Chapter 4

“Buffy, what are you doing back so soon?” Giles asked, being the first one to speak up after her entrance.

“I left my jacket here, but I managed to hear most of your conversation. Does anyone care about what I want? I’m really tired of everyone making decisions for me.”

Spike shook his head, knowing where this would lead. “I won’t bite you, Buffy.”

She glared at him. “Don’t force me to hit you, too. If this is the only cure, then I don’t see what the problem is.”

“The problem is that you could die. This is exactly what Drusilla wants. She knew the cure was Slayer blood. She was hoping that I would get poisoned and feed off of you. I just know this was her plan all along. She wants me to kill you, but she didn’t realize that I would rather die instead.”

Buffy’s expression softened as she took a step closer to him. “You won’t drain me, Spike. You can just take enough to get better.”

“What if I can’t stop? I would never forgive myself if something happened to you.”

She gently caressed his cheek. “I trust you. I know you’ll stop. You have to do this, Spike. I can’t lose you.”

Giles looked between both of them. “I’ll just give you some privacy,” he said, making his way out of the living room and up the stairs.

They were too caught in each other and didn’t even notice that Giles was no longer there.

“Love, are you sure about this?”

Buffy nodded. “It’s the only way.”

Spike pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss, then moved his lips to her neck. He licked her pulse point and planted kisses on her smooth skin to get her relaxed. He then changed into his vamp features and slowly plunged his fangs into her neck. Her warm blood flowed into his mouth.

Buffy shut her eyes and ran her hands down his back. It definitely didn’t hurt as much as Angel’s bite did. She started to feel weaker, but trusted Spike to stop when he needed to.

He pulled his fangs out of her neck after a moment, licking the wound closed. He gazed at her face to see that her eyes were still shut. “Are you okay?” he wondered with concern.

She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice, then collapsed from the loss of blood.

Spike caught her before she hit the floor. “Buffy?”

She sat up and waved her hand in the air. “I’m fine. That felt incredible.”

Spike smiled and was just glad that she didn’t seem to be badly hurt.

“How do you feel?” she asked.

“I feel good, I think it worked.”

Buffy felt his head and noticed that he was cooler now. She sighed in relief and wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”

He returned the embrace and kissed her hair. “I’ll try not to. Maybe Dru will finally leave us alone now that her plan didn’t work.”

Buffy pulled away to look at him. “Do you really think so?”

“I don’t know, but hopefully she’ll give up. I’m done worrying about her. You have Spring Break coming up soon, right?” he asked suddenly.

She nodded. “Yeah, in about three weeks. Why?”

He smiled. “I think that would be a good time to go to London. That is, if you still want to.”

“Of course I still want to. I’m so ready to get a vacation from this town,” she replied, giving him a firm kiss on the lips.

Spike returned the kiss, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her closer.

They were in their own little world and didn’t hear the front door open.

“Merciful Zeus! I knew we should have knocked.”

“I told you that, but you never listen to me.”

Buffy pulled away to glare at her two best friends. “We’ll continue that later,” she said to Spike.

He nodded, looking just as upset that they were interrupted.

“Seriously, is that all you guys do? You would think that Spike almost died or something with the way you were clinging to his lips.” Xander said.

The vampire and Slayer both exchanged looks.

Willow noticed that something was amiss. “Did something happen?”

Buffy just shook her head, gracing her friend with a smile. “Nope, nothing more than usual.”

Willow wasn’t convinced, but she decided to let it go. Buffy would tell her if something was wrong.

Xander grabbed a soda from the fridge and moved back into the living room. “So, what are we talking about?” he said, taking a sip of the drink. He nearly choked on the liquid when he noticed something about Buffy. “Hey, are those bite marks?”

Buffy rolled her eyes. “Nothing gets by you, Xand. We’ll be going on patrol now. See you guys later.” She then pulled Spike out of the apartment and shut the door behind them, leaving a bewildered Xander and Willow to stare after their retreating backs. Buffy shoved Spike against the door once they were outside. “Now, where were we?”

Spike gently pushed her away before she attacked his lips. “Not about to do this in front of your watcher’s place.”

She gave him a pout.

“That won’t work this time, pet. Let’s go.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her away.

“Where are we going? The college is the other way.”

“We’re not going to the bloody college. I have a better idea.”

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “Spike, you are so not taking me to a crypt.”

He rolled his eyes. “Give me some credit, Slayer. A crypt isn’t good enough for my girl.”

She felt better then and continued to let him lead her to their destination.


* * * * *


They finally arrived about a half an hour later.

Buffy looked at Spike. “And you think a cheap hotel is good enough for me?”

He shrugged. “It was the best I could do in such short notice. I know a bloke that works here. We should be able to get a room for no charge,” he said with a smile.

Buffy wondered who he could possibly know and she got the surprise of a lifetime when they entered the building. “This is a demon hotel?”

“Peaceful demons, love. Don’t get any ideas, you’re not here to slay.” Spike led her over to the main desk and smiled at the loose skinned demon that greeted them there.

“Spike, it’s been a while. Who’s your friend?”

“This is Buffy, my girlfriend. We were hoping to get a room for the night.”

He nodded and went to grab a key. “All right, here you go. You know everything’s on the house.”

Spike gave him another smile and took the key. “Thanks, Clem. I really appreciate it.”

Buffy still found this whole situation unusual, but she managed to keep quiet about it. The demon seemed nice enough. She then felt something brush against her leg and looked down to find the most adorable kitten. “How cute are you?”

Spike looked down as well to notice what had her attention. His eyes grew big when he saw the animal.

Clem moved from behind the desk and scooped the kitten up. “How did you get out?” he wondered.

Buffy raised her eyebrows. “You have a pet cat?” She found it odd for a demon to have a pet, but was finding the whole night to be pretty odd.

Spike spoke up before Clem got a chance to. “Yeah, he has a pet cat. Let’s go to the room now, Slayer.” He ushered her away after that.

Clem gazed at the feline in his arms, vaguely hearing Buffy’s question as they left the lobby.

“Spike, what does he do with that kitten?”

Clem laughed and went back to his desk, putting the cat down. She was a strange girl.