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.”

When Buffy woke up, it was still dark. All around her, desert stretched on for miles, as far as the eye could see. As she slowly came to, she realized that she was laid out on the back of a wagon – a very uncomfortable wagon that jostled and bumped every few seconds. On three sides, there was nothing but desert and moonlight.

On the remaining side – her left side – was Spike.

He was awake, and she knew without looking that he had noticed her waking up. When she looked at him, his deep blue eyes were already focused on her. He was tied up just the same way she was, wrists shackled behind his back, and ankles tied to the wagon itself with rope.

“My head hurts,” Buffy complained to him.

“Can imagine, pet,” he grinned. “That was some hit you took. Didn’t think they would be prepared if you decided not to come along quietly?”

“I’m not going to ‘come along’ at all,” Buffy retorted.

Sighing, the Slayer took in her surroundings, trying to formulate some kind of a plan. The rope would be easy enough to break. She also thought that she was flexible enough to loop her hands, shackles and all, under her feet and back around to the front of her body.

“Goin’ to attempt a daring escape, are we?” Spike observed, noting her thoughtful gaze, and the directions in which she cast it.

“Shhhh!” Buffy snapped in a loud whisper, casting a hasty glance at the driver, one of the four-armed demons. “Want to blow it already?”

The Vampire shrugged. “Vailask demons, Slayer. They don’t exactly have the best of hearing. It’s that little runt and those hell-hound lookin’ things you need to watch out for, but the midget’s in the cart ahead, and the hounds are pullin’ the wagons. Still, even so, we’re a good bit outnumbered.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Buffy demanded. “That we just stay here and let them take us wherever they feel like taking us?”

“Bugger that,” Spike agreed. “This is bloody well going to be our only chance to escape. I’m just lettin’ you know what the odds are.”

Buffy narrowed her eyes. “You actually knew what they were talking about back there…and that means that you know more than you’re saying about what’s happening now. Do you know this Haven Master, Spike?”

He shook his head. “No, never met the bloke. Angelus has, though. I’ve just been to the Haven once or twice, with Dru. She and Angelus loved those sorts of places.”

She looked at him blankly, though an uneasy feeling was beginning to build in the pit of her stomach. “What sorts of places?”

He sighed, trying to summon enough patience to deal with the impossibly clueless Slayer. “Brothels, Slayer. In the demon world, “haven” is like a code name for whore house.”

Her green eyes grew wide with disbelief, her mouth dropping open in shock. If they had been in slightly different circumstances, Spike might have found it adorable.

“Then…why would they want…?”

“We’re being sold as slaves, Slayer.”

The stricken look on her face almost made Spike feel guilty for stating the obvious so bluntly.

“Ok,” she breathed after taking a moment to recover from the alarming news. “That’s definitely of the ‘not happening’.”

“Well then,” he shrugged, “by all means, Slayer, if you’ve got any ideas…”

Buffy sighed, trying to think through their position as clearly as she could. “Ok, say they do get us into this Haven place…what do you think the chances are that the others can find us – do some kind of a location spell, or something?”

The Vampire snorted. “They can do whatever soddin’ spell they like, it’s not going to work. The Haven’s got a slew of sorcerers of their own, and enough magic in place to be sure that an individual slave can’t be located inside its walls. The Haven itself can be located, but how would your chums know to look for you there? Not to mention, it’s constantly moving. The place is famous, and its fame sure as bloody hell didn’t rise in Southern California.”

“So, in other words…we’re completely on our own.”

He nodded in agreement. “Completely.”

They sighed in unison, thoroughly frustrated.

Buffy spared another glance at their driver, then back at Spike again. “You said they can’t hear well, right?”

He nodded.

“Well, ok…it’s easy, then. We just break the rope, and make a run for it.” Despite their captors’ hearing impairment, the Slayer still whispered her plan. “We’ll sneak off the wagon, not make too much noise…find a place where we can hide, or at least fight better…and we’re home free.” She shrugged.

Spike raised an eyebrow at her speculatively. “I don’t think it’s going to be that simple, luv.”

Shrugging carelessly, deliberately ignoring Spike’s warning, the Slayer used her chained hands to get a good grip on the rope that tied her ankles to a metal ring on the wagon floor. She tugged hard, groaning and gritting her teeth, before the coarse rope finally snapped. She held her breath for a long, terrifying moment, looking up at the driver…and then breathing a sigh of relief when he did not turn around.

“Got a bad feeling about this, Slayer…”

“Yeah, well, you can let your bad feeling keep you here so you can be a slave in a demon whore house. *I* am getting out of here. You can take care of your own rope – if you’re coming at all.”

Without another word, she brought her knees up to her chin, rolling onto her side in a little ball, small enough to work her feet, then her legs between her back and her wrists, slipping them through the chains, so that her hands were brought around to the front of her body, where she could actually use them a little.

“Huh…flexible.” Spike noted.

“Well, duh. Now come on.” Trying to make sure her chains didn’t scrape against the wood floor of the wagon, Buffy scooted to the back edge on her knees. She then swung around, dropping down to the dirt ground silently, going into a crouch as she watched the wagon continue on its way down the trail.

Without waiting for the vampire still chained on the wagon, she turned and ran back the way they had come from.

The wagon lurched. Spike’s gaze shot to the front, but he was unable to see very well what was going on.

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

One of the hell hounds had heard the sound of Buffy’s soft, retreating footsteps. It turned its muzzled head sharply, baring rows of fangs in a loud snarl. The beast beside it tried to continue is journey, but gave up when it realized that its companion was not going to join it.

The four-armed driver yanked at the reins as it finally followed the beast’s gaze, to see the blonde slayer running across the desert. Sighing, it dropped down from its perch, looking bored as he released the hound that had heard the Slayer run. Free from its reins, it immediately took off in pursuit of the fleeing slave.

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

Spike saw the blur of wicked scales and spines on four legs, heading straight for the Slayer. “Bollocks!”

Grabbing the rope binding his own ankles, he gave a quick yank. He didn’t bother looking for the four-armed guards before leaping from the wagon and taking off after them both. His gait was awkward, with his wrists still bound behind his back. Taking in a deep breath, he shouted after Buffy, “Slayer, behind you!”

Freezing in surprise and supreme irritation, Buffy whirled around to tell Spike off for shouting, and possibly drawing the attention of their captors to their ‘escape’. Her eyes widened as she saw the hellish beast barreling toward her.

“Oh…that’s -- *shit*!” She immediately turned back around, running as fast as her legs could carry her, her eyes desperately scanning her surrounding for something that she could use as a weapon, or some place that she could squeeze into and hide, where the beast could not follow.

But it was gaining on her fast, each pace of its powerful legs matching at least three of her running strides.

Spike employed all of his vampire speed in running after them, and though it was a struggle, bound as he was – he was actually gaining on them.

The monster was only feet behind her now – and Buffy was beginning to realize that she could not run much farther. She had no choice but to turn and fight, or she’d be food for the giant Fido. She twisted suddenly, ducking down onto the ground, so that the creature barreled right over her. As it did, she kicked up hard into its gut, sending it flying over her head and landing on its side. It recovered quickly, rolling back onto its feet, then crouched and snarled at her from a few feet away.

Buffy climbed hastily back to her feet, then took as good a swing as she could at the thing with her bound hands. Her doubled fist hit the beast’s face, the skin of her knuckles scraped badly by its hard scales.

Its head jerked to the side, but it seemed barely disturbed by the blow, turning on her again to expose its fangs, as if in challenge.

Buffy glanced down at her scraped knuckles. “Owww…”

She struck out with a foot this time, turning and kicking hard, straight for its face. The creature opened its jaws and caught her boot in its mouth, then clamped down hard and jerked its head sharply, dragging her to the ground before crawling over on top of her. Buffy’s eyes widened in fear as she tried to keep its jaws away from her throat. It snapped hard, nearly taking one of her fingers off. She held its jaws away from her face with all her remaining strength, but still it forced itself forward, getting closer and closer…

But Spike had finally caught up with them.

He skidded to a stop just feet from the beast and the Slayer underneath. He tried to think of something he could do that could help, but his hands were useless while chained behind his back. The thing’s fangs were inches from the Slayer’s neck – it was about to take a fatal bite out of her…

Sighing and rolling his eyes, Spike took a split second to reflect on just what lengths he’d go to for…*shiver*…his love for the Slayer. His face shifted, fangs descending and eye ridges emerging, as he suddenly gave his shoulder a hard jerk, popping it right out of place, then raising his arms above his head, and bringing his chained hands down in front of him.

He lunged at the creature with a roar, landing partially on its back and using the chains binding him to wrap around its neck and pull it hard away from the Slayer.

To his surprise, the creature didn’t struggle to return to the Slayer’s throat. It turned and ran in the other direction, leaving Spike to fall half way onto its body… *Ouch! Bloody spines!*…with his legs being dragged through the dirt and rocks. The hound twisted and turned, nearly sending the vampire on its back flying several times. Finally, it bucked one last time, then tumbled onto its side, landing hard on the vampire.

Buffy struggled to her knees on the ground, breathing heavily as she tried to recover from her fright. She stared in bewilderment at the vampire who had come to her rescue, barely able to believe that he had done it.

And -- *why*?

Unfortunately, she was so busy staring, that she hadn’t noticed the bruise-purple demons that had surrounded them again, until it was too late. She looked up sharply, trying to get to her feet to defend herself – but before she could, the staff in one’s hand came out of nowhere, slamming straight into Buffy’s face and sending her plunging into darkness.

Buffy wasn’t the least bit surprised by the fact that she woke up on the ground. What *did* surprise her was how unexpectedly smooth and cool the ground felt under her cheek. There were no bits of dirt sticking to her face, and she was pretty sure that she wasn’t lying on any small rocks or pebbles. However, upon opening her eyes, she discovered that she *was* in fact lying on a big rock – a stone floor, to be exact.

The next thing she noticed was how badly her head ached. Buffy groaned as she forced herself to sit up, and winced as she brushed her fingertips against a tender and swollen spot on her temple. That was about the time that she noticed that the chains that had bound her wrists had been removed at some point.

As her head cleared, Buffy began to take stock of herself, and her unfamiliar surroundings. Much to her relief, she found that she was still fully clothed – except for her boots and socks, which strangely seemed to be missing. She was in a plain room with a simple stone floor, bare stone walls, and a thick wooden door.

The Slayer then realized she wasn’t alone.

The one in the room with her had a human-looking face, with very handsome features – almost noble, in fact. His long, straight black hair was tied neatly at the base of his neck. The only things that gave away his true nature were the wickedly curved horns at each temple, and the patches of his skin that looked almost gray.

Then, there were also those haunting silver eyes…

His clothes were simple, but appeared to be fine and expensive. He wore brown leather pants, and a silk shirt. His heavy boots announced his movements as he began to slowly approach the Slayer.

Buffy struggled to her feet, swaying dizzily in her momentary hurry. She shook her head to clear it, and straightened, preparing herself to meet a possible threat.

“Welcome to Dusk’s Haven,” he spoke at last, small fangs exposed by his slight grin. “I am the Haven Master – and I am *your* Master.”

The Slayer blinked at him, staring incredulously. “Huh?”

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

Spike hurt.

The reality of pain became obvious to the vampire the moment he regained consciousness. The last thing he remembered was being crushed under the weight of a snarling, spiny beast. Looking down at himself, he could see his torn shirt and the small spots of blood where the creature’s scales had cut into him.

His shoulder also hurt like a bitch.

Groaning, he had just managed to sit up – when two small, feminine but clawed hands were suddenly on the arm he couldn’t move. Without warning, the stranger gave a hard shove, popping his shoulder back into the joint audibly – though the noise was drowned out by Spike’s howl of pain.

He grabbed his shoulder, and fell back hard onto his back. Gritting his teeth, he waited for the pain to pass. Breathing in hard gasps, he finally glanced up at the female demon standing over him.

Her skin looked as soft as a human’s, but it was a dark gray, almost blue color. Her eyes were pitch black, and a thin, dangerous looking tail moved back and forth just within Spike’s line of vision.

“Ta, love. But, you know, I could have done that myself.”

“Rise, slave.” She spoke in a clipped, no-nonsense tone.

Spike narrowed his eyes, but rolled and climbed to his feet anyway, as he informed her, “’M no one’s slave.”

“That has changed,” she remarked coolly. “You are now the property of the Haven.”

His eyes widened as he took in the sight of the small, all stone room he was locked in. He quickly saw that the female stood between him and that wooden door, which could lead to his freedom – or to his death.

Then, it suddenly occurred to him that he and the female were alone.

His eyes flashed golden, and he growled low in his throat as he demanded, “Where’s the Slayer?”

The female demon raised a fine eyebrow at his question. “The other slaves are not your concern.”

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

“So, why’d you take my shoes off? Did you want them for yourself? I mean, I know they’re totally fine, but my boots are probably going to clash with this whole old-world pirate thing you’ve got going here.”

“Slaves do not require shoes,” the Haven Master explained. “Nor do they require clothing. That will also be removed from you shortly.”

Her eyes became green flames of deadly rage. “I’d *really* like to see you try. And another thing, it’s not slave, it’s ‘Slayer’.”

His smirk was infuriating. “Those two things can be one and the same. I owned another Slayer, eighteen years ago. She was broken and trained to be one of my finest.”

Buffy thought she might burn alive if she got any angrier. “You’re going to regret telling me that,” she informed him quietly.

He sighed, and smiled at her with mock-patience. “Make this easier on yourself than she did. Strip now, and kneel – and this whole process will be so much less painful for you.”

She clenched her hands into hard fists, knuckles turning white and hands nearly shaking. “The *only* chance you would have had with me was when I was unconscious.”

“Pity.” The Haven Master made his way towards the door, and for a moment looked as if he was going to leave the room. Instead, he raised a fist and knocked hard on the heavy wooden door.

Barely a few seconds passed before it swung open. Before Buffy could attempt to sprint towards it, five mostly human-looking, brown skinned demons had stepped into the room, followed by two vampires. All of them spread out across the room, surrounding the Slayer, while the door was shut again, preventing her escape.

“Yay, more to slay.” Buffy tried not to show the fear that was swiftly building inside her. Each of them was looking at her impassively. They didn’t even bother to sneer or look her up and down. Their uncaring attitudes and lack of any fear at all was starting to unnerve her. “Alright, who’s first?”

A vampire stepped forward without fear or hesitation. He looked down at her calmly, as if just waiting to be slain. Buffy shrugged, then sent a fist smashing into his jaw.

The pain was immediate. A brief shock was sent throughout her entire body, making her limbs tremble with it. Her eyes were wide as she looked down at herself, then reached a hand up to discover something that she hadn’t noticed before.

She was wearing a collar.

There was a silver *collar* around her neck!

When she immediately tried to jerk it off, it sent another painful jolt through her body. She struggled with it anyway, and soon found that despite her strength, she could not make it budge.

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

Spike tried circling around his female captor to get closer to the door, but she moved with him, refusing to allow him to gain any ground. In her hand she held a thick, wicked looking cane, tapping it slightly into her other hand, as if she was just itching to strike him with it.

“Accept your fate,” she said. “Strip, get on your knees, and obey every order. If you do as we say, there will be less pain.”

He gave a wicked leer and curled his tongue behind his teeth. “Got no problem with the stripping, luv... it’s the obeying every order I’ve never been good at.

“I offer you only one more chance to obey.”

“Or what?”

The cane rose swiftly. While Spike prepared himself for a blow, he was surprised to see her banging on the wooden door behind her with the cane instead. There were three strikes on the wood, before the door opened…and two female vampires, and three more demons of his captor’s species entered the room. The door was then closed, and the sound of the bolt sliding into place could be heard from the other side.

All of the females were naked.

Spike found himself getting instantly aroused, his cock rising and pressing hard against his tight jeans in approval.

“Well…this is just gettin’ better and better.”

“Strip,” the leader commanded again. “Or we will strip you.”

He tried to hold back a groan. “Promise?”

Despite his arousal, Spike was beginning to get nervous. Besides the leader, each of the females was carrying a knife. He was sure that he could take them, but wasn’t looking forward to being forced to play the slave if he couldn’t.

Three of the females moved forward immediately, one lunging with her knife. Spike grabbed her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back at a painful angle – and then cried out in surprise as a jolt of pain traveled all through his body.

He immediately released the female and shoved her forward, causing another, slightly lesser jolt of pain. His eyes widened, and he shook his head in denial of what had just happened. He immediately thought of the chip; had it suddenly started working on demons? Could he kill absolutely *nothing* now?

“No…no…no…” He raised a hand to his head, but then realized that his head wasn’t ringing with the same aching pain that usually filled his skull after the chip had activated. Frowning, he ran a hand over his body – and soon discovered the collar around his neck.

“You’ve gotta be bloody kidding me.”