Cloaked in Shadows

A/N: Thanks you so much for the reviews and reading the story!!! It made my day. :)


Chapter One


Buffy Summers was anxiously waiting for her light purple bag to come through the baggage claim at the airport. Her flight into the LAX airport was delayed, and she didn’t arrive there until 10:23pm, even though she was supposed to be there by 9:45pm. She was tired from the trip as she had traveled all the way from Italy. It was an unholy number of hours on the plane, and she never could sleep on those things. All she wanted to do was find whoever was supposed to pick her up and go to a place to stay and rest before even thinking about why she was there.

Finally her bag appeared, and she grabbed it, slinging the strap easily over one shoulder. She then left baggage claims and finally finished through customs. Then, she was in the main airport, searching for whoever was supposed to pick her up. Willow had arranged it, but she hadn’t said much on the phone. She had just told her that she had to go to L.A. and that Giles, Dawn, and she would be there in a couple of days. Before then, Buffy was supposed to be picked up and then do some research without them.

Sighing, she looked around before her eyes fell on two people that she knew all too well. Now, she understood why Willow hadn’t mentioned that Broody and Blondie were supposed to pick her up. They also had a woman with long brown hair walking with them in her general direction.

It had been months since she had seen Spike. After all, the last time she had seen him, she thought that he had died. Her feelings of joy at seeing him quickly took over, and she sprinted over, practically tackling him with her lithe frame as she hugged him tightly. “Spike!”

Spike was actually very pleased when she hugged him, and he glanced towards Angel and smirked as he noticed Angel’s frown. “Hi, love,” he said to Buffy, thinking that this was going a hell of a lot better than he had originally thought it would.

Love. That single word struck through Buffy as she remembered that she had told him that she had loved him and then he had dismissed her and died. She released her tight hug and then balled up her fist, punching him hard in the jaw. “How dare you do that to me?! I watch you die and then when you come back, you don’t call. You don’t write. I found out from Willow who found out from Andrew that you were even alive.” The pain and anger came back fiercely as she glared at him. It was actually a bit tempting to stake him for doing that to her.

“Ow! Bloody hell!” Spike had clutched his jaw that was throbbing where she had punched him. She certainly still had the ability to punch hard, even though she hadn't had as many things to slay with the other slayers around. Honestly, he knew that he deserved that in a way. He had been avoiding her, thinking she would be better off thinking that he was dead.

Angel was smirking a bit when Buffy had punched Spike. “Hello, Buffy,” he said rather formally.

She turned her attention and anger from Spike to Angel. She knew that he hadn’t told her that Spike was back as a ghost or back as his body either. She was about to lay into him until she realized that people were starting to gather around and notice them. She took a deep breath and quickly counted backwards from ten. “Hello, Angel,” she said almost stiffly. Her eyes then looked at the other woman. “And, who did you two bring along?” She didn’t know her.

Spike was glad that the attention was taken off of him for the moment for what he had done. “That’s Illyria.”

Illyria turned her head to the side, studying Buffy. “So you are the famous slayer. I’m not impressed.” She then turned her head to the other side.

Angel quickly stepped in between Illyria and Buffy, hoping that a fight would not break out, especially from Illyria’s comment. “She’s just not use to being around people. She’s not from this time or world as we know it.”

“I also don’t like having to appear in this form, but they made me.” Illyria glared over to Angel in particular. She hated having to look like Fred, but they said that her normal appearance would not work for this place called an airport.

“We should head on though. I’m sure that you are tired from the trip, Buffy.” Angel motioned for them to come along as he led them to a black Mercedes. He pressed a button, which unlocked the doors. He then pressed another button to do the trunk up. Then, he went to take Buffy’s bag.

“I got it,” she said, taking a step back from his grasp and putting the bag into the trunk herself and closing it. “Nice car you have here, Angel. Was it one at Wolfram and Hart?” She had walked around to the passenger side of the door and sat down in the front, leaving Spike and Illyria in the back.

“It was,” Angel said as he sat in the driver’s seat and got the car started. “Wolfram and Hart are no more though.”

“Willow mentioned that you did have to face a bunch of baddies and had an Apocalypse of your own.” Knowing that the three of them were here and that L.A. was still standing, she figured that the baddies were now gone though.

“We kicked their asses actually,” Spike said with a grin as he leaned over the seat a bit behind Buffy.

She glared at him, still pissed off that he hadn’t told her that he was back. This glare caused him to back off a bit.

“It was rather enjoyable to find those with some equal skills,” Illyria stated as she was now in her more usual form.

Buffy slightly stared at Illyria and wondered where they did pick up Smurfette. She figured that would have to wait for another time. “Do you know why I’m here?”

Angel pulled the car into a parking garage and parked in his spot. “We know as much as Willow told us. A slayer had come here to check out a place that was supposed to be swarming with vamps. The girl couldn’t handle it and called Willow and that was the last they heard of her, but she did mention that it’s not a vampire that you are after.”

Buffy got out of the car and grabbed her bag from the trunk before Angel could get it and had it to her. “That’s about all I know as well. I’m supposed to check out this club called the Bloodsucker.”

“The Bloodsucker! That’s…” Spike then realized what he was saying. “Well, I heard that they have imitation vampires there. They wouldn’t even know what they would do if they saw a real one.”

“You’ve been there, haven’t you, Spike?” Buffy inquired as she was following Angel to the elevator.

“Once or twice. Just to have a laugh at the mortals. Never seen any big bad monster there though.”

“Indeed.” Buffy crossed her arms and leaned against the elevator wall as they were going up. “Anyways, our slayer didn’t come back, and we haven't heard from her. I’m supposed to check out what happened to her and see if I can find her friends that she went with. Then, I’m supposed to go to the Bloodsucker and check things out. Willow, Giles, and Dawn are coming as well in a couple of days.” The elevator slowed to a halt and gave a hint of a jerk before the doors opened. She noticed that they had stopped at the top floor as Angel was unlocking the door.

Spike’s eyes lit up, glad to see Red and Little Bit soon as it had been a long time.

They all entered the penthouse, and Buffy looked around. “You’ve done well for yourself, Angel,” she said as she looked around at the lavish surroundings.

Angel smiled at her and slightly puffed his chest out a bit in pride. “Since Wolfram and Hart was destroyed, we’ve used this place as a new headquarters.” He looked over at Lorne. “Were there any calls, Lorne?”

“Not a one, Boss man,” Lorne said as he came from behind a desk. He smiled at Buffy. “You must be the famous Slayer.”

Buffy smiled at him. “Yes, that would be me. I’m Buffy.” She reached out to shake his hand. “And you are?”

“Lorne,” Lorne said, taking her hand and lightly kissing it. “Enchanté.”

“Nice to meet you too.” Buffy was rather amused by Lorne. He was quite charming for a green demon in a purple suit with a hot pink shirt. She then stifled a yawn. “Where am I to sleep?”

“Right this way,” Angel said, leading her down the hall to a room. “You can take this room.” He opened a door as Buffy stepped inside.

Buffy was definitely impressed. The bed was a queen-sized with an elegant gold bedspread. There was an ornate dresser against the wall across from the bed. She sat her bag on the bed and walked to another door, opening it and finding a bathroom of her own, equipped with a Jacuzzi tub. “Wow,” she said softly.

Spike had entered her room as well. “She has a nicer room than I do!”

Angel smirked and crossed his arms. “That’s because she is a guest and doesn’t annoy me as much as you do. After all, Spike, you could always get your own place.”

Spike glared at him. “Oh, but it’s much more fun to be around here and annoy you.”

Buffy had come back in and rolled her eyes. “Men,” she muttered under her breath. There were just a few times that she wondered if Willow hadn’t made a good choice in becoming a lesbian. Then again, she had to admit that she liked men too much, despite the fact that they could be complete idiots. “If you boys don’t mind, I would like to get some rest. It was a long flight. We can talk more about things and get all caught up later. Okay?”

Angel nodded. “Of course,” he said, glaring at Spike. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.” He then walked out, knowing that id hid have some work to do. He wantwanted to talk to Buffy more, but he knew that it was best to just stay away actually.

Once Angel left, Spike closed the door behind him and looked at Buffy. “You do look great, love,” he said as his eyes raked over her body from her designer jeans to her fitted lavender t-shirt. He didn’t quite realize how much he had missed her being around until she was now here.

Buffy sighed as she grabbed her bag to take out the few pieces of clothing she had brought. Spike was still the same right down to his black duster. “Spike, when I said that I wanted to get some rest, I meant it.” She went over to the dresser and put her folded clothes in it. When she turned, Spike was right beside of her. She caught a hint of his familiar scent of liquor, cigarettes, and something else that she never could quite place. It was completely him. She grabbed his arm and began to lead him toward the door. She opened the door and shoved him out of it, blocking his way then to re-enter. “Spike, I do have a question for you.”

Spike had allowed her to lead him out, despite the fact that he wanted to stay with her. “What is it, love?” He was just glad that she hadn’t hit him again at least. That was an improvement.

“Why didn’t you call or write when you got your body back?” Once she had found out that he was alive, she had considered hunting him down and jumping him for doing this to her, but she didn’t. She got more involved with the Immortal.

He wasn’t surprised by her question. He was actually expecting it before now. “Well, I just thought that I left with such a big bang that I couldn’t just call. What kind of arrival would it be compared to the departure?” He shrugged slightly. “Besides, I figured that you would have moved on and forgotten all about me.”

She looked at him, thinking it wasn’t a good enough excuse. She wanted a damn good reason, and she hadn’t gotten it. She clenched her jaw slightly as she felt the anger brewing. “For your information, Spike, I never would have forgotten you as long as I lived.” She then slammed the door in front of his face and locked it as she leaned against the door and took a deep breath, counting to ten three times before calming down. Now, she was just hurt yet again by him. She told him that she had loved him. She finally could admit it, and next he had to go and die and come back and still not tell her that he was back. Well, she wasn’t going to let him get to her again. She was here to find out this monster at the Bloodsucker, kill it, and go back to Italy where she had left the life that she was trying to continue. Besides, if Spike thought that he could just come back into her life and have everything be like it was, then he needed to have another thought coming.


A/N: Please review! They are greatly appreciated!