Buffy bounced nervously on the balls of her feet as she waited for her turn. She could hear the music pounding, even from outside, and it sent her heart racing knowing that soon she'd be in there too.

She really couldn't believe where she was. She was queuing outside the Fish Tank, clutching a fake ID in her hand, with Spike, of all people. If you'd told her a week ago that she would do that, she'd have laughed at you. Now though, she was just excited. Not only was she about to see her favourite band sing live, she was about to have her first experience in an over 21 bar, *the* over 21 bar that she'd always been warned against visiting. Her only worry now was that the bouncer wouldn't let her in.

She started to fiddle with her ID, flipping it back and forth between her fingers as she hummed tunelessly, when Spike's harsh voice came whispering in her ear. "Do you want them to let you in, luv?"

Buffy stopped, and turned to frown at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, luv, if you wanted to look like an overexcited teenager, then congratulations. Otherwise, stand still!"

Buffy opened her mouth to retaliate, but couldn't think of anything, so settled for glaring at him. His words must have had some effect on her, however, as she stopped fidgeting immediately.

After a few more minutes of waiting impatiently, she finally reached the front. She gave the bouncer her best smile, but he just frowned and snatched the ID off her. He studied it carefully for a moment, then nodded. Buffy desperately fought to keep down her whoop of excitement, then smiled and took the ID back. It was at that moment that it happened. Buffy felt a shiver run all through her body, starting and ending in the fingertips which held the card. She jumped slightly from the shock, then shook it off and walked inside.

It was exactly like she had pictured it - so much more mature than the Bronze, and yet, in a strange way, just the same. There was a large stage up front, where Evanescence where playing madly, a bar over to the side, a few tables and a large dance floor. Choosing to ignore the fact that also on the dance floor were several pole-dancing poles, she went straight there and started dancing madly. A moment later, Spike joined her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she asked, exasperated, as he sidled over.

"You said I could come here with you. You're not just going to ditch me, luv? That sort of behaviour could hurt a bloke."

"It's a good thing you're not a bloke, then, isn't it?" she said spitefully. "I said you could come. I *didn't* say you could stalk me. Now get out of my face."

But Spike wasn't going to give up that easily. "Or what?"

"You know exactly what, Spike, and you know I'll do it as well, so leave me alone."

Spike considered replying, then realised it wasn't worth it. Annoyed, he turned and stormed off towards the tables, leaving Buffy wondering why the hell she'd agreed to let him come in the first place.

*********

Spike sat silently at his table, watching the Slayer dancing sensuously a few feet away. If she noticed him watching her like that then he'd be dead meat, but it'd be worth it.

He didn't want the night to end. Ok, so he'd been told in no uncertain terms to piss off, but the music wasn't bad, Buffy was buying his drinks, and he got to watch her dancing the night away. The only downside was watching her dancing the night away with strange guys who kept leering at her in ways she would never have excepted from him.

Luckily for him, she was currently dancing alone, her little blonde head bopping in time with the music. He'd never had put her down as a rock fan, but there she was, having the time of her life. If there was one thing he'd learnt during his stay in Sunnydale, it was the fact that no matter how much you knew about that Slayer, she would always surprise you.

He scowled as another guy approached her, and asked her to dance. Buffy nodded her assertion, and the two started grinding against each other in time with the music. He watched her wistfully for a few seconds, then turned away in disgust. This place was really going to her head.

He looked back at her, and was almost pleased when he saw she was in trouble. The random guy she'd been dancing with moments before was trying to kiss her, but Buffy wasn't having any of it. *Now that guy's for it,* Spike thought with a grin. *I can't wait to see this!*

But Buffy wasn't stopping him. She has pushing him away as hard as she could, but he wasn't moving. Since when was a regular guy stronger than the Slayer?

He frowned as he caught some of the man's words. "Come on, sweetie. What's the matter? You were all ready to get friendly a few minutes ago."

"Bite me."

"With pleasure."

The man grabbed Buffy around the shoulders and reached down to kiss her, but he didn't get that far. Spike had leapt out of his seat and thrown the man away.

"Who the hell are you?"

Spike smirked at him. "I'm Spike, Buffy's boyfriend." He knew he'd pay for that comment later, but now he needed a good cover story.

"Well, you can't be keeping her satisfied. I can't help it if she comes to me for some extra action." He leered at Buffy. "Can I, sugar?"

He reached out to touch Buffy's face, and she responded by pulling back her arm and punching him in the face as hard as she could. The man didn't even flinch.

"Oh, you're a fiesty one!"

Spike had had enough. He thumped the man as hard as he could around the head, knocking him unconscious, ignoring the intense pain that shot through his head, then grabbed Buffy by the arm and pulled her outside. When he got her to the relative privacy of an alley, he stopped and turned to look at her.

"What the hell was that?"

Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. One minute we were dancing, and the next he was trying to kiss me. I told him to stop it and. . . and he didn't, so I tried to push him away, and I couldn't."

"What do you mean you couldn't?"

"I couldn't. I was pushing him with all my strength and I couldn't move him."

Spike frowned. What was she talking about? "Hit me as hard as you can."

"What?"

"Just do it." When he noticed her looking apprehensive, he added, "Come on, Slayer. You're always hitting me, and now I'm giving you an excuse you don't want to?"

Buffy hesitated for another moment, then hit him in the nose as hard as she could.

"You're not even trying, luv. Give me all you've got!"

"I did!" Buffy yelled, her eyed screwed up as she tried to stop herself crying.

"Oh," Spike said, stunned for a second. "So. . . what the bloody hell is going on?"

*******

Buffy timidly pushed her front door open, dreading the scene that was about to unfold. She stepped inside, Spike at her heels, and walked into the living room.

Her mom was sitting on the couch with Giles beside her, and they were watching some old person documentary. When he spotted her in the doorway, Giles got to his feet.

"Ah, Buffy. And. . . Spike?" He paused for a minute, trying to figure out why the vampire was there, but, deciding he really didn't want to know, he carried on. "I assume your patrol went alright?" Buffy nodded. "Good. Well, I'd better be on my way."

"Would you wait?" Buffy asked, looking at her feet. "I have something I need to talk to you about."

Giles gave her a quizzical look, but when she didn't add anything he nodded. "Alright."

"Mom, would you mind. . ."

Joyce just gave her a look. "Buffy, I'm your mother. If there's something you need to say to Mr Giles, you can say it to me as well."

Buffy nodded, and took a deep breath. "When I was out tonight, I. . . there was something wrong. The thing is. . . I couldn't fight."

"What do you mean, you couldn't fight?"

"I had no powers, no strength. It was just like that test thing the Watchers Council put me through a couple of years ago." She gave Giles a look. "You haven't been doing another one of those, have you?"

"Good Lord, no. Imagine how dangerous it would be if. . ." he stopped as he realised what he was saying, and promptly removed his glasses. "God, Buffy, are you alright?"

"Peachy." He gave her a glare, obviously wanting more information, and she added, "I got in trouble with this one guy, but Spike had my back." This seemed to satisfy the watcher, so she fell silent again.

"Do you have any idea what could have caused this?" Giles asked.

Buffy shook her head. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just coming down with something. Maybe if I just get a good night's sleep I'll be better in the morning."

"That's probably best," Giles said, smiling. "I'll get the others to start researching it, just in case."

Buffy nodded, and flipped her hair away from her face. "Right."

Joyce had been silent throughout this exchange, but now she got to her feet, a slight anger in her eyes. "Buffy," she said testily, "when did you get a tattoo?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb with me, young lady! I can see that thing on your neck!"

Buffy ran to the mirror and carefully inspected herself. She was shocked to see that at the join between her neck and her shoulder, over the place where Angel had bitten her, was a small but very real tattoo. A tattoo of a flaming eyeball.

"Oh my God. . ."

For a moment Buffy thought she had said it, then she realised it had been Giles. She turned to face him, and was surprised to see he was giving her a look that was half understanding, half disappointment.

"When did you visit Igniato?" He asked, his voice steady.

"Who?"

"Igniato, the sorcerer. You must know who he his, because you have his mark on you."

Buffy hung her head. "Last night."

"Why?" he asked sharply.

She considered lying, saying anything other than the real reason that she'd been there, but she couldn't. Not if this could be the reason she was so weak.

"I went to see him about getting a fake ID."

Joyce said, "Buffy!" but Giles looked relieved. "Well, it's not as bad as it could have been. The man deals with all sorts. I'm afraid he must be the reason you've lost your powers."

"*Lost* my powers? I haven't lost them!"

"I'm afraid you have. Igniato will do almost anything for power, and a Slayer's power would be worth it's weight in gold to him. He must have spelled the ID so that when you used it, it zapped your power. I assume you used it this evening?" Buffy nodded glumly. "May I see it?"

Buffy pulled the ID out of her pocket and handed it to him. She was dimly aware of the fact that she no longer felt a shock when she touched it.

"Yes, this is clearly Igniato's work." Giles studied it closer. "It looks like my assumption of how he took your powers was correct too. There is the dim image of the eyeball here, where it was before it was transferred to you, I presume."

"What do you mean, transferred?"

Giles sighed. "Why did you go to him if you didn't know anything about the way he works? He always leaves his mark on his customers, to remind them not to come to him for help again. Once he's drained their power, they are useless to him, so he doesn't want to do business again." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. The Slayer was powerless, and that could mean disaster for Sunnydale.

A sudden thought struck him. "How did you know about Igniato? His work is a massive secret."

"Spike told me about him."

"Spike?!" The vampire, who had stood forgotten throughout all this exchange, glanced up as the other Englishman marched towards him. "How could you have taken Buffy to see him? You must know what he's like."

"I did," Spike said cockily, trying not to show his guilt for doing this to Buffy, "but I didn't really care that much. She wanted me to take her to a guy like that, so I did. I warned her about him, but if she didn't bloody listen it's not my fault, is it?"

Giles sighed. There was no point trying to argue with him. However, he now knew exactly what he should do with the situation. He could sort out the problem, *and* teach them both a lesson in the process.

"Fine," he said. "Buffy, it's not safe for you to stay here unprotected. If word gets out that the Slayer's weak, demons'll be flocking to kill you. You're going to have to stay with Spike for a while."

"What?" Spike said, feeling as if all his birthdays had come at once.

"What?!" Buffy asked, disgusted by the suggestion.

"Spike is the only one strong enough to protect you, and since he was the one who started this mess, it should be him who has to look after you while the rest of us research how to fix this. If it's okay with your mother, you should go pack your bag now so that you can both be back at his crypt before daybreak." There was a finality in his tone that made Buffy realise there was no point arguing. She stuttered for a second, then spun on her heel and stormed upstairs.

Spike, however, was ecstatic. Buffy was going to be living in his crypt for who knew how long. He was going to be able to be with her all the time, and the only thing he had to do in return was fight some demons that might not even come? It sounded like a very good deal to him. At that moment, Spike felt sure it would be an experience he would never forget.

He didn't know how right he was.
*******

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