Save The Last Dance

by Kathy3

Buffy and the Scoobies battle a vampire cult.

Just to clarify a couple of things:

I think that one day (hopefully soon), Buffy will realise that Spike is the one for her.  I can't have someone like that, so I'm living my life through a fictional character.  Sue me.

I started to write this after I saw 'Normal Again', so I know this is not how things are now, it just made more sense not to go back and change things as I went along.  It would have been far too confusing.

Spoilers involved if you are British and don't have cable.

This is my first fanfic, so please be nice.

Save The Last Dance

Spike stirred in his sleep and reached over to hold her.  There was nothing there.  He woke up slowly, looking over to where Buffy should have been.  He tried to hold on to the moment of amnesia before the truth hit him, as it did every time he woke.  Then, slowly, painfully, the reality washed over him.

"I'm sorry, William", he heard her say again.  He felt her hand on his cheek and saw the sorrow in her eyes as she had left him and, as he did every time he remembered, he felt the hole inside him get deeper.

Buffy opened her eyes slowly and noticed that it had gotten dark outside.  She was still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing when she got home from the Doublemeat Palace.  Bleary eyed and confused, she vaguely remembered climbing the stairs and collapsing on the bed.

"Dawn?" she called out.

"I'm in the kitchen", her sister shouted back, "you want something to eat?"

"OK.  I just have to take a shower and change first."

Buffy dragged herself off the bed and took her clothes off slowly.  She pulled on her bathrobe and looked around for a towel, ignoring the pile of clothes on the floor.  Ever since her encounter with her 'alternative universe' she had been even more apathetic than before and her mental strength was waning again.  For some reason, she had thought that finishing things with Spike would give her the strength she needed, the strength she had been struggling to find since she had been brought back.  But it had made no difference to her.  She was still drifting from day to day, working and slaying and trying to find some meaning to it all.

"I'm sorry, William", she remembered saying it and seeing his dead heart break before her eyes.  Why had she called him William?

Spike made his way thru the destruction towards his new refrigerator to get some blood.  As he stood drinking it, he looked around at his crypt, remembering the night it had been blown up by Buffy and the soldier-boy Riley.  That was the last time they had been together and he still hadn't got around to clearing up the mess; he just hadn't been in the mood for anything much except feeling sorry for himself.  He knew it was pathetic, but Spike had always been a sucker for love; when he fell, he fell hard and it wasn't easy to get it out of his system.  He knew he shouldn't dwell on his feelings, that it could only make things worse, but he kept coming back to that question, why had she called him William?  She had said she was using him and even though he said he wasn't complaining, it had been killing her knowing what she was doing to him.  Did that mean she cared?  Had she used his real name because she was beginning to see him as the man, not the monster?  Had she decided to finish it because she didn't want him any more, or because she didn't want to hurt him any more?  God, he was so confused at the moment, he didn't know what to think, he only knew how to feel and he felt empty.  It was worse than when she had died because this time, she had been his and had chosen not to be.  Spike threw the remaining blood across the room and strode across to the ladder.  It was time to sort his unlife out and the first thing was to clear up the mess Buffy had left in his crypt.

Buffy let the warm water flow over her, washing away the thoughts.  She put all her troubles out of her mind and enjoyed the cleansing feeling flowing over her body.  Unfortunately, as soon as she shut off the shower, it all came pouring back into her mind; her recent hallucinations, seeing and hearing her mother again, trying to kill her sister and her friends, and then, finally, the look in Spike's eyes when she had told him it was over.  It wasn't as if she had been in love with him, she told herself, but why did it bother her so much?  She had to finish it, she couldn't go on any more knowing how he felt and not being able to return the feeling; she had been hurting him.  Recently, she had started to look in his eyes and see something more.  Maybe that was why she had called him William; she didn't see him as the vampire she used to hate any more, she had started to see the man that he had been before he was turned and that had pained her more than anything else.  She could use Spike for sex, but she couldn't use William, she had too much respect for him, or for what she was starting to see in him.  Buffy pulled on her boots and pushed the thoughts from her mind.  The question she failed to ask herself was, which person did he want to be, Spike or William?

Dawn dumped the pizza onto a plate quickly, blowing onto her fingers.

"Ooooh, hot," she muttered.

"It's the oven that does that," Buffy said as she walked into the kitchen.

Her little sister smiled, "Yeah, you'd think I'd have worked that one out by now, huh?"

Things had been a better between them recently.  They had talked about Dawn's klepto stage and Buffy hadn't had any reason to pull her up on much since Riley's visit.  She hoped that Dawn was finally getting over the troubled teenager thing she'd had going and was making an effort.

"You patrolling tonight?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah.  It's been a bit dull recently, but hey, you never know who's out there trying to end the world," Buffy smiled a little, "After that little egg problem, it may even be your pal Spike."

Always ready to defend 'her pal', Dawn snapped back, "He was just looking after them for a friend.  He needs money, you know; blood isn't cheap."

"Okay, okay, I was just kidding.  Jeez, touchy much?"

"I'm sorry," Dawn apologised, "It's just you're so down on Spike and he's always been nice to me.  Someone has to be on his side."

"I don't see why," Buffy replied, "He is a vampire, remember?  Evil, grrr?"  She was suddenly a little uncomfortable with the subject.  "So, what're you doing tonight?  Going round to Janice's?"

Dawn recognised the deliberate change of subject, but played along.  "Nah, just thought I'd hang here, watch a couple of movies."  Inwardly, she cringed, hoping that Buffy wouldn't insist on some kind of a sitter, but her sister didn't seem quite with it and accepted Dawn's statement vaguely.

"Okay, I'll just get my stuff and get out of your hair, then.  I won't be too late.  See ya!"  Dawn watched her put her jacket on and go into the lounge to pick up her pack.

"Buffy," she called.

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

Buffy smiled and came back over to her sister.  She put her hand on her shoulder and gave her a little kiss on the cheek.

"You know I will."

Buffy pulled the front door closed behind her feeling better than she had done in a couple of weeks.  That was the first time Dawn had shown any sign of caring in some time and it felt good.

Later, Buffy was patrolling in one of the many graveyards in Sunnydale.  It was a clear night and the moon was shining high in the sky, almost a full moon she noticed.  It all seemed quiet, but something was not right; her spidy-sense was bothering her.  Just as she was about to give up and go home, she heard voices coming from behind a crypt over to her left.  Silently, she made her way over to it and using the wall as cover, she crept along, trying to hear what was going on.  Too many times before, she had leapt in with no idea what she was about to face, but this time, she had promised to be careful and she wasn't about to let Dawn down again.

"Are you sure this is the right amulet?" a deep voice said,

Oh great, Buffy thought to herself, another damn amulet.

"I'm sure," said another voice, female this time, "This is the one.  Let's get it back to Benedict."

"At least we found it before the full moon.  He'd have been really pissed if we'd had to wait another month."  There were at least three of them, Buffy thought; she'd better wait before she went in, just to see if they were going to be dumb enough to discuss the plan where anyone could hear.  She didn't have to wait long.

"Cool, couple more days and the Lord will have killed the Slayer and we'll rule Sunnydale," the female voice said.

"The world," corrected the first guy.

Now, that doesn't sound so good, Buffy thought to herself, I'd better get hold of that amulet thingy and beat some info out of these morons.  Stake at the ready, she leapt out from behind the crypt and took down the nearest plotter.  Yep, they were vamps all right and this one smelt like he'd been underground for years.  Before the others could move, she staked the vamp on the ground and jumped to her feet.

"Okay, now who wants to give me some information and who wants to be dusted?"

With a growl, the other two threw themselves at her, both wearing their game faces.  It was tough going for a while, and Buffy had to defend rather than attack until her superior fighting skills started to win her some ground.  The female vamp lost her balance as Buffy ducked her kick and she was able to get a good backhand punch in, taking her out.  She turned her attention to the other vamp, ducking another fist and grabbing his throat.  She slammed him hard up against a tree and pulled out Mr Pointy, holding it poised above his heart.

"Now, are you gonna tell me what that necklace can do, or do I have to hurt you some more?"

The vamp looked down at the stake.

"Okay, okay.  I'll tell you."  He hesitated.  His eyes flicked up, looking past Buffy's shoulder.  Out of pure instinct, she ducked, letting go of his neck.  As he also dropped out of the way, a large axe buried itself in the tree.  Buffy looked up to see the girl vamp struggling to dislodge it, her face determined and her eyes on Buffy.

"Are you crazy?  You could have killed me as well!"  the big vamp complained.

"Big deal," she replied, her eyes never leaving Buffy's face.  Buffy got to her feet, stake in hand, judging her opponent.  The girl had given up on the axe and was starting to circle slowly.  The big vamp grabbed the amulet from where it had fallen, turned and ran, but Buffy had to concentrate on the female vamp, who had just leapt at her.  She blocked a few punches, catching the girl's fist as it went past her face.  There was a tattoo on the back of it.

"What's this, huh?  You'll regret getting the body art when you get older."

"You are so dead, Slayer.  If I don't kill you, the Lord will," the vamp spat at her, kicking and punching desperately.  She was losing and she knew it.

"Sorry, been there, done that, bought the merchandising."  Buffy swept the vamp's legs out from under her with a low kick and in one fluid movement, brought the stake down into her heart.

Dusting herself off, Buffy decided that she'd had enough for the night; she wanted to get home and make sure Dawn was all right.  The vamp she had just killed hadn't looked much older than her sister and it had wigged her a little.  Shivering at the thought, she tucked her stake into her pocket, pulled her jacket around her and headed off home.

The next morning, Buffy called an emergency meeting of the Scoobies.  She had to get to work, but first she needed to explain what she had heard and get the others onto the research.  Xander and Willow sat on stools in the kitchen as she told her story over breakfast.  When she had finished, she showed them a sketch of the tattoo from the back of the vamps hand.

"They all had one of these on their left hands."

Willow took it from her.

"I'll get right on it.  Don't worry, Buffy, we're on the case."

"Hey, I'm not worried.  It's not like it's the first time any vampires have decided to take over the world, starting with Sunnydale.  No biggy.  I have to get to work, I'll see you guys later?"  Buffy grabbed her bag.

"See ya, Buff," said Xander.  As she left, he turned to Willow.

"Does she seem a bit not worried about this to you, Will?"

Willow shrugged, "Well, she's right; it's not like it's the first time."  She folded up the sketch and put it in her bag.  "I'm going to hit the net, see if I can't find anything on there first.  I can't face those books this time in the morning.  You coming?"

"Okay, it's not like I'm having any luck finding Anya.  I might as well join in the research fun."

Willow pulled him to her and hugged him tight.

"We'll find her and she'll be so happy to see you after all this time, she'll forget all about that icky leaving her at the altar thing."

Xander visibly winced, "Gee, thanks, Will.  Way to make me feel bad."

"Oooh, sorry," Willow looked sheepish, "Buy you a doughnut?  Jelly?"

Xander perked up a bit, "Okay.  Let's go."  He put his arm around her shoulders as they left, taking comfort in her friendship, knowing that no matter what happened with Anya or Tara, they would always have each other.

That evening, Dawn, Xander and Willow had just settled down on the sofa in front of the TV, when Buffy arrived home from work.  She kicked off her shoes and peeled off her jacket, throwing herself into a chair.  She sighed.

"Thank God that's over.  Day off tomorrow."

"I think you may need the rest," said Willow, "from what I've read about this cult thing, we're going to have some work to do tomorrow night."

Buffy sighed again, "Okay, I'll bite.  What cult thing?"

Willow scooted forward on the sofa and pulled her books towards her on the coffee table.

"I haven't found out much so far, but I did find a picture of that tattoo on the web.  Apparently, the vamps you met last night were members of a cult who have been searching for this amulet for a couple of centuries.  There are some references to the raising of the Lord, but not much info on what or who that might be."

"Oh great," Xander said, "another cult of vampires with an amulet and ideas above their station."

"Yeah," Willow agreed, "only this vampy cult believe that they need the blood of the Slayer to bring this Lord to life."

"Well, they aren't going to get that without a fight," Buffy smiled, "but why do we only have until tomorrow night?"

"The text I found refers to the full moon, so I'm guessing that whatever ritual they have to do has to take place under a full moon.  Tomorrow is the last night before the full moon this month."

Xander looked a bit confused, "So why doesn't Buffy just stay out of their way until after the full moon, then go after them?  That'd give us more time."

"I don't know, I thought Buffy would want to go get them, but, you know, if you don't th-then, we can wait and I can find out more about this whole thing."  Willow looked at Buffy.  There was a silence.

Dawn piped up, "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is, you stay here and keep out of trouble while I go and take out these vamps before they cause more trouble.  I don't want a bunch of culty bloodsuckers hanging around the Hellmouth longer than they have to."  Willow nodded her agreement.

"I was kinda hoping Spike would have more information, but he isn't here yet, so that's all I've got."

"What?" Buffy looked up in surprise, "You asked Spike to come over?"

Willow looked at her, puzzled, "Why?  Did I do wrong?  I just thought, you know, him being a vampire and all; he might be able to tell us something.  Plus, he was alive when this cult was at its height.  He might know about the Lord."

"Oh, yeah, of course.  I'm sorry.  I'm just a bit jumpy right now, what with the whole 'blood of the Slayer' deal.  Wh-when did he say he'd be here?"

"He didn't.  He just said maybe he'd make it.  He looked kinda weird when I asked him."

"He's always kinda weird," Xander added.

"I'm just gonna go and get changed," Buffy said, getting up from her seat and grabbing her bag.  Dawn watched her climbing the stairs.  She had guessed that something was going on between her sister and Spike, but she hadn't mentioned it because no one else knew and they hadn't told her anything.  But she wasn't stupid.  She'd seen the way Buffy had been looking at Spike and she'd heard things they'd said to each other.  But now, her sister didn't seem very anxious to see him, almost as if she was afraid and that wasn't like Buffy.  Even when they'd been trying to hide things from everyone, Dawn had seen her sister's eyes light up a little when she heard Spike mentioned.  Had something happened?  Maybe she'd ask Spike when he turned up.  Dawn knew he would; he could never miss an opportunity to see Buffy.  As she thought this, as if on cue, the doorbell rang and she caught a glimpse of blond hair through the glass in the door.

"I'll get it," she said, jumping up from her seat.

"Hey Spike," Dawn said as she opened the door.  Her smile faded a little when she saw him, but she recovered quickly and stepped back to let him in.  He looked like he hadn't slept for days and his face was pale and drawn, almost as if he had no blood in him.  Maybe he hadn't eaten in days, either.

"Hey, little bit," he smiled back and ruffled her hair as he walked past her.

"Quit it," Dawn complained, pretending to be angry with him and trying to smooth her hair back into place.

Totally at home, Spike dropped down onto the sofa between Xander and Willow.

"Hey, Red, how's it going?"

"I'm gonna go get a soda," Xander stood up quickly and went in to the kitchen, throwing a look back at the vampire as he went.  Dawn rolled her eyes and went to sit next to Spike.

"Buffy's just getting changed," she informed him.

"Oh?" he was trying to be disinterested, but Dawn had seen him start slightly at the name.  He was on edge. "So, what's this all about, Red?"  Spike leaned over the books, feigning an interest.

"We were wondering if you know anything about these guys?" Willow replied, sliding the sketch of the tattoo over to him.

"Wow, haven't heard anything about these buggers in a couple of decades."  Spike leaned back and lit a cigarette.  He knew Buffy would be mad, but pissed was better than nothing.  Dawn passed him an ashtray absently. "They're into raising a sort of vampire messiah.  Load of bollocks if you ask me."

"Well, obviously it's not, or we wouldn't be asking you for information, would we, genius?"  Buffy came down the stairs, her arms folded defensively in front of her.  God, she looked beautiful, Spike thought to himself, a bit tired, but beautiful.  He watched her hips swaying as she moved across the room towards him and felt as if he was being suffocated.  The world seemed to slow down for him; he could see every strand of her hair moving in time with her body's motion, her arms held tight across her chest as if she was trying to keep something held inside her.  Buffy snatched the cigarette swiftly from between his fingers and stubbed it out in the ashtray on the table.  The world speeded up again.

"I told you before, do not smoke in my house."  She was pissed, but it felt good to have provoked the emotion, to provoke any emotion in her.  He smirked.

"Sorry, luv, must have slipped my mind."

"So, what about this cult then, huh?" Dawn jumped in.  She didn't want to see them argue, there was obviously something deeper going on, and she didn't want Xander and Willow to see it.

"Oh, yeah.  Well, they think they can find this special amulet, see.  Have you noticed how it's always an amulet?" he noticed the look on Buffy's face and continued, "anyway, they think with this amulet and a bit of the Slayer's blood, they can raise up a sort of super-vampire who will lead them to ultimate power over humans and demons."

"Super in what way?" Xander asked from the kitchen door.

"Well, super in that sunlight won't kill it, holy water doesn't do much except get it wet and a stake to the heart would just piss it off."

"So, kinda like the effect the ring of Amarra had?"  Willow looked worried.

"Worse.  This super-vamp would be stronger and a lot hungrier than any other vampire you've ever come across.  Probably has other powers I don't know about, too."  Spike looked around at the gang.  "So, obviously, there are some wankers around here who think they've got the amulet, right?"

"Right.  And we think they're going to try and raise the Lord on the full moon."  Buffy tried to stay all business.  It was easier that way.

"Gotta love that full moon," Xander joked.

"Okay, so what are we waiting for?"  Spike got up from the sofa and opened Buffy's weapons chest.  He threw her a couple of stakes and took an axe and some more stakes for himself.

"Hey, who put him in charge?" Xander asked, looking a little pissed.

"It's okay, Xander, he's right.  We have to get this cult before they come after me.  I don't want them coming round here."

"Well, okay, but I'm coming with you.  There might be a lot of them."

Spike handed him another axe.  "You can come with us, but try not to get in the way, Mr Love-'em-and-leave-'em-at –the-altar."  The hard punch took him by surprise and Spike was on the floor before he knew what hit him.  He looked up and realised it was Xander.  Buffy had grabbed his arm.

"If he's going to help us, we need him in one piece, Xander."

"I know, but one more crack like that and I'll stake him."

"Xander!"

"No, luv, it's okay.  I deserved that." Spike got to his feet. "I'm sorry, mate.  I hope you find her soon; she's a beautiful girl."  He held out his hand to Xander.  The room went silent as everyone looked at Spike.

"What?  I'm just trying to be nice."

Willow shuddered, "Well don't; it's creepy."

"Fine, are we going or what, Slayer?"  Spike strode to the door, trying not to look at anyone.  He wrenched it open and stood waiting for the others.

"Okay.  Willow, can you stay here and look after Dawn?"  Buffy turned to her friend.

"Sure, no problem.  We'll be fine, won't we Dawnie?"

"Sure we will.  Go get the bad guys and we'll order pizza when you get back."

The two girls settled back on the sofa as the others left.  Dawn watched them go, noticing how Spike watched Buffy as she walked past him and how she seemed to go out of her way to avoid brushing into him when she passed.

Two hours later, Buffy, Spike and Xander were still trying to track the big vamp from the previous night.  He had left an obvious trail through the graveyards, but once they got back onto roads, they had to guess as to his next move.  Spike was getting more and more edgy.  He couldn't take his eyes off her, no matter how hard he tried and he was starting to think she'd noticed.  The way she moved so gracefully, her eyes when she smiled, the way her lips curved down slightly when she was concentrating.  God, her lips.

"Spike?"  Xander was looking at him strangely.

"What?"

"You've gone all mean and moody on us.  You're not thinking of being nice again, are ya?"

Spike sighed.  He was tired and not up to a fight with Xander.

"Just drop it, Harris, all right?"

Xander looked at him closely and seemed to relent.

"Okay, man.  Sorry."  He walked off to join Buffy who was trying to pick up the trail again.  There was something wrong with the vampire.  Usually, he would have jumped at the chance of an exchange with Xander; it was unnerving to see him like this.  He glanced back at Spike and registered the way he was watching Buffy.  So, that was it; Spikey was still moping around after the Slayer, making a fool of himself.  As long as that was all, Xander didn't care; he could mope all he wanted.  He dismissed the thought and turned back to Buffy.

"So, which way now, fearless leader?"

"I think he was heading for the old factory on the edge of town," she answered, looking up ahead of them.

"How original.  Now why didn't we think of that before we spent half the bloody night traipsing round town after his sorry arse?" 

Xander jumped.  He hadn't heard Spike wander up behind him.  Buffy hadn't reacted to him at all.

"I'll go round the front and check it out, you guys go in the back and see what's going on there."  Buffy grabbed Spike's arm as he started towards the building.  He stopped in his tracks and looked down at the small, powerful hand holding him back.  The ache inside him intensified and he fought it down, forcing himself to look her in the eye.

"Don't do anything for now.  We're checking the situation.  No heroics, okay?"

"You got it, Buff," Xander interrupted the moment with his goofy grin, "I for one do not intend to do anything heroic until absolutely necessary."

Spike glared at him.

"Spike, did you hear me?"  He turned back to Buffy.

"Sure, luv.  No heroics, no leaping in unprepared, no risks and no fun."

She met his gaze for a few seconds, then turned away.

"Okay, let's go."

Spike watched he making her way around the building, her movements compact and efficient, her small body flowing under her clothes.  He shook himself slightly and tried to focus.  Had he seen something just then in her eyes or was he just hoping for more than there was?  He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and turned to the job in hand, making his way to the other side of the factory with Xander.

Buffy had found her way into the factory with out any trouble; the vampires hadn't even posted guards.  What is it with bad guys these days, she thought to herself, time was you couldn't just walk into the evil lair and make yourself comfortable.  Back in the day, even Spike wouldn't have been that sloppy.  Spike, what was she going to do about Spike?  She couldn't have him around all the time; he still affected her too much.  And she had noticed the way he had been watching her.  If he couldn't concentrate, he could get them all killed. 

She made her way up onto one of the gangways, high above the ground.  The building had been mostly gutted, so it wasn't much more than a huge room.  At the other end of the gangway she could see Spike and Xander making their way slowly and carefully towards her, on the lookout for movement below.  Spike moved economically, like a hunter, which she supposed he was with or without his chip.  She watched him, forgetting to keep an eye out for the bad guys, remembering when that body had been next to hers, holding her, making her feel alive again.  He looked up for a moment and their eyes met.  He smiled at her; a perfectly normal gesture, but it sent a shiver through her.  Then he seemed to remember himself and scowled a little, turning his attention back to the floor below.  Buffy mentally shook herself and did the same.

Below them, against one of the walls was a crude altar, draped in black with a large book lying open on it.  Of course, it had to be black, thought Buffy.  Spike sidled up alongside her.

"Ooh, black.  How bloody original," he whispered, his lips close to her cheek.  She smiled slightly.

"What?"

"That's just what I was thinking," Buffy turned her face to him.  He smiled back.

"Great minds, luv."

Buffy looked into his blue eyes and wanted to kiss him again; she wanted to feel his cold flesh against her warm body, moving together.  She looked away from him and moved off slightly.

"There's no-one here.  Let's go and have a look at that book."  She headed towards the end of the gangway and Xander followed, apparently unaware of what had just happened between them.  Spike stood quietly for a moment, trying to stop his head swimming.  Being that close to her again, smelling her wonderful scent, sharing a thought with her, it had almost been good again.  But she was still denying him.  He couldn't do this any more; he wouldn't.  As soon as they got out of here, he would tell her as much and leave them to it.  Of course, he wouldn't leave Sunnydale, not as long as there was a chance of seeing her from a distance or as long as Dawn needed him, but he wasn't going to patrol with her any more.  It hurt him too much.

A noise at the front of the factory snapped him out of his reverie.  Buffy and Xander froze ahead of him as the door opened and five vampires came in, carrying a sack.  In the gloom, Buffy could just make out the shape of the sack; it looked like a body.  That couldn't be good.  She glanced up at Spike.  He was still, his eyes following the movements below.

"Put it down in the corner," it was the big vamp from the night before.  The figures moved past the altar and dumped the sack on the hard floor.  Buffy heard a small groan and could now see bound feet sticking out from the bottom.  With the vampires down there, they couldn't move without being noticed.

"I'm starved, let's go catch us somethin' to eat," the answer to her prayers.  The vampires were so confident, they were going to go off and eat, leaving their prisoner alone.  Buffy tapped Xander gently on his arm, making as little movement as possible.  He moved his eyes to look down at her hand.  She gestured towards the prisoner and Xander made a thumbs up sign.  The vamps were just leaving.  Buffy looked up at Spike; they had to go after the vampires.  He understood and acknowledged with a nod, moving towards her.  They had just made it to the end of the gangway and out of sight of the floor when the door banged open again and the big vamp came flying back in, landing on his back in the dirt.  Edging her way around the piece of wall they were behind, Buffy carefully checked out the new situation.  At least twenty vampires followed their leader into the building.  The head vampire was short, but tough looking and, predictably, was dressed all in black.  His eyes glinted menacingly at the big guy he had just thrown to the floor.

"And where do you think you're going?"  His voice was low and menacing.

As the big vamp desperately tried to find an answer, Buffy slid back around the wall and turned to the others. She showed them ten fingers, and then again.  Xander's face drained and Spike swore under his breath.

"Let's go," she mouthed. They both nodded and started to make their way down and out of the factory as quietly as possible.  Luck was on their side; the head vampire was blowing out the three for wanting to leave the prisoner unguarded and was making enough noise to cover their exit.

When they got far enough away from the building, they stopped.

"We need reinforcements," Spike said, stating the obvious.

"And we need a plan," Xander added.  Buffy nodded.

"Now we know where they are, we can come back tomorrow night with a plan and get that guy out of there."

"What?  That's all you're gonna do?  Get the guy out!" Spike shook his head, "No, we can take them all out if we have some backup and a decent plan.  You can't just leave this; they're going to come after you."

"I can stay out of their way until we have a better chance," Buffy disagreed.

"Well, I won't let you put yourself in danger again," Spike could feel himself getting irritated with her stubbornness.  She'd always been able to get to him that way.

Buffy moved closer to him and looked him right in the eye, "You can't tell me what to do; you don't own me."

Spike opened his mouth to tell her that he did, and then shut it again, throwing a glance at Xander.  He was watching them, confused.

"Is there something going on here I should know about?"

Buffy stepped back, "No, Spike's just being a jerk.  We are going to go home and work out a plan, then we are going to come back here, early tomorrow night and get that guy in the sack out of there."  She walked off towards home.  Xander and Spike both recognised the determined stride and didn't argue.  As they both turned to follow her, Xander spoke.

"Great, Spike, now you've got her pissed."

Spike gave him a quick slap upside the head and immediately regretted it as the pain hit him.  Xander just grinned and followed Buffy.  Spike straightened up from clutching his head and sighed.  He trailed along behind at a distance.

Willow looked up as the guys came back in.  She jumped up, looking eager.

"Dawnie's gone to bed, she was wiped.  So, you got them?"

"No," Buffy took off her coat, "there's a whole big gang of them, so we got out of there before they saw us."

"We're gonna go back there tomorrow with a plan and backup," Xander shuffled his feet, slightly uncomfortable, "so could you ask Tara if she'd come along and do some of that witchy stuff to help us out?"

"Oh, uh, sure," Willow smiled slightly, "I think she'd like that.  I'll call her tomorrow."  She didn't care if Tara said no; at least she'd have an excuse to speak to her. Spike noticed her smile and smirked to himself; he knew the feeling.

Xander threw himself into a chair.  "Okay, the plan?"

Everyone made themselves comfortable and started to discuss the possibilities.  After a while, they were so engrossed in the conversation, they didn't notice a vampire's face at the window.

At about midnight, they took a break.  Buffy went into the kitchen to get some sodas.  As she closed the refrigerator, Spike appeared at the door.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"I have to talk to you."

"Spike, don't start now.  I'm tired and I have to get this worked out before tomorrow."

"Just listen for a minute, I'm not going to cause trouble.  I just want to talk."  He looked so dejected, she took pity on him for a moment.

"Okay, shoot."

"Right, yeah.  I… Okay," Spike wasn't sure where to start, "I just wanted to let you know th-that after this is over, I can't help you any more." He dropped his gaze. "I can't be around you, it hurts too much.  I'm just gonna keep out of your way."

Buffy looked up at him, he seemed genuine.  She reached out to touch his cheek.

"Spike…"

He pulled away before she could touch him, grabbed the sodas and turned to leave the kitchen.

"Bloody hell," he muttered as he left, slamming the sodas onto the coffee table and throwing himself down to sit on the floor.  Buffy came in and sat back in her chair.  She avoided his eyes.

"Right, so, the plan."

"Yeah, the plan," Willow glanced at the vampire and Buffy, puzzled at their behaviour. "We'll get there as soon as we can after sunset, Buffy will go in the front and check it out.  If there are only a few vamps there, we'll go in and Buffy and Spike'll take them out.  Then we get the prisoner and run."

"What if the whole gang is there?" asked Xander.

"That's where Tara will come in," Buffy replied, "I think she's got enough power to create a glamour around us, so we won't be seen.  We'll have to go in armed, in case it doesn't work, but our priority is to get the guy out, no matter what happens.  If we can get the book as well, that'd be good, but don't do anything stupid.  Okay?"

Outside, the vampire's head disappeared into the shadows.

The next morning, Buffy woke to hear her sister crashing around the house, getting ready for school.

"Dawn?" she called out.  Dawn's head appeared around the door.

"Morning, Buffy.  You want some breakfast?"

"No thanks, I'll get myself something later," Buffy looked at the clock, "You're gonna be late."

"It's okay, I'm going now.  See ya later."  Dawn bounced over to her sister, bent down, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and headed out to school, glad that it was a Friday.

Buffy lay back on her pillows and tried not to think about Spike.  As he left the night before, he had told her that he would always be around for Dawn, but she knew she wouldn't see him much after they had done with the cult.  He had made his decision and this time, Buffy was sure he was going to stick with it.  This wasn't like the other times he had said he was done with her.  When he had told her in the kitchen, he had seemed so determined and so tired; his eyes had been empty and weary.  Buffy sighed.  So it was really over.  She thought that he would always be around; he always had been before, even when there had been nothing between them, but it looked like this time he was gone for good.  Buffy dragged herself out of bed and hoped that he wouldn't leave Sunnydale altogether; something inside her needed to see him sometimes.  She shook her head and grabbed her bathrobe; a shower would make her feel better.

When Dawn got home from school, Buffy explained what was going to happen that night.  She wanted her sister to go and stay with a friend, but Dawn insisted that she wanted to stay in the house in case anything happened.  She said she wanted to stay by the phone.  Buffy relented, but made sure that one of Dawn's friends could come round and sit with her, just to make sure.  They had an early meal and sat waiting for the others to arrive.

There was a loud banging at the back door and Dawn jumped up to get it.

"It's Spike," she knew his knock.

Buffy followed her into the kitchen, just in time to see Spike burst in through door, his blanket smoking.  Dawn stood aside, waving a hand in front of her nose.

Spike emerged from under the blanket.

"Hey, little bit," he said casually.

Buffy folded her arms, "Why didn't you just wait until sunset instead of coming here and stinking up my kitchen?"

"I thought we'd want to leave as soon as the sun went down, so I got here early."  He lit a cigarette.

"I've told you about that before; put it out."

"What?  I didn't think you'd mind, what with all the smoke in here already."  He was trying to act like his normal irritating self, but it was killing him seeing her standing there looking so beautiful.  And so pissed at him.  He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss those pouting lips until she…

"Spike?!"

Buffy had said something.  What had she said?  He was going to look like a right pillock now.

"What was that, luv?  I missed it."

"I said seeing as you're here, you can sort out the weapons."  Buffy turned to go, then stopped.  "Dawn, could you give me a moment, please?  I need to talk to Spike about tonight."

Dawn looked at Spike.  He nodded slightly.

"Okay, I got a heap of homework, anyway.  I'll be upstairs."  She bounced out of the room, throwing another quick glance at her vampire friend.  He smiled.  She knew; the little bit wasn't stupid and she knew him better than anyone did, even Buffy.

"I thought the plan was settled last night, luv."

"I don't want to talk about tonight," she folded her arms again, "I wanted to talk about what you said yesterday."  Spike shifted uncomfortably.

Buffy stepped up to him, "Why can't we go back to the way it was before?"

"What, before we started shagging?"  He met her eyes, trying to piss her off.  She just sighed.

"Don't try and be tough.  I don't want you to disappear; you're a good fighter and we work well together.  We need your help sometimes.  And Dawn needs you; you promised to protect her, remember?"

"And I'll never break that promise.  I care about Dawn and I'll always protect her, but I'm no use around you any more; you've hurt me too much.  I'm going to get someone killed." Spike lowered his eyes again.

"All right.  If you want it this way, I'll go along with it." Buffy turned to leave again.  She got to the door and stopped.  Looking back at the forlorn vampire, she felt sorry for him again. "I'll miss you."  Then she left.

He still had time before the others got there, so Spike allowed himself a few tears.  He was so tired, he had to let go a little.  He didn't hear Dawn come in.

"Spike?"

He looked up quickly and wiped his eyes.

"Hey, Niblet.  Thought you had homework to do?" Spike blinked a couple of times, trying to clear his eyes.  He reached for his cigarettes again.  Dawn came over and put her arms around him, holding him close.  Momentarily surprised, he didn't know what to do.  When Dawn squeezed him a little tighter, he wrapped his arms around her and held her back, a little comforted by her friendship.  He had always liked her, and in this moment, he realised that he loved her as if she was his own younger sister.  Dawn pulled away a little and looked up at him.

"She'll come round.  She's crazy about you; she just doesn't know it yet."

"Thanks, kid, but I don't think so," Spike smiled at her, feeling more tears coming.

"Well, even if she doesn't get it, I still love you."

Spike hugged her close again, "I love you both, Niblet; you're my girls and you always will be.  It's just too hard to be around your sis right now."

"I know," Dawn stepped back, "but you'd better come around and help me with my history once in a while."

"You know I will," he smiled.  He draped his arm over her shoulders and they went into the lounge together to sort out the weapons.

Janice arrived just as the others turned up and Buffy made sure they were settled down in front of the TV with plenty of munchies.

"Enjoy yourself at the Bronze, guys," Dawn called out as they were leaving, winking at Spike.  They had hidden the weapons outside in the greenery before Dawn's friend turned up.  Spike smiled at her.

"We will," he said, winking back and closing the door behind him.

"He's cute," said Janice.

"Tell me about it," replied Dawn, reaching for the popcorn and pressing play on the remote.

Outside, the gang collected up the weapons and the magic supplies and headed towards the edge of town.

"Thanks for coming along, Tara," Buffy said, "I just hope we won't need you."

"I-it's okay.  I've kind of missed this," she looked over and smiled shyly at Willow.  Xander grinned; seeing the two of them sorting out their problems gave him some hope for his future with Anya.  If his best friend could sort out her life and be so strong, he could do it too.  He just needed to find Anya and explain how he felt.  Explain better than he had the last time.  He knew he had probably blown it big time but he realised now that he needed her; whatever was happening in his life, he wouldn't be strong enough to face it without her.  He was starting to get choked up just thinking about her face, so he pushed the image aside and tried to think of the job ahead.

They reached the factory about half an hour after sunset.  Crouching in the shadows, they quietly went over the plan one more time.  Buffy started out towards the building in one direction, Spike went the other way.  Buffy got to the front first and eased her head around the door.  There were about ten vampires inside, a couple of them guarding the prisoner in the corner.  They were all drinking, passing around a couple of bottles of what looked like whiskey.  It seemed like there was a party starting.  She couldn't see the boss.  At the other end of the factory, she could see Spike checking out the situation.  He gestured towards where the other Scoobies were hiding outside.  She nodded and they both made their way back.

"Tara, you're up," Buffy whispered as they got back.  Tara already had her magic supplies laid out and was ready to go.  Within a couple of minutes, they were ready and making their way to the back.  The prisoner was closest to the back door.  They took up their positions with Xander, Willow and Tara in the middle, Buffy in front and Spike in the rear.  Tara whispered a couple of words and threw something up into the air to cover them all.

"Is that it?" whispered Xander.

"Should be," Tara replied.

"Let's find out."  Buffy readied her stake and pushed the door open just enough to slide through the gap.  None of the vampires had reacted so far.  The group silently worked their way round the walls towards the prisoner in the corner, growing more and more confident in the glamour as they went.  Buffy had reached the first guard and started to edge around him, pressed close up against the wall to try and avoid touching him. Spike took up a covering position, just in case.  Tara followed Buffy.  As they got to the sack in the corner, Tara whispered again and threw some more powder into the air.

"Now!" 

The voice had come from behind him.  Spike whipped around to face the vampires who were heading their way.  He dusted the first one, who hadn't reacted to his presence at all.  So the glamour was still working.  He spun and dusted another one.  As he turned again, some sort of scented powder hit him in the eyes and he felt something hit him hard in the stomach.

"Shit!" he shouted out, "the glamour's gone!"

He was fighting two vamps now.  A quick glance around showed him that Buffy had managed to take down the two guards, leaving her fighting three and Xander taking on one.  As he looked around quickly again, punching one of his opponents in the face and feeling his nose break under his fist, he saw Buffy dust one more.  Tara and Willow had untied the sack and were helping a young man to his feet.  By pure chance, Xander managed to knock the feet out from under his vampire and made a run for the book.  The vampire on the floor grabbed his ankle and took him down.

"Xander, leave it!" Buffy shouted.

Tara gestured in Xander's direction and the vampire was shoved violently across the room by an invisible force.  Spike staked another vampire and started to back up.

"Time to leave, boys and girls!"

Reinforcements had arrived.  There were only four of them, but that put the odds against them again.

"Let's go!" Buffy's voice rang out.  Spike delivered a last, vicious kick to the remaining vampire's face and made a run for the door.  Buffy had dispatched her two opponents and was helping Tara and Willow.  Xander was on his feet and running.  Spike saw the girls reach the door and turned to check on the vampires.  They were closing.  He desperately threw one of his stakes at the closest and saw him explode into dust.  Then he joined the others running.  He grabbed the prisoner's other arm and he and Buffy practically dragged him to the trees.

From behind them, they heard a voice shouting, "Let them go, we have a better one right here."

"Why are they giving up?" Buffy asked.

"I have no idea, luv and I don't bloody care.  We're alive."

They carried on towards home, carrying the young man they had saved with them.  He didn't have any ID on him, and from his clothes they guessed he was homeless.  Just some homeless guy the vampires had grabbed to use for God knew what.  Halfway back, he came round and practically screamed.  He shoved Buffy away from him and backed away.

"What now?  What the fuck are you doing to me now?"

Willow tried to approach him, holding her hands out to him gently.

"Get away from me, you freaks!" he screamed and ran off.  Spike started after him, but Buffy stopped him.

"Leave him."

"There's bloody gratitude for you," Spike grumbled.

"Yeah," Xander agreed, then looked slightly embarrassed.  He wasn't used to agreeing with the blond vampire.

Tara touched Willow's arm, "Let's get back and check on Dawnie."

They all turned back towards home, walking together in silence.

"Why are all the lights off?" Buffy looked worried and started to run to her house.  Spike was right behind her.  The door had been forced and was standing open.  Buffy and Spike slowed and took up positions on either side of the door.  He nodded at her and she went in, fast and alert.  Spike covered her.  The others hung back, knowing they would just get in the way.

"Oh my God!  Dawn!" Buffy screamed.

Xander, Willow and Tara raced into the house.  Buffy was on her way up the stairs, screaming her sister's name.  Spike was kneeling on the floor next to Janice's unconscious body.  He was rocking backwards and forwards, muttering, "Not again, no; not again.  I promised.  Not again."

Buffy came down the stairs slowly, her face blank.  She walked over to sit next to Spike and checked on Janice.  She was starting to come round.

"Janice, honey.  What happened?" Buffy helped her to sit on the sofa, as Willow went to get some ice; there was a nasty bump coming up on the girl's head.

"Oh God, Buffy.  I'm sorry.  These weird guys just came in her and took her.  We tried to stop them, but there were about six of them.  God, Dawn was screaming."  Janice looked up at Buffy, tears streaming down her face, "They were vampires, weren't they?"

"Vampires?" Buffy forced a laugh, "What d'you mean? Vampires?"

"I'm not stupid, Buffy; I know what goes on in this town.  Those vampires took Dawn.  Oh God." Janice started to cry again.

Tara came over and put her arm around the girl.

"I'll take her upstairs and ring her mom.  We'll tell her you're staying here tonight, okay sweetie?"  Janice nodded and let Tara lead her upstairs.

Buffy turned to Spike.

"Spike?  Spike?" she took his shoulders gently, "Spike, I need you.  Snap out of it."  He didn't react to her voice or her touch, he just kept rocking and muttering to himself.  Buffy hauled back and punched him hard.  His head rocked back and when he looked at her again, he was himself.

"Spike, we're gonna have to go get her.  Whatever they're doing, they have to do it tomorrow night.  We have to get her tonight."

"Yeah.  Yeah, that's right. We'll go get her," he visibly pulled himself together and stood up.

Buffy stood with him.  "Tara can stay here and look after Janice.  The rest of us, grab some more weapons and we'll head out as soon as we can."

"That's the plan?  Mount up and head out?" Xander looked around at them, "Call me crazy, but we're heading out to get ourselves killed."

Spike was on him in a second, knocking him off his feet.  Willow and Buffy tried to grab him, but not before he had hauled back and punched Xander.  Spike fell back, holding his head in agony.  He glared over at Xander.

"Listen, Harris; we are going in there and getting Dawn out.  I don't care who bloody dies; I'm not breaking my promise again."

Xander sat up and looked at Buffy.

"I'm sorry, Buff; I didn't mean we shouldn't go.  I was just …"

"It's okay, Xander.  I know."  Buffy helped him to his feet.  She turned to Spike and held out her hand to him.  He took it and she hauled him up.  He went over to the weapons chest, opened it and held out a couple of stakes towards Xander.

"There you go, mate."

Xander took the stakes from him, unable to meet his eyes.  Willow came down the stairs.

"Tara says she'll stay with Janice and put up a protection spell after we leave."

Buffy shouldered her axe and opened the door, "Okay, let's go,"

Dawn came to slowly.  She didn't open her eyes for a moment and lay there, registering the sounds.  After a few seconds, she peeped out from under her eyelids, trying to get an idea of where she was and why.  She was on a dusty floor in what looked like a very large room.  In front of her, she could see a man sitting on some sort of box and over to the left of him was another.  As she became more aware, Dawn realised that her hands were tied behind her back and if she stretched out her fingertips behind her, she could feel a wall.  Her feet were also bound.  Carefully, so that they didn't know she was awake, she moved her head down slightly to try and get a look past her guards.  She could see another pair of guards across the room from her and assumed there must be another prisoner.  There was a confused noise from a number of low voices muttering somewhere else in the room.  Great, she thought to herself, I'm in the factory with those vampire cult guys.  Dawn remembered they had smashed their way into the house and knocked out Janice when she tried to stop them.  Dawn was pretty sure she had managed to get to the weapons chest and stake one of them, but after that it was all a little hazy.  She made a mental note to get Buffy to show her how to fight if she ever got out of this one.  This was starting to happen once too often.  Somehow, this cult must have found out the plan and had known that she would be alone in the house that night.  But why did they want her?  Buffy had said it was the blood of the Slayer that they wanted, not the little sister of the Slayer.  Dawn closed her eyes again and pretended to be unconscious; she needed time to think.

Buffy crouched in the undergrowth.  She checked her watch; it was almost 2 am.  On the way to the factory, they had come up with a simple but dangerous plan.  Spike was going in one door, she was going in the other, and Xander and Willow were going to provide backup.  The idea was for Buffy and Spike to take out as many vamps as possible on their way in, trying to thin the numbers a little. Xander and Willow were to stick together and pick off any injured vampires the others left in their wake.  It wasn't the best plan they had ever come up with, but it was the best they had.  Spike was just mad enough to take out most of the nest himself.

Buffy glanced over at the other three.  They were readying themselves; checking weapons and exchanging whispered comments.

"Ready?" she asked.  They looked at her and nodded.  Willow looked scared but determined, Xander had his 'let's go get 'em' face on and Spike, well Spike looked plain murderous.

"Let's go," Buffy ordered and they moved out.  Xander and Willow followed her as Spike sprinted to the other side of the building.  As she had done earlier that night, Buffy reached the door and paused, easing her head around to check things out.  She saw Spike doing the same on the opposite side.  Dawn was in one corner, guarded by two vamps.  She looked as if she was unconscious.  In the other corner was another prisoner, also guarded.  In the middle of the room, she could see a group of about twenty vampires sitting around, talking.  Buffy looked up at Spike.  He nodded and threw the door open, racing towards the head vampire.  All heads turned in his direction.  Then they whipped around to see Buffy coming at them from the other side, followed by Xander and Willow.  Stupidly, most of the vampires went for Buffy because she had the backup and seemed more of a threat.  After a few moments of intense fighting, some of them realised that Spike was equal trouble and turned to face him as well.

Spike allowed himself a little smile.  They hadn't allowed for that distraction in their plan, but he had dusted two because of it.  He was enjoying this.

"Meet you in the middle, Slayer," he shouted and laid into his three opponents.  Luckily for them, some of the group had taken up positions guarding the two prisoners, so they were fighting less than they had expected.  Buffy was sticking to the plan and not going for the kill; she was taking the vamps down as fast as she could and leaving the fallen for Xander to stake.  Willow was watching his back.  They had taken out three so far, but the fourth was posing a problem.  He hadn't been as whipped as they had thought as was fighting back.  Xander's stake went flying from his hand as the vampire punched him, Willow bent to pick it up and was knocked viciously to the ground by another vamp.  Xander saw her hit the floor unconscious and called out her name.  He rolled off his opponent and grabbed the stake as the vampire threw himself onto him.  By sheer luck, the stake was ready and Xander was left blinking the dust from his eyes.

"Willow!" Xander got to his feet and pulled out another stake, ready to protect his best friend.

Spike was in trouble.  He was on his back, struggling to stop the vampire on top of him taking his head off with a large hunting knife.  I'm dead, he thought to himself.

"Buffy!" he shouted, "Get Dawn out of here, now!"

Buffy glanced over and took in the situation.  Spike was down and fighting for his life, Willow was out cold and Xander was only just fending off a vampire who was trying to get to her.  Buffy herself was fighting three vamps.  The others were guarding either Dawn or the other prisoner and staying out of the fight.

"I can't!" she shouted back, desperately.

Bloody hell, this is it, Spike thought.

"Stop!"  the voice rang out, echoing around the empty factory.  Everyone froze, "Put down your weapons or I will kill this girl!"

"Buffy!" Dawn was struggling against the head vampire, trying to free her hands.  The vampire on Spike stepped back and let him stand.  He saw Buffy drop her stake and did the same.  Xander was kneeling at Willow's side, whispering to her.  There was blood on her forehead.

"Tie them up," the leader smiled.

Buffy turned to look at Spike and he saw the desperation in her eyes for only an instant before someone hit him from behind and he blacked out.

Spike awoke to a burning sensation on his leg.  He jerked back, pulling himself away from the small shaft of sunlight coming in through a hole in the ceiling.  There was a groan next to him and Willow slid sideways, her head landing in his lap.  The blood from the cut on her head had dried down the side of her face and in her hair.  She looked pale.

"Red?  Red, are you okay?"

Willow murmured something incomprehensible and her eyelids fluttered a little.

"Spike?  You're awake; thank God," Buffy was sitting against the wall next to him.  She was tied up with chains.  Spike glanced down and realised that they all were.  These guys obviously weren't taking any chances.

"What now?" he asked, hoping she'd come up with something while he'd been out.

"I have no idea," she replied, "I was kinda hoping you'd come up with something."

He shrugged and looked sheepish.  Xander's voice came out of the gloom from the other side of him.

"What the f… Oh, yeah," he groaned, then "Willow!"

"It's okay, Harris, she's right here.  I think she's coming round."

Dawn looked at Buffy.

"Thanks for coming to get me, I appreciate it and all, but um, we're gonna die, aren't we?

"No!" Buffy and Spike replied at the same time.

"It's okay, Dawn, we've been in worse places than this.  Anyway, they didn't bring you here to do anything to you; they wanted me.  They need my blood and the only way to get me here was to have you." Buffy tried to reassure her sister, but she knew it didn't sound so good.

"Buffy, I'm not a child.  You think they're just gonna let me go when they've got your blood?  'Sorry to have troubled you, but now we've raised the super-vamp you can go home and try not to let our evil-conquering-the-world-plan bother you too much'?  I don't think so."

"Tara?" Willow raised her head a little and tried to clear her vision.

"Easy, Will," Xander was still concerned, "Just keep still till you feel less woozy."

"Yeah, I'm not complaining," Spike smirked at Xander, "lovely girl unconscious with her head on my…"

"Spike!" Buffy was glaring at him.

"What?  I'm just trying to lighten the mood here."

"Well, don't."

Willow was trying to sit up, but it was difficult with her hands chained behind her back.

"Little help here?"

Spike pulled his knees towards him, using his legs to lift her most of the way.  Willow straightened up and gave him a quick smile of thanks.

"Are you okay, Will?" Xander was trying to get a good look at her head in the semi-darkness.

"Yeah, just feel a bit stupid and headachey."

Dawn was looking around.  Things were pretty much the same as they had been earlier, except that all the vampires were on the other side of the factory and if they moved around at all, they had to avoid the occasional beams of sunlight coming through gaps in the walls and ceiling.  No one was guarding them directly.  As there was no threat of a further attack, the vampires were obviously getting more confident.

"I'd say it's about 7 am." Buffy stated.

"And you know that how?  Don't tell me you can read those vamps watches from this distance." The whole situation was beginning to irritate Spike.

"The sunlight - it looks like early in the morning kind of sun."

"Oh, sorry.  I wouldn't know."  Spike replied.  He tried to move in his chains, but they'd been pulled tight enough to prevent it.

Three of the vampires were coming over, one with a brown bag in his hand.  He put it down and went over to Dawn, pulling her forward and unlocking her chains.  He threw the bag at her.

"Feed your friends, girlie," he told her, "Gotta keep you nice and fat for the Lord.  He's gonna be good and hungry when he rises."

Dawn opened the bag and brought out some slightly stale sandwiches and a couple of cans of soda.  She made her way around the group, sharing the little they had.  She ate last, knowing that she was the least use in a fight and would need less than the others.  There was silence for a while after they had eaten, during which the vamps came back and chained Dawn up again.  The three of them wandered off again, confident that their prisoners weren't going anywhere.

 "Red, have a look behind me and see what they've got holding this chain," Spike's voice was low so he wouldn't attract attention.  He shifted forward slightly as Willow leaned back, trying to look casual.

"There's a big padlock just above your hands."

"Is it an old one?" Spike kept his eyes on the vampires as she checked.

"Yeah, one of those rusty things with the lock on the front." Willow confirmed.

"Good.  Buffy, shift around a bit so you can get your hand in my pocket."

"What?" Buffy looked about ready to kill him.

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes.  "There is a penknife in my pocket.  Get it out and use it to get the bloody padlock open."

"And here was me thinking you were trying to lighten the mood again," Xander said sarcastically.

Buffy shifted around so that her back was towards Spike.  He scooted over a little until she could feel his jeans under her fingers.  Everyone watched the vampires and tried to look like nothing was going on.  Buffy fingers brushed against the top of Spike's thigh as she tried to find his pocket.  He glanced down and watched her hands as she slipped them into his jeans and started to feel around for the knife.  A breath he didn't need caught in his throat for a moment.

"For God's sake, Spike," Buffy muttered to him.  He smirked to himself; this was a good plan.  All too soon, she found the knife and took it out, fumbling slightly as she opened it.  Spike shifted around and she felt for the lock.

"Okay, how do I do this?" she whispered to him, turning her head.  He could feel her breath on the back of his neck and he shivered slightly.

"You need to try and feel the point where you catch the cradle mechanism with the knife.  Then you should be able to turn it until the lock lets go.  Haven't you done this before?"

"No, I usually just kick the door down."

"Oh yeah," Spike smiled to himself.  That's my girl, he thought.

A couple of hours later, Buffy was still struggling with the lock.  It was driving Spike insane, feeling her body squirming against his every time she tried to turn the knife.  Dawn, Willow and Xander had gone to sleep, exhausted from the previous night.

"Give me the bloody knife – I'll get you out first," Spike whispered.

"No.  They're going to want my blood and they'll use Dawn to get it.  If I'm free, they'll know something's going on.  If you're free, you can protect Dawn, so I don't have to worry about her."  She was obviously determined.

"Well at least take a break; you're not doing a lot of good back there."

"Okay," Buffy sighed and leaned back against him, "It never ends, does it?"

"That's what you get for being one of the good guys, luv."

"You never had that problem, did you?"  Buffy shifted around, trying to get a little more comfortable on the dirt floor.

"Not until I met you," Spike smiled, "since then, I've been chipped, had the crap beaten out of me and nearly staked a few times.  Oh yeah, and my crypt was blown up."

Buffy looked irritated, "You don't have to hang around, you know.  Nobody asked you to be a hero."

"Can't go back now, luv."

"Why not?  You don't want to do this anymore – you told me.  After this you're out of here, right?"  Buffy turned away and attacked the lock again.

"You know I couldn't leave and you know why.  I love you."

Buffy sighed, "I know."  She went back to picking the lock.

Spike's head dropped to his chest.  There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the sound of metal against metal.

"Why did you call me William?"  He felt her body tense against him and she fumbled with the knife, dropping it in the dirt between them.

"I don't know," she replied, sincerely, "I think it was because… I like William."  Buffy paused and took a deep breath, "I think I love William." She began feeling around on the floor for the knife, ignoring him again.  Spike's mind went blank for a moment and he sat staring into the gloom.

"Got it," Buffy's voice seemed to come from miles away through a sort of fog; he didn't even notice that the chains were being loosened.

"Hey, Spike; don't let it go to your head.  Get me out of here." He shook his head and took the knife from her, touching her fingers as he did so.  It didn't take him long to get her lock undone; he'd had plenty of practice over the years.  He turned around to look at her.

"Did you mean it?"

Buffy looked him in the eyes and he could see the pain showing again in the little light there was.

"Yes, I did.  But I can't love you."

"It's not enough?"

"No, it's not.  I'm sorry."

Spike shifted away from her, pushing the hurt from his mind.

"Red?" he nudged Willow.  She woke slowly, blinking to get used to the low light. "Turn round, I'm gonna get the lock."  Willow nodded.

Within half an hour, Willow was working on Xander's lock and Buffy was waking Dawn.

"We'll get you untied and then we're getting out of here," she told her sister.

"How?" Willow asked.

"I'm working on it," Buffy replied.  She had no idea, but fighting their way out looked like the only option at this point.  With no weapons, it would be tough, but the vampires wouldn't have a hostage this time and they would have surprise on their side.  She started to scan the inside of the building, trying to formulate the best plan of action.

"Buffy.  Something's going on." Dawn was watching the vamps.  They had taken the hood off their other prisoner and were dragging him to the altar.  He was younger than their previous victim; he looked more like a college student and he was terrified.

"Buffy?" Spike was getting ready to fight, loosening his chains even more.  Buffy glanced over at Willow.  Xander wasn't free and Willow had noticed the vampires; she was starting to look panicky.

"No, not yet.  We've got to get Dawn and Xander free first."

They turned their attention to the vampires again.  The leader was preparing something on the altar, checking details in the book as he worked.  The other vamps were looking nervous.  One of them was drawing a symbol in the dirt around the prisoner, copying the design from a piece of paper in his hand.  The leader turned and faced his congregation.

"It is time."

Some of the cult looked uncomfortable and shifted nervously.

"Benedict?" one of them spoke up, "We kinda thought we had to wait till the full moon?"

Benedict laughed quietly.

"Any fool can perform a ritual when there is a full moon in the sky.  I have been studying this since before you were even mortal.  It can be performed whenever and wherever we have the correct implements for the task." He moved towards the vampire who had spoken, "We were only waiting for the Slayer and now we have her." His hand came up and slashed across the vamp's throat, a knife glinting slightly.  The vampire looked surprised for a moment, then burst into dust as his head left his body.  Benedict turned to the rest of the group.

"Never question my decisions."  He turned back to the altar.

"So much for the full moon," Spike commented, more pissed than ever.

"We have to get out of here now." Buffy looked over to Willow again.

"I've got it, I've got it," her face dropped, "no, I don't."

"Give it to me," Spike started to shift over towards Xander, his face determined.  Willow scooted herself out of the way.

"Buffy, we can't go now," Dawn was trying to wriggle out of her chains as she watched the vampires, "It's daylight."

"What's that got to do with it?" Buffy frowned.

"Spike."

Buffy looked over at the blond vampire as he worked on Xander's lock.  He felt the padlock let go, glanced up at her and winked.  The whole plan was lost if they couldn't get out of there together, Buffy knew.  She motioned with her head for him to come over to her.

"What's the plan, luv?"

"We can't get out of here, it's daylight," she whispered, still watching the vampires.  They seemed to have started the ritual.

"Okay, we'll just have to take them all out, then," Spike replied, "You and me'll get as many as we can and Xander and Willow can look after Dawn."

"We'll need weapons," Buffy glanced around.

"Wood, over in the corner."

"Okay, that's almost a plan.  Right, you get Dawn untied and I'll let the others know.  We head straight for that corner and make a stand there, okay?"

Spike nodded quickly and shuffled over to Dawn.  He was concentrating so hard on the lock, he didn't notice Benedict heading over to them.

"Spike!" Dawn warned.  They watched as the head vampire came over and grabbed Buffy.  Another vamp followed and picked up Dawn.  Spike was about to get out of his chains and go for both of them, when he saw a warning in Buffy's eyes.  He nodded slightly and relaxed back to the floor.  Buffy didn't want Dawn hurt; they had to get her little sister out of the chains and away from the vampires before they could attack.  So Spike watched as the cult dragged his girls over to the altar. 

Dawn was taken to one side and held by two of the vampires, while Buffy was brought to stand in front of the altar.  She was still pretending to be chained.  Benedict smiled slowly.  He stood in front of Buffy, his game face on, smirking at her predicament.  Buffy smiled back at him, confident that she had the upper hand; he didn't know that she was free.  He leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"When were you planning on attacking, Slayer?"

Buffy's breath caught; he knew and she was surrounded.

In one swift movement, he was at her neck, feeding.  Buffy's head flew back, her eyes wide with surprise, her arms coming up to fend him off, the chains dropping to the floor.  Spike was on his feet and running, his chains also hitting the dirt.  Xander and Willow were right behind him, heading for Dawn.  Spike threw himself at Benedict, knocking him off Buffy, who dropped to her knees.  Fuelled by the Slayer's blood, Benedict sprang back to his feet and backhanded Spike viciously, sending him flying into the group of vampires.

"Hold him there; I must finish the ritual," Benedict commanded.  He strode past Buffy, who was still on her knees, clutching her neck.  The vampire approached the young man who was being held by two others and dropped the amulet over his head.  Still smiling slightly, blood on his mouth, Benedict leaned in and sank his fangs into the student's neck.  The young man struggled against him, terror and pain in his eyes, getting weaker and weaker until at last he was drained.  Benedict let him drop to the floor and turned to Buffy.

"You will be his first meal, Slayer, when the Lord rises."

Buffy got to her feet slowly, her eyes clearing.  She faced him down.

"In your dreams," and she attacked.

Spike was surrounded.  He had held them off and was backing slowly towards the corner.  Desperately, he punched a vampire in the face, spun and kicked out at another two approaching him.  Looking past them, he could see Buffy forcing Benedict onto the defensive, kicking and punching repeatedly at his face.  He obviously wasn't a fighter; she'd probably make short work of him.  Willow and Xander had freed Dawn and were running towards the corner, two vamps hot on their heels.  On the way past, Xander launched himself at one of the vampires attacking Spike, knocking him to the floor and punching him hard in the face.  Spike was almost to the corner.  He could hear Willow and Dawn breaking up some of the wood.

"Xander!" Dawn shouted, throwing a makeshift stake to him.  Xander missed it, struggling with the vamp below him.  He rolled off his opponent and grabbed the stake, desperately throwing himself forward and burying it in the vampire's chest.

Spike had reached the corner and grabbed a couple of stakes from Willow.  He could see Buffy still pressing Benedict, driving him in their direction.  Dusting one vamp, he checked on Dawn over his shoulder.  She had a broken piece of wood in one hand and was watching the fight, standing ready to dust anything that came within range.  Willow and Xander were fending off attacks from a couple of vampires, which left Spike fighting three - no more than he could handle.  Things were looking up.

Buffy spun and kicked Benedict.  He staggered away from her into a wooden beam.  Buffy kicked out hard at him again, but he moved clumsily out of the way and she connected with the beam.  It broke under the impact.  Buffy heard a noise and looked up; the roof of the old building didn't look too sound and she'd just taken out one of the supports.  Nice work, she told herself.  Benedict was scrambling to his feet.  She leapt onto him, pinning him to the floor.

"Stake!" she yelled, looking up at the others, fighting not too far away in the corner.  Spike heard her, dusted a vampire and hurled the stake in her direction.  She caught it and put it to Benedict's chest.

"You will die, Slayer," he spat at her, struggling.

"Yeah?  Not before you, buddy."  She brought the stake down into his heart and stood up as he burst into dust beneath her.  She looked over to her friends as Willow killed another vamp.  Spike was pinned against the wall by one of his opponents, as the other one moved in to finish him.  Dawn shouted his name and hurled herself onto the one holding him.  She stabbed down once with her stake, missing his heart, pulled back and stabbed again, falling to the floor as he turned to dust under her.  Spike punched the other vamp, dusting him as he span around.  He helped Dawn to her feet.

"Thanks, Niblet," he smiled at her and was immediately knocked off his feet by Xander who had been thrown aside by the last vampire.  Buffy jumped in, aiming a roundhouse at his head.  Bringing up her stake, she plunged it into his chest and turned to her friends.  Spike and Xander picked themselves up off the floor as Willow and Buffy went to Dawn.  Buffy held her sister close, stroking her hair.  Dawn squeezed her back, glad it was over.

"Er… Buffy?" Xander sounded worried.  Buffy turned to see what was wrong and saw Spike grabbing a couple more bits of wood, staring at something behind her.

"Bloody hell, that was quick," he muttered.  Buffy spun round and saw the student getting to his feet.  He was a vampire.  Spike came up beside her, pushing Dawn behind them to protect her.

"How do we kill it?" she said to him.

"All I know is we have to get the amulet," he replied, his eyes sweeping the factory quickly.

"Yeah," Willow said, "we have to destroy the amulet, cut off its head and burn the body parts.  Then we bury the ashes in a sacred place."

"Can we just do the cutting the head off first and worry about the rest later?" Xander asked.

"I hope this is better than the full moon information," Spike commented.

Buffy and Spike readied themselves.

"You go for the amulet, I'll do the head thing," Buffy told him, "you two keep an eye on Dawn and come in as backup if we need you,"

Xander and Willow moved out from the corner to give themselves more space.  They watched the Lord carefully.  He was checking out the altar, his back to them.

"I'm going for the knife – you'll have to get him away from the altar," Buffy said.  She looked up at Spike, "And be careful."

He smiled, "Didn't know you cared, luv."

"I don't.  I just don't want you to screw up and get me killed," Buffy almost smiled back. She turned and started to make her way around the building, trying to stay out of the vampire's eye line.  Spike waited for her to get far enough away from him.

"Oi!  Over here!"

The vampire's head whipped around and he spotted Spike.  Immediately, he was after him.

"Oh, bugger," Spike muttered when he saw the speed of the thing.  Just in time, he ducked out of the way and saw the vampire's fist smash into the beam where his head had just been.  It shattered into splinters and a small shower of dust fell from the ceiling.  It wasn't much of a fight; it was all Spike could do to keep out of the way.  He was backing up towards the wall of the building, desperately avoiding the punches and kicks.  As he felt the wall against his back, he threw himself to the side, narrowly avoiding the vampire's boot.  It went straight though the flimsy wall and a ray of sunlight burst through, hitting Spike's arm.  He scrambled out of the way, rolling over to put the fire out.  Buffy, where are you, he thought, hurling himself in the opposite direction to avoid another punch.

Buffy had reached the altar and grabbed the knife without being seen by the vampire.  The Lord may be bigger and stronger than most vamps, she thought, but he was just as dumb.  Off and running, she saw Spike being hurled into another beam, breaking it with his body and hitting the ground hard.  He groaned and just managed to roll away as the vampire tried to stamp on his head.  More debris fell from the ceiling.  Buffy heard other beams creaking around her and Dawn screaming as some of the roof fell to the ground just beside her.

"We have to get out!" Willow yelled, "It's not going to hold!"

Buffy brought up the knife and aimed it in a wide arc at the Lord's neck.  He whirled around and caught her wrist in mid swing, twisting it viciously.  She dropped the knife and brought her other arm up, punching the vampire in the face.  His head snapped back, but when he looked at her, he was smiling.

"Is that the best you've got, Slayer?  I'm gonna enjoy tasting you." 

He picked her up effortlessly by the wrist and hurled her across the room.  She hit the wall and heard the building creaking again.  Picking herself up painfully, she saw Spike hanging on around the Lord's neck, punching him in the head and trying to reach the amulet.  As if Spike were a mild annoyance, the Lord reached back and grabbed his collar, lifting him high above his head.  He seemed to consider for a moment, then he brought his arm back and launched Spike into the air.  Spike hit the walkway above and fell to the floor, the impact breaking some of the supports holding the walkway.  It started to collapse.  Buffy launched herself at her sister, knocking Dawn off her feet and into Willow and Xander.  All three landed in a pile and watched as the metal and wood of the walkway fell ponderously towards Buffy.  She was trying to scramble out of the way, but it was too late; a large metal bar landed on her legs, pinning her to the ground.  She cried out.

"Buffy!" Spike threw himself to the ground next to her and tried to lift the bar off her, "Harris, help me!"

"Look out!" screamed Willow.  Spike turned and saw the plank of wood just as it hit his face, throwing him backwards.  The Lord turned away and made for Dawn.

Xander and Willow stood ready, but they didn't stand a chance against him.  Willow landed heavily against the altar and Xander was unconscious before he hit the door, knocking it open, the daylight flooding in.  Buffy was screaming incoherently and trying to get out from under the metal bar as she watched her sister trying to fight the vampire.  Spike dragged himself to his feet and started to run.  He threw himself at the Lord, but was caught in midair and thrown to the wall again.  He pulled himself up and smiled crookedly at Buffy, tossing the amulet towards her.

"Got it," he croaked, blood dripping down his face. 

Picking up the knife from where it had fallen, he turned back to where the other vampire was standing.  Daylight was flooding in through the doorway and the Lord was standing in the bright, wide beam.  Dawn was struggling, but her arms were pinned behind her and he was bending her back, ready for the kill.  Spike looked back at Buffy struggling to free herself, her face contorted with the pain from her legs.

"I love you, Buffy," he said, then pulled his coat over his head as far as he could and headed for the door.

Buffy looked up and saw him running.  The Lord dropped Dawn as Spike hit him, and they rolled together further into the sunshine. Spike was on the floor with the Lord on top of him.  Spike could feel the burning starting all over his body and hoped he would last long enough; if he didn't Buffy and Dawn were dead.  With his last strength, he brought the knife round hard and fast, his hand smoking, and the super vampire's head dropped from his body.  Spike looked over to Buffy as he burst into flames.  He had kept his promise and saved his girls.  Now he could rest.

Buffy watched as Spike's body turned to dust.  Looking into his eyes, she saw him smile as his face burnt and then crumbled to dust.  Vaguely, she could hear Dawn screaming.  Over by the altar, Willow was stirring.  She crawled over to Buffy painfully.

"Destroy the amulet," Buffy whispered to her.  Willow nodded and picked it up.  Pulling herself to her feet, she went to the altar and raised the large book above her head, slamming it down onto the amulet.  She kept on dropping the book onto it until it was crushed entirely.  Willow went over to Xander and knelt by him, checking if he was okay.  He moaned slightly as she touched his face and he opened his eyes, flinching at the sudden light.

"Help me with Buffy," Willow said.  Together, they grabbed the biggest piece of metal they could carry and used it as a lever to lift the bar enough for Buffy to pull herself out.  Both her legs were broken and her right ankle didn't feel too good.  Willow looked around.

"Where's Spike?"  she asked.

"He's dead," Buffy told her, dully, "get me something to splint my legs.  I think this may be one of those things where I have to go to hospital."

Xander started sorting through the wood.  Willow went to Dawn.  She was sitting in the sunlight next to The One's body, staring at the dust blowing away in the breeze.  The tears were pouring silently down her cheeks.  Willow knelt next to her and gently put her arms around the girl.  Dawn didn't react, she just sat there rigidly in Willow's embrace.

"We have to get Buffy to the hospital, Dawnie," Willow said softly.

"Okay," Dawn stood up slowly and went to her sister, kneeling down next to her.  "He loved you," she whispered.

Buffy met her gaze, "I know," she replied and she felt the hole inside her get deeper.

Buffy lay in the hospital bed staring blankly at the ceiling.  She had insisted they burn the Lord's head and body before they brought her here.  Xander and Willow were burying the ashes separately at the back of a graveyard as she lay there.  Willow had even insisted on collecting up what was left of the amulet and burying that in a different graveyard, just to make sure.  Dawn was somewhere in the hospital, probably getting something to eat.  She was still very upset and hadn't even been able to mention Spike's name since she had watched him die.

Buffy kept seeing his face in her mind as he burnt up – it was like a movie that kept rewinding and playing over and over.  In the last year, he had become a part of their group, he had been her lover and in a strange way, he had been a friend.  She hoped that in those last moments, he had found his soul and become William once again.