As they walked the darkened streets towards Spike's crypt, Dawn giggled. The vampire shook himself from his thoughts and looked at her curiously, his brow furrowed in interest.

"Spike…" She spoke his name haltingly, like a question; yet it held a certain gravity on her tongue, her feelings for him escaping in a verbal caress.

"Yeah?"

"It's a funny name…You look sexy without your coat."

Dawn knew that normally, she would have been mortified at the thought of telling him this, but she couldn't seem to care. She was HAPPY. She giggled again as they rounded a street corner.

"Yeah?" He looked surprised this time, but completely unfazed by her rapid change of subject. "Well, I think you look sexy in my coat."

She ran a hand lovingly up and down the sleeve, pleased by this. After a moment she asked, reverting to the former topic, "Why'd they call you Spike?"

He paused. Should he tell her this?? He thought for a moment, scuffing the toe of his boot against the pavement. Slowly, he looked up at her then settled on a neutral reply, casually evading the question. "Though' the old Watcher told you that one."

"He did." She spun in a quick circle, her arms outstretched. "But I want…a firsthand account," she declared gleefully, running her hand along a short wrought-iron fence that stretched the length of the sidewalk.

"Alright, then…" He hesitated; she hadn't asked for a story in quite a while. Best make it good, mate…he told himself as he launched into a thrilling narrative…

By the time he'd finished, they'd reached the crypt and Dawn remarked, "Eew. That's kinda gruesome," while beaming up at him.

"They deserved it!" he said defensively. "Sodding wankers wouldn'tve known good poetry if it hit 'em over the head!"

She giggled again at his indignant expression.

"Well, no one-" She bounced into the crypt. "hurts my Spike…Except me." And with that, she launched herself at him, letting out a small yelp of delight.

He caught her easily and kicked the door shut with his left foot. "Y' know," he commented dryly, his hands cupping her thighs, "I'd love to see you actually drunk…It'd be quite a show."

She squirmed out of his arms and moved to sit on the couch, wrapping the coat tightly around her. "Sit with me, Spike…"

He appraised her for a second, then sat, resting his arm on the edge of the sofa. Dawn quickly took advantage of his new position and laid her head in his lap, stretching out in comfort and inhaling the scent that was purely Spike. Wrapped in his coat, his lap as her pillow…she felt surrounded by him, like she was drowning in his essence. And she couldn't get enough. She burrowed closer and asked softly, "What is it like to be a vampire?"

He didn't seem at all put off by her strange question and slowly began to stroke her hair. "Well, it's better than been' a human, I can tell you that. Don't have to worry about dying...do whatever the bloody hell you want…"

"What if I were a vampire?" she probed as she ran her fingers up and down the inner seam of his jeans.

"Well then, you'd be a vampire. A righ' cute one, too…"

"Vampires aren't supposed to be cute!" She glared up at him for a moment and then asked, "Would I be evil?"

"No, I expect you'd be a bloody saint! Helping the helpless, feeding the needy…all that rot."

She smacked his chest. "Don't be sarcastic." A pause. "Would I wanna kill Buffy?"

"Do you want to kill 'er now?" Spike toyed absently with her hair.

"No! I love Buffy!"

"Well, if you truly care for her, you wouldn't wanna kill her, but at the same time, you would. It's every vampire's wet dream to kill the Slayer…"

"Eew! I would not be turned on by killing my sister…"

"Well, maybe not. But it'd still be in your instincts…"

"And Willow and everyone? When you become a vampire do you stop loving everyone you cared for?"

"Sounds like you've been givin' this some thought, pet…"

She blanched. "No! I'm just…curious." He gazed down at her until she was forced to look away, once again staring intently at a far point on the wall. "Maybe a little…I'm just wondering…"

"Oh. Well, really, it depends on you. All being a vampire is, luv, is losing your inhibitions; losing your soul is losing your conscience. You don't feel guilt, but you still feel...contrary to popular belief," he added, somewhat resentfully. "So if you care about them, you'd still care. Just…differently. It's fun." He gave her a wry grin.

"Different how?" she asked sleepily.

"Different better. You feel alive. Everything's more real then it ever was…'s great."

"Nice…" she murmured. She nuzzled her head contentedly into his lap as her eyes slowly drooped shut…

Beautiful, Spike thought, looking down at her. He ran his fingers through her hair, marveling at her unnaturally black locks. They suited her somehow. He studied the curve of her lips, the perfect shadow of her eyelashes, the hollow of her throat. He touched the tip of her nose lightly, running his thumb over her lips. She was gorgeous.

Since when is she so curious about vampires anyway? he wondered. He thought idly about what it'd be like to turn her; what she'd be like. He'd told her that all a demon was was losing your inhibitions, but was that all? There was more to it than that. You became inherently evil.

When he'd been alive, he'd never wanted to kill anybody. He'd felt anger, but never the blind rage he'd felt as a demon. Was that all it was? Acting on your impulses? He'd always been reckless, but that wasn't a demonic quality…Angelus had always been big with the planning and organizing.

As for himself, well, he'd always been one to follow his blood, which didn't exactly rush in the direction of his brain…but he'd been impetuous while alive, too, and he'd certainly never gone out and killed the first wanker who got on his nerves. Did being a vamp mean indifference instead of just lack of empathy? He didn't think so. He certainly wasn't indifferent when it came to Dawn.

He'd never questioned himself before, and he felt now certainly wasn't the time to start… Being a demon changed you, but it wasn't as if all demons were the same. He knew that it really depended on Dawn herself; the inner her, the one that wasn't repressed by society's rules. The animalistic, more passionate Dawn. Quite suddenly, he knew that it was a Dawn he'd very much like to see…

Hey, I know this chapter was short, but the story's almost done, so review review review (cuz its almost your last chance to)!!! The more reviews I get, the more I'm inspired to type (hint, hint)…So c'mon, just click the little button at the bottom of the page…please?