Chapter 3
When Buffy woke things were still fuzzy. But, she could smell Willow’s sweet perfume and she could feel the warm blankets surrounding her. She felt a cool hand suddenly upon her face. The fingers were cold, yet soothing on her hot cheeks, and she felt the perfectly shaped nails on Willow’s hand. As things came into view, she saw the red-haired witch above her, and although she smiled, her brow was still knitted in worry.
“Hey Buff” A deep, yet soothing voice said on her other side. Buffy turned her head and saw Xander wearing a similar expression to Willow’s. She felt his hand clasp tighter onto hers. She smiled, but as what happened set in, she moved her hand up to her neck and sat up. Willow raised a hand to Buffy’s shoulder and pressed lightly.
“Buffy, You’ve got to rest!” she fretted.
“You guys, I’ll be fine.” She muttered, swinging her legs out of bed.
Her friends turned as Buffy went to check her wound in the mirror. She peeled back the gauze Willow had applied, and grimaced at the sight. The two holes in her neck were now almost sealed thanks to her Slayer’s healing abilities, but pain still emanated from the area. Two dark scabs were beginning to form. The blood that had trickled down from it had been cleaned away, but Buffy knew it wouldn’t have been pretty. She pressed the gauze back and frowned.
The last thing she had remembered was waking from her strange nightmare to find her bloodstained bedspread and punctured neck, unaware she’d even been bitten. But as she stood now, something crept into her mind - An image of her as a little girl, screaming as a vampire bit into her.
She shut her eyes suddenly and shook her head to get rid of the image.
“Buffy?” Willow stood up.
“No!” she said suddenly, “I’m fine, really.” She smiled slightly.
Willow didn’t look so sure. After a while, Buffy spoke.
“Where’s Spike?” she said curiously in a whisper.
Willow gave her an I-don’t-think-you-should-see-him look and Buffy put a hand on her friends’ shoulder.
“Please?” she pleaded. Willow looked to Xander.
“Buffy…” he started.
“Look, it wasn’t him Ok?! At least, not out here… look, it’s complicated.” She said.
“Uh… huh…” Willow said sarcastically, still frowning.
“Well, it was a little suspicious, Buff. We find you bleeding to death and Spike collapsed in agony beside you. And although all clues point to something else… we still can’t shake it off.” Xander sighed. Buffy still stared into Willow’s eyes. Her friend, reliable as ever but still worried, sub-consciously gave in and flicked her eyes toward the adjoining door between hers and Buffy’s room.
Buffy smiled warmly and moved to the door.
“Buffy!” Willow called. Her friend turned. Willow looked to the ground.
“He’s a bit…disoriented.” She said, then looked up, “be careful.”
Buffy nodded and turned the handle.
Entering the room she noticed the familiar smell of Willow’s perfume. She felt a tingle on the back of her neck. The room was a world of magic, crystals and scented candles that Buffy couldn’t live in and it sent a shiver down her spine. She knew Willow was getting stronger. She felt it.
Lay out like a hospital patient, Spike was perfectly still on Willow’s bed. The sheets were tucked neatly around him just below the large pad of gauze on his chest, which was now bare. The crimson blankets had not been creased anywhere, which gave Buffy the impression he hadn’t even moved. Without any ordinary rise and fall of his chest he appeared to be dead; laid out like many of the bodies she’d seen at the funeral home. Sitting beside him she gingerly pulled back the gauze. She winced as she did so, seeing the bloodied stains on the underside of the cotton. Her mouth gaped open at the hole in his chest - The hole the size of a stake. She could see the pink skin around the edges, which showed the hole had begun to repair itself.
“Thank God I missed,” she muttered.
She remembered her dream as she put the bandage back, her staking a younger Spike as he mourned for his father.
Feeling a burning in her eyes she touched his face.
“I’m sorry.”
There was nothing more he would have hated to re-visit than this mansion, and being in this damn chair.
He already felt the depression sinking in, the one he had suffered with in silence for quite a while. The deep, aching depression he despised with everything he was.
He stared down at his legs and begged them to move. But they stayed where they were and he sighed.
“Aw, William. Try not to look so glum.” Angelus smiled hideously.
“All the better for seeing you, Liam.” He spat.
Angelus gave a half-hearted laugh and pulled Drusilla toward him.
“I promise we’ll get Buff back for this.” He laughed, playing with Drusilla’s curls. She sighed.
Spike winced at Buffy’s name. “Sure thing” he muttered, rolling his eyes. Angelus smiled and trailed his fingers down Drusilla’s bare arm. She giggled.
“Hey!” Spike said angrily. Angelus rolled his eyes.
“Don’t give me that crap.” He said. He swiftly moved toward Spike and put his face inches from the vampire’s, kneeling down to place his hands on the arm rests of the wheelchair.
“Calm down Spike. Just keeping her warm for ya.” He pushed the wheelchair back hard and Spike flew into the wall, falling flat out on the ground. Angrily he tried to push himself up, but it was impossible without his legs.
He growled angrily and Angelus gave an amused chuckle.
But Drusilla came between them, holding a hand up angrily to Angelus to stop him, her face full of fire, an angry expression etched upon it.
“No more!” she hissed wagging her finger. “I’ll not have it!” she turned to Spike with sympathy, whimpering, and helped him back into his chair.
“Aww, Nurse maid to the rescue.” Angelus chuckled spitefully and Spike looked up with hatred.
“Shut up.” He muttered as Drusilla stroked his face lovingly.
“Strong argument you got there!” Angelus snapped.
“Ssh!” Drusilla hushed harshly, putting a finger to her lips and frowning at Angelus. He snarled and Drusilla drew back inside where she could watch from a safe distance, leaving Spike and Angelus alone in the courtyard.
“C’mon Spike, I need a good laugh, come ‘n hit me if ya like.” He grinned.
Spike just stared ahead angrily.
“Or do you need Buffy?”
Spike looked up.
“Do you think she can love you?” Angelus taunted. “Something so evil?”
“You’re evil.” He answered.
Angelus smiled, “yeah, I am. Say, aren’t you a big evil fighter now? Huh? You and your soul?” He looked down at Spike.
“So stake me.” He laughed at Spike’s face.
“Oh, you can’t can you!? See. Need Buffy.”
“Shut up!” he shouted angrily.
“Make me.” Angelus taunted.
“Oh. My boys are fighting!” Drusilla moaned unhappily in the corner, but they ignored her.
“And the only way you can make me, is to get your ass out of that damn chair, stand up, and make me…” he said angrily.
As he spoke, Spike shifted his feet sub-consciously onto the ground. Angrily, he stood up, pushing the chair away as he did. He stood triumphantly for a few minutes as the two vampires regarded each other. A smile broke onto Angelus’ face.
“That’s better.”
Spike snarled “much.”
“Won’t stop me though. From… y’know…. Killing her.”
There was a pause and Spike snarled.
“Buffy?”
Angelus grinned. “She’s gonna be great!”
The vampire barely finished his words. Angrily, Spike vamped out and ran at Angelus, pushing him into the wall and grabbing his neck viciously.
He squeezed hard and Angelus, though grinning madly, choked. Not because he needed air, but because he couldn’t speak.
“Not before I kill you…” Spike muttered through clenched fangs.
As Buffy took her hand away, she looked down upon him. She smiled at how peaceful he looked.
Suddenly, without warning, he vamped out. His eyes snapped open and his arm shot out, grabbing a surprised Buffy by the neck. His grip was so hard she began to see spots as she choked out, clawing at his fist. She felt her fingers go tacky, and knew she had broken his skin in doing so.
She looked down into his face. As she did she noticed that this wasn’t the ordinary Spike. This was the old Spike. She should know, she’d fought him enough. He snarled in anger and she saw his blue eyes had become yellow.
“I’ll kill you!!” he growled.
“SOVERA!” Willow called suddenly from the doorway. A bolt of blue lightning shot out and hit Spike in the chest, knocking Buffy back. She launched onto the dresser and fell onto the ground.
There was a silence as Buffy, Willow and Xander looked at Spike in anger and horror. Spike sat up, still in vamp face, and looked down at Buffy. He looked confused for a moment, then turned back.
“Buffy?”
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