Vices of My Blood

Spike was frustrated by the interruption of the ritual to heal Drusilla. All he wanted to do was to make his sire well again so that he and his Black Goddess could continue their slaughter across continents. All the plans he had for Drusilla and himself were now ruined by a slip of a girl and her Slayer counterpart, effectively turning the quaint church into a barroom brawl as Spike blocked a swing from Kendra and landed another fist on the girl.

Buffy was in her own battle with a member of the Order of Taraka named Patrice. Buffy hit the woman in the face hard, sending her staggering back into the wall for a second time since the fight started. Buffy turned her head to check on Kendra’s progress and noticed Spike punching the girl again, and followed that with a roundhouse kick knocking the foreign girl to the floor. Buffy knew she had better step in and help the other Slayer who was scrambling back to her feet.

“Kendra! Switch!” Buffy yelled at the other Slayer.

Buffy bent forward and Kendra rolled over her back to face Patrice, immediately landing a punch and knocking the older woman into the wall a third time. Buffy turned to face Spike, taking a moment to look the gorgeous vampire over. She couldn’t help but notice how well his clothes fit him like a second skin. Even as she was in fighting stance, ready to pummel the smirking blond menace, she mentally drooled over his physique under the layers of clothing. She closed her eyes and shook herself. Stop drooling over the damn vampire and fight with him already!

“I’d rather be fighting you anyway, Slayer,” Spike growled, returning the glare, appreciating Buffy’s tight little body. He couldn’t believe she was Angel’s girlfriend. The bloody ponce got all the good looking women with his dark, brooding good looks. Young and virginal, what more could a vampire ask for? All that strength built into one small delectable little package, makes a guy wonder if she treats sex the same as fighting. That thought passed through his mind while his eyes traveled over her fresh face, along her neck, over her pert little breasts, down her hard stomach to… That’s it! Stop fantasizing about the damn Slayer and fight with her already! He growled at the thought and threw a punch at her.

“The feeling’s mutual,” Buffy agreed and blocked the punch by grabbing his wrist and kicking Spike in the face and again in the gut. His wrist was cool but not cold and the punch she delivered felt like more like her fist had hit a brick wall than a toned stomach. For a moment her mind drifted to an image of what she’d possibly find under his shirt.

Buffy shook the thought away just as Spike threw a couple of punches that she blocked effectively, and then threw two more that landed in her stomach and face. Buffy blocked his next swing, and held his arm, while she punched him twice in the face. She grabbed the lapels of his duster and pulled Spike around, pressing her body against his. It startled her when she felt sparks strike between them so much that she threw him over several pews and into the wall.

Spike was taken aback by the intense spark that struck up between him and the petite Slayer as well. More of a jolt of awareness that even his vampire senses hadn’t afforded him before. And damn could she throw, he figured the girl had thrown him over ten pews and if it wasn’t that many than it sure felt like it. Just as he got to his feet, he saw Willy trying to make an exit. Whatever happened between him and the girl that made him appreciate her more than just as opponent also made him uneasy and he growled. He rushed over, grabbing Willy by the back of the neck. “Where are you going?”

“Now, there’s a way in which this isn’t my fault!” Willy stuttered.

Spike’s yellow eyes flashed. “They tricked you.”

Willy held up a hand. “Mm-hm! They were duplicitous!”

Spike nodded. “Well, then, I’ll only kill you just this once.” Spike opened his mouth, moving into Willy’s neck for the bite when his ears picked up Drusilla’s voice almost as if he had imagined it.

“Spike!” Drusilla called out weakly, reaching out toward Spike.

Buffy had seized the opportunity of Willy’s distraction to run over to the altar to pull the dagger out of Angel’s and Drusilla’s hands. When she grabbed the knife and began to jerk the blade out, she felt a headiness come over her as a shock passed through her. She shook it away on the pretense of hindering the spell.

Spike stopped short of biting Willy and looked over at the altar and saw Buffy trying to untie the two vampires. The little bitch was going to kill Drusilla if she stopped that spell before it could be completed. He let go of Willy and rushed over to the altar. Spike grabbed Buffy and shoved her to the floor. He then knocked her down with a backhanded fist as she attempted to get back up. He looked back at the joined vampires noticing that Drusilla was bent backwards suspended by the belt that held her to Angel, with their wrists still bound together. He sighed before turning back to fight the slayer, ducking a punch.

When he was finally free of the blond vampire, Willy wasted no time running out of the church past Willow and Giles, who were still fighting a vampire. Giles was holding him back by both arms and Willow had a stake raised, ready to kill the vampire

“Hold him steady, Giles!” Willow said before finding a good opening and plunged the stake into the vampire’s heart and the creature burst into ashes, leaving Giles all dusty. Xander and Cordelia ran into the back of the nave as Willow brushed dust off of Giles.

Patrice threw Kendra over an overturned pew and climbed over after her. She swung at Kendra twice, missing both times when Kendra ducked and swerved. She swung again; this time slashed Kendra in the arm. Kendra grabbed her would and looked down at it. “Dat’s me favrit shirt! Dat’s me only shirt!

Kendra was thoroughly pissed. She kicked Patrice in the back of the knee, making the older woman lose her balance. She grabbed Patrice by the arm and threw her into a cabinet in front of the organ, smashing it to pieces and knocking the woman out. Kendra ran over to join the others when Spike took a torch from its wall mount and threw it into a pile of old drapes, setting the fabric ablaze.

Everyone watched the fire spread over the fabric, surrounding them. “Look out!” Xander warned.

Spike used the fiery distraction to untie Drusilla from Angel. “Sorry, baby. Gotta go.” He lifted her carefully into his arms; Drusilla’s body was hot to the touch, even for a vampire. He hoped that with her body temperature which had skyrocketed to furnace heat with the intention of Angel’s blood and the ritual had worked. He felt a frisson go through him, but ignored it as he started down the aisle. “Hope that was enough.”

With nothing holding Angel up anymore he fell to the floor behind them. Buffy crawled over to him and looked behind her to see Spike making his escape. She stood up and grabbed the censer from the altar. She swung it around her head by its chain a few times and launched it at Spike. With accuracy it hit the blond vampire in the back of the head, causing him to stumble into the church organ. The keyboard console collapsed under his weight.

Buffy smiled to herself. “I’m good.”

A moment later the organ superstructure collapsed onto Spike and Drusilla. Its huge brass pipes clanging to the ground and rolling everywhere. Buffy turned her attention back to Angel and helped him sit up, cradling his head with her arm. “Hi,” she said quietly when he barely opened his eyes to look up at her.

She smoothed her fingers over his forehead and cheeks as she stared down at him with love in her eyes. His skin was hot to touch and Buffy had a fleeting thought that if Angel had been human, he’d likely be running a high fever. She hoped the heat that radiated off him was left from the ritual and not from the fire that was slowly eating its way closer to them.

Everyone saw the way the two people at the altar looked at each other as Buffy hugged Angel’s body close to her. Kendra ran over and crouched down next to the couple “Let’s get him out!” the Slayer yelled over the sound of the flames eating up whatever they touched.

Angel moaned as the two slayers helped him up.

“Careful!” Buffy warned.

“C’mon,” Kendra said.

With their help, Angel got to his feet and Kendra shifted under his arm to support him. The others ran out of the church as the three of them made their way up the aisle and out of the other door. The wreckage of the organ caught fire by the time Buffy ran out of the room.