I hope Xander gets stopped soon. He's starting to piss me off. Continue on with the saga! I love it!

Looking forward to reading more

Nice progress. Was hoping things had moved forward somewhat. Buffy has clearly been removed from the plan-making committee and quite frankly, I think it would be best to keep Angel as far away from her as possible. Anya's been shot while Spike's gone, injured and in the hands of a madman - yeah, I don't think any verbal lashing any of the scoobies could possibly give her from this point on will be as harsh as her own guilt and the damage to Spike's trust.

Of course in true Buffy fashion, as luck would have it, Spike will get his rocks back by taking Xander out himself I guess but the same could have been accomplished with far less injury to Spike had Buffy been willingly to listen to him and others.

What I'm having trouble understanding though is how is it that Spike's vamp isn't coming forward on instinct? I could understand in the beginning because he didn't remember being a vamp but now he supposedly should remember that. I'm not exactly expecting him to jump into the fray like before but I would imagine that his demon would have surfaced after being injured repeatedly. That would seem like a natural defense that Spike would almost have no control over now that he "reawakened" his demon with Angel's blood. It just seems odd that during all of that, not to mention the struggle for the gun, that his demon would remain dormant.

I hope Spike saves himself! Update soon please!

I'm out for this one too. I do look forward to your next story though, to see if it's more to my taste. But with this one, I can already imagine the next 10 chapters involving Buffy having to grovel before Angel and Dawn because somehow she's the only one who wasn't concerned with Spike's safety, which I just couldn't buy in the first place. Oh, and then I'm betting she'll have to regain Spike's trust again because she's such a monster. I like your writing, but it's so hard reading about how Buffy's always wrong, always the selfish one, and always the one who needs to learn, while Dawn, Tara, Angel (and even Anya this time???) are so much more sensitive and caring. It's always hard getting through the chapters where you have Buffy confess to Dawn everything that happened between her and Spike, so Dawn can be angry at her. But now it seems like since that's past, they need something new to be upset with her about, hence this plot where Buffy's the only one who decides it's a good idea to put Spike in danger.

Author's Response: well, it never pays to assume you know where a fic is going, and buffy's not a monster, but she *does* have her flaws, selfishness tending to be one of them....and when it comes to spike, she always seemed to be hardened to him, where dawn, tara, anya, never were... quit now if you choose to, but the story is mine and i will complete the path i've taken it down so far...

Oh.. Xander talked too much; he kind of confessed to have shoot Spike.
Grrr.. now Xander escaped with Spike, oh no.... When Spike doesn't know that the chip doesn't work, will he try to defend himself then? Till next chapter!

This story is so tense, but I don't understand why they had to go through the charade of setting Xander up, after all everyone knows it was him and even Spike admitted it, so why did Buffy choose to put him through the torture. And even though Spike might realise his chip isn't working is he strong enough to overcome Xander because he wasn't in the bedroom

Author's Response: well, in the fight, spike wasn't necessarily not as strong as xander...xander just managed to play on a specific weakness...physically, spike is probably actually stronger at this point....and buffy jsut couldn't accept that her friend had gone bad without seeing it for herself.... :(

I'm sorry, luv, but I can't read any more. I, and many others, love Spike and at the beginning of this fic his healing process was our main concern. Good grief, you even made me love Angel and that is almost an impossibility.

Now, his constant torture and Buffy's total stupidness at her attempt to get positive proof have made me hate her. I wish you all the best with the fic, and sincerely hope for a happy ending. I will probably come back in at the end to see how it plays out as you are a fantastic writer.

Gillypod

Author's Response: sorry that you feel that way, but i do feel like there are reasons and explanations for all of the reactions and actions of the characters, including buffy's reluctance to accept that the man who's been like a brother to her and saved her life at least once, and the world at least once, could be so evil.... and we're just getting to the climax of the tale, where spike must get his *own* vengeance, in order to ever be what he once was.... but if you feel that you can read no further, do as you choose....

Oh my, first when I noticed the door being closed I thought Anya could get in.. that's indeed very bad. Can she use the window? And Xander is trying to kill him now. That plan has indeed gone wrong.

And I forgot to say that Buffy isn't bad in this story. She just made a mistake. A mistake that may cause her Spike trust for a while. But sometimes that happens.

I have given authors trouble about a lot of stuff. But you got to give them credit for writing such wonderful Spuffy stories. And keeping spuffy alive. There are stories that I don't agree on certain parts and that is okay. But authors write what comes to them.

I have never read a story like this before. And I have a read a lot. So this is one of my favorites. Keep up the great work.

Author's Response: thanx so very much :)

DreamsofSpike: thank you for the response.

To be honest, maybe I'm biased by reading "Blood Bound" just before this one, which definitely had the Dawn & Anya. But looking back at some of your other fics - such as "Belonging" and "Trusting You" - it seems there's a definite theme, not just of vulnerable/wounded Spike, but of a Buffy who is thoughtlessly cruel and needs to learn a "lesson" of some kind. As I said, I don't think Buffy was perfect, but there's a danger of making Spike look like a total innocent in comparison to her, which he definitely wasn't.

Just my two cents, of course. I do enjoy you stories, and I'll definitely keep reading! Good luck with the writing.

Well I'll have to admit that gar does have a point in that the story is somewhat predictable, at least so far. It was pretty obvious that the plan wouldn't work and so there weren't any major plot surprises once the villain was revealed but I don't have a huge issue with that. It's Spuffy so we can assume there'll be a somewhat happy ending but how much more you plan to write after Spike's rescue remains to be seen. You can probably draw quite a bit from the devastation Buffy's mistake has now cost and how Xander will be dealt with, especially if Xander somehow miraculously escapes. Where you take it from here and how you choose to mend Buffy and Spike's relationship is limitless. Of course it's your story so I'm just sounding off here.


As to some of the points raised by other reviewers, certainly, it would be nice to see some variation in the chapters rather than Spike cowering in a corner and ending with the usual cliffhanger but then we are still in the middle of the action so I suppose that is the effect you're going after. I personally don't have an issue with it, if it's what you feel is right for the story - go with it. While it's good to challenge yourself only you can know how you want to bring your story across. I've only read one of your other stories (Lying Eyes) I don't feel that fell into the same pattern but it's been a while so others may disagree. Anyway, not to rush you but I hope we can move beyond this scene with Xander soon though and on to the next stage of the fic because I'd really like to see Spike begin to step into his own more. This weak Spike is starting to get a bit overdone.

GREAT STORY, CAN'T WAIT FOR ZANDER TO GET WHAT'S COMING TO HIM, ALSO CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HOW BUFFY IS GOING TO MAKE THIS UP TO SPIKE! MAYBE THE NEXT STORY YOU WRITE CAN HAVE BUFFY BE THE VICTIM AND SPIKE BE THE STRONG RESCUER! OR WHATEVER I LOVE ALL YOUR STORIES. THANKS