It was the seventh night she had slept in her office. Her back was sore from tossing and turning on the leather sofa that probably wasn't meant to be used as a makeshift bed. Nevertheless it was a small price to pay. Wolfram & Hardt was the only place she was safe at, because it was absolutely ghost-proof. So many employees had died here in the last decade, that this place would be literally cramped with dead people, if it hadn't been under some kind of protection spell. At least this way she would survive until she had figured out a solution to the problem, which would probably take forever.

Until now she hadn't come up with the slightest idea on how to deal with the situation. She had spent what seemed to her an eternity on going through old volumes about necromancy, to which she conveniently had access working for Mr. Wydam-Price…and yet nothing. In her work breaks she scribbled little notes on loose sheets of paper that law around in her office everywhere. The shadows under her eyes had become more flamboyant, so that Lorne had almost done a double-take, when he met her in the corridor last week. It had required shameless lying from her side, to convince him that she had only been researching overtime for an English paper the other night.

Lisa sat down at her working table and stifled a yawn. It was late in the afternoon. A soft knock on the door could be heard. As it went by unanswered, it turned from hesitant to obtrusive in a matter of seconds.

"Go away," she yelled at the closed door.

"Won't," came the short answer. Great, it was him!

"That means especially you, fang-boy," Lisa said in an annoyed tone of voice.

"Too late I'm already in," he closed the door and leant against it casually. He raised his left hand which held a back of Chinese food, waving it at her invitingly , "Interested?"

"I can see through you clumsy attempt of bribery, yet again this smells delicious. You may stay," she took the bag out of his grasp to rummage through its contents, with which she was obviously satisfied, as she was sitting down on her sofa in a matter of seconds to start stuffing food into her mouth greedily. "I'll eat while you try to come up with a decent explanation for your behaviour."

"I haven't seen you around much lately," Spike kicked an empty pizza box out of the way with his foot.

"Probably because you were busy with playing Mr. Macho-Man," she said chewing on one side of her mouth.

He sat down opposite of her with a sigh. She was a though nut to crack, but that he already knew. "No, because you closed yourself up inside your office for an entire week. Gives a fellow something to think about, you know... Is something wrong?"

"No," her answer sounded deceptively like a lie. "Why are you asking?"

That was it. No more Mr. Nice-Guy. "Because the empty pizza boxes start piling on your floor and as sorry as I'm to point it out to you, you don't look so good."

"As I already said. I'm doing fine," her voice sounded aggressive and stubborn.

"Pet...," he skidded to the edge of his seat, "I swear if you don't start talking this second, I'm going to bite you and drain you dry. I'm not joking! I'm truly on the edge of my bloody reason here!"

"Fine. You asked for it here it comes," Lisa slammed the box of food on the table. Noodles flew over its rim executing a daring somersault only to land its the glass surface. She gasped for air, obviously at a loss for words. How do you start telling someone your darkest secret? "This is just ridiculous!" she shook her head vigorously.

"I'm not laughing," he crossed his arms other his chest and lay his combat boots on the table. She eyed his action with a disapproving glance. She hated it when the table got dirty.

"You're asking me to talk to you about things I never told anybody before."

"Look, whatever this is you can't deal with it on your own…"

"I can!" she screamed and jumped to her feet.

"No, you bloody can't!" his voice was a loud roar and almost against his will he vamped out on her. His yellow predatory eyes sparkled at her angrily.

For a second Lisa was petrified. She had never seen him with his game face on. Her previous emotional outburst was suddenly forgotten, when she looked at him in silent bafflement. Being a priestess to Osiris she had come a cross a lot of unusual phenomenon, but she had never seen a vampire…not like this. It was an honour reserved for their victims before they gave them the death kiss.

A certain morbid fascination drew her closer. Lisa stepped around the table and stopped right in front of him. He stuck out his chin looking at her defiantly, still flustered by their argument. She hesitantly reached out to touch the wrinkles on his forehead, as if to reassure herself they were for real. Her fingertips flutter cautiously over his cool skin. It didn't scare her - not the least bit, quite the contrary she somehow felt fascinated by this more animalistic side of him.

It suddenly came to her that what she was doing wasn't the least bit polite. She was staring at him avowedly. Almost forcefully Lisa tore her gaze away from him and walked back to the couch to slump down on it with an exhausted huff. When she looked at him again, his face was back to normal again.

" You can't do this alone. Let me help you," he said imploringly.

"Maybe you're right." She closed her eyes for a second. This was hard. "Just don't interrupt!" she added harshly.

"When…when I was a very small child, I found out I had a special gift. I could see dead people, even talk to them. Once they'd learned I could communicate with them they came to me from everywhere. Some to frighten me and play cruel tricks on me, others to seek my help," she sighed. Her voice grew wistful as she talked about her childhood.

"It was too much for me. My parents dragged me from one psychologist to the next. In the end I learned it was best to shut up and never tell anyone about what I saw, though it sometimes scared me to death. I lied to my parents.

I sought for ways to make it stop, to lead a normal life. I was desperate," she ran her hand through her hair, nervously.

"I searched all libraries and bookstores for something that would help me figure out how to deal with this curse of mine –it always seemed a curse to me. Finally I found an old dusty book about necromancy in an antiquary…" Lisa paused looking at Spike for a reaction.

He looked rather concernedly, "Continue."

"I…I soaked up everything there was to know about it. I felt now was my time to pay back all the wrong that had been done to me. I did a lot of stupid things… young and arrogant as I was. Some only to test my abilities. I raised the dead just to let them loose on an unsuspecting town where they reeked havoc until someone stopped them eventually. I didn't care and I even enjoyed the rush it gave me….

Then I met Charlie. He was a freak like myself. Could make objects fly by the sheer force of his will. We clicked right from the start. Forgot all about magic and the dark arts for a while," inevitably memories of her last meeting with Charlie flashed in her mind. It hurt royally. She forced herself to keep talking - get this over with as fast as possible.

"He warned me, even persuaded me to stop messing with powers greater than myself. He, after all, had a sense of right and wrong.

I didn't…I just couldn't stop. It was like an addiciton. And so one day the inevitable happened. I drew the attention of a mighty necromancer to myself, who went by the name of Baku. I was messing about on his turf and he didn't appreciate it. So he came after me. At first he wanted me to join forces with him. I refused. I didn't trust him," tears were now shining in her eyes. It was so shameful to reveal all this to him.

"So he decided to kill me. One day he ambushed Charlie and me. I survived. Charlie didn't….he sacrificed himself for me. I was so full of hatred, full of wrath…I just couldn't think straight. I felt the power rise in me and I…I kill him…I butchered that evil thing, " Lisa massaged her temples tiredly.

"I couldn't live with what had happened. I hated myself for letting Charlie die, because that's what I did… I let him die."

Spike opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced him with a gesture of her hand.

"Just don't okay? Otherwise I won't be able to say what I have to…

I.. .I…I was searching for something to make the pain go away. I left the States, wandered around aimlessly: I stayed in Europe for a while, travelled the Far East. I could afford it. After all my parents had enough money.

One day I met this old man on a bazaar in Egypt. I like to think it was more than pure chance we met. Somehow I think he found me. He was a follower of Osiris, the god of the underworld. He became my teacher. I learned about the balance of things and how to put my powers to a good use. For the first time in years I felt at ease with myself, because I knew it was the right thing to do," she briefly paused before she continued. "Now he's back."

"Who?" Spike ask, still a little shaken by the enormity of what she had just revealed to him.

"Baku. This' s a little souvenir he left me with," she indicated the thin angry mark that ran around her throat like a necklace. Spike growled furiously.

"Didn't you just tell me you killed that wanker?"

"Yeah, I did. He has come back from the dead to get his revenge, but that's not the worst part of it…. He eats souls and he's coming for mine, because then his little plan of turning himself into a god will finally be complete," desperation was clearly audible in her voice. She looked miserable…as if she was about to cry.

"I don't know what to do, Spike….I just can't…he…he took Charlie," tears were now streaming down her face.

He rushed over to her to take her in his arms. Lisa buried her head in his shoulders and sobbed uncontrollably. He was here safe haven. In some ways it felt absolutely right, but a part of her still wanted to hide in a dark hole and never come out. All those feelings she had buried deep down inside of her seemed to come out at once.

"I'm sorry for telling you. I feel so ashamed…I shouldn't have…," her fingers duck into his back searching for something to hold on to.

"It's alright," Spike drew her even closer in a tender gesture she hadn't though him capable of. His hands stroke her head calmingly.

"There's no need to be ashamed of anything, pet. Back in the day it did things I'm not so proud of myself either."

"Did you kill your best friend?" she let out an ironic snort.

"I turned my mum into a vampire and staked her afterwards…if you have to know," his voice sounded low and vulnerable

"Oh," Lisa sniffled and looked at him blinkingly with red eyes. She paused for a moment not knowing what to say. "This might be the wrong time to tell you, but I'm really sorry for being such a bitch the other night."

Her apology took him by surprise, "I'm sorry for running off like that, I was acting like a complete idiot myself," Spike admitted softly, but inevitably his thoughts returned to the situation at hand. His temper flared once again when he realized that he had been unable to protect her from the necromancer's attack. She could well be dead now

"So what do we do now about this evil sod? I'd really like to kick his incorporeal ass," Spike growled..

"We!" Lisa quickly disentangled herself from him. "We won't do anything. You will not get involved in this, do I make myself clear?" she punctuated every word with an angry finger poking into his chest.

" Bollocks! Why the hell not?" he caught her hand in midair.

"Because I couldn't bare it if something happened to you. That's why!" she screamed at him and then her eyes turned round like saucers when the realization of what she had just admitted hit home. Lisa covered her face with her hands embarrassedly. "Tell me I didn't just say that one out loud…"

"Oh, yes you did.…," Spike answered amusedly. "Now, Look at me!" he demanded gently.

"No."

He gave her a slight nudge on the shoulder with his hand. She huffed in exasperation, but hesitantly obeyed his command.

"We are going to ride this one out together? Understood?" he looked her deeply in the eye. His blue eyes had something hypnotic to them.

"Yes?" it was more a question than an answer.

"You don' t get it do you?" he cocked his head, peering at her critically.

"What on earth am I supposed to get!" Lisa looked at him questioningly, gesturing wildly with her hands.

"That I actually care for you."

"Yet the more reason not to allow you helping me," she said, feeling how his words started melting down her resistance.

"You won't get rid off me, pet," Spike stated firmly.

"Whatever," she waved her hand indifferently.

"You're an excellent liar…I hope you know that, " he grinned at her. He scooted closer to her until their faces were so close their noses almost touched.

"What's that supposed to be, Spike?" Lisa asked breathlessly, her heart racing uncontrollably inside her chest, because of his sudden proximity.

"An experiment," he raised his chin challengingly. "Just be quite for a second and look at me, okay?"

"That's crab," she said stubbornly, her eyes fixed on a point on the wall somewhere behind him.

"Bleeding hell, woman! Is this to much to ask for!"

"Fine, if that is what you want," she glared at him defiance. What would staring into his face be any use for?

She glowered at him, but within a matter a seconds her gaze began to soften. It fell on the scar that crossed his left eyebrow, flitted over the dimple on his chin, his high cheek bones and finally settled on his blue eyes. He let her look at him…really look at him without pretending to be someone else. His eyes interlocked with hers. They were lively, expressive and observing her curiously. It seemed hard to imagine that they had seen the passing of so many decades.

Lisa felt the closeness between them she had denied for so long, which was not only bodily, but also one of mind… Suddenly she was curious about how his lips would feel against hers and whether it would make her desire for him disappear, free her from spell he had cast on her. The closer she got to him the more the feeling increased in intensity. Lisa felt confused. Her skin prickled as if charged with electricity when her lips gingerly touched his for a fleeting moment. She abruptly pulled back as if shocked by her one audacity.

Lisa hesitantly looked at him searching his face for any signs of disapproval. There was only a naughty boyish smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"Point proven. We're in this together," Spike smiled at her contently.

"Just because I kissed you?" Lisa asked incredulously.

Spike sighed exasperatedly. This woman was more stubborn than a donkey when it came to acknowledging her own feelings. Taking a wild guess he assumed that meant he had to lay it in on her with the subtlety of a sledge-hammer.

"Pet, don't tell me your lips accidentally landed on mine… because if this happens once, you might well call it an accident, twice means it is quickly becoming a habit…. You don't seem like the flirtatious type, to be honest. Can't blame me for being a little bit curious. Exactly how many blokes did you kiss in the last couple of weeks?"

By the looks of it he really expected her to answer that. She knew she wouldn't get out of this until she had done so. Lisa hesitated. "Make that a couple of years," she mumbled ashamedly.

"So I like to think that I'm not over-interpreting anything, which I'm obviously not…. which leads me to the not very farfetched conclusion that you actually have feelings for me," his fingers traced disturbingly pleasant little patterns on the palm of her hand.

A brief pause ensued. "Do you, too?" her voice sounded unusually fragile.

His lips curved into an amused smile, "Yes, I thought you had figured it out by now. "

"I'm sorry, sometimes I tend to be a little dense," a genuine smile started spreading on her face - a seldom glimpse at what lay beneath her protective shell. He couldn't help but thinking she looked simply irresistible when she smiled. It was really shame she did it so rarely. Lisa suddenly seemed more at ease with the situation and a lot more secure of herself.

"You said something about developing a habit…," Lisa looked at him in mock-innocence.

"Yes, that I did," Spike answered in a low and seductive voice, his accent suddenly more prominent. His gaze wandered over her face hungrily and finally settled on her lips…red, soft, delicious. He remembered the taste of her, the smell of her. He needed more of it, much more. The distance between them diminished quickly without any of them knowing or caring who was the first to make a move. They finally kissed. There was no more hesitance this time, no more embarrassed shyness. Their tongues touched teasingly. Her lips felt hot against his. He could hear the fast rhythmic beat of her heart drumming in his ears. So many different sensation pleasant washed over him at once, that he almost felt overwhelmed.