2. Imprisoned.

"This way Slayer. "

Angels grip was tighter than it had been earlier and Buffy hissed as he pulled her forward and farther into the room. The room itself was L shaped and they walked into the larger, more open part. It was now that she could see who the voices belonged to. Sat at the head of a large table, flanked by two women, one blond the other raven haired, was William the Bloody.

Buffy swallowed hard and her eyes widened. She knew who he was, she had read countless books, well not books more like encyclopedias, on all the master vampires in the world but not one of them had contained a picture or illustration of him. She was not expecting him to be so young and handsome. Buffy had imagined him being bald, bat faced and his face permanently shifted to that of his demon. Instead, he was pale, naturally, he had sharp angular cheekbones and a maculine jaw with eyes so blue summer skies would have envied him.

A sharp tug on her arm pulled her out of her reverie, she frowned and looked up to meet the hard glare coming from Angel. Buffy pulled her arm back from his hold and shrugged her top back into place. Angel urged her forward and growled low in his chest when she mumbled something.

"Master, I have captured the Slayer as requested. " He announced with pride.

William, or Spike as he was commonly called, looked up from the papers in front of him and hardened his lips. He wasn't happy. His eyes narrowed as his gaze went from Angel to the slayer.

" You left her armed? Are you really that bloody stupid? " He yelled, then quieter, " What the hell am I saying! "

Two vampires with the chest plates on, stepped to either side of the slayer and held her while Angel disarmed her. Once she was clear of weapons, she was ushered forward. Spike took the few steps that separated them and breathed in deeply. Buffy met his eyes and stared at him, hatred rolled from her.

"So you're the one giving me and mine so much bloody trouble? Such a tiny scrap of a girl. How is it that you house all that power. "

Angel moved to stand behind Spike, the two women took their places at his sides as they had at the table. Buffy looked at each in turn and then looked straight at Spike.

"And you're the new pain in my ass? I thought you would be taller, " Buffy replied with a smirk.

Spike sighed, exhaling through his nose. " Girls got spunk. Let's see how far that gets you here? " He looked behind her at the guards and spoke. " Take her to her room. "

He turned his back to her and walked back to his seat, the vampire women following him. Angel followed the guards as they left the room .

"I'll take her from here. " The guards let her go and stood back.

Angel again took her arm and marched her towards the darker part of the entrance hall. From there, he walked her through a fully equipped kitchen and down a set of stairs. At the foot of the stairs was a large solid steel door, which he opened. Hisses, growls and whispers echoed in the dark as Angel lead her passed barred cells. Buffy's eyes strained to see into each as she passed them but Angel quickened his pace. Finally a barred door, held open by another plated guard, blocked their path. Angel forced her into the cell and nodded at the guard. He closed and locked the door.

" The bars are enforced to hold you by magicks, so don't bother with trying to escape. The doorway is also barred by magicks. You can only walk out of or enter the cell when we want you to. You will remain here until the Master says so. Goodnight slayer. "

Buffy watched through the bars as Angel walked back out the way they had come in. The heavy steel door creaked as it was closed behind him. She sighed, trying to focus as she looked at her surroundings and beyond. Light was limited and Buffy held her hands out in front of her as she explored her cell. There seemed to be a cot of some description, with blankets, although she loathed the thought of using them, in the corner. She doubted they were soft and freshly laundered. Her eyes adjusted to the dark a little more and she could make out shapes and outlines now. There appeared to be a bucket in one corner, she screwed up her nose in disgust at it and sat down on the cot.

" I can smell you..... such sweet blood. "

The voice sounded strange, like someone that had no teeth, or too many. Buffy brought her knees up and rested her head on them. She hoped that Giles and her friends noticed her absence soon and looked for her. A low growl made her jump and look hard through the darkness for the source. Across the room a large hairy body slammed against the bars and growled. A werewolf was trying hard to break free of its confines. Buffy shrunk back as far as she could and wished that this was all some elaborate nightmare.

The door to the room opened and growls and snarls filled the air. Whips cracked and then Buffy heard the tell tale crackle of a tazer being used followed by whimpers.

"That will teach the dog... "

Another laughed, " Yeah, still the Master will be pleased that they did as they were told. "

" Get in there you fucking hairy beast, " the first Vampire growled as he forced the stricken wolf into a cage.

The wolf fell forwards, hitting its snout on the bar and then the concrete floor and laid still. Whoever it was, once it morphed back to human, would wake up with injuries from the fall. Buffy then realized that the wolves had been used to capture her. She knew why vampires hunted her, she wasn't a fool, but never before had a vampire, alone or in a clan, hunted her for capture. It was all about the fight, the thrill of the hunt for both her and the vampire, so what could the Master want her for and why go to all the trouble of hunting her with wolves?

She looked aroundagain. This room, the cells, didn't seem to fit with the house above. The house, well more like a mansion, was modern in style while she was in a dungeon that was straight from medieval times. Again she looked around her cell and beyond. The stone walls were darkened from damp and mosses and mould grew in patches. The floor was poured concrete that had rust staining from blood that had been poorly cleaned up. The dungeon was severely lacking in anything that she could use as a weapon. The bed was metal and screwed into the floor with huge bolts, the bucket was plastic. They had really thought of everything! ' A slayer is a weapon, Buffy, against the scourge of evil that is drawn to the hellmouth.' She heard the words her watcher had told her when she had first been called and snorted, she hardly believed them now. How could she when she was sat in a cell waiting to see what fate would befall her. Oh, she would fight, for that was her nature, she just didn't see where it would get her.

Buffy stood from her cot and tested the strength of the bars, pulling on them and yanking them down hard. They stayed and resisted her tries at bending or breaking them. Determining that they would hold her weight, Buffy held the bar that was horizontal and at a height that would allow her to do pull ups and started the exercise. She would push herself to keep herself at peak fitness, and go through the motions of training as her watcher had taught her, no matter how long she remained trapped here, although she hoped her friends and watcher would have her free soon.

Angelus sat on a plush overstuffed couch, his feet up on a glass table looking relaxed and as arrogant as ever. The door to his room swung open and Dru swayed in, her movements were slow and methodical, like dancing.

"The master is very cross. You have displeased him my Angel. "

Angelus rolled his eyes and removed his boots from the table and leaned forward. "Dru? What is it I have done this time? "

Drusilla twisted her torso and put a finger to her lips, " Shhh. " She beckoned him to follow her which he did with a huff of unneeded breath. He walked the corridors behind her until they came to the room that he had last seen the Master in. The door closed behind him and he watched as guards left the room. Darla and Dru stood in their places at Williams side.

"You sent for me? " Angelus questioned

The look of anger on Williams face increased as Angelus spoke and smirked. William stood and raised his chin as he looked Angelus up and down. "Where have you put the slayer? "

Angelus frowned, "Where we usually put our prisoners, in a cell. "

"You put her down there with the monsters that she hunts? " William shook his head, "Do you know what that does to a slayer? "

He stalked forward, advancing on Angelus, who shook his head and answered, "No. "

"Well, I'll tell you shall I? " William spat, "It torments them, drives them mad, It makes them wild and harder to control. "

"But you intend to kill her so I don't see why it should be a problem. " Angelus answered back, his shoulders stiff and back rigid.

"Don't tell me what I do or do not intend to do! " the Master yelled and turned away . " As a matter of fact, I want to keep this one. She has survived for a decade and thwarted every foe she has every come up against. I want to know how and why. I want to know her strength and find her weaknesses. I have great plans for her, Angelus. Now! You will accompany me down to her cell and move her to her room. "

Angelus simply nodded and walked out of the room, William hot on his heels.

Buffy ignored the snarls and growls coming from the cells around her as she counted out each push up she did. Her body ached and not just from the physical exercise. Her guts knotted and her muscles were tense. Her nerves thrummed and her head pounded. Buffy didn't even look up as the dungeon door opened and two strong signatures entered. She blew out as she bent down for another push up and saw the feet of two men stop outside her cage.

"Get up! " a voice commanded.

She stopped half way through her lift momentarily at the gruff order and then dipped down again, pushing back up before he spoke again.

"I told you to stop! "

Buffy knelt up and wiped her hands down her trousers. She was hot and sweat dripped down her face, her back and her chest. She removed her top and used it to wipe the sweat from her body, leaving her in just a white vest. She threw the top onto her cot and then looked over her shoulder. She retreated into the darker part of her cell and turned to face the men.

"And you are? "

William stepped closer to the cell. " I am William the Bloody, Master of Sunnydale. "

" Really? Wow! Should I bow? " she chuckled

Williams jaw tensed. He signaled for his guards to open the door to her cell, "Cuff her. "

The guards entered and held her as she struggled against them, one slipped a set of metal cuffs onto her wrists and then retreated. Angelus leaned against the cells bars and watched. Most of the guards walked out and stood back as the Master entered. Buffy struggled and twisted herself against the two remaining guards.

William now stood before her, appraising his slayer with hungry eyes. She was thin, wiry, built for the kill and yet, she still had a feminine softness to her. His eyes wandered up past her hips and waist and settled on her breast and then her neck. Not a scar blemished the slender column and it pleased him. She was unsullied by anothers bite. Finally their eyes met.

One side of his lips moved up into a sly smile. She didn't like it. "Follow me. "

Buffy wriggled and twisted in the guards arms as they pushed and pulled her along with them as they followed their master. Angel shrugged off the bars to her cell and came up behind her. He watched as she struggled and with flared nostrils, took in her scent. She was different to the other slayers that he had met. There was something unique about her, something he could not place. Her signature strengthened and caused the Master to stop in his tracks by the door to the dungeon. Angel felt her call and staggered, as did the guards. William turned, his eyes glowing like embers and snarled.

" Stop whatever the bloody hell you are doing, right now. "

Buffy frowned, she hadn't realized that she had been doing anything other than trying to fight off the guards that held her. "I've no idea what you're talking about. "

William shot forward, his hand reaching out and closing around her throat with bruising force. Buffy stiffened and stretched her neck to accommodate his hand. Their eyes met, defiance and hatred in hers, intrigue and anger in his.

" You need to understand something, your life is in my hands, " to prove the point, William crushed her windpipe making her struggle under his hold and making her choke. Her eyes rolled and he loosened his hold on her, " I don't want to kill you, just yet anyway, doesn't mean I won't. The way I understand it is, one slayer dies another gets all chosen. "

"Not anymore. " She rasped, her throat sore from being crushed.

William frowned, she had to be lying. He let her go and took a step back. "You lie. "

Buffy coughed and then laughed. "Why would I? What purpose would it serve? You intend to kill me at some point, you just said as much. " She watched him absorb the information.

Angel stepped around the guards and took Williams arm, pulling him out through the dungeons door. The fact that his Master allowed him to do such a thing proved how this new information had stunned him. Angel faced William and leaned close, with a hushed voice said, " Master, I have read of such a thing. A prophecy. "

William's attention was caught. "A prophecy you say? And you know of this how? "

"The Book of the Damned and the Watchers Council, " he stated proudly. " Before I joined you I met a demon that had tried to translate the Book, anyway, I read some of his translations and in one part it mentions the slayer line. The Watchers Council housed a book of their own that tells the history of the slayer. There was a passage ....... "

Angel paused, waiting for the Masters reaction. William continued to look at him, waiting for the rest of the information. He sighed "Well? Tell me what the passage said. " he demanded, his voice harsh.

"It said that to carry on the slayer line, a slayer must only house the essence for a short time. If the slayer carries the essence for too long, it bonds with the host and the girl becomes... "

"Becomes what exactly? " William interrupted.

"A hybrid, thus ending the slayer line. If it bonds with one girl then the slayer line ends as its essence cannot pass on to the next slayer in waiting upon the others death. " Angel watched his Master for a reaction.

William gave a brief nod to Angel and then turned to look at the slayer. "How long has she been a slayer? "

" Over a decade. "

"How long did the watchers council say that one girl should carry the slayer essence for? "

"Three years maximum. If they are called at fifteen as most are, and they are still active at eighteen then they perform a ritual called the cruciumendum. "

William looked back at Angel at the familiar ritual. "I have heard of it, in fact I took part in one. She was a witty thing, she was my fourth slayer. Come, it seems that I have an extraordinary slayer on my hands, one that we best deal with now so we can find out all we can about her. " William motioned for the guards to bring the slayer through and to follow him back up into the mansion.