Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belonging to the show are in no way my creation, nor do I take any credit for the brilliance.

Author’s Note: Thanks to DreamsofSpike, my wonderful beta for this story, and also many thanks to the wonderful people who have taken time to review. I appreciate it very much.
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Buffy wasn’t the least bit surprised by the fact that she woke up on the ground. What *did* surprise her was how unexpectedly smooth and cool the ground felt under her cheek. There were no bits of dirt sticking to her face, and she was pretty sure that she wasn’t lying on any small rocks or pebbles. However, upon opening her eyes, she discovered that she *was* in fact lying on a big rock – a stone floor, to be exact.

The next thing she noticed was how badly her head ached. Buffy groaned as she forced herself to sit up, and winced as she brushed her fingertips against a tender and swollen spot on her temple. That was about the time that she noticed that the chains that had bound her wrists had been removed at some point.

As her head cleared, Buffy began to take stock of herself, and her unfamiliar surroundings. Much to her relief, she found that she was still fully clothed – except for her boots and socks, which strangely seemed to be missing. She was in a plain room with a simple stone floor, bare stone walls, and a thick wooden door.

The Slayer then realized she wasn’t alone.

The one in the room with her had a human-looking face, with very handsome features – almost noble, in fact. His long, straight black hair was tied neatly at the base of his neck. The only things that gave away his true nature were the wickedly curved horns at each temple, and the patches of his skin that looked almost gray.

Then, there were also those haunting silver eyes…

His clothes were simple, but appeared to be fine and expensive. He wore brown leather pants, and a silk shirt. His heavy boots announced his movements as he began to slowly approach the Slayer.

Buffy struggled to her feet, swaying dizzily in her momentary hurry. She shook her head to clear it, and straightened, preparing herself to meet a possible threat.

“Welcome to Dusk’s Haven,” he spoke at last, small fangs exposed by his slight grin. “I am the Haven Master – and I am *your* Master.”

The Slayer blinked at him, staring incredulously. “Huh?”

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Spike hurt.

The reality of pain became obvious to the vampire the moment he regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was being crushed under the weight of a snarling, spiny beast. Looking down at himself, he could see his torn shirt and the small spots of blood where the creature’s scales had cut into him.

His shoulder also hurt like a bitch.

Groaning, he had just managed to sit up – when two small, feminine but clawed hands were suddenly on the arm he couldn’t move. Without warning, the stranger gave a hard shove, popping his shoulder back into the joint audibly – though the noise was drowned out by Spike’s howl of pain.

He grabbed his shoulder, and fell back hard onto his back. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the pain to pass. Breathing in hard gasps, he finally glanced up at the female demon standing over him.

Her skin looked as soft as a human’s, but it was a dark gray, almost blue color. Her eyes were pitch black, and a thin, dangerous looking tail moved back and forth just within Spike’s line of vision.

“Ta, love. But, you know, I could have done that myself.”

“Rise, slave.” She spoke in a clipped, no-nonsense tone.

Spike narrowed his eyes, but rolled and climbed to his feet anyway, as he informed her, “’M no one’s slave.”

“That has changed,” she remarked coolly. “You are now the property of the Haven.”

His eyes widened as he took in the sight of the small, all stone room he was locked in. He quickly saw that the female stood between him and that wooden door, which could lead to his freedom – or to his death.

Then, it suddenly occurred to him that he and the female were alone.

His eyes flashed golden, and he growled low in his throat as he demanded, “Where’s the Slayer?”

The female demon raised a fine eyebrow at his question. “The other slaves are not your concern.”

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“So, why’d you take my shoes off? Did you want them for yourself? I mean, I know they’re totally fine, but my boots are probably going to clash with this whole old-world pirate thing you’ve got going here.”

“Slaves do not require shoes,” the Haven Master explained. “Nor do they require clothing. That will also be removed from you shortly.”

Her eyes became green flames of deadly rage. “I’d *really* like to see you try. And another thing, it’s not slave, it’s ‘Slayer’.”

His smirk was infuriating. “Those two things can be one and the same. I owned another Slayer, eighteen years ago. She was broken and trained to be one of my finest.”

Buffy thought she might burn alive if she got any angrier. “You’re going to regret telling me that,” she informed him quietly.

He sighed, and smiled at her with mock-patience. “Make this easier on yourself than she did. Strip now, and kneel – and this whole process will be so much less painful for you.”

She clenched her hands into hard fists, knuckles turning white and hands nearly shaking. “The *only* chance you would have had with me was when I was unconscious.”

“Pity.” The Haven Master made his way towards the door, and for a moment looked as if he was going to leave the room. Instead, he raised a fist and knocked hard on the heavy wooden door.

Barely a few seconds passed before it swung open. Before Buffy could attempt to sprint towards it, five mostly human-looking, brown skinned demons had stepped into the room, followed by two vampires. All of them spread out across the room, surrounding the Slayer, while the door was shut again, preventing her escape.

“Yay, more to slay.” Buffy tried not to show the fear that was swiftly building inside her. Each of them was looking at her impassively. They didn’t even bother to sneer or look her up and down. Their uncaring attitudes and lack of any fear at all was starting to unnerve her. “Alright, who’s first?”

A vampire stepped forward without fear or hesitation. He looked down at her calmly, as if just waiting to be slain. Buffy shrugged, then sent a fist smashing into his jaw.

The pain was immediate. A brief shock was sent throughout her entire body, making her limbs tremble with it. Her eyes were wide as she looked down at herself, then reached a hand up to discover something that she hadn’t noticed before.

She was wearing a collar.

There was a silver *collar* around her neck!

When she immediately tried to jerk it off, it sent another painful jolt through her body. She struggled with it anyway, and soon found that despite her strength, she could not make it budge.

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Spike tried circling around his female captor to get closer to the door, but she moved with him, refusing to allow him to gain any ground. In her hand she held a thick, wicked looking cane, tapping it slightly into her other hand, as if she was just itching to strike him with it.

“Accept your fate,” she said. “Strip, get on your knees, and obey every order. If you do as we say, there will be less pain.”

He gave a wicked leer and curled his tongue behind his teeth. “Got no problem with the stripping, luv... it’s the obeying every order I’ve never been good at.

“I offer you only one more chance to obey.”

“Or what?”

The cane rose swiftly. While Spike prepared himself for a blow, he was surprised to see her banging on the wooden door behind her with the cane instead. There were three strikes on the wood, before the door opened…and two female vampires, and three more demons of his captor’s species entered the room. The door was then closed, and the sound of the bolt sliding into place could be heard from the other side.

All of the females were naked.

Spike found himself getting instantly aroused, his cock rising and pressing hard against his tight jeans in approval.

“Well…this is just gettin’ better and better.”

“Strip,” the leader commanded again. “Or we will strip you.”

He tried to hold back a groan. “Promise?”

Despite his arousal, Spike was beginning to get nervous. Besides the leader, each of the females was carrying a knife. He was sure that he could take them, but wasn’t looking forward to being forced to play the slave if he couldn’t.

Three of the females moved forward immediately, one lunging with her knife. Spike grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back at a painful angle – and then cried out in surprise as a jolt of pain traveled all through his body.

He immediately released the female and shoved her forward, causing another, slightly lesser jolt of pain. His eyes widened, and he shook his head in denial of what had just happened. He immediately thought of the chip; had it suddenly started working on demons? Could he kill absolutely *nothing* now?

“No…no…no…” He raised a hand to his head, but then realized that his head wasn’t ringing with the same aching pain that usually filled his skull after the chip had activated. Frowning, he ran a hand over his body – and soon discovered the collar around his neck.

“You’ve gotta be bloody kidding me.”