Love In Vein: Book Two - Chapter 8

Buffy closed her eyes as the heavy bass of the music vibrated through her. It had a strangely releasing effect, as though it carried away more of her worries and concerns with each wave. She let her arms move up above her head and swayed in time with the song she was dancing to with Willow.

Willow smiled as Buffy grinned at her. It was nice to see her friend getting the chance to relax at their favourite club. After all Buffy had been through, she got the idea it was going to be a long night of dancing and watching the world of the Bronze pass them by.

She giggled as Buffy took hold of her arms and encouraged her to dance as mischievously as she had been. With a quick glance around the room to make sure no one was watching them, Willow let go of her inhibitions and danced as crazy as her best friend.

Spike arched his brow as he watched them.

He hadn't figured Willow as the dancing type; when she'd taken to the dance floor with Buffy, he'd imagined her standing in one spot and making minimal movements--just enough to pass as dancing. But there she was being led down the path of wicked dancing by his girl.

He let his attention focus wholly on Buffy where she was wriggling her hips.

Staring intently, he waited for her to notice him. He wanted to see if she could sense that she was being watched, to test if her Slayer side was still alert when she was so lost in the beat of the music.

His gaze wandered to the men that were dancing near to her. In the low light, he could see they were transfixed with the way she wiggled and laughed while dancing with Willow. Spike was astounded that he didn't feel the urge to snap their necks like he had with Xander earlier. For some reason he was content to just watch her as she danced the evening away.

He smiled wide and chuckled as it dawned on him.

She wasn't paying them any attention.

She was so engrossed in dancing and relaxing that she hadn't even noticed she was being watched so closely by half the dance floor.


Buffy blinked as she felt her stomach warm through her and she knew she was being watched. It wasn't the boys surrounding her that had stirred this feeling; they could drool all they liked over her and she wouldn't give them the time of day. This feeling was familiar. It was intense and roused a feeling inside her that was a strange mixture of passion and contentment.

Raising her eyes, she flicked Spike a wide smile, licking her lips as he grinned wickedly at her.

Buffy reached out and hoped the noise of the Bronze wouldn't distract her attempts to communicate with him.

"Like what you see?" She smiled and let her hands run down her sides.

Spike growled. "Very much, kitten."

"Isn't there something guys usually do when they see a girl they like at a club?" Buffy watched his look turn pensive and curled her hand around like she was holding a glass and pretended to drink.

Spike shook his head as he smiled winsomely. "Fancy a drink?"

"Beer." Buffy fluttered her eyelashes and then realised Willow was watching her with some concern. She pointed up at Spike and Willow turned to look at him.

He nodded as she waved slightly at him.

"Cola." Spike gave Buffy a stern look and ignored the pout she threw his way. "Don't be thinking I'm buying you booze. Your mother was the only one of you lot to come close to killing me…I don't particularly want to risk her wrath by bringing her daughter home pissed."

"Spoil sport." Buffy groused as she watched him disappear and listened as the music faded into the next tune. She turned to Willow. "Spike's getting drinks…I'll go help him; you grab us some seats."

She watched Willow move a few steps away from her and then grabbed her arm.

"You're sure you're okay about me moving out…I know we talked about it back in LA, but I feel kinda bad for moving back in with my mom…and Spike." Buffy bit her lip and waited for Willow to reply. When she gave her a wide smile and patted her arm, she felt relieved.

"It's fine, Buffy." Willow said loudly so she could hear herself above the din of the Bronze, and then blushed as the tune was cut off in preparation for the band to take the stage. "Really. This new girl they've found for me to share with seems really nice. I've seen her a few times around college and she's in my new wicca group."

"So long as you're okay with it." Buffy watched as Willow nodded and then split off from her as they reached the edge of the dance floor.


Buffy smiled as she bounced through the crowd towards the bar. It had felt nice being able to let herself go for a while and that feeling was only heightened by the fact that she didn't have to be on alert like she used to. She could just let herself have fun and Spike would keep a watchful eye on her and the club.

Grinning to herself over how good it felt to have someone to look after her, she continued towards the bar. As she tried to push through a small gap in the people by the stairs leading up to the balcony where Spike had been, someone grabbed hold of her.

"Watch it, you big dumb jerk." Buffy growled and pushed the man away from her.

Stumbling backwards, she found another set of hands on her and she wrestled free of them before turning to face their owner. Buffy frowned as she recognised his face, but couldn't place where she knew him from.

"You okay?" The mousy brown haired man smiled down at her and she felt an odd revolt lurch in her stomach.

As she struggled to quieten the feeling inside her, she looked him over. He was a man mountain; well over six foot tall and she wondered if he'd been fed some kind of special growth food as a child. There was something about him that set her teeth on edge and told her that whatever he appeared to be, there was something more foul at work in secret.

And her instincts were never wrong.

"I'm Riley." The man extended his hand with another wide smile.

Buffy regarded his hand for a moment before looking up into his face.

"Do I know you?" She frowned and watched his face fall slightly as he withdrew his hand.

Riley laughed nervously and tried again. His friends had said it would be easy to talk to her, but now he had the feeling that it was going to be anything but easy. "Pretty girls shouldn't be all alone in a place like this…"

A deep British voice laced with venom caused him to freeze. "She isn't alone, mate."

Riley turned to find a man staring at him with intense blue eyes that seemed to hold a cold fire within them. He looked him over--from his large combat boots to his leather duster to his face. His lips were nothing but a thin line of hatred and his brows were knit so tightly that Riley swallowed hard. The man was nothing in size when compared to himself. He was shorter in stature and slim, but the way he held himself so confidently told him he could handle himself in a fight and that Riley would be wise not to start anything.

He exuded power.

Strength was written in every line of his body.

Anger in his eyes.

Riley backed off a step and laughed nervously at Buffy. She was regarding him with questioning eyes, as if she was still trying to figure out where she knew him from.

"Psych class? I'm the TA, Riley Finn?" He stood up a little straighter and tried to look more confident as the man's eyes moved off him to rest on the girl.

"Yeah…I know you now." Buffy gave him a brief smile and then moved to stand next to Spike.

"You've been pretty absent. Professor Walsh was worried about you…she thinks you're a bright student."

Buffy raised her brows and shrugged.

"Where've you been?" Riley noticed that her relaxed edge seemed to falter and she toyed with her hair as she answered him.

"Los Angeles. There was an emergency…" Buffy replied and pushed her hair out of her face as she glanced at Spike. "…A family one."

"Sorry to hear. You'll be back in class on Monday, right?" Riley's eyes fell to her neck as she nodded at him. He frowned at the sight of the scars on her throat and his fingers twitched near his pocket, the one that contained his cell phone. "Some scars you've got there…don't think I've ever noticed those before."

Spike tensed and frowned.

Buffy rearranged her hair to hide the marks on her neck. "It was my granddad's dog…when I was little…when I get a tan they show up."

"Some dog." Riley stared at her neck where it was now covered with her hair.

Buffy looked up at Spike. "Yeah."

Spike handed Buffy her drink and Willow's, then grabbed her around the arm with his free hand.

"Won't be seeing you around." Spike smirked at Riley and then dragged Buffy away with him.

Riley pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and stared at it for a moment before putting it away again and walking into the crowd.

Buffy giggled as Spike pushed her up against one of the metal columns holding the stairs up. She rolled her eyes closed as his lips pressed hard against hers in a hungry kiss.

Spike growled.

Buffy giggled again as he pulled back. "You're cute when you're jealous."

"Am not jealous. I don't get jealous…especially not of pricks like him."

"Come on." Buffy wrinkled her nose up and smiled. "I love how jealous you get."

Spike rolled his eyes and took a swig from his bottle of beer. "Not jealous."

"He's so not my type, Spike. He's…dull…I mean, he's a TA in my class…psych class at that. Talk about boring." Buffy bounced on her heels slightly and then stopped as Spike swung his head to face hers.

Locking his eyes on hers, Spike listened to her heart as it pounded hard against her ribs and looked her over before stepping closer to her and pinning her against the column with his body.

"So Captain Cardboard's not your type?" Spike purred down at her and she took pleasure from the shiver that ran up her spine.

She shook her head dumbly and then tilted it back so her lips were close to his.

Buffy bit her lip as he brushed the hair from her neck, the cold glass bottle he was holding touching her warm skin and sending another shiver along her spine.

She whispered as he moved closer to her mouth. "I like my man to have a little more bite."

Spike growled low in his throat and pressed a long kiss to her neck, his free arm encircling her waist and holding her flush against him as she rolled her head to one side and moaned quietly.

On the other side of the column, Riley frowned as he listened to her words.


Buffy smiled demurely as she placed the half empty glass of soda down in front of Willow and tried to ignore the questioning look her friend gave her.

"You took your time." Willow raised her brows as Buffy sat down next to her on the couch, Spike settling down beside her. She decided that whatever they had been up to, Spike seemed to be better at acting normal--or as normal as he usually acted at least.

"Ran into that guy from psych class, the TA…was asking all these questions and Spike got all jealous…" Buffy sipped her drink as she looked at Willow.

"Uh huh." Willow gave her a look that said she didn't believe that was the whole story.

"What?" Buffy frowned as Willow smiled at her.

"You have kiss lips." She said frankly.

Buffy blushed as her fingertips came to rest on them. "We got a little sidetracked…like I said…Spike got jealous. He's very persuasive when jealous."

The look of sincere apology on Buffy's face made Willow giggle. "I'm not telling you off, Buffy."

Buffy blushed violently as both Willow and Spike laughed. Curling up on the couch beside them, she pointed to the stage mutely as a way of telling them to focus their attention there and then folded her arms. As Spike's arm came to rest around her, she looked at his hand and sighed before snuggling closer to him. She picked up his hand and played with his fingers as Oz's band started to play.

"Need to paint your nails." Buffy projected quietly into his head, smiling as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

"Later, love…watch the band." Spike nuzzled her ear and then turned his attention back on the stage.

As the set continued, Spike found himself watching Oz more than the singer. For some reason, the red-haired guitarist seemed drawn to looking at one corner of the Bronze, and it wasn't the corner he'd been expecting. In the thirty minutes they had been playing, Oz's attention had been on Willow for only a few minutes and from where Spike was sitting, he could see she had noticed it, too. Only it didn't seem like a surprise to her.

When the crowd on the dance floor shifted slightly, he could see the area Oz was looking at. Spike frowned as he saw a blonde girl on the receiving end of his attention. He looked over at Willow and saw her eyes also there. He could see how resigned she was and he wondered just how long she'd known that she wasn't the only girl in Oz's sights.

Willow felt like she was being watched. She turned and caught Spike, giving him a soft smile as she tried to stifle the hurt she felt over seeing Oz looking at another girl again.

Buffy seemed oblivious.

She clapped her hands hard as the set ended and the group left the stage. Looking at Spike, and then Willow, she frowned as she realised she was the only one applauding Oz.

"Did I miss something?" Buffy gave Spike a worried look and then relaxed again as he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and favoured her with a slight smile.

"Nothing to worry about, love." He pressed a small kiss to her hair and let his eyes move to observe Oz as he approached.

"Hey." Oz held his hand up as he breathed heavily and smiled at Willow.

"Hey." Willow replied and shifted slightly so he could sit next to her.

Spike frowned as Oz blanked Willow's offer of a seat, and sat down in one of the armchairs.

As the next band took to the stage, Spike noticed that the lead singer was the girl Oz had been so interested with during his own set. He glanced over at Willow as Buffy snuggled into his embrace and saw that she was watching Oz closely.

Something about the way Oz was ignoring her made him want to take the little werewolf outside and have serious words with him. For some reason he didn't like seeing Willow trying to hide her hurt from the world and having to watch her love as he openly stared at another girl.

Spike nudged Buffy and nodded towards Willow when she looked up at him.

Buffy looked over at her friend and followed her gaze to Oz and from there, she followed Oz's transfixed stare to the girl on stage. She frowned as she remembered the last time they had watched Veruca's band playing and he'd acted the same way. It had taken her the rest of the week to get Willow happy again.

She gave Spike a thankful smile before placing her hand on Willow's shoulder and furrowing her brows into a sorry expression. Willow just shrugged and tried to smile back at her friend. She managed a sad little smile in Spike's direction when she realised it had been him that had alerted her friend to Oz's wandering gaze.

Spike nodded.

He wasn't sure what he was feeling, but it was somewhat reminiscent of what he'd felt before when he had been with Drusilla, Angelus and Darla. It was something akin to the desire he'd felt to defend and look after his vampire family. Since being claimed by Buffy, he'd felt it towards her. Then she was joined by her mother, and now he was feeling it towards Willow, too. He wondered if, over time, he would grow to feel it towards the rest of Buffy's gang and that they would become like family. He surmised that, in a way, Buffy saw them as her family and that the bond was possibly making him see them that way, too, due to his being so firmly attached to her.

Raising his eyes, he found Buffy watching him with a soft expression full of thanks and he averted his gaze. This feeling inside him screamed of wrongness. He was a vampire, and as a vampire was meant to feel no attachment to the human world. He was supposed to feel bonded to his vampire kin and his family. To protect them with his life as they were the only ones who would protect him.

Spike swallowed hard.

Buffy had protected him from Angel.

Joyce had protected him from Giles.

Willow had protected him from Xander.

Protected him as though he were family.

Swallowing hard again, he tried to shift the lump of tangled and confused emotions in his throat so he could think clearly. His demon revolted against the idea that he was beginning to feel a family bond towards the three women of the group. That their actions in defending him had made it seem as though he could trust them to protect him, and that he in turn would protect them.

His true family had abandoned him long ago. He'd never felt like Angel would protect him, or that Drusilla would defend him. In the face of danger, they would leave him to become nothing more than dust.

His heart told him Buffy wouldn't leave him. She would die defending him.

Joyce and Willow would do their best to protect him, if only because they knew what he meant to Buffy.

And he'd protect them as fiercely as he'd protect his mate.

He drank down the contents of his bottle of beer swiftly and then took a deep breath as he struggled to come to terms with these strange emotions he felt towards his new family.

"You okay?" Warm fingers brushed against his cheek and he closed his eyes as he leaned into their comforting touch.

"I'll be fine…just realised something." Spike said quietly, and when he opened his eyes, he was looking down into hers.

Buffy looked up at him where she was leaning over with her head practically in his lap. She started slightly at the weight of emotions she was feeling in him and could see in his eyes. He looked as though he'd had a revelation of sorts.

Spike smoothed the hair from her face.

"I'd never let anything happen to you…or your mother…" He said quietly to Buffy and then took a deep breath as his eyes moved to rest on Willow. She frowned slightly at him. "Or you."

As Willow gave him an appreciative smile, he nodded and bought his eyes back to rest on Buffy as she too smiled at him.

He pushed the disgust his demonic side was feeling away and embraced what was being offered to him; something he'd lost long ago and had never thought he'd find in the human world.

A family.

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