Chapter Summary: The Scoobies and Spike talk about Angelus' emergence and other things. Spike tries to explain his change of heart to Willow and Xander. Angelus fumes over not receiving the power of "The Master" once his soul was lost.

"Drusilla and Angel were a part of a ritual last night to restore Drusilla's health. Spike and Buffy were there as well to supervise." Giles waited to continue his explanation until after Xander's latest rounds of insults ceased.

Buffy was glad she was sitting on Spike's lap. Even though he couldn't walk, Spike already proved that his upper body strength was intact.

Joyce and Willow both noticed that Spike was only mildly upset when Xander insulted him. Spike became highly agitated over every negative remark or accusation Xander sent Buffy's way. The increasing noise level from the shouting match had Willow and Joyce covering their ears.

The room dropped to dead silence after Buffy's screaming snarl ceased. Everyone stared at Buffy with open mouths. Xander thought it was one of the scariest things he'd ever seen or heard. Willow and Joyce were in shock. Giles was itching to do more research, and Spike puffed up with pride at the strength of his beloved.

"What are you guys looking at?" Buffy huffed. Her face and body relaxed again. "We need to get through this before dark. I have some vampires to hunt." She was unaware that her eyes temporarily went silver, and her fangs made a brief appearance until she relaxed.

Spike's mind was thrown out of his wanderings, "It isn't a good idea for you to face them alone. We don't know what strengths of weaknesses you've picked up." He looked down at his mostly useless legs. "Dru has a very strong ability to thrall as well. It's hard to break through."

"You don't think I'm strong enough to beat them?" Buffy asked. "Or are you trying to keep me from dusting Drusilla?" Her eyes narrowed and burned with jealousy.

"They'll fight dirty, pet." Spike spent over a century with a deranged and temperamental vampiress. He knew when it was best to just move on without answering a question because no matter how you answered, she was going to take it the wrong way. "He's worked with you lot, and he'll know the right things to taunt you with to throw you off balance."

"What happened during the ritual? I take it something went wrong?" Joyce needed more answers to all her questions. The conversation kept getting steered away from what she suspected was the real danger of the moment.

"You could say that again. We didn't have time to suss out the hows or whys, but it was big." Spike answered Joyce's inquiry.

"Some time during the ritual, Angel lost his soul." Buffy shivered. She didn't understand how it happened. She knew that Angel's soul seemed more like a leash of guilt than anything else, but her research told her that Angelus was no whipped puppy. They were going to be in big trouble. "Angel and Drusilla plus Spike and I were all hit by some weird light during the ritual. When it was gone, so was Angel's soul."

"That's what I feared would happen when I read the notes Buffy gave me before she left to meet Spike." Giles adjusted his glasses. "You say the light hit Drusilla, Angel, Spike and you?" His brow furrowed on the last person he mentioned.

"Yeah, we had quite the pretty lil light show before all Hell broke loose." Spike caressed his hand over the back of Buffy's. "Kind of felt warm for a minute there too, like I was standing in the sun."

"No, but he was reading out the ritual chant and performing the rites. Why does it matter Giles?" Now Buffy was curious. Giles didn't ask pointless questions about rituals. He may be longwinded about his explanations, but there was always a purpose for every question asked.

"The spell specifically calls for the ill vampire's True Sire. It would search through any familial members nearby to find the right link." Giles opened the book that contained the Ritual of DuLac that he'd brought into the house after a stop at the high school on the way home from Willow's house. Since the information he needed was all on two pages facing each other, he didn't realize that several pages that were blank in the back of the book before now had words on them.

"Dalton wasn't a blood relation." Spike pondered the situation. "He was a minion left by the Annoying One when I dusted the little brat."

"You killed the Anointed One? One of your own family?" Giles was shocked. Buffy had told him the story she overheard about Spike and Dalton saving Marie, but the Anointed One was supposed to have been a great power amongst the Aurelian line. He was the one destined to take over the Master's power on the Night Of … "Oh dear Lord. When did you kill the child?"

"He was a vampire of sorts, Mom. Trust me, bad guy who needed to be taken care of." Buffy explained.

Giles noticed that Spike hadn't readily jumped in with an answer. "Spike." He scooted forward in his chair. "When did you dust the Anointed One?"

"Shortly after Dru and I arrived in town." Spike knew that he couldn't lie to Rupert Giles. Buffy was counting on Spike, and he knew that he had to be truthful to the Watcher to help them figure out what was going on. "The morning after the little soiree at the high school to be exact."

"Oh my." Giles removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. If what he believed was true, Angelus would have even more reason to kill them all now. "It transferred to you, didn't it? You're the one?"

Spike nodded his head slowly. "Didn't ask for it, but it did. Guess it didn't like the poofter, and I know Dru is a nutter. Never expected it to come my way. Darla always told me I was a bit too human to be a good vampire."

"What is it Giles? What has you so wigged that I'm afraid you are going to crush your glasses into nothing?" Buffy asked.

"Spike is the master," Giles gulped hard. "He's the Master of the Aurelians now."

"And then smashed his bones into itsy bitsy bits later on to be sure that he was gone too," Xander added.

Joyce had nothing to add to the conversation. She listened to every word and detail with rapt attention. Some things she remembered from one of the books about vampiric families. Other things were completely new to her. She almost wished that she had a pad of paper of her own to take notes with. She had a feeling that she was going to have a lot to remember.

"Every vampiric family line has a power center, or central figurehead who is considered the master of that clan. Generally it is the oldest vampire of the clan because he or she is usually the strongest." Giles was having a hard time grasping why Spike, with as much power as he now had, was willing to go in league with them. "The older the family line, the stronger the family ties as well to the ancient magics that surround that clan."

Instead of being mad, Spike laughed. "Poncy git didn't even go by his real name anymore. He thought he was powerful enough to be known as simply The Master as if he was the Master of all vampires. Kind of like that bloody wanker in Italy who calls himself the Immortal."

"The clan of Aurelius is one of the oldest known to the Council. So, their ties to the ancient magics of their demons is strong." Giles looked at Spike for confirmation of that fact. "I know that many of the things I was taught are in error, but is that information correct?"

"The way the grandbitch Darla and Angelus carried on, I'd say that's true. They always thought too highly of themselves and their place in the world. Although it used to piss Angelus right off when The Master would send out a call to his little whore Childe Darla." Spike shrugged. "Don't know what the chit saw in old bat face, but it had to be something good because she always went running faster than Angelus could tie her down."

Spike gulped. He remembered all too well the strength of the axe-wielding Summers' woman. He rubbed the back of his head with his freehand. "Sorry Joyce."

Joyce didn't trust her voice. So, she nodded in Spike's direction to indicate that she accepted his apology.

"Probably because I wasn't advertising it. Some might have known it by the aura or sense they got from me, but the only one who really knew was Dalton." Spike shrugged. "The Slayer probably knew, but I never said it out loud."

"I'm not a vampire, Giles. So, I don't see the point of the ritual searching through me." Buffy worried her lower lip.

"The ritual searches through the bloodline of the ill vampire's true sire. It looks like it strengthens the bonds between the closest blood familial links present as well." Giles scanned the page again, looked at Dalton's notes, then read some more.

"I am assuming that you had not shared blood with Angelus in several decades, right?"

"The closest link would be the one it latched on to." Giles looked up from the book. "You and Buffy shared blood to bind your demons earlier, but I daresay I doubt that was the first time you've done that."

"You're right. The first time we shared was Halloween night," Buffy spoke honestly. She wanted to figure out why the ritual touched her, and what side effects it might have.

"Wasn't counting Watcher, probably a dozen or so." Spike treasured every sip of Buffy's blood, but he didn't count how many times they renewed the claim. He only made sure that they didn't go too long without renewing it. "Last time was the earlier the same day as the ritual."

"Suffice to say you both had fresh blood in your systems from the recently renewed claim when the ritual occurred." Giles thought about everything for a couple minutes before he continued. "The Slayer demon, and the blood shared with Spike's demon, would have forged a familial blood link between the two of you. It was probably too far removed from Angelus and Drusilla to matter to them, and Dru's True Sire was the one needed for the ritual anyways. So, Drusilla was only going to latch onto Angelus' link."

"You think that the ritual strengthened Spike and Buffy's bond because they had similar blood?" Willow asked.

"I believe it strengthened the pull of the Slayer and the vampire's blood link, yes."

"Spike and Buffy seem to have two different sides. Although they have bonded their demons together, an intimate act and mating bites would be required to complete the full circle for all of their sides. It is my feeling that once that has occurred all sides of them will merge into one." Giles searched through the non-Council approved book for any helpful information. "Usually only the intimate mating bite is needed for vampires to mate."

"The Slayer tossed a monkey wrench into the mix." Spike chuckled. "Even your demon likes to swim against the current, pet. I like her." He nestled his mouth against the marks on Buffy's neck and licked them teasingly.

Buffy teasingly snarled and nipped at the side of Spike's neck without breaking the skin. She tongued her marks.

"And Drusilla's true Sire?" Joyce looked away from the bestial display between her daughter and Spike.

"Master vampires, or vampires above the level of another vampire, are able to override or take over a Sire's claim to care for a Childe or minion. It happens more with minions when a new "master" takes over a territory," Spike explained after he unburied his face from Buffy's neck. "So the vampire that is called another vampire's Sire doesn't always mean they were the ones to turn them."

"The ritual seeks out the true Sire," Giles picked up when it looked like Spike's explanation was done. "Only the blood that sired her to start with was powerful enough for the ritual to use to cure her. My only guess is that the soul somehow tainted the way the spell saw Angel's blood. So, it was removed."

"Angelus is a master of torture, both mental and physical." Spike decided not to mince words with the group. They needed to realize how much danger they were in. "He can take the purest of God's creatures and turn them into an insane ranting dark deviant. He'll enjoy it too."

"I'm afraid not, pet. Angelus murdered her family right in front of her then killed all of the nuns at the convent that she went to hide at. He drove her completely insane before he turned her." Spike sighed. Sometimes he wondered if Dru's mind retreated into the subconscious to protect itself, and it got stuck there. "She was supposed to be a nun. Angelus stole that last little gift of purity from her before he completed his torture and turned her."

Joyce's face was a pale white. All of the color seemed to have drained from it as she listed to Spike's description of Angelus. "How can someone so like the devil be called an angel."

"Probably because the wanker self-named himself once he was turned." Spike snorted. "A lot of your elder vampires do. It's a way to separate ourselves from what we were."

"You mean your mother didn't stupidly name you after a dog when you were born, Spike? You actually chose to name yourself after a dog?" Xander quipped.

"I'm sure the Watcher can tell you where I got my moniker from, Whelp, and you'd be smart to remember that." Spike snarled. "My mother was a loving and perfect Victorian lady. I will NOT have you throwing insults at her."

"Easy, Spike." Buffy cupped Spike's cheek and turned his gaze away from Xander to look at her. "He is just trying to get you going." She leaned down to whisper next to his ear. "He's not worth it, William."

Spike smiled. He changed the subject. "The sun will be setting in about an hour, Watcher." He loved holding Buffy so closely, but her safety was more important to him. "Might be a good idea to take care of that disinvite before Angelus can get in."

Giles nodded. "Buffy, I'll need you to come with me to make sure your house is clear of any demon before we do the spell."

"Because any demon inside will keep their invite if you do the spell while they are in there," Spike repeated what he'd told Giles earlier.

"Oh, that's so not good." Buffy hopped up off of Spike's lap. She leaned down and kissed him deeply. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Not at all Joyce. Let me show you where everything is." Giles led Joyce into the kitchen to give her a tour. He walked back out into the living room a short while later. "If you would each try to take a book while we are gone and see if there is any mention about soul cursing or the DuLac ritual in them, it would be of great assistance."

Xander groaned. He took a book from the top of the pile on the table then plopped his head down onto the table. He hated doing research.

"So," Buffy unlocked the front door of her house. She flipped on the light in the entryway. "We have to make sure the house is empty, and then we can do the spell?"

"Yes. Even though it is daylight, it would be the safest thing to do." Giles closed and locked the door behind him. He set his satchel of herbs and books down on Buffy's dining room table. He pulled a stake out of a pocket in his suit jacket just in case.

"Let's sweep the basement first." Buffy opened the door to the lower level. "Then we can lock that door, which only locks from this side, to make sure nothing doubles back on us to hide there."

Buffy turned on two separate lights for the basement. One lit up the right side and one lit up the left. She searched out every corner and shadow to make sure nothing was lurking. "Basement is clean. I don't really feel any demony tinglies in the area right now." She headed back up the stairs.

Giles locked the basement door behind him while they searched out the main floor. "You told me before that Spike helped you to hone your demon detection skills?"

"Yep, we'd play hide and seek in the cemetery on some of the slow nights. We had to make sure that no one saw us though." Buffy headed up to the last floor with Giles right behind her. "It was pretty boring and frustrating at first, but after a while I got really good at it."

"Did you try to use your senses on anyone other than Spike?" Giles opened the door to what appeared to be an extra bedroom. It was being used for storage at the present time.

"Of course." Buffy opened her bedroom door. She checked out her closet and under her bed as well. "Different types of vamps or demons feel different to me. I can usually tell if they are young or old vamps too."

"Extraordinary." Giles closed the door to the extra bedroom after a thorough search. "I'm surprised that he helped you to hone your skills in that way."

"Well, he's a bit possessive." Buffy chuckled. "He said that the only demon who got to take a bite out of me was him. So, he made sure nothing could sneak up on me."

Giles and Buffy searched Joyce's bedroom together. Giles hurried through the more delicate areas of the room. He felt like a peeping Tom. "That does sound like something Spike would say, straight to the point."

"Yeah." Buffy stepped back out into the hall. "Well it looks like we have the all clear. Let's get this done and back to your house. I'm afraid that Xander might not be in one piece if we leave him there with Spike for too long. A vamp can only take so much harassment."

"One thing I don't understand is how a master vampire, especially one who is the strongest in his clan, would want anything to do with a Slayer?" Willow chewed on the eraser end of her pencil.

"It doesn't make sense, Will. That's why it all has to be some twisted game of his." Xander pushed the book away from him that he was reading out of.

"Shut your gob, Whelp." Spike really didn't like the boy. He grated on his every nerve. The boy seemed to be taking every opportunity he had to figuratively stab Spike in the back. "I can hear every whisper over there. Vampire hearing, you idiot."

"Hey!" Willow turned around with a look of scorn. "No name calling. That's bad." She waved her pencil in Spike's direction. "We were trying to have a private conversation."

"Then take it out of my hearing range." Spike liked the young girl that Buffy called Willow. He'd smelled the girl on Buffy before, and now he could sense a bit of untapped power in the young woman. It tickled his senses. "It's not polite to talk about someone behind their back anyways, if you're getting all "Miss Manners" on me."

"That's it! I've had it!" Spike slammed the book down on the table in front of the couch he was sitting on. "Listen up, and listen good cause this is the last time I'm going to go through it. The next time there will be consequences."

"What makes you think we'll believe you now, when we haven't already?" Xander bounced up out of his seat. He loved being able to rile the paralyzed vampire. The fact that Spike couldn't run over and eat him helped give Xander a bit more false courage. He wanted to get in any possible dig or insult that he could before Buffy and Giles returned from doing the disinvite spell on Buffy's house.

"Personally I don't care if you believe me or not Whelp, but you are hurting the Slayer with your snide comments." Spike growled. "What hurts the Slayer, makes me angry enough to rip your head off."

Willow eeped. "No head ripping needed." She pulled on Xander to sit him back down. "His head is good right where it is."

Spike raised a brow and twisted his lips off to one side. 'So the redhead has a bit of a crush on the idiot? Too bad he's an idiot,' He thought to himself.

"Let me see if I can explain it in little sentences for you. Love isn't brains children. It's blood; blood screaming inside you to work its will." Spike patted his chest over his unbeating heart. "I didn't plan any of this to happen when I came to Sunnyhell. I wanted to heal Dru, find someone to drop her off with and get as far away from her as I could."

"I'd killed two Slayers before. There was a Slayer here, I love a challenge, and I had a reputation to maintain. Simple as that."

"So you expect us to believe that you went from hating her to loving her just like that?" Xander scoffed.

"Never hated her. Vampires and Slayers are meant to fight. It's what we do." Spike shrugged his shoulders. "The moment I tasted her blood, I knew any plan I had to kill the Slayer wasn't going to work. Even when a part of me tried to keep going, I knew I'd found something in her blood. What's funny is that the demon recognized it first. She tasted like … Home."

"I've tasted Slayer's blood before, powerful stuff, but this was nothing like before. Buffy's blood was like a siren's song." Spike's eyes took on a dreamy like look. "Like a siren, she's turned my life upside down. It is certainly crashing around me as well because of it like the sailing ships of old on the rocks of the reefs."

"Wow," Joyce tried not to interrupt before when she first stepped out of the kitchen, but Spike's confession of love touched her heart. She carried another tray of tea and snacks into the living room. "That was beautiful, Spike … very poetic."

The anger Spike felt dissipated in the presence of Joyce Summers. Something about her motherly ways helped to calm him and remind him of his own mother. "Thank you, Joyce." He snatched up a couple of the cookies off the tray before Xander could and went back to reading the book he'd previously been working through. His posture clearly said that was all he was going to say to Willow and Xander. He wasn't interested in saying anything else to them.

"Why?" Angelus yelled. "Why does that sniveling waste of space get to keep my power?"

"What are you yammering about, Dru?" Angelus clutched both of Drusilla's arms tight enough to leave fingerprint bruises on her alabaster skin.

"The soul, Daddy. It made the river's current fork and divide away from you." Dru loved her daddy's passions directed at her but not his ire unless it meant the kinds of punishment she enjoyed.

"Then, it should be mine now!" Angelus pushed Drusilla away from him. He was surprised that he actually understood what the looney meant for once. "I'm the head of this line, not him!"

"It's all tainted now by the sunshine, silver and gold. It would burn daddy from the inside out now."

"That doesn't make any sense, Dru." Angelus growled. 'So much for actually understanding anything again,' He thought to himself with a sigh of frustration. "It's the power of our line. Aurelian power can't harm us."

"I don't care what you say Dru. That boy's dust is mine, and you won't be able to save your precious William this time." Angelus paced back and forth next to the bed. Sunset was nearly upon them, and he wanted out to hunt.

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