A Little Persephone

[botias]

I've got bits and pieces that have been sitting on my desktop. I've got a more-or-less outlined Chapter 11. I need to sit down and do something about that. I don't think this bit is spoilery, but it is perhaps a bit cliff-hangery.

As soon as Spike stopped the car Buffy opened the door and got out. She looked around. They were atop one of the foothills east of town. To the north was Sunnydale in all its glory, to the south the pale line of the road bisected the scrub until it vanished into the gloamy unknown.

It was a popular make-out spot. Which—would be why Spike knew about it, of course. Buffy wrapped her arms more tightly around herself. He liked a little sex with his blood.

Buffy turned; Spike had his forearms braced on the roof of the car and was watching her over it with a fond expression. Buffy didn’t have a clue what to say.

She opened her mouth. What came out surprised her as much as it did Spike, “Was it you who killed that teacher on Parent-Teacher Night?”

Spike looked at her like she had thrown a handful of pretzels at him and done the hula. “You want to talk about that now?”

“When do you think would be a good time, Spike?”

He raised his eyebrows and spread a hand, like the answer was obvious. “Never?”

“Was it you that night?” She circled the car toward him.

Spike made an incredulous noise. “What does it matter? People die all the time. Hell, woman, I almost killed you that night.” He seemed genuinely confused.

Buffy grabbed him by the collar and slammed him against the side of the car. She brought her stake down over his heart hard enough to bruise.

“Was. It. You.”

For a moment Spike shook his head, his mouth worked, then something in her face made him go still, his jaw slack.

A shift in his expression was her only warning. It should have been enough. As it was, she ended up on the ground several feet away, choking and gasping from the boot to her diaphragm.

Struggling for breath, Buffy watched from the ground as Spike ambled toward her in game face.

“Yeah, I killed him,” Spike said, his voice deadly soft.

Buffy watched him hold out his hands, skull width apart. He flexed his fingers savoringly. And then he whipped them up and apart, miming the snapping of a neck.

Buffy felt herself grow cold; for a moment she thought she was going to be sick.

Spike let his hands fall to his sides. “I killed him because I wanted to. Because I could. I killed him because he was born to die.”

Comments

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

This is a vivid scene. Using the makeout spot as a jumping off point for this conversation worked beautifully, and Spike has Buffy on the ground so easily it's chilling. His post kick amble and confession scream I'm a murderous fiend, you'd do well to never forget that. It's easy to put that aside in all the fantastic sex and romantic mind melding mythology.

I'm delighted to read even a snippet of this wonderful story.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Your feedback is spot-on as always. You have a wonderful knack for making a writer feel understood. I'm sure there's a great deal of fic out there that your encouragement made possible. :) *feels encouraged*

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

I love it when authors remember that Spike was a killer - even when he was a good guy.

[botias.livejournal.com]

What can I say except that killing could be said to be the center around which Spike revolves. It's the way he expresses love, stays alive, has fun on a Friday night... For better or worse, it's part of his attraction.

[empresspatti.livejournal.com]

**hee hee - just what I think - all purpose activity for our fav vamp.

[louise39.livejournal.com]

It would be so easy and natural for Spike to kill her.

Fine to read this snippet showing Spike in his true nature.
Love this story.

[botias.livejournal.com]

It would. And I suppose it would be equally natural for her to kill him. :| What a relationship! :D

Thanks

[mere-ubu.livejournal.com]

I really like the way this scene ups the ante; they may be mystically married in some way, but they're going to have to deal with what that means in terms of who they are.

Your new Voltron fic is at the top of my Calgon-take-me-away-from-this-week list. I wasn't expecting a little dollop of "Persephone" on that particular word sundae. (Please, take the English language away from me now.) Thanks for this!

P.S. How much do I love "gloamy unknown?" Quite a lot!

[botias.livejournal.com]

Heh, the Mr. and the Mrs. are having a little spat, about, oh, their essential incompatibility. :D

*blushes* Glad you liked "gloamy unknown"

I'm so glad BTE is on your crack list. *\o/* Hope you like. :D

[molly_may]

::pets Persephone snippet::

Heh, this pretty much illustrates why any early season Spuffy would be impossible, since Buffy would have to abandon all sense of morality and basic human decency to be with Spike, and she's so not that girl. However, that fact does not lessen my enjoyment of crack!fic in any way.;)

[botias.livejournal.com]

My Buffy is not that girl. :) To my mind, it just makes the crack!fic better.

[molly_may]

Oh, I totally agree! Which makes me very curious about how you're going to end this (not that I want the end to come anytime soon!), because the logical conclusion is Buffy killing him, and that would be kind of a downer.:(

[botias.livejournal.com]

Downer endings are not my thing. But yes, I agree that sooner or later they would end up in mortal combat because Spike is Spike--and Buffy would win because she's Buffy.

[http://users.livejournal.com/caraway_/]

Persephone is back!!:: happy dance::

Of course, molly_may is right. Which is what makes pre-chip fic so hard to follow through with.

Are we to assume that Buffy's blood is enough, and Spike isn't feeding? Or that Buffy is wilfully repressing?

[botias.livejournal.com]

In my fic, Spike isn't killing [people] as of the last chapter, or even at the time of this snippet. Buffy was meeting both his drive to kill things and to some extent his need for blood. I don't know if I ever decided specifically what he was doing for blood otherwise, but we know that vampires have options if they so wish.

[devylish.livejournal.com]

oi... that's wonderful...

thanks for the 'fix'.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Glad you liked. :D

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

I decided to be nosy and take a look at your Spuffy snippet...gosh darn it, I may have to go read the whole fic now! XD

I liked what I read, him reminding her what a bad guy he is. Yummy and dangerous and oh so deadly.

[botias.livejournal.com]

I think Persephone might be to your taste. >:)

Thanks!

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

Oooh, goody. :D Is that the one that was meant to be a three parter and became a series?

[botias.livejournal.com]

Yup. First the virgin!hate!sex required two chapters instead of one, and then it just kinda kept going...

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

*giggles* As long as you're having fun with it! ^_-

[botias.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! Spike is so transfixing when he's a murderous fiend--we're drawn to what we fear and all that. Persephone is definitely still on my mind regularly, even after all this time.