Riley really is soul-less, his death wish toward Buffy and Annie is evil, whatever love he ever held for Buffy has turned poisonous reminiscent of Angelus. Obviously Spike leads but does not really trust anyone - Riley he can control, the others he can subjugate or toss them out on their ear outside of their facility. It speaks volumes when he cannot leave Annie alone in the Initiative headquarters. I do have a question though. Vampires seem to be a dominant species where claiming and possessing becomes territorial as per vampire laws. Do the other-worldly demons recognize and abide by those rules? Spike could always bite Annie and mark her as his so that Riley and other vampire can see that she is protected. But, as traumatizing as that may be to a child, Annie is now in a hell where her innocence is quickly dissolving. Just the mere fact that Spike taught her to kill a vampire is a lesson she must learn and I have to love how he had her taze Riley for the near death threat via botulism. Poor Annie, she has made a mistake and now she must quickly learn to “grow-up” and survive through guile and stealth. Her vampire sister could easily fit in this world, now it seems that Annie is going through her own rite of passage into a harsh world where innocents get preyed upon and if lucky killed painlessly. Your muse really needs to be tazed for placing Annie in harm’s way.

Author's Response: Hi Vette! Oh, that's an excellent question about the 'claiming' with the scars. I'm gonna have to go with saying the Reds aren't abiding by any of those rules, since Buffy had Spike's scar the whole time and it didn't stop them from trying to kill her. I'm thinking also that soul-less Riley is gonna care less and less about following any rules - very much like Angelus, as you said. You may want to do more than TAZE my handsome, evil muse before the story is over (the angst has not yet started) ... {{eeek!!}} Thanks for always insightful and entertaining reviews!