He tapped his fingers as he waited impatiently in the moonlight for the light in the penthouse apartment to dim. As he drummed away against the rough denim fabric of his black jeans he mentally prepped himself for the act that was about to occur and readjusted his long leather coat around him to ward from the non-existent chill. From his position leaning against a light pole, he could see that the doorman still wasn’t completely out yet from his nightly television shows so again he gazed into the blackened window of the top floor and pondered how it should have been.

As the man’s head nodded off and finally fell back against the chair, he made his move and carefully stalked up to the double doors, making very little sound. Standing behind the prone man he debated whether to slit his throat or go in for the kill. Mere seconds had his victim’s eye bulging from their sockets as he plunged his fangs into the older man’s neck, sucking and pulling at the blood he found there. Dropping his victim to the floor, he sauntered to the elevator and waited for the tell-tale ding before lounging against the side wall as he waited for it to arrive at the top floor, careful to keep his head down at all times to avoid the cameras. As he waited, he occupied himself by humming an old tune his mother used to sing him when he was a child.

Early one morning, just as the sun was rising
I heard a maid sing in the valley below
"Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use, a poor maiden so?"
Remember the vows that you made to me truly
Remember how tenderly you nestled close to me

With little preamble, he unlocked the door with his own key and calmly walked into the back bedroom where he knew she would be waiting for him. As he had predicted there she was in ivory lace and a smile as she laid back against the pillows on the bed. Her hand sprawled across her belly as she beckoned him to her. Clothes were stripped from his body as he made his way to the bed and crawled up the length of her to settle between her hips.

Twenty-seven hours and eleven minutes later…

Lieutenant Eddie Taylor made his way up the backstairs of the apartment building as he mentally braced himself for the scene he was about to embark on. He had already seen the body of the first victim, Charlie Marshall, propped in the squeaky office chair and drained of his blood before being hauled away for an autopsy. In the small town of Sunnydale, there had been four other murders like his this month alone and it didn’t bode well for the young cop that the spree would be over with.

As he reached the top of the stairs and turned into the apartment crawling with some of Sunnydale’s best cops he noticed two things. The first being that for a crime scene the rooms were remarkably clean and the second was that he had yet to find his partner. He moved swiftly from room to room until he came upon the master bedroom and the dead bloodied body of Margaret Adamson.

Laying as straight as a board on the bed with the pillows propping her head up, she looked as though she might have been sleeping if not for the knife wounds to the chest and punctures on the side of her throat. The normally ivory sheets were stained red with her blood and a single white rose lay nestled in her crossed arms with the very tips of the petals tickling her chin. Next to the bed lay a thick rope, knotted into a noose, and a bottle of bleach. Looking back over the body, Eddie found there were burned patches of flesh dotted along her thighs and over her…

“What are you thinking about Ed?” Andrea Tate, Detective with the Sunnydale police department for seven years, stood up from her place inspecting under the bed as she gazed at her slack-jawed partner.

Anything he was going to say was interrupted by the appearance of a wiry little man in the doorway to the bedroom.
“MARGARET! Oh my dear Margaret! What has that bastard done to you?” The petite brunette man crumbled in the doorway in tears as the officers rushed to usher him out of the room. The tears in his eyes doing nothing to block the gruesome scene before him from his memory.

“Sir, you have to leave. You can’t be in here. We haven’t processed this room yet sir.” Andrea led the screeching man from the apartment and in the hallway as Eddie stood glancing between them and the dead woman, unsure of where to start in the bloodstained room.

Deciding there was nothing he could do about the body, he set out to find clues to the poor woman’s killer in the room around him. Donning a pair of latex gloves he grazed his index finger over a picture of the victim sitting with a handsome older gentleman in the park. They were embraced like an old married couple yet he saw nothing in the room nor on the victim to suggest that she was still married. Continuing through the room, Eddie found nothing out of the ordinary except a rolled up life-like drawing of the victim, drawn when she’d been sleeping if he guessed correctly. The artist had taken great lengths to draw her at peace and was dated the 5th of October, her death day.

Out in the hall Andrea was having no luck calming the effeminate man down as he continued to sob in her arms, thrashing against her in an attempt to reach his ‘poor Margaret’.

“Sir, can you talk to me?” Andrea waited semi-patiently as she resisted the urge to throw the little man off of her and step back away from the close contact. “What’s your name?”

“J-Jack Fletcher, ma’am. I was Margaret’s assistant. H-how could he murder her like that? It was him, wasn’t it?” His bright blue eyes drowned in tears as he tried to meet her hardened gaze. Years of working with victim’s families had given her the hard edge needed to deal with the pressure of crying men.

“Andrea,” Eddie stepped out of the apartment into the hallway and had to stifle back a chuckle at seeing his normally callous partner holding the weeping man. “Need to talk to you for a minute.”

Untangling herself from Jack, she made a quick getaway to Eddie’s side, eager to be away from the hugging and little bit of groping the tiny man had done.

“We need help. This is the fourth one this year and we’re no closer to solving this thing than we were then. I think we need to contact Summers.”

“Summers? As in Buffy Summers? As in your ex-girlfriend Buffy Summers?” Andrea’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head at her partner’s statement.

“Yeah. She knows about vampires and I’m thinking that’s why we can’t get a lead on this guy. That and the puncture wounds to the victims neck. We need Buffy.” Eddie shrugged and ran his hand through his slightly tousled dark hair before straightening his suit jacket.

“I’ll admit that we probably would be better having your creepy ex helping us but just admit it…”

“Admit what?” His crystalline blue eyes met her own brown ones in confusion.

“You are still completely and totally in love with her.”

“Well yeah but we’re not meant to be. She’s still pining away for that vampire…”

“Summers Incorporated, how may I help you?” Dawn leaned against the wall as she carefully recited the greeting while her sister looked on from the kitchen.

“Dawn?”

“Uh-huh, who’s this?” Dawn glared at her sister over the half-wall separating them as she continued to flip through a magazine, not paying attention to the caller.

“This is Eddie…”

“BUFFY! Phone’s for you…it’s your secret lover…” Dawn squealed as the slayer tackled her from behind and grabbed at the phone, hopeful that the client hadn’t heard her sister’s last comment.

“Buffy Summers, what can I help you with?” She leaned against the same wall Dawn had just vacated as the low timbre of a voice she hadn’t heard for awhile came over the line. “Yeah, I can meet you then. Bye Eddie.” With an annoyed look, she placed the phone back on the cradle and turned towards her grown sister. “You could have mentioned it was Eddie on the phone, you know.”

“But I did. Told you it was your secret lover or rather he wasn’t much of a secret and seriously you two couldn’t have kept it down any more. Geez, it was like living with a bunch of gorillas. ‘EDDIE!!! Harder!!!…BUFFY!!! Grunt, grunt. It’s a wonder I got any sleep at all…so what did he want?”

“You know the more you make fun of my relationships, the more fuel I have when you start bringing dates home and he wants to meet…”

“For a little under the sheets boom-boom…rattle the rugs…”

“Eddie’s got six corpses with itty bitty little holes in their necks and needs the help of a slayer. Besides, he knows I’m not over Spike, never was.” Her eyes glazed over slightly as the image of her bleached blonde pesky vampire came to mind.

“Right so while Spike is living it up in L.A with what’s-her-face, you’re going to be looking at dead bodies with your former chess buddy?” Dawn smirked at the reference to the Buffy-bot of days past and couldn’t help noticing the grin on her sister’s face that hadn’t made an appearance in quite awhile.

“Chess buddy? Is that what you thought we were doing? We really need to get you a boyfriend, sister. C’mon, I want you to come with us. See if you can spot anything the great Sunnydale police idiots missed.” Buffy moved to grab her coat and hand Dawn hers as she passed a life-like drawing of Spike in the hallway.

“So you mean like another body left in the middle of the hallway? Or the killer standing outside the building wearing a little sign that says ‘killer, stop me before I stop myself’?”

“Either, neither. Let’s just go, ok? I want to get this over as quickly as possible.” She grabbed the keys to her brand-new Mercedes, a gift from the former Watcher’s Council they knew nothing about, and trudged to the front door, locking it behind them.

1432 Romart Circle, Sunnydale, California…6th of October, 2005

Eddie Taylor stood outside of the apartment building, crime scene, as he waited for the perky little blonde to show up. Andrea had elected to stay inside the building, far away from Jack, and monitor the evidence collection from within. Sitting down on a nearby park bench, he waited and surveyed the area around him. In the normally well-lit neighborhood there were several areas the killer could have stayed, hidden by the shadows. One such area was a broken street lamp with glass shards surrounding it from a car accident that had never been properly cleaned up. Eddie followed the line from the pole to the apartment building and found that it had a close to perfect view of the uppermost rooms and a clear view of the doorman. It could have been where the killer had stayed while waiting for his target. Before he could ponder anymore a sporty little 2-door pulled up alongside him and the Summers sister’s emerged from it.

“Your parking has certainly improved.” Eddie grinned at the pair as the one rolled her eyes and the other looked positively delighted to mock the other.

“Unfortunately her driving has gotten worse. You would think the insurance company would think twice about insuring such a crappy driver on such a nice car.” Dawn looked longingly at the sleek black machine as her sister fumbled with the lock button on her keys.

As Buffy smiled sheepishly from the drivers side of the car, Eddie could feel his heart constrict at the sight of her. Striding over, he kissed the side of her mouth and escorted the sisters past the armed officers and upstairs to where Margaret Adamson’s body still lay under a white sheet.

“How many freaking stairs are there?” Dawn shuffled behind the oblivious couple in front of her as she huffed her way up the thirteen flights of stairs.

“Shouldn’t you be in shape for this after all the times you followed me out on patrol when you were supposed to be doing your homework?” The barely winded slayer looked back at the scowling brunette and laughed.

“I still graduated, didn’t I? And besides, at least I didn’t blow up the school when I left…you always had to have an elaborate exit.”

“Hey, that wasn’t my choice to blow up the school. I blame Mayor Wilkins for that one.”

“You blew up the school? The case that has been bothering the captain for years and you did it? Oh geez, I don’t want to know anymore. Wouldn’t look very good for me to arrest my girlfriend…” Eddie continued to lead them up the stairs towards the top of the building as he shook his head in disbelief.

“At least it wasn’t a rocket launcher that time!”

“You blew something up with a rocket launcher?” Eddie hung his head as he led them through to the apartment.

“Uh-huh, remember I told you after my boyfriend went evil. He tried to take out humanity with the blue guy, The Judge, and I took him out with a rocket launcher that Xander stole from the military…” Buffy continued to ramble much to the disbelief of the officers around them.

“Buffy, I beg you to stop now before one of them arrests you for something…the body is in here.” As they passed officer upon officer, they finally found their way to the back bedroom, which for all it’s yellow tape was still covered in blood. Dawn gasped at the sight of the blood spattered across the back wall as she took in the white-covered form on the bed, still propped up slightly so the tips of the victim’s hair showed beyond the sheet.

“You alright there Dawnie?” Eddie watched the younger sister carefully as the eldest took a deep breath and began surveying the scene.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just wasn’t expecting all the blood I guess. I don’t know, it seems like kind of a waste if it was a vampire that killed her, doesn’t it?”

“Not all vampires are in it for the blood. Some are in it for the kill…makes their blood rush like any other killer. This guy…he’s organized and I think he knew her…didn’t you say you found a music box in the other room?” Buffy turned away from the bed to glance back at Eddie, who was standing in the doorway watching as they looked over the room.

“Yeah, plays a song one of the other guys recognized. ‘Early One Morning’, do you recognize it?” Judging by her sharp intake of breath, he guessed that she did know it and the answer wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Spike.”

“Spike? As in William the Bloody? That Spike?” Eddie groaned and fought the urge to hit something, preferably the bleached blonde vampire that held Buffy just out of his reach.

“He, uh, it was a trigger during the battle with the First Evil. His mother used to sing it to him and he, uh, well he killed with his soul when it was triggered. We need to get a hold of him and find out whether he’s being triggered again…maybe…and could I have used the word ‘triggered‘ anymore? Look we just need to see if Spike is out there killing again so we can stop it.”

“Or maybe he’s decided he doesn’t want to be a neutered vampire anymore and went back on his killing streak. I still can’t believe you didn’t stake him after what he did to you Buffy. He’s a monster, with or without the soul, and when he chose…” Dawn glared down at her older sister

“Dawn! Shut up! Spike is not a killer anymore and yes, he did decide that we weren’t meant for each other…on his own but I can’t just accuse him of killing these people. As far as we know he’s still in Los Angeles with her.” Buffy turned back towards the doorway and gave a challenging look to her former lover. “I’m going to Los Angeles, are you coming?”

“You talkin’ to me?” Eddie’s incredulous gaze was enough to distract her from her anger and she burst out laughing.

“Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you, gangster boy. So are you coming or not?”

“Yeah, I’m coming. Just let me get approval from the captain and tell Tate I’m out for the weekend. I can meet you back at your place after I grab my bag and we can…Dawn, are you alright with this?” He stopped and ran his hand through his dark hair as he watched the pretty brunette girl scrutinize the couple.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good. I don’t have to go right?” The normally bouncing girl merely shuffled in place under the scrutinizing gaze of her older sister and the handsome cop.

“No, you can stay here. Eddie and I can take care of Spike and Faith, no problem. Keep your cell phone on?” Buffy gave her a look of concern before figuring that the girl was old enough to take care of herself for the weekend. Besides, staying at home had to be more appealing than seeing her ex’s.

“As always”

“Ok, I’ll meet you back at the house in forty-five minutes after I drop Dawn off.” Buffy leaned forward to graze his lips before sprinting off to the tiny sports car and blazing out of the parking lot, leaving Eddie standing in the parking lot for mere moments before he sprinted back up the stairs to get approval for his getaway.

Nearly running into Andrea at the top of the stairs, he skidded to a stop mere centimeters from bowling her over. “You’re going with her to Los Angeles, aren’t you?” Her brown eyes burrowed into him like daggers as she huffed at the indignation of being dropped for his former. They were supposed to be partners, albeit in a professional capacity but a girl could hope, right? “Look, whatever Ed, just do whatever you need to do there, or rather do Buffy and then get back here before this psycho decides to attack again. I can work with Anderson until you get back here.”

“Tate, I’m not going there on a romantic weekend or whatever…Buffy doesn’t think of me that way and we’re going to check up on a couple of leads.” At her sullen gaze, he continued. “I’m not abandoning you Tate. I’m not secretly going back to Captain Richardson and asking for a new partner, wouldn’t do that to you…not after Wallace did. I’ll be back on Monday, Tuesday at the latest.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure she doesn’t feel the same way about you…I saw the kiss and that certainly didn’t look like a kiss between two friends…don’t be surprised if she wants more this weekend Ed…just don’t let her break your heart again.” Andrea stepped aside and let him pass her, carefully voiding her face of any and all emotion and he continued back down the stairs. There would be time to cry later. She’d made a vow to herself the last time her partner had chosen another woman over her and was determined to stick with it. As she walked back into the crime scene, she idly rubbed her lower belly in a gesture of comfort to the empty womb.

Summers residence

“Dawn, can you grab my black duffel from the closet?” Buffy poked her head out of her own closet for a moment to yell for her sister.

“Which closet? There’s like a million in this place…never mind, I found it.” Dawn bounced into her older sister’s room to find the bed covered in various clothing items, some neatly folded and others strewn across the burgundy comforter. Striding over to the bed in just a few bounds, Dawn picked up a black lace item and held it up in front of her. “So you were saying this wasn’t a booty call?”

“Put that down and help me start packing…I’m taking it just as a precaution…I might meet someone there and…”

“And decide to jump him in a two hundred dollar piece of lingerie? Yeah right Buffy. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know exactly what you are planning and I know he’ll have no problems with it. You’re staying in the Hyperion, right?”

“Yeah…Angel has the room so…it would be cheaper than finding another place…”

“And the fact that Spike will be there with all of his enhanced vampire smelling. Admit it, you want to make him jealous.” Dawn stood in her version of the Slayer’s personal favorite stance with her hands on her hips as she waited for an answer.

“Well…and I really like Eddie, besides Spike has Faith now so he shouldn’t care who I decide to spend my nights with.” The slayer tugged at the zipper on her duffel bag as she tried to close the overflowing leather.

“So you and Eddie, this is serious now?” Dawn watched her sister with a weathered eye and saw the relief flash through the hazel eyes.

“It has to be. Spike’s made his decision and now I have to live with it. I can’t and won’t compete with Faith for his affections. He’s over me so I’m moving on. Can you get the door?” She didn’t wait for an answer before walking through the connecting door from the bedroom to the bathroom to finish gathering necessities.

Eddie leaned against the front door as the youngest Summers stared him down from across the foyer, her gaze unwavering as she took in his black suit and shiny shoes. He looked the part of class and elegance, right down to the Ray-bans that were perched across the bridge of his nose, his normally jaded eyes covered for the moment. She noted that he had smoothed down his hair before arriving, yet the dark brunette locks still appeared thick and wavy even from across the room.

“Emergency numbers are on the fridge and I left $50 for you to get food and whatnot. No parties and don’t burn the house down while I’m gone. Love you.” Buffy paused to kiss her sister on the cheek before taking Eddie’s proffered arm and letting him lead the way to her shiny black Mercedes.

36 hours prior…

She had lived a decent enough life, or so she thought. Sure there had been times that she hadn’t been the model citizen but everyone has their own faults. That certainly didn’t make her a bad person, did it? But as Margaret Adamson lay bound to her own bed as her would-be executioner took pleasure in her every gasp, moan and scream, she found herself thinking that there must have been something in her life that had provoked this turn of events, something had turned the Powers-that-be against her, otherwise she wouldn’t be screeching in agony as this thing held her life in it’s hands.

She gurgled and let out a low whimper as the man yanked at the noose around her neck, tightening and finally releasing it once he had her attention again, leaving her gasping for air. As the tightening of her vocal cords returned to normal, the look of sheer terror on her face was replaced with that of serenity as she calmly accepted her fate. Tears rolled from her soulful eyes and down her cheeks as she came to the realization that he was not going to end their little games in time, not this time. It was over between them and she had finally served her purpose. There was no reason to keep her around anymore. The dark look in his normally vibrant eyes told her that he’d had enough of her company and her time was up. Funny, she had always known it would come to this eventually but a part of her had hoped to find the man behind the demon, the man she loved behind the demon before it killed her. He would do just as he said in the beginning of their affair and find a new playmate: a new lover. Such a contradicting term to what they were.

Lovers, it was such an odd term to describe their relationship, if it could even be called a relationship that is. What they had could hardly be considered making love, even fucking seemed too mellow for the animalistic mauling he seemed to enjoy, though she had never complained about the torn flesh or the way he savagely attacked her neck. The time of making love and romance had been over for quite some time, since her beloved Lawrence had died. There was no reason to look for love when she could be consumed by his fire.

She yelped as she felt a sharp burning sensation across her upper thigh. As expected when she opened her eyes again, she saw the demonic features of her murderer and torturer staring back at her. His yellow eyes glowed in the soft candlelight as he chuckled at her obvious agony.

“Sorry pet but I wanted you awake for this. Little girls should know better than to let bad men into their homes, especially when they need an invite to get in.” He snarled and tipped his hand, letting the bleach fall at will along her lower torso. With a sadistically gleeful expression, he watched as she screamed in agony, her body writhing against his own. He pulled again at the noose wrapped around her slender, elegant neck with the slack resting alongside him on the silken sheets of ivory, the tight coils seemingly even rougher against the smooth fabric.

“You will never be her but you already know that, don’t you little bitch? And yet you still came to me, still let come to you and I have this burning desire to know why before I end your pathetic little life. I would almost say it’s a shame to waste such a beautiful little cunt such as yourself but maybe it was a death wish you’ve been after all this time. Tell me Margaret, do you have a death wish or it life you’re hoping for now?” He leered at her as she fought between the pain and the urge to give into unconsciousness and just slip away. The rich silky tone to his baritone deceiving voice did nothing to help her stay conscious.

“It’s true, I wanted to die, to join my Lawrence in the here-after but I don’t want to die by your hands. I came to you so I could feel again, to feel less dead than before but I can see now that all you were doing was preparing for this moment all along. You can’t kill her so you want to punish others. She didn’t love you and neither will they. Before I go, I just want to say this…you didn’t kill me, I did this to myself. Granted this wasn’t how I saw myself going out but I forgive you. I forgive you…William.” With those last words, Margaret Adamson took her last breath and allowed herself to succomb to the pain and passed out, blissfully unaware of the invasion he was taking on her mutilated body. The hate-filled violation inflicted even as his fangs ripped into the soft flesh of her neck, draining her of her life source.

36 hours later…

“Which hotel are we staying at?” Eddie glanced over at the petite blonde sitting in the passenger’s seat and smiled to himself, such a lucky he was to have such a beauty beside him.

“The Hyperion…” Buffy mumbled her answer and waited for the explosion that was sure to happen.

“Hyperi…as in the Hyperion owned by none other than your ex, the Hyperion?” He drummed his fingers along the black leather of the car’s steering wheel as he fought to not yell.

“Uh…yeah.” She shrunk back into her seat and rolled her eyes at his next statement.

“So we’re seeing not only your maybe murderer ex but also your good vampire ex as well? Anything else you’d like to inform me of?”

“Nothing else but Faith might be there. Last I heard she and Spike were fucking each other’s brains out…well, the last time I was there I caught the show so chances are she’s still there and she’ll probably try to sleep with you.”

“Great! Two homicidal maniacs and a whore. What could be better?” He grinned over at her and laid his right hand over her thigh. “We’ll get through this and be back to Sunnydale in no time at all.”

Blood spattered the walls in the grey tiled room. Tools and toys littered the cement floor, most covered in the blood from his latest victim. Margaret hadn’t been enough. He needed more; he needed to see another one plead for their life as he held that power in his hands. He needed that fear in their eyes when they realized he wanted to destroy them; to make them scream in less than pleasurable ways for them. There were no windows in the spacious cellar and only the light from the dusty chandelier showered the room in a dim light. A silver glint held high in the air for a moment…a second…a minute…an hour…time had no authority before it was brought down and sliced through the man’s larynx. Tendons ripped and spliced as red liquid mixed with foam splattered onto his clothing and that of his attacker; the charismatic man who had offered him a place to sleep and enough money to cover his train ticket back home if he’d done what he had offered. It was an opportunity to get off the streets and away from the life of prostitution he’d found himself in…it was an offer he should have refused.

He gurgled. Fighting for air and attempting to scream through the pain as more of his blood stained the cement floor. His fingers clenched the bloodstained wooden chair as his head fought forward against the restraints.

His attacker laughed, more of a cackle really. Head thrown back as he cackled manically at the sight of blood pouring down the walls and his victim’s fear-riddled eyes, he was quite pleased with himself. His demon brought to the forefront as he twirled the knife in his hand, the sharp blade catching occasionally and nicking his fingertips or palm.

The pain egged him on as he brought the knife down again, this time aimed at the bound boy’s abdomen as he deftly sliced through fabric and muscle. Again, he sliced lower through the boy’s leg. Blood struck the walls.

He giggled and surveyed the damage before him.

There was only one thing left as he plunged his fangs into the man’s wrist as he sucked harder on the vulnerable flesh.

His victim cried out once more, a bloodcurdling scream before the room was eerily silent.

The black-clad man stood and observed his handiwork with a satisfied grin before stalking out of the room and shutting off the only light to the room, leaving the body where it sat strapped into a hard backed chair. With one final glance into the boy’s grey, bleak eyes, he chuckled and slammed the door shut before proceeding through the rest of the house. His demon satisfied for the moment. Blood and sex were what he lived for and he was living well.

Outside of the room, he quickly changed clothes and pulled out the boy’s wallet. He’d been a runaway, from whom the man didn’t care. All that mattered was he had been stupid enough to still be outside in a town as dangerous and unpredictable as Sunnydale and willing enough to do anything the man wanted for enough cash. He glanced back down at the student I.D from a neighboring college; it would work well enough once the picture was changed out.

On the road between Sunnydale and Los Angeles

“Are you going to talk to me or should I plan on you giving me the silent treatment the rest of the ride?” Buffy threw her head back against the headrest as she peered over at Eddie.

He didn’t respond, instead choosing to fiddle with the radio first.

“If you really want to stay somewhere else we can get another hotel but I figured it would be easier to keep an eye on Spike…”

“Don’t you mean lead the calf straight to slaughter?” His dark hair hiding his eyes temporarily from view as he clenched the steering wheel tighter.

“Huh?”

“Don’t act surprised, Buffy. We both know he still has feelings for you after all this time. Do you really expect he’ll welcome me into his home, especially if he’s been killing again?” Eddie fingered the holster containing his gun. If it came down to it, he was willing to take out the vamp or take himself out before the sadistic vamp had a chance. After his many years in Sunnyhell, he was not going to die at the hands of William the Bloody or the like.

The rest of the ride was met in complete silence.

The Hyperion

“You’re looking extra- broody today. Wha’s got your knickers in a twist?” Spike plopped himself down into a chair across from Angel, duster sprawled around him as he hooked his thumbs into his belt loops.

“Buffy.”

“What about the Slayer?” His ears perked. “Slayer’s alright, yeah?”

“She’s fine but…” Angel didn’t have time to finish his sentence before the annoying bleached blonde was off for the running, his mouth going a mile a minute.

“Not headaches again, is it? Knew she should’ve gone to get a second opinion. Stupid git told her to take aspirin for ‘em…” Spike looked decidedly worried as he considered his options of finding the Slayer’s doctor and pummeling him into the ground.

Angel waited patiently, or as patiently as he could watching the Brit pace in front of him, “Stop pacing. Buffy’s fine, physically anyway but she…they are coming here…”

Spike stopped and turned his head to his poof of a sire, “Nibblet’s comin’?

“If you’re referring to Dawn- no. She’s…”

“The witch? The whelp? Don’t tell me…the watcher?” Spike resumed his pacing as he counted off the slayer’s friends and family. None of them fit if it wasn’t Dawn.

Angel stood, “No, it’s …”

The front doors opened to reveal the petite slayer standing in the doorway.

Spike snapped and lunged for the suit-adorned cop behind her. He was stopped by a fist to his nose and a decided pop confirming she had managed to break it…yet again.

“Wha’s he doin’ ‘ere?” He ignored the feeling of her hot hands on either side of his nose as she helped him pop it back into place. She backed up several steps once she realized how close they were and the man standing behind her, gun drawn.

“He needs help on a case and I need your help to help him.” She turned towards the wary cop. “Drop it. Those things never help and they certainly won’t kill either of them or slow them down much. Angel, we need a room for a couple of nights.”

At Angel’s nod, Spike stalked out of the room, punching a wall as he did so.

“So where’s Faith?”

Angel stood before Buffy and Eddie, watching them as Spike stomped his way towards the back of the building and out of hearing range. “Do you want to sit?” He motioned towards the lounge, encouraging them to sit down preferably out of hitting range from him.

Buffy blinked and finally scowled at her former love, “I don’t want to sit. What I really want is to know where Faith is, Angel.”

Angel shuffled, “I think you should sit, maybe have some tea or coffee. Do you want coffee? I can make coffee if you want some or run down to the store in…a couple of hours when it’s dark enough. Or I could order in coffee. Which shop do you prefer…?” His eyes shifted nervously away from the obvious couple. He watched in understanding as Eddie wrapped his arm around the blonde’s waist in an effort to calm her down. While he wanted nothing more than to rip the cop’s head off, he understood that in a way, this was what she needed. He’d left Sunnydale for her to have the chance at a normal life and Eddie Taylor was about as normal as she was going to get.

“Angel, I don’t want to sit nor do I want coffee. What I do want is to beat the crap out of Faith. You denied me that last time and I want to hit something real bad. So it’s either you or Faith. Take your pick.” She grit her teeth in anticipation of striking the brunette. She was prepared for payback as her fists clenched by her sides.

A thud from the top of the stairs pulled the trio’s attention off each other. “Heard you got something to say to me, B. Let’s get this over with now.” Faith stood at the top of the stairs looking worn and haggard. Her normally bright brunette hair lay in strands against an all too pale face and her normally voluptuous figure was clearly too thin.

Buffy watched as the younger slayer inched her way down the stairs painfully. Her smirk dropped at the sight of a bloodied rag under the girl’s loose t-shirt. “What happened to you, Faith?”

The brunette came to a stop in front of the blonde. She said nothing; instead she turned her head and looked off in the distance, her expression blank and drawn. “Just do it. Get it over with, B. I know you want to. You deserve it after all I’ve done to you. Do me a favor? Do it quick.”

“What the hell happened to you?” Buffy took a step back and sighed. “I’m not going to hit you, Faith. Not when you’re like this. For the last time, what happened to you?”

Faith waited a moment and turned towards the blonde girl before opening her mouth to respond. She was cut off by the bleached blonde vamp. “’S none of your goddamn business Slayer. Jus’ leave and live your perfect life back in Sunnyhell. God knows you deserve it.” He draped an arm over the dark slayer’s shoulders, gently steering her out of the room, pausing only when the blonde struck out.

“That’s right, Spikey, take your little girlfriend and toddle off!” She didn’t know what caused the outburst but seeing her ex- lover and the dark slayer walk off was suddenly too much to bear as he chose the other slayer over her…again.

Eddie noted the visible anger coming from the blonde girl and gripped Buffy’s waist tighter before leaning down and whispering in her ear, “Don’t. We still need him, sweetheart. Just leave it alone until later. Please baby. I promise you can stake him if he is the killer, well, I don’t care much if you stake him anyway but please wait until we can question him.”

She leaned back ever so slightly into the cop’s embrace but it was enough for the blonde vamp to notice.

“Not that it’s any of your damn business but we aren’t together…never were.” Spike shook his head in disgust watching the agape girl.

Buffy’s eyebrows rose accusingly as she spat out, “Don’t even try to deny it! I saw you fucking each other! Right upstairs! In our room!” She broke from Eddie’s hold as she lunged towards the mismatched couple.

Spike dodged her raised fist as he carefully pushed Faith aside and out of danger. “You saw what you bloody well wanted to see, luv. She’d been attacked, you bloody bint, and I was soddin’ trying to help her!”

“Right because Faith is always the innocent party. She’s a murderer for Pete’s sakes! She took an innocent life! So she got a little beat up by a demon. It wasn’t the first time!” Buffy roared, arms waving manically.

Spike dropped his head, “I’ve killed innocents before, pet, and you saw fit to save me. I couldn’t leave her like that, Buffy, and you know it. Couldn’t let that bastard get away with what I tried to do to you.” His voice trailed off and he couldn’t bring himself to look into her deep green eyes.

She stared at him for several moments before Eddie spoke up. “What the hell did he do?” The dark-haired man pointed at the downward staring vampire.

Buffy couldn’t say anything as she glanced between the pair just a few feet across from her. After a few moments she finally spoke. “I’m sorry Faith and…Spike, I’m so sorry for not talking to…”

“That’s enough, Slayer. You don’t need to say anything. We had our time and it was good but it’s clear that we weren’t made to last. We were just too damn fucked up.”

Buffy snorted, “I loved you and that wasn’t enough. I told you I loved you and you spat it in my face. I thought you were going to die and I wanted you to know how I felt before you did. I held out for months after you died and come to find out, you came back! I found out from Andrew and I ran back here as fast as I could. We had a great few months before I found you in bed with Faith and now I find out you weren’t sleeping with her. How the hell do you expect me to react? Should I be angry? Should I play the wounded victim? Should I break your nose again for not running after me? What the hell should I do Spike?”

Spike glanced towards his grandsire nervously, “Just don’t, luv. Move on with your life and leave me be. I’m better off here. I can help here and you don’t need me.”

“What the hell is with you, you stupid vampire?”

“I’m doing my bloody penitence! You don’t get it, do you? Faith was bloody well raped and tortured and all you can think about is that Buffy didn’t get her way! Just go fuck your boy toy, pet.”

“Oh my God!”

“You tried to rape her?” Eddie lunged at the black clad vamp.