heavy around him, accentuating the paleness of his skin. He had a devil-may-care smirk on his face, blue eyes alight with mirth. She tried, desperately, to keep the her mind on the here and the now when flashes of slick flesh rubbing against her, holding her, blunt teeth biting where fangs wished to go assaulted her. Countless memories of him trying to kill her, him saving her, kissing him, touching him, fighting with him. She gave her head an imperceptible shake and leaned back against the sarcophagus. Her shirt rode up, giving him a peak of sun-kissed skin.

"William the Bloody." Her voice had lowered an octave. It was husky, inviting but still managed to retain a hint of her upbeat 'I've got better things to do with my time then deal with you're dumb ass' tone, "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

First she'd beat down and insulted Angelus in the space of a few seconds, then she had managed to kill Darla. Two master vamps in one night, the Slayer was getting more and more interesting by the second. Damn girl didn't even break a sweat. She had such fire. This Slayer burned, brighter than anything he had seen in a very very long time. She had enjoyed the fight, he could feel it rolling off her in waves. She hadn't hesitated in killing, neither had the other two Slayers, but she had taken such joy in the battle. He could understand that. Hardly a thing out there as sweet as a good fight. He hadn't meant to creep into the crypt, had had no intention of confronting the Slayer just yet but he had been drawn to her. He hadn't meant to start clapping but, honestly, the little minx deserved it. She was still rusty but she was more impressive than he had thought she'd be. He wasn't even surprised when she didn't jump at his voice. Between what he'd seen her do to Angelus, and now Darla he would've been disappointed in the girl. When she just stared at him he felt his hope for entertainment begin to die, that is until she began worrying her lower lip, eyes gleaming as they rolled down his body languidly.

When her eyes reached his face again she smiled again, a wicked thing, and leaned back against the sarcophagus behind her. His eyes were trained on the strip of skin that the action exposed. Damn shame she was so young. He was a bad man, a truly bad man, but he wasn't that bad.

"William the Bloody." Her voice made something inside him stir, a heat he had longed forgotten, "To what do I owe the pleasure?" She was a cheeky thing.

"Done your research, luv? Flattered, is what I am. But it's Spike and the pleasures mine."

"Not yet." She replied, flippantly. Spike felt himself smirk

"Ahh think you're tough then do ya Slayer? Took down a Master Vamp tonight, pet, but she was never much of a fighter. Got the jump on the old Poof too. That's two for two and my century just got a whole lot brighter for it. You wanna go a round pet? I'll have a gay old time with it."

"You think you can dance with me Spike?" She asked sweetly, her voice sugar and cotton candy. Patronizing. Part of him was furious, the rest of him enjoyed the verbal spar. Reaching casually behind him he ripped out a metal beam from the depths of the stone wall. Her nose wrinkled in mild disgust.

"Do we really need weapons for this?"

"They make me feel manly." His hand traced down his stomach, dipping just barely under the waist band of his pants. Her eyes zeroed in on the motion and Spike blurred forward, connecting the side of the pole with her unguarded shoulder. Slayer barely flinched. Chuckling her green eyes found his, "Oh do it again Spike." Her hand locked on the pole, pulling it back as she pulled herself forward, forcing their bodies to collide. He felt so good against her, all hard muscles and silk skin. Reaching with her free hand she ran her fingers through his hair, brought her lips against the shell of his ear, "It tickles. In a good way." She felt his arm tense and flipped out of his reach. The fire in his eyes warmed her, then he lunged. It took her all of two seconds to realize that he was still stronger than her, better than her. Two seconds to realize she wasn't ready for the dance, not yet. She'd overestimated herself but he had underestimated her. He still wasn't going at her with his full strength, she wanted to believe that he couldn't. That he wouldn't hurt her, not really, even when she knew that that belief was currently dead wrong. They traded blows, letting instinct take over. Her body seemed to know every move, as if she'd fought him a hundred times before. The dance of death creating a friction between them that had Spike hardening to the point of near madness. He swung, she dropped and swept him off his feet. In an instant she was on him, his stiff cock cradled between warm thighs. Buffy threw her head back and laughed, exhilarated. He made to grab at her, but she moved her arm to the side, caught the incoming fist and stopped it. Slowly, with sultry intent, she opened his fingers. Slipping the tip of a single digit into her mouth and sucking hard. His eyes flashed with heat. Pulling his hand away she locked their finger together and leaned over him, her breasts pressing against the impossible hardness of his chest. Her lips hovered above his, her eyes glittering mischievously. Taking a page out of Faith's book she allowed her lips to just barely brush his with every word.

"Still a little young, I know. Give me a year or two Spike and I could ride you at a gallop, until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up." To emphasize her point she pressed her thighs a little harder against him, pushing the core of her close enough that, had they been nude, he would have slipped inside her. "I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of." His eyes took on a peculiar glazed look, hooded as heat washed over him, "I could squeeze you till you popped like warm champagne and you'd beg me to hurt you just that little bit more." The last word escaped her with a soft breath, her lips immediately pressing firmly against his. Tasting and taunting, teasing and inviting. Spike's free hand tangled in her hair, pressing her lips closer, making her groan. At the soft utterance his tongue slipped inside and battle hers for dominance. She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. It could've been seconds, minutes, hours. He tasted like chocolate, hot and addicting, the warmth slipping down to her core. The heat seeping through her jeans and making him strain even harder against her. With a final taste she pulled herself away from him, chest heaving. He watched her still, confusion and lust warring inside of him. Gently she unlocked their hands, deftly slipping the skull ring (the same one he would one day propose to her with thanks to one of Willows wayward spells) from his fingers and placing it carefully on her ring finger.

She could see the focus coming back to his eyes, could feel his body tensing to push her away from him. She beat him to it, scrambling away from him as if finally realizing she was a child playing with fire. He was watching her, intrigued, and she flashed him another smile. Holding up her hand, showing off the ring she had taken from him.

"You'd best get back to Dru yes? I've got some clean up to do. Rematch in a year or two? Tell you what if you lose I keep the ring, I lose and i'll give you something you want."

He didn't answer, his demon too intent on the image of pulling her back against him and ripping her silly clothes off to give her what she'd been begging him for. To get what her words had promised. It pissed him off.

"A sip of Slayers blood." She took a step back, then another, even as he began to rise to his feet. With a look of longing she devoured him and then disappeared into the night. Aching and hot and needy but desperate to make sure her friends were all ok. She hadn't planned on that but, with the taste of him on her lips, she hardly cared.

Back in the crypt Spike was slowly coming down from the rampant lust that had brought his demon to attention, not to mention other more obvious parts of his anatomy. He was staring at the space the Slayer had occupied not a moment before with fascination. A Slayer with a taste for vampire was the only truly coherent thought that came to mind. He couldn't even bring himself to question how she knew about Dru, she'd known the rest of them. It wasn't hard to make the leap. The taste of her lingered in his mouth, strawberries. Fresh, wild, delicious. He ran a hand through his already tousled hair, remembering how her hands had glided through the locks with almost reverent consideration. His senses were in a whirl and in his mind all he could hear was her telling him how in a year or two she'd take him on. Ride him at a gallop.

"Bloody Hell."

I hadn't expected this chapter to go like this but having brought Spike to the here and now it would have been wrong not to torture him. Just a little.

valerie21601- Thank you for the compliment, makes me feel good ^_^. You're right though. You could say i'm practicing for the real thing.

KittenOfDoomag- It's a hard line to straddle, innocence and experience. I'm having a lot of fun trying to pull it off.

Thank you all for your reviews, I really appreciate them. Hope to keep seeing them, and reading about what you do and do not like about this story.

Next chapter will be posted sometime early next week if all goes according to plan.

Enjoy!