summary:   Set in Season 2 Buffy finds out that Angel isn't the sweet guy he appears to be. Spike is in town... To make matters more complicated. WARNING: This doesn't fall in to an exact episode. I tend to mesh them together. I'm playing fast and loose with the season storyline here... So bear with me...

  Chapter 1
She was miserable... There were worse things in life that can happen to you but right now she couldn’t think of one. Who would of thought that this night was going to end up so horribly? I mean, you can’t go wrong when you have a brand new, freshly stolen from her mother’s closet, Manolo Blahnik shoes on? Her hair was pulled up into a loose chignon. Tendrils whisping around her face. And she had even put on some makeup. Add to that her sexy little sheath of a dress and she had thought that she looked really good... Until... Cordelia.

Just thinking about her made her groan. How is it that someone that mean gets and keeps guys dangling after her. ‘She’s a vampire of sorts.’ Buffy’s eyes gleamed at the thought. She started muttering, “She sucks the life right out of every guy she meets and makes the into her little minions. She makes them do her bidding and fetching... and grovelling. She’s big on the grovelling. I should stake HER!” The thought gained rave reviews from all the other little thoughts that were buzzing around her head. “She’s a trampy vamp stealer who is also a... a... meanie!”

Stomping through the graveyard she tried to stay on the path so her shoes wouldn’t get ruined. In her hurry to get home she kicked up a stone... Leaning down to examine her shoe she saw that she had scuffed it. “Great! Just great! Now mom’s going to kill me on top of everything else!” She lifted one leg backwards and balanced on the other leg as she slipped off the offending shoe. Glaring at it in the low light of the moon she mused, “Maybe she won’t notice it?...” Who was she kidding? If she noticed it in this light then there was hell to pay waiting for her at home. She sighed. Slipping off the other shoe she picked it up and carried the expensive offending pair in her hands. The path was rough so she started to walk in the dew soft ground liking the feel of the grass on her feet.

A noise tipped her off that she was being followed. Her eyes narrowed. ‘Fan-tas-tic! Just what I ordered... a side of vampire to up my level of misery! I thought that they were supposed to be stealthy-like? Fledgling! Oh this one is going to be sorry...’ She senses him before he lunges and spins just out of his reach. She was all un-quippy. Which made her more angry. Why should she let Angel and his evil, skanky, vampire-like Cordy get to her like this. She heard Giles’ encouraging voice in her head, ‘Stiff-upper lip Buffy. That’s my girl!’ She sucked it up. Feeling the primal energy that came along with her slayer strength kick in she relaxed and fell into her fighting stance. All other thoughts pushed to the side.

The vampire had recovered from its ill-timed lunge and had spun around in a crouch. He braced himself and launched himself at the Slayer with both claws outstretched. Buffy was ready. She dropped the shoes and rolled backwards her bare feet digging in to the vampires midsection. Using its own momentum against it. The vampire snapped at her trying with all of its strength to sink its fangs in to her neck. It’s claws were digging into her shoulders drawing blood. At the height of the rolled she kicked out and sent the vampire legs over head holding onto its shoulders as it sailed up and over. She heard the sound of bones breaking and saw that it had landed halfway over a tombstone its body at a weird angle. It screamed in agony. She jumped up off the ground and looked for something to stake it with. Mr. Pointy had been stashed safely at home since this was supposed to be a night off. How stupid can I get? I NEVER get a night off. Remember to wear clean underwear and to always keep a sharp pointy wooden object near you at all times!

She spotted her mother’s shoes. Lucky for her the heel was completely made of wood. She reached for the shoe and slammed it down hard into the fledgling's chest. She felt the shoe hit the tombstone and the heel completely snapped off. That was it. The final straw. She plopped down on the ground and crossed her legs in front of her and proceeded to cry her eyes out. Each sob coming harder and harder. She dug her hands into her eyes. Trying to wipe away the tears and the image that was imprinted on them.

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Earlier that night...
It was 7:46 she had exactly fourteen minutes to make it to The Bronze to meet up with Angel for their date. She was never going to make it there in time. It kind of bugged her that her mom wouldn’t let her date Angel but she was being firm with her in this. So plan B - the sneak around. It also made it a little more exciting every time that she went out and her mom didn’t catch her. It wasn’t like she wasn’t already fooling her mom on a bigger scale with the whole slayer thing. There was just things in this world that a mom could never understand - like killing vampires - and kissing one.

That thought made her giggle. And then another brilliant thought creeped into her head. ‘The shoes. The forbidden ones. Oh bad thought I think I like you.’ She snuck in her mom’s bedroom and stared in awe at them. Perfect pristine and so totally hot. ‘Angel would love them. I am just borrowing them. Giving them a test drive. Oh, maybe not test drive, me and drive not so mixey! Mom won’t be home till about nine thirty so she won’t see me before I leave. I could sneak them back in here tomorrow morning and she would never even know they were missing.’ She looked at herself one last time and thought that Angel wasn’t going to be able to keep his hands off her. ‘Yay!’ She looked at the backpack that she normally took with her when she went out at night. It was so bulky and so full of weapons. She looked at the tiny clutch that she had from one of her dances at Hemmery. What to choose... What to choose... Her hand clamped down on the tiny clutch. She’d have Angel to walk her home later anyways. She slipped a lipstick and lipgloss and a twenty in it and headed out. Fully confident that this was going to be the best night ever. Maybe she would let him go to second base...

At The Bronze she waited at their table for a couple of minutes completely bored. She was late and he was even later. Where the heck was he? She sat back and fidgeted with her straw swirling it around and around. Hey, now she had no bubbles! Stupid coke. Looking around she hoped that she would spot Willow or Xander... anyone that she could talk to. She felt soo stupid just sitting there waiting for him to show up. She glanced at the clock. It was 8:25... ‘No way did I get stood up.’ A tiny wrinkle appear between her eyebrows a scowl upon her face. “Where could he be?” she muttered. Fed up she headed to the bathroom. ‘There’s no reason that Angel, when he gets here, should see me sitting there waiting for him like a dope.’ Passing the stairs and trying to squeeze her way through to the bathroom she thought she saw something...

Against the wall, a little towards the darkened doorway that led outside she saw a familiar figure. His back to her, she was about to go over there and tease him about being late, when she saw a perfectly manicured hand come up an curl around the nape of his neck. Huh? She started to have a sick feeling start to creep into her stomach. She heard a low sultry voice pout, “Why do you even bother with her? When you can be back here with me? You know that she’s going to find out about our little escapades...” She didn’t catch what Angel had said in response but saw his head lower as he kissed slow, deep and long. Buffy felt like she was having an out of body experience... This can’t be happening! This can’t be happening... repeating over and over in her head. The sight of Angel and Cordelia passionately kissing made her want to retch. She felt tears sting the back of her eyes and she spun around and practically ran out of the front door of The Bronze. Walking blindly she automatically went in the same pattern she took night after night. Her only thought was to get home as fast as she could so she could cry her eyes out.

Just hold on... Just a little bit further. She was kicking herself mentally for ever getting involved with Angel in the first place. How long had this gone on? Cordy had bragged to her a few weeks ago that she was the ‘Slayer of Dating’ it had probably been even before that! ‘I am such an idiot! How did I ever fall for his puppy dog eyes and promises? I was nothing but a conquest to him...At least we really didn’t do anything... He must have been laughing every time he said he would wait for me to be ready.’ Hurt and embarrassment flooded her. ‘Why did he do this to me? What’s wrong with me?’ Which only made her feel miserable and used.

 

She felt her slayer instinct kick in and snapped her head up quickly dashing her hands over her eyes. Looking around suspiciously she gazed into the shadows menacingly. Not seeing or hearing anything she bounced to her feet and snapped up the remains of the glorious shoes. Determined to get home she raced out of the cemetery and didn’t look back.

Stepping out of the shadows shaking like a leaf was the youngest of Spike’s minions. Being a vampire was so cool but no one had told him that it was so dangerous. There was no way that he wanted to tangle with the Slayer... He looked down at his handycam noticing that the duct tape that he had used to cover the little red light had almost fallen off. Shit, he would have been toast! He felt lucky to be undead at the moment! He checked to see if the video tape had captured everything. Spike would be waiting impatiently. The last vamp that Spike had sent out here had forgotten to take off the lens cover and Spike had twisted his head straight off his neck. The life of a minion...

A/N:Please let me know if you like.
 

Chapter 2

He was pacing back and forth. He hated this feeling of helplessness... Dru was off her bleedin’ rocker again. Alternating between whimpering an moaning as she relived her attack by the mob in Prague and screaming and getting hysterical at him about his golden ball of sunshine. It had reached the point of even the mere sight of him would set her off. He hadn’t seen her in two days and it was driving him batty. The worthless fledglings that passed for minions around here were in a deep state of terror. Just one false step or slip of the tongue would send him into a beserker rampage. Taking out all of his rage and frustration he had destroyed half a dozen of them before anything resembling sanity returned. The remaining vamps kept a low profile around him.

He couldn’t stand what this illness was doing to her... to them. She looked right through him. Not a trace of recognition half the time. When she did deign to notice him she screamed her bloody lungs out at him. A blood curdling wail that set his teeth on edge. She hated him now.... Not like she was ever playing with a full deck but now she rarely had any lucid moments. She was refusing to feed and was becoming increasingly frail. Worry for her was taking over almost all of his thoughts. He felt so alone and angry.  There had to be a cure. He just needed to figure it out. Maybe that Watcher-git would have something useful lying about. Something that would make her well again. His dark princess was all that he thought about... That and the new slayer.

Ever since he had saw he in the Bronze dancing with her friends he had thought about just what he would do to her when he got her alone. This one was still so young and shiny. She hadn’t found out that no matter how many bad guys she killed there would always be more coming. His fantasies about her were the only thing that got his mind off of Dru’s blasted predicament. His favorite one was where he met her in the factory with all of the machines on and running to provide extra distraction for her weak senses. There he would taunt her until she was trembling with fear. The sweet smell of her blood mixed with the tang of her fear would be ambrosia to him. Calling to him irresistibly. He knew that this Slayer was good, possibly better that the ones he had faced before but all he needed was for her to make one mistake. Then she would be all his.

This is where his fantasies diverged down many different paths. Sometimes killing her outright with the pounding of the machinery counterpoint to the pounding of her blood. Sometimes taking her to the boiler room of the factory where everything would be lit up in the blood red glow of the fires. There he could spend hours... days... dragging out the slow torture and feasting upon her blood. The begging that he wanted to hear from her lips. The ultimate surrender when she died another conquest of William the Bloody. Sometime going an entirely different route that left him shaking with need and more pissed off than usual.

He had never wanted to beat a Slayer as bad as he wanted to with this one. There was something about her that struck up an answering note within him. A challenge. It had been such a long time since anything had truly interested him. She was unique. Her battle techniques were sound but a little unorthodox. That’s why he had the brilliant idea to have her videotaped. It was so he could watch her... fighting technique.

‘Hey where the bloody hell is that poncy, nancy-boy... He should have been back here a couple of hours ago. I want my soddin’ tape.’  A generous swallow of Jack accompanied that thought. Half a bottle latter he was treated to the sight of the fledgling that he was looking for.

“‘Bout bloody time,” he growled. “What took you so long,  you stupid git?”

The minion’s eye grew round as saucers as he took in the sight of a thoroughly soused master vampire in front of him. It all came out in a rush, “I taped the fight like you wanted me to but then I had a thought that maybe you might want to be more familiar with the layout of the Slayer’s house. So I followed her home. At a very safe distance. She never even sensed me... too worked up about something. I made a preliminary sweep and got it on tape for you to plan with.” He finished with a gulp.

Spike’s grin grew wolfish. The minion trembled but knew better than to even try to take a step. Fast as lightning Spike’s hand shot out and grabbed the Handycam from out of his grasp.

“What’s your name maggot?”

“Uhh..Uhh.. Lucius..”

“Right. Well now Lucius you are now my Lieutenant, my right hand man. I could use a vamp who has half a brain and the balls to use it. Go grab yourself a plump one from Dru’s private stock. You’ll have to replace her mind you but this is worth some type of reward.”

“Th-th-thank you, master...” Bowing and scraping Lucius couldn’t believe his good luck. He had thought he was a goner. Then he inwardly groaned. Lieutenant. That meant that he was going to have to be ready to fight the Slayer at a moments notice. He would have to have a turn at trying to convince Dru to eat as well as hunt for her. There was no upsides to this... He turned away and started for the pen where they kept dinner. Might as well take him up on his offer. Who knows when he was going to be able to go out and hunt for himself with all off the new duties that he would be expected to preform.

He was going to have to make an announcement of this gits promotion. Or whatever they called it... Oh right... elevation.  All this pomp and circumstance. The rituals and rites that the Order demanded rubbed him the wrong way. The Order of Aurelius was more trouble than it was soddin’ worth. I could give a rats ass what the stupid wankers are off doing with their free time as long as they come when called. He dismissed these annoying thoughts and focused on one much more pleasurable.

Spike leaned back in his chair and ran his tongue over his now blunt teeth. “Let’s see where you live Slayer...” he said as he popped in the video.  white static noise filled the air.

A/N: Please review me. Pretty please...
tbc

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