Author's note: Thank you for your reviews. I also noticed the fact that I tend to go back and
forth between past and present. This is because I'm so used to writing in first-person narrative
that its difficult to get into the omniscient third-person. Anyhow, I will be sticking with the past
from now on.
Phase Four

Bsmt apartment - The Village

A routine was established in which the Slayer was always restrained in some form and Spike
was always vigilant. He was aware that she was slowly regaining her formidable strength and if
he wasn't careful she was going to get the best of him.

She was suspiciously accepting of her situation which disturbed Spike somewhat. After all she
and him were natural enemies but she treated him with little animosity even so far as thanking
him whenever he fed her. It was enough to keep him on his guard.

During the daytime she was restrained to a comfortable leather chair which was placed in front
of the television set. He gave her total access to the remote except during "Passions" which he
watched religiously. She got bathroom and shower breaks whenever she asked. In the evening
he carefully tied her to the bed. He also put a few drops of laudanum in her nightly drink to
make sure that she slept the full night if he had to go out. He didn't do so often and even chose
to bag it so that he wasn't forced to hunt every night. It was strange that he no longer felt the
need to do so ever since the main attraction was living in his home.

She was silent for the most part but this really was not out of the norm. When he had been
following her he had noticed that she rarely spoke to anyone outside so maybe this was her way.
He was okay with that although he sometimes got very lonely so he would talk to her and she
would listen. The vampire was not too satisfied with that and he wished that she would
volunteer something about herself.

But even with her silence he was beyond thrilled to have her. Everything that she did fascinated
him so. The way she stood, how she moved gracefully even with the chains. How her golden
hair curled at her shoulders. He knew that he was being foolish but he longed to possess her
even more than he did. Spike wanted to own her to the very marrow.

The vampire had never felt like this towards anyone before human or vampire. His absent dark-
goddess had commanded his loyalty and adoration but what the Slayer did to him seemed...
deeper somewhat.

But he chose to avoid over-analyzing his reaction towards her. She was beautiful and her
various scars made her more to his liking. Buffy was a fighter just like him even though she
wasn't doing it at them moment she was still his adversary. His predator.

One of the things that he took pleasure in was the fact that he could dress her as he chose. As
she wasn't going out she had no need for street clothing. At first he had her wearing Drusilla's
gauzy nightdresses in black and crimsom but it just wasn't her. So one evening after sedating
her, he raided Victoria's Secret and returned with bags of lacy flowery nightgowns in sky blue,
rose and virginal white. She went a little green at his selection, after all it was a far cry from her
army surplus wardrobe but as she really wasn't in control so ...tough.

So she wore his choice, ate what he gave her and submitted to his schedule. He controlled all
aspects of her life except what was inside of her.

Inside the Slayer raged at her imprisonment. She wanted to gauge the vampire's eyes out and
bathe him in holy water but his shrewdness kept her restrained at all times. Even when she
bathed she had her ankle restraints on and was locked in the bathroom. He kept anything that
could be used as a weapon away from her. Buffy spent her days trying to find chinks in his
carefully devised routine. Eventually she saw that her best chance lay in the early dawn when he
felt into an exhausted sleep. She knew that he drugged her at night but if she could keep herself
from consuming it she could stay awake until he fell asleep.

So three and a half weeks after she became his unwilling guest the Slayer put her plan in motion.
A while after dinner the vampire brought her a cup of hot chocolate in which he'd dropped about
of teaspoon of laudanum. She drank it readily but asked to go to the bathroom to brush the
chocolate from her mouth. He complied and in the privacy of the bathroom she set about
forcing herself to retch the sweet liquid into the toilet as quietly as possible. She succeeded and
indicated that she was ready to return to her bedroom..

Spike secured her to the bed and she pretended to fall asleep. She could feel his gaze sweep
through her form and the familiar little chill traveled through her body. After a few minutes he
left and she opened her eyes and waited for dawning.

Finally it was time. She pulled with all her might at the bedposts to which her wrists were tied
to. The wood was of prime quality and would not dislodge quite so easily. Sweat poured from
her at the exertion but eventually the bed gave and her wrists were free. She went to work
immediately on the ankle restraints. The links would not bend to her strength and she realized
that she would have to hop her way to freedom. Hopefully her Slayer balance would help her
and she could keep the chains from clinking against each other.

In retrospect she wondered why she simply hadn't gone into his room and staked him with a
chair leg. It would have made things so simple and she wouldn't have to worry about making
noise.

Her room was not locked and she made her way to the familiar living room. In the dark, she
tried to remember the position of each piece of furniture so as to avoid falling over anything.
Slowly and carefully she made her way to the door. She tried the knob but it was locked and the
key was nowhere in sight.
She could try kicking it but she doubted that she could get her leg that high up without falling
over. Fortunately she had planned for this and removed the two little flowered hairpins that he'd
given her after she'd complained that her hair was always in her face. She had no experience in
picking locks but she had plenty of perseverance and determination. She would get that door
opened.
Eventually her work paid off and the lock turned. She was free.

She opened the door slowly to keep the hinges from squeaking. She could ready smell the cool
early morning air. She was almost there.

In her excitement she did not sense the wrought iron door that he had installed to keep her
inside. When her ankle chains made contact with the iron the sound was enough to awaken her
vampire captor. She knew that all was lost when the bright lights flooded the room and Spike
stood before her... stark naked.

TBC.

Naughty Buffy. Whatever will happen to her I wonder?