Trinity #1: Moonlight Revelations 
by GW Katina 

/Well, today's been a weird day, even by my standards. It started out normal enough, big monster coming to town, we have to kill it before it takes out Sunnydale, yadda, yadda, yadda. Why can't a monster come to town wanting to take us to dinner and a movie? It's always coming to kill us. Not too fair if you ask me. 
Anyway, we were fighting the monster of the week when one of the tentacle blades caught Spike in the chest. 
The vampire went down hard, but he managed to rip a big gouge in the thing's tentecle. Pissed it off good. So it turns three of its eyes on me and Spike, leaving only one focused on the others. While I kept it off me and Blondie, Buffy and Giles managed to kill it off. Never knew G-Man was that limber. 
After it was over, Spike was pretty bad off, so we were forced to give him human blood and a place to stay. Enter the Harris Hotel. 
Right now Spike is sleeping, not moving an inch, not even breathing. Very creepy. I'm still not used to the eerie stillness of the bleached vampire. The cool body took some getting used to also, but with the heat he's a welcomed source of relief. 
After the vampire had fallen asleep, in my bed no less, I noticed something as he laid there, bathed in the dying beams of the moon. I'd better cover that window before morning. But for now I'm going to continue writing down my new revelation. 
He's beautiful. 
Not the kind of beauty you would put on a pedestal and admire from afar. He's not the marble statue he appears to be, all angles and planes, pale and unmoving. 
That stillness belies a raging fire, one that draws you towards him. A fire keeps burning despite a secret group tried to extinguish it by placing a chip in his head. 
The fire makes you want to touch him, to make the fire in yourself respond. 
His beauty isn't easy to see, because he hides it with arrogance. Behind his shield of sarcasm, he wants someone to want him for himself. Not a piece he offers, a tiny shard, a mask that hides the truth. 
Buffy sees him as once dangerous opponent who has been leashed. He's not deadly now, but has a chance of losing control. A creature who needs to be put down, like an unruly pet. 
Giles sees him as a freak of nature, not quite the same as Deadboy, but still one of a kind. A thing to be studied and written about so others can know about the thing he has become. 
Willow's friendly with him, and that irritates Spike to no end. I'm sure Willow knows, and that's why she does it. She was always more aware of what was going on around her then she's let on, as I've discovered by the witty comments she makes about the others when we're alone. 
The others, Tara, Riley, and the like, don't count. They weren't here in the beginning, so they know nothing of the truth, nor did they bother to try to see beyond the masks. 
How do I know so much about the mask Spike wears? I wear some of the same ones, along with Willow. All three of us are little pieces of a whole hiding behind masks we have created. Rarely do we show others glimpses of our true selves. Why open ourselves to hurt? Let Buffy and her followers believe they know the real me. The loser, the wimp, the one with no special powers. They've had glimpses of the real me before, but continue to dismiss the soldier and the hyena. 
Let them forget all but the "idiot." Everyone underestimates the one too dumb for his own good. 
God, I just looked at what I wrote. Dark. Scary. True. I know I've been drifting away from the Scoobies. Willow has also. Spike was never close to them anyway. Something strange is happening to us, but I'm not afraid, just unsure. We need to talk and soon. 
I know things about Willow and Spike. Things that I don't know *how* I know. 
Willow, for instance, is not the goody-two-shoes she appears to be, or as clueless. My computer hacker has amassed a tidy sum in a Swiss bank account. She's a thief, a trader, a seller of information. She's also the Willow I've known forever. 
I don't know how I know this. Must be the same way I know about Spike. The "evil" vampire who loves and cares when he chooses to. The artist, the lover, the one who wants to trust. The marble statue who burns to be loved like his Sire./ 
Xander lifts his eyes from the notebook he's writing in. He scans the room, then he focuses on Spike again. On the bleached hair softer than fur, on the pink lips colored by borrowed blood, on ivory skin. Smiling, the mortal begins to write again. 
:As I wrote the last paragraph, something clicked in my head. A triniy. Willow's the planner, Spike's the creator. I'm not sure where I'll fit. Like always.: 
A small sound draws Xander's attention. He finds himself staring into eyes dark with secrets. 
"Come on Pet, we need to go see Red. We have to talk." 
"You too?" 
A nod. 
"Alright, just a minute. I need to finish this." 
/My Pack was destroyed once and replaced with a weak substitute. The hyena howls as he senses the return of the strong. 
Something tells me we just fell into the 
Hellmouth's version of the Looking Glass./
"Ready Pet?" 
"Yah. But we better hurry. The sun'll be out in a couple of hours, and I don't want to find out I have a connection with a crispy McNugget." 
Spike chuckles. Then a relfective look comes into his eyes. 
"What is it?" 
"I don't know what you're talking about, Pet. I just had a bit of bad blood." Spike smirks. 
"You've got that creative glow around you," Xander says, smirking right back at the vampire. 
Spike pauses, then smiles. "Just something that popped into my mind." He stops. 
"Well?" 
"How our hearts and minds and souls do change, When revelations are found in moonlight's range."
******

TBC