Disclaimer- I own none of the characters in this story except for Claire.

Info- Claire is the main character in this story. She is 17 years old, and has lived in Sunnydale all of her life. Her next-door neighbor was the Slayer.

Spike. An intresting name. It fit a Vampire though. I heard him say something, but because I was lost in my own thoughts, I didn't register what he said next. "What??" I said

"I asked you what your name was." he said again

"Oh. I'm Claire."

He nodded. It seemed to satisfy him, but with a Vampire, one can never be too sure. "so, what were you doing out in the cemetary in the mddle of the night?" he asked.

That made me mad. First off, it wasn't the middle of the night. Second, it wasn't really his bussiness, was it. But still, here I was in the crypt of a Vampire. I would have to be an idiot to tell him to shove off, and thankfully, I'm not. "I was on my way hime from the mall. My friend and I thought it would make a great shortcut to her home. Obviously, I was wrong. And I lost my new clothes in the process."

"Her home? Why not yours?"

That's it. This guy was really bugging me. Vampire or not, I was leaving. I stood up. Or rather, I tried to. Bloodloss generally equals becoming weaker. I think I was absent the day they taught that in Biology class. Anyways, I ended up making it about 2 feet until I fell down on my butt. Right in front of him. And do you know what Spike had the nerve to do then? He laughed. He laughed at me. And it wasn't even a polite little snicker. It was one of those that you would have expected to hear out of Santa when you were smaller.

"Do you mind shutting up?" I snapped at him.

"Actually, yeah, I do. But, since you're my guest, I will." he said, although he was still chuckiling quietly.

"Thank you." I said.

"Anyways, why her home? You not got one?"

"I had...have one." I said. I really hoped he didn't realize the little slip I made with the past tense. Lucky for me, he did.

"what happened to it?"

"Wha?"

"You said you had one. What happened to it?"

"Forclosed. After my parents..."I trailed off

"After they what?" he prompted.

I took a breath and swallowed hard. This wasn't easy to talk about. "After they got sucked into a hell dimension."