Disclaimer: I own none of the Characters. I only own the plot

Chapter two

It took a week for Giles to be able to approach Spike without the vampire flinching or backing into a corner, but when they had finally achieved that point, things began progressing in a quicker manner, Willow noted with relief.

It had been several weeks since the night that Angelus had turned her best friend and she was desperate to find her and bring her back where they could perhaps help her find herself again. She held hope that she could use the spell she had salvaged from Jenny Calendar's heavily damaged computer and perhaps bring back the friend she had lost.

She wasn't naive enough to think that she would be the same girl, but at least she'd have Buffy back. She missed her friend too much.

A low rumble coming from the vampire in the corner drew her attention away from her darkening thoughts and to Spike's blue eyes that were trained on her.

"What's the matter Spike? Do you need food?" she asked.

Spike tilted his head to the side and shook it a little.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, she turned fully to him and opened her mouth to ask him what was wrong again when he suddenly approached her and stopped just a few inches away from her.

Very tentatively he wiped one tear from her cheek. "Don't cry," he whispered. "Strong girl. Don't cry."

She gasped at his words. It was the most he had spoken since they had arrived and while she had the urge to shout out the victory to the others, she was here alone with Spike, waiting for the men to return with news about the new Slayer.

"Spike, you talked," she whispered instead. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

He nodded slowly. ""S hard."

"Okay. Okay, let's just sit down, okay? My knees are a bit unsteady."

He looked puzzled until she pointed to the sofa. He followed her then and sat at the other end, staring at her. "Why?"

"Why I was crying?"

Spike nodded.

"I-It's Buffy. The Slayer?"

"Slayer?"

"Yes, blonde girl. You came to town to kill her at first?"

He frowned, obviously trying to remember. Knowing that Spike still had a long way to go, Willow didn't expect much, but he suddenly smiled.

"Slayer," he confirmed.

For a second Willow sat, flabbergasted at the speed in which he seemed to remember things now.

Spike nudged her, breaking her from her stunned stare. "Right, I was telling you about Buffy." She drew in a deep breath and continued. "Buffy was the Slayer and she fell in love with Angel."

At the sound of his grandsire's name, Spike growled warningly.

"I know, I didn't like him either." Willow smiled gently and the vampire returned the movement as if trying it out for the first time. "Like I was saying... Buffy fell in love with Angel while he still had his soul. Then one night, after a big fight, they apparently slept together, which resulted into Angel losing his soul and turning into Angelus."

Spike frowned, a warning rumble coming from deep inside his chest.

"H-He..He mocked her and taunted her and drew her into a trap. H-He turned her."

Apparently Spike knew exactly what she had just told him, because his demon face came out and he growled loud enough to make the sofa vibrate.

"Spike, calm down. There is nothing we can do to change that."

"Not right!" he barked. "Angelus..is cruel. T-Tortures. C-Corrupts. Not the Slayer."

The last bit sounded so sad, that Willow started crying again. It was at that point that Giles and Oz came in. When they saw the vampire in game face and Willow crying they jumped to the wrong conclusion, but Willow was quick enough to stop them from doing anything rash.

"We were talking," she hurried to explain. "I told him what happened to Buffy."

"Slayer. Not right," Spike reiterated.

"I know, Spike. It's not right what happened, but we can't do much about it."

"Find her."

"We will. With your help, we will."

"Uh..Will?" Oz ventured as Giles grabbed his handkerchief and started rubbing his glasses. "What's with the vamp riddle speak?"

"He started speaking. I was thinking about Buffy and I cried. Something about it drew him out and he told me not to cry. He doesn't make full sentences, but if you talk to him, you can figure out what he means. I think he'll return to normal eventually. Maybe even sooner than we thought."

At that Giles moved further into the room and took a seat across from where Spike was still standing in a posture that screamed that he was ready to fight.

"Spike, please have a seat."

"Find the Slayer."

"We will try to find Buffy when you are fully back to yourself again."

"No. Now."

"We don't have any idea where she might be. Angelus might have taken her to Europe for all we know."

"No. Closer."

Giles looked up in surprise and then shot a seeking glance at Oz and Willow who had by now joined them.

"What do you mean, Spike? Do you know where they are?"

"Feel Dru. She's hurtin'."

Xander came barreling in and yelped in surprise as the vampire's golden eyes turned to him. "Spike! Spike in game face! He's gonna kill us!" he screeched, pointing at the vampire in question.

It wasn't until he took in the neutral expressions on the faces of his friends that he realized he had made an ass of himself. Yet, again. Sighing he apologized for freaking out and slumped down into a chair, plunking down the pizza's he had been carrying.

"Hungry," Spike murmured, his demon's face making way for his human one as his eyes hungrily took in the pile of boxes by Xander's elbow.

"He's talking!" Xander exclaimed. "Which, of course, you all heard and judging from your expressions this is not a surprise. Hey, did you keep this a secret from me on purpose?"

Spike rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Sod."

"Hey, play nice or there is no pizza for you bleach boy."

Spike's brow furrowed as he ran a hair through his shaggy curls. They had long since lost their blond color, but from the look on his face Xander determined that he remembered his nearly white do.

"We can bleach it again if you want to," he offered.

The vampire blinked, but then bowed his head in acknowledgment and tried his smile again. The boy nearly blushed as he took in the surprise of those around them.

"Hey, just because he caused Cordy to hate my guts, doesn't mean I can't be nice to the guy. He's been tormented to the brink of dust and all that."

"And on that note," Giles interrupted. "Let's eat."

Spike woke to soft murmurs coming from the living room. He rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling as he tried to discern what they were saying.

He heard her name a lot.

The name that had started to bring back his memories. Just as he thought about the pretty face that went along with the name, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen and he nearly cried out in pain. He knew it was only a phantom pain for something his sire was feeling, but it still smarted like all hell.

Struggling to maintain control of his demon, he got out of bed and put on a set of clean clothes before shuffling into the bathroom to freshen up. As he came back out, he felt another pain, but this one wasn't nearly as violent, it was more vile in nature.

Angelus was torturing his sire, but he couldn't imagine why. He knew from the location of the pain and the particular sensation that he was taking her by force and against her will and it nearly drove Spike insane.

Two nights ago when he had found his speech returning, he hadn't known how to express his concerns for his sire. Now he did and he intended to make the lot of them see that things were urgent. He needed to get Drusilla out safely.

He had felt this particular pain a lot over the past few days and it made him wonder what Dru had done to piss off her sire so. Because Angelus usually didn't need to force Dru to anything. If he just purred at her, she was ready and willing, but something really bad was going on if he was only taking her by force.

"Spike, you're up," Willow remarked as he silently entered the room. "What's the matter?"

He tried to give the redhead a reassuring smile, but failed. He knew it was bad that the young girl could so easily read him, but he couldn't mask his pain. Not now. "It's Drusilla. Angelus is tormenting her."

"How do you know?" Giles asked carefully.

"A sire and his or her childe share a connection that allows them to know when the other is in danger. Because Dru and I were together so long before she told me to leave, our bond is even stronger. I can feel her pain. He's raping her."

Willow paled dramatically and slumped against her boyfriend, who seemed to be paler that usual as well.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yes. He's been doing it a lot over the past few days. She must have done something really bad for him to do that."

Xander recoiled in disgust. "Are you saying that it's her own fault?"

"No! No. Usually Angelus didn't have to do much to get her to come to him willingly. I don't know how many nights I lay alone in bed while he screwed her into the ground and she'd scream her satisfaction. They were countless. Knowing that she's as easily willing to him as she can get, tells me that something is severely wrong for him to force himself on her. In the past he only acted like that to punish her for something he considered a crime."

Spike swallowed thickly, but decided to just bare all painful facts so that they were prepared for what might have happened to their friend. "He did it to all of us at one point or another. Especially if he thought we were being too strong willed."

"He did it to you?" Willow croaked, eyes wide and horrified.

"Yes."

"Oh, god!" Xander cried out. "Buffy is the most headstrong girl I know and he loved her before he turned back into his evil self. He hated that she made him love her."

Giles swallowed thickly, but didn't comment and Willow ran for the bathroom where Spike heard her heave into the toilet.

"I'm sorry, but you need to be prepared for any eventuality."

Suddenly there was a pain in his chest so intense and agonizing that Spike screamed in terror. Then as quickly as he had felt it, he felt the sensation of bursting into a million pieces and then nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

"No!" he cried before he slumped and the world turned black.

Rupert put a cold rag onto the vampire's forehead. He was starting to feel a connection to the man and that made the situation that much more painful. He hurt for the way this vampire had hurt, both by the hands of his human captors that had tormented him into a state of complete hollowness and by the hands of his grandsire, either direct or indirect.

Sighing, he wiped the sweat from Spike's brow and waited for him to come to.

Willow was cuddled up with Oz in the chair in the corner and Xander was standing by the window, staring outside but most likely not seeing anything. Rupert didn't even want to think about what Spike had told them or what had happened to his sire for him to go unconscious.

If he would allow himself to go there, he would think about what fate might have befallen Buffy and he wasn't ready to do that. He thought about Joyce, considered calling her to inform her of the plans they were making to get Buffy back home, but he didn't dare pick up the phone.

What if they couldn't get to her before Angelus destroyed her?

What if she wasn't even with the Aurelius clan any longer?

A thousand and one thoughts rushed through is mind as he sat in the chair beside the sofa. If only he had kept Buffy away from Angelus that night. If only he hadn't allowed her to meet him alone, as the monster had requested.

He felt the guilt take the upper hand. It had crippled him a lot over the past couple of weeks, but this morning it was worse than ever before, because he only just realized the enormity of his shortcomings.

What state would they find her in?

A groan from Spike drew his attention and he managed to shake his dark thoughts off for the moment.

"Spike? Are you alright?" he asked.

"No," he said bluntly.

"What happened?"

Spike squeezed his eyes shut, his face shifting into that of his demon and back again. "The bastard staked her."

The rag in Rupert's hands fell to the ground as he got up from his chair. Angelus had killed his childe. He didn't doubt Spike's words, but it still shook him to the core. The Aurelius clan had been immensely protective of each other, it was why Angel hadn't tried to help Buffy with the Master in the first place.

Angel even tried to protect Spike, who had obviously been a thorn in his side for a long time. Rupert could hardly wrap his mind around the fact that Angelus would have taken a stake to Drusilla. What on earth had happened for something like this to occur?

"We need to find Buffy, we need to find her now," he whispered.

He refused to believe that she had suffered the same fate as Drusilla. No, his surrogate daughter had to be out there, living her unlife in some way. He just hoped that she had been spared most of Angelus' cruelty.

Spike sluggishly pushed himself into a sitting position. "I need blood and a lot of it if we intend to track her down."

Rupert nodded his consent and started handing out orders to the teenagers that still looked about ready to give up. He couldn't and wouldn't let them, because if he did, he would give up hope himself and Buffy would be lost to them.

When the Scoobies had left the apartment, Spike grabbed Rupert's elbow to get his attention. "You better get that look of defeat out of your eyes. Those kids may be suffering from the loss of their friend, but they're not blind, nor stupid. If the man that's leading them looks like he'd rather roll over and die, they'll not be in a good state of mind for when they face Angelus. He'll sniff out the insecurity immediately and prey on it."

Rupert nodded. Spike was absolutely right. He steeled his spine and set out to finish his own tasks before the five of them could leave on their rescue mission.

The young vampire pressed herself as close to the brick wall as she could. The sounds of blood pumping through veins was so loud in her ears and the smell of that sweet liquid so tempting that she had to literally cling to the wall to stop herself from going after the small group of young men that were walking down the alley where she was hiding away.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe through her mouth in an attempt to keep her demon in check. It worked, but only barely. She couldn't keep her face from shifting to and from her demon form over an over, but if she'd expend any concentration on keeping that in check, she'd lose the fight against the hunger.

The few minutes it took for the group to disappear from her vicinity felt like hours to her, but eventually the worst of the blood lust left her and she managed to keep her visage in human form. Now she just needed to reach the back of the slaughter house a few blocks over and she'd be able to finally still her hunger.

As she approached the back of the building at long last, she smelled the blood that had been placed outside for waste disposal. It was slightly off already, but to her it smelled like a buffet. She waited until she was certain she was alone before she went in. She struck quickly and silently and only ran to the other end of the alley before she caved and downed a good portion of the jug that she had managed to get.

The rest of it would have to last her until she got to the next town. If she even got that far to begin with.

A/N: Next chapter will reveal a little more about what happened to Buffy the night she was turned. I know you guys are curious about it, so just hang in there. Everything will eventually be told, but it'll take some time to piece it together. Please let me know what you thought about this new chapter.

Hugs,

A.N.N.