Chapter 1: Attacked

Even though many of their clients were nocturnal, the offices of Wolfram and Hart were quiet at this time of night. Illyria stood frozen in the lobby of the offices on the top floor. She stared floor trying to study all of the molecules that made up the marble below her.

Not far away in his office Wesley slept on the Forgotten Scrolls and other rare texts he had found, trying to gather as much information as he could on the Old Ones. His eyes had been tired and had closed of their own volition pulling him into sleep. However, even this rest forced on his body was not peaceful as images of Fred haunted his dreams.

Illyria was aware the moment Wesley succumbed to sleep. Even though he claimed to understand that there was no more Fred, he just continued to research hoping deep inside there was a way to get her back.

Illyria knew this.

Illyria also knew that if he didn’t stop pushing himself and start resting regularly and ingesting sustenance he was going to make himself sick.

What Illyria couldn’t understand was the emotion that rose up inside of her at the thought of Wesley sick.

Firmly pushing down the emotion she knew did not belong to her, Illyria noticed something. There was something very primal and powerful within these walls tonight. It seemed very familiar to her, but at the same time it was completely unknown.

And it was moving closer.

Deciding that Wesley should be made aware of this, Illyria turned and headed to his office.

As she had known he was asleep with his head in an old book he had purchased from an auction he attended the day before. It was written several thousand years ago and was supposed to have more information on the Old Ones. Illyria had looked through it and found most of the information incorrect. Almost to the point of amusement.

Amusement. She was familiar with this emotion, but before she was housed in this shell it only occurred when she was involved in torture or warfare.

“Wesley.” She did not speak loudly, but the sound of her voice woke him immediately. He bolted upright and Illyria could see Fred’s name form on his lips, but he swallowed it quickly when he looked up to see her standing in front of him.

Illyria wondered if she appeared to him as Fred just as he was waking up if she could have the opportunity to explore the ‘love’ that ran between the two. She cast that thought aside knowing how much that would anger him.

“Illyria.” Wesley addressed her. His eyes were still bleary from the small amount of rest, and his voice was rough.

“I do not believe your saliva is good for those ancient texts.” She stated.

Wesley looked down to see the text on the page he had fallen asleep on was now smeared in a puddle of drool. Wesley wiped at his face where the smudge was, but only succeeded in spreading the black ink.

“Yes, well, its not like there’s any information in these, anyway.” Wesley muttered.

Illyria cocked her head to the side as she tried to decipher all the meanings his words and tone implied. How the humans complicated even the most simple things, even communication. Words couldn’t be taken at face value, one also had to interpret tone, stance, and numerous other factors.

“Illyria, did you come here for a reason?” Wesley asked tiredly, interrupting her thoughts. She would have had him tortured for that at one time. However, his impertinence did not anger her as it should have.

“There is something within this building.” She informed him.

“There is always something within this building, Illyria.”

“No. There is something very powerful and dangerous within these walls. And its here to hunt.”



In the suite above his office Angel slept, Nina curled up next to him, as she had every night since his return from Italy.

Afterwards Angel couldn’t accurately describe what had awakened him. But some instinct had him waking and rolling off the side of the bed just as a wooden stake hit the center of the mattress. As he hit the floor he kicked his legs out behind him before turning, hoping to knock his attacker down. Unfortunately, the attacker was one step ahead of him jumping over his legs and onto the bed. Angel was in vamp face, his golden eyes trying to make out the threat in the darkness, but all he could make out was a black shape with no details.

The movement on the bed woke Nina. She called out for him and Angel could hear her fumbling for the light next to the bed. Then there was a loud smack and a loud crash against the far wall as Nina went flying, then she lay silent.

Angel growled and leapt up at the dark figure, noticing for the first time that the attacker smelled vaguely familiar.

The figure didn’t even let Angel reach him, just batted him back down to the floor easily and jumped on top of him. He wrestled Angel to the floor, pulled another stake out and promptly drove it down towards his chest.

Just before the stake pierced his heart, his attacker toppled off of him as Nina hit him on the back of his head with the lamp.

“Angel, are you…?”

She didn’t even have time to finish her sentence before the attacker was back up and pummeling her. Angel jumped to his feet to pull him off of Nina.

Before he could reach them Nina was crying out in pain and Angel could hear bones within her body breaking and smell the blood she shed as she was beaten down.

Angel pulled the attacker off of her and threw him across the room, putting himself between the two.

Cursing the lack of light preventing him from seeing more clearly, Angel again tried to make out the person or thing standing before him. All he could see was a dark human shape.

As the two faced off, sizing each other up, Angel growled menacingly and was slightly surprised when his attacker growled back.

Suddenly there was noise as people approached, a lot of them. Angel knew they could both hear the reinforcements coming and allowed himself a small grin. He knew there was no way out for this creature.

Suddenly, moving like a blur, the shadow figure ran straight at the wall of windows and jumped through them. Just then the door to his bedroom flew open and the lights came blaring on. Angel turned and dropped to Nina’s side.

Wes, Illyria and several of the security team came rushing in.

Tears formed in Angel’s eyes at the sight of his girlfriend beaten, bloody and unconscious on the ground.

“My god.” Wesley breathed. “What happened here, Angel?” Behind him the security team was calling up the firm’s paramedic team.

“We were attacked.” Angel’s voice was tight and angry. He turned his head to glare at the security team. “Does someone want to tell me how we were attacked? How did they get all the way up here and INTO MY BEDROOM?!?”

The security team just looked baffled as the paramedics arrived with a gurney and started seeing to Nina.

“Where did they go?” Wesley asked looking around.

“I believe down.” It was Illyria who answered standing by the broken window. Wesley and Angel moved to the window and looked down hoping to see some sign of the attacker. “Its gone now, its power got fainter until it disappeared.”

“It will be back.” Angel said grimly. “That thing was after me.” The paramedics had Nina on the gurney and were taking her to their medical wing. “Get everyone together, Wes. I want to be ready before that thing attacks again.” He walked over to Nina and took her hand tenderly. “Next time it will be me inflicting the damage.” He finished coldly.

Chapter II Enter the Cavalry

The next morning Angel and his team gathered in his office to try and figure out what kind of demon attacked last night.

“The security cameras didn’t pick up anything but an inky black shape. No one even noticed it until we went back an looked at them at half speed.”

“Let’s hear for Wolfram and Hart’s wonderful technology.” Angel snapped sarcastically.

“I believe you also couldn’t make out any details, even with your vampiric senses.” Wesley commented.

“It kind of smelled familiar.” Angel muttered grudgingly.

He stood up and began to pace. “What kind of creature is capable of camouflaging itself like that?” He wondered.

“I don’t know boss man, but I can tell you that it has been extremely busy. Reports are coming in from across the country about a creature that fits this description attacking and destroying every demon and vamp that got in its way between here and New York. If you look at the reports you can see it started there about a week ago and cut a bloody path right to our door.” Lorne informed him.

“I have our people in Europe investigating any similar reports over there. Maybe if we can figure out where it came from, that might give us some clues as to what it is.” Gunn added.

“Sounds good.” Angel agreed. “Lorne get on the streets, see if any of the demons have any more information for us.”

“No can do.” Lorne said.

“The city is completely dead of demon activity right now.” Gunn informed him. “No one wants to be out with this creature on the loose.”

“So no one knows what it is, but they’re all hiding from it?” Angel asked incredulously.

“Hiding isn’t the word. More like barricading themselves inside or hightailing it out of town.” Lorne said.

Angel sighed and turned to Wesley. “Wes, is there anything in any of the books? A description that fits? A prophecy that talks about a demon that slays other demons?”

“There are plenty of references to demon bounty hunters, but none of them would have the strength, agility, or the camouflage capabilities our new friend had.”

“So we have nothing.” Angel said angrily. “That’s not good enough, guys. I want to find this thing and I want to take it down.”

Illyria had been staring out the window blankly for all appearances oblivious of the conversation going on around her, but now she turned to the team.

“I may be able to seek it out.” She told them. “I was able to sense it last night when no one else could.”

“That is correct.” Wesley agreed. “If it weren’t for Illyria we wouldn’t have arrived in time to help you.”

“Can you tell us anything about it? Do you know what it was?” Angel asked her.

Illyria shook her head.

“No. Although its signature was similar to that of a half-breed, like yourself.” She said ‘half-breed’ with disgust. “However, I have never encountered, nor heard of a half-breed with that type of power.”

“Is it more powerful than you?” Wesley asked her. Illyria thought she heard the faintest mocking in his tone, but she chose to ignore it.

“I do not know, I did not come close enough to accurately gauge its powers and the hatred and anger it was directing towards Angel distorted my reading of it.”

“So its definitely after you.” Gunn said thoughtfully. “Maybe we should get a list together of everyone who hates you.”

“Gee, that shouldn’t take long.” Angel groused.

“What about Lindsey or Eve? One of them might be able to fill in some of the blanks on this one.” Lorne asked.

“Its worth a shot, although we’ve had them under surveillance since they arrived here and neither one has left the rooms we put them in.” Gunn said.

“Yeah, but we can’t underestimate Lindsey. He’s been planning to take me down for a long time. We don’t know how many more tricks are up his sleeve.” Angel countered.

“Ok, I’ll check on the two love birds. Who else? What other enemies do you have Angel? Who else would want you dead?” Lorne asked.

Just then the door burst open and Spike’s voice greeted everyone. “Good morning all.” He threw himself in chair and looked at everyone gathered around.

“I take we’re all investigating the attack on the Poofy last night.”

Angel glared at him. “Out Spike!! We don’t need your help with this.”

”Really? Who better to track down your would-be murderer than someone who would like to see you dead?” Spike asked him.

“This isn’t a laughing matter, Spike. That thing almost killed Nina last night. As it is she’s in a coma.” The pain and guilt on Angel’s face almost made Spike ease up on him.

Almost.

“Is there anyone you’ve slept with in the last 100 years who hasn’t wound up dead or mortally wounded because of you?” Spike asked snidely.

“That’s it.” Angel lunged for Spike. Lorne quickly leapt out of the way, while Wesley and Gunn tried to hold Angel back and Illyria looked on with mild interest.

Just then Harmony’s voice came through on the intercom. “Boss, uh…”

“Harmony,” Angel yelled trying to get around Gunn and Wesley to Spike. “I told you we weren’t to be disturbed.”

“You can’t just go…OUCH!! Let go of me!!!” Harmony’s pain filled voice came across the electronic box. Angel stopped his pursuit of Spike as they all turned and faced the door that slammed inward.

In walked Willow, Giles, Xander, and several Slayers, one of who, was holding a stake to Harmony’s chest. Angel and his team backed up warily. Angel and Spike eyed up the Slayers, none of whom Spike recognized.

For a few long moments no one spoke as the two teams eyed each other mistrustfully from across the room.

Finally Giles cleared his throat and began to speak. “Forgive the intrusion, but we needed to see you right away and we weren’t about to make an appointment with Harmony.”

Behind him Harmony made some frightened squeaking noises, but no one paid her any mind.

“What do you want Giles?” Angel’s voice was as hard as nails as he remembered the way the Watcher refused to help them when Fred was in trouble.

“Why, we’re here to help you.” Giles told him succinctly.

Illyria began moving closer to the other group her eyes fixed intently on Willow who watched her curiously.

Angel laughed grimly. “Help me? Really. What makes you think I need or want your help?”

“You are in great danger. There is something that is hunting you unlike anything you have faced before and it won’t stop until it destroys you.”

“What do you know about it?” Gunn asked.

Illyria had now come to stand in front of Willow staring the small red haired girl down. “You have great power.”

“Fred?” Willow’s voice came out timid and nervous. The woman in front of her looked like Fred, but Willow could see none of her friend in the ice blue eyes that studied her.

“Fred is gone.” Wesley said, his voice sounded empty. “This is Illyria, she is one of the Old Ones, a Demon ruler from days gone by. She killed Fred an then inhabited her body.”

Willow’s eyes widened. “Goddess. When did this happen?”

“Oh, about the time you were astral projecting around the Himalayas, Red.” Spike snapped, also angry at the refusal of the Scoobies to help his friend.

Willow looked at Giles confused. “What?”

“Angel called a few months ago wanting me to contact you because one of his people was in trouble. I didn’t bother to get all the details, you were unreachable and I wasn’t certain it was a good idea to get involved in their mess.”

Willow looked at Wesley desperately. “I didn’t know. If I had I would have helped.” She looked at Illyria upset. “Fred was my friend.”

“Why do you associate with these lower beings when you could rule them?” Illyria asked Willow.

“Oh, how lovely.” Giles remarked.

“Illyria is still adjusting to our ways.” Wesley informed Giles, who just snorted.

Willow blinked at Illyria. “Um, I’m not big on the whole ruling the world thing.”

“Although, she did try to end it once.” Xander remarked.

Illyria came to stand before Xander. “And who are you?”

“I’m Xander Harris. Full blooded human, I’m afraid.” He stuck his hand out to Illyria, but withdrew it when she just looked at him blankly. He then looked up and addressed the group.

“Wes, your looking much less high strung. Although you look like you could use some sleep. Angel, you look more high strung. And Spike, I can’t believe I’m looking at you. What does it take to kill you?”

Spike snorted. The Whelp would never change. “You don’t seem too shocked, Harris. I’m assuming Andrew squealed as soon as he got back.”

“Actually I was aware of your return before I sent Andrew over.” Giles said cryptically, he looked at Angel. “You aren’t the only one with informants.” He told him.

Spike was wondering if Buffy knew that he was back. He also wondered where she was. Was she here in the country? In the city? Spike wanted more than anything to ask, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t think they would tell him anything anyway.

Then again Rupert neglected to tell Red about what happened with Fred, so maybe Buffy didn’t know anything. And given the Watcher’s hatred of him and his Grandsire, he probably wouldn’t tell Buffy about the threat to her former love, which meant she was probably still cozied up in Italy with the Immortal. The thought made Spike’s stomach start to turn.

Apparently Angel’s mind was on the same track his was.

“Buffy didn’t come with you?” Angel asked the Watcher, trying to sound unconcerned with the answer.

Spike noticed both Willow and Xander suddenly found something of great interest on the floor because both of their gazes were locked on the ground in front of them.

“She’s tied up elsewhere.” Giles said. Spike also noticed the increase of Willow’s heart rate, something that he knew happened when she lied.

“Look, Giles I don’t know what suddenly made you decide to get involved with our ‘mess’ here, but barging in my office with a group of Slayers doesn’t make me think you have my best interest at heart.” Angel told him.

“You misunderstand Angel. Slayers are the only thing this creature fears. It will not attack when there are Slayers around.”

“Why is that?” Wesley asked. “Exactly what are we dealing with?”

“Its actually a new type of demon, it appears to have evolved from a common type of demon.”

“How do you know so much about it?” Gunn asked suspiciously.

“Because this is the second one. We managed to capture the first one, but so far we haven’t been able to study it.”

“You should bring it here. Wolfram and Hart has state of the art technology we should be able to analyze it fairly quickly and find a way to defeat it.” Wesley told his former colleague.

”It’s much too dangerous to try and move. Also I’m not comfortable with bringing here it to Wolfram and Hart.”

“How did you know it was coming for me?” Angel asked.

“One of the seers in the coven alerted us to its destination.” Willow answered quickly.

”So what exactly is your plan?” Wesley inquired of Giles.

“We thought we could lure the creature out and use the girls to capture it.”

“You mean use me as bait and then come in and take the creature away, just like you did with Dana.”

Giles and Angel stared each other down. “And how responsible would it be of me to leave it here in your care? Do you have any idea what could happen if Wolfram and Hart had access to such a dangerous being?”

Angel didn’t answer for a few minutes, he seemed to be lost in thought.

”Giles could you give us a few minutes to talk this over?” He asked him, more politely than he felt.

“Certainly. Is it alright if we wait in your lobby?”

“That’s fine. And if you could get your Slayer to release Harmony, I need her to check on something for me.”

“Very well.” Giles motioned to the Slayer who pushed Harmony away from her. The vampiress fell on the floor with the momentum from the push.

“This was a new outfit.” She whined as she stood up and looked over her now torn skirt and blouse. Giles just rolled his eyes and began ushering everyone out of the room.

After the Scoobies had left, Gunn got up and flipped a switch. “Ok, there is no way the witch can eavesdrop on us with magic.”

“So what does everyone think?” Angel asked.

“Please. The Council tried to create a new breed of Slayer and something went wrong. Now they need our help to clean up their mess.” Spike spoke first.

“That does sound likely.” Wesley agreed.

“That’s what it sounded like to me, too.” Angel said.

“So what do we do?” Gunn asked.

“We go along with their idea for now, but when the time comes we need to be prepared and have our own back up as well. I’m not letting them just take this creature, the way they did Dana.”

“Sounds good to me.” Gunn said.

“One other thing.” Spike said. Angel looked at him curiously.

“Rupert was lying about Buffy.”

“How do you know?”

“I can read Red easily. I don’t know where Buffy is, but both Harris and Red, know something they don’t want us to know.”

Angel considered for a moment. “Maybe one of us should talk to them.”

“I’m not exactly their favorite vampire.” Spike told him.

“Neither am I.” Angel admitted.

“Maybe I could inquire to her whereabouts.” Wesley volunteered. “I was her Watcher at one point.”

“Yeah, but she hated you.” Angel told him.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t be curious as to how she’s doing.”

“All right, Wes. See what you can find out.” Angel looked at his team. “Just be careful you guys. I have a feeling there is a lot more to this they aren’t telling us.”


Outside the office in the lobby Giles, Willow and Xander sat on one of the couches while the Slayers surveyed the offices around them.

(Can you hear what they are saying?) Giles asked Willow telepathically.

(No they must have sealed the room against magic.) She responded.

(Don’t you think they would have been more willing to help us if we told them the truth?) Xander asked

(They might have been, but then they never would have let us take the creature out of here. They might try and stop us as it is.) Giles explained.

(I don’t know. I think Xander may be right. They are going to be furious when they find out what’s really happened. Especially Angel and Spike.) Willow added her concerns.

(That is exactly why they cannot find out until the last possible moment. We’ll need that element of surprise as well as your magic to get the creature out of Los Angeles without the vampires interfering.)

“I don’t feel good about this, Giles.” Xander said out loud. “I hope you are right.”

‘So do I.’ Giles thought to himself.


Chapter 3:

Later that evening Angel pulled his car into his parking spot in the lower garage, having just left the hospital from visiting Nina. She still hadn’t woken up and the doctors told him the longer she was in a coma the less chance there was she would wake up. Angel believed that if she were in her wolf state she would be able to heal better, but with the full moon a good 10 days away that wouldn’t be any help to her. He was going to have Wesley research a way to transform her before then.

Angel exited his car and made his way across the dark garage to the elevators. He hadn’t had much luck dealing with Giles and the rest of Buffy’s friends. They had finally come up with a plan that both sides could agree to. Angel was certain that Giles had other measures in place to make sure he and the rest of his team did not have access to the demon after he played the part of bait. However, Gunn had also arranged a counter plan trying to anticipate their betrayal. Now it would just be a matter of who outwitted who. All Angel really knew for sure was that he wanted to make this demon pay for hurting Nina, as well as finding out why this creature was hunting him.

Angel approached the well lit vestibule that contained four elevators that went up to the executive floors. Across the parking lot was another set of elevators for the regular employees to use.

Angel slid his identification card through the slot, so he could access the elevators. As Angel watched the lights above the elevator descend, a ding accompanying each floor, he never seemed to notice the dark shape slinking up in the shadows behind him.



She watched her prey carefully from the darkness behind the cars. Her eyes took on an evil glow as she plotted his demise.

She was planning on knocking him into the elevator when it got here, there would be no place for him to run and she could take her time and play with this kill.

This was personal.

This was the vampire that had been responsible for much of the pain her human side had suffered. This unworthy creature had seduced and despoiled her humanity, and she wanted to make him pay for the anguish he caused.

The dinging that signaled the arrival of the elevator had her tensing in preparation to attack, when the doors slid open she leapt through the air towards her prey.

She was already in the air, when she realized that all four, elevator doors opened at once; too late the creature sensed the signatures of Slayers. She cut her leap short, so instead of landing on top of the vampire she landed in front of Angel, who was just turning to face her.

She kept her head bowed, looking up and around through a curtain of matted hair. She could see and sense the Slayers surrounding her in a circle, in the vestibule, and there were other familiar life forms behind them. She sensed the power of the witch, but knew her magical powers were useless against her. It could also smell the Watcher and the one-eyed human.

For a second the creature thought is sensed another, one that shouldn’t be there. The creature extended its senses outwards trying to find the source.

“Who are you? Why do you want me dead?” Angel’s demanding voice brought her attention back on the situation in front of it.

She let out a growl of rage, that this vampire dared to challenge her like that. While she didn’t want to harm the Slayers that surrounded her, she wouldn’t let them get in her way either. She knew she needed to incapacitate them so she could concentrate on the vampire.

She threw back her head and leapt straight up into the air.

“BUFFY!!” Angel gasped. When she lifted her head as she jumped Angel could see her eyes were glowing gold and she had grown fangs, similar to that of a vampire, but what he sensed was in no way a vamp. Her hair was so dirty and matted it looked dark brown almost matching her dirt encrusted skin. What had once been clothing was now filthy rags, which hung in tatters from her body, barely covering her.

The Slayers moved in quickly to try and grab her, but they were no match for her speed. Buffy grabbed a hold of a metal bar that ran along the ceiling and used that to propel her forward. She flipped through the air, over Angel’s head; landing now crouched on the other side of Angel. She grabbed two of the Slayers and threw them into each other knocking them to the ground. Then she immediately followed up with a roundhouse kick, taking down another Slayer. The last one in front of her she simply punched, it was enough to send the girl flying out of the vestibule.

And that quickly, the Slayer’s were reduced by half.

Then she turned back to Angel, there were only three Slayers left with the two humans and the witch and she knew they were no threat to her.

“Uh guys, you better get in here.” Angel said to his sleeve. Buffy tilted her head to the side wondering what he was up to when she sensed it.

That familiar feeling.

The one who was gone now.

She shook off the feeling assuming it must be some sort of trick the witch thought up to distract her from her mission.

More humans were quickly approaching now; they surrounded the vestibule . They were wearing bulletproof vests and toting weapons with them. Buffy growled in frustration, knowing she was trapped, but it really didn’t make a difference. This would make it more difficult, she would have to fight her way out, but nothing was going to stop her from taking this vampire down.

Angel must have realized her intentions because he started backing away from her towards the remaining Slayers.

She shifted her weight feeling the stake she had hidden in the remains of the cloth on her. She prepared herself to attack, determined to destroy the unworthy vampire who had betrayed her, even if it would mean her death. Capture would not be an option for her.




Spike had been with Wesley, Gunn and Illyria waiting impatiently for Angel’s signal before rushing in with the reinforcements. They had told the Scoobies that they were going to let them handle this, and whether they were trusting fools or they also had another plan up their sleeve, they appeared to believe them.

They had assembled at the entrance to the garage after Angel had pulled in.

After only a few moments Spike was struck with a feeling inside him. It was a feeling he recognized immediately.

Buffy. She was here; he could feel her, sense her.

“The creature has returned.” Illyria informed them, but Spike’s mind was on Buffy. When did she get here? Did she bring that ponce, the Immortal, with her? Where was she that Willow and the others had to cover for her?

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn’t notice Illyria staring at him. “Your emotions are scattered and apprehensive. You are fidgeting like you are infected with parasitic insects.” She told him. Spike’s only answer was to shoot her a glare.

Through a listening device they heard the elevators arrive and Angel confront the demon that was hunting him. They waited for him to give the code so they could go in and take possession of the creature. Spike heard Angel say Buffy’s name, then came the sounds of a fight.

Spike figured that must have been the Scoobies ace in the hole; send Buffy in to take care of the demon, knowing that neither vampire would argue with her. Spike couldn’t help himself; he started moving in, wanting to see the sight of his Slayer as she saved Angel’s skin from this formidable foe.

When Angel’s call finally came, Spike was already almost to the vestibule. Illyria kept pace with him in the front while Gunn and Wesley brought up the rear. Once they arrived, Spike stood facing Angel; the creature was crouched on the ground in front of him.

Spike was confused when he scanned the Slayers still standing and the ones on the ground and saw no sign of Buffy. Then the creature growled and Spike knew.

He could feel her still, it was his Slayer, but now she was like concentrated Slayer. Her essence was as strong as the blood he knew ran through her veins. Spike had never encountered a Slayer with this kind of power before, but he now understood why Angel thought she felt so familiar and yet different; he had never made a point to devote any time to studying the creatures that were created to hunt them, not like Spike had.

Spike saw her shift slightly and knew he had to do something; she was planning on attacking Angel even though she was surrounded. He knew that if she ever came back to herself she wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt if she killed Angel.

Just before she launched herself at Angel, Spike let out a growl and jumped into the vestibule.

Buffy spun around as she sensed his presence.

Everything and everyone seemed to freeze at that moment.

Spike stood in front of her, his eyes drinking her in. She was filthy and obviously feral, but to him she was the most beautiful thing in the world. He couldn’t help the grin that came to his face as a feeling of pride swept over him. He didn’t understand why, but he was proud that Buffy had become so powerful, now if only she could get her powers under control and let her human side back out.

Buffy tilted her head from side to side.
She recognized this vampire. She KNEW him.

But that wasn’t possible, she knew he was gone.

Yet, he still felt like the vampire she knew. She sniffed the air, and was amazed to discover that he even smelled like the one she knew. She stared at him, all thoughts of Angelus and her revenge forgotten as she studied the vampire in front of her. She let out a low growl, a warning, she was uncertain what was going on now and that put her on edge.

Spike didn’t move, didn’t say anything. He could tell she recognized him, but at the same time she seemed uncertain. When she growled he instinctively understood she believed him to be some sort of trick.

Spike gave her a cocky grin and slipped into game face. “Come on now Slayer, why would you want to play with grandpa? He’s no fun. How about a real dance?” He purred at her. Then he moved quickly, directing a spin kick towards her. She matched his movements easily and deflected his kick. She tried to retaliate with a punch to his face but he caught her wrist. For a few seconds they stood toe to toe looking at each other.

“I’ve missed you pet.” Spike whispered to her. He saw her eyes flicker, for a fraction of a second they lost their glow and he could see her hazel color underneath.

Unfortunately, just then one of the Slayers who had previously been unconscious on the ground below them regained consciousness and tried to attack Buffy with a hypodermic needle that contained a strong sedative. Buffy’s sensed her movements, however, and her eyes regained their luminescent glow as she kicked the needle out of the girl’s hand.

It made the other Slayers move into action and they all began to attack en masse. Buffy wrenched herself free from Spike’s grasp and turned to face her attackers.

Spike glanced back towards Illyria and saw the Wolfram and Hart security officers with their weapons raised. Spike knew they were only tranquilizer darts, but he realized that he couldn’t let either the Watcher’s Council or Wolfram and Hart get a hold of her. He knew that neither team would be able to help her and both would probably just use her for their own agenda and Spike wasn’t about to let that happen to her.

No one was going to use his Slayer as their tool anymore.

Seeing that they were about to fire, Spike grabbed Buffy roughly and threw her against the elevator doors, before leaping out of the way himself. He heard the darts flying through the air, two of them struck Slayers, while another one hit Giles, who collapsed immediately onto Angel, who was focused on Buffy.

Buffy stared at Spike in shock. This was getting out of hand, first the trap, then the appearance of this vampire who should be ashes, and now he protected her from his own. She knew it was time to fall back and regroup. She gathered all of her energy and launched herself straight at the gunmen. She knocked the guns out of the hand of the humans as she moved quickly through them, escape being her only concern at this point.

She slipped past Illyria, sensing the power coming off of the Old One, before she could reach her.

Once clear of the would-be attackers she sprinted at full speed towards the entrance of the garage.

Spike had watched, in fear and fascination as Buffy glided through the security team, she even managed to dodge Illyria who had moved towards her at an accelerated speed. Buffy seemed to sense where she was going to cut her off and moved to avoid the blue demon.

Once she was out of their reach she began racing forward and that’s when Spike moved, he wasn’t about to let her get away. He raced after her, moving at a speed he didn’t even realize he was capable. He heard Angel yelling for him to stop, but he wasn’t about to listen to Peaches when it came to Buffy. Not anymore.

Spike ran back to the entrance they had come in at and stopped for a moment to get his bearings, even though she had already gotten a head start on him, he could still sense her out there. He followed her scent and the feeling of her inside of him.

He would chase her until his legs gave out from under him; he wasn’t going to lose her again.


Chapter 3:

Later that evening Angel pulled his car into his parking spot in the lower garage, having just left the hospital from visiting Nina. She still hadn’t woken up and the doctors told him the longer she was in a coma the less chance there was she would wake up. Angel believed that if she were in her wolf state she would be able to heal better, but with the full moon a good 10 days away that wouldn’t be any help to her. He was going to have Wesley research a way to transform her before then.

Angel exited his car and made his way across the dark garage to the elevators. He hadn’t had much luck dealing with Giles and the rest of Buffy’s friends. They had finally come up with a plan that both sides could agree to. Angel was certain that Giles had other measures in place to make sure he and the rest of his team did not have access to the demon after he played the part of bait. However, Gunn had also arranged a counter plan trying to anticipate their betrayal. Now it would just be a matter of who outwitted who. All Angel really knew for sure was that he wanted to make this demon pay for hurting Nina, as well as finding out why this creature was hunting him.

Angel approached the well lit vestibule that contained four elevators that went up to the executive floors. Across the parking lot was another set of elevators for the regular employees to use.

Angel slid his identification card through the slot, so he could access the elevators. As Angel watched the lights above the elevator descend, a ding accompanying each floor, he never seemed to notice the dark shape slinking up in the shadows behind him.



She watched her prey carefully from the darkness behind the cars. Her eyes took on an evil glow as she plotted his demise.

She was planning on knocking him into the elevator when it got here, there would be no place for him to run and she could take her time and play with this kill.

This was personal.

This was the vampire that had been responsible for much of the pain her human side had suffered. This unworthy creature had seduced and despoiled her humanity, and she wanted to make him pay for the anguish he caused.

The dinging that signaled the arrival of the elevator had her tensing in preparation to attack, when the doors slid open she leapt through the air towards her prey.

She was already in the air, when she realized that all four, elevator doors opened at once; too late the creature sensed the signatures of Slayers. She cut her leap short, so instead of landing on top of the vampire she landed in front of Angel, who was just turning to face her.

She kept her head bowed, looking up and around through a curtain of matted hair. She could see and sense the Slayers surrounding her in a circle, in the vestibule, and there were other familiar life forms behind them. She sensed the power of the witch, but knew her magical powers were useless against her. It could also smell the Watcher and the one-eyed human.

For a second the creature thought is sensed another, one that shouldn’t be there. The creature extended its senses outwards trying to find the source.

“Who are you? Why do you want me dead?” Angel’s demanding voice brought her attention back on the situation in front of it.

She let out a growl of rage, that this vampire dared to challenge her like that. While she didn’t want to harm the Slayers that surrounded her, she wouldn’t let them get in her way either. She knew she needed to incapacitate them so she could concentrate on the vampire.

She threw back her head and leapt straight up into the air.

“BUFFY!!” Angel gasped. When she lifted her head as she jumped Angel could see her eyes were glowing gold and she had grown fangs, similar to that of a vampire, but what he sensed was in no way a vamp. Her hair was so dirty and matted it looked dark brown almost matching her dirt encrusted skin. What had once been clothing was now filthy rags, which hung in tatters from her body, barely covering her.

The Slayers moved in quickly to try and grab her, but they were no match for her speed. Buffy grabbed a hold of a metal bar that ran along the ceiling and used that to propel her forward. She flipped through the air, over Angel’s head; landing now crouched on the other side of Angel. She grabbed two of the Slayers and threw them into each other knocking them to the ground. Then she immediately followed up with a roundhouse kick, taking down another Slayer. The last one in front of her she simply punched, it was enough to send the girl flying out of the vestibule.

And that quickly, the Slayer’s were reduced by half.

Then she turned back to Angel, there were only three Slayers left with the two humans and the witch and she knew they were no threat to her.

“Uh guys, you better get in here.” Angel said to his sleeve. Buffy tilted her head to the side wondering what he was up to when she sensed it.

That familiar feeling.

The one who was gone now.

She shook off the feeling assuming it must be some sort of trick the witch thought up to distract her from her mission.

More humans were quickly approaching now; they surrounded the vestibule . They were wearing bulletproof vests and toting weapons with them. Buffy growled in frustration, knowing she was trapped, but it really didn’t make a difference. This would make it more difficult, she would have to fight her way out, but nothing was going to stop her from taking this vampire down.

Angel must have realized her intentions because he started backing away from her towards the remaining Slayers.

She shifted her weight feeling the stake she had hidden in the remains of the cloth on her. She prepared herself to attack, determined to destroy the unworthy vampire who had betrayed her, even if it would mean her death. Capture would not be an option for her.




Spike had been with Wesley, Gunn and Illyria waiting impatiently for Angel’s signal before rushing in with the reinforcements. They had told the Scoobies that they were going to let them handle this, and whether they were trusting fools or they also had another plan up their sleeve, they appeared to believe them.

They had assembled at the entrance to the garage after Angel had pulled in.

After only a few moments Spike was struck with a feeling inside him. It was a feeling he recognized immediately.

Buffy. She was here; he could feel her, sense her.

“The creature has returned.” Illyria informed them, but Spike’s mind was on Buffy. When did she get here? Did she bring that ponce, the Immortal, with her? Where was she that Willow and the others had to cover for her?

He was so caught up in his thoughts he didn’t notice Illyria staring at him. “Your emotions are scattered and apprehensive. You are fidgeting like you are infected with parasitic insects.” She told him. Spike’s only answer was to shoot her a glare.

Through a listening device they heard the elevators arrive and Angel confront the demon that was hunting him. They waited for him to give the code so they could go in and take possession of the creature. Spike heard Angel say Buffy’s name, then came the sounds of a fight.

Spike figured that must have been the Scoobies ace in the hole; send Buffy in to take care of the demon, knowing that neither vampire would argue with her. Spike couldn’t help himself; he started moving in, wanting to see the sight of his Slayer as she saved Angel’s skin from this formidable foe.

When Angel’s call finally came, Spike was already almost to the vestibule. Illyria kept pace with him in the front while Gunn and Wesley brought up the rear. Once they arrived, Spike stood facing Angel; the creature was crouched on the ground in front of him.

Spike was confused when he scanned the Slayers still standing and the ones on the ground and saw no sign of Buffy. Then the creature growled and Spike knew.

He could feel her still, it was his Slayer, but now she was like concentrated Slayer. Her essence was as strong as the blood he knew ran through her veins. Spike had never encountered a Slayer with this kind of power before, but he now understood why Angel thought she felt so familiar and yet different; he had never made a point to devote any time to studying the creatures that were created to hunt them, not like Spike had.

Spike saw her shift slightly and knew he had to do something; she was planning on attacking Angel even though she was surrounded. He knew that if she ever came back to herself she wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt if she killed Angel.

Just before she launched herself at Angel, Spike let out a growl and jumped into the vestibule.

Buffy spun around as she sensed his presence.

Everything and everyone seemed to freeze at that moment.

Spike stood in front of her, his eyes drinking her in. She was filthy and obviously feral, but to him she was the most beautiful thing in the world. He couldn’t help the grin that came to his face as a feeling of pride swept over him. He didn’t understand why, but he was proud that Buffy had become so powerful, now if only she could get her powers under control and let her human side back out.

Buffy tilted her head from side to side.
She recognized this vampire. She KNEW him.

But that wasn’t possible, she knew he was gone.

Yet, he still felt like the vampire she knew. She sniffed the air, and was amazed to discover that he even smelled like the one she knew. She stared at him, all thoughts of Angelus and her revenge forgotten as she studied the vampire in front of her. She let out a low growl, a warning, she was uncertain what was going on now and that put her on edge.

Spike didn’t move, didn’t say anything. He could tell she recognized him, but at the same time she seemed uncertain. When she growled he instinctively understood she believed him to be some sort of trick.

Spike gave her a cocky grin and slipped into game face. “Come on now Slayer, why would you want to play with grandpa? He’s no fun. How about a real dance?” He purred at her. Then he moved quickly, directing a spin kick towards her. She matched his movements easily and deflected his kick. She tried to retaliate with a punch to his face but he caught her wrist. For a few seconds they stood toe to toe looking at each other.

“I’ve missed you pet.” Spike whispered to her. He saw her eyes flicker, for a fraction of a second they lost their glow and he could see her hazel color underneath.

Unfortunately, just then one of the Slayers who had previously been unconscious on the ground below them regained consciousness and tried to attack Buffy with a hypodermic needle that contained a strong sedative. Buffy’s sensed her movements, however, and her eyes regained their luminescent glow as she kicked the needle out of the girl’s hand.

It made the other Slayers move into action and they all began to attack en masse. Buffy wrenched herself free from Spike’s grasp and turned to face her attackers.

Spike glanced back towards Illyria and saw the Wolfram and Hart security officers with their weapons raised. Spike knew they were only tranquilizer darts, but he realized that he couldn’t let either the Watcher’s Council or Wolfram and Hart get a hold of her. He knew that neither team would be able to help her and both would probably just use her for their own agenda and Spike wasn’t about to let that happen to her.

No one was going to use his Slayer as their tool anymore.

Seeing that they were about to fire, Spike grabbed Buffy roughly and threw her against the elevator doors, before leaping out of the way himself. He heard the darts flying through the air, two of them struck Slayers, while another one hit Giles, who collapsed immediately onto Angel, who was focused on Buffy.

Buffy stared at Spike in shock. This was getting out of hand, first the trap, then the appearance of this vampire who should be ashes, and now he protected her from his own. She knew it was time to fall back and regroup. She gathered all of her energy and launched herself straight at the gunmen. She knocked the guns out of the hand of the humans as she moved quickly through them, escape being her only concern at this point.

She slipped past Illyria, sensing the power coming off of the Old One, before she could reach her.

Once clear of the would-be attackers she sprinted at full speed towards the entrance of the garage.

Spike had watched, in fear and fascination as Buffy glided through the security team, she even managed to dodge Illyria who had moved towards her at an accelerated speed. Buffy seemed to sense where she was going to cut her off and moved to avoid the blue demon.

Once she was out of their reach she began racing forward and that’s when Spike moved, he wasn’t about to let her get away. He raced after her, moving at a speed he didn’t even realize he was capable. He heard Angel yelling for him to stop, but he wasn’t about to listen to Peaches when it came to Buffy. Not anymore.

Spike ran back to the entrance they had come in at and stopped for a moment to get his bearings, even though she had already gotten a head start on him, he could still sense her out there. He followed her scent and the feeling of her inside of him.

He would chase her until his legs gave out from under him; he wasn’t going to lose her again.

Chapter 5 Worthy

Spike could see her clearly in the darkness, his sense of her within helping his other senses. She stood in the middle of the large empty space in the center of the building.

“Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum. I smell the blood…” He didn’t finish as she stood up smoothly and ran towards him, executing a flip before landing, crouching defensively, directly in front of him.

“Beautiful.” He breathed. Her movements were as fluid as a jungle cat and Spike was lost in the allure of her.

He knelt down so he could look her in the eyes. He searched them trying to discern what was going on inside her head.

He saw no sign of Buffy’s emotions in the gold depths, but he assumed by the fact that he wasn’t a pile of dust yet, she had to retain some of Buffy’s memories or she wouldn’t have ever let him get this close to her.

He began talking; hoping the sound of his voice speaking to her would call to her humanity.

“Looks like you’ve been a busy Slayer, path of dead demons and dust across two continents.”

Neither his tone nor his actions were threatening, so Buffy couldn’t decide if he was a friend or foe yet.

There was a war inside of her. Part of her yelled that he hunted down and killed her kind, even took pride in that fact. The other part of her remembered the vampire who fought by her side, and also knew that he had bested her, in times past, in fair fights and had good reason to be proud.

Spike watched her head tilt and saw confusion in her eyes. He had seen the same look on Illyria many times, as she tried to reconcile her nature with the world around her, finding it so completely foreign.

On Buffy, however, he found the look adorable. He noticed her bottom lip came out, slightly, in a pout. Very similar to the way it would when the Watcher would be rambling on about one thing or another that she didn’t understand.

Unable to help himself Spike reached out a hand slowly to trace that lip.

Buffy watched his hand coming towards her, but didn’t move to stop him. This also did not seem threatening, yet she didn’t relax her guard at all.

The feeling of his rough finger as it traced her lip made her chest feel tight; she swallowed and took a shaking breath.

Feeling the need to reassure herself that this was really the vampire she thought it was she grabbed his hand and brought it too her nose. She could smell the aroma of tobacco strong on the two fingers she remembered holding his cigarettes in, and under that was his own unique aroma. Her eyes almost closed as the tightness in her chest seemed to shoot down to her womb and again she took a deep breath.

Spike’s mouth literally began to water and his body began to shake when the scent of her arousal reached him. Buffy moved closer to him until only mere inches separated him. She released his hand and ran her fingers lightly over the ridges on his face. Spike felt the overwhelming urge to purr as she did this, but refrained, knowing he wasn’t out of danger yet.

Buffy was amazed that he was here. The part inside of her that demanded his death was quieter now, while the other part grew louder. This was her vampire it now yelled inside her. This was the vampire who fought by her side, who stood behind her no matter what. He had protected the ones she loved time and again.

Her Champion cloaked in black leather.

Both sides now convinced, Buffy grabbed the lapels of his coat to pull him towards her…then stopped.

This wasn’t right. This leather was crisp and unwrinkled. Gone were the well-worn, creases and small tears from her fingernails digging into the soft hide from when she grabbed him like this.

Instead of pressing her lips to hers as she had been planning Buffy lowered her head and sniffed the coat. Again it wasn’t right. This smelled strongly of leather, and only slightly of the vampire, as if he had not worn it long. The coat she remembered had long ago adopted his scent as its own and the faintest hint of leather was all that had remained.

She pulled back and yanked the coat off his shoulders, growling.

This wasn’t right!!!

“I know its not the same one.” Spike knew what was bothering her, Buffy quieted as she tried to understand the meaning of the noises coming from him. His tone was still gentle, she noticed.

“Mine was destroyed,” he chuckled. “By the Immortal, no less, when Peaches and I were in Rome. I got this one from Wolfram and Hart. It looks the same, but it really isn’t, is it?”

Buffy froze and her grip tightened.

Peaches=his name for the vampire she was hunting.

The Immortal=the one she had killed when he attacked her in her own bed.

Wolf, Ram & Hart=they were evil, she remembered this.

Rome=the city she had come from.

He was working with the evil ones to hunt her.

She threw him to the side before he could react to her change in demeanor.

She pulled the stake out of the rags on her body and prepared to face him.

He wasn’t going to have the chance to take a third Slayer.



After searching everywhere Wesley finally found Illyria in Fred’s old bedroom. He had to force himself to enter, not wanting to relive the last hours of Fred’s life again.

Except, now, the room now bore little resemblance to the comforting haven Fred had created for herself. Illyria had ripped the room apart and was rummaging through drawers and searching through Fred’s things. To Wesley she looked almost frantic.

“What is it you are trying to find?” He asked her trying to appear calm and unconcerned about her state.

Illyria did not answer her, just continued her explorations.

Wesley moved closer to her. “Illyria?”

“Humans are weak and stupid. Your emotions make you WEAK!!” She finally spoke.

“All right.” Wesley said slowly. He was used to these comments from her on a regular basis, but instead of being unimpassioned and superior, now her voice was defensive as if she didn’t quite believe it anymore.

“What has happened to upset you?”

This made her stop, her head came up sharply. “What makes you believe I am upset?”

“Your actions, the way you are speaking right now, many things.” Wesley eyed her. “The same things that told me you were trying to figure out how Willow’s body can contain such power and if you can use that to help your cause.”

Illyria threw the drawer she had been holding to the side and stalked up to him. “And you know these things because you can read them from my actions?”

“Its called body language.”

“Can everyone read me the way you do?”

“To some extent, but most don’t understand you that well.”

“But you do.” Illyria tilted her head and looked at him, trying to figure out once again, if Wesley meant her harm. She knew he still searched for a way to bring back Fred, but did that mean he wanted to destroy her as well?

“And I can also understand you and your body language. It is like a connection between us, this knowledge of each other. It is the same as the connection that ran between Spike and the Slayer downstairs.” She stated.

“Is that why you didn’t stop them when the raced past?” Wesley asked her.

She continued on as if he didn’t speak, her eyes didn’t even appear to see him anymore as she stared off into the distance. “I have all these…these…feelings inside of me. When I see you and I know that you don’t eat and sleep, I feel a pain inside of me. Sometimes in the quiet of the night when I am alone, I feel a different kind of pang inside me, as I crave some kind of physical contact and I wonder about you.” She stormed away from him.

“Are these emotions? How can that be? How can something that makes you so weak be so strong?”

Wesley said nothing; he was as confused as she was. He knew that these feelings she was having were probably just remnants left over from Fred. What he didn’t know was if the body retained some kind of memory from its previous occupant or if it was some small part of Fred still alive inside of her trying to come through.



Spike barely knew what happened. One second he thought Buffy was going to kiss him and the next he was flying through the air.

At least they were on familiar ground.

He rolled back to his feet and shed the coat that seemed to upset her so.

He saw her tense and pull a stake from somewhere. He barely had time to brace himself before she launched herself at him. He got his hands up in time to keep her from getting within staking distance, then used her own momentum to throw her behind him as he arched backwards.

She rolled and quickly got back to her feet. Knowing it was the only way he had a chance against her, Spike let his demon have full control.

He growled out a warning to her, but she took that as a challenge and growled low in her throat in response. They both waited a heartbeat and then launched themselves at each other.

Anyone watching these two, even in full light, would have been hard pressed to keep up with the speed things were happening.

Fists flew.

Legs kicked.

Inches gained and lost within seconds.

The only sounds were the thuds of the hits landed or were blocked and the occasional grunt from a well placed strike.

This went on for the next twenty minutes. Occasionally one of them would get an good enough grip on the other to throw them back, but they never came close to staying down and the fighting would resume before either would have time to take a breath.

Slowly though, the fight was changing its tone.

When both opponents realized that neither of them was gaining ground, they began to expand their moves of attack into more difficult maneuvers. When those also met with no results, they got experimental. Soon, they weren’t fighting to beat each other; instead they were enjoying just being able to use their skills to the fullest without having the gravity of a life or death situation. Openings that could have been utilized to take the other down were ignored, to instead try out a different type of kicking combination.

For Buffy, this was the joy she had been missing in Rome, the joy of fighting someone worthy of her skills. She could feel the blood inside her pounding through her body, she was covered in a light sweat and what was left of her clothes was now nothing more than small scraps held in place by nothing more than her damp skin.

Spike stood there in nothing but his jeans, his shirt had been ripped off earlier when she had used it to throw him. He could feel every muscle in his body tingling with excitement. He felt like he had been waiting his whole life to have this fight. It was incredible; he was working at his fullest capability, pushing his body harder than he ever had before. His demon was howling with happiness to be allowed out and in complete control. Even the small piece of the tender poet inside him could appreciate artistry of this dance they were performing.

As the fight relaxed Spike became aware of the steady drumbeat of Buffy’s heart, his demon could smell the sweat of her body calling to him almost as much as the aroma as her arousal. A sound came out of him, that Spike was certain he never heard from himself before. It wasn’t a growl and it wasn’t a purr, but something in between that came from deep in his chest.

Buffy felt a deep tremor rock through her whole body almost convulsed at the sound. Her breathing immediately picked up and she felt a dampness between her legs. Again the fight changed its tone. The movements were no less complicated and the hits were just as hard, but in between brutal hits there were caresses on skin. Holds were held longer as their bodies enjoyed the contact of being pressed together.

Then it happened, Spike threw a punch to Buffy’s face while at the same time kicking his leg out to sweep her feet. Buffy saw both coming and knew exactly what do to do avoid them easily.

She looked into his eyes.

She did something that she had never done before, either as Buffy or in her years as a Slayer. She let Spike take her down. She let him catch her.

Spike met her eyes even as his fist and foot connected, he knew she had just let him hit her and his demon immediately instinctively understood what to do. He grabbed her around the waist with his other arm before she could fall back too far and hauled her to him. He ground his erection, now painful as it surged against its denim prison, into the damp heat between her legs.

He lowered his head to her neck licking the salty skin once remembering her taste. Her hands gripped his shoulders tightly and her body was rigid, not with fear or anger, but with deep craving. Small whimpers escaped her throat with every breath, begging, pleading with him.

He opened his mouth and breathed lightly on her skin turning her whimpers into a keening. Without anymore teasing Spike sunk his fangs into her soft skin on her neck. His hips thrust against her blindly while her powerful blood pulsed in his mouth.

Buffy felt as if there were a wire leading between her neck and down in between her legs directly on her clit. Every suck and nibble from Spike sent an electric bolt through her body that had her crying out in pleasure. Yet she needed more, every pulse made her realize how empty she felt, she needed him inside her, filling her up. Buffy released her grip on his shoulders, reaching between him to rip at the fastenings of his jeans.

Spike was completely unaware of what she was doing, too lost in the ecstasy that was her blood, that was now running through his veins spreading pleasure and warmth through out the inside of his body, like a shot of heroin. When he felt the sudden sensation of her wet heat, her strong internal muscles pulsing around it in answer to the its throbbing state he lost it completely.

They both fell to the floor as he began to push his hips against her hard, seeking to go deeper yet inside her as he emptied himself into her. She screamed, her muscles clamped around him tighter still causing him to come again. He finally removed his fangs from her neck and began kissing down her body as they began to move each against each other frantically. Their bodies slapped together as he drove into her over and over again. Her rocked from side to as cries and moans of pleasure escaped her lips. Spike struggled to keep his grip on her sweat soaked body and wound up grabbing her to him more tightly, arching her back and putting her nipple level with his mouth. He latched onto it, causing her to drive her hips back against him even harder, desperately seeking for the peak she was riding on the edge of. He sucked hard for a few moments then bit down with his fangs. The groaning wail filled him with pride, it the sound of satisfaction and triggered his own orgasm, while once again her powerful blood filled his mouth.

Spike licked around the bit to seal it shut before removing his mouth and lowering her gently to the ground. He lay on top of her holding her tightly to him as they both lay there, bodies shaking with emotions.

Chapter 6 Clean Up

Gunn, Willow, Xander and Illyria were headed out in one of the firm’s vehicles to track down Spike. Behind them were two vans, one loaded with another security team, and the other loaded up with more Slayers, who had been brought to the city, in case they were needed.

Willow had performed a locator spell and had found Spike, moving quickly away from the firm, obviously still chasing after Buffy. Angel had called Gunn and Wesley back to his office and asked Gunn and Illyria to go with track the MIA pair down. This time there was no bickering over how they were going to do this or who would take custody of Buffy after they caught her, since neither side sure if they were actually going to be able to catch her.

By the time they left Spike had stopped moving; and Willow was worried they were going to be too late if there was a confrontation between them.

Angel wanted Wesley to stay behind and try and research a way to make Nina transform into her wolf state without a full moon.

In an attempt to mend fences, Willow offered to try and contact Oz if Wesley couldn’t come up with anything. An offer Angel had told her he may take her up on.

Awkward silence filled the car as they raced through Los Angeles. Willow concentrated on following Spike’s trail while attempting to ignore the fact that Illyria was sitting next to her in the back, studying her in much the same way one would study a lab specimen.

“So if you don’t mind me asking,” Gunn began hesitantly, speaking to Xander. “How did you lose your eye?”

“All I can say, is when they tell you not to run with scissors, its for a reason.” Gunn’s jaw dropped and Xander laughed. “Actually, it was taken out by a deranged preacher during the war with the First Evil.”

“That was the one Spike burnt up in, right?” Gunn said trying to connect all the stories and tidbits he had been told about the Scoobies over the years.

“Actually, its because of Spike this was all that happened to me. If it weren’t for him this probably would have been a lot more terminal.”

“So you two were tight?” Gunn asked.

Xander started laughing. “Sure. In a, I hated him and wanted him dead, kind of way.”

“Oh.”

The awkward silence resumed as they sped through the night. This time it was Willow who spoke.

“Uh oh.” She said.

“Uh oh?” Gunn looked back at her in the rearview mirror. “What’s ‘uh oh’?”

“I lost him.”

“You LOST him, Will?” Xander turned in his seat to look at her. “Did the spell stop working? Do you need to recast it?”

“No, it was working fine. He was there and then ‘poof’ he was gone.” She said, nervously looking at him.

“Poof?” Xander said weakly. He and Gunn exchanged a glance, neither said anything, but Gunn pressed down hard on the gas pedal and they accelerated quickly.


Buffy’s body had slowly stopped shaking, and her breathing evened out, as she fell into an exhausted sleep. Her body drained, not only from not resting at all, during the Slayer’s quest to hunt Angel down, but also because some she no longer was filled with the powerful blood that kept her moving.

Her blood.

Spike had tasted Slayer’s blood before, the aphrodisiac elixir, that dispensed a feeling of power and euphoria, better than any adrenaline rush.

It was always about the blood.

He had also tasted Buffy’s blood before, under the control of the First, in the basement of the house he had left his victims in. Buffy’s blood had been a serum that freed him from the First’s control and unlocked his memories of what he did.

Her blood was pure power and warmth all wrapped up into one.

This blood was like all of that together, and yet completely different.

He could feel it burning its way through his veins. While it wasn’t necessarily unpleasant, it was a curious feeling and made him slightly nervous. It tightened and hardened his muscles as it traveled along through his body and he could feel his strength increasing by the second. His mind was filling with memories and knowledge, that he knew he didn’t possess before. Memories of girls, Slayers, engaged in various fights throughout the ages. Even stranger, though, were the memories that came from before the Slayers, the memories of the demon.

Spike shook his head trying to push the memories to the side while he focused instead on the changes occurring inside him.

He became aware of a rustling noise coming from the walls surrounding him. He finally realized, as he peered into the darkness, that his hearing sharpened along with his other senses and the noise he was hearing was roaches and other insects that were living in the rotting building. Also, before he would have had to peer hard into the darkness to make anything out in the black corners, now he could see into them as clearly as he could see in a well lit room.

He filtered out the noises in the walls and extended his senses farther out into the night. For a few moments there was nothing. Then he felt it.

Something powerful was approaching.

Now he could hear the vehicles as they raced down the street.

He shook Buffy roughly, trying to wake her up, with no success as she just burrowed closer to him in her sleep.

He pulled back and away from her, not an easy task because her grip on him was tight, even in her unconscious state. Once free from her grasp he did up his jeans and dashed for his coat.

As soon as he lost contact with Buffy she began to cry softly in her sleep and rolled over as if she were seeking him out. He came back to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead and ran a hand through her hair, noticing for the first time all the dirt caked on her and the tangled mess that was her hair.

She quieted down immediately when he returned to her side. Spike heard the doors of the vehicles slamming shut outside. He could feel the Slayers out there and knew he didn’t have much time left. He could also feel the presence he somehow knew was Illyria.

Spike wrapped Buffy up in his coat and lifted her into his arms. “We need to get you someplace safe, luv.” He whispered to her. He was aware that he wouldn’t be able to get out through the front door so he headed towards the back hoping there would be a back door he could get out through.

Instead he found a pile of old crates the reached almost to the ceiling.

Making sure he had a good grip on the Slayer, he leaped on top of the crates, something he wouldn’t have been able to do before, and from there climbed up among the metal bars that ran the length of the ceiling. He managed to brace himself with his legs on two of the bars, in a back corner of the warehouse.

There he waited pensively, hoping they wouldn’t be able to locate him, knowing if they did, they were both sitting ducks.

He held Buffy more tightly to him and was rewarded with her arms wrapping around him and holding him tightly back, all while still asleep.

The doors opened and beams of light entered first searching for any sign of the vampire or the Slayer. The security team came in first, followed closely by the Slayers. They fanned out below him, checking in crates, behind crates, anywhere they could possibly fit.

Spike felt Illyria enter with Willow, Xander and Gunn. He could hear their voices clearly from his perch.

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s here.” Xander commented.

“They were here, though.” Willow insisted. “At least Spike was before I lost his signal.”

“I hate to say it, but maybe we should check for signs of dust.” Gunn said.

Xander shined a light around the darkness. “That should be easy enough.” Xander said wryly.

They could all see particles of dust floating in the air wherever they shined their lights.

Several long minutes went by, and one by one the Slayers and the men returned from various areas below, reporting there were no signs of the ones they were seeking.

One slayer did find the remains of Spike’s shirt, along with the scraps of Buffy’s clothing, but other than that they found nothing. After the last one returned and headed out into the night to search the perimeter and surrounding buildings, Gunn and the others stayed inside still talking.

“Well, this was a bust.” Gunn said. “Now what?”

Willow shrugged. “I don’t know what else to do. I guess we’re back at square one.”

“Does that mean we get to use Angel as bait again?” Xander sounded excited at the prospect.

Illyria stepped away from the others and turned in a circle slowly, her eyes searching. She stopped when she was facing in the direction Spike and Buffy were hiding in. She raised her head and Spike swore she was staring directly at him.

Gunn noticed her actions and moved closer to her. “Do you see something?” He asked her.

Spike waited for her to say ‘yes’ and point them out.

“No there is nothing here, but us.” Illyria stated.

Spike almost fell from shock. He had been certain she knew he was there.


Finally, they left. Spike heard them outside, calling back and forth to each other, before they all climbed back in their vehicles and took off.

Even though by now his muscles, even with their increased strength, were burning fiercely with exertion, Spike waited an extra fifteen minutes before climbing back down to the floor.

Sunrise was less than an hour away now and without any vehicle he was limited in options on where to take Buffy. He finally decided just to take her to his apartment. None of the people at Wolfram and Hart had ever been there before and while they could probably find out where it was from Lindsey, it didn’t seem too likely they would check there for him, especially not if they assumed he was dust.

He headed out in the night wondering what Willow had meant when she said she lost his signal. Why would she have suddenly lost his signal when he was still in the same place?


Wesley sat at his desk frustrated. So far the only ways he had found to call out a werewolf were extremely dangerous and involved dark magics that he didn’t feel comfortable using. There were a few spells that he was going to ask Willow if she could alter to make them less volatile.

In truth his mind was having trouble focusing on the task at hand. He kept returning instead to his earlier conversation with Illyria. He had pulled several books on demon half breeds hoping to determine if the emotions she was experiencing were genuine at all. Either way he didn’t know how to handle the situation.

He was well aware of the connection between himself and the Old One, but he had assumed it was because of the fact she looked like Fred. What if it was more than that? He knew it wasn’t the soft feeling he had felt for the innocent girl from Texas, but what it was exactly he couldn’t tell.

Angel entered his office, obviously agitated.

“They’re on their way back.” He said. “They couldn’t find either one of them. Willow lost Spike before they even got there and aside from some shredded clothes there was no sign of Buffy.”

“Do you think she killed him?” Wesley asked.

“No. I would know if he was gone, but I suppose she could have knocked him out and moved him someplace.”

“Would that have affected Willow’s spell like that?”

“I don’t know Wes,” Angel snapped. “But I want to meet with everyone in my office when they get back.”

“Angel, I know you want to find them, but we’ve been up for almost 48 hours straight. I think it would be wise to get some sleep before we start to get sloppy.”

“You haven’t been sleeping anyway, Wes.” Angel told him angrily. “You just want to be left alone to do more research on Illyria.”

“I wasn’t thinking of myself.” Wesley told him stiffly.

Harmony knocked on Wesley’s door before poking her head inside. “Boss, they just arrived downstairs. And the infirmary called and Mr. Giles is starting to come around. They said he’s still groggy, but he should be fully awake within the hour.”

“Thanks, Harmony. Tell Gunn to meet us in my office.” She nodded and left. Angel turned back to Wesley. “See there, Giles will be wide awake within the hour. Why don’t you see if he’ll give you any answers now and I’ll see what happened out in there and then let the others get some sleep?”

Wesley sighed resigning himself to the fact he wouldn’t be able to do any more research on Illyria until after they had solved the problem with the Slayers.


Spike entered his apartment just before the sun rose over the horizon. He took Buffy directly into the bathroom and laid her gently in the tub. He turned the water on and after adjusting the temperature he began to fill it with hot water.

He understood that she would probably just go out and get filthy again if she woke up no different, but on the chance she woke up and was herself again, he wanted her to be clean. Buffy would be mortified if she knew how tangled her hair was, he thought with a smirk.

He stood up and left the bathroom to search for a towel and some clothing to put on her when he was finished. When he got back to the bathroom door he stopped in his tracks, Buffy had started crying again only this time she was talking in her sleep, too.

“No.” She shook her head. “Spike, no, please.”

Spike’s knees almost gave out from underneath him. The sound of the running water and Buffy’s crying, and her voice telling him ‘no’ brought back that disastrous night in her bathroom. Seeing her here like that again, pain lanced through his soul and he closed his eyes trying to shut out the images and the memories.

He stepped back outside and slid to the floor. He realized that what happened between them tonight was almost as bad as what happened back then. Buffy was obviously not herself, not in control, and yet he had given into his lust for her without any thought of what she would have wanted, if she were in her right mind.

Her voice came again louder. “Spike, please!!” Spike knew he was going to have to go back in there. He couldn’t just leave her filthy and crying in a tub of running water, but he couldn’t get his emotions under control.

“You don’t have to stay.” He heard her say. “Come with me.” Spike peeked his head around the corner. She was still crying, her arms were reaching out for something only she could see in her mind. He hesitantly crawled into the bathroom, he sat on the floor next to her, but didn’t reach out to comfort her, instead he just watched her.

“No!!! You’ve done enough, you can still get out.” Spike let out a sound, something between a laugh and a sob. She wasn’t reliving the night he almost raped her, she was reliving his last moments in the Hellmouth.

He reached out and brushed her forehead lightly. “Its all right pet. I’m here. I’m ok. It’ll take more than a Hellmouth collapsing to get rid of the Big Bad.”

Her eyes flickered for a few seconds and then she opened her eyes. Spike was relieved to see they were hazel once more. She looked around for a few seconds, but her eyes didn’t focus on anything, then she looked in his direction.

“Spike?” She whispered.

“I’m right here, Buffy.” Her eyes closed again and she relaxed, he though she had fallen back to sleep again, but then she spoke again. Her voice was so soft he could just barely make it out.

“Every night since then I saved you.” Spike felt his heart swell and there was a prickling behind his eyes as he blinked back the tears that wanted to fall. Her breathing had become slow and steady again as she did fall back into sleep.

“Come on pet lets get you all washed up and put to bed.” He put the stopper in the tub and the water began to rise. “It’ll be a lot more comfy there.”

Spike picked up a cloth and the soap and began washing all the dirt and grime off of Buffy’s body.

He could tell she must have been getting out into the sun more because her skin was golden bronze on her limbs, chest and stomach. He could see the tan lines, triangles that barely covered her breasts and a small patch between her legs.

Spike’s mind wandered as he bathed her, wishing he could see her lying on a white beach soaking up the warm rays of the sun. Or even better yet, instead of just watching her he could help her rub the sun tan oil into her skin making it glisten in the bright clean light.

He pulled the stopper out and allowed the dirty water to drain away, before rinsing her off, replacing the stopper and again filling the tub.

This time he took a cup and began to pour water down the back of her head, trying to loosen some of the dirt caked into the tangles of her hair.

He had plenty of experience bathing someone like this from his time with Dru. During some of her more violent fits, she would have her hair into such a tangled mess, it resembled dred locks. He would patiently wash and condition her hair before taking a pick and carefully working out all of the knots.

Buffy’s hair was a lot softer and much more fine than Drusilla’s, so once he removed most of the dirt, and cleaned and conditioned it, it wasn’t hard to work the tangles out of it.

Finally clean and her hair now hanging down her back, Spike dried her skin off and lifted her from the tub. He he carried her over and put her down on his bed. He planned on leaving her there by herself to sleep while he went and lay on the couch, but as soon as he stepped away from her she started crying again. Spike sighed. Honestly, he wanted to lie next to her and sleep, he was just afraid of what her reaction would be when she woke up.

She whimpered and her hands reached out, searching for him. He sat on the bed and lay down next to her. He only planned on staying there until she fell deeper into sleep and then he was going to move onto the couch.

Buffy had other ideas and she immediately wrapped her arms and legs tightly around him. Spike had loosened his boots earlier so he was able to just toe them off, and then used his feet to grab a blanket from the bottom of the bed. He covered her up and put his arms around her.

She gave a tiny sigh of contentment and settled against him. Her warm breath on his chest and the steady beat of her heart lulled him to sleep not long after that.


Once again everyone was gathered in Angel’s office. Willow and Xander’s eyes were almost drooping they were so tired. Angel asked them again and again, what happened with the locator spell, thinking he was going to get a different answer if he asked enough. Willow was about ready to cast some sort of teleportation spell to get herself out of there when they heard a loud commotion from outside. The door to Angel’s office burst open and Harmony was drug in by her hair by Dawn. Once she saw those gathered inside Dawn let go of Harmony and marched up to Willow.

“Did you really think you could keep this from me?” She demanded angrily.

“Dawnie!!!” Willow exclaimed.

“Don’t ‘Dawnie’ me. Where the hell is my sister?”

Chapter 7 Figuring Things Out


Buffy swam towards consciousness. She became aware of strong cool arms wrapped tightly around her. She willed her body back to sleep wanting to prolong the luxurious feeling of peace and safety she found laying in Spike’s arms.

The irony that she found these things in the arms of one who was once her worst enemy was not lost on her. It was just one of the reasons she had trouble admitting how much she cherished this. The other reason being that she was the Slayer, she shouldn’t need anyone to make her feel safe or at peace, she should have that on her own. The truth was this was the closest thing to heaven she had found since Willow had brought her back. When she was in his arms she felt whole again. Even last year during their desperate and abusive affair, there were moments when she allowed herself to enjoy these feelings, that, more than anything else was what had her going back time and again.

What was that rustling noise she kept hearing? Thinking it must be the girls upstairs doing something she tried to ignore it.

She snuggled closer to him, wanting as much contact with him while she still had the chance. She knew that sooner or later daybreak would come and then it would be time to face the First.

For some reason she was worried about Spike in the upcoming battle. She felt sick to her stomach when she thought about him fighting by her side. She had meant what she said when she called him a champion, but now she was worried about the amulet. They didn’t know anything about it, what if it harmed him in some way?

It was that thought that brought the memories back.

Buffy’s eyes flew open. The battle with the First had already happened. They had won. But Buffy had lost; she had lost them man who was now lying next to her.

She bolted upright breaking Spike’s hold on her, she looked around frantically, but there was nothing familiar about her surroundings at all. The rustling noise she heard seemed to come from the walls around her.

“Buffy?” His voice, thick with sleep still, made her turn back towards him. Her heart clenched at how much he looked, even smelled like her Spike.

“Where am I?” She asked trying to keep the panicky out of her voice.

Spike, however, heard it right away, it woke him fully. He remembered everything that had happened the night before and knew he would have to tread very carefully. “I brought you back to my apartment.”

“Your apartment?” Buffy said slowly. She looked around, still nothing looked familiar. She tried to wade through all the memories in her head; some were blurred or distant, as if she were watching them through someone else’s eyes.

“Your apartment in Los Angeles?” She wasn’t certain how she knew that’s where they were, but she did. The scratching and rustling coming from the walls kept breaking her concentration.

“That’s right.” Spike said carefully.

“Where you live and…” She hesitated, surely this couldn’t be right. “Work with Angel?”

“That’s right, luv.”

Buffy let out a humorless laugh and jumped from the bed, she began searching frantically for some clothing to cover herself with. “So this is one of those Alternate Reality thingies?” She said. “Ok, I can deal with this; I just need to find someone to send me back to my reality.”

Spike gave a bark of disbelief. She assumed it must be an alternate Reality because she was in bed with him. Nice. “Sorry to disappoint you, but no such luck.” His voice came out harsh.

Buffy stopped searching for clothing for a moment. Anger flared in her eyes. “No!!” She snapped at him. “My Spike died saving the world.” She was beginning to think that if the noises in the background didn’t stop soon she was going to rip through the walls to make them stop. She began rummaging through the only dresser in the room, but most of the drawers were empty except for a few pairs of black jeans.

“Buffy, I was brought back…”

“NO!!!” This time her eyes actually flashed their golden color again. “Spike is gone.” She swallowed back the tears and pain that she felt from saying that out loud. “Even if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be in Los Angeles with ANGEL of all people. They hate each other.”

Spike jumped out of bed and followed her to living room where she continued to search for anything to put on. “Its not like were bosom chums, we’re just working together. This is where they brought me back at and I couldn’t leave for a long time. I didn’t even have a body for a few months. I had to float around like a ghosty.” Buffy didn’t pay any attention to him. She finally found a closet and opened it, only to find it empty; however the noises were much louder in there. She closed the closet door quickly; her skin was crawling at the noise.

“Where are my clothes?” She demanded.

“You didn’t have any when I found you.” Spike told her. “Buffy, I wanted to find you, I did. But I wanted you to have that normal life you wanted so bad.” She finally stopped moving and stared at him. “I also didn’t want to disappoint your memories of me.”

Buffy finally stopped moving and just stared at him. “Spike??” She whispered.

Spike sighed; relieved he had gotten through to her. “I just wanted you to be happy. I did it because I love you.”

Buffy face twisted with bitterness. She spied his coat on the back of a chair. She snatched it up and wrapped it tightly around her. She met his eyes for an instant and he could see the hurt and betrayal in them.

“No you don’t, but thanks for saying it.” She said with a sneer, before she darted out the front door.

Spike stared at the space she had just occupied for a split second, until her words sunk into his brain.

“Bloody Hell.” He muttered dashing after her.

She hadn’t gotten far. He actually ran into her frozen right outside his door.

“What’s going on?” She whimpered when she felt him behind her. She leaned back against him unconsciously seeking some kind of comfort or reassurance. “The scratching noises are so much louder now, and I can feel and hear all the people living here.”

Spike noticed immediately what she was referring to. “The noises are echoing in the stairway, making the louder. The same goes for the humans’ essences, it works just like sound. The scratching noises are rats and insects, I’m sorry to say. You’ll have to learn to filter it out. I have.”

Buffy looked around as she worked on shutting out the noises, she peered up into a corner. “My eye sight is better too. I can see a spider building a web up there. There was awe in her voice now instead of fear, Spike’s presence calming her.

Her head turned quickly to the left. “Someone’s coming out.” She nodded at his neighbor’s doorway. Spike could here them approaching too.

However, when the doorway opened and his neighbor, who happened to be a drag queen, came out Spike remembered he was standing there half naked.

He quickly pulled Buffy back inside the apartment as the whistling started. Buffy giggled and turned to face him when she suddenly remembered she was furious with him. She opened her mouth, probably to start yelling again, but Spiked didn’t give her the chance.

He spun her around, none too gently and threw her back onto the couch. Before she could sit up he was crouched in front of her, directly in her face. “Now listen here, as familiar as I am with the whole wake up, yell, kick me in the head and run out scenario it isn’t happening this time, understand?” He told her fiercely. Buffy’s jaw set stubbornly and she glared at him. “For once you are going to sit and hear what I have to say.” He continued on. “If when I’m done you still want to yell and run out fine, but please,” He implored with his eyes and softened his tone. “Just hear me out first, ok?”

Buffy nodded stiffly. Spike sat on the couch next to her. Now he just had to figure out where to start.



Dawn was standing in Angel’s office with her hands on her hips eerily reminiscent of a pose her sister used often enough. “Well? I’m waiting.” She said.

“Dawn, Buffy has been having some, uh, identity issues…” Willow began, but Dawn cut her off.

“Identity issues? Is that what you call being possessed by her Slayer side like Faith was, killing her boyfriend and setting off on a rampage across two continents?”

“You knew about that?” Willow asked her surprised.

Dawn snorted. “Did you really think Andrew could keep a secret? How long did he keep quiet about Spike being back?”

“You knew about that too?” Xander asked.

“Just because you guys still think of me as a little kid doesn’t mean I actually am one.” Dawn told them exasperated. “Now where is Buffy? Have you managed to capture her yet?”

They all looked at the ground. “Do you even know where she is?” Dawn asked them.

“Somewhere with Spike probably.” Angel said sullenly from the other end of the table.

“Jealous much?” Dawn commented. She saw Xander smirk out of the corner of her eye. “At least if she’s with Spike we know she’s ok.”

“What makes you say that?” Gunn wanted to know. He had figured out by now that this intimidating young woman was Buffy’s sister and so far she seemed the most together of all of them.

“Spike would never do anything to hurt Buffy, he loves her too much.”

Angel snorted at the end of the table. “I’m sorry did you have something you wanted to say?” Dawn asked him coldly.

“No.” Angel sounded like a petulant child. “I was just thinking…”

“Sorry you already said no.” Dawn interrupted him. “Now does Spike live around here, or is there someplace he would take her to?”

“He has an apartment, but we don’t think he took her anywhere. We’re actually worried she did something to him.” Gunn said.

Dawn made a face at him and shook her head. “Have you even looked there yet?” She insisted.

“I don’t think we actually know where it is.” Gunn looked to Angel for confirmation of that.

“We don’t, but Lindsey does.”

“Well why don’t you get this ‘Lindsay’ to tell you where it is and we’ll actually go and try to find my sister instead of you guys sitting here trying desperately NOT to share information with each other.”

No one moved or spoke they all just looked at her. “What are you waiting for? Her to come and actually stake Angel this time?” She asked sharply.

“Well if you’re right and Spike is with her…” Xander began, and then thought about what he was saying. “Never mind.”

“Gunn, have Lorne find out where Spike’s apartment is and you and Xander go see if they are there.” Angel said, trying to act like he was still in charge of everything going on.

“Got it, boss.” Gunn said with a grin as he headed out. “Slayer’s sister is almost as scary as she is.” He mumbled quietly to Angel, who nodded.

“And if either one of you, gets the idea to chain my sister up like Faith is, you’ll see how scary I can be.” Dawn told them. They looked up surprised that she had heard them. “Now where is Giles I have some information that may prove useful in figuring out how this happened in the first place.”


Figuring before they got too far into things, they should address what happened to Buffy, Spike started there.

“What do you remember about the past couple of weeks?” He asked her.

“The last thing I remember clearly is being out with Donatello…”

“Donatello? What the hell was he? A Teenage Mutant Turtle?” Buffy shot him a glare.

“No, he…” She stopped. “Oh god, I killed him.”

“What?”

“When I woke up, and I was all different, I was having all these thought about how he wasn’t worthy of me. Then he woke up and he must have sensed my changes because he attacked me, and I killed him.”

“I just shouldn’t have boyfriends; all I ever do is scare them away or kill them.” She said miserably, she wasn’t that upset that he was gone, because she didn’t really care about him THAT much, but she did feel guilty for killing him.

“Or maybe you should choose fellas who aren’t scared off by the smallest thing and aren’t that easy to kill.”

Buffy looked at him from under lowered eyelids, almost coy like. Spike’s mouth twitched up in a smile, before he concentrated on the topic at hand. “What happened after that?”

Buffy concentrated. “Its really hard to pick out details. There was Slaying, but it wasn’t any fun. I kept thinking about the similarities between Donatello and Angel and then I was traveling. I didn’t stop at all until I got here and found Angel.” Her face paled. “Did I kill Angel’s girlfriend?” She asked him.

“Last I heard she was in a coma.” Buffy’s face fell. “But before you get yourself all worked up, she’s a werewolf, so I’m sure she’s harder to kill than you might think.”

Buffy still didn’t feel very good about that, but she went on anyway. “I tried again to kill Angel and that’s when the Slayers were waiting for me and that’s when I saw you.” She searched her memories for what happened next.

“Then I ran and you followed me. We were fighting in a warehouse and then…” Buffy’s eyes widened and her cheeks flushed a lovely red color. Her hand reached up to her neck and she brushed her fingers lightly across the bite marks there. She was surprised that she got the same feeling from touching those marks that she did when she was in his arms. She looked at Spike wonderingly. “I let you catch me.”

Spike took her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. “I wasn’t planning on biting you.” He said, “I was trying to get through to you, and then my demon took over and…” His voice lowered. “I didn’t mean to take advantage of you.”

Buffy looked at him surprised, but his head was lowered and he wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Spike, look at me. You didn’t take advantage of me, if anything I took advantage of you or my Slayer side did. What vamp was going to be able to resist a willing Slayer buffet?”

Spike gave her a weak smile.

“And name one other vampire who wouldn’t have drained me in the same situation?” She added.

“So what happened to make me become myself again?” She asked.

“I think it was when I drank from you.” Spike told her. “I think it changed me too.”

“What do you mean?”

“The whole enhanced senses thing, I’ve got it too now. Its a lot stronger than my normal vamp senses and I could feel the blood changing me.”

“Changing you? Into what?”

“I think these are questions for the ones in the research department, pet.”

“You’re probably right.”

They sat in silence for a few moments. It was a comfortable silence, but both of them were aware of all the unanswered questions still between them. Buffy broke the ice first.

“Why didn’t you want me to know you were back?” Her voice was hesitant.

”It wasn’t that I didn’t want you to know. I was just afraid. You were finally free of the whole destiny ‘Chosen One’ mess. I didn’t want to ruin that by showing up on your doorstep.”

“A call would have been nice.” She said in a cute little voice. “A postcard. SOMETHING!”

Then she had a thought. “Did Andrew know you were back?” She asked suspiciously.

“He found out when he came to take Dana.”

“That’s what he and Dawn were always whispering about I bet. That’s why Dawn always told me I should come see how Angel was doing!!! That little witch. I am so going to ground her when I get home.”

Spike tried to ignore the feeling of loss he felt when she talked about going home.

“All right. I’m not saying I’m not still mad, and I still reserve the right to kick your ass later, but tell what’s been going on here in LA.” Spike looked at her questioningly. “Well, I’m sure there has to be another reason you decided to hang out with Angel, other than your love to be annoying.” She said with a smile. Spike smiled back at her and leaned back on the couch. He felt a warm feeling spread inside him, when she leaned back and into him. He wrapped his arm around her and began to tell her about his unexpected reincarnation.

It was mid-afternoon by the time Spike finished up his tale. He had told her pretty much everything that had happened since he had been brought back. He left out the part about shagging Harmony and he also didn’t mention some of his saltier comments to Angel when they were fighting for the fake Chalice, but everything else had come out. Including the details of their trip to Rome.

“So the night I changed was the night you guys were in Rome?” Buffy said thoughtfully. “You didn’t have anything to do with it, did you?” Spike shot her a look. “I just had to ask.”

Again there was a silence.

“So this whole take down the evil law firm, is that working at all for you guys?” She asked him.

Spike sighed heavily. “I don’t know, honestly. I know I have to keep trying, though.”

Buffy nodded. “For Fred.” She stated.

“Yeah.”

“You cared about her a lot.” This was also a statement.

“I wasn’t chasing her or anything if that’s what you are thinking. She was Wes’ girl from the get go, she just didn’t know it for a while. She was my friend. She was the first person who really cared about what happened to me, she never judged me for things that happened before she knew me and she could also see right through my bull.” Buffy laughed. “I did see her once when she was in the shower, she did have a nice…” Buffy hit him in the chest. “Hey now!!” He protested.

“There will be no talk of other women naked, at least not while I’m practically sitting on your lap.” Buffy admonished.

Spike smiled pleased at her jealousy. “So what is this then?” Spike asked gesturing to the two of them.

Buffy grew serious. “I’m not sure. I guess I understand why you didn’t get in touch with me, but it still hurts.” She told him honestly. Spike waited for her to offer up some other excuse of why they wouldn’t be together, some other reason she had in place to protect herself.

“I was thinking I might stay in Los Angeles for a while, help you guys out with your apocalypse. You obviously need the help of a professional, and there really isn’t anything keeping me in Rome anymore.”

Spike’s entire face lit up, and then he had a thought. “Are you staying to help out, or are you staying to be closer to Peaches?” He asked her.

“Spike, in my most primitive state, I crossed about 8 countries to kill Angel. I think its safe to say I am completely over my Angel crush.”

“Don’t worry the whole wanting to kill him, is something you never really let go of.” Spike said. “So does that mean that you are going to give us a chance?” He wasn’t going to get his hopes up, really he wasn’t.

Buffy leaned in until their lips were almost touching. “I would say I already have.” She said softly. Their lips had just barely touched when they both sensed someone approaching the door. Both of them groaned knowing their alone time was now interrupted indefinitely.

Spike pulled away from her abruptly and stood up. Buffy looked at him surprised. “It’s the Whelp and Gunn. I’m sure you wouldn’t want them to get any ideas about what’s been going on here.”

“I’m sure me naked wearing nothing but your coat and you bite mark on my neck will explain what went on pretty clearly.” Buffy remarked as she stood up and threw open the door just before they knocked.

“I take you guys are here to take us back to Wolfram & Hart?” She greeted them.

“Buffy!!! You’re you again.” Xander said excitedly and grabbed her into a hug. When he let her go he noticed what she was wearing and not wearing. “Are you naked under there?” He asked.

Buffy shot him a look. “If you guys don’t mind could we stop and get some clothing for me? I really don’t want to have to face the firing squad in nothing but Spike’s coat.”

“I know a place that we can stop on the way.” Gunn said.

“Can we get some food too?” Buffy asked. “I don’t know when the last time I ate was.” Spike pulled on a shirt and put on his boots, then walked up beside Buffy. She grabbed his hand. “Ready?” She asked him.

“Let’s go face the music.”