I've started my GCSEs! How frickin' scary is that? Anyway, that's why the updates are going to be a bit slower (I probably should be revising right now instead of writing this but whatever) but I promise there'll be a new chapter every 1-3 days.

Thankyou soso much to uskohakuchan (who has reviewed every chapter! Love you!!!) and Lilith Sora!!! They are amazing and fabulous people, and you should all follow their example and REVIEW!!!! I think I'm a bit hyper… so I'll get on with the chapter now.

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Lying on his back on a sarcophagus, in a mausoleum in one of Sunnydale's many graveyards, Spike took a long drag on his cigarette. He was back in Sunnydale, and he had a mission: find the Gem of Amara and kill the Slayer. He knew what he had to do and nothing, nothing at all was going to get in his way. Well, nothing except…

"Bloody hell, Harm! I told you, not the hair!"

-

The scoobies sat in The Bronze, in the little corner that they had managed, somehow, to make their own. Angel was at the bar, and Buffy could feel his distance from her. She couldn't bear it. He had told her that this was temporary, that her dependancy on him would gradually fade, but he didn't know how soon.

Music pumped through the club, from the stage where tonight's band were playing, up through the tables. Buffy could feel it in her chest, as though it was replacing her heartbeat. It made her feel… alive. She could sense the energy of the people dancing: raw, hot, human energy that pulsed thorugh The Bronze. She started to feel a little nauseous.

"I'm just going out for some fresh air." Without waiting for anyone to follow her, she slipped through the crowd (something that she had found a challenge before her turning but was now strangely easy) and stepped outside.

However, outside The Bronze there was still no escape. Couples leant against fences and walls. Buffy could hear their heatrbeats racing, the blood rushing through their bodies. She could almost taste it, their warm blood, she wanted it so much. A couple brushed past her and she growled, deep in her throat. They looked back at her and she turned, walking away quickly, her hand over her mouth.

She stumbled into an alley, raising her hand to her forehead where she could feel the ridges forming. She slumped back against the wall, sliding down until she could hide her head behind her knees, sobbing through her long, pointed teeth. She couldn't last like this, she wanted so desperately to tear out the throat of everyone she saw.

-

Angel returned to the table, holding a glass in one hand.

"Where's Buffy?" His tone was genuinely worried, and Willow looked at him strangely.

"She just went outside for a bit – she needed some fresh air." Without a word to any of the some, he thumped the glass on the table and slipped through the crowd just as easily, if not more, as Buffy had. Xander stared after him, munching a sandwich.

"What's up with him?"

-

Angel tracked Buffy quickly, finding her still sitting in the alley, her hands over her face.

"Buffy… it's ok, everything's ok." She lowered her hands slightly, her yellow eyes filled with tears.

"I'm a monster." He hugged her close.

"No you're not. You're… Buffy." When he drew back from her, her face had returned to normal.

"I wanted to… I wanted to kill everyone." He stood up, holding out his hand for her to take. She took it, and he saw how shaky she was.

"You need to feed." He didn't mean for it to come out as coldly as it did, but she flinched. He softened his voice again.

"You're weak, and it'll help. You'll feel better, I promise." She nodded, and pulled herself up unsteadily. He supported her as she limped out of the alley, and slowly back to his.

-

The sunlight slanted through a gap in the curtain, onto the stone floor of Angel's mansion. Buffy stood right at its edge, wanting to reach out into it. She raised a hand, then dropped it again, afraid. She remembered when she was six, when she had taken a hot tray out of the oven without oven gloves on, the initial sting, the days of throbbing pain in her hand that had followed. Gritting her teeth, she raised her hand, so that just the very tips of her fingers were touched by the sun's rays. She winced as they began to prickle and smoke, and pulled her hand back in. the sun was something she was going to have to learn to live without.

-

Spike strolled through the crypt, his hand outstretched, admiring the Gem of Amara on his finger.

"Wow, it's so pretty," said Harmony, coming up behind him.

"Yeah," he said vaguely. "This is just what I need to kill the Slayer. When and where she least expects it… in the sun." He walked out of the crypt, and into the bright sunshine outside. The sun was something he was going to be able to live with.

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Ta-da! It's the longest chapter so far, so I hope that makes it a little bit more worth the wait. Please please please review, and I will love you forever (not an exaggeration – I think I have a problem).