1880 - Chapter 2

An hour later, William stepped out into the night air. Inhaling deeply and thinking of ways to describe the refreshing sensation it caused when compared with the stifling closeness of the pub, he turned to see a group of young men standing on the street corner opposite. They appeared to be nudging at something with their feet. William cursed his sense of curiosity and edged nearer so he could hear them.

“She’s right pretty, reckon she’d play with us?” A man grinned down at her and Buffy curled up into a tighter ball. She didn’t want to play. She just wanted to go home.

A grubby looking fat man poked at her with the toe of his boot. “She’s fine, maybe she’d like to come home with us.”

As the man bent down, William saw a small blonde girl curled up and his stomach wrenched at him. The fat man caught the girl by the shoulder and William found his feet automatically starting towards them.

“You, step away from her or I shall call the police.” His heart hammered against his chest as the men looked at him and then ran off down the street. He’d never done anything like that before. Usually he shied away from trouble and thought of excuses as to why he couldn’t possibly help, when in reality he was just too scared to.

Bending down near her, he reached out to touch her arm but she curled up tighter.

“Leave me alone.” Buffy sobbed out. She felt so despondent, so alone. She hated this place so much and had lost so much hope of getting home that she didn’t even want to fight to protect herself. Closing her eyes tight, she sobbed harder as she thought about home.

“Now, now, miss, they’re gone.” William patted her arm clumsily and then realised that she wasn’t crying because of the men. When she’d forced him to sit back down in the pub, she’d proven she was strong enough to defend herself if she needed to. “Is it thoughts of home that makes you cry so?”

Buffy wiped her cheeks as she looked up at him. Narrowing her eyes, she smiled at how he could still read her like a book. It wasn’t the vampire in him after all.

“What do you care?” She spat out.

William frowned at the passion she’d put into her words. Tilting his head slightly, he narrowed his eyes and was astounded at the reaction it got from her.

Her eyes widened slightly on seeing him pull such a familiar Spike pose and she let her lower lip tremble as her vision became blurred with tears once more.

“Where are you staying? I could order you a cab?” William bent down next to her and frowned as she backed away slightly. “Not going to hurt you.”

“Nowhere…” Buffy shifted her gaze to the floor. “I’ve nowhere to stay. No money, no one I know, nothing.”

As her words sunk in, William couldn’t help feeling for the girl. She was cold and alone in the middle of a treacherous city like London. He smiled at the sight of a cross hanging around her neck. At least she had something to believe in. Completely forgetting his manners, he leant forwards and reached out to touch the gold necklace.

Buffy watched him with fascination as he held the little cross in his fingers and didn’t flinch in pain. He was so different, so human.

Eyes focussing again, William hastily withdrew his hand. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to…”

“It’s okay, no harm done.” Pausing to smile up at him, she parted her lips softly as a thought came to her. Unclasping the necklace, she held it out to him. “I need to sell this.”

“No, no you can’t. It must be very precious to you.” He held his hands up with his palms facing her and refused to take what she was offering him.

“It’s just a cross.” Buffy frowned at it and when William’s look turned to disgust, she bit her lip, realising that she sounded like she was renouncing god.

“Miss… shocking thing to say.”

“This isn’t the time for worrying about whether I’m going to go to hell. I need money, William, and this is the only thing I have.” Buffy stood up and brushed herself off. The wet of the pavement had soaked her through and her stomach rumbled loudly as she looked down at her ruined clothes.

Closing his eyes so he didn’t have to think about what he was going to say, William sighed and pointed down the street. “There’s a shop, they’ll buy it.”

Opening his eyes again, he saw the girl was already halfway along the street. Watching her walk, he cursed himself as thoughts about the motion of her hips entered his head. Turning his back on her, he felt a pull inside him and knew he couldn’t walk away from her. Raising his eyes to the heavens, he searched for an answer.

“What did I ever do to deserve this? Are you testing me?” William sighed heavily, then span around, and pursued the girl.

On reaching the shop, he found her already exchanging money for goods with the tender. It was too late to stop her from selling her necklace, the least he could do now was find her safe lodgings.

Leading her from the shop, he paused for a moment. “Miss?”

“Yes?” Buffy gave him a warm smile as she counted the money she had got for her cross. She didn’t even know if it was a lot of money or nothing at all. Nothing seemed to have any meaning in this place. She considered asking William if it was a lot of money, but instead decided to listen to what he had to ask her.

“I don’t mean to sound forward...” He frowned as the girl giggled at what he’d said. “Only, I don’t know your name.”

“Elizabeth.” Buffy held her hand out to him.

“Elizabeth.” William breathed softly as he took her hand in his. The feeling of her cold skin on his made his fingers tingle.

Looking down at their hands, Buffy swallowed hard as his fingers warmed hers. He had heat, a pulse, he breathed, but as she looked up at him all she could see was Spike and it pained her inside. Pulling her hand away, she fidgeted with her trousers again.

“I’m… I’m sorry… I…” William watched as the girl looked suddenly embarrassed.

“No… it’s fine… just missing an old friend… you remind me of him.” Turning on her heel, she started up the road again and listened for signs of William following her. Seeing him was confusing her emotions. Sometimes he was just William, a guy she didn’t really know but one that was possibly going to help her. Other times she could see Spike in him and she missed him.

Deciding it was best not to push who this man was that he reminded Elizabeth of he caught up with her and intimated an inn at the crossroads up ahead.

“You’ll be safe there.” Leading the way, William couldn’t help stealing looks at the girl. She walked with such a confidence and not at all with the slight grace that he was used to in women.

Pulling open the door, Buffy held it and waited for him to follow her.

William’s eyes grew wide at her act.

“What? You are coming in aren’t you?”

“It isn’t common practice for young ladies to open doors, especially for men.” William whispered at her and her mouth formed an ‘o’.

Shaking his head as they entered together, he watched as she slumped into an armchair by the fire and proceeded to warm her hands. He stepped up to the counter and smiled at the old man behind it.

“My cousin here needs a room. Do you have any available?” William couldn’t believe this night. Not only was he helping a strange girl, now he was lying about her. He couldn’t understand what had gotten into him.

“Certainly.” Taking a key down from the rack the man placed it beside William as he signed the register. “First floor, second on the left, sir.”

Turning to look at the girl, William sighed. She was curled up in the chair and watching the fire, the soft glow making her skin aflame. She was the very picture of beauty.

Feeling William looking at her, she looked around at him and smiled. Taking the hint as he held the key up, she rose from her chair and proceeded to follow him up the stairs.

Fumbling with the key in the lock, William felt nervous. He shouldn’t be doing such a thing as this, it was very wrong of him. Opening the door, he watched as she walked past him into the room. On seeing the small bathroom, her eyes lit up and William swallowed hard as his mouth turned dry.

Smiling, Buffy suddenly felt so much better. Not having to sleep on the streets was such a relief to her. Patting her pocket, she slipped her hand into it and brought the medallion out for her to inspect.

Closing the door behind him, William sat down on a nearby chair and watched her with fascination. Every move she made had such a different kind of grace to it. Her movements were liquid but strong at the same time. As she walked across the room, she looked down at him with a smile that caused his cheeks to burn up.

“Will you help me?” Buffy felt nervous asking him to do such a thing. He’d already lied to the man downstairs and she seemed to be making him go against everything that was supposedly prim and proper.

Trying to find his voice, William blinked up at her. She was waiting patiently with a slight smile softening her face. She was an angel.

“Certainly.”

Buffy had to take a deep breath to stop herself from hugging him tightly. She smiled as she walked away from him towards the bed and unbuttoned her shirt, slipping it off to reveal her camisole underneath. From behind her, she heard a crashing noise and turned to see William fumbling with half the contents of the table he was sat next to. Looking down at herself, she realised it had probably been a bad move on her part.

“I’m sorry.” Hurrying over to him, she picked up the fallen objects and reached up to place them back on the table. Looking up quickly, she caught William gazing open mouthed at her breasts.

“Oh god, oh god.” William stood up fast and backed towards the door. His heart was rocketing as he watched Buffy slowly standing up and frowning at him questioningly. Reaching out behind him, his hand groped around for the door handle. “I’m sorry… oh god…”

Her eyes widened as her pulse doubled up. Biting her lip, she took a step towards him. “It’s okay, William, really, nothing naughty about it.”

“Mother will be wondering where I am.” William found the door handle and went to pull on it but she slammed her hand against the door and forced it shut.

She could feel his hot breath on her face as he panted hard, leaning into the door. Parting her lips softly, she couldn’t help feeling that it would be fun to corrupt him. It would be like having Spike and having William at the same time. Pushing the images out of her head, she caught his eye and as he looked deep into hers, she felt a sense of misery well up in her. As fun as it was to tease William, she missed Spike far too much to do anything. If she did do something now, then William would leave and she would lose her chance of getting back home.

“Nothing wrong, please stay? It’s just underwear. It’s what we wear where I come from. Wait…” Buffy hurried over to the drawers and fumbled about in them desperately searching for something to wear. At the back of the bottom draw, she found a crumpled up shirt. Pulling it out, she inspected it before slipping it on.

Walking back to the door and William, she looked up at him with hope in her eyes. “Are we good now?”

William looked down at her and then tried to pull his gaze away from her chest that was now swamped in the oversized mans shirt. Swallowing hard, he tried not to think about how much trouble he was in right now, locked in a room with a half naked girl he barely knew, a girl who didn’t seem backwards about being forwards. Nodding at her, he stood frozen to the spot as she walked away from him and settled in one of the armchairs near the fireplace.

As she wrapped her arms about herself, he realised she must be freezing. Heading over to where she sat, he knelt by the fire and placed a few of the logs into it before lighting them. Turning to look up at her, he smiled as she smiled gratefully at him.

“Elizabeth?” William sat in the chair opposite her and tried to keep his eyes fixed on her face.

“Call me Buffy.” She realised it was going to sound weird to him so she thought up a reason as to why she was called it, one that he wouldn’t be able to deny. “My mother calls me Buffy.”

“I see. You cannot go around stripping off in front of men. No matter how they do things where you are from. It simply isn’t proper in this country.”

“Got it.” Buffy nodded and smiled.

Stifling a yawn with her hand, she couldn’t believe how tired she felt. It was as though travelling through time had drained her of all her energy and the following search for William had only made her tiredness worse.

She still couldn’t believe she’d found him.

Looking over at him as he dutifully stoked the fire for her, she searched his face for a sign of the vampire she’d know in one hundred and twenty years. His eyes were the same, but that was it as far as she could see.

She never wanted to be one to admit something like this, but evidently becoming a vampire really agreed with some people.

William was one of them.

He looked so weak when compared to the vampire she’d left behind in her time. His hair was all over the place, his manner was retiring and shy, and the way he spoke lacked the words that made him the man she knew.

Where were the pet names for her? The stupid English swear words, and the sardonic attitude?

God, she had to be insane to be missing Spike, but right now she would give anything to have him here with her.

If anyone would be able to pep her up and tell her to pick herself up off the floor and find a way home, it would be him. He’d never let her fail, would never let her give up so easily.

“Miss, are you feeling ill?”

His voice roused her from her thoughts and she realised that she was crying. Dashing away the tears with the backs of her fingers, she gave him a brave smile.

“I’m fine. This is all so confusing. A few hours ago I was laughing with my friends in Sunnydale… now I’m in London, over a century before I was born.”

“A century?” William looked stunned. He didn’t know what to make of the things she kept saying, but the more she said them the more he began to believe her. She didn’t look like the type of girl that lied and she had no motive to that he could see.

She nodded and he found himself wanting to ask her a million questions about her time and the things they had there. He raised his eyes up to the mantelpiece as the clock there chimed out the hour.

Eleven.

Mother was going to be worried sick about him.

Buffy almost jumped as he shot up off his chair, smoothing his clothes down and straightening himself out. She stood too, not knowing how else to react, and looked at the clock he was staring at.

It was late.

“I have to leave you now.” William said in a hesitant voice and saw her face fall in disappointment.

“I understand.” She forced a smile and wrapped her arms around her chest as she followed him to the door. As he opened it, she caught his arm and then let go as he looked at her. She blinked up at him, fighting for the right words to say and battling against her fears. “You’ll come back though, right?”

William’s brows furrowed as he looked at her and saw in her eyes how scared she was of him saying that he wouldn’t be back. Offering her a reassuring smile, he nodded.

“Tomorrow afternoon. I have to take mother out in the morning, but I won’t let you down. Besides, there’s much I would like to know about your time.” He bit his tongue to stop himself from adding ‘and you’ and stepped out into the corridor.

Buffy held onto the door, leaning against it as she smiled at him.

“Until tomorrow then.”

“Tomorrow.” She said as she watched him walk down the corridor and then closed the door.

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