Title: Imperial, Chapter 4: Open
Author: Sunalso
Pairings: Buffy/Spike (Willow/Oz, Xander/Anya)
Rating: NC-17
Length: ~21 K (this chapter: 4224)
Timeline: Prologue S3, the rest S4, this is an alternate reality world in which things didn’t go quite the same for Buffy at the end of S2
Warnings: Character Death, Violence (including gun violence), Sexual Situations
Summary: Buffy returns to Sunnydale in order to take down the Initiative and find her chosen mate, she’s just a little different than when she left. My love letter to heroic bloodshed movies (Think: Mi:II, Wanted, The Matrix). This one’s for fun!
Notes: The Initiative is bigger and badder than in canon. Beta’d by Gort and 13Lilies. Response to a challenge on Elysian Fields by Sharade.
Chapter 4: Open
Ready for those flashing lights
-Lady Gaga, “Paparazzi”
****
The van started with a roar as three figures rushed out of the trees.
“I see Xander!” Anya excitedly bounced up and down in the passenger seat, pointing out the window.
“Excellent, but where’s Spike and Buffy?” Leaving the van idling Giles swung the door open and met the panting Willow, Xander and Oz as they stumbled to a halt beside the vehicle. He looked expectantly towards the woods, but there was no movement. “Where’s the Empress? And Spike?” he asked the others, worry making his face tight.
A sound like thunder rent the night. A column of roiling golden light erupted from the forest, shining like a spotlight into the sky. Silver flames danced around it. Birds rose from the trees, squawking in protest.
“What’s…” Giles trailed off, slack-jawed.
Xander pointed a shaking finger at the light display. “That’s them.”
Giles couldn’t look away from it. “I… what?”
“Um,” Willow bit her lip. “Buffy did the flamey, mind searching thing with Spike. And then he went all vampire face and sort of growled and kind of purred and then they started making-out.”
“Ah.” Giles couldn’t think of anything more to say.
“When the flashing disco lights started and they were smooching while floating several feet off the ground, we decided that making like a tree and leaving was probably for the best.” Xander was leaning against the passenger door. The window was rolled down and Anya was resting her hands on his arm.
Oz shrugged. “It was kind of intense.”
The column of light continued to rage. They all stared at it.
“Well,” Anya finally spoke up. “We might as well go home.”
“We can’t just leave them!” Willow said, frowning at Anya.
The ex-demon sighed. “They’re a vampire and an Empress, they’ll probably be at it for hours.”
“It?” Xander asked, furrowing his brow.
Anya patted him absently. “It’s a mating ritual.” She eyed the shimmering light while Xander gulped and shuffled his feet.
“Oh, oh!” Willow blushed. “Erm, yeah, I guess we should go ahead and go.”
Giles briefly closed his eyes. What had happened to his life? His Slayer was the Empress of a hell dimension, and now mated to William the Bloody. Did the Watcher’s Council hand out booby prizes?
“I’m thinking they’ll get home okay.” Xander was pointedly looking away from the woods. “Can we stop at McDonald’s? I’m starving.”
****
Everything but the moment had ceased to matter. There was no past or future, only the present. Only him. Her mate. Her completion.
Light was exploding about them, gold and silver chasing each other. She was clinging to him, her arms around his leather clad shoulders and her legs tightly gripping his narrow waist. Her mouth was plastered against his, unable to get enough of his taste. She was ablaze with lust, her body burning for him.
She could remember her single night with Angel in excruciating detail: her fumbling caresses and how gentle he’d been with her. For a very long time it’d been all she’d had to think about when her body’s demand for sexual release had become too great. She’d end up getting herself off as quickly as possible while hidden under some rock or curled up in the crook of some tree, the lack of focus on her surroundings making her vulnerable.
Once she’d assumed the mantle of Empress there’d been no lack of suitors. She’d even taken a few of them to her bed, the ones that’d been human-like and handsome, but she’d still been trying to recreate that first night. They’d all been tall and dark haired, and it made her want to either laugh or sob now. Because the man in her arms was as different from Angel as night was from day, and she wanted Spike more than she’d ever wanted anything before in her existence.
At some point Buffy had realized they were floating, able to tumble freely around each other, as if even gravity couldn’t force them to obey its rules. A little experimentation showed her that if she wanted to she could push against the air like it was a hard surface. The very substance of matter was obeying her commands. Her Empress heart hummed with satisfaction.
Their clothing started getting in the way, and just like that the annoying things disappeared. Buffy sat back and ran her fingertips over his face, shoulders, back, chest, and stomach, memorizing every inch of him. His eyes were open and watching her, his hands loosely holding her hips as she straddled him. Under her touch his skin twitched as she explored. They were rotating slowly, the long strands of her hair waving around them.
“You’re an amazing creature,” his deep voice rumbled. Spike’s hand skimmed up her stomach, stopping just under the swell of her breast. He turned palm side up and cupped her breast, his thumb grazing the hard peak. “I haven’t been able to think of much else besides you since the first time I saw you. You probably don’t even remember now, but you were dancing at the Bronze. All fire and passion. I knew at that instant you’d be a part of me forever.”
Buffy furrowed her brow, though it was hard to think as he continued to fondle her breast. Something tickled at the very back of her mind, memories six-hundred years old demanding to be acknowledged. One stood out clear in her mind. “You threatened to kill me!” she accused with a pout.
“That I did, luv. I was never very good at it.” His hips lifted as he ground his erection against her. Whatever magic was at work was obeying him as well, giving him a way to brace himself. Not that she was complaining. “Got something else I want to do to you.” Soft lips lifted in a smirk and he curled his tongue behind his teeth. Buffy’s eyes widened. She was sure she’d never had that look directed at her before. She felt like she was melting and her pussy clenched with desire. With a chuckle he pushed the hardness of his cock against her slick folds again. “Got what you need right here, your Grace.”
She leaned forward, putting her arms around his neck. His hand left her breast and wandered down so he could rub the rough pad of a finger over her aching clit. “I’m glad it was you,” she said breathlessly.
The knowing look on his face melted into one of shock. “Yeah?”
“I was so relieved every time I looked into someone else’s eyes and they weren’t my mate. I wanted another night with you. Just one more.”
Spike smiled softly at her. “You’re stuck with me for a bit longer than that now.”
His finger was continuing to make circles on her nub, but his other hand was between their bodies as well, positioning the head of his erection right at her entrance. “I want you.” She pushed her hips down, impaling herself on his cock. “Forever.”
Her eyes turned silver as her face shifted to that of the Slayer. With a feral growl Spike let his demon loose. He grabbed both her wrists, holding them over her head. He braced his knees and slammed himself into her, taking control. The force of his thrusts caused them to tumble as well as spin, but she hardly registered the change. She snapped her tiny fangs at him and wrenched one hand free to rake red lines with her fingernails down his back.
The pressure of an impending orgasm was building low in her belly. Spike was twisting slightly with each plunge now, hitting both the sensitive bundle of nerves deep inside her and making his pelvis grind against her clit. He tangled a hand in her hair, twisting her head to the side. His tongue was cool against her feverish skin. His other hand caught one of her breasts, tweaking the nipple hard and making her cry out. With a groan he sank the sharp points of his teeth into her throat. The sharp pain only lasted an instant, and then she was coming around his cock, the pleasure echoing back from where his fangs were buried in her neck. His name tumbled from her lips over and over again.
Buffy yanked herself away from the bite, pushed against his chest so she was upright and once again in control. She rode him hard, both his hands now on her breasts. He clamped his fingers down hard on the peaks while she undulated urgently on his hard shaft. When a second release washed over her he let her nipples go and the pleasure was almost more than she could bear. With a guttural groan his back arced and he slammed up inside her one last time. Spike’s seed flooded her and with a surprised hiss she came again, the pleasure almost painful as the walls of her pussy pulsed against him.
She collapsed onto his chest, her arms wrapping around him. “Forever,” his voice purred, a soft tickle against her ear.
“Forever.”
****
The front door of the apartment banged open as Willow was towel drying her hair. Spike and Buffy spilled in, arms around each other and goofy smiles plastered on their faces. Buffy steered the vampire to the couch and sort of dropped him there. He immediately lay down on his stomach and appeared to go to sleep, big grin still in place. Giles was making a face at the grimy boots on his furniture.
Buffy headed down the hall towards the bathroom. “I’m going to shower,” she called over her shoulder. As she walked by Willow, the redhead put her hand out to catch her.
“Hey, after you get clean can we talk?” Willow asked timidly. She’d dreamed a million times of seeing her friend again, but not once had it ever gone like this in her imagination.
“Sure!” Buffy looked happier than Willow could ever remember seeing her. “Meet me upstairs in a few, I totally feel more like myself than I have in centuries!”
The Empress continued down the hall, humming something to herself completely off-key. Willow gave her back a puzzled smile and went to find Xander. He was in the kitchen staring into the open fridge as if something worth eating would magically appear. “I see Lucy and Ricky made it back okay.”
“Xander, quit it.”
He shut the fridge door hard enough to make the bottles of condiments rattle together, then leaned against the appliance, arms crossed. “Sorry, I’m just weirded out by…everything.”
“Yeah, me too. Only I don’t think we should be mean about it because we don’t get it.”
Xander sighed, his eyes downcast. “I don’t think I should be mean either. I’m not trying to be a jerk, but I can’t help but want my friend back, the way I remember her.”
“She’s still Buffy, and she needs us to be her friends. I’m about to go and talk with her, do you want to come?”
“Um, what about Oz and Anya?” He glanced towards the living room. Oz was curled up in a chair asleep and Anya was reading a Cosmo with a notepad and pen at her side.
“Buffy doesn’t know them as well. Just us is probably best.”
Willow walked up the stairs to the small loft, Xander trailing behind. There wasn’t anywhere else so they both made places on the bed, sitting cross-legged. They only had to wait a few minutes before Buffy strode into the room, her long hair damp and tangled. She had a comb in her hand and an apologetic look on her face.
“Can one of you help me?” She held out the comb. “I don’t usually do this myself and I think I’m making it worse.”
“I’d love to!” Willow beamed. The Empress handed her the comb and sat down, scooting until she had her back towards Willow.
There were a few moments of silence while Willow started to work out the snarls at the ends of Buffy’s hair.
“Um,” Buffy sounded unsure. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “While we were walking back here I realized I could remember a lot more stuff than before. I guess it got knocked loose.” She giggled quietly, eyes unfocused for a second. With a little shake of her head Buffy turned her gaze back on Willow. “So how come Spike’s back in town? The deal was we’d help each other and then he’d take his stupid ho girlfriend and leave.” Buffy’s hands tightened on the bedspread, nearly tearing holes. “He wasn’t supposed to come back.”
Xander groaned. “He showed back up the next fall. Drusilla had dumped him.” Buffy’s fingers relaxed and she used them to smooth the fabric of her dress down. Xander scratched his head. “He kidnapped me and Willow and wanted either a love spell to make Drusilla want him again, or possibly your head to take to her. But when we told him you were gone, he got all weird.”
“Yeah, pacing around, cursing, throwing stuff,” Willow added. “Eventually he just let us go and took off. Y’know, that whole episode seems a lot less strange now.” She’d never been able to understand why the vampire had completely wigged out over Buffy possibly being dead. It made much more sense now, what with the whole cosmic destiny, belonging together thing. Which actually still made her feel kind of odd. Did she actually have to be nice to Spike now?
“Kendra saw him a month or so ago.” Xander picked at nonexistent lint on his shirt. “Her Watcher called Giles looking for information on some ring that’s supposed to make vampires safe from the sun, but I guess he didn’t find it before the Initiative got a hold of him.”
“So why you?” Buffy asked, tilting her head as Willow continued to comb out her hair. “Why’d he come to you for help?”
Willow quirked her lips. “Well, I don’t think he had a lot of choice. He was starving. The Initiative and Kendra were hot on his heels and he figured as ‘white hats’ we’d at least listen to him. Giles decided the information Spike had on the soldiers was worth the risk. Not that we trusted him, which is why he was chained up.”
“Oh.” Buffy was sitting with her knees bent, arms and chin resting on them.
“What’s it like where you’ve been? Is it all fire and brimstone?” Xander looked like he was desperate to talk about anything besides the vampire.
Buffy rolled her eyes. “Hell dimensions are very rarely like that. Personally I know twenty that are variations on middle class suburbia. Mine, of course, is special.” She smiled dreamily. “It’s not like you’d want to mix it with this place. The native demons tend to think of human as a delicacy, but for the most part they just want to get on with their lives. They have three arms, three eyes, six horns. It’s actually kind of nice to be looking at people that have only a single nose and two eyes.” She seemed to drift off into her head.
“Earth to Buffy.” Xander waved his hand in front of her face.
The Empress giggled and her bare toes curled. “Spike’s eyes are blue.”
Xander groaned.
“Hey!” Willow wanted to drag Buffy back to this reality. “Do you remember Principal Snyder?” The look of disgust on her friend’s face was all the answer Willow needed. “Wait until you hear what happened to him!”
The three friends talked for hours, mostly about stuff that happened in Sunnydale. Buffy found the Mayor’s ascension a hoot. She insisted that if she’d been here for that as Empress, that she would have made a pet out of him. Her certainty made Willow a little uneasy. It was easy to forget that Buffy wielded so much power.
Eventually they all fell asleep, Buffy ensconced between Willow and Xander. It was like old times. Willow had found herself wishing for ice cream more than once.
At some point Willow woke up as the bed dipped. There was a thump and a startled yelp from Xander. “Hey!” he grumbled from his new position on the floor. Opening one eye she watched Spike draw a sleepy Buffy against him. Willow closed her eye again and pulled the quilt tighter around her.
“Can I at least get a pillow?” Xander groused. There were several rustling sounds and the muffled whack of what Willow assumed was a pillow hitting Xander in the head. “Thanks,” he said, actually sounding sincere. Willow wondered if she was dreaming.
****
Giles came to slumped over his desk. He had a horrible crick in his neck. The sliver of light making it through the curtains was pale, so it must barely be morning. He stretched and looked around. Oz was still fast asleep in a chair, a blanket now covering him, and Anya was stretched out on the couch with her arm thrown over her face. Giles narrowed his eyes, hadn’t Spike been there earlier? Where had everyone else ended up?
Treading quietly the Watcher went upstairs to grab a change of clothes before taking a shower. He shook his head ruefully when he got to the top of the steps. Willow was asleep on the bed, hugging a pillow. Spike was on his side, Buffy facing him and tucked up under his chin. Xander was snoring lightly on the floor with Spike’s duster, of all unlikely things, draped over him as a blanket.
He wished he could take a picture to paste in his Watcher Diary, nobody was ever going to believe him otherwise.
Retrieving his clean clothes Giles was careful not to wake them. It’d be their last chance to rest before planning and executing of an assault on the heart of the Initiative.
****
The Empress was seated in what Xander had come to think of as her throne. Spike was standing slightly behind her now, no longer simply a servant required to kneel at her feet. His eyes remained as focused on her as ever, though. Anya had less than helpfully mentioned to Xander, when he’d been grumbling about the couple, that the vampire had been servicing Buffy as well as serving her even prior to the whole mating debacle.
Xander had asked her how’d she known that. Anya had looked at him like he was a moron and told him that it had been painfully obvious.
Buffy was in full Slayer mode, her face frightening in its stark beauty. She’d started out the meeting by insisting she would go alone, her power more than enough to end the ‘heinous acts’ of the soldiers. Spike had basically spit fire at that idea and she’d quickly amended her plan to her and him going, to which Giles had pointed out that there’d be computer systems that she was not familiar with and that having extra hands would be beneficial.
Now they were all going, including him. Xander had very little idea what good he’d be, except as a pack mule for high explosives. Well that, and he’d be there to protect Anya. The idea of the commandos getting their grubby paws on her made him feel sick.
The procurement of said high explosives and a plan to create a diversion were going through several groups of telepathic demons that the Empress was in contact with.
With little else to do until sunset, Xander formed his own plan of attack. It started out with him filching Giles’s credit card and finished with the delivery of several large pizza boxes.
The Watcher’s grumbling had been well worth enduring as Buffy had excitedly torn into the cheesy goodness of a slice of Chicago style supreme. As she nosily chewed she’d given him a grateful look and Xander had finally understood what the appeal was in serving her. He couldn’t be her knight, but he could be a pretty darn good pizza boy.
****
A breeze rustled the branches of the trees that were screening everyone from view as they made last minute preparations. Thankfully it carried no scent of soldier, despite their proximity to an entrance for the underground base.
Spike was ready. The demons had met them with the explosives and guns right where the Empress had said they would, and now everyone was armed to the teeth. He ran his tongue over his fangs, unable to keep the demon at bay with the prospect of so much fun about to be had. His mate, dressed now in form fitting leather pants and a tight red velvet halter top, strolled over to him.
“Hungry?” she purred.
“Always,” he answered, catching a strand of her long hair between his fingers. He used it to tug her closer for a kiss. She tasted of honey and he couldn’t help that his hand ran down her back to cup her ass, pulling her tighter against him. Her tongue tangled with his for a long minute, but then she was pulling her lips away from his. A sound somewhere between a whimper and a growl emanated from the back of his throat as he attempted to capture her mouth again.
“I wasn’t kidding.” She stopped him with a gentle hand on his chest. “I think you should eat before we engage the enemy.”
“Right.” He looked around surreptitiously at the others, who were themselves scarfing down power bars or draining bottles of water. What should it matter to them if he had a meal as well? Spike cradled the back of her head as she swung her heavy hair away from the pale column of her throat. Ever so carefully he slid his fangs into her offered flesh, the heady rush of her blood making him moan. Her hands gripped the lapels of his coat and he had to tighten his arms about her as she nearly swooned in his embrace. It made him want to climb the nearest tree and shout to the world that the girl was his, that the Empress had chosen him, William the Bloody, as her mate.
He wished he could rub it in the face of every tosser that’d ever doubted him. Take that, Cecily Underwood. It was really too bad Angelus wasn’t around to see Buffy like this, with her hot blood running down his throat while she panted and wiggled against him. God, he loved her, and every luscious sound she was making.
Someone cleared their throat loudly and close by. He didn’t stop, just made a rude gesture in the general direction the noise had come from before settling his palm back on his mate’s delectable ass. The throat clearing came again and Spike sighed, breaking the seal of his lips around the wound on Buffy’s neck and allowing blood to leak out and drip down the perfect curve of her throat. He found himself entranced by the way the red drops pooled just over her clavicle. He swept them up with his tongue, not wanting any of her essence to escape him.
“Spike,” the Watcher’s exasperated voice broke into his reverie.
With a growl he spun to face the man, Buffy’s blood smeared across his lips and staining his fangs. Giles’ face paled and he took a step back, much to Spike’s satisfaction. There was a gentle touch on his shoulder from his mate. He glanced at her. She was now wearing the silver eyes and hard planes of the Slayer.
“It’s time,” she whispered. The Empress didn’t look at Giles as she passed him, her gaze locked on the hidden entrance to the base, the location of which she’d gleaned from the unconscious soldier’s mind. Spike wasn’t so benevolent. As he strode by the Watcher he snarled and half lunged towards the man, who nearly fell over his own feet in trying to get away from the vampire. “Stop scaring my friends,” Buffy called without turning around.
Spike grinned, swiping some of the blood from his lips with the back of his hand, and continued to trail after Buffy.
Willow had some kind of contraption to override the security to the nearly invisible bunker door. It slid open, revealing a harsh white interior. The smell brought back vivid memories of what had happened to him down in the cells. The horror almost made Spike balk in the doorway, but his mate was already inside, pushing the button for the lift, and he couldn’t very well let her go down there without him. He wasn’t the same vampire that’d escaped, anyway. He had no chip and was hopped up on Empress blood. The wankers weren’t going to know what hit them.
They all crowded into a single lift car. There was sodding music as they descended, something listless and probably government mandated. He pushed his way to stand right in front of the doors. He grabbed his mate and kissed her one more time for luck, eliciting a token protest from Xander. He let a breathless Buffy go, winked at the kid, and yanked a pair of Uzis from where they’d been clipped on his belt. This was going to be neat.
There was a ding and the doors slid open.
<First: Prologue>
<Previous: Chapter 3>
<Next: Chapter 5>
Originally posted at http://seasonal-spuffy.livejournal.com/552730.html
