With a Little Help

Thanks to Isis for catching all the goofy mistakes that I miss. Also, thanks for the reviews. They are much appreciated. And a big, huge thanks to everyone that voted for my other stories in the Spiked Awards. The stories made it in the top five in both categories. Wahooo! Thanks so much for voting.


With a Little Help by Madrog

Chapter 2 – Temptation

Little did Buffy know that she had witnessed the last time Spike had sex with Harmony, or maybe she didn’t want to know. Regardless, the day after Buffy saw her unexpected peep show, the vampire had his first dream about shagging the vampire slayer. Spike had been snoozing in his chair in front of the telly. Nothing new. Then the slayer barged in as she always did. No knock. No bleedin’ manners. She did her usual accusing, and he did his usual denying. Same old drill. However, this time they ended up on the floor, humping like rabbits. Spike thoroughly enjoyed the dream…right up until he woke up and realized that he had been dreaming about his mortal enemy. Funny what seems totally acceptable in a dream, shocks the hell out of you when you wake up to the real world.

Besides, who would have imagined that one, wet dream could bullocks up his unlife so atrociously? Sure, he had dreamed about the slayer before. Dreamed about killing her, draining her dry, or snapping her perfect, little neck, but this dream had been better. A ‘need to take a cold shower’ kind of better. Numerous cold showers. Shit! Without a doubt, he was going insane. Off his rocker. Lost his marbles. Whacked out of his head, or maybe someone should whack him over the head to correct whatever was short circuiting.

Now, a week later, Spike was still having dreams of the slayer. He knew Harmony was getting pissed because he hadn’t touched her for several days. It wasn’t like Harm hadn’t tried; she just didn’t raise his flag anymore. However, Spike had to admit that he had appreciated her new lingerie that she had flaunted the day before, but he only found himself imagining those lacy, little treats on Buffy. God knows he had tried to excise the slayer from his thoughts. He had avoided Buffy like the plague for the past week, hoping the dreams would bugger off. But soddin’ hell, the erotic images just came back every time he closed his eyes.

So here Spike sat, in his chair in front of the telly, waiting for nightfall. Not unusual, but now the vampire hoping the slayer would come calling. Oh, balls! He was so fucked!

*****

Buffy had spent the past week trying to forget what she had accidentally seen in Spike’s bedroom. Nonetheless, she had unfortunately found it so erotic, causing her mind’s eye to frequently wander back to the scene. She kept pushing the images away. She had no problem dumping Harmony’s images in the recycle bin, but Spike was harder. To add to her frustration, the images crept into her dreams the night before while she was with Riley. Same cavern, same bed, same white-blonde vampire on top. However, the major league problem was that she had been the one beneath him instead of Harmony, looking up into Spike’s face and enjoying her pleasure, as well as his own. That thought had snapped her wide-awake. Shaken and unable to go back to sleep, Buffy had slipped out of Riley’s bed and left.

Buffy was guilt girl all the way home. She thought back to earlier that evening, while she and Riley had been making love. To her horror, Buffy had found herself comparing Riley to Spike. Granted, she wished he would do that thingy with his hand that she had seen Spike do to Harmony, but Buffy couldn’t bring herself to ask. And she especially didn’t want Riley wondering where she had found out about that little technique.

So now, the next day after her dream, she was down in the sewers n agn against her better judgment, making her way toward Spike’s bedroom. As before, she could hear the music, but this time, Buffy recognized a local radio station. Looking through the wooden screen, Buffy was in time to see Harmony carefully climbing out of the bed, obviously trying to not wake Spike, who appeared to still be asleep. Watching the vampiress quietly dress, Buffy wondered where Harmony was going at nine in the morning, a usual sleepy time for vampires. A thought came unbidden to her. ‘Who would be so stupid as to leave Spike alone in bed? Especially a naked Spike?…Stop, bad Buffy thoughts. You’re here to look, not drool.’

Instead of walking toward the ladder to climb to the crypt above, Harmony surprisingly moved toward the screen Buffy was hiding behind. Thinking fast, the slayer ducked into a crevice in the stonewall. Bubble headed Harmony walked past, never seeing her. Curiosity piqued, Buffy followed. But Buffy wasn’t thly oly one not observing details close to her because if she had been, Buffy would have seen two small, blue demons flying behind her.

Harmony traveled through the tunnels for quite a distance and finally climbed up a make shift ladder. At the top, Buffy covertly watched Harmony open a trap door, disappearing into a building above.

Straining to hear, Buffy could still hear Harmony’s voice. “Hi there. I’m here for my appointment. Are you my big sexy doctor?”

‘Huh? Vamps don’t need doctors,’ Buffy thought. She listened for a moment, and the sounds she heard made Buffy seriously doubt Harmony’s doctor was a MD, especially since it sounded like he was checking Harmony’s tonsils with his tongue.

After some slurping and groaning, Buffy could finally hear the “doctor” reply. His voice was barely audible from Buf pos position in the tunnel. “Naughty, naughty, you almost missed your appointment time.”

“I’m sooo sorry, Doctor. I’m a bad, bad girl.” In contrast to her words, Harmony’s voice was playful and dripped with sexual innuendo.

The question was muffled causing Buffy to strain to hear. “So what brings you here today?”

Now, Harmony’s tone had changed to pouty. Buffy could just picture her lower lip stuck out, as she snuggled up to the supposed doctor. “I hope you can help me with my problem, Doctor. Ya see, Spikey hasn’t touched me in a week, and I need someone to take care of this little itch I have down here.”

‘Ugh, I so don’t want to hear Harmony playing doctor.’ Unfortunately, Buffy could now hear the sound of the pair above going at iove.ove. Their kissing sounded like two gold fish that had escaped their bowl, struggling to take a breath. Definitely time to make tracks. There had to be somewhere that she needed to be right about now. Glancing at her watch, she realized that her English Lit class was in thirty minutes. Who would have thought she would be glad to be saved by a class about books?

Rushing off down the tunnel, she wondered why instead of being grossed out as she should be, she felt happy to find out that Harmony had a new boyfriend. Which led Buffy’s wayward mind to the next question: why does Spike no longer want Harmony? And then to other questions like, “Who would leave Spike alone in bed?” or “Who would the ho vamp want to sleep with instead of Spike?”


“See, Shel, things are coming along nicely.” The smug, blue demon bragged to his apprentice.

“Is that man really a doctor, Multok? Is she sick?” Shel was confused about the vampiress seeing a doctor since Harmony had not looked ill to her.

Multok glanced over at her. He seriously doubted the Elder had sent Shel to learn about sexcapades. She had already seen enough of Spike, but that was part of the current assignment, he assured himself. “Well, some humans like to…uh…pretend. So, let’s jleavleave it at that and concentrate on the next step of my plan. Now we need to get the slayer and the vampire in the same room.”

*****

Buffy wasn’t sure what she was doing. After class, she had gone to the Magic Box to check in with Giles and work out. Afterwards, she made sure Dawn made it home safely, ate some dinner, and then left for patrol. All perfectly routine for her life as a slayer. All okey dokey as Willow would say, but now she was standing in front of Spike’s crypt, with the temperature of her feet fast approaching zero.

Seriously reconsidering her plan, Buffy scolded herself. She should have asked the gang to help catch the Eloquaw demons, and she still wasn’t sure why she hadn’t. Earlier, Buffy had been sitting at the research table in the Magic Box listening to Giles trying to explain his way around why he neglected to warn her about the Eloquaw demon’s speed. However, instead of paying attention to her watcher, all Buffy could hear was a voice in her head telling her to go to Spike’s crypt and ask him to help her that night.

Now with dusk falling over the cemetery, Buffy stood staring at Spike’s door. Meanwhile inside the crypt, the vampires were going about their own regular routines. Harmony was perched on a sarcophagus, thumbing through a Vogue magazine while Spike searched through the refrigerator. He had finished his cup of blood and was hunting for something to munch on.

With a bang, the door flew open and slammed against the wall. Spike didn’t need to turn around to see who was barging into his crypt. Only one person made that irksome of an entrance. The slayer. Spike closed his eyes, bracing himself to see the very person he was trying to avoid for a week. While half of him was pissed that she treated his home as if he had a standing “slam the door open” policy, 24/7, the other half of the vampire was elated the slayer had come to him. Of course, the thrilled part would mostly be his lower half.

In the meantime, Harmony, with her usual sharp instincts and quick thinking, hid behind the sarcophagus on which she had been sitting.

Buffy quickly took in the scene. Musty…dusty…she easily spotted Spike, who was over by therigerigerator and clearly trying to ignore her, but almost missed her old school mate. “Harmony, what the hell are you doing?”
When the vampiress didn’t answer her question, Buffy rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips.

His curiosity getting the best of him, Spike finally turned around to see why that stupid bint didn’t replied. Then for the first time since Buffy had entered, he looked over at her and gave a noncommittal shrug. “t lot look at me, Slayer. If she were still alive, she would be too stupid to breathe.”

Buffy decided Spike wasn’t going to be of any help except in making her laugh. A Giggling Slayer would *so* not help the image she was trying to project right now. “Harmony, you dim bulb, I can see you. Your feet and ass are sticking out from behind that sarcophagus.”

Looking back at Spike, Buffy asked, “Does she take her brains out to play with in her spare time?”

This time, Spike gave a tilt of his head in acknowledgment before he returned to foraging in the frig. But as he turned away, Buffy thought she caught the corners of his mouth lift slightly. ‘The Big Bad is a Big Faker,’ Buffy thought with a smirk.

Buffy’s attention returned to the vampiress when Harmony stood up and adjusted her clothes. hi, hi, Buffy. I didn’t hear you come in.”

“You silly bint, Ecuador heard her come in.” Spike looked heavenward, as if asking for divine intervention.

Briefly glan up up at the ceiling, trying to see what Spike was looking at, Harmony frowned in confusion before continuing. “As I was saying, Buffy, I didn’t hear you come in. I was just searching for my brush. Oh, here it is.”

“At least you didn’t use the ‘looking for my contact’ excuse. This has been fun, but I need to talk to Spike. Two words, Harmony. Get. Out.” If that wasn’t a big enough hint for Harmony, Buffy stepped out of the doorway and waved her arm towards the outside.

Offended, Harmony flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I don’t have to just pick up and leave when *you* say. Who crowned you ‘Miss Bossy’?”

‘A little bit of Harmony was enoto mto make anyone yak,’ Buffy thought with a long, suffering sigh. “I have a stake here that’s going to be sticking out of your chest. The poor Harmony, ditz to dust if you don’t leave *now*. Go do something important, like get your nails done.”

Harmony held up her hands to quickly inspect her nails for any chips. “You’re way wrong. My nails are fine. But I…uh…I just remembered that I do have someone to meet. See ya, Spikey.” With that, she quickly headed for the door and left.
ffy ffy moved farther into the crypt. “Spikey? Sex with her can’t be so great to put up with her idiocy. You could do better, can’t you?” That last comment was out of her mouth before Buffy thought about all the possible implications. Paranoia must be stomping its way through her brain, since she might as well waved ag thg that said, “I’ve been dreaming about having sex with Spike.”

Across the room, Spike shifted uncomfortably. Buffy just mentioning sex was enough to get him hard, with mental images flying through his head. Mentally shaking himself, he tried to focus on the topic of conversation. “Harm can be ‘entertaining.’ Just think, who else do you know that someone can put a finger in each of her ears, and feel them touch in the middle?”

Again, Buffy found herself working hard to suppress a laugh. Spike had such a way of wheedling a smile out of her, especially when he smiled, looking deceptively innocent. As she walked further into the crypt, Buffy wondered if Spike smiled when he was having sex? Could he make her smile as he moved inside her? Where did these thoughts come from? ‘Bad Buffy. You’re here on slayer business, that means slaying vampires, not lusting after them,’ Buffy chastised herself. But then she heard another voice in her ear. “But he is so gorgeous. You know you want him.” Trying to dispel her evil, wicked thoughts, Buffy impatiently waved a hand at that ear, not knowing that she had almost knocked a meddling demon off her shoulder.

Little did she know that Spike had his own little voice talking to him, also. ‘There she is, the woman of your dreams. And maybe she has dreams of you.’

Still resisting his “inner” voice, Spike stayed rooted to his spot. He had no desire to catch a stake to the chest for trying to get close to the slayer. No, he may want to shag the slayer senseless, but that didn’t make him trust her with his unlife. “So, pet, what brought you here tonight? Information? Another strong arm to help you out? What’s you pleasure?”

“Actually, all the above.” Buffy felt herself blush when she realized that it sounded like she had answered his last question, that she was looking for pleasure. “No, er, I mean information and help. No pleasure. The last few nights I’ve been tracking Eloquaw demons. Ever heard of them?”

“Eloquaws. Long tongues that they use as a weapon to paralyze you and then choke you, and the buggers can sure run like a scared rabbit.”

“Is there some news flash I missed on the whole speed thingy?” Buffy asked, flailing her arms in frustration.
Spike was still some what suspicious. “Where’s G.I. Jerk Off? I would expect him to be sniffing at your heels.”
“Riley said that he had to help a friend move.”

Spike nodded his head and appeared to consider her explanation seriously. “Good task for a strapping, young man. Afterward, he could go to the store for milk and cookies.”

“Do you want to help me tonight or not?”

Oh, he wanted to help her, alright. Just not with demon hunting, but it was a start. Still, Spike had to keep up his image. Not look like he was easily had. “What’s in it for me?”

“How about I don’t stake Harmony?” Buffy suggested with a bright smile.

“As I said, what’s in it for me, Slayer?”

Not that she would admit it, but Buffy was stumped. She hadn’t thought to bring any money.

As Buffy floundered for something to say, Multok and Shel were busy formulating a new plan. Even if Buffy had looked down, she probably would not have seen the pair who kept butting into her life without her knowledge.
“Now, my girl, do you understand the plan and what you are to do?”

“I think so, Multok. But they act like they hate each other.”

“Are you kidding? Look at the sparks flying between those two. Natural fireworks, my dear. Now all we have to do is nurturose ose sparks into a blazing fire. Then that pair will do the rest.”

Multok flew over to Spike, while Shel flew up to whisper in Buffy’s ear.

Buffy patted her pockets to make sure she hadn’t forgotten any money stuffed away. ‘I can just owe him,’ Buffy thought, but then wondered where that thought had come from. Regardless, the words flowed out of her mouth. “Spike, can I owe you?”

Spike’s own inner voice was also talking to him. ‘What an opportunity. You could name your own price.’ Spike started to calculate some monetary figure the slayer would pay, when the voice spoke up again. ‘No, not money. You can think of something more interesting.’ The proverbial light bulb came on for Spike. He looked at the slayer with a smile growing on his face. “Right, Slayer. You can owe me. Owe me a boon.” Spike wondered when the bloody hell he and the slayer started to sound like school chums.

Buffy was just as mystified by his unexpected idea, but for a much different reason. “Huh? You want me to get you a monkey?”

“Not a baboon. A boon is a favor, pet.” Now Spike was starting to warm up to the subject, seeing numerous poilitilities. “Seems that there happens to be dozens of these pesky demons running about. For ever one of the Eloquaws I help you kill, you will owe me one favor of my choosing.”

‘No way in hell I’m doing any favors for Spike,’ Buffy thought. But instead of shooting Spike down, Buffy was shocked to hear herself reply, “Not one. More like five.”

Spike sauntered towards her. “Two.”

“Four.”

Spike was not only a few feet away. “Three.”

“Deal,” Buffy agreed.

Spike held out his hand to seal the bargain between slayer and master vampire with a simple shake and was pleasantly surprised when she actually took his offered hand.

As Buffy shook his hand, she couldn’t shake the feeling that their agreement was just not going to be as simple as it sounded. Nothing with Spike was ever simple. Letting go of his hand, she headed for the door. She was reminded of the first bargain they had ever struck, when they had agreed to work together to stop Angelus. An agreement that had changed both of their lives. Now almost three years later, Buffy sincerely hoped that this bargain would not end up effecting her life on such grand a scale.

Spike followed thayerayer out of the crypt, still not sure why he hadn’t asked for money, but oh, just wait until the slayer heard what kind of favors he was going to request. Spike smiled for the first time in a week, ‘y aly always did look beautiful when she was angry.’


“Look, Multok. There they go – together! We did it.” Shel clapped her hands excitedly as she hovered in the air.

“Yes, yes. Things are coming along nicely. And the vampire has helped us out greatly. Favors! What a brilliant idea!”

“So what do we do next?”

“Oh, Shel, just wait. This next part shall be fun. Now we need to help them catch some demons.”
Shel flew after him out the crypt door, “But Multok, what kind of favors do you think Spike will ask for?”

“Oh, I think the vampire will be, let us say, creative.”


TBC

Oh, the favors are going to be fun, and I promise Chapter 3 will come out faster than this one did. If only the real world would leave me alone to write…

Please review and let me know how the story is going.

Thanks
MadRog