Every Little Bit Hurts
By: Schehrezade
Rating: NC-17
Warning: Extreme Language,
Character Death, Rape/Attempted, Sexual Situations, Violence
Feedback: Craved in the most unbecoming manner: Schehrezade_1@hotmail.com
Chapter 4
"What the hell is going on?" Buffy threw a folded magazine at Spike's
sleeping head with a growl.
"Wot? Where...pet ...wot's got your pretty lil'knickers in a twist
now?" He rolled over and reached for the paper. He scanned the
headlines with a frown. Nothing there of importance unless you counted
the latest Hollyweird couple of the moment splitting up. He scanned the
first few pages of the gossip rag his Slayer seemed addicted to. "What
am I looking for Slayer?"
Buffy grunted something that sounded like 'page ten' at him and then
stomped off onto the veranda of their small beach house. She leaned
against the railing and stared out at the sun setting over the sea. The
small waves were awash with the crimson glow of the burning orb as it
slowly descended beyond her eye line.
She slipped through the small gate and sank gracefully down onto the
sun-warmed sand, curling her toes into the fine grains. Buffy sighed,
knowing that their idyll here in the sleepy coastal town they had moved
into was almost over. If that bogus 'I saw an alien in Sunnydale'
article was anything to go by, then the vamp that had killed Dawnie was
not dust, and that freaked her.
Buffy pressed her hand to her stomach and rode out the all so familiar
pang of pain evoked by her sister's death. She frowned down at her pale
slender feet. He was dust; she knew it. But someone had seen him. The
description of the green eyes was too much of a coincidence. A chill of
fear ran through her.
The two of them had slowly found their way to this sleepy town perched
on the bay, and had used some of the money from the sale of her mom's
house to buy the beach house. It was a pretty building with a veranda
skirting around it on all sides and painted white with bright blue
shutters. Inside there were two bedrooms and bathrooms, the other usual
amenities and the added bonus of a massive living area that looked out
over the ocean. Neither of them had ever thought they would make a home
together, but they had. Slowly they became more than grieving friends,
the barriers of vampire and slayer fell away and all that was left was
Spike and Buffy.
She had left Sunnydale thinking that the vampire was dusted and that
with her absence in their lives, Willow and the others would be safe,
no longer pulled into the craziness. She had hoped that her friends
would either stop slaying, move on with their lives or carry on, but it
was down to them and not forced on them by her presence in their lives.
It was their choice either way, and she had hoped that they had chosen
the former. She had comforted herself with the idea that Willow and
Tara had carried on studying, Xander and Anya were dating and
bickering, and Giles... Giles was either back in England retired, or
running the Magic Box with Anya. Her happy imaginings had helped her
move on and heal. Mourn her mom and Dawnie and slowly build a new life
with the peroxided menace that was now stomping out to join her on the
beach.
She didn't want this. Buffy sighed. She had made a promise to herself,
once she had resurfaced from the grief of Dawn's murder and her mom's
death. She was done, out, finished. It had been five months since that
fateful day in the morgue when Buffy's life had shattered into
smithereens, and the months of grieving and slowly putting herself back
together had been made easier by the presence of Spike.
Her full lips turned up at the corners at the memories of their nights
and days spent together. Learning each others moods, likes and
dislikes. It hadn't all been easy. It had taken some time for the
ingrained knee jerk reactions of years to fade. Yes, he was a vampire.
But no, she didn't have to automatically hate him because her friends
and Watcher silently demanded it from her. Slowly Buffy had learned
that there was more to Spike than attitude and a pair of fangs.
They had made their way slowly down the coast, travelling through LA as
fast as they could, totally unwilling to risk a meeting with Angel.
Neither of them could face his pithy attempts of comfort or his anger
over Spike's presence in Buffy's life. Instead, they had headed south
and found a place to call home. Somewhere to just stop and be Buffy --
not the Slayer, just Buffy. Somewhere to heal and recover from life's
vicissitudes and trials.
All of which had been achieved with the help of the muttering vampire
that was stomping on the deck behind her. She had never realised the
depth of love she could feel for another being, not after her heart had
been broken so many times. By her parents divorce, her father's
abandonment of her, her mom and Dawnie's death, and last and defiantly
least, Angel. Her full mouth made a moue of disgust at the thought of
her so-called first love.
"That J-Lo's arse seems to be getting bigger every time I see a piccie
of her. A bloke could park a sodding bike up there." Spike's voice
pulled her from her maudlin memories of Angel.
Buffy smiled up at Spike, her hazel eyes taking in the rumpled 'I just
crawled outta bed' curls. He looked cute and bonus for her, he was
hers. She eyed his pale muscled chest as he paced back and forth and
licked her lips. Then his less than gentlemanly comment registered.
"Eww...Spike that is totally gross." She wrinkled her nose at him and
made gagging noises.
He flopped down on the pale sand next to her and tucked his hands
behind his head. Buffy watched the play of muscles under his pale skin
and her mouth watered slightly. Shaking her head, she picked up the
Enquirer and flipped through the pages until she got to the article she
had come across by chance. A faint frown appeared between her brows as
she studied the article again, trying to glean more information from
the pithy words.
Spike's all too perceptive eyes were focused on her lower lip, which
she was chewing to bits. He reached over with a sand covered foot and
gently nudged her calf. "Oi, less with the biting, that's my job." He
smirked at her as he watched her free hand unconsciously trace over the
bite marks that he had placed over the two older sets, completely
obliterating them.
"Spike...I...we—"
"I know, love, but we don't know for sure that's the gospel truth. It's
a gossip rag, for Christ sakes, no need get wound up about it until you
have to." Spike pulled the offending article from her clutching fingers
and tossed it onto the deck behind them. "Come're." He coaxed her onto
his lap and wrapped his arms around her. Inhaling deeply, he soaked in
her scent and nuzzled his nose into her hair.
Great big fat tears poured down her face as Buffy leant back against
his chest and sighed. Snuffling loudly, she reached up and wiped her
face dry on the back of her hand, the other wrapped tightly around
Spike's forearm. "You'da thunk I'd cried myself out by now," she
sniffled again.
Spike chuckled, the vibrations in his chest warming her heart. "One
thing I've learned over the decades is that there's always enough water
in a bird for one more good cry...now the snot issue I can do without."
He ducked his head as Buffy reached behind her and gave him a gentle
slap. "Ow, mind the noggin."
"If it's him, I want to go back and make sure he stays dusted," Buffy
mumbled.
"We will. Wot I don't get is how he reformed. Never heard of a vamp
coming back from hell." Spike nudged Buffy off his lap and then helped
her stand, dusting off the clinging motes of sand from her legs and
then offering her his arm in a curious old world way that he was prone
to doing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"It's getting harder every night. I can't keep going out there alone."
Xander rocked on his heels and clutched the phone tightly in his fist.
This was the one call he had hoped to avoid, but desperate times lead
to desperate measures. "I need some back up. I can't watch anyone else
I care for die. You have to send some help."
He stood with his back to the shop, acutely aware that he was being
watched by the two girls he wanted to protect more than anything, Anya
and Tara, they relied on him for muscle and he needed to find more.
Giles had become a lost cause and so he had turned for help to the last
place he had ever expected to, and the weird thing was, they had said
yes.
His shoulders slumped in relief. They would send help, on the next
available flight. Quietly thanking the man he had never expected to
turn to for help, Xander placed the receiver back on the cradle and
turned with a smile to face the two women.
"They're sending help?" Anya asked, anxiety colouring her voice. Her
face was black and blue from the demon who had hit her on patrol the
night, before but she held her chin up defiantly.
Xander sank down next to his girl with a sigh of relief. "Yeah, he said
they'd send over some muscle and a guy to help out with the research."
"What about Buffy. Did he ask about her?" Tara 's voice was sombre and
muted.
"Nope, already knew she was MIA, which is kinda wig worthy. Makes you
wonder if they have spies in town." Xander toyed with Anya's fingers,
his work-roughened digits spinning her engagement ring on her thin
finger.
Tara 's face hardened swiftly into all too familiar lines of anger for
the other two and she sat up straight in her chair, muttering an
incantation under her breath. Anya eyed her warily, worried that the
magic she was calling on would be a shade too dark for Tara . Xander
stood and began to pace back and forth between the research table and
where the phone hung on the wall.
Ever since Willow had been turned, Tara had become the magical focus of
the group left defending the Hellmouth. She had gone from the shy
retiring mother earth type, to the angry vengeful Wiccan who was
determined to rain hell on the heads of the ones who tormented them
all.
"Jeez!" Xander leapt away from the phone as the receiver emitted a dark
black smoke as a small bug exploded. All over the shop were similar
explosions, Tara 's eyes beginning to turn an opaque grey as she pulled
on her magical reserves to destroy any magical or mechanical methods of
spying.
"Hey, my stock!" Anya exclaimed and began to rush around the shop,
checking each item that had formerly carried a bug in it. She turned to
Xander, "We need to get the apartment checked, you ask her."
"I'll come home with you and check the place out, don't worry Anya."
Tara 's eyes shifted back to their normal colour as she swayed
slightly, trying to regain her equilibrium.
"Thanks," Anya stared worriedly over at the once shy and retiring
Wiccan who had, since the moment that they had discovered Willow 's
vamping, changed into a stronger and more assertive magic user. Grief
had guided her steps down a path she and the others had never envisaged
for her. She was slowly surpassing Willow in magical acumen and
strength and was becoming a force to be reckoned with.
"No p...problem." Tara picked up the next of Giles's journals that Anya
had liberated from his flat and began to read. The three of them were
on a mission. One that she hoped might at least bring back part of her
Willowtree. Tara sighed, praying to all the deities she knew for help.
She had to find the spell. If not then -- then she would join her lover
in death. It was too hard to carry on without her. Maybe their souls
would find each other.
To Be Continued...