Gunn sat at the table and watched Angel standing off to the side. The vampire had deemed fit to uncuff him once they entered this room, and of course search Gunn for any weapons. You'd simply be amazed where people can hide those. Now Gunn was alone and unarmed in a room with a vicious killer who was faster, stronger, more agile, had better reflexes, and was probably a better fighter.

    "You say one word about a brood and I go off okay?" Angel said, jokingly to try and lighten the mood.

    Gunn didn't say anything at all. He just sat there and watched and waited. Something was up. He didn't like it either. A sound caught his attention and Gunn turned his head to see a woman enter the room. She looked to be in her forties and was attractive for her age, with short graying hair that Gunn guessed had once been blonde. She wore a lab coat and smiled at Angel as she entered.

    "I assume this is the Mr. Gunn you went out to acquire this evening?" she asked the vampire.

    "Yeah. This is him." Angel replied.

    "Was he difficult to get a hold of?" she asked again.

    "Not really. The Guardsmen did all my work for me. I just had to keep him." Angel explained.

    Gunn watched the woman warily and then saw another person enter the room. It was a man, about Angel's size with black hair that was slowly graying on the sides. He had a hard look in his eyes and seemed very intense. Something immediately caught Gunn's eye. One of his hands was metal.

    "Ah hell! You're gonna cut me up in some weird science experiment!" Gunn exclaimed.

    "Yeah, this guy's bad. I can tell." The new man said sarcastically.

    "No one's going to cut you up Mr. Gunn. You're our guest for the moment." The woman smiled, "In fact you should be thanking Angel for saving your life back there."

    "See. That's what I said." Angel added.

    Gunn looked from the woman to Angel and back to the woman again.

    "Somebody mind tellin' me what the hell is going on?" Gunn asked.

    "Well here we go, exposition time." The new man said again, "Let me time it."

    "Mr. Williams, please keep your sarcasm to yourself." The woman sighed.

    "Sure thing baby." He replied, "Sure thing."

    She turned back to Gunn.

    "Mr. Gunn, my name is Maggie Walsh and I'm sure you've been told by now that this is the Initiative." The woman explained.

    "Yeah, I got that. What the hell's an initiative though?"

    "Twenty seconds. Twenty seconds!" the other man stated.

    Angel chuckled at that.

    Maggie turned and shot Mr. Williams a glare. He just turned and starting whistling nonchalantly.

    "Now, back to the matter at hand. This is the Initiative. We're a small branch of the resistance effort against the demon world. In particular, Dracula." Maggie explained.

    "Yeah, and how's that working out for you?" Gunn asked.

    "Could be better." Mr. Williams interrupted, earning another glare from Maggie, "I'm a smartass okay? You have to learn to live with that."

    "Regardless, despite Mr. Williams' failing attempts to lighten the mood, we have seen better days. We're a small and very eclectic group here. The majority of us here are scientists. There's Warren Meers, from right here in Sunnydale, a child prodigy. He's only seventeen and he's already created one of the more advanced robots I've ever seen in my entire life." Maggie explained.

    "Yeah. I caught her. Quite the piece of work." Gunn recalled.

    "Then there's the Burke girl from Texas. I've never seen a better mind applied to physics." Maggie went on.

    "Maybe we should get to the point Maggie." Angel spoke up, "As exciting as science may be, I'm not really sure that Gunn's all that interested in it."

    "Two minutes all. Two minutes." Williams chimed in.

    Walsh shuddered and tried to block him out.

    "Yes, Angel. Perhaps you're right. Mr. Gunn, we want to offer you a deal." Maggie explained.

    "What kind of deal?" Gunn asked, still wary.

    "We want your help with something. You see we're trying to build an army—"

    "Whoa now! Stop right there! I got my own people to take care of so I'm not interested in signing up here in some half-assed little operation in the heart of enemy territory that's gonna fail like this!" Gunn explained.

    "Well, Gunn, you're kind of looking at it the wrong way." Angel stated.

    "We're not asking you to join us Mr. Gunn." Maggie explained, "When I say we're building an army, I mean just that. We're BUILDING an army. From scratch."

    Gunn could have been knocked over with a feather.

    "Three minutes! We have three minutes!"

    "Wait a minute, you mean like robots?" Gunn asked.

    Maggie began to pace in front of Gunn.

    "No exactly. While we do have a few machines here like April or even the Ted model, we feel they're not exactly exemplary when it comes to combat. While their bodies are powerful, their CPU's are what needs work. We've come a long way since the first computer was built, but these machines while advanced are limited in scope. It creates problems like April's flightiness or Ted's intense focus on one specific factor." Maggie explained further, "We need something that is powerful and can think for itself. We need something that can think like a human, calculate like a computer, and fight like a demon."

    "So you're building it?" Gunn asked, not knowing if he liked that idea or not.

    "Them. We're building them. We have a prototype that's almost ready. We've used our finest minds for the mechanical components, cadavers for the human, and well…we've had Angel and others capture certain species of demons for those parts." Maggie said. 

    "That's where you come in. We're going to need parts and if demons drop below a certain quota here the authorities will get suspicious. We were thinking you and your people could hunt some in Los Angeles for us and ship the parts back." Angel stated.

    "That's crazy!" Gunn said.

    "About as crazy as trying to attack the Crypt." Angel replied, "That goes beyond insanity and right into the suicidal category."

    "We got our reasons. Show Dracula that his pet demons can't push us around. They've picked off way too many of us in the last few years for us to be all nice. They killed friends of mine." Gunn replied.

    "Then kill them right back and give us the parts we need." Maggie said, "You'd be striking back at Dracula and doing your duty as a human at the same time. No offense Angel."

    "None taken."

    "FIVE MINUTES!"

    "Shut up, Ash!" Maggie snapped at Williams.

    Ash just smirked.

    Gunn sat there in silence and pondered all he had heard. He looked at Maggie and spoke.

    "Can I have time to think about this?" Gunn asked.

    The now very human Captain Riley Finn stood in his office and sighed as he read through the report. He slammed his fist down his desk in frustration right as Tara walked in the room.

    "It never lets up here does it?" she asked.

    Riley sighed and ran his hands through his hair.

    "Nope. Been here for just two years and it's never let up one bit. I'm going to get an ulcer." Riley stated.

    "I haven't been here that long, but yeah, I get stressed too." Tara replied, "You wanted me?"

    "Yeah." Riley said, standing, "We have a girl here in custody that I want you to talk to. I figure that you're the best qualified."

    "Oh?" Tara asked, walking into the room further.

    "I have had a monumentally bad night. I've been tricked, shot, chewed out by the Governor and I was late." Riley went on, "Too late to save three people."

    "What happened?" Tara asked, concerned.

    "From what Forrest managed to scrounge up, cannibals out of Texas came into town. Ever hear of the Sawyers?" Riley asked.

    Tara shook her head.

    "Really nasty people. Some Guardsmen cleared out most of them last month for carving up demons and humans alike and eating them. Even sold them as chili."

    "That's disgusting."

    "Tell me about it. They came here to Sunnydale looking for greener pastures. The first house they hit belonged to the Harris family. By the time we got a call for shotgun blasts in that neighborhood, we were already too late to save most of them. The only survivors were two kids, a boy and a girl. They're just seventeen." Riley added.

    "Goddess. Just seventeen?" Tara asked, "I mean I'm only eighteen."

    "Tell me about it. I'm twenty two myself. Back when I was seventeen I was playing basketball in Iowa. These two lost their family."

    "So why did you need me?" Tara asked.

    "Well the girl was basically an orphan anyway. This was her foster family. Her real parents were radicals that were indicted and executed about seven years ago. The mother came from a line of Wicca. She was nothing special. Just a one on the Magi scale." Riley explained, "The girl, Willow Rosenberg, she was tested for any magickal ability after all this to see if she should go to the Academy. She was a whopping zero on the scale. Thing is though, I think those tests were inaccurate."

    "How do you figure?"

    "Her eyes. They're black. I don't mean bruised, I mean solid black. Pupils, retina, the whole nine yards."

    "That could be a sign of magick. Powerful magick."

    "Oh it gets better. We have one dead Sawyer and another that's in custody. Thing is, the kids say there was a third. Description fits Vilmer Sawyer. We didn't find a body. All we found was ashes. The guy was incinerated. Now that's some damned powerful magick if you ask me." Riley explained.

    "Especially for someone who apparently had no previous documented magickal ability." Tara replied, "You think she may have kept this all hidden?"

    "Yeah. I need you to find out for sure though. If this is going the way I think it is then this girl should have gone to the Academy years ago." Riley added, "That and I just think she needs someone to talk to. Will you do it?"

    "Yeah, of course I will."

    "Thanks Tara. I really appreciate you doing this."

    Tara smiled.

    "It's no big deal. I'll go and see if I can talk to her. Which room is she in?"

    "Eight." Riley replied.

    "Alright. I'll get right on this." Tara stated as she turned and walked out of the room.

    She turned and walked right back in.

    "Uh."

    Riley looked up.

    "You've had a bad night and all, but it's not too late right now. Maybe after we get off, you'd like to get a drink like the other night?" Tara asked.

    Riley opened his mouth to talk. Tara cut him off.

    "I mean I totally understand if you don't. I'm not trying to sound really forward or anything. I just figured I'd ask. Never pays to be shy you know, but if you'd rather just go home and go to bed—"

    "I'd love to."

    "Go to bed?"

    "No. I'd love to get a drink. Maybe even some food. There's this great all night diner about a mile outside of town. Great steak there." Riley explained.

    "Oh, the Gorch place. Yeah I've heard of it, but I've never eaten there." Tara said, "Do they serve drinks there?"

    "Oh yeah. Catch up with me later and we'll go."

    "Sure. Bye."

    "Bye."

    Willow was a wreck. She was still unable to get over what had happened earlier. What's more, they separated her from Xander. Still, she could understand why. He might have gotten a concussion, so off to the hospital he went. Still, she could really need him right now. He was her rock. Whenever she fell down into the pits of despair, it was Xander who pulled her back out again. She loved him.

    Willow was also reeling as to why her eyes were now dark as night. She looked into the mirror and shivered at those little orbs of obsidian staring back at her. Then she flinched. This was probably one of those two-way mirrors she had always heard of or seen in movies. It unnerved her that someone could be staring face to face with her, so she walked to the table in the room and sat down.  

    Someone came in not long after that; a girl roughly Willow's own age. She must work for the Guardsmen, most likely in the magick department. Must be a rookie too being so young. Somehow though, that made Willow feel more comfortable.

    "Hi Willow." She said, "I'm Agent MaClay but you can call me Tara okay?"

    Willow nodded.

    "Do you want something to eat? Maybe just a cup of coffee to drink?" Tara asked.

    Willow shook her head.

    "No I-I get hy…hyper when I drink coffee."

    "Alright, but just let me know if you ever need something okay?"

    Willow nodded again.

    "Willow, I want you to know that you don't have to talk about this right now if you don't want to okay?"

    "Where's Xander? Is he okay?" Willow asked suddenly.

    "Xander? That'd be the boy who was with you during the attack?" Tara asked in reply.

    Willow nodded again.

    "He's getting treatment at the hospital. From what I've heard he had a minor concussion, nothing serious though. He's going to be alright. Okay?"

    "When can I see him?"

    "Well, when we finish here I suppose. I need to ask you some questions though, about tonight." Tara explained.

    "What kinds of demons were they?"

    "Excuse me?"

    "The things tonight…what kind of demons were they? Vampires?"

    Tara sat back and sighed slightly.

    "They weren't demons. They were human."

    "No. They had to be demons. Humans wouldn't do that. Humans aren't—"

    "Capable of doing that? Trust me, they're more than capable. Those guys were cannibals. It's probably a boon that things as sick as them are dead now. Even the one that survived is going into Education to have his mind altered. They're not going to hurt anyone again."

    "You say that they're sick, yet you work for the Guardsmen. That means you work for Dracula. Now that's sick." Willow said in anger.

    The mirror on the wall gained a noticeable crack in it. Tara took note of that.

    "Willow, please stay calm okay? We're not here to discuss politics. We're here to discuss what happened tonight, so let's stay calm here." Tara said.

    Then Willow sat back in astonishment as Tara began talking to her without moving her lips.

    "Don't say anything anti-Dracula here alright? You never know who's listening. Even telepathy is risky, but I can shield myself well enough. I'm begging you to stay on task here for your own safety." Tara's voice came filling Willow's head.

    Willow was slightly surprised by that, but then again she really shouldn't have been. It was just that someone else had been talking to her with their thoughts that had gotten to her. That had been one thing that never happened to her. She was always the one who read.

    "Alright. I'm calm." Willow replied.

    "Okay. Good. Now you should know, I'm not really here to talk to you about the attack. Someone else will go over that with you. I'm here to talk to you about the magick you displayed tonight." Tara stated.

    Willow breathed deep.

    "I need you to talk to me here Willow. Your records have stated that you're a zero on the Magi Scale. You took all the proper tests to determine if you had any magick ability and nothing came up. But tonight, we found a pile of ash in your room that had bone fragments in it. We found pieces of ripped flesh all over the floor. To top it all off, your eyes have gone solid black. Those are signs of powerful magick. That leads me to believe those tests you took when you were a little girl are fraudulent." Tara explained.

    Willow stayed quiet.

    "I need you to work with me here Willow. I need to know if you faked those tests a few years ago and if you've been practicing in secret." Tara said, finally laying a hand on Willow's.

    Willow looked at Tara and felt somewhat relieved at her touch.

    "I-I faked them. My mother told me to before she died." Willow said quietly, "I failed them on purpose."

    Tara smiled and continued holding her hand.

    "Now, have you been practicing since then?" Tara asked.

    Willow looked up at her.

    "No. I didn't."

    Tara examined her aura and cocked her head quizzically.

    "You're telling the truth aren't you?" Tara said, more to herself than to Willow.

    Willow nodded.

    "Okay, have you ever had any incidences of magick use before tonight?" Tara asked.

    "Well…I…I could always tell what my friend Xander was thinking before he said it." Willow explained, "And if I focused really hard I could make a pencil move."

    "That's a little less powerful than what you've been doing tonight." Tara mused, "But you're still telling me the truth. I can tell."

    "What's happening to me?" Willow asked, while looking down.

    Tara felt Willow's hand squeeze hers tightly.

    "You hit a Gaia Spike."

    "What's a Gaia Spike?"

    Tara smiled, "You ever hear of mothers suddenly getting super strength and lifting cars off of their children to save their lives? Well it's something similar to that. Magick is a force that's all around us all the time. All we have to do to use it is to channel it, kind of like a copper conductor and heat I guess. Some people channel magick better than others. Now, magick can be affected by your mental and physical state just like your body releasing adrenaline. When you feel threatened or fear for the life of someone you love your ability just skyrockets. It spikes out, and since that Gaia basically helps deal out magick we call it a Gaia Spike. And from the looks of things you've spiked out quite a lot."

    "But how could I go from moving a pencil a few inches to setting somebody on fire?" Willow asked.

    "It's a big leap, granted, but it isn't unheard of." Tara said.

    "Is it…is it true that when you use magick you have to join the Academy?" Willow asked.

    "Governmental service is required, yes." Tara explained.

    "And if you don't join up they kill you right?" Willow asked.

    "That's only if you can't be convinced or Educated, but it's not so bad at all. You learn so much about yourself and about magick. It makes you confident and you get to help people of all kinds." Tara stated.

    "But you have to leave right? You have to go to New York or to Europe?"

    "Well, yes."

    "I can't leave Xander." Willow said, "I just can't."

    Tara felt sympathy for this girl and squeezed her hand.

    "I'll see what I can do okay? Maybe I can convince the brass to send him with you or maybe see if I could help you here instead of taking a big trip like that. I can't promise anything, but I'll try." Tara stated.

    "Thank you." Willow replied.

    "I think that's all I need. I'll talk to a Guardsman and see if they'll take you to the hospital to see Xander okay?"

    Willow nodded.

    "You're not alone Willow. You're never alone." Tara told her.

    Tara got up and after a long silence walked to the door.

    "Tara?" Willow asked suddenly.

    "Yes?" Tara said, turning.

    "When you know all about magick and you use it a lot what does it feel like?"

    Tara smiled.

    "It feels good."

    "Yeah." Willow stated, "I thought so. Tonight? When I killed that guy? It felt…dark. Malevolent."

    Tara watched as Willow described the feeling and could see the power just flowing off of her aura. It actually made her weak in the knees. It made her heart beat faster. It made her afraid.

    "And even when it felt like that—"

    Willow looked wistful. Then she looked at Tara and her face fell, to an almost sad, childlike level.

    "I still liked it."

    "This is just absolutely crazy." Gunn said as he walked along with Angel, "Carving up demons and shit. I don't trust any of this."

    "Hey, I hear you. I didn't trust them myself at first but eventually I learned to and vice versa. Though I think a lot of that came from vampire parts being useless in the day." Angel mused.

    "I still don't trust you by the way." Gunn said hostile.

    "Granted. For a few hundred years, I wasn't exactly the trustworthy type."

    "You know for a soulless blood drinker, you're pretty easy going." Gunn said.

    "I'm the laid back type."

    "Yeah, that's got me worried. Most vamps think with their teeth, to hell with everything else. Makes me wonder when you're gonna jump on me." Gunn explained, watching Angel very warily.

    "Can we move on?" Angel asked.

    "Yeah. Let's move on." Gunn said as they approached the elevator from earlier.

    "Can you ride a motorcycle?" Angel asked.

    "Yeah…why?"

    "Oh well because that's what you're going back to L.A. on. We can't really spare a car and I've got to dispose of our little faux Black Guard van." Angel explained.

    "Alright. Got that."

    "This," Angel said producing a plastic card from his jacket, "Is the number of our secure line. Call us when you come to a decision."

    Gunn took it.

    "There's no number."

    "Exactly, so you can't copy it down. You hook this up to any modem and it will dial for you. You have about twenty four hours to contact us or we pull the plug."

    "What do you mean?"

    "Teeny, tiny explosive device in the card; about the equivalent of a firecracker going off. You don't call us in twenty four hours, it goes off. You decide not to join up, it goes off."

    "Alright." Gunn nodded.

    The elevator stopped back in the cave. Within a few minutes, Angel had produced a dirt bike from the darkness. He walked it up to Gunn and tossed him a helmet.

    "Get out of town and get out quick. If you're captured, we destroy the card. If you're tortured, take one of these." Angel said, handing Gunn a small tinder box.

    "Cyanide capsules?" Gunn asked.

    "No. Black market Hyde. It's more unstable than what the Guard uses, but it will give you a fighting chance against Guardsmen. You might get lucky and escape. More than likely they'll have to kill you. Better deal than suicide I think." Angel explained, "Now you'd better get back to L.A. She's all gassed up and ready to go."

    "Alright. Got ya." Gunn said, putting the helmet on.

    "And Gunn?" Angel said.

    "What? You gonna tell me to be careful now?" Gunn asked.

    "Actually," Angel said, with the slight chuckle that let everyone know he meant business, "I was going to tell you that if you so much as breathe a word of our program or location to anyone, the Guard, your friends, anyone….I'll kill you. And I'm really known for taking my time."

    Gunn swallowed and nodded.

    "Okay then. Off with ya now." Angel said, patting his back.

    Gunn watched Angel as he walked back to the elevator.

    "That guy's nuts."

    Angel smirked and walked away from Gunn.

    "He's a good kid. Little headstrong, but useful."

    "So, your long night gotten any better?" Tara asked.

    Riley smiled.

    "Well I'm about to order a Porterhouse so yeah. I'd say it's looking up."

    "You'd be surprised what food will do for you. And you know, alcohol." Tara laughed.

    "Yeah, it can make a night better. Or worse. But considering I'm still sore from being shot, I'd say better."

    Tara took a sip of her drink, "I'll stick with rum and coke."

    "Ah now come on. It's Miller Time." Riley laughed.

    Tara smiled and was suddenly very distant. She sipped her drink and kept thinking back to Willow. To the power she was just radiating. That was scary…and thrilling too.

    "Thinking about the girl aren't you?" Riley asked.

    "What? Huh?" Tara said, shaken out of her stupor, "Oh, yeah. Yeah."

    "How'd that go by the way?" Riley asked.

    "Pretty well I think. I'm kind of worried about her though. She has all of this power now, but she's lost just about the only family she's ever known. It's sad." Tara replied.

    "Yeah, yeah I guess it is." Riley agreed, "I guess she'll be going to the Academy now."

    "I guess so." Tara sighed, "I promised I'd try and help her but it was really just something to keep her calm. There's nothing I can do for her really. She'll have to leave anything she has left here just to go to the Academy."

    She sighed and took a drink.

    "It's kind of like my life. Sorry, just musing."

    "It's okay." Riley replied.

    "You know, I still don't get why some people hate demons you know? Yeah, there's good and bad in everyone, but some humans are much worse than any demon I've ever run up against." Tara explained.

    "I guess that's not far off. Like those cannibals we ran in tonight." Riley mused.

    "I've met one worse." Tara added.

    "Who was that?"

    "My dad." Tara said meekly.

    "Oh…sorry if I brought any bad memories up." Riley said.

    "You didn't." Tara said, shaking her head.

    She paused and looked distant again.

    "He was the biggest monster I had ever met in my life. He was a minister in secret. Real hellfire and brimstone stuff. I'm not saying that all Christians are bad, but my dad…he was off. A woman's place was to just cook a meal and make babies. If we didn't wear a dress or skirt, we were going straight to hell. If you believed any different, you would go straight to hell. Lots of hell in my family." Tara sighed, "My mom, she was a raised Wicca, white witchcraft all the way. She told me that when they were young he had been different. He was idealistic, a little old fashioned, but not too bad. After a while, I guess he just got bitter you know? He made her stop practicing after they got married. Mom was like Willow, she never went to the Academy. Her family hid her powers so they wouldn't have to work for Dracula. I guess my family was weird.

    It's kind of funny though. My mom always dropped all these Wicca references that were lost on my dad. He never realized what she was saying. Even my name, Tara, is one of those jokes. You know how Terra means earth? My mom, she just respelled it so she could get away with naming at least one of her kids after something in Wicca.

    But my dad, he was scary. He'd get drunk sometimes and yell at all of us. He practically brainwashed my brother Donnie. He'd beat mom, but even with all her power she'd never use it on him. She said that would be a violation of our ethics. Do what you will as long as it doesn't hurt yourself or others right? Still, every now and then mom would have bruises on her face. She was apparently really clumsy, falling all the time.

    Eventually though, it got to be too much for her. So she got me and Donnie and my little cousin Beth and we just up and left while dad was at work. For a few days, it seemed like we had gotten away from him. Mom was happy, I was happy. Even Donnie seemed to be adjusting. That's when he found us though. He started beating mom down. He even hit me, closed fisted when I tried to stop him. Goddess, I must have just been nine. My nose was bleeding hard. When mom saw that she snapped and threw him across the room with her magick.

    He got up though and hit her with this vase that was in our motel room. She went down hard and he started hitting her while she was knocked out. Donnie just stood there, like he'd gone blank and Beth was crying in the corner. I ran. I just opened the door and ran. I'm not sure where I thought I was going, but I just ran. Dad followed me. I still remember him cursing at me as he chased me. I can still remember…

    "Get back here you little hellspawn!"

    Tara's eyes were filled with tears as blood streamed down her face. She cried audibly and ran as fast as her bare feet would carry her. She had to get away. She just had to. She'd get help, she'd get help from someone at the office.

    Those thoughts were replaced by pain when her father grabbed her by the hair and pulled it violently. She wailed like a banshee and was surprised that no one was coming out of their rooms to save her. Her face went hot with feeling as her father's hand met her cheek in a slap.

    "Quit your bawling." Her father commanded, his eyes like coals, "Quit your bawling before I give you something to cry about."

    Tara kept crying, crying and whimpering in pain. Another slap came and she went crashing down onto the pavement of the parking lot. She whimpered and tried to crawl away. She couldn't make it though. She'd never escape him. There was never any escape. Never.

    That's when she noticed a cigarette had been flung down, not three feet in front of her. Embers rolled off of it onto the pavement and were gone. She looked up and saw black boots ahead of her.

    "Interesting thing you got going on here, mate." A voice said, "Look at her down there crying. She's like veal."

    "Get out of here. This isn't any business of yours." Tara heard her father say to the new arrival.

    "Well, no I guess it's not really." The new voice said again, in an accent. Tara thought it sounded like English, "Just admiring your technique I guess. Of course with all the wailin' she's doin' it's not exactly the best kill is it?"

    "I told you to get out of here." Tara's father growled.

    Tara watched as the black boots walked around her. She heard the man laugh.

    "Not really sure I like your tone mate. Trying to sound all puffed up and manly when deep down inside you're afraid. Hell, I can smell the fear from here. Beating on a little girl's one thing, but another man, well that's another itn't?"

    Tara's ears picked up the sound of bone popping, almost like the sound Donnie's arm made when he fell off the porch and it had popped out of the socket. She then heard her father whimper. It was a different sound. And Tara in her heart, took joy in it.

    "And a vampire? Well that's a whole new ballgame." The newcomer said.

    Tara could have sworn she heard a big cat growl before her father screamed out. Tara covered her ears as he screamed and screamed. She looked up and saw a few people peering out from behind curtains before closing them again.

    Even with her hands over her ears, Tara heard the screams of her father die down and finally go quiet. No sooner had she uncovered her ears did she hear a thud. She swallowed and turned around. It took all her courage to do that. What she saw should have scared her.

    Her father lay on the ground, eyes vacant and glassy; like a doll's eyes. There were red splotches on his neck. Above him stood a tall figure, wearing a flowing black jacket that seemed like a cape. For a minute, she thought she was looking at that Batman that haunted Gotham on the news. But she dismissed that immediately. His head wasn't like a bat's. It was very human, with almost white hair on top. The figure turned and glared at her with yellow eyes and an inhuman face.

    It should have scared her, but it didn't. The creature in front of her smirked and walked over to her, wiping a crimson ring around his mouth with his sleeve. His face seemed to turn to that of a handsome man's in the moonlight as he knelt down beside her. His hand coasted out and wiped the blood from her face. He brought it back to his mouth and licked it off his hand.

    "I could kill you right now. You know that?" it said to her.

    Tara nodded.

    "I could snap your little neck and drink from you like you were a mug of Guinness. Understand?"

    Tara nodded again, strangely calm.

    "But I'm not going to." He smirked at her in a way that made her swoon, "I'm not really that hungry anymore."

    He looked back at her father and chuckled.

    "That and you got stones. Not many girls could run away after getting hit like that." He said, collecting the blood under her nose onto his hand and licking it away, "Not many would scream like that in a Kill Zone either. You got stones missy. Stones you may not even realize you got. So I'm gonna be lenient and let you live. We understand each other?" he asked.

    Tara nodded.

    "Good. Now take off before I change my mind. And don't worry about any other big nasties coming out. As long as the Big Bad's out here they'll keep away." It purred.

    Tara nodded again and started to get up and walk away. She stopped and looked at him.

    "What's your name?" she asked.

    "What?" it asked her.

    "What's your name?" she asked again.

    "Why do you want to know, brat?" it said, standing.

    "I just want to know who saved me." Tara replied.

    The vampire regarded her and laughed.

    "Spike."

    "I'm Tara." Tara replied, "Thank you."

    "You're welcome brat, now take off before I get hungry again." Spike growled.

    Tara took off running as fast as she could and locked the door when she got back to her room.

    "I must have had the biggest crush after that. I wrote Tara loves Spike on my notebooks in school." Tara laughed, "Things were good after that. Mom joined the Academy in New York so we lived there ever since. Pretty soon after I joined it. My brother Donnie just got married last summer. He's really become a super guy. Cousin Beth's going to the academy too. She's got a little magick in her veins."

    Tara sighed.

    "Mom died of cancer last year, but she didn't seem to mind. She was free." She mused, "All because a vampire got hungry. That's why I see them differently I guess. There's good and bad in everyone, human or demon. Maybe there's more bad than good sometimes, but it's there."

    Riley watched her and smiled. Tara blushed.

    "Sorry. I must have bored you to tears."

    "Nope. I hung on every word." Riley laughed.

    "So now that I've embarrassed myself with a story you have to tell me about your home life." Tara replied.

    "Not much to tell. Good family, good school, became a Guardsman." Riley stated.

    "Yeah, but why?" Tara asked, reaching for his hand and looking at the control on it, "Why do you pump that in you?"

    Riley observed his hand and thought.

    "Same reason you do magick I guess." He finally said, "To know yourself better. To try and do a little good. To be better."

    "I don't know how much good you could do on Hyde." Tara said, "I've read up on it. It has mind altering effects. People who take it are more apt to be prone to violence and to suffer from multiple personality disorder. It's a real gamble."

    Riley sat there and looked at the control.

    "Yeah, it is. But so's drinking a beer when you look at it. You don't know how it's going to affect you, but if you don't take too much then you stay in control. I can control it." Riley said, "I know all the statistics. I know that you have to be young when you take it because it takes such hold over you. I know it can make your career a lot shorter than it should be. I know I'm practically an old man right now when you compare me to the rest of the Guard. But I also know that when I take Hyde…I'm better. I'm stronger, faster, smarter. I'm all those things I want to be. When I'm on it, I can be something spectacular."

    Tara's hand slid from the control and entwined with his.

    "You already are."

    Riley just looked at her and took a drink of his beer.

    "Tara MaClay, has anyone ever told you that you're one damned beautiful woman?" Riley asked.

    Tara looked down and blushed.

    "Not exactly." She replied.

    Riley's other hand cupped her chin and made her look him in the eye.

    "Tara MaClay, you are one damned beautiful woman."

    About a half an hour later, Riley Finn was fumbling with his keys to open his apartment door. He was fumbling because it was amazingly hard to do that and furiously kiss the woman in his arms at the same time. He dropped his keys and scowled, knowing he'd have to break away from Tara to pick them up. He started to pull away.

    "No." Tara mumbled, nibbling his ear, "I got it."

    She pulled his face back to hers and sank back into a fiery kiss, as Riley's keys floated from the floor of their own accord and began to unlock his door.

    A second later, they were inside, Riley lifting her into his arms.

    Five minutes after that, they were in bed.

    An hour later, they were both smoking cigarettes.