Temptation

(Characters are not ours, they're Joss')

It burned him up that someone else was now responsible for Dawn's training. As he watched from dark doorways, behind trash dumps, and from rooftops, he often had lists of criticism of her new trainer's instructions prepared by the time he was able to corner her alone. More often than not, the lists were forgotten as they snatched the few moments of freedom to touch and feel and taste each other.

It was better than no time together, and the watchers had started to give more independent slaying time to their trainees. This would be to their benefit, not that Spike would allow her not to complete training assignments. But he'd make sure they were completed faster... so that they had time to do other things slower.

Tonight was a dark moonless night. The trainees were to patrol an area of warehouses, ordinarily a hot bed of vampire activity, but for the last several nights, seasoned watchers had thinned the ranks of the vampires in order to be able to move forward with the exercise. Spike had watched... had even helped them, though they didn't know it. And he'd found out the route that would be assigned to the one trainee he was most interested in.
Where was she? If she was dawdling with that other trainee, he just might have to ... there, he heard her distinct footfalls. It was classic Dawn, trolling for vampires. He moved from the part of the wall that was cloaked in complete darkness, to a spot where a small wedge of light radiated down from a light fixture on the building.

The instant she saw him, he saw her mouth curve into a smile. His blood surged, he swallowed. There she was, the siren who filled his thoughts, day and night. "You've been in my dreams again. C'mere," he crooked his finger, "let me show you."

Dawn’s eyes lit up, but she played casual. “I don’t know,” she said in mock-objection. “I’m supposed to be patrolling and all. Isn’t that kind of like getting your dessert before your Brussels sprouts?” In spite of her negative words, she strolled over to where he was, even as he leaned back against the wall and widened his stance.

She approached with an extra little sway to her flaring hips, and didn’t stop moving until she was between his legs, her belly brushing up against the front of his jeans. “Hi.” She kissed him, lightly and teasingly. “Still wanna show me something?”

"I think you've found it," he said thickly, smiling. She certainly was a sight for sore eyes. "You're looking good. Everyone treating you right?" He asked, sliding his hands up and down her sides... closing his legs slightly, so she fit more firmly against him.

"If right means typical stoic British guy reserve, yeah. I think they're torn between condemning me as a totally wanton hussy," she nibbled at his neck as she pressed her hips further into his, purring in her throat at the increased contact, "and respecting the fact that I have Slayer-Lite experience, you know?" She breathed warmly into his ear. "It's kinda fun to watch their eyes as they desperately scroll through the mental Rolodex for the 'appropriate response.'"

"Not all Brits exhibit 'stoic guy reserve,'" he made his point by cupping her behind and rubbing his now fully aroused cock against her. "Not that I'm sad they're that way." He was silent for a moment as sensations rocked his body and he gathered his senses. "You've only been with me. That doesn't make you a hussy, it makes you a bad... bad girl." Slanting his mouth over hers, he delved inside the silky depths of her mouth, stroking her tongue, tangling with it until they were both breathless. "Thank God."

The heat between them was scorching, but he wanted to know more about her day. "School... how are your classes?"

She hung her head and made a snoring sound, then giggled. "It's not their fault, really, but man! I'm not thinking about school so much as I'm thinking about going on patrol... seeing you... beating up bad guys... kissing you... training in escape arts... touching you...." Her voice trailed off as she ran her fingers beneath his shirt, untucking it so she could massage along the muscles of his lower back. "Oh, yeah," she confirmed, "definitely with the touching. Licking... nibbling... sucking...."

He shuddered under her touch, reminded himself to bloody breathe if he wanted to stay alive. "That's good... no I didn't mean the school bit, meant what you're doing. 'Bout school," he tried for a severe tone. "Can't let it slide, yeah... Have to take it serious-like." Feathering kisses along her throat, he tried to keep it together.

"MMmmmm," she murmured wordlessly, in what might have been agreement with what he said, or perhaps was just a noise of appreciation for the kisses. "Got everything well in hand," she assured him, pressing her palm to the hardness of his cock, and trying to wrap her fingers around him in spite of the tightness of his jeans.

His cock surged against his zipper, hard and pulsing under her touch. Burying his face in her neck, he gave a strangled cry. "I see that. Your grades... got to keep those up."

Dawn bit her lip to keep from laughing in triumph and delight at his unguarded reaction, amazingly sweet after all the months he had fought so hard to resist her advances. "Oh," she said wisely, fingers working feverishly at the fastening of his jeans, her breath coming in short pants as her own desire grew exponentially. "Keep the grades... up."

The instant she freed him, they both knew how up and ready he was. Arching into her touch, he closed his eyes and enjoyed the rippling sensations arcing through him as her fingers closed around his length and she stroked him just so. He could do this forever. He could ask her to put her mouth where her hand was... then return the favor, before they both found their release together. But the ever-present time element had him dragging her up his body, and working to undo her pants. They had no time for play.

He cupped her and slid his middle finger back and forth against her slick sex. "What about... what about maths... I know you hate your maths classes," he panted. It was bloody hard, carrying on a conversation and trying to find a moment to ease the desires of their body. But if they didn't talk now, there might not be time later... and he didn't want to make the choice between sex and conversation.

Dawn was unable to prevent her fingers from tightening around Spike's cock, maybe harder than she'd intended, when his fingers slid along her wet cleft. "S-s-surprisingly," she hissed, rubbing herself along his finger with a desperation she hadn't come close to touching when she was still a virgin, "I'm good on the m-multiplying, and the—" As his fingers slid deep inside her, she moaned out the last word. "Dividing!"

"Good." He smirked at her reaction... his reward. "Thought you were having problems with... with... fuck..." he caught his breath, "chemistry or physics... maybe not." Lowering his mouth over hers, he kissed her as he positioned her body so that his cock was at her entrance, then lifted her to him.

"Chemistry's.... perfect," she gasped as he impaled her, her own jeans forcing her legs to stay closer together, rather than wrap his waist; the narrowness of her position, though, increased the intensity of her fragile flesh parting around his rock-hard cock, taking him in as deep as they both could manage.

"Oh, fuck," she exclaimed, the curse startled out of her at the shockingly deep, tight feeling of Spike inside her. Being almost fully clothed only added to the arousing, sneaky, clandestine feel of seeing him like this.

So hot... so tight... so perfect for him. He bit his lip and leaned his head back, arching his hips forward, driving deeper inside her. It wasn't enough... it would never be enough. Holding her hips in place, he started to thrust... to be caught up in waves of sharp pleasure. "What about back home. Have you heard from Buffy," his fingers dug into her hips as he struggled to maintain control.

Dawn rolled her hips against his in a wavelike motion, deep and slow. "Uh... huh," she replied in time with her movements. "She's... all about... the big... welcome home deal...." Her inner walls throbbed around him, her body urging a faster pace even as she maintained the slow, intense rocking motion. "But—" she went on, breathing hard, "I told her... I might stay... another— oh, God! That's so good! ...semester." Her voice trailed off as she gasped and trembled, then kissed him deeply, her tongue penetrating his beautiful mouth with the same slow, intense rhythm that he penetrated her body.

His breaths came harsh and heavy as he rocked against her, frustrated that he couldn't maneuver her leg around his waist. He wanted to be ridden... to ride her... to be buried deep inside her, and the short shallow thrusts he managed only increased the intensity of his desire. "Maybe you could stay during the break. Get a jo..." Suddenly, his world narrowed, and he couldn't speak anymore. Turning her suddenly, so her back was against the wall, he drove inside as far as he could with their pants around their thighs. "No more multi-tasking," he said harshly against her lips as he brought them closer and closer to the shuddering edge of bliss.

She didn't answer, but flung her arms around his neck and used the wall behind her to drive herself further onto his thrusts, panting hoarsely as her belly jerked against his. "God, no, enough with the multi-tasking," she gasped out. "Need you so bad... need more." She set her teeth into his earlobe, and whispered, "Bend me over?"

Those words made his gut clench. In a fluid movement, he rotated her around to face the wall, and pushed her forward toward it. His flexible girl bent over like a ballerina, giving him access to her sex from behind. He rubbed the thick head of his arousal against her swollen entrance, then plunged inside, burying himself up to his balls. She closed around him... so hot... so tight... he was on fire. Wanted... needed to take her now. Pulling out slightly, he drove into her again, dragging her up closer with his arm around her waist. The last shreds of his control slipped when she wiggled her rear, bounced back against him. He started thrusting, his strokes deep and rough, his breaths harsh against her ear. "Fuck... fuck... Dawn..."

Dawn braced her hands against the harsh bricks, pushing her entire body back and onto Spike, taking him deeper and harder than she had before. Broken sounds came from her lips at the friction, the intense position, his strong arm holding her captive for hard, rough fucking as he slammed into her. "Oh, God," she groaned, deep and raw, her head dropping between her arms as he drove her toppling over the edge into a violent, shuddering orgasm.

He continued bucking until the intense sensations of need and pleasure began to recede. Moving her hair to one side, he kissed her neck. "You bring my dreams to life," he whispered, not yet willing to release her.

Dawn turned her head to face him, though it put some strain on her neck, and felt the shift of their bodies sliding together still. Her inner walls jerked once more as she arched her neck to kiss him, and answered, “I love you, Spike.” What might have become an even more tender moment, in spite of the fact that they had just been fucking up against a brick wall, was shattered by the high, nervous shout of one of her fellow Watchers-in-Training.

“Dawn! Dawn! They’re here—“ Shouts and screams followed, along with the sounds of breaking glass and the grunts and impacts of combat.

They pulled themselves together as quickly as they could. From a distance, they heard shouts about one of them getting away. An instant later, the hapless vampire was running past them.

Neither had to say a word, as they pursued him down an alley, over a high fence and into a warehouse. Spike put his hand in front of Dawn, to prevent her from rushing forward as he tried to pin point the source of muffled cries.

Dawn glanced upward, spying a window partway up the sheer cinderblock wall. She couldn't jump to it, but... she grabbed Spike's shoulder, and pointed urgently, then mimed him giving her a boost, followed by her pulling him up as well. They had to see what was in there before they charged ahead!

From the outside, all they could see was the window of what appeared to be an office. But there was no sight of a door. He hesitated a moment, the put his hands together, and once she stepped in them, he lifted her up high.
Dawn gripped the concrete edge of the window sill with both hands, and raised her head high enough to peer through. Unfortunately, the window was painted black. "Brace," she hissed down at Spike, and then shoved cautiously at the pane. It swung soundlessly inward, and she pulled herself up and peeked through as soundlessly as she dared. Catwalks and I-beams offered obstacles to her vision, but they also made it so that the panicky vampire below couldn't see her. It looked like a lair, for sure, complete with chains bolted to the floor, and a captive something occupying them. She couldn't say someone, because it was a demon of a type unfamiliar to her. She pulled her head back out, and gestured for Spike to lower her.

Reaching up, the caught her around the waist and brought her slowly down next to him. "What's the noise?"

"Warehouse, catwalks, I-beams. One panicky vamp –the one that passed us. One captive demon, moaning and chained to the floor. Guess the Watchers got the rest, or they're out somewhere else," she reported in a barely-there whisper. "In through the window, he might hear us. In through the door, he might think it's his buddies coming back. I vote door."

"Where is the bloody door?" Leaning over the railing, Spike started searching for another way up, perhaps from the other side. He looked at her to see if she'd noticed where the entrance was to the room. In the process, he saw a ladder leading up even higher than they'd climbed. "Maybe there's no door..."

"How about the ladder," she suggested, "up to the roof?"

Nodding he started for it. "Keep close." When they reached the top, he saw their hunch had been correct. There was an open hatch which lead to the room. Now the moans were more clearly audible.

Dawn went prone on the roof beside him, peering into the hatch to align what she saw now with what she had seen through the window from the other side of the warehouse. "Demon," she said finally, pointing center and left, somewhat under a catwalk. The moans came from there. "Vamp was over there," she said, pointing again, “but might have moved."

He couldn't figure out what the vampire was doing with the imprisoned demon, nor the sort of demon it was that was chained. One vampire. He knew they would have no trouble dealing with it, so he stood and helped her up.

"Weapons. And keep away from that chained thing, we don’t know what it is yet." He made sure she was prepared, then dropped down into the room. It was no use trying to surprise the vampire; even though the room was fairly large, he would know they were there.

Dawn rolled her eyes, stake in hand, and followed him. She landed in an economical cat-like crouch, and rose to move in, not wasting time in trying to get past Spike, but instead letting him take the head-on attack while she circled to flank the vampire.

Spike drew the vampire's attention and blocked its attempts to punch him. Very slowly, he stepped back, getting the vamp more and more frustrated by his able dodging and blocking, and by his refusal to actually engage in a fight. This was Dawn's practice session, and he was going to watch her take the kill.

Carefully stepping around the chained demon, Dawn stalked the vampire from behind. But watching Spike was a reward in and of himself, so graceful when he fought, so practiced and skilled, not a single wasted motion. It reminded her of just how well he did other things, too. A half-smile on her face at the thought, she stepped up and staked the vamp in the back, the explosion of dust wafting down around Spike and her to drift harmlessly on the floor. She blew him a kiss, and turned to examine the demon, still not approaching closely.

"Nice. Did that just right," he grinned, then went to inspect the groaning demon. "It's a machdaleshi demon. Pregnant from the looks of the hump on its back. Is there a key anywhere in the place?

Spike bent down next to the monstrosity. "They don't even have teeth or nails. But they have a gland that secrets a highly hallucinogenic hormone. They were probably going to breed this one then sell the drugs."

"Poor thing," Dawn murmured. She looked at the warehouse, reluctant to search such a big place when she didn't really need to. "Bet I can pick them," she told him, intending nothing of the sort, but saying it to throw off the demon. Poor thing or not, it hardly needed to know she was the Key!

"Right... let's get it free and leave it to find its own way home. Not in the business of opening a place for wayward demons, yeah?" He glanced at his watch. "They'll be looking for you soon." It cut his heart out... every time he had to give her that reminder.

"I know," she returned glumly, going on her knees by the prone demon, and very careful not to touch anything that might be the secretions Spike had mentioned. It took less then ten seconds to cause all of the shackles to release, freeing the creature. "Go on, then," she told it. "Go find someplace safe."

Spike stroked Dawn's back as the demon shuffled up, made some gestures of gratitude, and climbed out of the room. "Right then..." Bending his head down, he kissed her. "I'll walk you as close as I can. When is your next free patrol?"

She clung to him, returning the kiss with mingled passion and regret that their time was over so soon. "Couple days, but I’ll still have to stay in earshot of the guys," she told him, resting her head against his chest. "I'm going to lock this whole place up on our way out," she said. "No sense leaving it open for other vamps to take over...."

"Mmm," he whispered against her mouth. Right now, everything was eclipsed by the fact they were parting. Again.

* * *

Dawn stood, straight-backed and stone-faced, before Mr. Archer. He’d been dressing her down for a good thirty minutes, and was showing no signs of stopping. He’d covered the fact that she hadn’t answered the other Watcher Trainees when they’d called her name, that she’d gone off chasing the last vampire unassisted, and that she was taking foolish risks. He especially emphasized that patrolling without her head in the game would only get her killed.

He was right on all counts, and she knew it. But being with Spike not only made her safer, it made her happier. And it was something she could never share with Archer.

“Yes, Sir,” she returned for what felt like the hundredth time.

“I really have no choice, Dawn,” he wound down sadly. “You’re suspended from any patrols at all this week. You really must learn to think more clearly, and it is my hope that spending time researching, rather than patrolling, will provide ample opportunity for you to clarify your thinking.”

Dawn bit her lip. That meant no more meeting up with Spike on patrol, the one time they’d been able to count on seeing one another. She had no doubt that someone would be watching her. She couldn’t even get to him to tell him! Sadly, she nodded her head, and left for the dormitory.

* * *

This couldn't be right. Spike surveyed the group again... and again. No Dawn. She had specifically said ‘two days,’ but— Why wasn't she there? Had something happened to her? He moved closer to the group, tried to hear everything they said.

After about a half hour, he found that they didn't mention her name at all. She should be here. He knew with every fiber of his body if she could be, she would.

Had she been hurt during practice? He paced. Had she been found out? Sent home? Should he go force one of them to tell him?

Though it would obtain the quickest results, the latter course would give away their meetings, if no one knew. He'd need to go to the school to see where she was... otherwise there would be no sleep for him.

* * *

Dawn had spent the evening in the Watchers' underground library, beneath the school's own 'official' library. Archer's gimlet eye had tracked her every move, and she'd read and taken notes, read and taken notes, until her eyes were ready to bleed and her fingers to fall off. She'd done the same thing the night before. She'd be doing the same thing again for the next five nights. Watchers apparently didn't believe in weekends when it came to punishment, and when he'd said a week of suspension, seven days was exactly what he'd meant.

Finally, she was released to go to her room at midnight, knowing far more than she'd wanted about the reproductive systems of several less than savory demons. But sleep was still out of the question. She sat in her windowsill, doing nothing at all, her eyes vaguely fixed on Spike's old window. She wondered if she could bribe one of her fellow watchers in training to take him a note, at least explain what had happened? But no, they'd probably turn her in. Sighing, she rested her chin in her hand, and slumped farther in the windowsill.

The next night was exactly the same. Long dull hours of research after a long dull day of courses about which she no longer cared, and hours wherein she could not see Spike at all. When Archer rose and excused himself, likely for some physical needs that even a Watcher couldn’t deny –all that damned tea, she thought to herself—Dawn didn’t even hesitate.
She was out the door, up the stairs, and out into the night immediately, determined to find Spike.

* * *

Spike was frustrated. For two nights straight, he'd seen her in the library... even if she couldn't see him. At least he'd known she was all right, which didn't explain her absence during the last patrol... or tonight's patrol.

If it weren't for his fear of getting her in trouble, he'd go inside the school and talk to her. Instead... here he was again, just watching from his position sitting on the perimeter wall. He'd seen her very briefly when he'd arrived a moment ago. She'd been sitting behind a pile of books that were now abandoned. He glanced at his watch, then back at the empty seat. How much research did she have?

An hour passed. Then another half hour, and he couldn't wait any longer. He had a feeling, and it wasn't letting go of him. If he was wrong, if nothing was wrong with Dawn, then he would have blown even their opportunities to see each other during patrol, but if that cold feeling in his gut was right...

He slammed his palms against the door of Archer's office, and burst inside. Having sent his patrols off, the man was inside awaiting reports of their successes.

"Where is she?" Spike went around the table and grabbed Archer by the collar. "Where is Dawn Summers?"

Archer glared coldly at him. "Spike. You are not welcome here, not any more, and Dawn Summers’ whereabouts are no longer your concern." Even though his collar was tight about his throat, and his position had to be uncomfortable at the least, he voice was flat and inflectionless, as though he addressed a specimen rather than a former co-worker.

"Do you know where she is," Spike asked, distinctly enunciating each word as he shook the head trainer. "Because I don't think you do."

Archer's fists closed around Spike's wrist, and he struggled for air. "Don't be ridiculous. She is studying in the basement library, on suspension from patrol for one week." His fingers tightened, and began tugging at Spike's arm. "Release me and get out."

"I was watching her from the small window." Did it sound creepy? Even if it did, it was the truth. "She hasn't been there in almost two hours. Why was she there in the first place? Punishment for something?" His eyes narrowed. "Don't you know her well enough to know it doesn't work with her? No... because you don't care about individuals, it's the big picture with you, yeah? Well here's the picture, you help me find her... and if she's not here, you get every one of the watchers after her." Pushing Archer away, he watched as the man's chair wheeled back toward the wall.

The force of Spike's shove sent the chair, and Archer with it, careening into the heavily laden bookshelves behind his desk. Tomes crashed down onto him, and he flung his arms above his head to protect it, still unable to avoid a sharp gash on one cheek from a corner of one of them. "She was there," he informed Spike frostily, “because she failed to check in during a patrol and was out of voice range, thereby endangering herself and others. She knew she did wrong. She was penitent and studying hard during her suspension." He cast a jaundiced glance at Spike. "I can only assume that you are the cause of both her distraction on patrol and her delinquency tonight." He dabbed at the gash with a linen handkerchief, tsking at the blood that appeared on the cloth.

"Go, then. Start looking for her. I will call the others."

He didn't answer Archer, but merely stormed out of the room. She'd gone out to find him, he was more and more sure of it as he found her room empty, and all of her other favorite haunts at school. She wasn't pouting or licking her wounds, she was rebelling against the restrictions they put on her.

He tried to think like her, think of the places she'd look for him. There were a few pubs he'd taken her to before they'd been discovered. And a hotel. He didn't stay there on a permanent basis, but she might not know that.

After scouring the pubs, he headed for the hotel. It was in a good neighborhood; back then he'd had his teacher's salary. But it was also a bit secluded and abutted a large park.

Dawn had tried first to find Spike in the areas which she and the other Watchers-in-Training routinely patrolled, but he was not there. He might have been watching her, but she felt strongly that after missing their 'date' the night before, he would have come to her as soon as he saw her. Places they had gone for a quiet meal yielded no more information. Recent clandestine meeting spots also came up blank. Finally, in desperation, she caught the train to the hotel they'd used before he got fired. They hadn't been there in quite a while, but maybe... just maybe, she could find him there.

She came up the steps from the station, emerging into a quiet neighborhood with a mixture of flats, semi-detached homes, and family dwellings converted into smaller apartments, sometimes as many as six per house. To get to the hotel more quickly, she cut through the large, quiet park.
It was a mistake. Vampires had cleared out where she and the others usually patrolled, but this was outside of their regular area.

* * *

Screams. Sounds of fighting. Curses. Dawn. Icy cold fingers invaded his belly as he entered the park at a dead run.

He'd hoped he was wrong, but he'd been right. There she was, outnumbered but using every move he'd taught her... that anyone had taught her... to keep them at bay. Two more years of training and he was sure she could take the whole lot of them alone. But right now, what she knew in skill, she lacked in strength and endurance.

Both angry and elated, he entered the fray, simultaneously sending two vampires to dustdom.

In spite of the fact that they were still outnumbered two to one, Dawn felt a wide grin spread across her face. She'd found him! Or he'd found her. Whichever. She ducked another attempt to grab her, swaying sideways and kicking out to send a knee-joint cracking into uselessness. "You're late," she teased, giddy to see him.

"You're in trouble," he snapped, kicking the legs out from under another vamp. He was a killing machine... all human... but very deadly.

She neatly flipped a stake into stabbing position, and dropped on the downed vamp, dusting it before rolling away and coming up near the crippled one. "Less now," she quipped, letting it grab her by the shirt collar and bracing against its supernatural strength to send another stake home. But she didn't see the third vamp, who had wisely been avoiding Spike, coming at her from behind. It grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her to its mouth, kicking and flailing, but with no good attack angle at all to her name. And no defense at all.

"You'll be the death of me..." he started, then saw red. He hurtled toward the vampire and Dawn, separating them with the force of his body. He heard something crack, and hoped he hadn't broken her arm or injured her too badly. Before he completed the thought, he became aware of a sharp pain in his abdomen, and the flow of warm liquid. The vampire had been holding a knife... why hadn't he seen that? How had he missed it?

A numbness started to spread through him, making his limbs heavy... making it harder for him to fight the vampire... to push it away. He tripped backwards, thought he'd slipped out of its grasp, when it caught him again. This time, instead of a blow... it bit down on Spike's throat.
"Run..." Spike rasped, as he put his arms around the vampire and held tight... as if his life depended on it. It didn't... his life was over... but Dawn's might.

"Spike—" she screamed and launched herself at them both, trying to stake the vampire before it could drain him. But even wounded, even dying, Spike kept his body between her and the monster, his voice growing weaker and weaker as he kept telling her to run.

* * *

She hadn't been fast enough. Spike had died before she could get to the vampire, but that sonofabitch was dead and dusted now, for sure.
Dawn looked over to Spike's body, washed and redressed, and chained securely to the very same spot where they had freed a pregnant demon just four days earlier. Tears ran from her eyes in a continual stream, but she refused to give up hope. They might still have a chance to be together. But waiting for the past three days had nearly driven her insane.

Getting him in here in the first place had been hard enough. She'd stolen a car, using her Key abilities both to unlock it and to start it, and had driven it into the park to retrieve his broken, bloodless body. Its undercarriage would never be the same again! Somehow, she'd wrestled his cooling corpse into the car, and gone back to the warehouse. She still had no recollection of just how she'd managed to manhandle his body up the ladder and through the hatch, but she had.

More stealing had followed, and Dawn felt no remorse about it at all. Food, supplies, a small refrigerator. Pig's blood. Clothing, toiletries, towels. Everything a woman would need to help her newly risen vampire lover make a smooth transition from death into undeath.

She'd even gotten bedding into the place, and made two pallets, one beneath him, and one for her. But he was firmly chained, and she had no intention of releasing him until she knew she could trust him.

* * *

The world came into focus... blurred... and came into focus again. An overwhelming gnawing in his stomach, a deep craving for blood swamped him. Close by... he could feel a warm source of blood, and it drove him to the edge of madness.

He tried to sit up, to move his arms, and growled his frustration over the gag stuck in his mouth. Someone had tied him with his arms spread. He dragged one arm toward him, but the cuff and chains held.

He rattled them... rattled them as much as he could, and turned his head to look for the source of blood.

At the rattle of Spike's chains, Dawn jerked awake from the weary half-doze that was all her nightmares had allowed in the past three days and nights, waiting for him to rise... or to fail to rise.

She shot to her feet and went to his side, standing well back. "Oh, thank God," she said, tears in her voice. "You made it. 'Cause, you know, sometimes the rising doesn't happen." She turned swiftly to the microwave, and heated a plastic packet of pig's blood. Carefully, she gripped it in a strange sort of tool, which she'd cobbled together to use for feeding Spike at a distance. She punched a hole in the bag with a straw, and extended it toward his mouth, kneeling on the floor out of reach.

"I know you're starving right now," she said, "and I'm going to help you out with that. I promise."

He stared at the bag... warm blood, but he could smell it. It wasn't the blood he wanted. Angry, he rattled the chains again, tried to break them and get to her... to that throat that would offer him exactly everything he needed.

"This is what you get," she told him firmly. "No snacking on the humans, ever, or my big sister will hunt you down and dust you. Actually," she said, her voice firming, "I'll have to do it myself. And I really, really don't want to do that, Spike."

He was confused. Human. Shouldn't she be scared and flittering out of sight? He didn't smell fear. Instead, she sounded bright.... even pleased.

Spike, she'd called him by his name. A memory flitted in and out of his head. He knew her. He wanted her... wanted to be inside her... in her throat, lapping everything she could give him. Struggling against the gag, he looked wildly at her throat.

Dawn's hand fluttered up to her throat. He might be looking at her as food at the moment, but the look was eerily similar to the hot looks he'd given her as a human, when she'd taunted him with scanty uniforms and sexy lingerie peeking through blouses unbuttoned more than they should have been. Just the look was enough to send heat rushing through her and pooling in her belly.

"Come on, Spike. You have to eat. I want to be able to talk with you. Please?" She nudged his lips with the straw again.

He snarled, but took the bloody thing in his mouth. He'd need his strength. And when he found it, she wouldn't know what hit her. Or maybe she would... he liked her looks... maybe he'd get off first, then eat her.
He sucked on the straw, pulling in mouthfuls of warm metallic liquid. Not sweet like her blood would be. Not fresh ... not in waves produced by a beating heart. He hated this... he hated her... and he drank in spite of it all.

As he drained the blood, he smelled the scent of something else. Desire. Hers. After he pulled back from the straw, eyes hooded, he watched her closely. She wanted him... he now knew she wanted him. It was something he could use to get free.

* * *

Dawn had hoped he'd remember her. Remember them. But Spike had glared at her like a caged animal - which, she supposed, he was - and taken the pig's blood with an air of resentment and barely contained anger. Twenty-four hours later, the situation was virtually unchanged.

Spike opened his eyes. The rage still stormed within him, but when he saw her, he calmed. Eyes laser-focused on her, he mouthed her name, the best he could through the gag.

She paused in maneuvering the blood to his lips again. "What was that," she asked, hope leaping in her chest like a wild thing.

Dawn he said slowly, knowing she couldn't hear him, but maybe she'd understand. It was him... She didn't have to do this to him.

She pulled the feeding pole back again, removed the pig's blood package from its holder, and used the holder to tug at the tie for the gag, carefully set up for just this possibility. The cloth stuck to his mouth at first, but then fell away, leaving creases in his face. "Say that again," she demanded.

"Dawn... Dawn... I said..." He swallowed and licked his lips, looking at her. "I'm sorry."

She stared at him. “What for?”

"For dying. Back now." Why was she leaving him like this? "Set me free. Go on now." He expected instant obedience, and when he didn't get it, he rattled the chain. "You're not leaving me like this... Not like an animal, yeah? Take these off."

"No," she agreed, her voice steady. "You are most definitely not an animal. You are my lover. You are the man who died trying to keep me safe. And you are also a vampire with neither chip nor soul to hold you back from tearing me into pieces if you feel like it. So I think you can expect to not be let free until I'm sure that I can trust you." She hated saying it, but there was no way she could match him in speed or strength, not now. The only thing that would keep her safe from him was... him.

"I want us to be together. I want to belong to you. But I don't want to get vamped, and I don't want to die."

Belong to him. Those words alone made his cock surge. She already belonged to him. Whether as human or vampire, he didn't care... but she was his, and only his.

"I want to be free of these...." He rattled loud enough to bring the place down around their ears. "And then we can talk about us." His gaze slid possessively down the length of her body. "Make no mistake... there is an us, and I want you alive, not dead."

Just the look was enough to send desire flashing through her, her body tightening to the point of pain at the thought of all the wicked things they had done with each other... and could still do. If he weren't trying to trick her.

She bit her lip, unconsciously swaying closer. "I have to be sure... and that means I can't let you go yet." But there were other things she could do with a beautiful vampire that she loved and wanted. Her knees nearly buckled at just the thought of having him at her mercy, in those chains.

It would be like riding a tiger.

He glared at her. "You want me... but you'd keep me like this. Why don't you put a bloody stake through me and get it over," he spat out, eyes flashing.

She shook her head, and moved closer. "Because you want to have a life as much as I want you to have one," she told him. "Who do you think brought you here from where you were drained? Stole the mattress you're lying on, the clothes you're wearing, the blood you've been drinking? I've been missing for four days now, Spike, and so have you. You can bet Buffy's coming, and she'll kill you if I don't figure out some way to prove that you're not going to slaughter your way across Europe. So I think that it's not too unreasonable to take it slow, just now."

"Tying me up doesn't prove anything. Dawn..." his voice was low and smooth as velvet. "I want you love. I won't hurt you. Just need to hold you."
His gaze locked with hers, tracked her every move. He knew she didn't want to do this, he understood the logic of her words, but he wanted out. He wanted to hold her, to make her his again and again, this time, in a world which would have no say in his and her affairs.

Oh, God, she wanted to be held, too! Wanted it with an ache that was actually physical. "Not happening," she said in a trembling voice. "At least not yet." Her fingers started working at the button of her jeans as she toed off her boots. "Besides," she said, licking her lips. "I owe you one of these."

"What?" He didn't know whether to stare at her mouth, or he hands on her buttons, or her feet. What he did know was that the scent assaulting his senses was real... it was Dawn at the peak of her arousal. That alone was enough to make the pants he was wearing tight and uncomfortable. "Dawn please... please..." he froze at the sight of lacy white underwear.

She smiled down at him, and pulled her sweater over her head. "Music Room," she clarified. "Leather wrist cuffs." The sweater landed on the floor atop her boots and jeans, and she reached behind herself to unhook her bra one handed. "Ringing any bells?"

His mouth went dry. She was going to distract him from wanting to be free by... it wasn't going to bloody well work.

Then he watched her breasts bounce free, and bit his lip. He remember how she tasted, he knew how she reacted when he touched her there. And there, he was looking straight at the damp area of her panties.

"No... refresh my recollection." He licked his lips, and hoped she wasn't just teasing him... though for the life of him he couldn’t imagine why she would do that.

Dawn slid her panties down over her thighs, blushing a bit, and stood over Spike before kneeling smoothly and straddling his thighs. "Well," she said, flicking his shirt buttons free one after the other, and running her hands along his cool flesh, beautiful as ever but much paler, "I was the one tied up then, and you were far from merciful." She leaned forward, her breath misting over his neck, but was careful to stay clear of his teeth. "I owe you."

Need slammed into him ten times stronger than when he'd been human. He bucked against the restraints, trying to touch her... with his mouth... with any part of his body that he could. "Let me free... just one hand," he pleaded, closing his eyes at the feel of her warm breath skimming over his sensitive skin.

That she avoided him... that she kept away from his mouth frustrated him. "Need you. Not like this."

She skimmed her mouth along his chest, laying little love bites across it, then licking away the sting. "Now you know how I felt," she taunted him lovingly. Her hands removed his belt, and unbuttoned his jeans. Carefully, she eased the zipper down.

He squirmed under the heat of her touch, arching his hips up. "Fuck... Dawn," he moved his head back and forth, then lifted it, trying to see what she was doing.

Her eyes teased him... dared to tease him. His jaw clenched. "Vampires aren't made for playing with," he snapped, lifting his hips even higher so that her chin brushed him where he ached.

"Huh. Weird," Dawn said. "'Cause that's what I'm doing, isn't it?" She licked along his alabaster length as his cock sprang free, hot tongue slicking his cool arousal.

Something between a snarl and a groan broke from the back of his throat. He nudged the head against her mouth. "Take it." His fingers curled around the chains holding him in place.

Still teasing, she licked again, long and slow, then took him deeply into her throat. It was what she wanted to do anyway, but hearing him demand it... got her all kinds of hot and wet.

He watched as her mouth closed around him and moved up and down his shaft. With every lift of her head, she swirled her tongue over the tip of his cock... she knew how to get to him, his girl. Very quickly, he was a panting mess. Worst of all, he wanted control and it was denied to him.

He tested the chains clamped to his legs, hoping for a little slack. There, he could shift to his side. "Move your head down, to the side." Right... "Please," he added. When she did, he managed to press one knee against her shoulder, and move his hips so that he was fucking her mouth. "Oh yeah.... oh yeah..." he imagined himself holding her head in place, felt himself getting closer and closer to blowing.

Dawn laughed around his cock, her lips and throat vibrating in place. This was a new side to her Spike, one that demanded dominance. But he wasn't going to get it... not this time. She slowed her movements, and then stopped altogether with a long, slow, slide upward along his erection, letting it slip from between her lips as she rested her chin on his lower belly and looked up at him.

"Impatient much?"

He writhed and nudged her with his knee, then stared back at her, his eyes blazing. His blunt tip bounced lightly against her cheek, sending new waves of desperate desire through him. Though he strained against the chains, and ached and hungered beyond the capacity of any human, he stubbornly refused to beg. It was bad enough she had him chained.

Dawn rubbed her cheek along his alabaster length, fascinated by the cool flesh that had always been so hot before. But it was every bit as eager for her as when he'd been alive... and she was every bit as eager to take him inside as she had been then. She cupped his balls in her warm palm, and rolled them gently to and fro, soft sac and twinned hardness within tempting her to lick along the seam dividing them, and to nip lightly at the base of his cock, seeping with moisture. She purred around his flesh, lips vibrating, and pressed a hard, sucking kiss over that same spot as the delicate fingers of one hand stroked along him, and the other braced her against his thigh.

His hips rose clear off the ground in response to the sensations that rocked him to the core. Between the things she was doing to him, and the scent of her arousal, he was driven to the edge. He ground his hips, trying to force stronger contact between her and his painfully surging cock.

"Sit on me. Take me inside you. All the way," he demanded, bringing his hips down and staring at her across the length of his body.

Dawn's body jerked at the words, and the muscles of her belly clenched tightly. She could feel more wet heat between her own thighs, and she shot from wanting Spike to needing him so much she thought she might die if she didn't have him. She raised up, legs trembling with all she was feeling, and smoothly slid her wet core along the underside of his shaft as she writhed into position. A moan startled from her mouth at the cool touch against her burning wetness, and it felt so damned fine that she did it again, rocking her hips forward and back along his straining cock, but not yet taking him inside her swollen, needy flesh.

Wet heat sliding over him, teasing him, making him ache and pulse even harder... it made his blood burn with a desperate desire to take her, to claim her, to mark her as his for all time. And yet he could do nothing about it. A frustrated growl erupted from the back of his throat

She was his... he had to show her that... even if she played with him... even when she had him bound... she would know she belonged to him. Harnessing every bit of his drive to possess her completely, he bucked up hard, using his heels and his elbows to bear all of his weight as he arched painfully up high enough to invade her core. In one single motion, he'd impaled her with his cock... and now he pulsed and shuddered as she closed around him so tight. "Ride me," he demanded, refusing to lower himself back to the ground until she did as he asked.

At Spike's sudden, nearly violent penetration of her slick hot sex with his huge, cool arousal, a scream ripped from Dawn's throat, uncontrollable witness to the intense, dark desperation he made her feel. Her thighs clamped around his hips as she struggled to keep her balance, to adjust, to ride him as he commanded.

Breathing raggedly, she flattened her palms on his lower belly, and began to move. Slowly at first, until she became accustomed to his broad, blunt tip surging against his cervix with every move she made, she moved above him, pushing herself down as far as she could bear, her inner walls clasping him intimately. Gasps were torn from her lips when a too-sudden move took him deeper than she was really ready for, but she strained to ride him harder and deeper anyway.

He would have smirked at her reaction... if he'd been able to keep it together. The pressure of her thighs flexing rhythmically around his hips as she rode him harder than he imagined possible, only made him want more. To be deeper inside her. To fuck her so hard, she couldn't think of anything but him... and he did, even when she cried out, even when she tried to lift herself up slightly... he couldn't help himself, if he couldn't hold her, if he couldn't taste her and touch her, and if she kept milking his cock... tightening around him... clinging around him with every movement... he would take everything she could give him, and more.

The chains rattled loudly, echoing in the small room. His grunts grew louder, his demands more desperate as he strained against her. The sound of her heart beating, of her blood rushing... it made him hungry... hungry for so many things, adding a razor's edge to his sexual desires.

Dawn's whole world narrowed to the sensations of riding Spike, his cool body between her legs, his cool cock pounding inside of her with more passion than she'd ever felt from him before. Her own rose to meet it, making her a wild thing writhing above him, crying out helplessly at every surge, rocking uncontrollably in the grip of desire and desperation. She might be the one on top, but it was Spike who drove her mercilessly over the edge with nothing more than his powerful penetration. Her hands slipped from his belly, clenching into fists that worked against his sides, trying to hold on to some vestige of sanity, of control, but it was utterly out of her hands. She screamed, and bit her own lip until it bled.

He wanted to grip her waist and pull her down on him, he wanted to roll her over ... to take her... mold her... control her, to kiss her... to tell her who that mouth belonged to, to explain with body and soul that she was his. Driven to the brink of insanity with the things he wanted, he rammed himself even harder up into her, burying himself as deep as possible as she came apart on top of him. As she cried out and clenched around him, he gave a hoarse cry, calling her name as he came, and came, watching her do the same.

Her eyes seemed to roll back slightly; she had to be exhausted. He cursed the chains that held his arms away... he would have caught her in them, would have held her and kissed her now as the last throes of her climax erupted around them.

Screamed hoarse, voiceless after the climax that had ripped through her, Dawn's eyes rolled back in her head as she mouthed, "I love you," and her trembling tautness dissolved into utter limpness as she toppled forward, floating in what seemed like slow motion down toward Spike. As her eyelids fluttered shut, there was a muffled click, quadrupled, from the shackles that bound him at her mercy, and they fell quietly open.

It took a few seconds for his mind to work out what happened. The reason she was sprawled on top of him and no longer keeping her distance from his mouth was that she'd fainted... she was in a dead faint now. And that sound... the sudden lightness of his legs and arms... she'd freed him.

He was free, and he had her... to do with as he willed. "Dawn?" He cupped her chin and turned her to face him. She was still dead to the world, but his eyes clung to the sight of blood drops beading on her lips. He flicked his tongue out and licked it.

Sweet and spicy, tangy and metallic. Suddenly he was swamped by a hunger worse than any he'd experienced. He bit down on her lower lip, sucked on it, drawing out some more of the scarlet liquid that put his desires on over-drive.

What could be better than fucking his girl, and then drinking her blood, warmed and still tinged with the explosive orgasm they'd shared?

(A/N: We're down to the wire, almost zee end, yay! So tell us how we're doing, pretty please with a cherry on top ::grins::)