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Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer isn’t my doing.

Author’s Note: This story takes place in season 5, right after ‘Out of Mind’. In this story, Dawn is there, but Glory hasn’t begun looking for her yet. Her mother’s sick, but they don’t know the cause. Buffy, of course, doesn’t know that Spike is in love with her, and Spike’s just found out himself. Big thank you to my beta, DreamsofSpike.
Life sucked.

Buffy the vampire slayer, older sister, responsible daughter, and college student, just couldn’t get over how very much life sucked sometimes – especially hers.

Her boyfriend had just been through a serious operation which he had barely survived, and already he was talking about coming out to patrol with her again. Her mother had also just recently become ill, and the Slayer was constantly worried about her. And to top it all off, there was her pain in the ass sister…

Not to mention the vampire that had been stalking her for the past half hour.

Buffy had just barely caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair while she was fighting a fledgling that had just risen a few minutes earlier. Now that she was heading to another graveyard, it became obvious that Spike’s intent was to follow her.

She didn’t have either the time or the patience for dealing with him tonight.

She moved smoothly behind a crypt, pretending to be headed in another direction. Instead, she hid beside the wall and pressed herself flat against it. When her Slayer tinglies told her that the vampire was just close enough, she reached around the wall of the crypt and grabbed hold of his leather coat, then yanked him behind the crypt and shoved him up against the wall.

“Spike.”

The fumbling, deer-in-the-headlights look was almost cute on him. He removed a cigarette from his mouth and tossed it down, crushing it on the ground under his boot. “Hi, Buffy,” he mumbled almost shyly.

“Spike, don’t take this the wrong way, but…” Without any further warning, she sent a fist sharply flying into his nose.

“Ow!” The crack was audible, and the vampire quickly covered his nose with a hand to keep it from bleeding.

“What are you doing here?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but Buffy impatiently interrupted him. “Five words or less.”

His eyes narrowed, his head cocked to the side as he raised a hand to count on his fingers. “Out…for…a…walk.” He held up his thumb as he decided to add an extra word that somehow seemed appropriate at the moment. “…bitch.”

“A walk…that just happens to be in every direction I go…for the last half hour? No one has time for this, William.”

Spike huffed a bit defensively, “On your merry way, then. You know, contrary to one’s self-involved world view, the cemeteries happen to be my place to wander. Besides…” He shrugged. “...follow the Slayer, never know when you might get some action…” His eyes suddenly widened at his own poor choice of words, and he blurted out a hasty correction. “Violence!”

Buffy blinked at him, unaccustomed to his nervous behavior.

“Violent…action…tha’s what I meant.”

“Uh huh…” Buffy narrowed her eyes suspiciously -- but then sighed, deciding to let it go for now. She was just so tired. “Fine. Keep going, I cut you a break.”

***********************************************************************

The voices ahead were leading them right to their target. Through the trees, just a small distance away, two blonde figures could clearly be seen. One was a slim blonde girl, dressed in simple blue jeans, boots, and a jean coat that covered the rest of her. The male couldn’t have been more than 5’9, or 5’10. His platinum blonde hair was slicked back, a long leather duster concealing most of his form.

“Is this what we’re looking for?” He turned to his companion, coming face to face with a leathery muzzle. Sharp scales folded back over pointed ears as the muzzle lifted to expose rows of pointed teeth. It sniffed at the air, then snarled menacingly towards the pair.

He smiled, then spoke to his companions behind him. “Release the net.”

**********************************************************************

The hairs on the back of Spike’s neck suddenly stood up. It was the only warning he had of approaching trouble. He peered around them, narrowing his eyes as he looked towards the forest. Hairs were standing up all over his body soon, his senses heightened with apprehension.

Buffy had noticed the sudden end of the argument -- not exactly by her choice. She frowned with annoyance as she watched the suddenly very distracted vampire. “What? What’s wrong?”

He turned to her suddenly, his eyes troubled. “Run.”

“Huh?”

“Slayer…run!” He shoved her hard away from the crypt, stumbling after her.

Before either of them could get far, they were shocked by a blinding white light. Spike covered his eyes with a cry of pain, and Buffy found herself suddenly lifted right off the ground by some unseen force. She struggled against whatever bound her arms to empty space, kicking and twisting, to no effect.

Squinting against the bright light, she could soon see that it was in the shape of a massive net that had enveloped the area all around the crypt they had been standing behind. It surrounded the area for many yards, touching the ground, and going all the way up to the tops of some trees. The only opening in the net was upward, but Buffy could find no purchase to climb toward it.

Spike was still standing on his own two feet, on the ground, trying his best to shield his over-sensitive eyes from the blinding light. He could just barely make out the shapes emerging from the trees.

The Slayer, her eyes having adjusted already, was having much better luck seeing those approaching. The first to emerge was a demon of leather brown skin, no taller than four feet. He waddled on short legs. His head was bald and looked like nothing but a shiny bone plate on top. The thick horns that jutted from his cheeks curled upwards, the points coming to rest behind his ears.

Behind the amusingly small demon were four much larger ones. They stood close to seven feet tall, their skin an ugly, bruised, purple color. Their bodies were muscular, and their broad faces looked swollen. They had no horns, but two extra arms to make up for their lack of weaponry.

Each of the four bruised-flesh looking demons was holding the leash to what looked like some kind of hell-beast. They were four legged creatures bigger than any dogs Buffy had ever seen, covered in scales, which grew gradually sharper and larger as they trailed down their backs. Short muzzles with raised lips showed rows of sharp, pointed teeth -- like sharks' teeth. Their eyes were yellow, glowing, like a vampire's.

“This is the one we’re looking for.” The short demon declared as he pointed towards Buffy.

“Well…” Buffy tried to shrug. “Right here. Could have just said hi.”

“Lookin’ for the Slayer?” Spike nodded, but still kept his eyes shielded from the intense light. “Right then, I’ll just be off…” *Gotta find the Slayer’s pals, can’t fight all of them at once when I can't even bloody see…’

The small demon scrutinized him while he tried to back off. “That one will stay.”

Before Spike could object, he was bound by the bright light that surrounded them, and found himself rising in the air, not far from the Slayer.

“He is an attractive specimen. He will earn us extra payment.”

Buffy’s eyes widened as she looked from Spike to the demons still on the ground. “Earn you…? Alright, I think you’d better explain exactly what you’re doing with us before the confused Slayer becomes the really pissed off Slayer.”

“The Haven Master has commissioned your capture.” The small demon said.

Buffy stared blankly. “The who and the what?”

The vampire beside her had gone rigid, swallowing hard – obviously more familiar with the term than Buffy was. “Haven…? Master of what Haven?”

The small thing smiled, exposing chipped and unpleasant looking teeth. “The Master of Dusk’s Haven.”

“Oh…bollocks.”





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