Out of Sight

By: PhoenixJustice

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and other things that are not me. I only own this story and make no profit from this.

Warning: Rated M for language, violence, sexual content, etc.

Pairing: Spike/Buffy Summers, Willow/Tara, Xander/Anya, mentions of past Angelus/William, etc.

Setting: During No Place Like Home. Spoilers up season 10 of BTVS, season 5 of Angel, and Angel and Faith.

Summary: Given the gift of life again, Buffy goes back to make things right-but things don't always go the way you expect them to.

A/N: Italics for thoughts and flashbacks. Bold for dreams.

Part One of the Out of 'verse

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Chapter Seven

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He sees her, golden hair streaming behind her like sunlight and the urge to reach out and touch her is great, taken by her as he always is. He grimaces, turning his hand into a fist. He couldn't. He had to remember. As much as she was his in ways that defied everything known between vampire and Slayer, this Buffy had yet to know his touch. He had yet to capture her heart.

She whips her head around to look at him at his approach. She seemed to be in a bit of pain, tiring. Her eyes, however, are a blaze.

"Spike. I really don't have the time for-"

"I know, pet. I heard from the Watcher. Giant snake needin' killing. I've got your back."

She stares at him in astonishment for a moment, before her obvious need to hurry and catch this thing kicks back in. He runs beside her and he can almost think, as her speed starts to pick back up, that he was the reason she was able to get her feet back under her.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They reach the snake and go to battle with it. And instantly he is reminded of his recent fights beside his Slayer, fighting side by side, trading blows with the enemy; a kick here, a punch there, this, that, this, that, steps and steps of their dancing over and over again. It makes it easy to nearly lose his head again.

The snake screeches as the Slayer leaps onto it, strangling it with a large chain. He hacks at it with his sword until it stops struggling. She jumps down and-seeing the look in her eyes-hands her his sword immediately. She takes it, starting to hack and hack at its already dead corpse with huge fervor, tears in her eyes. He can feel his throat contract, wants to take her in his arms and knows he can't.

All he can do is watch.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Finally she stops, kneeling there in the grass, one hand loosely holding his sword, covered in blood and gore as it was. She looks up and it hurts him to see the utter pain there, that she tries to shutter. He wouldn't make fun at her, though he knew that was what she was probably thinking.

Instead he holds out a hand. She looks confused for a moment before starting to hand over his sword. He shakes his head in exasperation and grabs her arm instead of the sword, pulling her up. She lets out a gasp.

"Oh."

He takes the time to look at her while she is introspective; eyes travelling over her, unable to help but look at her neck. It was as it had been before. He hadn't actually expected it to change along with Buffy's, but with as many weird things as were happening-especially on a Hellmouth-there was no way to tell (especially so, since Buffy apparently had the full backing of the Powers That Be.)

She seems unsure of what to say, so he decides to do what he does best.

"Well! Got my spot of violence in. Thanks for that, luv."

Her head swivels to look at him and he pauses at the look there, unable to read her eyes.

"Right." She says softly. She seems to shake herself out of it. "Here." She hands over the sword and he takes it, flicking some of the extra bits off of it with a quick swipe.

She starts to walk off and he follows, a little surprised she doesn't say anything. But then again, she still looked a combination of worried, angry, and thoughtful all rolled up into one. Made him wonder what was going on in that head of hers. He knew her in so many ways, since he had rolled up to Sunnydale, but for all that he had called her airheaded before, she was far from that, and that made her sometimes hard to read. Still, he saw more of her than Finn ever did, always had (even before her future self had arrived and turned everything he knew on its head.)

"How's your mum?"

She looks at him in something like shock. "What?"

"What?" He says defensively. "She's-" He softens. "She's a good woman, B-Slayer. Invites me round for hot chocolate sometimes." Why was he telling her this? Was potential ammunition-

"She does what?" But she didn't sound angry, just surprised.

He sniffs a bit, shrugging. They were getting closer to her place already. Maybe he'd push his luck and see if he could pop in and check on Bit and Joyce. Two of the few, prior to Buffy, who'd ever been good to him in ol' Sunnyhell. Or in general, truth be told.

"She's a good sounding board. Or I am for her, when need arises. She's-" He pauses, in speech but not in his walking. "I think she's lonely sometimes, Buffy. She's had a hard time of it too. Not just because of her illness."

She frowns, looking at him, stopping. They were in front of her house now.

"What do you mean?" The fact that she hadn't striked out at him angrily yet said a lot about the stress and everything she was going through. Still, all of this gave him a sense of pleasure and pride. Not in her pain, of course; he never wanted to see her-in any version of herself-be in pain, but the fact that she was opening up to him. Yet another thing she never did with Finn; she always closed herself off to him, kept him at bay. But with her enemy turned sort of ally? Right up.

"Well she had to deal with your utter shite of a dad first, right?" He pauses to see how she takes that statement. She seemed inclined to agree. "Cheats on her. Then they divorce and she has to take up the roots she's made for her two girls and start a new life, a new job, in a town where she doesn't know anyone. It's lonely. But your mum is made up of the toughest stuff. I see now where you get it from."

She stares at him in open astonishment, before her mouth sets.

He coughs. "Right. Well..." He scratches the back of his neck a bit sheepishly. "Tell your mum I wish her well. And tell the Bit I said hi. If you don't mind that is." he adds hastily.

She starts to speak when a scream pierces through and they both whip their heads up simutaniously. They both recognized its source immediately.

"Dawn."

They both run into the house.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He pounds up the stairs but she is faster. They're both shocked momentarily to see the demon there, atop Joyce. She wasn't moving. Buffy lets out a shout and grabs onto the demon, throwing it off of her mother and onto the carpet. He takes that time to grab onto Nibblet, her eyes wide in shock at the sight in front of her.

"Nibblet! Come on!" He pulls her away quickly. Her safety was priority number one. Buffy had made that clear to him. No matter what the situation, protect Dawn. He hurries her out the front door and to the neighbor's, battering on the door, uncaring of the time. A woman answers the door, looking shocked.

"What-"

He pushes Dawn at her, who squeaks. "For the love of everything, Bit, stay here. Call Rupert and anyone else you can."

She looks at him fearfully. "But where are you going?"

"Gotta help your sis and mum, yeah? Whatever you do, stay inside. Don't even think of coming out until you see me or your sis, got it?"

"I-I got it."

That would have to do. Dawn was as safe as she was going to be at the moment. He had to help the Slayer now.

He runs back over and through the house like a bat out of hell, following the sound of fighting and noises. He finds her in the backyard, door wide open, struggling with the demon (Queller, so said Buffy to him before he left.) He grabs a knife off the butcher's block (with the position she was in, he couldn't throw anything bigger at her to catch, like his sword. That'd do more harm than good.)

"Slayer!" He exclaims, throwing the knife to her. She catches it and slices at the Queller. It screeches and pulls back just enough for her to kick it hard, sending it sailing across the yard. He feels a flash of pride at that. His Slayer. Down, but never out, no matter the situation. He runs down and stabs at it, but it is faster than it looks and leaps at the Slayer once more.

She lets out a cry; of anger, not pain and it screeches again as she stabs at it again and again. He holds it for her, sword fallen by his boots, as she continues to stab at it until it stops moving. He throws it aside and looks down at her. Stares at her.

Covered in its blood and mess, the blood of the foe she had vanquished, had decimated for daring to try and hurt her family. She was an angel in tarnished robes and she was beautiful.

His jaw clenches and he holds a hand down to help her up. She looks at him for a moment, but takes it. He nearly gasps at the contact. The warmth she gave out was indistiguishable from her future counterpart, his love.

"Your mum." He says. She turns, from where she had been looking down at the dead demon, to look at him. "Is she alright?"

Her lips purse, but not in anger, but more like she is trying to hold back her emotions. "She's-she's okay. There was some kinda gunk on her but I got it off. She's okay. She's okay." Saying it as if trying to convince herself of it.

He squeezes her hand without thinking and she looks at him in surprise.

"She's a tough old bird, luv. Outlive us all."

She laughs and looks surprised again, at herself. He smiles tentatively at her and is stunned when she smiles back, however small. Her expression clouds over in moments, though and she gasps.

"Dawn. Where's-is Dawn okay?"

"She's fine, Slayer. Sent her next door with clear instructions to call on your Watcher and not to go out unless she knew it was you or me."

Her shoulders relax at that. She swallows. "Spike. I-thank-"

"Buffy?"

They both turn to see Finn there. He can hear commando types in the house and his mouth thins, both at that and at Finn's timing. Bloody fucking boy.

Finn looks at them both funny and it's then that he and the Slayer both seem to remember that they were still holding hands. She pulls hers away and he feels instant loss without her warmth. She walks over to Finn and it gives him a lurch in his stomach at the sight. Surely she wasn't that glad to see the boy was she? Sure, life and death situation an' all, but it was Spike who had been here for her, not Fi-

"Where the hell were you?" She demands of Finn.

Ooh. This could get nasty very quick. Shame he didn't have any popcorn to sample on while he watched.

"I was patrolling for you. I-"

"And you just left Dawn and my mother here? Alone? With everything that's going on? Why was Dawn even here to begin with? She was left at the Magic Box."

"I said I'd keep an eye on them."

She laughs sardonically. "Yes, because that went well! You left them alone. I don't-"

"Buffy, please. Let's not-" He glances at Spike and it's all the vampire can do not to smirk widely at the boy.

She sees where he looks and it only seems to incense her further. "Let's not, what? You can whatever you have to say, Riley. Because you weren't here. You left." Her face crumples at that.

That was the biggest sin you could commit in Buffy's eyes, he knew. Knew from both experience of having watched her and knowing things from her future counterpart. She could forgive almost anything, but she could never forget the sin of leaving. Angel had done that and it was something she had never been able to forgive.

"But Spike? You came back. No matter the situation, you came back. Everyone else always left me, abandoned me. But you came back."

"If Spike hadn't been here, mom or Dawn or mom and Dawn... they'd... He saved their lives by being here to help me."

He wasn't sure who was more shocked at that statement between the three of them.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Well," He finally says, in the ensuing silence. "Think I've had my fill of violence for the night, Slayer, no offense." He picks up his sword and shakes off some of the blood. Between the giant snake and the demon, he'd have to give it a thorough cleaning later so it didn't rust. He kind of liked it and not just because Buffy had gotten for him specifically. He wasn't usually a weapon sort of guy, preferring to do his fighting with his fists and legs, but it was pretty nice.

He glances at the house. He really did want to check up on Joyce, but with all the commando's around...

"Call off your guys, Riley."

Finn looks at the Slayer. "Buffy-"

"My mom's already been through enough tonight. Dawn too. Everything is fine now; or as fine as it's going to be for awhile. Send them off." As he tries to say something, she interrupts him. "We'll talk tomorrow, promise."

The boy doesn't look happy (he keeps sending dark looks at Spike) but he does eventually leave; he can hear him and the other troops of his get out of the place. He turns to look at the Slayer, brows furrowed, coughing. She turns to look at him.

He gives a brief smile. "Guess that's that then." He takes off through the back door, through the house and starts to walk off when he stops, looking over at the house next door. He knocks on it and it immediately opens (despite a woman protesting.) Dawn looks at him with teary eyes.

"Is mom...is Buffy...is it okay?"

He nods, gesturing her to come out. He puts an arm round her shoulder and feels the tug of something he hadn't in a long time; family. Dawn felt like family. Like the little sister (or sibling in general, as he had been an only child) he never had. She immediately cuddles up closer to him and he feels that smug feeling again. She never did that for Finn, he was sure. She had come to his crypt a few times, complaining about a few things, listening to some of his stories. She never seemed to care for Soldier Boy (to his everlasting amusement. His Nibblet had good taste.)

He brings her into the house and goes up with her all the way to Joyce's room. Joyce was awake and alert now. The Slayer was on one side of the bed and Dawn goes to the other and they all embrace in a hug. He can feel his non-beating heart twinge at that, as he looks at the tableau.

Family.

They felt like family to him. He had been in love with Buffy for a little while now but he hadn't felt that connection with the rest of the family until now. Well he knew what Joyce represented to him; many mother problems he might have, but it didn't stop him from knowing about them. She represented the mother he had lost. And Dawn represented the sibling he had never known in life (his mother had been pregnant once after him but had lost it. It had taken such a toll on her body that led her to never be able to have any other children. Was probably a good chunk of the reason she had doted on him so, her only child.)

He nearly swallows at the emotions in him and starts to turn.

"Spike." Joyce's voice says faintly. He turns back. She looks at him gratefully and it stuns him. "Thank you."

As if he couldn't be stunned more.

He nods, choked with emotion. "Anytime, Joyce. I'll-" He does swallow now. "I'll protect this family till the end of the world."

He takes off.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

He looks an utter wreck, bruises swelling an eye and a lot of his face, his shirt torn, bloody scratches on him, like he had just went through some hellacious torture.

"Why did you let that Glory hurt you?" She asks. She had to know what he had said and done.

"She wanted to know who the Key was."

"Oh! Well, I can tell her and then you'll-"

"No!" He exclaims and coughs, the movement obviously too much for him. "You can't ever. Glory never finds out."

"Why?" She asks softly.

"'Cause Buffy ... the other, not so pleasant Buffy ... anything happened to Dawn, it'd destroy her. I couldn't live, her bein' in that much pain. Let Glory kill me first. Nearly bloody did."

She stares at him, sees the utter truth there and leans down, kissing him softly on the mouth. He kisses back, before he jerks slightly in obvious surprise. She pulls back and moves away from him.

He hadn't told Glory. He had taken torture at the hands of something that insane and powerful and he hadn't given an inch. He had withstood all of that for Dawn. Withstood all of that for her.

She can feel her heart throw itself over, her stomach turning in ways she couldn't quite comprehend.

"What you did, for me, and Dawn...that was real."

She turns to look at him.

"I won't forget it."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"How long was I gone?" Things are hazy, unreal. She doesn't have a grip on this world yet. Not yet. Everything seems out of focus and unreal. Except for him. She saw his blue eyes like a beacon in her still dark world stare at her with such feelings in his eyes. She can see him.

Everything else is dark, but she sees him. He grips her hands tightly but not too tightly, as if afraid she is a mirage and he is afraid she'll disappear on him.

"Hundred forty-seven days yesterday. Uh ... hundred forty-eight today." He smiles a little at her and it's one of the few things that has lightened her, after being ripped away from... "'Cept today doesn't count, does it? How long for you? Where you were?"

"Longer." She whispers.

And then the others run in like a stampeding herd, shattering her senses and he is gone from her and the moment is gone and she is unable to get it back. She will push away all the beginning moments of her resurrection, push away his being there as what truly anchors her to this world and will only remember it subconsciously until-

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She awakens with a gasp, looking around in confusion for a moment before laying back on her bed. The dreams again. They always seemed so vivid and real. It wasn't like she was a bit actor, merely watching the big parts. She was apart of the big parts, memories and feelings and all.

She looks at the side of the bed that's empty. She had kept Riley away. After everything, she was still mad at him and needed time to cool off. The one with the (surprisingly) cool head tonight was...Spike.

He had helped her with the snake and then with the demon and hadn't asked for a damn thing in return. And the first thing he had done, when they got to her mother's room was to take Dawn somewhere safe, as if realizing just how important and precious she was.

He had shown an openness she hadn't expected from it. He had done it for no material gain or anything of the sort. If anything, he seemed embarassed by his statement before he left, but that didn't mean it didn't feel genuine. It confused her.

He was being open, yet Riley, who was supposed to be her boyfriend, seemed to be closing himself off more and more. And reckless. Of all people to be reckless, in the ways that were dangerous, she wouldn't have expected it of him. To leave her mother and Dawn all alone, despite everything... Then again, when it came to the danger, hadn't he already shown something of that sort? When his heart had been in trouble, but he hadn't wanted to give up the extra boost of power. He wanted to fight in front of her, despite her being the Slayer, despite her Calling. He didn't want to work beside her, despite his words many times to the contrary.

And yet...and yet... and yet Spike had fought beside her twice tonight. Hadn't seemed at all upset or emasculated by her slightly stronger strength. In fact, he seemed to be in admiration of it, of her.

She feels her cheeks color, confused. She was tired, that was all. Tired...

She puts her head back on her pillow and closes her eyes firmly. She'd sleep it off and then things would go back to normal. She wouldn't be thinking of Spike, wouldn't be thinking of the dreams she had had for the past few days now that didn't look like they were stopping any time soon...

She starts to fall back asleep, hand rubbing at her neck without realizing it-

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She absently rubs at her neck, feeling a slight frission of pleasure as she does so. It was still new, intimate, and special. She never had a bite feel this way before. But then again, she had never shared herself with anyone like this before. Angel would have been the closest, but that really didn't count as he was dying and needed her blood. It hadn't been pleasurable. She hadn't known it could be pleasurable, until Spike. It had come up on her and surprised her in many ways.

She feels herself start to drift off to sleep, trying in vain to keep awake (she had wanted to stay up to get the details from Spike on what happened, but she felt very tired all of a sudden...)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

She feels something at her head and blinks sleepily at it. Spike sat on the edge of the bed beside her, stroking her head. It felt good. She closes her eyes in contentment.

"Welcome home." She murmurs. He pauses briefly, before resuming his stroking. She sighs in pleasure as she feels his tender kiss on her cheek.

"I'm home." He says softly. He shifts a bit and she moves, letting him sit back against the headboard, moving to lie in his arms. He continues to stroke her hair and she hugs him tightly, feeling awash with contentment at his presence.

"How'd it go?"

"Mmm. Good, actually. We killed the snake. Oh, and I ran into Finn first."

"Good. Glad that was taken care of. What about Riley? Where'd you run into him at?"

"He was in Restfield. Said he was 'patrolling'." Spike snorts, his feelings on Riley clear in his expression and tone of voice. "Gave him a nice choice of words and took off. Met up with the Slayer and helped her take care of the snake." He pauses and she looks up at him. "Walked with her to her house and we heard a scream. Helped her take care of the Queller."

Her brows furrow. "The Queller was already there?" He nods. "It wasn't supposed to be until later..."

"Yeah, well, some things have already changed already, yeah? Your mere presence probably changed a good bit."

"Was mom-I mean, is she okay?" She asks, worriedly.

He nods. "She's perfect, luv. We protected her and Dawn both."

"What the hell was Dawn doing there?" She demands. "She was supposed to be at the Magic Box."

He stares at her for a moment before laughing.

She pouts. "What's so funny?"

"Sorry, luv," He says, amused. He strokes her face a bit, smiling, causing her to smile. "Just, the Slayer said the exact same thing to Finn earlier. She about tore his head off for leaving them there alone. Said he was going to keep an eye on them then he took off to patrol." He snorts. "Stupid git."

"I'm glad...she...yelled at him about that. That was so fucking irresponsible of him. If he took off, then I wouldn't be surprised if he had just started patrolling right then." At his confused look, she elaborates. "Around this time, maybe later, or maybe earlier-hard to say, given things having changed a bit already-he started going to vampire flophouses."

He looks at her for a long moment, before his jaw clenches. "That bloody fucking-" He bites off, looking away. She touches his face, making him look at her. "How the fuck could he?"

She shrugs helplessly. "I know I hadn't exactly been super open girl with him, but I hadn't expected him to turn to something like that. He could never-never get over the fact that I'm stronger than him. It's why he nearly died before, with his heart going out. You remember that time," That time when Riley collapsed, after Spike had been using the doctor to try and get his Chip out. He nods. "He wanted to be Super Guy and protect me." She fiddles with the buttons on his shirt. "He never wanted to fight beside me."

"I do." He says, quietly. She looks up at him. "Always have, always will. Even when we were enemies, I never once saw you as anything less than my equal. I love your strength," He strokes her arms. "I love who and what you are. I've always wanted my equal and I found it. To fight beside you, to protect you when you fall down, to be protected by you when I fall down. Together."

She hugs him tighter at that.

"Together sounds good." She says happily. She looks back up at him. "How'd it go after that?"

"Went good. She's-" He pauses, looking introspective for a moment. "She was pretty nice tonight." He looks at her and she swallows.

"I'm always nice," She tries to joke, but it was hard, with him looking at her with his eyes darkening like that. She feels her body warm, her pussy start to get wet. He always had such an effect on her. "And that wasn't-I mean, it was, but-"

"Shh." He says, stroking her bottom lip. "Not confusing the two, pet. Know very well who I'm looking at right now. But-"

"But it's nice when she's nice to you too." She says. She wasn't angry. It was her, after all. They'd figure out how to deal with all this.

"Yeah. But," He says, getting a gleam in his eyes. "I know of something even better than that."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The air is instantly filled with tension as she enters Willy's Bar. It was something of a risk, but one she was willing to take, as her other counterpart hadn't come here in quite some time, so it was fairly safe, all things considered.

"Slayer! Long time no see!" As she approaches the bar, the voice of Willy lowers. "Look, Slayer. Been doing my best here. No reason to-"

"Not here to beat you up for information, Willy." She says. He still looks at her warily, however. She shrugs. "Got something much bigger than that to take care of. First thing though...just want to confirm something. You remember Riley Finn, right? I came in here with him before?"

He looks around but none of the demons or vampires (or humans, if there were any in the room) were looking at him or them.

"Yeah, I think I might remember him." He seemed to want to be helpful, though with someone like him it was always hard to tell.

"How often has he been coming-and leaving-with vampires on his arm?"

He pales. "Slayer, don't know what you're talking about. Sure, he's not-"

She slaps a hand down on the bar, not enough to jostle it, but to get his attention. She leans in closer. "No lying, Willy, Told you I wasn't here to beat you up for information. Just tell me the truth. I have plans I need to take care of and I need the truth. How's about I tell you that I plan to make a truce in this city? That give you enough incentive to be truthful and not skirt around the truth?"

His eyes widen. "Truly, Slayer?" She nods. He shrugs, finally. "Not my business to keep up with stuff like that, but yeah, I saw him leave with a couple vampires. And they didn't walk back, the vampires, if you get my meaning." She knew. Riley had staked them, after. "Haven't seen him for a few days, though." Which meant he had already, indeed, moved onto the flophouses.

She nods. "Good. Thank you for telling the truth." He winces, apparently waiting for a punch to the face. It never comes. He blinks at her, surprised. "Told you I wouldn't do that, Willy. Just be truthful to me. In fact, I need you for something." She glances over at the tables that held some demons and vampires.

He seemed to get the hint. "That's the truce you're talking about?"

"Yeah. No needless bloodshed outside of this bar, or in it, if I can help it. Trying to fix a lot of things." Making a sort of revolution, more like. It may be smaller scale, compared to Glory, but if-when-they defeated Glory, stuff like this being in place would make things much easier. Hopefully.

"First things first. I know you have to fix your bar a lot, due to the infighting. I can get some help with that." She didn't officially know him yet, but she knew Lorne and knew he could help. "Got an acquaintance who can get a spell put over your bar to keep people from fighting. Neutral territory, like I know you want."

He looks at her in astonishment. "I don't-" He swallows. "Don't know what to say, Slayer. You really mean it?"

"I do. I want to change things." A lot of things. Stuff like this was stuff she had thought about for a long time after, after Sunnydale fell. "I'll give you the contact details of the person once I speak with them. We good?"

"We're good." He gives her a hesitant smile. "Can I ask-what changed?"

She winks at him and he looks at her in astonishment. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

She turns around to face the tables and walks forward, to stand firmly in the middle. How amusing, the picture it made, with her a petite girl versus the things that looked like monsters, yet she was the one that they were scared of.

"Listen up!" She says clearly and loudly, making sure to get all of their attentions, even if they didn't look at her. "This place is becoming neutral ground. So no fighting. Got it? I catch wind of fighting in here? I kill you. I catch wind of you hurting and/or killing an innocent-be that human, demon, or whatever else?-I kill you. Vampires want to take territory? You do it through the proper channels. You will do it through the Master of Sunnydale and the defacto leader of the Aurelius line. That is Spike. I know you know that. Try and take territory behind his back? He'll kill you. Or I will kill you."

"Taking blood from innocents and unwilling people? I will kill you. Only blood from willing people-who were not thralled or bespelled into it-or from animals. Other things will get relayed to you by Spike, as he sees fit. I see or hear any rule broken, by demon or vampire or any persons related to the supernatural? There will be consequences."

"Outside of those things-and things Spike might add later, for vampires-you will be left alone. Well, don't start looting the town and think I won't go after you." She is reminded of the looting that happens once the demons learn she is dead, the demons she had to take on once she had been resurrected. "Use your brain-or your Visual Cortex, in the case of you K'Krash. Use common sense, is all I'm asking."

"Got it?"

They all stare at her, slack jawed.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

I hope you enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

-PhoenixJustice