Chapter 2

 Spike looked around with a secret delight.  This was even better than he'd hoped for.  He waved his hands in front of his face to examine how the pale skin glowed in the twin sun's light.

"Well, this was unexpected," Buffy said as she stared at Spike.  Dawn and she giggled at the vampire's antics in the sunlight. "Don't know if you'll freckle, but you might burn," she called out.

"We're in Pylea, aren't we?" Anya asked.  She came to stand by the Slayer and her sister.  "We need to be careful here.  The demons here see humans as slaves."

"What do you suggest we do?" Buffy asked.  She was eager to hear what the ex-vengeance demon had to say since the woman was being so much more tolerable than the others at the moment.  Buffy just hoped that Spike hadn't got them into a worse situation than the one they'd just escaped from.

"I'm sure Xander and Giles will protest, but I think we should pretend to be Spike's slaves," Anya answered.  She crossed her arms in front of her chest.  "You would be his consort and bodyguard, Buffy.  Being the owner of a Slayer would make Spike legendary, even if it's just pretend."

"What are you talking about, Anya?"  Xander came up to stand by the women.  "What kind of ridiculous suggestions are you trying to give?"

"That's enough, Xander."  Buffy gave her friend a tight-lipped glare.  She was sick and tired of Xander always putting Anya down.  Buffy wasn't too blind not to notice how Xander tried to strong arm his girlfriend into the exact pigeon hole he wanted her in.  "I asked Anya for her help.  I think her idea has merit.  If the demons here think that humans are slaves, then the smart thing to do is have our resident demon pretend to own us."

"I will not!" Xander shouted.  "Buffy, what on earth is wrong with you?"

"I will do anything to protect Dawn," Buffy growled.  "And I know Spike will too, unlike some people in this group who are more than willing to sacrifice her."

Dawn gulped in horror at Buffy's revelation.  She hadn't realized that some of the Scoobies, and she wondered which ones, had pushed at Buffy to kill her.  "I gotta go to the bathroom, Buffy.  Be right back."  Dawn stumbled towards the nearby bushes.

"You okay, Nib?" Spike called out. He had heard the entire conversation, and as surprised as he was by Buffy's agreement with Anya's slave suggestion, he was equally surprised to find out that one of her friends had suggested such a thing about Dawn.  Didn't they know by now that Buffy would do anything for someone she loved?

"I'll be right back, Spike."  Dawn waved at the vampire.  "I'm not wandering off."  The teenager plunged into the bushes.  She pushed through the undergrowth until she broke through the other side.

"Look what you did, Xander," Anya grumbled.  "You made Dawn upset.  Crying is not good for the complexion no matter what your age is."

"Anya," Xander said in and exasperated tone.  Sometimes he wished she'd be a little less blunt about things.

The ex-vengeance demon threw her hands up in the air.  Her frustration with her boyfriend was growing exponentially since Buffy had shown up with Spike in tow.  Anya rarely showed it, but she knew that the Slayer was the leader of their little group.  If Buffy wanted Spike to give her orgasms, or to protect her sister, who was she to stand in the Slayer's way.

"Spike!  Buffy!" Dawn's shriek echoed through the woods, scaring the birds out of the trees.

Buffy and Spike responded to the girl's scream.  They crashed though the foliage where Dawn had disappeared just a few minutes before.  When she screamed again, they sped up.  Buffy burst through the other side of the bushes just a few moments before Spike.

"I found myself a nice young cow," the Pylan demon, Klempt, growled.  He grinned down at the girl that his pet had pinned to the ground.

"You touch her and you die," Buffy snarled.  She was tired of creatures trying to hurt her sister lately.  First Harmony, then Glory, and now some other type of beastie.

"More cows," Klempt chortled when he saw the two blonds.  This was an unexpected bonus!

Spike slipped into game face.  "Slayer, you help Nibblet.  I'll take care of big and ugly here."

Klempt stepped back when the blond male revealed his own demonic self as a vampire.  When the vamp had called the small blond cow 'Slayer', the Pylean demon realized he might be in trouble.  The vampire had to be powerful to have the Slayer under his command.  He turned and ran as fast as he could, abandoning his pet to its fate.

Buffy quickly dispatched the demon pet, and she helped her sister up off the ground.  She dusted Dawn off as she checked her over for wounds.  Once she was satisfied, she turned her attention to Spike.  "We need to find somewhere to spend the night."

Spike was still in awe of being in the sun, but he knew that the Slayer was right. Being caught out after dark could prove very dangerous.  Not to mention they needed to get back to the Scoobs before something happened to them.  He escorted Buffy and Dawn back to the rest of the gang.

"Are you sure there's a village in that direction, Anya?" Giles was asking the ex-vengeance demon when Spike, Buffy, and Dawn pushed their way out of the brush.

"Of course, I'm sure," Anya replied.  "Really, Rupert, I do know what I'm talking about sometimes."

"You tell him, demon girl."  Spike smirked at Anya.

"Let's go." Buffy set off in the direction that Anya had indicated after they had hidden the convertible.  "I'd rather not be out in the open after dark."

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"What did you find out?" Angel demanded when Wesley walked in the front door of the Hyperion. He had become more and more restless over the hours since his convertible had disappeared with Spike and the Scoobies.

"The demons are leaving Sunnydale," Wesley answered. "Also, quite interestingly, there have been more missing reports filed there in the last few hours."

"Vamps?" Cordy asked. She glanced out the glass door behind Wesley, and she noticed it was still daytime.

"No.  Witnesses say ugly midgets are doing the kidnapping."  Wesley raised an eyebrow.  "Typical Sunnydale.  Most of the witnesses said that they didn't realize the circus was in town."

"Seriously," Gunn asked.  "People actually thought that?"

"When you live in Sunnydale, you quickly learn to live in a state of denial," Cordelia replied.  "My parents still think that Spike's assault on the school was 'gang members on PCP', and that happened three and half years ago."

"Maybe we should go up there to check things out," Angel suggested in a mild tone.  He figured if he didn't act too agitated that the others would agree with him.  He wasn't too happy with the thought of Buffy running away from her duty.

Lorne burst through the front door of the hotel.  He was out of breath and sweating bullets.  He staggered to a couch, and he collapsed onto it.  "I was invaded by some knights looking for their key," Lorne panted. "They weren't happy when I didn't know what they were talking about."

"Are you okay, Lorne?" Wesley asked.  His voice was tinged with concern.

"Yes, I'm fine, sweetcheeks," the empath demon muttered.

Wesley looked around at the others, and he made a snap decision.  "Nothing much is happening around here.  Let's go to Sunnydale.  I'm sure all the answers are there."

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"Where did that green demon disappear to?" General Gregor demanded.  He looked around the bar room.  "Are you sure this is the last place the Key was?"

"The demon snuck out the back, sir," the young knight replied.  "The seer is positive that this is the where the Slayer disappeared with the Key."  His lip curled in disgust at the line of alcohol bottles behind the bar.

"Can we follow them?" General Gregor bellowed.   This whole situation was getting out of hand.  "We must remove the Key."

"I can try, sir," the seer answered absentmindedly.  He was busy trying to activate the portal in which the Slayer had disappeared.

"Try harder," Gregor growled.  He flung himself into a nearby chair, and he pinched his nose in frustration.

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"Who are all these people?" Ben snarled.  He stared at the prisoners chained to the walls of the penthouse.  He came home from work, tired and ready for a hot shower, only to find his space invaded by extra minions and humans.

"They are for her magnificent Gloryness," Jinx bowed to Ben. "She is going to be very unhappy."

"Why is that?"  Ben's curiosity got the best of him.  He figured anything that got Glory upset was interesting news.

Jinx sighed loudly. He thought that Ben was entirely too curious for his own good, but the diminutive minion decided that there wasn't much the young human could do about things.  "The Slayer and her little band of do-gooders have stolen her lusciousness' Key and disappeared."

"Well, isn't that special?" Ben quipped.  "Guess her worthlessness is gonna just be suck here on little old Earth."

"You're wrong," Jinx protested.  "The Slayer cannot hold out against a god!"  He twisted his hands together in desperation.  The shell was causing too much stress on the already overtaxed minion.

"Maybe not physically," Ben taunted, "But it doesn't take much to out think the insane bitch."

"Don't say that," Jinx screamed.  "You should be grateful that she is willing to share all that she is with you."  He shook his fists at the taller male.

"I'd be more grateful is she'd just let me live my life," Ben sneered.  He wondered how mad he could make the scabby little creature.  "Personally, I'm glad the Key's gone.  Now maybe Glory will kick your disgusting ass to the curb for failing her."

"She would never do that," Jinx cried.

"Sure she will," Ben goaded the minion.  "You lost the Key.  I mean, you are the head minion.  Maybe I should leave her a little note telling her of your failure."

"No, I won't allow that."  Jinx didn't want to disappoint his glorious god.  He was more than willing to do anything she wanted, even to die for her, but he didn't want Ben's lies to cause her pain.  Jinx advanced on the shell that housed Glory.  "You will tell her divine magnificence nothing, you worm."

"Takes one to know one," Ben mocked. "Now, I need to hit the shower.  I have a second shift at the hospital.  Maybe tonight I will finally find a drug to suppress her supreme bitchiness."

"You will not!" Jinx screeched.  His mind slowly slipped further into an frantic state.  "You will do nothing to impair Glory."  Jinx rushed Ben, knocking the taller human to the floor.  The minion stood over the young man while he kicked him viciously in the head.

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Klempt urged his horse on towards the palace.  He knew that Brother Silas needed to know about the newest demon and its Slayer cow.  He had no idea why they were here in Pylea, but he knew it couldn't be a good thing.

Klempt burst into the courtyard, and he leaped from his mount.  He rushed inside where he fell at the feet of the tattooed-faced priest.

"Where is the Seer?" Silas demanded.  He had an important job to do for his bosses, and he hoped the idiot groveling at his feet hadn't messed it all up.  "Come on, speak up."  Silas kicked Klempt.

"Brother Silas, there was a girl right where you said, but the vampire was with her.  He had a Slayer with him."

"What?" Silas screamed.  "The vampire wasn't supposed to get here yet."  He kicked the groveling demon again for good measure, and because it felt good.

"The-the girl cow called him Spike," Klempt offered.  He hoped that Brother Silas wouldn't kick him again.

Silas stared down at the demon at his feet.  "Spike?  Not Angel?"

"No, Brother Silas."  Klempt nodded as vigorously as he could with out cracking his head on the floor.  "That's what the girl cow said, all right."

Silas turned to sweep out of the room.  He needed to contact his bosses.  Something in their plans had gone terribly wrong.  Silas hoped that the Senior Partners didn't take it out on him.

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"Slayer, we could have one little problem," Spike said in a quiet voice once he pulled Buffy to the back of the pack.

"What problem?" Buffy returned in her own quiet tone.  The whole situation could be filled with problems.

"If you and your Scoobs are my 'slaves'."  Spike made quote marks in the air.  "I wouldn't be drinkin' pigs blood."  He mentally cringed while he waited for the explosion.

Buffy sighed before she scrunched up her nose.  "Hadn't thought of that."

"Need to get our stories straight."  Spike shrugged.  "You think on the blood situation while we go o'er our story, yeah?"

"I'm your consort, right?" Buffy asked. "What's a consort exactly?"

Spike ducked his head in embarrassment, and he shuffled his feet.  If the thing about the blood hadn't gotten an explosion from the usually uptight Slayer was sure to.  He just hoped that his explanation didn't make him lose the little ground he had just recently gained with the woman.  "As my consort, you would be my closest companion, in and... um... out of bed?"  He ended the statement in an almost question.

Buffy raised an eyebrow at the self-conscious vampire.  She had already decided to give Spike a chance, and she figured she could start now.  "Okay, works for me, but what about the others?"

"Buffy?"  Spike blinked in surprise.  "Are you serious?"  He gave her a disbelieving look.

"Of course I am," Buffy said.  She gave her vampire a wide, warm smile.  She waved him off towards the others.  "Now I've got a problem to solve, and you've got some stories to come up with."  She reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Right," Spike replied with a huge grin on his lean face.  He grabbed Buffy's hand and gave it a squeeze before he went to talk to Xander.

Spike fell in beside Harris.  "I need t'talk t'you, whelp."

"What?" Xander spit out.  He had seen Buffy kiss Spike, and he wasn't too happy about it.

"You remember anything about being that soldier boy?" Spike asked.  He didn't give a rat's ass what the boy's problem was.  This whole jaunt was entirely for the Summers' women's benefit.

"A bit," Xander answered begrudgingly.  He remembered lots more than he ever let on.

"Good.  Your cover story is that you're in charge of my security.  Now act like it." Spike commanded.

"What?" Xander exclaimed.  "I am not your slave!"

"Take it up with Buffy."  Spike moved off to talk to Giles.  He offered the man a cigarette as they walked.  "Time to dust off that alter ego you like to pretend doesn't exist."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Giles glanced at Spike as he took the offered cigarette.

"You and Red are my magic workers in this little scenario," Spike replied.  They paused long enough to light their cigarettes.  "Tell anyone that asks about Tara that you channel her magic for yourselves."

"I would never."

"Yeah, I know that and you know that, but the idiots around here don't know that," Spike said.  He glanced over at Anya, his mind already working on what to tell the ex-vengeance demon. He turned back to Giles.  "Tell Red the story.  Oh, the Slayer's my consort and droopy boy is head of security."  He didn't wait for a reaction.

Spike went to Anya, and between the two of them they came up with the idea that she would be in charge of the financial aspect of the whole thing.  Spike agreed to let her negotiate for their room and board when they arrived at the town.

"What about me?"  Dawn bounced up to Spike when he moved away from Anya.  She knew he was concocting a cover story for everyone, and she hoped that he had some kind of awesome role for her.

"You just be who you are, Nib," Spike replied.  "The Slayer's bratty little sister..."

"But..."

"Who I keep around to keep my woman happy."  Spike grinned at the girl.  He was glad to see she was back to her usual happy self after Xander's slip about killing her.

"Your woman?"  Dawn squealed.  "Are you serious?  She agreed?"  She knew she must have missed something earlier when she was helping Willow with Tara.

"Wouldn't say if if she hadn't."  Spike was still very surprised by the Slayer's actions.  He just hoped that when they got back home she didn't go back to popping him in the nose at every turn.

"I knew it.  She does like you." Dawn gave Spike a hug before she bounced off to talk to Buffy.