When Buffy awoke she was tied to the same post Anya had been tied to and she was standing across from Xander's body chained to the wall. He had been stripped, lacerated, burned, and to Buffy's horror, castrated. Oh Xander, I'm so sorry.

"Like the handiwork?" asked Spike, "Let me tell you, that was a jolly good time. Harris was a real screamer. He cried too, you know, especially when I was giving it to his girl. And you know what else he did?" Spike giggled. "This is the part that really makes me laugh. He called for you. In his final moment he screamed for you. I laughed for hours over that."

"You're a monster."

"I didn't have to be. It didn't have to be this way, you know. I would have done anything for you. Bloody hell, I did do anything for you, and you still wouldn't have me. No, you're just too good for Spike. You can use him like a whore, but God forbid you actually feel for him! No, you and you're bloody friends. I know what you did. You laughed at me, at my feelings, well who's laughing now, bitch!" Spike slapped Buffy. "Who's laughing now!" He slapped her again and again. "I worshipped you." Slap. "Wrote poems for you." Slap. "I loved you." Punch. "And you spit on me!" Punch. "You spurned me over and over again, you bitch! I hate you! I hate you! Fuck you! Fuck you, you fucking bitch!" Spike punched Buffy repeatedly in her face and abdomen. When Spike finally stopped he was breathing heavily. Then he started to laugh. "Whew, got a little carried away there didn't I? Didn't mean to. But you bring out the best in me, luv. But I'm not gonna kill you yet."

"Everything all right in here?" asked Zoë as she walked in. Spike's yelling had concerned her.

"Everything's fine pet, come over here for a minute," instructed Spike.

Zoë walked over to Spike's side, wondering what he had in mind for Buffy. She hoped she would get to be apart of it, but Spike addressed Buffy first.

"Look at her Buffy. She's mine. She loves me. She knows a good thing when she sees it."

"You're her sire you bastard, she has to love you," shot Buffy. Spike hit her.

"Shut up! I didn't say you could talk," said Spike.

"She might love you now Spike, but sooner or later she'll see what a loser you are. Just like Drusilla did. . ."

"Shut your gob!"

"Just like I did . . ."

"I said shut up!"

"You weren't even good enough for Harmony, the most vapid thing on two legs."

"I dumped her!"

"Yeah right."

"That's it. Zoë get me a knife, I'm gonna cut that tongue right out of your pretty little mouth," said Spike getting directly in Buffy's face.

"He might love you know Zoë, but Spike's an abuser. He might not hit you, but he'll try to make you think you're as pathetic as he is."

"Keep talking Slayer, it's only gonna make it more painful!"

"He did hit me once," said Zoë. That shut Spike up.

"You see, Spike doesn't know how to love, he's just possessive and obsessive. As soon as he finds a new obsession you'll be out in the cold."

"That's not true, baby," said Spike.

"Why do you think he sired Dawn? He just wanted to use magic girl and then replace her with the Slayer's sister. You're just his tool and she's just his trophy."

"Enough!" screamed Spike. He frantically searched for something and found it, a metal pipe. "This'll shut you up," said Spike as he lifted it to bash Buffy's head in.

"Is it true?" said Zoë, distracting Spike from his task.

"What?" said Spike.

"Is it true? Am I only here because of my magic? Should I just walk out now that you're through with me?" said Zoë.

"No, baby, I love you. Don't listen to her; she just wants to turn us against each other. Aren't I good to you? Don't I hunt for you, give you first crack at the victims?"

"No, you've been letting Dawn get first crack at them."

"She's young she needs her strength."

"And what happens to me when she's all nice and strong, Spike. Do I get dusted?"

"No pet, you'll always be mine; I would never let anything happen to you."

"Then why do you want to shut Buffy up so bad?"

"What? Baby, can't you see what she's doing? She's just making us fight so I'll forget about torturing her, but that's not going to happen," said Spike fixing his gaze on Buffy.

Zoë was feeling conflicted. She didn't like the attention Spike was giving Dawn, but Spike had been good to her, even before she was a vampire. That night in his crypt after Buffy left, neither could get back to sleep. They talked about their lives. Spike listened quietly and patiently as she went on about her family problems, her absent father and abusive mother. Spike talked to her about Buffy and how out of sorts he'd been ever since he made that pact with her to stop Angel. He told her about how badly he took it when Drusilla dumped him; he told her how unhappy he'd been ever since he got that chip in his head. She felt close to him, even before the sire-childe bond they now shared. But she didn't like the amount of attention he paid to the other women in his life. Even when he hated Buffy, she was still in the fore front of his mind, and now Dawn, who previously shared a bond with him was in the mix. She wasn't sure she could compete, and if she couldn't, what would he do once he tired of her?

Just then, Dawn reappeared from her first hunt alone.

"I'm back, oh, Buffy's still alive," said Dawn matter-of-factly as she bounced over to Spike's side.

"That's right Little Bit. Remember we're gonna maker her suffer, then take her to the party with us."

"Oooo, can I help?" asked Dawn.

Buffy was silent. She still couldn't cope with her sister's . . . transformation. She tried to tell herself it wasn't really Dawn, that Spike killed Dawn and this thing was just using her body, but it was hard to keep that mentality when it looked, talked, and acted just like her baby sister, except for the murderous killer part.

Zoë was silent. Once again she was Miss Invisible. Spike, Dawn, and Buffy had relationships she couldn't touch, and she didn't like it at all.

"Course you can Little Bit. You get the matches and I'll get the knife." Dawn walked off to find matches. Just then Spike said, "Good thing you stopped me pet, we wouldn't have had any fun if I had bashed her skull in, now would we? Zoë?" Spike turned around expecting to see Zoë, but she was gone.

With Dawn no longer around Buffy regained her voice. "Looks like she took my advice," said Buffy.

"She'll be back. She's my childe, she wouldn't know what to do without me," said Spike more trying to convince himself than Buffy. He really did care about Zoë. She had been the first person to give him any sympathy in a long time. She held him while he confessed to the pain he was in, she freed him from that stupid chip, albeit unintentionally, but still. They were bonded, "She'll be back," Spike said quietly to himself. "And if she's not I've always got Dawn. Let me tell you Buffy, Li'l Sis is quite the little animal in bed. Not as experienced as you, but she'll get there."

Buffy struggled at her bonds wanting to rip Spike in half.

"Ooo, that got a rise out of you, didn't it? You know, she told me I was her first," said Spike with a smile.

"Bastard!" yelled Buffy.

"I got the matches," said a newly returned Dawn.