Spike paced the graveyard, searching for a sign of Buffy, a sign of a fight, any clue to where she might be. There was nothing. Drusilla had lied to him. He kicked the nearest tombstone in his frustration, destroying the final resting place of "J Stanley".

He took the picture of Buffy out of his pocket, and stroked her cheek with his finger. He tried to connect with her, tried to find her. But she had never given herself to him. He cursed and turned back and headed out into town.

"If I were a demon, where would I go for a fight?" Shouldn't be too much of a push to imagine, ... I am one...

He looked left to the parade of shops. Not there. Too busy. He looked to his right. The forest. Gotcha.

He walked quickly and with urgency, the tail of his black coat billowing behind him. It irritated him that Drusilla had lied to him. Maybe she wasn't as crazy as she'd have him believe after all. And she was in his home... But he couldn't worry about that now. Buffy was in danger, and he knew that was true. He could feel it in every fibre of his body, something was happening to the Slayer and it wasn't good. His life would be empty with her gone. He had to save her. His plans for Drusilla would have to be put on hold.

The short walk to the forest seemed to be taking forever, and every second he was walking was a second that he couldn't afford to lose. He broke into a sprint.

"Buffy?! Buffy!!" he called?

She was close, he could feel her.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of something hanging from the razor wire fence. It was a jacket. He grabbed it and breathed in its scent. Buffy.

He quickened his pace again, listening out for a sound to indicate her whereabouts.

"Buffy!"

"Spike? Over here!" Buffy's friend Willow called.

He ran over to her, coat flying behind him like a cape.

"Where's Buffy, Willow? Is she in trouble?"

"Yes... He took her..."

"Where? What way did he go?"

Willow pointed to a patch of woods that looked very disturbed, there had definitely been a struggle there.

"I tried a spell... to slow him down but it didn't work... I must have got it wrong. He didn't like it though. We tried to follow them, but..."

Spike was only half listening. He turned from Willow and begun walking to the disturbed patch of

wood, when Xander called after him,

"She doesn't want you Spike. She never will. You're wasting your time."

Spike rounded on him.

"Is that so, Harris. She may not want me but she bloody needs me. She could be dying and who's helping her? Certainly isn't you is it big man." he gave Xander a shove on his shoulder and whipped around, and headed back to the trail of the beast.

"How did Spike know?" Xander asked Willow, still smarting from being slighted by the vampire.

"Good question..." Willow replied, her brow furrowed in confusion.

Spike tunnelled through the trees and bushes, his face becoming covered with tiny scratches. He could now easily follow her scent, he knew she was close.

"Buffy?" He saw her, lying helplessly on the ground, angry bruises forming around her neck. The Golgey was circling her, examining her as if she were a rare delicacy and he was deciding exactly how he should enjoy her.

Anger ripped through Spike when he saw what the demon had done to his precious girl. She was bleeding from a series of nasty scratches on her arm, she was bruised and battered and her lip was bleeding and swollen. The bruises on her delicate neck made him curse involuntarily.

The Golgey sensed Spike's presence, and looked up in interest. He recognised him as a fellow demon, and didn't see him as a threat, but at the same time did not want to share his prize. He stood to his full (impressive) height, and gave a roar.

Spike, fuelled by rage for what this terrible creature had done to the woman he loved, launched himself at the Golgey, knocking him to the ground. He pummelled him recklessly, shocking the demon with his strength.

"Get... the heart... Spike" Buffy spoke weakly, but urgently.

Spike, never one for questions, reached into the monster's chest and pulled out the still beating heart. The demon looked up in shock, then closed his eyes and melted beneath Spike, sending him falling to the ground, falling rather ungracefully into a revolting puddle of demon goo.

"Bloody hell."

He turned to Buffy, his eyes filled with concern and love.

"Buffy...?"

He knelt beside her, and examined her wounds.

"Nasty guy, that one. You'll be alright though Slayer. Nasty gouge that though. Might want to get that looked at."

Buffy snatched her arm away.

"Come on Slayer, I did just save your life you know. I'm only trying to help."

"Well don't! This didn't mean anything, Spike. If you didn't come along, that spell Willow did..."

"If I didn't come along you would be dead by now, love. And don't go denying it. Buffy... I..."

"You what, Spike?"

"I won't bother next time." he said, and threw the demon's heart he was still clutching in his hand to the ground next to her face.

She watched him as he skulked away, and wondered why she'd been so snappy with him. He did just save her life after all. He just got right under her skin...