The mansion towered over the three friends as they exited Oz's van, the hues of sunset doing nothing to soften the gothic monolith.

"Tell me I'm doing the right thing." Buffy twisted her hands together.

"You are. We are," Willow said as she rubbed Buffy's arm.

"I'm petrified." Buffy sucked in a breath. "I'm terrified that he'll go back on his promise and just kill the two of you for sport."

"If he does that, you take Oz's van and you run. You get your family, Xander and Giles and run." Willow kissed Buffy's forehead. "We should get this over with."

"Here goes nothing." Oz slung his backpack and guitar case over his shoulders then picked up his amp.

Willow picked up her suitcase and laptop case and took Oz's free hand. "What does that even mean? Here goes nothing? I have to say that this is something that's going. Doesn't it mean we think we'll fail? That's no way to think. We will not fail. This will be a success even if I have to rain fire down to make it so."

Oz kissed Willow's hand. "I meant it more in that we already failed, and this is our concession."

"Oh, well, that makes sense."

Buffy gave the couple a wistful smile. She would miss them both so much.

It was Oz who knocked on the door, and it was a minion that answered. "Master is through here."

The three of them followed and found Spike in the garden, back facing them. "I hear three heartbeats. Does that mean you want something else, slayer?"

"In a sense." Buffy stood in front of her friends. "We want you to take a blood oath to keep your promise."

Spike turned to face them. "Let's take a gander at what you brought me." Willow smiled weakly at Spike as he studied her form. "Over here, Willow."

Willow held her head high as she went to stand behind him.

Buffy put her arm in front of Oz. "You don't get Oz until you swear with your blood that you'll stop attacking the town and protect the Hellmouth."

"I swear by my blood to stop mass attacks on Sunnydale and help keep the Hellmouth closed." Spike bit into his wrist but the drops of blood never hit the ground, but rather disappeared in sparks of light that glinted off the gem on his exposed hand, arm and throat. "Now get out of here before I kill you, slayer."

With one last look at her friends, Buffy nodded and walked stiffly out of the mansion.

"So they gave me the witch and the wolf?" Spike circled the two. "The two most powerful soldiers outside the slayer. I got the better part of this deal. Though since I promised to help keep the Hellmouth closed that means I will have to lend your services to the bitch from time to time."

Oz stood there unperturbed setting his things down, giving Willow the strength to not react to Spike's obvious attempts to rattle them. She put her bags on the ground carefully.

"Before we begin, I need to ask a question. Which one of you would like to be a doctor and which would like to be a computer programer?"

Willow looked at her feet. "I'm good at both medicine and computers."

"Then you'll double major, freeing the wolf here to go into accounting and psychology. The two of you will be well rounded and useful pets." Spike ran a finger down the side of Oz's face. "Let's talk rules. First, I demand a verbal answer when I speak to you. You will address me as Master. And if you're awake and I'm there, you will look to me unless I say otherwise. Always state what's on your minds. I want to hear what you think, about your emotions, because you are mine and so everything you are, including what's on the inside, belong to me too. I will punish you as I see fit with or without cause. Work toward the goal of anticipating my wants and needs. I think that's a good place to start, don't you?"

"Yes, Master," the couple said in unison.

"Good, now here's what I know for sure about what will happen to you after the ritual: you'll be immortal and will only die if I do which is very unlikely, or if I'm the one doing the killing; you'll have heightened senses, though I'm not sure how much more for the wolf; you'll be as strong as me; your magic, Willow, and your wolf, Oz, will answer to me; and you'll heal faster." Spike pursed his lips for a moment. "Here's what I don't know. I have all kinds of new tricks, and I don't know if you'll be able to use those or not. I'm sure you're already aware of many of them: invulnerability, shapeshifting, mind reading, teleporting. Now here's what you don't know: I don't need an invitation, I have a reflection again, garlic is delicious, I don't need to feed as often, I don't sleep, and I can fly. After the ritual, I don't know how these powers will manifest or not in the two of you. So who's up for an experiment?"

"Can't lie, I'm intrigued… Master," Willow said with pensive expression.

"Me too, Master." Oz nodded, internally chafing at calling anyone Master.

"Then let's get started. Do we need to go over the details of the ritual before we begin?" Spike asked as he slipped his fingers through Willow's hair.

"No, Master, we both know what to do." Willow's breath caught when her gaze met with Spike's two inches away. His eyes glimmered in the failing light like they were made of glass.

"Totus EGO sum est totus vobis," Willow said as she bared her neck to Spike. She winced when he bit her, but it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would. When he drew back, she was smiling. "Nifty." She leaned against the vine covered wall to stay upright. She kept her eyes on Spike as he bit into his wrist again, when he offered her that wrist, she didn't hesitate to cover the wound with her mouth. Her tongue laved the wound, drinking down every drop she could before it closed.

"That's it, love." Spike ran his fingers through her hair some more, keeping their gazes locked. Her lips were speckled with blood when she lifted her head.

"I feel… wow," Willow looked at her hands as she willed them to turn into paws. Soon she was completely transformed into a wolf with white fur streaked with red. Then she was herself again. "This is so cool. There's so much I want to do."

"Feel free, pet," Spike said.

"I think I'll wait for Oz, oh um, Master. I will get used to that. I promise."

Spike laughed at her exuberance.

When Spike looked at Oz, the wolf said, "Totus EGO sum est totus vobis." The bite felt right to Oz, like he'd been missing something before. His member, now half hard, surprised him. He'd never been into guys, but this reaction was as much about Spike's body pressed against his, as it was the bite. Drinking Spike's blood hardened Oz even more. He was drunk on Spike's power when Oz kissed him. Spike spun Oz and pressed himself more securely against the wolf, trapping him between the wall and his body.

The scent of Willow's tears pulled Oz away from Spike. "Willow, I'm sorry."

Spike let his wolf go to their witch, smirking at their pain and guilt. He watched Oz apologize and hold the girl. She was more than prepared to forgive Oz, and Spike wondered why. Neither of them were looking at him, but Spike could wait to punish them for that infraction.