"Looks pretty cool, huh?" Willow said as she and Buffy stood in front of a blinking neon sign that read "CATEYE".
"Yeah, and I haven't even seen anyone over thirty, so I'd say that it's a pretty 'happenin' joint, as my mom would say," Buffy said.
"Well, are we just gonna stand here and enjoy the wonderful blinkyness of the sign, or are we gonna have some fun?" Willow asked excitedly.
"I vote for the second choice," Buffy smiled, "Let's go, chica." They both walked toward the open doors and into the dim lighted room. A DJ was playing music in one corner of the enormous room, and a ton of people were on the dance floor. There was a bar on the other side of the room, with scattered tables in front of it. There were a few people ordering drinks. All of the people on the dance floor were dancing to some rock song that Buffy hadn't ever heard before.
"Wow, this is a lot like the Bronze," Willow said. Buffy raised her eyebrows and nodded. Willow looked at her more closely.
"Buffy, what's wrong?" Willow asked, concerned.
"Let's go sit down," Buffy offered. Willow looked at her with a confused expression, but then shrugged and followed her to one of the tables by the bar. Almost all of the tables were empty except for a young couple in the corner and a man a few tables away, probably somewhere in his mid-twenties.
"Buffy, you look sick," Willow said as she sat down. Buffy had become pale and she had broken out in a cold sweat.
"I…um…it's just that…" Buffy paused for a moment, "This place is giving me the wiggins."
Willow laughed. "This place? Buffy, it's just a club! It's not like we're gonna be attacked by you-know-what's while we're here." Willow laughed some more but then stopped when she saw the look on Buffy's face.
"Oh…" Willow said in recognition. A little quieter she said, "So you're getting positive marks on the you-know-what scale?"
Buffy nodded. "Definite vamp warning, and let me tell ya, it's giving me one heck of a stomach ache."
"That many, huh?" Willow asked, her eyes growing wide with fright.
Buffy looked around the room. Everything seemed to be pretty normal. There were people dancing, talking, socializing, and drinking. Nothing out of the ordinary. Then why am I sensing the undead here? she asked herself. Just then something drew her attention. It was the man sitting by himself a few tables away. He was talking to a waitress. Buffy could hear him speaking to her because he had to talk loud so she could hear him over the music. Buffy's good hearing that was a gift for the slayer also helped her to listen.
"What's the special tonight?" he asked the waitress.
"The special drink of the night is two bottles of beer of your choice," she answered back.
"No, I mean the other special," he told her.
She looked at him and then said, "Oh, you mean that special! Well, it's blood on the rocks with a hint of tequilla."
"What kind of blood?" he asked.
"Why none other but the best, sir. Human blood," she smiled evilly.
"Sounds good to me," he finally decided.
"Great, I'll just need to see your ID…" Buffy stopped listening. She knew that they had to get out of there.
"Buffy? Hello, earth to Buffy!" Willow was staring at her.
"Oh! Sorry, Will, were you saying something?" Buffy asked.
"Nothing as important as what you were thinking about, I suppose," Willow answered.
"Listen, Will, we've got a problem," Buffy said in a hushed tone. "This whole place is full of vampires."
"How do you know?" Willow questioned. Buffy told her about the conversation she had overheard.
"Wow. This is not good," Willow said, frowning. "What are we going to do?"
"I think we need to find out more about this place," Buffy answered. "But I think it's going to be kinda dangerous. Maybe you should go back to the hotel."
"Absolutely not. I'm not gonna just sit in the hotel room wondering what's happening to you. I'm definitely sticking here," Willow replied. "So what's the plan?"
Buffy smiled. It was good to have Willow with her. She didn't feel alone anymore.
"I figure there's got to be an office of something," Buffy told her. "Maybe there'll be something in there." Willow nodded and looked around.
"Hey, what about over there?" Willow pointed.
Buffy looked in the direction of the pointing finger. There was a suspicious looking man smoking a cigar standing by what looked like an office door. As they watched, he finished his cigar and dropped in on the ground, extinguishing it. Then he quietly slipped through the door.
"Looks like our man," Buffy said, getting up. Willow started to get up, too, but Buffy stopped her. "I need you to stick here and watch my back. If trouble starts, I'll need you here to help me stake. Kay?"
Willow nodded and watched her go. Buffy made her way slowly across the dance floor and moved to the music a bit. She got looks from many of the men on the floor, but they definitely weren't suspicious looks.
Finally, Buffy made it across the room to the door. She was about to knock when she realized she could hear what sounded like a phone conversation going on. She stopped short and leaned toward the door a bit. She tried to make it look like she was just resting against the wall. From inside, she could her a man talking.
"Well, we haven't had a lot of humans coming to the club lately, mostly just the regulars…Well, business has been kinda slow. They all want fresh blood, but new victims have been scarce…Yes, we do advertise in the phone book…Well, let's not do anything drastic here…You can't do that! If you could just give us one more chance…But---but…Please, we need to stay in business! I--…Yes, sir…I understand…Alright…Goodbye."
Buffy heard the phone clap down on the base. So, the place was going to be shut down. That was good. Now she didn't have to do anything right away.
She was just about to go back to her table when a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She gasped and turned around to see a very tall muscular man. He glared down at her.
"Are you looking for something, miss?" he growled.
"The bathroom?" she smiled weakly.
He gave her an evil smile. "I don't think so," he said menacingly. He vamped out and reached for Buffy's neck. She used her quick reflexes to knee him in the gut and punch his eye.
"I don't think so, Blood Breath," she said. He growled angrily and pushed her onto the dance floor. She bumped in to a few couples and fell onto her back. There were screams on the dance floor and then everyone backed up to watch as the growling vampire jumped onto Buffy. He pinned her down by the shoulders and laughed.
"Eww, don't breathe on me," Buffy said disgustedly. She kicked her leg up which sent them tumbling backwards. Now Buffy was on top of the vampire. She threw about a dozen punches to his face, which stunned him. Then she heard an agonizing scream from the crowd. She turned to see what it was, just as a person in the crowd disintegrated into dust. Spike stood in his place with a wooden stake in his hand.
"I can't bear to see you on top of him instead of me," Spike frowned. "So I say we get rid of the whole bloody bunch."
Spike turned and started to stake people. Then Buffy heard more screams by the bar. She figured it was Willow that was causing all of the screams by staking everyone in sight, but Buffy was too busy to look because the big vampire she was fighting with suddenly became alive again. In a matter of speaking, that is.
He threw Buffy off him and she hit the ground hard. Of all the stupid vampires, it just had to be the strongest one, she thought. He came hurtling after her. Before he could touch her, Buffy delivered a roundhouse kick right to his face. He howled in pain and then came after her again.
Buffy was starting to get a little nervous. She didn't have a stake, and her only hope was to somehow work her way over to the table they had been sitting at so she could grab a stake from her bag. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to do that. There were so many vampires in the way. Plus, she wasn't sure if she could move the vampire over to the table. If anything, he would do the moving.
The vampire punched her in the jaw and then kicked her legs out from under her. She fell hard and hit her head on the cement floor. She cried out in pain. The vampire grabbed hold of her neck and picked her up so that she was about a foot off the ground. Eye level with him. She made gasping noises and her lungs started to burn. He laughed at her again, then lowered her to the ground, still grasping her neck. He leaned in close to her and lowered his head.
Unlike Spike, he tried to make the bite as painful as possible, forcing his fangs into her skin. Buffy screamed in terror. She couldn't tell what she was screaming, but she knew that she was making quite a noise. The vampire started to drink. Her lungs burned from lack of air.
Then, suddenly, the pressure on her neck stopped. Both the hand and the fangs. She opened her eyes to see dust trickling to the ground. Through the dust, she saw Spike.
"Dear God, pet!" he gasped as he saw the blood trickling down her neck. She tried to say something, but the blackness surrounded her.
* * *
"Why do you teenagers always insist on watching the most ridiculous programs on the television?" asked Giles, who was sitting at the table reading a big novel of some sort and sipping coffee.
Xander gave him a shocked look. "Ridiculous?! Jerry Springer is not ridiculous!" Xander was lying on his stomach on the bed watching T.V.
"People throw fruniture at eachother and pull out their hair. It is absurd!"
"Oh go back to bookland, Giles," said Xander getting more and more absorbed in the show he was watching. Giles turned his back to Xander and Jerry Springer. He flipped a couple pages of his book then set it down.
"Xander, why dont you go check on Willow and Buffy. Do not upset them just see if they are okay."
Xander got up and walked out the door without bothering to turn off the telivision. As soon as he was out of the door Giles got up and turned off the T.V. He rubbed his head. Then after a couple minutes he picked up the telephone. He dialed the lobby's number.
"Hello, this is the lobby. May I help you?"
"Yes, I was wondering if it were possible to put parental controls on the television."
"Yes it is. What do you want to change the controls to?"
"Hmm...Let TV PG be the highest he can get," Giles smiled smugly.
"Ok thanks. Do you need anything else?"
"No. Thank you." Giles hung up. Now maybe he could get some peace and quiet. He picked up his book again and continued reading. About five minutes later Xander walked in.
"How are they?" asked Giles.
"They must be sleeping 'cause nobody answered the door" Xander answered and sat down on the floor by the TV.
"Well, we best let them sleep. Buffy's had a long day." Giles remarked, happy that she didn't get into too much trouble while she was gone.
Xander grabbed the remote. The only channels he got were cartoons. "Giles! What did you do to the TV?!"
* * *
"Is she alright?" Spike asked Willow as she tucked Buffy into the hotel bed.
"I think she'll be okay. She's just lucky that you got there before that vampire drained her," Willow smiled at Spike. "You really look out for her, don't you?"
He blushed but then recovered. "Well, it just would have been a bloody mess if I hadn't done something."
"Well, we were both lucky that you showed up, is all I'm saying. Oh, by the way, thank you for carrying her," Willow looked up at him.
"I think I'm going to go on one more short walk before daybreak," Spike said. Then he added, "I haven't eaten yet."
Willow laughed. "Are you going to sleep in here?"
"I'm not sure. I'll think about it during my walk," he answered. He walked toward the door.
Right before he walked out, Willow stopped him and asked, "Spike, I just gotta know. Did you…um…change Buffy's…you know…I mean…" she drifted off.
"You're gonna have to learn to deal with disappointment, love," he answered, and smiled devilishly at her. He walked out the door and shut it behind him. Willow looked down at a sleeping Buffy.
"Boy, you really know how to pick 'em, Buff."
* * *
Buffy groaned and rolled over in the bed to look at the clock. It was 4:17am. She rubbed her head. God, it feels like my head was rolled over by a 18-wheeler! she thought. She knew that if Spike had saved her from that vampire two seconds later, she'd be dead.
Buffy didn't realize that she was shaking until she reached her hand to her throbbing head. She felt so afraid. I never want to look at another vampire as long as I live, she thought. When she heard the sheets rustle beside her, she jumped about a foot in the air. Chill, Buff. It's only Willow, she reassured herself. She tried to calm down, but she was too jumpy.
Then she heard someone fumbling with the doorknob. Sense she was so alert, she hurriedly got out of bed and stood by the wall next to the door.
It was very dark, so she couldn't she the person that she attacked. All she knew is that he was putting up a very poor excuse for a fight. She kicked the person quite a few times in the head, knocking him down. She landed on top of him and was punching him in the face when she heard Willow call out her name. Buffy wasn't listening. She was too busy pounding.
Suddenly, there was light. Buffy looked down at the person she was brutally beating.
"Oh my God!" she exclaimed as she reached her hand to her face.
"Buffy!" Willow yelled.
There, on the ground, lay an unconscious Spike. He had a rather deep cut on his left cheekbone, where Buffy had probably scratched him. One of his eyes was already turning a purplish-blackish-blue color.
"Oh my God!" Buffy repeated, stunned by what she had just done. She finally snapped out of it, and leaned her face closer to his.
"Spike?" she whispered. "Spike?" she called a little bit louder. There was no answer. Buffy took one of her hands and smoothed his peroxide blonde hair.
She then realized that he didn't smell right. This time he did stink. He smelled like alcohol. No, he reeked of alcohol.
"W-Willow? Um…he's been…uh…drinking," Buffy told her.
"What? Vampires drink alcohol?" Willow asked.
"Could you help me carry him over to the bed, Will?" Buffy asked her.
Willow nodded and got off of the bed to help. She grabbed onto his legs while Buffy picked him up by the arms. It wasn't that difficult to lift him onto the bed because of Buffy's strength. Willow didn't even really have to do anything.
After they laid him on the bed, Buffy sat next to him. She leaned over him and watched to see if there was any sign of him awakening.
As she studied his face more closely, she could tell that he had been crying. Something must have really upset him. Something had upset him so much that he had gotten drunk. That's why it had been so easy to beat him up. He had been knocked out on the first kick because he was drunk. And then she had just kept beating him.
"Spike?" she asked again. Still no answer.
"Man, he smells!" Willow said, wrinkling up her nose in disgust.
"I think it's his shirt, mostly. It looks like he spilled quite a bit of it on himself," Buffy said, frowning.
"Buff, we need to wash it. It really stinks," Willow told her.
"I guess you're right," Buffy said as she pulled his shirt over his head. Then she handed the red T-shirt to Willow.
"There ya go," Buffy said. "The washing machine is downstairs. Just follow the signs."
Willow grimaced and held the shirt away from her. Then she walked out the door.
Buffy looked down at Spike again. He may have been bruised and scratched, but he still looked good, even when he slept. A wave of guilt swept over Buffy. He had saved her life more than once, and she hadn't even thanked him. And then she had to go and do something stupid like beat him up.
"Spike, I am so sorry," she whispered, "I didn't mean to hurt you. I----I just want you to know that when you saved me the first time, in the gas station, I was really glad that you were there. I know that I didn't act like it, but when I told Giles on the phone that you were here, I was glad that you were." Buffy placed a hand on his chest. "I just want to thank you for…for saving my life." Buffy looked away from him as a tear ran down her cheek.
"Don't sweat it, pet. Just doing my job, y'know," Spike smiled.
"Spike!" Buffy hugged him, relieved. He placed a hand on her hair.
"I've just got one question, love." Buffy lifted her head up to look at him. "Where's my shirt?"
"Oh!" Buffy said. "That's right!" She frowned. "Spike, you got drunk."
"I already know that, ducks. I've got the bloody headache to prove it."
"Well, Willow's washing your shirt cause it…uh…stunk," Buffy made a grossed out face. "Why, Spike? Why'd you get drunk?"
"Well, let's just say that I had a little breakdown. A mental breakdown," Spike sighed, "I'm not like Angel. I don't wear my guilt on my sleeve like he did. I'm supposed to be a tough guy. So, I keep all of my emotions bottled up inside me. But today, when I saw that vampire bite into you, it reminded me of what a ruthless killer I used to be.
"So I decided to feel sorry for myself. I found the local bar, and drowned all my sorrows in shot after shot of tequilla. Looks like I had a little to much, huh, love?" Spike looked up at Buffy with pain in his eyes. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him.
"Spike, it wasn't you. You weren't the killer. It was the demon inside you," Buffy reassured him. He gave her a half smile and tried to get up. He made it to the standing position, then fell to the floor.
"I think I'm going to sleep on the floor, love," he said, looking up at her sitting on the bed.
"No, Spike. You can't. You're drunk," Buffy told him.
"You can't talk me out of it," he said, "Plus, I'm not in the mood for fighting. Just hand me a pillow, would you?"
Buffy sighed angrily and threw a pillow at him. He took it and put it under his head. "G'night, Slayer."
"Sleep tight, Spike."
"Don't let the vampires bite."
"I swear that if you even come near me, Spike…"
WILL CONTINUE
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