"I could! I could pick the wisest and bravest knight in all the land and make him mine forever with a kiss."

―Drusilla

Chapter 15

Unlife had become Hell.

It had started with the Slayer, then Dru and now Angelus had returned. On the one hand there was a certain comfort in his return, in the familiar crackle across a link that had been silent for a very long time. On the other hand Angelus had been a cruel, worthless, evil sack of shit in the beginning. He'd always enjoyed using Dru to hurt him, mind games and all that rot but Spike had known, if not in the beginning then shortly after, that Dru, despite his love for her, would never be his. Not really. She had been broken beyond repair and the only solace she could find was in the man who had destroyed her in the first place. No matter the hurt it didn't surprise him. The fact that they were rutting like bunnies, however, was giving him a bloody headache. A considerable feat as vampires didn't get headaches.

He should be more upset, angry and raging as he had been a hundred years ago but he wasn't it. Oh it hurt, hurt more than he wanted to admit but it hadn't come as a surprise. Besides Dru was getting stronger by the day, each sip of the poofs blood flooding her with power. And in the end there was nothing he could do about it. He was so weak he could barely stand, surprised the Poof hadn't gone and gotten him a bloody wheelchair. Make his suffering complete.

He wasn't sure, exactly, what had happened that night oh what was it two weeks ago? Three? He knew he had gone to her school, gone to end her and whatever spell she had cast over him. He remembered her green eyes boring into his seconds before she tilted her head to the side, offering her neck and life to him. That's where things had gotten tricky. He had fought and killed Slayers before, he'd enjoyed it, but she hadn't been fighting him. There had been no moment in their struggle that he had seen the flash he'd seen in the others. That one that said they wanted to die. That they had tired of the battle. No, not his Slayer.

His Slayer had been enjoying the fight, had reveled in it. He had smelt it on her, felt the heat radiating off of her like the long forgotten sun. She hadn't offered her life up to him because she wanted to die. So the question was why had she done it? Why had she done any of the things she had done? Why protect him? Why trade barbs with him? Why kiss him?

Then her blood was filling him, pounding through his veins, and he couldn't think of anything. For the first time since he had left the Hellmouth he felt completion as he sipped from her. An errant thought had trickled through his mind Am I hurting her? Then pain, blinding and all consuming. Angelus had said that he had saved him from her.

"Take on two Slayers and you lose your edge Spike my boy, no worries though. I've got plans for our little cheerleader." That Irish burr had come out and something in those words had felt like a promise that Angelus had plans for him too. Why? Why? Why? What had happened? He didn't believe Angelus for a second, had learned long ago that Angelus was happiest when he destroyed the mind. Angelus used the truth and colored it in lies, and lied as if his every word were true. Which meant that it was entirely possible that the Slayer hadn't been planning on hurting him, on killing him, and Spike just didn't know how to feel about that one. Didn't even know how to consider it.

"Everything's switching, outside to inside." Dru's voice nearly made him jump. She hadn't spoken to him much since Angelus had returned. Another sting, another barb, against his non-existent soul. Still he found himself smiling at her, curling himself around her.

"It makes her weak." He found himself stopping, mere centimeters from her lips. Something shot through him, warning bells the likes of which he'd never heard before.

"This thing, that makes the Slayer weak, when is it?"

Dru chuckled, childish and innocent, "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow's Halloween, nothing happens on Halloween."

"Someone has come to change it all. Someone new."

"Well then." Dru drifted away from him, moving like a cat in heat to Angelus, "I should pay her a visit, make her revisit the choices she's made in her life yes?" The way Angelus was glaring at him, the brown eyes now pitch black. He had something planned, something vile, and it almost sickened him. He knew Angelus, knew him better than almost anyone he was sure. It took only a glance at Dru in his arms to know what Angelus was and, more importantly, what he planned to do. The Slayer had kissed Spike, fought Spike, she had pressed her hands against his cool flesh and let him take her blood with nary a qualm. She had allowed him that but not Angelus, soul or no. Angelus would want retribution for that, on her and on him because no one refused Angelus. Her sin was greater than that though she had refused Angel and chosen Spike instead. So Angelus would find her, torture her, rape her and then make her watch as he destroyed everyone and everything she cared about. She wouldn't survive it, she'd be as broken as Dru and the thought of that. The thought of the Slayer, blazing and stubborn and strong, left as nothing but a husk made him sick. His demon howled inside his head, a caged beast that wanted to be freed, and a voice, a whisper in his mind, said that she didn't deserve that. No Slayer did. They deserved to die in battle. Fists, fang and sod all else.

"What are you doing for Halloween Buffster?"

Buffy sighed softly. It had been three weeks since Angel and Dru had taken Spike away, three weeks since Spike had yelled out in agony and collapsed on the school floor. She had been trying, desperately, to keep herself in check. Taking out her worry on monsters hadn't been working out, vampires had been suspiciously scarce lately which just infuriated her even more. The Patnja demons had swarmed through Sunnydale, searching for any sign of Spike, but they had returned empty handed. Well, almost. They had brought her two representatives from two demons colonies living within Sunnydale.

The first was the representative of an all-male race of demons called the Alocer. They were tall, strong, and darkly handsome. Heavy vines wrapped around ash-colored arms, bat-like wings low on their backs and voluntarily wrapped around his waist, more for her sense of modesty than for his she guessed. The one that met with her had long, curling, red hair and eyes like the moon. He, they, looked like demonic dark knights and had decided, after long and careful consideration, that they liked the way she operated. Having never been an enemy to humans, and with a gift for magic and battle, Buffy was excited to have them on her side. They had asked only that they be treated as equals, that they could count on each other as warriors and friends. Fighting side by side as they had with the humans of hundreds of years past.

The second crept her out, not the least because it was damn hard to be around. The Seli̱nófo̱to were demons of moonlight and ice, waif like with starlight eyes and glacier blue hair. She was beautiful and cordial but severe. Coming to Buffy only because her kind were quickly being exterminated by demons and vampires alike, their essence a valued commodity. Considering the temperature had dropped a good twenty degrees the moment the girl had walked in Buffy had quickly realized that they had survived by staying together but like the gazelles in Africa the weaker ones, the slower ones and the young ones were all at risk. They offered their services in return for her protection.

It had been an interesting meeting. The Patnja hovering protectively over her as she tried to wade through them to properly greet her 'guests'. Jesse and Amy had been there for the little meet and greet, Jesse had taken special delight in describing their new allies to Xander, who had turned a more than interesting shade of green. Vampires and Patnja Xander had accepted, the more dangerous looking demons on the other hand...Hilarity had had been enough to keep her busy for a few days but not enough to quell her worry over Spike. Which brought her back into the now.

"I was going to stay home but Mom's heading out of town for the night."

"What no Slayage?" Jesse asked, coming up to Xander's left. Within seconds she was surrounded. Jesse and Amy on her left, Xander and Cordelia behind them, Oz and Willow to her right. It was comforting to have them there, in a way she had never had them in the last life. Together and united. It made her heart glow with happiness.

"Giles says Halloween is the day all the ghoulies stay in."

"Those wacky vampires! That's why I love 'em! They just keep you guessing!"

They all had a good chuckle at that and it felt good to laugh, despite the worry or maybe in spite of it.

"What about you guys?"

"Oh well Snyder caught me for Trick or Treating with the kids."

"Aww Xander, that's so sweet. Quick Cordy, Will, we need bandages, flashlights, and Missing Kid signs."

"Oh Ha-ha." Xander muttered sullenly but good-naturedly.

"Hey why don't we help him?" Willow suggested softly.

"Ya' we can all dress up." Amy added with lightly veiled excitement. Buffy considered it, trying to think if there was anything in any of That Night's memories that would indicate something bad happening. Nothing came to her, no feelings of dread or sense of impending doom.

"Sounds juvenile...Let's do it. Meet after school for costume pickage?"

The bell shrilled overhead and, like a well-oiled machine, they dispersed with nods, smiles and promises to meet after school to check out the new costume shop in town.

Hey guys, I have no excuse for my absence but I hope this chapter and the next few chapters make up for it. Enjoy! And, as always, thanks to my beta who is always awesome!