Buffy had just finished dusting her third vampire of the night. She was sweaty, dirty, and wanted desperately to go home, shower then fall asleep. However it wasn't destined to be. Spike materialized out of the shadows like he usually did. They exchanged greetings. Buffy had learned of late to simply accept Spike's presence. He wasn't hurting anyone and he seemed to be the only person Buffy could really talk to these days. Most of the time she was glad she had someone to complain to.

Now was not one of those times. She tried to make her escape gracefully, desperately trying to get across the point she wanted to go, without being blatantly rude. Spike however, did not seem to catch her drift. He seemed in a very talkative mood at the moment.

"As you can see, I'm in a bit of a jam, you set free a lot of kittens the other day Buffy, and now it seems I'm at a loss. I've been having to borrow kittens and I've not been able to get any on my own." Buffy sighed. "Playing for kittens is gross. You should be ashamed anyway." Spike laughed. "You forget I'm a ruthless vampire love," he said with a grin. Buffy rolled her eyes.

Spike stopped laughing and just looked at Buffy. Buffy shifted uncomfortably. She hated when he did this. She knew how he felt, but knew she could never return the feeling. Every fiber in her being was attracted to him, this she could not deny, but she didn't think she could be able to handle another dead boyfriend. She couldn't let herself fall for Spike just because he had a chip in his head.

He was like one of those poor dogs you see at the pound with the signs that read 'Do not pet. Will bite'. They look so cute and helpless and you want to reach out and pet them, but the only reason they're not scary is because they're behind those bars. If Spike was let out of his "cage" Buffy knew he'd go back to being the evil vampire she knew before. If Buffy fell for him, well, she didn't believe she could handle two boyfriends turning evil on her.

"You're probably tired," Spike said, finally breaking the silence. Buffy wanted to scream in frustration. Had she only been hinting at that for the last twenty minutes or hadn't she? Instead she forced a smile and admitted to her "small" bit of exhaustion. He offered to walk her home and even though she protested he insisted. They were walking down the street seconds later.

At her home she thanked Spike for his company and he smiled. She looked at him and saw that look in his eyes again. He slowly moved in to kiss her and she racked her brain for something to do to stop him. She panicked, mumbled goodbye and disappeared inside quickly, closing the door before Spike had recovered. Spike straightened up, feeling stupid, and turned and ambled down the street, hands tucked into his pockets.

****

"Hurry up or we'll miss it!" Jonathan whined to Warren and Andrew. The two boys came outside lugging a large cauldron and set it down on a shape resembling a triangle with curving lines. "Shut up Jonathan," Warren said. "We won't miss sunrise." They looked to the horizon from their position in an open field about three miles away from Sunnydale.

As soon as the first rays of the sun could be spotted they each took their places on corners of the triangle. Jonathan began chanting something in a foreign language while Andrew and Warren started what looked to be a weird dance. Jonathan threw some stuff from a pouch into the cauldron. With a loud bang that had Andrew cowering on the ground, a shape appeared where the cauldron once stood.

Jonathan and Warren (and when Andrew had recovered he too) looked in awe at the demon they had bid. It wasn't large in terms of the biggest demons Sunnydale had seen, but it was strong, or so it looked. It had bulging biceps and tree trunk legs. It was covered in bumpy skin that seemed to be flaking and peeling all over. "Cool," Jonathan exclaimed quietly.

"You have summoned me to this place?" The demon said in a voice that sounded like rocks grinding together. "Yes, we have," Warren said in a commanding voice. "Gugsrak oh Great One we have a task that requires you skill." Gugsrak stared at the puny humans. "What have you for me?' he insisted.

Andrew quickly went to a large bag near them and opened it for Gugsrak. Gugsrak snatched it from his hand and looked into it. He seemed to be pleased, but it was hard to tell because his mouth was like a deep gash etched into his face that could not do much moving and his eyes were almost hidden in folds of skin that hung from his forehead. "I accept your gift little Masters." Andrew smiled shakily while Warren and Jonathan looked accomplished.

"What will you have me do?" He asked. Warren quickly explained it to Gugsrak (it didn't take much explaining after all) and gave him a small satchel. Gugsrak opened this and took a deep sniff. "Female, blonde, small, strong," Gugsrak said after a minute. The Geek Trio exchanged happy glances. He had found out all that from a small strand of hair. "Kill her," Warren said simply and before the words had scarcely left his lips Gugsrak was gone.

"Kill her?!?!" Jonathan demanded shrilly. "You said we weren't going to kill her!" Andrew looked angry too. "We wanted a Slayer sex bunny!" Warren tried to look humble. "Here's my thoughts guys: why do we need a Slayer sex bunny? We can have any woman in the world! Besides, her stupid friends would have figured it out and then where would we be?"

This made sense to Andrew and Jonathan. "Well, I guess you're right," Jonathan said hesitantly. "Of course I'm right," Warren said. "Now let's go home and wait for the fun to begin." With that the small tiff was settled at the three boys filed into the van to go back to Sunnydale.