(Hey guys. Another chapter ) I'm really sorry, I totally forgot that I deleted part of my disclaimer thingy. The Scoobies have NEVER MET SPIKE BEFORE. They know of him, as in Angel, Spike, Darla and Drusilla, but in Season 2 the only villain was Angelus. And in response to one reviewers question, he may look older than the rest of the Sunnydale 99 class but they just assume he belongs there. Hope that clears stuff up. Enjoy!)

"Spike?" Buffy exclaimed in astonishment.

"Yes, luv, now would you please remove that stake from my chest?"

Buffy retracted her arm and helped him to his feet. "What on earth are you doing here?" she asked him, then her eyes wandered to the stake clutched loosely in his hand. "Is that a-"?

"Buffy, look out!" Spike screamed, and pushed her out of the way to protect her and to get to the vampire standing behind her. Spike had the weak vampire beat and on the ground in a matter of seconds, and plunged the stake through it's heart. It exploded into a cloud of dust, which Spike brushed off his leather coat in a very calm manner.

"You alright pet?" he asked her.

Buffy looked at him with her eyes wide. "You-you know about vampires?" was all she managed to stammer.

"A fair bit. Not a scratch on you though, I bet, what with you being the Slayer and all…" Spike cursed himself the second the word left his mouth.

Buffy was immediately in defensive mode. "Who told you about that? How do you know?"

Spike swore mentally. You twit! "Ahhh…umm…people talk. Demons talk. They said the Slayer was in Sunnydale is all I heard, and since you're in a cemetery after dark armed with stakes I'd say you fit the bill." He prayed she would believe his plausible lie.

She, like Willow, was still suspicious, but let it pass. "OK. Well, it's kinda supposed to be a secret…but maybe you can help us."

That was how Spike found himself invited to a Scooby meeting in the library, following Buffy along a back path towards the school.

The grin slid off his face as soon as he entered the building, though. Giles, Cordelia, Xander and Willow were all sitting around a large circular table with grim expressions on their faces, a large stack of books in front of each of them. (Except for Xander, who was holding a large box of jelly doughnuts).

Spike was a few metres behind Buffy, so the others didn't realise he was there until he opened the library doors near the beginning of Giles' explanation.

"-very bad news. A vampire named Drusilla is-" Giles abruptly stopped when Spike entered the room.

"What's he doing here?" Willow asked, her eyebrows meeting in a sort of kindly frown.

"Uh, we met on patrol. I'll explain fully later. So you guys just found out who did it?"

"Yes, we only just found the passage as you came in. It seems very likely that a vampire named Drusilla was responsible for the killings-"

Giles was interrupted again as Buffy asked, apprehensively, "As in, Angel, Darla, Spike and Drusilla?"

Giles sighed. "It would seem so."

Buffy looked terrified. Spike remembered that she must have killed Angelus recently, and his heart went out to her. Not to Peaches, of course, but to the Slayer he considered his girl.

Giles continued, saying "It would seem that Drusilla is completely insane, hence the dolls. She is almost definitely accompanied by her lover Spike, who is even more dangerous than she is. His real name is William (the Bloody) but he gained his nickname by…driving railroad spikes into his captives. He has killed…" Giles' shuddered, "two slayers to date."

Everyone in the room but Spike let out shocked gasps. Spike was beginning to feel very nervous. He could see Red at the table, starting to put two and two together. After all, Spike isn't exactly a common name.

Buffy's brave demeanour was starting to return. "Where are they likely to be?"

But Giles didn't answer, he had been continuing to read his book, but it slipped from his fingers as a look of horror crossed his face.

"Giles? What is it?" Xander cried, rushing to the Watcher's side.

Giles pointed at Spike, and croaked, "You're William the Bloody?"

"Um…yes."

To say everyone look terrified would have been a bit of an understatement. Spike doubted they could have looked more alarmed if he'd whipped out a railroad spike and rammed it into Buffy.

Cordelia was predictably the first to recover. "So how come you can walk around in daylight?"

In response, Spike grabbed Buffy's hand, causing everyone to shriek and Giles to rise from his chair, advancing towards the vampire. But Spike simply placed Buffy's fingers over his wrist. "Can you feel that?" he asked her quietly.

Buffy nodded in surprise. "What? What is it?" asked Willow in panic.

"It's…it's a pulse."

"What? Unfeasible!" Giles stormed over and roughly grabbed Spike's arm.

"Oi! Careful with the merchandise Rupert!"

"Rupert?" Giles questioned, fear flitting across his features.

"Relax, your Scooby gang here told me." Spike lied.

Giles, more hesitantly this time, pulled Spike's arm and placed his fingers on his wrist.

"Impossible!" he breathed.

One by one, each of the gang walked up and felt for a pulse.

Incredibly flustered, Giles yanked off his glasses and began frantically polishing them. "Umm…another test. Xander, will you fetch the box of weapons from my office?"

Spike paled, but Buffy, surprisingly accepting of these new twists, patted him consolingly on the arm and whispered, "I think it's just holy water and crosses." Spike whitened another shade.

Xander returned with a box a second later, and Giles rummaged through it till he found a rough wooden cross.

Walking (more like tip-toeing) over, Giles pressed the cross against Spike's face, bracing for vamp face/fangs/death.

"Owwww! Get that bloody cross off me!" Spike shrieked, as the flesh on his face started to steam.

Giles hastily retracted the wood, but held it in front of him so Spike couldn't come closer.

Everyone was looking at him in shock again, and when he lifted a hand to his face Spike felt himself in vamp mode.

He hurriedly shifted back to human form, and said to Cordelia, "Hey, cheerleader, pass me your compact mirror."

Cordelia was petrified, but threw it at him from her place behind a bookshelf. Spike's good reflexes caught it a few centimetres off the ground, and he snapped it open.

"See? I can see myself."

Indeed he could. In the mirror reflection was the clear image of a bleach blonde, handsome man.

The Scoobies had apparently been shocked-out this evening. Giles barely said "Oh!" in a weary voice before shaking his head.

"Um," Willow ventured from under the table, "would you mind telling us exactly what you are?"