Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or anything related to BtVS.

Chapter one

Rupert flinched as he re-situated the lethargic vampire on his back. Spike hadn't even recognized him as a possible food source, leaving Rupert even more certain of his purpose in helping him.

He struggled with the key for a moment, but finally managed to open the door and carry his burden inside. He lowered the vampire onto the sofa and stretched his aching back for a moment. His mind raced with possible avenues to try to get the vampire back from his current state, but none of them seemed quite right.

Reluctantly he picked up the phone to call the Scoobies who were awaiting his return. Willow was first on his list and the girl picked up after the second ring.

"Willow, it's Rupert Giles."

"Giles! You're back. Thank, God."

"I'm afraid I don't have good news, though."

"What? What happened?"

"I will explain when you and the others get here. Will you do me a favor?"

"Sure, whatever you want."

"Go by the butcher's and buy as much pig's blood as you can."

"Did you capture her?"

"No. Like I said, I'll explain when you return."

"Sure. Oz is in the other room, so you don't need to call him."

They said their goodbyes and Rupert called Xander who promised to be at the apartment as soon as he could.

This left him with a good half an hour before his apartment would fill with the inquisitive youngsters that, up until a few weeks ago, had been his Slayer's support system.

"How could it go so wrong?" Rupert murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration.

A surge of anger went through him as he remembered the night he lost his Slayer to Angelus. The dark haired vampire had taken special glee in rubbing the Watcher's face into the fact that he now had three women ready to service him and one of them was the relatively innocent Slayer.

As the images played in his mind on a continuing loop, the vampire on his couch stirred.

"Spike?" Rupert hedged.

A low growl rumbled through the vampire's chest as his dark blue eyes opened and frantically looked around before settling on Rupert's face. He gasped at the anguish he saw in them.

"It's okay. You're safe now. Dr. Walsh can't touch you any more," he said quietly, unsure of how much the vampire understood.

If anything the soothing tone he used, seemed to settle Spike down, so he neared the sofa cautiously while murmuring a mantra of reassuring words.

As Rupert knelt beside the couch he reached a tentative hand out to Spike's shirt. "I need to check the wounds. I promise I won't hurt you."

He didn't even get the chance to try and lift the blond vamp's shirt, because in a sudden surge of strength, the vampire leaped over the back of the sofa and backed into the nearest corner, distressed sounds coming from him in rapid succession.

Giles remained frozen on the spot, completely unable to think of a way to help Spike recognize him as a friend, not someone who would hurt him some more. He stood to attempt another approach, but the door opened and interrupted his forward motion.

Spike's eyes flew to the redhead that entered with her boyfriend close behind. Willow's smile froze on her face as soon as she spotted the blond vampire in the corner, but before she could scream, Spike started wailing, trying to crawl even further into the corner of the room.

"Could you please go to the kitchen and heat up a mug of blood? I'll explain everything after Xander arrives and I have at least attempted to feed him."

Willow nodded dumbly and followed Oz into the kitchen.

Rupert listened as Willow rummaged through his cupboards to get a mug. It took only a handful of minutes for her to come back in with the mug, but to Rupert, whose emphatic gaze still rested on a cowering Spike, it felt like forever.

Willow silently handed him the cup and managed to intercept Xander as he walked in before Spike could get any more agitated.

Steeling his spine, Rupert turned to the task of feeding the vampire before him.

"Giles you have some splainin to do," Xander said with a nervous chuckle as soon as the librarian entered the kitchen with an empty mug and tears glistening in his eyes.

"I know. Just give me a minute to gather my wits."

The three teenagers watched the man that had lead them through countless battles struggle for control over his emotions. It was such a rare sight that Willow felt her own tears well and her throat tightened in anticipation of what he was about to tell them. She just knew it was as bad as it could get.

"When I arrived at the Watcher's council, Travers introduced me to an American woman. She's a doctor of some sort." Rupert gritted his teeth as he remembered the woman's arrogance and brutal treatment of the creatures of the night. "She managed to capture a few vampires and she experimented with behavioral modification technology. Apparently she was successful, because the council has heralded her as the second coming. According to Travers, Dr. Walsh will make this world safe for all humans, no Slayer needed."

Willow heard a distressed cry coming from the living room and to her own surprise she felt the need to comfort the vampire inside. She just knew that this so called doctor was the reason for his distress.

"She's not just trying to keep humans safe. She experiments on demons and vampires like they're lab rats. The screams that I heard... It took everything I had not to vomit."

"What does this have to do with Captain Peroxide being in your living room?" Xander asked, not sounding quite as harsh as Rupert would have expected.

"Spike was being held there. They were examining him, opening him up to see inside, testing the limit of his pain, the point where his soul would be lost."

"Woah, back up," Oz interjected, forgoing his usual quiet. "Did you just say his soul?"

"Yes. They captured a demon that grants wishes in exchange for several trials. Spike was pitted against this demon and from what they've told me, Spike must have struck a deal with the demon. I have no idea what he wished for, but the result was that the demon returned his soul to him."

"Oh, wow," Willow murmured, leaning heavily on her boyfriend.

"Yes. And that repulsive so called doctor decided that made him an even better guinea pig."

"So what? They hurt him so badly that his soul left his body again?" Xander asked, casting a glance towards the doorway that held the middle between fear and pity.

"I don't think so. I think they drove him to protect his soul by retreating so far into himself that he's no longer the vampire we all knew."

"That is sick. I'm the first to advocate dusting vampires, but this," Xander trailed off disgustedly.

"Did they do anything else?" Willow whispered.

"They implanted a chip in his brain that sends electric shocks through his brain whenever he tries to hurt a human."

"Which leaves him completely defenseless against the bastards that were experimenting on him?" Oz guessed.

Rupert nodded and glanced around at his pupils. The compassion they showed was far beyond what he had counted on. It was a relief, because it meant that they would be able to work together on bringing Spike back to himself.

He knew that the goal he had set for himself would be extremely difficult to accomplish, but he needed Spike back to his old self, or at least close to it, if he wanted to have any chance at bringing Buffy back to Sunnydale. He had lost his faith in God a long time ago, but in that moment he sent up a silent prayer that his plans would work out and that, if they were lucky enough to find her, Buffy would still in some part be the girl they all knew and loved.

Angelus rolled his shoulder, cracked his neck and then with a gleeful sneer he pulled back and slammed his fist into the gut of the tiny slip of a girl that was tethered to the wall. She whimpered, her head lolling forward on it's own accord.

"I didn't give you permission to look away from me, did I?" Angelus demanded of her.

"N-No, sire. I-I'm so-sorry," she whispered huskily as she forced her head to raise and her eyes to meet his unforgiving glare.

"Now are you going to be a good girl and take what your mommy brought you or are you going to bed without food again?"

At this she gathered her last bit of strength and shook her head.

"You disgust me," Angelus sneered. "I can't believe I had my dick inside you."

She cringed, but he thankfully didn't back his words with the usual painful punches or kicks. Instead he yanked the ropes that held her to the wall and she fell to the ground, too weak to do anything but lie there.

Angelus looked down at the blonde that was once the object of his obsession. All that was left was a weak, whimpering mess and it caused a surge of powerful lust to curl through his abdomen. His cock hardened for her for the first time since he turned her. He smiled to himself. He would give her a few minutes to think she was safe and then he would make her his again.

The fledgling blew out a deep unneeded breath when the door closed behind her sire. Her eyes were swollen shut from this last round of punishments, but she didn't bother to care. If she couldn't see his face, she could rest easier.

She sobbed quietly into the carpet, not noticing when he returned to the room, completely nude.

Angelus leered down at the blonde, stroking his cock. He would have her tonight and with that he would control her. He just knew that tonight would be the last straw to bend her to his will and he would not fail at this.

He grabbed her by her golden hair and dragged her over to the bed. Her swollen eyes couldn't hide the sheer panic that overtook her features as she noticed his state of undress.

"No!" she whimpered, trying to push herself up to get away from him.

He grabbed her ankle and gave a violent tug, smiling as he felt the frail bones under his hands snap, making her cry out in agony.

He lunged for her as she tried to struggle away from him in vain and released a threatening growl as he started tearing at her clothes.

In the other room Drusilla's eyes grew wide as she stared off into the stars that only she could see. She only vaguely heard her mommy's disgusted protest at daddy's behavior. The only thing that she could clearly hear were the broken cries of the girl that never should have been made into one of them.

Drusilla started wailing as she watched how her once beloved prince was swallowed up by the light. The light that would destroy Angelus and Darla and indirectly herself.

"Nooooo," she wailed. "Not my dark prince. She cannot have him. She will not take him away from me."

A smart slap across her cheek drew her back from her visions. "What are you going on about? Spike is long gone, you told him to go. Now stop with this gibberish and help me convince Angelus to leave that vile creature out in the sun. I've had enough of his games."

Drusilla eyed her grandsire with a sense of loss, even though she was still here with her. She curled in on herself as she heard what Angelus was doing to the girl. She knew it was this event that sealed their fates and she was powerless to stop it.

She rocked herself slowly, lulling herself into a false sense of peace and she endured the sounds coming from the next room as well as the images that kept assaulting her mind as it happened. She knew the girl's torment and she hurt for her, but she couldn't stop Angelus. She knew better than to try.

It lasted maybe fifteen minutes, but to Drusilla it felt like hours had passed before her sire exited the room, still smelling of the sex he forced on the girl. He leered at her, but she pretended to be lost in her own little world. Thankfully he believed her ruse and instead hauled her grandsire into his arms and dragged her out into the night in search of sustenance.

Drusilla waited until she was absolutely certain that they were a ways away before she uncurled from her chair and glided into the next room where the girl lay battered and completely broken on the bed.

She flinched when Drusilla sat down next to her, but she wasn't here to inflict more pain. She was here to take some away.

"Shhh... Little one...Shhhh. Dru will make it all right. Shhh..." she shushed the broken girl beside her.

"W-What do you want from me, Drusilla?" the young vampiress asked.

"I don't want anything from you. It hurts, I know how it hurts. Daddy did it to me too, still does."

"H-how can you live with that? I-I want to s-stake m-myself," she sobbed.

"Shhh... You can't do that, pet. You need to save my dark knight. You will save him and he will save you and you will save the world together."

"What are you talking about?" she whispered.

"You will see. In time, you will see. Drink my blood and then go. Get as far away from here as you can. He will find you. Just run until your feet can't carry you any further and he will find you."

"Who will find me, Dru? Angelus?"

Drusilla smiled sadly and shook her head. "Don' worry, pet. He won't get to you. He'll be busy. Now, drink."

She held out her wrist for the Slayer to use for sustenance and while she had refused all other blood that had been offered both from the already dead and the still living, she accepted this one offer.

The girl fell onto the older vampiress' wrist and pierced her alabaster skin with such ease that she startled herself, but as the blood flooded her mouth, she couldn't stop her demon from taking as much of the empowering liquid as Drusilla allowed.

With a gentle coo, Drusilla withdrew her arm, licking at the wound to close it. She stood and went to the closet in the corner of the bedroom where she retrieved a set of clothes that belonged to the former owner of the house.

Returning to her sister's side, she laid the clothes down and murmured: "Get dressed and run. Don't think about where to go. The clothes hold so many mixed scents nobody will be able to track you unless they are entirely determined. Follow your instinct and don't stop until you are unable to move. He'll find you."

The blonde nodded as best she could and swallowed thickly.

"Goodbye, sissie," Drusilla murmured before leaving the room and picking the perfect spot for the scene she needed to play when Angelus returned with Darla.

A/N: I figured that the prologue was a bit too short to keep you guys waiting for too long on the next chapter, so here it is. From here on out it should be two weeks between updates.

Let me know what you think of it.