Saekaeru Kibishii: Sorry about any double posting sometimes when I upload it the story gets warped in some way or another. It hadn't happened for awhile though. Thanks and sorry for the cliffy but I can't promise that future chapter will not end with them. Thank you for offering a challenge but at the moment I'm a bit overwhemled by challenges that I'm planning to write. This does look to be a long fic so I may take you up on that on a later date.

Reptilian Goddess: Thank you very much! To answer your questions: At the moment Dracula is set back by the attempts to overthrow him and it has already affected his plans for Spike some. (He wanted Spike to be kept in the dungeons but taking the prisoners forced him to move him.) Even if he is distracted he is going to do his best to make Spike pay for his own amusement. I always saw Spike as very social, he even hung out with the Scoobies because he wanted to talk with people. I never saw him as hating kids per se, he liked Dawn well enough, but Peter was trying his nerves at first. Spike needed someone to connect to and Peter distracted him from his current woes. He likes the kid and wants to see him happy. Dracula might have a little trouble with using the boy against him, the reason will be in the next chapter.

You had a question mark at Childe/Ex-lover so I guess your asking if Angel sees Spike in that light. I'd have to say no to both. I don't really write Spike as Angels' childe but that won't be mentioned much if at all if your a fan of that sort of thing. At this point Angel doesn't seem to be thinking of Spike as a lover, what he is thinking will be revealed in future chapters.

Nika Dawson: Thank you! And ask and you shall receive.

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Having her blood drained had weakened Faith more than she had liked. She knew that Angel needed more to heal but she was wiped out. He would have to feed on the pigs blood she had gotten for the next few days. None of the other slayers were offering themselves up for the cause, that was for sure. Faith was just grateful that they were willing to let her keep him with them. She wasn't willing to press her luck to ask more of them at the moment.

What she really needed was to unwind and be mellow for awhile. The other girls always had amusing stories and she wasn't ready to go to bed just yet. Not with the words of her latest argument still fresh in her mind. The rec room was filled to the brim with off-duty slayers playing pool, watching TV, and eating. Faith opted to stay with the girls that were dining so she wouldn't be asked to play the games. Sitting at the table were a couple of slayers that she knew from missions she had led and one of the french girls she had just met. For the life of her she could not remember her name. As usual at a meals gossip was going around about other slayers, and the hottest topic was Buffy Summers.

"I heard that she only dates freaks now," came a whisper from the blond, Carey.

"Is that true Faith?" The new girl Jane asked clearly shocked and unsettled by the idea.

Faith just shrugged, it was beyond pointless to keep informing the girls that she wasn't Buffys' keeper. They all just assumed that the two of them kept track of each others' love life. A few going as far as to claim that it was a type of private club that they weren't privy to whenever she said she didn't know. If Faith was in a better mood she would of laugh at the irony of it all. She never had been a part of anything let alone the Scoobies. No one could break into that tight knit crew with ease. It was mainly Xander, Willow, Buffy and Giles. Andrew and Dawn were the only "new" members anyone else was either a semi-friend, co-worker, ally or dated one of the group. Sure Buffy might feel lonely sometimes being the leader but she still had loyal friends. The girl seemed to dismiss them far too much in Faiths' eyes.

Still expecting an answer Jane looked at her waiting for Faith to respond. Rolling her eyes at the idiotic gossip the slayers were reduced to she complied. "Shit, I don''t know who B bounces with now. I ain't keeping tabs of her honeys. That's her business not mine." She looked pointedly at the others to bring home her statement. "It's not yours either so mind yours."

Grumbles followed but the girls themselves went back to eating their meals leaving Faith to get back to looking over what was being served. The choices weren't really the kind that she was looking for. She was damned if she knew what half of the french foods were and had been wary since the frog incident. When she was feeling brave enough Faith had tried a few of the items the others (non-French slayers) had enjoyed. It was pretty tasty but she figured her idea of good food wasn't much after the prison grub, or the English.

The gossip came back soon and she ignored most of it though she found interesting pieces that were entertaining. Willow and Kennedy were a hot topic, many believing the slayer was taking advantage of the witch. Kennedy certainly paraded the fact that she was dating a "goddess" to everyone she met. People were already taking bets on how long the relationship would last.

It made Faith wonder if people were making bets about Robin and her. They had been pretty hot and heavy at times. It was without a doubt the most mature relationship that she ever had been in. They talked things out, worked through problems together and for the most part had each others' back. She liked what they had but at times had feared the pressure of the commitment. Robin never pressed her though, he said that he understood that she had a lot on her plate. They had taken things slow on that front. He understood what she needed and gave her as much as he could

Faith tried to return the favor giving in when he wanted to go to certain events. It was fun, passionate, tender and mind blowing. Robin and her would have their shares of fights but they always managed to work things out for the better. Until now.

The souled vampires had always been a sore topic for Robin though it had never caused any fights between the pair. Faith had told him all about her past and Angels' involvement in it. He understood the vampires' importance in her life. Though he also knew about Angelus' involvement in Giles' lovers' death. Whenever the subject was breach Robin would be silent for the most part yet still support her choices.

You want to visit Angel when he's on a solo mission? Do what you have to do just come back in one piece. That was how it had been.

Until Giles had stepped in to inform them about Spike staying with team Angel. Robin was furious that the vampire was still around when others who had died that day had not returned. Faith had tried her best to reach him letting him know that she did understand his anger and pain. She did her part to let him know that she knew how hard it was for the vampires trying to redeem themselves as well. Reminding him that her victims had families too.

Like she once had said , redemption was a rocky path. True there were people who would claim that she and the souled vampires got off easy. These people didn't understand and never truly would. Buffy had showed support for her ex-boyfriends and had with Faith in the past but she knew that the other slayer would never really know. As a result there was a profound connection between the three that Buffy would couldn't be apart of.

Part of Faith, perhaps the selfish part, was glad of it. Sure it wasn't as glamorous as the exclusive Scoobies had been but it was something. It meant a lot to her to be able to share her pain, to not be alone with it. It was also one of the few areas where her senior slayer was excluded.

Robin just didn't get it not that she had blamed him. Being part of a couple with him had been an eye opener to Faith. It was a rare guy that wanted more from her than sex (not that it wasn't good) rarer still that he had still stuck around. That was what made this fight with Robin so painful, she didn't want to lose him but she knew that she couldn't back down from what she believed in. He saw her support of the vampires as her ignoring his slain mothers' death and his feelings about the matter. She felt that by giving her trouble about it he wasn't giving her support that she needed.

"––She is still pissy about it. Blaming me for her lost love when I saved her life!" One of the French girls'' exclaimed bring her back to the current gossip.

"What''s so great about dating a vamp? Sounds creepy to me, I mean come on, their dead people." Carey chimed in. Jane nodded her head in agreement wrinkling her nose at the idea. "I heard that Buffy fought him before, I wonder if she did him too."

"Did who?" Faith asked despite herself.

"Dracula,"Carey answered not looking the slightest bit impressed, "never was thrilled with those cheap B movies."

"He is just another vampire for us to slay." Agreed the french slayer. "My cousin was seeing him and stupidly agree to be one of his brides. I saved her and she promised never to speak to me again."

Faith frowned not recalling hearing about this bit of information before. Usually the new girls were quick to brag about fight old vampires, legends and new creatures. Just a week ago there had been a fight with werewolves in Chile that had been known throughout the slayers ranks within hours. Perhaps her disagreement with Robin had been distracting her more than she realized.

"When did it go down?"

"Just two or three days ago, right Judy?" Jane replied offering her friends her stash of health bars.

"That is correct." Judy answered while declining Janes' offer. "The Count was so full of himself, claiming that I could never kill him and that once my actions were known that I would be in trouble with the council."

Faith had risked taking a harmless looking chocolate bar, health food wasn't her thing but you never know. At least it was candy and she knew what it was. It seemed like a safe bet to her.

"Why would you be in trouble for doing your job?" Carey asked. "He's a vamp, you're a slayer hence you kill them. Unless you're Summers the vampire layer." She added the last part under her breath not seeing the glare she received from Faith in return.

"There were claims about his people working a treaty with the council," the girls all protested the idea loudly before Judy continued, "I did not believe him at the time of course. I reported this to Mr. Wells and he confused me when he asked me who the Count looked like. I do not know who Mr. Lee or these other men are."

Jane did not get the reference either but the others did. Faith rolled her eyes, count on Andrew to take a serious call and make it into movie trivia.

"I can not understand Mr. Wells ranting so I hung up and called Mr. Giles instead. He informed me that Dracula was correct about the treaty." Judy said gravely.

The response was quick as the once relaxing break room was transformed into tense atmosphere. It reminded Faith of a room of hissing cats ready to unleash their claws. A few years ago she would have been right there with them in their thinking that a vampire was nothing more than a monster for them to slay. She had thought the same when Xander had told her about Angel returning after she had heard about the Angelus incident. She had to get things back in order before it got out of hand and threatened the souled vampire upstairs.

"Hey calm down people, Giles is working on it. He'll settle things out, alright?" Reluctantly the slayers stilled and mumbled agreements to her statement. Something bothered her about the Dracula thing though, in their business these feelings were rarely wrong. "Judy, what happened after he told you about the treaty?"

"Nothing. He just broke things off with my cousin and left." She bit into her sandwich thoughtfully. "No wait, I believe he stated that I would not deter him from his trip to France. He claimed that he still had business to attend to before he left."

Faith had chosen that moment to bite into the chocolate bar. Fighting back the urge to gag on the flavorless candy she nodded and quickly made an excuse to leave. She didn't feel like talking to the Watchers but she knew that her feeling was correct. Spikes' life might depend on her finding out where the Count went on that day. It seemed highly unlikely to her that on the day that Angel, Spike and their friends had been in France that Dracula happened to be there as well. Calls were made, orders were given and Faith had to wait for the others to get results. She knew that she would be no use to anyone in her current state and retired get some much need rest.

Soon Faith found herself in an elegant parlor facing a dusty stain glass window. The light bathed the room in a dully colored glow casting ominous shapes around her. Turning around she found another person had suddenly joined her in the previously empty space. Though he wore Spikes' clothes his hair was not it's usual slicked back bleached state. Honey brown curls framed his innocent looking face. A face that was completely devoid of attitude and appeared almost resigned.

"You're quite late, it is proper to be on time. You almost missed the harvest and we can't have that." Spike informed her primly much like the way Wesley had acted in Sunnydale.

"Sorry, couldn't decide what to wear." She stated standing to face him.

"Come now, you always know what is decent and practical, Faith. No heels should be worn in combat." He rose as well and she noticed a old book he tightly gripped in his right hand. Pieces of paper overflowed barely contained in it's binding.

"Keeping busy writing again?" She commented when he hugged the tome closer to his chest as if it was his lifeline to the world.

"Always writing, you never stop after all. The only thing that is elusive is the ending, I fear this one might be a bit of a shocker." The book suddenly fell heavily from his grip crashing to the floor. "It is quite vexing to have it keep slipping from my fingers just when I'm settling in."

"I know what you mean, wish I could help more but I never was much of a writer." Faith shrugged and turned away to walk around the hallway. Spike followed pulling out various items from his pocket, either to switch to another pocket or to throw away. The only items she noted clearly was a pair of cracked glasses that he slipped back into his pocket.

"Nor was I." Spike commented airily ignoring the dimly lit corridor in favor of something he held in his hand. The stain glass gradually fade as they passed the windows, colors scraped clean, glass cracking to reveal a dreary night. The stone walls were chipped and the carpet was threadbare seemingly unraveling with every step. The pair made their way into a courtyard with a large but very dead tree in the center. Faith wasn't sure why there was so much dirt on the cobble stones around the base either. It wasn't even the same dark color as the dirt surrounding the roots. It was a grayish tone, with a small knife laying in the pile.

"Oh look you didn't miss the harvest after all. Isn't it nice that they are prompt?" Spike voice called to her. Faith glanced back to find that the previously empty courtyard was covered in with bloody bodies. The vampire leaned against the tree not even bothering to gaze at the faceless bodies. The only noise that filled the air was a steady drip-drip sound that echoed loudly throughout the eerie silent night. Following it she found it was not issuing from the dead but from Spike. Pulling back his duster Faith saw a dark wet patch on the vampires' chest. Frowning he placed his hand to his breast to have it come back scarlet.

"Ruined another shirt it seems." He commented with a shrug.

"You have to do something about it."

"I can not do everything others have to do clean up too. Just try to put six before three otherwise you might find the ingredients will not be right."

Leaping up with a jolt Faith ran her hand over her sweaty face feeling as if she had just ran an all night patrol. "What the hell was that?"