Chapter 1


Buffy slipped through the shadows of the night as fast as her legs would carry her. Nothing about the night seemed out of place, yet she kept throwing worried glances over her shoulder. What if he was following her? What if someone had seen her escape? She picked up her pace, wincing as her bare, torn up feet thumped heavily against the pavement.

Buffy almost sighed in relief as she neared her Watcher’s apartment. Shooting one last glance over her shoulder, she slipped quickly down the steps and knocked on his door. She took several steps back as she heard Giles making his way to the door before it was opened with a flourish in front of her, as if he had been expecting someone.

His appearance was unkempt, his eyes glassy and tired, as though he hadn’t slept in days and his face held the growth of at least day old stubble. Yet, a light of hope seemed to appear within his eyes as he took in the form of his Slayer, alive before him, albeit in a broken and bruised state.

“Buffy!” Giles almost wept with relief as he went to take a step forward and sweep his Slayer into a hug. She took another hurried step back out of his embrace and held her hands up before her to ward off any more advances.

“I’m so sorry, Giles,” she said as she turned her tears stained face to his. He looked at her in confusion, taking in with no small amount of horror the shackles that still held fast around her raw and bloodied wrists. “I’m so sorry.”

“Buffy? Why don’t you come-” Buffy’s eyes went wide and she shook her head rapidly, cutting him off mid speech.

“Don’t invite me in. I…” She took a deep shuddering breath and dropped her head forward to avoid his disapproving stare. “I think I have been turned.” Giles looked down at the girl in front of him, who he considered to be like his own daughter, in surprise.

“Been turned? Buffy, surely you would know if you had been turned or not. There are signs; acute hunger and the need for human blood, a need for violence and destruction of all that is good around them, just to name a few. If you had been turned, Buffy, I feel sure that you would know it,” he said trying to reassure her. Buffy shook her head sadly and never let her eyes stray from the ground before her.

“Then how do you explain this?” Giles gasped as Buffy raised her head. Whatever he had been expecting when she looked up at him, it was not the sight he was greeted with. Her green eyes were glowing brightly and her ears had extended at the tips into cat like points. She looked like some mystical form of feline and as she opened her mouth slightly he could see the tiny points of her fangs. The rest of her teeth had stayed the same.

She was most definitely no vampire. She had taken on an almost ethereal quality in her transformation. The air around them seemed to be humming with warmth. He could feel the sense of good in the air and knew his Slayer was nothing to be afraid of.

“See. I told you.” Buffy dropped her head dejectedly again and let her features shift back into that of her human face. The shocked look in Giles’ eyes was enough to tell her that he didn’t trust her anymore. She didn’t blame him.

“You’re not a vampire, Buffy,” he said softly, causing her to jolt sharply out of her inner musings and instantly become defensive.

“What do you mean? Of course I’m a vampire.” Giles shook his head slowly.

“No. You’re not. Come inside and we’ll talk,” he said, stepping forward and clasping her hand before she could take another step back. The shackles around her wrists clanked loudly and his attentions were drawn to them once more. They needed to get them off her, give her wrists a chance to heal. First though she needed to get cleaned up. She was covered in dried blood and dirt. Her clothes were ripped and torn, and her feet bloody and bare. “Where have you been?”

Buffy took a shaky breath as she sat down softly on the couch. Her hands fidgeted absentmindedly with the bands of metal around her wrists as her eyes darted around the room.

“I didn’t know what would happened, Giles. I swear if I had known I wouldn’t have done it.” Her eyes were wide and tear filled and Giles felt his heart tighten just that little bit more.

“It’s okay. Just tell me what went wrong. Who did this to you?” he asked softly, sitting down beside her and placing a comforting hand on her knee.

“Angel. Well not Angel—I don’t know.” Giles frowned as he tried to wrap his head around what she was saying.

“Are you saying that Angel…tortured you?” She nodded her head, then stopped and changed her mind and shook it gently.

“Something happened to him. He’s different somehow; he has teamed up with Drusilla again.” She looked down at herself, holding out her shackled wrists slightly. “This is their work. I think they must have realised I wasn’t a vampire when I woke up; either that or they do this to all the new vamps they turn.” Giles took his glasses off and polished them hurriedly.

“Oh, good God! Angel must have somehow reverted back to Angelus.” He turned back to his distraught Slayer. “Why don’t you go upstairs and get cleaned up. I’ll call your mother and the others.” Buffy shook her head emphatically and Giles gave her a confused look as she stopped him from standing.

“I don’t want them to see me like this. They wouldn’t understand; I don’t think I can bear to see what they think of me now. This is all my fault, Giles. I went and turned myself into a monster and let a homicidal maniac loose on the world.” She couldn’t meet his gaze as she spoke to him. She was ashamed of what she had allowed herself to become.

“They have a right to know, Buffy. They are your friends and family and we all care for you. No matter what’s happened, they will still love you. I still love you. You’re like a daughter to me and I will see you through this.” He looked at her with raised eyebrows as he waited for her answer, which came in the form of a small nod of her head.

“Okay. Do you mind if I stay with you, though? I don’t know what I am, or if I am dangerous. I know you at least will have a chance of protecting yourself against me. Mom wouldn’t stand a chance.” Giles smiled and got up from the seat.

“Of course”


***


Twenty minutes later found Buffy freshly washed and sitting in the dark in Giles’ spare bedroom. She was sitting on the floor, staring blankly at the wall as her newly heightened senses picked up every noise coming from the living room downstairs. She heard ever word, every intake of breath, every cry of outrage and every sob as Giles told her mother and friends what had happened. Of how she had been turned into something less than human, but still was Buffy; of how she might be more sensitive from days of torture; of how Angel was not to be trusted under any circumstances. Everyone was down there, even Cordy. Buffy shuddered and pressed herself further into the corner of the wall, the shackles around her wrists clanking.

She stifled a sob as her mind unwillingly replayed the events of the last few days, hanging from a ceiling while being tortured for what she was and what she had failed to become. She heard footsteps on the stairs and could tell by the weight of them that they were male. That left three choices: Xander, Oz, or Giles. The first two were unlikely.

“Buffy?” Bingo! She didn’t reply or bother to move when he opened the door slightly. “Are you going to come down? Your mother’s here. She’d like to see you.” He slipped in quietly and crossed the room to sit on the bed across from her. She sniffled slightly and shook her head.

“No. Just tell her I’m sorry and that I love her, okay? I don’t want to go down, Giles. I’m not sure I trust myself; I don’t want to put them in any danger.” He frowned slightly but nodded his consent, though he didn’t make a move to leave the room.

“How long has it been since you last ate?” His frown grew when she shrugged.

“I don’t know. I can vaguely remember someone trying to feed me when I was almost unconscious. I can’t remember if I dreamt it or if it happened though. I can’t imagine any of the minions going against Angel’s or Dru’s orders.” Giles nodded grimly and stood up from the bed.

“What would you like then? You have to eat; it should help your body start to heal as well.” Buffy gave her Watcher a small smile.

“Anything you have got lying around is fine. I’m not really all that hungry anyway.” He gave her a small nod and walked towards the door, pausing only once to look back at her. “I’m not coming down, Giles.” Nodding again, he walked out of the room and shut the door.

She heard him descend the stairs and relay her message to the group. She heard her mother instantly start to protest. She had to suppress the smile that threatened to come over her face as she listened to them all start to protest. It was times like these that you realised how much you were loved by the people around you.

She shivered again when she heard footsteps on the stairs. Female this time. She caught the slight scent of lavender and knew that it was her mother. Buffy didn’t need super senses to work that one out. Worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, she couldn’t even begin to imagine her mother’s reaction. The woman had found out all in one day that vampire existed and her daughter was destined to fight them, that said daughter lost her virginity to one and had been turned into some sort of demon, and that she had also been missing and tortured for days.

With these thoughts running through her mind, she didn’t answer the timid knock on the bedroom door.

“Buffy?” At the sound of her mother’s voice she wanted to fling the door open and fall into her mother’s arms, but the fear of rejection kept her in place. She watched as the door opened slightly and her mother poked her head in. Even in the dark she could clearly see the slight fear on her mother’s face. “Buffy?”

“I’m here, mom.” Joyce’s gaze swung to the corner of the room and the sound of her daughter’s voice. She could only see a vague outline of Buffy in the almost pitch black light, but it was enough for the moment and Giles had said that the bright lights hurt Buffy’s new sensitive eyesight. Joyce stepped fully into the room and stumbled her way across to the corner that held her daughter.

“Oh, Buffy! I was so worried!” Buffy watched warily as her mother shuffled across the room and crouched down before her. She almost burst into tears as Joyce reached out and touched her arm softly, comfortingly. “Are you okay, honey?” That seemed to break her and Buffy launched herself into her mother’s arms and started sobbing in earnest. Joyce sighed in relief and clutched her daughter tightly, not noticing the blood that seeped through Buffy’s clothes and onto her hands.

“I was so scared.” Joyce felt tears begin to fall from her eyes as she stroked her daughter’s hair. She was still Buffy. She was still her little girl.

“It’s okay, baby. You’re safe now.” They held each other for a while longer while each woman calmed themselves down and took comfort from the other’s presence. “Why don’t you come downstairs? Everyone wants to see you. Nobody cares what was done to you, just that you’re safe.” Joyce pulled back and looked into her daughter’s eyes as best she could, brushing Buffy’s hair out of her face in the dark.

Buffy hesitated. She took a deep breath—if she could survive being tortured by Angel, she could brave this. At her mother’s quiet encouragement, Buffy pulled herself to her feet and took her mother’s hand.

She recoiled again sharply, however, as soon as they stepped into the light and she heard her mother’s gasp of horror. Buffy slowly realised that it was only due to the extensive injuries that were visible and the shackles that still bound her wrists. She had multiple cuts all over her where they had bled her, was covered in black and blue bruises, and had an angry looking gash that ran from the middle of her forehead to her temple. The rest was hidden under the overly large t-shirt Giles hand lent her and the rolled up sweat pants.

Joyce looked down at her hands and saw the traces of blood smeared across them.

“Oh, Buffy--.” She took her mother’s hands quickly, hiding the horrific sight of her child’s own blood on her hands. Joyce looked up at her daughter in horror.

“It’s okay, mom. I’m fine. I survived didn’t I?” Tears were running down her face as Buffy turned and led her back down the stairs. She had almost forgotten her friends were waiting for her at the bottom as she tried to console her mother.

It was Willow’s sharp intake of breath and tearful hug that reminded Buffy of the situation. The red head had embraced her gently to avoid the various cuts and abrasions on her. Joyce still stood numb beside her daughter.

“Giles can you help mom? She’s a little upset about how much I’m hurt.” Giles quickly walked over to help the Slayer’s mother and Buffy then turned to the four teenagers who were staring at her in the living room.

“God, what did he do to you, Buff?” Xander asked as he too stepped forward to give her a gentle, yet relieved and tearful hug. She hugged him back firmly before stepping back and out of their reach. Cordy and Oz both stepped up to stand beside their respective partners and she gave them both small smiles.

Buffy suddenly felt like she was on show, standing before them ready to be dissected as they all stared at her with varying forms of emotions playing across their faces. She began to feel claustrophobic and stepped back again.

“You look…awful,” Cordy said as she took in the bruised and bloody state of the Slayer.

“Thanks, Cordy. It’s good to know I can always count on you to put things into perspective for me. I look shocking, I know this. Surprisingly, I still have a reflection.” Buffy noticed the grim looks on her friends’ faces and sighed heavily. “I’m fine guys. I’m alive aren’t I? Nothing too serious—forty percent physical damage and the rest is all the emotional kind.” She gave another small mental sigh of relief as Giles entered the room again and walked over to them.

“Are you alright?” Buffy gave him a meek nod.

“I need some help dressing and binding the wounds on my back, though. You up for it?” Giles frowned slightly and readjusted his glasses.

“I am assuming by that, that you are asking whether I am willing to help you or not?” Buffy gave him a small smile and nodded her head. Giles looked around the room. “Yes, well I suppose we could do it in here.” He led her over to the chair by his desk and sat her down so she was straddling it backwards. “If you could lift the back of your shirt, I’ll be right back.” Buffy glanced quickly at her friends before lifting the shirt over her head, unashamed to be sitting on the chair in nothing other than a sports bra and sweatpants.

The sharp intakes of breath and Xander’s muttered queasy ‘oh God’, was enough to let her know that the damage on her back must look pretty bad.

“Dear lord.” Giles spoke almost fearfully as he re-entered the room with his medical kit. He looked down at the small box and then back at the expanse of her back. There wasn’t going to be enough in the small kit to bind all that needed to be bound. His slayer had been whipped, burned, staked, cut…there was a particularly brutal looking wound on her back which appeared as if she had been run through with some type of broadsword.

Giles approached her hesitantly and placed the medical supplies on the table off to her side.

“Buffy.” He said it so softly that she was forced to turn towards him, where she caught sight of the horrified look on his face. She decided then and there that she wasn’t going to show him the front of her and the area where Angel hand carved his name into her chest. She would tend to that herself.

“It’s okay, Giles. Just looks bad. The bruising and cuts will fade in time.” She turned away from him again, only tensing slightly when he placed a soft hand on her shoulder.

The Ripper in Giles reared his head at the sight of his surrogate daughter’s injuries, and his voice turned sharp and authoritative.

“Willow, could you go get me some warm water and some soft cloth please. Xander, I need you to go to my closest and get a sheet and start tearing it up into strips. Cordy and Oz, go make sure Buffy’s mother is lying down and doesn’t come out of my room until we tell you it’s okay. Can you do that?” The teens were already in motion, and Giles looked back down at the tortured body of his Slayer. Angelus and his bitch would die a slow and painful death if he had any say in the matter.

 

Chapter 2


Angelus let out a roar of fury and plunged the stake he was holding into the cowering minion’s chest. The rest tried to appear unafraid in the face of their master as they watched the sixth minion of the night turn to dust before them.

“She escaped,” he stated out loud in a sarcastic manner, “and would anybody like to tell me how the little bitch got out?” Spinning around he seized another of his minions by the throat and lifted him in the air so his feet were hovering a good foot above the ground.

The minion Angel was holding let out a gurgling sound of protest from the pressure Angel was exuding upon his neck. Angel watched in a morbid satisfaction as the vampire grappled at his hand, trying to pry his fingers off of his throat before his head was literally torn from his body.

“Sorry? What was that? I can’t quite hear you; you’re going to have to speak up.” Angel spoke in a mockingly sincere voice as the minion struggled in vain in his grasp. “I want her found, and I want her brought back alive. I don’t care how you do it. If she is not back by morning, those who return without her will be dusted.”

Angel squeezed just that much tighter as he said the last word and the remaining minions watched as the vampire Angel had been holding sprinkled to dust before them, knowing full well that by morning that would be them if they returned without the Slayer.

Spike watched from the confines of his wheelchair as Angelus dusted his way through the minions, Drusilla hanging off his side and dancing with glee at each vampire he killed. Spike smirked to himself as he gazed upon them, knowing full well that by morning he would still be without the Slayer.

By now the Slayer would be safely tucked away in the house of one of her mates, safe from any vamps without an invitation. Angelus was distracted enough not to notice Spike slip off into the night without the aid of his wheelchair.


***


Buffy avoided the looks of pity her friends were sending her way as Giles secured the last of her bindings. She felt like she was some kind of ancient Egyptian mummy. Her torso was almost completely bound by the white bed sheet Xander had ripped up. Attempting to move, Buffy found movement difficult in the restricting bindings.

“I think we should talk about Angel,” Buffy said as she sat up, slipping the shirt back on over her head and shooting Giles a quick smile as a way of thanks. “You all need to do a disinvite spell or something on your homes. We should all stay together so I can protect you. I doubt there is much more he can do to me that would slow me down. None of you should leave the house at night without me or go anywhere alone even during the day. There is a sewer entrance outside of the mansion to which they have relocated. They can get almost anywhere during the day, especially the school. There is an entrance in the basement that they are able to access, which means no more Scooby meetings in the library or walking back late. I won’t let him do to you what he did to me. No one goes anywhere alone from now on. No one goes out without crosses, holy water and a stake.” Buffy turned around slowly, and saw the grim determination and understanding on her friends’ faces, her eyes finally settling on her Watcher. “Giles, we need to find out if I can move about in daylight and if I need an invitation into our homes. I need to know what I am.”

“Of course,” he said, even as he moved to his book case. “I suppose it is logical to assume that you are either something related to a vampire, or to the demon used to make the First Slayer. Perhaps both.” He passed books out among the teens as they began scanning the pages.

“They used a demon to make the first Slayer?” Buffy asked as she wrinkled her nose and passed the book Giles had handed her to Xander. Giles nodded absently as he read over the title on the cover of a book before replacing it on his shelf.

“The first Slayer was made through the merging of a girl and an almost extinct demon that had been sent directly from the Powers That Be to help even out the numbers of demons and man living on the earth. The name of the demon itself and the magicks used have been lost over the centuries; however, it is know that demon had many similar characteristics to that of a vampire. Hence the title ‘Vampire Slayer’, despite the fact that you kill demons as well.”

“So, you’re saying that it’s possible that I somehow reverted back into this demon?” Buffy’s eyes went wide as a thought dawned on her. “You mean to tell me that I have been part demon this whole time?” Giles’s brows furrowed as he shook his head.

“No, no. As time went on, each generation of Slayer received less and less of the demon that was used to create the original Slayer until only its essence was being transferred. The girls still received all of their powers just none of the demon side effects that the first Slayer experienced.”

“Oh! Maybe then when Angel tried to turn Buffy, he inadvertently woke up the essence of the demon within the Slayer!” Willow exclaimed with excitement. Giles whipped his glasses off as he carefully lowered himself onto the edge of the sofa.

“Of course! It all makes sense,” he said, sharing a knowledgeable look with the redheaded teen seated beside him. “These demons fed off of the blood of vampires to survive, and their lack of a heart beat or need for breath made them immortal. When Angel tried to turn you, instead of your body dying when he fed you his blood, the essence of the demon within you latched onto it!” He shot a quick look across at his Slayer. “You said he made you his childe?” Buffy nodded slowly, not sure she was following where he was going with this. “To do that he would have fed you almost all of the blood he had originally taken from you. It was most likely enough for your body to undergo the changes necessary for your survival. Your heart would have stopped and your breathing ceased; therefore, he would have assumed you to be dead. In fact, you never died; your body just became comatose while it underwent the changes. For all intents and purposes it would have appeared that you had been made a vampire upon awakening.”

“So, does that mean that Buffy’s immortal?” Joyce asked in an awed voice. This was the sort of stuff you watched on the TV or read in books, and her daughter had been living it for the past two years! She was finding herself forming a headache as she tried to follow everything that was being said.

“I don’t know. I have a book…” Giles got up quickly and walked over to the bookcase, where he pulled down an old book that looked like it hadn’t been opened in centuries. He flipped it open quickly and scanned through the pages until he came across what he was looking for. “It says here the original demon that the Powers sent to inhabit the first Slayer could only be killed by beheading or… ingesting human blood.”

“Is that it? I need to know my weaknesses. Can I…. can I go into the light?” Giles gave his surrogate daughter a soft look at the sound of her quiet question.

“I don’t know.” The room fell into a heavy silence as Buffy could feel each and every one of their eyes on her.

“So, Buffy’s some kind of—super Slayer. Only she needs vamp blood to survive. What happens if she doesn’t get it?” Xander’s question broke the deafening silence. Buffy gave him a small thankful smile.

“I would say that the symptoms would be close to that of a vampire. She would be unable to revert back to her human features and she would progressively weaken and be unable to control her powers until she became almost a living skeleton.” Joyce’s face paled as she pictured a malnourished Buffy in her mind.

“So we need to find her a vampire she can eat.” A series of varying grossed out expressions passed across the faces of the room’s occupants at the statement they had never thought they would ever hear.

“I’m not going to eat a vamp! That is like so gross, who knows where those things have been!”

“Buffy, it could very well be essential to your survival” She scrunched her nose up and looked at her Watcher.

“Giles, you have seen some of those vamps. They look like they haven’t had a bath in weeks. It’s not like I can get clean vamps hand delivered!” The irony of her statement was not lost on her friends as there was a knock on the door. “It’s Spike.”

“Spike?” Buffy nodded and got up to move towards the door slowly. “I thought he was confined to a wheelchair.”

“So did I,” she said as she quickly opened the door. “Spike.”

“Slayer.”
 

Chapter 3


“What? Not going to invite me in, pet?” He watched as the Slayer gave him a hard look and pointedly let her eyes trail down to his legs.

“You can walk” he gave her a slow smirk and rocked back on his feet slightly for effect.

“Yeah, funny that. I can also do a mean impersonation of Elvis” Spike watched as she ignored his comment and felt the urge to pout that she wasn’t going to return his banter. It was the one thing he like about this girl compared to the other slayers he had fought, she understood and appreciated his wit when fighting. Hell, she even gave as good as she got.

“I won’t let you take me back” He smiled at her wariness, then his eyes fell on her still shackled wrists.

“I’m not here to make you” her dubious look increased.

“You’re not” she stated sceptically with a hint of the old sarcasm he was used to.

“No, Angelus and Dru have no idea that I’m here. Or that I can walk” he slid his thumbs into his belt loops as he spoke, drawing her eyes down to his groin involuntarily. He smirked slightly and rocked forward thrusting his hips out slightly causing her eyes to widen and shoot back up to his face a light shade of pink tinting her cheeks “They do, however, currently have almost every minion they control out hunting you. I tracked your scent here easily enough; I’d say you’ll have at least a dozen or more minions on your doorstep in the next, oh say, 30 minutes?”

Buffy scowled at him as she realised what he was saying was true. She had forgotten that vampires could track scents, and she had spent three days ripening while hanging from a ceiling so she had no doubt that they would find her. “So what are you doing here, Spike?”

“That’s easy. I want to help you bring that bastard down” Buffy couldn’t help the slightly hysterical giggle that burst from her mouth.

“You want to help me kill Angel and Dru?” Spike arched and eyebrow at her before correcting her statement.

“No I want to help you kill Angelus. Dru’s not part of the deal” Buffy sobered quickly glaring darkly at the vampire before her.

“I’ll think the state of my body can attest to the fact that she is” Spike frowned slightly. As much as he hated Dru right now, she was his sire, his dark princess, his ripe wicked plum and with the poof gone she could truly be his without the shadow of Angelus overhanging everything she did, everything they shared.

“I’ll help you kill the Poof and then you let Dru and me skip town. You’ll never see or hear from us every again, I bloody well hope”

“No deal” Spike scowled at her letting a small sharp growl of annoyance burst from his chest. “I won’t kill one notoriously vicious master vampire and then let another two loose on the streets for helping me. Whether you like it or not bleach boy, Dru will be dusted along with Angelus. You can do all you want to stop me but I can assure you, that neither of them will walk away from this”

Spike felt a new appreciation for the Slayer before him, despite the words she was practically spitting at him in anger. She was a hard girl to please and he knew she would never agree to anything that let Dru walk free “Fine, we’ll leave Dru out of the deal altogether. I’ll help you kill Angelus and then I will skip town. All bets on Dru are off, if I manage to leave with her you don’t come hunting after us and if you dust her, I’ll still leave and not come back to reap vengeance”

Buffy watched him hard unable to gage whether he was telling the truth or not but came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter. She would kill both Dru and Angelus and then if he did come back she would kill him two. She nodded slowly and then allowed her hand to pass through the invisible barrier guarding him from her watchers home, “Deal”

Spike smiled and shook it slowly, both knew full well that the other would go to any lengths necessary to obtain their final goals in this mess and Spike once again found himself appreciating the fact that he knew she wouldn’t go into the battle with only half her heart in it. He knew that when it came to fight her to kill Dru, he would be fighting a Slayer at her full potential. That would only make the honour of defeating her more memorable.

“On your word that you don’t touch a single one of my friends and family, come in, Spike” He arched an eyebrow at her slightly and walked in past the threshold of her home. He could see her pals giving her horrified looks as she let him pass into her home and smiled slightly “Take a seat”

Spike looked around the room and made to take the spare seat next to the cheerleader. A sharp growl resounded through out the deadly silent flat and he looked back over his shoulder at her dark look before reassessing the situation and taking a seat farthest from the rest of her friends. “You might want to look into doing some sort of cloaking spell, Slayer. Angel’s minions find you and you’ll lead the soddin’ poof straight to your Watcher’s house. Not to mention the fact that they would find out that I’m inside”

Spike smirked at the scowl she gave him before turning to face her Watcher. “Giles, do you think we could manage that?”

Giles startled slightly and looked up at his charge as she addressed him breaking him out of his thoughts centring on the fact that an evil killer had free access to his home. “What? Oh, yes, of course. Willow?”

The redhead shot up out of her seat quickly and edged her way around the group making sure she stayed well out of the grasps of the bleached menace.

“Mom, can you take notes?” Joyce looked up at her daughter as she handed her a pad and pen and had to admire the way she took control of things. “So how do you want to do this?”

Buffy willed herself to keep her attention solely on his face as he sat sprawled out in one of Giles’ armchairs, his ‘devil-may-care’ attitude and strategically arched eyebrow coupled with her accidental crotch ogling earlier doing nothing towards keeping a flush from staining her cheeks.

“Personally I’ve always like being on top” Buffy felt her face heat up as his gaze travelled down her body suggestively before smirking back up at her.

“You’re a pig, Spike” to her chagrin he chuckled at her before lifting his arms to cross them behind the back of his head comfortably.

“Oink! Oink!” his smirk grew when the scent of her arousal filled the air and he growled softly. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the werewolf tilt his head slightly as he sniffed the air, the raising of his eyebrows the only indication that he had smelt anything at all.

“Fine, we’ll do this my way. I want to know everything that could be expected of Angelus in this situation”

“Well, I can’t rightly say can I? Angelus has never turned a Slayer before, hell I don’t think there has been another Slayer turned in history” Buffy frowned slightly; they didn’t know she wasn’t a vampire? “I can tell you though that he’s got a big old yen to get you back again. Right pissed that you escaped”

“But Buffy’s not a vampire. Why would he-” Buffy groaned at the sudden perk of interest in the vampire’s body language. She could have turned around and bitch-slapped the brunette and her big mouth through till next week.

“Cordy!” the cheerleader turned angry brown eyes to her boyfriend who was glaring at her meaningfully. “Shut up” Here eyes narrowed into tiny little slits as she glared at him.

“What? All I said was Buffy isn’t a vampire, it’s not like the bleached wonder didn’t already know that” She said rolling her eyes and slumping back into her seat.

Buffy shut her eyes and tried to rein in her raging emotions. That just blew that possible advantage out of the water. She opened her eyes again and found glittering blue eyes looking up at her in amusement and barely concealed interest “Actually, pet, I didn’t. Thanks ever so”

“What lengths will he go to? I want examples, I want to know what to expect from him” Spike looked at her long and hard for a moment, indecision clearly read in his eyes. He wanted to prod her for answer’s find out what she was and what she was keeping from him, but finally came to the conclusion that that would get him know where but a dusty finish.

“He won’t come for you directly, he try and get to you through your loved ones. Use them to lure you to him then kill them off. The sod takes the term mental torture to a whole knew level. He’ll try and break you, drive you mad like he drove Drusilla of her rocker. I don’t know whether he plans to keep you or kill you but either way, you’ll be the last on his list. He won’t touch you till his killed, turned, or maimed everyone that you love or hold dear” Buffy felt and icy chill go through her and looked around at the people in the room quickly, her eyes finally coming to rest on the horror filled orbs of her mother. Her resolve hardened.

“Right, that settles it, no one goes anywhere alone, and I mean anywhere. Not the bathroom, not out shopping, not clubbing, not work. Not even in broad daylight. Xander, Cordy, and Oz you guys can all move in with us, and Wills of course. I don’t know if Giles will leave his home, but our house is bigger it will fit everyone. Once we are there we’ll set up a cloaking spell and I’ll see is Giles’ knows any protection wards”

“I have a book on them at the school” Buffy’s head swivelled around as her Watcher and Willow re-entered the room. Buffy nodded.

“The cloaking spell?” Giles nodded quickly in conformation.

“In place as we speak. It is only temporary, should hold till morning. Your scent will still lead them here. However, all of our presences are masked” Buffy nodded once more.

“Good” She glanced at the cloak on the wall quickly and noticed the late hour. “I think we should all stay here for the night. The cloaking spell should keep us off Angel’s radar; we can work out finer details in the morning”

“We need to do something about the shackles” Giles said taking her hand gently in his and examining the rusted metal that bound them.

“Here, give them to me” Spike said getting up from the chair and surprising everyone as he moved forwards to help the Slayer. He slipped his fingers under the bands and felt around so he had a tight grip on them “You pull that way I’ll pull this way, yeah?”

Buffy nodded in understanding and steadied her footing as they both began to pull as hard as they could. Slowly they felt the steel begin to bed under their combined strength till the band that had once been tight around her wrist was bent enough for her to wriggle her hand free. She sighed in relief and instinctively brought her raw wrist to her chest, rubbing it gently to relieve the pain.

“You ready?” he asked indicating to her other wrist. She nodded and took up her stance again as the process was repeated until she was finally free of the shackles.

“Thanks” Spike frowned slight and gave her a tight nod as he moved towards the door.

“I’ll keep you informed” he called over his should as the door swung shut behind him. The group let out a collective sigh of relief and relaxed into their seats. They were all exhausted from days of worrying and countless nights kept up with worrying.

“You guys should get some rest. I’ll stay up and keep watch. I don’t think we will be getting much until this is over” Buffy said as she moved to take a seat in the chair that the bleached vampire had just vacated.

“I’ll sit up with you” Giles offered. Buffy smiled and shook her head softly.

“No. Sleep. You all need it, I’ll be fine up by myself” She could sense his reluctance to let her sit up alone but eventually exhaustion won out and reluctantly they all agreed. Giles went to find them all blankets and they all settled down until eventually the house was quiet and the all the occupants save one was asleep.

 

Chapter 4


Angelus rolled his eyes impatiently as he let his huge form flop down onto the bed. He didn’t understand how his grandchilde had put up with Drusilla’s constant presence for over a century. Even in her most lucid moments, she was hard to tolerate unless he was pounding her into the mattress.

In the past he had always been able to turn to Darla when Dru’s insane ramblings became too much for him. He would thrust Dru into the waiting arms of her timid poet to handle and crawl into the bed of his sire to romp away the daylight hours. He’d be damned if he’d let Spike look after Dru now though, not when he knew the pain that seeing him claim Dru back as his own would cause.

Another loud moan from the corner of the room broke Angelus’ inner monologue and he turned irritated brown eyes on the huddled form of Drusilla. She had pressed herself as far as she could into the corner of the room, shaking and sobbing and just about driving him out of his mind with irritation.

“Little sister has terrible confusion. Such terrible confusion! She follows the sunshine when she should follow the moon.” Dru flinched violently as her hands flew to claw at her hair and she doubled over to lie along the ground. “Ooh! She is covered in light, covered in it! She is glowing…effulgent! Mummy’s little sister is wrong, all wrong. I can’t abide by it! The pixies are mad at what we have done, my Angel. ‘No tea and cakes tonight. You have been a bad girl….a bad girl’ they tell me.”

Angelus growled violently as he watched Dru rolling around on the floor. Swiftly pulling himself to his feet he walked over to her and picked the sobbing vampire up by her hair and delivered a backhanded slap across her face that sent her flying to the floor.

“I am sick to death of your ramblings, woman! I don’t care about the pixies and the sunshine. I don’t care about anything except getting that insolent childe back and making her scream until she can’t help but beg for mercy!” Dru whimpered from her place against the wall but didn’t say anything else. He didn’t know—didn’t understand—and his unwillingness to listen would be his downfall.


***


“No.” Giles took a deep breath and tried in rein in his frustrations at his adamant Slayer. It was just the two of them in his apartment, while the rest of the Scoobies were at school and Joyce was out making some last minute preparations to ready her home for the arrival of her house guests who would be staying with her for the next week or more.

Giles closed his eyes briefly to refocus and forced himself to take the calm and factual approach to try and make Buffy listen to what he was saying.

“Buffy, I understand your reluctance. However, if you wish to learn anything about the powers you now possess then tests are going to be necessary. To my knowledge, nothing like this has ever occurred in Slayer history. I have nothing to go by, nothing to tell you. Everything that we find out is new.” He could tell by the determined set of her chin that he was getting nowhere with her.

“What, no vamp has ever tried to turn a Slayer before?” His nerves grated at the sarcastic tone of her voice.

“Of course they have! However, this has never been the outcome!” Buffy shot up out of her seat so she was standing toe to toe with him.

“You just said that you don’t know that for sure!” He gritted his teeth tightly and clenched his fists at her stubbornness. What on earth did she think he was going to try and do to her?

“What do you want me to do? Ring the council? Then what? They will send a team out here to either dispose of you as a possible threat or take you back to England to be studied like some bloody experiment!” She deflated slightly under his gaze and he realised this was going to be the only chance he got to convince her. He took a deep breath and continued in a softer tone. “Buffy, I am not going to do anything to purposely endanger you. I merely want to see if you can touch holy objects, or whether you are vulnerable to sunlight. I would never willingly try to hurt you, but we need to know your limits if we are to take Angelus down.”

Giles frowned slightly when he saw a single solitary tear fall from Buffy’s eyes and make its way down her cheek and past the fading bruises. Reaching out hesitantly, he touched her arm and pulled her to him, relieved when she collapsed into his embrace.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice was muffled against the tweed of his jacket but he smiled slightly none-the-less.

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I know what you’re going through must be difficult, but we’re your friends—your family—and you can trust us not to hurt you.” Buffy nodded meekly against his chest before pulling back.

“I know that. I do. It’s just…” She turned her head away from Giles’ expectant look. “What if I can’t go into the sunlight anymore? What if I can’t leave the house during the day to be with my friends? I’m only 17; I don’t want to spend my life alone in the shadows.”

Buffy let herself be pulled over to the couch and sat down by her Watcher. “That’s why we should do these tests, Buffy. For all we know the sun may have no effect on you…and, if it does we will deal. You’ll never be alone.”

“What happens when I live forever and you guys are all dead?” Giles’ placed a comforting hand on her knee and offered her a small smile.

“We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. Let’s just take things one step at a time.”


***


Xander Harris liked to think that he had seen a lot in the time he had known Buffy as a friend—vampires, werewolves, witches. Hell, most of the things he had been told were hiding in his closet or under the bed were real and living in Sunnydale. None of that, however, could have prepared him for the sight of Buffy standing in Giles’ courtyard that afternoon as he, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz made their way down to the Watcher’s apartment.

Her arms were spread wide as she twirled about in the light. She had a blissfully happy look on her face, one that he had never seen her wear before. That wasn’t what stopped him in his tracks though. He barely even moved an inch as his girlfriend crashed into him from behind.

“God, Xander, why don’t you--” Cordy’s sentence was cut off abruptly as her gaze followed his and landed on Buffy.

“Holy shit!” Xander quickly sent a knowing glance back to the werewolf before returning his focus to his best friend. He vaguely heard Willow gasp behind him and her mutter of ‘oh goodness’.

“Is she?”

“Uh-huh.” Xander turned his eyes on an extremely happy and oddly proud looking Giles as he watched his Slayer laugh and twirl about in the sun. “G-man, you do realize that she is glowing, don’t you? And I do mean in the literal sense.”

Both Slayer and Watcher turned to look at the frozen group standing on the steps. Buffy laughed happily and bounded over to them.

“Guys, check me out. I am officially 100% vitamin D receptive.” Xander gave her a nervous laugh as he made his way down the rest of the steps. The others close on his heels.

“You’re also kind of glowing,” Oz noted as he took his stunned girlfriend’s hand and led her down the rest of the steps.

“Yeah, why exactly is that?” Buffy shrugged at Xander’s question and danced backwards into the light again. “Giles?”

“I can only assume that it has something to do with the demon in her now. I can’t say I have ever seen or heard of anything quite like this. There was no mention in any of the texts of the demon used to create the first slayer glowing in direct light.”

“You gotta admit it’s pretty darn cool though.” Willow tore her eyes away from Buffy to smile at her boyfriend.

“Darn tootin’. She looks like some kind of angel,” Willow said, finally coming out of her daze. “I guess this means school’s a no go?”

“What?” Giles asked, turning towards the young red head “Oh, yes, I suppose you’re right. I hadn’t thought of that. Well, perhaps we should get a move on, we need to make sure we can make it to Buffy’s house before dark, and we still need to perform the disinvite spells.”


***


Spike had to wait once more until Angelus was occupied before he could take his leave. His elder had arisen even more petulant than he had been upon Spike’s return the night before, and he could only assume it had something to do with the wails he had heard the last few hours before sundown, coming from the room Angelus and Dru shared.

The poncy bugger still had no idea how to calm his childe when she was in one of her moods. He never had. Only this time Angelus’ pride prevented him from blowing her off for Spike to deal with, which suited Spike just fine. Let the poof suffer.


***


Spike quickly slipped through the streets of Sunnydale heading first to the Watcher’s house, making sure he kept to the shadows. He could sense Angelus’ minions still out hunting the Slayer. Few had dared to come back empty-handed the night before, and those who did had been dusted as promised.

He chuckled slightly as he let his mind wandered back to the Slayer. What would happen when Angelus found out she wasn’t a vampire and that he had no claim to her as her sire? Spike’s own curiosity had been more than piqued as to what exactly the young blonde was. He had heard no heart beat coming from her the night before, but unfortunately that led him to no answers as to what demon she might be. He knew of only a few species, vampires included, that had no pulse. Unfortunately she fit the description of none of them.

He made a quick scout of the Watcher’s place, and upon finding it empty, he headed off once again in the direction of the Slayer’s home. Spike could smell the lingering mixture of vanilla and spices that told him the Slayer had been there only a few hours earlier, and he found himself unconsciously licking his lips as he made his way out of the apartment complex and towards Revello Drive.


***


Spike made his way around to the back of the Summers’ residence upon his arrival, knocking on the back door. He smiled as he heard all movement inside the house stop as the occupants attempted to identify just who it was. He smirked as he saw the Slayer appear at the back door and open it to him.

“Evenin’, pet.” Buffy arched an eyebrow at him and opened the door further.

“Come in, Spike.” He was about to accept her invitation and take a step through the doorway when suddenly several things happened simultaneously: One of Angelus’ minions jumped out at them from nowhere; Buffy morphed into that which was her demon nature; and Spike felt something carnal snap loose within him as he let out a deep growl.

His own features morphed involuntarily and he stumbled backwards slightly from the sudden sensory overload in the presence of Buffy’s demon. He watched through glazed eyes as she dusted the minion effortlessly and turned to look at him. Both were panting heavily despite their lack of need for the air that entered their lungs. Spike stared at her through hungry amber eyes as he took in the sight of her.

Spike thought that Buffy was beautiful in her transformation, and he felt all sense of control leave him as he slammed her roughly up against the side of the house, his mouth descending upon hers with a ferocious desperation that was born solely from his demon’s need to possess her.

The two were a mass of whimpers and small snarls of pleasure as they seemed to devour one another in desperation, unable to shake the features of their demons in their sudden fervent lust. Buffy’s arms wove their way around Spike’s neck as he pushed her more forcefully into the side of the house and the front of his body melded against hers.

“Sweet merciful Zeus!” The two tore apart from one another to look at the boy standing in the doorway with wide eyes as he took in the scene before him. Their demon features melted away and horror suddenly dawned over them as they pushed away from one another.

Buffy blushed a becoming shade of crimson as her eyes went wide before quickly turning her head away. Spike had a look of stunned confusion on his face.

“Sweet mother of mercy, I did not just walk in on that!” Xander turned around and walked back into the kitchen, leaving both the vampire and the Slayer standing alone on the back porch.

“I’m gonna go…inside,” Buffy said as she made her way towards the door before stopping and turning around quickly. “I, ah, don’t know what just happened, I think maybe we should…?” Spike nodded his head eagerly, not completely meeting her eyes.

“I’m right there with you, pet. Never happened,” Spike replied as he followed her into the house, shaking his head as he tried to decipher what had just come over him.


 

Chapter 5



“We need to discuss tactics for taking out Angelus,” Giles began, once everyone was seated in the living room of the Summers’ home. Buffy was making a point of studiously avoiding Spike and his gaze, taking the seat furthest away from him as possible and pretending that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Spike currently seemed to be employing the same strategy as he sat sprawled out in the chair across the other side of the group and absently picked at his flaking nail polish. She could tell though, despite the mask of indifference he wore and by the rigid set of his shoulders that he was just as disturbed by what had occurred as she was.

“Well, your tactics are all going to depend on when the Slayer is ready to take her boyfriend on. He’s got minions out looking for her almost round the clock under the threat of pain of torture and dusting if they return empty handed,” Spike said offhandedly. Giles got a slightly pinched look between his eyebrows as a sudden thought occurred to him.

“That would mean that the number of minions at the mansion would be fairly low at the moment, correct?” Giles asked. Spike’s eyebrows rose as he caught on to what the Watcher was saying.

“Far as I know, probably only ‘bout 5 or 6 left to guard the place.” A small Ripper-like smile appeared on Giles’ face at that shared piece of information.

“Then if we can find some sort of cloaking spell that will mask Buffy’s presence, now would probably be the best time to attack. The rest of us can handle the minions and that will leave Buffy and you to take care of Angelus and Drusilla.”

Buffy felt her concentration being pulled away from the conversation flowing back and forth between the two men as a strange pain shot through her stomach, which made a loud gurgling sound. She frowned slightly and looked down at it. God, what was wrong with her?

A small growl was subconsciously torn from within, inadvertently drawing the attention of everyone in the room over towards her as she looked quizzically down at her belly. The gurgling noise sounded again and she rubbed her hand back and forth over it questioningly.

“Buffy?” Buffy’s head shot up upon being addressed by her mother and her cheeks heated to a light shade of pink as she realised everyone was watching her. “Are you alright?”

“What? Yeah, fine. My stomachs just making these weird noises.” As if on cue, her stomach again gurgled loudly, and her demon features flickered over her face fleetingly.

A loud rumbling growl sounded throughout the room as Spike felt his demon once again reacting to the presence of Buffy’s demon and all eyes turned to him. “Your demon is hungry,” he said by way of explanation for his strange behaviour and all eyes turned back to Buffy once more.

“Hungry? But I just ate like whole bowl of pasta!” She replied in exasperation.

“Your demon needs vampire blood to survive, Buffy,” Giles said, softly reminding her. Her eyes went wide and she started to shake her head.

“Oh, no, there is no WAY I am sinking my fangs into the neck of some random vamp. Do you have any idea where I find those things? Who knows when the last time they washed was.” Buffy pinned her Watcher with a pointed stare. Giles fidgeted under her gaze slightly before he shot a furtive look at Spike who was seated next to him.

The vamp in question shot to his feet quickly as he caught the look the Watcher sent him and the implications of what was going on set in place.

“You are off your bleedin’ rocker if you think I’m going let your Slayer chew on my neck. What the hell type of demon needs vamp blood anyway?” Buffy shot a disgusted look in his direction.

“Please, like I’d feed from you anyway.” She gave an indelicate snort and rolled her eyes. “I know where you’ve been.”

“Oi! I’ll have you know that I am VERY biteable,” Spike retorted in a smug matter-of-fact tone that had Buffy raising her eyebrows sceptically.

“Oh I bet you are. If you’re planning to contract some type of terminal disease,” she bit back, her voice dripping with sarcasm. The heads of the remaining occupants of the room swung back and forth between the two as they listened to them argue.

“I’m a vamp, I can’t get diseases,” he sneered with a smug expression plastered across his face.

“Doesn’t mean you can’t carry them,” Buffy said, morphing into her demon face again as she felt her temper and hunger rise.

The effect was instant. A low growl resonated from within Spike’s chest and he once again slipped into game face involuntarily. Buffy echoed the growl and her eyes flashed purple the split second before she jumped him, her fangs instantly finding their way into his neck.

Spike moaned and stumbled backwards a few paces under the force of her movement, slamming hard up against the wall as his hands instantly flew to her hips to steady her. He moaned loudly at the feel of her tiny fangs buried deep within his neck as she drew bloody hungrily from him.

Giles, Joyce and the Scoobies watched on in a stunned silence as Buffy fed from him. It was quite evident by the undiluted expression of ecstasy on Spike’s face that he was not in the least bit put out. His eyelids were half closed and his eyes glazed over as the amber pigment of his irises bled through to purple.

For Buffy it was like nothing she had ever tasted. Flavour blossomed into her mouth as she pulled harder on the wound, drawing out more of the delicious substance. She ground down against him gently as she let out a small whimper of pleasure and she started to give off a faint glow. It was only the small growl of warning that resonated from Spike, indicating that he was growing weak that had her pulling back.

They was a collective sigh as they parted, and everyone in the room relaxed. Buffy let out another small growl and Spike’s demon features instantly melted away. His expression was heated as his gaze stayed trained on her. She was glowing softly, a white light emanating from her being.

“Remarkable!” The spell that had seem to hang over them was broken by Giles’ small remark, and a smug mask instantly fell over Spike’s features blocking out any hint of expression that had previously been seen on his face.

“Remarkable? More like ew! I can’t believe they just did that in front of me. I am going to be like scarred for life. Have you no consideration for others?” Buffy turned and let out a vicious growl at the brunette before her own demonic features slipped away.

“Wow!” Willow said completely awed by the sight of her best friend and completely ignoring the cheerleader’s comment. “That was like…wow! Except for the whole humping Spike in front of your mother thing, that wasn’t so… but the other? Wow”

“Willow!” Buffy shrieked, absolutely mortified.

“Very cool.” Oz added. Buffy bushed and shut her eyes in embarrassment. “With the changing, not the humping.” She groaned and covered her face as she flushed an unflattering shade of beet red with the borrowed blood.

Giles coughed uncomfortably and removed his glasses from his face as he began to polish them rapidly. “Yes, well…a-am I correct in saying that Spike’s demon has an instant reaction to your own?” Buffy nodded her head meekly. “Remarkable.”

A loud snort came from the couch and Buffy’s head swung to look at her mother.

“Remarkable,” Joyce echoed as she stared at Buffy with a dazed expression on her face and a slightly pink tinting to her cheeks.

“It’s bloody embarrassing, that’s what it is. I knew you couldn’t keep you soddin’ fangs out of me, Slayer.” Spike spoke, as if he had suddenly regained the use of his voice.

Buffy’s embarrassment quickly turned to anger in the face of his taunting tone.

“Oh, like I meant for that to happen. Who knows what I just picked up? This is entirely your fault!” Buffy ran her hand roughly across her mouth as if to rid if from disease.

“Me? I think you’re forgetting who jumped who here,” Spike retorted with an infuriating chuckle. Buffy scowled.

“I wouldn’t have if you didn’t make me go all demon-girl!”

“I didn’t make you do anything, Summers. Admit it, you like jumping the Big Bad,” he stated with a leering smirk planted across his face.

“Please, in you’re dreams maybe,” Buffy replied as she rolled her eyes. There was no way he could know how close to the truth THAT statement was. She’d never live it down.

“More like nightmare,” he muttered under his breath.

“God, do you like ever shut up?” Cordy said as she watched the two in exasperation. “Get over it already!”

“I’m over it. He’s the one who’s all hung up about it,” Buffy said as she crossed her arms over her chest in a defensive gesture.

Giles sat down heavily in his chair pinching the bridge of his nose between his index finger and thumb. Good lord, what he wouldn’t give for a good scotch right about now. He watched as Joyce got up and left the room. Deciding to follow her, he stood quickly to get away from the bickering children—because that’s what they were, even if one of them was a vampire over a century old.

“Drink?” Joyce asked, pulling a fresh bottle of brandy out of a cupboard as Giles entered the kitchen.

“Please,” he said, not bothering to mask the hint of desperation in his voice. Joyce poured them both a glass and left the bottle sitting open on the counter beside them. They both knocked their drinks back quickly as the fight in the next room escalated to an all time high, before reaching deftly for the bottle again. It was going to be a long night.

 

Chapter 6



This was beyond the point of ridiculous. Two nights—two fucking nights—and still not even a sighting of his newest childe. Angelus paced the length of his room back and forth, questioning for the first time whether his decision to have his minions track Buffy down had been the smartest decision he could have made. Most of the minions had yet to return, either with his childe or with news of where she could be found.

Those who had returned brought little news, saying only that they were able to follow her scent for a while before it trailed off, leaving them with no indication of her whereabouts. Needless to say they had been dusted for their failure, tied up and left out to burn in the morning sun.

The problem was that his patience was wearing thin, almost to the point of being nonexistent. She was a prize, that one; a rarity that he and he alone had the pleasure of owning. The more she eluded him, the more he found himself wanting her—desiring her above all else.

Dru had become more and more irritating with her insane ramblings. Not even the amount of pleasure that he drew upon from her body could sate him. Every time he closed his eyes, Buffy would dance across his mind and all desire to pound into his insane childe would abate. Instead of using her as an object of his desire she had become merely a much needed, yet unsatisfying release.

Despite the obvious and unwanted presence of a soul in his newest childe, Angelus had never desired a creature more than he did her at this point. Not Dru and not Darla. Nothing he ever felt for them could compare to the want he had for his turned Slayer. Buffy held his ever waking thought; she had become his obsession as Dru had once been, and he planned to break her just as he had broken Drusilla. Just as soon as he had the little bitch back within his grasp.

A loud growl of frustration emanated from his chest, and he stalked over to the door of his room. Throwing it open roughly, he picked up his coat from the back of the chair in passing and swung it on over his shoulders as he made his way out of the mansion.


***


All of the lights were burning brightly at 1630 Revello Drive, yet Angeles couldn’t feel the presence of a single being within the house. Not one heart beat reached his ears and try as he might, he couldn’t feel the presence of his errant childe.

He was absolutely positive that she was inside the house.

Angelus found himself circling the residence slowly as he peered in the windows, looking for any sign of movement coming from within. It was too quiet for a deserted house, especially one which had its lights burning brightly from within. He smirked to himself as he made his way around to the back porch.

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” he called out in a sing-song voice. Smirking, he walked up onto the back porch, making sure to stand out of the stream of light that was shining through the window of the back door.

It had to be a cloaking spell, he was certain she was within the walls of this house.

Angelus’ hand reached out, and he briefly contemplated opening the door and testing whether his invitation had been revoked. He knew that walking in there by himself, when she most likely had all her buddies with her, could only be inviting trouble when he didn’t know what he would find.

Yet, he needed some sort of confirmation. Lifting his head he sniffed the air for even the slightest trace of her scent.

Angelus stopped abruptly when the scent hit his senses. Not the scent he had being testing for, yet far more disturbing and telling all the same. Furrowing his brows he sniffed again.

A predatory growl resonated deep within his chest. Suspicion stole over his features. There was no mistaking it. Spike’s scent was all over Buffy’s back porch.


***


The Summers’ house was quiet the next morning when Giles awoke. He felt like crap, reminding him of his younger days—wilder days. His voice felt rough from the abuse wrought by his overindulgence of hard liquor; the pressure in his head seemed to be thumping in time with his heart beat and there was a general feeling of queasiness that alerted him to the fact that anything that was to be consumed that morning would be brought back up shortly thereafter. He groaned as he sat up, trying to focus his sleep-bleary eyes on his watch.

“Bloody hell” He moaned groggily before flopping down on the couch again, only wincing slightly at the discomfort it caused his head and lethargic limbs. Nine o’clock was far too early to get up after a night of drinking.

How stupid he had been. Never again would he touch a single drop of that vile liquid. Unless of course, the circumstances leading up to its consumption mirrored those of the night before. Giles groaned again and threw a heavy arm across his closed eyes.

He let his mind wandered absently over the events of the night before, making no further attempt to remove himself from the couch. He had truly never seen anything quite like the reaction his Slayer’s demon had to the blonde vampire. As he had stated many times the night before, it was remarkable.

Giles felt the beginnings of a spark of excitement slowly spring to life in his tired and intoxicated brain as he began to mull over the possible explanations for their mutual behaviour. For a split second he entertained the though of locking them in a room together so he could observe them as they were forced to interact together, before quickly dismissing such an idea.

Sitting himself up, he slowly pushed off the couch and lethargically made his way over to his books. The allure of something new and unknown to discover with the help of his dusty volumes was too strong to resist, despite his hangover.


***


Angelus’ eyes narrowed as he watched the sleeping form of Spike from the doorway to his room. Nothing seemed highly suspicious or off about the vampire before him. In fact he looked the same as he had when he last checked on him three days ago. Yet his senses hadn’t lied, they couldn’t. Spike’s scent had been all over Buffy’s back porch.

Slipping silently into the room, he moved the wheelchair away from the side of the bed until it was just out of the blonde vampire’s reach.

If he was still as crippled as he was before, Spike would be incapable of getting into the chair himself and would be forced to call for help despite his pride. Yet the chair was close enough to the bed that even with slight mobility it was possible for him to reach it. Close enough that in the event of a momentary slip of mind he would move himself effortlessly into the chair without thinking twice about his ‘crippled’ status.

Backing out of the room again, Angelus slipped of silently through the halls of the mansion, seizing a minion roughly as he went.

“You! I have a job for you. I want you to watch Spike over the next few days. Be discreet and don’t let him know you are watching. Any odd occurrences, anything strange at all you let me know. Got it?” The minion nodded hurriedly and let out a small sigh of relief when his master let him drop to the ground. “Good. Don’t let me down”

Without a second thought the minion scurried off down the hall to keep surveillance over the crippled vampire.



 

Chapter 7



Spike tensed abruptly and then forcibly relaxed as he slowly drifted into a state of consciousness. He could feel eyes practically burning holes into his back. He calmed himself and was about to reach out his senses when he heard the shuffling of feet in the hallway and some small object accidentally being knocked over. He didn’t resist the urge to roll his eyes heavily. The minion desired much in the way of stealth.

Stealth issues aside though, the presence of the minion could only mean one thing: Angelus was having him watched. Somehow the poof had pulled his oversized head out of his arse long enough to be able to learn enough information for him to be suspicious of his ‘crippled’ childe.

Spike’s eyes immediately fell on the symbol of his ‘disability’. His frown grew as he noticed that it had being subtly wheeled away from the bed. It was likely that if he hadn’t woken to the feeling of being watched, he would have moved himself into it without a second thought.

His eyes flicked abruptly to the door again.

“Get in here,” he snarled angrily, almost smirking when he heard the little shriek of surprise coming from his personal stalker. In fact, the smirk was halfway to his lips before he managed to curb the impulse.

Spike watched with some small satisfaction as a bespectacled minion came scampering into his room. He was shaking violently from head to toe and he had a nervous habit of pushing his glasses more firmly onto his face with one finger every few seconds. The fear was literally pouring off of him in waves and Spike felt a thrill of satisfaction go through him that he hadn’t lost all his reputation and intimidation during his short stint in that bloody wheelchair.

“M-master Spike! You’re awake!” Spike arched an eyebrow at the vampire and gave him a mocking glare while reaching for his smokes and lighter from beside the bed.

“You don’t bloody well say” he said, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Spike gave the minion a hard look as he placed a cigarette between his lips quickly and lit up before carelessly throwing both the lighter and his smokes back onto the bedside table.

His relaxed and casual manner did nothing towards calming the nervous minion’s demeanor.

“What’s your name, mate?” Spike asked as he made a great show about hauling himself up so he could lean against the headboard.

“D-Dalton, Master. I served both you and Mistress Drusilla before Angelus returned to the fold.”

“Dalton, ey?” The minion nodded quickly “Well Dalton, why don’t you step inside that door a bit further and tell me why you were watching me?” Dalton’s shivering returned and he looked over his shoulder nervously before taking a hesitant step further into the room and shutting the door behind him. “Well?”

“I was ordered to by Master Angelus. After he returned last night, the first thing he did was come check on you. He found me on his way back from your room and told me that I was to watch you closely for the next couple of days and report back if anything unusual or different occurred.”

Goes out, comes home, checks on ME when he gets home and then discreetly moves the wheelchair? Must have suspicions about me being able to walk again.

How though?

Spike beckoned the small vampire forward until he was within striking distance before lashing out quickly and roughly, pulling the petrified Dalton into an arm lock to prevent him from escaping.

“Listen here. Anything you are about to see stays between you and me alright? I hear a word, or even get the slightest hint of suspicion that you have blabbed to Angelus, and I will make you wish he was the one killing you. Got it?” Dalton nodded his heard rapidly and managed to force out a tight ‘got it’ through his crushed windpipe. “Good.”

Spike threw the minion away from him and calmly rose to his feet. “’Cause I’d hate to have to hurt you,” he stated with mock sincerity before making his way out his window and off into the night.


***


Buffy let out a small growl of annoyance as she opened the back door to admit the bane of her existence. She glared at Spike as he stepped over the threshold with a cocky grin, before slamming the door closed behind him.

“What do you want, Spike?” She asked even as she turned to walk back into the living room and the sea of books and notes Giles had littering almost every surface.

Spike suppressed the chuckle that was threatening to emerge and followed her into the living room, deftly stepping over the piles of books.

“Spike.” The Watcher said by way of greeting before turning his attention back to the books before him. Spike quirked and eyebrow at him silently and moved to stand before the Slayer, completely ignoring the presence of anyone else in the room.

“Slayer, can’t stay long—” he began.

“Thank God,” she muttered rolling her eyes at him. Spike ignored her and kept talking.

“—just thought I’d let you know that Angelus smells a rat.” Buffy’s eyebrows crinkled in confusion even as all activity in the room around her stopped as everyone turned to stare at Spike.

“What do you mean ‘smells a rat’?” Willow asked nervously, placing the book she had been reading on the table and looking to Giles for reassurance. The others all moved in closer so that they could hear what was being said.

“I mean he suspects something,” he said to the group before turning back to the Slayer “I think he’s beginning to suss some things out about me and my ability to walk. He has one of his lackeys watching me.” Buffy’s eyes went wide with rage as she let loose a savage growl and pinned him to the wall by his throat.

“They are watching you and you come HERE!” The astonishment and disbelief was clear in her voice. “Not even you could be that dumb.”

“Hey—” She pulled him a foot away from the wall before slamming him back into it forcefully.

“Are you trying to lead them here? Is it just me or is this beginning to sound more and more like some elaborate ‘Let’s kill Buffy’ plan. Why the hell would you come here if you know you’re being watched?”

Spike pushed her away from him harshly and shrugged his shoulders to resettle his coat around him comfortably. “Do you mind, you crazy bint?! If I wanted to bloody well kill you I wouldn’t have helped you escape!”

Buffy let out an indelicate snort and rolled her eyes at him.

“You helped me escape? Please! I didn’t see you the whole time I was there; no one was around when I escaped! Hence the success.” Spike rolled his eyes at her stupidity.

“Exactly, you bleedin’ moron! Do you really think that Angelus would have just left you hanging there with no one guarding you? Or that you just suddenly had the strength to break free of those reinforced chains?” He asked with such sarcasm that she was taken back for a split second.

Memories of hanging there limply as someone tried to get her to drink some water instantly resurfaced in her mind as she stared at the blond vampire. It had been him.

“It was you. You were the one who was feeding me.” It wasn’t a question. Buffy knew now for certain that it had been Spike.

“Of course it was me. No minion would ever so blatantly defy their master,” Spike scoffed

“Why?” Buffy asked in a measured tone. What possible reason did Spike of all people have to help her? She puts him in a wheelchair and then he saves her life?

“Because I knew you were more than just your average vamp. I didn’t know what you were –and still don’t by the way- but I needed your help; I wanted you strong so you could escape and help me kill that bloody ponce,” he said rolling his eyes heavenward as he spoke of Angel, the irritation and loathing for the vampire clearly evident in his voice.

“I thought you said that Angel was…your sire? Why would you want to kill him?” Xander asked, unsure as to whether he was using the correct term. Spike shot him an irritated look.

“He is” Spike answered, more than ready to get off the topic of his origins as a vampire. Giles perked up at the slip of information.

“He is? I thought Drusilla was your sire. It says in the Watcher’s Diaries that you were turned in London, in 1880, by Drusilla.” Spike sighed heavily as he realised that they weren’t going to let the subject drop until they had all the information they wanted.

“She did. Angelus is my grandsire. He taught me everything I know. Shaped me into what I am today and all that rot.” Giles frowned, confused.

“So why are you so keen on killing him then?” Giles asked as he removed his glasses from his face and started polishing them.

“Because the vampire that came back’s not my sire,” Spike said simply.

“What do you mean? Angel’s been possessed? By some other demon perhaps?” Giles queried, reaching immediately for his books.

“You’re reading to much into this, mate. It’s still Angelus, he’s just off his bleedin rocker. Being stuck with a soul for so longs made his demon a bit…crazed I guess,” Spike replied, in a dismissive tone, hoping that they would drop the bloody subject. “Bottom line is, he’s not the demon he was, never will be and it’s time the bloody ponce was sent to hell.”

“See, now that I agree with!” Xander said enthusiastically. Everyone in the room gave him a questioning look. “What?”

“What’s a sire?” Joyce asked.


***


“Sir? We have the complete translation for you.” The man placed the both the scroll and the translated document on his boss’s desk. Quentin Travers reached for the translation and quickly skimmed over its contents, a small smile appearing on his face.

“Good. I want a team in place immediately, watching for any changes. I want to be informed the minute something happens,” Travers said without taking his eyes off the documents.

“A team has already been put in place, sir. They are watching her as we speak.” Travers nodded.

“Very good,” he replied before dismissing the young council member from his office. Once alone, he picked up the translated version of the prophecy and read it over once more before picking up his phone. “It’s me. I want the holding cell prepared immediately. I should be in contact with you within the next week or so.”


***


Spike knew something was off as soon as he re-entered the mansion through his bedroom window. He scanned the room quickly, noticing his wheelchair was gone and a small pile of dust on the floor beside the bed.

“Spike, my boy, look at you.” Spike spun around quickly and let his gaze fall on the vampire in the shadows. Angelus was sitting in the wheelchair comfortably, his legs propped up on a nearby desk.

“Angelus.”

 

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