Hi guys. Told you there'd be more today ;). Feedback is appreciated so let me know what you think.


At some point, Buffy had allowed herself to relax. Maybe it was seeing Faith enjoying herself that reminded her tonight was about fun, or maybe it was seeing Faith enjoying herself while completely ignoring her that convinced Buffy to show two could play that game.

Either way, when Fredstood up and offered her his arm she reached up politely to take it and let him lead her into the ballroom. Zeke was walking close enough to her other side that his tail tickled the backs of her thighs as he wagged it. He walked on two legs as comfortably as he walked on four; maybe his knees were double-jointed or something.

"Foods over here," he pointed a paw at the long, food-laden, hard to miss table.

She gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

"Would you like me to get you a plate?" he asked hopefully, ignoring the thunderous look the monster was giving him.

"Uh, thanks, but I can manage myself." She probably shouldn't be touching this food at all, but if she was going to, the more hairless her plate the better.

She let go of Fred's arm and found it hard to make her shoulder work properly at first; it had gone stiff with the unaccustomed height. She gave it a surreptitious rub as she walked to the table, flanked by her new best friends.

All of this attention was certainly flattering, it was just a pity it wasn't coming from the one person she actually wanted the attention from tonight. Sighing softly, she watched Faith, further up and on the other side of the table, laughing wholeheartedly at some joke Dracula and the many-fingered lumpy man was telling her as she piled a plate high with goodies.

Sighing again wistfully as she remembered how only an hour ago she had made Faith laugh like that, she nearly dropped her paper plate when Fred dumped a ladle full of three-bean salad onto it from one side and Zeke dropped a whole roasted wood pigeon onto it from the other.

"Hey!" She had to act quick to stop the plate from bending under the weight and spilling everything back onto the table. Once that was achieved, she cast wary glances at her admirers. "Okay, a little less chivalry all round might be nice."

"Sorry," Fred apologised, dropping the ladle and taking a half-step back. Not completely out of her personal space, but obviously trying. "You were holding your plate out. I thought you were waiting to be served."

"Your Dad has you well trained, huh?"

He shook his head. "Iggy taught me. When I was… new. He always said with my looks and personal history I was a natural candidate for Igor-ing and he wanted me to have a good head start."

Buffy licked some salad dressing from her thumb. "Igor-ing?"

"Its slang for…" he hesitated, but it seemed he was prepared to tell her anything. "… for Mad Science Technician."

Buffy's eyebrows went up and slowly lowered again. "Okay."

Hot breath on the back of her neck made her turn around. Zeke was laughing, mouth wide and showing lots of sharp teeth. He hadn't stepped back at all and didn't look in the least apologetic.

"Yes?" she asked pointedly.

"Try the pigeon," he said. "It's good."

"I've never tried pigeon," she admitted, giving it a closer look. "I didn't even know you could eat pigeon."

It looked, well it looked like a small plucked chicken, and it smelled good.

"Try it," he urged. "And there's rabbit. I bet you've never tried that either."

"No, I'm not big on eating my childhood Disney favourites, which means…" she looked up and down the table at all the rich meat dishes. "I should probably stick to the three-bean salad and this pigeon."

Or there was always Faith, more appetising than anything else on offer, but it looked as though she was planning on being eaten by someone else. Buffy's eyes narrowed as she watched the brunette flirt with Dracula, touching his arm and throwing her head back at jokes that just couldn't possibly be that funny. What was her deal anyway? She had always been down on her for falling in love with Angel, even though it had been none of her business back then, so how come she was suddenly all okay with slayers cosying up to vampires?

She happened to catch Faith's eye, a miracle seeing as she only seemed to have eyes for tall, dark and creepy right now, and gave her a cool look, before deliberately turning her back and biting into her pigeon.

Faith stared as Buffy's red cape swirled, her grin slipping away as the cold look registered. What was that about? The last few times she'd caught the blonde's eyes only to have her turn away without a smile, Faith had let it go, assuming she was reading it wrong or something, but now it was starting to piss her off. They'd come here because Buffy wanted to, they'd both agreed to stay, Buffy had been having a blast with her two admirers hanging off her every word, they'd even come to get food because Buffy wanted to – not that Faith was complaining about that – so where did B get off with throwing attitude her way?

Faith focused on the Count again, her smile automatically coming back when she did. There was just something about him. Maybe that was Buffy's problem. They knew each other, right? And of course she'd say that was all innocent now, to her, but with B's track record where vampires were concerned, what were the chances? Perhaps she was jealous; wanted the celebrity all to herself? Even if Buffy hadn't ever boinked him, she probably figured Faith was moving in on her claim to fame. Meeting Drac wasn't such a big story to woo the newbies with if Faith had done it too, right?

Well, whatever. She wasn't exactly happy with Buffy ignoring her in favour of a couple of freaks either, but she wasn't making a big deal out of it. She chucked a couple of hard boiled quails eggs in her mouth, chewing and grinning as she listened to Iggy tell a story, trying to figure out exactly what made this pale streak of piss of a Vampire so sexy.

"Foie Gras?" The Count caught her staring, smiled and offered her a dish with something brown and squidgy on it.

"Yeah, that sounds about as appetising as it looks," Faith waved his hand away. "I think I'm gonna grab a leg of Bambi instead." She turned towards the roast stag.

He touched her shoulder and she looked back at him expectantly. Tilting his head, he looked her in the eye and said, "Olwyn wants the Stag for sandwiches… Try the Foie Gras."

"I said…" her brow furrowed as she gazed at him.

He leaned a little closer. "Please?"

"Yeah, sure, why not, looks good…" she took the dish from him and lifted the whole lump up in her fingers.

"You're not going to…" Iggy began, raising his hand as if to stop her from putting it in her mouth. He was too late. He gave the Count a mildly disapproving look, but his voice was genial as he said, "You're good, I'll give you that."

Dracula merely smiled around his fangs.

Still chewing up the enormous lump of goose liver, Faith looked between them, aware that she'd missed something. "What?"

"Nothing, my dear," he drawled in his suave accent. He lightly touched his cool fingertips to her shoulder and held up a silver chalice. "Would you care to try another new experience?"

"Like what?" She looked down into the fancy cup and saw the thick redness inside. Wrinkling her nose and shaking her head she began, "No dude, already told you that's…" she looked up at him as she refused and met his intense eyes. "…why not, guess I'll try anything once."

Before she could take the chalice, the Wizard was there to snatch it away.

"A word, Vlad," he said sternly as he walked off. Laughing, the Count followed him.

Igor grinned and gambolled away. Faith looked around, wondering again what she'd missed.

From further up the table, Buffy had seen everything.

"Excuse me a sec, Guys."

She went to hand her plate to Zeke, remembered her hair issues and handed it to Fred instead, and then walked purposefully up to Faith.

"What are you doing?"

Faith looked startled by the abruptness of the question. "Mingling, same as you. Why?"

Buffy crossed her arms. "That didn't look like mingling."

"Then what did it look like?"

Buffy didn't know for sure, but definitely not mingling. "Look," she began. "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to be so pally with Dracula. He's…"

"Well, you're all pally with the Big Bad Wolf and Frankenstein," Faith countered.

"His name's not Frankenstein," Buffy corrected absently. "It's Fred."

"Fred?" Faith started chuckling.

Buffy grinned in agreement, but then quickly shook it away. "That's not the point. Zeke and Fred are harmless."

Faith gave them a good look. "By what standards?"

"By the standard that they are not vampires!"

"I think you just shot the hole in your own logic there, B. Vampires are the one thing I know I can handle."

"This one's different."

Faith regarded her closely for a moment before asking. "Like Angel and Spike were different?"

"What? No!" Buffy shook her head. "Definitely not!"

"Only, you seem jealous."

"I am not!"

Well, she was; very jealous. After all, her date was not only choosing to mingle rather than spend time with her, she was also defending her right to cosy up to that damn egotistical vampire instead of spending time with her!

"Well, maybe it just seems that way," Faith said calmly enough to irritate. "because even though you have those two dudes drooling all over you, you still can't stand the fact that the only vamp in the room would rather make time with me."

"That's not it. I don't care who makes time with you. Every vampire in the world can make time with you if you want. Just not him."

"So you guys were a thing?" Faith was pulling funny faces now, smacking her lips a little and waggling her tongue about. "I knew it."

Buffy frowned at her. "We weren't ever a thing. We had a thing, but not the kind of thing you're talking about and it was not a thing of good. He's dangerous, Faith, and not just vamp dangerous, but… but tricky vamp dangerous, as in he has tricks and he's not afraid to use them." The faces Faith was pulling, like she was trying to turn her mouth inside out or at least get her tongue to walk away, were putting Buffy off, but she tried to explain better. "He can turn into things like…"

"A bat, I know." Faith looked like she wanted to spit the words out.

"And fog and stuff! And he has thrall, Faith!"

"What?"

"Thrall! Like mind control! With his eyes! And you've spent a lot of time looking in his eyes, I've seen you."

"Yeah, I've been talking to him, so what?"

"What is that he is thralling you! God, how can I make this any simpler. Faith, he has you under his thrall, okay, he's…"

"Controlling me with his eyes? I think I'd know if he was doing that, I'm not an idiot. I'm not under any thrall, B, I'm just…" Faith stopped talking to belch really loudly, looking sick she rubbed her fist over her watering mouth a few times. "Shit, what did I frigging eat?"

Buffy held her hand out as if to say, 'there ya go!'.

"What? So rich food doesn't always agree with me? What's that got to do with anything?" Faith asked irritably, still trying to get the nasty taste from her mouth.

Buffy rolled her eyes and reached across the table to grab an abandoned glass of champagne. She handed it to Faith. "You nearly drank blood!"

Faith downed the bubbly and burped again. After, she looked a little better. "I wasn't gonna drink it. I was just messing with him."

"No you weren't."

"Actually, yes I was." Faith handed her back the empty glass and took a step back from her. "Maybe he thralled you once upon a time and that's got you all concerned for me now, and that's sweet, B, really, but I can take care of myself. Besides, we ain't the same on that score, don't matter how hot he is, no vamp is gonna mess with my head, so just chill."

Buffy re-crossed her arms; better to keep them tangled up so they couldn't accidentally lash out and strangle Faith. The most infuriating part of it was, Faith didn't even seem to realise she had offended her. Which made getting mad seem pretty pointless; because was she gonna get mad every time Faith spoke her mind? She either had to learn to accept it, or… something she didn't want to think about.

"Just chill?" she repeated instead, and it would have been hard for her to get much chillier at this point.

"Yeah." Faith nodded. "Go back to your new friends. We still gotta figure out what these dudes are doing here, right? And make sure half of Dawnie's school ain't locked up in the dungeon or someplace."

She had a point.

"Okay," she conceded, dropping her arms to her sides. "Maybe you're right, but just be careful. Don't look him in the eye or anything."

"No problem, you know I only got eyes for you, B." Faith smiled at her.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling as well. She hated that Faith could make her do that, but she kinda loved it too. Faith's eyes drew her in, and she thought they were about to kiss, which was fine by her, until a voice beside them said: "Faith, Olwyn suggested you would like some ale." in a sexy, Slavic kind of way.

"As in a beer, hell yeah."

Buffy only just avoided planting her lips on the side of Faith's head as the brunette turned sharply towards the offer of a real drink. She steadied herself with a hand on Faith's shoulder and gripped it painfully tight to get her attention back.

Faith glanced at her as she took the tankard of ale, and then looked back at Dracula, grinning. "Oh wait, no blood in it, is there?"

"Alas, no," he drawled. "It is merely ale."

Faith turned the grin on her, "See, Babe? Nothing to worry about."

Buffy fumed at her silently, waiting for the reason for her anger to register. It didn't. Faith was already caught up in the poser vampire again.

"I thought we were talking," she ground out.

"I thought we'd finished." Faith shrugged.

She duly turned herself back around to hear what else Buffy had left to say, but the little smiles she was giving out were going straight over Buffy's shoulder.

"What is your problem?" Buffy whispered harshly.

She knew Dracula would be able to hear her, hell, half the room had probably heard the whole conversation, but it didn't matter. This wasn't work related, it was personal, which meant she could tell it to the whole damn world if she wanted… and okay, so that didn't actually sound like something she should want to do, but damn it, Faith was pissing her off!

At least Faith didn't look embarrassed by her whispered outburst, just annoyed. "I don't have a problem, Buffy. I'm fine. We're at a cool party, and I'm just trying to enjoy it. And I really wish you didn't have a problem either, but you obviously do, so just let me have it instead of hissing and glaring at me."

Oh, I have a problem, F! It's called you being so under this jerk's thrall you can't even see it. And God forbid you might actually take my word and trust me for once. Oh no, doesn't matter that I've been there, done it and busted out of it! No, just because I happen to have slept with one, okay, two vampires in my past, my judgement can't be trusted. What about all the guys you've slept with! And women probably! I probably shouldn't trust your judgement on humans! But I do, or I would if it ever came up, but no, of course you always know better. Which is pretty damn weird seeing as you don't even know the basics in human psychology, like how stupid it is to ignore your date in favour of an evil Vampire all night!

Buffy rolled her shoulders and looked Faith squarely in the eye as she said aloud, "I don't have a problem, everything's fine."

"Good." Faith nodded. "Because I just wanna have fun tonight."

Buffy followed Faith's gaze to a smirking Dracula and then looked at Faith again – who wasn't even bothering to look back at her!

Sneering, she said, "Yeah, you wanna have fun so bad you don't even care who you have it with! Well, don't let me stop you, go for it!"

Furious, Buffy stomped off to where she could see a nearly full champagne bottle on another table.

Faith stared after her, her mouth open in surprise. She turned back to Dracula for a second, and then looked at Buffy again, who was now guzzling champagne straight from the bottle.

"Damn," she muttered, giving the vampire her full attention. "Not sure what the hell just happened, but I get the feeling it's gonna cost me later."

"The Slayer will be fine, I am sure," the Count said genially. "She is very resilient from what I remember."

"So you two really do go way back, huh?" Faith asked, perching her ass on the edge of the table.

"No, we met only recently."

"Just how recently?" She asked, feeling some jealousy rising again.

The Count thought about it. "About three years ago, I believe."

"That's recent?" Faith relaxed and took a sip from her tankard.

"It is to me. So, tell me, what has it been like to forever live in her shadow?"

Not liking that question at all, Faith's eyes narrowed. "It's been fine. So what are you guys doing here? Did you just fancy partying in an abandoned house, or do you all, like, mansion-share here or something?"

"It's Olwyn's house…"

"The Shopkeeper guy?"

"He throws a party for us every year at this time."

"Really?" Faith asked suspiciously.

Dracula nodded. "Yes, why?"

"Only, the way I heard it, monsters stayed at home on Halloween."

"Well, Olwyn is our family," he waved his arm to encompass everyone in the room. "So, in essence, we are all at home."

"Huh." Faith mused on that for a second or two, but couldn't find anything in it big enough to dispute. "Okay. So what, you all just have a quiet little get-together? Toasting Satan and roasting humans over an open fire?"

Dracula laughed, showing lots of white fang. "None of us are particularly religious these days and Olwyn has strict policies about humans."

"Prefers them boiled?" Faith cast a glance at the Wizard. He was standing with the tetchy short guy, but his eyes were on Buffy. She looked at him harder, trying to guess what he was thinking.

Dracula laughed again. "Prefers them alive."

"Oh." That was kinda reassuring. She turned to the vampire again, but couldn't help her gaze going now and again to Owen, wondering why he was so interested in Buffy.

"So, Faith, why are you here?"

"B's little sister said she got chased outta here by a bat, so, we came to investigate," she said without really thinking about it.

"No, I meant why are you here?"

He spoke softly, and Faith looked at him sarcastically, ready to repeat what she'd already said, but as she met his gaze she faltered slightly. She swallowed and cleared her throat.

"Well, uh, for B. It's her little sis, ya know?"

The Count tilted his head to one side without breaking eye contact. "Why are you in Boudenver?"

Faith swallowed again. "Uh, for B… for Buffy."

"But why? You could be anywhere. You could be doing anything? Why be here, where you are so unhappy?"

"I'm not unhappy."

"So you are happy right now, with Buffy?" he asked softly, sounding surprised.

"Well… yeah. I think so."

"You don't sound very sure."

"I'm not used to being happy," she admitted. "Not totally sure I know what it's supposed to feel like."

"From what I just heard, it doesn't sound like she makes you happy," Dracula said sympathetically.

"She's… difficult," Faith said awkwardly. "Or I am. I don't know. She has high standards. I don't know if I'm ever gonna be able to live up to them."

"That's a lot of pressure on you, Faith…"

"No, I can handle it…"

"I'm know you can." He paused long enough to let his belief in her sink in. "But should you have to?"

Faith looked pained. "Huh?"

"Don't you have standards of your own? Dreams of your own? Everyone longs to be more than what they are in this moment. Do you think you can achieve that as things stand?"

"I don't get what you…"

The Count interrupted her gently, "Don't you want to find redemption on your own merits?"

"Of course, but…"

"And do you really believe you can do that while living by another's rules?"

"I don't know?"

"Especially when those rules are simply confusing you more and more?"

"I… I… don't know another way."

"There are many paths to enlightenment, Faith, and the one you have chosen is by far harder than what is needed… I can show you a better way."

"You can, huh?" Faith cocked her head, studying him, trying to read what was behind his eyes. It wasn't easy, so she looked harder; figuring there had to be some sign of his intentions in there. The guy just seemed genuine, which normally would be suspicious all on its own, but she was trying to let go of that kind of negative thinking. Relaxing, she gave him a bright smile. "I'm all for an easy life, man, so go on then, let's hear it."

Buffy took another pull on the champagne bottle, hoping it would cure her hiccups. It didn't and all the bubbles were making her feel sick.

"Stupid… hic… fizzy wine," she grumbled. "Goes with the stupid… hic… party."

She had her back very pointedly to Faith and Dracula now, but she could see how very much Faith wasn't bothering to come after her in the reflections on the long, dark windows.

"Clueless bi…hic…tch." She watched the Count seducing her through narrowed eyes. "An' as for…hic… you, you sleazy… hic… show boater…"

Her fingers fiddled with a pair of wooden salad tongs. They weren't the ideal weapon, being mostly blunt, but – she smiled nastily – she could make it work.

"You do realise that staking him would only make him more infuriating," said a soft melodic voice by her shoulder.

Buffy looked up to see the wizard, or shopkeeper or whatever he was, standing there. "Actually, I was thinking of staking her," she pointed the salad tongs at Faith's reflection. "But I think the same warning applies… hic… anyway."

Frustrated, she dropped the salad tongs, took a big, deep breath and held it.

Owen smiled and politely gestured to the chair next to her. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

Buffy shrugged, still holding her breath as she counted to sixty in her head.

He took the seat and waited patiently until her breath exploded out and she slowly drew in a fresh lungful. Feeling confident she'd banished the annoying hiccups, she began,

"You can sit where you like, after all, it's your house…hic… apparently... Damn!"

"Yes, about that…"

"We were told this place…hic… was abandoned."

"Well, it might have appeared that way to some…"

"By the deputy sheriff… hic… You know Alex, right?"

"Of course, very well in fact."

Buffy nodded. "So how come he didn't know you lived out here?"

"He's never needed to."

That seemed reasonable. Buffy knew she should be interrogating this guy. He'd been on the suspicious customer list for a while now, and this bumped him right to the top, but she had bigger things on her mind. Faith and Dracula looked like they were whispering secrets to each other and she was looking in his stupid smoky eyes – hadn't she warned her about that?

Fine, get bit, look like an idiot in the morning, see if I care. At least I had the decency to do it behind Riley's back.

Buffy flicked her glance at Owen again, and then up and down him, taking in his long, deep blue robe and impressive – and slightly ridiculous – pointy hat.

"So Zeke is kinda like a real wolf…hic… and Fred is a real monster, so does that mean… hic… you're a real wizard?"

Owen gave her a strange little smile. "Do you believe in wizards?"

"I believe in witches, so…hic… by default, I guess I must do, but… hic… I've never met one that actually wore the pointy…hic… hat. My friend Willow would probably say you were a phoney because you're…hic… trying to hard. Do my hic…hic…cups seem to be getting worse to you? Maybe I should…hic…stand on my head and…hic… drink a glass of water…hic…."

Owen smiled as he lifted his arm and pulled his wide sleeve back from his hand. "Why on your head?"

"Because you're supposed to…hic… drink it upside down, or so I heard. What are you…hic…doing?" She pulled her head back as he tried to place three fingertips against the column of her throat.

"Apparently regressing to my youth," he said, managing to get his fingers where he wanted them. They were a light, warm pressure against her skin. "Please, could you make an 'Ahh' sound."

Buffy shrugged; at least he wasn't asking her to cluck like a chicken. "I thought it was only…hic… Doctors that made you go 'Ahh'" she said, before actually going, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhh."

He motioned for her to hold it, but when she hiccupped mid-ahh, she was about to give it up when he suddenly flicked her windpipe sharply and said something in Latin.

"Hey ow!" She pulled back again, rubbing her stinging throat. "What did you do that for?"

"I was proving myself to be real. Although I am now acknowledging that it perhaps would have been better to leave you believing I am nothing but a silly old man that likes to dress up on Halloween.

"So far, you haven't changed my opinion," Buffy said irritably, still tenderly touching her throat. "Except, now I don't just think you're just a silly, old man; I think you're a mean, silly old man!"

Owen chuckled. "Pride before a fall. When will I learn to stop trying to impress beautiful girls with my powers, I wonder?"

Buffy frowned at him. "Creepy, mean, silly, old man. You're old enough to be my grandpa! I thought you were going to cure my hiccups for me not get dirty old man thrills from touching my throat, that's… that's…." Buffy paused as something occurred to her. She waited a few extra seconds just to make sure, and then she smiled. "They're gone."

Owen simply nodded, smiling.

"Cool. Thank you." She looked at him more closely. "So you really are a wizard?"

He didn't say anything.

"Living right here on the Hellmouth, too. Is that a coincidence?"

He still didn't say anything, just gave her that tiny little cryptic smile.

"I doubt it," she answered herself. "Sunnydale had all sorts of shady characters living behind the scenes. Shoulda expected the same to start showing themselves around here too sooner or later."

"So you haven't met any others yet?" he asked curiously.

"Nope, you're the first," she eyed him suspiciously. "First normal sized one anyway," she added, thinking of the Piskies. "So, if I tossed you in the air – and, believe me, I could – which side would you land on – Heads for Good or Tails for Evil?"

His smile grew. "If I was evil would I have cured your hiccups?"

"Could be all part of a bigger plan of wickedness," she said perkily, starting to enjoy this conversation, just as she saw Faith pulled – laughing – onto the dance floor by Iggy. "Hang on, totally evil trumps ambiguously evil."

She stood up and started walking towards Dracula.

"One moment," Owen called out, and she turned to him impatiently. "From one character of the shadows to another, will you keep my secret?"

"Firstly, I'm retired from the shadows," she said quickly, but she mused on the actual question for a moment before she said, "Secondly, I don't know yet. I guess we'll see."

She stormed up to the Count now, who smiled when he saw her approach, he dropped it though when she pushed him so hard his ass hit the edge of the table and he sat on a dish of caviar.

"How dare you, Slayer!"

"Oh, I dare. I dare a big freaking amount, you son of a bitch. Stop using your mind games on Faith!"

"I am not doing any such thing."

"Yes, you are. I've been watching you and ever since we got here you've been hitting her with your dark power-y seduction routine. I get it, you like the challenge of doing it with a slayer, you're not the first, and Spike's approach was way better than yours."

"Spike! That little runt?" Dracula growled in his throat.

"That's right," Buffy smiled. "So stop the games now!"

"I am not playing," he said, his eyes icy. "I am very serious about making Faith mine."

Buffy punched him, or tried to; he caught her hand before it could connect with his finely chiselled nose.

"Never gonna happen!" she said through gritted teeth as she roughly pulled her hand back.

"How can you be so sure? She was born to be my bride. She is so beautifully dark inside…"

"No, she's not."

"You know she is," he smiled.

"We're working on it," Buffy said without missing a beat.

"She's attracted to evil men."

"No, that's me. Faith just wants a daddy figure."

Dracula tilted his head to one side as he thought. "That would keep my other brides from becoming jealous. I will take her."

"I'm not giving her away!"

"I'm not asking."

"That works out fine, because you're not having either."

"We shall see." He dramatically pulled his cape around him as if he was going to stalk off.

Buffy pushed him back onto the table. "No we shall not! Get over it, because this is never gonna happen. You want a new bride; go find one that doesn't belong with me."

He tilted his head again, fangs just showing through his cruel smile. "And where would be the pleasure in that?"

"You son of a… You're only doing this because you know she's with me." Seething, she jabbed a finger at his chest.

"How quickly she catches on," he mocked her. "You will rue the day you made a fool out of me, Slayer!"

"You're gonna find I don't rue much, vampire, and when I do, I save it for important stuff, like wishing I'd gone for the donut instead of the granola bar, or regretting not getting my hair done before Faith came back from prison, because now when I go I'm gonna come back about six shades lighter and that's gonna be noticeable. So you see why I don't have time to rue over anything to do with you, I'm all rued out. So," she prodded him sharply in the chest with her finger three times as she said, "Leave…Faith… alone!"

He leaned backwards across the table with the prodding. When she'd finished, she crossed her arms and glared at him threateningly.

He sat forward again with a smile. "No."

Buffy was ready for war now and about to launch herself at the infuriating bastard, when Faith appeared beside them, flushed and still laughing from the dancing.

"Hey, guys, not interrupting anything am I?" she asked, slinging an arm around Buffy's neck and resting her hand on Dracula's shoulder.

"No, and are you ready? It's time we left," Buffy said firmly.

"I haven't finished my drink yet. Besides I was in the middle of a conversation with Drac here." Faith unhooked her arm from Buffy as she looked around for her tankard.

"We have plenty of beer at home." Buffy caught her hand, trying to keep Faith by her side.

"That's not the point." Faith looked down at their joined hands and Buffy saw repulsion flash in her eyes. It was only there for a breath before being replaced by uncertainty as Faith glanced around the room uncomfortably.

But it had been there and so Buffy didn't fight it when Faith gently pulled her hand free.

The Count was giving her a smug smile. She wasn't going to let it get to her. So Faith felt uneasy holding hands in a room full of strangers, that wasn't weird. What was weirder was that she didn't feel uneasy about holding hands in private too.

She bet if she offered to do Faith right there on the banquet table between the pickled mushrooms and the roast stag it would be a different story – not that she was going to test that theory. Unless Dracula really raised his game.

"There isn't a point," she said, turning to meet Faith's eye. "There is just us going home. Please. Now."

Faith slowly crossed her arms and just looked at her, a mildly sarcastic smile playing on her lips. Buffy glared back, waiting for her to back down, but it was futile, the longer this battle of wills went on for, the less chance there was of Faith admitting defeat.

"Please?"

"Why you in such a hurry, B? You sick or something?"

"No, I just want to leave."

"And I don't wanna. So do you wanna end our first date with a fight, or do you wanna compromise, huh?"

Buffy still glared at her.

The Count filled her silence. "There is another option. You can always go home if you wish and perhaps Faith will follow you later."

"Follow, my ass," Faith muttered to herself as she looked around for her ale again.

Buffy blinked a few times, weighing up her options, it really was tempting to turn on her heel and storm right on out of there. And, not that her luck made it likely, perhaps Faith would get lost on the way home and have to spend the night in the cold, damp woods all alone. But what if she got lost on the way home? That wasn't such an attractive thought and she didn't know the woods around here that much better than Faith did.

"What was your compromise?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"You relax. I finish my drink." Faith raised her reclaimed tankard. "And we get to know these fine gentlemen a little better. What do ya say?"

"I say that sounds more like us doing exactly what you want than an actual compromise."

"Fine. We'll leave as soon as you find the keys to the truck." Faith gave her a pointed look. "Can't go without 'em, right?"

Right, missing keys, missing annoying English boy, maybe Faith wasn't quite so enthralled as she seemed, or maybe she was prepared to use her sacred duty to get her more time with the infamous vampire?

"Why do I have to look for them?"

"Because I'm talking. Drac's gonna tell me how much fun the party was when all the little kiddies were here." She gave Buffy another pointed look.

Buffy sighed and turned away, leaving her to do what she wanted, she was obviously going to anyway. She turned on the spot, checking out the room, wondering where to start looking.

"Have you lost something?"

She jumped at Fred's deep voice right behind her. "Uh, yeah, car keys."

"I will help you find them," he offered.

"Thanks. Uh, I don't know where to look."

"Let me sniff you." Zeke appeared on her other side.

"What?" Buffy took a step away, bumping gently into Fred's huge torso. "I really don't think so!"

Rolling his big, brown eyes, he picked up her hand and sniffed it gently.

"Oh," she muttered. "What will that do?"

He dropped to all fours and said over his shoulder. "I'll be able to trace the keys by your scent."

"Oh, that's pretty useful… but I never had the keys," she explained. "One of the kids at the party drove here in our truck and the truck's still here, so… we figured he must be too, uh, I mean, they must still be… too."

Zeke sat on his haunches and looked up at her. "Squirts all got chased outta here hours ago."

Fred nodded, "Yes, we could hear their screams echoing in the woods all around."

Buffy stared at him for a moment, shuddering slightly at the solemn delivery of that line. "Well, what if one or two of them didn't quite make it out?"

Ptah had joined their loose circle. "The youths were like sheep, when one ran the rest followed. Why would one or two not have?"

"I don't know," she said carefully. "Perhaps… perhaps…"

"Just what are you insinuating?" The sour-pussed Victor asked as he joined them too. "That we have kept one of your children for our own nefarious purposes?"

"I'm not insinuating anything," Buffy backtracked quickly, "Except, you know, exactly what you just said."

Victor's pompousness deflated as he muttered, "They all ran too fast."

"And the rest of us," Ptah said quickly, almost over the top of him. "have no use for youths, nefarious or otherwise. In fact, we couldn't get rid of them soon enough."

"That is true." Fred nodded.

"Plus, me and Vlad had a look around when we go back, just to make sure there weren't any cowering in a corner somewhere you understand," Zeke grinned. "We didn't find any."

"Really?" Buffy wasn't sure if she should believe them, but even if she did, it still didn't address her problem. "So if you guys were chasing them out of here why didn't the slayers use the truck? It would have been a little faster surely."

"Maybe they ran too fast," Ptah shrugged.

"Maybe." Buffy looked around suspiciously again.

They seemed pretty dead set on stopping her from looking around for them herself. That had to mean they were hiding something, right?

"If you don't believe us, woman, don't be so shy; come out with it," Victor snapped at her.

"I never said that," she snapped back.

"Take a look around if you would like," Ptah offered politely, although there was hurt in his eyes. "But I fear you will only be wasting your time."

"Yeah, you're not going to find any of your kids bound and gagged in any of the rooms," Zeke said seriously, and then his mouth opened into a wide grin. "But if you wanna check every last one out, I don't mind helping."

"Me too!" Wow, so Fred could speak quickly.

"No, no, I trust you," she said fast, pushing the monster back a little bit to give herself some space. She wasn't traipsing around for hours with these two in tow, that was for sure. "I believe you haven't kept any kiddie meals in a spare bedroom. But where the heck does that make Reece and the keys?"

She looked around again, exasperated.


"This is getting very tiresome!" Reece grunted as he ran down another pitch dark corridor.

Without being completely sure, because strangely enough the inside of one wall looked a lot like the inside of every other wall, he thought they might be up as high as the third story now. They hadn't passed an exterior slit of a window in a while either so that last sharp turn must have directed them back towards the middle of the house.

"Really, 'cause I thought we passed tiresome hours ago." Even Rona sounded a little out of breath now.

"Then stop yer feckin' chasin' me," squealed the creature ahead of them with an Irish brogue.

Reece nearly fell over his own feet at hearing the thing shout. It had only muttered unfathomably so far.

Rona was unfazed. "We'll stop chasing when you stop runnin'."

"Well, oy ain't gonna stop runnin' until yer stop chasin'!"

"Good grief," Reece muttered, "this is going to go on forever."

"Fine," he heard Rona shout ahead. "You keep running. We'll just find a way outside and set the place on fire. Let's see how much you enjoy running around a burning building!"

"You know we can't actually do that, yes?" Reece checked as they ran.

"Why not? You got your lighter on you, don't you?"

"Yes, but there are civilians in the house," he said, not knowing that most of them had cleared out hours ago.

"So? They can all leave when we do." Rona said, and then shouted the last bit. "Not like any of them are trapped in the walls, is it?"

There was a resounding crunch and a holler of pain as Paddy jumped and tucked his legs and head in, letting his momentum cannon ball him through the wooden door at the end of the corridor. There was muffled swearing and some clanking as he tried to quickly extricate himself from the cupboard with the false back on the other side.

"What happened?" Reece shouted, fumbling to get his Zippo out of his pocket as he ran.

"I flushed him out," Rona said with a hint of pride in her voice. "Can't believe he fell for it."

As Reece flicked the Zippo alight, the exit sign above the door ahead glowed a faint green. He just had time to make out a big hole in the bottom of the door before Rona pulled it open. Holding the lighter above their heads, he crowded her into the small space to help her get the other side open.

"Hey, watch it," she complained as they burst into the room beyond together.

They both froze in surprise, so did the little man trying to push a high backed wooden chair towards the main door. At about two and half foot tall, he was a lot bigger than a Piskie and barely half the size of a man. The thick ginger beard and ruddy complexion ruled out five years old though.

As soon as the tableaux had frozen, it erupted into real time again as Rona went from nought to sprinting across the room in an instant. Paddy gave a high squeal, abandoned his chair and started tearing around the room away from her.

Reece went to intercept him, but Rona stopped him,

"Maintain our line!"

"What?" he asked, confused by the order at first. "Oh, you mean cover the exit?"

"Whatever," she snapped as she ran around the table. "Just don't let him outta that hole."

Reece pushed the door shut and leaned against it. He wanted to contribute more than this, but he had to admit it was nice to have a breather. According to the clock on the mantelpiece in here – assuming it was telling the right time – he had been inside the walls for nearly three hours. And for two of those at least he'd been chasing this blighter around. Well, they had him now.

Rona ran around and around the table trying to get her hands on Paddy, but he was just a little too quick. Plus he had the advantage of being able to duck underneath the table, and when she dropped to her hands and knees to scurry between the chair legs after him, he popped out the other side!

The dining room they were in was pretty much like the one she'd raided earlier for her wooden spoon, but much more intimate. The table was half the size, probably only able to seat four at the most, although with the half-melted candles and the rose in the tall glass vase, maybe it had been intended just for two.

And she was sharing this romantic space with a homicidal little person, and Reece. Who had she pissed off to get this lucky, huh?

Paddy continued to dodge and duck her attempts to catch him, muttering threats and mild expletives the whole time. He'd cornered himself in here, which was an eejit thing to do, but he had to have more stamina than the average human. They'd drop from exhaustion sooner or later. The lad already looked full of fatigue. He just had to keep out of the lassy's reach and he'd be okay.

After the third time of her fingers grazing his little green duffle coat just a fraction too late, Rona stopped running in circles and in a swift, easy move that thrilled her more than she expected, she turned the solid table over and sent it crashing to its side.

The candles bounced off and rolled away and the glass vase tinkled into glittering pieces as she gave the exposed Paddy a satisfied smirk.

Paddy stared at her, once again immobilised by surprise.

"Well, catch him then," Reece called over, breaking the spell.

"I am," Rona barked at him, lunging forward to do just that.

Paddy pulled his carving knife from out of his coat and waved it at her. "I'd loike ter see yer try."

"Rona, be careful!"

She rolled her eyes. "'What else am I gonna be? I thought my Watcher was supposed to teach me stuff I didn't already know," she grumbled to herself.

Checking her lunge, she brought her foot up instead to kick him. He jumped backwards to avoid it, rebounded off of the underside of the table and slashed at her boot as he involuntarily came forward again.

"Don't you put a slice in my boot," she warned it. "Giles hardly gives us a cent for clothing allowance."

"Keep yer damn boot away from me then!" he suggested, slashing again as she kicked out.

"Put down the blade and I won't squash you like a bug," Rona negotiated, still kicking.

"Yes yer will!" he countered, still slashing.

To Reece it looked like some highly exotic, but only mildly dangerous, performance art. He wondered, stifling a yawn, if they'd even notice if he sat down and had five minutes of shut-eye.

Paddy's six inch blade bit deep into the leather of Rona's boot – there was another of those perfectly still moments – and then Rona yelped in pain and Paddy tried to run, didn't matter where as long as it was away. Rona helped him out with a furious and pain-fuelled kick to his arse with her other foot.

"Ahheeeiiiieee!" He cried as he sailed through the air at high speed straight towards the solid wall.

Gravity started pulling him down to thankfully miss smacking straight into the brick and plaster, not so thankfully he crashed once again through solid wood and the same gravity that had been his friend a second before started pulling him in a freefall through the darkness.

"Ahheeeiiiieee!"

Reece rushed to the centre of the room. "Where did he go?"

He looked around frantically, the moonlight coming through the bare windows lit the room up fairly well, but there were still areas of deep shadows, especially in the corners.

"I heard a crack," Rona said as she gingerly pulled the knife from her boot. A little blood dripped from the edge and she looked around the room instead of thinking about it. "There, look. In the wall."

She limped closer and reached out to the wooden panel in the otherwise brick wall. It was large, about three by three foot and there was a handle at the top.

"Let me look at your foot," Reece insisted, dragging a chair upright for her to sit on.

"Like we have time for you to play nursemaid," she told him harshly as she pulled on the handle.

The wooden hatch pulled downwards to form a shelf. Inside it looked like a small elevator shaft.

"What the hell?"

Reece sighed loudly at her stubbornness. "It's a dumbwaiter."

"A what?"

"It's a lift for food. There would have been a box to put the food in and then you can pull it straight up here from the kitchen. Saves the kitchen staff from making trip after trip up the stairs and it means the all food arrives hot and relatively at the same time."

"So this goes directly down to the kitchen?" Rona pointed down the hole.

"Yes, and probably every other room on this side of the house that people might eat in."

"So this goes straight down to the first floor!" she said, like he was missing her point. "The floor where all the high school kids are and the way out?"

"Oh. Yes…"

She was balanced on the shelf with her head already down the shoot before he could add anything else.

"What are you…?"

"He's not getting away," she insisted, her voice muffled.

Reece just stared as her feet disappeared. "You're gonna land head first in a confined space, you bloody twit," he shouted. "And probably on top of that… that… small person," he finished with a helpless wave of his hand.

Realising he had to do something; he dashed to the main door, yanked it open and ran blindly through the dark looking for the staircase.

 Thanks for reading. More tomorrow.