Congrats to Holy Trinity and Whitewolf for being the first to predict my cliffhanger in chapter 15! Thanks to everyone else who reviewed (especially Veggie-Babu-chan, who reviewed nearly every chapter despite already being able to read the next chapter! You're a sweetie!)

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Chapter 17

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Buffy stared at the vampire in horror, her hopes of living quickly fading. She had thought that maybe Angel had come to save her, or possibly Spike, wherever he was. But of course, that would make life just oh-so-much more easy, and Buffy knew that it just didn't work that way. So here she was, facing imminent death by the hands, or fangs, of a vampire that was currently shifting into a human face...

She gasped, her eyes widening in disbelief. "Spike?" she asked incredulously.

"Hey Slayer," he said with a smirk. "Sorry if I scared you."

"B-B-but..."

"Spit it out, girl."

"Y-you're a-a...vampire!" She stammered, her body turning cold at the thought of it.

Buffy could not believe it. She had trusted him, spent time with him, even had a crush on him for God's sake, and she hadn't even noticed that he was a vampire. She was supposed to be the Slayer, and yet she couldn't even sense a vampire who she had known since discovering the bizarre world of vampires and Slayers. She felt sick; to have trusted someone, and been entrusted to someone, only to find out that that certain someone was actually a vampire, was the worst possible deception she could think of.

Well, her father came a close second, but she didn't really want to think of him considering she was shackled to a wall with a vampire who had pretended to be her friend. She gaped, unable to form coherent words.

"Well, yeah, pet, I am," he said, suddenly looking anxious at her fright and obvious surprise. He hurried on. "Oh, don't worry yourself, love. I have a soul. I'm all good and stuff, you know, no biting."

"B-but..." she stammered, mentally slapping herself as all the clues clicked into place.

The coldness of his skin; the shiver down her spine when he was around; Giles' hesitance at answering her vampire-with-a-soul question; his extra strength and cunning; his ability to disappear and appear at a particular time. It all pointed to one thing...

Vampire. God, she was so stupid not to have realized.

"How?" she asked suddenly.

He startled. "What?"

"How did you get a soul?" she repeated slowly. "No vampire has ever had a soul before."

"Well, Angel was cursed with a soul a century ago, and when..."

"Wait," Buffy interrupted in a deadly low voice. "Angel is a vampire?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah."

Angel was a vampire. Her principle, the principle of the whole school, was a vampire. A vampire who taught Vampire Analysis.

She laughed bitterly. "Oh, this just keeps getting better! What about Wesley? Or maybe Giles, hmm? How's that for irony, the Slayer's Watcher is actually a vampire."

"English and Rupes?" Spike snorted. "They would've been dusted years ago if they'd been vamps. But no, they aren't. "

Buffy nodded, finally calming enough to listen. "So, how did you get a soul?"

"As I was saying, Angel ate the wrong girl, got cursed, and ended up soul-boy. I came looking for him- still evil, mind you- and found him in the company of a witch, a demon and human mates. Glinda ended up doing her mojo on me and next thing I know I got a soul. Bloody hurt, too."

Buffy was silent for a moment. "Oh," she said finally. "Why does it hurt?"

Spike lowered his head, but Buffy saw the pain flit through his eyes. "Tell 'ya another time, pet."

"Um, okay, but Spike?"

"Hmm?"

"I think I'm going to pass out..." she slumped to the wall, hanging by the chains that sliced into the skin of her wrists. The physical and mental pain had finally overwhelmed her, and she welcomed the dark oblivion of unconsciousness. The last thing she heard was Spike comforting her.

"Bugger! Don't worry, Slayer, you'll be alright..."

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"A-Angel's a vampire," Cordelia stammered, frozen motionless by the shock.

"Cordelia," Xander muttered, staring at the retreating backs of Angel and his crew. "Queen of how to state the obvious."

"B-but Angel's a vampire!" Willow insisted, her face paling as she leaned on Oz for support.

"I think we've established that," Xander said, his eyes riveted to the spot where Angel had disappeared.

"Angel...is...a...vampire," Anya stressed each word slowly.

"My God people, yes we know! Angel, our principle, who the girls have crushes on and who the guys want to be, is a...holy crap! Angel is a vampire," Xander declared.

"Welcome to the land of denial, Xander," Faith said, bending to pick up the crossbow she had dropped in her surprise. "But as enlightening as this conversation is, we've got more important things to do."

"What could be more important that discovering that Angel is a vampire?" Willow asked, shaking her head slowly.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe...Buffy!" Faith retorted angrily.

Willow ducked her head sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. You're right, let's go." She turned and began to walk out of the trees, emerging onto the road. She stopped suddenly and turned back slowly. "Um, where exactly are we going?"

Xander shrugged and everyone exchanged clueless gazes.

Suddenly Oz held up his hand. "Wait. Willow, didn't Tara say you had an unusual amount of power? Isn't that why you were doing those extra lessons with her before she went away?"

Willow blushed furiously as numerous heads turned her way. "Uh, I-I ... yes."

"You're doing extra lessons, Will?" Xander asked raising his eyebrows. "Why didn't you tell us?"

She bit her lip flustered. "I don't know," she mumbled. "Didn't want to brag. But why bring it up, Oz?" She sighed in relief when the attention was turned to the werewolf.

"Well," he began. "You were talking about a locating spell the other day, weren't you?"

Willow's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh! Of course, why didn't I think of it before?"

"Yeah," Xander said, then narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Think of what?"

"I could do a locating spell!" Willow explained excitedly. "It's what Angel would have asked Tara to do if she had been here. I don't have no where near the power she has, but it might work for a while."

"And you couldn't have thought of this before I dragged my new pants out into the wilderness?" Cordelia complained, groaning loudly enough to startle a pair of birds roosting in a nearby tree.

"Sorry."

Ten minutes later Willow threw her arms into the air and sighed with frustration. "This is never going to work!" she groaned.

"Yeah it will, baby," Oz soothed, massaging his girlfriend's shoulders. "Just concentrate. Think of Buffy."

Willow nodded and continued her deep breathing. She cleared her mind once more, focusing every thought on her blonde friend. In and out, no thoughts, no body...nothing. Soon the rustling leaves and bickering voices were gone, and everything was silent. She opened her eyes and saw two figures slumped on the ground. She drew closer to them and realized that the small one was unconscious, and the other, larger, one was holding the limp figure.

She jumped when she heard one of them speak. "Come on, pet, wake up."

Gasping, Willow realized that she knew whom the voice belonged to. Spike. That would mean that...

Buffy. The other figure was Buffy. Willow found herself standing directly in front of the shadows, and she reached out to touch them. Her hand accidentally brushed Spike's shoulder and she screamed when she passed straight through it. Spike's head shot up in surprise and his eyes traversed across the room.

"Who's there?" he demanded, and Willow realized that he could sense her.

Suddenly, there was a lurch in the pit of her stomach and she felt herself being pulled away from Spike and Buffy. She passed through a thick door and was drawn down a short passage that led to a winding staircase. She became slightly dizzy as she was whizzed in circles and by the time she reached the top she was panting heavily.

She found herself in front of a seemingly normal house and committed the address to memory before closing her eyes again. She took in a sharp intake of breath and her heart jumped into her throat as she once more felt a sudden pull in the pit of her stomach.

She landed awkwardly on a hard surface and opened her eyes to find her friends gathered around her. She was breathing heavily and found herself in a cold sweat. What the hell had just happened?

"Will!" Xander called, waving his hand in front of her face. "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, fine," she breathed, her mind still spinning from the bizarre occurrence. She knew that the spell had been a success, but she couldn't get her mind around the thought that she had been in the shadow realm; a realm that bordered their own. She had been able to appear in the place that she had visualized, and then discover the location. It was...extraordinary.

She pushed her red hair away from her face and smiled. "I know where Buffy is."

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