Once Buffy, Willow, and Giles had rested for a few minutes, they gathered around the red star. Buffy assumed a fighting stance, ready in case they were jumped again. Giles took a leathery volume out of his bag and handed it to Willow, who turned it to the exact page and began an incantation. The room filled with a rush of energy, and the points of the painted star rose and folded away, leaving a steep staircase that wound down into darkness. Buffy went first, expecting something to try and stop them. Giles followed his slayer, and Willow took up the rear, chanting a protection spell. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and the farther they went, the colder it got. The air seemed even thicker down here. Buffy thought that she was breathing in the evil, and felt a moment of panic. She fought it down and kept moving downward. Spike was there. She could feel him. The stairs suddenly ended and opened up to show an enormous cavern. A large pit took up most of the space on their side, and looking down, Buffy saw thousands of bones. Arranged into piles according to size, there were so many that a whole city's population could have been buried there and then forgotten. The friends continued to the opposite side of the cavern, pressing themselves against the walls, creeping silently toward an opening in the rock. Buffy motioned for them to wait, and went inside the crevice slowly. She stopped for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. She saw a row of cages, each containing a small animal. Buffy wished that she had enough time to free them, but she knew that she didn't. She kept going, her stake tight in her hand. Just as she was about to turn back, she heard a soft scrape of chains on rock. Buffy froze, he body tense as she waited for the sound to come again. Then, she heard someone call her name softly. She crept forward in the direction of the voice, and breathed a sigh of relief. It was Spike. He was chained up, and looked exactly as Buffy remembered him from her dream the night before. "Spike, are you okay?" She whispered. He nodded. "They took my bloody lighter. And the food is terrible." Despite their situation, Buffy smiled. She knelt next to Spike and broke the chains with her hands. He fell forward slightly and she caught him, running her hands over his bruised chest. His eyes widened slightly, and he looked at her with his electric eyes. She gently put her hand up to touch his face, and he moved his cheek into her palm. Their eye's never leaving the others, they kissed softly. Spike took a deep breath and stood up, rubbing his wrists. "We'd better get the hell out of here, love. These vamps aren't like your everyday night crawler." Buffy nodded. "Willow and Giles are waiting outside. Once we meet up with them, we'er outta here."