New Game Chapter 13 /16

Sequel to Afterglow and third installment in Dive into Destiny Series

Author: T.Claybourne

Rated PG-13 to NC-17. Sex Violence and language

Pairings involve Spike /Original ( as set up in last story) Angel/ ? Wesley/? Faith /?

Thanks to my Beta, Hawera and my muses, Kurt Cobain, John Lyndon (AKA Johnny Rotten) and Joe Strummer.

Just a reminder: You die hard Spuffy fans you will finally feel some validation in the next story following this one. ( I promise there is a definite and secure Spike /Buffy pairing in Part Four and final story of the series)]

```````````````````````````````````````````````

Chapter 13 Part 1 Stealing Home

Gunn was tired of this waiting. He just wanted to go home. The Hyperion wasn’t really that far away from here and he didn’t see any reason why he couldn’t. They had all decided to stay together at Buffy’s house, thinking it would be safer. He’d thought about it: truth was, with Mia’s supposed plan, their being all together was more dangerous then being separated.

Walking to the front door to get the morning paper, he mulled over how he’d tell everyone. As he bent to pick up the Morning Edition and absently looked at the headline, he put the paper under his arm and headed to the kitchen. He poured a cup of coffee and went to sit on the deck. He had to admit that at least he did enjoy watching the ocean with his coffee every morning. On his way to the deck, it hit him. He reopened the paper. There it was:

“Police officials are baffled over death tolls reaching the hundreds in Las Vegas this weekend. Official reports say the each resemble a wild animal attack, although the type of animal and how it has become loose in the city are unknown..”

Gunn stared at the headlines. He walked into the family room and switched on the television to a news station: there, on the television, they were showing scenes of the aftermath: two strip clubs, three small casinos and a warehouse that had been used as a Rave. Two hundred had been killed there. Two hundred, and in one place.

Gunn knew what it meant. He’d have to wake the others and he wouldn’t be going home. Mia and the others were in the west now and she wanted to be sure they knew it. The battle would begin soon.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Wesley turned the van on to the Pacific Coast Highway. “So Mia, explain to me again why we spent time in the sewer while we were last here when we could have spent it in your lovely Malibu home. Officially, you two as the title owners were dead: we could have entered with no invite.”

“Wes, we were assembling the team then. It was too risky. I didn’t want to give anything away. There was a chance they would disrupt it all by finding us. It’s obvious... now…. that they didn’t think to look for us there, but it was a possibility.”

Faith spoke up, “I think it’s cool, a beach house. I think it’s wicked cool that the other team will be five doors down and not even know we are there. I tell you, I’m glad that Mot guy isn’t staying with us. I think he kind of stinks.”

“That would be the putrescent smell of death coming from the great God of Death” said Wes, “He actually smells much better than I recall.”

“Wes is right. Maybe his creatures were what smelled so bad,” added Angel

“Talk of death god aside, I for one am sodding well looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again.”

Mia ran her hand up his thigh to his crotch. “Sleeping?” Her tone made her intent obvious.

Angel turned around from the front passenger seat. “Don’t start. You can wait until we get there.”

Mia’s eyebrow went up. “What did you just say to me?”

Angel stared at her, “I said, don’t start.”

“Hmmm, that’s what I thought you said.”

Mia didn’t say anything for several moments as she looked out of the van’s front window. Then in a quiet and contemplative voice she said, “I always wondered about this time of day. You know the sun isn’t really set, definitely starting to but it’s still kind of there. You know it’s just on the very verge of dusk but you can still see blue in the sky. This pre-dusk time. Is there a name for it, Wesley?”

“I’m not quite….”

Mia was up front, in between the bucket seats instantaneously. She had opened the front passenger door and shoved Angel out before any of the others realized what she was doing.

Mia sat down in the seat Angel had occupied. “The name I have for it is… ‘see-if-the vampire-will-burn-time-of-day’.”

Wes gave a slight chuckle. “I can’t see his reflection in the rear view mirror, so I can’t tell you if he is actually burning.”

Spike turned around in his seat and looked out of the van window. “ Bloody buggering hell. She’s finally fed up with the wanker and he’s just fine, standing next to the road, arms across his chest.”

Faith started to laugh. “Oh Shit! Look at the, what do you call it, the expression on his face? Mia, we have to go back just to see it better.”

“Fine. Turn around, Wes. We’ll just go get him. I knew he wouldn’t burn, he’s too fucking stubborn.”

They pulled up and Mia opened the front passenger door. “Get in, you ass.” She moved to the back as he climbed up into the seat she had just been in.

“You are calling me an ass? You threw me out of the van before sunset.”

“Yep, and you want to say what about that?”

Angel’s jaw stiffened visibly, but he stayed silent..

“That’s what I thought, Angel. Now let’s try this again, let’s start way back at the beginning. You know when I asked, what did you just say? Let me do it again: what did you say to me?”

Angel eyes narrowed a bit but he just stared at her again, silence his only answer. Mia smiled. “That’s what I thought, you said: nothing.”

Spike looked from one to the other. “So then, I guess this means our nightly sunset walk on the beach is off.”

Both Mia and Angel burst into laughter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Spike followed Mia into their room.

“Oh for fuck sake, open a window, Spike. It smells like human us in here. Almost stinks worse than Mot.”

Spike chuckled at her choice of words as he threw open the window. He then continued on to Mia’s nightstand and opened the drawer, going through the things in it.

Mia stood and watched as he moved to the dresser. He’d gone through two drawers when she asked.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for something.”

“In my dresser?”

“Observant there, pet..”

He was in her underwear drawer when he stopped. His hand grasped something and pulled out a rectangular box. It read “Personal Massager”. The picture on the front was of a white, sort of rectangular handled object with a series of attachments.

“Mia, care to tell me what this is?”

“What does the box say, Spike?”

“If this is what it says on the box, why have I never seen you use it on your sore shoulder muscles that you whined to me about when you were human?”

Mia gave him the smallest of smiles. “ It says personal, as in by yourself. You wouldn’t have seen it if I was by myself.”

Spike ripped open the box. “Where are the attachments? There’s only this nub-looking one. This is the vibrator you were talking to Faith about in San Antonio, isn’t it? What did you call it in Vegas, Bob?”

“Well, not the exact one I meant, but yes.”

“Did you use it while we were married?”

“What’s it matter now?”

Spike’s jaw tightened. “How daft are you?” His eyes narrowed. “You’re not daft, YOU know what it matters.”

Mia gave him a slow grin and cocked her head. “I only used it…”. she took a deep dramatic breath, “…the first six months after we first were made human, while you were still chasing Buffy.”

Spike rolled his eyes to the ceiling and back to her. “So this thing is old, practically ancient. So why the hell do you still have it?”

Mia grinned, “Just in case….”

Spike’s eyes narrowed again. “Just in case what?”

“You went out of town.”

He put it down on the dresser top and went to her, removing her coat. “You know, we were half way back here from Vegas when I suddenly remembered seeing this box one time or another. I nearly went round the bend thinking about it. I kept thinking maybe I hadn’t been satis… “

She interrupted, “You are all the way round the bend if you thought that. Didn’t my reactions to you over the years tell you anything? Shit, Spike, a girl can only fake it for so long and we’ve been together too long for that. Can I pull your idiot clause out now? Besides, we’re vampires now and you know that if you didn’t satisfy me I’d just find someone else.”

He chuckled, then grinned. “Lucky for the team’s balance I get the job done. What a mess that would be, you pitting Wes and Angel against each other.”

“I think I’d sire young boy toys until I found one that could. Let you three kill them if they couldn’t.”

“Oh, so you’d keep me around, would you?”

Mia cocked her head. “Well, I’ve never thought of you not being here. Come on, Spike? Tell me, can you imagine us being vampires and not at least playing together?”

He pulled her into a kiss, then he put his forehead to hers, “ I honestly can’t picture us without the blood and fangs, the fighting, planning killing the slayers, the drinking, smoking and….”

Mia grabbed his crotch, “Too much talking when what you should be doing is making sure I don’t throw you over for some boy toy.”

Spike grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her head back, kissing her. “ Fine.” He kissed down her neck, then he stepped back and carefully began removing her clothes. He unzipped her skirt, “Please note, Mia, that I did not rip off this new designer fashion item of yours.”

“I have noted it, Spike, and you WILL be rewarded justly.” She smiled as she stepped out of the skirt and stood naked in front of him. He undressed quickly, picked her up holding her legs round his waist, then laid her on the bed. One eyebrow went up as he looked down at her. “I’ll be right back.”

He walked over to the dresser and when he came back he plugged the massager in next to her nightstand and turned it on. “I want to see this thing in action.”

Mia laughed, “No, Spike. You do satisfy me. Remember the story; you are the big orgasm to start with. Why would I want to start small?”

Spike moved her legs apart. “Just let me see if I can hit that, what did you call it, the exact right place. Is it here?” He placed the vibrator on her.

“No,” she smiled.

“Here?” He moved it just a bit.

“Ah, no, but that’s good.”

“Here?” He slowly dragged it up just a bit.

“Uhm, still, ahmm, no, but still goood”

“What about…” he was unhurried as he moved it in a deliberate way until it was positioned not quite in the center of her nub.

“OOOOH, yeeeesss,” she moaned.

Spike watched and listened as Mia went through a series of orgasms, obviously increasing in intensity. It was when she began to yell out loud that he moved quickly, removing the machine and slipping himself inside her, and began to thrust.

Her yelling stopped briefly then, “No S-p-i-k-e, I c-a-a-a-a-n’t it’s…”

Suddenly she made a deep chesty vowel sound that Spike had never heard before, and she continued to make it for a long while until finally she screamed, a sound closer to a wild animal: Spike never remembered her doing something quite like that before. He felt her then contracting around him, and that went on and on, milking him until he himself had to yell out as he released his cold seed into her.

Spike looked down at her. Mia was staring almost vacantly at the ceiling.

“Mia, love?”

She lay silent. Spike could feel a small constant tremor in her right leg.

“Mia?”

She still lay silent.

“Em?”

She took a deep inhalation of air, and in a flat voice said, “Spike, if I weren’t already dead, I think you would have just killed me.”

He burst into laughter, pulled from her and fell onto his back to lie beside her.

She continued with little emotion: “I’m serious. I think there was a point when I lost all brain function. If I had not been able to see you, with those blue eyes, your face and hair I might have actually forgotten who you were. I’m pretty sure I forgot who I was and where I was.”

This just made him laugh again.

She turned her head. “You shouldn’t laugh. If we were human you’d have to tell all your friends you killed me. It would be death by orgasm.”

Spike just kept laughing. The bed shook with it. He looked at her and she smiled

She took a deep breath and blew it out. “Phew! I don’t think my leg has stopped shaking.”

With a chuckle Spike asked. “Enjoy it then, love?”

“Enjoy? What I felt has no words. Do you know my whole body is still humming?”

Spike jumped up and straddled her. He pulled the vibrator up for her to see.

“Humming? Does it feel like this?” He turned it back on.

Mia eyed the thing in his hand. “What are you doing? ”

He grinned, “Having another go.”

“Oh, no. No, you’re not. I can’t. It’s too soon. Once in a nii….”

Spike threw her legs apart.

“ iight Sp-i-k-e….I...I…I..I…Can…nnnn’t….oooh….don’t…don’t ….DON’T S-T-O-P noooow”

He looked down at her a smirk on his face, eyebrow raised. “ That’s exactly what I thought you’d say, love.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mia woke to an empty bed. She felt all loose and comfortable. She dressed in an old soft, faded, fraying and knees-out, pair of jeans and a form-fitting tricot camisole tank top, then went down stairs. She could sense that most of the others were gone but she found Spike sitting in front of the television, eating a bowl of Weetabix.

Mia wrinkled her nose. “ Is that pigs’ blood on those?”

“Good call there, pet.”

“Spike, pigs’ blood? Why? And where?”

“I became fond of pigs’ blood and Weetabix. I remembered we had a box of the cereal in the cupboard, and I went to the butchers for the blood before they closed at nine.”

“But pigs’ blood! It’s so soulful of you.”

He grinned, “Speaking of soulful, guess who I saw just up the way sitting on the sand, watching the waves under the moon not ten minutes ago?”

Mia raised her eyebrows in question.

“None other than the witch herself.”

Grinning, Mia said, “Oh, if that isn’t an opportunity, I don’t know what is. No risk involved this way; I’ll just go talk to her.”

“My very thought, love, then we’ll have a walk and a hunt along the beach I’m sure you’re hungry after earlier.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Willow sat watching the dark waves of the ocean wash up white and foamy along the shore. It seemed she was spending a lot of time out here on the sand. It tended to make thinking and breathing easier: too much time indoors with everyone and she started to feel claustrophobic.

A lone figure was walking up the sand towards her. In the dark it was hard to see anything but as the figure drew closer the moonlight shone on its pale features. Just as she stood over her, Willow recognized Mia.

Mia sat down next to her.

“Hi, Willow.”

Willow didn’t answer. She suddenly couldn’t move.

In a voice that held no malice or threatened no evil, Mia began, “Listen, you don’t use the spells, I’ll skip the fangs and thrall. We’ll just talk, one big power to another. OK?

Willow swallowed, “OK.”

“You are their big power, you know. That’s why I’m here talking to you and not to Buffy. So here’s the thing: my team, we’ve had a lot of fun getting here, but now we just want to get on with it. Game time is set for tomorrow, two hours after sunset. We’ll play on our home field, and I call it that since it actually is or has been home for most of our team. Willow, I left you alive, not once but twice now for a reason. Don’t disappoint me tomorrow. You are the big power, you have the big power and you know exactly how it should be used.”

Mia patted Willow’s knee gently and stood. “See you tomorrow.”

Willow watched her walk away. There was no long coat flapping behind her and for the briefest of moments she was reminded of Emma. She had no idea why she had thought of Emma: she realized it been along time since she had thought of her. Maybe it was because the non-evil, human Mia had been so like Emma, but really even that Mia wasn’t Emma and Mia herself would be the first to remind others of that. Willow sighed deeply. Things had changed so much, and who knew what tomorrow would bring. Now she had to go and tell the others.

``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Chapter 13 Part 2 Concessions

Gunn shook his head. “She meant the Hyperion.”

“That’s what I thought too,” sighed Willow. “Every one of them except Faith has lived there.”

“Even Faith stayed there once,” said Fred.

“This could be a trap. Mia is hardly Miss Truthful,” suggested Buffy.

Willow looked at her. “Well actually, except for the bait and switch in Cleveland, she’s never actually lied. She may have pulled a lot of unexpected stuff, but no lies. This isn’t a trap: they’ll show when she said they would. I don’t know how I know, but I do. Mia wants this, a head-on battle between these teams, not a sneak attack. If she didn’t want it I’d be dead right now, lying out there on the sand.”

Giles spoke up. “It does appear that Mia is intent on facing us the way Willow says. She has obviously had numerous chances to kill several of us but hasn’t done so. As strange as it sounds we are going to have to trust her about tomorrow.”

“Trust her? Not happen from this brother. Whatever we do to get the place ready tomorrow we do real careful like. Let’s go over it now one more time. I know we’ve covered it all before but now we have the playing field we can get real specific.”

Xander sighed, “It’s really reassuring having you on the team, Gunn.”

Buffy gave a short laugh. “Reassuring? I reassured you all the time. This is about all those years when you were the only guy, Xander. You’re just happy now there is another one.”

“Pardon me, Buffy, but I’d appreciate it if you were to rephrase that. I believe I qualify as …a guy, and always have,” smiled Giles.

~ ~ ~ ~

Spike turned his boot upside down in the bathtub. He stood up and took off his shirt.

“ I’d already forgotten how sand gets in everything when you live at the beach.”

Mia gave a little laugh, “ But not how it is you have to do things if you have your own home there? Oh, Spike, it’s so cute you didn’t want to get the sand on the floor.”

He looked at his boot and then the sand in the bath tub. He smiled at her, “ Guess we could get minions to clean if we end up staying. Seriously, I just didn’t want any more sand on me.”

“No?” She took off her shirt. “ But I have it on me.”

“I’ll throw you in the tub too.” He grinned. “Look better in nothing at all anyway.”

“You too. Drop those pants, mister. Besides, I may have to dust your bits off gently.”

He chuckled, “ Gently? Since when? Sounds suspicious to me.”

She giggled, “ Want to suds me up?” She turned on the shower. “ I’ll let you hold the shower head.”

With a half grin his eyebrows went up, “ Mia, you are being awful nice tonight. I got first choice of our meal out on the beach. You let me throw you into the surf. You let me strip you naked and re-enact an x-rated version of ‘From Here To Eternity’. You then let me take you on the rocks with the surf crashing over you. By the way, I’m glad you convinced me to leave the coats behind tonight. Just a moment ago you just spoke of gently brushing my bits. Now you’ve said you’ll give up the shower head. You never do that. “

“Shut up, Spike. I feel so good right now you could have anything you wanted.”

“Hmmm. Anything I want?”

“I know what that ‘anything’ is too.”

“You know what I…want…. after you just offered anything? OK, this will be good, tell me.”

“Us to have a nice shower, then you will climb into bed and finish that book you forgot to take on the plane to Africa. It’s been driving you crazy. We are living the life of ultimate evil, but all you’ve wanted to do for the last week is to find out how that thing ends. At first you didn’t give it a thought, we had plenty to take up our time but since New Orleans you’ve been thinking about it. Now, since we got home, you’ve been looking at it longingly.”

“Now that bit isn’t true: it’s in the drawer. Can’t even see the thing. Have you been reading me psychically? Don’t answer, I know you haven’t. You…..”

“….know you way too well. That’s why I’m going to let you finish it. I’ll go downstairs, wait for the others: come back after sun up. That gives you, what, about five hours? I know you, you can finish it in that time, probably sooner. If not, I’ll just come and curl up quietly next to you.”

“Just like a couple of humans. We’ll be the only pair of vamps that strike terror into everyone they come across: stories of our exploits will be legendary, but if you follow us home that’s where the real terror begins. We will appear to live like the Smiths down the block.”

“That would be the Taylors, dear .”

He sucked in his breath, “ You know, I never really got over that decision. I mean, me taking your surname.”

She turned on the shower. “ I know, honey. It’s your own fault. You wouldn’t reveal yours, and I had to put something down for the marriage license. Taylor made it easy, I didn’t have to change any of my documents.”

She dropped her jeans and stepped into the shower. Spike dropped his and followed her.

“I’m still not telling. Maybe if I have a stake through my heart then….”

“Is there a fortune? Are you the illegitimate child of some Royal? Or do you believe like the native Americans that you’ll lose your strength if your name is spoken? Don’t answer: last names don’t matter now we’re dead. Our past lives don’t matter. I’m never telling you exactly where I grew up. I still own that farm. You’ve asked but I’ve been vague.” She smiled.

He kissed her. “A girl has to have her secrets?”

“Just like my Spike does.”

After they finished showering Mia dressed in a pair of faded cut-off jean shorts. Spike had already crawled in bed and opened his book. He looked up at her.

“You stole those shorts from me.”

“No I didn’t”

“Give over, they hang on your hips. I’m not a big guy but your waist is smaller than mine.”

She gave a small laugh, “ Me give over? Listen to you. Besides, you would never cut a pair of pants into shorts.”

He smirked, jumped out of bed, and reached her before she could move. He ran his hand over the front pocket. See this mark here, love? He pointed to a fade mark on the jeans. “Exact shape of a zippo. I carry mine in the front. You carry yours in the back or in your coat. You stole those from me and cut them off. From the looks of them they were jeans I had as a soulful vamp. “

“Yeah, living in L.A. with Emma. She used to wash that damn Zippo in them because you did carry it in front and she’d forget to check your pockets. She used to tell you to empty them but you never did.”

He rolled his eyes. “I can’t believe you brought her up.”

“I can’t believe you called me on the pants. Like you’d wear them now they are shorts. Ha, I’d like to see that, Spike the vamp in shorts. It was funny enough seeing you do it as a human.”

His jaw stiffened a bit. “ You thought it was funny to see me in shorts?”

She nodded then shrugged, “ Sorry, but I will admit I do always like to see you naked. Like now, I’m not laughing. Want to laugh at me in these shorts?”

“You have no shirt on, love, I can’t laugh at you.” He smiled.

“Go back to your book, Spike. This is why it didn’t get read in the first place. I’m a big distraction.”

He ran his finger down her breast and across her nipple. “A good distraction.”

“Not tonight.” She turned him and shoved him towards the bed. “You’ll thank me later.”

She walked to her underwear drawer, pulled out a bra looked at it, then at her breasts. She gave a little giggle. “ I love being nineteen again.” She walked over to Spike’s drawer and took out a ribbed tank t-shirt in white cotton, pulled it on and tucked it in. The thin material clung close to her skin. It accented the fact that the jeans shorts hung only on her hips, making her waist appear extremely lean. Her pert breasts looked fine with no bra. The lightness of the cloth showed just a hint of color from her nipples.

Mia turned to the bed “ Look at this, Spike. No bra and they stand up just like…..”

“…..you were nineteen again? Come here, love, and I’ll show you how appreciated those are while you are nineteen again. But for the record, I would enjoy them just as much if you were thirty-nine. You do know that whether you were a demon or not you were just as sexy then.”

They heard the door downstairs open and the others come in.

She walked over and gave him a quick kiss. “Oh, you’re sounding so human-like I may have to start calling you Mr. Taylor. But seriously, Spike, all this is way too sweet, we need to save it for another night. We face and destroy that Slayer of yours tomorrow.

“Maybe that is the reason why just looking at you is making me randy.”

“Your hair is curly: leave it that way and I’ll come rape you later.” She walked out.

“Works every damn time.” He smiled as he picked up his book.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Mia wandered into the kitchen to catch Faith pouring drinks. She heard music start in the living room.

“Hey,” she said.

Faith jerked startled, “ Damn, how did you do that sneaking up on me thing? Ubervamp here.”

Mia pointed to her bare feet and shrugged.

“We set up in the living room, the one with the great view, is that OK? It’s got all the really modern, light colored furniture and looks all… well, like something I shouldn’t be in, but Angel said you entertain in there all the time.”

Mia laughed, “ Faith, vampires entertaining? Not really a concern. Although Spike did worry about sand on the floor in the bathroom. Gotta say, was glad he did. That grit is a pain to have all over the place. Especially places you sleep etcetera etcetera.”

“Cool. So you hunted the beach tonight. Good eats?”

“Oh yeah, always health conscious and romantics in Malibu. You find surfers from time to time too, the brave die-hards, lookin’ for that last great wave.. Hey, what’s that?” Mia pointed to the counter next to the stove.

“Oh, those. Well, the chocolate covered one is mine, and the one with nuts Wes claimed, but the others are yours.”

“The other four what?”

“Shut up, you know those are caramel apples.”

“Where did those come from?”

“Angel got them for you.. We went to the Santa Monica pier to feed and he got them there.

Mia took a deep unnecessary breath with her surprise and concern.

“And what did you have to eat, health conscious, romantic or surfer?” Faith asked.

“I had a surfer. Swam out there naked and, well, no shark attack but they were eaten still the same. Crazy, they try and surf it in the moonlight, but great for me.”

“Shit, you swam out and ate a surfer?”

“Mia likes surfers, says they taste clean and smell like linen.” Angel leaned in the doorway.

“I see you brought Caramel Apples.”

“I’m getting this drink to Wes. Want me to leave this with you, Angel?” Faith asked as she passed him and headed out of the kitchen.

“Go ahead, take it in there. I’ll be right in.”

“Come have one of these apples with me out on the deck.” Mia said to Angel.

“I don’t usually eat…..”

“Come join us other vamps in this millennium, Angel. I’m strongly suggesting you try it out in the twenty-first century. The rules are different here.”

She opened the fridge and pulled two cans of Coke out of it, then lifted two of the apples onto a couple of paper towels. She didn’t wait to see if he followed.

Mia sat down at the table. Angel sat to her left and at the end of the table. She handed him the apple. She looked at hers, thinking of their conversation, the pillow talk. Suddenly she grabbed the wooden stick and yanked it out.

“Seems like the poor little apple has been staked and just hasn’t been allowed to explode into dust.”

“Oh, Mia, the demon in you is morbid about this carnival treat.”

“Why’d you buy it?”

“I always buy you a caramel apple if I go to the pier.”

“Today you bought four.”

He looked away and looked back a bit embarrassed, then shrugged. “I guess the whole thing is a damn human habit: you had a family. Couldn’t bring you one and not them one as well.”

She smiled. “True. Hey, I have a theory why humans like apples so much.”

“Go on.”

“It’s a basic thing, like a connection with their deepest instinct. They like it for the same reason we love feeding.” Mia sunk her human teeth into the apple and ripped the piece away chewing on it. Once she finished the bite she continued.

“They get to sink their teeth deep into the flesh, break through into the meat and rip it from the victim. When they do they are rewarded with those tart juices filling their mouth and sometimes running down their chins.”

“You just made this apple sound really good.”

“These are even better because they are coated in creamy-buttery-sugary-caramely goodness. Have you every fed on some teenager coming out of a theater? It’s a little like that.”

He chuckled. “You amaze me.” He took a big bite from the apple. “I mean, how could you know that a caramel apple tastes like a theater-going teen?”

“Spike. I had a craving for the apple and he suggested I try the teen. I can’t wait until Halloween, candy-corn kids.”

Angel took another bite of his apple. “We don’t go out on Halloween.”

“I know but they will be pumped up on the sugary stuff the rest of the week following it. I was thinking we might give out candy like we do every year…..Mia stopped and started to laugh. “ If you could see the look on your face at my suggestion.” She got up and walked over to the lounge chairs, looking out at the ocean.

Angel joined her. She handed him a Coke.

Mia and Angel sat in silence while they finished their caramel apples. Each threw the core over the deck railing.

Mia put her forefinger, then her thumb in her mouth to rid each of her teeth of the caramel’s stickiness. As she pulled her thumb from her mouth she smiled, “ Now I know the reason for the sticks. Guess I should have left it in the poor thing.”

She stood up and as she began to walk into the house she turned to Angel. “Angel, you need to drop most of the human habits we had. Next time you should bring me a……”

Angel was fast. He slammed her hard and pinned her to the wall. “ You, of all vampires, are talking about me giving up human habits?”

Mia continued her sentence as if she had not been interrupted, “….teenager you found coming from a theater. That big multiplex in Hollywood is a good one.”

She shifted her weight, moved her shoulder and began to elbow him. He stopped her.

“Oh, I don’t think so, Mia. I spent the entire weekend with you. I remember the way you move, how you handle yourself. I remember the things you said, and I know you, Mia.” His hand moved and Mia looked down. He held the wooden stick from his apple at her chest.

She looked up and smiled, “ Do you, Angel? How well do you really know this Mia?” Her brow went up.

Angel suddenly felt the stick sliding forward in his hand. He looked down and saw it was moving on its own, it was moving towards her chest. It had already piercing the cloth of her shirt.

“How far will I go? And what will happen to you if I go all the way? Oh, you may think you can overcome Spike, but you’d be wrong. But even if you managed to get away without being staked you’d always be hunted. Let’s imagine you get lucky and kill Spike, there would still be my childe. She might wonder about my demise, and then the manipulator she beds with frequently would see it as a chance to control the power in the group. So, let’s do this, Angel. We can continue to dance, or we can dust: it’s up to you.”

Angel felt blood on his hand, the stick had started embedding itself in the skin over her breast bone.

He pulled it back and threw it over the railing. “When did you start being able to move things with your mind?”

She shrugged.

“You’re scary, Mia. I mean it. Not just this trick with your mind, but threatening me with those three in there.”

“I chose this team for a reason. Come on, let’s get a real drink of the alcoholic persuasion.”

Later Mia sat on the couch laughing as Wes and Faith acting out an incident from New Orleans. Faith played the victim and she was doing a wonderful job, being so not herself it was unbelievable.

Angel sat down next to Mia and leaned in next to her ear. “You were right, that was a human thing of me. Thing is, I can’t remember ever not bringing you those apples back from the pier. So do you remember just when I did start bringing them? It feels as if I’ve done it forever.”

Mia sighed mentally. The thrall still stood. It just had to keep going until after tomorrow.

She motioned with a shake of her head that she didn’t know, then tried to steer him away from the conversation they had during the night she had thralled from his memory. “ I think I told you I loved them when I was in London. Maybe you remembered and just….”

“Don’t lie. I clearly remember when you were in London the thing with you was McDonald’s French fries and Strawberry Milkshakes. Spike had told you how to eat real food and you couldn’t get enough of them. You told me you were always sneaking out to get them because you were afraid Spike would find out and give you a hard time. You’d send Xander out, remember?”

Mia giggled, “ How can you remember that? “

He looked away, then back at her: “Soulful me asked Fred if she’d tried them, and what she thought.”

“You didn’t try them?”

He snorted.

She grinned. “Well, so happens all this talk has made me crave a drive-through trip.”

He shook his head. “They are closed, Mia.”

“Oh someone will be there, either closing up or getting ready for breakfast. We will be persuasive. Well, Faith will. This is her type of thing.”

“I’ll drive then.” Angel smiled.

“Let me go change my shirt.”

Mia ran up the stairs and shed her shirt as she came through the bedroom door. She went to the same drawer she had taken the first shirt from, took an identical one and put it on. She tucked it in and turned to leave.

Spike cleared his throat.

“Hi, Bye.”

“Mia!”

She bent down and picked up the shirt, and tossed it to him.

“ He threatened to stake me. I told him I’d do it for him and he would have to deal with the rest of you. Now we are best buds again. He’s taking me to McDonald’s. See you later.”

She turned and left.

Spike looked at the shirt. “Blighter got off easy: he’d be hurting if this had been a designer item.”

~ ~ ~

Faith hopped in the back of the Taylor’s SUV. “That should do it, pull on up.”

A shaky voice came over the speaker, “Weeelllcome to Mic…mic…mic ah donald’s. May I take your order?”

Mia motioned to Faith and Wes.

“Apple Pie,” Wes replied.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about those. I want value meal number three with an apple pie,” added Faith.

Mia looked at Angel. “You.?”

“Nothing.”

“Oh, come on.”

Angel sighed then turned to the speaker. “A Coke, the biggest one you have.”

“You’re a maniac. Remember when you didn’t even drink the stuff. I want two extra large fries and two large strawberry milk shakes. And a Happy Meal.”

They pulled forward. The order was ready at a surprisingly fast rate. They started to pull away.

“I was thinking, Mia. You were right, our human habits should change. We……”

“I didn’t mean it like that because, excuse me, human habits: we did just go through a McDonalds Drive thru.”

“You know what I meant. The ones you and I shared, like you said earlier.”

“Yeah, oh, like next time you go to the pier either bring me some kid that just ate a caramel apple or was eating caramel corn. How’s that sound?”

“That’s sweet.” Faith said, between bites. “ But totally demonic.”

Mia leaned back in her chair, kicked her feet up on the dash, popped the top on her shake and grabbed the fries. She ate the first few, then dipped some in the shake and ate them. She sighed. OK, some things didn’t change, even when you could and did rip people’s heads off. She took three fries, dipped them again then held them to Angel’s lips.

“ Come on, big guy, join me in this century.”

Angel gave her a look of disgust which then turned to pleading. Finally he just took the bite.

He looked over at her suspiciously. “ Let me try just the fries.”

It went like that all the way home, Mia feeding him fries, then fries with shake. When they got home Mia ran upstairs and handed Spike the Happy Meal, then she ran back down and went out to sit and watch the ocean as she finished the second shake and fries. Angel had eaten most of the other helping.

He came to the door. “I’m talking Faith in to going to bed.”

“Send her to Wes when you two finish. Big day tomorrow, you both need to be relaxed and ready.”

“Think Faith will appreciate you passing her around?”

“Think she thinks of it as being passed around?”

“Got me there. Night.”

“Night.”

Mia sat on the steps watching the waves, hearing the house going silent. The ocean waves blotted out everything. For the first time since it all began she sat and thought of nothing, didn’t think. She could feel the dawn coming. Her skin prickled with it. Normally she would be antsy to get inside but now she was totally relaxed. The sky was lightening.

She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Sun is coming up, love. Time you were inside.”

“Can you feel it, Spike? Doesn’t it make you want to run, take cover?”

“Makes me want to get you to cover. What are you doing, Mia?”

“It’s gone, that small panic I used to get at dawn. I could sit here and not worry about it. I’d burn but I wouldn’t be bothered by it.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Watch this, Spike.”

Mia created two sand funnels out near the water’s edge: they looked like tiny tornados. She sent them skipping up and down the surf. “If I put them together and make them shorter they look kind of like Taz, you know, the Tazmanian devil.” She showed him.

A pre-dawn gull dipped down onto the beach in front of them. As it flew back up, it suddenly stopped and dropped from the sky.”

“Bloody Hell, did you just do that?”

“I pictured its heart stopping and…well.”

“Good thing mine’s already stopped.”

Mia laughed, then looked at him, smiling. Spike heard her say, “I haven’t done this before because you told me how when Willow did it, it bothered you.”

Spike’s eyes widened. “You’re in my head enough: don’t get into it that way.”

“I know. Later, at the fight, I might use it but that would be the only time I would.”

“Come on, love. Time for you to come inside. I’ve left my hair curly. Besides, I didn’t get a toy in my Happy Meal, and you know that’s my favorite part. You’ll have to make it better for me.” He led her into the house.

“Remember when you had your soul and hated to call me a monster? Is there a word to describe something worse than that, because I got a promotion? You’re next, mister. Your abilities will become more powerful.”

“You mean my stunning good looks, sexual prowess, ability to adapt in any situation and…..”

“Did you finish your book?”

“Not quite.”

“How’d you know to come find me?”

He looked into her eyes, and moved a bit of her hair from them. “I don’t know, I just did.”

“Who did Faith go to bed with?”

“Angel, but she’s with Wes now.”

She smiled, “ And you knew that how?”

“I must have heard.”

“ If you say so. Our plan, it’s a good one, isn’t it, Spike? This, what you saw this morning, definitely means….”

“Yes, the plan’s a good one. It’s been perfect from the very start. If anything, this development proves it. Think what’s coming next, love.”

Her eyes widened with excitement. She jumped and put her legs around his waist. “Take me to bed, my Big Bad. It’s you, my Spike, that I want to fuck me.

“Well alright, but only because what my Mia wants, my Mia gets,” he replied as he carried her up the stairs.