Buffy surveyed the group sitting in front of her. There were seventeen Slayers in training scattered about the living room and Dawn and Spike were occupying the couch. Giles and Anya were on their way back from the airport with the newest Slayerette, but the others were too antsy for her to hold off telling them what had happened any longer.

"Chloe, are you okay?" She asked, looking at the girl sitting on the floor in front of the couch. She had her legs pulled up to her chest and her face was streaked with tears. She nodded numbly, not looking up. Buffy sighed. Chloe had been the first to catch up with them in the cemetery and had seen the dismal scene in the crypt before her and Spike had time to get the doors closed to prevent just that from happening.

"Buffy, what was in there?" Asked a redheaded Irish girl who had been on patrol with them. When her and the others had shown up, Buffy and Spike had both been rather pale faced and Chloe was vomiting in a nearby bush. They hadn't seen inside the crypt.

Buffy looked over at Spike, who was sitting on the couch. He was staring back at her and she took note of how red his eyes were. She looked back at the girls who were all staring expectantly. They knew it had something to do with Joey and they all knew they weren't going to like what they heard, but somewhere in the back of their minds their was that faint glimmer of hope that it wasn't as bad as they had thought.

"It's my fault…" Dawn mumbled, looking at her sister through watery eyes. She had been the only one Buffy had informed of the incident. "It was my idea to play and when she disappeared we thought…"

"Dawn, not now." The Slayer said. Dawn quieted, looking a bit taken aback. She looked to Spike. He nodded slightly before returning his focus to Buffy. The room fell silent and everyone stared at her. After a few moments, she spoke. "Joey's dead."

Buffy and Spike both closed their eyes as the girls expressed their shock. They were talking loudly and a few of them were crying. Buffy could hear them arguing over who's fault it was, and most of them were now standing, screaming at one another. The arguments quickly went from whose fault it was to who was next and who among them was the weakest. The next thing Buffy knew, there were twenty different arguments going on around her, not a single one about the little girl who had disappeared from their midst.

"Girls."

She looked up when she heard Spike's voice. He was standing.

"Girls." He tried again, looking around at them. They went on arguing. "Would you shut the bloody hell up?!" He yelled, glaring. Chloe jumped and looked up from where she had been sitting. She was the only one who had remained quiet. Spike clenched his jaw and stared back coldly at the now silent SIT's. "If you lot don't learn how to get along you're all going to ended up in bloody, mutilated little pieces just like she did."

Chloe's eyes went wide and the next thing everyone knew, she had dashed upstairs towards the bathroom once more.

Spike turned his eyes from the steps back to the girls. "You have no idea what's out there. None of you. You have no idea how many things would like to wring the blood from your bodies, drop by drop, until there's nothin' left of you 'cept for a heap of twisted bones wrapped in dry skin. And don't look at me like that. I'm not kidding. Believe, me. I should know. I am one of those monsters."

"You…. you did that?" A girl with long black hair questioned.

"Worse." He said, still glaring.

Buffy stood there for a few moments, watching as they all fidgeted, unsure what to say or do. Finally Spike looked at her, his expression softening a bit. "I'm going for a walk."

She nodded, watching as he walked past her and headed out the front door. She turned back to the girl's in front of her. They were staring at her, waiting for her to tell her Spike had been exaggerating and that he was overreacting. She didn't. "He's right, you know." She said, beginning to pace in front of them. Her eyes now held the same cold glint his had moments before. "You have no idea what you're up against."

"But Buffy…"

"Shut up, Kennedy." Buffy said sharply, not even casting a glance at the girl. "You're all ignorant and weak, so I don't want to hear you arguing over who's better."

"We didn't mean to…" Molly mumbled under her breath.

"I don't care." The Slayer snapped. "None of you have any right to belittle each other. Joey was the only one of this pathetic group I haven't… hadn't heard singling out someone else and acting like she was better than them. She was the only one who didn't think she was better than anyone else. And you know what? She was five." She stared at them for a moment, letting this sink in. "She was five and she knew more about having faith in others than any of you. None of you have the power to stop this thing on your own, but together you have a slight chance. Now go to bed, we're doubling your training starting tomorrow."

-----

Spike kept his hands deep in his pockets as he walked, his eyes fixed on the ground. It seemed extremely quiet now that he was alone. Patroling regularly with large groups of teenage girls had made him forget why he loved walking alone at night.

For that very reason: he was alone.

He swallowed as he stopped walking, his eyes slowly rising to look at the doors of the crypt. His eyes narrowed and he could feel a slight twinge behind them. Swallowing once more, he grabbed the handles and swung both doors open.

There had been very few times in his undead life when blood had made his stomach lurch. This was one of them.

He narrowed his eyes wand shuffled into the structure. He could feel his shoes sticking to the bloodied floor slightly as he walked. He stopped in the middle of the crypt, looking down at the tattered remains of his jacket. He shook his head and snorted, kicking at it.

"Spike?"

The vampire turned to the door quickly. "Buffy."

The Slayer swallowed, shoving her hands in her coat pockets as she walked hesitantly towards him. "Giles just got back."

"Oh…" He said quietly, dropping his gaze once more.

"Don't blame yourself." She said, standing besides him, her eyes drifting around.

"I shouldn't have left her here." He muttered.

"You didn't have a choice." She said reassuringly.

"Maybe not." He sniffled. "But I…" He stopped midsentence, his eyes going wide.

"Spike? What's wrong?"

He ignored her, looking around, he sniffed again, inhaling deeply.

"Spike, what are you…"

"It's not human."

"What?" She questioned, looking puzzled.

He turned to face her, a wide grin spreading across his face. "The blood, Slayer. The blood and the… the little itty bitty pieces! They're not human!!"

"So that means…"

"She's alive, Slayer. They didn't kill 'er, they took 'er!"

 "You're sure?"

"A hundred and twenty percent. I can smell it. It's them bloody Bringers." He said, still grinning.

A smile crept slowly to the Slayer's face.

TBC…

A/N: I'm a lazy bum. That's why this took so long. I'm sorry. I want reviews!! *gnaws on you*