I know, long time, no update. But I'm adding four new parts right now.

Last time: Buffy, Spike, Oz, Anya, Willow, and Xander went to the campus Halloween party. There, Spike sensed something seriously wrong but Buffy refused to believe him.

Gifts 19/?

Buffy was not having quite the enjoyable night she had anticipated. An irritating vampire named Spike was grating on her last nerve. She jumped when he edged so close to her, he took up practically all of her private space. "Go away, Spike," she muttered between gritted teeth.

He continued to cling to her side. "No way, Slayer. It isn't safe here and I'm not leaving you."

"Well, even if you're right, I can take care of myself."

Spike nodded at her friends. "And your mates, too? What if they get in the way of whatever's about here and you can't protect all of them by yourself?"

"We've been in actual, genuine, obvious danger before and somehow we all made it through. Enough said." Buffy turned her back on Spike, wishing pretty strongly that she hadn't done such a stupid thing as invite him along. She should have known he'd be nothing but trouble.

Thankfully, before she could be tempted to try to stake him again, a young man dressed in a ghost costume began urging people out of the room. "Costume judging is in a few minutes. Everyone who wants to participate, move into the other room."

"Come on, guys." Buffy herded Anya and the others away from the refreshment table. "We don't want to miss the contest."

They moved into the next section of the house and joined the other guests who were milling about, Buffy keeping an eye out for any potential problems. Just in case. However, nothing she saw raised any warning flags. As the judges evaluated the crowd, Buffy again tried to edge away from a persistent Spike. Of course, he had nothing better to do than to stick to her like glue.

With a concerted effort, she managed to mingle and chat with a few other students and began having a better time before the prize winners were announced. As she half-listened to names she at best vaguely recognized, Buffy glanced across the room and spotted an unpleasantly familiar face. Parker Abrams, decked out in a Frankenstein costume that included his wired jaw, was also present. Damn! She'd had no clue Parker was around. It seemed like Spike had been right about something being wrong in the place after all. Parker's presence was enough to ruin her night.

The announcer continued, "First place goes to William, in the vampire costume." Amid the applause, Spike weaved through the crowd to collect his winnings. "Good job with everything--the makeup and the eyes and the teeth look great. You'll have to tell us how you did it."

"Yeah, right, later." Spike accepted his prize envelope, not bothering to look inside as he shoved his way back through the crowd toward the spot where he had left Buffy. She made sure to scowl at him, and he turned away in a huff.

"What's wrong, Spike?" asked a sympathetic-looking Willow.

"Something's not right here. This place is off."

"It's a haunted house, doofus," interjected Xander, brave from his position on the other side of the refreshment table. "It's supposed to be spooky."

"It's more than that," he insisted. "I can feel it."

"Well, what are we supposed to do?" asked Anya with supreme disinterest.

Spike looked her up and down. "You, ex-demon, are obviously going to do nothing. I don't know why I bother with you lot."

"Cause we come as a package deal with Buffy," reminded Xander.

"Guys," Buffy interjected before the conversation could turn ugly. "I hate to admit it, but Spike might have a teeny, tiny bit of a point. Parker is here."

"What? Where?" Willow practically spun her head in a circle, she looked around so hard.

Spike examined the gang with scorn. "They were too busy mingling and stuffing their faces to notice, I figure."

"Do you want to leave, Buffy?" Willow asked solicitously.

She shook her head. "Nope. Parker's presence makes me more determined than ever to stay. I bet he's up to his old tricks again, even with that wired jaw, and there's no way I'll let him trap another innocent girl who won't have the strength to fight back."

"If you'd just give me the go-ahead to kill him, problem solved," Spike offered.

Secretly, Buffy had to admit the idea held at least a little appeal, but it wouldn't do to encourage Spike to murder a human. Any human. Even a sub-human like Parker. "You kill him, and I'll never even look at you again."

"Do it, Spike!" Xander yelled.

Spike growled at his least favorite member of the Scooby Gang. Since he was still vamped out in his "costume," the effect was impressive enough to instantly shut Xander up.

"Stop intimidating my boyfriend," ordered Anya.

Spike turned to Buffy. "Remember what I said about wanting to save your friends? Forget those two."

She really felt like screaming and never stopping, but instead Buffy glared at Spike and ordered, "Shut up. Just shut up and listen to me. We have to keep an eye on Parker and see if he tries to pull anything tonight. If he does, maybe we can catch him in the act and get some proof against him so the police can arrest him. At the very least, we can make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."

"Agreed," piped up Oz with his usual brevity.

"We can explore the haunted house at the same time," pointed out Xander. He looked at his date. "What do you say, Anya?"

She shrugged. "I suppose it is one of the points of the human celebration of Halloween. Therefore, I have no objection. But, like Buffy, I'm more concerned with monitoring this Parker. If I still had my vengeance powers, he would have been taken care of long ago."

Buffy began to lead the way across the room to the place where she had last seen Parker. "Coming?" She looked over her shoulder.

The others promptly lined up and trailed her the short distance, with Xander snatching an extra M&M cookie on the way.

Buffy came to an abrupt halt, nearly causing Spike to careen into her. "He's not here." She began looking about desperately. "Where did he go? Do any of you see him?"

"There!" Oz pointed to the far door. "He just went through there."

"Great." Once again, Buffy took the lead and crossed to the door, yanking it open and continuing into the narrow hallway. She ducked under a low-hanging moon decoration and was about to move on when Spike's voice called from behind her.

"Hold up, Slayer. Trouble back here."

"What?" Buffy whirled to see Willow and Oz leaning against the wall, looking very unsteady on their feet. "What's wrong, guys?"

"Don't know exactly," Willow explained. "I just feel really light-headed all of a sudden."

"Ditto," Oz volunteered, slumping down a bit.

"Here, let me help you." Xander reached toward Oz and staggered himself. "Or not."

"I feel strange, too," Anya admitted, holding a hand to her head.

"Whatever the hell is in here, it's trouble and now we have proof," Spike declared. "It's causing you lot to act all wonky. I've seen something like this once before. Let me think on it a minute."

Through her concern about her friends' well-being, Buffy calmed herself as much as possible. So far, she felt fine and apparently Spike did, too. She only hoped that situation lasted. Could Spike have been right about something being wrong in the house? After all, he'd known something was off about Kathy and he'd sensed the same with Anya. Spike was an experienced demon. She should have given him more credit from the beginning.

Spike snapped his fingers. "Got it! I think I know what's about. Some sort of witch is in this house, zapping up your essences of good. You'll keep feeling worse and worse till it drains you. Saw the same thing happen in Spain once. It was quite the massacre. We have to get you out of this house before it's too late. We don't have much time."