Healing Wounds

Spike lay on his bed, staring up at the ceiling; he smoked a cigarette and watched the pale grey clouds curl up from his mouth. He had gone days without a smoke before his fight with Willow. She hated the things and so he had foolishly tried to give them up for her. Yep, that’s what he was, a fool,ool ool with a broken heart. He had allowed himself to fall for Willow, not once thinking about where those feelings may have been coming from, or why they suddenly appeared. Now he knew he was the victim of some binding spell. Figures. Nothing ever worked out right for him when it came to love, so why should this time be any different? Still, there was something about that girl, something about the way she looked after a good shag, with her hair all mussed and her lips swollen from too many kisses. She was, well, breathtaking. If he had breath that is.

Best to put such thoughts out of his head. He had spent three days sulking in some of the seediest bars in St. Louis, spending the daylight hours lounging in the beds of one trollop or another, but it hadn’t made him feel any better. In fact, it had only made him feel worse. Every time he touched another woman he felt as if he were being unfaithful, like he was betraying Willow, which was ridiculous. How could he betray a chit that was never truly his?

Eventually he decided to come back though. The new and improved
St. Louis, complete with vampire rights, was a nice place to visit, but he missed home. What fun was it being a monster if no one was scared of you? Spike didn’t want to become just another tourist attraction. He’d rather be back in his own world where everyone was still afraid of the things that went bump in the night. Of course his coming back had NOTHING to do with Willow. Nope, not a thing. He just wanted to find a way home.

She did look pretty miserable though when she ran him down in the hall and dumped her tea all over him. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so harsh on her, but he couldn’t be too careful. He didn’t know how powerful the spell she had cast on him was, and if he let his guard down he could fall so head over heals for the girl that he may very well lose his soul again. Peaches may have thought he was the only one with a happiness clause, but Spike had learned over the years that there was more than one way to lose your soul when it came to love.

He snuffed out the butt of his smoke, pondering these things along with how very big and lonely his new bed seemed without the redhead to share it with, when he heard Willow give out a blood curdling scream from somewhere down the hall. Frantic, he instantly forgot any misgivings he had about the girl, and dashed off to find and rescue her from whatever had made her cry out in such a way.

Barreling down the hall, he saw Jean-Claude and Jason coming from the other direction. Jean-Claude must have been in the process of showering when he heard the scream because he was clad only in a towel with wet hair plastered all around his face and shoulders.

Another ear-splitting scream rang down the hall, leading them to Asher’s room. Spike threw the door open, y toy to kill whatever it was that had dared to harm Willow. But, the moment the door swung open, he felt his blood run cold. There, lying on the bed, was his redheaded goddess naked in the arms of another vampire.

He thought her screams were cries of pain, but by the looks of the pair, clearly he was wrong. He felt sick. Things between him and Willow were bad enough, but this, this was just too much.

Willow looked up from the bed with a combination of surprise and horror. “Spike!” she managed to squeak out as she desperately tried to cover herself. She yanked at the blanket she and Asher were lying on, but it was no use.

Asher noticed the girl’s discomfort and tugged at the edge of the bedspread so that it was just barely covering her, then pulled her tighter against him in a protective manner. “We are not exactly dressed for company, but if you would care to come back in an hour or two, I’m sure we could accommodate you then,” he said somewhat snidely. He had seen the hell Spike was putting Willow through lately, and was determined to put an end to it right now.

Spike just gaped at the pair of them as Jean-Claude and Jason tried to push past him into the room. His mouth opened and closed several times like a fish out of water, but still no sound came out.

“Spike, I can explain. It’s not what you think! Well, it’s kind of what you think, but I still have a good explanation,” Willow said, starting to sit up, but Asher just pulled her back down again.

Spike just shook his head, as reality came crashing down on him. Trying valiantly to save a scrap of his dignity, he fixed the girl with a hard stare. “What makes you think I give a damn who you sleep with?” He swept his gaze over the pair with a sneer, unable to see Asher’s newly healed condition due to the positioning of their bodies. “You were never a good shag anyway, but I’m sure your new toy can still appreciate a nice pity fuck.”

Asher growled and started to rise from the bed, determined to defend Willow’s honor, but she held him back with surprising strength, pleading with him not to fight the other blonde vampire.

“That’s right, baby, stand by your man. Wouldn’t want for me to have to kill him. Then who would put up with your bullshit?” Spike said, adopting an almost bored tone. Then, turning on his heel, he strolled back out of the room, and headed out to find the nearest bar so he could get very drunk and contemplate whether or not he should greet the sunrise in the morning.

Jean-Claude watched him go, and with a jerk of his head indicated that maybe Jason should go with him. With half the council due to arrive at any moment, the last thing he needed was to have a very pissed off uber-vamp on the loose. As soon as the young werewolf took off after Spike, Jean-Claude turned his attention back to the couple on the bed with a slight smirk. He was ready to just leave and allow them a little privacy to finish what they had started, when Asher moved his head slightly, giving him a full view of his face.

“Mon dieu! What have you done?” he asked, somewhat breathless as he stumbled over to the bed.

Willow was mortified as the towel Jean-Claude was clutching together at his waist was forgotten, and simply dropped to the ground, seconds before he pushed her out of the way and practically climbed on top of Asher. Trying to keep her eyes off his impressive manhood, and clearly the man was not Jewish, she focused ead ead on the cross shaped burn on his chest.

Jean-Claude couldn’t believe his eyes. His dearest friend and former lover was healed! He couldn’t help scrambling up onto the bed, full of wonder at seeing his restored beauty. With a sense of awe, he lightly traced his fingers over the previously scarred flesh. Tears began rolling down his cheeks as he was overwhelmed with joy. Looking up, he saw tears in Asher’s eyes as well, and flung himself into hrienriend’s arms, both men clinging to each other and sobbing with an outpour of emotion that was centuries in the making.

“Hey, I just saw Spike and Jason hightailing it outta here. What’s the deal with that?” Anita asked, walking through the door. She froze. “What the FUCK is going on?!” she screamed, seeing Jean-Claude naked and in bed with two other people.

“Ma petite, it is a miracle! Asher…” Jean-Claude began.

“Save it! I don’t want to hear the details. You knew what would happen if you cheated on me. I was stupid to fucking trust you!” she raged, turning to leave.

“I don’t understand? Ma petite, please wait. I will explain…” Jean-Claude said, a confused frown coloring his expression. He reached out to grab her shoulder, but it was a mistake.

Although very small, Anita was supernaturally strong and an expert in judo. Grabbing the hand on her shoulder, she flipped the taller vampire over her and onto the floor, following through with the motion and burying her fist in his face. She watched with satisfaction as she felt the bone in his nose crack and blood blossomed out across his face.

“Don’t fucking touch me,” she said calmly, then left.

To be continued…