"There's no such thing as good or evil, Tara, just force. Weak ones and strong ones. Sometimes they fluctuate. Sometimes one beats another, but that's all there is, force."

"How can you believe that?" answered Tara.

"It's the truth."

"Well, let's say for sake of argument you're right, there is no good or evil and everything's relative," said Tara.

"I didn't say everything's relative."

"Fine, but there's no good or evil, like you said. There's still an order to things. An order that has to be respected," said Tara.

"The order is whatever works," said the other female's voice.

She must be the newbie thought Spike. The witch with as much mojo as Red. She's cute. Nice little build. Like what I'm hearin' too. Spike casually sized up the woman sitting next to Tara on the couch. She was a pretty girl, about Tara's size. A black woman, with long braided hair. She was wearing a black knee length skirt, black combat boots, and a form fitting red T-shirt that showed off her ample bosom. She reminded Spike of the Slayer he killed back when he was living in New York.

The Scoobies were gathered in the Summers' living room once again. The Scoobies included the core group, Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles, and the others, Dawn, Anya, Spike, Tara, and the new girl. They were dealing with another crisis, the Vampire's Ball. Every decade, vampires get together and throw a gigantic party that lasts all night. It's an honor to be invited. Most of the vampires in attendance were elites like Dracula. Spike had informed the Scoobies that in their day, he, Angel, Drusilla, and Darla were invited a few times. Sources (Willy the Snitch) informed the group that this year's ball was going to be held in Sunnydale. This was an unusual decision, since most balls were held as far away from a Slayer as possible, the night was supposed to be fun, after all. The gang was afraid there was more to this Vampire's ball then meets the eye. Not to mention the town would be full of strong vampires looking for food. They didn't know when the ball was going to be thrown, but it seemed like it would be soon. They had to find out what was going on and put a stop to it ASAP. Finding information was difficult. Willy the Snitch only knew so much and the Vampire's Ball was relatively exclusive. Your run-of-the-mill vampires didn't even know about it. If they wanted information they would need an elite vampire, and one of them just wasn't going to fall from the sky and give them information. The Scoobies were all out of ideas.

"So all the vampires there are "elite"?" asked the new girl, Zoë.

"Yes," said Giles.

"Well, what exactly is an elite vampire? What sets them apart from regular vampires?" asked Zoë.

"Well . . ." started Giles.

"I'm an elite vampire," said Spike, "And what sets me apart? Well luv, that would be my amazing . . ."

"Impotence?" said Xander.

"Killing record," answered Spike, "You know Harris, killing you might be worth the headache."

"How? By hurting my feelings?" answered Xander.

"Children, please" said Giles.

"Children? I'm a century older than you, Rupert," said Spike.

"And yet you're maturity level seems to be growing backwards, along with Xander's," said Giles.

"I'm mature. I'm plenty mature," said Xander.

"It's true. He is at peak sexuality for a male his age, and his penis is above average" said Anya.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say, great big giant ewww," said Buffy.

"Well, now that we've proven to Zoë just how immature we are, why don't we answer her question," said Giles as he finished cleaning his glasses. "Spike is right in saying that he would be an example of an elite vampire. Most are quite old and their violence is generally legendary. Spike is also known as William the Bloody; we know a vampire named Angel that was called the Scourge of Europe, Dracula would be the most famous example of an elite vampire."

"And a right ponce," muttered Spike as he lit a cigarette.

"Dracula's real?" asked Zoë.

"Yeah, we met him once," said Willow.

"Are you guys making this up?" said Zoë.

"We wish," said Xander.

"Xander's upset 'cause Dracula made him eat bugs," said Buffy.

"Oh, why did Dracula do that?" asked Zoë.

"It was a whole thing about trying to sire Buffy," said Willow.

"Sire?" asked Zoë.

"Turn into a vampire," said Buffy.

"Oh," said Zoë, "Umm . . . okay . . . well these vampires are coming from all over the world, right?"

"Yes," said Giles.

"Well, unless they're all coming at the last minute they have to show up before the ball. If we can find one, we could make them tell us about their plans," said Zoë.

"How are we going to find one?" asked Dawn.

"Well, Spike is here," said Zoë.

"But Spike's on our side," said Dawn.

"For the time being," said Spike.

"Well Spike, when you went to past balls. Did you do anything special when you arrived?"

"Sure, you get in touch with old mates. Go out for some drinks, unless you're too snooty like the Count or antisocial, like some of the older ones."

"So, there's going to be lots of famous vampires, living it up even before the party?" asked Zoë.

"Yeah."

"Well, they're probably going to be making a big splash when they arrive, right?"

"Usually, but since this is a Slayer town, they might lie lower than usual," said Spike.

"Spike, who is responsible for these get togethers?" asked Giles.

"I don't know. They just happen. Someone throws 'em, I don't know who. There's no ritual to it or anything, but someone sends out the invites."

"You get an invitation? Like for a wedding? Is it all calligraphied and stuff?" asked Dawn.

"Sometimes."

"Where do they send them? Graves and crypts don't exactly have addresses," said Xander.

"They send them magically. They just show up in front of you or scrawled on your wall or something."

"Someone quite powerful would have to track down all those vampires and send them invitations," said Giles.

"We could track them. The invitations, I mean. We could track them to their magical source, if we had one. Which we don't, so I guess I shouldn't have said anything," said Tara trailing off.

"Well, we're not totally lost, but let's not continue without the proper provisions. I hope nobody minds pizza," said Buffy. Buffy exited to the kitchen. Spike got up from the couch arm he was sitting on and followed Buffy into the kitchen.

Buffy ordered the pizza and ignored Spike's plea for Buffalo wings. When she finished ordering and hung up the phone, Spike planted a kiss on her. It was hard and strong and Buffy immediately responded by kissing back just as hard. However, her next response was to pull away and slap Spike across the face.

"Have you gone mental?" asked Spike holding his face.

"Spike, I've told you we can't do this."

"Yeah, and then you come to my crypt lookin' to ride the Spike. Make up your mind Slayer."

"I did, and it's no."

"'No' until you get the itch again."

"You're disgusting," said Buffy as she tried to bypass Spike, but Spike stepped to the side and blocked her.

"And you're sleeping with me, so what's that make you?" said Spike.

Buffy raised her hand to slap Spike again, but he caught it.

"Do anything to touch me, won't you Slayer?" said Spike as he stroked the arm he caught. Buffy ripped her arm away from Spike and went back into the living room, leaving Spike in the kitchen alone and frustrated.

Buffy re-entered the living room to hear the start of Tara and Zoë's debate again.

"Well if there's no good or evil then it's just okay to do whatever you want, including hurting people," said Tara.

"I didn't say that. I think that we should all do our best to survive, and we'd all survive better if we didn't hurt each other. I think helping each other is a big part of survival," said Zoë.

"But what you're saying is dangerous. You don't draw any lines, and without lines how do you keep people safe?"

"I draw lines. I get outraged at people's behavior, rapists, child molesters, embezzlers, they should all be shot."

"Even embezzlers?" asked Dawn.

"Especially embezzlers," said Zoë, "I sincerely hope that a stronger force, for example the legal system, comes along and puts their forces out," said Zoë. Zoë could sense the people in the room getting a little uncomfortable, so she attempted to put an end to the debate. "Anyway, I don't want to argue about this. Excuse me while I get a drink, does anyone want anything?" Nobody said yes.

Spike was in the kitchen seething. He was a big bad vampire and here he was in the house of his enemies acting like a neutered pup. Spike was so angry he'd switched to his game face. Bloody Slayer and her stupid bloody lackeys. Would have killed her a long time ago if it weren't for them. Bitch doesn't know a good thing when she sees it. Doesn't want me, huh? I'll bet she'd want me if I was some sorry, soulful, hair-gelled Nancy-boy. Doesn't want ole Spike, no, not unless she wants sex or someone to complain to. Waaa, life is so hard now that I've been resurrected. Waaa, my mates don't understand me. Waaa. And God forbid Spike complains about anything. No, everything Spike gets he deserves. I deserved to get this stupid bloody chip in my head, right? I deserved to get used like someone's play thing and have people that should be terrified of me treating me like a freak in a cage. Harris, I'd just like to snap his little neck. But no, Spike deserves all this humiliation because I've killed people. Because I'm evil. Well I'm a vampire, bitch, it's what we do. You're the evil one. You're the one that's turned me inside out. You're the one that's destroyed me and rebuilt me as something weak, pathetic, unnatural . . .

"Spike?" Zoë entered the kitchen to find an angry vampire pacing up and down and murmuring to himself.

"What!" said an angry Spike.

"Are you okay?" said Zoë as she took a step back from the vampire.

"Fine. Don't I look fine?" said Spike as he got into Zoë's face. Zoë couldn't help but be intimidated by the vampire as she continued to back up. But Spike advanced on her and soon she was backed into a counter.

"You look scary, and you're acting crazy," said Zoë as she reached looked around for something nearby to defend herself with, just in case.

"Scary and crazy, am I? You don't seem scared."

"Should I be?" asked Zoë. Trying to think how quickly she could grab the butcher knife in the dish rack. She knew Spike wasn't supposed to be able to bite people, but he wasn't exactly acting like a vampire that couldn't bite.

"Yes." With that being said, Spike lunged at the air next to Zoë's neck. If he wasn't aiming for her, his chip wouldn't go off. Of course Zoë didn't know that. All she knew was that a big bad vampire was about to bite her. In almost a split second, Zoë screamed, grabbed the knife and stuck it into the side of Spike's stomach. The stab was a mere flesh wound that Spike could handle, but the bolt of electricity that came from his now black-eyed, veiny, "victim" hurt a lot.

Meanwhile, Zoë was the topic of discussion in the living room.

"I'm not sure I should have brought Zoë into the gang," said Tara.

"Why not? She's cool. She gave me this spell to make cleaning my room a snap," said Dawn.

"It's just . . . well you heard what she said about no good and evil and just forces. I don't know . . . I like Zoë, but she's . . . she's . . ."

"A bit unruly it seems to me," said Giles.

"Yeah, but you should see her power level, Giles. When we were fighting that demon on campus, she created this flood out of nowhere. She's really useful, and she knows so much about magic. She summons goddesses I've never even heard of," said Willow.

"That makes it even worse, Willow. Power like that needs to be in check, and she doesn't seem to want to do that," said Giles.

"Okay, so she's a go-with-the-flow type when it comes to magic, but that doesn't make her bad," said Willow.

"Nobody is saying she's bad, Willow. I just think her magic is a little wild," said Tara.

Just then the Scoobies heard a short female scream from the kitchen followed by a long male one. Buffy charged in followed by the others. They found Spike on the floor, slightly twitching and Zoë was standing over him with a slightly stained knife.

"What happened?" said Buffy.

"I'm sorry. He tried to bite me and I panicked," said Zoë.

"Spike can't bite," said Buffy.

"I know, but he still tried and I got scared and it's his own damn fault 'cause he shouldn't have tried to bite me."

"What did you do to him?" said Buffy.

"Don't pretend you care, now, Slayer," said Spike attempting to get up. After a few unsuccessful attempts he grabbed the counter and pulled himself up. Nobody offered to help him stand. Spike looked Buffy in the eye. His game face was gone and he was holding his hand over his stomach wound. "What's wrong? All brassed off 'cause she might have damaged my goods. Well they're all there," said Spike as he grabbed his crotch.

Buffy looked at Spike with disgust. Spike turned to Zoë and put his hand to his chest.

"You almost got my heart beating again, weird feeling, got all tingly," said Spike.

"Sorry about that. Let me heal you up," said Zoë as she moved her hands over the wound in Spike's stomach, but Spike pushed her hands away.

"I'm all right; you barely gave me a flesh wound."

"Did you really try to bite her, Spike?" asked Buffy.

"No, just givin' her a little scare."

"Why'd you want to scare me?" asked Zoë.

"Just blowin' off some steam, luv. Nice if I could scare someone these days," said Spike as he headed out the back door.

Everyone else filtered back into the living room and began discussing the Vampire's Ball again. However, nobody noticed Zoë's filtering went all the way to and out the front door. She saw Spike walking up the street and away from Buffy's house.