The slender vampire dropped the dead weight to the floor of her
makeshift bedroom.  "You're very heavy, aren't you, puppy?" she said
in the slightly bored drawl with which she habitually spoke.  After
first stripping off his shirt, she reached up and grasped the chains
that hung from the wall attaching them to the wrists of the still
unconscious Angel.  Satisfied, she stepped back and examined her
prize.  At last she would have something to keep her entertained
until she reclaimed Xander and found a way home.

***

It had been a very heated discussion, but at last Giles was satisfied
with the assurances he received from Quentin Travers.  Addressing
Buffy he told his Slayer, "Quentin assures me that everything will be
done to rehabilitate her.  She will receive the most expert
psychiatric care.  If she responds, in time she may be allowed to
resume her duties."

Buffy frowned not sure that she liked the idea of Faith being
permitted to resume Slayer duties.  While she didn't want to see
Faith killed, neither did she trust the young woman enough to want to
see her free. 

"Are you sure we can trust Travers to keep his word that she won't be
killed, Giles?"

"We really don't have much of a choice, Buffy."

"If we turn her over to the regular authorities..."

"Buffy, you know that really isn't an option.  No regular jail cell
could hold an unwilling Slayer."

Flashing Wesley a cold glance she said, "The thing is Giles, the
Council didn't do too good a job with Faith last time they tried
to "help" her."

Wesley stiffened at this reminder of his failure with the girl who
had been his first responsibility as a Watcher, but before he could
say anything Joyce stepped forward and put her arms around her
daughter.

"Honey, I know you feel bad about how things turned out last year
with Faith, but you did everything you could to try to help her.  She
made the decision to try to blame you for the Deputy Mayor's death
and she chose to join with the Mayor."  Buffy looked up at her mother
with tears in her eyes.  Gently pushing her daughter's hair back from
her face, Joyce continued, "Mr. Giles believes that the Council is
the best equipped to help Faith.  Let her go with them."

Buffy rested her head on her mother's shoulder and then pulling back
nodded reluctant agreement.  Although she certainly didn't trust the
Council, she realized that she really had little choice than to turn
Faith over to them.  As Giles had said, no regular jail or prison
could ever hold an unwilling Slayer, so the only other option was for
the Watcher's Council to take her, confine her and help her as best
they could—which Buffy didn't believe would be much.

Very well," Weatherby said, trying his best to sound confident and in
charge.  "I'll inject her with the dampening drug now before she
wakes up."  Placing the case on a nearby display table, he opened it
up and reached for the first vial.

As sometimes happens when there are a large group of people in a
room, nobody was watching the thing that needed watched assuming
someone else was doing it.  Faith had awakened and was slowly
gathering her strength.  When she attacked, she took everyone by
surprise.

Leaping up, she grabbed the person nearest to her to use as a
shield.  Pulling the Mayor's gift from where she had it concealed,
she placed the sharp blade against Tara's throat.  "I don't think I'm
going to go to London or anyplace else with you two," she sneered. 
Moving towards the door and pulling Tara with her she said to the
Watchers, "Toss your car keys here."  Pushing the blade of the knife
a fraction closer to Tara's neck she warned her, "And you better
catch them unless you want your throat cut." Smiling wickedly, she
relished the soft cry of pain from her hostage as a thin stream of
blood ran from the shallow cut on her neck.  "Cut deeper, that is."

Willow saw the blood and something inside of her snapped.  She was
aware of shouts of protest, of Giles trying to reason with Faith, of
Spike's rumbling growl.  She was aware of all of this, but it was
only background noise.  Summoning a spell she wasn't even aware that
she knew, her eyes turned black, her arm shot forward with finger
pointing and she cried out, "Pain!"

Faith stiffened as her mouth contorted into a rictus of agony, the
knife dropping from nerveless fingers.  Spike leapt forward and
pulled Tara away from the silently screaming Slayer as Buffy tried to
get Willow to stop the spell.  "Willow!" she cried, shaking her
friend, "Willow, stop it!"  Tara rushed to her lover, grabbing her
and begging her to release the spell.  It was Tara's voice that
finally broke through Willow's rage.  With a shudder, she slumped
into Tara's arms, knees buckling from exhaustion, blood pouring from
her nose.  Faith crashed to the floor once again unconscious.

Weatherby and Smith stared in horror at the young witch, shocked at
the raw power she possessed.  This was certainly something that
needed to be brought to the attention of the Watchers Council.

Cordelia felt her flesh creep as she remembered the way she'd treated
Willow for years.  She looked around for Angel, wanting to ask him
how soon they could leave.  It was then that she noticed that he had
not returned from the training room, even with all the commotion that
had just gone on.  Frowning slightly, she made her way to the back
room only to find it empty and the back door standing wide open. 
Crossing the room to the open door she called, "Angel? You out
here?"  The alley was as empty as the training room with the
exception of two cars.  Wait a minute.  Two?  Looking around she
realized that Angel's black convertible was missing from where Wesley
had parked it at the end of the alley.  Why would Angel have left? 
Returning to the training room she at last noticed Angel's coat
thrown across the pommel horse.

Entering the shop, she walked up to Wesley and said, "Wes, Angel's
missing."

***

Angel came awake to the sensation of his face being hit with a
methodical series of stinging slaps. 

"Wake up, puppy."

As he groggily regained consciousness, he realized that the voice
calling to him was familiar. 

"Willow?"

"Yes, puppy, it's Willow.  Did you have a good sleep?  Are you all
rested now?"

Her voice sounded strange.  Opening eyes that at first refused to
focus, he gradually became aware that he was hanging from chains and
that the Willow he faced was not the Willow he had been with just
moments? hours? days? before.

Pulling at his chains earned him a headache when Willow roughly
shoved his head back into the wall, nearly fracturing his
skull.  "Naughty puppy," she scolded.  "Puppy tries to break his
leash, he's gonna be punished."  Pushing her face closer to his, she
opened her mouth and ran her tongue up the side of his face.  "Does
puppy like to be punished?" she asked in a sultry tone.

Angel's head was throbbing painfully from both the tranquilizer drug
and the blow to his skull.  When his eyes were again able to focus he
realized that he recognized where he was.  "This is the old factory,"
he said before he could stop himself.

Willow pouted.  "Yes, but it's not as nice as the one I'm used to. 
It's all burned up and nasty.  Do you know why it's all burned up,
puppy?"

"There was a fire."

Willow banged his head into the wall again eliciting a grunt of pain
from the big vampire.  "Puppy thinks he's funny.  I don't like funny."

Between the head bashing he had received from Spike and now this,
Angel felt as if his brains were going to start dribbling out of his
ears.  As his tormenter moved away from him, he took in a deep breath
of air in an attempt to control the pain.  When the pounding ache
subsided a little, he asked, "How did I get here?"

The young vampire had been picking through a few items laid on top of
an old broken table.  Turning to him with a wicked grin she held up a
set of keys and jingled them at him.  "I like your car.  Xander
always liked your car too.  It was fun.  He used to love to ram it
into things.  Did you know that people make the best speed bumps?"

"Xander?"  Although the pain in his head was making it hard to
concentrate, Angel was beginning to suspect that this vampire Willow
was not just a double, but actually Willow from a parallel
dimension.  Just how she had gotten here, he had no idea.

"Yeah, Xander.  You know Xander, don't you puppy?  I saw you with the
other one, the live one.  I don't like him; not right now anyway. 
But soon enough he'll join me and then we'll all have fun playing
together.  Wanna play, puppy?"

As she walked back towards Angel, he saw the thin sharp knife in her
hand.

***

Weatherby finished the injection and then, pulling her arms behind
her back, locked handcuffs onto Faith's wrists.  Standing up he
addressed Giles, "If I may use your telephone, I'll make sure that
our transport is notified that we're on our way."  At Giles' nod of
permission, he hurried forward to make the call.  Buffy walked over
to Smith and with a cold expression on her face told him, "I'm going
to want to talk to Faith on a regular basis, just to make sure she's
still breathing.  You make sure Travers knows this."

Swallowing nervously, the Council agent stammered acknowledgement. 
Weatherby's call was short and soon he was back by his partner's
side.  "By the time we return to Los Angeles, our plane will be ready
to take off.  Miss Summers, I personally guarantee Faith's safety
until such time as I turn her over to her caretakers in London."

"And then what?" Buffy asked, "You wash your hands of her?"

"Miss Summers, please."  Weatherby wasn't sure exactly what the
Slayer expected of him, but Buffy merely turned and walked away.  She
could hardly stand the sight of either of them and just wanted them
and Faith gone from her town.  The sooner the better.

Smith took the case that contained the dampening drugs and left the
shop to get the car and bring it closer to the front of the shop. 

"Ah guys?" Xander inquired diffidently.  "What about your dead buddy
across the street?  You just gonna to let him lie there?"

Weatherby glanced across to the building where Collins had so
foolishly lost his life.  He wasn't sure if he believed the Summers
girl that her vampires hadn't killed Collins, but it hardly
mattered.  The man was now dead and the mess would be covered up. 
The Council would see to it.  "No need to be concerned, young man. 
We will take care of everything.  No one here will be disturbed."  By
now Smith had returned to the shop so the two men lifted Faith up and
carried her to the backseat of the large dark green Ford now double-
parked in front.  Weatherby climbed in behind the driver's wheel as
Smith returned to the sedan that Collins had driven.  With no further
acknowledgement of the people crowded around the shop doorway, they
drove off into the cool California night.

When the cars were no longer visible on the street Buffy and Spike
went back inside.  "Giles, Spike and I are going to take mom home,
okay?  She's exhausted." 

"Yes, of course, Buffy.  I think all of us could use a decent night's
rest.  Xander if you would be so good as to give..."

His words were cut off as Wesley said from the training room door. 
"I'm afraid we have another problem."

Blank faces stared at Wesley after he had made his pronouncement. 
"Now what," Spike snapped tiredly. 

"Angel's missing," Wesley told the group.  "His coat is here, but he
and the car are missing."

"Yeah?  Well maybe he suddenly remembered he ran out of that hair gel
he likes so much and wanted to get to the mall before it closed,"
Spike snarked disinterestedly.

Buffy glared at her boyfriend and turned back to Wesley.  "Do you
think something happened to him?  I mean, what could have happened? 
Maybe he just felt the need to get away for a bit.  Xander said he
was having Watcher issues."

Cordelia shook her head.  "Look maybe Spike runs out on you without
warning but Angel wouldn't do that to us, not when we may need him."

Buffy shot Cordelia a withering look, but ignored her comment.  "Did
you guys look for a note or anything?"  Entering the training room
closely followed by Spike she stopped and looked around.  Nothing
seemed disturbed with the exception of Angel's coat haphazardly
thrown across her exercise horse.  Xander had followed along more out
of curiosity than concern and noticed the tranquilizer gun lying on
the floor by the basement door.  Going over to it, he picked it up
and headed to the cabinet where it was usually kept.  Breaking it
open, he went to remove the unused dart.  The gun was empty. 
Turning, he looked over the area where the gun had lain, but saw
nothing.  Opening the cabinet, he checked the supply of darts
remaining. 

"Uh, Houston, I think we have a problem." 

Four faces turned their attention to him.  "What, Xander?" Buffy
asked, walking towards him.

"We're missing a tranq dart," he told his friend.  "I loaded the gun
with another dart just to be on the safe side, you know, in case one
didn't take Faith down.  I only needed one, which means there was
still one in the gun.  Now there's not.  And it's not in the
cabinet.  We had exactly twelve darts, and there are only ten here
now."

"Okay, everyone look to see if Angel unloaded the gun and dropped the
dart somewhere."

Buffy carefully checked the pockets of Angel's coat as the others
conducted a thorough search of the room.  Meanwhile, Spike was
sniffing around, scenting the air.  Something wasn't right here, a
smell that was slightly off.  Going to the training room door, he
yelled out, "Willow, come here a minute."

Tara helped a wobbly Willow into the room and over to the vampire. 
Willow jerked back a bit when Spike lowered his head and inhaled
deeply.  "Hey, what're you doing?" she asked, taken aback. 

Ignoring her question, he turned on his heel and walked back over to
the basement door.  Sniffing lightly, he moved around the area
slowly, then opened the basement door and stepped inside.  By now
everyone had stopped their own searches and watched the vampire's odd
actions.  The sound of Spike first descending and then ascending the
steps was followed quickly by his reappearance.  He then went to
Angel's coat, picked it up, smelled it, made a face of disgust,
"Angel b.o.," he snorted and then went back over to Willow and
smelled her again.

Finally finished he turned to Buffy and asked, "You remember Xander
tellin' you about the vampire he saw that looked just like Willow?" 
At Buffy's slow nod, he said, "Well, she doesn't just look like
Willow, she smells like her too except for the scent of old dried
blood, and she was here."

***

Angel's head was thrown back and a grimace of pain distorted his
features as the young vampire drew the knife blade down his body.

"Why are you doing this?" he gasped, trying hard to control the pain.

"Lots of reasons," she drawled.  Leaning in to lick at the welling
blood, she said, "I'm doing it because it's fun."  Another cut,
another lick.  "I'm doing it because you tried to fight against The
Master."  Another cut.

"The Master's dust," Angel ground out.  "Buffy dusted him and then
pounded his bones into sand."

She shoved the knife straight into his stomach and twisted.  Angel
cried out at the agony.  "Not where I'm from," she snarled.  "He owns
Sunnydale and everyone in it.  Including you."  Pulling out the
knife, she leaned into him whispering, "He lets me play with you all
I want."  Drawing the blunt side of the knife down his body and past
the waistband of his trousers, she held the point of the knife to the
bulge of his semi-hard cock.  "But you wanna know mostly why I do
this?" she purred.  "It's because you're an abomination."  With that
she shoved the knife through the material of his slacks and straight
into his penis. 

Angel screamed and passed out.

Standing back away from her victim, Willow slowly licked the blood
from the knife and then once again began methodically slapping him
until she had brought him back to consciousness.  She didn't want him
to miss a second of the pain she brought him.

Thirty minutes later, she stepped back and wiped the blood from her
mouth.  With a sigh, she droned, "Bored now."

As she turned and walked away from him, Angel let his head fall
forward trying his best to control the waves of anguish that radiated
through him.  He wondered now that she was tired of her play if she
would just stake him.  Somehow, he didn't think he would be that
lucky.  She took too much pleasure in his torture. 

Turning back to look at him, she said, "This just isn't as much fun
as it is when Xander helps me."  She grinned at Angel, a malevolent
gleam in her eye.  "He hates you even more than I do."  Walking
slowly back over to him, she leaned close, reached up, grabbed his
chains and gave a strong tug.  The chains stayed firmly attached to
the wall.  Angel knew they would.  He had placed them there himself.

"I think it's time I found Xander," Willow said.  "You behave
yourself, puppy.  I'll be back."

As soon as she was out of sight, Angel began pulling at his chains,
but all he accomplished was splitting open the half-healed cuts on
his chest.  Hissing in pain, he could only hope that Buffy would find
him before Willow's return.  And he hoped that Xander stayed close to
Buffy.  It was the boy's only hope.

***

"Are you sure, Willow?" Buffy asked anxiously.  Once again the young
witch had performed a location spell, this time attempting to find
the missing vampire. 

"You can see for yourself, Buffy," Willow answered, indicating the
glow on the Sunnydale map.  "He's somewhere in this area."  Spike
looked at the map and declared, "That's the old factory."

Buffy nodded.  She wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but was
positive that Angel was in trouble.  The missing tranquilizer dart
coupled with the scent of Willow's twin spelled bad news for Angel. 
Although why Willow, even a vampire Willow, would kidnap Angel was a
mystery.

"Okay, Spike and I will go to the factory and see if we can find
Angel.  The rest of you might as well go home.  Cordelia and Wesley
can go with mom, and..."

"I'm coming with you," Wesley interrupted. 

"Look Wes," Buffy said.  "I know you're worried about Angel, but
Spike and I can handle it on our own.  We..."

"No, Buffy," Wesley replied firmly.  "I'm afraid I must insist on
accompanying you."

Buffy's eyes narrowed.  "We don't have time to baby-sit you, Wesley,"
she stated coldly.

"You don't need to worry about Wesley," Cordelia interjected.  "And
if Spike is going, Wesley should go too.  Just to make sure that
Angel doesn't accidentally fall on a stake."

"Hey!" Buffy protested. 

"Let it go, pet," Spike said.  "And if we're mounting this rescue
mission, can we get on with it?"

"Worried about Angel, Spike?" Cordelia scoffed.

"Don't give two flips about Angel, luv," Spike told her.  "But the
sooner we find him, the sooner you lot can leave.  Then everyone's
happy."  Turning away, he headed for the shop door.

Buffy shook her head at her lover's remark and followed him out of
the shop.

"Don't worry, Cordelia," Wesley told the brunette.  "We'll find
him."  Taking the tranquilizer gun and darts, he too left the shop.

"Okay," Xander said, "What say we take Buffy's advice and head
home."  Making a sweeping gesture, he indicated the doorway and
bowing slightly said, "Ladies."  Joyce, Cordelia, Tara and Willow
filed out of the shop.  Since Spike had borrowed Giles' car to get to
the factory, Anya had offered to drive Giles home.  After checking to
see that everything was locked up, Giles and Anya also left.

***

Willow was just driving down the street as everyone left the store. 
Pulling over out of sight, she decided to follow Xander.  At some
point she was sure she would be able to get him alone.  She knew
better than to try to take on the White Hats on her own, but Xander
by himself wouldn't be a problem.  Once she sired him, things would
get interesting again.  Everything was more fun with Xander.

Spike pulled up as close to the old factory as he could get without
being spotted and stepped out of the car.  Buffy and Wesley followed
and then watched as Spike once again sniffed the air scenting for
Angel.  Nodding that he'd caught the scent, they followed as he led
them around to the rear of the crumbling building.   He opened a door
being careful not to make any unnecessary noise and entered.  Casting
about, he made his way swiftly and silently through the factory. 
Buffy and Wesley followed as quietly as they could and when Wesley
stumbled over some of the debris littering the floor he received
glares from his two companions.

They had passed through the large open manufacturing area and were
approaching the office area when Spike stopped suddenly.  Turning to
Buffy he said softly, "He's here all right.  I can smell him.  And I
smell blood."

"Blood?" Buffy asked worriedly.  "His or human?"

"His.  Smell the vampire Willow too.  She's been here.  Don't know if
she still is though"

Buffy pulled her stake from the waistband of her jeans as Spike
shifted into game face.  They weren't sure what they were going to
encounter inside, but they wanted to be prepared for anything. 
Wesley followed their lead and held the tranquilizer gun at the
ready.  Moving forward once more they warily opened the door in front
of them.  "Dear God," Wesley whispered as he looked into the room. 

Buffy gasped in alarm when she saw Angel hanging limply from chains
attached to the wall, his torso a bloody mess.  She hurried forward,
while Spike and Wesley scanned the room for any sign of the young
vampire.  Once they were certain the Willow wasn't around, the two
men joined Buffy.

"He's unconscious and I can't get these damned chains off," Buffy
said anxiously.  Wesley looked around and spotting the table full of
odds and ends went to it and searched for a key.  "There's nothing
here.  It looks as if you'll have to pull the chains from the wall. 
We'll worry about removing them once we get him out of here."

As Buffy reached up to grab the links, Spike put a stalling hand on
her arm.  "Hold off, love.  Let me check something first."

Turning away, he left the room.  Buffy looked around for something
with which to clean the blood from Angel, but there was nothing
except his shirt.  Grabbing it up, she began to gently mop up the
blood that was still sluggishly seeping from a few of the deeper
cuts.  With a groan, Angel began to regain consciousness.  "Buffy?"

"God, Angel, I'm so sorry this happened to you," she told him
gently.  I promise you, that bitch is dust just as soon as I catch up
with her." 

Spike returned to this tender scene and a wave of jealously and anger
flashed through him that he quickly suppressed.  Of course Buffy
would be concerned for Angel.  It was a fact of life that Spike would
have to accept as long as he wanted to be with Buffy.  Buffy loved
Spike, he had no doubts at all about that, but she would always care
for Angel.  He had no doubts about that either. 

Getting himself under control, he came forward and began to unlock
the manacles at Angel's wrists.  "Where'd you get the key?" Buffy
asked.

"Had spares hidden away," Spike answered.  "Angelus loves his chains
and shackles.  I learned a long time ago to keep copies of keys to
his toys."

"Angelus put these chains up?" Buffy asked, looking disturbed.  She
glanced at Angel and saw a grimace of discomfort on his face that she
didn't think was entirely due to his wounds.

"Yeah," was all Spike said.  When Angel had lost his soul, he had
been even more vicious than before, making up for all the years the
soul had held him in check.  Spike wanted to tell Buffy how Angel had
chained Dru up, whipped her, fucked her and humiliated her.  How he
would bring human victims in, rape them, male or female, children or
adults—it didn't matter, and torture them for hours and days on end
just for the pleasure of hearing them scream, often not even
bothering to feed from them.  But he knew that he could never tell
Buffy about this side of Angel.  The fact was that although he
himself wasn't into torture, not without good reason, it had never
really bothered him what Angel did to the humans.  And Dru had
enjoyed it.

So he kept it to himself.  Just as he kept his own past deeds to
himself.  Buffy would never allow herself to be with him if she knew
the full truth about him.  Pettily informing Buffy about Angelus'
actions during that period would probably end up hurting him more
than Angel.  If he wanted Buffy, he knew he had to act like a man not
a vengeful monster.  And he wanted Buffy. 

Once Angel was freed, Spike and Buffy supported him as Wesley began
to lead the way back out of the factory.  Angel had managed only a
couple steps before crying out in pain and nearly collapsing. 
"Angel?" Buffy said in concern.  It was while looking down at his
legs that she noticed the bloodstain on his trousers.  "Oh my god,
Angel, what did she do?"

Spike's eyes tracked hers and he shuddered.  "Christ, Angel, did that
bitch castrate you?"  He heard Wesley gasp at the question.

"No," Angel managed to gasp out.  "She stabbed me.  I'll be okay. 
Hurts like hell, though."

Suppressing another shudder, Spike lifted Angel a little higher
taking the weight off the larger vampire's legs.  Buffy helped as
best she could, but the size difference made it awkward.

Angel had relapsed back into semi-consciousness and so he barely
heard it when Buffy said, "We'll take him to my house.  Xander should
have dropped Mom and Cordelia off there by now."

"Xander," he gasped.

"Shush, Angel.  It's okay.  We'll have you home soon," Buffy told him
in a concerned voice.

"No, Buffy, listen," Angel forced out though pain clenched teeth. 
"Xander's in danger.  Willow is out to get him, wants to sire him."

"Fuck!" Spike snapped.  "We've got to get going, pet.  Let go of
Angel."

"Spike," Buffy began only to draw in a surprised breath when Spike
scooped Angel up in his arms like a baby and began to sprint out of
the factory.  The jarring run spread waves of pain throughout Angel's
body, but he merely held in his cries.  They had to get to Xander
before the vampire did or the boy would be lost.

***

Willow parked the large black convertible several blocks away from
her destination.  Slipping through backyards, she made her way to the
Harris house and disappeared into the shadows.  She had realized
where he was heading after dropping the last two women off and had
sped through the streets to arrive ahead of him.  She hoped he
wouldn't take long getting home.  She hated lying in wait.  It was
boring.

***

Xander watched until Joyce and Cordelia entered the house and closed
the front door before pulling away.  He had already dropped Willow
and Tara off at the University and could hardly wait to reach his own
home.  It was still relatively early, but the few hours' sleep he'd
caught in Giles' armchair had not really been conducive to rest.  He
heard the sweet siren song of his bed calling to him. 

***

Buffy was terrified for Xander and kept urging Spike to drive
faster.  "That bitch is double dusted if she's hurt Xander," Buffy
promised flatly.

"Don't dust her, Buffy," Angel warned.  Buffy turned around in the
front seat to look in surprise at Angel.  "Why?  Look what she did to
you, and now she's after Xander.  Why shouldn't I dust her?"

"I don't think she's just a lookalike caused by that spell," Angel
explained, his voice weak and tired.  "I think she's from a parallel
dimension and if you dust her we don't know what kind of
repercussions that may have here in this dimension."

"Huh?"

"Ah, I think I understand what Angel is suggesting," Wesley
interjected.  "There are many theories with regard to parallel
dimensions.  For instance, one posits that if your double dies in
their dimension, then you would die here.  However that theory
obviously doesn't hold true here since our Willow did not die when
the other Willow was originally killed.  Another theory is that one's
double is the exact opposite of oneself.  Those who are good here are
evil there and vice versa."

Spike looked into the rearview mirror at the Watcher and smirked,
"Yeah, I saw that episode of Star Trek too.  Dru thought Spock looked
right cute in his beard."

Buffy ducked her head and turned back around in her seat before the
look of outrage on Wesley's face caused her to burst out laughing. 
Spike had a real talent for deflating the biggest egos.  God, she
loved him.

"However," Wesley continued in an offended voice ignoring Spike, "I
agree with Angel that since we don't know what connections there may
be between the doubles, it would probably be best if we simply
capture vampire Willow and attempt to return her to her own world."

"Well guess it's a good thing you brought the tranq gun then, huh?"
Buffy said.  Looking out the car window she added worriedly, "I just
pray we get to Xander in time."

"We will, sweetheart," Spike reassured her, reaching over and
entwining his fingers with hers, squeezing gently.  Buffy smiled
gratefully at her lover and leaning back in the seat tried to think
of anything but the danger Xander was in.  If anything happened to
him...

***

Xander pulled up to the curb in front of his house and got out of his
car.  A shower, a shave, a Hungry Man dinner while watching a little
TV and then bed.  Sounded like a plan.

He had almost reached the front door when something moved in the deep
shadows cast by the bushes that lined the front of the house.  A
human shaped body separated itself from the darkness and Xander felt
his heart start to pound as he recognized who it was.

"Hello, Xander.  Wanna play?"

The old Citroen sped down the street in the direction of the Harris
house.  Wesley stared out the window as the scenery flew by in a
blur.  He was concerned for Angel who was in obvious pain, and he was
concerned for Xander who was in deadly danger.  He was so deep in his
thoughts that he almost didn't notice the car as they raced by, and
they were well past it before he made the connection.

"Angel's car!"

"What?" Spike snapped.

"Back there a bit.  Angel's car."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

Somehow, Spike managed to get a little more speed out of the small
car.  Tires screeched as he whipped around the final corner and
turned onto Xander's street.

***

Xander stared in horror as the vampire Willow started to stalk him. 
Fumbling in his jacket pocket, he managed to pull out a stake and
with trembling hands he grasped it tightly.  "Stay away from me," he
told her, his voice shaky.  "I'll dust you if I have to."

"You don't want to dust me, Xander," she smiled sultrily.  Not when
we can have so much fun together."  Reaching forward, she casually
shoved the stake aside and ran her hands up his chest.  Leaning into
the young man, she brushed her lips against his, increasing the
pressure when he didn't resist.  Xander was lost.  He hadn't kissed
Willow since the Spring Fling; certainly not since she started dating
Tara.  And even when he had kissed her before, it hadn't felt like
this.  His lips parted involuntarily as she flicked her tongue over
them.  He felt a flash of heat race through him and he hardened
painfully as her tongue greedily invaded his mouth.  She kissed him
wildly and rubbed her hips against his erection drawing a groan from
deep inside him.  Grasping his hair she pulled his head back and drew
her lips across the side of his face and to his neck.  Xander knew
that he should push her away, stake her, run, something, anything,
but he felt caught and helpless.  He was shaking uncontrollably with
want and desire and need.  When he felt her shift into game face, he
waited helplessly for the bite that would drain the life from him.

Her fangs had barely penetrated his neck when he dimly heard the
squeal of tires and his name being called.  The vampire raised her
face from his neck and he heard her hiss in rage before he was
roughly thrust aside.  Dazed, he was scarcely aware of falling to the
ground until he felt himself being supported in a half-sitting
position.  Opening his eyes he saw Spike looking at him with
concern. 

"You all right?"

Xander nodded weakly.  He wondered why he felt slightly
disappointed.  He didn't want to become an evil, undead thing.  He
didn't.

Spike turned the boy's head and inspected the bite marks.  They were
bleeding, but Spike could tell that he hadn't suffered much damage. 
They probably wouldn't even leave a scar.  Searching through Xander's
coat pockets he found a clean handkerchief and pressed it to the
wounds.  The blood scent was driving him crazy and he wanted nothing
more than to sink his own fangs into Xander's neck, but he kept tight
control over his demon.  Looking up he watched as Buffy and the
vampire fought.  The other Willow was fast and strong, but she was no
match for an enraged Slayer.  Within minutes, the young vampire was
pinned and Buffy raised her stake in preparation to dispatch the
creature that had dared to hurt her friends. 

"Buffy, no!"  Wesley's cry caused Buffy to stop a mere fraction of an
inch from driving home the killing blow.  "We're not going to kill
her, remember?"

"Then you better shoot her now, Wesley," Buffy said coldly. 

Coming up to the two women, Wesley carefully aimed the gun, but
Willow lurched at the last second almost dislodging Buffy from on top
of her.  Wesley lifted the barrel of the gun and waited until Buffy
had subdued her again and then quickly fired the weapon.  Willow
screamed in anger, but within seconds was unconscious from the
tranquilizer. 

Standing up, Buffy hurried over to her friend.  "Xander, you okay?"
she asked worriedly.  By now he was sitting up on his own and Spike
was standing next to him.  "Yeah, I'll be all right.  Fang boy here
didn't finish the job, so I guess I'll live."

Spike just snorted and walked over to help Wesley transfer the
vampire to the car.  Opening the trunk, they unceremoniously tossed
her in and slammed down the lid.  "Come on, pet.  Let's go before she
wakes up."

Xander climbed into the backseat, eyes opening wide when he caught
sight of Angel.  "Holy schmoley, did she do that to you?"

As Angel nodded weakly, Xander felt a shiver go through him, and he
felt even guiltier for not trying harder to resist Willow. 

Wesley asked Spike to drive back to Angel's car and when they
arrived, he jumped out and entered the vehicle.  Willow had left the
keys in the ignition so Wesley started the engine and followed the
others back to The Magic Box.  While Spike opened the trunk of the
car to retrieve the vampire and Buffy and Xander helped Angel into
the back of the shop, Wesley opened the trunk of Angel's car and
removed a heavy set of chains.  Spike turned with the still
unconscious vampire in his arms and raised one sardonic eyebrow.  "We
keep them handy for situations like these," Wesley said stiffly.

"Sure, mate.  Whatever you say," Spike answered in amusement.  Did
the git really think he gave a shit why Angel kept chains in the back
of his car?  If Angel wanted to play bondage fun with humans or
demons, it made no difference to Spike as long as the big poofter
stayed the hell away from him and his.

Buffy was making sure that Angel was comfortable on the old training
room sofa when Wesley and Spike entered and looked in surprise at the
chains in Wesley's hands.  She glanced at Spike in question, but he
merely shrugged and then instructed Wesley where to hook up the
chains.  By the time the vampire began to come around, she was
securely bound to the wall.

After retrieving Giles' First Aid Kit so that Wesley and Spike could
attend to the wounded, Buffy returned to Giles' office to call him. 

"Angel's pretty hurt, but he'll heal okay," she was telling
him.  "We're going to need more blood though.  Anyway, while we were
looking for Angel, Vampire Willow went after Xander to sire him.  No,
he's okay.  We got there just in time.  I didn't know that hunk of
junk of yours could move so fast.  No, Giles, Spike didn't wreck it. 
Anyway, we're all here, including Vampire Willow.  Seems that Angel
and Wesley are afraid that we'll mess something up between dimensions
if I just dust her so they want us to try and send her home."

Buffy sighed and twirled the cord on the phone as she listened to her
Watcher.  "I don't know how, Giles.  But Willow and Anya did
something that brought her here, so they're the ones that need to
figure out how to send her back."  Yawning hugely, she added, "Look
Giles, I'm beat.  We're all going to crash here at the Magic Box and
guard the vampire.  We'll decide what to do in the morning, 'kay? 
Just bring blood."  After a few more words and more assurances that
they were all right, Buffy hung up the phone and then picked it up to
call her mom.  Cordelia wanted to come back to the Magic Box but
Buffy told her flat out that everyone was too exhausted to come fetch
her.  She hung up in the middle of a Cordy rant and called Willow. 

Willow agreed to come to the Magic Box first thing in the morning. 
Buffy returned to the training room to find that Spike had laid the
training mats out so they could be used as pallets.  Buffy handed
Angel a mug of blood she had brought with her from the tiny kitchen
area and insisted that Angel remain on the couch while the others
prepared to sleep on the floor.  Spike took first watch since it was
too early for the vampire to consider sleep.  Within minutes
everyone, including the injured Angel, were sound asleep. 

Willow stared at him for a while. "Why are you helping these humans? 
You're not tainted like that one," she said, nodding her head in
Angel's direction.  "You should let me go.  Come with me."  Lowering
her head and then looking at him through coquettish eyes, she
murmured, "We could make this town scream.  Make the gutters run red
with blood."

Spike looked at her with dispassionate eyes.  "Tempting, but no. 
Don't think my lady would approve."

Willow's head snapped up and her eyes blazed with fury, "Your lady? 
She's the fucking Slayer.  Don't you know we kill Slayers?"

"Yeah, well, I have.  But not this one.  And I'll kill anyone that
tries to hurt her."

Willow narrowed her eyes, "You've killed a Slayer?"

"Two."

"Then why are you this one's lapdog?"

"Not her lapdog, her lover."

"That's disgusting."

"Piece of advice, pet.  It's them two want to send you home.  The
Slayer and I would just as soon see you dust.  Keepin' your cake hole
shut would be a good idea right about now."

Willow looked into his cold, clear, deadly eyes and shut up.

Spike kept watch through much of the night not bothering to awaken
either Buffy or the Watcher.  He was tired but too keyed up to
sleep.  He'd sleep after they got rid of the vampire and Angel and
his crew returned to LA where they belonged.  It was nearly dawn when
Wesley awakened and insisted on taking over the watch.  Spike moved
to the mat where Buffy slept and laid down next to her.  He had given
her his coat to use as a blanket and he slipped under it as he curled
up around her warm body.  Pulling her tightly against him, he
breathed in her scent feeling himself harden just from being close to
her.  It had been far too many days since they had last made love and
Spike ached for her.

Buffy became aware of Spike's body pressed to hers and slowly
awakened.  Wiggling back against him, she rubbed against his erection
causing a soft growl to escape from deep in his chest.  Turning her
head she looked into eyes dark with desire and felt her own body
answer.  Spike slipped his hand up her body to caress her breast,
flicking a thumb over her nipple, pinching and rubbing when it
hardened.  Buffy's breath quickened and she lifted her mouth
demanding a kiss.  Spike lightly slid his lips over hers and then
outlined her mouth with his tongue.

"Spike," she whispered hoarsely.

"Want you, sweetheart."

A slight movement from Wesley reminded them that they weren't alone. 
Buffy felt a wave of frustration pulse over her until she heard Spike
whisper, "Storeroom."

Pushing away from him, she sat up and said, "Wesley, Spike and I are
going to check the storeroom to make sure that Willow has everything
she needs for the spell."

Getting up they walked as calmly as possible to the basement door,
opened it and stepped in closing the door behind them.  The door had
barely shut before Buffy had wrapped herself around Spike bringing
his head to hers in a hot, open-mouthed kiss.  Spike grabbed her ass
and pulled her tight up against his erection.

"Need you now," he growled thrusting against her, kissing her with
desperate need.

"Downstairs," she gasped.

Kissing, touching, never separating, they somehow made it down the
stairs and over to the far wall of the storeroom.  Buffy pulled
Spike's t-shirt out of the waistband of his jeans and thrust her
hands up under it.  Shoving the material up, she fastened her mouth
on his nipples licking and sucking while her hands roamed up and down
his stomach and back. 

Spike was able to stand the stimulation for a little while but then
he grabbed her by the shoulders and thrust her up against the wall,
kissing her savagely, grinding his hips into her, rubbing his hard-on
into the juncture of her thighs.  Buffy managed to get her hands
between them and with shaking fingers began to undo his belt buckle. 
When it was undone, she unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans and shoved
her hand inside grasping his penis tightly and bringing a ragged
groan from her vampire. 

Spike pulled back from her and quickly undid the fastenings of her
slacks, shoving them down and off.  Grasping her thighs, he
positioned her legs around him and drove himself into her.  A sob
escaped Buffy as she felt him enter her and she wrapped her arms and
legs around him tightly.  Spike braced both hands on the wall on
either side of her and touching his forehead to hers he began to
thrust in and out of her hot, tight body.  Each withdrawal was
agonizingly slow; each thrust long and unhurried, bringing cries of
pleasure from Buffy.  When he could no longer stand the slow pace, he
moved his hands down to grasp her legs to support her and increased
his tempo, all the while pushing in as far as he could, angling so
that he hit her sweet spot, kissing her mouth and neck.  As they
neared climax, Buffy hands moved into his hair and she pulled his
head to her neck.  Moving her head in invitation, she
begged, "Please, Spike, do it."

Closing his eyes and trying to gather some control he gasped, "He'll
know if I do, love.  Angel.  He'll know I've tasted you."

"Don't care," she moaned.  "I'm yours, not his.  Only yours.  Do it. 
Please."

Her words enveloped him with such joy he nearly threw back his head
and roared in triumph.  His thrusts became harder, wilder; his arms
held her closer, but he resisted the temptation her sweet exposed
neck provided.  Buffy was desperate for this connection, this joining
that meant so much to them both.  Drawing his mouth to hers she
kissed him with desperate need and then pulled his head back to her
neck once again  "Please, baby," she begged. "I need you.  I need you
in me in every way."  Spike could never deny her what she wanted,
and, oh god, he wanted it too.  Shifting into game face he sank his
fangs into her neck as he pounded into her.  The waves of pleasure
his bite brought her pushed Buffy into a tremendous climax.  Spike
lasted a few strokes longer and then, a growl erupting from his
throat, he poured himself into her.

As they calmed down, Buffy slowly lowered her legs but clung tightly
to Spike until she was sure her legs would hold her weight.  She was
in no hurry to move away from him though.  As her legs gathered
strength, she slid her hands down his back to cup the firm globes of
his ass and hold him to her.  Leaning against her, he continued to
lap gently at the tiny trickle of blood that seeped from the bite in
her neck.  Then raising his head, he claimed her mouth with his own.

At last they pulled back slightly and gave each other slow smiles of
sexual satisfaction. 

Spike cupped her face gently in one hand.  "I love you, Buffy."

Rubbing her face against his hand, she smiled softly and said, "I
love you too, Spike."

***

They cleaned up at the small sink tucked into a corner of the
storeroom, dressed and returned to the training room.  The collar of
Buffy's jacket effectively hid the bite mark from view, but as soon
as they entered the room, Buffy heard a growl come from the couch
where Angel lay.  Looking over, she was shocked to find him in game
face, standing and moving unsteadily towards Spike.  "You son-of-a-
bitch," the elder vampire roared.  "You bit her.  Did you really
think I'd let you force yourself on her like that?"

Buffy stood in front of Angel and placed a firm hand on his chest. 
When he winced from the shock of the pressure against his wounds, she
quickly removed it again but held her place in front of him.

"Angel, calm down.  Spike didn't do anything I didn't want him to
do," she told him quietly.

Angel turned gold eyes on her and snarled, "You wanted him to bite
you?  Is that how you get off now?"

Buffy stiffened and she felt Spike move to her side, more than ready
to fight his grandsire.  "What Spike and I do is none of your
business, Angel," she told him coldly. 

Angel looked at her in amazement, his face sliding back into his
human visage, "I always thought you smarter than that, Buffy.  Don't
you see that by letting him bite you during sex, you're just making
it easier for him to kill you when he's ready to?"

Buffy and Spike reacted as if they were using the same brain. 
Rolling their eyes,  they groaned and shook their heads.  It was
eerie watching them react in so synchronized a manner.  "Angel for
the last time," Buffy sighed, "Spike is *not* going to kill me. 
Spike *loves* me.  And *I* love him.  You need to accept it."

Now Angel shook his head.  "Even if that's true, Buffy, even if the
impossible has happened and a soulless creature as evil as Spike has
somehow fallen in love with you, don't you see how dangerous it is to
allow him to drink from you?  What if he loses control?  What if he
drains you because he just can't stop himself?"

"He won't," was the simple answer.

"Buffy," Angel started again, but stopped when she held up her hand. 

"Angel, this discussion is over.  I trust Spike and he trusts me. 
What we do together is nobody's business but ours.  And Spike never
bites me unless I ask him to.  I know what I'm doing.  He knows what
he's doing.  So just drop it."

Angel looked at Buffy's calm, determined face and realized that he
had indeed lost this battle.  He was sure that sometime, probably
soon, he would receive a call from Sunnydale informing him that Spike
had killed Buffy, maybe even turned her.  He would feel no pleasure
when he was proven right, he told himself righteously.  But for now,
he washed his hands of the affair.  Buffy was determined to throw her
life away and there was nothing Angel could do about it except kill
Spike.  And he was in no shape at present to do that.  Shaking his
head, he returned to his couch and sank wearily down closing his eyes
to hide from the sight of Buffy and Spike together.  Unfortunately he
couldn't hide from the scent of sex and blood that wafted from them.

Xander had awakened when the shouting started.  He was surprised when
he realized that he wasn't surprised to find out that Buffy allowed
Spike to bite her during sex.  For the few seconds that the Vampire
Willow had had her fangs in his neck, it had been the most erotic
thing he had ever felt.  If he had a vampire lover that he trusted
not to kill him, he couldn't imagine anything hotter that to have her
drink from him during sex.  Sensing eyes on him, he turned his head
to see the young vampiress smiling at him sultrily.  He turned away
quickly even as he felt himself harden just from her look.  He was
glad he wasn't alone with her because he wasn't sure he could resist
her seduction.

Wesley frowned as he listened to the confrontation between Angel and
Buffy.  He was certain that Rupert wasn't aware that his Slayer was
allowing such risky intimacies from her lover.  Wesley would take it
upon himself at the earliest opportunity to inform Giles of this
dangerous practice.  Apparently Buffy needed to be protected from
herself.  That vampire really needed to be destroyed.

***

A taxi pulled up in front of the shop shortly before eight o'clock
delivering Giles and an anxious Cordelia.  Cordelia immediately made
a beeline for Angel checking to reassure herself that he would
recover, casting hate-filled glares at a mildly amused Vampire
Willow.  Willow and Tara arriving fifteen minutes later carrying
several boxes of assorted doughnuts.  As the gang ate doughnuts and
drank tea, coffee or blood, as taste dictated, they discussed exactly
what to do to return the vampire to her own dimension. 

"I'm not sure how we could do it, Giles," Willow was telling the
Watcher.  "I'm not familiar with the spell that Anya was using and
Tara and I couldn't find anything like it in the books she has in her
dorm.  I think it's best we wait until Anya comes to work and then we
can figure out how to do the counterspell."

Glancing over at the prisoner, Willow felt thoroughly creeped out by
seeing herself as a vampire.  And not a little intrigued.  She really
did make one sexy vamp.

***

As soon as the opportunity presented itself, Wesley cornered Giles to
inform him what had transpired that morning.  Giles closed his eyes
as if in pain when he learned that his foolish Slayer was allowing
Spike to drink from her.  He was well aware that biting was a common
practice between vampire couples, but that Buffy would allow it
disturbed Giles profoundly.

Buffy realized that Wesley was tattling on her as soon as she saw him
talking to Giles.  Well, so be it.  She knew she was courting trouble
when she had asked Spike to bite her this morning, but she had felt
the need to reestablish the tight connection the two shared and she
had been aware of Spike's jealousy and insecurity whenever she had
talked to Angel.  Allowing him to mark her while Angel was there was
the surest way she knew to prove to Spike that she loved him
completely and chose him over Angel.  However she now realized that
it had been foolish.  They had been so careful that no one suspected
he bit her when they made love.  Now it was out in the open and Buffy
was afraid she had just put Spike in even more danger from her
Watcher.  She only hoped that she could make Giles understand why she
allowed--no, begged--Spike to bite her.

Spike watched the two Watchers talking quietly together and
immediately knew from the expression on Giles' face what was being
said.  Well, the shit was going to hit the fan now.  He shouldn't
have listened to Buffy this morning when they were making love
regardless of how much joy her words had given him, regardless of how
much he had wanted to taste her.  He knew that Angel would know.  He
should have known that Angel would be a big drama queen about it
too.  If he made it through the day unstaked, it would be a minor
miracle.