Seconds later, Buffy was reeling with the strange sensations caused by the teleportation. She stumbled slightly as her feet found purchase on solid ground again, clinging to Spike to keep her balance. Spike, for his part, did not seem the least bit affected by the unconventional method of travel.

But then, she realized, he was probably used to it by this point.

“Wh-where…where are we?” Buffy mumbled, blinking in the near-darkness of the room in which they had materialized. “Where’s…” Her voice trailed off as she heard a low, vicious laugh begin to echo in the stillness, terrifying in its strangeness and familiarity. Buffy’s voice was small and uncertain as she finished the thought.

“Willow?”

“Well, what have we here?” the redhead sneered as she slowly materialized in front of them, alarmingly near. “Two for the price of one. Aren’t I the lucky girl today!”

Buffy fought back a wave of nausea at the cruel smirk on her former friend’s face, the sinister amusement in her voice. She released her supporting hold on Spike, her hands curling into fists at her sides as she tried to prepare herself for a fight she longed to avoid. She was startled when Spike edged between her and Willow, pushing her behind him with one arm as he faced the redhead.

“Willow,” he began cautiously, swallowing hard and lowering his gaze at her raised, questioning eyebrow. “*Mistress*,” he amended, “there’s no reason to…”

His words were abruptly cut off as Willow backhanded him hard, with enough added magical force behind the blow to send him crashing to the floor on the other side of the room. Spike groaned, pushing himself up on his hands and struggling to regain his footing, thoroughly disoriented from the powerful blow.

“Hey!” Buffy protested indignantly. “That was *so* not necessary!”

“Who said it was necessary?” Willow countered without looking at the Slayer as she swept past her toward the fallen vampire. “It was fun.” Her expression darkened as she swiftly closed the distance between herself and Spike, adding softly, “And he deserved it. Did you actually think you could stop me from hurting her, Spike?”

Buffy’s eyes narrowed in anger, and she felt a vague sense of surprise at the defensive rage that rose up within her at the sight of Willow’s purposeful advance toward Spike, who was still in a rather vulnerable position on the floor, and all because of his attempt at standing between her and harm.

“Don’t you touch him,” Buffy warned, her voice low and trembling as she started to follow Willow across the room. “Willow…”

Without even turning, Willow waved a hand behind her back – and suddenly, Buffy felt herself sailing through the air, her back slamming against the far wall. She winced at the impact, and then had barely a second to wonder why she had not fallen to the floor when strong steel shackles suddenly appeared, locking her wrists and ankles to the wall behind her.

“No!” she cried out in frustration, struggling uselessly against the bonds that held her. “Willow, don’t! Leave him alone!”

Willow was standing over Spike now, smiling coldly as he looked up at her with apprehension, not daring to rise, lest she should see the action as a challenge. The witch glanced skeptically over her shoulder at the Slayer, her arms rising slowly to cross over her chest as a calculating expression came over her face.

“You seem awfully interested in Spike’s well-being, Buffy. That’s sort of unusual for you,” she remarked calmly.

“So I’ve heard,” Buffy muttered.

Willow’s eyes narrowed as she studied the Slayer’s face. “How’d you escape that spell, anyway? That was a perfect spell. You should have come out just like everybody else.”

“The house was warded.” Buffy shrugged. “And the wards were strong enough to protect me. So I guess your powerful little spell wasn’t so perfect after all.”

Willow glared at her for a moment before turning toward Spike again. “That’s just…frustrating. Oh, well.” She shrugged, a sadistic smile turning up the corners of her mouth, magical sparks flying between her fingertips as she held her hands almost together in front of her in a gesture of anticipation. “I know what will make me feel better.”

“There’s no reason for you to do this, Willow,” Buffy protested, not really believing that she could reason with Willow, but trying her best to distract her anyway.

“Oh, believe me. I can think of more than one.”

Willow’s smile faded as she turned her attention back to Spike, her thoughts returning to the reason she had called him back in the first place. She crouched down in front of the kneeling vampire, snapping her fingers and uttering a single Latin word that left his legs frozen to the floor beneath him so that he was unable to rise.

Alarmed, Spike tried to push himself up off the floor, with no success. An instant later, his arms jerked behind his back, crossed at the wrists, and he realized with a rising sense of panic that he could not move them, either.

“Hold still, sweetie,” Willow advised, a warning look in her eyes. “Don’t make me go any farther, kay?”

Spike froze, his breath coming hard and fast as he tried to stay still, unwilling to have her bind him any further. Willow smiled as she idly stroked the back of her hand down the middle of his chest, pausing over his heart.

“Where is it, Spike?”

“Where’s what?” Spike answered without hesitation, his voice low and measured, his eyes focused straight ahead as he tried to keep himself from thinking about what Willow was about to do to him…what he was helpless to prevent.

“Willow, stop it! Don’t hurt him!” Buffy cried out, her wrists twisting uselessly against the cuffs around them. “*Willow*!”

“You want me to stop? Make me.”

Willow shrugged without looking at Buffy, her hand still resting over Spike’s heart. Her lips twisted upward in a cruel smirk as she pressed the tips of her fingers against his flesh, and Spike writhed in pain, struggling to twist away from the seemingly innocent touch that was clearly causing him so much agony.

“You *can* stop me, you know, Buffy,” Willow informed the Slayer in a tone of voice that was almost bored, as she continued her torment of the vampire before her. “Even all chained up and helpless like that.” She looked over her shoulder to give Buffy a wink as she asked, “Wanna guess how?”

Buffy knew what she was suggesting; Willow wanted her to tell her where the orb was, in exchange for her ceasing the torture she was inflicting on Spike.

Buffy also knew that she could not accept Willow’s offer. If she did, they would have no hope of ever stopping her.

*If we can just hold out…just a little bit longer…*

“You’re not gonna stop,” Buffy replied in a defiant voice, straining against her bonds. “You’ll just kill us both once you get what you want.”

Willow’s smile faded slightly, her dark eyes glinting with anger, and she twisted her hand slightly over Spike’s chest. The vampire bit back a cry of agony, panting as he struggled to suppress the pleading words and sounds that rose up within him.

“Tell me where it is, Spike,” the witch ordered in a whisper near his ear. “Tell me where it is, and I won’t melt your heart in your chest...okay?” Her voice, and the bright smile that so contradicted her words, were tinged with malice as she stroked the fingertips of her free hand down the side of his face in a gesture of twisted affection.

“Don’t know…what the bleedin’ hell you’re talkin’ about, love,” Spike gasped out the words, a grim smile forming on his lips in spite of the pain. “And wouldn’t tell you…if I did. Don’t care what you do to me.”

Willow let out a snarl of rage, her features shifting as her vampiric face momentarily came to the fore, and Spike gasped in agony as the pain she was inflicting increased for a few seconds…then faded away completely as she finally removed her hand from his chest. As quickly as her temper had arisen, she brought it back under control, her calm expression falling back into place.

“You don’t?” she echoed in exaggerated disbelief. “You’re so brave all of a sudden, Spike. I’m impressed.”

The blond vampire winced slightly at her sarcastic words, and the reminder of his subservience to her over the past few years, and Willow’s eyes glittered with sadistic pleasure to see that her words had hit their intended target.

“I mean…we all know what a stupid, cowardly little whore you’ve been these last few years, don’t we?” Her eyes widened innocently as she added with mock surprise, “Oh, wait! We *don’t*…do we? This Buffy hasn’t seen it…doesn’t know how pathetic you really are.”

Spike swallowed convulsively, glancing anxiously between Buffy and Willow before lowering his gaze to the floor in front of him. Clearly enjoying his discomfort, Willow went on in a quiet, almost seductive voice, her hand trailing from his face down along the line of his throat, tilting his head slightly in a subtle gesture of dominance and control as she spoke.

“This Buffy seems to care about you…doesn’t she, Spike? Isn’t that just exactly what you’ve always wanted? How wonderful for you!” Willow’s brow creased in a frown of false concern as she drew back to meet Spike’s fearful eyes and added, “But then…she doesn’t know what kind of vampire you are…does she, Spike? It might make a difference if she did.”

Willow leaned in close to whisper in his ear again, though it was a stage whisper, fully intended for Buffy’s hearing as well as Spike’s.

“Shall I fill her in?”

Spike’s eyes were closed, and his breath was shaking and uneven as he shook his head slowly. “No,” he whispered, subdued anguish in his voice. “Please.”

“I think maybe I should,” Willow insisted. “I mean…a girl deserves to know what she’s getting into, doesn’t she?”

“Spike…” Buffy spoke in a quiet, restrained voice from where she was bound across the room, longing to soothe the mental and emotional anguish Willow was inflicting. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever she tells me…it doesn’t matter to me, okay?”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Willow advised her with a harsh laugh. “You don’t know until you hear it.”

“Don’t,” Spike repeated, raising his voice slightly, though it sounded more broken than ever. “Please, Mistress…don’t.”

“Tell me where the orb is,” Willow countered. “And I won’t.”

Spike’s lips parted slightly, and for a terrible, sick moment, Buffy was certain that he was going to spill the secret. But after a tense moment, the vampire closed his mouth again, swallowing convulsively, not moving or speaking, though his shoulders sagged with defeat, as he resigned himself to having his shameful secrets revealed.

Willow let out a low snarl as she backhanded him again, though the magical restraints she had placed on him did not allow his body as much movement this time. She rose to her feet, glaring down at him contemptuously for a long moment before leveling a savage kick to his vulnerable stomach. Spike doubled over slightly, coughing, but could not move his arms to protect himself.

Willow turned her back on him and strode across the room toward Buffy, meeting the other girl’s eyes with a teasing smile as she braced her arm against the wall beside Buffy’s head, looking her up and down in a way that was more suggestive than Buffy was comfortable with.

“This is gonna be like old times, huh, Buffy? You and me…sharing secrets…talking about boys…”

“This is *nothing* like old times,” Buffy spat the words at her, her body trembling with repressed anger as she struggled once more, uselessly, against her restraints. “Don’t tell me this. Whatever it is, I *don’t* want to know!”

“When are you gonna learn, Buffy?” Willow sneered, her smile fading, her eyes narrowed in anger. “It’s not all about you and what *you* want.” She paused, before shrugging and adding, “And I’m not going to tell you. I’m going to show you.”

The attention of both girls was drawn toward Spike when he let out a strangled sound of despair, his shoulders lowered, his head bowed, as if he were trying to hide in plain sight. Clearly he knew exactly what Willow was planning to do, and that knowledge made his humiliation worse than ever.

Buffy struggled to pull away, but there was no escape as Willow reached her hands toward her temples, closing her eyes as she focused on the revealing spell she was about to perform, murmuring one last smug taunt as she did.

“Let’s see what you think of your vampire hero *now*!”