Chapter 23: Long Night
The following evening, a few minutes after sunset, Buffy left the house for patrol. As soon as she stepped outside, she caught the familiar cigarette scent, and wondered how he had managed to be there so fast. He had probably been waiting for dusk in the sewer, she decided.
“These things will kill you,” she said as seriously as she could, not even trying to find him.
“Ah ah. So funny, luv.”
He came out from his spot behind the tree and walked next to her.
“Any lead on vampire nests ?” she asked after a few steps, uneasy at his silence.
“Even if I had, I’m not helping you do crazy stuff.”
“Oh, come on ! I know you enjoyed it as much as I did !”
Playfully, she hooked her arm with his. He looked at her in surprise, but didn’t say a word.
“You’re no fun,” she said with a pout.
She had been antsy all day long. Anya’s last minute dresses changes had been nerve trying. The seamstress had been quite puzzled by her refusal to step in front of the mirror, and without Willow’s and Tara’s help she might have had difficulties explaining her slight lack of reflection. Also, Anya’s comments about biting during foreplay or sex had led the way to questions she wasn’t ready to answer, even to herself.
The morning before, she had woken up next to Angel. By evening, she had been engaged in intense activities with Spike. What surprised her most was that she wasn’t even feeling guilty. She didn’t feel guilty about jumping from one man to the other within a few hours, and she didn’t feel guilty about being with Spike. The first part just confirmed that she had made the right decision in letting Angel go. The second puzzled her to no end. She had broken her relationship with Spike because the guilt had became too much to bear. And now, she was back to him, and it felt. good. Comforting.
“Luv. can I ask you a question ?”
“You can ask, but it doesn’t mean I will answer.”
They had reached the first cemetery. She let go of his arm and focused her senses on finding a prey. He sat down on a tombstone, lighting a cigarette.
“Last night. It wasn’t about him, was it ?”
She stepped right in front of him and pulled the cigarette from his lips. Letting it fall to the ground, she crushed it under her booted heel. Then she slapped him. He stared at her, unblinking.
“That’s your answer, bloody idiot,” she hissed between clenched teeth.
With that, she turned her back to him and stalked away. There was one thing he was good at. Ok, more than one. But he truly excelled at ruining perfectly fine memories with stupid remarks or questions.
She found her first victim of the night. The unsuspecting newly risen vamp, before he was staked, received a few blows she would have given Spike if he hadn’t seemed so weak still. Not that she would tell him that he looked feeble, he would probably consider that a challenge.
After a few minutes, Spike was back to walking by her side.
“Buffy. I’m sorry.”
She crossed her arms under her breast, staring stubbornly ahead, refusing to hear his whisper.
“Luv, I needed to know.”
“Know what ? Whether I’m a slut ? I can’t get what I want from one man so I grab the next one that comes around and pretend it’s the first ? Is that what you think I do?”
His hand rested on her shoulder, light as a butterfly.
“No luv.,” he answered quietly. “I think you were hurt. And when people are hurt, they do things they regret afterward.”
“Then ask the right question. Ask whether I regret anything.”
“Do you ?”
She stopped and faced him, looking straight into his eyes. Dark blue they seemed under the half moon.
“I do not regret anything I did yesterday. Nor will I ever. Unless you keep asking stupid questions.”
The worry on his face disappeared.
“No more stupid questions, luv.”
She nodded, and started walking again.
“I know about a nest,” he said after a while. “A little one. Five or six vamps maximum. Interested ?”
She stopped dead in her tracks, a predatory grin coming to her lips. “That is a stupid question again, Spike. Where is it ?”
Spike just stood by the entrance of the mausoleum, preventing anyone from escaping but not stepping in to help. She was having way too good of a time for him to intrude. So he just watched her, proud that such a beautiful and dangerous creature was his Childe. Flying from vamp to vamp, she was dancing amidst ashes, grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. All too soon, she was standing alone, her eyes scanning around her, as if hoping to find more adversaries, however inadequate they were.
“This didn’t use to be so much fun !” she commented as she was striding back to him, a merry bounce in her step.
He looked around them, making sure no one was close, before answering as quietly as he could. “You’ve changed, luv. Vamps like violence, that’s in our nature, just as much as the hunt or.”
He looked at her suggestively, and she threw him a half disgusted look.
“You’re a pig, Spike.”
He laughed so hard he had to wipe tears off his eyes. “I stand corrected, pet. You haven’t changed that much!”
They patrolled for another half hour, during which she dusted a couple of stupid minions who had tried to ambush her. He had expected her to patrol all night long, as she used to with the poof, but she explained that she needed her beauty rest for the wedding. A bit disgruntled, he walked her back home, more by habit than necessity.
“What are you doing tomorrow afternoon during 2 and 9 ?”
He shrugged. “Will be hiding from the sun, as usual.”
“It’s going to rain all day,” she said merrily. “No sun to hide from.”
“And you know that because ?”
“Anya wanted rain. She’s heard somewhere that rainy weddings are the happiest.”
He shook his head. As much as he liked the demon girl, he had to admit she was crazy. Obviously she was, after all she was marrying Harris. In any case, rainy day meant he would be able to go get some blood. He should have gone after patrol, but he wasn’t in the mood to go all the way to the hospital. The kid had been cute and all, bringing him pig blood from the butcher since he was too tired to go out, but he missed his O-neg.
“Spikeyouwannabemydate ?”
“Say that again Slayer ?”
He had perfectly understood, but he wanted to hear it again.
“Do you want to be my date ?” she said more slowly. “To the wedding, I mean.”
He chuckled softly. A few days ago, he had been sure she would stake him rather than give him the time of night. And now she was asking him on a date. Granted, the whelp’s wedding wasn’t his idea of a perfect date, but it was still something.
“You sure Harris isn’t going to stake me on sight ?” he asked with feigned worry.
“Anya said you could come as long as you stay away from him. And as long as you don’t bite me until after the pictures are taken. She really insisted on that part.”
She giggled at that, and he looked at her, puzzled. Women.
“I don’t have to dress up, do I ?”
“Of course you do !” she protested. “That is, if you own anything dressy.”
She eyed him doubtfully, and he repressed a laugh. They had reached her home, and he was hoping she would invite him in to finish what they had started the night before. However, she just brushed her lips on his cheek before getting to the door.
“Be here by 1.30,” she instructed.
He nodded, watching the door close behind her. Damn all weddings, beauty rests and dressy clothes. Damn him for not trying his luck in the mausoleum. Damn her for being so bleeding gorgeous. This was going to be a long night.