Buffy sniffed the air and found a familiar scent. She grinned and ran off towards the docks. It only took a couple of minutes to find him.

"What's got your knickers in a twist now?"

Spike smirked at Buffy's use of words. He lit a cigarette and turned to face her. When he had first seen her tonight, the black tint to her skin and hair had scared him. Her jet black eyes had crushed him. One of the things he had most loved about her was her glimmering green orbs.

"Look at you, little miss dark and morbid. All grown up and prancing for the crowds to see."

"Your remarks are getting worse, Spikey." Buffy grinned. "Lost your edge?" She licked her black lips as she circled him.

Spike watched her as she moved. He knew he shouldn't be attracted to her now…now that she was evil, soulless. But, hell, she had fallen for him when he'd been the same way.

"So, Slayer…guess you've hit it big now. All soulless and merciless. Take what you want, kill what you don't."

"It's not like that Spike." Buffy walked closer to him. "I may not have a soul, like you do, but I still have emotions, I still have a heart."

"Not according to the rumours." Spike curled his tongue beneath his teeth. "Supposedly, the baddest thing since Lucifer himself."

"Aw, hey now. Lucifer wasn't that bad. In fact the guy is pretty cool." Buffy chuckled and moved closer to Spike. "Do you remember when we first met? When we first fought?"

"Yeah…" Spike took an unnecessary breath as Buffy tailed a finger down his chest. "You were so young…so innocent…"

"I've come far…" Buffy looked up at Spike from under hooded eyelids. "I'm all grown up…"

"I suppose you think you are…" Spike's face turned hard. "You've killed a couple of people…lost your soul…seen all that is bad in the world…well I've got news for you, kitten. You haven't seen hell itself yet…"

"Then show me…"

"Where is she?" Dawn couldn't help but glance at the hotel doors every five minutes. Buffy had said she would come by today, but it was almost noon and there was no sign of her.

"Don't worry Dawnie." Willow came up to Dawn to where she sat at the front desk. "She'll be here."

"Unless she left."

"Cordy!"

Cordelia walked down the staircase, holding baby Connor, and shrugged at Dawn and Willow's glares.

"I'm sorry if I'm the only one be realistic. If it wasn't hard for her to leave then, why should it be now?"

"She won't leave, not yet." Giles walked in the doors with Wesley and Fred. "She came here to finish what she started."

"What's that?" Willow smiled as Oz and Xander walked into the room. Slowly all the scoobies seemed to drift into the room. All except Angel and Spike.

"The Prophecy. I am certain it means her and Spike. Obviously she was the one that sent Spike the Gem of Amarra."

"How does that mean she started it?" Faith entwined her hand with Gunn's. The brunette slayer and the ex-street fighter had been together for almost two years. Sometimes it scared Faith how much she cared for Gunn.

"From my research, it began when she left. Everything that's happened since then has been a chain reaction, started by her leaving." Giles pulled a book out of the bag he was carrying and flipped it open. He scanned down the page. "More of the prophecy has come to my attention.

"So, us coming to LA, Angel and Cordy having Connor, Spike getting his soul, it was all caused by Buffy." Dawn shuffled papers on the counter, nervously. Lorne came over and put his arm around her, doing his best to comfort the little brunette.

"It appears so." Giles sighed. "Only time will tell how this will end."

"Too bad we don't have that much." Everyone looked up as Angel hurried in. He was wind-blown and his clothes were soaking. "There's a huge storm coming, and I'm not talking thunder, I'm talking apocalyptic."

"That's just great." Huffed Anya. She looked at the group with a scowl. "Just when things start getting good, evil has too come and ruin it all."

"Speaking of…" Oz looked around at the group. "Has anyone seen Spike today?"

88888888

Buffy let her eyes roam over Spike as he slept. He was sprawled across the double bed in her small apartment. Lying on his stomach, the thin sheets rested on his hips, just covering that expanse and his ass. The sheet left his lean upper torso and arms open to her purusul. His powerful legs also caught her attention.

She knew that it was more than just lust with Spike. Her mind drifted back to the first time she had seen him when he had burst in and ruined her perfect "parent's night" set up. He had sparked something in her. She had done her best to deny it, after all Angel had been…was…is her soul mate…she didn't know. But when she fought Spike, god, it had felt so right.

The scoobies weren't the only ones she had kept tabs on over the years. Spike had been of special interest to her. Buffy had even taken time to look up on his past, taking in everything she could about him. It had been like an addiction to her. The more she tried to stop, to distract herself, the more she wanted it…him.

Buffy sat in an arm chair with her legs hung over the side. She had nothing on except Spike's red button up shirt. In her left palm, which she held open, a delicate black flame hovered.

She would probably never admit that she had fallen in love with the blonde vampire. Sometimes, over the years, when she found herself thinking about him, she would dissolve into tears. She was supposed to love Angel, her soul mate. But Angel had moved on, shouldn't she? There had been others of course, including some that she should have never even looked at. They had been to distract her, nothing more.

Last night had been a gamble. Her adrenaline had been high as she followed Spike. Her original plan to tease him, nothing more, but the lustful glint in his eyes captured her and dared her to go farther.

"That's a nifty trick." Buffy's head snapped up. Spike had woken up and was now sitting on the end of the bed, the sheet only barely covering him.

"Hey." Buffy mentally slapped her self as her voice came out sounding soft and love sick. She inwardly groaned as she realized being in Spike's presence was taking more of a toll on her then she had first thought. She couldn't let him discover the power he had over her. The slightest smirk, his touch…

"Hey yourself." Spike almost choked. Buffy looked like the little girl he had first met. The girl he had fallen for all those years ago. Such power, such fire, all rolled up into one little girl. His girl. "I won't bite…hard." Spike raised his eyebrows as he saw Buffy shiver in anticipation. Could there have been more to last night than just sex, or was Spike fooling himself?

"So I was right." Buffy closed her palm, extinguishing the flame. She let herself slip into a hard guise, knowing she should just be up front with Spike, but she couldn't. Too many years of playing the one without at heart had trained her to be suspicious of everything.

Her gut was telling her to beware of Spike, that she didn't know him anymore. The vampire she had clashed with back in Sunnydale had changed. Changed like she had. Her heart ached for contact. She knew, somehow, that Spike would act differently to what she wanted to tell him, but she was still scared.

"About what?" Spike let his eyes roam over the petit slayer's body, encased in his red shirt. The black that tinged her life mad her seem raw and evil. Things that greatly appealed to Spike, even with his soul.

"You wanted me. The Change made me pretty appetizing, eh Spikey?"

Spike laughed. Was that all she thought he wanted. Perhaps Buffy really had changed, in more ways than one.

"Oh, luv." Spike stood up, letting the sheet fall from his hips. "I bet you wish that was all." He stalked across the room. Buffy swung her legs off the arm of the chair and jumped behind it.

"Oh come on." Goaded Buffy. "I could tell when you first met me. All thoughts of your little dark princess when out the door. You looked at me with such a hunger."

"Is that so?" Spike swiped at the armchair, making it fly across the room. Buffy jumped. Spike had gotten stronger. "I bet you see yourself as pretty important, then luv. I must have wanted you, after all you're Buffy, the slayer. Newsflash pet, I'm a vampire, I eat little girls like you for breakfast."

Despite the fear bubbling up inside of her, Buffy stood strong. "Not anymore. Too bad about the soul, I guess it put a damper on your extraccurriculars."

"You would think so, wouldn't you." Spike sneered. "I suppose everyone has secrets though."

"So yours is that you're still a killer?" Buffy laughed. "Great one Spike, and telling me was just the icing on the cake. It does register that I am the slayer, and I kill your kind."

Spike laughed. His little slayer was getting all high and mighty, forgetting her bases.

"Luv, weren't you the one that sent me this pretty little bobble." Spike held up his left hand, showing the Gem of Amarra, resting on his finger.

Buffy froze. "How did you get that?"

Spike threw up his hands in defeat. "Luv, I believe it's called the post."

"No, I mean…" Buffy looked at him, shock all over her face. "Angel destroyed the ring…"

"Wait, you didn't send this to me." Spike lowered his hands. The two stared at each other, both, frozen in shock.

"No."

"Then who did?"

TBC…