Part Three

The Big Bad

There was little to be done following their discovery that Xander was gone. Buffy and Anya chose to search nonetheless, more out of hope then any real possibility of finding it. The vengeance demon needed to exhaust all avenues of search before she could admit that for the moment, Xander Harris was beyond them. Buffy’s thoughts were silent because she could only think of what a fool she had been. How could she for one moment, think that he was no longer a threat to her? She had allowed her lustful desires for Spike cloud her judgement and because of this lapse, Xander was now in the hands of an enemy she had no idea where to find. The only consolation to be had, if any in all this, was the fact that none of her friends except Tara that is, knew about the relationship. Considering what they knew now about Spike, Buffy could not bear their anger at finding out just how close she had become with the vampire.

Finally there was little alternative but to return to the Magic Shop so that they could regroup and decide what to do next. Buffy was in favour of going back to Spike’s crypt and pummelling him senseless so that he would reveal Xander’s whereabouts, right before she staked him through his black heart. However, she suspected that he might not return there because even chipped, Spike was one of the most formidable vampires she had ever encountered. He would not be foolish enough to return there because she would almost certainly find him. No, wherever Spike was now, it was not at his crypt. No doubt he was probably in some new lair with the vampire Dawn had seen him with. Buffy supposed she ought to be grateful that he did not try to harm Dawn but then Xander might have prevented her from coming to any danger so she could not be certain of that even.

It did not matter Buffy decided as they entered the Magic Shop. Spike had crossed the line and that was all that was to it. He had placed her friends in danger and from that there was no turning back. It was time she did what she never had stomach enough to do until now. It was time to end him. Besides, it was hardly the first time she had been called upon to perform such duty and as there had been no thinking twice on that other occasion, there would be no hesitation in this instance as well. Perhaps if she told herself this enough times, she might even believe it.

"Where’s Xander?" Dawn asked the minute her sister reappeared inside the small store.

"We didn’t find him," Buffy replied and saw Anya’s shoulders slumping at her words. The former demon crossed the floor and returned to the space behind the counter. She resumed working on her accounts silently, yet there was something mechanical in her movements which indicated to those present that she was trying to occupy herself with something to keep herself from descending into panic at the welfare of her fiancée.

"They took him?" Willow asked, her eyes reflecting her confusion.

"We think so," Buffy nodded. "There was no sign of anything." She did not want to use the word ‘body’ for Anya and Dawn’s sakes.

"It was her," Dawn said angrily. "I’ll bet she made him go with her and Spike too."

"Her?" Buffy turned to her sister. "What could you tell about her Dawn? Other than the fact that she was a vamp because I don’t seem to remember them being able to make people go all swoony, other than Dracula that is," she said uncomfortably, not wishing to think to much about how she had once been caught by the famous vampires’ thrall.

Dawn drifted to the table in the centre of the room, thinking deeply about the strange woman she had seen with Spike before lowering herself into the seat with contemplation. "She was super pretty," Dawn replied first because that was the impression that remained most with her. "I don’t mean just pretty like cheerleader pretty, I mean movie star pretty. She was like the actress in that Zorro movie, remember?"

Buffy did remember the movie but in truth when they had all gone to see it the only she had remembered was Antonio Banderas, she had not paid much attention to the leading lady. Her sexual preferences were not that directed that way.

"I remember," Willow said with an embarrassed smile and noted the look the others gave her before retorting defensively. "Hello, gay remember?"

"What else?" Buffy asked, shaking her head, not thinking the vampire’s physical appearance to be of that much importance although she could not deny a sliver of jealousy that Spike had left her for a dazzlingly beautiful woman.

"You should have seen him slobbering all over her," Dawn retorted with disgust and did not catch the wince that appeared briefly on Buffy’s face. "It was enough to make you sick and then Spike was like so into her. He even said that they were together now."

"Maybe she wasn’t a vampire," Anya suggested hopefully, not wanting to face the possibility that there was every chance that it was already too late for Xander, that this female vampire could have turned him. "Maybe she was some other demon."

"No," Dawn discounted the possibility almost immediately. "She was a vamp, I’m sure of it and not a new one either. I think she’s like been around for a long time. She wasn’t alone, she had like two of them with her and they looked like her body guards or something."

"What about Spike?" Buffy asked. "Did he tried to hurt you?"

"No," she shook her head, a troubled expression on his face. "I don’t think he would have hurt me but it didn’t seem like we were friends anymore and what was even stranger, she was nice."

"Nice?" Buffy’s brow arched, unable to think of any vampire barring one who had somehow regained his soul capable of that personality trait.

"Well she didn’t try to bite me or anything and even when she was talking to Xander, she wasn’t trying to hurt him. She kept saying these weird things to him, playing this whole seduction act, if you get what I mean."

"Seduction?" Anya’s voice tightened visibly. "What do you mean?"

"It goes back to that whole swoony thing," Dawn replied, wishing she could explain it better. "Its like she could make them do what they want by just listening to her."

"Glory had that kind of power," Willow reminded.

"No," Dawn shook her head immediately and discounted that characterisation. She had been in Glory’s company for long enough to know that her minions worshipped her out of fear, nothing else. They knew she was a Goddess and could not imagine behaving in any other way then with complete obedience. "Glory’s trolls were afraid of her. Xander and Spike weren’t. It was like they were so in love with her. I’m telling you she’s got them under some kind of spell."

"Maybe that’s why Spike just decided to up and leave," Willow suggested, glancing at Buffy.

"Yeah probably," the slayer said quietly not about to say otherwise if that’s what her friend believed. Besides, it served better than the truth. Buffy did not want to think about her personal issues right now, not when there was more important things to deal with. "We need to find out who she is and fast. I’m going down to Willy’s bar and see if knows anything about a new vamp in town. Willow, see what you can find about a vampire named Elizabeth?"

"Okay," Willow said purposefully, reaching for the laptop she stored at the magic shop for research. "You’re going out alone?" She asked concerned as she saw Buffy heading towards the door.

"Yeah," Buffy nodded, not requiring the company for what was clearly going to be an exercise in intimidation when she arrived at Willy’s. "You guys need to stay here in case there’s any word."

"And that’s it?" Anya demanded, speaking for the first time since their return to the store. "We’re just going to sit here and wait for his body to show up?"

"Anya!" Buffy snapped, seeing the corresponding expression of horror on Dawn’s face at that statement. "We have no idea where he is. We can’t help him if we don’t find out."

"This is all your fault!" Anya spat angrily, her fear for Xander forcing her to succumb to her worst instincts.

"My fault?" Buffy stared at her in astonishment at how this could be construed as her fault! She had not caused Elizabeth to kidnap Xander. She could not even begin to imagine how Anya could say that it was and tried to remind herself that Anya was frightened and lashing out. She had to be patient. That reasoning lasted for as long as it took for Anya to utter her next words.

"If you had just staked Spike in the beginning, none of this would have happened!" Anya continued, tears running down her face. "He’s the reason this vampire found Xander!"

Buffy did not know what to say. In all honestly, she was rather dumbstruck by the accusation, not to mention terribly hurt. The guilt that had been gnawing at her since she had learnt Spike had gone back to his old ways, swelled inside of her like a tidal and once again, she felt like a fool for allowing herself to care about him so that he could do this to her. Hadn’t she learnt her lesson from Angel? Buffy could not refute anything that Anya had said and so she merely stood there, shaking from the impact of former demon’s words, against her battered insides.

"Hey, back off!"

The forceful intervention snapped Buffy back to the present and she looked up to see Dawn putting herself before Anya and her. Dawn’s expression was nothing less than furious as she glared at Anya and for a brief second, Buffy could very well believe that Dawn was capable of bringing down the dimensional barriers by sheer force of will.

"Buffy had nothing to do with this!" Dawn defended her sister with the ferocity of a young lioness protecting one of her pack. "And she’s the one whose going to be risking her life to make it right! She wasn’t the one that made Xander follow that vamp and Spike has helped us more than enough times in the past to not deserve a staking! Can’t you see he’s just as swoony over this Elizabeth as Xander is? We don’t just have to save Xander, we have to snap them both out of this spell or whatever she has them under, right?" She looked over her shoulder at Willow for support in her argument.

"Right," Willow said with a smile, unable to hide how proud she was of Dawn for coming to Buffy’s defence as she had.

Anya turned away in the face of that strong rebuke and started to weep, not because she had nothing to say in return but because her emotions had finally given way and she knew that she had spoken out of turn and unfairly. Her shoulders sagged even further and Buffy could hear the sob starting to escape her.

"Anya," Buffy hurried across the floor of the room, pausing long enough to give Dawn a look of pure love at what she had said before placing a gentle hand on her friend’s shoulder.

"I’m sorry Buffy," Anya turned around at the contact, her face streaming with tears. "I’m just so scared."

"I can deal," Buffy said understanding all too well. She had remembered going crazy on several occasions when she thought Angel was in trouble. "Anya, we’ll find him. I promise you."

And she would, Buffy thought resolutely to herself. If she had to tear Sunnydale apart, she was going to find Xander.

***********

Spike gazed across the floor of the luxurious mansion that Elizabeth had called her own at the vacant expression of Xander Harris. The whelp had been wearing the same steady mask since he had set eyes upon Elizabeth and did not appear to have any will to diminish his open adoration of the female vampire. Spike wondered if Elizabeth’s effect was more powerful on humans than on her own kind since Xander seemed capable of doing nothing without her bidding and Spike still had some semblance of self.

Of course, what he felt for Elizabeth was real while the others were merely enchanted by the allure of her incredible beauty.

He tore his eyes away from Xander who was seated on the embroidered divan and swept his gaze across the lodgings that Elizabeth had acquired herself upon arriving in Sunnydale. The house was very expensive and appeared to have been acquired by wholly legitimate means for there was not the scent of a dead or freshly killed body in sight. It was one of those old rambling mansions with extensive gardens, high walls and more rooms than anyone would have time to use in a lifetime. Expensive paintings hung on the designer furnished home and the windows in the room he was presently occupying which would have been called a parlour back in his day, offered a pleasant view of the manicured grounds.

Certainly a far cry from his musty old crypt he thought and then felt a pang of longing for the days when it was all posh finery for him. He and Dru had stayed at some of the best places in Europe, travelling like aristocrats from one corner of the Old World to the next, London, Paris, Prague, Moscow, times had been good back then. He tried not to think about the places he had seen since returning to Sunnydale or the disappointment his life had been since the chip. However, now there was chance for all that to change because Elizabeth was making it possible once more. She was giving him his dignity back and he was going to be the creature that he was meant to be, not this useless parody of a vampire, clinging to the memory that he had once been somebody.

No more though, he thought with more satisfaction that he had felt in a long time. He could feel the shift in the wind that things for him were changing and soon everyone in Sunnydale who had the audacity to think that he was weak and helpless would soon learn otherwise. There was none of that human foolishness that had been such a burden upon his psyche lingering in his mind. Humans were food for the slaughter, nothing else. Certainly not objects of his affection. He wondered though what Eilzabeth’s intentions were in Sunnydale. Of this he knew little. He knew that she hated the Slayer but then there was not many vampires who would not, excepting himself and the poof although he was becoming less attached to her the more he remained in Elizabeth’s presence he noticed.

However, her hatred of the Slayer was more than just the usual disdain between hunter and the hunted but something more personal. He had inquired into what was at the heart of this cold hatred but she would not speak of it and he wondered how a vampire as old as she, her estimation had been vague being somewhere in the 300 to 400 year mark. That made her older than Darla and slightly younger than Dracula. Spike could tell that there was some history between the two Transylvanians and Spike wondered if Dracula had been Elizabeth’s sire. She seemed to know all his ‘Romany’ tricks as she put it and had acquired a few herself.

"How are you and my new little pet getting along William?" She asked as she entered the room, her bodyguards absent because she had sent them out to hunt.

"He hasn’t said much," Spike muttered giving Xander a look. "But then he wasn’t that bloody interesting to begin with. Are you sure we need him?" Spike asked again, not at all comfortable with Xander for being here and hating himself because of it. "There are more useful humans out there."

"But none with ties as close to the Slayer," she pointed out. "You were the one who brought me to her William, I do not see the hesitation now."

"I thought you were going to kill her and be done with it," he remarked. "I didn’t know you were going to be collecting a menagerie."

"Oh William," Elizabeth smiled as she rested next Xander on the divan and immediately received a dreamy smile from the human. "I will rid you of that bane soon enough but I have plans for the Slayer that involve slightly more than vengeance. Revenge is sweet but I had other reasons for coming to Sunnydale as well."

"Like?" He asked.

"Well the Hellmouth for one," Elizabeth smiled. "There is a veritable fountain of exploitation."

"What you mean with opening it up and bringing on the end of the world? That sort of thing?" Spike asked, unable to deny wishing her plans were a little more original than that. What is it with this pointless desire to bring about the end of the world? Vampires ruled supreme here as creatures of the night, what point was there of increasing the competition by allowing the denizens of the Hellmouth to invade the food chain as well? It made little sense.

"Not at all," she looked at him with a slight pout to her lips that he could think her so unimaginative. "I like this world William, it’s a delightful place but it requires a woman’s touch. I don’t wish to destroy it, I want to rule it."

"Opening the Hellmouth will get you that?" Spike looked at her sceptically.

"The trick to controlling a thing is having some say to its opening and its closing," Elizabeth stared at him. "I want to open the Hellmouth but those on the other side will have to keep me well compensated to keep it open."

Spike merely stared at her in shock. Of all the schemes he had ever heard in regards to Hellmouth, this was a first. "You plan on being some kind of demon gate keeper?"

"Crudely put but yes," she replied coolly. "The hosts of hell will pay handsomely for me to keep their access to the hell mouth open."

"Handsomely as in money?" Spike looked at her unable to imagine that such an undertaking was for the purpose of money.

"Money?" Elizabeth scoffed openly, her brows shot up in surprise at the suggestion. "I have no need of money, I acquire such things easily enough without the use of complicated spells. No, what I want is power and the hosts within the Hellmouth will provide me with enough to be master of everything. I almost succeeded the last time I made the attempt, if not for the interference of the Slayer."

"Yeah," Spike nodded. "Killing one slayer won’t stop another one from coming after you and any nasties you let through the Hellmouth. They get called almost immediately after the last one dies."

"True," Elizabeth agreed. "So perhaps what is required is the elimination of that role all together."

"I don’t understand," he replied. The human in him was repulsed with horror at the possibility while the demon delighted in it. Spike knew that his heart was unconditionally with Elizabeth’s, that Buffy was the thing of the past and yet something inside him felt anxious at the woman’s suggestion.

"Its very simple William," Elizabeth sat forward in her chair as if she were explaining things to a child. "In every generation is born a slayer, one girl in all the world to fight the vampires, am I right? Is that how that dull diatribe of theirs goes?"

"I think so," Spike muttered, recalling the speech that Giles often launched into whenever he was called upon to describe the nature of the slayer in any shape of form. Like every member of the Scoobies, Spike had the whole thing mesmerised by now.

"You ever wonder why that is?" Elizabeth asked.

"What?" Spike did not follow her. "Why there is a slayer?"

"No," she shook her head. "What makes them keep resurrecting the title in another girl, after the last one has died. The slayers, they’re human, all of them. Yet when one dies, another follows. There is something at work here, something that is in all of them and leaves the Slayer once the body dies and moves on to the next acceptable host or if you would believe those dim-witted Watchers, another chosen one."

Spike had never thought about it that way before. He believed that the Slayers were created by some cosmic power that counted itself on the side of good. There was a time when the difference between good and bad was categorised by what was human and demon, however this was no longer the case. Not all demons sought destruction and chaos, some worked for the Powers on the side of good, most notably the poof. Vampires and a slew of others relished the darkness in every way and constantly fought to tip the balance of the world in the favour of evil. It was only natural that there would be a force in existence that would oppose them, this being of course the Slayers. He had never questioned what it was that made them so unique, believing them only to be a creature of the dark like the demons they fought.

"And you know what that is?" Spike asked, realising that Elizabeth’s hatred was not merely confined to the slayer she had encountered that inspired her vengeance but to all slayers everywhere and possibly to those yet to be.

"I believe it has to do with the original slayer," Elizabeth remarked. "I have had time to study their histories and I believe the source of every slayer’s power is a residue of the original, the first slayer. I think that she has never truly passed on, that upon the death of the whatever body she inhabits, she moves on."

"But there are two now," Spike pointed out, finding the flaw in her theory. "There was some kind of accident when the Slayer here in Sunnydale died for a few seconds and another one was called. Doesn’t that kind of shoot holes in your idea?"

"No," Elizabeth said confidently, "the essence is still one but divided. I have no doubt that if one of the two were too die, the slayer would become stronger."

"So what do you intend to do?" Spike asked.

"When the times comes and I open the Hellmouth, I will ensure that whatever this infection that chooses to call itself the Slayer, will be destroyed once and for all." Elizabeth replied with such cold rage in her voice that it made Spike shudder a little from hearing it. However, the ugly mask lasted only briefly before she turned to Xander who had been silent throughout this exchange, clearly trapped in the stupor of desire that Elizabeth had ensnared him.

"Now my dear Xander," she smiled sweetly, no trace of the former unpleasantness showing on her lovely features. "Tell me what you know about the Slayer."

"Me?" Xander burst into a nervous titter. "I know everything about the Buffster, just ask me. I’ve been there since she arrived in Sunnydale, stayed through the whole Angel phase, picked up the pieces after Riley left but not doing too goo in the resurrection stakes, she seems to like being around Spike more than her friends now."

Elizabeth raised her eyes and met Spike’s like sharp points. He had led her to the Slayer but he had not told her that their relationship was that close. "Really? How is that?"

"If you want to know, just ask me," Spike replied before it appeared as if he was holding anything back from her.

"I’m asking him," she said just as sweetly but there was ice in her voice. "Now Xander, you were saying?"

Spike frowned and inside him a battle raged between the human and demon. The human half was struggling to make its presence felt, to force him into stopping Xander from giving too much away while his demon was determined to let Elizabeth have her way. Underlying all this was a weakness to his psyche that he had never felt before. His ability to think beyond Elizabeth was difficult and each time he thought this might be wrong, that he was hurting Buffy, the lingering fragrance of her skin would assault his senses and any resistance he had would bleed. After awhile, he wondered why he had ever troubled himself in the first place.

"I know all of the Buffster’s secrets," Xander continued to spill forth without pause. "Just ask me anything."

"Tell me about her family? Does she have any?" Elizabeth asked once more, her sweet voice having taken a hint of menace as she spoke.

"Sure, there as her mom but she died last year," Xander answered without any idea of the damage he was doing which each word that escaped him. "Her father ran off with his secretary and I don’t think Buffy knows where he is."

"How unfortunate," Elizabeth frowned and Spike knew that she was looking for something she could use.

"And there’s Dawn her sister."

Elizabeth’s eyes flew open. "You mean that delightful child we met earlier?" She asked, her voice very low as she made the demand.

"Yeah," Xander nodded. "You met her."

She turned her gaze slowly to Spike and stared at him for a time. Spike shifted uncomfortably under her penetrating eyes and felt guilty that he had held back from Elizabeth that Dawn’s was the Slayer’s sister.

"Leave us," she ordered Xander immediately.

"Sure thing," Xander stood up mechanically. "Where do I go?"

"Go home," she ordered sharply.

"You’re turning him loose?" Spike exclaimed.

"He is of no use to me at this time," she replied coldly before standing up and facing Xander once more. "You are to go home and pretend as if nothing has happened. Give no indication to the Slayer that your loyalty is mine and tell her nothing about this place. You will come to me on the morning and we’ll discuss more intimately what you are to do for me."

She punctuated the end of this sentence by pressing her mouth to his, her hand snaking around his head to draw him into a passionate kiss. Spike watched their mouth claiming one another with rising jealousy but he held back his anger for he had lied to her and deserved the punishment. When she pulled away from Xander after what seemed like an eternity of time, the human barely had trouble standing up. He swallowed thickly, his expression one of flustered arousal.

"I’ll be here," he whispered. "Even if I have to crawl here. I’ll come Elizabeth."

"Good," Elizabeth smiled. "Now go home Alexander, I will have need of your tomorrow."

With that Xander walked out of the room obediently, leaving Elizabeth and Spike alone. Her gaze which was once warm and fluid had suddenly become as hard as stone. He swore her eyes were like points of flint and he knew that she was furious with him but was unaccustomed to venting her rage. He wondered why he had not told her about Dawn and cursed his human side venomously for allowing compassion to seep into his being where it had no right to be.

"You held back," she looked at Spike with an angry glare.

"Yeah," Spike could not find it in himself to life. "I did."

"Why?" Elizabeth demanded. "She is just a human, a puny little girl who shares the same blood as the Slayer, why did you not give her to me. I would have shown you such pleasure for it."

"I don’t know," Spike confessed, deciding that any attempts to lie would only be found out. After all, she was capable of drilling right through his skin and finding his weaknesses. What point was there to hiding the truth from her? "I cared about her?"

"About that child?" Elizabeth stared at him in surprise.

"Yeah," he nodded slowly. "She didn’t judge me. She didn’t care that I was a vampire, just that I was her friend."

For a moment, Elizabeth did not speak. Spike felt his stomach knot in anticipation of what she was going to say and he was certain that when she did speak that it would be to revile him because of his affection for a human being. He could not imagine that a vampire such as her would think any differently and he felt his inside cringing at the coming rebuke and the loss of her affection.

‘You are veritable fountain of surprise are you not William?" She smiled placing a hand on her face. "And you loved the Slayer didn’t you? You loved her with all your heart and she rejected you."

"Yes," Spike swallowed, wondering why he was admitting all this to her. He did not want to and there was a part of him that was screaming at him to stop revealing all his vulnerabilities as he was.

"You just want to be loved don’t you William?" She straddled him across the legs and slid her arms around his neck. She did not wait for him to answer and captured his mouth in a heated kiss but this was nothing like what she had bestowed upon Xander a moment ago. This was hot and passionate, alluring and irresistible. He felt his senses flood with the sensation of her. He could feel her against his skin, taste her in his mouth and smell her in his lungs. She became his world for a few minutes as she drove everything away and all he could do was remain trapped in her power, without any will of his own to extricate himself from this delirium she had placed him.

"I will love you William," she whispered in his ear and her sharp teeth grazed his neck and forced him to pull her closer to him until their bodies ground together scandalously and she could feel the intensity of his desire. "I will make you forget her and you will never feel unwanted again."

"God yeah," he groaned as he felt her teeth teasing his skin with a mix of pleasure and pain, a devastating combination no vampire could ever resist. "I’ll do anything you want," he muttered back. "Anything. Just don’t leave me. Don’t make me go away."

"I won’t William," Elizabeth replied seductively and had to admit that she meant it. She would keep him with her because she enjoyed him immensely and perhaps works some magic to remove that damned contraption in his head that kept him from being what he truly was; a creature of the night. "And I swear that for your aid in helping me deal with the Slayer, I will reward you with a little more than what you are going to receive tonight."

Spike was not listening, he was lost in pleasure of her hands exploring his body, tearing his shirt and his jacket away from his skin until the cool air of the night breathed over his bare chest. He knew she had spoken but the words were far away and vague so he merely nodded slowly, so that she knew he was in some control of his senses.

"If you are very good William," she said huskily as she lowered him to the divan. "I will reward you with a very special gift. Since you like little Dawn so much, I will give her to you. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little pet?"

Spike did not care to answer because he was completely lost but he had to say something and so the words tumbled past his lips without his even being aware of his answer.

"Yeah," he nodded. "A little pet Dawn would be nice."

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

Although Buffy would never openly admit it, she had to confess that Willy’s bar was the place she had learnt more about demon kind then from any book that Giles might have had in his possession. In truth, the bar was little more than a seedy dive, with backrooms for private poker games and dimly lit corner booths for patrons who did not which to be seen in the light. It was located in a part of town, no sensible human without a monumental death wish would even consider traversing when the sun had set. Angel had introduced her to the bar during her second year of residence in Sunnydale, citing it as good place to acquire information about the demon world.

Its value to her as a learning experience however, came from the fact that in this place, Buffy learnt that not all demons had aspirations for killing and mayhem. Some actually had productive lives, going about their existence as any normal person on the street might, suppressing their natural tendencies to remain anonymous among the human population. She learnt that Willy’s bar was only one stopover in an entire subculture of demon kind that she had never thought existed and was certain the Watcher’s Council would have a hard time explaining in their black and white perception of things.

By now, Willy was more than accustomed to having her come into the place, scaring off his regulars who even if they were not a danger to humans, were sensible enough to leave at the sight of a slayer and generally lowering the next hour’s profits. It was simpler, he had decided, to give her the information that she needed and have her on her way so that his customers would feel it safe enough to come back. On this occasion as the Slayer strode forcefully into the bar, he could tell by her grim expression that she meant business. Her metamorphosis from bright Sunnydale kid to dedicated slayer was almost complete he thought and he realised with more nostalgia then he ought to feel, that had changed so much in the last five years that he was rather sat to see the deconstruction of that happy young girl.

The woman approaching his bar counter had all the signs of a human who had been beaten down by life and was not getting up as well as she should.

"Can we make this fast?" Willy asked gruffly. "You’re bad for business."

"I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to be," Buffy retorted, sweeping her gaze across the establishment and noted that a few of the patrons were reluctant to make eye contact with her and quickly turned back to their drinks upon catching her notice.

"So where’s the Spike man?" Willy asked. "You too seem pretty tight the last time you were here on that date."

"Date?" Buffy’s eyes widened at the suggestion. The last time she and Spike had been in Willy’s bar, it was to seek information about the Big Bad that had been making her attempts to find work a living hell in itself. Fortunately, the Big Bad had turned out to be the Nerds of Doom and the only thing she had learnt was that she was not good with alcohol and her inability to drink it without making amusing noises. "That was not a date," she sputtered. "That was a….a thing."

"A thing?" Willy stared at her in confusion.

"Yes," Buffy nodded uncertainly. "A very definite thing."

"Okay," Willy shook his head. "Denial much?"

"Look, I’m here for information, you got any?" she demanded, reaching out for him across the counter but Willy stepped out of her reach.

"Depends on what it is you want to know? Now if you want to know which Molrek demon is playing around on which Slime monster, I can help you there but if you want anything more than that, you got to be specific."

"There’s a new lady vamp in town," Buffy repeated herself, deciding that she had already been in here for too long and needed to get out before she took to pummelling Willy in frustration. "She’s got minions and she’s got some kind of seductive power over men."

"Oh her," Willy nodded. "I haven’t seen the lady myself but I hear the buzz is that she just got to town last night from someplace in Europe, Romania I think. A couple of the regulars saw her and they were hit pretty hard, says she’s something to look at."

"Yeah," Buffy nodded unhappily, "I hear that too."

Aware that Willy had probably told her all that he knew, mostly to be rid of her, Buffy saw no reason to remain and left the bar, headed for the Magic Shop. Hopefully Willow might have found something in her research efforts. If not, what little Buffy had learnt from Willy might aid her research efforts. After all, how many Romanian vampires were there, other than Dracula that is? It might possibly be the reason why Xander was taken. After all, Dracula was able to possess him and make him a human agent for his purposes. If this Elizabeth was the same, perhaps she might have the same power over Xander.

At least one thing gave Buffy some comfort though not much because it did not lessen the danger of him, only the reason why he had had suddenly counted himself an enemy. Elizabeth had no doubt entranced Spike the way she had entranced Xander. Somehow, when Spike had been attempting to leave town and her, he had come across Elizabeth and been caught in her spell as Xander had been. She supposed that she ought to be grateful that his chip was still intact and unlike Angel when he had lost his soul, the only person he was capable of harming these days seemed to be her. At least, she knew her friends would be somewhat safe.

She returned to the Magic Shop, not relishing the disappointment or the angry words that were going to come from Anya when Buffy revealed how little she had learnt in her progress to find Xander. She supposed in Anya’s position she would feel just as badly but Buffy still thought it was a little unfair that she was the one to bear the brunt of Anya’s anger. After all, it was hardly her fault that a vampire who just happened to be a guy magnet managed to trap Xander and Spike in her clutches. Despite herself, Buffy felt inordinately irate that Spike could fall for someone that easily. How many times had he said he loved her? Not very much if he could fall for the first vampire that came along, she thought sourly.

She realised of course that it was not entirely his fault since Xander had shown the same weakness and he was practically married to Anya.

"Buffy!" Dawn exclaimed when Buffy walked through the door.

"Did you find anything?" Anya stood immediately from the table and hurried to the Slayer.

"No," Buffy shook her head sadly, preparing to get yelled at for her failure. "I’m sorry," she added a moment later.

However, Anya did no such thing. The woman merely turned away disappointed and Buffy found that even a worse reaction then being shouted at. Buffy wished she was able to offer Anya better news except the scant morsel she was about to tell them. "Willy didn’t say much except that Elizabeth only got into town yesterday and that she might be from Romania. Seems it’s pretty much unanimous all around that she’s a babe."

"I got something," Willow said brightly, trying to inject some optimism into the situation.

"Yeah," Dawn replied. "She had to call Giles for some of it but Willow manage to get quite a bit from the computer." Dawn offered Willow an encouraging smile, aware that the former witch felt quite ineffectual that she was unable to resource her magic powers to aid them because of her addiction.

"The only thing I got on record to get on any kind of nasty with the name of Elizabeth is Erzsébet Bathory," Willow explained returning Dawn a grateful look for her support. "Apparently the movie Countess Dracula was sort of based on her. She was a Transylvanian countess in the 1600’s, supposed to have been put on trial for her strange taste for drinking human blood. She went through six hundred maidens before the King put a stop to it and had her walled up in her own castle. She figured that drinking blood would make her stop growing old."

"Considering the fact that every guy seems to go crazy at the sight of her, I can see why," Buffy replied deciding that this ‘countess’ and the woman that Dawn encountered earlier today was one and the same. "This is our girl alright, except that the reason for the blood drinking was because she was a vamp. So why did you have to call Giles?" Buffy looked at her old friend. "Seems to me you had a handle on her pretty good."

"Thanks," Willow replied but she was not finished with her explanation on Elizabeth. "I called Giles because they say she was walled up in her castle until her death two years later. If that’s the case, where has she been since then? I thought the Watcher’s Council might have some record of her, since she is pretty old for a vamp."

"And did Giles know?" She asked, wishing that her Watcher were here now, helping her through this. She could really use talking to him about now. Of course, even before he went she had kept secrets from him and she had no idea how he would take hearing of any relationship between her and Spike.

"Yeah," Willow nodded grimly, shuddering inwardly at what she had been told by their old friend about where Elizabeth had been until now. "He had to get back to me but it seems that a Slayer named Brigid was sort of assigned to Elizabeth after she was captured by the King of Poland and put on trial for the murders. Apparently, he wasn’t too comfortable about executing an aristocrat no matter how hard the Watcher Council tried to convince him that it wasn’t the smart thing to do, not without coming out and telling everyone she was a vampire anyway. In the end, Brigid offered to keep watch on her while she was walled up in her castle."

"That’s some duty," Dawn remarked. "At least Buffy gets to meet people."

Buffy cast her sister an odd look before turning back to Willow again. "So she tried to escape two years later and Brigid staked her?"

Willow did not answer immediately and an expression of uncertainty crossed over Willow’s features that gave Buffy the distinct impression she was not going to like the answer to her question.

"Come on Will," Buffy prompted after the pause stretched longer than it should. "How bad could it be?"

"Buffy," Willow spoke in response to Buffy’s insistence. "She didn’t escape or die. Brigid just told him that so he wouldn’t worry about her anymore. The records say that Brigid walled her up completely and abandoned the castle."

"You mean….." Buffy stared to say and then found the words would not escape her lips because it was simply too awful too contemplate.

"Yeah," Willow nodded confirming her worst fears. "Brigid left her in the castle, walled up alive."

"Real merciful," Buffy whispered, knowing that they were talking about a vampire and it should not really matter but she could not help feeling this gnawing sensation in the pit of her that the action was not merely cruel but in itself sadistic. She remembered what it had been like trapped inside that coffin when she had been resurrected. The blind, unbelievable taste of panic that filled her mouth when she opened her eyes in that confined space, realising with utter certainty that there was no way out and she was trapped. She closed her eyes, remembering the desperation of needing to get out and realised that it had only been a matter of minutes before she had broke free of her prison and escaped into the world above.

What must it have been like for Elizabeth, caught in the same nightmare? How long had she suffered?

"How long was she in there?" Buffy asked suddenly.

Once again, Willow paused and Buffy’s heart started to pound. She did not know in anticipation of horror at the answer she would receive or perhaps in pity. "How long Willow?"

"Four hundred years."

God.

Buffy closed her eyes in shock. Four centuries, trapped in darkness and filled with an insatiable hunger that could not be satiated except with blood. Vampires did not die, even when they starved. The hunger simply gnawed endlessly at their hollowed stomachs, driving them insane with need until no other thought occupied them. Suddenly, she knew perfectly well what Brigid had done without even needing to hear Willow explain the less. The slayer had kept Elizabeth confined and not fed her. She had watched the vampire starve, day by day, growing more frenzied and weak at the same time, until she was half insane with need. She waited patiently, for a slayer who committed such an act had to be even though Buffy could never be so cruel to inflict that kind of death on any creature. The demon that was a vampire did what it did because that was its nature. One could no more hold it responsible for his actions then expecting a wolf feeding itself in the wild.

Brigid had probably let Elizabeth become so weak until there was no more fight left in her before reporting that she was dead and abandoned the castle, leaving the vampire trapped there for the next four hundred years. In her own way, Brigid probably thought that was justice. Buffy did not feel the same way.

"How did she get out?" Buffy asked and noted that no one else was speaking. Dawn and Anya had heard the story already, she could see the same horror on their face although they had time to let the story seep in and accept it though just barely.

"The Council wasn’t certain," Willow explained. "They know that a team of historians were studying the castle and somehow she got free and killed them all. The Romanian authorities think it was some kind of animal attack because they were all torn up but the Council is pretty sure it was her."

"She was hungry," Buffy replied. "It must have seemed like an all you can eat buffet."

"That’s the last they heard of her until now." Willow commented. "Buffy, she wasn’t just a vamp. She was a witch and a pretty damn powerful one. From what Giles was able to tell from the records they kept about her, she was capable of making the earth tremble and bring forth all kinds of unclean things from hell."

"You mean like a Hellmouth?" Buffy’s eyes widened, realising what it was that Willow was trying to say. "You think she’s here to open the Hellmouth?"

"It’s a possibility," Willow confessed reluctantly.

Buffy had more than her fill of demons trying to open the Hellmouth. The last time had been almost two years ago when she and Riley had faced each other as Slayer and Commando, masks shed for the first time since knowing each other. After that, it had been relatively quiet except for the incident with Glory. Although Glory had not merely planned to open the Hellmouth, she had attempted to rip apart the dimensional barriers in an even almost certain to cause cosmic entropy. It had taken her death to stop Glory and while the Hellmouth was simpler in comparison, Buffy had no intention of allowing Elizabeth to accomplish what she had not managed to do four centuries before.

"I don’t thin the Hellmouth is all she’s going to be after," Buffy sighed.

"What do you mean?" Tara asked anxiously, not liking the manner in which her sister said that.

"A slayer kept her inside a cell for the last four hundred years," Buffy said slowly. "Can you imagine what that must have been like for her?"

"If I were her, I’d be pretty pissed," Willow replied, guessing what point Buffy was attempting to make.

"I know I’d want some payback," Buffy sighed, knowing that Elizabeth would not be merely interested in opening the Hellmouth. She would want vengeance for four hundred years of a living hell.

"But we didn’t do anything to her!" Dawn exclaimed.

"No we didn’t," Buffy said gently, trying not to frighten Dawn but she had to understand how real the threat was.. "But Brigid did and I’m a Slayer and the next best thing. She’ll be coming after me."

Unfortunately no one could disagree.

*********

Buffy had tried to convince Anya to come home with them after they had left the Magic Shop. Buffy was going to patrol and she thought it would be safer if Anya stayed with them in case Elizabeth tried to come after any more of them as she had done Xander but Anya needed to be alone. She was not a person who liked to show her vulnerabilities and as much as Buffy, Dawn and Willow were apart of her family, she knew inwardly that they felt a little uncomfortable around her and the things she sometimes said. They cared about her because Xander did but the honest truth was, they were never really friends and Anya did not wish to stay in their company and try to tolerate their words of sympathy when all she wanted to do was curl up and die.

If she were to wait, she would rather do it in the home she and Xander shared where she could be alone with her grief and her fears for his safety. Apart of her was certain that if he was not already dead then he was surely turned into a vampire and he might as well be as good as dead for all she would mean to him after that. However, the other half of her was clinging to the ragged hope that he was still alive, that he would come back to her and they would be married just as they had been planning. She forced herself to remain in that frame of mind as she returned home but found that inevitably, her thoughts would return to more realistic expectations.

Anya returned home and lowered herself into the sofa. She did not know how long she had sat there in the darkness, waiting for some word of hope to reach her ears before her mind descended completely into panic. Tears were shed for his safety and her grief if he did not return before she finally succumbed to the exhaustion in her bones and fell asleep.

She woke up when she heard the key to the front door turn shortly before sunrise. Her senses snapped to perfect clarity, leaving behind the slumber of a few seconds ago when she heard the turn of the steel mechanism in the distance. She sat up in the sofa, her heart pounding in fear, wondering what new threat was invading her home and then realising that vampires did not use keys or enter homes uninvited for that matter. Anya was pondering all these things when the door did open and she reached for a near by vase as she hurried to it, preparing to defend herself from whatever came through.

What came through the door however, was Xander.

"XANDER!" Anya exclaimed with complete and utter joy.

She ran into his arms and embraced him before he had a chance to say anything, planting his face with warm kisses in absolute elation that he was alive and well. She felt his arms around her in return, his lips meeting her in a gentle kiss before they stared into each other’s eyes.

"This is some welcome," Xander grinned.

"Xander! Where have you been?" Anya demanded. "Dawn said that you were taken by some vampire!"

"Taken?" Xander laughed, "I wasn’t taken anywhere. I met up with Spike. Hey do you know he never left town?"

"What?" Anya stammered with confusion. "I thought she put you under some kind of spell…."

"Spell?" Xander stared at her incredulously. "Get real Anya. Look Spike and his new lady invited me over for a drink at the Bronze and I went. I mean I told him to go get a girlfriend, who knew he’d score that well?"

"But Dawn said," Anya started to say.

"Dawn’s a kid and not exactly the most trustworthy one either. I mean shoplifting one day, lying the next. Buffy’s got a lot to deal with." He said indifferently as he broke free from Anya’s embrace and started towards the bedroom.

"Xander…" Anya stared after him. "I was worried about you! I thought that you were hurt or dead!"

"You worry to much," he retorted, looking at her as if she were insane for such hysterics. "I’m fine."

With that he walked into the bedroom, leaving her staring after him without any doubt in her mind, that whatever he might at this moment, fine was not one of them.

TO BE CONTINUED...