As they made their way back to the Magic Box, Buffy relayed the full story to Spike. He had never heard of the Kynshaar, but when she told him what they could do, he seemed to recognize something.

Spike shuddered. "Yeah, I've heard of demons that can do that sort of thing. Steal a person's entire self? Never knew if I believed it or not…thought maybe it was the kind of story they tell to all the naughty little demons to keep them in line. 'You better watch out, or I'll send 'em after you, suck you into nothing!'" he scolded, pointing a stern finger at an invisible minion.

Buffy shrugged. "Giles said there wasn't much information on them that he could find. They're all still researching back at the shop."

The last few blocks were traveled in an easy silence. When they entered the shop, Giles looked up from the book he was flipping through. "Buffy, good, I was hoping you'd…good lord are you all right?" he asked, concerned, as he took in both she and Spike's disheveled appearances.

Buffy tensed for a moment, before shrugging. "Yeah…we're fine. Ran into a few vamps on the way here. But don't worry. My new shirt was the only casualty," she said, holding up her tattered and slightly bloodied blouse.

"Oh, well, good then," Giles said distractedly. "As I was saying, I was hoping you would get here soon. I am afraid we're going to have to leave as soon as possible."

"Why, what's up?" she asked as she made her way over to the research table, glancing over the various opened books. "Find anything new out? Like ways to kill them?"

"No, unfortunately, nothing more on that. We did, however, find out some more of the history of these creatures. Apparently, they only come out once a month, the week of the waning moon, their strength peaking at the new moon. After that, they go back into hiding. It seems they are very good at that, in fact. No one has any record of discovering them in their…nest or whatever. But we still don't know what these particular Kynshaar's motives are. In fact, we have not been able to figure out any sort of pattern in any of the previously recorded attacks. They come, wreak a little havoc, leave a few people completely void of their former selves, then they disappear. It's all very unclear," he finally sighed.

They were all startled by Spike's sudden laughter. "What's so unclear about it? They're demons! That's was most demons set out to do when they wake up in the morning." He thought for a moment. "Or evening."

"Is that your goal when you awake?" asked Ororo coolly.

Spike for the first time took notice of the new face in the room. He cocked his head to the side, regarding her for a moment before answering. "No. Not so much anymore." He narrowed his eyes at her. "I doubt the Scoobies here failed to inform you of the little chip I have in my head. So why do you ask?"

She pursed her lips slightly. "I understand that you now help Buffy and Giles, but you will forgive me if I do not entirely trust you." Her voice dropped a level. "I have dealt with your kind before."

Slightly surprised, Giles turned to look at Ororo. "Really? You made no mention of it before."

She looked down into her lap. "I do not especially enjoy discussing it. The vampire Dracula once had me under his thrall. He…he nearly turned me."

"Oh!" Buffy piped up. "I killed him. But don't feel too bad. He got us pretty good, too. Xander was his bug-eater."

"Hey!" the aforementioned bug-eater yelped. "I'll have you know that the Mast-- that he could be very persuasive!" He slumped down in his chair, sulking. Anya stroked his arm soothingly.

"It's okay, sweetie. Don't forget that he had Buffy all thralled up too…she even let him bite her."

Buffy 'humphed' before crossing her arms over her chest. "Geez…never gonna live that one down am, I? You let a vampire take a little nibble and suddenly--" she stopped short as she made the mistake of glancing over at Spike, who was smirking widely at her. "Hey! So!" she said a little too loudly, clapping her hands together. "When do you think we should be leaving?"

"Now. I was going to have everyone go get packed as soon as you got here," Giles said, picking up his own duffel. "Everyone meet us at the park in twenty."

"Um, the park?" Willow asked, brows furrowed. "Shouldn't we maybe, I don't know, see about plane tickets or something?"

Ororo smiled at her. "There is no need. Transportation has been provided," she said as she stood, making her way to the door with Giles.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later, everyone stood in a large clearing in the middle of the park, looking around expectantly.

Tara broke the silence. "I hope I packed enough. Giles wasn't exactly clear on how long this would take."

"Probably cause he didn't know how long it would take. We still now next to nothing about these things, which I hope changes soon. I don't like going in blind," Buffy stated.

"Suits me fine," said Spike. "From what you lot tell me, it sounds like we could get a decent spot of violence."

Buffy rolled her eyes, but before she could say anything, Giles walked up with Ororo.

"Good, you're all here. Shall we be on our way then?"

"Uh, G-man? Maybe you need to update your prescription, cause I'm not seeing anything to be on our way in," Xander pointed out.

Giles grinned and looked over at his companion. Ororo returned the smile before turning around and speaking to the air behind her. "Disengage cloak," she said clearly.

The air seemed to shimmer before them, suddenly revealing a black jet. A jet. In the middle of the park. All the Scoobies continued to watch, as Ororo produced a small remote from her jacket pocket. She pressed a button, and a hatch opened on the underside of the aircraft, lowering a set of stairs.

She turned to them. "Shall we?" She walked towards the stairs, everyone following dumbly.

When they were all standing inside the jet, Dawn broke the silence with a small "wow."

Ororo made her way to the pilot seat, Giles taking the autopilot seat next to her. "There are only six seats in the back. I am afraid one of you will have to sit on the floor."

There was a sudden rush to find a seat, like a game of musical chairs. Buffy lost. She scowled down at Spike, who was sitting in one of the two edge seats in the small row. He grinned smugly up at her, crossing his ankles out in front of him and lacing his fingers behind his head, leaning up to look at her.

Calmly, Buffy grabbed Spike by the lapels of his duster, hauling him to his feet. "'Ey!" he protested. "I got there first, fair an' square!"

"Well if we crash, you won't need the seatbelt as much as I would," she said as she turned them around, pushing him down to the floor in front of her, taking her seat and fastening the buckles.

He scowled up at her, before spinning around and leaning his back up against her legs, hard. She grunted and smacked the back of his head. He looked at her over his shoulder. "Well if I don't get a seat then I at least want a backrest!"

"Whatever," she muttered, before crossing her arms and sitting back, shifting her legs to where Spike's back leaned on the chair, one leg on each side of his shoulders.

The rest of the Scoobies watched the exchange silently. No one wanted to say anything about Buffy's apparent complacence with Spike's positioning. Xander especially took notice, staring at the pair who were sitting catty-cornered from his own chair. Something was going on, he knew. He just had no idea what. He only knew that Buffy was acting weird lately, and Spike was around an awful lot. If he was doing something to her--

His thoughts were cut off by the sudden jarring of the aircraft. They all leaned forward to look out the front windows, and saw that they were taking off vertically from the park. When they reached proper altitude, there was a shift in the jet's weight, before they took off straight forward. They continued to climb high into the air, above any clouds, and still higher. Once they reached cruising altitude, Ororo spoke to her passengers.

"I will be turning off the interior lights now. When traveling long distances, we use stealth mode. We are flying at about ten thousand feet higher than any commercial aircraft, but we don't like to take chances. The government does not much appreciate any unidentified aircraft in U.S. airspace. We should be in New York in about two hours."

"Two hours?" Xander asked. "But that must mean we're flying at, like, a thousand miles an hour!"

Ororo's only reply was a small smile.

Once again, the group in the back sat dumbfounded.

"Wow," Dawn reiterated.

The rest of the trip was made in near silence, everyone conscious of their apparent 'stealth' mode. Buffy glanced down at the vampire sitting quietly between her legs. She was surprised he hadn't complained about his having to sit on the floor, or having to be silent. She giggled very softly to herself, thinking he was probably just fine with where he was.

Her near-silent laugh went unnoticed by all, except of course, for Spike. He turned to look at her over his shoulder, smiling softly at her. Her own smile lingered on her face as she looked down on him, before realizing she was actually smiling back at him. She quickly looked up and away from him.

Smirking, Spike turned back around. Willow was nodding off in the seat in front of him, and he quickly glanced at the rest of them. Xander and Anya were holding hands and looking at each other in the dim light. How sweet. He looked to his left at Dawn and Tara, who sat in the row with Buffy. Dawn was asleep, and Tara was trying to read one of her spell books, squinting in the near dark, illuminated only by the instrumental lights from the cockpit.

Time to have a little fun. Slowly, so as not to alert the owner of the foot he was reaching for, he grasped Buffy's ankle in his right hand. He felt her tense, but he continued to lift her foot and remove her sandal. He heard her gasp softly as he ran his index finger down the sole of her foot. He then grasped her foot tightly with both hands, his fingers pressing firmly against the arch of her foot, massaging the tightness he found there. He ran his right hand up the top of her foot, before curling his fingers forward over her toes, popping the joints.

He looked up quickly at the sharp cracking sounds they made, to see if anyone noticed. They didn't. He continued to rub her foot gently with his left hand, while his right traveled to her ankle, massaging her Achilles tendon before traveling up the leg of her jeans, kneading the muscles of her calf.

Buffy's eyes rolled back into her head, stifling a moan. She found herself silently cursing and thanking whoever brought flared jeans back into fashion, as they allowed Spike's very talented hand free reign up to her knee. God, she was sick. She was getting all hot and bothered over a foot massage…well, okay, she had to give herself some credit--it had evolved into a leg massage also…in front of all of her friends, her sister, and her watcher. Oh, and a complete stranger.

Spike grit his teeth as the faint scent of her arousal reached his nose. He was sitting right between her slightly spread legs. Maybe teasing her hadn't been the smartest thing to do while he was so close to temptation. He reached between his own legs to discreetly adjust his now erect cock. It wasn't discreet enough for Buffy to miss, though that was probably just because she had been staring over his shoulder at that very spot. She grinned to herself. Time to have a little fun.

She quickly hooked her left knee over his shoulder, startling him. She shook her foot expectantly. He used his free hand to slip off her sandal, but before he could grab her foot, it slid down his torso to the bulge in front of his jeans. She bit back a laugh as he jumped nearly a foot off the floor. He sucked in a breath through his teeth when she began rubbing slowly, up and down the denim covering his shaft.

Just as suddenly as she did it, she stopped, then set her foot back on the floor next to him. He huffed lightly, then twisted his torso around to stare at her. She smiled a smile that said, 'mess with me, willya?'

He glared at her a moment before his hand darted forward, reaching between her legs and quickly running his thumb up her denim-covered quim, pressing the seam of her jeans against her clit. Her eyes widened comically as she gasped, too shocked at the sudden movement to do anything about it before he pulled his hand away. She gaped down at him, and he smirked back at her, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

She pouted, scowling at him as she slumped down in her chair slightly. Dammit. She thought she had won that one. She leaned her head back against the headrest, closing her eyes. Spike turned back around and settled against the chair once more. Buffy's shift downward had jutted her knees out slightly past the seat of her chair, and he slouched down and tentatively leaned his cheek against her inner thigh. When she didn't protest, he sighed softly and closed his eyes, trying to ignore his hard-on. This was going to be a long trip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Or, maybe not that long. Especially if you fell asleep, which is what pretty much everyone in the back had done. Ororo saw this, and nodded to Giles, gesturing toward the back. He turned and smiled slightly at the sleeping group. "All right everyone," he said loudly, trying to wake them. "Wake up. We're h--" his voice trailed off when he noticed Buffy's sleeping form. And Spike's sleeping form. Which looked very much to be sleeping on Buffy's leg.

Before he could think any more about it, Xander and Anya stirred. Xander stretched his arms over his head, yawning loudly. "Whoa, sorry about that. I didn't even realized I fell asleep."

Willow was now arching her back with a stretch. "Gosh I didn't either. Must have been the trip. You know, it was all dark and quiet back here, with the slight humming of the engines and the little vibrations that tell you you're moving." She grinned slightly. "I always fall asleep during long car rides."

Tara smiled softly at her, which she returned. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment longer, before Dawn's voice piped up.

"Yeah, Mom always used to have to drive me around the block to get me to fall asleep when I was a baby, remember Buffy?" She turned expectantly to her sister, only to find her eyes still closed in sleep, her head bent down at an odd angle to lean against her own shoulder.

It was then that the rest of the Scoobies noticed Buffy and Spike's positioning. She was slouched down in her seat, her legs still on either side of Spike's shoulders to accommodate him, his head leaning against her left thigh, the fingers of his right hand curled loosely around the ankle of her bare foot.

Dawn, though slightly surprised at the intimate scene, ignored the shocked looks on the rest of the faces in the plane. She reached out one hand per head and rapped her knuckles against the skulls of her sister and the vampire. "Hey, wake up, we're here!" she said loudly. Okay, so maybe she hit Buffy's head a little harder than she had to, but she was making up for sixteen years of rude awakenings from her older sister. Plus, you know, Slayer strength probably required a little extra force to get her attention.

Spike awoke with a start, groggy eyes staring blankly ahead of him. Buffy groaned into wakefulness as she opened her eyes, meeting her sister's expectant gaze. "Oh, sorry Dawnie, I didn't realize I'd fallen asleep." She frowned slightly, trying to figure out why her leg felt cold. She looked down expecting to see Spike's head, where he had lain it two hours before. She knew she should have told him to move, but at the time the weight of his head against her thigh felt…comforting. When she looked down instead of his bleached locks meeting her gaze, she saw a wet spot darkening the denim of her jeans.

"Oh, gross!" she whined when she realized what it was. She shoved at Spike's shoulders, sending the still sleep-fuzzed vampire sprawling to the side. He caught himself, then turned to look at her with bleary eyes.

"What?" he asked, voice hoarse from sleep.

Buffy shook herself when she realized she'd been staring at him. His hair was mussed on the side that was leaning against her thigh, and the way he looked at her and the sound of his voice was exactly like when they woke up…after. "You drooled on me!" she accused.

Still slightly confused, he looked at her leg. "Oh. Sorry."

Meanwhile, the gang watched the exchange in mute fascination. Buffy wasn't going ballistic over the fact that he had slept on her leg, but that he had drooled on it. Spike was apologizing for drooling on her. And why the hell was his hand still on her foot?

"So are we here then?" The question came from Anya's blunt voice, seemingly oblivious to everyone's astonishment. They all snapped their attention to her.

"Uh, yes," Giles said quickly, then looked back over at the pair in question. Spike had moved away from Buffy's chair, sitting cross-legged in the aisle facing him. Buffy once again had her sandals on.

Everyone gathered their bags and headed down the staircase. When they were all out, they stood in awe at the enormous Xavier estate. Even at night, the mansion loomed over them it all its glory.

"Wow," whispered Dawn, who seemed to have become the spokesperson for all the Scoobies' amazement.

Ororo's voice brought them back to reality. "I must take the jet to the hanger. Please go in. They're expecting you."