Buffy looked him in the eyes. A more difficult task than it would seem by virtue of the fact that one eye was now almost completely swollen shut. Taking a deep breath she said, "Spike, please don't turn me."

Spike was surprised by the request. He had expected her to hurl invectives at his head, threatening him with all kinds of violence if he tried to touch her. Instead, she seemed to accept her fate.

He didn't like it.

Feigning indifference, he rubbed his chin in a thoughtful manner. "Y'know, Slayer," he began. "I never gave a thought to turning you. But now that you mention it, it does sound interesting." He ran his eyes up and down her, licking his lips in a suggestive manner. "Just think how much fun we could have, you and me. I bet a Slayer turned Vampire could come up with all kinds of inventive ways to kill."

Spike laughed at the look of sick revulsion Buffy got when he said this. Reaching out his hand, he lightly traced down the side of her face. "What's the matter, luv. Don't you think we could have a real good time? Why, I bet the sex alone..." He cut off as she snapped her face away from his hand, a cry of distress coming from her throat.

Spike grinned and then shook his head. "Don't worry, Slayer," he said. "I'm not going to kill you today."

Once again, he had managed to surprise her. "Why?" she asked. At his laugh she could have bitten her tongue out.

"Because, when I do kill you, it will be at the end of a fight." At her questioning look, he continued. "Not this kind of a fight; a fight between the two of us. I don't just kill Slayers; I defeat them. What the hell good would it do my reputation if I claim to have killed my third Slayer and it gets around that she was trussed up like a bleeding Christmas goose at the time? No, sorry, Slayer. You'll still have to face me in battle."

Making a circling motion with his hand, he indicated that he wanted to look at her manacles. She obliged, thoroughly confused. Spike was a very strange Vampire. His code of ethics was very firmly placed, it seemed. He examined her shackles and then, with a grunt, stood up and carefully made his way back to the Gr'Racka. Fumbling around in the beast's pockets, he found a small key and returned to Buffy. Lowering himself once again, he hesitated.

"Look, Buffy," he said. "I thought I could maybe just loosen up your chains, give me some time to get away before you got yourself free. I'm in no shape to fight you right now, and I don't feel like getting staked before we have a chance to finish our dance."

Her eyebrows shot up at his words. He grinned at her again. "Come on, Slayer. You know all we've done so far is dance, don't you? A few pas de deux before the big finale. Well, I'm in no shape for the big finale right now, and I can't just loosen your chains; I have to completely unlock them. So, if you want me to set you free, we have to have an agreement. I already told you I'm not going to kill you now. I want your word that you won't kill me either."

Buffy looked at him and shook her head. He misunderstood her intention, and sighed. "Damn it, Buffy, it's the only way..."

"No. I mean yes; of course I agree not to kill you now. I was shaking my head because I just don't understand you. You're a very strange man... I mean vampire."

Spike shrugged his shoulders as he began to work on unlocking the manacles. "I'm not that strange. I already told you, I mean to kill you, just when the time is right is all."

As the heavy weight dropped from her wrists Buffy heaved a sigh of relief and brought her arms forward. Rubbing her wrists and flexing her arms she tried to restore the circulation to her aching limbs. Spike stood and reaching over helped the tiny Slayer to stand. She leaned against him for a minute until she could stand on her own, and then stepped away from him. Looking up at him she said quietly, "Thank you, Spike."

Spike shrugged again and then said, "Come on, Slayer. Let's get the hell out of here. This place even gives me the creeps."

Nodding agreement, she followed him out of the chamber of horrors.

***

"So let me get this straight," Giles was saying. It was the next afternoon, and the Scoobies were gathered together in the school library. Buffy was filling them in on her adventures of the evening before. "A Gr'Racka demon had captured you, had you chained to a wall all ready to torture you to death and Spike came and saved you? Spike?"

"Yep, Spike." Buffy answered.

"Don't get me wrong, Buff," Xander began. "I mean I'm really happy that you were rescued and you're here all alive and everything. But just why didn't Spike kill you?"

Buffy sighed. She wasn't sure if she could explain it since it made so little sense to her. "It seems," she began "to be a matter of pride."

"Huh?"

"Spike said that he had every intention of killing me, but it would be at the end of a fight between the two of us. Apparently killing me when I was helpless wasn't playing fair."

"And again I say, huh?" Xander remarked, a look of thorough confusion on his face.

"In Spike's mind, he has to defeat me in a fair fight in order for it to count on his tally board or whatever."

"So then why after he released you didn't he fight you and try to kill you?" Willow asked.

"Oh, Will, you should have seen him. You could have beaten him. I think he had a couple of broken ribs at least, and one of his eyes was completely swollen shut. He was walking with a limp, and I think he may even have had a broken vertebra or two."

"Yes, well that's not surprising," Giles said. "Gr'Rackas are exceedingly strong, vicious creatures. That he killed it in unarmed combat says more for his fighting skills that I like to admit. When the time comes that you and he do engage, Buffy, you must use every trick you know to defeat him."

"Engage?" Xander yelped. "You mean he and Buffy are going to get engaged?"

"No, you twit," Giles answered irritably. "I meant engage in battle."

"Oh." Xander thought for a minute and then said, "OK, so in Spike's mind he couldn't kill you because he wasn't in any shape to defeat you in battle, and he wouldn't kill you when you were chained up. I guess I get that. What I don't get is why didn't you kill him. You didn't kill him, did you?"

"No, I didn't kill him. We made a truce. It was the only way he would release me from the chains. If I hadn't agreed not to kill him, then I would still be chained up in that cavern with a decaying corpse and no way to get loose."

"Ew," Cordelia said. "Well, why didn't you kill him anyway after he let you loose?"

Buffy just looked at her. "I. made. a. truce." she said, emphasizing each word. "And, as it turns out, if I had reneged on our truce, I would probably still be wandering around down there trying to find my way out. How Spike figured out how to get out is a complete mystery to me. It was a lab... lab... one of those really hard places to get out of."

"Labyrinth," Giles supplied.

"Yeah, one of those. Spooky, and dark and twisty. I was never so glad to see the sky in all my life."

"So, Giles," Willow turned to the Watcher. "Do we need to go on patrol and look for more of these Gr'Racka demons?"

"Thankfully, no," Giles answered. "They are solitary creatures. The only time you would find two in the same territory is when a female wishes to mate, and even then there's every likelihood that one or both will die. Terribly nasty creatures."

Buffy gave a shudder and offered up thanks to whatever deity protected Slayers that Spike had come last night. Even if his reasons were far from altruistic, he had saved her from a terrible long and painful death. It would be hard for her when the time came to kill him. She knew this and it frightened her.