Disclaimer: I do not own.

I want to thank all of you who took time to review the last chapter: Weefeesmum, SkateNowandForever, Kit Merlot, Haxan, WolfRainSS, queenevil66 (welcome back!) and MusicaGrant.

I know it's a little shorter than usual, but at least I updated! Right?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Angel was furious.

His demon raged for vindication, for blood.

She'd been marked.

By another vampire.

When he'd delivered his claiming marks he'd been too driven by instincts and desire to have her that he hadn't noticed it, but when he was removing his clothes he'd caught the scent and suddenly noticed the faded bite marks on the inner thigh opposite the one that bore his marks.

And what was worse?

He recognized the other vampire by the scent from the scarred wound.

His childe! His favored childe had marked his woman!

But when? HOW had he let this happen?

He was getting answers, and now.

He could smell his childe in the air.

The Master Vampire snorted and flung the front door open, coming face to face with his fag-smoking childe, who'd raised his hand as if to knock. Angel's demon face surged forwards and roared ferociously in the blonde's face, demanding an explanation for his recklessness in marking his sire's human as his own!

His childe's eyes widened and he spoke in the same language that the redhead and the brunette female spoke amongst themselves.

Angel's roar lowered into a snarl that promised great pain if he didn't like whatever answer he got. Grabbing hold of the front of his childe's duster, he pulled him in and pushed him against the doorway, growling in his face, narrowing his eyes angrily when the childe's demon face surged and he snarled right back.

What insolence was this?

No wonder this childe had marked what was his! He had no respect for his sire!

He'd have to teach him to remember who gave orders and who followed!

Hearing his human's voice crying out, Angel turned his head from his childe and watched her running down the stairs with the brunette in hot pursuit. The redhead had changed into another, shorter nightdress, and was walking carefully towards him.

His childe's face immediately returned human, and Angel reluctantly followed, realizing that his true face in these circumstances might frighten her.

She smiled warily at him before turning to his childe and speaking.

His childe answered in that same unfamiliar language.

The brunette piped up with some contribution to the conversation, and then cowered behind the redhead when his childe turned his attention in her direction.

Angel felt more and more in the dark and hated the feeling. Everyone else could speak that stupid language except him, and now his human was giggling—although very nervously—at something his childe said to her with a seductive smirk!

"Mark!" Was that coarse and gravel-filled sound his voice?

Everyone turned to look at him with wide eyes.

His childe shook his head and pointed to himself saying something that sounded like: "Spike". It must have been his name. But why was he reintroducing himself when Angel was trying to get the truth of his mark on the redhead out of him?

He let go of Spike and took two steps backwards, glowering at him. Angel pointed an accusing finger at him, said "Mark!" once more, and then pointed to his redhead, muttering yet another word in her language. "Mine!" Repeating the motion and the words when they just looked at him as if he were crazy, the vampire growled dangerously, and suddenly his childe's eyes widened in understanding, and surprise?

Spike asked him something and then turned to the redhead, answering whatever it was that she'd asked him.

The brunette's eyes went comically wide as she cried out loudly, hurting both vampire's ears.

His human went red in the face and took a couple of steps back, shaking her head as if in denial. Her courage seemed to appear out of nowhere as she nearly charged at Spike, her voice raising accusingly.

Spike smirked, yet looked in awe as he pulled out a long thing from his duster, and pulled out something that made fire when he clicked it. He lit the long thing, put the fire-starter in his pocket, and blew smoke out of his nostrils, finally answering with a questioning quality in his voice.

The redhead went redder in the face and stopped, hand going uncertainly to the thigh where the old claiming mark was. She turned to the brunette, asked her something, and motioning for both vampires to stay where they were, tugged her friend to the next room.

He heard the rustling of material, a gasp, some tense comments and then material again. The girls returned, the brunette looking angry and worried, and the redhead looking sick.

The brunette spoke.

Spike's eyes widened in surprise as did his smile.

Angel growled deep in his throat in confusion. So neither of them had known about the claiming?

This was too confusing!

He needed to remember everything, and fast!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"City Morgue." Xander Harris yawned as he answered his home phone. It was the early hours of the morning, and if anyone had the nerve to call at this time he wasn't about to take them serious.

"Xander?"

Hearing the voice on the other side of the line, he shot up in bed. "G-man!" Suddenly he was completely awake. "What is it? Did you find Buffy? Is she coming back?"

The sigh on the other end of the phone gave him the answers he needed. "No, by the time I made it here and went to where my colleague had found some information on Buffy, I realized that that information was rather old, some months old in fact. She's long gone."

"Man." Xander slumped in defeat. "I was so sure she'd be there and--."

"But I have a trail."

Xander's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"She stole a credit card and I've had a friend pull up the information. She went from Oregon to Idaho, and Wyoming, but her last known use of the ATM before the card was cancelled was in Colorado, close to the border with Kansas. I have a ticket for a flight heading there in a couple of hours and wanted to let you know."

"Thanks G-Man." Xander smiled, hope renewed that they'd find Buffy, she'd return, and things would be as it'd been before. "Try picking up some hot stewardesses while you're flying. I hear the mile-high club is an experience one must have at least once in your life."

He could just hear Giles' blush. "Good night Xander." And with that the older man hung up.

Putting down the receiver, Xander got back into bed and fell asleep, dreaming of Buffy Summers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dru sighed and looked out of the window. She'd done the spell to make Spike get quicker to where her daddy and mummy were. For some reason Miss Edith thought they needed to be together sooner so 'the process could begin'…whatever the process was.

The dark vampires pouted deeply, pressing her forehead against the glass.

Whatever it was she hoped it'd be over soon and she could return to her family. It was starting to get oh so lonely here all by herself.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe you let him do that to you!" Cordelia was screaming for the fifth time as she paced the floor. "Your body looks like a pincushion for crying out loud! I thought you were supposed to be the smart one of the group!"

Willow sat on the cushion, head lowered. It was so surreal that she was in the presence of two master vampires (both who'd tried killing her already) but at the time she was more frightened of Cordelia.

"It's not like I could have stopped him, Cordelia." She muttered, slightly resentful at the lecture she was getting. "In case you have forgotten, he's a vampire, thus is much stronger than I."

"And why didn't you scream for help?" the brunette wanted to know, stopping pacing, hands on her hips.

"And have you come in so he could remember you were there and drain you too or just kill you for trying to help me?"

"Oh." All fire died from her and she sunk into the sofa next to Willow. "You're right."

Spike sneered at her from where he stood in the shadows.

Willow knew when his heated gaze returned to her, not only because it burnt her like fire, but because Angel was growling angrily, possessively. She didn't understand it. How had Spike marked her without her knowing?

"I'm guessing it was the time I kidnapped chubs and you. I had a dream about it, but thought it was only a dream, not a memory." Spike replied, and she realized that she'd said that out loud. "You were unconscious for a while and I was dead drunk."

"You're dead period." Cordelia replied stiffly, still uncomfortable with the bloodthirsty vampire. "Clinically speaking, it should be impossible for you to get drunk anyway."

He ignored her, eyes on Willow.

Willow gulped. "So, uh, what exactly does it mean?" She asked, raising her eyes nervously. "Why do vampires 'mark' humans?" Considering that two vampires had 'marked' her, she believed she had a right to know.

"I would have thought that the Slayer's little friends would know this." Spike sneered, obviously enjoying himself.

"Well we don't." Cordelia shot back.

He raised an eyebrow at her before returning his attention to Willow. "Have you noticed that since the last time I was here demons haven't attacked you like they used to?"

Her eyes widened. "How did you know that?"

"Vampires mark humans they consider theirs." Spike responded, taking a drag of his fag. "That mark has the scent of the vampire, and warns others to stay away. And if the vampire is strong, or a master vampire like Ponce and I, other vampires will respect it and stay away."

"If it's like that, how come Angel didn't smell it right away?" Cordelia wanted to know, intrigued.

"I'm guessing that since the mark is old and never remarked, the smell has faded. Plus, since I'm his childe his scent is mixed into mine, so in his state it would take a while for it to clear up enough for him to realize that it was my claim on her." Spike replied, off-handedly.

"Wait---wait!" Willow stood rapidly. "I remember reading about this once, or Giles mentioned it or something." She frowned. "Isn't it supposed to be impossible for another vampire to mark the human of another vampire unless that vampire has verbally or publicly abandoned his claim or he was dead?" She blushed. "Er, deader?"

He smirked approvingly. "Such an intelligent little human I have."

"She's not your human." Cordelia defended.

Spike's eyes went amber. "I'm this close to biting you."

Cordelia went pale, gulped, and leaned back in the sofa.

"Leave her alone!" Seeing Spike growling at her, Willow gulped. "Please?"

Angel got up from the loveseat and growled at Spike menacingly before grabbing Willow and pulling her onto his lap, as if telling Spike that he didn't appreciate his growling at her.

"Calm down grandsire." Spike's eyes returned to baby blue and he snorted. "I have no plans on hurting my little pet."

"I'm not your pet." Willow grumbled sulkily as Angel kept his arms possessively around her waist. "Get yourself a poodle or something."

Spike just smirked at her.

Clearing her throat, the redhead sent him a brave look. "You were answering my question," she prompted. "On how Angel was still able to claim me even though you already did."

The blonde nodded. "Rules can be slightly bent between family." He explained seriously. "He's my grandsire, thus he has certain power over me, and what's mine he can choose to want to share. Except a pet, the bond between a pet and her master is sacred and unique." He let that sink in. "Pops might have marked you, but unless I give him my approval they'll heal and disappear. But if I decide to share with him, then you'll be mine and then secondarily his."

Willow gulped. This didn't sound promising. She didn't want to belong to anyone, much less two vampires!

Spike smirked as realization hit her. He then turned to Cordelia. "You should go home now if you don't want to get hurt."

"No." She shook her head although her body was trembling visibly. "I'm not going to leave Willow here alone with you two!"

His face morphed.

Angel, who really didn't care what happened to Cordelia, didn't move to help her.

Willow did though. "Stop!" She wriggled off of Angel's lap and went between Spike and a whimpering Cordelia. "Cor," she said with her back to the girl, eyes locked with Spike's demonic ones. "Get in your car and go."

"But--."

"Now!" She ordered, then turned to Angel. "Could you please make sure she gets into her car safely?"

Surprisingly enough, Angel understood and gave her a nod. Getting up he was about to do as asked when he stopped and turned to Spike. "Share." His voice rasped out in a gruff order.

Spike smirked and he nodded. "Share."

Smirk finally returned to place, Angel grabbed Cordelia's upper arm and dragged her outside, the brunette looking back at Willow in terrified worry.

The moment the door closed behind Angel and Cordelia, Willow looked back at Spike, who was looking at her as if undressing her with his eyes. Although she knew that with his vampire speed she didn't have much of a chance, her instincts told her to run, and she turned away and made a mad dash towards the stairs.

Spike chuckled behind her before snuffing his fag and rushing after her.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Review?