"You�re kidding me!"
Buffy sat on her bed, wide-eyed as Willow grinned at her.
"Nope!"
"So you�re serious? Evanescence are really coming to Sunnydale?"
"Yep! They�re stopping her for a gig before they go to LA."
Buffy squealed. This was like a dream come true for her. Her favourite band in the whole world, for this month at least, were coming to Sunnydale.
"Don�t get your hopes up, though. You�re not going to see them."
"Why not?" Buffy�s eyebrows knitted together as she frowned at her friend. Willow knew how much she loved Evanescence. There was nothing that could stop her getting to their show.
"They�re performing at the Fish Tank."
"So?"
"Buffy," Willow said slowly, trying to make her understand, "The Fish Tank is an over 21 bar. There�s no way you�re getting in there."
Buffy opened her mouth to retaliate, then closed it just as quickly. Willow was right. The Fish Tank was a really rank bar on the edge of town, near the docks. She�d known lots of under-21�s that had been in, but it was a tough, slutty crowd that went through that door without an ID, and that definitely wasn�t her.
After a moment, she said, "Why did you even bother telling me, then?"
"Because I know you," Willow said. "Now you know, you�re gonna try everything you can to get in, and you�ll probably fail miserably, but at least you know. If I hadn�t told you, you�d have found out anyway, and then yelled at me for not telling you." Willow smiled slightly as she finished, a smile which Buffy returned.
*Willow�s right,* she thought. *I have to see that band, if it�s the last thing I do. And if that means breaking a few rules, so be it.*
********
Spike sat sprawled out on his chair, sipping a beer as he watched TV. Not that there was anything good on. There never was these days. He was half considering going out to fight a few demons, perhaps �accidentally� bumping into Buffy so that they could patrol together, when he sensed someone outside. It only took him a moment to realise it was Buffy.
He scrambled to his feet as he heard his front door crash open, and the Slayer stalked inside.
"I need your help, Spike."
"Well, that�s nice," Spike taunted. "You come barging in here, uninvited, nearly smash my front door up, then you ask me for help?!"
"Don�t play games with me, Spike," Buffy said determinedly, glaring at him as she marched closer. "I need your help, and if you�re not gonna give it to me, I�ll just stake you and go."
Spike raised his eyebrow, but didn�t say anything. Buffy was acting extra crabby, which meant something had really rattled her. He loved seeing her like this, totally stressed out, her blood pumping from annoyance that she had to ask him to help her. He considered the situation for a moment. If he helped her, he might get to see her for a few hours, where as if he refused, he wouldn�t be seeing much of anything.
Eventually, he said, "Fine, luv. What�s your problem?"
Buffy crept closer to him, so that they were mere inches apart, and whispered, "I need help getting into an over-21 bar."
Spike frowned for a moment, trying to decide whether he�d heard her correctly. Then, he burst out laughing.
"That�s the Slayer�s big problem? The fact that she�s too young to go to the pub?"
"It�s not that!" Buffy said hotly. "There�s a rock band that�s playing that I really want to see, but they�re only going to the one place I can�t get into. I�ve tried everything, but I can�t think of a way to see them, so I thought, you�ve broken loads of laws in your time. You must know someone who could help."
Buffy bit her lip, waiting for his answer. She felt stupid coming to him for help like this, but he was the only person she could think of. She should�ve known that a fiend like that would just laugh her away. It had been a stupid idea to come to him.
She raised her glance to look at him, and noticed that instead of the mocking grin that had been on his face a moment earlier, there was now a look of concentration, as if he was actually thinking it over.
An idea came to Buffy, and, hoping that his answer wouldn�t be too twisted and perverted, said, "If you help I�ll reward you. You can have whatever you want."
Spike thought that over. She�d give him anything he wanted? Well, he could certainly think of a few things she could do for him, or to him, but he doubted that the Slayer was that desperate for help. If he suggested those things she�d stake him, no doubt about it. She�d expected him to ask for cash or blood, he knew it, but he didn�t need any of those things at the moment. Then he had an idea. She was going to a rock concert. So maybe...
"Fine," Spike said. "I�ll help. But I want to come with you to the concert." He waited for Buffy�s reaction, and was glad to see she didn�t look angry, just confused.
"What? You want to come with me?"
Pushed on by the fact that she hadn�t instantly said no, he added, "That�s not all though. You have to buy my ticket, AND my drinks, AND promise not to ditch me or stake me. In return, I�ll tell you what you need to do."
Buffy chewed it over in her mind for a moment, then said, "Deal."
*******
Buffy eyed the alley Spike had just led her into warily, watching the shadows for any sign of supernatural activity.
"Are you sure this is the place?" she asked nervously. "It�s a bit..."
"Shady? Dangerous? What did you expect, a pretty little cottage? This guy is a serious warlock, luv. He deals in magicks of the illegal sort, so his hideout isn�t exactly gonna to be posh."
"Illegal? This guy does dark magick? Why did you bring me to a guy like that? He can�t help me." She turned to go, but felt a strong hand on her shoulder, turning her back.
"That�s not what I said now, luv, was it? I meant illegal as in �against the law.� As in, spells to make yourself invisible for bank robberies, or superstrong if you want to murder someone, or, in your case, get yourself a fake ID which never fails."
"Fine. Where is it?"
"Here." Spike gestured towards the blank wall in front of her.
"What? That�s just a wall."
"Oh, come on." Spike grabbed her arm, and pushed her towards the brick. She braced herself for the impact, but it didn�t come. Looking around, she realised that instead of in the street, they were now both standing in a dark hallway, with a couple of mismatched chairs and a table arranged about the place.
"What... what just happened?"
Spike rolled his eyes, and flopped down in the nearest chair. "Don�t you know anything, luv? A guy who deals with this sort of stuff isn�t going to put out a sign for the world to see. He hides his office, and only demons who need his services can find it."
"Never heard of that before," Buffy said, sitting down in the other chair, and started to root through the magazines piled up on the table.
"Don�t you read, Slayer? It�s in bloody Harry Potter! Where do you think that JK chick got the idea from?"
Buffy let out a giggle. "You�ve read Harry Potter?"
Spike avoided her eyes. "Dawn made me read it."
"Right," Buffy said sarcastically. "I believe you." She paused for a moment, then said, "How long is this guy gonna be, anyway?"
"Not long, I suppose," a soft voice said. Buffy jumped, and looked around. There was no-one there.
"Oh, don�t try to find me, because you won�t. I�m watching you from my office. I apologise for not speaking to you sooner, but I had to check you weren�t hostile. I must say, it�s not often I�ve served Slayers, and one accompanied by a vampire... now there�s a rare event." The voice paused for a moment. "No matter. Please, come into my office, and we can talk more."
Buffy was wondering how she was supposed to enter his office, as there were no doors out of the lobby, when one suddenly materialised in front of her eyes. Slightly put out, but trying not to show it, she got to her feet and headed purposefully towards the door. She�d only gone a few steps when Spike caught her arm.
"Be careful what you say to this guy," Spike whispered in her ear. "He may look friendly, but that�s only because of his power. He can make himself appear however he wishes, and for customers he takes the guise he thinks they�ll find the most appealing. Don�t tell him any more information than necessary, and, whatever you do, don�t touch him." He said all this very quickly, then straightened up and headed through the door. Wondering what the hell Spike was on about, she followed him inside.
The office was completely the opposite of what she had expected. There was a comfy sofa at one end of the room, where Spike was already sat, and at the other was a desk covered in papers, and one of the most attractive men Buffy had ever seen.
He had deep soulful eyes, the sort that you could become lost in forever, and hair which flopped softly around his eyes, giving him a kind, welcoming look. His smile was mild and mysterious, and her heart melted when she saw him. She couldn�t have said what colour his hair or eyes actually were, or what clothes he was wearing, or even how tall he was, but she felt he was a beautiful person who she could trust with all her secrets. Such was the nature of his spell.
"So, how may I help you?"
She had thought this part would be hard, but the words flowed from her mouth so easily it was incredible. "I need a fake ID to go to an over - 21 club. I heard you could help."
"I can indeed," he said, smiling. "I just need a few of your details." He pulled some paper and a pen off his desk, then asked, "What�s your full name."
"Buffy Anne Summers."
"And how old are you currently, Miss Summers?"
"19."
"And how long have you been a Slayer?"
"Since I was 15."
"So, you must be a particularly powerful Slayer, to have lasted so long."
Spike got to his feet. "I don�t see why that is important!"
"I need to know everything about her, Sir, to make sure that my ID is perfectly fitted to her. Now, Miss Summers, what is your current occupation?"
*******
Half an hour had passed, with the warlock constantly asking questions, none of which seemed important to Spike, before the data-collecting was complete.
"Well, Miss Summers, I think that�s all we need to know. If you�ll just let me..." He rolled up his sleeves, and walked past the sofa the pair were sitting on to reach his filing cabinet. As he passed, Buffy noticed a strange tattoo on his arm.
"What�s that?"
The man stopped, and looked at his arm. "Oh, that silly old thing. It�s just a tattoo I had when I was younger, during my rebel stage."
Buffy wasn�t satisfied with this explanation, however, and got to her feet to have a closer look. It was then she realised that it was an image of an eyeball, with flames dancing around it. It wasn�t just a normal tattoo, she noticed, but a spelled one, so that the eye very slowly looked around, and the flames crackled. How could a tattoo do that? She reached out a finger and gently traced the outline. It was warm to the touch, and Buffy felt a tiny jolt, like an electric shot, shoot through her fingers, before Spike pulled her away.
"Just give us the ID, and we�ll be on our way," he said forcefully.
"As you wish, sir," the man said silkily, then turned his back on them and whispered a few words in a language Buffy didn�t understand. After a moment he turned back, a card held firmly between his long fingertips.
"There you go, Miss Summers," he said, handing it to her. She studied it closely. The picture was the perfect likeness of her, and it exactly like a real ID. The only difference was the slight jolt she got from it as she touched it, and the image of that same eyeball discreetly tucked in the bottom corner. She looked up to say thank you, and realised that they were back in the alley outside.
"Oh, great," she said sulkily. "Now I can�t say thank you!"
"You�ve said enough tonight as it is," Spike said darkly, as he started to sweep off into the gloom.
"What�s that supposed to mean?"
Spike turned to face her. "I told you not to tell him anything, and there you go, telling him you�re whole bloody life story! Not only that, but I said not to touch him, so what do you do? Poke the guy�s tattoo, that�s what!"
She didn�t know why, but his words hurt her, and she snapped back in retaliation. "It�s nothing to do with you what I do!" she said heatedly. "I�ve got my ID now, so if I were you I�d get out of my bloody way until tomorrow night, get it?"
Spike looked at her for a second, then turned and left. He was worried, seriously worried. He knew what sort of things that guy got up to. He�d paid a lot of attention to the fact the Buffy was the Slayer, and that wasn�t good at all. It was a good thing he�d be with her when she used that ID, or else things could get nasty. He�d heard tales of that guy, and things never turned out well for his victims. He was power mad, everyone knew it, and he�d do anything to get more.
But Buffy wasn�t having any of those thoughts. She was practically skipping as she made her way home. She was going to see Evanescence, and all she�d had to do for it was let Spike come along. What could possibly go wrong?
*******
Spike had almost reached his crypt when a thought came to him.
The man had never asked for his payment.
And that man never did a job without getting something out of it.
Buffy bounced nervously on the balls of her feet as she waited for her turn. She could hear the music pounding, even from outside, and it sent her heart racing knowing that soon she�d be in there too.
She really couldn�t believe where she was. She was queuing outside the Fish Tank, clutching a fake ID in her hand, with Spike, of all people. If you�d told her a week ago that she would do that, she�d have laughed at you. Now though, she was just excited. Not only was she about to see her favourite band sing live, she was about to have her first experience in an over 21 bar, the over 21 bar that she�d always been warned against visiting. Her only worry now was that the bouncer wouldn�t let her in.
She started to fiddle with her ID, flipping it back and forth between her fingers as she hummed tunelessly, when Spike�s harsh voice came whispering in her ear. "Do you want them to let you in, luv?"
Buffy stopped then, and turned to frown at him. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, luv, if you wanted to look like an overexcited teenager on bloody marijuana, then congratulations. Otherwise, stand still!"
Buffy opened her mouth to retaliate, but couldn�t think of anything, so settled for glaring at him. His words must have had some effect on her, however, as she stopped fidgeting immediately.
After a few more minutes of waiting impatiently, she finally reached the front. She gave the bouncer her best smile, but he just frowned and snatched the ID off her. He studied it carefully for a moment, then nodded. Buffy desperately fought to keep down her whoop of excitement, then smiled and took the ID back. It was at that moment that it happened. Buffy felt a shiver run all through her body, starting and ending in the fingertips which held the card. She jumped slightly from the shock, then shook it off and walked inside.
It was exactly like she had pictured it - so much more mature than the Bronze, and yet, in a strange way, just the same. There was a large stage up front, where Evanescence where playing madly, a bar over to the side, a few tables and a large dance floor. Choosing to ignore the fact that also on the dance floor were several pole-dancing poles, she went straight there and started dancing madly. A moment later, Spike joined her.
"What the hell do you think you�re doing?" she asked, exasperated, as he sidled over.
"You said I could come here with you. You�re not just going to ditch me, luv? That sort of behaviour could hurt a bloke."
"It�s a good thing you�re not a bloke, then, isn�t it?" she said spitefully. "I said you could come. I didn�t say you could stalk me. Now get out of my face."
But Spike wasn�t going to give up that easily. "Or what?"
"You know exactly what, Spike, and you know I�ll do it as well, so leave me alone."
Spike considered replying, then realised it wasn�t worth it. Annoyed, he turned and stormed off towards the tables, leaving Buffy wondering why the hell she�d agreed to let him come in the first place.
*********
Spike sat silently at his table, watching the Slayer dancing sensuously a few feet away. If she noticed him watching her like that then he�d be dead meat, but it�d be worth it.
He didn�t want the night to end. Ok, so he�d been told in no uncertain terms to piss off, but the music wasn�t bad, Buffy was buying his drinks, and he got to watch her dancing the night away. The only downside was watching her dancing the night away with strange guys who kept leering at her in ways she would never have excepted from him.
Luckily for him, she was currently dancing alone, her little blonde head bopping in time with the music. He�d never had put her down as a rock fan, but there she was, having the time of her life. If there was one thing he�d learnt during his stay in Sunnydale, it was the fact that no matter how much you knew about that Slayer, she would always surprise you.
He scowled as another guy approached her, and asked her to dance. Buffy nodded her assertion, and the two started grinding against each other in time with the music. He watched her wistfully for a few seconds, then turned away in disgust. This place was really going to her head.
He looked back at her, and was almost pleased when he saw she was in trouble. The random guy she�d been dancing with moments before was trying to kiss her, but Buffy wasn�t having any of it. *Now that guy�s for it,* Spike thought with a grin. *I can�t wait to see this!*
But Buffy wasn�t stopping him. She has pushing him away as hard as she could, but he wasn�t moving. Since when was a regular guy stronger than the Slayer?
He frowned as he caught some of the man�s words. "Come on, sweetie. What�s the matter? You were all ready to get friendly a few minutes ago."
"Bite me."
"With pleasure."
The man grabbed Buffy around the shoulders and reached down to kiss her, but he didn�t get that far. Spike had leapt out of his seat and thrown the man away.
"Who the hell are you?"
Spike smirked at him. "I�m Spike, Buffy�s boyfriend." He knew he�d pay for that comment later, but now he needed a good cover story.
"Well, you can�t be keeping her satisfied. I can�t help it if she comes to me for some extra action." He leered at Buffy. "Can I, sugar?"
He reached out to touch Buffy�s face, and she responded by pulling back her arm and punching him in the face as hard as she could. The man didn�t even flinch.
"Oh, you�re a fiesty one!"
Spike had had enough. He thumped the man as hard as he could around the head, knocking him unconscious, then grabbed Buffy by the arm and pulled her outside. When he got her to the relative privacy of an alley, he stopped and turned to look at her.
"What the hell was that?"
Buffy shook her head. "I don�t know. One minute we were dancing, and the next he was trying to kiss me. I told him to stop it and. . . and he didn�t, so I tried to push him away, and I couldn�t."
"What do you mean you couldn�t?"
"I couldn�t. I was pushing him with all my strength and I couldn�t move him."
Spike frowned. What was she talking about? "Hit me as hard as you can."
"What?"
"Just do it." When he noticed her looking apprehensive, he added, "Come on, Slayer. You�re always hitting me, and now I�m giving you an excuse you don�t want to?"
Buffy hesitated for another moment, then hit him in the nose as hard as she could.
"You�re not even trying, luv. Give me all you�ve got!"
"I did!" Buffy yelled, her eyed screwed up as she tried to stop herself crying.
"Oh," Spike said, stunned for a second. "So... what the bloody hell is going on?"
*******
Buffy timidly pushed her front door open, dreading the scene she knew was about to happen. She stepped inside, Spike at her heels, and walked into the living room.
Her mom was sitting on the couch with Giles beside her, and they were watching some old person documentary. When he spotted her in the doorway, Giles got to his feet.
"Ah, Buffy. And... Spike?" He paused for a minute, trying to figure out why the vampire was there, but, deciding he really didn�t want to know, he carried on. "I assume your patrol went alright?" Buffy nodded. "Good. Well, I�d better be on my way."
"Would you wait?" Buffy asked, looking at her feet. "I have something I need to talk to you about."
Giles gave her a quizzical look, but when she didn�t add anything he nodded. "Alright."
"Mom, would you mind..."
Joyce just gave her a look. "Buffy, I�m your mother. If there�s something you need to say to Mr Giles, you can say it to me as well."
Buffy nodded, and took a deep breath. "When I was out tonight, I... there was something wrong. The thing is... I couldn�t fight."
"What do you mean, you couldn�t fight?"
"I had no powers, no strength. It was just like that test thing the Watchers Council put me through a couple of years ago." She gave Giles a look. "You haven�t been doing another one of those, have you?"
"Good Lord, no. Imagine how dangerous it would be if..." he stopped as he realised what he was saying, and promptly removed his glasses. "God, Buffy, are you alright?"
"Peachy." He gave her a glare, obviously wanting more information, and she added, "I got in trouble with this one guy, but Spike had my back." This seemed to satisfy the watcher, so she fell silent again.
"Do you have any idea what could have caused this?" Giles asked.
Buffy shook her head. "I don�t know. Maybe I�m just coming down with something. Maybe if I just get a good night�s sleep I�ll be better in the morning."
"That�s probably best," Giles said, smiling. "I�ll get the others to start researching it, just in case."
Buffy nodded, and flipped her hair away from her face. "Right."
Joyce had been silent throughout this exchange, but now she got to her feet, a slight anger in her eyes. "Buffy," she said testily, "when did you get a tattoo?"
"What?"
"Don�t play dumb with me, young lady! I can see that thing on your neck!"
Buffy ran to the mirror and carefully inspected herself. She was shocked to see that at the join between her neck and her shoulder, over the place where Angel had bitten her, was a small but very real tattoo. A tattoo of a flaming eyeball.
"Oh my God..."
For a moment Buffy thought she had said it, then she realised it had been Giles. She turned to face him, and was surprised to see he was giving her a look that was half understanding, half disappointment.
"When did you visit Igniato?" He asked, his voice steady.
"Who?"
"Igniato, the sorcerer. You must know who he his, because you have his mark on you."
Buffy hung her head. "Last night."
"Why?" he asked sharply.
She considered lying, saying anything other than the real reason that she�d been there, but she couldn�t. Not if this could be the reason she was so weak.
"I went to see him about getting a fake ID."
Joyce said, "Buffy!" but Giles looked relieved. "Well, it�s not as bad as it could have been. The man deals with all sorts. I�m afraid he must be the reason you�ve lost your powers."
"Lost my powers? I haven�t lost them!"
"I�m afraid you have. Igniato will do almost anything for power, and a Slayer�s power would be worth it�s weight in gold to him. He must have spelled the ID so that when you used it, it zapped your power. I assume you used it this evening?" Buffy nodded glumly. "May I see it?"
Buffy pulled the ID out of her pocket and handed it to him. She was dimly aware of the fact that she no longer felt a shock when she touched it.
"Yes, this is clearly Igniato�s work." Giles studied it closer. "It looks like my assumption of how he took your powers was correct too. There is the dim image of the eyeball here, where it was before it was transferred to you, I presume."
"What do you mean, transferred?"
Giles sighed. "Why did you go to him if you didn�t know anything about the way he works? He always leaves his mark on his customers, to remind them not to come to him for help again. Once he�s drained their power, they are useless to him, so he doesn�t want to do business again." He paused for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. The Slayer was powerless, and that could mean disaster for Sunnydale.
A sudden thought struck him. "How did you know about Igniato? His work is a massive secret."
"Spike told me about him."
"Spike?!" The vampire, who had stood forgotten throughout all this exchange, glanced up as the other Englishman marched towards him. "How could you have taken Buffy to see him? You must know what he�s like."
"I did," Spike said cockily, trying not to show his guilt for doing this to Buffy, "but I didn�t really care that much. She wanted me to take her to a guy like that, so I did. I warned her about him, but if she didn�t bloody listen it�s not my fault, is it?"
Giles sighed. There was no point trying to argue with Spike. However, he now knew exactly what he should do with the situation. He could sort out the problem, and teach them both a lesson in the process.
"Fine," he said. "Buffy, it�s not safe for you to stay here unprotected. If word gets out that the Slayer�s weak, demons�ll be flocking to kill you. You�re going to have to stay with Spike for a while."
"What?" Spike said, feeling as if all his birthdays had come at once.
"What?!" Buffy asked, disgusted by the suggestion.
"Spike is the only one strong enough to protect you, and since he was the one who started this mess, it should be him who has to look after you while the rest of us research how to fix this. If it�s okay with your mother, you should go pack your bag now so that you can both be back at his crypt before daybreak." There was a finality in his tone that made Buffy realise there was no point arguing. She stuttered for a second, then spun on her heel and stormed upstairs.
Spike, however, was ecstatic. Buffy was going to be living in his crypt for who knew how long. He was going to be able to be with her all the time, and the only thing he had to do in return was fight some demons that might not even come? It sounded like a very good deal to him. At that moment, Spike felt sure it would be an experience he would never forget.
He didn�t know how right he was.
Trapped. That�s what she was. Fire was burning all around her, keeping her prisoner in its whirlwind of destruction. She could hear it laughing, taunting her as she ran, trying to find a way out.
The flames danced around her teasingly, watching. It had so many eyes glaring at her, rolling and writhing, never looking at one spot for more than a second as it searched for. . . what? They all fixed their gaze on her and, as one, let out a blood-curdling shriek, causing her to stumble backwards into the very heart of the fire.
It held her steady, licking up and down her arms as He approached. A shadow, darker than the blackness of the night, circling the flames, just out of reach of the light. It wasn�t darkness, it was darker than that - it was emptiness, a shape of absolute nothingness which chilled her to the bone. It prowled towards her, and stopped, just out of sight, so that all she could see were two burning eyes...
*******
Buffy awoke with a start, drenched in cold sweat. What was that? She knew she�d had a nightmare, not exactly a rare occurrence for a Slayer, but this had been different, primal somehow. She frowned, trying to remember the details, but it was no good. They were slipping out of her mind like sand from an hourglass, each grain of detail vanishing before she could catch it with her fingertips. There had been fire involved, she knew that. And... eyes? She thought harder, trying to remember something, anything, else.
There had been a creature, she realised. Something... ferocious and deadly. What had it looked like? She didn�t think she had got a good look at it, but she couldn�t be sure. All she remembered were eyes, and the feeling she had gotten when she saw them - one of pure terror. She shuddered.
*A drink of water�s all I need,* she thought decidedly. *I�m just all dehydratey. It was just some stupid thing my brain came up with. No big.*
She slipped her feet out from under the covers, and touched them down gently on the floor. That was when she realised something was wrong. Where there should have been soft, fluffy carpet, there was cold, hard earth. She pulled her feet back quickly, recoiling from the harshness of the floor, then reached out to turn her lamp on.
The lamp wasn�t there either. In fact, her bedside table wasn�t there. She reached out further, groping about, trying to find it. It just wasn�t there. She made one more stretch, thinking maybe for some reason it had been moved further out, lost her balance and tumbled to the floor with a shriek.
From somewhere up above her, she heard a voice. "Slayer? Are you alright?"
Buffy groaned. Now she knew where she was. She was at Spike�s. She�d forgotten all about that, what with the nightmare and all. Realising he was waiting for an answer, she yelled back, "I�m fine, Spike!"
Too late. He had decided to come investigate. She couldn�t see him, but she could sense his presence a few feet away. She was glad it was so dark. She really didn�t want Spike to see her in a heap on the floor.
"What the hell were you doing down there?"
*How did he know?* she thought glumly. Then she remembered. Vampires could see in the dark. Damn it!
"I fell out of bed," she eventually mumbled, blushing deeply as she scrambled to her feet.
"Well, luv, it was you who insisted you took the bed. If you wanted to sleep on the floor you should have said. That way I could�ve got some."
Buffy felt a strong desire to hit him, but it seemed like too much effort, so she settled for glaring at him instead. At least he wasn�t making fun of the fact she had fallen out of bed. Yet.
She felt it coming before he even opened his mouth; that snide comment which would cut deep, ridiculing everything she knew and making her feel so small and useless. She wasn�t going to give him a chance though. Before he could say anything, she stumbled over to him.
"You�re gonna have to show me the way out," she said. "I can�t see a thing and I don�t feel like sleeping any more." She grabbed his arm, and held onto it pointedly.
Spike sighed. To Buffy it sounded like a sigh of exasperation, but it was far from it. Buffy was standing so close to him it was unbelievable. He was in heaven. Trying to prolong the moment as much as possible, he took her the long way around, weaving past every object he could find as he led her to the ladder. Eventually, he had to stop.
"The ladder�s in front of your face, pet," he said, taking her hand and placing it firmly on one of the rungs. After a moment, she shakily started to climb it, and soon both Slayer and vampire were on the upper floor. That was when Spike noticed what she was wearing.
"Nice pyjamas, Slayer," he said cockily, looking her up and down. He didn�t know whether it was conscious or not, but she must have chosen to wear the sexiest pyjamas she owned. A tight purple tank top, which left little to the imagination, matched with a pair of teeny purple hot pants. Okay, so the large sheep on the front was sickeningly cute, but apart from that, it was definitely the best thing he�d ever seen her in.
Buffy blushed as she realised just what she was wearing. The terror of the nightmare, followed by the exasperation of waking up here, had made her forget to grab her bath robe in her rush to get out of the dark.
Trying to stay calm, and ignore the hungry look Spike was giving her, she said, "Spike, would you go down and get my bath robe for me?"
Spike was taken aback. Had she actually asked him to do it? Nicely?! All he ever got off her were orders and insults. It was nice being treated like a human being for once. He was tempted to do what she wanted, he really was. However... if he fetched that robe then she�d cover herself up and he�d have no further chance to watch her like this. He weighed up the two options. Please Buffy, or please himself. It was close, it really was, but he decided he�d rather satisfy himself.
"Sorry, luv, but I�m not going back down there again. Dawson�s Creek is about to start."
"Spike," she said slowly, as if talking to a very small child. "It�s two in the morning. It�s very unlikely Dawson�s Creek is on."
He marched over to the TV and grabbed a video from the side with a grin. "I have the boxset. At my crypt, it�s always on."
Buffy groaned as he settled himself in his chair. There was no way this night could possibly get any worse. She was powerless, stuck in Spike�s crypt for protection, she�d had the mother of all nightmares, she was absolutely frozen and now she was going to have to sit through four solid hours of teen soap opera.
Deciding she�d rather stay up here with Spike than go back into the dark tunnels below to have another nightmare, she grabbed Spike�s duster off the floor, wrapped it around herself for warmth, then wandered over to where he was sitting. Suddenly realising there wasn�t a free chair, she briefly considered sitting on the floor, before settling on the arm of the chair instead.
Spike jumped slightly as she sat down. He�d been half expecting her to storm off back to bed, but not only had she decided to stay, she was actually going to watch TV with him. What were the odds of that happening? Then he noticed that she was wearing his duster. He bit back a grin as he saw just how much too big it was for her, then said, "Why are you wearing my coat, luv?"
"Cold," she muttered back, digging herself further into the leather. This was even better than before. Now he�d have Buffy scent in his coat where ever he went. He couldn�t let Buffy know he was happy about this, though. He had to say something to convince her everything was normal.
"Well, I can think of a few things I could do to warm you up."
The innuendo was lost on Buffy, and she said innocently, "Yeah? Like what?"
"Well, if you don�t want to sleep on that bed, I�m certain we came come up with some other uses for it."
Buffy let out an indignant squeak. "You�re a pig, Spike."
Spike was shocked that he hadn�t ended up with a broken nose for that one, but then he remembered; Buffy didn�t have the strength to break his nose. He could say or do anything, and she wouldn�t be able to stop him. That knowledge gave him a feeling of great power. He wasn�t going to do anything to hurt her, but just knowing that he could made him feel happier than he should have liked.
*******
They had watched a couple of hours of TV before Buffy moved again. She hated to admit it, but she�d had what passed for fun with Spike the last few hours. She�d enjoyed sitting there, curled up in his duster, listening to him explain who everyone was and what was going on. Okay, so the show hadn�t been particularly good, but just listening to Spike�s voice had comforted her, calming her jumpy nerves and convincing her that that dream had just been a dream. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.
Now that she wasn�t worried, though, she was hyped. She had lots of pent up energy, and what she really needed was a good slay to get it all out. So what if she didn�t have her powers? She�d been doing this for nearly six years. She surely had enough technique now that she could beat a couple of vamps by herself. She�d just go out, kill something, get it out of her system, then come back and get some sleep before sunrise.
She got to her feet, and headed for the door. She was only halfway there when a strong arm grabbed her.
"Where are you going, pet?"
"I�m just going to patrol for a bit," she said matter of factly.
"In your pyjamas?"
Buffy had forgotten about that detail, but she tried to pretend she hadn�t. "So? I�m only going to do a quick sweep. No one�s going to see me."
"Your little Scooby Gang patrolled tonight," Spike pointed out.
"Yeah, but they�re bound to have missed at least one."
"You can�t go out," he said firmly. "You�re weak."
"You can�t stop me!"
"I can," he said, and with that he grabbed her around the waist and carried her kicking and screaming across the room. "You can�t go patrolling by yourself, in your pyjamas, without any power."
Carefully, he hoisted her down the ladder into the underground tunnels, lit a wall sconce, then unceremoniously plonked her down on the bed.
She tried to get up again, but he held her back down. "You want me to tie you up?" he asked, glancing towards the chains on the wall. "�Cause I gotta tell you, I got all the right stuff down here, and if you keep struggling, I might just use it."
Buffy stopped wriggling then, but pouted, kicking her legs on the bed. "It�s not fair. Why can�t I just go out?"
"Look, I know how you�re feeling, luv," Spike said carefully. "I�ve been through this myself, remember? You want to go out and have a good scrap, but you can�t. It�s frustrating, innit? But you can�t. Not �til you�re better at least. Then you can kill as many vamps as you want."
Buffy nodded slowly. "Okay," she said finally. "But if you make me watch that crap again you�ll be the first one I go after."
"Fine by me, luv," he replied with a grin.
*******
Willow poured over what seemed like the hundredth book that night, unsettling piles of dust as she turned the pages. How was it that they could have so many books, yet they only ever found what they wanted in the last one they picked up? She sighed, and continued scanning the pages, looking for anything that could help Buffy. She mentally ticked off the subject of each page as she went through, feeling sure soon she�d have found everything. Flower demons, hell hounds, specialised vampire breeding grounds, some guy called Igniato, musical demons... wait a minute. What was that last one?
"Guys!" she said excitedly. "Guys, I think I�ve found something!"
Everyone looked up, including Anya, who�d been not so discreetly snoring on Xander�s shoulder for the last half an hour.
"What is it, sweetie?" Tara asked.
"I found him! I found this Igniato guy!"
"Well, what does it say about him?"
"Well, for starters, he�s old."
"How old?"
"Way old. Like, beginning of time old."
Xander blanched. "So, I guess we�re gonna have a major fight on our hands to beat him."
"No!" Willow said excitedly. "Here�s the thing: he�s not some superpowerful demon guy. He was created by one of the Old Ones as a kind of minion. He had lots of power, but it was all borrowed from his master."
"Master? You mean we�re dealing with something else as well?"
"No. It says that here that Igniato was fascinated by power. He loved it, and wanted more than anything to have all the power in the world. He became so power-mad that his master it all away, leaving him with only fancy party tricks; shape shifting, telepathy, stuff which looks fancy, but isn�t all that useful. Apparently, this loss drove Igniato crazy, and he started helping other demons for a bit of their power. He couldn�t use the power, but he collected it, keeping it in jars to make him feel that he had all the power in the world at his fingertips."
"So, we�re safe to assume that he�s not actually using Buffy�s power, merely storing it," Giles said thoughtfully. "And if he�s as weak as you say he is, it should be easy to get it back. All we need to know is where he is and how to kill him."
"Woah there, British man," Xander said. "You may be ready to go running in, guns ablazing, but I�d rather find out what happened to this master guy."
"He vanished," Willow supplied, scanning the page for more information. "Assumedly, he was killed along with all the other Old Ones in the great battles. I think we�re safe to say he�s not going to be a problem."
*******
"It is done."
Igniato smiled. It had been easy to capture this demon, convince him to do the spell for him. He wished he could perform it himself, but it was not to be. He nodded at the demon, hoping he looked grateful.
"Thank you. You have no idea how helpful you�ve been."
The demon gave him a toothy grin. "Hey, anything to help bring down the Slayer!"
"Indeed." Before the demon knew what was happening, Igniato pulled a dagger out from behind him and stabbed it in the head. He was grateful for the spell, he really was, but it wouldn�t do to have him going out, telling everyone what was going on. That really wouldn�t do at all.
He cleaned the blade on the demon�s robe, then carefully pulled a glass bottle out of his bag, and held it to the wound. He felt a surge of power as the demon�s very essence slid into it, then screwed the lid tight. He didn�t have any of this particular energy, and it would go nicely with the rest of his collection. He pocketed it, then set off through the wood.
He sensed it before he saw it. He knew he was lurking out there, just out of sight. Then, he saw two eyes, red and orange like fire, burning from the shadows.
"Master," Igniato said as he approached the beast. "I have good news..."