A/N Thanks to those who reviewed. I hope this chapter is O.K - not too rushed, or OOC...

Review, and let me know.

Somebody ("Confused") asked me about the title, and I've now realised it has three meanings! Take it in anyway you want, like as in love bites (as in, a hickey), love bites (as in love sucks!) or love bytes (computer bytes). That was very clever, Confused.

Credit for "Cockroach" goes to PaddyWaddy.

SUMMARY: After two failed relationships, Tara and Willow sign a relunctant Buffy up to an online dating service. But what Buffy refuses to accept as a perfect match, may turn out to prove that this Slayer will never be able to escape a certain blonde vampire...

Spoiling slighty the image that Buffy had tried to achieve, was Spike, who came bounding in behind her.

"Ah, Spike," said Coquetta, smoothly, looking out of the window. "I hadn't realised it was night-time already."

"Yeah," grunted Spike, triumphantly. He had abandoned his smouldering blanket just minutes after leaving the Magic Box, when it had become night-time.

Buffy, ignoring the conversation between the two, instead strode into Xander and Anya's apartment, heading straight for the demon.

"Listen, Cockroach," she spat. "I don't care what you do to Spike-" The vampire flinched. "Or any human man, for that matter," she concluded, and Coquetta looked confused. "But you don't do it in my town. Got it?"

"You think you can finish me with a couple of words?" Coquetta asked, a dark smile playing on her lips. "That's charming, Slayer, it really is. But you know what?" She caught Buffy's punch in her hand, calmly. "I don't think you have what it takes to take me on. You're too busy leaving it to low-lives like Spike here-" She gestured towards him. "And Little Miss Ex-Demon to clean up. Are you ever going to fight me yourself, Buffy?"

Buffy only answered with a jump-kick straight to Coquetta's throat - and even Coquetta had to marvel her skill, and how high Buffy had been in the air. Buffy landed, smugly, and pushed the demon against the wall with her foot to Coquetta's neck before she could retaliate.

"Buffy, no!" cried Xander, but Spike was there in a matter of seconds, restraining him. He had to be careful not to hurt him - a giant migraine was the last thing they needed.

"Wait," said Anya, thoughtfully. "Spike's a man - sort of."

"Hey," interrupted Spike defensively.

"Well, you know what I mean. If he's a man, why aren't you affected by Coquetta's charms?"

"I know its hard to forget and that," said Spike, firmly. "But I am still a nasty vampire. Big bad nasties like me are immune!"

Buffy's expression fell. "So you really were going out with this thing out of choice?" she asked, trying to mask her disdain.

But Buffy's temporary lack of concentration had meant Coquetta could wriggle free out of her grasp, and she slid to liquid immediately, conquering the floor, and tripping up the Slayer. Buffy landed on her back with a thud.

"Buffy!" cried Spike, and he ran to his beloved, who had jumped back to her feet at once.

"There!" she yelled, and pointed the silvery mass snaking across the laminate floorboards. "Contain it!"

Anya hurried Xander into the bedroom, where she locked him in - with immediate protest from Xander - and grabbed a jar from the kitchen counter.

"Do you really think that will hold it?" asked Buffy, but Spike was on the floor at once, trying to scoop the enemy into the jam jar, and holding up the result, delighted.

"Right, that'll do till we get hold o' Giles, eh-"

But the jar burst open, and shards of glass flew everywhere, piercing Buffy's face, and most of Anya's midriff. Coquetta resumed her human form at once, almost pitying the three who had tried to stop her.

"Such a pity," she simpered, with a patronizing tone. "And I though the Slayer had brains. Turns out its just brawn, though, such a pity-"

Even though the pieces of glass were starting to hurt, Buffy still had enough strength and hatred in her to pin the demon against the wall as she laughed mirthlessly.

"You're not a very good demon, are you?" Buffy asked, and accompanied the question with a cold slap. The chuckling monster sobered up immediately. "When are you gonna learn to shut up and start fighting?"

Coquetta answered with a sharp blow to Buffy's head, and stepped away from her as she came crashing down to the floor.

"Hey!" yelled Spike, and he immediately rushed to her side.

"No!" cried Buffy. "Get her!"

Spike heeded, spinning around to deal a heavy kick to Coquetta's waist, and watched in delight as she fell to the floor. Lifting the demon up by one wrist, he began punching her already bruised and blemished face, every blow accompanied by an insult. "Sodding - diva - power - hungry - ponce-"

Buffy was back on her feet, admiring for a few seconds as she dusted herself off the way Spike held Coquetta like a helpless marionette, the limp body now just dangling from one arm, face contorted in pain. The vampire dropped his ex-ally and left her, curled up in a heap, for Buffy to deal with.

"I'm...still...not...dead," argued Coquetta, though her form was beginning to convince Buffy otherwise. The once flawless and beautiful demon now lay sprawled out on Xander's floor cut and beaten, and her silk-like voice had been reduced to a harsh croak. Her attractive golden curls were stuck to her flushed forehead by the sticky red blood oozing from a crack on her hairline, the careful hairdo now pathetically lingering in a barely wavy mass. Her long, slender fingers were curled around her head, and nearly every perfect nail was chipped, or gone completely.

With an impressive squelch, Coquetta slowly reformed as silver sap. Buffy recognised the noise at once.

"It wasn't seal blubber last night!" she cried, directing her voice at Anya. "It was her!"

"Which is how she knew Xander was friends with you," replied Anya. "She probably followed us home, and so she knew where to come the next day."

"But why go for Xander?" asked Buffy, confusedly. "Why not just go straight to the Mayor?" She looked at Spike. "Why did she even bother with you?"

"She wanted to get to you, get inside your head," said Spike, solemnly. "So she tried me first - unaware that for one - you think I'm a waste of space, and wouldn't be caught dead alone with me, and two - that's I'm...you know." He gulped. "Neutered."

"I don't think you're a waste of space," was all Buffy said in reply, and Spike raised his head from where he had been pointlessly staring at the floor.

"We'd better finish her off," added Anya, clearing her throat noisily, and breaking Spike and Buffy's eye contact. She reached for a lilac lamp that had been sitting at the centre of the dining table, and threw it into the pool of goo.

"What are you-" Buffy began, but Anya gestured for her to be quiet, and the trio listened intently to the metal puddle as it fizzled and hissed. Buffy covered her eyes as it burned charcoal black, then solidified, welded to the pieces of smashed lamp, and to the floor.

"How did you know that?" asked Buffy, as Anya brushed her hands, pleased with herself.

"Giles," she replied, simply. "Didn't he say that the liquid Coquetta could become conducted electricity?"

Minutes of silence passed, until Xander's voice echoed from the bedroom into the kitchen, and made Spike and Anya jump.

"Um, hello? Has the evil gone? I'm still kinda locked in this bedroom!"

"Oh!" cried Anya, and she rushed to unlock him, whilst Buffy and Spike just stared at each other.

"Thanks for coming with me," Buffy said, lamely.

"No problem," grunted Spike, graciously, now avoiding the Slayer's eye. "Wanted to see her finished off. And it's better than babysitting Little Bit."

Buffy made a non-commital noise, and was glad when Xander emerged from the bedroom. She ran to hug him, and then mock-punched his arm. He still winced.

"Idiot," she said. "Typical man, falling victim to a beautiful girl."

Xander tried, to argue, but was instead met by an anxious Anya, who threw her arms around his neck and placed a big kiss on his cheek with a smacking sound. "Alexander LaVelle Harris, if you cheat on me again it'll be you with the warts on your-"

"Wanna go home?" Spike asked Buffy, as she came wandering away from the bickering, reconciled couple. She nodded, meekly, and Spike kicked aside the broken down door, and offering to help Buffy over the rubble, which she of course declined.

"I may be bruised and battered," she said. "But I can still raise my leg a few inches above the ground."

Buffy was glad of the cool air on her dented face, and she began to pick the larger pieces of glass out of her skin, relieved at the minimal amount of blood loss. She continued to wrench the glass out, until Spike spotted what she was doing.

"Hey!" he sat, and he slapped her hand away from her face. "Don't do that! You need antibacterial stuff, and bandages and plasters, I saw it on General Hospital-"

Buffy couldn't hold back a smirk.

"Well when you're limited to the nightime," he defended. "You'll find TV re-runs are the best solutions for boredom."

He sat Buffy down on a bench. They were now in the cemetery, not far from Spike's crypt. "You wanna come into my crypt, I'll see what I can find-?"

Buffy shook her head, and reached up to her cheek again.

"No!" Spike scolded, and he caught her hand in his, putting it back on her lap. "Don't..."

Buffy looked down at the hand held in Spike's, and realised it felt odd. Not necessarily bad, but her fingers and her palm were tingling slightly. She looked back up to Spike's face, trying to ignore the strange feeling.

"Are you sure you don't wanna come into my crypt? Its not far, you know that, and we could get that big chunk there out-" He reached up and pressed Buffy's cheek gently, though she still winced. "Oh, hey, I'm sorry."

He still had her chin in one hand, and her fingers in another. It was the perfect moment, he felt, it was just right for the big finale...

He leaned in closer to Buffy's face, eyes glued to her lips. Nearer, nearer...

Buffy wrenched her hand and face away, horrified, and jumped to her feet.

"Buffy, wait!" cried Spike, and she began running back the way they had came through the cemetery. "Buff, wait!"

But Buffy kept running, heart in her mouth, fingers no longer humming. Her feet kept pounding the hard ground of the cemetery, and soon she was out of the gate and gone.