***“Hey, listen will you? I swear! Sometimes I think I'm talking to myself…"***Willow inwardly fumed as she pounded away on the dummy, angry tear tracks of humiliation and hurt streaming down her pale face. Once again the gang, as per their usual, had ignored her. She had come up with a wonderful spell that could help the people who had been infected by the latest demon, and everyone had just continued right over her.Xander and Cordelia were at it again as per their usual, both being seniors now and now fighting over who should be able to leave the research to go get food. Willow was sure after they stopped fighting and both had dashed to the back of the stacks, they weren't continuing their fight.Buffy as per her usual was bitching to Giles about how much SHE was hurting, and how the world should revolve around her 'cause she was the Slayer… she had almost laughed in amusement as Giles went into his private room, hoping to find privacy or at least silence, and the Slayer followed him into the office shutting the door behind them. She was pretty sure Buffy's big flapping mouth wasn't bitching anymore.Yuck. Giles and Buffy… had been Willow’s first thought and then she blushed as she realized she was now alone in the library. She had planned on just continuing to search peacefully when Buffy came back into the room. Buffy had quieted down some and took her place across the table easily, and Willow couldn't help but wonder how Buffy sat comfortably in her new black leather skirt."Willow, I'm so tired. I think I'll book it, 'kay?" Buffy said and without waiting for an answer she bolted from the library. Willow sat there in shock for a moment before Cordy and Xander did the same. "Booking it!" Cordy's annoyingly cheerful voice called out as the two left.She glared at the door just waiting for Giles to come out and say, "Please look up this Willow." After several moments she smiled at the closed door, thankful at Giles for not doing it as well to her.It came about 2 minutes later when he left. "I have to leave Willow. Please stay here and look up things."Willow's mouth was agape as she watched him leave. There were 5 other people on this research team and they had all left her to do the work - not as if Faith had ever done her share of the work. She slammed the book she had been reading and slammed it on the table. She knew none of them would be back that night, and knew she would do all the work. Well, not this time.After writing them an angry note explaining that she had something to do as well, and didn't feel like looking up SHIT, she was about to leave when she saw the keys to Giles' private closet. The one where he stored the weapons to help Buffy train. With a special glimmer in her eyes, she grinned.After setting up the training dummy, she took at him. She had drawn roughly - very roughly - a sketch of a vampire and smiled. She had slipped into her gym clothes and had put her hair up in a quick twist. She punched at the dummy, and continued to do it, feeling better as each one connected to "his" stomach. She envisioned Buffy, Giles, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, Faith, Angel, her parents, Moloch, everyone one who had ever hurt her in any way - whether physically or emotionally.Snapping back into reality she grinned as she stopped, running a hand over her forehead to brush away all of the sweat she had worked up. She wiped the fading tear tracks from her face and took a quick swig from her water bottle. Glancing at her watch, she noted it was 9 o'clock. The vampires were out, hunting for a meal. She would practice another hour and then leave, she had done plenty of research earlier.Kicking the dummy now instead of punching, Willow grinned as each time it connected the dummy shook with the force she was hitting it with. A sound of clapping alerted her to another presence after what seemed like forever. She spun around only to find a certain bleached hair vampire sitting in a chair by the table, his trademark duster flung over the chair next to him. He looked like he had been there for quite some time."Good bloody job, Red. Never knew the fire was in you." His accented voice loaded with sarcasm and maybe even some amazement, angered her. Why the HELL should he be surprised? She had fought vampires, evil demons, robots, humans, her parents and all of her friends before and she was still standing. Why did everyone perceive her as some weak little goody-goody with no life? Her fists balled up unintentionally, her body shook in slight tremors of anger. Well, she would teach them. She would teach all of them…Before Willow knew it she had full out attacked him, her tiny fists and legs all aiming for the vampire. The vampire was easily dodging and defending but never made a move to hurt her. She carried this on for sometime until she sighed, her energy and anger faded away for the moment and she slunk down on to a chair. Spike himself was watching her with unveiled interest and he had a cheeky grin on his handsome face."That was good pet. With a little training and practice you would be almost salvageable. Maybe a fledgling will turn tail and run from you." His eyes traveled around the room, taking in the empty room and the open books. He noticed that all of the books were open and some of them were bookmarked. In the hackers neat writing her could see pages in books where little information could be found and wrote in a SHORT paragraph what she had found. "Find anything useful, pet?"Her glare from his earlier comment dissipated like dust from a staked vampire and she laughed. "You know anything useful about a Kinhg demon, Spike? They seem to be awfully secretive…""Actually, pet, I do. But what would I get in return for some information?" He asked the redhead whose face furrowed in thought. Spike didn't know why he was being so nice to the girl, she was his enemy. He had come in and saw her in the library. Thinking that he would just swoop in and leave her broken body for the slayer, he had found himself hypnotized by every move the fiery redhead was making. He leaned in closer to the girl, who gazed out into space. "Just owe me one for now, pet."Her green eyes turned to him and he swore he felt a flutter in his stomach. "Owe you one? That sounds like a great idea. Is this favor going to consist of 'lie down impassively while I suck you dry' 'cause if it is, no way pal."He laughed at the girl and shook his head. "No… I like the struggle, pet." His smirk grew when she shot him a dirty glare. "A kinhg demon either needs his head taken off or his throat ripped out. His skin is like fire so I wouldn't try to get near him, love or use the ladder suggestion unless of course the bloody slayer is doing it…" She laughed for a moment, and then glared at him, though the laughter hadn’t died in her eyes.He grinned at her, shrugged on his duster and looked over his shoulder as he left the library. "I'll see you here tomorrow, pet."Willow sat in the chair for many moments after he left. She was the smart one but a vampire flirting and practically setting up a date for the two of them tomorrow caused a sensory overdrive. Only after she hand changed, packed up her things and left the school with a stake in hand, did she smile.* Part One End***"Sexy? You want to be sexy for someone, Wills? Oh see, now I'm afraid. I think I have something though…"***Willow sighed in relief as she finally convinced them to leave and 'go out and have lots of happies'. For the past week they had been leaving her alone at nights for "research" and she had been training with Spike. She actually liked the vampire deep down somewhere, and it frightened her. She spent more times craving for these few hours then she did for school, or a life, or even delving farther into her magick. She loved her nightly sessions, and found herself already twice as strong as she was prior to this.She had just finished changing and stepped into the library when she stopped dead in her tracks. Spike was sitting on the table, Buffy hovering over him a stake in her hand. Willow moved forward and barely had time to say 'Buffy' before she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind."What the bloody hell is going on here?" She said, hands on her hips as best as she could. She had unconsciously mimicked Spike's English accent and felt herself laughing. Buffy stared at her as if she had two heads and a dazed Giles had backed away, leaving her arms free."Willow! Spike was planning on eating you for breakfast!" Buffy said, her annoyingly chirp voice grating on Willow's nerves. Willow raised an eyebrow at the slayer and looked over at Spike, who just had on a grin. She scowled and slowly raised a hand, preparing herself for the incantation. She felt Giles grab her from behind as she started to use her magic, so she braced her legs, and flipped him over her petit form. She moved on over to Buffy, and was grinning as she punched the slayer in the nose. After she finished breaking the Slayer's nose she dropped kicked her, and pushed her into the open cage with Giles behind her. Then she locked the door, and turned around to Spike. "Hey, baby…" she purred and she swayed over to the table. She straddled him at the waist, her legs balancing out on the table. They looked each other in the eyes and both moved forward at the same time to…"Willow! Wake up!" Buffy said and she felt her ribs being poked with a pencil. Damn.Spike shot up, his whole body in awareness as he remembered his dream. He ran cold fingers through his peroxide blonde hair and sighed. Bloody hell.*Willow somersaulted on to the table and shrieked as she lost her balance and fell to the ground. "Ouch." She said as she rubbed her sore butt, and looked sourly over at Spike. "You could of caught me, you bastard.""But I'm the enemy, pet. I can’t." His voice was on the edge of laughter and she scowled at him. She somersaulted back onto the table, and waited until she caught her balance. Then she grinned at herself and was about to turn around a say some witty comment to Spike but immediately after she had gained her balance Spike had grabbed a hold on her waist, bringing her off of the table and licked her on the neck. "You're dead, Red.""Bloody hell." She breathed, and pushed away from him. She drank greedily out of the bottle, and grimaced as she saw him stare. "What?" she wiped her forehead with a towel, before putting her fiery locks in a loose bun. His gaze always disconcerted her, made her feel... different. More beautiful, and less in Buffy’s shadow.Spike shook his head, and smiled at her. "I think we should actually try it out."Willow turned around sharply at that, and looked at him, her face betraying none of her emotions. He nodded to show his sincerity and gave her a cocky grin as her face shined. She threw herself at him, not even noticing how he didn't even flinch at the extra body weight and refused to think about how many girls he had held close to this while… eating… She pushed those thoughts aside and gave him a small chaste kiss in thanks. As soon as her lips brushed his, they both just stopped. Lips joined, eyes locked on each other, Willow's legs around Spike's waist and his arms holding her by her lower back. Willow pulled herself away with a small gasp and drank some more water for her suddenly dry mouth. Why did he effect her so?Spike coughed softly after he gained his bearings and held out his cold hands for her smaller warm ones. He couldn't hold the shiver of anticipation as fire met ice and they both gave each other a warm grin. Willow walked close to Spike as they left the school grounds, her keen green eyes trying to make sure Buffy wasn't around. Buffy would stake Spike, kill Willow and then stare at them blankly wondering why they wouldn't answer her questions. Willow bit her lip in order to contain her giggle, knowing the blonde bimbo could and would do that.Spike looked down at his little spitfire, his eyes straying to her soft bottom lip being bitten on with the girl's teeth. The girl's blunt white teeth which would probably feel so good against his skin… he shook himself out of his thought, focusing on what he had told the minions before he had left for the night. They would be in this cemetery, waiting for them. Willow held a stake in her hand, and Spike was happy she hadn't changed out of her sparring clothes. They consisted of black Adidas sweatpants and a deep red tank top. She didn't have a jacket so he felt more than happy to put an arm around her shoulder, hoping to get rid of the chill in the night air. It never got COLD in Sunnyhell, just a little below what they were used too.Willow looked up at Spike as he put an arm around her, holding her flush against his side. She didn't bother to shrug him off, but kept her eyes trained ahead of her. She squealed happily as she noticed two vampires getting ready to eat some girl. She ran over to them, silently and deadly as she dusted one from behind. Adopting the usual Buffy surprised face, she looked over at the last vampire. "Interrupting something?""No…. you'll make a more satisfying meal, girl." He took aim for her chest and she blocked it with her arm, almost wincing. She had told Spike to stay out of the fight and she could see him near them, waiting to spring in if a need arose. She kicked out with her left leg, grinning as it hit the vampire, and sent him stumbling back a little. Only after she had vaulted over the gravestone and had landed shakily on her feet, did she realize it wasn't exactly the smartest battle move to make.The vampire had grabbed her while she was gaining her balance and she shot him a dirty look. Vampires were just not nice people - which is why one slays them; as had Xander once said. She pushed against his chest with her feet, and grabbed the gravestone behind her as she gained her balance by it. She ran up to him as he staggered away and jumped up around him. Her legs encircled his waist and she began beating on his head. Spike chuckled, and she jumped down, and quickly staked him.Adrenaline pumped through her veins as her eyes searched the cemetery. "Any more?" She asked, her hopeful tone making Spike chuckle again as he led her away from the gravestones."Did you see that! I vaulted over the gravestone and he got me - but I used that move you taught me and pushed against his chest and he let go. I should do that move more often…"*(End Part Two)***"Oh my goddess! He's bleeding everywhere! I can't help him… He's dying on me! Help me! Goddess, please!"***Willow found herself waiting for Spike at the cemetery for over an hour. She scowled and looked at the clock tower in the distance. 10 o'clock. Her feet moved back and forth and she sighed. She laid back against the tomb, and looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled back at her, and she felt a breeze ruffle her pack down by her feet. She sighed and looked down at herself. She had gotten a new outfit, mostly for Spike… A blush covered her face as she realized what she was saying. She wanted to look pretty for Spike? A vampire with no soul? Okay, Spike wasn’t exactly evil around her but he was still... Buffy’s enemy, not hers. Why should she feel wrong because she liked Spike? He was nice, sweet and he... was a vampire. He was helping her stake vampires - how is that wrong.Dark green pants covered her semi-tightly, and she wore a dark green spaghetti strap shirt she had borrowed from Buffy a few weeks ago. She tapped her black leather boots on the flat surface of the tomb. What was she doing here, anyway?She sat up and stretched out her back. She listened as her tense muscles snapped and she sighed bonelessly in relief. She slid off the tomb and twirled the stake around in her hand, hoping she would stumble across a couple of vampires. She noticed two across the cemetery and smiled in relief.Something to take her aggression out on.She ran over there, happy her boots had been of worn with lots of practice, and her movements were almost as smooth as in her sneakers. She hid behind the tree, waiting for them to draw closer. Taking on two at once was not a problem anymore. She jumped out when she felt them draw closer and smiled. "Up for a challenge?"She crouched and fell into a easy battle position as the vampires laughed. "You, little girl? I don't think that'll be fair -" Her fist hit his chin and he toppled over."Yeah, fair for you guys." She said easily, banter coming easily from her lips as she had rehearsed a million times as she watched Buffy slay. She hit the other one in the stomach, and swung out with her foot, catching him as he began to fall back and hit him square in the nose. She watched him hold his nose, and felt the other one jump her from behind. She sank down to one knee, and managed to throw him over her shoulder.She felt a foot connect with her jaw and she stumbled backwards. She grimaced in anger, feeling a slight trickle of blood come from the corner of her mouth. Her face shut down in fury and punched that one once again in his broken nose, she was about to grab his arm and fling him into her other attacker when she was distracted."WILLOW!" Buffy's voice rang out across the cemetery and both vampires and the human grimaced. "Slayer," all three hissed and then went back to fighting. Willow growled as one grabbed her from behind and slammed her head back against his forehead. He went down like a leaf, and she took her stake from the pack of her jeans and staked the one who managed to give her a nice black and blue on her shoulder. She heard the other vampire dust and turned around to look at Buffy.Buffy's face was closed, and she looked over at Willow disapprovingly. Giles gave Willow a look that read as foolishness and she sighed as they both grabbed one arm and began to drag her back to the school. Willow was too tired to fight them both, and simply walked with them, hoping they didn't start the lecture until she was sitting down.Spike stepped out from behind the tree, and blew his cigarette smoke in the wind. "Very good. If that slayer hadn't distracted the poor girl, Red've killed them."His companion nodded and looked over at him. "Will you kill her, Sire?"He shot a look over at his childe and laughed in the breeze. "I would rather stake myself first, Dathan." His icy blue eyes followed the three retreating forms, his eyes on the one in the middle. When the hell had she started wearing that kind of clothes? He almost growled when he thought about all of the teenage boys who probably looked at her and then jerked off later, thinking about her sweet curves... he held in a groan, and tried to shake her out of his mind.The black haired boy nodded and his own icy blues eyes shone as he looked after the three mortals. "I know what you mean, William. I know what you mean…" Spike's hand patted his shoulder as he and his oldest friend left the cemetery.Spike never would've guessed that he would get a frantic call from Dathan's girl, saying how she found him bleeding to death, and her magic wasn't helping in the least. He had rushed over to her earlier that night and watched as the girl sobbed as he turned him into a vampire."William… how am I supposed to find him again, if he never dies?" Her angst filled question filled his ears and he hugged the girl. "I'm going to die and be brought back and I'll keep doing the cycle and he'll be… always like this. Oh goddess, this is so unfair!"He held the girl as he rocked her back and forth, as the girl cried on the shoulder of him. Dathan's groaning brought them both to his side instantly, and Dathan opened his eyes for the first time. His face shifted as he looked at Alellia, and he licked his lips. She screamed and backed away from him, fear filling her veins. Her own lover would be the death of her.Spike held out his hand to stop Dathan who looked curiously over at his sire. "William? Oh, William!" The new vampire said jovially, and gave his friend a quick hug. "It's good to see you, mate. I see you brought me dinner…" his eyes once again fell upon the body of the frightened witch.Spike sighed, and wondered why he had such a soft spot for human witches. "She's your mate, Dathan. Not your dinner."Dathan looked at him quizzically and then turned his head back to Alellia. He sniffed the air around her, and found himself all over her. "I'm… all over her.""You're her lover. Alellia, love, it's all right." He held out his hand for the witch who kept her back against the door. She swallowed and took his hand slowly. He tugged her over to Dathan who looked down at her in wonder. Spike wondered why he got himself concerned in these affairs - and he looked back over to the girl. She whimpered when Dathan's touched her, and shrank away from his cold touch.The girl whimpered after that but let Dathan touch her, and soon watched him curiously as he closed his eyes. His human features fell into place and he smiled at her. "I'm sorry I forgot about you, love." She smiled at him quickly before wrapping her arms around him. She kissed his neck, and pauses for a moment as she felt no warmth, no pulse, no breath on her hair. She turned around to Spike and gave him a warm smile. "I love you, William. You be careful." She placed a kiss on both of their foreheads and they both watched the mortal leave the room."She's amazing…" Dathan said, and Spike nodded. "That she is. I'm learning knew things about mortals everyday. Or witches. You should see the one I'm stalking at home. She's a knock out and a spitfire."Dathan turned his head and looked at his sire, a small laugh issuing from his lips. "Like father like son. Let's find yourself this mortal wench."Spike cuffed his ear slightly, "Don't talk about her that way. I don't call Alellia 'wench' do I?""That's because she's known you for 100 years and if you did she'd have a FIT." Spike nodded, and touched where he would have a stake if he called her a wench. Then he raised his hands to his where unbeating heart dwelt, wondering which area would hurt more.* (End Part Three)***"You should be more careful… You don't have slayer abilities like Buffy - you could be killed."***Willow sighed as Giles picked up where Buffy left off. She had been hearing their lecturing for about an hour of why she shouldn't be alone at nights and why she certainly should have not been fighting them. She should of run and called Buffy to handle them.Rolling her eyes, she briefly concentrated on healing the cut on her lip. She managed to make sure it didn't bleed anymore and it dulled the pain, but she couldn't make it completely go away. She sighed, and wondered if she should get herself deeper into the black arts. She probably could heal herself so easily if she learned things like that. Hm… Maybe even a spell to attract vampires so she could practice sparring and her magic abilities. Like a 'Come-Bite-Me' sign over her forehead or something. 'Cause that'll be way too cool.Maybe even Amy could help her - Amy was a hereditary witch and all, so she might even be able to help her. Like an hour or so with her each night or even after school. Ooh, oo! So school, and then a couple of hours - like two or so - with Amy for witch stuff and then Scoobies stuff - and then around 9 she'll meet up with Spike or something and kick the crap out of vamps. Sounds like a plan.How would she contact Spike though? He was usually the one to approach her. She had no idea where he was staying or who he was staying with. For all she knew he could be watching her right now. She felt around for vampires with a small spell and felt none in a 10 feet distance, which was pretty decent for Sunnydale. She always could tell when Spike was around by this feeling that washed over her. A single chill creeps up her spine, and she can practically feel his intense stare.Willow almost felt bad that she was doing all of this behind Buffy's back who seemed to care for her a little bit, but then Buffy was always keeping things from her. And so was Xander. For a tight knit group they sure kept a lot of secrets. Weren't best friends supposed to share EVERYTHING? With Jesse and Xander the three of them would always be telling each other things even if it wasn't interesting or even remotely important. But then, things were different back then. Buffy hadn't been here, Giles hadn't been librarian, Xander wasn't going out with Cordelia behind everyone's back, Oz had been some guy instead of the boyfriend guy who accepted a scholarship in Maine, and she would never see again. And for some off reason that didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Strange. Was she really over him now? She was sad he was gone, he was a good friend and seemed to really care for her. But he graduated last year, and she had moved on to bigger and better things. Her obsession with Spike was becoming ridiculous. She was a human and he was a badass vamp."Do I make myself clear, Willow?"What? Oh. "Oh. Yeah, perfectly." She nodded at them before turning and leaving the library. "You look good in that outfit, Wills!" Buffy called out as her friend left the library.Willow sighed and looked down. She had gotten all sexy and he hadn't even shown up, the big… doof. She sighed, and walked out of the school. She felt the cold air on her skin, and smiled. Sunnydale was pleasantly cold, contradicting the usual stuffy hot weather. She walked home, loving the way her boots made her walk, all sexy and cool. Or at least Oz had said so. But then he was a dog. Literally. She heard that he had shacked up with some girl the moment he got to Maine. Bastard. But then... she had mixed feelings about it. She was happy that he was happy but he couldn’t even have waited awhile?She felt a vampire behind her, and felt for the stake in the back of her pants, she drew it out in one quick motion and had it at the vampire's chest in a fraction of a second. "Impressive, pet." Spike's voice sounded out from behind the vampire, and she smiled. She kept her stake right near the vampire's heart and smiled at him. "One of yours?"Spike nodded, and Willow made a swift motion with her wrist that dusted the vampire. "I don't like being stalked." She said sweetly, and put the stake in her boot, inadvertently giving Spike of good view down her shirt, which made all of the bloody from his head swell down to another area.Spike gained his bearings and grinned, walking around her in a slow circle, admiring the view. "You look hot, pet. Gotta date?" He ignored the cruel almost jealous tone in his voice, just imagining what he would do to the moron he caught out with what he dared called HIS.She shrugged casually, and tapped her foot. "No, I did have a date for some slayage with a certain blonde haired vampire but he left me high and dry." She almost blushed under his intense stare, but refused to show weakness. She could of sworn she heard something laced in that statement, but dismissed it as something her own mind had tricked herself into hearing.Spike grinned and let his arm fall around her shoulders. "Oh, don't get your knickers in a twist pet. I was there, you were bloody effin’ wonderful until the sodding slayer showed up." He nibbled slightly on the cut over her lip, and she winced. He licked the blood away that had gathered there, stifling a groan as her warm sweet blood, entered his mouth. Her blood was just enough to send him over the edge. "So, pet… tomorrow me and a buddy are going to stalk around town, wanna come with?"Willow leaned up against the vampire, not surprised to feel a hard-on. She was very happy that she could provoke that in him; made her feel good that such an attractive man would be so... intrigued by her. She traced on finger around on his chest, and then patted the part where his heart should be beating. "Nope. I gotta a witchy thing to do tomorrow. If you had asked me earlier… maybe the answer would of been yes." She leaned up and traced his lips with hers. She then started to walk down the street, heart beating wildly at her wanton actions and her hips swayed.She turned around to look at his slack jaw. "Find me tomorrow. And I'll give you an answer then." She blew him a kiss and turned the corner.A smirk curled from Spike's lips and he stared after the girl. This was a game he didn't mind losing… as long as she was his in the end.He turned around, whistling happily down the street.He always loved a good intrigue.