New beginnings

Chapter 5


Spike instinctively knew he was safe. He was warm and cosy, somewhere full of the delicious scent of love and home. He was wedged securely into a perfectly shaped cocoon and he could hear a reassuring steady heartbeat from under his lovely soft pillow.

If only that distant ringing in his ears would stop. Ah, that’s better.

Bugger, now his pillow was bouncing and vibrating. He could just make out a few muffled words here and there. “…Sounds interesting … Didn’t bring … Few minutes…”

Someone was repeating his name. The voice was getting louder but he really didn’t want to wake up, he was so comfortable.

Now both his pillow and whatever the warm silky thing was that his right arm was wrapped around were moving, and there was a cool draught wafting away that heavenly scent. Reluctantly, Spike opened his eyes.

A soft light flooded from somewhere behind his head where the cool draught was coming from, just enough to enable him to make out the fact that he was underneath some sort of fabric covering. He looked down and found that his pillow was pink tinged with gold, and smooth… and living? Confused, he raised his head and looked around and found a pair of soft green eyes regarding him with teasing humour. “Are you back with me, Spike, darling? It’s time to wake up and go and find something to kill.”

Spike blinked. Uncertainly he asked, “Buffy?” He closed his eyes and snuggled down again. He was having another of those wonderful dreams. There was no way he was ready to wake up from it yet!

His pillow shifted again and a hand began shaking his shoulder. “Come on Spike, I know you’re in there somewhere. It’s time to find our lovely little fight!”

Spike opened his eyes again and looked to see if DreamBuffy was still there. She was, and now she was beginning to look a bit brassed off. DreamBuffy didn’t often look brassed off. In his Buffydreams she was nearly always happy, particularly when they were fighting. He ventured, “Buffy? Am I dreaming?”

DreamBuffy cocked her head to one side, smiled reassuringly and gently replied, “No darling, It’s no dream. I’m really real. Feel the Bond.”

Bond? Spike closed his eyes again and felt around in his mind. There was Buffy loving him… and beginning to get a bit impatient. He snapped back to reality. Buffy loved him. They were at the Buena Vista and Buffy loved him. They’d performed a Mating Claim ritual and Buffy loved him. Spike’s eyes went wide, he took a deep breath and gasped, “Oh thank God, it’s real!” He took in where he was. He had evidently fallen asleep lying between Buffy’s legs. His right arm was wrapped tightly around her left leg and he had used her belly as a pillow. Attempting to move his left hand he found it tucked neatly under her right buttock. Her right leg was draped casually over his left shoulder.

Smirking slightly he murmured, “Well I couldn’t have found a better sleeping place if I’d tried.” Out loud he asked, “Have we got a few minutes?” Taking her reply for granted he slid a bit further down the bed and began teasing her warm moist folds apart with his nose and tongue.

Buffy sighed impatiently, “No, Spike, we don’t have a few minutes.” She sat up and threw the covers off him, then tried to lift his head out of her lap. “I’d like you to move please, so I can get the feeling back in my leg. I really need to go to the bathroom now ‘cos you went to sleep with your head on my bladder! Mr DuRose just called. When he realised we’d want to find a fight tonight he started making enquiries for us. He thinks he’s found us some baddies to kill. I said we’d meet him in the lobby in a few minutes so he could explain where he thought they were. He told me he could find us some weapons too.”

Sulkily, Spike sat up and found that although they were actually in the bed, Buffy’s head had been at the foot end and his feet had been buried among the pillows. He watched her hobble towards the bathroom, snatching up a few items of clothing from the closet as she passed it. As she closed the bathroom door she called out, “Get your clothes on, Spike. Dress for a fight!”

Still sulking about being disturbed from his comfy nest, Spike slid off the bed and found his jeans, t-shirt and Doc Martens. By the time Buffy emerged from the bathroom wearing the jeans, boots and leather jacket she’d travelled to the hotel in, he was putting his duster on ready to go. Buffy checked him over and nodded approvingly. Seeing his discontented expression she grinned playfully. “Oh pouty! Look at that lip… gonna get it… gonna get it!” She stretched up and nibbled on his protruding bottom lip and he couldn’t help but chuckle, his mood improving immediately.

As they trotted along the path to the main hotel building Spike rolled his shoulders. He registered a few aches and pains from their enthusiastic loveplay earlier in the night, but decided a spot of violence could only help him work out the kinks. Sudden realisation of his own thoughts brought him to an abrupt standstill. He had mentally used the word loveplay. He now recognised that despite the apparent likeness of tonight’s activities to the adventurous sexplay they had indulged in before the Claim, that was where the similarity ended. Before, while he had been at least momentarily physically satisfied he had always been left feeling slightly sad, cold and empty. Tonight by contrast he felt content, warm and fulfilled. He grinned happily at the discovery.

Buffy noticed his hesitation and urged him to hurry, “Come on Spike, you know you could do with some violence. You missed that whole fight at the mansion!” He jerked back to awareness of his current surroundings and hurried to catch up with his Slayer. He readily acknowledged his disappointment at being unable to take part in the battle against Dru’s minions and started to get excited at the thought of a good fight. He began speculating about what they might be facing.

Mr DuRose was waiting for them in the lobby with a large-scale tourist map of the immediate area spread out on the reception desk. He pointed out the sand dunes that stretched inland for a couple of miles following the coast to the North of the hotel, making the area largely inaccessible except for off road vehicles and hikers. He explained, “There have been occasional unexplained disappearances in the dunes over the years. For the last few weeks they’ve been getting more frequent. Walkers and bikers go into the dunes, then they just don’t come out. According to one of my staff there is an outcrop of rocks in the middle of the dunes…” He pointed, “…about here.” He shrugged. “It’s not shown on the map. He says there’s a local legend about haunted caves. Knowing this town, that probably means there’s something nasty living there.”

Buffy examined the map thoughtfully and asked, “You’ve no idea at all what it might be?”

DuRose shook his head apologetically. “Sorry, Ms Summers, it’s really only a calculated guess that there’s anything there at all.”

Buffy grinned up at Spike, “Sounds as if it might be fun doesn’t it? Kinda like a magical mystery hunt.” Sharing her enthusiasm he couldn’t help returning her grin. God, he loved this woman! She turned to regard the intrigued manager. “You said you could find us some weapons? We were taking the day off for the ritual so we didn’t bring anything with us….” She took a stake from the back of her waistband and held it up. “…Except for Mr Pointy of course, I never go anywhere without him.” She frowned up at Spike. “Unless you’ve got anything in your baby’s trunk, Spike?”

He was forced to shrug, “Sorry Slayer, brought it all indoors when we got back from LA… everything’s stacked by your weapons chest now.”

The helpful manager guided them through passages behind the reception desk to the hotel’s huge kitchen. What seemed like acres of spotless steel gleamed in the fluorescent light. Laid out on one of the work surfaces was an impressive array of blades of all shapes and sizes.

Spike chuckled as his Slayer started cooing with pleasure as she began picking up knife after knife. One by one she weighed them in her hand, testing their balance and the quality of each blade. At one point she tossed a six-inch chef’s knife up to spin in the air before neatly catching it again, then looked and asked, “Do you think this would be any good as a throwing knife? It feels right…” She looked around for something to throw it at.

Spike picked up a two-inch thick wooden chopping board and held it up in front of his chest. He prompted, “Here, Slayer…”

Buffy flipped the knife casually towards him and it struck exactly in the centre of the board, the blade sinking so deeply into the wood that the point emerged half an inch at the back. She grinned and happily crooned, “Oh yeah…” She rummaged around and picked up four of the same style of knife, tucking two into each boot.

Spike meanwhile jerked the knife free from the chopping board and used it to chop off the bowls of four wooden spoons and whittle the abbreviated handles into points.

Moving along the counter Buffy let out an excited little “Eep” and reached for a huge butcher’s knife. After swishing it about for a few seconds she shrugged pensively, “Not quite as good as a sword or axe, I could do with a bit more reach, but this could come in very handy…” Then she found the cleavers.

When they emerged into the night from the staff exit a few minutes later both warriors were well armed with a selection of sharp blades and makeshift stakes. Spike also held a backpack containing two very powerful flashlights and a few candles as emergency backup. They both felt confident that they could take out just about anything they might come across.

DuRose led them over to where a few trail bikes were parked. He gestured at them and suggested, “Would you like to borrow a couple of these? We keep them for guests to use. It must be over two miles to the caves and it’s heavy going on foot through the dunes.”

Buffy looked a bit embarrassed. “Uh... thanks, but Buffy and motorcycles… not so mixy.”

Spike regarded her curiously. “You ever tried one, sweetheart?” When she shook her head he suggested, “I know you don’t get on so well with cars, Slayer, but I think you might do a lot better with a bike. They’re far more intuitive to drive, bit like weapons really that way. Sometime when we’ve got more time I’ll get you to have a go on mine, see how you like it. It could save an awful lot of time and energy patrolling.” Sensing her cautious interest he didn’t press the point but handed her the backpack and straddled one of the more powerful machines, “Come on then darlin’… Hop on and hang on!”

Five minutes later, with Spike in game face to enhance his night vision, they were both whooping and laughing as they went shooting up dunes and flying off the crests into the moonlit night to skid down the downslopes, with Buffy clinging to Spike like a limpet. He kept his focus on the headland they had been advised would be their point of reference for keeping them going in the right direction.

When they came to a massive outcrop of rock emerging from the sand Spike cut the engine and coasted down a dune to get as close as he could before stopping the bike. Buffy jumped off, grinning widely. “Oh that was fun!” She cried excitedly. “We’ll have to do that again!” When Spike resumed his human face she frowned. “What happened? Everything went dark. I could see fine before.” Spike stared at her in wonderment. Turning away from her he vamped out again. She exclaimed in excitement, “Oh that’s better, someone put the lights on again!” Once more he let the demon fade away. Buffy’s reaction was to nervously declare, “Ho… kay… It’s gone darker again. Now I’m officially wigged.”

Spike chuckled as he turned back to face her and touched her arm to attract her attention. “Look, Slayer…” He vamped out again. “Night vision better now?”

Buffy’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and she nodded slowly, “Uh huh.”

“What about your distance vision, hearing and sense of smell?”

Buffy concentrated for a few seconds and then gestured for Spike to resume his human face. When he did so she concentrated again, then her eyes went very wide. “Whoah! Now that is seriously freaky. How do you think it works?”

Spike could only shrug. “No idea, Slayer, although it’s obviously got something to do with our new Claim. I guess that’s another thing for the Watcher to puzzle out.” He grinned happily as he indicated the black shadow in the rocks that hid the entrance to the caves they had come to investigate. “Could come in very handy though.” He vamped out again as they approached the jagged rock archway, each of them wielding a cleaver and a flashlight.

They ducked through a short dark tunnel that sloped sharply down into a cavern dimly lit by thin beams of moonlight coming in through cracks in the rock. The floor was level and sandy and there were footprints everywhere. They found a small circle of blackened rocks close to the entrance with a pile of driftwood tucked against the wall. Someone had evidently been using the cave as a shelter of sorts.

Buffy pointed towards a wide opening on the far side of the cavern and they crossed to peer down it. Even vampire sight needs some light to see by and this tunnel was pitch black, so Spike allowed his demon to subside and they turned on the flashlights. The tunnel turned and twisted and there were sections where it was clear the rock had been worked with tools or claws to widen or heighten the passage. The tunnel was high enough to enable Buffy to walk upright, but as he followed her Spike occasionally needed to hunch over to avoid cracking his head on the irregular rocky ceiling.

Because of his awkward walking stance Spike had been navigating by focussing on Buffy’s beautiful denim clad bottom. He was therefore distracted enough not to notice immediately when she stopped suddenly, and he walked right into her. To regain her balance she hopped forwards into a space that revealed a fork in the tunnel. Looking over her shoulder she commented teasingly, “Way to go with the vampire grace there oh Mate o’ mine!” Then she gestured to the two dark openings before them. “What do you think? Which way?”

Spike had an idea and suggested, “Time to test your new senses, Slayer.” He vamped out and approached the opening on the left, took a few steps into the tunnel and flared his nostrils to test the air, then concentrated his hearing. The only clear scent he could pick up was of salt water and slightly decayed marine life, and there was the sound of distant waves. He then moved over to the passage on the right and repeated the process. Here there was silence, but his sensitive nose registered a distant but obvious miasma of rotting meat rising over a faint trace of sulphur and salt.

Having decided which way he would pick, Spike stood back and gestured Buffy forward. Glancing at him rather uncertainly she mimicked his actions. When she raised her head and sniffed in the right hand tunnel she scrunched up her nose and made the universal young person’s noise of disgust, “Ew!” Grinning at Spike she tilted her head in that direction and commented, “Something tells me the bad guys are this way.”

Spike nodded in approval and congratulated her, “Well done, Slayer! Off we go then…” As he followed her he adjusted himself in his jeans. That little crinkle in her nose was so adorable… and it was becoming a bit uncomfortable not to mention frustrating having to keep trying to ignore his constant arousal.

A few paces down the tunnel Buffy paused. This time Spike was better prepared and managed not to crash into her. She turned around and shook her head in amusement as she directed the beam of her flashlight at his groin. Teasingly she asked, “Someone getting impatient?”

Spike smirked back at her and growled softly, “Always…” Then he thought of something hilarious. “Hey Slayer! D’ya realise that If I’m gonna be feeding from you every day, this…” He gestured at the bulge in the front of his jeans, “…is never gonna go down?” He curled his tongue up behind his top teeth and grinned, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Buffy’s eyes went very wide for a moment then she chuckled wickedly. She gasped throatily, “Oooooh what fun… my very own Energizer vampy!” She dropped her huge cleaver to the ground at her side, leaned forward slightly and patted the denim-covered bulge affectionately. She whispered directly at it, “You can come out to play after the fight, Widdle Spikikins.”

Spike reared back in horror, “Widdle Spikikins? With a humiliating moniker like that he’d be too bloody embarrassed to come out to play at all!”

Giggling madly Buffy relented, “Aw, poor thing. All right then…” She stepped forward and addressed his groin again. “How about ‘Son of Spike’? That better?” She patted him again and Spike chuckled and growled playfully. Buffy sighed and breathed, “Oooh... just love that growlyvamp…” and Spike immediately picked up the scent of her rapidly rising arousal. Muttering quietly to herself, “BadBuffy, gotta slay the monsters before you can play with your horny vampire,” she retrieved her cleaver and turned back heading the way they were walking, but after a few paces she paused again. Without looking at him she hesitantly asked, “Um… Spike? Is that me I can smell now?”

Spike had to lean against the rock wall and muffle his mouth with his leather clad forearm, his shoulders shaking helplessly as he tried to keep his hilarity contained. There would be no chance of a sneak attack if he announced their presence to whatever was down there with uncontrolled laughter echoing through the cave system. He gasped out, “Yeah, that’s right, Slayer. Best scent in the world for me, that is. Welcome to the world of vampire supersenses!” Then he shook his head in wonderment and murmured to himself, “God, life is gonna get so interesting ‘round here...”

At this Buffy did turn around. Spike could feel the heat radiating from her face and knew that if he directed the beam of his flashlight at her face he would see a blazing red blush. She stammered, “So… you could always tell… every time we fought…” She muttered, “No wonder you’d never leave me alone… however often I told you I didn’t want you, you knew!” She breathed in deeply and quietly exclaimed in disbelief, “I can smell you too… even over all this pong I can tell you want me… right now!” She grinned saucily. “What a handy talent to have…” She frowned slightly and did that cute little nose crinkle thing again and Spike suppressed a moan of desire, “…yet potentially incredibly gross.”

Spike leered at her. “Better get used to that scent, Buffy sweetheart, you’re gonna be living with it for the rest of your days.” More seriously, he added sympathetically, “You might find it all a bit overwhelming until you get used to it, Slayer. The enhanced vision is gonna be right handy and the hearing should be easy to get used to, but the scent thing might be a bit of a problem for you at first. You’re gonna be sensing stuff about people around you that you never suspected. The sewers aren’t going to be your favourite way to get around town any more either, you don’t have the option of not breathing the way I do.”

Buffy stood and regarded him thoughtfully for a few seconds, then shrugged. “Okay, I’m off for another cruise in Egypt for now. We’ll tell Giles all about it when we get home and I’ll deal with it then.” She started moving towards the unpleasant smell again and Spike followed, still chuckling quietly.

The broad passage continued winding through the rock. They paused and tested the air whenever the tunnel branched to discover which was the correct route. After a while they began ignoring the narrowest entrances, as it became clear they were largely unused and that their quarry needed passages of a certain width. They progressed continually downwards on a gentle slope until the scent of rotting meat underlain by sulphur and salt began to become truly unpleasant. After a while Buffy stopped again and switched off her flashlight, before edging towards a bend in the tunnel.

Spike followed her example and turned his flashlight off in his turn. After a few moments his eyes adjusted and he made out a dim light coming from the tunnel ahead. Buffy turned and opened the backpack to put the flashlights away and tucked it away into a hollow in the rock. She whispered straight into Spike’s ear, “I think they’re right ahead around this bend, the tunnel opens up into another cavern.”

Together they took their positions at the turn of the tunnel; each armed with a razor sharp butcher’s cleaver in their primary hand. Upon a nod from Buffy, Spike vamped out and they both cautiously moved forward.

They ducked down either side of the opening into the cavern to take in the scene before them. The space was immense, roughly circular with a bulge added on the left-hand side where a wide pool reflected the dim light that didn’t appear to have any specific source into ripples onto the cave roof. The pool extended out of sight around a curve of the rock wall, and a trickle of running water could be heard from that direction. The cavern floor was mostly smooth bare rock, but there were lumps and dips in places. There were patches of fine sand, and there were a few large rocks and bleached lengths of driftwood scattered around.

This evaluation took the blonde pair seconds, then their attention was concentrated on the creatures that occupied the space. There were two immense toad-like beings with light brown and dark green mottled skin. They each had a row of black tipped spines trailing down the centre of their backs which graduated into a tail that rustled on the floor as they moved slowly about. The longest spines were easily three feet in length. All four feet were armed with thick claws that curved to a sharp point that scraped on the rock as they moved. When one of them passed close enough to the Slayer and her vampire for them to pick out details they noticed that the hind feet were webbed, and their wide mouths didn’t contain teeth but rather something resembling a parrot’s beak.

Scuttling around the feet of these two creatures were about two dozen much smaller ones. They were each about three feet long, and two feet high. Their hides were solid dark green, and they had no spines, instead they bore a row of little bumps down their backs, and had little fleshy tails. They were splashing in and out of the shallow edge of the pool and apparently playing tag, continually bumping each other with their beaked mouths and batting at each other with their tiny needle sharp claws that left shallow scratches wherever they made contact. They were making constant quiet but very shrill squeaking sounds.

Buffy glanced across at him and whispered, “Get ready… I’ll go low and left, you go high and right, and I bet I get more of them than you do!”

Spike grinned and raised his scarred eyebrow questioningly, “What’s the stakes?”

After a few moments thought Buffy smirked and said, “If I get more, you can’t smoke for a week!”

“Done!” Spike answered. Then he had an idea and leered at her. “And If I get more, you can’t wear any knickers for a week!”

Buffy gaped at him for a moment, and he could see the protest forming in her mind, then she surprised him by shrugging and saying, “Okay Spikey... I’ll agree to that ‘cos I know I’m gonna win!” She turned her attention back to the front and whispered, “After three. One… two… three!”

They both ran forward silently, the closest two smaller demons already dead before their attack were noticed. Becoming aware of the intruders the two adults instantly set up a fierce growling and tried to herd their offspring towards the pool, but the fearless youngsters dodged around them to continue playing, oblivious to the danger in their midst. When Buffy and Spike each tackled a second demon the adults abandoned their attempts to encourage their young to get to safety, and instead focussed their total concentration on the human and vampire.

Whereas the cleavers had cut easily through the flesh of their initial victims, the adults turned out to be a different proposition altogether. When Spike whirled his cleaver at the clawed foreleg of the demon trying to rip open his abdomen, he found the blade could only penetrate a couple of inches into its tough hide. Then it got stuck and refused to pull free. He had hoped to remove the leg altogether to cripple the demon, instead he felt a claw scraping down his stomach and had to dodge away and leave his cleaver behind.

He danced back, grinning madly. Buffy had been right; he was overdue for a bit of violence and from the excitement coming to him through the Bond she seemed to be enjoying herself as much as he was. He dug an eight inch butcher’s knife out of an inner pocket of his duster, pulled the cork off the tip where he had stuck it to make the knife safe to transport, then aiming carefully he sent it flying directly into the creature’s left eye.

The demon hunched up and ducked its head forward, sending a deafening scream echoing around the cavern. Simultaneously, the spines lying down its back rose to form a magnificent crest and it whirled in a hundred and eighty-degree turn and directed the erect crest at Spike. With a convulsive manoeuvre it shot six spines from its lower back straight out at him. He leapt to one side but although five of them went flying harmlessly past, one hit him in his left upper thigh. It went straight through the meaty part of his outer leg and emerged a good six inches at the back.

Spike cursed loudly, “Bloody Hell, that hurts!” He hopped into cover behind a nearby boulder and winced as he impatiently snapped off the unwieldy long end of spine protruding from the front, as close as he could to his leg. Then he glanced around to see how Buffy was doing against her opponent. She had somehow managed to get herself up onto the creature’s back and was sitting astride its shoulders busy chopping repeatedly down into its neck with her cleaver. The spiny crest had risen behind her, but although the demon was bucking and spinning in an ungainly fashion it couldn’t dislodge her and could bring none of its defensive weapons to bear on her.

Laughing at the sight, Spike yelled, “Ride ‘em cowgirl!” He was rewarded with an excited grin and a cheery wave with a bloody cleaver before she bent back to her task. Taking a deep breath and shoving the pain in his leg to the back of his mind he edged back around his rock to see the demon he’d been fighting with it’s crest lowered, trying once more to shepherd the youngsters away from the danger area towards the pool.

He dug out the largest butcher’s knife he’d brought, the one with the twelve inch blade, popped the protective cork off its tip, ran at top speed across the open space and straight up the demon’s back. As he reached its shoulders, he deliberately fell forward with the knife held out in front of him in both fists, with the blade pointing straight down. His momentum sent the two inch wide razor sharp steel through the flesh and bone of its spine up to the hilt. With a final screech the demon collapsed in a heap, causing Spike to fly over its head onto the rock floor even as he gave voice to his yell of triumph.

Unfortunately he landed right in the middle of a huddled group of confused young who immediately began the same nudging and scratching on him as they had been practising upon each other. Then one of them got a taste of his blood and things began to get nasty. He rolled to one side in an attempt to avoid the snapping beaks and sharp claws and felt a piece of driftwood under his hip. Grabbing it he began to try to beat his way out of the crowd to work his way back to help Buffy. It wasn’t until he had already used it to lash out and clear a wide enough area to enable him to lurch awkwardly to his feet that it dawned on him that his makeshift weapon felt wrong and he took a second to examine it more closely. It wasn’t a piece of driftwood. It was a human thighbone.

He grimaced in disgust but continued flailing around until suddenly the creature nearest him sprouted a knife hilt between the eyes and died. In quick succession three others grew similar attachments and he was abruptly out of the mob of snapping baby demons and was able to take a few moments to look around. Buffy was limping towards him, her hair was all tousled and she had a nasty scratch on one cheek but she was wearing a wide grin. He looked past her and saw her adult demon lying still on its side. He gestured at her right leg that she was favouring and raised a quizzical eyebrow. She shrugged and said; “It rolled.”

Spike tossed the bone to one side and took out yet another chef’s knife, this one with a ten-inch blade. At a nod from Buffy, together they began methodically working their way through the remaining juvenile demons that were all now clamouring around them, evidently drawn by the scent of fresh blood. At one point Buffy was jostled and fell in amongst them. For a few seconds Spike lost sight of her and began to struggle through the press towards her. When she jumped up almost immediately he saw that she had picked up a long slash in her leather jacket over her left shoulder blade. The scent of Slayer blood filled the air. Instantly the remaining demons turned from him and mobbed Buffy, leaving him free to attack relatively unchallenged.

It took them only a few minutes to finish off the last few, and then they were able to stop and take stock. Spike dropped his knife, grinned, stretched and cried, “God, that was fun!”

Buffy threw herself at him and kissed him enthusiastically and laughingly agreed, “Yeah, good fight!”

When Spike hugged Buffy he found Buffy’s shoulder was wet and when he looked at his hand he saw it was covered with fresh blood. He turned her around and tried to pull her jacket off her shoulders muttering, “Need to get this bleeding stopped, Slayer.”

Buffy however pushed his hands away and turned back towards him. She bent down and with determined efficiency examined his leg. “No… your leg is much more serious. We need to get that spine out!” She stood up straight again and looked around. “We need to get out of all this gore first though…” She pointed across the cavern. “Look, around the other side of the pool there’s a lovely little sandy beach, go and rest there. There isn’t enough light over there for me to see to do this even with the bumpies though. I’ll get the bag with the flashlights and I’ll be right back.”

She walked off leaving Spike feeling slightly bewildered. Shrugging in resignation he limped over to where Buffy had indicated, feeling the pain far more that now the fight was over. As he rounded the pool towards the little sloping beach the scent of sulphur intensified blocking out the smell of rotting meat, and Spike noticed a small second pool elevated a few feet above the large one and held back from it by a dam of yellow stained rock. A gentle little waterfall of steaming water trickled constantly from one to the other. He peered through the steam over into the upper pool and realised it was a bubbling hot spring, presumably of volcanic origin. He bent and dipped his fingers in the water of the lower pool beside the dam and found it to be pleasantly warm. It appeared that the demons used the heat to hatch their eggs because as he did so he saw the remains of a nest full of broken shells in the shallow water.

Spike took his last remaining clean knife from the pocket of his duster, shrugged the coat off and removed his boots, then sat down on the soft clean sand and lit a cigarette. With it dangling from his lower lip he began cutting the leg of his jeans away from around the spine to make it easier to remove. In the end he decided it would be easier to cut away the lower part of the leg altogether, and by the time Buffy returned carrying the backpack he was trying to figure out how best to remove the spine.

She dropped the bag beside him and instructed him, “Leave it, I’ll do it. Just let me…” She took out one of the flashlights and trained it on his leg, then obviously realising she wouldn’t be able to hold the flashlight at the same time as she tended to Spike she put it down with the beam pointing straight across the pool. In the flickering light created by the ripples on the pool she then took out the half dozen pillar candles and set them about them in the sand. She looked over her shoulder and asked, “Lighter?” Spike pulled his lighter from jeans pocket and tossed it over to her.

After she’d lit the candles she returned to stand gazing down at him with her hands on her hips. She muttered, “Now then…” and slipped her jacket off and knelt beside him. Spike caught the scent of fresh Slayer blood again and reached out to turn Buffy around to see her back. Her white cotton shirt was soaked with blood and he could see the gash on her shoulder was still seeping. He grasped the hem of her shirt and ripped it up the back and pulled her down to him. Buffy struggled slightly and protested, “Spike! What are you doing?”

With his demon very much in control as he tended to his wounded Mate, Spike found himself unable to form intelligible words. He contented himself with a soothing yet commanding growl as he tenderly licked her shoulder. Buffy gave a quiet gasp and relaxed, going very still in his arms. When he’d cleaned away all the blood surrounding the gash he gently probed the deepest part of the wound where his sensitive tongue had found something that felt wrong. Carefully he worked at it until he was able to tease a foreign body out of her flesh and spit it out. Once more he lapped up the six inch long cut and finally planted a tender kiss on the nape of her neck as his demon relaxed contentedly, allowing Spike’s human face to emerge now he knew that his Mate was no longer in danger.

Heaving a satisfied sigh, Spike lay back in the sand and murmured, “All done Slayer. Sorry, demon insisted on seeing to you first. Couldn’t leave you bleeding. You had a bit of thread from your shirt stuck in the cut. Got it out for you.”

Buffy turned towards him and smiled, her fingers trailing fondly over his lips. She whispered, “Thanks Spike. That sexy growl? It was so weird ‘cos I knew exactly what you meant. It was a sort of ‘Stay still and let me look after you’ thing, wasn’t it?”

Spike nodded, “Reckon so, Slayer.”

She leant forward and gave him a quick kiss before holding up a commanding finger. “Now you’ve got to stay still while I look after you.” She removed the tattered remains of her bloodstained shirt and ripped a couple of strips of clean fabric from it, which she laid over the backpack to keep them out of the sand, tossing the bloody remains as far away as she could. She arranged Spike on his left side with his left leg stretched out straight and his right leg tucked up and told him to hold it out of the way. Then she knelt with one leg clamped either side of Spike’s left knee to prevent it from moving. She looked up to meet his eyes and told him, “I’m gonna count to three, okay?”

Spike deliberately took a deep breath and relaxed his body in preparation for tensing up against the pain as she said ‘three’, then nodded to signify he was ready. Buffy took a firm grasp on the long end of the spine and said, “One…” As she said it she gave one almighty heave and the broken spine slid easily out of Spike’s thigh.

Spike let out a shrill yell and then took a deep breath and shouted, “Bloody buggering Hell!” He glared accusingly at his grinning Mate and muttered sulkily, “So you’ll count to three, eh Slayer?”

Still grinning, Buffy shrugged and admitted, “So I lied. Sue me.” She took up one of the pieces of white cotton from her shirt to wrap around his leg and then paused and frowned thoughtfully. She put it down again, moved to kneel alongside his leg, then leaned forward and began to lick carefully around and over the twin puncture wounds.

Spike’s eyebrows went up in surprise. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked down at her. He hesitantly asked, “Uh… Slayer? Just what’re you doin’ there, sweetheart?”

Buffy didn’t answer until she had finished cleaning the wounds to her satisfaction, then as she wrapped the length of cotton around Spike’s thigh and neatly tied off the ends she knelt up and looked at him with a very puzzled expression. “Why was that not gross and disgusting? I think the freakiest thing about that is that I’m not freaked out. I simply knew I should do it, it felt so natural, you know?” She chewed her bottom lip briefly and an eyebrow went up quizzically, “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

Spike remembered the slash he’d received from the adult demon and tugged the front of his torn T-shirt up to reveal a ragged eight inch long scratch down his abdomen. He muttered, “Forgot about that...” The bleeding had stopped and it had dried up, but the black cotton had stuck to it so when he raised his shirt the scab pulled off and the wound began bleeding again.

Buffy moved quick as lightning and in an instant Spike’s T-shirt was off and she was bent over him licking his stomach. Spike lay back with his eyes closed enjoying the wonderful sensations being generated by his Mate’s hot little tongue. He felt loved and cherished, and a contented purr began echoing around the cavern.

When she’d finished Spike drew her down to kiss her, then he attended to the cut on her cheek. For several minutes they lay in the sand, arms around each other happily relaxing, kissing and enjoying the closeness, then Buffy sat up and asked, “Oh, how many of them did you kill?” She frowned and admitted, “I can’t believe I lost count after eight… it got a bit too frantic.”

Spike gazed at her in astonishment, “Bugger. I got to nine but I forgot all about counting when you went down!” He pouted like a petulant child and playfully brushed his fingers over her breasts, “’S’not fair, I was looking forward to a knickerless Slayer for a week.”

Buffy chuckled and said, “And I was looking forward to no ashtray breath for a week. What shall we do? Declare a draw and a void bet?”

Spike smirked at her. “We could always say we both won so we both pay up… it’s only fair…”

Buffy cocked her head to one side as she considered the matter, then nodded, “Okay, yeah, why not?” She shook her head in amusement at Spike’s lecherous grin and furiously waggling eyebrows, then stroked his cheek, kissed him once more and said, “Rest your leg, I’ll collect all the knives to take back.” She got up and grabbed the flashlight then walked off into the main cavern and out of Spike’s sight.

Feeling an intense itching Spike sat up and peeked under the strip of shirt on his leg and saw that both wounds had begun to heal. He stripped the makeshift bandage off then lay back again watching the ripples on the pool in front of him. Then he couldn’t resist the temptation any longer, stood to take off the remains of his jeans and limped into the warm water.

After a few paces the pool shelved steeply down and when he was waist deep he realised that only the top couple of feet were heated. Below that the water was very cold so he pushed off and began lazily swimming across the pool and back. He didn’t realise that Buffy had returned until he heard a splash and looked up to see her swimming strongly towards him. He turned and floated on his back waiting for her reach him.

When Buffy rolled over to float beside him she commented, “Didn’t know you could swim…”

Spike smirked, “Lots of things you don’t know about me, sweetheart.”

Buffy took his hand and squeezed it, saying, “So, it’s time I started finding out about you then. Did you learn as a human?”

“Nah, not ‘til the forties. Young Lawson showed me. You know, that sailor boy I told you about. Bloody Angel throwin’ us off the soddin’ U-boat twenty miles offshore with only eight hours ‘til sunrise was a hell of a motivation.”

“Angel threw you both off?” Buffy asked in disbelief. “Why?”

“Guess the Poof couldn’t bring himself to stake us since we were both family. Didn’t really question it at the time, was just glad to be free again after being captured by the bleedin’ Nazis. Took the lad under my wing for a few months when we got ashore, least I could do in exchange. Poor chap hadn’t got a clue about being a vampire.”

For a few minutes they floated side by side in the warm water, quietly exchanging teasing touches and caresses that gradually became more and more erotic. When Spike couldn’t resist any longer he rolled over and stood up in the chest deep water and gathered Buffy into his arms, bending to capture her mouth with a passionate kiss. Buffy in her turn twisted upright and wrapped her legs around Spike’s waist and her arms around his neck. She murmured into his mouth, “Inside me… now.”

Spike needed no further prompting and pulling Buffy’s hips away from him slightly he carefully positioned her so he was nudging at her opening, then firmly pressed her down onto him. The contrast between the cold deeper water and her body heat was so shocking he gasped and had to rest his forehead on her shoulder briefly as he struggled to control himself. He gasped, “Oh sweetheart… so bloody hot…”

As Buffy began to move up and down on him, she found their position awkward as the water trapped between their bodies began to splash up into her face. She spluttered and gasped, “Onto the beach….”

Spike chuckled as he looked up into her face and nibbled at her chin. “No, don’t think so darlin’… don’t want to be finding sand in all those important little places for weeks to come. Pure torture that is.” He did however walk slowly into shallower water, Buffy’s negligible weight no hindrance whatever in the water.

They had both been so highly aroused when they came together it seemed no time until the kisses became desperate and their movements jerky as they both neared their release. Spike’s left hand left Buffy’s back to slide between their bodies to find the swollen little node of nerves at the point of their joining and as he rubbed it her legs clamped around him and her inner muscles fluttered and spasmed as she cried, “Oh… YES Spike…” and Spike shuddered and growled as he joined her, grasping her tightly to him.

They stilled and began tenderly kissing and caressing, neither anxious to separate until Buffy yawned and rested her damp head on Spike’s shoulder. She murmured, “Tired now…”

Spike sighed and closed his eyes, whispering, “Yeah... me too.” Then he jerked fully awake, suddenly angry with himself for losing awareness of the passing time. “Bloody hell!” He exclaimed, “No wonder I’m feeling so sleepy, must be close to sunrise, Slayer! We’ll hafta make a move if we don’t want to get stuck in these bleedin’ caves for the day!”

Buffy raised her head and wearily muttered, “Oh crap.” She kissed him once more and loosened her grip on his shoulders, allowing him to ease her off his persistent erection. Hand in hand they waded back to the little beach and began gathering their things together. Spike bundled up his T-shirt with the torn and bloody section turned inwards and handed it to Buffy to dry herself with as well as she could. After they’d both struggled with damp limbs and tight jeans and boots full of sand they gathered up the flashlights and bag full of weapons in preparation for making their way back to the surface.

Buffy went around blowing out the stubs of the candles leaving them in the dim natural light of the cavern and after looking around thoughtfully she asked, “Is that light coming from the rocks, do you think? We’re far too deep for it to be coming in from outside.”

As they left their cosy little beach behind them Spike shrugged, “Probably, I’ve seen it in other caves. I expect it’s something to do with whatever’s driving that hot spring.”

Buffy guided them with one of the flashlights, taking a wide curved path through the carcasses of the dead demons. She gestured as she commented, “Don’t want to go over that way, that’s where the smell’s coming from. I think it’s their rubbish heap. I saw backpacks and clothes and boots. One of the boots still had a foot in it.” She shuddered. “ I didn’t get too close.”

It didn’t take nearly as long to get back to the surface as it had to navigate down through the tunnels. Both of them could clearly smell which tunnels they’d already been through to retrace their steps towards fresh sea air, so soon they were back in the entrance cave. Buffy immediately began shivering and drew her torn leather jacket tight around her otherwise naked torso.

When they got outside they discovered fast moving clouds now filled the sky and a brisk cold breeze was sending sand flying through the air. Spike shivered against the itching at the back of his neck that was telling him in no uncertain terms that it was past time for him to get under cover. He muttered, “Gotta get a move on, sun’s nearly up and I dunno how long these clouds are gonna hang about.” He went and brushed sand off the seat of the trail bike and got it started. “Come on Slayer, hang on tight.” When she’d slung the backpack over her good shoulder, mounted behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist he suggested, “Better close your eyes against the sand darlin’.”

The ride back to the hotel was taken at a considerably more sedate speed than the outward trip, partly because of the stinging sand in the breeze and partly because Spike kept yawning and had to struggle against drooping eyelids. Eventually however the hotel’s lights appeared over the dunes, just as the heavens opened and let loose a torrential downpour.

Rather than take the bike back to where they’d found it and walk, Spike drove across the lawns and flowerbeds in front of the cottages directly to their door. Under the shelter of the covered walkway they quickly tumbled off and Spike took the backpack full of knives from Buffy, dropping it beside the bike. Buffy stopped just inside the cottage door to stand clutching her dripping jacket around herself as she shivered, her teeth chattering loudly. Spike shrugged off his duster and then tugged her jacket off her, telling her, “Get yourself into a hot shower Slayer, I’ll be there in a minute.”

As if in a trance Buffy staggered into the bathroom, and as Spike made up the fire he heard the shower begin to run. He turned the bedside lamp on and switched off the main light, then kicked off his boots, tore off his ruined jeans and joined Buffy under the steaming spray. It didn’t take long for them to clean the sand and sulphuric smell out of their hair and off their tired bodies, and then they bundled themselves into the fluffy bathrobes and went to sit on the rug in front of the fire as they towelled their hair.

Spike leaned over and took the flask of hot chocolate and a couple of mugs from the trolley and poured them each a healthy portion. As she sipped her drink Buffy leaned against his chest as he shifted to sit at her back, his legs either side of her. She sighed in contentment as he combed her hair out with his fingers to dry in the heat from the fire. He quietly said, “Have I told you lately how much I love your hair? It’s so soft and silky…”

She tensed up slightly and whispered, “I’m so sorry about that.”

“’Bout what, sweetheart?”

Buffy concentrated guiltily on her drink. “About cutting my hair. I know you know I did it to spite you. I had been thinking about having it trimmed, maybe getting a new style, but I hadn’t intended to have it so much shorter until you started going on about how much you liked it.”

Spike snorted, “Then you did it for nothing, Buffy. I love the way it shines when the light catches it, I love the way it bounces about when you move, I love the way it smells and the way it feels. I never once said I loved it because of the soddin’ length! ‘Sides, I love your hair ‘cos it’s part of you. I’d still love it if you let it go back to its natural colour, or dyed it blue, or even if you did a Sinéad O’Connor.”

Buffy shook her head slowly in regret and breathed, “I was so stupid… I fought against loving you for far too long.” She sighed and murmured sleepily, “This feels so good. I could really get used to this sort of post-Slay activity.” She absently pushed his robe aside to stroke his leg, taking the opportunity to examine the wound on his thigh and commented, “This is nearly healed, that’s quick.” Twisting to try and look at her shoulder she added, “I can’t see, how’s my cut doing?”

Spike slipped her robe off her shoulder and kissed the warm pink flesh. He said, “It’s just a red line now Slayer, except for that bit at the end where it was deeper. It’ll likely be all gone by the time we wake.” He pulled back from her slightly and opened his robe to look down at his stomach and added, “The wound in my gut’s nearly all gone too.” He hugged her tight to his chest and snuffled into her hair inhaling her scent as he happily concluded, “This Bond is turning out to be bloody brilliant, Buffy darlin’. I can’t think of a single negative thing that’s happened yet, can you?”

Buffy grinned and shook her head, “Nope, it’s all of the good.” She finished her drink, put the empty mug aside, shrugged her robe off and held her arms up imperiously. “I’d like my vampire to put me to bed now please.”

Spike chuckled and stood up, allowing his own robe to fall to the floor. He bent to gather Buffy up in his arms and climbed into the bed with her. He switched off the bedside lamp and they settled down by the comforting flickering light of the fire. The sounds of rain against the windows, the rolling surf and the crackling fire lulled them to sleep, as they lay wrapped snugly around each other, drifting off together in mid kiss to the accompaniment of a deep rumbling purr.


TBC


A/N:
Sorry this is taking so long. The muse was hibernating, but now the daffodils are out Spring must be here so I think it’ll be waking up again.