Dawn rose and fell in Sunnydale; demons and humans went about their business unknowing or caring about the problems between the Slayer and her group of friends. People were born and people died. But within the Scoobies, there was little room for sleep as sound as Spike and Buffy had just awoken from.

Giles suggested they patrol after sunset, splitting up to cover the ground Buffy and Spike normally patrolled together. He guessed they wouldn't leave the apartment after Angel's edict, although he preferred not to think of any other reasons they might stay in. The town still needed a patrol, regardless, and he was going to make sure it was done.

"Cordy, you, Angel and Wes take the Bronze and the docks. Willow and Tara, you take the college and west cemeteries. Anya and Xander take the east cemeteries and the mansion. I'll stay here and do some research on claims in my Watcher Diaries. Let's meet in Shadyrest Cemetery in forty-five minutes to finish that last, and biggest, cemetery en masse." He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes, preparing for a long evening.

They all filtered out reluctantly, muttering about their assignments, and he went back to his books. Surely, there must be something he could find about vampires and claiming. Some Watcher must have at least heard something. Maybe he needed to go much further back in history…

*****************************************************

Angel, Cordy, and Wes worked silently and swiftly in the Bronze. They took out a few fledglings in the alley, and headed off toward the docks. There they had more luck, trading insults and blows with five vamps and their buddy, a Respin demon. Bloody and tired, they trudged to the meeting point by the lake in Shadyrest while Cordy muttered something about never moving back to the Hellmouth.

Willow and Tara were finishing a completely dead patrol when they glimpsed one of the Asian demons. Conferring for a moment, they used a spell to separate the demon from it's victim. They bound it to a tree while the girl ran away in terror, then decided to leave, having no idea how to kill it or what it could do if they attacked.

Anya and Xander had forgone patrol and just headed straight to the cemetery to get in some 'quality time' before the others arrived. They were still fooling around in the grass as the rendez-vous time approached, oblivious to anything but what they were doing. Three vamps rose out of graves nearby, and smelling the humans' arousal, began creeping up on them.

The gang had all run into each other at the gate, commenting on how dead their areas seemed tonight. A total of seven vamps and two demons was low for a weekend night, and the reasons for it could not be good. Coming to the top of the hill overlooking the lake, Cordelia gasped. Everyone looked to where her shaking finger was pointing and made out Xander and Anya's clueless forms being converged upon by the vamps.

Angel took off running down the hill, thinking to himself. I'll never make it. It’s a good 600 feet and I'm close to toppling down this hill to start with.

Suddenly, Spike and Buffy came charging out of a copse of trees not ten feet from the lake being chased by a horde of vampires. The new vamps looked at the horde and decided to join in, helping to encircle the Slayer and Spike, who had stopped dead upon seeing Angel tearing down the hill. The rest of the gang huffed down the hill and stood by Angel, who had counted twenty or more vamps surrounding the two, and was watching as Spike looked at Buffy. She looked back, then they sprang into fighting position. Buffy whipped four stakes out of a thigh sheath and tossed two end over end at the back of Spike's head.

Smirking he caught them without looking and she giggled, a silent communication passing between them. They stood back to back as the vamps attacked, anticipating their enemies' and each others' moves instinctively. The next wave rushed in and one charged at Spike from behind with an axe. He struck the vamp in the face with a spinning back kick without looking. Buffy closed her eyes to keep all the flying dust out and managed to dust the last two standing without even re-opening her eyes.

Angel blinked at the sight, impressed by their obvious skill and deadliness. He watched the dust settle and Buffy open her eyes and gaze at Spike. She leaned on his shoulder and he leaned on hers, both breathing heavily. They shared another one of those 'looks' and then another, until they were zinging back and forth, not a word spoken. Finally, they slumped down the ground, laughing and groaning at the pain.

"Are you quite sure insanity doesn't run in your line, Angel?" Wes asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, Deadboy, cuz they are acting totally screwy. Drusilla makes this look normal," Xander added, raising his eyebrow as Spike started tickling Buffy mercilessly.

Angel shrugged and picked a piece of grass out of Xander's hair, handing it to him in retort. He laughed when Xander turned pink, and both Spike and Buffy's heads whipped around to stare at him. "What? Why does everyone seem so surprised that I laugh?"

'Maybe because he's a poofy poetry reading sod who broods more than anyone who's name isn't Poe. Not to mention the total lack of humor displayed by his hairstyle…' Spike thought.

Buffy burst out laughing and cut her gaze to Spike, who smiled innocently. She chastised him in her head and he rolled his eyes and snorted, causing her to laugh harder.

"Ahem. I thought you guys were staying in the apartment until we came back?" Angel asked, a look of irritation crossing his face.

Spike looked at him incredulously and thought to Buffy, 'Can you believe that git thinks he can tell us where we can and can't go? If only we taken a picture of you tipping him backwards onto his ass… I mean, who does he think he is, the next coming of Christ? Damned spiky haired wanker…'

Buffy held her hand over her mouth, trying desperately not to crack up at the names Spike was calling Angel in his head. Some of these words she hadn’t even known existed…. 'Behave, dammit! They have to think we're as nutty as your ex-ho, Spike.' she scolded. She sobered herself and looked at the group, trying to block Spike's continued ramblings from her mind.

"Okay, so what's going on?" Cordelia asked in confusion.

"T-they can re-read each other's m-minds," Tara interjected. "Willow and I d-do it sometimes through m-magick."

Giles and Wes looked at each other, and shrugged, having no idea if this were possible. Anya looked to Angel, who let out a long suffering sigh. Cordy rubbed his shoulders gently and he turned his head slightly, smiling at her.

"Yes, they can read each others' minds. It's part of the whole claiming process. The claimants begin to share feelings and thoughts, like I said. The mind reading can be a great edge in battle if used correctly like just now; some consider it a hindrance, though, because it takes intense concentration to block the other person out of your mind for even a small amount of time. I'm sure Buffy is perfectly capable of it, but Bleach Boy…," he said doubtfully, noting the look on Buffy's face as she listened to him.

Buffy's jaw dropped and she stared at Angel incredulously. I can hear his thoughts, too. Holy shit! He doesn’t think Spike can handle this and…he thinks Cordelia looks beautiful today? What?! Suddenly, Buffy got a small montage of images of Cordelia, little screen shots of her life in LA with Angel, all tinged with Angel's thoughts. A low growl formed in her throat unconsciously as an image of Cordy in a towel, coming out of the shower and walking up to Angel floated through her mind. She let her mental wards down as the anger filled her. The growl got louder, and everyone stared at her except Spike, who sidled up to her wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Ooh, Slayer, now that is sexy. If you keep that up, they are going to get that free show they keep missing." He ground his hips into her backside slightly and licked her ear, stunned when she shook him away impatiently.

Buffy's eyes grew dark as she slowly walked toward Angel, dissecting him with her glare. He looked at her in puzzlement, and she ignored the questions in his eyes. Like a predator, she sniffed at him, cocking her head to the side, then advancing on Cordelia, sniffing again. The growl increased to almost low thrumming sound as she turned toward Angel, and roared, "How dare you, Angel? How dare you risk it? You preach to me about my choice of mate, you've been… You bastard!" She yelled the last sentence directly into his face and her hand flew up, backhanding him.

By the time anyone else could react, she'd tackled Angel to the ground and was beating him senseless in between his groaned protests. His vamp face flickered forward, but he could not bring himself to hit his former love. Angel tried pushing her off when his lip split open, but even with his strength, he suddenly could not budge the enraged Slayer. His eyes searched the crowd wildly, knowing none of them could assist him without hurting Buffy. Finally, he caught Spike's eyes, which lit up as he slid into Buffy's mind and figured out what was going on.

She can hear Peaches' thoughts, too. Can I? He tried and found that he couldn't even attempt to. He delved back into Buffy's mind and picked out the things she'd seen and heard. So Peaches has it for the May Queen, huh? Interesting… Guess I can see how that might set the Slayer off. Wonder if I should be jealous? But one look at his Buffy just about beating Angel to hamburger and growling up a storm did nothing turn him on. He rushed over, peeling the Slayer off Angel as best he could, and gathered her in his arms, cooing in her ear. "Easy, luv, easy. What's gotten into you? Besides me, of course," he asked grinning.

Her face turned to his, and he nearly fainted when he saw the slight yellow tinges brighten, then fade out of her eyes when she recognized him through the haze of anger. The growling stopped abruptly and a rumbling purr replaced it while her little arms encircled his neck. She whimpered slightly, and buried her face into his chest. Spike's heart almost leaped out of his chest in happiness, and he felt the bulge in his pants strain against the buttons of his jeans painfully. That's it, he thought. He looked down at Peaches in game face, his arousal making it impossible for him to force the demon back.

"The apartment. One hour," he ground out. Angel nodded and he started to walk away. He turned back abruptly. "Oh, Peaches? Bring some food. We'll need it." And he was gone, sprinting away so quickly it seemed like a trick of light.

The group in the cemetery were trying desperately not to look embarrassed at Spike and Buffy's exit. The Watchers were discussing the lack of information in the Diaries and considering calling the Council to obtain more resources. Cordy was pretending to tell the others about the ongoing case they had in LA, to hide that they were whispering about Buffy, Spike, and Angel as unobtrusively as they could.

Angel was standing next the lake, gazing into it as if it held the answers to what had just happened. What had prompted all that almost…vampiric behaviour in Buffy? And why had she attacked like a feral beast? Why did she sniff him and Cordelia? He thought about the events individually, his mind finally beginning to link the strange incidents to each other. Buffy had been staring at him intently, then she began growling. Then she sniffed him and Cordelia, before turning back to attack him in a rage. And she'd yelled something about risking it… My God! he thought. She read my mind! I had thought Cordy looked pretty, and was remembering a bunch of recent events, and then…The growling, it was a vampire warning, visceral and provocative. She had sniffed his scent on Cordy and hers on Angel, then flew into an uncontrollable rage, using both the strength of the Slayer, but a Master vampire as well. And she beat the shit out of me, he thought ruefully. He shook his head, knowing that Spike had jumped in because he'd read Buffy's mind and knew what was going on, not because he cared if Angel got his ass kicked.

Cordelia tapped his shoulder and he jumped. "Look, if everyone else is gonna stand here and pretend we didn't just see vamp Spike and semi-vamp Buffy sprint away to go hump like bunnies, then fine. But I want to know what is really going on," she complained.

Angel groaned, rolling his eyes, and turning back to the group. "I really should not have to explain where they-"

"Angel?" Cordy interrupted. "Um, I don't know this claiming stuff very well or anything, but should she be purring like you and the Billy Idol reject?"

"She was what?" Angel asked sharply.

"She was purring like a cat in heat from the second he picked her up."

Anya looked puzzled. "But I thought only vampires purred.. oh."

Giles cleared his throat and waited for people to pay attention. "If they can share thoughts and feelings, perhaps they will also share, em, special traits as well. The-the purring, speed, growling, maybe even..the…," he trailed off pointing at his forehead. "She is the Slayer. It may drastically change the effects of a claim."

"Well good thing Buffy didn't rush into anything dangerous without thinking first," Willow muttered.

"Pointies? Don't tell me Buff is one of the fang gang now! I may never dream of her naked again!" Xander exclaimed. When he realized he'd said that out loud, he blushed and ran to hide behind Anya, who smacked him on the head.

Cordelia sighed. I can't believe I'm from this backwards town. People must think we're all inbred. She sighed again in annoyance, tapping her foot. "Can we at least go get some drinks at the Bronze instead of standing in a cemetery like bait? It'll kill the time while Buffy exercises her penchant for necrophilia."

"She doesn't have a penchant for necro- what does that word mean, Will?" Xander asked, confused.

"It means she, um, like having sex with dead people," Willow replied quietly. Tara snicker softly, then covered her mouth and blushed.

"Oh, well, then," Xander said, kicking a rock.

"At least some things never change," sniped Cordelia.

"Well, I agree with Cordelia," Giles stated. "The Bronze will relax all of you, and we can keep an eye out for vampires.. or the Asian demons we all seem to have forgotten about in light of tonight's events." He began walking towards the front of the cemetery slowly.

They all followed and as they reached the gates, Angel's enhanced hearing picked up the conversation the teens behind him were having.

Tara was saying, "Spike likes the w-wings there. H-he'll like it if we br-bring him some since he said he’ll be- well, we might need blood for him to dip them in, too. Should we page Willy?"

They get bagged blood for Spike? To dip his wings in, no less? And they page Willy for it? If I wanted answers about how close they've all become with my Childe, that just about answers everything. He stopped to listen when Willow started talking.

"I don't think he'll deliver the blood for anyone but Buffy. Unless we tell him she needs it for Spike again. What did she threaten him with last time?"

Xander laughed and Anya answered, doing a perfect imitation of Buffy's voice. " She said, 'Willy if you don't bring me blood for Spike, I'll drain every ounce he needs from the most painful place on your body that I can think of with knitting needles and a baggie. You couldn't run far enough to escape the pain you'll be in if Spike starves. And for the last time, no I will not pose for your cousin's art show, you pervert!' Then she hung up and he got there in five minutes and left before she could even offer to pay him!" They all laughed.

Angel's mind reeled. Buffy threatened Willy into delivering blood specifically for Spike? And they all accepted it? No wonder they aren't exactly completely freaked that Buffy is… ugh, mated with Spike. He grimaced and sped up to catch up with Cordy as they headed out for the Bronze. This was going to be a very long night.

Spike lifted his head, gasping breath into lungs that no longer needed oxygen to survive. Buffy was suddenly insatiable. Her strength and stamina were more than doubled, and she kept growling and whimpering and mewling…all of which were driving him insane. His ridges refused to fade as she communicated with him animalistically, pushing him past his limits towards new ones. He wasn't sure what was going on with her, and he didn't care, really. She was swiftly becoming the most perfect mate he could ever dream of: all warm and fiery, violent and passionate, not a vampire but not human. He left her to rest for a few minutes, and he knew it would only be a very few minutes, to prowl Angel's apartment.

He snorted at the statue of Buddha, and the fridge, still stocked with blood packets. Buffy would've donated to his cause if he'd asked, willingly and gladly. She loves when I bite her. What a poof. He began going through the closet, hoping to find something salvable since Buffy had literally torn everything but his duster from his body in her haste. Sighing with disgust, he found basically the same outfit in the same style clothes over and over with little variation. He flipped through the bookshelves next, chuckling. No wonder he broods so much, all he reads is poetry. He went for the chest of drawers next, pulling out each drawer and tossing it methodically. An evil smile crept over his face as he searched through Peaches' underwear and found handcuffs. This night just keeps getting better and better, he thought, snapping them onto Buffy's wrists. As Faith said to me, 'I kinda love this town.'

***************************************************

The music at the Bronze was loud and racous. For a moment, the old gang looked around wistfully, remembering gatherings past. Xander and Cordelia relived making out in the closet; Willow could almost hear Oz and the Dingoes playing in the background. Angel closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of nose, trying not to be overwhelmed reminiscing about his first dance with Buffy.

They finally moved further into the club and Willow and Tara headed for a table halfway between the bar and the pool table. Angel looked at them strangely, knowing this was not where they'd used to sit. Tara gave him a sad smile, feeling the waves of pain radiating from the soulful vampire. "W-We always sit here so we're close to the b-bar and the t-tables for Spike a-and Xander. They play and drink beer while we all d-dance with Buffy," she explained.

Cordelia raised an eyebrow at Xander, who shrugged. "He's the only male in the group who doesn't wear tweed boxers, right G-Man?"

Giles frowned at him, then in slightly Ripper-esque voice, he replied,"He only lets you win, Xander. Spike could beat you blindfolded with handcuffs on." Satisfied with the boy's look of utter defeat, he pondered what Tara had just said. Upon reflection, they did a lot of things with and for Spike. He had taken to hanging at the Bronze, helping research, patrolling with Buffy, and generally become part of the gang, as it were. Giles couldn’t think of a house or apartment that didn't have a few bags of blood tucked away in the fridge for emergencies, a large blanket for daylight entrances and exits, and a spare set of clothes…all for Spike. They may have acted like Spike was repugnant to them, but their actions showed something totally different. Xander, for all his Spike hating diatribes, hung out with Spike quite a lot, watching sports and playing pool. I myself have even started looking to his knowledge of things past and demons as a living encyclopedia to reference from. He's actually a helpful bloke if you give him a chance. Oh, bugger it! I think I might like him.

Xander, Willow and their girlfriends took advantage of Giles' sudden distraction, hightailing it for dance floor. Angel went to the bar, sitting at the back corner, not even noticing Cordelia following him. Wes tapped Giles' shoulder.

"Rupert?"

"Oh, yes, I…well I sort of got lost in thought for a moment. What can I do for you Wesley?" he asked, taking his glasses off to clean them.

"It seems your Slayer has broken one of the sacred tenets of the Council again. Not that I'm judging you, because my Slayer is currently a resident of the state of California, Orange County right now. But do you think it is wise to contact the Council, even for information?" he replied.

"What other options do we have? I can't say I fancy sitting here waiting to see if this whole claiming business will eventually hurt or kill Buffy. Which, so far, I can't say I'm positive it won't," he sighed.

"Well, I was thinking that we could split the research: having Cordelia and Willow tackle the Internet for information, Anya, you, Tara, and myself handle magickal resources, and Angel could hit the streets, maybe even travel a bit and ask around."

Giles thought for a moment. "What about Xander?"

The look on Wesley's face told him the answer would not be pretty. "We need him, with the aid of Willow and the others to make a list of people the Slayer has been close with. Then he must go to each person, and try to ascertain if they received the images form the Slayer and if so, what they were. If need be, Angel can take him to LA to talk to her father and… and.." He stopped, looking down at the floor.

"Faith?" Giles asked. "Surely, she wasn't the person closest to Buffy except through Slayerhood… and Buffy really does not consider Faith a friend, Wesley. Not to mention that Faith tried to kill Xander the last time they saw each other in close erm quarters," he protested.

"And he may be the only one Faith will tell if she really was on the receiving end of the spell. She feels she owes him. And it might help Buffy."

Giles nodded and sighed again, sipping a Guiness and wondering what his life would have been like if he'd become just a librarian.