Spike stared at Giles for a long moment in shocked silence, before he burst out angrily, "What the bloody hell did you just do to me? I told you no bleedin' magic, you soddin' wanker!" He took a menacing step toward the Watcher, though he knew full well that there was little that he could actually do against the man, as powerful as his magic was.

Confirming that thought, Giles ordered sharply, "Stop," and Spike stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening as he stared down at his feet, which now refused his command in favor of that of the Watcher -- he was fully under Giles' control.

He looked back up at the Watcher, his eyes wide and revealing his fear as he realized exactly what he had done. "No," he said softly, the anger gone out of his voice, replaced by dread, as he shook his head, his eyes pleading. "No, you said..."

Giles' expression was patient, sympathetic, as he opened his mouth to speak. "Spike," he began, then suddenly stopped when they heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

Spike hoped that it was Buffy...if it was he would tell her everything, get her to help him, to stop Giles from...

"Silence." The quiet order from the Watcher's lips dashed his hopes, as they both watched to see who would come down the stairs, and Spike was helpless to do anything but obey the command.

It was only Willow, anyway, and she just gave them both a hateful, glowering look as she passed them on her way into the living room, flopping down on the couch and grabbing the television remote control, obviously intent on ignoring them until they went away.

She did not have long to wait.

"Come on," Giles ordered softly, and Spike had no choice but to follow as he headed out into the cool night air.

The moment they were away from the house and the ears of its inhabitants, Giles turned to Spike and said softly, "You may speak."

Resentfully, Spike kept silent for a few moments, loathe to speak just because the Watcher had granted permission. His stubborn, defiant nature made him want to keep his mouth shut, just to spite the man. After all, nothing he could say would change anything at this point, anyway. He would not say a word; it would not do any good.

That lasted about twelve seconds.

"I can't believe you would do this, you bloody wanker! I trusted you! I trusted you and you betrayed me!" he snarled, and as he spoke, Giles stopped walking and turned to face him. "You promised me that you wouldn't do any bleedin' magic without my consent. And last I checked, this soddin' plan of yours didn't involve my being under any kind of spell."

He paused, his eyes narrowing in undisguised suspicion on the man. "Unless of course," he added in a low tone of disgust, "this hasn't got a bloody thing to do with the plan. 'Less it's part of a different plan altogether."

"Spike," Giles spoke in a quiet, tired voice, his impatience clear in his tone. "We do not have time for this. I understand that you are upset, and I'm sorry. I know I told you no magic without your consent, but I simply have no other choice. You're just going to have to trust me."

"Trust you!" Spike repeated, his voice trembling with anger and disbelief. "Trust you, after you lied to me! After you tricked me into being under your control! After you didn't even give me a bloody choice..."

"Spike," Giles interrrupted, and the clear sound of authority in his voice caused Spike to stop as he went on, "We *don't* have time. We've got to get on with it and get to the ritual. Now I'll ask you once more to drop it and be quiet...and then I'll *tell* you. There's your bloody choice, Spike. Do you understand?"

Spike swallowed back the fury that rose in him at being forced to submit. But he knew that he would rather be quiet of his own choice than be magically forced into complete silence, until Giles decided to release him from it. And the quiet anger in the Watcher's voice told him that he would certainly do it if pushed too far.

Spike did not say another word as they made their way toward the confrontation before them.


"There you are," Faith's soft, smooth tone belied the relief in her eyes as she watched the Watcher and the vampire step into the little clearing she had chosen as the site for her dramatic transformation. "I was starting to think you might be backing out on me."

"Hardly," Giles smirked. "This is a momentous occasion, my dear. You and I are making history tonight."

Faith returned his cold, smug smile. "Or ending it," she shrugged carelessly.

She turned her attention to the vampire standing a few steps behind Giles, clearly unwilling to be there, but having no choice in the matter. She smiled to herself; she loved the fact that he was nothing more than a pawn in all of this, forced to help her carry out the scheme that would eventually give her ultimate power. He did not want to do it, but he was helpless to stop it, and he knew it. Spike would not even look at either of them, as he stood there, sullen, his eyes downcast.

*Well, we'll just have to do something about that,* she thought with a smirk, stepping past Giles and closer to Spike. Still looking at the vampire, she addressed Giles, "Go ahead. Give him the command to obey me."

Her smile widened as she leaned in closer to him and he took a step back away from her. She gripped his hair and yanked him back close to her, her other hand hard at the small of his back, relishing the sound of his sharp, ragged breathing, and the feel of his trembling under the power of her oppressive nearness.

She lowered her head to catch his gaze, her dark eyes glittering with malice as she added softly, "I'm soo ready to get started!"

Giles' face was expressionless as he regarded the Slayer and her victim. "Spike, you are to do as Faith commands you," he ordered, his voice cool and devoid of any compassion or pity, even in the face of the vampire's obvious terror.

Faith's smile became triumphant, and she pulled him closer, pressing her body suggestively to his, laughing when he shuddered and tried to pull away. "Stop it," she ordered softly, still smiling, and he immediately obeyed.

"Hmm," she mused. "I don't know if I'm convinced." She paused, her eyes wide and serious as they met those of her victim. "I'd hate to get in the middle of the ritual and find out he's not really under my control. Maybe a little...test?" Her tone made it clear that she really had no doubt as to whether or not he was really under her control; she was just enjoying toying with him.

"I was under the impression that the other night was to serve as your test, Faith." Giles' voice had a hard note to it that the Slayer seemed to miss, as she was so intent on her torment of Spike.

"That was then, Honey," Faith countered, her own voice hardenig and her smile fading a little. "This is now." She released Spike suddenly, stepping back away from him a couple of steps.

She regarded him for a moment, and the silence seemed to drag on so long for the helpless vampire that he finally ventured a look up to her eyes...and wished that he hadn't. There was a cruel pleasure there that told him that whatever she had planned for him was certainly not going to be pleasant.

"On your knees," she ordered coldly, her smile fading, her eyes deadly cold as she glared at him.

He immediately dropped to his knees on the ground before her. No hesitation. No protest. Just simple, immediate obedience.

"See..." Faith pointed out to Giles, raising one finger, nodding with satisfaction. "...that's not something he would ordinarily do. Not on his own." She reached down and placed a deceptively gentle hand under his chin, lifting his bowed head to force him to look at her.

"Then you're convinced? Let's get on with it, then." Giles was clearly impatient with her sadistic little games.

"Hold your horses, cowboy," Faith smirked. "I didn't say I was convinced. Not yet." She smiled down at Spike for a moment as she released him, and he remained staring up at her through wide, fearful eyes -- having no idea what to expect from her next.

Without warning, she slammed her fist down across his face, rocking him backward, almost off his knees. "Let's see," she mused, circling him with the slow grace of the predator she was, stopping behind him to grab him and jerk him up to his feet again. One hand snaked around his waist, pulling him back against her, her other hand running down the side of his face gently, "What can I make you do -- that you would never, ever do of your own free will?"

A chill went down his spine at the sadistic amusement in her voice, her dark eyes laughing at him as she turned his face to look him in the eye, her hand moving from his face to his leg and slowly tracing upward suggestively.

"Stop!" he gasped, his voice harsh with fear bordering on panic. "Don't! Don't touch me!" He tried to push her away, but she only yanked him closer, whispering in his ear, "Be still, Baby. Don't...move."

He was forced to comply as her soft touch became hard and violating, her eyes holding his cruelly until he dropped his gaze in shame. She laughed, removing her hand, and he shuddered, letting out a slow ragged breath of mingled horror and relief.

The relief was short-lived.

She moved slowly around in front of him, never breaking contact, raising her hand to the back of his head as she ordered softly, "Look at me."

He obeyed, and the anguish in his eyes was sweeter than candy to her sadistic nature. The cruel light in her eyes told him that she had decided what she was going to make him do, and his heart dropped with dread.

"I want you to kiss me, Spike," she whispered, her voice a seductive breath inches from his face, a mockery of genuine desire. "Like you mean it," she added with a smirk, but her voice was still soft as she met his eyes again. "Like you kiss Buffy." Her smile became hard and vicious as she leaned in close to his ear to add softly, "Like you kissed your vampire whore."

Anticipating the violent reaction that rose up in him she ordered immediately without any pause, "Don't fight me. Just do what I tell you."

And then, compelled by the spell, he obeyed, his lips covering hers, his tongue gently, tenderly invading her mouth with a soft intensity that had only ever before been shared with those he truly loved more than his own life -- and it was worse than anything she had ever done to him.

Fury, shame, agony of memory and the violation of what she was doing to him mingled to overwhelm him completely. When she finally pulled away with a satisfied smile, he dropped back to his knees on the ground, fighting back sobs, gasping for breath he should not have needed.

Smiling cruelly, utterly unaffected by the devastation she had wrought, Faith stepped away from him to face Giles. “Okay,” she said smugly. “Now I’m convinced.”

She moved back to Spike, the seduction gone, all business now. She grabbed him by his arm and his hair and yanked him hard to his feet. She could have simply ordered him up, but she always had preferred the violent approach.

“Come on, Baby,” she said with a smirk, dark glittering eyes inches from his making him turn away. “Let’s get this show on the road.”


Xander came down the stairs from his bedroom, took one look at his friend sitting on the couch, and knew that he really should just turn and go directly back upstairs. Willow’s mood was obviously not one that would make hanging out with her very much fun at the moment. Still, he moved to the couch in silence and sat down beside her.

He agreed with Buffy; the story of what Willow had done to Spike had horrified him, not so much because he really cared what happened to Spike, as just to think that his best friend was capable of such cruelty and intimidation. And if Buffy felt that they needed Spike – as she clearly did, and as was now evident – then Willow’s grudge could be very dangerous to them all.

“Hey, Will,” he said softly, giving her a tentative, cautious smile.

Her eyes stayed focused on the television as she answered flatly, “Hey.”

He was silent for a moment before taking a deep breath and venturing, “You know…Buffy and Giles are only doing what they think is best for you, Will. They don’t want you to…to get hurt, you know?”

“Just…stop, Xander,” Willow cut him off, closing her eye momentarily, impatience and frustration in her tone. She stood up suddenly from the couch, tossing the remote control down in her seat. “I don’t wanna have this conversation. Watch whatever you want, I need to go feed Angel.”

Buffy really had asked her to be sure that their prisoner in the basement did not go hungry, but it was really just an excuse to get away, as Willow stalked into the kitchen, banging things around unnecessarily as she prepared a warm mug of blood for the vampire.

When she was still on the stairs, Angel could smell the fury on the red-headed witch as she stalked toward him. A few days ago he might have felt fear, but there was not the slightest inkling of power about her now.

“Here,” she snarled, thrusting the mug toward his manacled wrist, just within his reach.

His wrists were chained to the wall, but he had been given enough freedom to move a few feet from where he was bound, and his hands were free enough to feed himself. He accepted the mug in grateful silence, drinking it quickly down, his eyes staying focused on the little redhead, who waited to take the mug away again.

“Thank you,” he said quietly as she took it and headed for the stairs. He hesitated as she turned to walked away, then asked tentatively, “Where – where’s Buffy?”

Willow let out a little hiss of derision. “Off with her new best friend, saving the world. If he doesn’t get her killed first.”

“She’s with Spike?”

The concern in Angel’s voice made Willow turn to look at him again, frowning. “Yeah. Faith’s ritual is tonight, and they went to stop her.” A cold smile crossed her lips as she added bitterly, “She couldn’t be bothered with having her *real* friends along.”

“Willow,” Angel said urgently. “Spike is Faith’s partner. I know it! I – I can feel it. He’s gonna turn on her at the last minute and take Faith’s side! Buffy’s in danger!”

Willow’s eyes were wide, the anger fading into fear as she turned to face him fully. “How can you be so sure?” she asked, her voice trembling slightly.

“Spike’s my childe, Willow. Family. I – I know that doesn’t mean much to a human – you couldn’t understand it…but trust me when I say I *know* he is *not* on Buffy’s side.”

“But – but she trusts him completely!” Willow gasped, staring at him in fearful disbelief. “Are you saying he’s leading her into a trap?”

“Probably,” Angel nodded grimly. “Willow, we have to stop him…we have to help Buffy.”

Willow nodded slowly, a stricken look on her face when she raised her eyes to meet his. “But – but Giles took all my powers away! I can’t do anything to help her against another Slayer and a powerful vampire like Spike!”

Angel stared at her for a moment, his dark eyes solemn. “No, you can’t,” he agreed softly. “But I can.”

She gave him a questioning look, in her panic still not quite grasping what he was saying, until he clarified it for her, his voice low and urgent.

“I’m strong enough to help Buffy. There’s only one way, Willow…you have to let me go.”