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Chapter 7

Buffy rolled over in surprise when Spike sat up with a growl. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Thought I felt somethin' I shouldn't." Spike's golden eyes studied the darkness of his crypt.

"What?" Buffy sat up too. She kissed Spike's shoulder. Not much unnerved Spike, and she tried her best to calm him.

"I thought I felt Dru." Spike put his arms around Buffy protectively. "She knew years ago that my obsession with you was more than just hatred."

"She's jealous now?" Buffy wasn't too thrilled to find out that the evil ho-bag was nearby. "You don't want her do you?" Her insecurities raised their ugly heads.

"Buffy Summers, I love you. You're all I bloody think about, all I dream about. You're in my guts ... my throat. I'm drowning in you, Summers." Spike reassured the petite blond in his arms.

"Really?"

"Really!" Spike brushed his lips against Buffy's. "She's not a threat to us in any way."

"Well, it can't be good that she's back in town," Buffy muttered.

"Probably not. We could hit Willy's. It's always the best place to check out the demon rumor mill."

"That could be good." Buffy cuddled closer to the vampire. "Any more thoughts about a mentor for Willow?"

"I had an idea, but we need to go to L.A. to check on it." Spike leaned back against his pillow with Buffy resting against him. "A few years back, I met this little guy named Pete. Sometimes he takes on students."

"You think he'll take on Willow?" Buffy nibbled on her lip.

"We won't know till we ask." Spike chuckled. "Now quit biting that lip of yours. It's mine to nibble on."

Buffy giggled. She let out a little shriek when Spike rolled her over. The crypt was filled with the sounds of lovemaking.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you ready for the test on the Hunchback?" Tara asked Buffy while she took the wrapper off the candy she had just purchased.

"Yeah, pretty much." Buffy nodded. "Spike and I went over the book and the cliff notes last night."

"Did you rent the movie?" Willow asked. "The one with Clifton Laughton was really good."

"Was he one of the singing gargoyles?" Buffy gave Willow an innocent look when the redhead let out a gasp of horror. The Slayer giggled wildly. "Just kidding, Will. As if Spike would be caught dead watching a Disney film."

"Spike's already dead," Tara whispered.

"All right, deader." Buffy glanced over at a young man reading a newspaper. The headline caught her attention. She grabbed the paper from the guy. "You done with this?"

"Hey, give that back!" When the blond girl ignored him, he stomped off grumbling, "God, I hate this town. Inconsiderate, rude people."

Buffy showed the front page to Willow and Tara. "Metro-train murder. Six found murdered on train at Sunnydale station."

"Glory?" Willow asked.

Buffy shook her head. "'Unconfirmed reports of severe trauma to the throats of one or more of the victims'." She lowered the paper with a thoughtful look on her face. "Survey says... vampire. It might be the insane ho-bag. Spike said he felt her nearby."

"Drusilla?" Willow shuddered as she remembered the run-in with the insane vampiress in the school library almost three years before when Kendra died.

"Yeah, the ho-bag," Buffy growled. Her eyes flashed with anger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An hour later, Buffy and Xander were cautiously crossing the police tape at the metro-train station to check on the crime scene.

"So, we're looking for clues on whether or not this was Drusilla, huh?" Xander asked. He shined his flashlight around the passenger car.

"Yeah, she's here to cause trouble. I'm sure of it." Buffy searched with her own flashlight until she caught sight of an antique doll lying on its side in the carry-on compartment above the seats. There was a red blindfold tied over the doll's eyes. "Look at that!"

Xander looked at the doll. "Guess that confirms it."

Buffy gave an unsurprised nod. "Can't be anything good coming of this. I need you and the others to go stay with Mom and Dawn. I'm going to the morgue to check on the victims."

"Right!" Xander hurried off the train. They couldn't let Drusilla get her hands on Dawn. God only knew what would happen then.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spike entered the darkened crypt. He was sure he had left a light on. He moved further into the crypt, but he stopped when he heard a sniffling sound. "Who's there?"

"A happy memory, pretty Spike." Drusilla stepped out of the shadows. She held a rose. "Look who's come to make everything right again."

"Everything is all ready right, Dru," Spike replied. "I don't need your crumbs anymore. I have the whole cookie jar now."

"Bad, bad puppy!" Drusilla stomped her foot. "We're almost a family again. As soon as Grandmummy, my new baby, and I make Daddy all bad again, we can be a family!"

"Sounds fun, pet." Spike shrugged. Although it really didn't. If Darla was truly back, and they got Angelus into the mix, it would truly go downhill from here. Glory and Angelus, at the same time, could be quite disastrous. "But I have a sweet set up here in Sunny-D."

"With the Slayer?" Drusilla gave a moue of disgust. "Where is my darling dark prince who loved me eyeballs to entrails?"

"Long gone, Dru," Spike replied. "I'm not that vampire any more."

"You're a killer," Drusilla protested. "Born to slash ... and bash ... and to bleed like beautiful poetry."

"Not anymore, poodle." Spike shook his head. "You were right. I'm covered in the Slayer. I'm where I want to be, and no one -- not you, or the old diseased whore, or the bloody poofter -- can tempt me away."

"I'm so lonely, Spike." Drusilla glided closer to the bleached blond vampire. "No ghoul could ever replace my sweet prince. Not really."

"You need to leave, Dru," Spike replied coldly. "If you threaten my girls I will stake you."

Drusilla sighed. She knew there was nothing she could do now. Even if she eliminated the shiny Slayer and the others, Spike would be too angry at her to be happy. He'd probably hunt her down, and he'd show her up close and personal why he called himself Spike anyway.

Drusilla slowly left Spike's crypt. Doing this -- coming here to Sunnydale -- had been a bad idea. If only there was a way to salvage this trip. Drusilla tilted her head as she looked to the future. An interested gasp burst forth from the vampiress.

"Burning baby fishes," Dru cooed. "I thought Miss Edith lied to me." She clapped her hands. "Mustn't eat the grandbabies, but that other one will do nicely." She set off in the direction of one of the local neighborhoods.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A week later, Spike and Buffy were enjoying some conversation at the Bronze when Ben the hospital intern approached Buffy for a dance. She refused before she went back to talking to Spike. So, she missed the flash of something behind Ben's eyes.

Ben was curious about the blond. He knew she was the Slayer, and that she had Glory's Key. What he couldn't figure out was why a Slayer hung out with a vampire. Ben's eyes opened wide. What if the vampire was the Key? No, that couldn't be. Vampire's were an abomination.

"Has anyone seen my Warren?"

Ben turned to see a pretty woman scanning the crowd behind him. She looked directly at Ben.

"Have you seen Warren? I really need to find him."

"I don't know a Warren. Sorry." Ben cleared his throat.

"My name is April." The woman caught the arm of a passing waitress. "Do you know Warren?"

The waitress shook her head in denial.

"Alrighty, I'll keep looking." April released the woman's arm with a bright smile.

The Scoobies joined Spike and Buffy. When Tara saw April, she commented that the other woman was looking for her lost boyfriend Warren.

April heard Warren's name through the din of voices and music that made up the Bronze. She marched over to the Scoobies, and she asked. "Do you know Warren?"

"I don't think so." Buffy shook her head. "Why don't you tell us what happened. Maybe we can help you look for him."

"He's Warren. He's looking for me. He lost me." April tilted her head to the side. "Or maybe I lost him. We were all set to enjoy a midnight swim when a woman in a long dress showed up. He went away with her."

"Where were you at the time?" Buffy asked.

"When was that?" Spike asked at the same time.

"Last week at Pointy Cove." April nodded with a smile. "Warren told me to say put, and I did until I started to run low. I need Warren. He's my boyfriend. He can recharge me."

"I'm sure he can." Buffy gave the Scoobies a worried look.

"Warren never told me people's faces can get bumpy and they grow fangs." April reached up to touch her face. "Why doesn't mine change like that?"

"Who's face changed?" Spike asked. He had a sudden suspicion of who the dark-haired woman in a long dress could be.

"The woman my Warren left with, of course."

"Did she say anything?" Spike questioned. He leaned forward to study the woman. His eyes opened wide when he realized she wasn't human, living or undead.

"She said that he couldn't be allowed to make her dark prince unhappy." April tilted her head again. "What an odd thing to say."

"Sounds like he ran into one of those gang member on PCP," Spike replied. "Your best bet is to check the hospitals."

"Thank you! I will do that right now." April marched away from the Scoobies.

"He met up with Dru, didn't he?" Buffy whispered as she watched the woman walk away.

Spike counted off his points of facts on his fingers. "A week ago. Dark-hair. Long dress. Vampire. Dru called me her dark prince on more than one occasion." He nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't she kill April?" Tara wondered out loud.

"Vamps can't eat motor oil," Spike replied with a bark of laughter.

"What?" Several Scoobies gave a shocked exclamation.

"Bint's a robot. Even Dru isn't barmy enough to bite into that."

"Should we go after her?" Buffy asked worriedly. "The last run-in we had with a robot was very, very bad."

"At least this one doesn't want to date your mom," Xander quipped.

"Oh?" Spike stared at Buffy. "When was this?"

"Right after I threw the organ at you." Buffy chuckled.

"Don't think I've heard this tale," Spike chuckled in return.

"Well, Mom was dating this guy, Ted..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three days later, a small newspaper article mentioned the discovery of a robotic girl on a nearby playground. Being Sunnydale, it didn't even merit the front page.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy stepped onto the porch of her Mom's house. She grinned at the thought of her mom dating again. After the gang had talked about Ted the other night, Buffy had made sure her Mom's new guy was on the up and up.

Buffy opened the front door. She noticed a vase of flowers on the foyer table. "Oh, nice!" The Slayer opened the card that came with the flowers. "'Thank you for the lovely evening. See you soon? Brian' Guess Spike didn't scare him too badly." She put the card down.

Buffy stepped towards the staircase where she laid her jacket down over the railing. "Hey, Flower-gettin' Lady. Want me to pick Dawn up from school?"

Buffy frowned. Her mom's car was in the drive. She had to be home. Buffy quieted down, and she let out her senses. The house was deathly quiet.

"Mom? Are you here?" Buffy walked into the living room. Once there, she could see her mom's arm hanging off the side of the couch. "What are you doing?"

Buffy stepped closer. "Mom?" Her voice dropped to a whisper when she realized Joyce was staring at the ceiling through sightless eyes. "Mommy?"





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