Buffy flew through the school adrenaline racing, pushing her to greater and greater speed. Out of the school and into the streets she made her way as quickly as she could towards her lover, knowing now without a doubt what her slayer sense had been screaming at her all morning. Spike was in danger. As she ran she kept telling herself over and over, her own private mantra, he will be alright, I’ll be in time. He will be alright, I will be in time, her legs pounded against the pavement, he will be alright, I will be in time, she rounded the corner, through the wrought iron gates of the cemetery.

*****
 
Giles’ breath came in ragged gasps as he forced his legs to continue through the agony that gripped them, his body shook with the unfamiliar exertion. Ahead he could just make out the blonde form of his slayer as she turned a corner and disappeared from view. He knew he could not hope to keep up with her, already his initial burst of speed was depleted, however the watcher struggled on, forcing movement into trembling muscles. The only destination he could come up with in the direction Buffy was travelling was Sunnydale Memorial, one of Sunnydale’s older graveyards sporting a variety of older tombs and mausoleums, doubtless it was in one of these that the peroxide vampire had made his home.
 
*****
 
Pain, his mind was past comprehending anything beyond that ceaseless fact. Excruciating pain!
 
He fought with every ounce of strength and will remaining to him to remain conscious, his mind begged to slide into the welcome abyss away from his Grandsire’s continued ministrations, however he knew now that there was no peace, no relief in unconsciousness, each time he had slipped into blessed oblivion he had been brought screaming back to consciousness as more holy water assaulted already desecrated flesh.
 
His left knee was smashed, right leg broken in several places left arm was dislocated and his right collar bone was a jigsaw puzzle. Shattered splinters of ribs shifted and ground each time he moved and his belly was on fire from the twisted wounds inflicted by the vicious dagger in his Grandsire’s hand. Blood oozed from the numerous sear marks where the holy water had burnt and scalded. Massive purple contusions decorated his body and the muscles in his arms shook with the continued stress of holding his unsupported weight.
 
Angel was talking to him again, telling him how he was a wretched childe, how he was unworthy of walking the same ground as The Slayer of casting his filthy eyes upon her. How the girl was his and his alone and Spike would rue the day he had dared to lay so much as a finger on that which he had no right to dream about let a lone touch. Angel never tired of the sound of his own voice. Never had. Spike had watched many of Angelus’ torture sessions over the years and had always found that fact to be true, his Grandsire was truly in love with the sound of his own voice and firmly believed his founts of wisdom  relayed mercilessly between bouts of calculated torment were a spring of enlightenment.
 
Spike didn’t know whether to be grateful for the momentary cessation of physical suffering or long for it as an end to Angel’s conceited ramblings.
 
In a blur of movement the door of the crypt flew open a scent more precious to him than blood filled his being with hope and serenity. A smile curled the corners of swollen, broken lips. His head fell forward as he loosened the iron grip on his will, allowing the welcome blackness to swallow him. She had come!
 
*****
 
The sight before her eyes was more horrifying than anything Buffy could ever have imagined. Her beautiful vampire was chained, hanging limp and broken from the ceiling, his body barely recognisable, swollen, broken, bleeding. Angel had been pacing the floor before him, a stake waving in the air in emphasis to certain points. Points such as his ownership of her, she had heard the brunette vampire’s voice as she approached the tomb, listened in disbelief at the comments pouring from his mouth. She had realised at the end of their relationship that he was controlling and possessive, nothing however had prepared her for the full impact of just how extreme his obsession was.
 
Quickly taking stock Buffy spun into a kick, the stake flying from Angels hand before he had the chance to complete the downstroke he had aimed at Spikes chest upon her entrance. Angel lunged for her then and they fought, kicked and punched furiously back and forth. She landed heavily several times, thrown savagely against the rough walls of the crypt. Her face ached from the vicious blows he had landed there and her breath already ragged from her furious flight across town was coming ever faster and more irregular. Angel himself fared not much better, she was merciless as she rained blow after blow upon him, kicks that would have broken a lesser vampire smashed against spine and ribs, elbows shattered against nose and face. A powerful kick caught him hard in the groin white hot agony coursing through his body, tears temporarily clouding his vision.
 
Shaking off the pain he closed, how dare she treat him in this manner, to choose his most despised childe over him was an insult he would not bear, she would pay for her audacity. His fist raised to land a punishing blow to her face as a click from the entrance sounded, a ragged voice gasped out between shaky wheezes. “Enough Angel!” A crossbow aimed at his chest, the hands holding it, firm and steady despite the exhausted trembling of his overextended body. Angel froze, the Watcher’s face a mask of grim determination left no doubt as to his readiness to pull the trigger, his easy handling of the weapon left no doubt as to his skill.
 
Buffy had never been so pleased to see anyone as she was to see her watcher appear in the doorway. Giving him a look of profound gratitude she made her way to where the broken vampire hung lifelessly. As gently as possible she unchained him and lowered him to the ground, her hand brushing lovingly across his brow, her heart screaming in agony at the sight of his poor tortured body. After settling him as comfortably as she could on the cold concrete she turned, her face stone as she surveyed the vampire before her.
 
“I should kill you!” Her voice flat with barely controlled fury, eyes filled with disgust and contempt for her former love. “Get out Angel, leave Sunnydale, if I ever so much as see you again, I will kill you. If anything ever happens to Spike I will hunt you down and make you beg for death!”
 
“Buffy” The gentle loving tones of her former boyfriend slipping so easily from the lips of this cruel and heartless creature. “I did it for you, I had to protect you. You don’t know what he is Buffy, he isn’t like me, he doesn’t have a soul. He will turn on you.” His eyes pleaded with her to understand.
 
“You are right Angel, Spike is nothing like you and for that I am eternally grateful!” Buffy fixed him with a stony gaze, “get out Angel, I mean it, be gone tonight I never want to see your face or even so much as hear a whisper of your name again. I meant what I said, if anything ever happens to Spike, I will assume it is your doing, you had better pray Spike lives a very long life because the pain you inflicted on him today is nothing compared to what I will do to you. Now go.”
 
Giles followed, crossbow still in hand as Angel made his way to the lower level and out through the tunnels. As Angel made his way back along the underground thoroughfare he allowed his mind to review the events of the last hour, he could not believe what had happened, that Buffy would choose Spike over him was beyond his comprehension. One thing he could comprehend though was the ice cold fury shining in the slayer’s eyes, he knew without a doubt she had meant every word she said, it was time for him to leave Sunnydale, for good.
 
Returning to the upper level of the crypt Giles found his slayer seated on the ground a blonde head resting in her lap as she gently caressed blood soaked curls.
 
“Come along Buffy, we should return.”
 
Looking up at her watcher’s concerned face Buffy shook her head, speaking quietly so as not to disturb the vampire, “you go, I’m gonna stay.”
 
“Buffy I really must insist, Principal Snyder will take your absence as an excuse to…….”
 
“Giles”, she cut him off, “I’m not leaving him to wake up alone and injured, I’m staying. You should get back though before you are missed. Could you let my Mom know where I am so she doesn’t worry. And Giles, thankyou.”
 
“Yes well, quite”, he murmured at a loss. Buffy’s attention was once again on the vampire, her eyes and gentle hands assessing his injuries, her mind attempting to process them. Shaking his head slowly he backed out of the crypt and made his way back to the school. He would return tonight after school and attempt to talk some sense into the girl. In fact with the extent of the vampires injuries he could foresee no great difficulty getting her to accept that it would be the kinder option to put the creature out of its misery.
 
*****

Left alone at last with Spike, Buffy allowed herself the luxury of tears for a few moments. Spotting the dagger Angel had used to exact pain and suffering upon her lover’s body she reached for it. Drawing it carefully across her wrist she shallowly opened the vein and held her bleeding wrist to the vampires lips, and was rewarded as she watched him swallow. She fed him in this manner for some time until her blood slowed as slayer healing kicked in and Spike sighed his head turning away from her wrist as he drifted from unconsciousness to sleep. It seemed she sat there with him forever, every now and then she would reopen her wrist and coax a little more of her healing blood down the sleeping vampire’s throat.
 
As the sun set she heard an engine and then a car door opening and closing. Her mothers face appeared from around the heavy oak door. “Mom, what are you doing here?”
 
“Mr Giles told me what had happened, is he alright?” Joyce’s face reflected her horror at the sight of the vampire’s injuries.
 
“He’s not good, but he’ll be alright, he just needs rest and blood.”
 
“Right then.” Buffy watched her mother’s face set with resolve just before she turned and left the crypt. She returned a few moments later with a blanket. “If we can roll him onto this we should be able to carry him to the car, give me a hand Buffy.”
 
“Mom?”
 
“Well we can’t just leave him here now can we, I’ve been home, I set up one of the camp beds in the basement so we don’t have to worry about the sun. The car is just outside, help me get him home Buffy and then we will see what can be done about his injuries.”
 
Joyce calmly took charge, helping her daughter carry the injured vampire first to the car and then into the house and downstairs onto the bed she had prepared for him. Resting his head gently on a pillow and covering his broken body with soft blankets.
 
Once home she ordered Buffy to the bathroom for a shower. “You are no use to him in your condition, go get cleaned up and have something to eat, it will help revitalise you. Then we can worry about cleaning his wounds and trying to set his bones. Sleep is probably more beneficial to him at the moment.” Having said that she ushered her daughter up the stairs and into the bathroom.
 
While Buffy showered Joyce found some soft sweat pants, scissors and gathered her first aid kit, a cloth and a bowl of warm water. She heated some soup for her daughter knowing Buffy would not want to take the time to sit down to a proper meal but knowing also that she had to have some food before what she was certain would be an all night vigil at the vampire’s side.
 
After a quickly gulped meal Joyce sent Buffy downstairs with orders to cut the clothes from her lover’s body and detailed instructions on the cleaning and caring for his wounds. “If you need any help, honey, just call me. We will need to set his broken bones won’t we?”
 
“I don’t know Mom, not quite sure how vampire’s heal, but we’ll worry about that later, for now I just want to get him comfortable and fed.”
 
“Fed? Oh Buffy I didn’t even think, I’ll go to the butchers now and get some blood for him. Is there any preference?” The concern in her mothers voice touched her and Buffy dreaded what she was about to say, the last thing she wanted was to destroy her mom’s acceptance of the vampire.
 
“Um actually yeah there is but, well... um... you can’t get it at the butchers.” She looked her mother in the eye calmly and steadily. “Me. My blood is the best thing for him. Slayer blood will heal him faster than anything else and he um won’t eat blood from the butchers anyway. I didn’t want you to have to know that, I know its kinda squicky. But it’s not that he hurts me or anything, and he only takes a little.” The look of shock and dismay on her mothers face, where the acceptance had been only moments before stung but she knew she couldn’t allow her resolve to waver . “It’s ok Mom, I know what I am doing and Spike would never hurt me, you just have to believe that!” At her mom’s hesitant nod she made her way downstairs to tend to her patient.
 
Once she had removed the blood soaked clothes that covered him the full extent of his injuries became apparent. She gently cleansed and applied antiseptic, not that she thought vampires required antiseptic but her mother had been quite specific in the level of care she expected. There was no way she could dress him without causing him greater injury and pain so she settled for placing the blanket back over his now clean naked body. Settling by his head she stroked his face, gently coaxing him to drink from the offered wrist. When her efforts failed she used the scissors to once again open the vein and trickle the blood into his mouth, he swallowed more strongly this time and fed for longer before turning away to once again sink into the welcome oblivion of slumber.
 
Twice more over the ensuing hour she was able to get him to take the nourishment he required. Each time his feeding was stronger and each time he took a little more. Leaving him for a short while she made her way back upstairs to let her mom know his progress. “He is getting stronger but he needs to feed more, I can only get him to take the tiniest amounts at the moment. But he will get there, he is already heaps better and the wounds in his stomach are just about closed. I couldn’t get the pants on him though, his legs are so broken it would just hurt and I’m afraid it would undo any healing they have done.”
 
“Should we try to set them, I could make some splints and we have plenty of bandages.” Joyce offered.
 
“No, I think they will fix themselves, I can kinda hear his ribs rearranging themselves as they heal so I guess his other bones will do the same.” Buffy shuddered as she remembered the sound his had bones made as they settled back into place. “Well I just wanted to give you an update, I’m gonna go back down in case he wakes up, also I’d like to try and get him to eat some more.”
 
Joyce tried to block the vision of what precisely the vampire was feeding on from her mind.

*****
 
Buffy had just finished getting Spike to take some more blood, this time he took much more and he had actually latched onto the wound on her arm instead of her having to dribble the blood into his mouth, when she heard a knock on the door and her mother’s voice as she answered it.

Heading upstairs she joined her mother at the door. Giles stood framed in the doorway a look of irritation on his face.