What Lies Within - 7

Giles let the temporary binding fall and responded instantly to the kiss; he'd been waiting for it all night, thinking about nothing else since the last one.

Spike's blood-caked hands ran through the soft, greying hair, tangling in it. Giles put his to the vampire's face, crushing him closer. This time, the kiss was easy from the start: mouths finding each other, tongues flicking together, lips softly pressed and touched, parted and closed in an intimate dance of passion. Spike moaned and pushed Giles to his back on the soft forest floor. Half naked, Spike's erection lay on Giles, separated only by the thin layers of the human's clothes.

Still kissing, Spike began to rub lightly, feeling the unmistakable swelling beneath him. He pulled away from the enticingly full lips. 'This ain't what I pictured.'

Giles blinked. 'No. Nor me.'

'Do you care?'

'No.' Giles pulled Spike back into the intensity of the kiss, and they were lost to it for a long time.

Once more, Spike was the one to pull away. He came off the watcher's mouth, almost dazed, his eyes dilated, his hands eager and exploratory on the human's body. 'I want you now.'

Giles closed his eyes then opened them slowly. 'I can't, Spike. You know why. It's still too soon after….'

'No! Oh, fuck, Giles; I want you so much. Bloody hell…! I can feel meself sliding inside you…. I need it!'

'I know. I'm sorry.' Spike felt a hand on his aching shaft. 'I've never done this before, Spike, but I'll try….' Giles slid down and touched the tip of the erection against his warm lips. Spike rolled onto his back and let out a soft moan.

'I've never 'ad human lips on me, Giles. Never.'

'Is it good?'

'It's a bloody revelation.'

Giles took just the bulbous tip into his mouth to see if he could cope with that. It was easy. It was like a chilled, peeled plum: smooth and soft to the touch. It had an intriguing indentation that tasted salty and which, when he probed it, made Spike rise up, cursing softly. Giles took these as good curses and probed some more, as hard as he could, alternating this with rapid flicking of his tongue.

Spike began to chuckle; Giles tried hard not to respond. He felt cool fingers entwining in his hair, and a soft voice murmured in his ear, 'Bloody good for a first time, luv; shows all that imagining in yer head pays off, don't it?'

Giles slapped him away but couldn't help a small smile around the cockhead, as Spike lay back down, still chuckling.

Giles slowly lowered himself onto the shaft, testing the feel of it in his mouth… at the top of his throat… slightly further down…. When he was comfortable with the position, he began a series of short bobs up and down, just to hear Spike groan. When he had the vampire where he wanted him, he slowed down and began the blowjob for real.

He ran his lips up and down, up and down, sucking in as hard as he could, flicking with his tongue as the cockhead was at the very edge of his lips, and using his teeth when he felt things needed to be more interesting. He didn't think about his hands until he felt cool ones directing him to a soft sac. He knew now what would feel good to the pale body, so pushed them roughly into Spike's groin as he gave a particularly hard suck. Spike gasped out a raw, 'Oh, fuck!' and began to jerk his hips. Suddenly, he grasped Giles around the back of the head, trying to force him on more as he began to erupt cold sperm into the human's mouth. Giles thought he was going to gag, so reared back slightly to relieve the pressure. The next thing he knew, Spike's gasps of pleasure changed to ones of pain; the pale hands flew to an agonised head, and Spike's body jerked from the ache of the chip, combined with this intense orgasm. Cries of pain began to be more subtly defined; the jerking got harder, the sperm more copious. The moans were now definitely not those of pain but almost… shocked surprise… and then it was over.

Giles swallowed for the last time and gently withdrew. Spike was lying rigid and spread-eagled on the ground, just staring up into the night sky with a strange look on his face.

'I'm so sorry, Spike…. Only, you were hurting me, and I… I didn't mean for…. I know what that damn chip is like, after all.'

Spike put a finger to Giles' lips to hush him but continued staring into the night sky. 'What's the term for it, Giles?'

'Err… for what?'

'You know - those sad fucks that cum with bags over their heads or all trussed up?'

'Good grief! Hardly my area of expertise! Auto-something, I think, why?'

'Cus, err…. The pain… sudden and sharp like that, just as I was coming in yer, an' then… oh… fuck…! It was…. I can't describe it! I can't…. Oh, God!'

Giles was inordinately pleased with his exertions, even if Spike seemed more fixated on the pain. He felt so comfortable with the vampire that he put his mouth to the slightly softened penis and licked it gently, nuzzling into the soft hair. Spike's hands came back to his head, encouraging, but not forcing him, and a quiet, intense voice said, 'Again.'

Giles glanced up and felt his bowels flood with desire at Spike's expression. He nodded and bent once more to the exposed flesh. Suddenly, Spike reared up. He grabbed his jeans and was in them, standing by the tree, before Giles had even opened his mouth. Buffy burst into the clearing. 'Giles!'

Giles stood up, trying to resist the urge to wipe his chin and glanced anxiously at Spike. Spike shook his head fractionally, and Giles took a deep, calming breath. 'We are quite all right. Other than Spike's leg, that is.'

Buffy didn't spare Spike a glance. 'Okay. I'm going after it. Xander's with Anya; he's fine.'

She disappeared into the night. 'I feel I should go with her.'

'She's better off alone, pet; she'll move faster and be more focused.'

'I suppose so.'

''Sides… I think we need to talk.'

'Talk? Well, that's new for you, Spike.'

'Yeah, well.' Spike pushed off the tree and began to limp back the way they had come. 'Only… seems to me that now we've…. How shall I put it, human? Now we've got the ball rolling, why not just play out the wishes and get it done with? No reason not to now, is there?'

'Long-term sanity aside? No, I suppose not. And it would be the quickest way to end all this. I mean… I can't spend the rest of my life wanting to take you against a tree… like that one - just over there - for example.'

''Xactly. I can't waste my unlife thinking about the feel of your mouth round me, can I?'

'No, certainly not. And it's not as if I've found a suitable spell. It's been four days, and - to be honest - I've not really been able to concentrate.'

'There ya go. We just do this… two nights at most and we're free.'

'Go back to how it was.'

'Yeah.'

'Except for the memories, of course.'

'Well, we've all got fucked up memories from the Hellmouth, ain't we?'

'I suppose so. We've faced death, destruction, end-of-the-world issues before and survived the memories.'

'Fuck, mate, I can remember kissing the slayer! Can't get much worse than that!'

'So, we'll survive. We'll do it, remember, and move on, yes?'

'Sure. So, who first?'

'What…?'

'Breathe, Rupert, breathe. I mean, whose fantasy first? Mine or yours?'

'Oh. I don't know. I'll toss you for it.'

'What? A wanking competition? Ain't done that since….'

'A coin, Spike. I'll toss a coin. Heads or tails?'

'Always tails - you should know that by now.'

'Seems I remember you liking heads just as much a while ago.'

'Fair point, but it's tails for important stuff like this.'

Giles spun a coin. 'You win. My place tomorrow then?'

Spike chuckled. 'On the contrary, human. Mine. I win - I get to do mine second.… Anticipate it more then!'

'Oh. So, I….'

'Walk on the dark side tomorrow, yeah, and seeing what I've just discovered 'bout the 'fects of me chip on sperm production, it's gonna be an interesting night for all concerned.'

Giles swallowed nervously. 'Then it's my place - after a few days possibly - and it's all over.'

Spike's 'Yeah' was rather soft and hesitant, but Giles took it to be genuine and left him at the edge of the wood with a brave, cheery 'See you tomorrow evening then, Spike.'

He walked briskly away then came equally briskly back. 'Anything I should bring?'

Spike shook his head and slowly lit a cigarette. 'It's the dark side, remember? I'll take care of it.'

'Yes, quite so. Good night then, Spike.'

Trying not to laugh, Spike said equally formally, 'Goodnight, Watcher.'



Giles didn't sleep at all and could not decide whether this was due to anxiety about the following night or intense arousal at the memory of Spike's hard penis in his mouth. Oscillating between these two alternatives didn't help. Eventually, he got up and caught up with outstanding correspondence, unread newspapers, and general life administration. At dawn, he left a message for Anya, switched off his phone and went back to bed. He had a feeling he would need his sleep.

Spike didn't sleep much either, mainly because he was a vampire and sleeping during the night made him feel slightly guilty, but more because he was pondering the meaning of darkness.

Where was the dark side that Giles wanted to explore? Spike didn't think his current unlife would qualify as being very dark. Besides his highly trained squad of killer spiders, there wasn't much else evil about him these days.

He could remember evil, though. He'd lived alongside evil for twenty years, revelling in his sire's excess, but Angelus had been unique: unlife his forte.

Spike didn't think Giles meant that kind of darkness when he'd fantasised about experiencing it.

So, if not true demonic evil, what else? Given Giles had already spent two months in his body when he'd made that wish, Spike began to focus on the more pleasurable aspects of eternal life that may have seduced the watcher. There was the sex for one thing… always good to ponder over, and he did so for some time, with only one or two interruptions to his thought process.

Sex and power - he was powerful; there was no doubt about that. Maybe that's what the human had wanted: a taste of true vampire power. Sex and power… sex in power… power of sex… sex for power… power through sex…. Yeah, lots and lots to play with there. He looked around his small lair in the ground, pouting slightly; it was hardly up to these momentous, dark events. They needed somewhere better: an arena worthy of the human's needs. He grinned and made his way over to the old mansion once more. He wandered around his training equipment, eying the weights, the ab bar, the soft mats… and chuckled. It all had interesting possibilities.

Pain would be their pleasure, agony… their dream.

Spike perched on the edge of the mat and lit a cigarette in the dark, its tiny red glow the only real illumination. Candles…. He'd better start some real planning: humans needed to see. Spike suddenly tipped his head on one side, a trickle of a thought unwinding in his head. Humans…. Giles was human.

Spike laughed ruefully. He'd been looking at this all wrong. The human had only been in his body two months when he'd made the wish. It was human desires and a human interpretation of the dark side that had driven Giles. Maybe he should concentrate on that: envision what evil was for a human.

He tossed his cigarette away and lay back on the mat, laughing outright now. He'd come full circle.

He'd thought Angelus unique? He'd thought Angelus the master of evil and pain? He'd dismissed his sire's works as being too dark? Hell, Angelus paled in comparison to the Dahmers, Venables, Thompsons, and Wests of this world.

Spike smiled. They'd play out human passions; they'd tread the dark side of human desires, and enough evil would be brought into this room for the both of them.

++++++++++++++

Giles arrived at the crypt just as the sun's rays left the world.

He stood outside the pale building, so nervous that he thought his legs would not carry him inside. What did Spike have waiting for him? What twisted, demonic sight would welcome him to this hell of his own desires? He pushed open the door, hesitating on the threshold.

Spike was watching Tom and Jerry, his feet propped up on an old box, a beer in one hand, a cigarette in the other.

He turned at Giles' entrance and waved him over to the empty spot alongside him. 'This is a good 'un. Watch - cat's gonna get drunk… 's really funny.'

'Err… do I have the right night? We said tonight, didn't we?'

'Sure did. But me shows are on 'til ten, an' I don't wanna miss 'em.'

Giles sat down as requested and took the offered beer. He drank it rather too quickly and found another in his hand, soon followed by a glass of whisky. He drank them quickly, without considering it too much, and suddenly found himself enjoying the cartoon marathon. The crypt was mellow and warm. He was warm. He turned sideward a little to watch the vampire, undressing him with his eyes, touching him with his thoughts. He was magnificent - okay, he was slouched on a sofa, watching cartoons, drinking and smoking, but he was still magnificent - and Giles wanted him. He would have forgone the dark side if it weren't for the bloody spell. He 'd rather take Spike down to the old bed and reacquaint himself with the body that he knew so well.

He jerked back a little and took a long drink. That was odd. He was only here because of the spell, so he oughtn't to be thinking… other things. He had wished for this; that was the only reason all this was happening. So, what was he doing thinking about Spike in other ways? It was very confusing, and he eyed Spike balefully. 'Have you drugged me?'

Spike turned lazily to him, one eye still on the screen. 'Huh?'

'I'm finding the spell hard to concentrate on, thinking of other things I want to do with you… nicer things to be honest… and that shouldn't be, should it?'

'Like the blowjob, yesterday.'

'Err… I don't follow.'

'Well, I thought it a bit odd like. We're only doing this to play out our roles, ain't we? So, what the fuck did we both wanna do that for last night? That weren't my fantasy 'bout you, and it weren't yours 'bout me. So, why?'

'Dear God! I never thought about it like that. Do you think the spell is getting more powerful? Perhaps it's taking us over completely.'

Spike gave him an odd look, but this was flicked off the expressive face before Giles had time to reflect upon it. 'Might be, cus I'll tell you what, Watcher, I had it all planned for tonight, but all I want to do now is….'

Once more, Spike took the lead and leant into Giles' soft, warm mouth. Giles took off his glasses, heedlessly letting them fall to the floor. He was pushed back by Spike's need, and the vampire lay gently on him, their mouths softly exploring, hands sliding to where they could touch flesh and bodies finding exquisite pleasure in the anticipation of what was to come.

Giles turned his head to one side. 'This isn't right, Spike. Kissing is not going to end this thing.'

Spike pulled him back to the kiss, too lost in the moment to reply, but after a few minutes more, he broke away and said forcibly, 'Maybe we thought this, too. Maybe we wanted this, too. Maybe this has been the undercurrent of our relationship all the time, and that bloody spell just picked up on it.'

Giles pushed him off and sat up. 'I had no thoughts of you at all, Spike - sexual thoughts - until I became overwhelmed by your body.'

'Uh huh.' Spike lit another cigarette and pursed his lips slightly. 'Now, Rupert, you know that's not really true, is it?'

Giles got up and began to pace, the clamour from the TV irritating him enough to allow a flare of petulant temper to show. 'Turn that bloody rubbish off, will you?'

Spike obeyed without taking his eyes off the human.

With the silence, Giles could think more clearly. He took another long drink as he framed his reply. Finally, he turned to Spike. 'You repulsed me, Spike.'

Spike leant back and squinted at him through his smoke. 'Repulse don't make for hard-ons, human.'

Giles cursed inwardly. He'd rather feared this conversation and was surprised it hadn't happened earlier. 'I don't deny I found some of the things you were able to do - some of your abilities - rather interesting but, I assure you, that was purely from the point of view of a watcher, studying a vampire.'

'Oh, don't give me that rot! That's total bollocks, and you know it. You had a stonker every time you saw me, mate.'

'Fuck you, Spike!'

'OH! That's nice! I'm 'elping you come out of the bleedin' closet - out of the goodness of me heart I might add - and you use language like that!'

Giles swung out and clipped Spike across his jaw. The vampire bent away but came back up, his eyes blazing. 'You know I can't hit back.'

'No, you can't, can you Spike?' Giles hit him again. 'That's the second time you've used that 'closet' expression, and can I just say…?' He hit out once more. 'I rather resent it. I was happy until you came to Sunnydale.' One more punch. 'Then there you were with your bloody coat and your damn cigarettes; so bloody superior to everyone else, and when you came into a room, everyone turned to look at you.' He kicked him this time, just for some variety. Spike backed out into the night air. Giles followed. 'What was I supposed to do?' Spike backed rapidly away, but the blow still caught the side of his head. 'I couldn't stop thinking about you, but you were disgusting: everything I'd left behind me in England. Everything I'd fought against.' They'd reached the edge of the cemetery. Giles shoved Spike, and he fell into the road, the human kicking at him, missing him by inches. 'And then, and then…. Thank God! You went and left with that lunatic girlfriend of yours, and I thought, "I'm free of you at last".' He continued to stalk and bait Spike, as the vampire backed away. 'But you came back! You bloody came back, and what did you go and do?' Spike couldn't answer; he was holding his bleeding lip where Giles had emphasised his question with a punch. 'You went and got yourself a technological soul.' They were in a rough part of town now, Giles panting slightly from this bizarre journey. 'And then you began to systematically ruin my life. My bloody bathtub, Spike! I had to have you chained in my bathtub, and all I could think about was what you would feel like to bathe!' Giles' punch sent Spike crashing through a doorway. He ripped apart the debris and followed him in. 'Even when you left, you were still a part of my life, and all I wanted was to escape my passions quietly, but every time you came over….'

Giles trailed off at Spike's grin.

He looked around.

His bowels turned to jelly, and he groaned.

Spike chuckled softly. 'We're here. Well done, Giles.'

Candlelight illuminated what looked to Giles like a medieval torture chamber. He blinked, looked again and realised it was only gym equipment, oddly shadowed and silhouetted in the faint, flickering light. 'What did I just confess?'

Spike cocked an eyebrow at him. 'Dunno. Weren't listening. Think you said you love me.'

It broke some of the tension, and Giles sat on a bench, his legs wobbling slightly. 'It's this spell, isn't it? It must be. I mean, that was….'

Spike straddled the bench behind him and began to peel off the soft jacket. 'Don't worry 'bout it, luv. We'll do this now. Tomorrow, we'll do my shit, and then we'll both be free. I'll go back to the shadows where I'm at home; you can go back to the slayer and the light. This'll be something we don't talk about - like me and Buffy.'

Giles twisted around. 'You and….'

'Come on, Rupert. We were engaged for fuck's sake. Did you think we left it at kissing?'

'OH! Dear God!'

'Told you the hellmouth'd give us bad memories. She copes; you'll cope.'

'So… what…? Spike, I don't think I can go through with this.'

'Shhh.' Spike nuzzled into Giles' ear; his hands crept round to undo the shirt. He slipped it off the human's shoulders and began to undo the soft pants. When they were gaping open, he slid his hand inside, and whether at the cold or the touch of flesh on flesh, Giles gasped softly. Spike murmured quiet words in his ear as he explored.

Giles was beginning to sink under the influence of the soft candlelight and the vampire's hands. Where was the fear in this?

Suddenly, the candles flickered and most of them extinguished. The light changed from soft amber to a much harsher red. Spike continued the soft murmuring in Giles' ear until, with a cry, Giles leapt to his feet. 'What have you done? You stupid vampire! What have you conjured here?'

Spike giggled. 'Some old friends, Ripper. They've come to play.'

Giles stared at Spike's face, suddenly so unfamiliar. Did insanity run in the whole damn family? Spike looked utterly mad.

A deep rumbling filled the room. Giles felt something hit him like a bolt of power to his belly. He collapsed to his knees, begging for it not to happen. Too late - his head was filled with the dark magics once more. Ancient Gods warred for ascendancy in his frail body. He shuddered as they played for his soul. He looked at Spike and hatred, so intense, so vivid, blasted away all his fear and all his hesitancy. He stood up and advanced on the vampire.

The blow, this time, made the previous ones pale into insignificance. Spike flew backwards over the bench, hitting his head on the weights as he went. Bright vampire blood arced out, and the Gods moaned their pleasure. They began to multiply in Giles, making him their vessel. Giles was still there, his rational brain still worked, it just told him there was no escape: that all was dark, and that the light would not return.

Forces of evil poured into him, their way into the world opened. He felt utterly freed from all restraint. He found the vampire where he lay and dragged him over to the most obvious of places. He strung Spike up by his ankles to the overhead bar, his strength phenomenal as the evil had its way. Spike's body swung lightly, his hands not touching the ground. He seemed stunned, the blood from his cut dripping and pooling to the ground.

It gave the Gods their focus. Giles was not allowed to take his eyes off the red trail… but they wanted more; they begged for more, and their begging was painful in its murky complexity.

He found a long knife in his hand and stared at it. The blade slowly turned red, oozing blood across his hand. He had hacked the vampire open from his groin to his throat, yet he didn't even remember doing it.

The warring in his head got worse; images of a blood eagle sacrifice enticed him, but other voices told him to peel Spike until his skin slurred to the floor and exposed what lay within. Yet another urged him to use the soft candlelight, seducing Giles with the counterpoint of that soft light and the harm it could cause to this pale, preternatural flesh.

The knife stripped the sacrifice until its paleness was exposed. Only one dark patch marred the otherwise perfect smoothness of its skin. A particularly sweet voice urged Giles to smooth that dark patch, to cut away what hung from it, but older voices screamed their denial - other plans were being hatched for that delectable vulnerability.

Giles held the candle to his face and felt some of the darkest beings in him wince at this illumination of their wickedness. They writhed and churned, and he squirmed to the churning. He held the candle to the vampire's face to see if evil was illuminated there, but it only singed the skin and hissed in the blood that flowed so copiously from the split torso. Giles tickled the flame over the soft inside of Spike's arms; his skin blackened and blistered, just as a human's would. Giles was tempted to hold the flame longer, to see the vampire flare out to the dark: a demonic torch, signalling his evil… but he restrained.

There was only one place the Gods wanted to play with, only one place they wanted to see the flame lick and caress, only one place where the pain would be sufficient for them.

He held the candle to the exposed, soft tip of Spike's penis until he smelt flesh burn. He cooked the cool, peeled plum. He waited for the conflagration, holding the flame there too long, but the demons were skilful; the body remained intact.

All the energies inside him enjoyed the screaming - they danced on the harsh notes, providing subtle harmonies to the music of Spike's pain. Giles watched Spike writhe as the flesh blistered, peeled, and eventually withered away.

When Spike's penis was nothing more than a blackened stub, Giles removed the candle and picked up the knife once again. He tipped his head on one side, regarding the sobbing creature. What was that incoherent crying for? Did it want something to cool the pain? Giles pulled Spike's balls away from his body and cut the joining skin. It was so generous of him; the spraying blood drenched the burn, a distinct sizzling sound made all the demons hiss in fear with thoughts of their own eternal damnation.

The Gods began to stretch in their power. They wanted to explore the human body they'd been gifted. They discovered his heart, his belly, and they played around his cock, testing it, exploring its power. They wanted to play with their new toys, so Giles went behind Spike and let them look at the pale backside. The giggling in his head sounded like swarms of flies, but at least he could no longer hear Spike screaming…

… until he stuck the knife in him, that is. Then the vampire's screams stilled even the demonic powers, and they made obeisance to the eminence of his pain. Giles dug the knife around, his curiosity piqued, until the blood swirled around his shoes: a river of blood running down Spike's back, streaking through his hair and pooling on the mat. He looked at it staining the muted green for a moment; it reminded him of something, but the thought was lost to the greed of the creatures within him. They wanted to enjoy the blood now, to feel its slickness, to test it to see if it matched their own demonic patterns. Giles cut the body down and threw it over one of the benches.

When his cock appeared in his hand, Giles knew he'd never be this hard again. Pumped up with wickedness, swollen on lust and greed, he pushed into the lacerated anus, thrusting up into the punctured rectum. It was almost too slick, too much blood; there was no grip to bring him off, but he persisted and used his hand as well, griping the unnatural shaft and working it as he filled the red hole.

Spike made no sound. Giles looked at the slim back as he pounded into the bloody hole. The vampire was still, supine beneath the powers that had proved so much greater than he.

Giles felt an orgasm rushing upon him and knew it was borne on an eternity of bloodlust, rape, and power. He was lust. He was rape - he was all the malevolence these creatures could bring to him. When his sperm erupted, it pooled in the gaping anus, and Giles thought he could see it wriggling, alive with the iniquity of generations.

He staggered away from the body and fell back onto the mat, his cock still spurting slightly, the feel of the release agonising.

The voices screeched their fury at his weakness and for punishment, took him to a place he did not want to go.

A stake was in his hand.

He had to use it: the ultimate exploration of his dark side. He advanced on Spike, but suddenly found himself flat on his back, Spike standing over him.

The vampire was ghastly. Blood coated his pale skin; his face was a mask of caked blood; a blackened mass at his belly, oozed pale fluid, and a darker fluid poured down the back of his legs, pooling at his feet. Giles stood up, agreeing with the screeching demons that this foul creature needed to be staked. He went toward Spike once more, but this time the vampire's spinning kick almost knocked him unconscious. Screeching turned to wild, demonic screams of fury. He staggered back up to his hands and knees as their malevolent power over him loosened. The next kick had them howling. They tried to hold on to the human body that had given them so much pleasure, but stronger now, Giles began to resist. He heard words of power that he recognised and became their echo. Every word the vampire uttered, Giles spoke too. Spike kicked him once more - the final jolt - and the dark Gods fled on the tail end of the ancient incantation.

Spike looked at Giles, looked deep into his eyes, and only then allowed himself escape into unconsciousness.

+++++++++++++++

Giles was crying when Spike came round. He was cradled in the watcher's lap, and hot tears dripped onto his face. 'Oi! Sod off.' The voice was ragged, barely understandable, but it was still Spike, nevertheless.

Giles jerked his head back, words tumbling from him, none making any sense. Spike put a finger to the lips and nodded painfully to something in the corner of the room. 'Get it for me, hey luv? Bit… done in at the mo.'

Giles laid him down - as if he were the most precious object in the world - and skittered across to an icebox. He pulled out some blood bags stamped, "Sunnydale Hospital". Wonderingly, he brought them back to Spike, and the vampire shredded the plastic with practiced ease, draining pint after pint of the healing fluid. Giles cradled Spike's head in his lap once more, and the vampire passed blessedly back into pain-free unconsciousness.

He came to after an hour or so with a sudden, sharp gasp of pain, cut it off when he saw Giles' face, and nodded at the blood once more. When he could drink no more, he lifted his head fractionally and cast a baleful eye over his body, pouting. Giles couldn't bear to look, but did, and made a distressed moan.

Spike put a hand to Giles' face. 'Thinking you might not get yer jollies after all?'

'Oh, dear God, Spike! Is that what you think…?'

'Shhh, Rupert… I'm only teasing. Calm down.'

'Calm down! Calm down! Do you know what you did? Spike! Have you any conception of what you just did?'

Spike found it difficult to talk but gritted his teeth to say determinedly, 'Yes, as much as this'll surprise you, human, I did. I summoned 'em; I controlled 'em, and I got rid of 'em. Yes?'

'NO! They victimised you! They've almost destroyed you!'

'Tosh. I used them. When I was done, I kicked their arses outta here. Jeez, they were banished creatures, Giles, cus they weren't that fucking clever when they were 'ere in the first place.'

'How did you…? I mean, your chip?'

'Yeah, like it was gonna recognise you as human there.'

Giles paled. 'I am without words, Spike, to describe how foolish you are.'

Spike looked at him. 'How much of you was in there?'

'What?'

'Did you enjoy any of it. Be honest.'

'Enjoy it. Let me think. Enjoy it. No, I can honestly say that I did not enjoy that, Spike.'

'So, not walking on the dark side again then?'

'When I pictured the dark side, I think I had in mind some rude graffiti and peeing with the seat down. Stringing you up, burning you, raping you.…' He stopped and swallowed slowly. 'I - I just raped you again.'

'Well, seeing as I instigated it all, technically….'

Giles groaned, eased Spike to one side and lay down on the mat. There was something sticky all around him, so he crawled to a cleaner spot then lay down again. 'I think I'll kill Willow.'

Spike managed to drag himself over and lay on his belly next to the exhausted human, rethought this and turned carefully over onto his back. 'Don't think that'd be too easy, mate. She'd whammy you.'

'Probably.'

'So… what you want to do now?'

'Honestly? I was thinking of the second stage of this hideous experience - your fantasy - and bringing it forward slightly.' He turned and pulled Spike into his embrace, wrapping his arms gently around Spike's chest, throwing one leg (even more gently) over his nakedness - as if covering him from prurient gaze. He put his mouth to Spike's ear. 'Will you heal? Fully, I mean.'

There was silence for a moment, and then a soft voice replied, 'I think I will now.'