He went back to the nest, as soon as he entered he closed his eyes and took a whiff, the smell of Scarlett's blood and her scent still lingering in the air. He looked around but there were no signs of his Zippo. Her car it is, he smiled to himself and took off. The first place he was gonna drop by was the bar from last night. He scanned the place around, but no signs of her. Spike ordered a whisky and sat at the bar, and after an hour of waiting he got anxious and left. His last option was the graveyard, and again, no signs of her after half an hour. Bloody hell, I'm outta places to search around. He knew he could track her down easily if he picked a slight trace of her scent. After last night he had it locked in big time. He could track her from miles away, if he knew where to start looking, so he wandered about until he finally picked it near a commercial area. unfortunately, it was a dead end.
He felt he was running out of options, except for one. He had to call her but he didn't want to, he didn't want to have to ask Angel for her phone number. Bloody hell, he sighed and punched Angel's number on his cell phone. "Hey boss man, need ya to gimme the bird's number. I remember she used my lighter to lit her smoke last night and forgot to give it back." He wasn't going to explain what really happened. "Well, I happen to be quite fond of that lighter, ok? Just gimme the bloody number already. Uh huh, uh huh. Got it," he ended the conversation and dialed Scarlett's number. After a few seconds, she picked up, "Hello?" Spike smirked and replied "Hello there, pet." Spike explained the reason of his call; he didn't want to sound merely interested on his lighter so he made up whatever small talk he could but soon ran out of topics, except for one: the happenings of last night, but he would rather discuss those personally. "All right then, I'll meet you there. And thank you, pet," he finished the conversation and headed to the location she had given him, which was the graveyard he visited before.
As he was crossing the street to the cemetery a bike raced to a stop next to him. It was Scarlett, and Spike gaped in awe. "Bloody hell, a Ninja?!" She nodded at him, and fished the Zippo out of her coat's pocket, "here it is, you indeed dropped it in the trunk." Spike lifted an eyebrow, "a convertible and a Ninja, no wonder you took offense at the whole lair thing." She laughed, "you should see my actual car. The one you saw is the one I use for hunting, I carry all my weapons and gadgets in it." Spike lit a smoke and looked at her incredulously, "you're making that up, pet." She chuckled, "fine, don't believe me if you don't want."
Spike couldn't help thinking once more about what she said last night, about passion and lust, he wanted to ask her but wasn't sure how to approach the subject. He didn't want to say anything that may infuriate her. So he decided he could bring up the subject of the agency he and Angel were planning on opening here. When his grandsire came up with the idea, Spike had wanted to stake himself, he didn't want to work on a bloody agency, least with Angel, no matter how that would help the helpless, nor he had wanted to live in London; but now he found himself wanting to live here, and if Scarlett agreed to help them out, he was more than eager to work in the bloody agency. But before he could even mention the subject, they both spotted a vampire and Scarlett was already in motion and drawing one of her swords. Spike chased right behind, outran her and tackled the foe, who managed to escape only to run into a wooden-pointed sword right though his heart.
They strolled around the cemetery. "That's one ingenious weapon you've got there, pet, well, actually two, if I remember correctly. Where did you get them?" "Custom made," she said as she draw the second one, "I don't really like stakes, they lack finesse. I used to fence a lot when I was child. I call them 'Pride' and 'Glory'." "You named your swords?," he asked incredulously. "Their names are engraved, see?" she replied while pointing at the markings. Spike was truly impressed, these were indeed very fine weapons. He noticed the fine craftmanship in the metal setting framing the wooden ends. "I have a second set with no wooden ends. That set is called 'Pain' and 'Suffering', and I also have a set of daggers with wooden ends like these swords" she added proudly. Spike lifted an eyebrow, "you have a weird fixation for bloody sharp objects that are deadly for our kind." Scarlett shrugged, "I guess so, I just happen to like weapons, any sort of weapon." He chuckled, "yeah, I remember you had that trait back when you were al-", he stopped when he realized where this conversation was heading to. Although last night at the bar the three vampires talked about Scarlett's death, the subject of Spike being somewhat responsible for it wasn't mentioned in front of her. He didn't know how would she react. But then again, if she had been angry, she wouldn't have slept with him.
"Alive?" she finished for him and Spike nodded, "I guess I should say I'm sorry, if that means anything, you must have been really furious for turning into the thing you were born to kill," he truly meant the words. "Don't be sorry, those were the rules of our nature. Slayer kills vampire, vampire kills Slayer," she said and before she continued, Spike added, "true, but you didn't kill me, you didn't follow that rule." She continued, "like I told you earlier, there was a reason why, besides, you didn't have a soul back then. And for the record, you didn't kill me, it was your crew. Yeah, I heard them mention your name while we were fighting. And no, I wasn't furious that I died, nor that I became a vampire, I was still me with all my sense of righteousness and wanting to do good on my own terms, at my own pace, without depending on anyone, feeling free. I lasted long enough and it was my time. The only downside was the people I left behind." Spike stopped on his tracks, "hold on, free? You didn't want to be the Slayer anymore?" Scarlett lit a cigarette and took a drag, "no, I did want to be the Slayer, it's just that some stuff got kind of overwhelming and spun my head." "What stuff?" he asked. "It's kind of personal," she replied. "Excuse me, luv, but after last night I don't think that the embarrassed card applies," Spike realized what he said and silently cursed himself. This wasn't the way he wanted to bring up that particular subject. "I'm sorry," he said when he noticed her surprised look. Scarlett took a deep breath and another drag, "It's ok, everybody knows where a man's brain is located at," she chuckled then stopped walking and got serious, facing him, "just because I have a particular style it doesn't mean I'm easy or a slut. What happened last night was completely out of character from my part."
Spike felt at a loss and slightly annoyed, "let me guess, you are gonna tell me you feel disgusted with yourself for doing all those things we did. Let me tell you something, pet, I've heard that one before and she kept crawling back to my door for more. You enjoyed it bloody well as I did." She put her hands on her hips, "no, I didn't feel disgusted at all, I indeed bloody well enjoyed it. What I'm saying is, don't get the wrong idea with me. You don't know me, you don't know why I let that happen. I don't want to be used, I'm not a toy, ok?" she replied angrily and stormed off to where her bike was parked. Spike chased after her, "I said I'm sorry, ok?" Scarlett started the engine and looked at him, "and I heard you, good night," she sped off and was gone before Spike could say anything else. Bloody brilliant, well done, Spike.
He wandered around for an hour before going back to the club. He was hoping Scarlett would be there but she wasn't. A full bottle of whisky later he decided to call her but she either didn't want to answer or was busy. He was upset at her but mostly he was upset at himself. He was completely attracted to her, and that attraction grew stronger once he tasted her blood. Their chemistry last night had been volatile, wild and raw. He really liked that, she had surrendered herself completely to him, and now she's in a righteous position? Why? What am I missing? His cell phone ringing interrupted his thoughts and was surprised when the caller ID showed Scarlett's number. He was even more surprised when she told him she would meet him at the club.