As I crawled along the rafters, taking care not to touch the tiles and move as cautiously as I could to keep the noise down, I could hear Spike still taunting Buffy, making threats, or promises.

"If I find one of your friends," he called, "I'm going to suck them dry." He chuckled to himself, "And use their bones to bash your head in."

I winced as I hear him break down a door, and I inhaled deeply, trying to find where the other children were. Willow and Cordelia were close by, smelling of fear, but they were safe for now, but Spike was getting close.

I sped up a little, but knew I was still too far away to get to them in time if Spike decided to look where they were hiding.

I could drop down now, but I wanted to have the element of surprise on my side for just a little longer.

"Spike!" a vampire bellowed, and I sensed Spike hesitate. "Listen."

I sat still, tensing up.

They weren't listening to me, however. They were listening to someone else in the rafters.

'Buffy.' I thought. She was going back to the library to arm herself, of course. I should have known she would. But I couldn't go back now, not when I knew where the children were.

"Someone's in the ceiling." Spike chanted in a sing-songy voice. I could hear the smile in his voice.

On their own, I felt my fangs slip down, and a warning growl rumble deep in my chest.

But Spike wasn't done, yet. He wasn't just trying to kill Buffy, he was trying to demoralize her. He wanted the other vampires to kill everyone in the school, just to prove he could.

I could hear vampires pounding against locked doors, and I followed the scent of Spike as he stalked through the halls, shouting orders and growling insults at his little minions. By the time I finally caught up to his position, I could hear Buffy crawling around in the ceiling again nearby, and I heard Spike and another vampire starting to stab into the ceiling with poles.

Enough was enough.

I took a breath to steady my nerves, then slammed a fist down on a tile, breaking it, and then rolled and dropped down into the hall where Spike was.

I landed in a crouch and slowly raised my head to look at Spike in the darkness. His true face was revealed, and he and the other vampire stopped mid-stab to look at me warily. Spike was the first to react.

"Well, well, well." He said, smiling as he dropped his metal pole. "If it isn't little Maggie." He continued, grinning so wide his fang flashed in the dim light, "Come to join in the fun, dearie? Tire of your little girlfriends?"

I stood up slowly, ignoring the pang his voice sent through me.

"I'm here to defend them, Spike." I said, purposefully calling him by that name to try and remind myself that he really wasn't William anymore.

"Is that so?" he said, stopping two feet from me and tilting his head. "Don't want to share your snack?" he asked, clicking his tongue in disapproval, "I don't recall you ever being greedy, Maggie. Why start now? Of course," he tilted his head the other way, eyeballing me and sniffing at me again, "you kept a lot of secrets from me, didn't you? Maybe greediness was one of them?"

"I never said I was human." I reminded him, in a very poor attempt to defend myself, we both knew it was.

"That's not exactly the first thing you think to ask a charming young girl who decides to grace you with her friendship." He laughed, taking a step closer. "You presented yourself as such, though. And it was a lie."

"Sin of omission." I conceded.

"Indeed." He said, taking yet another step. He didn't act threatening, but this didn't feel like a friendly chat, either.

"I want you to leave, Spike." I said. "I won't let you hurt anyone else." I glared at the vampire behind him. "Call off your mongrels and go."

"Temper, temper." He chided mildly, chuckling all the while, "We're having such a nice conversation, why would you want to end it so soon?"

"Those children are my friends, Spike." I snapped at him, "I will not let you hurt them."

"Friends?" he said, raising an eyebrow, "You have friends. Little human friends?" He sneered. "That's what you do, isn't it? Make little friends when you get a bit lonely or bored, make them think they're special, then leave them to rot and turn to dust when you get tired of them?"

That hurt. That hurt a lot.

"I came back." I whispered. "I came back and you were gone."

"What even are you?" he demanded, starting to circle me, slowly. "You call my companions mongrels, but what are you?" he dipped closer, taking a deep breath as he smelled at my neck. I flinched, but didn't move otherwise.

"Not vampire," he murmured, sniffing again, then he pulled away and came back around to face me, "definitely not human." He reached out and lifted my chin with his forefinger. "You've a taint in you, so what are you, exactly?"

"Just another monster, Spike." I answered quietly. "Just another monster trying to be better than I am."

He laughed at that. Loud and long.

He was still laughing when I saw Angel come around the corner, his true face showing as he wrestled with Xander, whom he had in a headlock.

I raised an eyebrow questioningly and Angel gave a quick shake of his head.

'Play along.' His look said. Xander didn't seem happy with this arrangement.

Spike saw Angel too, though not til after he had straightened up from laughing so hard.

"Angelus!" he exclaimed in delight.

"Spike!" Angel returned the greeting, grinning and pinning Xander a little closer to his side.

"I'll be damned!" Spike said, coming at him with arms wide, Angel did the same (only with one arm) and the two embraced like brothers.

"I taught you to always guard your parameter," Angel said chidingly, he clicked his tongue at him, "you should have had someone out there."

So the school wasn't being guarded? Interesting.

"I did," Spike countered, "I'm surrounded by idiots." He laughed and glanced down at the still-squirming Xander.

"What's new with you?" he asked Angel.

"Everything." He answered.

"Yeah?" Spike said, "You come up against this Slayer, yet?"

"She's cute," Angel said, "not too bright, though. Gave the puppy-dog 'I'm all tortured' act." He grinned, "Keeps her off my back while I feed."

He laughed and Spike joined in.

I took a couple of steps forward, suspicion beginning to gnaw at me. He was playing this a little too well for my taste.

"Now, now, don't be jealous Maggie," Spike said, glancing back at me as I came up, "I'm afraid you interrupted another reunion, Angelus." He motioned to me, "Just catching up with an old-friend."

"You're friends with the half-breed?" Angel asked in surprise.

"Back in the day I was, yeah." Spike said, glancing back at me, "I think she's rather sorry about that, now. I wonder if she's doing the same Anne Rice routine as you?" he laughed, "What a world, eh?"

"I knew you were lying," Xander growled, rather unimpressively, I have to say, "undead…liar…guy."

Angel growled at him, grabbed a handful of Xander's hair and pulled his head forward and down before yanking up his shirt collar to expose Xander's neck.

"Want a bite before we kill her?" Angel invited. He winked at me, "I'll even let you have a taste if you want, half-breed."

"See, he shares, Maggie." Spike pointed out, then frowned and tilted his head at Angel.

"Haven't seen you in the killing fields in an age," he said ponderingly.

"I'm not much for company." Angel replied.

"No, you never were." Spike answered in the same tone, "So, why are you so scared of this Slayer?" he asked.

"Scared?" Angel repeated.

"Yeah." Spike shrugged. "Time was you would have taken her out in a heartbeat, now look at you. I mean, this tortured thing is an act, right? You're not….housebroken?"

He was getting suspicious. Not good. I glanced back over my shoulder. Two more vampires had joined the first, and were watching nervously. Not good.

Not good at all.

"I saw her kill the Master," Angel replied, beginning to struggle a little to not lose his calm, "you think you can take her alone? Be my guest. I'll just feed and run."

He growled and started to reach for Xander's neck. I took a step forward, growling in response, but Spike interrupted.

"Now, now," he chided, looking between me and Angel, "we're all friends or former friends, we'll do it together." He grinned. "Let's drink to it."

He and Angel started to bend towards Xander's neck. He whimpered and flinched away. I snarled a last warning and sprinted at them, just a bit too late. Spike reached up and over Xander, and struck Angel across the face, knocking him over.

"You think you can fool me?" he demanded, shouting.

He started to reach down for Xander, who had fallen when Angel let go of him, and I tackled Spike from behind.

Spike snarled in anger, rather than surprise, and only stumbled a step or two before twisting, turning around in my grip, I lost my hold on him and he slammed his head into mine. I let out a yelp of surprise as my head snapped back from the force, and I had to take a step back to steady myself.

He had already stepped away from me by the time I recovered myself, and Xander pulled me away from the grouping vampires to join him and Angel at the door.

"You were my sire, man!" Spike shouted, "You were my-my, Yoda!" He pointed at me.

"And you," he started, "you were-"

"Things change." Angel interrupted.

"Not us!" Spike shouted back, "Not demons."

"Oh I can't believe this," he said in exasperation, "you Uncle Tom."

"Demon or no," I snapped, "that's too far."

Spike picked up the pole he had dropped and took a step towards us.

"Come on, people," he said, "this isn't a spectator sport." He took another step, and the other three vampires took that as their cue to charge. I immediately retrieved a bottle of holy water and flung it at the group, it caught one full in the face and made him stop a foot away from me, while the other two shrieked at the droplets pelting their skin.

"Go!" I shouted at Angel and Xander, giving Xander a shove that sent him stumbling through the exit doors. Angel followed, the two vampires hesitating between me and them, before deciding a chase would be more thrilling, and following them out the door while I stepped up to the vampire still moaning as the holy water burned his face, and ended his suffering with a stake in his heart.

"Just us, again, love?" Spike asked, grinning as he came at me.

I glanced behind him as Buffy stepped out of the shadows of a corridor, carrying an axe.

"Not quite." I answered. He frowned and turned around, his head tilting once again in curiosity.

"Slayer." He greeted.

"Do we really need weapons for this?" she asked.

"I just like them." Spike answered, running a hand down his chest with a grin, "They make me feel all manly."

His grin slipped and he tossed the pole down, however, while Buffy did the same with her axe. I almost screamed at her for doing that, but I did the same with my stake.

"The last Slayer I killed," he began, starting to circle her, and she did the same, "she begged for her life." He hummed thoughtfully, "You don't strike me, as the begging kind."

"You shouldn't have come here." Buffy answered.

"No," Spike laughed, "I messed up your doilies and stuff." He pointed at the now wrecked refreshment table. "And I think I upset your demon friend." He motioned at me, then looked back at me to grin.

"And I think I've upset your little Slayer pet." He said, turning back to Buffy.

"That's what she does, you know. Makes pets." He continued, he straightened, "Anyway, I just got so bored," he chuckled again, "I tell you what, as a personal favor, from me to you, I'll make it quick, it won't hurt a bit."

"No, Spike," Buffy answered, "it's going to hurt a lot."

He swung at her then, and she ducked easily, popping up to throw the punch right back at him. He blocked it, and when I ran in to tackle him again, he must have felt me coming because he just stepped to the side, countering Buffy all the while.

I found myself beside the Slayer, and together we started throwing punches, kicks, anything. He blocked or dodged it all.

Somewhere along the line, little William had learned to fight, and learned to fight well.

Buffy managed to get a punch in, which he did not take kindly. He faked a left that left her right side exposed, and before I could block him, he'd thrown a punch that knocked her off balance enough for him to grab her, knee her in the stomach, and then throw her down.

I reached down and all but yanked her back to her feet, and in the same motion spun, ducked low under Spike's arm as he swung again, and kicked him in the chest hard enough to knock him into the wall.

He growled and I yowled right back at him, or not so much as at him as the demon that possessed him. If I could have I would have ripped it out of his body and then shoved it into a blender, I was so angry at it.

Buffy moved in, landing blows as quick as she could while he was distracted. He got angry, and shoved her away from him, and then he came in for another hit, but Buffy spun away and his fist went through the wall.

Buffy used the opportunity to strike a hard blow against the side of his head.

"That hurt." Spike said in surprise, then suddenly yanked a huge plank of wood from the wall and struck Buffy down with it.

"But this will hurt a lot worse." He raised the beam over his head, and I darted forward, grabbing one of his arms just beneath the elbow to keep him from bringing it down, and with my other hand I punched him straight in the face.

He grunted in surprise and stumbled back, lowering the beam as he did so. I was about to move in again when suddenly Spike was struck in the side of the head with the flat of the ax Buffy had brought.

Spike fell to the floor and twisted, staring up in amazement. I turned and did the same.

It was Buffy's mother. Looking like a very angry lioness protecting her cub.

"You get the hell away from my daughter." She snapped. Spike continued to stare, unsure of how to proceed, while I offered my hand to Buffy, turning away to hide my fangs before her mother saw. Buffy took my hand and scrambled to her feet, before turning to join her mother.

"Women." Spike snarled, getting up. Much to my surprise however, he hesitated. He stared at me, then at Buffy, for a very long moment, then looked at her mother. His shoulders relaxed, he glanced at me one more time, bowed his head, as if in…embarrassment.

Then he whirled around, and ran back the way he had come: through the giant (now broken) window in the lounge.

He disappeared into the night, black coat flapping against the back of his knees as he went.

Once he'd gone, Buffy's mother sighed in relief, dropping the ax to the ground. Buffy turned to her.

"Nobody lays a hand on my little girl." She said, enveloping Buffy in an embrace that only a mother can give.

I stepped back so that I stood behind them, and watched, not without a pang of envy.

That was another thing demons, or at least a demon, had taken from me: the warmth of a mother's love. Buffy would always have it, no matter what she did or what happened. Whereas I had been born with any hope of such affection or sense of a bond already destroyed.

But I couldn't help but feel a warmth as I watched them.

That didn't mean I couldn't also feel the cold of the lack of such a relationship.