Catching up: "So he just went crazy?" Willow looked around at her friends nervously. "He just started talking to some invisible demon?" "I'm just saying – Spike wasn't always the sweet little demon we hope he is now." Xander said, still reluctant to trust Spike, even after all that had happened. "The thing…" Buffy whispered to herself, pointing. Spike turned to look at it, and then grinned. "See, the thing is pet, that that demon and me, we kinda get along. Sort of like partners in crime. He keeps coming back; I keep coming back, no matter how many times you kill me…" Spike laughed with horrible cruelty slipping between his fanged teeth. "The storm tonight's gonna help me bring 'im back."

Into the Dark.

"So, all you want me to do is get the witch away from her friends?" Spike raised his eyebrows at the pool of dust floating inches above the floor.

"She will give me my body back, and then we can proceed with our plan." A voice from nowhere spoke out.

"Right, right. And who sais she's gonna do it for you?" The absurdity of all that was happening made Spike suspicious of the spirit. The plan was simple. Spike was going to lure Willow away from the scoobies, and then she was going to give him his body back. After that the spirit was going to fix Spike – take back his soul – and help him to take his place as master over the hellmouth. A day ago the thought of teaming with an evil dead was unthinkable. But now, now that they shared his mind, Spike was willing to help the spirit.

"I will make her cast the spell. I will go inside her mind and control her." Excitement stirred inside the smoke.

"So then what?" Spike leaned back against the long metal counter in the place that used to be called the initiative.

"Then I will have to feed so that I can return to power." Spike knew what that part meant. The demon needed to feed on a powerful soul. Spike was willing to give his up. Can't be the Big Bad with a soul, it just didn't seem fit.

The spirit had Spike under it's power. He didn't know what he was thinking. Really, he wasn't thinking at all. The spirit was doing it for him.

"Buffy, I was gonna take Dawn to the mall. Do you want to come?" Willow asked hopefully. Since Buffy'd returned to them, she hadn't been in a really mallish mood. It was tugging at all of their emotions, they didn't know what to think about her anymore. She was the same old Buffy, yet different somehow. "Buffy?"

Buffy was sitting in a chair in her living room, staring at her hands. She looked so tired, like she hadn't slept in weeks, when really she had been sleeping better than ever.

"Buffy are you alright?" Willow stepped closer to Buffy, whose eyes looked up before her head moved even an inch.

"There's something wrong." Tara said as she came in the room. She had heard Willow's anxiety for Buffy and came to investigate. "Her aura's breaking up."

Willow kneeled in front of Buffy and took her hands. "Buffy what's wrong?"

It didn't pass Tara's notice that Buffy's hard glare was empty; somehow she had on a blank face while her expression was angry. But the brief thought was passive when Tara saw the broken aura surrounding Buffy fade and dim slightly, and then burst with colour and wisps of silver, and then break, cracks of black colour flooding into it.

"Hey Will, ready to go?" Dawn bounced in with her purse strung over her shoulder. When Willow looked at her, she knew immediately that their outing had been delayed. "What's wrong with her?" She couldn't loose Buffy again, not ever. Somehow, she felt Spike was to blame for the dead look on her big sister's face. "Oh, it was Spike. Wasn't it?" She pursed her lips in understanding. Buffy just dropped her eyes back to her hands.

It was so dark where she was. Buffy could see her friends in front of her, pleading her response, begging to know what had happened to her. But she couldn't reply, and she didn't know whether it was because she physically couldn't, or whether she just didn't want to. Whatever was happening to her, she didn't mind. She liked the dark place. Spike was in her dark place, holding her hand. And there was music. Nothing she recognized, nothing she could really make out at all. But it was there, somewhere in the background. She felt content there. Not happy, but not scared anymore either.

"Guys," Tara's eyes didn't leave Buffy's calm composure for a second. "I think we need to get Spike back." She took a brief second to give the two girls beside her a horrified look. She'd seen this Buffy before. And it wasn't one that any of them could afford to be around.

Buffy's hand shot out faster than any of them could have imagined possible. Her fingers wrapped around Tara's neck and squeezed tightly. Tara gasped for breath, but even her pitiful gasps subsided while her lips turned blue.

"Tara!" Willow screamed trying to pry Buffy's fingers from her girlfriend. "Let go of her!"

Dawn's eyes grew wide and she flew to the phone. Anya could help. Anya helped Buffy last time, so she could help now right?