Chapter 9
Buffy and Spike stayed close to one another as the Githyan demons circled them, holding their weapons at the ready should they strike. Spike craned his neck back to speak to Buffy.
“Remember, pet…keep your mind clear. They have telepathy.”
“Don’t forget telekinesis,” one of the demons spoke with an arrogant tone. As if proving his point, the “Welcome to Illinois” sign lifted out of the ground and flung towards the blond duo. They ducked in the knick of time and Spike jumped towards the closest demon with a loud roar, kicking him in the knees. The demon wailed and stumbled, opening up for another attack. With a graceful twirl, Spike beheaded the demon in one stroke and turned to move towards the remaining two that were circling the Slayer.
“She’s nervous,” one Githyan said to the other. “Her life is in shambles.”
“Stop thinking of things, Slayer,” Spike warned.
“I’m trying!”
“Her heart is confused,” the other demon said, feigning concern. “It will not aid her against Vinkaan.”
They were rapidly circling the pair now and Buffy concentrated on clearing her thoughts by taking a swing with her axe. She didn’t hear Spike’s warning as she swung at one demon’s midsection, slicing it open a little too easily. Green ooze spurted forth, covering the Slayer from head to toe with its nasty blood. She shouted in disgust and Spike cursed, quickly beheading the injured demon and advancing towards the third, at the same time checking the Slayer’s condition.
She wiped goo out of her eyes, groaning as it splattered on the ground and suddenly felt nauseous.
“Dammit Slayer, I said aim for the head or not at all!” He swung at the third demon and missed when it quickly ducked out of the way.
“A vampire protecting a slayer?” It laughed and swung, connecting a large fist with Spike’s jaw.
Spike quickly righted himself again and held up his sword. “Not gonna work, mate!”
“Spike,” he heard Buffy say weakly, but he couldn’t deal with that now. The two demons were at a stand off, waiting for the other to make a move.
“Your concern for her is making you clumsy,” it said with a round-house kick to Spike’s chest. “Will she feel the same concern for you when you’re dust?”
“Shut your ugly gob!” Spike quickly stood up from his fall and quickly panicked when his sword was magically lifted from his hands. The demon grabbed it and smiled a toothy grin.
“You fool!” The demon yelled as it advanced on the vampire, swinging violently at him with the stolen weapon.
Spike’s eyes were trained on the blade, timing his next move. He desperately tried to ignore the gurgling sounds of the Slayer as she fell to her knees. He’d be no good to her dead.
“Better help her, vampire. You know what Githyan blood can do to a human.”
“I said shut your gob!” Spike vamped out and roared, charging the demon with inhuman speed. He leapt onto its back, placed his hands on either side of its head and twisted it right off. Panting, he quickly made his way to the slayer who was now lying unconscious in a heap on the road.
“Buffy!” He lifted her head into his lap and slapped her cheeks. “Wake up!” With a frustrated groan, he went to the back of the SUV and opened the trunk. He emptied the cooler of his precious bags of blood and lugged it over to the slayer. He dumped the melted ice over her body, washing the Githyan blood from her skin. Then he quickly removed her clothing and shoes, checking to make sure she was clear of the substance before he wrapped her up in his duster and carried her to the car. After he’d settled her in safely in the passenger seat, he retrieved their weapons from the road and got in the driver’s side and started up the car, taking off as fast as he could down the road in search of the nearest motel.
~*~*~*~
Buffy felt cold and weak, yet comfortably tucked in a strange bed. She couldn’t open her eyes as much as she tried and she jerked when she felt a wet cloth on her cheek.
“Shh, you’re ok now, Slayer,” she heard Spike say softly.
“Spike?”
Spike wrung out a rag into a bowl of warm water and laid it flat on her chest. “Yeah, it’s me. Can you not open your eyes?”
She shook her head slightly and swallowed. “Throat’s dry. I think I swallowed that junk.”
“That explains a few things,” he said. She felt Spike’s hand move behind her head and tilt it forward a bit. “Drink.”
Without questioning the contents or the enemy giving her a beverage, she gladly accepted his offering and was pleased to find ice cold water running down the back of her throat. “Thanks.” She shivered a bit and her teeth chattered together. “What happened?”
Spike pulled a blanket up and around her shoulders and tucked her in to keep warm. “You got slimed, I killed the demons an’ then brought us to the nearest motel.”
“Dammit, that’s more time we’re losing!”
“We’d lose a lot more if you were dead.” His tone was unwavering and quiet. “Almost did lose you.”
She frowned slightly and cursed inwardly as she again failed to open her eyes. They must have been swollen shut from the blood that sprayed her in the face. She shuddered to think what the rest of her must look like. “How…”
Spike sighed and sat down on the bed beside her, procuring another rag and wiping her brow with it. “Githyan blood is nasty business. ‘f I hadn’t washed if off of you in time you’d be dead. You still had a bit of poison in your blood stream, though, so I had to do what I could to save you.”
Buffy’s breathing increased as she took in his meaning. “You…drank from me?”
“I’m not gonna let you die, Slayer. Not like that, anyway.”
Truth be told, Spike went into a state of panic once they arrived at the motel. Her breathing was shallow and ragged, her skin had turned a sickly pale shade of blue and her heart was struggling to function. The thought that this warrior might die so carelessly disturbed the vampire more than he was willing to admit. He easily could have drained her dry and left, but something kept him from the final blow. Something had happened between them and until he was able to figure out what that was exactly, he wasn’t going to let her die. She’d come to mean something, however small, and Spike was honorable when it came to those he cared for. Why he cared for her, he hadn’t decided. Acting on instinct, he’d taken a small pull of blood from her wrist and grimaced. Her blood was poisoned and the only thing he could do was to siphon it out of her and spit it into a bowl. No way was he consuming that tripe in case it managed to infect him as well.
“You care about me?” she said weakly.
Spike’s eyes widened as he looked at her in shock. “What?”
“You just said that I mean something to you, that you care about me. Is that true?”
“Oh, balls,” Spike sighed and stood up, trying to place distance between his brain and the Slayer. “Nice. Real nice!”
“What’s wrong?”
“You’re bloody telepathic, that’s what! Guess that’s the fun consolation prize for surviving Githyan blood!”
Buffy smiled and giggled quietly.
“What are you on about?”
“You think I’m pretty.”
“I do not,” Spike growled.
“Yes you do. You think I have pretty hair and,” she paused as she concentrated on his thoughts, “and oh my god Spike, that’s disgusting!”
“Quit getting into my head, Slayer!” He started to pace in frustration. Trying to reel in his thoughts and guard them from the Slayer was only creating more thoughts. This was definitely not good. No one could possibly enjoy that, and since he was in quite a precarious position, being a vampire shacked up with a Slayer, who might be weakened at the moment, there was a world of bad on the horizon if he didn’t get it in check.
If Buffy’s eyes could open, they’d be wide in shock. The onslaught of Spike’s innermost thoughts bombarded her own. Some of them made her feel a little weak in the knees and she was undoubtedly surprised with how many of them revolved around her, the way she looked in his eyes, how much he wanted her, his inner struggle with dealing with his emotions, and an alarming amount of naked images of Drusilla.
Spike tried to focus on his sire in order to sway his mind in a direction that wouldn’t tempt her to concentrate on his thoughts. He focused on one image, an image he’d conjured up numerous times when he was by himself. The one time Drusilla gave him a blow job and actually enjoyed it.
“Ew, Spike!”
“Serves you right! Now quit lookin’ into my head!” Seeing that his efforts were futile, he snatched his duster up and slid it on. He needed to get the hell out of there before she saw something telling about his budding feelings for the Slayer. As he stomped to the doorway, he halted as her fearful voice spoke out to him.
“Spike, please don’t leave me like this! I can’t see!”
His shoulders sagged in defeat and he sighed, daring a glance at her. Her skin was looking a bit better, but her poor eyes were still swollen shut. She was covered in a thin sheen of sweat and as he concentrated on her heart beat, he noticed it wasn’t much better than before. “All right, Buffy. I’ll stay.” He sat down beside her again and brushed her sweat slicked hair out of her face. “No more mind reading though, ok?”
She nodded sweetly. “I’ll try.”
“You should get some rest, pet. I had to take a lot of blood an’ I’m not sure how long it will take you to heal. We’ve got a lot of road still an’ as soon as you feel good enough to go, I’ll drive us.”
“Ok.” She took a deep breath and tried to relax, but the air stung her weakened lungs and she started coughing.
“Easy, kitten,” he said soothingly, lifting her body forward to rub her back as she coughed. He held a rag at her mouth to catch the phlegm and gingerly wiped her face clean before settling her back gently on the pillows. This was no large feat for him. All he had to do was channel his inner Victorian and he was no less than a nursemaid. After all the times he’d taken care of his mother when she fell ill with consumption, he’d become a natural at caring for others. It came in handy when Dru was ill and now…he was tending to the Slayer without a second thought. “Better?”
“Yeah,” she said weakly, embarrassed with the gross fluids she’d just coughed up. “I must look disgusting.”
“Nah,” he said with a grin. “I like a girl with a smoker’s cough. It’s sexy.”
“Don’t make me laugh,” she said clutching her chest as she giggled. “I’ll start coughing again.”
“Sorry, pet.” He pulled the blankets up under her chin again and smoothed the fabric down. He tenderly stroked her cheek, still worried about her condition as he said, “Sweet dreams, Buffy.”
She smiled and nuzzled into her pillow. She felt the mattress shift as he stood up and as much as she tried not to, Spike’s thoughts continued to filter through her mind. He was worried about her and if a vampire, her enemy was worried, then she was definitely worried. “I’ll be ok, Spike.” She didn’t know if she would, but there was no way she’d get any sleep if he kept worrying about her.
“I hope so,” he tried to say in a positive tone, but she knew better.
She reached out to find his hand and once she’d made contact, she squeezed it weakly. “Thank you for saving my life.”
He smiled softly as he reached for a cigarette, releasing his hand from hers awkwardly. He wasn’t prepared for her kindness yet. “No problem, Slayer. ‘S no fun travelin’ by yourself.” He slipped the cigarette behind his ear as he made his way to the door.
With a sweet smile, Buffy finally fell asleep and Spike went outside to smoke, staying near enough to still be able to hear her heart beat should there be any complications. Once she’d fallen asleep and her heart beat evened out, he grabbed the car keys and some cash, locked the motel door and went out into the night.
~*~*~*~
Buffy was roused from sleep by the sound of an angry Brit’s whispered shouting. She tried to open her eyes and to her delight, she was able to pry them open a fraction of an inch, though her vision was hazy. She saw Spike sitting on the edge of the bed. His pale skin and white hair seemed to glow through her haze and his bare back was full of tension as he shouted into the receiver of the phone.
“What kind of a watcher doesn’ prepare his slayer before she fights a particularly noxious demon? She almost died,” he shouted, though his tone was low, trying not to wake her. “Well, that’s your problem, in’it? I expect you to have an answer for me by the end of the day.” He flicked his Zippo open and shut repeatedly as his growing frustration with the watcher came out in short spurts of annoyed fidgeting. “Yeah, well, I didn’ kill ‘er, did I? Look, Ripper,” he sneered, “I get that you’re concerned an’ all, but we made a truce. ‘m not goin’ to kill ‘er an’ if I was I would’ve done it already.”
Buffy tried to sit up in bed and held the sheets against her bare breasts. The fact that she was naked hadn’t registered yet. Her focus was on the vampire who was currently giving her watcher the what-for.
“Can we finish this lovely chat? If she wakes up because of you…” Spike closed his eyes as Rupert continued to rant at him. “Call me as soon as you find out anythin’. I’m hanging up now. No, I’m hanging up the bloody phone!” Spike looked behind him at Buffy and sighed. “Now you’ve done it, she’s awake you git! I’m hanging up now. Bye.” Spike hung up the phone and turned around to face the slayer with an apologetic expression.
She tilted her head in anticipation, waiting for him to relay the message but Spike only stared at her. Her skin was still pale but void of the bluish hue, but that wasn’t what he was focusing on. Her blond locks were tousled and hanging about her bare shoulders and her dainty hand clutched a white sheet against her chest. She looked absolutely gorgeous, pure and sweet like words of poetry which were currently taking shape in his mind.
Buffy blushed and ducked her head.
“Oh, come on, really?” He said with frustration, knowing that she’d read his mind again. “This magic trick of yours is right irritatin’.”
“Sorry,” she smiled, though she’d yet to look him in the eyes. “What did Giles say?”
Spike crawled up the side of the bed and plopped down next to her on his side and dragged a hand down his face. He looked exhausted but before Buffy could comment, he replied, “He an’ the scoobs are doin’ some research about your little incident. Turns out, there’s only been one record of a victim having received telepathy. You’re one of few to survive.”
“Thanks to you,” she said quietly and rolled on her side to face him. Spike looked bashful and she almost swooned with the adorableness of his expression. “What time is it?”
“It’s about 3pm.”
“Why aren’t you sleeping? You look tired.”
He rolled onto his back and yawned. “Yeah, but…wanted to make sure you were all right. How are you feeling?”
Buffy picked at a non existent thread on her pillow as she chewed her lip. “I’m still pretty weak, but hey! I can open my eyes. That’s a good start, right?”
“Good.” He yawned again and Buffy’s eyes zeroed in on his chest as it arched and tensed with the movement. “Oh, balls, almost forgot something.” He rolled off the bed and walked to the corner of the room, procuring a few grocery sacks. He lay back down on the bed, propping himself up on one elbow as he showed her his bounty. “Soup,” he said as he pulled out a few cans, “didn’ know what you liked so I got a few. Chicken Noodle, tomato basil an’ some country stew thing.”
“Mmm, soupy,” she smiled.
“I figured you should try somethin’ light until you’re all healed. An’ then I got some crackers, oh, an’ then this thing.” He casually tossed a small stuffed white kitten with green eyes at her, skimming over the fact that he couldn’t resist thinking of her when he saw it and bought it like a git and continued displaying his purchases. “Some Twizzlers…you like those, right?”
“Yeah,” she smiled, holding the stuffed animal against her cheek and suppressing tears of gratitude for how thoughtful he was.
“Thought so. You got them every time we stopped at a gas station. Oh, an’ there’s ice cream in the freezer over there.”
Her eyes lit up. “Chocolate chip?”
“Of course,” he smiled and put the items back in the bag. “You want me to heat up some soup for you? Think you can eat anything?”
She nodded, rubbing the soft ears of the kitten against her lips. “Tomato basil, please.”
“You got it.”
She watched him move about the room and sighed. He was being so genuinely sweet to her that she couldn’t help but smile and as she focused on his thoughts, she almost cried when he handed her the stuffed toy. The fact that he’d paid such close attention to her little quirks and remembered her guilty pleasures didn’t go unnoticed at all. She giggled at the thought of this master vampire in a grocery store mulling over whether or not he should purchase a stuffed kitty for her. Spike was just full of surprises and couldn’t believe what a softie he was beneath the snark and violence. It was quite an attractive combination.
“There you go, Slayer,” he handed her a bowl and a few crackers which he’d neatly wrapped in a napkin. “Eat up, get your strength back.” He lay down next to her again, watching her silently as she sat up and tucked the sheet beneath her arms and started to eat.
“This good,” she said with a mouthful and smiled as she wiped her chin.
“Careful,” he chuckled, “that goes in your mouth not on your face, kitten.”
Spike was really struggling not to think about how adorable she was, but it was futile. Luckily she was distracted with her soup and hadn’t noticed or if she did, she was wise not to say anything about it. He handed her a glass of water when she swallowed the last bite and she took it gratefully, at the same time he set her empty bowl on the bedside table next to him. “All better?”
“Yup,” she nodded and settled back onto the pillows facing him. They lay quietly for a moment, wrapped up in their own thoughts. Spike’s eyes slowly fell shut as his exhaustion caught up to him. He felt Buffy pull the sheets up and over him and he smiled. The expression was cut short, however, when he felt warm, soft lips press against his. It was over as quickly as it started and he looked at her in bewilderment. She smiled shyly and pulled the sheet and the stuffed kitten up under her chin. “Get some sleep,” she whispered.
He nodded dumbly and swallowed, fighting the urge to touch his tingling lips with his fingers. She’d kissed him, and while it was nothing more than a peck, it warmed him from his lips to his toes. “All right.”
“Because when you wake up,” she said casually as she closed her eyes, “you’re going to have to help me in the bath.”
Spike’s nostrils flared and a coy smile lifted the corner of his mouth. The mere idea of getting to carry her naked body to the bathroom and soap and lather her golden skin up was a blissful one indeed. Maybe she’d let him get her nice and sparkling clean. He supposed he owed her one.
“I heard that,” she said smiling, never opening her eyes.
“Bloody hell,” he groaned and turned on his side, cursing his stupid brain and her stupid telepathy as he willed himself to sleep.