Love In Vein: Book Three - Chapter 2

By the time Buffy had got her hand luggage down from the overhead lockers, and trudged her way out of the plane, following the people in front of her as though they were a line of ants all marching to orders, she felt more tired and weary than she’d ever done.

The lack of sleep she’d been continually suffering, and the sickness she had felt from flying had combined to make her feel terrible inside and all she wanted to do was cry with frustration.

She just wanted to cry full stop.

Walking out into the airport with her luggage in tow, she moved like an automaton until she reached the point where passengers were finally given their freedom. She looked at the crowd surrounding her with disinterested eyes, seeking out a familiar face in amongst them.

When she spotted him, she smiled genuinely for the first time in what felt like forever.

It seemed like an eternity since she’d seen him, an eternity in which she’d grown up so fast.

“Buffy!” Giles called to her, his arms outstretched as he walked in her direction.

She dropped her suitcases and immediately wrapped her arms around him, breathing in the musty smell of books that she always associated with him.

For the first time in a long time, she felt more comforted than words could express.

Giles closed his eyes as he felt her holding onto him tightly, as though he too would disappear if she let go. He’d spoken to Joyce shortly after Buffy had left for her flight, and he’d been sorry to hear how badly his Slayer had taken the loss of her mate. Joyce had cried almost constantly through the conversation, relaying to him everything that had happened and everything they had been through in Sunnydale.

She’d warned him that Buffy was a changed girl, that she didn’t look herself, and had then gone on to ask him if he could help her find her feet again, could help her live again.

He’d told her he would do his best.

And he would.

Drawing the miniscule girl away from him, he brushed the loose tendrils of hair from her face. “Let’s get a look at you then.”

Buffy immediately stood a little straighter, but knew that she couldn’t hide the darkness in her eyes and how sallow her skin was.

She didn’t want him to worry, too.

Giles looked down at her, hiding how stunned he felt over how changed she was. Her once shiny, vibrant edge had apparently left her. Her hair was limp, uncared for, and her skin was such a sickly shade of white that he almost didn’t recognise her. She was wearing a thick jumper and heavy black combat trousers that hung loose on her, making Giles suspect that she was trying to hide from him how thin she’d become.

After all, not many people wore roll neck sweaters in the middle of summer, not even in England.

He forced a smile, unable to hide how concerned he felt about her, and then let out a small sigh as he saw the upset lingering in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Buffy.”

The words slipped out before he could stop them and he felt pained as he saw her bottom lip tremble and saw in her expression how much she was trying to stop it.

Buffy gave him a shaky smile, willing her lower lip to stop quivering and trying to think of something to say that would break the awkward silence.

Finding there were no words to express what she was feeling, and that she couldn’t find anything that would draw the topic of conversation away from Spike, she simply stooped to pick up her bags.

Giles grabbed her suitcase before she could, taking it from her frail hands and noticing for the first time that she was wearing Spike’s ring. He froze for a moment, his eyes lingering on it long enough for Buffy to notice he had seen it.

“It…it’s all I have…of his.” She hated the way her voice shook with emotion each time she tried to talk about him, hated how weak she sounded and how much worry seemed to spring into peoples eyes when they heard it.

“I know.” Giles said softly, giving her a sympathetic smile before wrapping his arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get you out of here. I’m sure one of the girls will be able to fix us some tea and breakfast.”

Buffy just nodded, unable to say anything as she ignored the rumble in her stomach that told her she was hungry. She was used to not eating much now. She didn’t need breakfast.

She needed Spike.


Driving with Buffy into London, Giles noticed that she had fallen silent, even more silent than she’d been when he’d first met her at the airport. He could hear her stomach rumbling from where he was sitting, but Joyce had warned him that this wasn’t as good a sign as it usually appeared to be. More often than not, Buffy refused food even when her body was asking for it.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel of his red BMW and tried to think of a way he could get her to eat. He couldn’t bare seeing her so broken, so frail, not when he was used to seeing her so full of life.

Now, she looked so near death.

Buffy toyed pointlessly with her fingers as she let the world pass her by, not bothering to look at it because even with the sun shining it would seem grey and empty. She thought she should be excited, being in a new country, in new surroundings, but the streets of London just made her think even more of Spike and the time he would have passed here—both as a human and as a vampire.

She sighed.

“Buffy…” Giles started and she raised her eyes to his, a curious look in them. “…Your mother…you have to eat, Buffy…”

“No I don’t.” She replied flatly, part of her hoping he’d take that as her final answer and not push her any more on the subject.

Giles realised that her mother’s worry wasn’t the right tact and decided to switch plans.

“You have to eat, you have to stay strong for…Spike.”

Buffy’s head shot up from where she was perusing her hands and she fixed him with a hard look. She bit back every snide remark that rose to her lips, begging herself to bide her time until she felt a little calmer.

No one had said that name…not in a long time.

“You keep saying he’ll come back…how will he feel when he sees you like this?” Giles continued.

She gave him an incredulous look, showing him just how much he was pushing his luck and then relented, sinking back into her seat defeated.

He was right.

How would her mate recognise her? How would he feel when he saw what she’d done to herself?

She surrendered with a tiny nod of her head.

She would eat, because Spike would want her to.


Giles felt a little easier as he watched Buffy eat. She had already drunk two cups of tea and was working her way through an assortment of bacon, eggs, sausages and anything else he could get the cook to rustle up on such short notice.

He’d never seen a girl eat so fast. He was sure she would choke.

Drawing the plate away from her, he gave her a little smile. “Think that’s enough for now, little at a time.”

Buffy just hastily wiped her mouth on the napkin he offered her and looked a little embarrassed. Her stomach felt tight, unused to the quantity and type of food she’d just eaten. She’d been surviving the past few months on yoghurt, fruit and cereal.

Her eyes dropped to the plate that was sitting in Giles’ firm grasp.

Her stomach rumbled.

“We’ll get you more food later.” He smiled as he took up the plate, carrying it into the Council’s kitchens and away from Buffy.

He knew she was still hungry, but if she continued to wolf down the food then she would only make herself even sicker and that wasn’t going to happen. He had promised Joyce he would look after her like a daughter.

It wouldn’t be that hard.

She’d always been like a daughter to him.

Coming back into the dining room, he noticed she’d moved to the windows and was staring out into the courtyard of the large house that made up the Council’s London Headquarters. He’d wished that they could have been based at the Oxford branch, but what he had brought her to England to see couldn’t be moved as easily as he’d thought it could be.

It was proving to be more and more of a problem every day, and now things had begun to surface that required a Slayer’s attention, not a Watcher’s.

He gave her a few moments of quiet perusal of the world outside the window and turned his attention to the books that were spread across one end of the long mahogany table.

As the doors opened and Lydia appeared in view, he intimated for her to be as silent as possible and pointed to Buffy where she was still standing by the window. Lydia nodded dutifully and then moved quietly toward him.

“We’re ready.” She whispered as she reached him, her hands trembling slightly over the prospect of what was going to happen and everything that had already happened.

Giles looked at her forearm where it was still wrapped tightly in bandages and heaved a sigh. “Any better today?”

She smiled bravely and nodded. “A little. The nurse tells me I’m healing well…if the beast would only…”

She trailed off as she noticed Buffy had come to stand next to them, moving more silently than either her or Giles was capable of.

Buffy gave her a curious look as she realised that Lydia wasn’t going to finish her sentence and she was left wondering what kind of beast she was talking about, and what had happened to her arm.

She frowned at it for the briefest of moments and then looked at Giles.

“Is this beast why you brought me here?” Her voice was steady as she looked him square in the eye, searching out an answer in his face.

He nodded immediately.

“Does it have something to do with the vision?” She asked, not giving him a second to respond before she answered her own question. “It does. You have something, a monster that has something to do with what I’ve seen.”

“It might…” Lydia started but cut herself short when Giles shot her a look that told her to keep quiet.

She still wasn’t sure about what Giles was doing, none of the Council was, but since he was still the Head, they had to do as he commanded.

She rubbed her arm slightly.

Even if it meant putting them all in danger for the past month.

“You what? Need me to kill it?” Buffy said with a glint in her eye that slightly unnerved Giles.

He’d seen that look in another. That predatory twinkle that said death was on the cards tonight. He shook his head slightly to clear it and saw that Buffy had taken it as a ‘no’ to her question.

She looked confused.

“Then why bring me here?” She asked.

Giles felt as though she was intimating that killing was all she was good for these days, that there couldn’t possibly be another reason for him asking her to come to England.

He hesitated for a moment, unsure of the right words to explain why he had brought her to England. He hadn’t told her on the phone, he’d just relayed everything he knew about the vision and that had been enough to get her to come.

He hadn’t known how to tell her, he still didn’t know.

She was looking at him with such searching eyes. Dulled though they were by her ordeal, he could still see the sharp-witted clever Slayer he used to know hiding behind them.

It wouldn’t take her long to figure out something was up.

Taking a long, deep breath to compose himself, Giles nodded at Lydia and watched as she left them alone.

“Buffy…” He started, his voice quivering as it tried to get past the lump that had formed in his dry throat. “…There’s something you need to see.”

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