Authors Notes: This chapter is dedicated to Ebony Silvers the goddess of the Babyverse, after all this chapter is centered on her creation, which without I wouldn't have met some wonderful people. Thanks for betaing and posting this story for me Ebs-YOU ROCK.

The Blue Gaze of Death

I could hear and feel the pounding of my footsteps as I chased after my prey. The constant beating created a rhythmical pattern, much like the rapid heart-beat of the young boy I was slowly gaining on.

I was only a couple of steps away from him, when he suddenly caught me off guard by turning sharply down an alley on our right and therefore furthering the distance slightly between us. I let out an aggravated snarl as I increased my pace, determined to catch him sooner rather than later. Don't get me wrong. This little game had nothing to do with the kill; I'd already had my fill on an elderly couple earlier that night. This was all about the chase, why else would I have given the boy a head start. But at the moment I didn't have the patience to play cat and mouse all night.

The boy's heartbeat increased in speed slightly and I could hear his breath coming in quick short gasps, his steps faltering slightly from exhaustion. I also noticed that we were quickly coming to the end of the alley way. Unfortunately it led onto the main road and not a dead end like I would have preferred. So, not really requiring an audience, I decided that now was a better time to finish this as any. I reached into the waistband of my leather skirt and pulled out the 45mm automatic that had been resting there. Making sure the silencer was still in place I straightened my arm and aimed, shooting him in the back of the leg. With a small cry of pain, he fell hard onto the ground.

As he came into contact with the concrete, the wind was knocked out of him and a groan of pain escaped his lips. I strolled over to where he was attempting to crawl away from me and clasped onto a handful of his brown hair, pulling him quickly onto his feet.

Before he had a chance to steady himself, I spun him around to face me. I ignored the blood that was seeping from the bullet wound and slowly gliding down his leg, staining his jeans. His eyes were wide and pleading as I placed my hand on his chin, the other one still firmly clasped on the scuff of his neck, but I wasn't affected by his puppy dog appearance. I felt no remorse as I twisted his head sharply to the side and reveled in the dull crack as his neck snapped and his limp body dropped lifelessly to the ground.

I took in a deep breath to calm the raging borrowed blood that flowed through my veins, when suddenly I felt a surge of pain in my chest, as though I'd been kicked in the ribs. At the sudden surprising pain, my demon came forth and I felt my features distort as I doubled over, my quick gasps taking in unneeded oxygen. I placed my hands on my knees. waiting for the pain to subside. Eventually it eased slightly and I straightened myself up. I glanced around the abandoned alley, searching for the bloody witch or warlock who had performed the spell that cause such agonizing pain that had only now finally died down to a bearable level. But even with my heightened senses and vision I couldn't hear, see, or smell anyone or anything that could have performed the spell.

But before the thought had completely crossed my mind, I was blasted by a force of energy that caused me to stumble backwards before collapsing onto my knees. My skin burned as it scraped across the rough, cold concrete and I'm sure a hole was ripped into my stockings. I let out a small cry of pain. I felt a burning and tingling sensation in the centre of my chest, much like the feeling a shot of whiskey creates as it glides down your throat. Gradually, the soothing feeling spread to my stomach and then to my throat until eventually it covered all of me. The last place I could feel it creeping to was my head, or rather my temples. And although I couldn't feel any pain or discomfort, I somehow instinctively knew that my eyes had flashed with a silvery white light, interrupting the usual feral yellow of the demon mask for a brief instant. The burning and tingling feeling quickly dissipated after that and I unexpectedly felt exhausted. I leaned forward on my hands, pinching my eyes shut for a brief moment as though preparing myself for the exertion of climbing to my feet.

Once the tiredness had faded I slowly peeled my eyes back open, only to be confronted by the blue gaze of death, two cold unmoving eyes watched me and I was encaptured by them, unable to turn my gaze away because for some unknown reason they fascinated me. Really, I should have been used to there oceanic colour and lucid gaze because these eyes were exactly the same as Spike's. I could have drowned in his for the rest of eternity, but still these were different somehow, they didn't hold the same mischievousness Spike's always held, nor did they show love, affection, and pure trust. Instead they held something akin to pain and fear, fear of me, fear of death, and fear of failure. I don't know who this fear of failure was directed at but it was definitely there. I suddenly felt uncomfortable and discouraged by the young boy's steely gaze and so I jumped up onto my feet and escaped from the alley as quickly as I could.

I walked along the street feeling very heavy, as though carrying the weight of the world. Every part of my being ached and I struggled to move my feet even though I was desperate to get away.

Something about that boy was burrowing into my mind, like a worm into an apple. I approached a young woman and as I neared her she let out a frightened shriek. At that moment I had no idea what had caused her to cry out. And I didn't care because something registered in my mind as though it had clicked into place and I realized what had unnerved me about the boy. He was an innocent, not a rapist or a murderer, not even barely into adulthood. I mean even if he was a druggy or an alcoholic it wouldn't have been enough, or as bad a thing, to be killed for.

I continued down the street, his blue eyes scarring my memory for the rest of eternity. I tried to recall what had happened to him, what the frigging hell I'd done to him, but my memory of the past 36 hours was all a blur. I walked past a middle-aged man and his face froze in fear as his gaze slipped down to my top, I followed his stare not taking any notice as he turned and ran in the opposite direction. Oh my God, my top was covered in blood, both new and old. Its deep crimson colour was accentuated by the white lace of the material.

I dry heaved, an immediate reaction in the face of revulsion and steadied myself against the wall. "What the bloody hell has happened to me?" I whispered, pushing myself off of the wall, suddenly feeling an urgency to get back to the hotel, to get back to my family.

I jogged towards the hotel, still feeling tired and heavy. Thankfully, I recognized the streets and so was able to find my way back with ease. I turned left down a street and was suddenly plagued by lost memories that begin to resurface from wherever they were previously hidden. In an instant I remembered everything I'd done, the monster I was only minutes before, killing an elderly couple. Their blood, which I could still taste on my lips, was splashed across my top. I remembered chasing the young boy from the alley to just simply break his neck.

Thirty-six hours worth of events continued to be conjured in my mind. I had to fight the urge to just collapse there and wait for Spike to come and find me. Oh God, what the hell am I going to do when Spike finds out? He kills our childer for doing exactly the same thing. Innocents aren't to be killed. It was a rule which had to be obeyed.

I quickened my pace and eventually arrived at the Hyperion. From outside I could hear my family talking. I considered going in the back way, and avoiding my fate, what they would think of me? But then, which ever way I entered the hotel I would have to face their wrath sooner or later. And although later would allow me a few more seconds of my unlife, I decided there just wasn't any point in delaying it any longer.

I stalked up to the door, taking in an unneeded breath to steady my growing nerves, before walking into the hotel lobby. Aallowing the door to slam behind me I froze, before I was even fully across the threshold five pairs of eyes turned to stare at me. I felt remarkably how I suspected a chimpanzee must feel when locked in a cage 27 hours a day, 7 days a week, its soul purpose of living to entertain idiotic humans by going about it every day life. An easy life it would appear to be, but standing there with my family and friends watching me, studying me waiting for my reaction, it didn't seem easy at all.

I looked around all of their faces, trying to grasp a sense of what their feelings were towards me. First my eyes rested on Drusilla, her steely blue gaze penetrated my soul, a common occurrence during her moment's contemporary sanity. The Vampiress watched me knowingly. A small smile played at the corners of her read lips, because she already knew, probably before I had even arrived at the hotel, that I was back. The demon that usually resided beneath the barrier of my soul was back where it belonged, and hopefully it was going to be there permanently from this day forth. Not sharing a word or any sign of communication, because none was needed, I turned to the person standing to the right of her:

Wesley's eyes had drifted between the two of us constantly during our silent exchange, and as I turned to him he just nodded in understanding. I presumed he was the one who had performed the spell, after all he was only one with the power and focus to have been able to pull it off. From this day onwards a new level of respect was created between the two of us. I presumed that he all ready understood that I was once again Spike's Baby, and not some untamed fledgling vampire who couldn't control there lust for blood. With Wesley, the fact that Drusilla had excepted me immediately was good enough confirmation for him, because how ever crazy Dru may be, Wesley adored her nonetheless. She was his Black Goddess and he took everything she said, shouted ,or whispered in with the utmost interest.

In the centre of the room stood Fred, and as I turned my gaze to her, a comforting smile spread across her lips although though I could see fear in her huge brown eyes. I wasn't surprised. Unlike Drusilla, she didn't have a demon who could sense my soul deep with in me, nor did she understand Drusilla as well as Wesley did. She couldn't instinctively tell that everything was all right. None the less she stood her ground. It wasn't like I saw either her or Gunn much, but still they stood by us, as loyal as the rest of the family that I saw everyday. I smiled at her in thankfulness, and suddenly my attention was caught by a movement behind her.

I watched as Gunn rose to his feet, placing a large hand on her shoulder. His wife turned and glanced at him, a look of worry cast in her features suddenly. She knew, much like the rest of us, that deep down Gunn would rather stake first and think later. Although he had always been like that, his feeling towards demons had become much worse ever since his sister was turned and he was forced to stake her. I presumed that his views and belief were reconciled much by the previous events, by the sudden lose of my soul. I watched him for a moment and felt as though he was studying me, analyzing me. I had the sudden urge to make a smart remark about him signing up for the Initiative but only Spike and I would actually get it. So I decided to let it lie. Instead I turned to the person standing next to the couple and wished I hadn't.

Because to the right of Gunn stood Spike. I glanced down at the floor for a moment, suddenly finding the hotels tiling the most interesting thing in the universe. After a moment I moved to look up, but I didn't get very far because before I knew what had happened Spike raced towards me wrapping me up in his strong arms, and spinning me around until even my head was dizzy.

When he eventually stopped my already messed up hair was flung across my face. "Oh God. Oh baby, you're alright. Everything's all right, Dove," he whispered, setting me down on my feet, hugging me close to him. After a moment he pulled away from me slightly and moved to wipe my hair from my eyes, before pulling me back towards him once more. I closed my eyes reveling in the closeness of him, as though I hadn't seen him in years. When I reopened them I saw the other occupants of the room beginning to leave.

"How the hell did this happen?" I asked suddenly and everyone froze. I'm not sure why. Whether it was because they didn't know or whether they were too scared to tell me, I had no idea. And I didn't get chance to find out either because in the next instant the doors of the Hyperion flung open, to reveal hunched and cowering Angel.

And much like it did with me, the whole room turned to stare at him.