Chapter 24


“Spike!”

Christian watched in horror as Spike tackled Silas, sending them both tumbling to the floor in a flurry of fists and fangs. Christian couldn’t help but wonder if the blond was stupid or plain suicidal. Even when Silas had been at his weakest, no one in their clan had dared take him on, and those few outsiders who had tried quickly found themselves dusted. But taking on a full recuperated Ancient? Let alone one who was dead set on protecting the woman he believed to the love of his life reincarnated?

“Help him,” Christian urged, turning to Angelus. “I’ll untie Buffy.”

Angelus didn’t need to be told twice. Silas had recovered quickly and Spike was pinned against the wall, his feet dangling a good two feet off the ground. The Ancient’s claws were hooked deeply into the flesh of Spike’s abdomen, fangs buried in the soft patch of skin just above the collarbone, in the process of draining Spike dry.

Angelus roared, feeling his face morph into his demon’s guise as fury washed over him. No one touched his childer.

He cursed himself for not carrying a stake even as he reached for the dagger concealed at his waist. His feet carried him swiftly across the room, until he was standing behind the Ancient. Silas barely had time to react before the knife found its home in his back.

The Ancient roared in agony as the flesh around the blade began to sizzle and burn. As Silas’ grip loosened, Spike’s body slid to the floor heavily, almost completely drained and weak from blood loss. He didn’t get up.

“Does it hurt? Because, you know, I have the blade soaked in holy water and blessed after each use,” Angelus snarled into Silas’ ear while twisting the knife slowly, his demon revelling in the pain he was inflicting.

As Silas’ knees gave out from beneath him, Angelus followed him down.

Silas chuckled.

“You don’t really think that a simple knife to the back would be enough to bring me down, do you?” Silas ground out through the pain. “Your family is your Achilles heel, Angelus.”

Angelus grunted as something lodged itself in the back of his ankle and he realised too late what was happening. Angelus let go of the knife that was still lodged in Silas’ back at the same the Ancient tore through the thick tendon connecting his heel.

Pain exploded from his ankle upwards. Darkness seemed to wash over him as Angelus’ world contracted in on the agony flaring from his heel. He barely felt the successive fist to face or the knee that broke his nose before he slumped forward.

“Silas!”

Angelus forced himself to look up at Buffy’s shrill cry. Shock lancing through him as he witnessed his childe struggle within Christian’s grasp, her arms outstretched towards the man from whom he had come to save her. Something was wrong, Angelus realised as he took note of the desperation that he could see in her eyes as she struggled to free herself so she could get to Silas’ side.

Very wrong.

Beside him, Angelus heard Spike moan weakly, confusion plastered across every inch of his face. “Buffy?”

Silas chuckled, a slow smile breaking out across his face. “No. Simone.”

Christian loosened his grip in shock. Buffy shot across the room into Silas’ arms, sobbing out her fear into his chest as the Ancient held her.

“Simone?” Christian asked. “You told me that was impossible. You told me you only wanted to mate with her—Buffy, I mean.”

Silas smirked at him. “I told you all you needed to know to get the job done, my traitorous childe.”

Christian stared at Silas in disbelief as realization dawned on him that his sire hadn’t trusted him. Silas hadn’t trusted his second in command. How much else had he left out? How much of what Christian knew was false?

“You didn’t trust me,” Christian accused, knowing he was speaking the truth. “You knew I’d turn to the Aurelians.”

Silas said nothing, his gaze wandering over the two Aurelians out cold on the floor, weak from blood loss and pain. It was time to go, he had what he’d come for. A long dead feeling bloomed to life in his chest as he looked down at the woman in his arms. “Are you ready to leave, beloved?”

Buffy nodded in his arms.

“I trust you have more sense than you friends did. I have no qualms about taking you down if you’re stupid enough to try and stop us,” Silas stated easily, barely sparing his childe a glance.

Christian took a step back allowing them clear passage. He watched his sire sweep from the room and for a moment he could do nothing but stand there.


*****


Simone couldn’t help but feel confused. She wasn’t sure what was going on exactly, but something wasn’t right. Where were they? And how on earth had they come to be there? What were all these odd looking trinkets that littered her lover’s room? Why did she feel like she hadn’t seen Silas in months? What had happened that night, and how had she become involved? And most importantly, why did she keep getting these deep pangs of unease every time Silas looked at her or touched her? Climbing into bed with him that morning just as the sun began to crest on the horizon had felt inherently wrong, and she was glad they had both been too tired for him to insist on something more before he’d pulled her close and happily drifted off to sleep.

Rolling over on the soft silk sheets of her lover’s bed, Simone stared apprehensively at his sleeping face. He even looked different: his hair shorter, his eyes harder than she last remembered seeing. If she didn’t know better she would have said that he’d somehow managed to age since she’d last seen him, which was impossible. Vampires didn’t age.

She felt so conflicted, both elated and worried at the same time. She loved Silas, but she feared him. She trusted him with her life—she always had—and he had always saved her in the past, but tonight she didn’t even know what he’d saved her from. She just seemed to ‘wake up’ in the middle of it all, a strange man—another vampire—untying her from where she’d been strapped down against a table and urging her to follow him—to leave with him! Calling out for Silas had been instinctual, but the name had felt odd on her lips. She’d ignored it then. Terrified as she was and not knowing what was going on, she’d been happy to wrap herself in the familiarity and safety of her lover’s arms. It hadn’t been until she calmed somewhat and they put some distance between themselves and nightmare she’d woken up to that she realised things felt different.

Simone sighed. No, something just wasn’t right.

Gentle easing her body away from his, Simone slipped from the bed and padded across the room to the bathroom. It looked and felt as foreign and unfamiliar as the rest of her surroundings, but she could at least identify the bath. It took her a few minutes to work out how to fill the bath with water, but she smiled happily when she finally worked it out. She played with the temperature of the water until a steady stream of warm water was gushing from the spout and stood back to wait for it to finish filling.

Simone smiled as she noted the thick velvet drape covering a large mirror on the other side of the room. It was a quirk so Silas that she felt the tight band around her heart unfurl slightly. Silas never had gotten used to his lack of reflection, it was a trait she found endearing and one she hoped he’d never grow out of.

She must look an absolute fright, she thought wryly. Gripping the thick velvet in one hand she yanked firmly on it bring it tumbling down and—

“No...”


*****


“You look beautiful this evening,” a dark, rich voice whispered in her ear, his breath ghosting along the skin of her neck. Simone trembled as a small shiver broke out across her flesh at the velvet sound of his voice.

“Silas,” she whispered, a happy flush tinting her cheeks as she spun around to face her lover.

The man before her bowed deeply, a small secretive smile curving his lips as his eyes remained locked with hers. She giggled softly as he grabbed her by the hand and swiftly pulled her away from the rest of the party, barely giving her time to return the gesture and finish her curtsey.

“Silas!” She laughed.

“What?” He asked, smiling at her cheekily. “I can’t help it if I want you all to myself, away from prying eyes and nosey gossips.”

Simone flushed prettily, “If we were seen, though...”

“We won’t be,” he assured her confidently, his cool hand rising to stroke her cheek lovingly. Gently, he pulled her lips into his, claiming her mouth in a soft kiss. Simone sighed happily against his lips.

“I missed you,” she admitted softly, resting her head against his shoulder.

Silas smiled. “And I you.”

“I wish it didn’t have to be like this. I wish we could marry like everyone else. We could have our own little piece of forever,” Simone sighed wistfully, knowing full well that it wasn’t possible. There were far too many things that could go wrong. If anyone was to find out Silas was a vampire...She shut her eyes tightly against the thought of what they might do to him. To them.

“It doesn’t have to be like this, my love,” Silas pressed, both of his hands moving to cup her cheeks and lift her face to his for a chaste kiss. “I could turn you, make you like I am, then we’d have eternity.”

Simone shook her head sadly. “Eternity...It sounds wonderful, but no. I love you dearly, but I belong in the light. I couldn’t imagine living my life in perpetual night, never able to see the sun again.”

“But we could be together,” Silas pushed. “You’ll miss the sun, but surely you could learn to love the night? I’d make sure you’d want for nothing.”

“You could never give me the sun,” Simone shook her head again. “It’s not what I want, Silas.”

Silas frowned. “Not what you want. Not what you want? And for that you would pass up the chance at life together, bound together more closely than any human ceremony could ever hope to achieve?”

“Silas, please,” Simone begged quietly. “It isn’t you that I am refusing—”

“Yes, it is!”

“No!” She protested emphatically. “I love you more than anything in the world and I promise you I always will, but I can’t—I won’t—become a killer just so we can be together always. I wouldn’t be me if I did that. I wouldn’t be the woman you fell in love with.”

Silas was silent, staring past her and into the night, a heavy frown on his face. Didn’t she understand that he still hunted and killed? Yes, he’d protected her from other vampires in the past, and he’d never dream of hurting her in such a way, but she was the exception. He could care less about the lives of the people around them.

“Promise me you’ll never do it?” Simone continued after a moment, moving forward and pressing herself closer into the circle of his arms.

“I can’t make that promise,” Silas sighed, refusing to meet her eyes.

“You can.”

“Simone...”

“Promise me, Silas,” she persisted as she pulled his face back to hers so she could look him in the eye. “Whatever happens, promise me you’ll never turn me.”

His voice, when he answered, was barely audible, “I promise.”


*****


“No.”

Simone didn’t want to believe what she was seeing. A mirror hung on the wall before her reflecting back an empty bathroom—she had no reflection.

Tears prickled at her eyes.

“He promised,” she whispered brokenly.

The mirror was cold beneath the palm of her hand as she splayed her fingers out against the glass. Nothing. Not even a shadow. There was nothing to show that she was really there.

“He promised!” She whispered again harshly, her hand smacking out against the glass. She was startled when it cracked slightly under the pressure. She stared at the small spider web of cracks for a moment where the glass had splintered with an odd sort of detachment shadowing her thoughts as she felt the rage build.

“ARGH!”

Before she even realised what she was doing, she drew her arm back and let her fist fly with and enraged yell. The mirror exploded around her, slicing up her face and arms as the shards rained down upon her.

“Simone!”

His voice did nothing but infuriate her further.

She turned and slammed out of the bathroom. Silas was already halfway across the room on his way to find her and the minute he saw her, he quickly closed the distance between them, scooping her into his arms lovingly.

“Get off of me!” She snarled, planting both palms against his chest and pushing with all her might. He went flying; sailing rapidly across the room until the wall opposite her abruptly halted his progress with a resounding thud which cracked the plaster.

“What the hell?” He asked, starting up at her in bewilderment. “Simone?”

She shot him a poisonous glare. “Don’t you dare come near me!”

“What’s wrong?”

She let out a bitter laugh. “What’s wrong? I’m a vampire, Silas!”

Stalking across the room she grabbed the thick dark curtains that hung across the only windows in the room.

“No! Wait—”

She cut him off mind speech as she yanked on them with all her strength bringing both the curtains and the curtain rod crashing down around her. Silas hissed and quickly leapt out of the sun’s deadly rays as they filtered into the room.

“You lying no good bastard!” She snarled at him from the other side of the room, the thick shaft of sunlight separating them.

“Simone, darling, what are you talking about? I didn’t—” he began but she cut him off again.

“You turned me!” She yelled at him furiously. “You promised, Silas! You promised you would never turn me!”

Silas was shaking his head furiously. “No! No, I didn’t. I promise you—”

“Oh, you promise,” she cut in again. “I’m glad, because last time you made a promise to me it obviously meant so much to you.”

Silas didn’t know what to say. “Will you just let me explain? Please.”

Simone shook her head. “What is there to explain? I told you I never wanted this and you went through with it anyway.”

“It was the Aurelians! I had nothing to do with it!” Silas snapped.

Simone glared at him.

“I’m telling you the truth, beloved.” Silas continued more calmly when she voiced no further protests.

“Oh? Look me in the eyes and swear to me that you had nothing to do with my turning,” Simone growled.

Silas hesitated over the wording. Technically, it had been one of the Aurelians who turned her this time around, even if he had broken his promise initially all those centuries ago. He’d hesitated for just a moment too long, though, and he knew it.

Shaking her head mournfully, she turned away from him. “I trusted you.”

“It wasn’t like that, sweetheart, you were dying,” Silas pleaded. “I couldn’t—I...I couldn’t let you go. Not like that.”

“What right do you have to play God,” she hissed. “That’s life, Silas. People die. I can’t believe you would be so selfish. I should end this now and be done with it!”

She barely even noticed when her features morphed into that of her demon’s guise. Instead, Simone looked pointedly at the stream of sunlight that separated them. It would be so easy. This wasn’t what she wanted. Vampirism had never been an option for her and certainly not something she’d have ever chosen for herself.

She took a small halting step forward.

“No!”

‘NO!’

Simone pulled up short at the sharp exclamation, but it wasn’t Silas’ voice which stopped her. It was the louder, more frantic voice echoing through her own mind which caused her to halt mid-step.

‘Please,’ it whispered again more faintly, ‘don’t kill us...’


_________________________________________________________


AN: So, I hope that made sense to everyone. Any comments or questions? Did it work for you, or are you all confused?

Thanks to Slackerace for the beta :)