Scavenger Hunt players PLEASE read note at bottom when you have
finished the story.
* * *
Waking in someone's arms proved comfortable and -- strangely
familiar. Buffy puzzled over that while she processed her
surroundings.
Light played across her eyelids, and the faint scents of
cigarette smoke and something vaguely floral tickled her nose.
She lay curled around the heavy weight of her bladder, with a
firm, slightly cool body curled around her. A harder lump
pressed against the back of her thigh. Her ear hurt, a little,
where her head rested on Spike's arm.
**Spike's arm. Spike's cool body. Spike's --**
The realization woke her completely.
**Is Spike awake? Does he know he's -- doing that?**
At once mortified and curious, she held her breath. Her hormones
warred with her common sense. He had tried to kill her. He had
kissed her and called her beautiful. And he was still holding
her, had apparently held her all night. She hadn't dared hope
that Spike would be as attracted to her as she was to him,
but--
The vampire lay completely still, apparently dead to the world.
Finally convinced he was asleep, Buffy let curiosity win out
over caution, and wriggled her bottom deeper into Spike's lap.
He thrust his hips forward with a sort of strangled groan.
Buffy tensed, panic coursing through her system. **Did Spike's
erection just -- twitch?** "You're awake," she accused.
Silence for a moment, then, "Hardly blame a bloke for not
wanting to miss this." He squeezed the breast he held in one
hand, and Buffy realized she'd missed a few body parts in her
initial survey.
Suddenly, it was all too much. **What am I doing? In bed, with
Spike, evil vampire,** she wondered. **The same evil vampire who
saved my life, played paramedic, then held me while I slept.
Grr. I hate it when I rebut myself!**
Moving around had jarred her bladder, and Buffy leapt at the
excuse to be elsewhere. She pulled herself free of Spike's hold
and hurried to the bathroom without a backward glance. Competing
portions of her brain took time out from thinking about Spike's
body to notice that they had been assigned a room with
north-facing windows.
Giles' summons postponed any further embarrassment for the time
being.
* * *
"I'm sorry, Jim, but this puppy's dead." Xander leaned back from
the gory remains of his breakfast, and made a bet with himself.
Sure enough, within seconds, the fancy tray thingie disappeared
from his lap. "We'll dispose of it by transporter, Bones. That
is so cool!"
From the facing couch, Willow gave him an indulgent smile that
quickly seguéd into Concerned Frown #2. He followed her gaze to
see that Buffy and Spike had finally arrived. They stomped to
opposite corners of the room, and squared off like fighters in a
ring. They had a kind of weird tension thing going that he
didn't quite get.
"Buffster! I see your roomie is still among the unliving. Well,
there's no better way to start off the slay than with a healthy
breakfast!"
Not even a hint of a smile. **Whoops,** he thought. **Okay, so
Buffy isn't playing today.** He decided to let Giles pitch the
tough questions, and tried to concentrate on not being bored.
Looking at Cordelia didn't help, because of the "No staring at
my boobs in public" rule.
"Good morning, Buffy," Giles said, balancing his teacup on his
knee. "I trust you're well?" He waited for her nod before
continuing. "Now that we're all here, I'd --"
"Where's Dru?" Spike interrupted. His glare made it clear that
Angel was supposed to answer.
From his seat by the roaring fire, Deadboy obliged with, "She's
sleeping."
The younger vampire appeared to consider that, then he hitched
himself up on the corner of a little table and lit a smoke. To
Xander, it looked like Spike didn't trust Angel any further than
he could throw him. Which was probably a lot further than Xander
himself could. Which meant -- well, actually, those proportions
worked out pretty well.
Willow piped in with, "Buffy, what happened? I was so scared,
and then we couldn't get into your room."
While everybody told ghost stories, Xander studied the room. The
"West Parlor", as lobby-guy called it, was loaded with dark wood
furniture and heavy curtains and upholstery in dark reds. There
were small tables scattered all over, and cluttered with old
knick-knacks. The room was so full of carved stuff that it was
hard to find a flat surface anywhere. Even the coasters bore
elaborate designs.
They were also round. Xander picked up the stack from the low
table in front of him to examine more closely. They were thin
and wooden, with smoothly rounded edges. **Perfect.**
He flicked a coaster at Cordy.
"Ow! Doofus!"
**Oops.** His aim was a bit off, there, but at least he hit a
soft spot. His girlfriend actually got up from her throne-like
chair to come over and personally thwap him. Which in itself was
good, but it drew too much attention his way.
He bided his time, waiting for the revelation that at least one
of the ghosts wanted Buffy and Angel to do the horizontal mambo.
While everybody was distracted, Xander launched two coasters in
quick succession. The first, Buffy snatched out of the air
inches from her face. The second deflected off Angel's shoulder
and struck the carved mantle, sending wooden shrapnel flying
into the air.
Xander winced. **Oops, again.**
"Xander, will you KINDLY stop vandalizing, and focus on -- Oh,
dear." Giles set his saucer aside so quickly, it sloshed tea all
over the side table. He headed toward the fireplace, patting his
pockets frantically.
Buffy sounded exasperated. "Giles. A hint here, please. Was
that, oh, dear, Xander's set off the Apocalypse, or oh, dear,
I've left my hankie in my other jacket?"
The coaster had knocked a chunk of smoke-darkened carving off
the mantle, leaving behind a patch of clean, paler wood with the
outline of the original carved leaf. Giles held up the torn
piece of parchment with the prophecy fragment on it. In the
margin was drawn a leafy design that matched the carvings on the
mantle perfectly.