Chapter 9
Chapter Notes: Thanks again to Dusty273 and Tanit for their awesome skills!
London, Present day and one day after the portal closed
“And you’re sure?”
“Positive. I-I mean, it won’t be quick, but it shouldn’t take a week this time around. The energy from the portal is still really strong and when we started chanting, the witches and I all felt its presence, so it may only take another day or two. And boy, is that a good thing, too, because she’s already been there almost a week.”
“A week?! Wh-what…”
“I thought I told you about that,” Willow shrugged sheepishly. “See, I kinda…well…”
“Willow, what did you do?”
“Well, I just figured, ‘cause of the whole looming apocalypse thingie that we’d need to get the urn pronto, so…I made time move a little faster over there so you’d have plenty of time to retrieve it and get back here without missing as much time as it seemed. It was all very scientific when I started it,” she trailed off with a crooked smile before her resolve face set in. “You were supposed to be together, mister, so don’t get mad at me!”
“What does this mean for Buffy?” Giles asked, afraid that the more time she had in the past, the more damage she’d be capable of causing. This did not bode well for his slayer, not at all.
“Well, whatever happened to her when she jumped, once we finish the spell and you go through, she should be back to normal. She might even be feeling the effects since we started chanting again. A-and hey, maybe nothing happened to her, right? Maybe she’s all with the slayage and she’s already got the urn and everything! Or maybe she’s missing a body part,” she muttered, frowning at the thought.
Xander, who’d been silent as Willow and Giles discussed the semantics of opening the portal, started giggling. The redhead and the watcher turned to look at him with matching scowls.
“Xander,” Willow said, “what’s so funny?”
“Just…can you imagine if,” he laughed again, “she went over there missing an arm or something and then suddenly…bam! She’s got an arm again? I can just imagine the look on her face when…she gets her…and the arm? Guys?” When Giles pursed his lips and Willow shook her head, Xander shrugged shyly and put his hands in his pockets. “I’m just sayin’.”
“Yes, well, while that’s a fascinating and quite hopeful scenario you’ve just painted for all of us,” Giles said sarcastically, “might we continue discussing what’s paramount here? And that is Buffy’s safety, as well as ours, should she have done anything drastic.”
Xander deflated and nodded. Everyone in that castle needed to lighten the hell up.
“Anyway,” Willow said as she turned back to the watcher, “I can gather a few supplies for you to do a locator spell once you cross over and then it’s just a matter of time.”
Xander couldn’t help it. He laughed again. Covering his mouth, but unable to let it go he said, “Sorry, you just said…oh, come on! Time travel? Just a matter of…whatever, I’m going to the control room. I bet Andrew will think it’s funny.”
Giles and Willow sighed as they watched him leaving and then he paused at the door and said, “I…really need to get more guy friends.”
Getting back to the matter at hand, Giles asked, “And you’re sure that she’ll be intact?”
“Absolutely! And hopefully, when she’s back to normal she won’t do any more damage, if she’s done any at all.”
“Let’s hope not,” Giles said sadly. “For all our sakes.”
* * *
London, England 1878, 2:45 a.m.
William had been staring at the ceiling, wide-eyed with his body stiff as a board for the better half of an hour as he tried to figure out a few things.
1. Elizabeth was in his bed.
2. More importantly, why was Elizabeth in his bed?
3. She was wearing only her thin cotton nightgown, and he’d checked when he lifted the covers, only to pull them down quickly when he could see directly down her neckline.
4. He was only wearing pants, having passed out after his bath and halfway finished dressing.
5. Her arm was over his chest, her body nestled perfectly against his side and the fact that she was, and this might have been the most important thing in his internal list, only wearing her nightgown made it impossible for him not to feel every curve of her. Every curve of her which was currently causing quite a stir beneath the covers.
And so, the panicking began. The lip biting, the inability to move an inch, the downward spiral of thoughts that always ended, somehow, with his head on a stick. Well, there was only one thing to do in this situation. He would have to wake her and politely ask her to return to her bedroom. As good as it felt to have her with him, it was inappropriate at best and if anyone were to find out about it, they’d both be in a world of trouble. Then she moved, mumbling something sweetly in her sleep and she exhaled softly against his neck, snuggling against him even further, tickling his nose with the silken strands of her hair that smelled so heavenly, like a swath of honeysuckle in the spring. Oh, he’d have to remember that description for his writing later.
“Elizabeth?” he whispered and shook his arm a bit to nudge her. He screwed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw when she started stroking his chest.
“William,” she sighed breathily and flung her leg over his hip.
He made a strangled, tiny noise in the back of his throat. “Elizabeth,” he said a bit louder, “wake up, darling.”
“Hmm? So warm,” she mumbled, kissing his neck and sliding the back of her calf up and down his thigh, unknowingly rubbing something else as well.
This was torture, he was sure of it. Unfair and rude, it was. And shocking, he realized, as his hand rested upon her thigh and squeezed. She really, really needed to get out of there, and now. He pushed her leg down, groaning as it grazed his now rock hard erection and rolled away from her, pulling the top coverlet with him and wrapping it around his shoulders to hide his naked chest as he stood at the side of the bed. He started pacing, his eyes darting to her sleeping form with sexual frustration and dragging the edges of the blanket on the ground behind him.
She finally rolled over onto her back and yawned, stretching her arms to the side in search of him and she frowned, opening her eyes. “William?”
His bundled form popped into view and he leaned over her, whispering, “Elizabeth, what are you…what are you doing in here?”
She smothered her smile at the sight of him, blanket draped over his head and wrapped snugly around his chest. “You look like a burrito.”
“A what?” he furrowed his brow and then shook his head. “Listen, you cannot stay here.” God, she was pouting! The humanity!
“Why not?”
“Because,” he sighed and clumsily climbed on the bed as the blanket restricted the movement in his legs, and then rolled onto his side to face her, keeping his voice low, “it isn’t appropriate. You’re half naked, for God’s sake.”
“I am not,” she frowned, looking at her perfectly covered body and finding nothing wrong. “And why are you stealing the blankets? I’m cold.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said reflexively poking a hand out of his barrier of blankets and rubbed her arm to warm her.
“William…”
“What?”
She rolled onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow, pouting even more. “Come here and kiss me.”
He was panting through his clenched teeth and closed his eyes. “This is how it starts!”
“How what starts?” she giggled, inching closer towards him and pulled on his blanket but he held it firm around him.
“We cannot keep doing this, Elizabeth,” he lowered his voice, realizing he was practically shouting at her. “It’s one thing when we’re in the library, fully clothed…w-with the temptation of going further safely guarded by layers upon layers of cotton and things. But this is…”
She gasped. “Are you naked under there?”
“No! God,” he whispered again, “no, Elizabeth. I…I’m afraid to tell you, however, that I am not wearing a shirt.” He looked at her apologetically.
Her mouth dropped open in mock surprise. “Oh, heavens no, not that! You beast!” She tugged on the blanket again but he yanked away from her. “Are you shy?” She smiled when he blushed and turned his head away from her and she giggled again. “You are! That’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. C’mere.”
“Please, stop,” he smiled as she hovered over him, her golden hair draped along the sides of her face as she tried to pry the blanket open. “I’m serious,” he chuckled as she straddled his waist. She was going to kill him, simply by wanting him. And wasn’t that unfair justice?
When he wouldn’t allow her to pull the blanket off, she sat up on top of him and tilted her head, biting her lip. He stared at her curiously and then started breathing raggedly, his eyes growing dark with lust as she unbuttoned the top button of her gown. “I’m not shy,” she said silkily and pushed the second button through the hole.
“Elizabeth,” he pleaded with her, his voice barely over a whisper. “What are you doing?”
“Either you take the blanket off, or I take this off,” she said teasingly as she hooked her thumb into the neckline and made a move to slide it off her shoulder.
It took him a second to debate his options, because the promise of her naked body was incredibly tempting, but then he realized what he was doing and quickly opened the blankets and narrowed his eyes. “Happy?”
Oh, yes she was. “William,” she purred, running her hands down his muscular chest, “aren’t you a sexy thing?”
He arched into her touch and whimpered. “You’re going to kill me. I’m killed. I have been killed,” he said shaking his head, unable to look at her while she leaned forward and kissed his sternum.
“Not dead,” she whispered, pressing her body against his as she kissed his cheek. “Right here. But you better touch me before I die. Or I’ll touch you.”
Christ. “Elizabeth, I’m begging you…”
She lifted off of him, thank God, and said, “Do you not want me, William?”
“Yes,” he said with a painful groan, “but not like this a-and I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself if you don’t stop.”
She smiled at him and rolled to the side, propped up on her elbow again and involuntarily played with his nipple. “I’m sorry.”
He licked his lips, breathing heavily again as she plucked his nipple and in a high pitched voice he said, “I-it’s all right. No matter,” he smiled warily. And she kept doing that thing with her fingers and now her damn leg was over his hips again. Did she not know the effect she had on him?
“Can I have some blanket?”
He rolled over to face her and flung the blanket over the two of them, and then he chewed on his thumb as he looked at her. “You really cannot stay here, Elizabeth. As much as I might want you to.”
She smiled slightly, though she hadn’t looked him in the eye yet. “Can I just stay for a little while?”
“Of course,” he frowned, tenderly rubbing her arm beneath the blanket when her demeanor started to worry him. “Are you all right?”
“I had a nightmare,” she said quietly and William leaned on one elbow, using his free hand to stroke her hair.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“It’s strange,” she furrowed her brow, still not really looking at him, “but…I think it might have something to do with my past.”
“You think you had a memory?”
“Something like that. But I was so frightened and there were…vampires. And you were a vampire and really vulgar but also really hot and I don’t know what any of it means.”
William was silent for a moment and then he chuckled. “Vampire? Me. You are joking, right?”
She looked at him then with a glare. “It was scary, ok? And there were all these monsters trying to kill me and—”
“Elizabeth,” he interrupted, holding her hand and forcing her to look at him, “do I look like a vampire?”
“No,” she smiled with embarrassment, nuzzling her head on his arm.
“And if vampires exist, which they don’t, I doubt I’d be foolish enough to go near one let alone let one turn me. That is the term, isn’t it? I haven’t read folklore in ages but I think that’s what they call it. No matter. You’re safe now,” he said soothingly and kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” She smiled contentedly and William held her for a moment when something occurred to him. “What did you mean when you said I was vulgar but also really hot? Was it quite warm where you were?”
She giggled against his chest. “No, silly. It means that…” she looked up at him and bit her lip. “It means that you were really, really attractive.”
“Oh!” he scoffed. “And I am not now? You don’t find me handsome? Dashing? Sinfully deviant in all the right places?” he waggled his eyebrows and crawled over her giggling form.
“You are very handsome,” she beamed up at him.
He settled between her legs and propped his torso up by his hands on either side of her head. “You’re just humoring me now.”
“No, I’m not,” she laughed, “you’re very,” a kiss on his cheek, “very,” the other cheek, “handsome.” She leaned up to kiss him full on the lips but he reared back out of reach and smiled at her.
He gazed at her for a moment and then leaned forward to kiss her, sighing happily as her arms linked around his neck. She must have a thrall or something, because he couldn’t resist those lips of hers, not when she was pouting and beautiful and beneath him like she was. Damn.
In an instant, he was rolled over onto his back and she sat astride him again, smiling mischievously. “Don’t move,” she whispered, taking his wrists and holding them above his head. She had a flash of something then, sitting just like this and shackling him to an iron headboard while he panted and rolled his tongue behind his teeth, waiting for her to do something more. His lip was bleeding, from what, she didn’t know but he licked up the droplet of blood and thrust up into her, causing her to shout in pleasure. She blinked and the image faded, revealing William beneath her with wide eyes, his fingers curling into fists as she squeezed his wrists a bit too hard. She gasped and released him, swallowing his confused retort with her lips.
He was afraid for a moment when her eyes became unfocused, squeezing his wrists as if she were restraining him. His fear turned to excitement, however, and he admonished himself for finding pleasure in such a wicked thought. But then she was kissing him again, and those thoughts were swept away, making room for his burgeoning lust as her tongue traced his lower lip and she moaned into his mouth. William felt her hands trailing down his chest, her long blonde hair tickling his neck and her small breasts pressing into him. His breath quickened and he closed his eyes, submitting to whatever she wanted to do to him. Screw the maids, screw the butler, screw his gentlemanly upbringing and worries. He was far too hard to care at this point and when her tiny hands started unbuttoning the first row of buttons in the flap of his pants, he groaned and raked his hands in her hair, holding her head above his as he deepened their kiss.
The second row of buttons came undone and his hips lifted off the bed in shock as her hand opened the flap and slid inside to wrap around his cock. He hissed in pleasure and sank into his pillow; his hands rose above his head and grabbed his headboard as she delicately stroked his shaft. How she managed to turn him into this, he’d never know, but it was a glorious metamorphosis and good Lord, she was talented with her hands.
“Does that feel good?” she whispered, nipping at his throat and traced his length with the tips of her fingers.
“Yes,” he hissed again as her nail scraped the sensitive tip and she smiled coyly down at him, knowing exactly how good it felt.
“Have you done this to yourself, William?”
He smiled and closed his eyes, licking his lips and flaring his nostrils as she tightened her grip and pumped once. “I’m not discussing that…hahhh…with you, Elizabeth.”
She giggled silkily and kissed him, smiling against his mouth as he moaned and gasped. Elizabeth kissed his throat, his sternum, and then sucked a nipple into her mouth and he shouted, covering his mouth with his hand with wide eyes as he looked at her in awe. She smiled and bit down on it, just to make him squirm. He screwed his eyes shut, praying to whatever God still accepted him to make it last a little longer, because the way she was touching him, was simply perfect. As if she’d done it a hundred times before…
“Elizabeth,” he said warily. God, he hoped she wouldn’t say yes. “Have you…done this? B-before?”
Her hand stopped moving and she kissed his stomach. “I don’t know,” she said honestly. “Is it weird that I feel as if I’ve done this with you before?”
Crisis averted, he thought, momentarily, and then she kissed him. On his…well, that! He’d never even thought of that, never occurred to him that a woman could put her mouth there and now she was looking at him as if he was dinner.
“Elizabeth, what are you…”
“Shh,” she uttered and wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock, twirling her tongue around it. It was perhaps the most intense thing he’d ever felt and he was frozen stiff beneath her, paralyzed by sensation alone and then she took him all the way in, sliding her warm tongue against his shaft, swallowing around him, caressing his testicles with her free hand and moaning, Christ, she was moaning around his cock!
“I…good Lord, Elizahhh…oh God!” One of his hands gripped his headboard and the other raked into her hair, following the bobbing motion of her head as she sucked and licked and stroked him into madness.
She looked up at him and he craned his head forward to watch her, licking his lips, panting and transfixed on her eyes. She tightened her grip and he snarled, raising his knees up to thrust into her mouth. She was so turned on by the sight of him, the feel of his hand gripping her scalp and the low rumbling noises that tore from his throat, the feel of his legs grazing her cheeks as he thrust into her mouth. She knew he was close, though how, she couldn’t remember, but if by instinct, she knew he’d come immediately if she pumped him with her hand and bit him right on the pulsing tendon of his inner thigh. He didn’t disappoint.
William could have sworn that someone had shown him heaven, stars, the atmosphere and enlightenment all wrapped up in a shiny package as she bit down on his leg and brought him to his release. He could feel the warm liquid landing on his stomach and chest, his cock tingling as the head swelled beneath her hand and his body tightened like a bow string, his hand falling from the headboard to grip the sheets and she moved from his thigh back to his cock, licking and sucking every last drop he could give. If the maids hadn’t heard that, hadn’t heard him shout her name and a vast number of other inappropriate words, then God must still love him, because there was no way in hell no one had heard him.
He was panting, swallowing gulps of air and smiling as he felt her soft tongue lapping at his spendings on his chest and stomach. He hooked his hands beneath her arms and pulled her up to his mouth and kissed her passionately, thankfully, wrapping his arms around her waist and tasting himself on her tongue as she moaned into him. He was truly buggered, now, and also very sleepy.
“That was…damn you,” he chuckled. “Damn you, woman! You were supposed to go back to your bed!”
She giggled and rolled to the side, trailing her fingers up and down his chest. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist you.”
“Not complaining,” he said with a giant grin. “God…I feel like…I don’t even know what I feel like.” He sighed and kissed her on the temple. “Thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for. I enjoyed that as much as you did.”
“You did?”
“Oh yeah,” she purred. “But unless you want a repeat, I should go back to my bed.”
He groaned and pulled her against him, mumbling into her throat. “I guess that would be best, though, I don’t want to let you go.”
“You’ll see me tomorrow.”
“Yes, but…I’ll also be seeing Mother tomorrow.”
“And on that romantic comment, I’m going back to my room.” She kissed him on the lips and reluctantly crawled out of bed, squealing when his hand darted out to grab her and pull her back down for another kiss.
“Good night, Elizabeth. Sweet dreams.”
“I hope so, William.”
She walked to the door and William linked his arms behind his head, watching her happily as his feet rubbed against one another beneath the blankets. “Be careful, love. I might turn into a vampire.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Good night, William.”
“Night, Elizabeth.” He sighed and closed his eyes, feeling a great weight lifted from his shoulders. How was it that, in a matter of just a few days, this woman had managed to make him happier than he’d ever been in his life? Aside from the naughtiness, and really, that was quite brilliant, but aside from that: she was so comfortable around him, so accepting, so coy and demure one minute and a complete minx the next. How had he gotten so lucky? And why in the hell was his mother coming back the next day? Couldn’t she stay in Essex a little longer?
He rolled over on his stomach and covered his head with a pillow as he groaned. He was not looking forward to tomorrow. He was already preparing himself for the argument that was sure to come, the scolding, the yelling, the…
“No,” he said aloud, quickly sitting up in his bed. “I will not be moved! She will just have to deal with it.” He grinned smugly and lay back down, closing his eyes as his mind ran through various scenarios with his mother, him being the victor by all counts. William was not going to be a coward any longer.