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The rush of strength that engulfed his entire being within moments of parting from his mate had his spine straightening, shoulders widening and step slowing. He reveled in the sensations and the momentary reprieve they offered amongst the chaos of the gathering around him.

He had seen the wide look in Rupert's eyes from across the ballroom as he was summoned, letting out a wearing sigh and parting from his table. The gatherings were an affair that he only held once a year for this very reason, he was constantly pulled in too many directions at once. One way or another, through voicing their complaints directly to him or to Oz, each tenant spent the majority of their evening putting in complaints on their fellow neighbours and repairs needing seeing to on their properties.

However, the look on Rupert's face this evening was not one that held the same old tales of cottage repairs or neighbourly feuds, no, something was troubling him. Nearing his table Spike could see him shuffling his weight from one foot to the other, anxiously waiting to speak to him.

"Wha's wrong?"

From the outside looking in one would assume that Spike had merely wrapped his arm around Giles shoulders in a hug, bringing him close to whisper as they spoke, but the other occupants on the table knew better than that. Willow muttered a few incantations under her breath and soon all noise around them ceased, their table encased in a muted bubble so that no outside ears could hear what was being said.

"I've spoken to a few tenants who live the closest to the village... Lucus; the empath demon, was quite unsettled." Giles cast a worried glance towards a man sitting alone in a quiet corner at the back of the room.

The candlelight that flooded the great ballroom did little to illuminate the pale red skin that covered his body. The two horns that ran up either side of his forehead were shadowed by his unruly and uncombed hair, the tops of his drooping ears peaking out from the sides as he sat staring off into the distance, eyes unfocused.

Spike furrowed his features, Rupert's words coupled with seeing Lucus' detached and withdrawn state troubled him. For an empath to be so disconnected and at odds with the goings on around him was cause for worry. Something wasn't right.

"The townsfolk have stopped going out at night. Lucus said he can feel... madness surrounding him."

They both cast another hesitant glance towards Lucus and Spike growled low, the sound reverberating off of Willows bubble charm. He knew that distant faraway look that had fallen across Lucus's face. He had seen in many times before.

"Drusilla..."

"And Angelus, yes. I have no doubt that it's them."

Spike closed his eyes and took a deep breath. They had all expected Angelus and Drusilla to be on their way and expected a fierce retaliation for taking Buffy and killing Angelus's head daylight guard. But, hearing that they were already in the town was not something he was ready for.

"Deorsa's property was raided a few nigh's ago..."

"A-Aileen was telling me before you walked in that her two youngest found their c-cows in the barn." Tara stammered from her seat. "T-their throats had been ripped out."

Spike turned to the side and located Deorsa's red-headed wife easily. Aileen was sitting on her bench seat at her table with the smallest and newest of the Dunbar's cradled protectively in her arms while two toddlers sat huddled to her side.

"He said the barn was torn to shreds, didn' say his kids had found the aftermath... Christ." Fingers pinched the bridge of his nose before running his palm down his face.

"Most tenants know how to protect themselves, but the ones with children-"

"They must be so afraid." Willow whispered, glancing at a few familiar faces in the crowd who had small children bundled up in their arms.

"What is he waiting for?" Oz piped up, wrapping an arm around Willow in comfort.

"Why hasn't he struck yet?" Willow was stroking Oliver's forehead in an effort to stop his wriggling.

"Waiting for the most opportune time I would assume."

Although Giles voice was strong, it still held an undercurrent of fear, one that had him glancing around the room, fingers outstretched as he tested his wards around the property.

"B-but that would be tonight. What better place to cause a scene-" Tara's eyes widened.

"I thought-"

"He can't get in, I assure you." Giles reassured the nervous Tara, who took a few deep breaths.

What better place indeed.

Spike scanned the ballroom filled with his tenants for Angelus and Drusilla with narrowed eyes. None of the tenants had glanced or looked at their table suspiciously, the spell Willow had cast making it look like from the outside in that they were all just having a casual conversation.

"The protection spell that we placed around the castle will not allow the dead to pass through." Giles reiterated, lifting any doubts in their mind of Angelus or Drusilla sneaking their way into the castle.

"Cunning. I like it." Oz chimed in, smiling.

"I thought so too! You have to have a heartbeat to get through the barrier and none of the tenants are vampires so it's perfectly safe." Willow grinned, proud of her contribution to the protection wards.

"He can' get to us tonight, but tha's not going to stop him from trying again."

Spikes words had their shoulders deflating. It was a small victory to deny any other vampire entrance to the castle, but what happened once it came time for the tenants to leave and travel back to their homes? What was to stop Angelus or Drusilla from raiding carriages and destroying lives as they left from the safe sanctuary his castle provided.

"We can't stop him from attacking the tenants as they leave... They can't all bloody well stay here!"

"We'll think of something." Giles words did little to assure them, all eyes turned outwards at the ballroom full of innocent and unsuspecting guests.

"We need to find out where he's hiding."

"Take the fight to him, you mean?"

"Precisely."

"You've got yerself a bonnie lass there ceannard." Aileen's voice echoed oddly off the bubble charm Willow had cast as she made her way to their table, her arms still holding her youngest.

Willow muttered another incantation under her breath and the bubble around them popped, the noise and excitement of the festivities encasing them once more.

"I havnae seen mo chridhe dance or laugh so freely in years, ye ken." She tilted her head in a gesture towards the middle of the ballroom where people had begun to dance. Her smiling tone and budding laughter was shining through her eyes and Spike couldn't help but follow her gaze.

His eyes found Deorsa easily, the man standing a head above the rest of his tenants at well over six feet tall. His boisterous laughter lit up the ballroom, muffled slightly by the sounds of the music as guests around him stopped mid dance to watch as he threw his head back and laughed. One hand held on to his stomach, his head shaking as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Using his hands, he spoke animatedly to the small woman in gold dancing with him.

Buffy.

Buffy, who was red in the face from blushing, her laughter following alongside Deorsa's. She covered her face with her hands, shaking her head before stopping to stare up at Deorsa with determined eyes.

Spike watched on in amusement as Deorsa once again took her hands and helped to position her into the correct stance for a waltz, ever careful not to step too close. She was, after all, not his woman and any interaction with the opposite sex, especially one that was his leader's mate was conducted with the uttermost respect.

He was patient and slow with her, stepping one way and then another, letting Buffy watch his feet as he led her through another dance. The gold of her dress flickered against all the candlelight in the ballroom as Deorsa spun her in a circle, a move that had her giggling. She looked like a golden goddess, all wrapped up in refined silk and sunlight.

As if she could feel his eyes on her, Buffy turned her head and met his gaze, grinning wide before allowing Deorsa to move her back into her starting stance.

"However did ye meet such a lass?" Aileen smiled knowingly, watching the emotions flicker across Spike's face.

Spike recalled the moment he had laid eyes on Buffy, her back had been to him at the time, her shirt torn open by the blow Riley had delivered to her. Blood had been pouring down her back and other wounds, her blonde hair was a tangled mass, but she had strength and determination in her eyes. He had watched her fight, watched her fall and then had carried her to their Inn where Willow, Tara and Oz had patched her up.

Their first official meeting had come after she had woken, groggy from Willows potions and weak from her blood-loss, but even then she had triggered something in him. From the moment his lips had touched her skin, the moment he had licked the wound closed on her palm his demon had chosen her as his.

Of course he had fought against his demons desires. She was human, one of the chosen and it simply was not done.

But they'd had no choice, and now she was his.

His.

His golden goddess that held a deeper power within herself that had been longing to come out, only to be awakened by his demon. His perfect match. The moment her golden eyes connected with his he knew he would be hers for as long as she wished. Once they had become a mated pair, something that was sacred amongst his kind and a ceremony that was rarely acted upon, she had opened a door into a world of possibility.

He was dead, born again into darkness to as a vampire, but his demon still felt.

Still cared.

Buffy had managed to breathe life into a heart that did not beat, but managed to feel just as deeply as if it were alive.

"We rescued her."

"Aye, rescue from whom?" Her brows narrowed, glancing back towards the dancing and laughing duo.

"Some very bad people." Giles spoke again, answering Aileen's questions as Spike was too lost in his stare to respond.

"Drusilla."

"Ah." She nodded in understanding, mouth agape as Spike turned back around.

"Drusilla and Angelus are here to take her back and we think they're the ones who destroyed your barn and killed your livestock."

"That women was always away wae the fairies. I dinnae ken how ye did it for so long ceannard."

"Some days I don' know either." His voice echoed with the years of torment and pain that Drusilla had wreaked with her constant toying and manipulation.

"The great baw heided dolt Angelus is nae better. Ye ken count on me and mo chridhe for help, ye hear me. I'll nae take no for an answer." Aileen's face was set and determined, her eyes never wavering from his.

"I wouldn't ask you to fight." Spike stared down at the tiny bundle of red-headed curls that she held in her arms. "But, I won' say no to your help."

"We're safe here for the time being, but we need to find out where they're hiding." Willow spoke up, having stood to walk and move in small circles while bouncing a restless Oliver in her arms.

"The village is the most likely. Naeone here would be foolish enough tae house them."

"Is anyone acting odd tonight? Out of character that you've seen?" Giles pulled the glasses from his face to clean.

"Aye well there's Clement, but he and mo chridhe havenae been talking these last few days. Had a falling out ye ken. Lucus is very sullen-" she nodded towards the distant figure of Lucus still sitting in his chair, "most unusual for his kind. Empath demons havnae choice but te feel and he's nae very jolly tonight."

"That lassie dosenae have two left feet!" Deorsa's voice beamed over the rest of the tenants surrounding them as he made his way through the crowd towards them. "She's a mighty fine dancer ye ken. She'll have this gathering stying up tae the clugs oh the nite with all the laddies wanting a dance."

"That's it!" Tara stood up, almost tripping over her seat in her haste to move. At the confused faces surrounding her she explained her epiphany. "Daylight!"

"Aye daylight, the wee hours of the morning. Is that what I dinnae say?" Deorsa glanced towards his wife who simply nodded in confirmation.

"N-no. Well yes... But I mean-" She took a deep breath. "To keep everyone safe and make sure that no one is attacked when they leave w-we just have to wait for daylight."

"Angelus and Drusilla can't stay out once day breaks."

"They'll have to retreat."

"That's a brilliant idea, luv."

"It's perfect. Once day breaks the tenants will be safe to return to their homes and there will be less of a chance to be attached on the road."

"Attacked on the the road ye say? What beastie needs a seein' te?"

"Mo chridhe," Aileen laid a hand on her husband's arm. "It's the baw heaided dolt and his wee fairy queen."

"Angelus and Drusilla? I'll nae let anyone hurt me or mine. Ye can count on me te fight if it needs doing, ceannard."

"Tha-"

"Guys!" Willow cut off Spike and Deorsa before they could continue, her eyes wide and alarmed as she searched the ballroom. "Where's Buffy?"

All eyes scanned the ballroom for the small blonde-headed woman wrapped in gold and came up empty.

Buffy was nowhere in sight.





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