apachefirecat

Title: "A Dollop of Crimson"
Author: Kat Lee
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: It wasn't love.
Disclaimer: All recognizable characters, names, codenames, places, items, fandoms, titles, and etc. are always © & TM their respective owners, not the author, and are used without permission. Any and all original characters and everything else is © & TM the author and may not be reproduced in any way without the author's express, written permission. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.





"You let me love her," Spike accused, seething with fury.

"What you had wasn't love. Tea?"

"Blood." He growled.

"Very well." Giles poured a spot of tea and blood each into two different mugs, then added a dollop of blood to his own when he was sure Spike wasn't watching him.

"Maybe it wasn't," the Vampire admitted at last, still furious. "But you still knew what she was doing and let it continue. She bloody well ripped my eyeballs out!"

"You know very well, William, that one should never interrupt one's enemy when he is making a mistake."

"Shag off, Ripper!"










Spike downed his blood in a single gulp. His eyes met the Brit's as he slammed his glass back on the table so hard that a crack began etching through its surface. "Since when," he demanded point blank, "did you start liking th' flavor o' blood, Watcher?" He'd known something was wrong from the moment he'd entered the library.

Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his nose. Then, letting the spectacles dangle from his fingers, he met Spike's glower. "For quite some time now, actually." His wide grin revealed his every sharp, deadly fang. He was going to savor this.











"How long?" Spike demands, his hand closing around the stake in his duster.

Giles - or the thing before him appearing to be Giles - laughs. Spike growls, his black eyes flashing darker. The shagging Watcher's actually laughing at him! No one's laughed at him since Angelus and lived. No one except Buffy, but if he wasn't so much love's bitch, the Slayer would've already paid her death. Spike loses his control, forgetting who and where he is and who he's trying to be, and attacks.

Rupert's chuckle dies in his throat as he finds himself slammed up into his own books.








It took all of seven seconds for Spike's entire world to spiral into Crazy Land. Their proximity, as he held the Watcher in his books by his throat, allowed him to smell him clearly, and as much as Spike wanted to think otherwise, the answer he sought was clear: The Vampire he held truly was Rupert Giles, or what was left of him. Then, from the shadows around the bookcases, came two others, one snarling and the other growling low. "Play nice, Spike," Faith snarled.

"Does he have to? I wanna take him," Xander whined.

"You never could, Zeppo," Spike growled.











"Well, well, what do ya know? The boy's got fangs." Spike smirked but still didn't release Giles. "If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, they can even give the Zeppo balls."

Xander glowered and pouted. "Can we kill him now?" Faith asked of the former Watcher.

"Not quite yet."

"Yeah, like you're in any position to do anything, old man." It was then Giles surprised him, kicking both feet into his abdomen so hard he not only knocked Spike off of him but sent him sailing. The blonde Vampire saw the fledglings' smirks as he passed over Xander and Faith.












"Would it have made any difference," the Vampire now wearing Rupert's body questioned Spike after landing on top of him and successfully pinning him to the floor, "if I had had wine instead of tea?"

"What the bloody Hell kind of question is that?!" Spike snarled, his true, Vampire nature now on full display.

"It's actually a simple equation, my friend."

"I ain't your friend!" His punch threw Giles off of him and into the wall. Spike leapt to his feet; Giles straightened his collar. "The fact that I'm the Watcher shouldn't matter here, Spike. You can still have your revenge."










"Talk, Ripper," Spike snarls, knowing that if Giles is a Vampire now, he must also be delving back into all the dark magic he tried so hard to keep Buffy and the Scoobies from discovering. All those nasty, twisted secrets that Spike'd known the moment he'd met the dubiously calm, British librarian are sure to come spilling back out into the open now. He wonders if it'll start with dragons or just more blood shed.

Giles smiles, and Spike wishes that wide smile with blood sparkling between his fangs didn't stir him. "You want revenge. I can make it yours."











"I've heard that line before," Spike counters, pacing a circle around the Ripper. His smile is deadly as he notes Xander and Faith moving closer to their sire. He snaps at them and almost laughs at Xander's lack of courage when he backs.

"Be that as it may," Giles replies, removing and cleaning his spectacles, "I assure you this time it is true."

"I don't need you for my revenge." Spike's head tosses back with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Faith demands.

"Oh, I was just thinking, pet. The Slayer doesn't know what you are. Your mangled bodies would be lovely revenge."






That's where I left it before, back in '13. Not sure if I'll pick it up back up or not, tbh.