[Late Tuesday Night, the Maru, locked to Belthazor and Beka]

[demonbelthazor]

It had been a long, weird day. And the last thing on Belthazor's "to do" list was talking to Beka about what had happened Sunday night. He stopped in his room to check on Phoebe, making sure she was still safe and asleep, then headed out to Beka's ship, where they could have safe, private conversation. He was pretty sure he didn't want to hear what she had to tell him, but he needed to know.

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[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Heart pounding with adrenaline, instinctive fear and the low pulse of stupid arousal at the roughness forced her still, as though if she didn't move, he wouldn't see her or kill her.

After a minute of him not actually killing her, when her breathing had calmed, she looked at him, really looked so she would remember. Then she nodded - as best she could with his massive hand wrapped around her throat and both of hers wrapped around his wrists. "I won't forget, Belthazor." But you're not Bel. Or Cole.

[demonbelthazor]

He released her throat and stepped back, shifting back into his human form. "Sorry," he said quietly, and not without some effort. He'd seen the fear flash in her eyes, and it aroused him.

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

She immediately stepped forward and put her hand on his chest. "Bel," she said, voice warm, calm, normal. "It's OK. You didn't hurt me."

[demonbelthazor]

He flinched a little at her touch, shivering as he forced his demon side down. "Just wanted you to see," he said.

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Beka buried the hurt of him flinching away, recognizing it for what it was and moved closer. "I saw." She shrugged, then grinned at him, because he was Bel and he knew everything. "So you turn red and black and get kinda mean-looking. My hair changes colors." Her golden blonde hair rippled to a deep shade of red, then to black, then to a pale silvery blonde, then back to gold.

[demonbelthazor]

"How'd you do that?" Bel asked, distracted from his inner turmoil for a moment.

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

"Nanites. Gift from...family." The way she said the word made it clear it was distasteful. "Future-tech," she explained. "How they work...they change my hair on the atomic level. As to the whole color thing and how they know what color I want it, I don't know because my canon never really goes into how it works."

[demonbelthazor]

"Huh," he said. "Pretty cool." There was silence for a long moment, then he said, "It's pretty late. We should be getting back to the dorms."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. You probably should. I... I think I'm going to sleep here tonight." She needed to be alone. Somewhere that her stupid crying wouldn't be heard by anyone else. "But Bel?"

When he looked at her, she willed him to believe her. "No one has to die. We'll find a way."

[demonbelthazor]

He nodded. "I hope so."

He turned to leave, then stopped and looked back at Beka. "Thanks," he said softly.

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Beka shrugged one shoulder, almost wry. "Maybe you should start calling me 'Buffy'."

[demonbelthazor]

"Buffy? Won't that get confusing?" he said.