Access All Areas, Chapter 11.
27 Apr 2007 10:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
curiouswombatFirstly, thank you for all the nice wishes for our wedding anniversary, and especially to Kathleen for the roses.
S2C has just finished checking out my punctuation in the next chapter of Access All Areas, and so without further ado -
Access All Areas. Chapter 11.
4,300 words. NC17.
Spike opened the door of the hotel room before Dawn or Milan had even noticed footsteps, and Dawn found herself engulfed in a warm wave of sound and arms.
“Good God! Oh my dear girl!”
“Dawnie, oh my poor Dawnie!”
Both Giles and Willow looked badly shocked at the extent of the bruises on her face, and then both attempted to hug her simultaneously without hurting her.
Enfolded between them Dawn heard a third voice asking Spike, in a soft Highland accent, how he was and she realised that Willow’s partner, Mhairi, had accompanied them. Dawn was glad – Mhairi and Willow worked so well together magically that she could certainly help focus spell casting if necessary – and the more Dawn got to know her the more she appreciated the dark-haired Scotswoman’s ability to keep Willow, and anyone else around her, firmly anchored to reality with her gentle no-nonsense approach.
Giles was now holding Dawn at arms’ length and wondering again whether she should have been checked over by a doctor. Willow was still looking at her with big shocked eyes. Spike’s voice could be heard saying “’M fine, ‘m fine now. Vampire healing and all that!” and Mhairi stood back from him slightly and looked at him for a few seconds before pulling him into a hug.
Then Mhairi turned to Dawn and Giles. “She is quite right, you know,” she said firmly, “she is healing, and doesn’t need a doctor.”
Giles looked at her as if to disagree, then said “Thank you, Mhairi, if you are sure then it will save any need for complications.”
Turning to Milan, an arm still holding Dawn close, Giles explained “I know that Dawn had convinced you and Spike that she is fine, and I am sure that had she been bleeding, even internally, Spike would have known,” he looked over at Spike with a small nod. “But Mhairi has a form of ‘the sight’ and can read people’s auras for injury and illness. She would be aware of illness or injury of which even Dawn herself was unaware.”
Giles went on to thank Spike for finding Dawn, at which Spike looked embarrassed, Willow too turned her attention to the vampire, and Dawn found herself being pulled into the bathroom by Mhairi.
From her bag Mhairi produced a small jar. “You may not have any major physical damage,” she said, smiling, “but I think that something to soothe the bruising would help.”
Dawn looked queryingly at the jar.
“Arnica, aloe vera, love, hope and sunshine,” Mhairi said, with a grin, “in other words, healing herbs and some small Earth magic!” She gently soothed it onto Dawn’s face, said a few words in her mother tongue, and then asked “Shall I do the rest, or would you rather do them yourself?”
Before Dawn could answer the witch said “No, better still.” She moved to the bathroom door and said “Leave the poor man alone for a minute. He may be healing but he is not completely healed! Come here Spike, and let me look at that chest and head.”
“’M all right!” Spike insisted; but something that he saw in Mhairi’s eyes stopped him arguing any more, and, as Willow took him by the arm and propelled him across the floor, he put up no resistance.
Mhairi shut the door. “Shirt off!” she commanded Spike. “You know fine well I only got you in here to look at your body anyway,” she added, with a grin. Dawn smiled. Probably her first genuine smile in twenty-four hours. She remembered Mhairi telling Spike previously that she was as bisexual as Willow and could well appreciate his body.
Spike smiled back and tugged off his t-shirt. The skin had closed over the gunshot wound on his chest, although it still looked startlingly red against his normal pallor, but Mhairi quickly turned him around and reached out a hand to where the exit wound was still not totally closed.
“Well, it’s a fine thing, to heal so quickly,” she said. “Although a little extra help would not do any harm,” she continued, unscrewing the lid of another small jar.
“That stuff work on vampires?” Spike asked.
“Do you know,’ Mhairi said cheerfully, “I really don’t know – but I doubt it will do any harm!”
She dabbed some on, left her hand in contact with his back and muttered a few words, and then stood and watched for a few seconds. The wound suddenly had skin over it.
“So,” she said, “I’m thinking that looks better, eh?”
Spike stretched his arms out sideways and then above his head. He grinned and said “Bloody brilliant, that! Feels fine.”
“Yes, well,” said the witch, “if we get your head as good things will be fine.”
“Head’s healed!” Spike protested, turning his face away so that she could see where the scalp wound was no longer visible.
“I meant the inside!” Mhairi retorted, smiling, before turning to Dawn. “How are you feeling?” Mhairi asked her gently.
“The swelling feels much better already,” Dawn answered.
“Good,” said Mhairi, holding Dawn gently by the wrist, and feeling behind herself for Spike’s hand as well, “but I meant in yourself, rather than physically.”
Dawn looked into the other woman’s green-flecked eyes and said, truthfully, “Shocked, violated I guess, angry, a bit scared.”
“And whose fault is it? Who do you blame?” Mhairi asked.
Dawn looked somewhat surprised by the questions, but something in Mhairi’s face held her attention, and she answered thoughtfully “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. Well, Ethan Rayne’s fault, I guess. It might be mine, a bit; maybe if I’d been concentrating better they wouldn’t have gotten the jump on me. Or perhaps we shouldn’t have been opening portals; that might have given it away. Maybe the monks’ fault – they made the Key into me! But I don’t really think it was anyone’s fault. It’s just part of being me.”
Mhairi turned to Spike. “See?” she asked him. “Not your fault at all.”
She paused, and then went on, “I would never cast a spell that messed with people’s minds, or their memories,” and Dawn knew that Mhairi must know about some of the things Willow had done in the past. “But if I did,” Mhairi went on, “I would just be giving you a tweak to make sure that you believe that!”
Before Spike could say anything the Wiccan continued. “Guilt is not a good thing in a relationship – especially if unfounded. Now doubtless Giles will want to talk to you both for hours, but first, there is salve to rub onto Dawn’s other bruises, and she might appreciate your touch more than mine, Spike. Oh – and a little of the stuff I put on your chest on the wrist wound will speed it up, although not quite as much as it did on you!”
Mhairi paused briefly, her face blanking over for a few seconds, and both Spike and Dawn recognised it as her personal ‘cloaking’ move which enabled her to switch off the auras of those about her. Then she shook her head slightly, smiled at them, and left them together in the small room.
Spike and Dawn looked at each other. His face looked almost expressionless for about ten seconds, although to Dawn it felt like ages, and then a smile slowly lifted the corners of Spike’s mouth and he said “Sorry.”
Dawn opened her mouth to ask if he had taken any notice of the conversation with Mhairi but, before she could speak, Spike continued “Nearly started to brood there.”
A laugh began to bubble up inside Dawn; she reached forward and tried to muss Spike’s fashionably short hair to make it stand on end. Even though he couldn’t see the effect in the mirror she knew that Spike recognised what she was doing as she said “No! You can’t brood – you don’t have the right hair style!”
Spike caught her by the arms, and then fitted his actions to his words as he said “You heard what the lady said – shirt off!”
……………………………….
Back in the hotel bedroom they talked and planned. Jarmila arrived with fresh blood for Spike, as she knew that it would help him heal from the wounds Milan had told her about, and Spike drank it as the others sent for more food from room-service. After the session in the bathroom with Mhairi he was almost completely back to normal.
Willow and Mhairi discussed locator spells with Giles, and to a lesser extent with Milan. The simplest might well be the particular spell to locate a Slayer, as they would normally need an item belonging to the target for the locator spell to find Ethan Rayne. It was possible that, with enough amplification from Mhairi and Giles, Willow might be able to use the book that he had handled and dropped; but it was very much a long shot.
The hotel room was very crowded with seven people in it. Jarmila suggested that she should go and do a routine patrol, and keep her eyes open for anything useful, and Milan decided to accompany her. Arrangements were made for Giles, Willow and Mhairi to go to the university next morning. Milan could provide a more suitable environment for the spell casting and source any spell components that the two witches would need. As they left Spike asked the Slayer if he could come along to the university next day to spar, just to make sure that he was fully fit, and Jarmila grinned and said that he would be very welcome.
Once they had left Spike asked Giles if he could have a few words with him, and they moved to Giles’ room together, leaving Willow and Mhairi with Dawn, preparing to set wards and protection spells on Dawn and Spike’s room.
Catching sight of herself in the mirror Dawn could see that her facial bruising was fading quickly since Mhairi had treated it. By breakfast she should be able to go downstairs wearing no more make-up than usual without it being obvious. Mhairi, Dawn thought, was more of a cleric than a magic-user; when she mentioned this Mhairi smiled, obviously recognising the allusion, and said that the differences between her and Willow in terms of the powers they used were what made them work together so well. Just as Dawn and Spike’s own special abilities worked so well together, she added.
…………
“Look Rupert,” Spike began, on entering Giles’ hotel room, “just want to get things straight. Don’t want you thanking me for rescuing Dawn when I nearly cocked it up.”
Giles said nothing, but merely raised his eyebrows slightly and waited for Spike to continue.
“See, I rushed in too fast really. Bastards laid me out cold. If they hadn’t thought it’d be fun to throw my body in with Dawn for when she came to, I wouldn’t have been in the right place to help her create the portal. Was more by accident than intention that it worked. Don’t want you going on about how well I did when I didn’t!”
“Sit down, Spike,” Giles said, mildly, “I’ll pour us a drink, although I don’t suppose the mini-bar has any really decent Scotch... no… but adequate,” he continued, suiting actions to his words.
Spike looked somewhat puzzled. “You listening to what I’m saying, Rupert? I screwed up. Shouldn’t have gone off half-cock like that.”
“Spike!” Giles interjected. “I am most impressed that you were able to find out so quickly where they were holding Dawn. If you had contacted us, and we had had a locator spell cast, it might have been many hours before we could have pinpointed the area with sufficient accuracy. She might well have been more badly injured. Or Ethan Rayne might have actually arrived at the house and been able to see through the cloaking spells enough to recognize the truth about The Key.
“Your own contacts proved effective. And, even though your rescue attempt did not go exactly as you had planned, the fact that they did not realise that you could not be killed in the normal sense means that you would have eventually regained consciousness and taken them by surprise.”
“Yeah,” Spike said, with a rather unpleasant grin, “I told Dawn that we sure as Hell would have taken them by surprise if I’d gone up those stairs. S’ppose you’re right – if they hadn’t thrown me down the stairs I’d have figured out something when I came to!”
“Exactly!” Giles said. “And it had not occurred to me how efficiently the pair of you could work as a team to open a portal. I feel even more reassured now that Dawn will be safe with you. Although requesting reinforcements from Council resources, if you do not wish to give anything about yourself away to what I have heard the Slayers refer to as ‘Muggles’, might be worth considering should the situation ever arise again.”
Spike downed the whisky and then replied seriously, “It might arise again, too, if we don’t do anything about Ethan fucking Rayne and whoever he’s working with. I don’t know how he got wind of The Key – we might need him to provide the answer to that – but if he knows enough to send people after Dawn then he knows too bloody much.
“I don’t care if you shared a wet-nurse, or he was your fag at Eton, or whatever the link between the pair of you is – I’ll only be happy when the bastard is dead, and if you aren’t happy about that then you’ll just have to look the other way.”
Giles finished his own whisky. “Actually we didn’t meet until university,” he said, mildly, “and I was at Shrewsbury.”
He poured two more whiskies. “However, I do agree that Ethan Rayne is too big a threat to Dawn’s safety for us to let him slip through our hands this time. Although I would prefer not to ask any of the Slayers to be responsible for ‘taking him out’ as they say.”
“I’d prefer them not to be, too,” Spike said. “Because I want to do the job myself.”
His eyes flashed distinctly yellow as he downed the second whisky, and he hoped that Giles noticed.
……………..
By the time Spike returned to his own room there was still no obvious plan for dealing with Ethan Rayne. Until they could find him there was no clear-cut way forward. However Spike and Giles had reached an understanding that something needed to be done, and that this something was likely to prove terminal. Giles’ agreement on this point made Spike happier than he had been in the previous thirty or so hours.
Mhairi and Willow were still with Dawn, but were ready to leave once Spike got back. They had set wards, and a variety of protection spells on the room, and they reassured both Spike and Dawn that they could have some much needed sleep with no worries. Mhairi’s parting shot, as she followed Willow out the door, was “Remember, Marvin Gaye had a very good point!”
“We should have got wind of the attack through the grapevine?” Dawn asked Spike, puzzled.
“I have a feeling that she was thinking about another song, love!” Spike answered with a grin, but didn’t enlighten her further.
He hadn’t considered making love to Dawn that night at all. He’s expected her to be bruised and sore and, if he was being honest with himself, he’d dreaded her pushing him away. Even though she hadn’t been raped, she’d been sexually assaulted, and for a while he had almost expected her to blame him for what had happened and totally reject him. Although Mhairi had brought him face to face with that fear, and Dawn had made it clear that she didn’t blame him, he was prepared for it to take months for Dawn to recover enough psychologically for love-making.
But she had leant unconsciously into his touch when he had smoothed the witch’s salve onto her in the bathroom, and, when he had tried to hide what he thought of as a rather inappropriate erection, Dawn had run a hand over the outside of his jeans and said “I’m glad to see your reflexes are back to normal!” So, maybe Mhairi had a point with her Marvin Gaye remark; but it would still be best just to lie quietly, and hold her only if she wanted him to, Spike thought, as he waited in bed for Dawn to finish in the bathroom.
Dawn slid in beside him. For a few seconds neither of them moved, and then she pushed herself hard against him, and burrowed her head into his shoulder. But as he held her tightly with one arm, and gently stroked her hair and her back with the other, Spike was conscious of an undertone of fear in the combined scent of Dawn’s skin, her hair, and Mhairi’s ointments. He didn’t want her to be scared of being in bed with him – oh, how he wanted to get his hands on Ethan Rayne!
He could feel himself having to keep the demon down, the demon that wanted to wreak vengeance now, the demon that was also turned on by the scent of fear. Then just like Old Faithful he felt his cock reacting to Dawn’s presence (Man or demon? The reaction was the same no matter which one was in control!). He wondered whether to try and move away a little at groin level to make it less obvious, because the bloody thing wouldn’t just lie quiet. But before he could do any such thing she lifted her face to his and started to kiss him, and her hand slid down his body to curl warmly around his cock.
He started to respond gently to the kiss but it was not a gentle kiss. Dawn’s mouth on his was demanding, urgent, and for a few seconds Spike was reminded of her sister’s need all those years ago for hard, fast, savage sex to make her ‘feel’, to make her feel anything.
He was somewhat taken aback, and didn’t immediately react; and then, with a flash of insight as vivid as a voice talking to him, Spike realised that a ‘gentle’ response might be interpreted as ‘unwillingly’ or ‘without desire’. The fear might not be a fear of him, or of sex. He let himself go with the moment, and kissed her back deeply, as she twined her legs around him and applied just the right amount of pressure with her fingers around his cock.
As he felt himself become harder still, he completed the kiss, and moved his mouth down to Dawn’s breasts. As her nipples hardened beneath his tongue he felt her body soften and relax, and he realised that his flash of insight was probably spot on. Maybe she was frightened that he wouldn’t want her any more? He paused and threw the duvet onto the floor, and then, still caressing her body with his hands, he sat up a little and gazed at her.
“Beautiful,” he said. “Perfect, and sexy. And I want to fuck your brains out ‘cos you turn me on so much. But I can wait a day or two if your bruises still hurt, moonbeam.”
“No!” Dawn said, “Mhairi’s magic potion has helped a lot, and I want you to love me.”
“Always love you!” Spike said, even though he knew what she meant.
“Good,” Dawn said, with a grin, and Spike knew that the experiences of the past thirty hours were not going to damage what they had together.
Even so, he was determined not to let their love-making give Dawn any pain. He moved down and used his tongue for the first touch to her inner folds and used every skill he had to take away the memory of the rough touch of someone else’s hands. If ever he met that Slayer, with time to talk, he would thank her for killing that bastard – even though he would have preferred to kill him himself.
As he dipped his tongue as deeply inside Dawn as possible, he inhaled and savoured the fact that there was no smell of fear any more, or pain, only of desire. Alternating between his tongue inside her and his teeth on her clit, (a passing thanks to Darla for teaching him about the clitoris!) he could feel Dawn’s hands tight in his hair, her hips moving and bucking, and then that brief moment of rigidity before she yelled his name and he could feel her orgasm through every point of contact.
Spike’s body, demon driven, wanted to throw itself over Dawn as she lay, plunge in, bury itself, until his balls were pressed hard against her; shag her hard and fast and empty himself deep inside her. But these days the man could usually keep the demon under control, and the man would settle for a degree of discomfort and letting her go to sleep.
Fortunately for both aspects of Spike, it was pretty clear that Dawn wanted to have him inside her, but he was alert enough to notice her involuntarily tensing as his cock slid along her cleft and he knew that even though her kidnapping would not damage their partnership, the effects had not all gone away already. There would be shadows of it in their bed for a little while to come.
He held back enough to slide in gently and then to ask “You O.K. love? Not too sore?”
Dawn bit her lip slightly, but answered “I don’t care about the bruises; I want you to fuck me hard. I want to know that any pain, any hurt I feel tomorrow in my pussy is because your cock has been in it and I’ve been stretched and filled and screwed senseless. Can you understand? Or am I being mad?”
In answer Spike drove in deeper, then kissed her hard, and as he felt her lift her hips in response he said “Not mad. My brave, brave, sexy girl. I’ll take it all away, shag you ‘til you can’t think, ‘til you’re too tired to be fucked any more.” And for the first time in all his years of having sex, he found himself thinking of a Marvin Gaye track as he thrust.
An hour or two later Dawn lay, seemingly satiated, with her head on Spike’s chest. Spike was fairly sure that the amount of fucking, in varying positions, the tossing and tumbling from one end of the bed to the other, from one end of each other to the other, the nibbling and nipping, and his and hers orgasms that he had lost count of, would have the effect Dawn wanted.
“Alright, pet?” he asked softly.
“Fine,” came the answer, “Sore, and a bit swollen, and totally sexed. I feel safe now.”
Whilst he thought of an answer, she continued, sounding sleepy, “But I still don’t understand about Marvin Gaye...” And Spike decided that he would explain ‘Sexual Healing’ to her in the morning – even though she had figured the concept out for herself.
………………………..
They spent the next morning in Milan’s office at the university. Mhairi and Giles set about gathering together spell components. Dawn and Willow, who was still a highly skilled computer hacker, searched the local police files for a report on the deaths of Dawn’s captors. Milan gave instructions on where to shop to Mhairi and Giles and then helped Willow with translation. Spike watched Willow testing and breaking the codes on the police system too, and then decided that reading books in Latin was more interesting.
Dawn wanted her phone, and her note books, and she was trying to work out how she could reclaim them when Willow and Milan realised that there was no mention of them in the reports or lists of evidence. “Bugger!” said Spike, from the far end of the room, “No chance of my bloody watch then, I suppose?”
The answer was that actually both watches seemed to be there, but no phones or notebooks; the Slayer must have taken them. This was the starting point for more conjecture about who she was, and who she could be working for – the where she was would hopefully become clear very soon.
Spike couldn’t settle to read. Last night’s sex with Dawn had helped him heal too, but right now he wanted to hit something, very hard, just to keep him going until he could sink his fangs into Ethan Rayne. He was very glad when Jarmila arrived carrying lunch for everyone, including his ‘usual’.
“So, Spike, you want to come and check whether you are fighting fit, eh?” she asked him, with a smile, when she had finished her own lunch.
“Be a pleasure, pet,” he answered, jumping to his feet. “You coming, Milan?”
“No, no, I will stay to help set up the spell,” came the answer.
“Can I come and watch, in a minute or two?” Dawn asked. “I haven’t watched you fighting in a long time, Spike.”
“Sure,” Jarmila answered. “More exciting than watching dancing! Come for a little time now and see where we are.”
So all three went to the training room, but, whilst the Slayer and the vampire got out equipment and warmed up, Dawn went back to the others.
Less than a minute after Dawn left the room, as Spike did a couple of last stretches to see whether his chest really was fully healed, Jarmila suddenly turned around and looked at him as if she was really surprised to see him there.
“Upir!” she snarled, in a tone that was anything but friendly, and leapt towards him with a stake in her hand.
“What the fuck…?” was Spike’s last thought before she reached him.
.....................................
The ’BtVS’ characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ©2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox.
Feedback is much appreciated - it is very low in carbs and calories - which is a very good thing just at the moment!
Previous chapters are in Memories.
ETA - anyone who doesn't recognise the Marvin Gaye track in question - Petzi has put a link to it in her comment below.
S2C has just finished checking out my punctuation in the next chapter of Access All Areas, and so without further ado -
Access All Areas. Chapter 11.
4,300 words. NC17.
Spike opened the door of the hotel room before Dawn or Milan had even noticed footsteps, and Dawn found herself engulfed in a warm wave of sound and arms.
“Good God! Oh my dear girl!”
“Dawnie, oh my poor Dawnie!”
Both Giles and Willow looked badly shocked at the extent of the bruises on her face, and then both attempted to hug her simultaneously without hurting her.
Enfolded between them Dawn heard a third voice asking Spike, in a soft Highland accent, how he was and she realised that Willow’s partner, Mhairi, had accompanied them. Dawn was glad – Mhairi and Willow worked so well together magically that she could certainly help focus spell casting if necessary – and the more Dawn got to know her the more she appreciated the dark-haired Scotswoman’s ability to keep Willow, and anyone else around her, firmly anchored to reality with her gentle no-nonsense approach.
Giles was now holding Dawn at arms’ length and wondering again whether she should have been checked over by a doctor. Willow was still looking at her with big shocked eyes. Spike’s voice could be heard saying “’M fine, ‘m fine now. Vampire healing and all that!” and Mhairi stood back from him slightly and looked at him for a few seconds before pulling him into a hug.
Then Mhairi turned to Dawn and Giles. “She is quite right, you know,” she said firmly, “she is healing, and doesn’t need a doctor.”
Giles looked at her as if to disagree, then said “Thank you, Mhairi, if you are sure then it will save any need for complications.”
Turning to Milan, an arm still holding Dawn close, Giles explained “I know that Dawn had convinced you and Spike that she is fine, and I am sure that had she been bleeding, even internally, Spike would have known,” he looked over at Spike with a small nod. “But Mhairi has a form of ‘the sight’ and can read people’s auras for injury and illness. She would be aware of illness or injury of which even Dawn herself was unaware.”
Giles went on to thank Spike for finding Dawn, at which Spike looked embarrassed, Willow too turned her attention to the vampire, and Dawn found herself being pulled into the bathroom by Mhairi.
From her bag Mhairi produced a small jar. “You may not have any major physical damage,” she said, smiling, “but I think that something to soothe the bruising would help.”
Dawn looked queryingly at the jar.
“Arnica, aloe vera, love, hope and sunshine,” Mhairi said, with a grin, “in other words, healing herbs and some small Earth magic!” She gently soothed it onto Dawn’s face, said a few words in her mother tongue, and then asked “Shall I do the rest, or would you rather do them yourself?”
Before Dawn could answer the witch said “No, better still.” She moved to the bathroom door and said “Leave the poor man alone for a minute. He may be healing but he is not completely healed! Come here Spike, and let me look at that chest and head.”
“’M all right!” Spike insisted; but something that he saw in Mhairi’s eyes stopped him arguing any more, and, as Willow took him by the arm and propelled him across the floor, he put up no resistance.
Mhairi shut the door. “Shirt off!” she commanded Spike. “You know fine well I only got you in here to look at your body anyway,” she added, with a grin. Dawn smiled. Probably her first genuine smile in twenty-four hours. She remembered Mhairi telling Spike previously that she was as bisexual as Willow and could well appreciate his body.
Spike smiled back and tugged off his t-shirt. The skin had closed over the gunshot wound on his chest, although it still looked startlingly red against his normal pallor, but Mhairi quickly turned him around and reached out a hand to where the exit wound was still not totally closed.
“Well, it’s a fine thing, to heal so quickly,” she said. “Although a little extra help would not do any harm,” she continued, unscrewing the lid of another small jar.
“That stuff work on vampires?” Spike asked.
“Do you know,’ Mhairi said cheerfully, “I really don’t know – but I doubt it will do any harm!”
She dabbed some on, left her hand in contact with his back and muttered a few words, and then stood and watched for a few seconds. The wound suddenly had skin over it.
“So,” she said, “I’m thinking that looks better, eh?”
Spike stretched his arms out sideways and then above his head. He grinned and said “Bloody brilliant, that! Feels fine.”
“Yes, well,” said the witch, “if we get your head as good things will be fine.”
“Head’s healed!” Spike protested, turning his face away so that she could see where the scalp wound was no longer visible.
“I meant the inside!” Mhairi retorted, smiling, before turning to Dawn. “How are you feeling?” Mhairi asked her gently.
“The swelling feels much better already,” Dawn answered.
“Good,” said Mhairi, holding Dawn gently by the wrist, and feeling behind herself for Spike’s hand as well, “but I meant in yourself, rather than physically.”
Dawn looked into the other woman’s green-flecked eyes and said, truthfully, “Shocked, violated I guess, angry, a bit scared.”
“And whose fault is it? Who do you blame?” Mhairi asked.
Dawn looked somewhat surprised by the questions, but something in Mhairi’s face held her attention, and she answered thoughtfully “I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault. Well, Ethan Rayne’s fault, I guess. It might be mine, a bit; maybe if I’d been concentrating better they wouldn’t have gotten the jump on me. Or perhaps we shouldn’t have been opening portals; that might have given it away. Maybe the monks’ fault – they made the Key into me! But I don’t really think it was anyone’s fault. It’s just part of being me.”
Mhairi turned to Spike. “See?” she asked him. “Not your fault at all.”
She paused, and then went on, “I would never cast a spell that messed with people’s minds, or their memories,” and Dawn knew that Mhairi must know about some of the things Willow had done in the past. “But if I did,” Mhairi went on, “I would just be giving you a tweak to make sure that you believe that!”
Before Spike could say anything the Wiccan continued. “Guilt is not a good thing in a relationship – especially if unfounded. Now doubtless Giles will want to talk to you both for hours, but first, there is salve to rub onto Dawn’s other bruises, and she might appreciate your touch more than mine, Spike. Oh – and a little of the stuff I put on your chest on the wrist wound will speed it up, although not quite as much as it did on you!”
Mhairi paused briefly, her face blanking over for a few seconds, and both Spike and Dawn recognised it as her personal ‘cloaking’ move which enabled her to switch off the auras of those about her. Then she shook her head slightly, smiled at them, and left them together in the small room.
Spike and Dawn looked at each other. His face looked almost expressionless for about ten seconds, although to Dawn it felt like ages, and then a smile slowly lifted the corners of Spike’s mouth and he said “Sorry.”
Dawn opened her mouth to ask if he had taken any notice of the conversation with Mhairi but, before she could speak, Spike continued “Nearly started to brood there.”
A laugh began to bubble up inside Dawn; she reached forward and tried to muss Spike’s fashionably short hair to make it stand on end. Even though he couldn’t see the effect in the mirror she knew that Spike recognised what she was doing as she said “No! You can’t brood – you don’t have the right hair style!”
Spike caught her by the arms, and then fitted his actions to his words as he said “You heard what the lady said – shirt off!”
……………………………….
Back in the hotel bedroom they talked and planned. Jarmila arrived with fresh blood for Spike, as she knew that it would help him heal from the wounds Milan had told her about, and Spike drank it as the others sent for more food from room-service. After the session in the bathroom with Mhairi he was almost completely back to normal.
Willow and Mhairi discussed locator spells with Giles, and to a lesser extent with Milan. The simplest might well be the particular spell to locate a Slayer, as they would normally need an item belonging to the target for the locator spell to find Ethan Rayne. It was possible that, with enough amplification from Mhairi and Giles, Willow might be able to use the book that he had handled and dropped; but it was very much a long shot.
The hotel room was very crowded with seven people in it. Jarmila suggested that she should go and do a routine patrol, and keep her eyes open for anything useful, and Milan decided to accompany her. Arrangements were made for Giles, Willow and Mhairi to go to the university next morning. Milan could provide a more suitable environment for the spell casting and source any spell components that the two witches would need. As they left Spike asked the Slayer if he could come along to the university next day to spar, just to make sure that he was fully fit, and Jarmila grinned and said that he would be very welcome.
Once they had left Spike asked Giles if he could have a few words with him, and they moved to Giles’ room together, leaving Willow and Mhairi with Dawn, preparing to set wards and protection spells on Dawn and Spike’s room.
Catching sight of herself in the mirror Dawn could see that her facial bruising was fading quickly since Mhairi had treated it. By breakfast she should be able to go downstairs wearing no more make-up than usual without it being obvious. Mhairi, Dawn thought, was more of a cleric than a magic-user; when she mentioned this Mhairi smiled, obviously recognising the allusion, and said that the differences between her and Willow in terms of the powers they used were what made them work together so well. Just as Dawn and Spike’s own special abilities worked so well together, she added.
…………
“Look Rupert,” Spike began, on entering Giles’ hotel room, “just want to get things straight. Don’t want you thanking me for rescuing Dawn when I nearly cocked it up.”
Giles said nothing, but merely raised his eyebrows slightly and waited for Spike to continue.
“See, I rushed in too fast really. Bastards laid me out cold. If they hadn’t thought it’d be fun to throw my body in with Dawn for when she came to, I wouldn’t have been in the right place to help her create the portal. Was more by accident than intention that it worked. Don’t want you going on about how well I did when I didn’t!”
“Sit down, Spike,” Giles said, mildly, “I’ll pour us a drink, although I don’t suppose the mini-bar has any really decent Scotch... no… but adequate,” he continued, suiting actions to his words.
Spike looked somewhat puzzled. “You listening to what I’m saying, Rupert? I screwed up. Shouldn’t have gone off half-cock like that.”
“Spike!” Giles interjected. “I am most impressed that you were able to find out so quickly where they were holding Dawn. If you had contacted us, and we had had a locator spell cast, it might have been many hours before we could have pinpointed the area with sufficient accuracy. She might well have been more badly injured. Or Ethan Rayne might have actually arrived at the house and been able to see through the cloaking spells enough to recognize the truth about The Key.
“Your own contacts proved effective. And, even though your rescue attempt did not go exactly as you had planned, the fact that they did not realise that you could not be killed in the normal sense means that you would have eventually regained consciousness and taken them by surprise.”
“Yeah,” Spike said, with a rather unpleasant grin, “I told Dawn that we sure as Hell would have taken them by surprise if I’d gone up those stairs. S’ppose you’re right – if they hadn’t thrown me down the stairs I’d have figured out something when I came to!”
“Exactly!” Giles said. “And it had not occurred to me how efficiently the pair of you could work as a team to open a portal. I feel even more reassured now that Dawn will be safe with you. Although requesting reinforcements from Council resources, if you do not wish to give anything about yourself away to what I have heard the Slayers refer to as ‘Muggles’, might be worth considering should the situation ever arise again.”
Spike downed the whisky and then replied seriously, “It might arise again, too, if we don’t do anything about Ethan fucking Rayne and whoever he’s working with. I don’t know how he got wind of The Key – we might need him to provide the answer to that – but if he knows enough to send people after Dawn then he knows too bloody much.
“I don’t care if you shared a wet-nurse, or he was your fag at Eton, or whatever the link between the pair of you is – I’ll only be happy when the bastard is dead, and if you aren’t happy about that then you’ll just have to look the other way.”
Giles finished his own whisky. “Actually we didn’t meet until university,” he said, mildly, “and I was at Shrewsbury.”
He poured two more whiskies. “However, I do agree that Ethan Rayne is too big a threat to Dawn’s safety for us to let him slip through our hands this time. Although I would prefer not to ask any of the Slayers to be responsible for ‘taking him out’ as they say.”
“I’d prefer them not to be, too,” Spike said. “Because I want to do the job myself.”
His eyes flashed distinctly yellow as he downed the second whisky, and he hoped that Giles noticed.
……………..
By the time Spike returned to his own room there was still no obvious plan for dealing with Ethan Rayne. Until they could find him there was no clear-cut way forward. However Spike and Giles had reached an understanding that something needed to be done, and that this something was likely to prove terminal. Giles’ agreement on this point made Spike happier than he had been in the previous thirty or so hours.
Mhairi and Willow were still with Dawn, but were ready to leave once Spike got back. They had set wards, and a variety of protection spells on the room, and they reassured both Spike and Dawn that they could have some much needed sleep with no worries. Mhairi’s parting shot, as she followed Willow out the door, was “Remember, Marvin Gaye had a very good point!”
“We should have got wind of the attack through the grapevine?” Dawn asked Spike, puzzled.
“I have a feeling that she was thinking about another song, love!” Spike answered with a grin, but didn’t enlighten her further.
He hadn’t considered making love to Dawn that night at all. He’s expected her to be bruised and sore and, if he was being honest with himself, he’d dreaded her pushing him away. Even though she hadn’t been raped, she’d been sexually assaulted, and for a while he had almost expected her to blame him for what had happened and totally reject him. Although Mhairi had brought him face to face with that fear, and Dawn had made it clear that she didn’t blame him, he was prepared for it to take months for Dawn to recover enough psychologically for love-making.
But she had leant unconsciously into his touch when he had smoothed the witch’s salve onto her in the bathroom, and, when he had tried to hide what he thought of as a rather inappropriate erection, Dawn had run a hand over the outside of his jeans and said “I’m glad to see your reflexes are back to normal!” So, maybe Mhairi had a point with her Marvin Gaye remark; but it would still be best just to lie quietly, and hold her only if she wanted him to, Spike thought, as he waited in bed for Dawn to finish in the bathroom.
Dawn slid in beside him. For a few seconds neither of them moved, and then she pushed herself hard against him, and burrowed her head into his shoulder. But as he held her tightly with one arm, and gently stroked her hair and her back with the other, Spike was conscious of an undertone of fear in the combined scent of Dawn’s skin, her hair, and Mhairi’s ointments. He didn’t want her to be scared of being in bed with him – oh, how he wanted to get his hands on Ethan Rayne!
He could feel himself having to keep the demon down, the demon that wanted to wreak vengeance now, the demon that was also turned on by the scent of fear. Then just like Old Faithful he felt his cock reacting to Dawn’s presence (Man or demon? The reaction was the same no matter which one was in control!). He wondered whether to try and move away a little at groin level to make it less obvious, because the bloody thing wouldn’t just lie quiet. But before he could do any such thing she lifted her face to his and started to kiss him, and her hand slid down his body to curl warmly around his cock.
He started to respond gently to the kiss but it was not a gentle kiss. Dawn’s mouth on his was demanding, urgent, and for a few seconds Spike was reminded of her sister’s need all those years ago for hard, fast, savage sex to make her ‘feel’, to make her feel anything.
He was somewhat taken aback, and didn’t immediately react; and then, with a flash of insight as vivid as a voice talking to him, Spike realised that a ‘gentle’ response might be interpreted as ‘unwillingly’ or ‘without desire’. The fear might not be a fear of him, or of sex. He let himself go with the moment, and kissed her back deeply, as she twined her legs around him and applied just the right amount of pressure with her fingers around his cock.
As he felt himself become harder still, he completed the kiss, and moved his mouth down to Dawn’s breasts. As her nipples hardened beneath his tongue he felt her body soften and relax, and he realised that his flash of insight was probably spot on. Maybe she was frightened that he wouldn’t want her any more? He paused and threw the duvet onto the floor, and then, still caressing her body with his hands, he sat up a little and gazed at her.
“Beautiful,” he said. “Perfect, and sexy. And I want to fuck your brains out ‘cos you turn me on so much. But I can wait a day or two if your bruises still hurt, moonbeam.”
“No!” Dawn said, “Mhairi’s magic potion has helped a lot, and I want you to love me.”
“Always love you!” Spike said, even though he knew what she meant.
“Good,” Dawn said, with a grin, and Spike knew that the experiences of the past thirty hours were not going to damage what they had together.
Even so, he was determined not to let their love-making give Dawn any pain. He moved down and used his tongue for the first touch to her inner folds and used every skill he had to take away the memory of the rough touch of someone else’s hands. If ever he met that Slayer, with time to talk, he would thank her for killing that bastard – even though he would have preferred to kill him himself.
As he dipped his tongue as deeply inside Dawn as possible, he inhaled and savoured the fact that there was no smell of fear any more, or pain, only of desire. Alternating between his tongue inside her and his teeth on her clit, (a passing thanks to Darla for teaching him about the clitoris!) he could feel Dawn’s hands tight in his hair, her hips moving and bucking, and then that brief moment of rigidity before she yelled his name and he could feel her orgasm through every point of contact.
Spike’s body, demon driven, wanted to throw itself over Dawn as she lay, plunge in, bury itself, until his balls were pressed hard against her; shag her hard and fast and empty himself deep inside her. But these days the man could usually keep the demon under control, and the man would settle for a degree of discomfort and letting her go to sleep.
Fortunately for both aspects of Spike, it was pretty clear that Dawn wanted to have him inside her, but he was alert enough to notice her involuntarily tensing as his cock slid along her cleft and he knew that even though her kidnapping would not damage their partnership, the effects had not all gone away already. There would be shadows of it in their bed for a little while to come.
He held back enough to slide in gently and then to ask “You O.K. love? Not too sore?”
Dawn bit her lip slightly, but answered “I don’t care about the bruises; I want you to fuck me hard. I want to know that any pain, any hurt I feel tomorrow in my pussy is because your cock has been in it and I’ve been stretched and filled and screwed senseless. Can you understand? Or am I being mad?”
In answer Spike drove in deeper, then kissed her hard, and as he felt her lift her hips in response he said “Not mad. My brave, brave, sexy girl. I’ll take it all away, shag you ‘til you can’t think, ‘til you’re too tired to be fucked any more.” And for the first time in all his years of having sex, he found himself thinking of a Marvin Gaye track as he thrust.
An hour or two later Dawn lay, seemingly satiated, with her head on Spike’s chest. Spike was fairly sure that the amount of fucking, in varying positions, the tossing and tumbling from one end of the bed to the other, from one end of each other to the other, the nibbling and nipping, and his and hers orgasms that he had lost count of, would have the effect Dawn wanted.
“Alright, pet?” he asked softly.
“Fine,” came the answer, “Sore, and a bit swollen, and totally sexed. I feel safe now.”
Whilst he thought of an answer, she continued, sounding sleepy, “But I still don’t understand about Marvin Gaye...” And Spike decided that he would explain ‘Sexual Healing’ to her in the morning – even though she had figured the concept out for herself.
………………………..
They spent the next morning in Milan’s office at the university. Mhairi and Giles set about gathering together spell components. Dawn and Willow, who was still a highly skilled computer hacker, searched the local police files for a report on the deaths of Dawn’s captors. Milan gave instructions on where to shop to Mhairi and Giles and then helped Willow with translation. Spike watched Willow testing and breaking the codes on the police system too, and then decided that reading books in Latin was more interesting.
Dawn wanted her phone, and her note books, and she was trying to work out how she could reclaim them when Willow and Milan realised that there was no mention of them in the reports or lists of evidence. “Bugger!” said Spike, from the far end of the room, “No chance of my bloody watch then, I suppose?”
The answer was that actually both watches seemed to be there, but no phones or notebooks; the Slayer must have taken them. This was the starting point for more conjecture about who she was, and who she could be working for – the where she was would hopefully become clear very soon.
Spike couldn’t settle to read. Last night’s sex with Dawn had helped him heal too, but right now he wanted to hit something, very hard, just to keep him going until he could sink his fangs into Ethan Rayne. He was very glad when Jarmila arrived carrying lunch for everyone, including his ‘usual’.
“So, Spike, you want to come and check whether you are fighting fit, eh?” she asked him, with a smile, when she had finished her own lunch.
“Be a pleasure, pet,” he answered, jumping to his feet. “You coming, Milan?”
“No, no, I will stay to help set up the spell,” came the answer.
“Can I come and watch, in a minute or two?” Dawn asked. “I haven’t watched you fighting in a long time, Spike.”
“Sure,” Jarmila answered. “More exciting than watching dancing! Come for a little time now and see where we are.”
So all three went to the training room, but, whilst the Slayer and the vampire got out equipment and warmed up, Dawn went back to the others.
Less than a minute after Dawn left the room, as Spike did a couple of last stretches to see whether his chest really was fully healed, Jarmila suddenly turned around and looked at him as if she was really surprised to see him there.
“Upir!” she snarled, in a tone that was anything but friendly, and leapt towards him with a stake in her hand.
“What the fuck…?” was Spike’s last thought before she reached him.
.....................................
The ’BtVS’ characters in this story do not belong to me, but are being used for amusement only and all rights remain with Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the writers of the original episodes, and the TV and production companies responsible for the original television shows. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER ©2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved. The Buffy the Vampire Slayer trademark is used without express permission from Fox.
Feedback is much appreciated - it is very low in carbs and calories - which is a very good thing just at the moment!
Previous chapters are in Memories.
ETA - anyone who doesn't recognise the Marvin Gaye track in question - Petzi has put a link to it in her comment below.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 27/04/2007 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 27/04/2007 10:22 pm (UTC)Is that a worried Richard Hammond in your icon?
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Date: 27/04/2007 11:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 27/04/2007 11:17 pm (UTC)Thank you - both for the kind words and the link.
I'm glad that Mhairi works for you, and that Giles is believable.
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Date: 27/04/2007 11:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 28/04/2007 09:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28/04/2007 02:20 am (UTC)Really enjoying this story! What a perfect, cozy, healing chapter after a series of suspenseful chapters-- well, up until that truly evil cliffhanger anyway!! ::admires evil cliffhanger::
Love the healthy, loving relationship you write for our heroes. I can believe it for both of them, and nicely nuanced.
And Dawn not knowing Marvin Gay is just too funny-- though i suppose she was born after his murder! I suddenly feel very, very old! I was a teenager when that happened!
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Date: 28/04/2007 08:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28/04/2007 10:06 am (UTC)::admires evil cliffhanger::
Hee - thank you so much for the admiration.
And as S2C says - Dawn who would be now (in 2007), a 21 year old has only ever heard of Marvin Gaye singing 'Heard it through the Grapevine.'. My 19 year old was only vaguely aware of even that!
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Date: 28/04/2007 05:56 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28/04/2007 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 28/04/2007 10:22 pm (UTC)Terrific chapter.
*icon encapsulates my feelings about the last four lines*
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Date: 28/04/2007 10:26 pm (UTC)Thank you. See - I can do cliffhangers when I try hard!
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Date: 28/04/2007 10:30 pm (UTC)Great update....love the sexual healing. YES, Dawn needed someone who loves her to be very sexual with her after what happened. I think you know a bit of my TMI history....she needs exactly what you had her describe...the feel of Spike and his love overlaying the fiend and his pawing. WONDERFUL and real.
Kathleen
Glad you like the roses....Jim and I had talked of sending the real thing but it occurred to me that I do not have your physical address and doubt flowers randomly sent to your Manx town would do the trick *G*. (BTW, if you would care to share that bit of info for future reference to me via e-mail, I'd appreciate that very much). At least you didn't have to water these *G*.
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Date: 28/04/2007 11:49 pm (UTC)Congratulations and well spotted - the advantage of reading this chapter straight after the last one!
And I am so glad that you think I have Dawn's reaction right.
Also of course I will e-mail the land address, no problem.
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Date: 29/04/2007 09:28 am (UTC)Mhairi on the other hand doesn't use the same logic at all - she deals with feelings and hurt, both physical and psychological.
When both of them are telling Spike the same thing, he'd better believe it!
And yes, we now see what Ethan's plot is....
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Date: 29/04/2007 02:32 am (UTC)I'm really enjoying the story - I have a strong preference for stories in which most of the threat comes from outside influences so it's great to see Dawn and Spike dealing so well with her having been abducted.
I'm also loving Mhairi. She reminds me to some extent of Tara, who was one of my favourite characters but is different enough to remain interesting. The idea of her being a cleric is a nice one.
I also enjoyed the developments in Anna and the knights' story in Ch 10. I look forward to more of them finding out about the mistranslation!
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Date: 29/04/2007 09:31 am (UTC)I am so glad that you like Mhairi - I wanted her to be herself, but also someone who might remind you a little of Tara.
And the Knights are going to turn up again soon.
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Date: 30/04/2007 11:39 pm (UTC)And happy belated anniversary!
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Date: 01/05/2007 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 01/05/2007 02:10 am (UTC)And I think that Spike might be in just a little bit of trouble right now...
Very well done last couple of chapters. I loved the scene in the shower with Dawn and Spike. You can really feel Dawn's pain. Also loved her need of him. Good work.
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Date: 01/05/2007 07:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 02/05/2007 10:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 02/05/2007 11:14 pm (UTC)Cool!
Date: 04/05/2007 10:56 am (UTC)Liked the new chapter.
Though I had a small question. Blame it to my retarted neurological growth but I dont understand why Dawn becomes so sexually aggressive after the incident with the captors. Shouldn't she be subdued or well a little wary of the whole act?
Love To all!!
Re: Cool!
Date: 04/05/2007 06:17 pm (UTC)Then she explains that I want to know that any pain, any hurt I feel tomorrow in my pussy is because your cock has been in it
I saw it as an example of Dawn again finding her own way of coming to terms with something, and again being strong - she is not a Slayer, does not have their tenacity and strength, and yet she is a mentally strong young woman.
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Date: 04/08/2007 10:09 pm (UTC)