She felt the sharp pain of teeth piercing her jugular. The unmistakable pull as her life was pulled out of her artery, stolen from her heart. Slurping sounds came from below her ear, the sounds of Spike too eager to drink all her blood.

"Help," she cried out, voice sore but still loud enough to be heard throughout the house. "Help!" she yelled again.

The door banged open and Tara charged in, quickly assessing the situation.

She held up her hand, whispering a spell, her palm glowing violet. A purple line outlined Spike, and he was lifted off Dawn who quickly grabbed her neck. With a crash, Spike flew out the window, sent careening off the roof and onto the darkened lawn below. Glass sparkled around him, strewn across the grass.

"Well, just one more thing that needs to be fixed in this house." Tara smiled. "You alright, Dawn?"

Dawn winced as she nodded. "It wasn't that bad. He didn't have enough time to do too much damage…thanks. But, why would Spike do this? I thought he was good."

Tara sighed. "That's what I'm going to find out."

"What?!" Dawn exclaimed, alarmed. "You're going to leave me here alone? After that? Where are you going?!"

"I'm going to see Willie."

Tara stood in front of the demon bar. She took a deep breath. "You can do this. You can do this." She said to herself, trying to instill some confidence. It wasn't working.

She had placed an enchantment on Dawn's room, so that nothing could enter as long as she remained in the room. Should keep her safe until I get back.

Taking in another steadying breath, she entered the demon bar.

At first, she didn't know where to look. The bar was on her left, tables on her right. There were all kinds of demons and creatures drinking a vast assortment of drinks; some looked friendly, others looked completely hostile.

She walked calmly towards the bar, sidestepping a demon with tentacles for arms and what looked like a monkey face.

She stopped and sat in an empty chair, swiveling it so she was facing the shelves behind the bar, covered in differently colored bottles of the various demon drinks.

Willie stood on her right, briskly rubbing the counter with a wet towel, cleaning up a minor spill. Noticing her watching, he asked, "Can I get you a drink?"

"I'm here for information," Tara said with a smile.

"Well, I'm afraid I can't give you any. See, I keep my customers' business private."

"Hmm, well, I'm friends with Buffy. I could go get her and she could get the info out of you…"

Willie looked nervous.

"…or you could politely tell me what I need to know, and then we go our separate ways."

"O-okay," Willie said quickly. "Just hurry before someone hears us."

"I need to know about Spike. He just showed up at our house and attacked us. Before now, he was fine. What could cause this sudden change?"

Willie leaned in close. "I've seen a black-cloaked figure a few times. I've heard stories. This same thing has happened to two other demons in the past week. I think he's been drugging them…I saw him lean over Spike's drink…but my angle wasn't so good, so I couldn't see what he did."

Tara nodded. "So…what kind of demon is he?"

"Well, I haven't yet seen what he looks like under that cloak…but I hear he's a Ferrildi demon named Sagar. These Ferrildi demons…not so nice. Now, I don't know what kind of drugs he used, but I here they can secrete some type of mind-controlling liquid. If he'd dried this stuff and placed it in these guys' drinks…instant mind-control I'm guessing. Now, I know it's not solid evidence, but it's all I got! Now please, let me get back to work."

Tara nodded, placing a five on the counter. "Thanks."

She turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm.

"One more thing," he said, still whispering. "I hear he's taken up a spot downtown. It's an abandoned building made of red bricks…just go down an alley across from the jewelry store. Don't know if this is true…but if you're looking for him, it's worth a try."

She smiled again and left the store.

Tara followed Willie's somewhat accurate directions. It turned out there was no alley across from the jewelry store, but she quickly located one not too far from that location, and entered into its narrow, shadowed depths.

The sky was dimly lit by stars above, and barely any light entered into the alleyway, so she had a hard time not stumbling over bits of strewn garbage. She heard a squeak as a rat scampered away from her feet, and she instantly thought of Amy. I wonder what she's up to now.

She could faintly make out a door coming up on her left, and as she approached it, she could make out the outlines of rectangular bricks, dimly colored mahogany. This was the place.

There was no doorknob, so she tried pushing it, and it instantly gave way, scraping open with a loud metallic squeal. Well, if they didn't know she was there now, they'd be deaf.

She quickly said a spell, an orb of pulsing, white light appearing in front of her. It bobbed slowly up and down, casting sufficient light in the building so she could see it was completely empty.

There were a few metal beams leaning precariously on a ledge above her, more scattered across the floor along with other debris. But, no demons.

She quickly walked up the metal stairs to the second floor, coming to the same conclusion. This floor looked more used, as to the sleeping bags on the floor, so Willie must have been right. But, where were they now?

She walked back downstairs and closed the door behind her. The light orb burst in a staccato flash as she ended the spell and walked down the alley.

Dawn groaned. She was stuck in her room with no TV and nothing to do. Tara expected her to just sit here? Yea right.

Dawn got up from her bed, lifting one leg gingerly through the broken window. She leaned out, stepped through, and stopped on the shingles. Then she jumped onto the soft grass with a thud, landing solidly on her feet. She'd had plenty of practice doing this.

She brushed herself off to make sure she looked clean, and looked up.

She gasped. A cloaked figure stood in front of her, three people behind him. One of those people was Spike.

"Wh- what are you doing here?" She asked nervously.

"Now, now, little girl. Don't you know you're not supposed to talk to strangers?" The cloaked figure swung an arm, hitting her over the head and knocking her unconscious.