Ring Around the Buffy
A Round Robin Series by Multiple Authors. No longer in progress.

Parts 5-8

The Story: Buffy and Spike go cross country and under cover to infiltrate a vampire human slavery ring.

Rating: PG - NC17.

Disclaimer: None of us own any of this, Joss is King.

Spoilers: General Season 5.

Written By (in order of appearance): Annamarie, tanith, VicNoir, Kristin (aka Love's Bitch), Blaque Kat, Spikelicious, Tracy (AKA Jericho TGF), Jessa, NautiBitz, Raven, Saber ShadowKitten

Other authors scheduled (but never wrote): Trish, Pandora, Caitlin (AKA Spikes_Luv), Suaine, Angel Eternal, Python Chick (AKA Spike's Childe), Taulmaril, Patti, and Maggie.


 

Part 5 by Blaque Kat: Buffy and the Holy Grail

That night, while in the hotel, sleeping side by side, a slayer and a vampire lay in the darkness. Though both were as far as possible without falling off the queen sized bed, they could feel the other as though they were right next to each other. And while they slept, the slayer dreamed.

:: Dream Sequence ::

Buffy was wandering the outdoors. She had no idea where she was. Suddenly, she heard what sounded like a horse behind her. Turning, she saw a man dressed in a white robe with a crown on. Behind him followed a drably dressed man with a huge pack on his back. In his hands were two sides of a coconut shell. As he walked, he banged them together, and the first man would sort of gallop. They spotted her, and came to a stop in front of her.

"I am King Arthur," the first man started, "and this is Patsy. We are searching for the Holy Grail. You haven't happened to see it, have you?"

Staring back and forth between the two, she grinned when she realized what was going on. "King Arthur, huh?"

He nodded.

"And the Holy Grail."

He gave another nod.

"Have you seen the killer bunny yet?"

"The - the killer bunny?"

"I'll take that as a no. Anyway, I haven't seen your grail."

With that, the two men trotted off, leaving Buffy in the background. She started walking around and found herself in a new environment. She was dressed in a white gown, and surrounded with other young women. In the crowd she spotted Willow, Tara, and Anya. The door opened and in came Xander, followed by someone who looked exactly like Anya. Buffy heard the last of what the Anya look a like was saying.

"... I've been very bad. I need a punishment and... a good spanking."

All the girls around started talking at once. "Yes, spank me!" "Then me!" "I need a spanking!"

She was shocked to see Willow and Tara joining in with them. Suddenly, two more men came crashing through another door, a door to the outside. They pulled Xander out, at the same time talking about some grail. After the noise had died down, Buffy hurried out the door. She immediately saw that she was dressed differently. Among her was a group of men, and in front of them was a bridge. She heard a voice say,

"What's... your favorite color?"

Then a new voice.

"Blue."

She saw someone walking across the bridge to the other side.

"What's... your name?"

"Sir Lancelot."

"What's... your favorite color?"

"Blue, no I mean green!"

She watched as the the victim was flung into the air. The next person up, she recognized as King Arthur.

"How many times does a sparrow beat it's wings in a minute?" The voice from the bridge asked.

"An African or a sparrow?" The king asked.

"Well, I don't know."

Buffy saw an old man with a dirty looking beard fly through the air. She moved with the group and they began to cross the bridge. When they got to the other side, she was in a totally new location. Walking into a classroom filled with boys of all ages, she saw Spike in the front of the room teaching the class about sex. She moved as if someone else was controlling her as she covered the length of the room and stopped at the edge of the bed that had fallen from the wall. She proceeded to take her clothes off as did Spike. Getting onto the bed, she 'watched' in horror as Spike got on top of her and, while still talking to the class, entered her. He was still taking questions from the class when the room began to blur. She was watching the very beginning of a Monty Python episode, with the cartoon. At the end, when the foot came down and crushed the scene, Buffy woke up with a gasp.

And kicked Spike in the shin.



Part 6 By Spikelicious

"OW! What the bloody hell was that for?!"

Spike scrambled out of bed, rubbing his shin. "Well, I wasn't really sleeping anymore anyway. We might as well get over to that Spiked Collar joint and check things out. Get the lay of the land, so to speak."

Buffy eyed Spike and the bed they'd been sharing. "I thought vampires didn't sleep at night."

Spike shrugged, putting his boots back on. "Well, you were, what was I gonna do? Sit in the chair and watch you sleep? Plus, there's nothing on the telly." He didn't mention that she'd looked pretty tired and he didn't want to disturb her, although it appeared as though she'd been woken by a pretty 'disturbing' dream.

"Uh-huh. So, Buffy see, Buffy do?" Buffy got up and put on her own boots, pulling her brown hair back into a ponytail.

"I wish."

She shot him a look as he grinned sexily at her. "Stop that. Let's go," she added brusquely, not looking back as she left the room.

"Now, now, pet. Who's the master?"

"Bater," Buffy grumbled as she let herself into the passenger side of the DeSoto.

* * **

As Spike and Buffy entered the lobby of The Spiked Collar, they were greeted by a minion handing out numbers.

"Here. You're late."

Spike's eyebrows flew into his hairline as he forced himself not to glance at Buffy. They'd come in to scope the place out ahead of time, not walk into the lion's den.

"What's the number for?"

The minion sighed. "New to this, are you? Figures. See, the auction isn't until tomorrow. Right now we're just showing the 'wares', let the buyers get a look at what they might want to buy. Haven't you ever been to an auction before?"

Spike scoffed, covering his relief that the bidding hadn't started yet. "Oi, mate. I've been too busy causing murder and mayhem to go antique hunting."

He heard Buffy snort behind him, but when he glanced at her, her face was an impassive mask. 'Dammit, Buffy, don't blow our cover,' he mentally commanded. 'You're supposed to be in some kind of thrall!'

Taking the number, he grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her over to the nearest booth and pointed at the chair. "Sit," he ordered gruffly, wondering if she was picturing punching him in the nose yet.

* * **

Back in Sunnydale, Willow paced the floor of her dorm room, muttering angrily to herself.

"Sure. *My* girlfriend gets kidnapped, and I'm safe at home... well, okay, not so safe since home is a Hellmouth, but still. Buffy and Spike get to go undercover and I get to stay here and be the welcome wagon after *they've* rescued Tara."

Biting her lip, she paused. "Boy, just 'cause I'm not Willow the Vampire Slayer or Willow the Bloody, doesn't mean I should... I mean, hello, faced a hellgod to get her back already! Powerful witch, here!"

Suddenly, Buffy's words from earlier replayed in her mind. *"... but how am I supposed to go undercover? There's no way I can pass as a vampire, too much heartbeat, not enough fang-age."*

After a few moments, a thought began to form, and she tried talking herself out of it before it became a plan, but it was too late. And, she reasoned, it was a good plan. At least better than having a heated conversation with herself in the middle of the day alone in her room.

Dashing to the closet, she fell to her knees and began rummaging through piles of clothes until she pulled out the pair of black leather pants and matching halter. She was glad she'd kept them, after all.

Putting the clothes on, she then rifled through her and Tara's makeup stash until she found a scarlet nail polish and proceeded to paint her nails, then ran the matching lipstick over her lips and puckered appreciatively in the mirror. Putting on her spikiest-heeled boots, she faced the mirror again.

Calming her excited nerves, she began weaving the spell she and Tara had discovered a few months earlier. Every time they'd tried to sneak up on vampires it was to no avail, since the vamps could hear their heartbeats and smell their distinctly human scent. So she and Tara had come up with a way to mask their heartbeats, smell, and basically make themselves look dead. So far, it had worked every time.

Now, she enhanced the glamour and added a longevity spell, so that the illusion wouldn't lapse if she lost her concentration. Adding the final touches to the glamour, Willow faced herself in the mirror.

Licking her lips, she smiled seductively. "It'll do." She let the glamour fall away, certain that she would have no problem pulling it back on within seconds.

Grabbing her keys, which included the spare key to her mom's Tercel which she would be 'borrowing' in about ten minutes, she strode out of her room, full of purpose and intent on joining the cavalry.

* * **

Spike was angrily informing the vampire standing next to him that there would be no 'sampling the wares'.

"No, mate, you CANNOT bloody lick her!"

"The other guys let me taste their slaves." The vampire pouted sullenly, eyeing Buffy like she was... well, she was a meal, at least for all outward appearances.

Forcing her eyes to the ground, she held still and kept quiet. Spike wondered if the vampire was simply too stupid to feel the waves of rage emanating from her powerful yet small form, and he cast nervous looks her way, shaking his head almost imperceptibly.

"Look, mate, shove off. Wait for the auction like all the others."

As the vampire moved away grumbling, Spike suddenly felt the slight, cool weight of an arm drape around his shoulder.

Turning to face the new and apparently friendly vampire which had come up behind the last, he froze, only able to dart a glance at Buffy, whose mouth had dropped in utter shock.

Vamp Willow's golden eyes glinted ferally as she lightly trailed a vermillion-tipped fingernail down Spike's face, dipping into the well-defined hollow of his cheek.

Glancing at Buffy, Willow smiled. "Ooh, Spike! You got us a puppy!"




Part 7 by Jericho_TGF

Spike's mind was spinning. Talk about plans going awry. He had no idea what Will was up to, but the witch was about to get them all served up on a platter. Glancing at his 'slave' out of the corner of his eye, a slave that was looking torn between bursting into tears or bursting into bloody trails of vamp slayage, he knew that if he didn't take control of the situation soon, their house of cards was going to come crashing down on all of them.

And that was just too much debris to think about dealing with right now.

Not that he actually had any idea what to do. He was too spun by Vamp Witch to do much more than gape at her.

Willow, doing her best 'hey I'm a big ho' Faith imitation, wrapped herself around Spike's body, one hand stroking his back, going down to his ass until she chickened out and switched direction. No need to give too good a show, after all... and, hey... still Spike.

Grinning sexily, she tossed a flickering, purposely dismissive glance at her stunned friend. "So, Spike. Do I get to make the puppy's creamy skin pretty with color? Black, maybe... and blue. Oh! Let's not forget red!" She spoke loudly and boldly, for the benefit of several of the male vampires against the wall, not more than fifteen feet away, that were watching her like they wanted to eat her alive.

And not in that 'got blood' way.

"Buffy, can you hear me?" Willow reached out her mind, trying to connect to her obviously distraught friend. From the looks of it, Buffy was too confused... or angry... to keep to her role. Not a good. "Buffy?"

Nothing. Not even an eye twitch. Buffy couldn't hear her. Damn. Not that Willow had done much mind speech since the night with Glory, but it worked with Tara - and she'd already proved it would work on...

"Spike, can you hear me?"

His head jolted a bit in surprise. This new Will... new and improved looking Will... was still something he was trying to get used to. Not to mention, when his mind finally got with the program, it struck him just how... delicious Willow looked. Who would have thought? But the fact remained; normal conversation in this place would get them deader than dust. Time to use all those brain cells of his.

"Yeah, pet," he said, trying to put just enough double meaning in his words as he could without being too obvious, cursing for maybe the first time his kind and their hearing. "Pretty colors. I'll let you take the puppy for a walk in a minute, don't worry. Where have you been, luv? I've been waiting for you. And can I say, you look especially evil tonight."

"Glamour spell with a longevity boost. Keeps the vamps from knowing I'm not. A vamp, that is."

Willow saw a vampire coming up behind Spike and yanked the blonde vampire's very surprised face down and kissed him soundly, dragging her fingers through his hair before raking her nails down the sensitive flesh at the back of his neck.

He hissed in surprise and pain... oddly aroused surprise and pain. If it wasn't for... well... the situation... the fact that it wasn't the woman he loved doing that to him... and just about everything else that had anything to do with this caper, he would have been enjoying himself.

"Oh... sorry. It's just... audience. Trying not to blow our cover. I can't reach Buffy's mind. She can't hear me."

"Thank you, baby," she said out loud. "You're so good to me." Yellow eyes glowed feral and hot as Willow preened a bit under his compliments... compliments she knew were meant more as a pumping for information than anything else. She sent the double meaning right back at him. And knowing Buffy was listening; Willow hoped she was picking up on it, too. "You know I wouldn't miss this, lover. Not with so much on the line. I was hungry, though. Stopped at a nice French restaurant. You know how I love French food. The cook was delicious."

Everything in Buffy was screaming for release. It didn't matter too terribly much that the room was full of the walking non-decomposing types. She was really ready to stick a forest of sharp, pointy things into a few chests. Willow was SO not supposed to be here... and hello? What's with the fangs and forehead look? Not to mention, she's suddenly sporting that totally two years ago Spice Girl thing. 'Evil Spice', that is.

Now Buffy was supposed to just stand here while Spike and Willow have a little inconsequential discussion? Not happening.

Spike couldn't say he wasn't enjoying the obvious discomfort of the Slayer next to him. It was kind of nice, actually, knowing that there was nothing she could do to take control of the situation and seeing how much that was driving her crazy. But it was playing with fire. He had no intention of getting burned... or staked... when this was all over.

Spinning the witch in his arms, he lifted her slight body off the floor slightly, despite her surprised, "Hey!" in his head.

Sure, Willow could turn him into a stink beetle or what all, but he had to get them all out of here and fast. For speed's sake, he buried his head into the now eye-level hollow of the Red's neck. For appearance sake, he brought his game face forward and growled a low, deep growl of pure sex. For his own sake, he trailed a cold, wet tongue from her collarbone to her ear. For all their sake's he whispered in her ear.

"We're gettin' outta here. Now. Follow my lead."

Buffy watched in stunned disbelief as Spike set the laughing... yes, laughing... Willow back down on her feet. He pressed his body along her length, gripping her narrow waist and leaning into her, kissing her with possession and dominance. She knew the minute he slid his tongue into her best friend's mouth. Willow's hand clenched into the fabric of his shirt. In surprise and disgust, she was hoping...

It had to be surprise and disgust. Right? Willow was Willow. Gay and all... and, well... Willow.

Buffy's stomach twisted painfully, knotting and churning as she watched the display. It was disgusting. Revolting. Spike was such a pig. He was loving this, she could tell. And she hated him for it. Wanted to stake him right then and there for even thinking of going this far in this parody of a plan.

Um... why was Willow still kissing him?

This wasn't going to work, Buffy thought. This was in no way going to fool anyone. I mean, they didn't even look all that convincing, really. It wicked obvious. Willow was too stiff. She wasn't into it. Buffy could tell. Spike was going to get them all killed.

Um... why was Willow still kissing him? And... um... why was she wrapping her arms around his neck?

Looking around, Buffy saw seven vampires studying the lip-locked couple intently, evil leers on their faces. See, she thought. They know. They know it's a ruse and we're all going to end up dead.

Okay... hello? Could you knock of with the kissing now?

Spike pulled back from Willow, who was a little breathless but still in character. He was proud of her. She was doing well. So far. Now, that the show was over for those seven vampires that had been listening in to everything they had been saying, they could retreat without drawing undo attention.

"Come on, luv," he said, nipping playfully at Willow's bare shoulder. "Let's go check out the springs on that mattress in our room. And yes, pet. You get to bring the puppy." Spike turned his head to talk to Buffy and almost dusted on the spot at the hot fury blazing in her eyes.

If he didn't know better, she looked almost... jealous. Well, well, he thought with a smirk, isn't this interesting. But not the time.

"You," he called out to her, as if she was not the most important person on the planet to him. "Come with us. Mommy and Daddy are gonna have a little fun. And you're the main attraction."

Oh, bloody hell, he thought. She was going to dust him for real the minute they were alone. That is not a happy Slayer face. Great.

Sighing internally, wrapping an arm around Willow for the watching eyes, the two 'vampires' breezed out of the room, a livid slave followed, simmering, behind them.

 



Part 8 - By Jessa

I'm really beginning to hate vampires, Buffy thought, glaring at the back of Willow and Spike's heads as the two pawed each other while walking through the lobby. The logical part of Buffy's mind knew it was just for appearances but that didn't make her any less angry.

"Stupid... bloody... vampires... " She muttered.

Did I just say 'bloody'? Buffy groaned. This was not shaping up to be a very good day.

The moment the threesome was out of sight Willow and Spike burst into laughter. Since when does Spike laugh?

"That was fun, pet, we should do it again some time." Spike told Willow, leering at her. Willow grinned and faked a faint like the mere thought was too much. Spike laughed again. Growing, Buffy turned and stomped off down the hallway like she was out for blood. 

The other two looked after her in surprise. Spike started to follow but Willow held him back. 

"I'll go." 

Spike was about to protest but finally shrugged impartially. 

"Whatever. I'm going back to the room. Are you staying with us?" 

"No. I got my own room. I'll keep a low profile though." 

"Alright, but be careful." Willow blushed slightly at his concern, the confidence from her glamour spell wearing off. Without another word she went down the hallway in search of where Buffy had stormed off to. 

She found her only minutes later in a conference room beating the living hell out of three vampires. The Slayer's face was flushed as she pounded on her unsuspecting victims relentlessly. When the fight was finished and all that was left was three piles of dust Willow made her presence known. 

"So what's bothering you?" She asked and Buffy whipped around in surprise. 

"I'm not jealous!" She protested. 

"Okay... " Willow looked at her, puzzled. "I never said you were." Buffy looked flustered and brushed nonexistent dust off her pants. 

"Well good, because I'm not." The Slayer hopped up so she was sitting on the large table in the center of the room. "I guess I'm just pissed at having to play the role of the kicked puppy." 

Willow nodded. She'd accept that explanation... for now. 

"What are you even doing here Will?" 

The redhead tried to look innocent. In the leather and red lipstick she didn't succeed. 

"My girlfriend's been kidnapped, where else would I be?" 

Buffy protested. "It's not safe for you to be here." 

Willow frowned at the slight insult. "Look, I used a spell so the other vamps can't tell I'm human. As far as they're concerned I'm just another one of them." 

"But what if something goes wrong?" 

"It won't!" Buffy's over protectiveness was comforting but she got the feeling something a lot bigger was eating at the Slayer. "Now why don't you tell me what's really bugging you?" 

Buffy hesitated. "I just... I don't think you should be hanging all over Spike. It's dangerous." 

Well, Buffy conceded. It's the half truth. 

"I'll be fine. If anything happens Spike will handle it." Willow told her. 

"Like he always does." She said but it didn't come out nearly as sarcastic as she'd planned. "Sometimes I think you've all forgotten that he's tried to kill us like a dozen times." 

Willow smiled. "True. But he's not very good at it." 

Buffy tried to look at her in irritation but her lips kept twitching and finally she started laughing. A full minute passed before she was able to compose herself. 

"You know sometimes I think he couldn't find his ass with both hands tied behind his back." 

Willow snorted to keep from laughing. "Buffy don't be mean!" She admonished. "Besides, Don't you think it would be fun to watch him try?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

"Willow!" Buffy balked. "Did you forget we're here to save your girlfriend?" Her laughter faded as she watched as a look of sadness crossed the redhead's face. And she caved. 

"Okay. Fine! You can stay. It's not like you haven't proved you can take care of yourself." 

Willow squealed. "Yippee!" She reached out and hugged Buffy quickly."Now I'm going to let you go so you can go beat on Spike. Just try not to stake him, okay? I really want to get my girlfriend back sometime before she's traded off to a vampire named Rufus." 

Buffy grinned. "I promise. See ya Will!" She called as she started towards the door. "Oh, and I love the outfit." She laughed as she left the room, planning all sorts of ways in which she'd maim Spike. 

But by the time she reached the hotel room she had worn off most of her anger. Damn it! And I was really looking forward to some ass kicking. 

She slid the card through the slot on the door and watched as it turned green. Turning the handle she flung open the door. 

"Honey I'm h -... naked?" Buffy stopped in shock and the plastic card fell to the ground. 

Spike... naked... there was a wet and naked Spike... in front of her... technically he was wearing a towel but everyone knows how little hotel towels cover. It was safe to say this was more of Spike than she had ever thought she'd see. The words Spike and naked just didn't go together. Except Buffy couldn't help but notice that they actually went together rather well. 

"Slayer?" Spike asked, smirking at her dazed state. 

"You - you're naked." She looked at him accusingly. 

He looked down, as if in surprise. "Well most people do tend to remove clothing when they have showers." He walked forward to where Buffy still stood in the open doorway. "So where did my little slave run off to?" 

Buffy managed to tear her eyes away from his chest, which was still wet from the shower, in order to glare at him. "I wanted some time alone, so screw me." One of Spike's eyebrow's raised and Buffy gulped. "Shoot me! I meant shoot me!" 

The other eyebrow raised, the one with the scar, as if to say 'Sure you did.' 

"Sorry Slayer." Spike said. "I already tried that once and I like to learn from my mistakes." He reached out and brushed away a hair from her face. "But I will take you up on your first offer." 

Buffy pulled away from his hand. "In your dreams." 

"Frequently." Spike leered at her and Buffy blushed. "We do have to keep up appearances, luv." 

Something flashed in Buffy's eyes. "I think you and Willow were doing a good enough job of that." 

"Is that jealousy I hear in your tone, Slayer?" Spike smirked. 

"Only if you're as tone deaf as Angel." She replied. His arrogance gave was giving her the uncontrollable urge to wipe that smirk off his face, where it was looking entirely too sexy for anyone's good. 

Spike laughed. "You know insulting my poofter Sire isn't exactly rating high on the 'Ways of Making Spike Shut Up' scale." 

"Bite me, Spike." 

He leaned in towards her. "Gladly. You know with all these innuendoes you've got going it's no wonder I keep getting the wrong impression." 

"What?" Buffy grinned. "Like that I want you?" Spike eyed her as she brushed past him as she moved through the doorway. 

"For example," he replied, watching her hand as it trailed down his bare chest. The Slayer was definitely up to something but Spike couldn't think too clearly with her hot hand on his skin. 

Buffy smirked, turning to face him dead on from the inside of the doorway. She leaned in slightly and whispered. 

"What makes you think that you're wrong?" 

Spike's jaw dropped and Buffy used his shock to her advantage, pushing him out into the hallway and grabbing the towel from his waist while she was it. Then she slammed the door, locking Spike on the outside quicker than he could say 'Bloody Hell'. But not so quick that she didn't get a peek at the merchandise first. 

After all. I'm only human.

 

 

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