His Childe

Chapter 24 - Hell's Bells (1)

“Who would have thought that not having a reflection could be a good thing?”

The sound of thunder punctuated Buffy’s quiet remark. She was standing with Willow in front of the full size mirror, but only Willow’s horrified look was reflecting back at them.

“Buffy... it's hideous. My god, look at its arms!”

Buffy nodded, again thanking whomever for sparing her the sight of herself in that monstrosity that Anya had chosen for her bridesmaids. The dresses seemed even more hideous now that they were actually going to wear them all day than when they had just been trying them at the store.

“I know. But it's my duty... I'm Buffy the vampire bridesmaid.”

Willow snorted. “Duty-schmooty. I'm supposed to be the best man. Shouldn't I be all Marlene Dietrichy in a dashing tuxedo number?”

Fingering the ribbon that encircled her neck, Buffy gave an amused look to Willow.

“No, ‘cause that would be totally unfair. We all must participate equally in the cosmic joke of bridesmaids-dom.”

Willow couldn’t seem to take her eyes away from the mirror, and it reminded Buffy of the gloomy fascination some people have for car wrecks.

“Maybe if I ask Anya ,” the redhead said unconvinced, “I can still go with the traditional blood larva and burlap. I mean, she was a vengeance demon for like a thousand years, she'd know all the most flattering... larvae.”

Shrugging, Buffy looked around for her shoes and slipped them on, noticing how they lost their reflection as soon as she touched them.

“What was she thinking?” Willow insisted.

Resting her hands on Willow’s shoulders, Buffy pulled her away from the mirror and its horrors.

“I think Anya's way too stressed to think right now,” she said gently. “Between changing the wedding date because of my illness, Xander's relatives and her... demons...”

Willow shuddered and gave Buffy a horrified look.

“Ohmigod, last night… You were so lucky to miss that rehearsal dinner. It was a zoo without the table manners. And I bet it got worse after I left.”

Buffy had felt a bit guilty about not attending the dinner, but she had to patrol. Patrolling was her excuse to ask Spike to come. No patrol, no date. But hearing that it had been so bad, she didn’t feel so bad anymore about missing the rehearsal.

“Does everyone really believe the story that Anya's people are "circus folk"?” She asked, a bit incredulous.

“You don’t know Xander’s family as well as I do,” Willow said with a sigh. “As long as you give them something to drink, they won’t ask…”

Willow was interrupted by the door opening to give way to Anya. The bride to be, still in her bathrobe, froze as she saw the two friends. Her eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth with a hand, as if stifling a yell of horror. Willow and Buffy exchanged a worried look. It was a bit late for Anya to come to her senses about their dresses…

“Oh!” she exclaimed at last. “You two look so beautiful!”

A radiant smile illuminated her face as she stepped to the vampire and witch and hugged both of them. Buffy and Willow grinned at each other over her shoulders.

“This is the happiest day of my life.” Anya declared solemnly

Grumbling under his non-existent breath, Spike knocked on the door, then stuffed his hands back into the pockets of his duster. The absurdity of the whole situation was monumental. He was going to the wedding of the human he quite possibly hated most on earth, in the middle of the bloody day, during a storm that very probably wasn’t natural, and to top it all he was dressed like a bloody nancy boy. He was on the point of returning back to the crypt when he remembered that Buffy had actually asked him for a date. Simultaneously the door opened in front of him.

“Hey Nibblet,” he smirked.

The kid’s pouting face lit up suddenly. “Spike! I didn’t know you were coming!”

“Yeah, me neither,” he whispered as he stepped in.

He observed Dawn, making the mental note to keep an eye on her in case boys at the wedding got ideas.

“I can’t say I like the color,” he said with a smile, “but you look beautiful.”

She blushed furiously, looking down at her dress. “Yeah, you can call me asparagus girl,” she joked.

She seemed to notice what he was hiding under the duster, and pulled the coat open to have a better look.

“Hey, talking about beautiful… I didn’t know you wear tuxedos.”

“I don’t,” he said with a frown. “This is the very first and very last time ever.”

That was true. Until the night before, he didn’t even own a tuxedo. A little ‘shopping’ had remedied to that in the last hours of the night.

“Come on,” she cajoled, “say you’ll wear one when I get married. Pretty please?”

He blinked a couple of times. She was a kid! How could she already think about getting married?! And what was it with women and weddings anyway?

“We have time to see about that,” he said noncommittally.

Dawn replied something, but he didn’t hear. He had just noticed Buffy coming down the steps with Willow and Anya. Even in that horrible green puffy excuse of a dress, she was beautiful and he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He was brought back to the present by the bride to be poking a finger at his chest.

“Remember,” she said with a tone that promised vengeance if he didn’t comply, “You can’t bite Buffy, or anyone for that matter, until after the pictures are taken.”

He gave her his best smirk. “I got it, pet. Will keep my fangs to myself. What about…”

He was about to ask about whether Buffy was allowed to bite him, but the pleading look that she threw at him clearly requested that he drop the subject.

“What about Harris?” he finished. “Tell me where he is so I can avoid him.”

The girl’s face was split by a large grin at the mention of the groom.

“We’re going to the lodge right now,” Willow supplied. “Xander will join us there, and the guests will start arriving in half an hour. Which means we’re late!”

Willow, Dawn and Anya scattered toward unknown destinations, and Spike found himself alone facing Buffy.

“Hello, Buffy,” he said quietly.

“Hey.” The shy smile she gave him could almost have reanimated his heart. “So I see you do own some dressy clothes. Trying to impress me?”

He couldn’t repress a smirk, and his doubts about wearing that stupid tux evaporated. “Is it working?”

Buffy looked at him a moment, frowning a bit. “It would look better without the duster.”

Without a word, he took off the leather piece, and draped it over the stairway ramp. “I’ll leave it here, then. Will get it back when the grand occasion is over.”

He chuckled inwardly, having found the perfect excuse to come to her place after the wedding. For a few seconds, they just watched each other. He noticed the ribbon encircling her neck, but said nothing about it, preferring instead to comment on her obvious delight.

“It's nice, watching you be happy,” he said softly. “There was a time when I thought I’d never see you smiling again. And I was trying so hard for these smiles…”

His voice trailed. “It’s nice,” he repeated. “You almost seem to glow.”

Her smile deepened, coming very close to a self-depreciating grin. “That's because my dress is radioactive,” she joked.

As if following a perfectly timed choreography, Willow, Dawn, Giles and Anya converged at the same time to the entry hall, where Buffy and Spike were still standing.

“Time to run!” Anya exclaimed. “The bridesmaids with me in the limo, the men follow in my car, we were supposed to be at the lodge five minutes ago!”

In a dazzling flash of green, the ladies were gone, leaving Spike with the Watcher. They exchanged a glance, and the same word escaped their lips, half curse, half puzzled wonder.

“Women.”

It was with the same wonder and puzzlement that, a few minutes later, the two men observed Willow as she fit a veil over a bison’s head.

“Isn’t there a law punishing cruelty against animals?” Spike commented to the Watcher.

Giles only shrugged. The Witch was finally done, and stepping down from her ladder, she admired her work proudly. Spike gave a quick glance to Dawn, who had also been watching the scene, and was oddly happy to notice she seemed to think this was weird too.

This was all very well, he thought glumly, but he hadn’t come here to look at bison’s head covered in tulle. He hadn’t seen Buffy since they had arrived, and he was beginning to get grumpy.

With a sigh, Buffy finally managed to hook Xander’s cummerbund around his waist, silently thanking her combined Slayer and vampire strength. As the groom turned back toward her, she gave him a bright smile and started to fumble with his bow tie. She was glad that he seemed to have accepted that she was a vampire now, and there was no trace of anger or pity in his eyes any more. Instead, there was only joy.

“You look really great, Mr. About-to-get-married. You're glowing.”

Her eyes widened and she gasped, trying her best at keeping a straight face. “Omigod, Xander Maybe you're pregnant!”

He laughed a little. “Or maybe, I dunno... maybe I'm just happy. I’m marrying the most wonderful woman ever and all my friends are there to share the day with me.”

At his words, tears came up to Buffy’s eyes. She tried very hard to fight them back while continuing to try tying his bow tie.

“Teary,” Xander commented, sounding a bit concerned.

“Oh, good teary,” she said with a smile,

“Happy teary? Not frustrated with bow tie teary?”

“Yes. Happy. Happy for you.”

They shared a quiet look and Buffy continued : “And happy for me. Happy that I am here to see you and Anya get married. Happy that you’re still my friend.”

“I’ll always be your friend, Buffy. Nothing can change that.”

She felt the tears coming back in force. After a last tug at the tie, she gave up.

“Then you’ll still be my friend when I tell you I can tie this? Isn't your best man supposed to do this anyway?”

By the look he gave her, she knew that he had guessed how much his words meant to her. But he didn’t comment on it, saying instead : “She said she had something important to do.”

Nodding, Buffy watched him tie the demonic bow, wondering why he had let her fight with it when he obviously knew how to do it better that she did. When he was done, she handed him his jacket and he slipped it on, adjusting his lapels carefully. He then twirled in front of her.

“How do I look?”

“I'd say you look ready to get married,” she said approvingly.

Laughing softly as he beamed at her, she gave him a hug. She had almost missed this. If not for Spike’s decision, she not only wouldn’t have been present for the wedding, but her friends’ happy occasion probably would have been saddened too. Again, she regretted having called him selfish. Again, she realized how true his words were when he had said many people loved and needed her. Again, the tears welled in her eyes.