Too Human For A Vampire

Part 1

Somewhere on the I-5, a beat up car swerved and stopped dead in the middle in the road. In the car, Spike let out a low groan and banged his head on the steering wheel. When he looked up, his eyes flashed to white then turned back to normal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy lay dreaming in the airport bus. In her dream, Spike comes toward her with his hands out in font of him in a surrender position. She throws a quick punch to his stomach, and he falls to the ground. He looks up at her and she finds a hurt expression on his face: an expression too human for a vampire.

"You’re not…I mean…" Buffy says, confused.

"I have a soul, love," he whispers.

Buffy woke up with a jolt. She found that the bus had stopped. She got up and retrieved her suitcase from the overhead compartment. Then she made sure that her life savings were still in her purse and exited the bus.

Buffy is laid on the bed in her hotel room, but then she remembered something and reached for the phone. She dialed and a familiar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"Willow!" Buffy was relieved.

"Oh my gosh! Buffy!" Willow exclaimed, even more relieved.

"Willow, how is everything?" Buffy asked, eagerly.

"Buffy, you have to come back! Where are you? Your mom is hysterical! Giles is swearing more than ever, and not to mention Xander, who’s tearing the whole town apart looking for you," Willow sounded close to tears. "Well, of course Cordelia is totally oblivious to the world, probably doing her nails somewhere. She and Xander broke up, you know."

"Will, I can’t come back. I’m expelled, my boyfriend is God knows where, and all of my friends are hurt because of my stupid…stupidness! I have no life, so the best thing to do is to get a new one. A new life in Calamida."

"What happened to Angel? Oh, Buffy. I knew there was something strange about that spell. It felt like something went wrong," Willow said, guiltily.

"Will, the spell went fine. Angel got his soul back; it was just too late. I had to kill him to shut the gate. It was my duty, but not anymore," Buffy sighed. "Listen Will, I better go. I’ll call you again soon. Send my love to everyone."

"But Buffy! Wait…I…" Buffy hung up. She laid down again; Willow’s words repeating in her head. I knew there was something strange about that spell. It felt like something went wrong. Buffy then remembered her dream. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike lifted his head. He looked around, confused. Dru stirred beside him.

"Oh, Lord. What have they done to me?" he looked down at Dru as she woke up.

"Angel?" she whispers. "Angel!" this time she yells it. "What have they done to my Angel? They’ve killed him! Oh no, my love! Look what they’ve done!" she looked over at Spike accusingly. "You!"

She lunged toward him. He quickly opened the car door and jumped out. She was close behind.

"You let her escape, and now she’s in Calamida! You are a traitor! It’s because of you that my poor Angel is gone!"

She reached forward and scratched him across the cheek. Dark red blood trickled from the five cuts. He automatically punched her in the stomach and followed it up with a hit across the face. She kicked him where it counts and then grabbed him by the hair. Spike kneed her in the stomach and sent her flying down a small hill away from the road. She lay there, still at the bottom. Spike decided that she wasn’t worth the trouble and walked back to the car. Before he started the engine, he got a rag out of the glove compartment to wipe the blood from his face. He headed down the road. He stopped suddenly and cried out, "Dear God, what have I done?" And for the first time in all his years of living, he cried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Uuuuuhhhh," Buffy groaned as she got up from her bed. It was the next morning and bright light was streaming through the curtains. She changed into some street clothes, grabbed her purse, and headed out the door of the hotel room. She was not sure where she was headed but she knew she had to get out of there.

After wandering the streets for a while, she realized that she wasn’t a full-time slayer anymore.

"Hey, I should be doing teenager stuff! Why don’t I go see a movie?"

A pedestrian turned around and looked at her. He said, "I’ll go if it’s your treat." Buffy blushed. She didn’t realize she was talking out loud. The man shrugged and walked away. Buffy went to the nearest phone booth to look up movie theaters. While she was at it, she jotted down the address of a local club called The Cateye. After that, she looked down at the paper and started to go to the United Artist Cinema.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After crying her heart out at the romantic tragedy movie, Buffy went shopping at the outlet mall. She decided that the club could wait. After all, there would be plenty of time for that kind of stuff. Plus the Limited was having a major sale. Buffy was feeling pretty good about acting like a normal teenager.

Part 2

Willow walked into the school’s library where Giles and Xander were sitting.

"Any news about Buffy?" Xander asked Willow as soon as she walked in the door. Willow nodded happily, ecstatic that she had finally heard from her best friend.

"Where is she? Is she coming back? How is she? How come she called you and not me?" Xander asked anxiously.

"Buffy is in Calamida. I don’t think she is coming back. I didn’t talk to her for that long," explained Willow.

"Where’s Calamida?" asked Xander, seriously.

"About twenty minutes away from L.A.," Willow says without skipping a beat.

"Her father lives in Los Angeles, no?" asked Giles.

"Yeah!" Willow replied, "That’s right!"

"Let’s go to Calamida to look for her!" exclaimed Xander.

"Xander!" Willow uttered. She missed Xander’s humor that he was too preoccupied to share with her at the time being.

"What?" demanded Xander. Willow was weary of Xander’s senseless requests to find Buffy in a town like Calamida. Not that Calamida was an extremely big town, just that there was a lot of people that wanted to live so close to L.A.

"Xander," said Willow, exasperated, "Calamida is twice as big as Sunnydale, and it has three times the amount of people!"

"I’m afraid she’s right," Giles continued, "It would be pointless to look for her there…"

"And nearly impossible to find her!" Willow cut in, "Besides, if she doesn’t want to come back, we can’t force her to!"

"Ever heard of ropes?" Xander scowled. Willow wished she could see that wonderful smile of his again.

"I still don’t see why she left town!" said Giles.

"Oh, umm, she told me…" said Willow, trying to remember exactly what she said, "Oh yeah, she, uh, got expelled, she killed Angel, and…"

"Buffy killed Angel?" Xander interrupted with the slightest look of happiness. Willow couldn’t help but grin. Xander was so close to smiling, there was hope for him yet.

"Buffy got expelled??!!" Giles said, obviously not happy. Willow nodded. She looked at her watch and gasped.

"I have to go to class. Xander, you coming?" Willow asked hopefully.

"Nope, I’m gonna skip," Xander said plainly. Willow sighed. Maybe Oz saved me a seat, she thought gleefully.

Giles sat down and sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow shook herself out of her daydream about her and Oz. She needed to pay attention but found it hard. Oz had indeed saved her a seat right next to him. She was so lucky to be moved into a class with seniors in it. Willow looked over and saw him looking at her. She smiled at him and he smiled back. This is nice, she thought. She had often wondered who she would chose if Xander started to like her. It was a tough decision, but she was glad she would never have to make that choice.

"Miss Rosenburg, are you paying attention?" Mr. Prickle asked.

"Uhh, y-yeah," she managed to stutter. The one time she didn’t pay attention, she got caught.

"Then what were we talking about?"

"Umm…" Willow had no idea. She looked at Oz who mouthed ‘civil war’. "The civil war."

The teacher nodded, "How could I doubt my best student?"

The bell rang and Willow leapt out of her seat. She had never been happier to leave class.

"Thank you, Oz. I-I wasn’t paying attention," she admitted shyly.

"I know, you were a very unnatural shade of red," he said, smiling. Willow blushed even more. "But you were still as cute as ever."

Oz put his arm around Willow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy walked out of the mall with a few bags in her hands. She wished that she hadn’t stayed so long in the mall. It was dark and she had to walk to her hotel. She wasn’t afraid of the dark since she knew she could kick some serious vampire butt if she needed to, but she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to find her hotel considering that she wasn’t too familiar with Calamida. Buffy walked down the well-lit streets. She couldn’t even remember the exact name of the street the hotel was on. It was something like Contary Boulevard. She remembered a huge building with a lot of neon lights. She decided to ask for help.

Buffy walked inside of the gas station. There weren’t many customers inside, just the cashier, an elderly couple, a teenage punk kid, and a mysterious man looking hungrily at the elderly folks. Buffy knew right away that the mysterious man was a vampire. For a moment she considered walking out of the store and letting the vampire eat to its heart’s desire. But then realizing that she couldn’t possibly let ole bloodbag get the old couple. She walked up to the vampire and said, "I know who you are and so do you, so let’s just get this done."

The vampire vamped out and tried to kick her in the legs so she would trip. Instead Buffy jumped over his feet and gave him a roundhouse kick, which sent him flying to the ground. She wished that she would have brought her stake with her, but she hadn’t.

All of the sudden three more vampires came in and started to feed. Buffy left the vampire she was fighting and went to help the cashier. She punched the vampire twice in the face and kicked him in the gut. She yanked the cross necklace off her neck and shoved it in the vampire’s face; it jumped back, startled. Another vampire came up from behind her and she spun around and forced it at the vampire. In no time at all every vampire in the store circled her, taunting her like a cat playing with a mouse. Buffy was afraid. She had never felt so unprepared before in her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow sat next to the phone waiting for Buffy to call. She began to comb her long auburn hair. She debated whether or not to call Xander. She picked up the phone but decided to call oz instead. The phone rang a few times and oz picked up.

"Hello?" Willow loved his voice.

"Hi Oz," replied Willow.

"Will, how ya doin? Is everything okay?"

"Oh yeah everything is fine I just missed you." The minute it came out of Willow’s mouth, she regretted saying it.

"I miss you, too," Oz could almost hear Willow smiling.

"I’m so worried, about Buffy," she admitted.

"I know you are. Don’t worry, she’s gonna be fine. She’ll come back," Oz comforted.

Willow sighed, "I hope you’re right."

"Do ya wanna come over and watch a movie or something?" asked Oz.

Part 3

Buffy took in her surroundings and chuckled nervously. "Where’s Mr. Pointy when you need him?" Her brain was working overtime, trying to figure out a way to escape. She came up with nothing. One of the vampires growled impatiently. Buffy looked at him then heard an agonizing scream. She looked to her other side and saw the flaming vampire. After a few seconds, he was dust and standing in his place was the person she least expected.

"Spike!" she said, almost glad to see him. He lifted up the match he had used to burn the vampire, and lit a cigarette.

"Hello, pet," he smiled warmly. This didn’t look right to Buffy.

"Oh my God, what next?" she says as she plunged toward him. She knocked him to the ground, and landed on top of him. She started to fight, when she realized there was no resistance.

"What’s wrong with you? Don’t you wanna fight?" she said angrily. He still did not move. She punched him hard in the jaw. Spike felt blood in his mouth and spit it out to the side.

"What did you just do?" she asked him, "You just spit out blood. What’s wrong with you, why don’t you fight back?"

Spike looked up at her with a hurt expression. The same expression she saw in her dream.

"I have a soul, love," he answered quietly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow sat on Oz’s couch, watching Scream. Oz walked in with two Cokes in his hands. Willow was staring at the TV with a horrified expression. Oz looked at her and laughed.

"Why do they always go into the dark garage alone? It’s practically screaming death," Willow said.

"Because it’s scary," Oz said, "They know guys like to go to the theater with their dates because it’s scary." He gave Willow a sly smile. Just then there’s a violent scream from the movie and Willow yelped, grabbing onto Oz’s arm. Oz chuckled and said, "See what I mean?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Giles, guess what?" Buffy practically yelled into his ear.

"Buffy? Is that you?" Giles asked, "Thank God you’re alright!"

"Spike has a soul!" she said, excitedly.

"What??!! He’s got a what?" Giles was confused.

"He’s got a soul and he’s in my hotel room!" Buffy said. In the background, the toilet flushed.

"He’s using your toilet? Buffy, are you nuts? It’s probably a trick!" Giles couldn’t believe how stupidly Buffy had acted.

"Giles, he saved my life, he burned a vampire, and he even spit out blood!" Buffy said, "Of course he’s still cocky and mean and rude and okay so he’s undead too, but he has a soul!" In the background Giles could hear him talking.

"I’m not bloody cocky!"

"It’s Spike, alright," sighed Giles, "Buffy, I still don’t like it. You could be in real danger."

"Oh Giles, you’re so British!" Buffy said, and with that, she hung up.

"You sounded rather excited to tell the bloody librarian about my new soul, love. Hmm?" Spike cocked an eyebrow at her. Buffy blushed.

"I guess it’s just that I’m lonely. Don’t worry, it’ll pass. Pretty soon I won’t be glad to see you."

"Sure it will. I can see through that lie," he sat down on the chair across from her, "You and I both know that I’m very desirable, there’s no reason for you to try and hide it. It’s almost sweet."

Buffy looked at him with a shocked expression. She picked up a pillow and chucked it at him. "You are so full of it!" she yelled, "I can’t believe I invited you into my room!"

"Now, now, flirting won’t help a bit," he said with a grin.

"Just stay away from me while I sleep. You’re still a vampire, and I’m still the Slayer, sort of," Buffy said seriously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander sat in his room, on his bed. He was listening to music. He sighed heavily. Pictures of Buffy filled his vision. Just then, the phone rang. Xander picked it up.

"Buffy?" he asked hopefully.

"Umm…no," Xander recognized Giles’ voice.

"Oh, it’s just you," said Xander disappointedly.

"Buffy called me," Giles told him, "She is with Spike, apparently he has a soul now."

"What?! How come she called the school librarian before me?" Xander demanded.

"Xander, I don’t think that is of any importance right now! I think we should be more concerned about her letting Spike into her hotel room!"

"What?! Spike is in Buffy’s hotel room? Do you know what he could be doing to her right now?! What’s wrong with that girl?" bellowed Xander.

"I agree. She is being completely impractical!"

"We should call Willow."

"Yes! You call her and tell her to meet us at my house as soon as possible!"

"Okay. Bye Giles!" Xander hung up before getting a reply from Giles. He dialed Willow’s number and let it ring about ten times before he realized that she wasn’t home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow and Oz were watching the end of the scary movie when the phone rang. It startled Willow who was sitting on Oz’s lap. Willow slid off his lap to let him answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is Willow there?" Xander said dimly.

"Uhh…yeah," Oz paused for a minute, "Who is this?"

"It’s Xander, can you please just let me talk to my friend for one minute!" Xander was clearly not in a good mood.

"Um, okay," he turned to his girlfriend, "Willow, it’s Xander. He wants to talk to you."

"Okay," she said. Willow walked to the phone and put her ear up to the receiver. "Xander?"

"Hey Will, it’s a Buffy emergency. Meet at Giles’ house right now." With that, Xander hung up.

Willow put down the phone and turned to Oz with a worried look upon her face. "It’s Buffy…an, an

emergency or s-something."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xander and Giles were waiting for Willow. Xander was pacing in Giles living room. "Where is that girl? How long does it take to drive a couple blocks?"

Before Giles could reply, the doorbell rang. Giles opened the door and in walked Willow and Oz.

"What is it? What’s the matter with Buffy?" asked Willow nervously.

"She could be dead!" Xander remarked. Giles shot him a look.

"There’s no need to overreact, Xander. We, uh, we need to s-stay as calm as, as possible," reasoned Giles.

"What’s the matter with Buffy? Is she okay?" Willow was frantic.

"Willow, I got a call from Buffy. She said that Spike got a soul and she invited him into her hotel room."

"Spike has a soul? That’s almost funny!" said Willow, wide eyed. Xander gave her a look. "Well, not funny in the laughing sense." Willow was hurt.

"I was thinking the same thing," Oz told her. Willow smiled and slid her hand into his.

"Well, what can I do?" asked Willow.

"Get on the, uh, computer and try to find hotels in Calamida."

"Great. Except you don’t have a computer."

"Library. Let’s go to the library."

Part 4

Buffy was getting ready for bed. She turned to Spike and asked, "What are you going to do while I sleep?" She was still a little worried about letting Spike into her room.

"Lurk," Spike answered plainly.

"Okay, whatever," Buffy pulled the covers over her and watched in the dim light as Spike walked soundlessly out of her room. She let her mind wander to her friends. She missed them and wondered what they were up to. She missed Willow’s loyalty and nightly chats on the phone they usually had. She even missed Xander’s corny jokes. She missed her mother’s care and constant worry for her and she almost missed beating up Giles when they were training. And then there was Angel. Even thinking about him brought tears to her eyes. She missed him most of all. Not the Angel who killed Jenny Calendar and pulled the sword out of Acathla, but the Angel who used to warn her about upcoming danger, the Angel who killed Darla for her,

With her friends dancing around in her mind, she drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Come on Spike, be realistic. A Slayer? You’re nuts. You belong with your kind. Like Drusilla.

Spike sighed heavily as he walked the night streets. He was very confused. He had started walking, when he realized he was thinking about the slayer. He had immediately put a stop to that. Then he started thinking about Drusilla. Although she had caused him much pain, he found a bit of him still loved her. He was guilty about leaving her on the side of the rode.

He left her there to go find the Slayer. But why? Even he didn’t know the answer. Could it have been that part of him, even when he had a soul, had been attracted to her? That maybe he had been attracted to her strong will and great instinct? Even her beauty? There you go again Spike, thinking about her again.

No! He realized now that he had never paid the slightest attention to Buffy until Angelus came back. Until Angelus took Dru away from him. Until Dru stopped loving him. Spike cursed himself for thinking about all this again.

He walked on. Then his thoughts drifted back to the Slayer. She had killed her only love. She must be in a world of hurt. She must feel like Spike when all of Dru’s special smiles drifted toward Angelus instead of him.

It’s bloody cold out here, he thought. Maybe I should go back to the nice warm hotel room. Buffy’s room.

Spike turned around and headed back to the hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ah ha!" Willow exclaimed as she clicked the mouse. She had found Buffy’s hotel. It hadn’t been that hard. All she had to do was look up all of Calamida’s hotel records. She didn’t bother to look at the records for the hotels she knew Buffy couldn’t afford.

Willow jumped up from her chair and ran into Giles’ office. He looked up as she smiled brightly.

"We got her!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike walked quietly into the room so he wouldn’t awaken Buffy. He almost smiled as he saw her curled up in a ball with all of her covers kicked off. He slowly walked over to the bed and picked up the fallen sheets, pulling them up to cover her again. He stood back up and looked at her. He then realized what he had just done. He was disgusted with himself. Acting like that towards the Slayer.

He walked over and sat in a chair. Dru used to look that sweet when she slept, he thought. A single tear ran down his cheek.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drusilla’s feet ached, but she didn’t notice the pain. A few feet behind her, she had passed a sign that read WELCOME TO SUNNYDALE! Her stomach growled. She had to get food. She approached a street and looked around hungrily. A dark figure was walking down the street in front of her.

She hid in the shadows and stalked it. She was just feet behind.

"Shouldn’t you be at school, principal Snyder?" she whined.

"What the—" Snyder turned around and saw Drusilla with her game face on.

"Oh my God!" he screamed as she reached for his neck. She bit in and he screamed even louder. Soon the scream turned to a gurgle as he dropped lifelessly to the ground.

"Mmmm…I like them when they’re loud," Drusilla smiled evilly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike’s thoughts were interrupted by a small whimper. He looked up as Buffy stirred in her sleep. He thought it was nothing and looked back down at his hands.

"Angel?" Buffy whispered. Spike looked back up.

"Angel?" she asked a little louder.

"Why is it always bloody Angel and not Spike?" he whispered irritably to himself. Then he heard a sob.

"Why? Where is he?" Buffy sobbed. "Look what I’ve done!"

Buffy was becoming hysterical. She was thrashing around wildly between sobs. Spike got up to restrain her before she hurt herself. He grabbed her by the arms.

"Buffy! Wake up!" he practically yelled. She kept screaming.

"Shut up!" he was getting frustrated.

"Angel!" she cried. Spike couldn’t take it any longer. He slapped her across the face. Her eyes snapped open, but she was still crying. Spike sat on the edge of the bed and held her as she wept on his shoulder.

"There, there, ducks. It’s alright," he cooed as she cried. He noticed how concerned he sounded and quickly let go of her.

"What’s wrong with you? You scared me half to death!" he said coldly. She looked up at him with sad eyes. Then they turned cold.

"You have no idea what I’m going through!" she yelled at him. "How dare you!"

Spike turned his back to her. In a few seconds, she could see his shoulders heaving up and down. She realized he was crying.

"Oh, not again," he said as he wiped his tears away. "I never had to worry about Kleenex until I got my soul back." He turned around to face her.

"You’re wrong, you know. I know what it feels like," he sighed sadly. Buffy just stared at him. She had never seen a vampire cry before. At least not vampires like Spike.

"But at least the reason your love is gone is because he’s dead. My love is gone because she chose not to love me," the tears welled up in his eyes again. He angrily wiped them away. "The worst part about it was that I saw it all happen. I watched as her love for me began to fade."

"I…" Buffy choked. She dropped her head. "I’m sorry." She began to cry again. "At least you didn’t have to kill Dru. I watched as his eyes pierced into mine. They just simply asked me ‘Why?’ He trusted me Spike. He trusted me and I killed him." She barely had time to finish before the uncontrollable sobs took over again.

This scared Spike. He had never seen a Slayer cry, let alone be so scared. Not even when he had killed those other two Slayers. Buffy looked up and into his eyes. He saw sadness and hurt. But he also saw trust. At first he wasn’t sure, but then he realized. This girl was so alone, so helpless. She actually trusted him. He slowly got up and walked over to the bed. He sat down next to her and put his arm around her.

"Come on now, pet. Cheer up. If it’ll make you feel any better, I’ll let you slay me," Spike joked. Buffy smiled a little.

"But aren’t we an odd sight. It’s not every day you see a vampire comforting a Slayer," he chuckled. Then he realized what he had said. Comforting?

Buffy looked up at him with clear eyes. "Is that what you’re doing, Spike? Are you comforting me?" she smiled. He jumped up.

"Of course not! I was just using it as a figure of speech," he said.

"Sure you were. I can see through that lie," she said, mimicking Spike’s accent.

"You better watch your back, Slayer…" he said stepping toward her. As he did, his ankle gave way and he fell to the ground.

"Spike!" Buffy yelped.

"Uhhhhh…what?" he asked.

"What happened?" she said, getting up.

"Oh nothing, just tripped, that’s all," he answered, trying to get up. As he pushed up, his arms gave way, and he fell again.

"You know, I think I’ll just stay right here. Maybe take a nap," he said.

"You’re weak!" Buffy said, surprised. "Don’t you eat when you lurk?"

"I forgot," he answered sheepishly.

"When was the last time you ate?" she asked.

"Uh…two days ago?" I answered.

"What?! You haven’t eaten since you left Sunnydale?" she practically yelled.

"Guess not," he answered simply.

"Well, what are you gonna do?" she asked.

"Can’t do much, now can I?" he replied.

"It’s not like I can just run down to the nearest blood bank and ask them if I can have a liter for my blood sucking friend from beyond the grave!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I’m afraid not," he said a little weaker.

"What am I supposed to do? Just leave you here to starve?!" she asked worridly. She sat for a moment, thinking. "There’s only one thing to do, Spike."

She lifted her hair off her neck and tilted her head back, exposing her neck. He looked at her, shocked.

"Buffy…" Spike breathed.

"Come on! I can’t be responsible for another person’s death! Hurry, or I might change my mind," she said, tilting her head again. He carefully lifted his self as high as his strength would allow. He reached up and gently took hold of her.

Buffy felt his breath on her neck. Spike touched her skin very softly with his fangs. He tried to make it a painless as possible. He could smell her fear. Finally, he started to drink.

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