“Dru…” he mumbled lazily, thumb tracing the thigh that was flung over his waist.

A chuckle sounded from behind him, and he became belatedly aware of the fact that he had a female body on either side of him. “Guess again, my sweet,” Drusilla giggled into his hair, tightening her arm around his waist and pressing soft kisses into the back of his neck. One sharply nailed finger slipped down between where she was spooned up behind him, crept between the smooth cheeks of his ass, and found his puckered opening, just teasing it lightly for the moment.

Spike’s eyes opened to find his golden childe before him, rocking against him and taking him even deeper within her, all in her sleep. He remembered now. He’d been the first to take this girl last night, and she’d just keep rehealing herself and hurting all over again unless she had something inside her to make her loss of virginity permanent. And he’d been kind enough to oblige her, unlike what that bastard Angelus had done to Dru, drawing out her pain for over a year. Now, a certain amount of pain was fun, but that was just cruelty with no pleasure attached after long. It still made his blood boil to think about it…

“Broke her in last night, did you?” Drusilla commented casually, tongue dancing across the column of her childe’s throat. So pretty and pale, he was. She just wanted to eat him right up, make him writhe beneath her, pleading for his release, all wanton and panting unnecessarily and naked white limbs clutching at black silk sheets… She shook her head back into the present as he spoke again.

“Didn’t hear you come in this mornin’,” he commented casually. “Good hunt?”

“Oh, I can’t wait to show you our darling little pixies,” she agreed. “So cold and bloodthirsty… Pretty redhead licked her dark sister up and down for hours. Mmm…” She closed her eyes and savored the memory. “Naughty, naughty girls…”

“Sound like just our type,” Spike agreed, looking back over his shoulder at her. The movement of his hips within Buffy became harder and more violent – her evening wake-up call.

Buffy began grunting and gasping aloud at that, her eyes opening wide with a start as he struck just the right spot within her over and over again. “Spike…” she whispered in fulfillment, nuzzling his bare throat affectionately. Nothing in her human existence could ever have prepared her for that deep-seated feeling of connection she felt whenever her sire was inside of her. Almost as if there was a line linking her heart to his, tugging gently at her and making her feel more powerfully than she ever had while she was alive…

“There’s my clever girl.” Spike turned back to face her and brushed her lips with a gentle kiss. Buffy looked surprised at the tenderness of the gesture; Dru just chuckled, already well aware of how sentimental he was when he woke up in the evening. Soft and cuddly, instead of hard and brutal. But Buffy was fast becoming as endeared with his little quirk as Drusilla had.

Drusilla watched her childe and grandchilde’s lips play lightly over each other with a sense of profound satisfaction. Silly William for trying to argue against this… With a nip of warning against Spike’s neck, her fingers found their way into the sticky fluids that coated the union of the two other vampires’ bodies. Slicked up, she returned to his opening and slid one finger right in. A giggle of satisfaction escaped her lips that his muscles gave in to her so easily. Her Spike knew her so well…

“God, Dru…” he gasped, breaking his kiss with Buffy. “So good…”

Drusilla winked at Buffy over his shoulder at her puzzled look. “Still so many pleasures to teach you…” she promised with an enigmatic little smile. A second finger slipped inside her mate’s tight opening, and the soft pads of both fingers searched pointedly for the pleasure spot within him.

In response, Spike’s hands clutched hard at Buffy’s hips, grinding up into her as hard as he could before thrusting himself back upon Dru’s hand. God, this had to be a demon’s version of heaven… Sire and childe, both touching him, caressing him, bodies pressed tight up against him and…

“Fuck!” he cried out in ecstasy, spilling his pleasure deep inside Buffy.

The look of pleasure on his face did her in, causing her to whimper aloud as the world fell out from around her.

“So radiant,” Drusilla commented softly, brushing the golden locks of Buffy’s hair back off her forehead while the fledgling vampiress was awash in ecstasy. Her eyes unfocused for an instant, and a small smile crossed her face. “You’ll take such good care of my pet when I’m gone…”

“Dru?” Spike’s voice was mildly concerned as he slipped out of Buffy’s trembling body. Honestly, all these women were conspiring to wear him out… “You still feelin’ all right?” He brushed aside Drusilla’s hands and rolled over to face her at that, cupping her face in his palms as he stared intently into her midnight eyes.

She smiled. What ever had she done to deserve such a devoted childe? If only… “’m fine, Spike,” she insisted with a quirk of her lips.

His eyes drifted down to her bare shoulder. “That bruise wasn’t there last night,” he pointed out, scarred eyebrow raised.

Damn, he was hard to lie to… “Dinner got a bit rough,” she brushed his concerns aside, pulling him up close against her so that her breasts flattened against the muscles of his chest. “Nothing to fuss over.”

“Dru…” he protested.

“Shh,” she insisted, cutting him off with a finger to his lips. He promptly sucked it in, and she smiled. Oh, eternity with this man could be so sweet…

“Mmm…” Buffy stirred from what had turned into something of a post-orgasmic coma. She immediately rolled over to cuddle against Spike’s back, and that was when she became fully aware of the fact that there was another woman in bed with them. “Spike?” she asked hesitantly, confused.

He rolled onto his back, catching them each against one side of him. “Buffy, meet Dru,” he offered by way of introduction. “Dru’s already met you, of course…”

“But not properly,” Drusilla scolded him, batting him on the forehead playfully before leaning over his body to catch Buffy’s chin with one long finger.

Buffy retreated instinctively, but as she looked into the older vampiress’ dark eyes, all thoughts seemed to vanish, and she just stared vacantly into those endless pools. She would almost have sworn she could see the stars swirling about in the depths of the abyss…

“I’ve been waiting for a little girl of my own for so long,” Drusilla smiled with a sort of deadly benevolence, stroking Buffy’s hair again before leaning in and pressing a soft, chaste kiss to the fledgling’s lips. It wasn’t a kiss particularly designed to allure, but it wasn’t merely sisterly either. Almost a promise that soon there would be many more, and those would be anything but innocent…

Spike gritted his teeth as he hardened again while watching the two women kiss. That settled it; they were definitely conspiring together to kill him. “Right then,” he said in a husky voice after they had broken apart. “We all acquainted now?”

“Perfectly,” Drusilla giggled.

Buffy merely shook her head, her mind still whirling at the fact that she’d just kissed another woman. And it hadn’t been all that bad. The blood lust swirling violently to life within her again wasn’t making thinking any easier, either.

“We’ve got a night of mayhem ahead of us, then,” Spike announced, reluctantly getting up from between them…

Absolute silence permeated the room, its occupants still too shocked to speak.

“Heaven help us all…” A broken, gravelly voice finally broke the silence.

“I’m thinking it’s already kinda abandoned us,” Xander retorted with a mirthless chuckle.

“B-Buffy, too?” Giles went on, knowing it was the only explanation for her disappearance but still clinging desperately to hope.

“I saw her and Spike together,” Angel said simply, a hint of pain in his own voice.

“Yes, well, I suppose…” Giles couldn’t find any way to complete that sentence. To tell the truth, he didn’t know what to think. Half of him was convinced this was the greatest nightmare that could ever befall a Watcher, but the other half was strangely…relieved that she was still around. Which was absurd, he knew. His Buffy was dead, and the demon that inhabited her body must be destroyed. Perhaps this was even worse than her death, since he was torn, unsure of how to act. If she’d been dead, at least he would’ve known to mourn…

“W-What do we do?” Tears stained Xander’s cheeks from his confrontation with Willow and Cordelia the night before.

Angel at least seemed to have the answers. “We save them,” he insisted. “They wouldn’t want to go like this, as monsters…”

“Dunno, they seemed to be getting their kink on with the lesbian loving,” Xander retorted sarcastically.

Angel’s eyes narrowed. “They’re not your friends any more,” he informed the other man bluntly. “Everything you loved – everything that was good within them – is gone now. All that matters to them is the blood. They’ll kill and destroy and cause pain. And, unless we stop them, they’ll be coming after us.”

Giles removed his glasses at that, desperately polishing the lenses, vainly hoping that the world would look different if they were just cleaned properly… “Buffy wouldn’t have wanted…” he began.

“Buffy’s gone,” Angel concluded. “And we have to get rid of that abomination that’s taken over her body before it’s too late…”

“Honest opinion,” Buffy demanded, spinning back to face Willow and Cordelia with a bright smile on her face, “am I too pale now to pull off summer yellows?”

“It does kinda make you look dead,” Willow agreed with a hint of her old hesitant nerd voice. She cocked her head to one side. “Too ‘sweet and innocent’, too,” she added with a lick of her lips as her eyes raked up and down the former slayer’s naked body.

Buffy fingered the yellow dress between her fingers nostalgically before tossing it aside and digging through the rack some more. “How about blue?” she inquired.

“How about leather?” Willow shot back, grinning at the skin-tight red leather pants she’d just found. She tossed a pair Cordy’s way before trying on her own. “Mmm…the seam rubs right against your clit…” Willow purred, strutting about in the pants and the high-heeled boots she’d nicked from the shoe store.

Buffy, however, was distracted by the skimpiest black silk blouse she’d ever laid eyes on. She eagerly pulled it over her head, admiring how the thin layers of fabric settled over her breasts, making her chest look fuller. Instinctively, she turned to check herself out in the mirror, frowned when she remembered she had no reflection, and turned back to Willow and Cordy. “How’s this?” she inquired, zipping up the short black skirt that went with it.

Willow licked her lips and purred. “I could eat you right up,” she giggled, sidling up against Buffy and sniffing the perfume of her hair with a sigh.

Buffy grinned but pulled away. She was still so delighted that she got to keep her old friends with this new life. And, for once, she and Willow didn’t have to stare longingly in the shop windows at clothes their parents would never let them get, whether for price or taste reasons. Now, they could have everything they’d ever wanted, and those foolish enough to try to stop them had made a wonderful evening snack. If only Willow would stop coming on to her; it was getting kind of weird…

“Are you birds done yet?” Spike’s voice sounded over the tomblike silence of the closed shopping center as he entered the designer store with Drusilla. She had a long crimson dress slung over one arm that, as far as Buffy could tell, was virtually identical to the one she was wearing.

Rule number one if I’m stuck unliving with her for long, Buffy rolled her inner eyes. Give that woman a desperately needed makeover…

Willow danced over to the two master vampires with girlish glee. “What do mommy and daddy think of my new outfit?” she asked with a little pirouette.

Spike’s body raked over her petite, leather-clad form hungrily. “Daddy likes,” he purred, drawing her up against him.

Dru’s fingers caught up one lock of Willow’s crimson hair and nuzzled her cheek against it affectionately. “Fiery little girl… Be careful you don’t burn yourself on her, my William,” she teased.

“Mmm, don’t mind if I do…” he murmured, rubbing against Willow’s lithe body.

She licked one of his cheekbones approvingly in response. “Naughty daddy,” she teased before pulling away and nestling up against Drusilla. “Won’t mommy protect me from the big bad wolf?” Her lips met Dru’s, and the two vampiresses began to paw each other.

Buffy just rolled her eyes. Willow sure had picked up fast on how to suck up to the oldest vamp around. Buffy seriously doubted the redhead was anywhere near as giddy as she was acting for Dru’s benefit. Now, Buffy didn’t have to play any such games. She already had a powerful sire to look after her and, oh, how she wished it were her duty to look after him day and night…

“You like?” she asked Spike softly, a coy smile on her face as she sauntered over to him.

His scarred eyebrow quirked upward as he appraised her. “Pretty pet,” he agreed with a seductive smile.

She grinned and flung her arms around his neck, nibbling at his ear. “Wanna head back?” she asked, one finger sliding down the front of his black tee. Her hand trailed downwards seductively until it found the waistband of his jeans, and she hooked her thumb into the denim. The exact same move he’d pulled on her during her final mortal fight. God, she’d been wanting to do that for so long. She was becoming ever more eternally – literally – grateful that the slayer ‘do not touch’ laws no longer applied to her.

He sighed. “We head back and ‘ll hafta deal with those wankers hanging about the audience chamber…”

Dru cooed to him sympathetically at that, turning her attention from Willow for the moment. “Tricky boys don’t want to play,” she agreed. A group of a dozen or so of the previous administration’s minions had been growing more restless over the past few days. Apparently, they missed the monotonous droning and being ordered around like simpletons. Personally, Dru was baffled as to why they weren’t considered mad. After all, they were free to do whatever and whomever they pleased now. But some fools just didn’t know what to do with themselves. “Give our kind such a bad name,” she tisked.

“That they do, luv,” Spike agreed wearily. “Best to find some menial task for them before they stir up trouble…of the less than fun kind.”

Willow yawned. “Bored now,” she abruptly complained, pulling away from Drusilla and heading back to Cordelia. The dark-haired vampiress had turned out, somewhat surprisingly, to be the quietest and the weakest of the bunch. “Let’s see if our puppy wants to come out and play tonight,” she encouraged her sister.

A dark grin lit up Cordy’s face at that. “He smelled good last night, didn’t he?” she sighed wistfully.

Willow scowled for a second at the dreamy look in the other vampiress’ eyes before shaking it off with a kiss. Her lips covered Cordelia’s possessively, reminding her only too well who had taken most strongly to this new unlife.

At Willow’s persistent hands and tongue, Cordelia gave in, moaning as Willow’s cool tongue dipped deep within her throat, tasting and claiming the sweetness she found there. One of Willow’s hands had tangled in her hair now, while the other clutched a firm breast through the pale satin of her blouse.

“My pretty little girl,” Willow whispered against Cordelia’s cheek, vampiric features emerging as she drifted down to the dark throat before her.

“Yes…” Cordelia gasped, stumbling backward and catching herself on the edge of the table, awash in the bliss the redhead was giving her. Willow’s hand had unzipped the front of her leather pants by now, and a clever thumb was rapidly stroking away all of Cordelia’s inhibitions.

“Mine,” Willow repeated vehemently, razor-sharp fangs nicking her sister’s flesh and producing perfect red droplets of blood for the tasting.

“Yours,” Cordelia breathed, spreading her thighs wantonly, needing more. Now.

Spike watched on in aroused fascination as Willow climbed atop Cordelia, yanking away tight leather as she went. His jeans strained painfully at the seams, and he was almost tempted to assert his right as their elder to slip right in the middle of that delectable sandwich.

Drusilla tugged him away before he could act on the impulse, however. She knew better than to let her boy’s attention drift too far from her by now. “The pixies will have their fun,” she decided, leading him away. She cast a casual look back at where Willow was moaning, Cordelia’s dark head between her spread naked thighs. “Mommy’s got a special treat for her black knight…” she added seductively.

He practically purred in response, clutching her to him as they exited the store.

Buffy, seemingly forgotten for the moment, frowned before chasing after them. “We’re going home?” she asked pointedly, sidling up against Spike’s free side and tangling her arm with his.

“So many, many people…” Drusilla sighed. “Can have a bit of privacy here,” she commented, pulling free of Spike’s embrace and twirling around in the blackness. The wind whistled through the trees in the forest behind Sunnydale Mall and for one instant created the eerie illusion that Drusilla was mistress of the earth itself.

Buffy found the image surprisingly breathtaking. Spike found it irresistible. With a roar, he caught hold of his mate and tackled her against the nearest tree, lips plundering hers in a brutal and passionate kiss. Buffy watched in a mixture of fascination and ire as they began slowly moving together, hands fumbling at clothes. 

She wasn’t sure whether to be aroused by the picture they presented or jealous. Because there was no doubt in her mind whatsoever that Spike had completely forgotten about her existence for the moment.

“Dru…” he moaned, breaking their kiss and gasping in ecstasy as she traced burning wet kisses across his face, her hands already teasing the agonizing hardness in his jeans.

“Yummy,” she squealed, laughing in delight as he held her against him while he slid down to the grass.

“Love you so much…” he whispered against her throat.

She pushed back on his shoulders, forcing him to the ground beneath her. “Someone’s feeling left out,” she sing-songed against his ear.

He started at that and looked up to Buffy’s feet. “C’mon, pet,” he encouraged her, stretching out one hand. “Join us.”

Buffy hesitated for a second, gnawing at her lower lip. This wasn’t exactly her idea of romantic. Romantic would be this situation, minus the other woman.

Drusilla’s hands found their way inside his jeans, and she pulled him out, stroking his hard flesh sensuously before bunching her skirts around her waist and descending upon him. They both cried out in strangled gasps, attention drifting from Buffy for the moment.

Then Dru began to ride him at a rough pace, and his eyes returned to Buffy. “Plenty of pleasure to go around, luv,” he purred. “C’mere…”

He was so alluring for that one moment – face contorted in pleasure, long-fingered hand reaching out to her, begging to bring her to her release… Even Dru was smiling in an inviting way, perfectly willing to share her mate. Buffy took a hesitant step toward them…

And stopped, resolved. The demon within her was screaming at her to take what she wanted. Now! But a fragment of her human self reasserted itself, insisting that she didn’t want him like this, didn’t want this to be just for fun or sport. Deep inside her a frightening voice was playing with attaching the word ‘love’ to her sire’s name. And that deep ache already hurt too much at having heard him just proclaim his love for another…

“I’m still feeling a bit hungry,” she shook them off. “I’m going hunting.”

Spike moaned and thrust up hard into Dru’s willing body. God, she was doing that little swirling hips thing that she did, and it was driving him downright mad. As a result, he barely even heard what Buffy said.

“Later then, sweetie.” Drusilla’s ebony eyes met Buffy’s hazel ones for a second before she returned her full attention to pleasuring the man beneath her.

Buffy’s lips pursed before she sighed and walked off. “Later…” she whispered sadly before vanishing into the shadows…

“Mean little boy has moved,” Willow frowned, nostrils flaring as she sniffed the night air.

Cordelia breathed deep as well. “Is that…Giles?” she ventured.

“The Scoobies stick together. How quaint.” Willow’s irate tone made it all too clear that she didn’t find it quaint in the slightest. “Perhaps we should nab ourselves another pet…”

Cordelia’s eyes flashed yellow at that. “I. Want. Xander,” she insisted forcefully.

Willow’s eyes narrowed for a second in anger at being contradicted, but then a wicked smile lit up her face. “A grand hunt, then,” she agreed, remembering all too well the body she had longed after for all of those cruel high-school years. Oh, she’d teach him good for ignoring her for so long… “Come along,” she caught Cordelia’s hand and dragged her along in a wild sprint, “must search around to see where our boy’s gone…”

And Cordelia smiled and ran after her. Our boy. She liked the sound of that…

Buffy was surprised when she realized where she’d wandered to. She’d had no specific goal in mind, just the desire to get far away and forget her loneliness. Stupid Drusilla, she seethed inwardly. Why can’t she just find another childe and leave Spike to me?

But thoughts of the elder vampires fled her mind at the surprisingly happy notion that she was home again. The lights from the house of Revello Drive looked warm and welcoming, and before she knew it, she had reached the door, one thought in mind. Mommy…

The door was locked, of course. Her mother wasn’t a complete idiot. And Buffy’s key had… Well, she didn’t really have any clue what had happened to her key. She rang the bell.

The ring was met with an instant response. The door opened to reveal Joyce and…

“Mommy,” Buffy’s eyes teared up as she reached in for a hug and…

The force of the invisible barrier knocked her straight back onto the sidewalk.

Joyce gulped as she watched her daughter fly magically backwards the instant she tried to enter their home. “B-Buffy?” Her voice sounded hoarse, ragged, hopeless. “I-It’s true, then?”

Buffy frowned. She couldn’t enter her own home. Why couldn’t she enter her own home? “Invite me in, mom,” she pleaded. “I-I…” She laughed and pushed her hair back off of her forehead. “So much has happened… Something wonderful, mom. I need to tell you…well, everything.”

“We have already informed her.”

Buffy’s happy expression faded when Giles appeared in the doorway behind her mother. “B-Buffy, I’ll have to ask you to leave, or—”

She shook her head. “Giles, it’s me,” she insisted. “I mean, I know all that stuff you told me about the vamping process, but it’s all wrong. I’m still the same Buffy.”

Joyce’s fingers clutched the doorframe. “You’re really a…?” Her voice cracked. “Oh god, Buffy, I’m so sorry…”

Buffy frowned. “There’s nothing to be sorry for,” she insisted. “I—”

“No!” Joyce screamed out in abrupt horror.

The warning gave Buffy the split-second warning to spin around and avoid the stake Angel had lined straight for her back. For a minute they froze, before Buffy grinned evilly.

“Miss me, lover?” she purred, features shifting.

Angel’s face remained hard, stoic. The pain in his eyes was all too poignant, however. “Don’t make this more difficult than it already is,” he pleaded.

“Difficult?” Buffy repeated incredulously. “Difficult is living a monotonous human existence, cursed to die because some sadist on high decided it would be a good idea to rob innocent little girls of their lives! This…” Her fists clenched.

“—Is quite a party.” Willow’s excited voice and gleeful clap announced her and Cordelia’s presence. “Found the puppy!” she exclaimed happily, waving to where Xander was also watching the proceedings from the door of the Summers’ home.

“Still hiding,” Cordelia pouted sullenly.

Xander gulped and clenched the cross more tightly in his hand.

Angel froze. He knew he could take Buffy. Or Willow or Cordelia. However, all three? It had been a long time since he’d been in any kind of serious fight, and he didn’t like the odds. Again. Plus, he wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Spike wasn’t far behind.

Buffy took advantage of his split second hesitation and ran for it, leaping over Angel’s leg as it swept out to knock her from her feet and tumbling painfully to the ground behind Willow and Cordelia. The two vampiresses blinked at her in surprise, unaware of what they’d just broken up.

“Ooh, yum!” Willow said approvingly, eyes raking up and down Angel’s body. “Now, there’s a puppy I wouldn’t mind teaching a few tricks…”

Angel’s eyes narrowed. “I doubt you’ve got anything you could possibly teach me,” he countered, waiting for the right moment to attack the group of three and be done with this nightmare forever.

Buffy watched him coil up for the strike. “Let’s get out of here,” she pressed, tugging at Willow’s sleeve.

Willow opened her mouth to snap at the former slayer before her scheming mind reminded her that Buffy had the good fortune to be Spike’s childe. And that she and Cordelia were sireless, living off of Spike’s charity. Trying to assert her dominance over Buffy might not be the best way to ensure their happy, everlasting future.

“Let’s go.” Willow caught Cordelia’s arm, and the three vampiresses slowly backed away.

Angel froze for a second, debating the wisdom of following them into the shadows.

“Angel, no.” Joyce’s whispered voice cut him off. “I-I can’t watch… Not my daughter. I don’t care what she is…”

With a reluctant sigh, he turned back to the house and joined the rest of the Scooby survivors. Their plan obviously still needed a bit more convincing…

Buffy slipped into the bedroom swiftly and silently, ignoring the malevolent looks many of the minions showed her. Obviously Spike’s enemies that Drusilla had referred to earlier. But she didn’t have the energy to think about them tonight. Her mind was too caught up with swirling thoughts of that evening.

Spike and Drusilla were already in bed, Drusilla curled up casually against his side. From their erratic breathing, Buffy guessed that they were both asleep. For one instant, her fingers itched to finish off the elder vampiress in her sleep, take Spike as her own, and…

Really piss him off. Probably make him hate her.

As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t deny the clear love she’d seen in his eyes every time he gazed upon his mate. Like she was his world. And Buffy couldn’t even begin to flatter herself that he looked at her like that.

She sighed and slowly began to remove her clothing, tossing her blouse and skirt onto the old armchair in the corner. She winced when she felt a rather painful bruise on her ribs and cursed Angel; she must have gotten it in her wild escape from him. Gingerly, she tested the tender flesh there as she approached the bed.

For a moment, she froze in place, contemplating her options. Spike had left her enough room beside him. And, really, she didn’t have any place else to go. She supposed she could go to Willow and Cordelia, although the things those two did to each other… Well, it was a bit…intriguing perhaps, but not her thing. Her thing seemed to be Spike and solely Spike.

He murmured slightly in his sleep and tossed his head against the pillow, and she was mesmerized for one instant by the sheer beauty of this man. All sharp, hard lines and alabaster skin, soft white curls and powerful muscles. An immortal Adonis laid out before her in all his finery. Hesitantly, she licked her lips…

It felt almost as though she were trapped between worlds at that moment. The world she’d faced tonight – her mother, her watcher, Angel… – they had all turned their backs on her now. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t go back. But this new one…

To want someone this much but not be able to have them entirely? She’d never been one to share, even back in her human days…which really shouldn’t feel so far away already…

Then, with a shake of her head, her demon reasserted itself. Want. Take. Have. The motto blocked out all rationalizations and concerns. All that mattered at that moment was feeling her sire’s body against hers, inside hers…

She lifted up the sheet and slipped her naked body under the covers beside him. He stirred at her presence, one arm reaching out to catch her up against him.

“You’re back late,” he mumbled against her throat, placing a wet, lazy kiss to the pale flesh there. 

“There was a bit of a problem,” she admitted with a grimace.

He frowned, creases marring his usually carefree brow. As if to emphasize his concern, he slipped inside her. Met with only minimal resistance. Good, that meant her body was getting accustomed to having him inside her, healing itself in the mold of his contours. The Sire’s Prerogative – shaping her for eternity so that she fit him best… “What happened?” he inquired tenderly.

Buffy murmured happily and slid her thigh over his, deepening his penetration. “Tell you in the morning?” she requested softly, laying her head down on his bare chest. Her demon growled contentedly. She wanted him, yes, but a strange fusion of the demon and human that had been growing ever stronger over the past few days was satisfied with what she had right now. Feeling him inside her, holding him tight, being close…

“You’re all right?” he asked, concerned, caressing her body casually as he drifted back off to sleep.

“Fine,” she assured him, leaning in to steal a sweet kiss from his lips.

He purred in response. “Couldn’t handle it if something happened to you,” he confessed, tucking her head until his chin. “’S only been a few days, but…already know we’re a perfect fit, baby.”

“Literally,” she smiled and closed her eyes.

“Already love you…” he added, voice fading away as he finally fell back to sleep.

And Buffy’s eyes opened wide in response, questions on her lips and no one left conscious to answer them. A strange heat flooded her body that felt almost as if her heart were beating again. It was the most wonderful feeling in the world, like…

“Love you, Spike,” she whispered, closing her eyes again and savoring this moment for all it was worth. It wasn’t long before she slept as well.

And, only after Buffy’s breathing slowed with slumber, did one black eye crack open. Drusilla groaned and rolled over in her sleep, the persistent ache in her forehead back with a vengeance. She’d felt almost normal these past few days with the slayer’s blood giving her extra strength. But she was no fool and knew all too well that her health was fast fading again.

Rolling so that her back faced her mate, she squeezed her eyes shut and tried to force sleep upon her weary limbs. She’d overdone it today, she now realized. The dizziness, mild nausea – it was all back. And every time she closed her eyes, visions of her own death flashed before her eyes, sending her into an anxious panic.

At least I’ve found someone else to love my William properly, she assured herself, settling in for a long, restless night…