“Where are they?” the hooded man asked.

“In tunnel, me show.” It squealed, rubbing its scrawny hands together.

“You miserable little-“ Xander yelled but was cut off when a strong fist connected with his nose.

“Xander!” Anya called out, kneeling next to him.

“I’m fine.” He reassured her. “I knew we couldn’t trust a demon.”

“You will take me to them. But first we must go back and call our brothers.”

They walked for a few minutes until they reached a large cave. Soon, ten other men, dressed in a similar way, joined them.

“Take them and put them in the cell.” The man ordered. Then pointing to five of his men he added: “You watch the girl.” They nodded and left the room and he motioned to the rest of the group: “You come with me, we need that dagger. Time is running out.”

Xander struggled a bit but in was useless and soon they all found themselves in a small chamber where the only way out was a steel bar door.

“What now?” Tara asked concerned.

“We wait and see what happens.” Willow whispered clinging to one of the bars as she looked at the large stone altar covered with blood in front of them.

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

In the meantime, Spike and Buffy continued to roam the empty tunnels after the scent of rosemary. They walked in silence for what seemed like hours.

Suddenly the vampire stopped and turned to face her.

“Buffy…” he whispered.

Even though the sound of her name on his lips made her knees weaken and her heart jump a beat she continued walking.

“Buffy…” he called again, but she didn’t stop.

The excruciating pain that had settled in his chest since he had said those venomous words to her took over his entire body and he felt his legs falter under him as he tried to catch up with her.

“Buffy.” He practically shouted as he turned her to face him.

“Let. Go. Of. Me.” She harshly punctuated each word as she tried to control the anger inside her.

“What I said back there…”

“It doesn’t matter anymore.” She spat out.

“I didn’t mean to…”

“I know very well what you meant. I don’t wanna hear it.” She pushed him away as she tried to free herself from his grip, but it was no use, he held her tightly and forced her to face him once more as he reached with his other hand and grasped her free arm.

“Will you listen to me, for once in your bleeding stubborn life?” he yelled, pulling her closer to him, crushing her chest against his.

Buffy felt her heartbeat accelerate and her breathing become shallow. She hated that he always had this effect on her, no matter how angry she was at him.

“I didn’t mean to hurt me, it’s just that…” he swallowed hard as he took in the scent of her. “Why can’t you just admit there is something strong pulling us together? Why don’t you just give into it?”

She breathed heavily as they stared at each other. Suddenly she snapped out of her trance and broke free of his grip.

“Even if there was something between us, it’s gone. You saw to it.” She spat in anger.

“You just pissed me off with your indecision. One day you’re hot, the next you’re cold. You can’t keep doing this to me!” he yelled.

“Do what?” she shouted back.

“You can’t keep coming to me and then leave whenever one of your scoobies show up.”

“What did you want me to do? Wake up, merrily strut my way to Dawn’s room and just say: ‘Hey, how are you today? Sleep well? I’ll just be off making you breakfast, oh and by the way, I’m shagging Spike!’ Is that it?” she bellowed of the top of her lungs.

“No!” he hissed, closing his eyes as he searched for control. “I just wanted…”

“I can’t tell them!”

“Why the Hell not?” he shouted annoyed.

“Because this is wrong!” she cried out as tears drowned her blue eyes.

“Ha! I thought you’d never come around to saying.” He exhaled sharply. “I guess we’re back to the same old bleeding song, ey? ‘You’re evil, you’re a disgusting evil thing.’ Isn’t that the way it goes?”

“It’s not-“

“Save it, Slayer.” It was Spike’s turn to start walking away and Buffy’s to stop him. 

“Spike, will you just hear me out.” She shouted.

He turned to face her. His eyes were red and glassy with tears.

“I don’t want to hear it all again.” He spoke softly but, as he continued, his tone grew as the anger built up inside him and eventually he was shouting. “I know that I’m a monster, that’s all you see. That’s all you’ve ever seen in me. An evil, disgusting, worthless vampire.” He spat out.

“Spike-“

“Don’t! Let’s just get this over with and save Dawn.” He turned to leave when Buffy grabbed him by his arm.

“Spike, we need to talk about this.” She begged.

He was about to answer when he heard a loud cry coming from deep inside the tunnel.

“Dawn!” they both said in unison.

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

They ran as fast as they could in the direction of the scream until they reached a large cave. Various torches spread across the room illuminated it. In one of the darker corners sat Dawn, trying to straighten her torn and dirty clothes. Five hooded men surrounded her.

“Dawn!” Buffy whispered as she tried to run to her sister.

“Slayer.” Spike called in a low voice, grabbing her by her arm and forcing her to hide in the shadows with him. “We can’t take them out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Human, chip.” His index finger motioned from the men to his head. “I can’t help you, remember?”

“They’re only five of them.”

“Well, we don’t know if there are more of them.” Spike tried to reason. “Plus, they have a touch of the Magic, if you recall.”

Buffy sighed. “What’s you’re plan?”

“We wait till they leave. You know we need the wiccas for this.”

Buffy nodded and sat down in the shadows. Soon enough, as the men left the room leaving only one to look after Dawn, Buffy saw her chance and went for it. Not giving Spike any warning she lunged at the hooded figure and curled her arm around his neck, squeezing it until she felt him falter and fall to the floor unconscious.

The young teenager raised her eyes to see Buffy kneeling next to her and wrapping her arms around her.

“Oh, Buffy. I knew you’d come.”

“Are you ok?” the Slayer asked concerned as she ran her hand along Dawn’s body looking for any sign of injury. 

“I’m fine.”

Bringing her arms around her sister once more Buffy cradled her head on her shoulder.

“We better hurry, this guy will soon wake up and the others might come back.” Spike spoke out.

Buffy stood helping Dawn up, but she stumbled.

“You’re hurt, what happen?” she asked as anger grew inside her.

“It’s nothing.” Dawn hesitated as she tried to pull her torn skirt over her bruised leg.

“Let me see.” Buffy insisted, pushing the fabric away to reveal a deep gash along her thigh.

“Who did this to you?” Spike growled when he saw the wound.

Dawn remained silent.

“Nibblet, tell me.” Spike spoke calmly but it was clear that deep inside his blood was boiling with untamed rage.

“They… They needed my blood to wash th-the sacrificial altar.” She stuttered; her eyes glued to the floor.

“I’ll kill them.” Spike hissed making his way to the tunnel the other men had disappeared into.

“Spike, don’t. We’ll deal with this later, first we’ve got to get Dawn to safety.” Buffy reminded him and he sighed, swallowing hard as he tried to get his emotions under control.

“Let’s go.” He simply said. When he saw Dawn’s effort to stand up he knelt down next to her. “Lemme help ya.”

He put one arm around her tiny waist and the other under her knees and lifted her smoothly. Instinctively, the little girl curled her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder. They started making their way back out when Buffy remembered.

“Willow and the others.” She whispered. “Do you think they went ahead with the plan?”

Spike looked around and answered: “Looks, that way. The place is too empty.”

“Dawn, did something happen out…er of the usual around here?” Buffy asked.

“Yeah. There were about ten men in this room, then another one came in and called them and they left. After a while there were only five, which is strange cause all the time I’ve been here there’s always been at least ten men around me.

“I guess It did his part then.” Spike sighed.

“That means Willow and the others are probably trapped.” Buffy concluded. “When was this, Dawn?”

“About half an hour ago.”

Buffy paused for a while and then added: “You go on ahead and get Dawn to safety and I’ll look for them.”

“No, I won’t leave you here.” Spike protested putting Dawn down and pulling Buffy away from the tired teenager.

“We have no choice. We have to get Dawn to safety.”

“Buffy-“

“Go.”

“Fine, then you take Dawn out of here and I’ll look for them.” Spike suggested distressed.

“And if you run into our hooded friends you’ll do what? Annoy them to death?” Buffy asked with a sweet smile over her lips. It was amazing how sometimes he forgot that she was the Slayer and that she could handle herself. Well, most of the times.

Spike looked at her, desperation was the most evident emotion in his glassy eyes. Finally he realised that arguing with her would only put all of them at risk.

He felt tempted to run his fingers over her jaw line and pull her into a kiss, but he new better, instead he whispered: “Be careful.” And walked away, picking up Dawn and making his way back were they had come from.

Buffy watched as they moved and disappeared into the shadows. She sighed and made her way to the other tunnel. Soon, she was in a different room. On one side was an altar red with blood. Buffy shivered at the thought of what could have happen to her little sister. On the opposite side was a larger cage and…

“Willow.” Buffy sighed with relief at the sight of her best friend and ran to her. “Are you ok?”

“We’re fine. What about Dawn?” the Wicca asked.

“Spike’s got her, his getting her out. We better get you guys out of here before they return. Step away from the door.” And with that Buffy backed up, took a deep breath and started running towards the steel door. It gave in and broke open as the Slayer’s foot connected with it.

“Buffster, I’m impressed.” Xander joked nervously as he made his way out of the cell and hugged his friend.

“What about It?” Buffy asked.

“I guess the little guys really came through for us there. He must have them walking around in circles right about now.” Xander explained with a grin.

“Good, we have to get out of here.” Buffy offered.

“You’re going nowhere.”

Buffy turned around to see a sea of hooded men in front her. One of them had an unconscious It hanging by his neck.

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