Silver Cloud, Bitter Lining (17/?)

Author- Midnight Faith

Spoilers- none

Distribution- FF.net, AOH anyone else just ask :)

Pairing- Lilah/Lindsey, Lilah/Gunn

Rating- R/borderline NC-17

Summary- Lilah's offered a choice

Disclaimer- not mine… yadda, yadda

Warning- This part deals with mature issues, which include BDSM undertones.

"We don't have time for this!" Buffy said in a violent outburst, pacing the kitchen, "We have four people missing… they could be anywhere, anything could've happened to them… and Dawn is missing…"

"Yeah, and so is Lilah…" Cordy reminded her, sitting tensely on one of the stools at the breakfast bar.

"Well did Dawn bring a barrage of evil lawyers and a 'friend' who just happens to be a vampire to Sunnydale?" Buffy asked Cordy rhetorically.

"Out of line," Cordy retaliated, "Lilah didn't ask them to follow her here… we don't even know Dawn and Lilah are together…"

"Comfort, Cordelia, remember comfort," Willow chirped nervously from the stool beside her, looking towards Lindsey staring out of the back door into the night.

"OK… for now let's assume they're together," Buffy said calmly, as if all the energy had been drained out of her suddenly, "They left the house at the same time right Lindsey? Lindsey?"

"What?" he asked, turning his concentration back to the scene in the kitchen.

"Look this is no good!" Buffy finally exploded, "I need you on board here…"

"Hey," Cordy defended him; "His girlfriend's missing…"

"Girlfriend?" Buffy asked in confusion, "Since when?"

"I thought you guys were all with the permanent break up," Willow added.

"Since this morning…" Lindsey told them.

"This morning?" Buffy sniped, "You guys really have defined the terms 'on-off' and 'casual sex.'"

"It's not a sex thing…" he told her.

"It's not?" Willow asked, "Because I had you pegged as…"

"So we did… once… yesterday morning…" he said awkwardly.

"Where?" Buffy asked him flatly, "In Dawn's room?"

"No… the bathroom…" Lindsey told her.

"The bathroom? How? It's tiny…" Buffy asked in disgust.

"We just locked the door and I kind of held her against it and… how is this helping? You want to see the marks on my arms? Will that help us to find her?"

"Yeah enough with the visual." Cordy said, "Lindsey's right. This isn't helping us to find them…"

"I don't know… maybe Lilah got freaked and ran away…" Buffy offered by way of explanation.

"No," Lindsey said, "She was happy… and why does she have Dawn with her? And she's gone without any money or credit cards…"

"She left all her clothes," Cordy pointed out.

"Your point being?" Buffy asked.

"She wouldn't leave without her clothes…" Lindsey said.

"Let's assume they've been taken or kidnapped or something then…" Cordelia said, "Where do we even start looking?"

"Well there's the regular places…" Willow told her, "You know the drill… cemeteries, crypts… and if we do graveyards alone there's twelve… it's going to take some time. And then there's the more u/c places… sea caves… woods."

"We *so* don’t have time for that…" Buffy said.

"I know where they are… I can… even though the magick's gone I still pick up vibes…" Willow said by way of explanation, "The old factory… that Spike used…"

"Giles burnt it down…" Buffy reminded her.

"But there are warehouses," Willow clarified, " They're right on the outskirts, dark, damp… perfect for a vampire and an assorted menagerie of evil lawyer beasties…"

*****

When Lilah awoke the first thing she sub-consciously noticed was the dull ache at the side of her forehead that she'd learnt to recognise as the first signs of a deep bruise and cut.

The second thing she was aware of was that she was unable to move her hands. They were tied tightly together with nylon rope behind her back.

She opened her eyes fearfully to find the warehouse was in pitch-blackness, despite being fitted with failing fluorescent lighting.

As her eyes became vaguely accustomed to the darkness she saw both Dawn and Gavin were in a similar condition to her, tied up and unconscious on the opposite wall of the warehouse.

She remembered now. There'd been a fight. She remembered Gunn flying towards her in full vamp face. She had screamed and been sure she was going to die and yet all she could see in her mind's eye was Lindsey and feel the impending terror that she might never see him again. She'd realised at that exact moment she was capable of love because she'd realised she loved him.

She wondered briefly if Gunn had turned her, if she was a vampire. She couldn't move her hands to feel if her skin was cold to touch but she was shivering, part from cold but mostly from fear. Did vampires feel fear? She couldn't remember…

Relief finally washed over her as she heard her heart hammering loud and clear in her ears, felt it beat against her ribcage and pulsed against the tight bounds at her wrists. She still had a heartbeat. She still needed to breathe. She couldn't be a vampire.

She turned her head, though it was painful because fear was making the muscles in her neck stiffen to see Gunn cat on an old, rusty car hanger staring at her.

Neither of them spoke for a while as they continued to stare at each other in the new light they'd found.

"What's with the bondage?" She finally found her voice to ask though her throat and lips were as dry as cotton wool.

"Gavin told me you'd like it…" Gunn quipped blankly.

"Since when have you listened to what Gavin says? No one else does…"

"Since he's my boss…"

She watched him intently as he walked over to a corroded piece of machinery where a row of hypodermic needles lay, pick one up hold it in his hand for a moment and then replace it in line with the others.

That was when she began to panic. No matter how crazy he'd become as a vampire, with a soul part of him was still Gunn and Lilah knew she could reason with him. Without the injections he was a normal vampire… which meant he was a cold-blooded killer. It worried her to say the least that an unsouled vampire had her tied up and practically helpless.

He turned back to Lilah, smirking slightly, throwing the full needle into a pile near the wall of empty syringes.

"Don't tell me you're afraid of needles…" he said.

"I'm not afraid of anything…" she told him, her voice completely lacking in conviction.

"Really?" he asked, "Then why do I smell fear? You're scared of me, you're scared of being with Lindsey, of being without Lindsey… of your own child even… what it might unearth…"

"What are you? A clairvoyant vampire…" she quipped rubbing her wrists together beneath the rope that tied them.

"What's the matter?" he asked her with a sneer, "Don’t tell me someone like you's never been tied up before…"

"I have…" she admitted, meeting his gaze, "Every other guy I've been with… I've done things you can't even imagine… even though you're a vampire…"

"I figured you were probably into that scene."

"I was… not anymore…"

"That's total crap. What is it because Lindsey loves you? Don’t tell me lawyer boy's never tied you up… handcuffs? Candy razor blades?"

"Never… I never have to ask him to do anything…"

"You know any minute Lindsey and his cartoon heroes are going to come bursting through that door to save you…"

"I know…"

"This is our last chance…"

"For what?"

"For me to get laid before I die and for you to be tied up while I screw you. You know the slayer's going to kill me right? When they get here…"

He pulled her hair away from her neck to kiss her, opening his mouth wide so his fangs brushed against her neck.

It should have frightened her but she pushed against him hard so he broke the skin, tasting her blood on his tongue briefly.

She moaned in frustration as he moved away from her, undoing her shirt with unbearable slowness.

He ran his hands over her stomach.

"Be gentle…" she told him, as he began to swirl his tongue in circular patterns over her skin…