Love In Vein: Book Two - Chapter 45

Buffy fluttered her eyes open and immediately closed them again when the bright surroundings stung them. They felt dry and sore as she moved them around behind closed eyelids. Parting her lips, she brought her tongue out and tried to moisten her dry lips but it seemed her mouth was even drier than they were.

She frowned as her head began to ache, her lungs protesting and feeling as though they were burning as she struggled to breathe. Letting her head roll to one side, she forced her eyes to focus as she opened them again and saw a blurry figure in a bed next to her.

Opening her mouth, she tried to form words but she didn’t have the energy to make sound and she settled for looking at her friend as she slowly came into focus.

The steady ping of the machines that were monitoring her vitals seemed to drift into the background as she heard a familiar voice and tried to bring her head around so she could see him.

“There’s my girl.” Spike held her hand as he immediately settled in the chair next to her.

Buffy looked down at their joined hands and frowned at the drip that was taped to the back of hers.

Spike smiled as her eyes finally met his and relief washed through him, bringing tears into his eyes that he struggled to suppress as the others joined them.

Buffy smiled weakly at Spike before trying to focus on Xander, Anya, Tara and her mother. She was going to ask where Angel was but decided it probably wouldn’t be a very good thing to start with. She was sure Spike wouldn’t like her first words being ‘Angel?’.

“Water?” Buffy croaked instead and tried to smile again as Spike immediately grabbed the cup off the side and offered it to her.

“How’d you feel? I would’ve been here when you woke up but the bastard docs wouldn’t let me stay in the room…wouldn’t let me stay with you.” Spike frowned as he helped her drink and then caught the drop of water that escaped her lips as he removed the glass.

Buffy swallowed painfully and coughed. “Sick…”

Xander smiled. “Tell it like it is, Buffster, had us all worried.”

“All?” Buffy asked.

“All.” Spike confirmed, knowing that she was asking if everyone had been worried about her and whether that included Angel.

Buffy sighed as she moved her eyes to rest on Willow again.

“Docs tell us she’s going to be fine, Buffy. She inhaled a lot of pretty nasty looking smoke, and she doesn’t have your constitution so she’ll probably take a couple more days to come round.” Spike let his thumb stroke her hand and offered a reassuring smile as she looked back at him.

Buffy smacked her lips together and tried to sit up. Spike caught hold of her arm and smiled gratefully at Xander as he helped move Buffy into a more comfortable position.

“Docs will be along in a minute to look at you and I can’t stay long, got to get out on patrol.” Spike felt like apologising as Buffy looked as though the idea of him leaving her while she was in hospital was unthinkable.

“Is it bad?” She croaked.

Spike bit his tongue and smiled. “It’s fine, baby. Nothing for you to worry about. Get some rest.” Leaning over her, he let his cheek rest against hers as he closed his eyes and then pressed a kiss to her ear. “I love you, I’ll be back at daybreak.”

Buffy didn’t bother putting on a brave face as she watched him leave. She could feel the weight of regret he had over having to go, and she knew that when he said things were fine he was lying in order to give her peace of mind. She turned tearful eyes on her mother as she sat in the spot Spike had been and took hold of her hand.

“Is it bad?” She asked again.

“He was patrolling with Angel all night last night, there are so many demons that they’re holding a competition. I told Spike it didn’t make me feel any safer knowing they’re keeping count, it just made me see how many demons are out there.” Joyce answered honestly and felt better when Buffy smiled.

“Who’s winning?” She asked quietly, hoping that it was Spike.

“Forty-two to twenty-seven last time, score starts over tonight.” Xander answered her question as he sat by her knees on the bed and Anya sat down in the chair.

Buffy smiled at Tara as she looked at Willow, she could see all the concern in her face and it was nice to know that Willow had someone who loved her.

“Is Spike winning?” Buffy looked at Xander and smiled when he nodded. “All with the goodness then.”

“I’ll stay with you during the night, sweetie.” Joyce brushed her daughters hair from her face and smiled. “Now do as Spike says and get some rest, okay?”

Buffy nodded and stifled a yawn as the doctor appeared in the doorway, ushering her friends out. She smiled as she listened to her mother arguing with the doctor about being allowed to stay by her daughter and as usual, her mother won.

Leaning back into the bed, she let the doctor examine her as she closed her eyes and let her senses drift to rest on Spike and his patrol. If she couldn’t be out there kicking demon butt in reality, then she could at least be there in spirit.


Buffy smiled internally as she woke to the sound of Spike’s voice and she slowly opened her eyes to look at him. She frowned as he stopped reading to her and gestured for him to go on.

“It’s a good point to stop at.” He said with an embarrassed smile as he closed the book and put it on the small cupboard beside her bed.

Buffy followed his hand and smiled weakly at the large arrangement of flowers that adorned the bedside table. She glanced over at Willow and saw there was a similar arrangement beside her. Moving her eyes back to Spike, she waited for an explanation.

“Hospitals, it’s all about flowers and grapes, right?” Spike shrugged and Buffy smiled as she realised just how hard he was trying to be a good man to her.

“It’s very sweet.” Buffy shifted into a sitting position and took hold of his hand, pressing a kiss to it. “Thank you.”

“Your mum helped.” He shrugged again and Buffy caught sight of the momentary awkwardness in his eyes.

She’d thanked him and he hadn’t refused her, like he hadn’t refused Xander. Buffy smiled internally over how comfortable he was with himself now, no longer trying to be something he wasn’t, he had accepted who he was and it showed in the small things.

“You’re looking better today.” Spike said quietly as she smiled at him. Her skin was no longer pale and drawn, and her eyes looked a lot brighter than they had been yesterday.

“I feel a lot better.” She answered before smiling mischievously. “Who won last night?”

Spike was a little taken aback by her question at first before he realised that someone must have told her after he’d left. He shook his head as he realised it was probably Joyce who had explained what was happening.

Leaning back into the chair, he gave her a wicked little smile. “Me.”

“Score?” Buffy didn’t bother trying to hide her curiosity from him.

“It was quieter, I bagged twenty-three and Angel got a pathetic nine.” He smiled at the same time Buffy did.

She was glad that he was clearly enjoying the opportunity to hunt and the competition with Angel was clearly adding to the amount of fun he was getting out of it.

Spike smirked. “I’m just hoping that he trips and falls on the pointy end of a stick.”

A small giggle caught his attention and he frowned for a moment at Buffy. She’d definitely giggled, but it sounded as though there’d been an echo. Looking over at the bed beside his mate, he smiled warmly as he found Willow looking at them.

Buffy smiled wide. “Will!”

“Buffy, Spike.” Willow croaked, feeling as though she’d been dragged through hell and back as she tried to come to terms with what she remembered.

“Nice to have you back, Red.” Spike moved across the room and handed her the large container of water that was sitting beside her bed. Bringing it to her lips for her, he watched as she sucked greedily on the straw and then removed it when she looked at him.

“Thanks.” Willow said quietly, her throat still dry even though she’d just drunk half a litre of water.

Trying to remember everything that had happened, Willow just looked at the bed as it all came back to her. She remembered the Magic Box and transporting herself to the Initiative, then all she could remember was death, lots of death and fire, and then Buffy. She could still see her trying to talk to her, trying to get her to battle against the First for control of her body.

And for a moment she’d been strong enough to do it, she’d been in control, she’d won. The explosion had caught her off guard and the First had immediately claimed her body as its again. Then there was smoke and she had felt sick as she choked on it and felt her whole world fading away.

“You okay?” Buffy gave Willow a concerned look as she watched her friend staring at the bedspread with tears in her eyes.

“I want revenge.” Willow said coldly as she looked at them both and Buffy felt as surprised as Spike looked.

After her ordeal of being possessed by the First and having the extent of her power revealed, Buffy had figured that Willow would want no part of the upcoming battle--that she would be too scared.

“You sure?” Spike’s expression became hard as he sounded her out and he could see how determined she was when she didn’t falter.

“It made me do things, terrible things…things I don’t think I can live with. I want to make it pay.” Willow looked resolved as she met Buffy’s eyes.

“I’m not saying no, you know we need you, you’re an important part of this fight, possibly the most important.” Buffy kept her expression impassive and then let a smile slip through. “It’s nice to have you back.”

Spike arched a brow at the exchange of girly smiles and stood up. “It’ll be a couple of days before either of you are really ready to swear revenge, the docs don’t plan on letting you two go that easily.”

Buffy didn’t look at all happy at the prospect of being bed bound for another two days, but so long as she had Willow for company, she could endure it. Things weren’t going to work themselves out and she needed to be back in the thick of it coming up with a plan and researching. She knew Spike would take any commands she had and relay them to the team, but she wanted to be the one that was there giving out the orders and formulating ideas on how to fight the First.

She frowned as she realised Spike was leaving. “Hey…”

Spike turned and looked back at her. “Figure that as much as I’d like to, I can’t keep you two all to myself. Was going to go tell the troops that Red was awake.”

Buffy just smiled and waved dismissively at him, giggling at the way he scowled at her for acting as though he was a servant.

The second he was out of earshot, Buffy leaned on her side and looked over at Willow as she drank from the water container. “You don’t have to fight if you don’t want to.”

Willow put the container down and looked resolved again. “I killed, Buffy.”

“It wasn’t you, it was the First that did those things.” Buffy reassured her as best she could without being able to reach out and hug her.

“It made me do those things, terrible things, and I saw everything it was doing.” Willow felt a little sickened as she remembered the attack on the Initiative. “It tried to make me kill you…”

“But you fought it, and I saw you win.” Buffy ground the words out hard so Willow would see how much she believed in her.

“And it made me realise something. I have power I never knew I had, never believed I would ever have…and I know I can use it for good, I can use what the First revealed to me to defeat it.” Willow set her jaw defiantly as she narrowed her eyes. “It made me feel Evil, I could almost taste it, and now I want to play my part in kicking its ass.”

“And you will…I couldn’t do it without you.” Buffy smiled and looked around their room. “And since we’re stuck here for two days, I think we should put our heads together and see what we can come up with in terms of a plan. You always were the brainy one, it’s about time we put it to good use.”

Willow nodded determinedly. The First had used her, had made her do things that made her sick to the stomach and she was going to get revenge on it--she was going to send it to the hellish dimension it deserved to be in.

Plastering a smile on her face as her friends walked in, Willow began to think of how to put to use what she’d absorbed from the grimoires that Giles had kept in the restricted section. There were spells floating around her head that were itching to be used, ones so potent that she could probably blow a hole in Sunnydale.

She wasn’t the weak little girl she used to be.

She’d felt the fear inside the First when she’d fought against it.

She was more powerful than she’d ever imagined and she was going to learn to use that power for good.

When the battle came, she was planning on being at the front line. She wasn’t going to be off to one side, or hiding at the back, she was going to be right there at the front with Buffy and Spike.

She was going to kick ass.

Review This Story/Chapter!

It only takes a minute to send me feedback, but it makes my whole day. Simply fill in the form below: