Giles had come back down to the loungeroom to find Eris laughing her ass off at something Spike was saying and his whiskey bottle now empty and laying on the table. He spent the next 10 minutes scolding the both of them like they were naughty school children which only made them both amused as they expected that exact reaction.

"Its nighttime now, go outside and do something useful Spike," Giles snapped angrily as he pulled Eris up to help her sober up.

"We were just having a laugh Rupert," Spike teased, "you'd think you'd want Eris to not be so stressed."

"I would have much preferred her scared than drunk," he huffed before pulling Eris into the bathroom to splash her face. Spike laughed to himself and waked out of the house.

"This was incredibly irresponsible of you, Eris," Giles began to scold her again as he splashed her face with cold water.

"I was having fuuun, why are you so upset?" she whined childishly from her spot on the edge of the bath, "is it because I drank your whiskey? I was gonna buy you a new one!"

"Whilst I am annoyed you didn't ask to drink my alcohol, I am more annoyed that you drunk yourself into a stupor."

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention!"

Giles sighed, something he did quite frequently around her and Buffy, "It's fine, just focus on getting sober."

She nodded and slid down the bathtub, so she had it resting against her back. The older man watched her for a few more seconds before leaving to grab her a glass of water and some bread to soak up the alcohol.

Eris had closed her eyes and relaxed, trying to sober up as best as she could. It was probably not the best idea to get drunk, but she was enjoying herself and how relax Spike had managed to make her feel. She just wanted to keep her mind off the stalker, and the bleach-blonde vampire had provided a great distraction.

The sound of a glass smashing and people struggling took her out of her musing, "Giles? You ok?" she asked as she got to her feet and began wobbling to the loungeroom. She could hear Giles groaning in pain and began to worry. "Giles? What happened?" as she turned the corner, her eyes met with Golden, unhinged ones.

"Cara…" the vampire said in a voice full of love and insanity, "I found you," she took a short moment to look at Giles, which she saw had a head wound that was profusely bleeding. The vampire caught her look and glared, "no one keeps you from me…" he began to stalk forward, which made Eris take an equal amount of steps back. This only infuriated him more, "why must you make me use force Cara?" with quick speeds he raced forward and used his fist to punch her, quickly knocking her out and making her body fall into his arms, "my sweet Cara, you will never leave me again."

Spike had run in to the gang as they all headed back to Giles. Willow and Xander had run in to Riley, Buffy and Graham and decided to all walk back together. "Why are you out, shouldn't you be with Giles and Eris?" Buffy asked, a glare set on her face.

"Giles kicked me out cause Eris and I drank his whiskey," he shrugged his shoulders and smirked when he saw Graham glare at him.

"You were the only thing protecting her!" The Slayer shouted as panic set in, why was Giles so stupid?!

She shoved Spike out of the way and ran the rest of the way to Giles', the rest of the gang hot on her heels. Arriving at the door, she found it wide open and Giles lying on the floor. "Giles!" she shouted and ran to his side, rolling him over onto his back. He was barely lucid but awake. "Giles what happened?"

"Vampire…got Eris…" he muttered softly as the rest of the gang arrived. Buffy stepped back and gave Graham and Riley room to pick up Giles and lay him on the couch so Willow could tend to his head wound.

Turning to Spike, she walked over and punched him in the face, "if you didn't leave, she wouldn't have been taken!"

He looked back at her and glared hatefully, "same could be said for you, Slayer. You were hell bent on patrolling that you left her alone with me."

"I thought she would be safe with you."

"I'm a stranger, not the cousin who should bee taking care of her," his words made her stop, realising he was right. She is Eris' cousin, and in her anger, she left the safety of her cousin to a vampire that doesn't even like any of them.

"Shut up Spike before I hit you."

"No, Xander, he's right," Buffy said, sadness in her tone, "I left her with Spike, it's my fault."

"Buffy…" Willow said softly, feeling sorry for her friend.

"We need to find her."

"Where do we begin?" Graham asked, not wanting to wait around when his girlfriend was in danger.

They heard Giles mutter something and stopped to turn to him, "what did you say Giles?" Willow asked as she leant in to hear better, after a short while they saw her eyes widened, "Giles said he heard the vampire say 'no longer will it be till death do us part'."

"That's a marriage thing," Xander looked to Buffy, watching her deep in thought.

"He could want to wed her and turn her; would he go to a church?" Buffy looked to the others for answers.

"We have 2 churches in Sunnydale," Willow replied as she continued to dab at the blood on Giles' head.

"Then we'll have to split up," Buffy pointed at Xander first, "stay here with Willow and Giles, he'll need the hospital if he doesn't recover," Xander nodded as Buffy looked to Riley and Graham, "you go to the church near the College, I'll take Spike with me to the one near the cemetery."

Riley frowned, "shouldn't I come with you?"

Buffy shook her head, "We don't need Graham near Spike, one of them will kill the other."

"Who said I wanted to go with you?" Spike complained.

"You and I are making it up to Eris for leaving her, you don't have a choice," he huffed at Buffy's words but followed her out anyway.

Eris felt pain in her head before she was aware of anything else. It was a heavy throbbing on the left side of her skull, which she vaguely remembered was caused by the vampire striking her incredibly hard.

"You are finally awake, Cara…" She heard the soft voice of the stalker to her right. She soon after she took notice of the rhythmic stroking of her hair, most likely the vampire. She struggled to open her eyes, most likely due to a concussion, but when she did she saw an unfamiliar roof. "How beautiful your eyes are, my beloved."

She slowly moved her head to the right to see him. He would have been handsome, and someone she would have flirted with if he wasn't so unhinged, "where am I?" she asked softly.

"We are in a church, my love, it is time to reunite in holy matrimony," he stroked her head once more before picking her up and moving her into a chair.

She realised she had been sleeping inside a coffin, and infrony of that coffin lay a man in a pastor outfit, completely drain of all his blood, eyes lifeless and staring in her direction. "I am not Cara," she spoke weakly, fear began to rise in her chest.

"Oh but you are, you just don't remember," he knelt in front of her and cupped her cheek sweetly, "your face is different, but those beautiful eyes remain the same."

"My eyes?"

He stood up and looked to the cross that was behind her, "You don't remember, but you and I were married when I was human," he sighed dreamily as he let himself sink into his memories, "we loved each other so much, my beautiful wife Cara," his expression turned dark as his memories continued, "but you were taken from me…killed by a vampire."

As strange as it was, she felt pity for the man. He looked in immense pain, even tearing up as he spoke, "he drained you dry then tried to do the same to me, only instead he turned me into…this," he let his vampire face take over as he turned back to her, "but it seems the heavens have given me a second chance, give us a second chance, to be together."

"Why the bird?" she asked, feeling angered rise as she remembered the poor bird.

"You used to love birds, but you angered me so I had to teach you a lesson," he sighed and cocked his head to the side, "you kicked me and yelled at me, my beloved should not shun me like that," he grabbed her hands and pulled her to stand, "We will be wed, and this time I will make you a vampire so we will never be parted again."

It was only then that Eris saw she was wearing a wedding dress, it was snug against her frame, suggesting that he knew her exact size, "did you…change me?" she asked hesitantly.

"But of course, I had to reacquaint myself with your new body," he pulled her in so she was flushed against him and leant in to take a deep sniff of her neck, "I long to feel your body once again."

"Let me go, I am not Cara, I swear!" She said desperately as she weakly tried to push away.

"I understand you are scared, my beloved. But when you become a vampire, you shall remember who you are and love me like you once did," he then pulled her to the dead pastor, "Its time my love."

"Yea, time for you to die," the duo turned their heads to the front door of the church. There stood Buffy, with Spike standing beside her. Buffy looked ready to murder, wanting to kill the vampire immediately. Spike however looked uninterested.

The vampire went to retort, however when he looked at Spike, he froze, and pure rage overtook him. "You…" he hissed, pure venom dripped from his lips as he pulled Eris into him, "you are the one who took my beloved Cara from me! Have you come to kill her again? NO, I WON'T LET YOU!" he roared in hatred and moved Eris behind him before running full sprint towards Spike and Buffy, intent on murdering them.

The two moved in to fight, throwing their own punches and kicks and blocking the strange vampire's own attacks, "Go get Eris!" Buffy yelled to Spike as she drew the vampire's attention on to her.

Spike really wanted to beat up the vampire instead of Buffy, maybe use his own stake to turn him to dust, but knowing that there was no point in arguing with the Slayer when she was in this state, he went over to Eris, "you don't look so good, pet," he commented as he looked her over, besides the very flattering dress, she had a blood dripping down her head and a dazed look on her face that suggested she had a concussion, "though that dress makes you look delicious…"

"Now is not the time for flirting," she shot back as she gripped his arm to steady herself.

This action caused the vampire to turn his attention entirely back on Spike, and with pure rage he snatched the stake Buffy held and raced towards the bleach-blonde vampire, "you will not take her!" he screamed, his mind completely taken over by blood lust.

Eris watched him race closer and moved in front of Spike, she had grabbed the stake from his hand and in a split second, the vampire had run himself into the stake, pushing it right into his heart, "Cara…Why…?" he whispered in agony and betrayal. His hand came up to cup her cheek, but it soon turned to ash along with the rest of his body. The last thing he saw was the woman he thought what his beloved, staring back at him with unfamiliarity and pity.

She stayed still, looking at the pile of dust, feeling immense sadness. He was insane, but he had suffered so much and never got the happiness he deserved, "Eris, are you ok?" she heard Buffy ask once the Slayer had hurried to her side to check her over.

"I never even knew his name…" she spoke softly.

"Let's get you home and cleaned up," Buffy gently guided her cousin out of the church, not really caring about the dead pastor nor Spike who was watching Eris with curiosity and surprise. She had stepped in front of him and killed the vampire for him, even though she knew he could take care of himself she still stepped in to protect him. It was weird, since for weeks she only looked at him with hatred and rarely spoke to him unless it was to threaten murder. Maybe she wasn't as angry as she used to be.

"What a weird woman…"