A/N: Takes place around the time of "Entropy."

Our Happy Family

A tableau: Spike's crypt. Dawn standing just inside the door. Spike standing across the room. Between them, the dead body of a teenage girl. On the girl's neck, a bite mark. On Spike's mouth, blood.

Dawn was frozen. Her mind was busy processing this: that Spike was killing again, and had, in fact, just killed Dawn's Biology lab partner, Rachel. It crossed Dawn's mind that she didn't like Rachel, thought she was a slut, but that was no reason she should die. Especially not by vampire bite.

Spike's bite.

"You . . . you killed her," gasped Dawn.

Spike looked for a moment like he was about to argue, say no, make up some ridiculous story. Then his features hardened.

"I did," he said. "Chip stopped working a few days back. Hurt like hell for about an hour--then nothing. Gave it a trial run and it didn't fire." He looked at the body on the floor. "You know her?"

"Rachel."

"She a mate of yours?"

Dawn tilted her head as if she was trying to understand a very difficult concept. "You killed her."

"'S what I am, Niblet. A vampire. The chip held me back is all."

"I've got to go." Dawn turned around to leave.

Spike crossed the intervening space in a heartbeat, grabbed her arm, pulled her back into the crypt, and slammed the door shut. "You're going to your sis, aren't you? You'll tell her."

The strange thing was that Dawn hadn't realized until that moment just how dangerous the situation was. Spike was just Spike, not a dangerous vampire-- until now. And Dawn knew suddenly that she was in mortal danger.

"No," she told him, fear creeping into her voice. "I won't. I won't say a thing. You can get out of town, and she won't know a thing, I promise."

"Get out of town?" he asked. "You think that's what I want? Be away from her for good and all? I'm not leaving, Niblet."

Dawn cringed back, trying to pull her arm free of his grasp. "Okay, you don't have to. Just please, Spike, let me go. Please. I-I won't tell her." She pulled back further, until her back hit the crypt wall.

Spike stepped forward. "Doesn't matter, you know. She'll find out eventually, and then it'll--she keeps saying she doesn't love me. She finds out, she'll never come back to me."

Dawn gasped again, remembering--"Sleeping with a vampire I hate"--Buffy's maddened words, Buffy's odd absences. It suddenly clicked for her.

"You two, you've been . . . she never said anything. Why?"

"I can make her happy," Spike insisted. "You believe me, don't you, Niblet? If she'll just let me." He advanced on Dawn, pinning her up against the wall. "She hasn't been happy, not since the blighters brought her back. If she'll let me in, I can show her. I'll make her understand where she belongs."

Terror gripped Dawn. "Let me go, then. If you hurt me, she'll never forgive you."

"No, she wouldn't," Spike agreed unexpectedly. Tenderly, he laid a hand on Dawn's face. "You were all that kept her in this world, you know."

Dawn relaxed fractionally, hoping she'd found leverage. "Right. And you'd never hurt her, would you?"

His thumb gently grazed Dawn's lower lip. "Sometimes, Bit, you've got to hurt someone to help her. See, she should be in the dark, with me. Only she won't do it. Not for me." He drew even closer, his body now pressing against Dawn's. "But she would--for you. You tie her to this world . . . and now, you'll tie her to mine."

It took a moment for Dawn to comprehend what he was saying. Her eyes went wide with horror. "No, Spike, you can't--please, God, no!"

"Shh." Spike kissed her lips gently, so gently. "It only hurts for a second."

Blue eyes turned amber. The hand that had been so tender against Dawn's face pushed her head back violently, and as a single scream tore out of Dawn's mouth, Spike's fangs sank into her neck.

The pain took her breath away, and she couldn't get it back enough to scream again. She heard, dimly, Spike swallowing, taking her blood. There was pain and fear and the dizzy sensation of blood loss . . .

Then the pain was gone. The fear was gone, too, as Spike's arms wrapped around her and they sank to the floor. Strange--Dawn had never felt this close to anyone before, laying cradled against Spike as he drank down her blood. It was sort of a floaty, warm, comfortable feeling. It was nice, like she belonged to someone.

The jaws let go of her neck. "Good, Bit, good," said his voice. "It's going to be all right now. We'll be a family. Be a good girl for me now."

Something pressed against her mouth, forcing it open. The last vague remnants of Dawn Summers were crying out for her not to drink, but they were too weak to listen to. He had her blood, and she had his, now.

The last sensation of her mortal life was that of Spike's now-warm lips pressing a kiss to her now-cold forehead.

***

Buffy was in despair. Just a few days ago, it had seemed like things would be okay again with her and Dawn. They'd been opening up to each other, taking care of each other. Buffy had actually started to feel like her life was worth living again.

And now, Dawn was gone. She hadn't come home from her study date the night before, and Buffy and her friends had been frantically scouring Sunnydale for twenty-four hours. Tara's location spell had turned up nothing. Spike said his demon contacts weren't saying anything. No one seemed to have seen Dawn since she'd left Lisa's house shortly after sunset the previous night. Buffy had even called the police out of sheer desperation.

Nothing. Not one word, not one lead. A hollow sensation clutched at Buffy's gut. If something had happened to Dawn, if she was . . . no. Buffy wouldn't think about that. This was just another demon trying to piss off the Slayer, and it was succeeding. Dawn was alive; she had to be. Buffy just had to find her.

She headed for Spike's crypt, thinking that maybe they could go roust out some demons again. As she reached it, Spike stepped out, smoking a cigarette.

"Summers, I was just going to go find you. C'mere--you'll be interested in this." He waved her into his crypt.

"This had better be worth my time, Spike," the Slayer snapped. "I need to-- "

She stopped cold inside the crypt. Sitting on Spike's couch was Dawn, pale and silent.

"Dawn? Dawn!" Relief flooded Buffy's mind and body. "Dawnie, are you okay? Are you hurt?" She rushed down to embrace her sister.

"I'm okay," murmured Dawn.

"God, you're freezing!" Buffy took off her jacket, put it around Dawn's shoulders. "Sweetie, what happened to you? Spike, how'd you find her?"

Dawn's eyes met Buffy's. "I'm fine, Buffy," she said quite calmly. "Just fine."

And Buffy knew.

Spike's footsteps sounded loudly in the silence. "I finally figured it out, Slayer. Finally got it through my thick skull what it would take for you to join me in the dark, where you belong."

"What have you done?" asked Buffy faintly. But she knew.

"Protected her. Just like you asked me to. I've made her stronger, faster, better. Chip stopped working for good and all, by the by." Spike stopped immediately behind where Buffy sat on the couch. "I saved her, and now we'll save you."

Dawn's red mouth curved into a smile in her ghostly face. "It's not that bad, Buffy. In fact, I like it."

Buffy shook her head. "No."

"Oh, Buffy," sighed Dawn. "You always make things so hard on yourself. It's so much easier this way." Her eyes flicked down to Buffy's torso. "If you don't believe me, of course, you've got that stake in your waistband."

One of the Slayer's hands moved toward the stake, then stopped, opening and closing convulsively. This couldn't be real. Her little sister couldn't be a . . .

Spike sat down behind her, sandwiching her between himself and Dawn. "You don't want to do it, love. She's all that held you in the sunlight. Now, she's found, as you will, that the dark is so much more welcoming. You can stake her and me now and return to the light alone, or you can do nothing and join us." He kissed the back of her neck. "Be happy for once in your existence."

"You bastard," Buffy breathed. "You bastard."

But she did nothing. Nothing as Dawn leaned in and kissed her sister's lips just as gently as Spike had kissed Dawn's own. Nothing as Dawn leaned down and sank her fangs into her sister's neck. Nothing as the world went dark.

***

Location spells had turned up nothing. Spike said his demon contacts remained silent about the missing Summers sisters. And Willow and Xander were beside themselves, frantic with worry that was quickly turning into terror.

"They can't have just disappeared!" Xander insisted angrily. "Something happened that's not of the good."

"I know." Willow hurried to keep up with Xander's stride, her face pale. "Tara can do a stronger location spell if she has something with Buffy and Dawn's DNA, like a few strands of hair. And--and I think we need to alert Giles."

"Totally with you," Xander agreed as they headed up the front walk to the Summers house.

They opened the door to the biggest, most welcome shock of their lives. Dawn smiled warmly at them as they stood, gaping, in the doorway.

"Hey, guys," she said.

"Dawnie?" Willow asked. "Dawnie, what happened?"

Dawn rolled her eyes cheerfully. "Long, long story. Why don't you two come on in, and I'll tell you."

"Does Buffy know you're all right?" asked Xander as Willow ran in and hugged Dawn tight. "Is she here?"

"She's here, she knows, and she's exhausted," said Dawn, nodding toward the couch once Willow let her go.

Both Willow and Xander looked to see the Slayer sprawled on the couch, apparently deeply asleep. Spike approached from the kitchen.

"Hope you two are in the mood for a good story," he said. "These two have been through--well, you tell 'em, Niblet."

Dawn grinned mischievously. "Come over here, both of you. You've gotta see this." She went over to the couch and stood by Buffy's side. As Xander and Willow approached, Dawn lifted a few strands of hair away from Buffy's neck. "Look."

Willow leaned in closer to look at what Dawn was indicating.

Vampire bite.

It took Willow's sharp brain approximately two seconds to realize just what was going on. Her head jerked up to see the very un-Dawn-like cruel smile distorting Dawn's lovely features.

"Funny thing about the location spells you guys have been using," said the vampire teen. "They only work to find the living."

"What?" asked Xander, who hadn't seen the bite mark.

Buffy's eyes snapped open. Dawn stood back like a proud parent as the newly- fledged vampire found the closest source of warm blood--Willow. One hand shot out, grabbing Willow's neck, yanking her violently close.

Xander belatedly realized what was going on. Far too late. Spike grabbed the young carpenter from behind.

"I've wanted to do this ever since I met you," murmured the vampire, and he snapped Xander's neck with one brutal twist.

Buffy pulled Willow closer until they were eye-to-eye, Willow's face turning purple as Buffy's hand contracted on her windpipe. No possibility of speech, no possibility of spells, no possibility of life.

With a savage snarl, Buffy tore into her first meal as a vampire. She gulped down her former friend's blood greedily, draining her until nothing was left. A white-faced corpse hit the floor at Dawn's feet.

Buffy sat up on the couch and stretched, working the kinks out of her neck. "God, this resurrection crap is so much easier without the stupid soul," she sighed. "Guess I'm three for three now."

"Feeling better?" asked Dawn.

"Much, much better," said Buffy. She nudged Willow's corpse with her foot. "That felt really good."

"Saved you some Xander if you're still hungry," said Spike.

Buffy stood up. "You," she said, sauntering over to him, "are still a bastard."

"That I am," he agreed. They faced each other for a moment before coming together into a greedy, almost violent, kiss. Abruptly, Buffy shoved Spike away and backhanded him soundly. "What was that for?" he demanded.

"Just want to make something very clear," the former Slayer said in a quiet, deadly tone. "You may have made Dawn, and she may have made me--but you don't own me. Try it, and I'll get back into the Slaying business. Got that?"

They stared each other down for a long moment. Then they were back in each other's arms for another brutal kiss.

Dawn made an impatient sound. "I cannot believe you didn't say anything about screwing Spike for how long?"

Buffy broke away from their kiss. "Couple of months. Still can't believe none of you caught on." She looked disdainfully at Willow and Xander's bodies. "Not them so much, though. Heaven forbid their Saint Buffy would do anything wrong."

"So what now?" asked Dawn.

"Yeah, love. What do you want to do now?" asked Spike.

"Oh, everything." Buffy stretched luxuriously again. "First of all, there are a few geeks who need to be taught a lesson on what real villains are. Then there's Tara--wanna turn her, Dawnie? She put up with enough crap from Willow. I kinda feel sorry for her."

"Yes! Yay!" Dawn bounced and clapped.

"Maybe Anya, too, for putting up with Xander," suggested Spike.

"Maybe," agreed Buffy. "You have any friends you want to eat, Dawn? Turn? What about Janice?"

"Spike brought her to me as my first meal," said Dawn. "No chance of turning her." She pouted a bit.

Buffy touched her sister's face. "Now, Dawnie, you know she was a bad influence. You don't need that anymore. Spike and I are all the bad influences you'll ever need."

Dawn grinned, a feral glint in her blue eyes. "Oh, yeah."

"I've got it. Let's hit the mall. You really need new clothes--what's up with that outfit?" Buffy gave Dawn a disapproving once-over.

"Well, duh, I had to pretend to be sweet li'l Dawnie for Xander and Willow." Dawn plucked at her blue sweater. "This is totally lame."

"Okay, shopping first, without that nasty thing about having to pay for what you take." Buffy opened the door and stepped out of her house, pulling in a deep breath. "Good old Sunnydale. You know, I don't think they ever really appreciated me here."

"They will now," growled Spike.

"Oh, they, believe me, will." Buffy turned, facing Spike and her sister. "I say we cut a bloody swath through this town, and then leave and never come back."

"We're leaving Sunnydale?" asked Dawn.

"Sure you want to go, love?" asked Spike. "We three could own this place."

"Yeah, but it's so dull here, except for the demons and stuff. Besides," Buffy said, sliding an arm around Dawn, "I think it's about time I showed my sister the world. Don't you?"