Chapter 26: Sweet Release
Rick landed in a crouched position in the direct center of the temple, Dawn still tucked safely in his arms. He rose gracefully to his full height, swinging down Dawn’s feet so that she could stand beside him when suddenly the entire room lit up a fiery red, like a nightmarish vision from Dante’s Inferno.
The eyes of the wooden figurines that surrounded them lit up all in a flash, each shooting crimson rays at the pair trapped in the center of the room.
Dawn and Rick flinched, and.
Nothing happened.
They both opened their eyes to see a wavering green light surrounding the pair of them and protecting them from the enemy’s attack. Both were trapped, immobilized by the powerful energy waves that bombarded them on all sides. It was a standoff, then. The Haunting could not harm them, but they were unable to move to stop it as well.
Realization filled Rick as the observations he’d made earlier fell into place, but Dawn’s eyes widened in stunned surprise, not comprehending what was happening.
“It is the Key within you,” Rick informed her softly. “The Haunting is unable to touch anything within its reach.”
Dawn’s brow furrowed at the shimmering green force surrounding her. It couldn’t be.that after all these years, the Key would finally decide to show itself to her, could it?
“An unfortunate defense we had not prepared for.”
Dawn’s speculations were cut off by the sound of the gravelly voice. She and Rick both managed to turn within the protective force of the Key to face their foe.
Laura Danvers stepped from the shadows, scarlet fire lighting up her eyes and her waxen flesh as if a powerful torch burned within her body. “We tried to dispose of you using the Kayeri,” she went on in the same hateful tone, “but your power surpassed ours.” The rage flashed brighter within her, and it was a wonder her frail body didn’t cave into ashes at the heat of it.
“You are the host,” Rick said simply, concern creeping into his voice at the precarious position they were in. Even with the barrier Dawn was creating, their lives could still be in mortal peril from a physical attack.
Laura Danvers merely rolled her eyes in a manner that much belied her ancient appearance. “Well, duh,” she agreed. “What took you so long to figure it out.?”
* * *
Buffy awoke first this time, a small smile lighting up her face at her memories of the day so far. It felt like they had spent a lifetime talking that morning, where in actuality it probably hadn’t been much more than a few hours. Spike’s mark on her neck, however – that same mark that was still sending excited, exhilarating tingles through her body – still seemed to be functioning, bringing them the same closeness they had felt when he was inside her. Lifetimes of words could pass between them just with a brush of his knuckles across the scar. It had made talking feel like lovemaking, something she was more than eager to experience again.
Her companion lay on his side, facing her, the blanket pulled up over his head so that only the platinum spikes of his hair peeked from underneath. She felt her heart soften once more at the Spike-shaped lump in the sheets beside her and cautiously pulled the covers back so that she could place a soft kiss on his brow.
He murmured slightly in response, nuzzling into her shoulder and sliding a lazy leg and arm around her, holding her close. A short, broken purr rumbled through his chest before trailing off into a slight snort.
Buffy giggled and pet his hair. Cuddly, kittenish Spike was a rare treat he would never allow while conscious. He didn’t mind a good snuggle, of course – as she was just now finding out – but the Big Bad would never allow him to appear this soft. Especially in front of her. She could almost understand why. Seeing him like this caused deep-seated protective instincts to rise up within her, making her want to do nothing more than keep him safe. It was the sort of attitude that annoyed her to no end when men tried to impose it upon her, so why should Spike be any different?
“Don’t worry,” she whispered softly into his silken hair, “I’ll still treat you like a man when you wake up. Kitten time is reserved solely for when you’re asleep.”
He seemed to hum slightly in agreement at that before the arm flung over her waist tightened and he showed the first signs of stirring.
She watched, fascinated, as he slowly woke up beside her. She’d never seen him awaken before, never had the chance to observe his lithe, lean muscles stretch sensuously, the movements of his body turn from random jerks to the sleek, seductive rhythm of a great feline, his long, curled eyelashes flutter softly against his cheeks before slowly opening. God, he was so beautiful when he woke up.
A lion-sized yawn complete with extended fangs, and Spike blinked confusedly up at her. “‘Mornin’, luv,” he murmured, scratching his hair sleepily.
“It’s technically afternoon,” she pointed out, gesturing to the clock.
This seemed to confuse him even more in his half-asleep state, and he blinked at her really slowly before shaking his head and lying back down against the crook of her shoulder, eyes drifting open and closed. “Was s’posed to wake before you,” he commented lazily.
“Oh?” she asked curiously, resting her head on the pillow beside him. “Why’s that?”
“Gotta wake up first, or they can do somethin’ to you in your sleep,” he explained off-handedly as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Who will?”
“Women.” He batted his hand in the air dismissively.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Paranoid much?” she teased.
“Dru.” he continued, still obviously only semi-conscious, “never a good idea to leave yourself at ‘er mercy for long. And the others. Don’t know them. Could try to stake me in the mornin’ for all I know. Gotta be alert, wary.” He closed his eyes again and let out a little snore.
Buffy couldn’t help but grin. This was the perfect antithesis of Alert-and-Wary!Spike. This was cozy, sleepy, trusting Spike, and something about his faith in her made her love him even more. “My cute, cuddly vamp,” she teased.
One shockingly blue eye opened. “Am not,” he insisted in a petulant tone.
“Ha,” she said triumphantly. “Knew that would wake you up.”
He groaned and yawned again before rising up on his powerful forearms and doing the sexiest full-body stretch she’d ever seen. At that moment, she was eternally grateful that she’d ripped his shirt right off of him the night before because stretching Spike-chest was truly a sight to behold.
“We s’posed to be doin’ something?” he asked, looking down at her. “Where’s my Bit and the others?”
* * *
“You are one fucked up freak,” Dawn informed Laura Danvers, still trapped within the crimson energy barrier that held her and Rick.
* * *
“Mih, they’re all off doing boring research-y stuff,” Buffy informed him of Dawn’s (failed) plans for the day. “They don’t need us.”
A sly, seductive grin lit up his face. “Was hopin’ you’d say that,” he practically purred.
Wow, from asleep to sexy in less than a minute. Buffy melted into his kiss, parting her lips at the persistence of his tongue and holding him tightly down to her, trying to drink in his essence. God, he tasted so good. And how exactly could he taste so good when he’d spent the morning drinking her blood and then snacking on pretzels? It was one of the great mysteries of the universe, but Spike always had an intoxicating, rich flavor to her. Like sweet rum candy. Her tongue plunged eagerly into his own mouth to taste more of him.
He moaned above her and shifted his hips so that his growing erection wasn’t tempted by her writhing limbs. This had just been a kiss at first, but. He didn’t think he’d ever wanted a woman more than he wanted Buffy right now.
“Buffy-luv?” he gasped, pulling away from her fire for an instant to rest his forehead against hers.
“Yeah?” she panted out as well, completely breathless from the intensity of their kiss.
“This is nice, right?” he began. “Just bein’ together, talkin’?”
She held in her frustrated sigh. “Yeah,” she agreed with a soft smile.
“Feel the same way,” he nodded slowly. “But don’t s’pose you’d want somethin’ more?” he asked hopefully.
Buffy groaned aloud and yanked him back down to her in a searing kiss. “Thought you’d never ask,” she breathed against his lips before devouring him.
Their bodies came together with newfound desire at the tacit agreement they had reached, Spike’s hardness grinding down into her as Buffy’s thighs spread to accommodate him.
“Why’re you wearin’ so many clothes?” he complained, fingers fumbling for the hem of her tank top and pulling it slowly up, exposing her tanned body to his hungry mouth.
“Obviously because you’ve been negligent,” she shot right back, arching her back and raising her arms so that the offending garment could go away before crying out at the skill of his talented mouth and collapsing back onto the bed.
A low growl escaped his throat, sending sensual vibrations right into the taut muscles of her stomach. “Never leave my woman wantin’,” he insisted gruffly.
She smiled down at him and slipped her legs around his body. “Yeah, well, your woman’s been waiting for you to make love to her for seven lonely years now,” she confessed softly.
A scarred eyebrow quirked. “That long?” he inquired, moving to hover over her once more.
She nodded sheepishly. “I loved you, you know,” she admitted, reaching up to trace the razor’s edge of one cheekbone. “Even back then. I was just.” She bit back tears at the memory. “I was in so much pain, and I felt so wrong. I wanted to hurt myself, baby.”
His arms were wrapped tight around her, softly accented words of comfort whispered into her hair.
Buffy held on tight, but at the same time felt that she should be the one giving comfort, not receiving it after what had transpired between them. “I hated myself that year,” she said in a raw voice. “And to punish myself.” she clutched him tighter, “I drove away everything I loved.”
“Shh.” he cooed softly. “‘S all right now, luv. ‘m here.”
Buffy smiled against the cool ivory skin of his throat. “Yeah,” she agreed lazily, “you are. It was just scraps of you for so long, you know. I-I have this little tin box with all my memories of you, and.god, you have to think I’m a complete loser,” she groaned before burying her head in his shoulder.
He chuckled at that. “I see the intervenin’ years haven’t changed your over-dramatic tendencies,” he teased.
She swatted at him ineffectively. “Jerk-off,” she grumbled.
He thrust his hardness into her thigh. “Please do,” he countered.
She gasped in indignation at the comment before her eyes widened and a delight smile lit up her face. “Ooh! You just made an annoying innuendo!” she exclaimed excitedly, crashing her lips to his with bruising intensity.
Spike shrugged and let her throw him over onto his back so that she could straddle his middle while plundering his mouth more effectively. His hands drifted lazily to the fly of her jeans, determined in their mission now and slowly pulled the zipper down before slipping around back to cup her ass and push the obstructing fabric down her lean hips.
“Never used to get this excited at my comments,” he pointed out with a gasp when her kisses began trailing down the muscled planes of his chest, her tongue pausing over every nerve that made him writhe beneath her.
“No innuendo for so long,” she retorted between nibbles at one dusty male nipple. “Going through withdrawal.”
He chuckled at that and then let out a low moan at the feel of her hot, wet mouth on his cool flesh. Bloody hell, how did this woman know exactly where to bite and lick to send him teetering dangerously on the edge?
“B-Buffy?” he began clenching his teeth as her tongue dipped into his navel in the sexiest way imaginable.
“Hmm?” she murmured, savoring the salty taste of Spike on her tongue.
“Got other places that could use that tongue.” he informed her with a leer.
The grin on Buffy’s face widened. “Arrogant vampire,” she accused.
He rolled his hips up into her in response. “You know you want it, baby,” he teased.
Her eyes narrowed at that, and she pounced, her lips effectively shutting up his own naughty ones. Mmm, naughty Spike lips. Her own hand slipped between them now, seeking out the hardness that pressed into her stomach. She cupped him through the black denim roughly, eliciting a thrilling growl, before her fingertips ran teasingly up and down the zipper until he was moaning and begging beneath her.
“Christ, luv!” he hissed in a needy whisper. Buffy promptly decided it was the most wonderful thing she’d heard ever. “I-I.”
“Who wants it now?” she teased, leaning down over him so her long, blond locks curtained his face and giving him an unrepentant and very naughty smile.
He growled at that, and before she knew what was happening, she was being wrestled beneath him once more. They struggled and fought and rolled around on the mattress together, each kicking off clothing as they went and laughing.
Spike managed to catch the clasp of her bra between his teeth and deftly unfastened it with his skilled tongue, causing Buffy to gulp, eyes wide, at the dexterity of the muscle. And then a wicked smile lit up her face, and she tackled him once again, demonstrating the skill of her teeth on his zipper. He lay thrashing in ecstasy beneath her, still marveling at the way she was acting. Sure, they both got off on a good tussle before the main event, but never had she allowed it to be like this before – fun, playful, loving.
A lazy smile lit up Buffy’s face at the long, hard length before her eyes. With a coquettish little smile, she leaned carefully forward and her tongue flicked out just to catch the creamy white drop of precum at the very tip of him. He squirmed at the ephemeral contact, hips rocking desperately in her grasp for more, but she denied him.
“Yummy Spike,” she announced proudly.
His eyes narrowed when it became clear that she was going to leave him hanging.metaphorically speaking, of course. He wasn’t doing much hanging at all at the moment. In fact, he was almost painfully erect. “Naughty Slayer,” he growled back.
She practically preened on top of him, running the tips of her fingers over the ripples in his stomach muscles. “Whatcha gonna do about it?” she inquired mock-innocently.
The struggle ensued anew, limbs intertwining and hands caressing, their motions sending the headboard rocking dangerously as it banged against the wall. Ah, yes, the mating rituals of a Slayer and her Vampire were hell on the furniture.
Spike finally managed to latch his mouth right over his bite mark on her throat and sucked on the sensitive flesh there hard, making her whimper and causing her bones to turn to jelly, leaving her limp and willing beneath him. His body moved over to cover hers completely, trapping her beneath cool muscle and flesh. His hips moved with easy, lazy precision between her spread thighs, the first feel of wetness against his aching cock nearly making him lose it.
“God, Buffy!” he moaned into her throat, blunt teeth still latching onto the scar there.
“Spike.” she whimpered softly, feeling his pleasure as her own through the link between them. God, she’d never known it could be like this before – light and fun, yet tender and full of emotion at the same time. She’d always seen Spike’s (and her own) desire for rougher foreplay as something warped before, but now. It was a celebration of their equality, each yielding and giving because they respected the other and enjoyed the realization that they were absolutely perfectly mated. “Can you bite me?” she whispered hopefully.
“Don’t wanna risk it, luv,” he murmured apologetically against her. “You’ve already lost enough blood today.” He kissed each of the twin red marks that adorned her throat.
Buffy sighed in disappointed understanding.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t know other ways of pleasurin’ you,” he pointed out with a hint of the old cockiness in his voice.
She looked up at him, eyes wide and cheeks flushed. “I seem to remember that,” she agreed, cupping his cheek in one palm. “It was one of the reasons I fell in love with you.”
His eyelids fluttered shut, and he caught her hands in his, guiding them up above her head on the pillow where their fingers could intertwine while he held his weight off of her body. “Tell me,” he pleaded softly, back to his more insecure self in mere moments.
Buffy’s legs slid lazily up his thighs. “While you’re inside me,” she promised.
He gulped at that before finally daring to line himself up with her slick passage. “Love you,” he whispered down to her before he thrust in hard.
Buffy cried aloud as the massive invasion stretched her walls as far as they would go, filling her and completing her. “You feel so good,” she hissed, grinding her pelvis against his for his second thrust.
This time he made it in all the way to the hilt and froze within her, savoring the searing wet velvet that hugged him like a second skin. God, he had forgotten that her body was heaven. “T-Tell me you love me,” he pleaded raggedly, still forcing himself to remain still inside her.
“I love you, Spike,” she gasped out eagerly, arching her body upwards into him so that her breasts pressed flat against his chest.
“God, I love you, too,” he whispered back, slowly rolling his hips and beginning a series of fluid pushes in and out of her tight heat.
“I-I love you so much,” she agreed. “I think it started. It started the morning when.god, when I saw what Glory had done to you, and you still hadn’t given Dawn away.” She trailed off as a particularly deep thrust struck right at her core.
“B-Before you died?” He barely dared hope.
She nodded vigorously and pulled his lips back to her throat, begging for the additional connection to him, needing to see inside him, all of him. Just because he could see her thoughts didn’t mean the words weren’t still sweet, though. “I saw for the.oh god.first time how.yes!.beautiful you were,” she cried out between the powerful motions of his hips. “I-I knew that.” She trailed off, unable to even find the words to describe the amazing man within her.
His mouth remained latched to her neck, however, and he felt all her memories as they set her off. The way she’d savored the taste of his lips after that first, brief kiss. The way she had softened at how tender and affectionate he was with Dawn when he thought no one was looking. The absolute worship and adoration in his eyes when she’d invited him back into her home, like she’d just given him the world. God, how could her heart not melt once she started to see the man buried deep within him?
Tears blinded him as he strove to stroke deeper within her womb, the delicate slit at the tip of his cock pressing repeatedly into the nerve cluster within her, desperate to give her every bit of pleasure he could. God, he’d only dared dream. All these years, he had believed it all a lie, but it was true now, and.
Memories of Spike’s own first steps down love’s lane filled Buffy’s consciousness. That futile attempt to get the chip out and the desperate attack on her, the need to get inside her, get close. That first dream where his usual testosterone-induced dreams had finally given way to real, frightening emotions. Images of her – proud, confident, and strong – standing against the demon world and seeming to mock him with what he could never have. The tears that stained her cheeks the night that she sat weeping on the porch at her mother’s sickness, and the feeling of belonging that he felt when she let him comfort her.
The balls of her feet slid up the cool muscles of his ass, giving him better leverage and letting him deeper inside her. She felt like she was burning alive at the heat generated between them. Her sweat coated his own body now, letting them slide together fluidly, and all she wanted to do was pull him closer – give him all her heat and receive the welcome cool he offered. Her fingers clutched his tightly, savoring every part of their union, branding this moment into her mind forever.
“S-Spike?” her shaky voice gasped out.
“Buffy,” he murmured back, his jaw tensed from the effort it required to keep from exploding inside her molten inferno. He broke back from her throat for a moment, looking her right in the eye.
“I-I love you so much,” she whispered in a pleading tone, begging him to understand the truth of her words.
That same awed look she’d first fallen in love with filled his eyes, and it was all she needed to come with a scream of his name. It felt as though the world had melted away to ecstasy, and the only real thing left to her was the body above her and those amazing blue eyes that looked down upon her like she was everything.
Spike’s body froze and his eyes widened as he balanced precariously on the brink of paradise for an instant. Then, everything came tumbling down, the strangling number her internal muscles were doing on his cock too powerful to resist.
His semen flooded her womb, its coolness a relief to the aching fire that burned inside her, and she cried out at the sudden contrast. For one moment, she felt a pain deep in her heart that his seed could never grow within her, but then the pleasure was everything, and nothing had ever been more perfect than this moment.
Spike sank into her body with his climax, planting kisses everywhere he could, babbling out frenzied promises of love and devotion, interspersed with her name. God, never, never. Was this what lovemaking felt like?
Never, never so good. For a moment their thoughts were as one, and then they fell back to earth together, a mass of tangled, sweaty limbs. One gentle meeting of their lips, and they both drifted off into a deep, rich slumber.
* * *
“What is she doing?” Dawn asked, concerned, as the cadence of the alien words Laura Danvers murmured under her breath rose.
“Whatever it is,” Rick grimaced, “I am willing to bet that it is nothing good.”
Suddenly, a scream erupted from their captive, and a burst of red light shot from her mouth. The blinding flash caused both Rick and Dawn to cover their eyes, and when they opened them again, the light was gone.
Laura Danvers rose shakily back to her feet, the red light around her body diminished now, as if much of it had left her. “Soon, now,” she croaked with wicked glee, “we will have a host powerful enough to break us free from this prison.” She held up her spider-like hands in front of her face in disgust. “We will be free of this decrepit, rotting, weak flesh.” A yellow-toothed grin was flashed Dawn and Rick’s way. “And nothing will be able to stop our feast.”