Everything had spiralled into chaos all at once, what was once a normal school day had turned into a nightmare. Whilst having breakfast with Eris and Dawn, Joyce had suddenly collapsed to the ground after forgetting where she was and even who her daughter was. It was terrifying, but luckily Eris was there to help keep Dawn calm and have the ambulance called to take Joyce to the hospital.
She had called Buffy as soon as they arrived and it wasn't long before her and Riley showed up. The Doctors hadn't finished doing tests on Joyce but they expected her to not be in any serious condition. Riley, however wasn't.
Dawn had used a stethoscope to play around and hear everyone's heartbeat and that was how she discovered that Riley's heart was beating faster than what the human heart could handle. He was rushed into a room where it was discovered he had a heart rate of 150 which was within heart attack range. The doctors tried to keep him in the hospital for observation, but he refused, he could barely keep still, and it worried Buffy immensely.
They had eventually taken Joyce home once she was deemed healthy, but Buffy couldn't relax, there was something wrong with Riley but he wouldn't see reason. They needed the Initiative.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? Getting the Initiative involved?" Eris had tagged along with Buffy after she tried to get in touch with the government. If they were spying on Riley, then hopefully they listened when the Slayer said he was in trouble.
"It's our best shot of helping Riley, Eris."
"It's going to piss him off."
"He can be angry at me all he wants; his health is more important."
"You were right to call us," a deep, masculine voice could be heard behind them, one that made Eris tense up and Buffy look at her in worry.
She turned around to see brown hair that she had once loved to run her fingers through, "Graham," she said in a stern voice, trying her hardest to hide her pain and anger at seeing him.
He seemed to have a similar feelings in him as he stared at her, "Eris, good to see you again."
"Not really."
"Sorry to interrupt this but, we need to talk about Riley," Buffy interjected, she needed to help Riley and it would be hard if her cousin got worked up.
"You're right," Graham took one last look at Eris before giving his attention to the Slayer, "I tried to talk to him, tell him we can help him, but he ended up attacking us and running away."
"So, you messed up and now he's gone, and when are you even gonna tell me what's wrong with him?"
"I'm not permitted to say."
"Say."
Graham heard the slight plead to Eris' voice, making him feel like he couldn't say no to her. All his military willpower disappeared when he looked into her eyes, "hyper-adrenal overload and a bunch of stuff that sounds even worse than that, and all it means is he's way stronger than he ought to be and feeling no pain. His heart can't take it. We've been at him for week about it."
"You've been in Sunnydale for weeks?" hearing that didn't sit well with Eris, knowing that he was in town and stayed away from her.
"We were assigned here for Riley," was his simple answer, making her feel even worse, "there's a specialist waiting at Sunnydale General, fourth floor, neurology, get Riley there, cause if you don't-"
"I'll get him there."
"I'll tell the doc, and Buffy…"
"If you tell me to hurry, I'll kick your ass," the Slayer grabbed her cousin and pulled her along, not letting her stay to talk to Graham. It would only cause more pain and now was not the time for Eris to spiral into emotional turmoil again.
And as much as Eris wanted to stay, when she saw Graham walk away without looking back she realised that it may have been the best choice.
The Slayer and her cousin had tried to get into contact with Riley, but when they couldn't they realised he had gone into hiding. Instead the went searching at various placed he frequented but when they couldn't find him they decided it was better to head to the Magic Shop and round up the gang, "Poor Riley," Willow commented after Buffy explained the situation.
"Could he have gone back to his apartment?"
Buffy shook her head, wanting so much for that to be true, "no Giles, he's not at his apartment, he's not at the gym or the library, he's gone somewhere where he doesn't want to be found."
"So basically, he's gone AWOL," said Anya.
"Basically exactly."
"Poor Buffy," Eris agreed with Willow and wrapped an arm around her cousin, rubbing her shoulder softly in an attempt to comfort her.
"Maybe he just needs some time alone," Xander offered helpfully, "Like, I had this friend once who really liked this girl and...he got all worried that she didn't like him back and maybe that made him act like a total jerk, maybe Riley reminds me of that friend."
"What are you talking about?" Willow asked as she gave him a confused look.
He realised he may have made it too obvious that he was talking about the time he liked Buffy and looked down at his hands in embarrassment, "Then again, maybe not, maybe he just wants attention."
Buffy didn't seem to notice, and neither did she care, she was too consumed with her worry for Riley and her frustration in his disappearance, "well here's a hot tip for you, if you want attention, be there so people can give it to you."
"I care about you, Xander," Anya said in a flirtatious tone as she leant in and nudged his shoulder with her's.
Xander smiled slightly, "Thanks."
"Don't be insecure."
"...Thanks, I won't."
"Cause I also have this 'friend' and I have it on really good authority that she really likes that guy, your 'friend' and by the by, my friend-"
"You guys, enough!" Buffy snapped loudly and harshly, making everyone go silent, she didn't have time for this, "Ok Riley is in real danger here," she forced herself to calm down by taking a few long breaths, "Anya, Xander, why don't you check the docks," the pair nodded and quickly left.
"Tara and I can scope out the burned-out school," said Willow, "Riley hid there once, maybe he feels it's homey or something."
"Homey, you know what else he might find homey in a dank, unpleasant, evil sort of way? The initiative caves, but I don't know them too well."
"Eris does have an associate who knows those caves like the back of his melanin-deprived hand," Giles said helpfully as he took a sip of his tea.
Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes, knowing exactly who he was talking about, "I so don't wanna deal with Spike right now, guy is really trying to bug me in that special 'I wanna shove something wooden through his heart' way."
Willow nodded in agreement, "he does seem extra twitchy lately, maybe the whole not killing is getting to him."
"You're his…friend, can you go ask him? He might say yes to you."
Eris sighed but nodded to her cousin, "not sure if he sees me as a friend, but I was going to suggest that anyway, I'd rather not risk him saying no when Riley is in danger."
Eris arrived at his crypt and knocked loudly, but when she heard no answer, she got irritated and impatient and instead she slammed it open and marched in, "Since when do you force your way in?" he asked in curiosity as he walked over to her.
"Since you didn't answer," she shot back, "look, I need help, Riley is sick and he's missing, you're the only person who knows the initiative caves well enough to find him, we need to bring him to the hospital so the doctors can get to him in time."
"Is the man with the stick up his ass sick? Is he gonna die?" Spike looked excited at the idea.
Eris huffed angrily, not in the mood with his behaviour, "look if you won't do it for me then how about cash," she pulled a stack of cash out of her pocket and showed it to him.
"Fine, but I want half now," she huffed again and pushed it into his chest.
"Ok, just please hurry, I need to head back the magic shop in case Riley shows up there," without another word she marched off with Spike glaring at her back. He even ignored when Harmony got out of the coffin he was that angry. Buffy was using his friendship with Eris to get him to do whatever she wanted because he didn't like the thought of saying no to her.
"Not this time," he muttered to himself, he didn't care at that moment if he hurt Eris, his need to hurt and kill the Slayer overwhelmed him, like a fire consuming a forest. It could not be tamed, only fanned and spread to do as much damage as possible, "Harm get your coat, we're going to go see a doctor."
Spike stood perfectly still, his eyes trained on an angry raven haired woman, she knew he had kidnapped the doctor and used him to get the chip out of his head. And when he thought it was gone then immediately tried to kill Buffy, luckily the doctors lied and did not infact remove the chip, "it's been nearly 6 hours, I've been waiting for either you or Buffy to show up."
Eris glared even harder, rage filling her entire body, "what do you expect when you tried to kill Buffy," she pulled out a stake from inside her jacket and pointed it at him, "right now I honestly feel like staking you," she stormed up to him, nearly chest to chest with the bleach blonde vampire.
He was unphased with the threat of his death and glared right back, "you know what," he suddenly ripped off his shirt and threw it to the floor, exposing his muscular, pale chest, "do it."
"What?" she looked confused, the arm holding the stake falling to her side.
"I'm sick of this, having this chip in my brain, being unable to do what I was born to, having you take over my life and change who I am. End this," she held up her stake, ready to stake him and end his misery like he longed for.
However, the moment he looked into her eyes something seemed to snap within him, and without another thought he grabbed her arms and pulled her to him, smashing his lips against her in a passionate and fiery kiss. At first, she gasped and pulled away so she could look up at him with shock. He thought she would stake him right there but instead she walked back to him and gently grabbed his face, now it was she who smashed her lips against his.
With lust consuming them both, heir bodies pressed against each other's, hands roaming every inch they could touch. He trailed kisses down her neck, loving the mewling sounds she was making. He wanted so much more, he wanted all of her, so he grabbed her leg and pulled it up onto his hip, making her pussy press against his hardening cock. They both moaned as the friction caused a wave of pleasure, "Spike… I want you," she moaned out in a lustful voice.
"Eris I love you…God I love you so much…"
Spike suddenly gasped loudly and jerked himself up into a sitting position on his bed, his eyes were wide as he realised it was all a dream. His body was vibrating, and adrenaline and arousal coursed through him, "Oh God no…" he said loudly, not caring about the sleeping Harmony, "no…please no."