Believe In Me

Spike sprang into action, acting on auto pilot and using vamp speed, he tore the other vamp off his mate and didn’t notice until she was off that Angel had arrived and had been an extra pair of arms that had hauled the vamp off their mate.
While Spike helped a shocked and bloody Buffy up from the floor, Angel faced off with the vampire that had more preternatural strength and other sorts of magical powers than any other vamp he’d come across.
Buffy reached into back pocket for her stake and Spike reached for his. All three stood as the vamp that had literally flown up to the ceiling, her back against it, stared down at them, her hair in her face still.
“Anna?” Angel whispered in disbelief and horror.
The vampire cackled an eerie cackle that sent tingles straight up their spines.
Buffy lowered her stake, “The Slayer that died?”
The cackling ceased and the vampire flew down to the floor, her feet touching the ground. Her hair back from her face now, she smiled, blood dripping from her fangs that seemed abnormally large – and quite sickening if you asked Buffy. Her game face was of course fully on so it was hard to make out really what the former Slayer looked like.
“Hello, Angel,” she greeted him.
“Y—you died,” Angel said.
“In a manner of speaking, yes. In a manner of speaking, no. I’m more alive than I ever have been, actually . . . lover.”
Buffy moved forward, and Spike grabbed her arm, holding her back.
Anna licked her incredibly long fangs, “She tastes delicious, Angel. Do you sample her often?”
Spike growled and pulled Buffy even closer to his body.
“You’re with Darla, aren’t you?” Angel whispered.
“What do you think?” Anna spat. “That bitch won’t leave me alone,” and then she laughed heartily as if she’d just heard the best joke ever. “Learned a lot from her, I did.”
“What do you want?”
Anna smiled, “What do you think?” And with that, she took a running leap out the window that was across the room.
All three rushed to the smashed window to find no trace of Anna.
“So,” Buffy started, turning to Angel. “What did she mean when she called you lover?”
Angel glared at her, “What the hell did you think you were doing? And you—“ he hit Spike on the arm, “What were you thinking letting her come out and go hunting for Darla?”
“First of all, you know as well I bloody do that she has a mind of her own—“
“Then you stop her!” Angel shouted at Spike.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Spike can’t stop me from doing anything.” Angrily, Buffy stomped up to Angel. “There was only one person that tell me what to do. That was my mother, and she’s dead now.”
Angel leaned in to her, mere inches from her face, “You will listen in this matter, Buffy. This is your life we’re talking about here. “Do you realize how many close calls you’ve had? You’re running out of lives!”
“Then maybe someone should have been honest and up front with us from the get go so we wouldn’t have to go snooping to find the answers we need!” Spike yelled at Angel. “Leave her alone, Angel. I don’t blame her for wanting to come out. You’re keeping secrets and her friend’s fiance is dead. She wanted answers. We both wanted answers. If I didn’t come with her, Angel, she would have found a way to go, and she would have gone alone.”
Angel growled and turned away from both of them. “Let’s get out of here before we get into something we’re not ready for. We’re not ready for a fight like this.” He stalked off, nearly leaving them behind.
Spike took Buffy’s hand to calm her, and made her look up at him, tilting her head to the side. “How’s the neck, luv?”
“Sore,” Buffy admitted, “but all right.”
Leaning in, Spike let his tongue travel over the bite marks, soaking up the excess blood, using his quick healing saliva to close up her wound. She moaned involuntarily as the bite she’d gotten was quite close to Spike’s mating bite, and his tongue had swept over it, sending unintended arousal shooting through her.
Spike pulled back and studied her, wiping his mouth. “That was a deep bite, luv. We’re going to have to get that cleaned up good and –“
“Are you guys coming?” Angel shouted.
Buffy and Spike shared a sigh. Looking up at Spike, Buffy said matter- of- factly, “I might have to hurt him.”
Spike laughed and led her past Angel and out of the warehouse.
********
“I like how suddenly we’re the outcasts,” Buffy grumbled as Spike applied antiseptic to her neck wound in the bathroom they were sharing back at the Council.
Spike sighed, “Yeah, I know. But Giles has got to get the bloody story now.”
“Did you see the look on his face?” Buffy asked. “Giles looked at me so disapprovingly.”
Spike looked at her quizzically. “Do you care?”
“Yes, I care! I think of Giles as...as the father I never had.”
“Aw, pet—“
“And Angel has turned into a colossal dick – Spike?”
“Yeah, luv?” he asked, now putting gauze over her mark.
“Is he being sort of close to Angelus?”
Spike snorted, “No, luv. Not even close. Angel came out because he cared. Angel laid into you—us—because he was concerned and worried. Angelus wouldn’t have cared, he would have led you to her and then sat back and laughed as she munched on your neck.”
That caused a shiver to go through her.
“All set, pet.”
Buffy smiled up at him. “Thank you.”
“Love you, kitten.”
“I know,” Buffy murmured and stood, gracing him with a kiss.
“So stop giving me bloody heart attacks, all right?”
She giggled, “You don’t have a beating heart.”
“Just the same.”
“I’ll try. Just can’t promise.”
Groaning, Spike shook his head at her. Then he sighed and assessed her thoughtfully. “You know Angel loves you too, right? He’s just right pissed and scared right now. I’m betting more so with what happened tonight.”
“Do you think Anna and Angel were lovers?” Buffy asked quietly.
“Buffy, I don’t –“
“Honest.”
“Yes,” Spike said, sighing. “I do.”
Buffy nodded and looked down. “He lied.”
”He might have had good reason.”
“He lied.”
“Pet, just wait to hear him out first, all right?”
“If he even bothers to tell us anything.”
“I reckon he will now. Come on, let’s get some rest, all right?”
Nodding, Buffy followed Spike into their bedroom where an enormous bed big enough for five, not just three, met them. “I want to sleep on the end,” Buffy told him.
“You always sleep in the center.”
“Not tonight. Tonight, I sleep on the end. You can sleep next to Angel.”