“Those pretty wrongs that liberty commits/When I am sometime absent from thy heart,/Thy beauty and thy years full well befits,/For still temptation follows where thou art./Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won;/Beauteous thou art, therefore to be assailed;/And when a woman woos, what woman’s son/Will sourly leave her till he have prevailed?...” ~William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 41: Those Pretty Wrongs That Liberty Commits”

Quinn was unable even to cringe as Dracula stroked her bare shoulder. She had been unable to refuse his order to change into the same silk shift that the rest of his brides were wearing, and now she found herself unable to do more than passively accept his cold caresses.

“You are fighting so hard, my lovely Slayer,” he murmured. “Why not embrace the darkness? Do you not know that a Slayer is made from darkness?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she managed. “Slayers kill things like you.”

He chuckled. “And where do you think you found the strength? I can show you things, so many things.”

Quinn wondered if she should tell him that she wasn’t a Slayer. She had no idea if it would improve her chances of getting out alive or if it would simply spur him to kill her sooner. She didn’t want to be turned, but she wanted to live.

“You won’t,” she managed, fighting his hold with all she had. “You won’t show me anything. I’ll kill you first.”

He bent, his lips caressing her neck before she felt the sharp pinch of his fangs. One of his hands touched her thigh, moving under the shift, and Quinn felt herself responding, hating herself for it at the same time.

Her head fell back, giving him better access. Quinn had thought that being bitten by a vampire would hurt, but instead it was erotic. Maybe that was just Dracula, but Quinn had no desire to run a comparison.

Quinn was almost disappointed when Dracula withdrew his fangs, leaving her feeling faint and abnormally weak. “We will wait to finish,” he whispered. “I want this to be good for you, for you to remember the day of your rebirth forever.”

“See, that’s just a nancy boy way of saying that you’re afraid of commitment.”

Dracula’s hold over her diminished just enough so that she managed to turn her head to see who had just entered the room.

Quinn had never thought she’d be grateful to see a vampire.

~~~~~

They had been forced to split up when the first hallway dead ended, and Spike had ordered Wesley and Willow to stick together. He and Buffy had gone in the opposite direction; Spike could just make out a racing heartbeat, and he knew that’s where Dracula was likely to be.

Wesley and Willow could handle Dracula’s brides, but Spike knew that the other vampire’s tricks could present them with more of a challenge than they were prepared to face.

Spike felt a sense of urgency when he heard the heart slow, skip a beat, then resume a steady pace. “He’s got company,” Spike whispered.

“Got it.” Buffy’s stake was already in her hand, and she appeared as determined as he’d ever seen her. Spike got the impression that Dracula had pissed her off.

“Careful. He likes to disappear in a puff of smoke.”

“I’ll disappear his ass in a puff of dust.”

Spike grinned. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

She returned the smile, a devilish glint in her eye. “Just you wait. I’ll show you dirty talk.”

Spike smirked, then jogged into the great hall. He took in the scene in an instant, hearing Dracula’s promise to make the girl’s turning last forever. “See, that’s just a nancy boy way of saying that you’re afraid of commitment.”

The comment did what he wanted it to do; it broke Dracula’s hold over the girl so that she managed to twist free of his grasp and stumble backwards, the short, silk shift sliding up her thighs.

“Ah, William. It seems that you brought me another Slayer. Once I kill you, I’ll have both of them.”

“You know, I’m standing right here,” Buffy said, twirling her stake. “And even if you did manage to kill Spike—which you won’t—I’ll kill you before you lay your filthy hands on me.”

“So you say.” Dracula smiled smugly. “I have heard this before.”

“Not from me.” Buffy advanced on him, forcing him to watch her.

Spike could see the other girl shaking herself, as though to rid her mind of Dracula’s influence. He caught her eye, grabbed his spare stake, and tossed it to her, thinking that she’d be better off armed at least.

Although he wanted to take Dracula on himself, Spike decided that he’d rather watch Buffy kick his ass. What could he say? He liked watching her work.

“I will make you the same promise,” Dracula said, attempting to circle her. Buffy moved to block him. “I will show you the darkness within yourself. I will show you things you have never seen.”

Spike snorted as Buffy let out a laugh. “Are you kidding me? You’re kidding me, right? Because I know my own darkness, and I’ve seen plenty. You’re a real idiot, you know that?”

Dracula appeared to be momentarily stunned by Buffy’s refusal to succumb to his charms, when the girl he’d been drinking from chose that moment to strike. Spike could tell from her aim that she wasn’t a novice, but the loss of blood and Dracula’s thrall had weakened her. The vampire managed to bat her away with all the concern that another person would show a fly.

As the girl went flying, Buffy executed a round kick that knocked the vampire back a step, and she followed it up with a quick series of punches and kicks that kept him on the defensive. Buffy rammed the stake home, and Dracula disintegrated.

Or at least he seemed to disappear. Spike knew the bastard’s tricks; Dracula would reappear in a few minutes, as soon as he thought it was safe.

It wouldn’t be too difficult to make sure that Dracula thought he was safe to reappear; they would just need to get the girl to safety.

~~~~~

Willow let out a small shriek as the female vampire charged her. Dodging as it reached for her, she levitated the stake and rammed it into its back.

“Well done,” Wesley said, staking his own vampire. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” Willow replied a little breathlessly. “Let’s find Buffy and Spike. From what Spike said about Dracula, they might need our help.”

“I agree.” They hurried through the maze of hallways, staking the two other female vampires they encountered. When they arrived at the large hall, Spike saw them immediately.

“Get her out of here!” Spike called.

Willow noticed the other woman immediately; she looked familiar, but Willow couldn’t immediately place her. Wesley stripped his jacket off and draped it over her shoulders. They supported her out of the hall between the two of them, and she appeared to be struggling to stay on her feet.

“Easy,” Wesley said quietly, carefully lowering her to the floor. “We’ll wait until you’ve got your feet under you again.”

“Thanks.” The woman kept her head down, his jacket clutched tightly around her.

With that one word, spoken in a distinctive English accent, Willow remembered that she’d seen the girl in her sociology class. “Quinn?”

She looked up. “Huh?”

“It’s Willow, from sociology. Do you remember me?”

For a moment, Willow could have sworn that Quinn was upset about being recognized, but the deer-in-headlights might have been a result of the rather compromising position they had discovered her in.

“I remember you,” Quinn finally said.

“We’re going to get you out of here,” Wesley promised.

She nodded but didn’t reply. Willow thought about asking her how she had ended up in Dracula’s clutches, but then decided that it wouldn’t be a good idea. After all, she didn’t really want to answer any questions about why they were there.

Instead, she sat down on the floor next to Quinn and put an arm around her shoulders, guessing that the other woman could use some human comfort just then. When Quinn leaned into her, Willow knew that she’d made the right call.

~~~~~

Buffy took her cue from Spike, who remained completely silent and still. He had warned her that Dracula had a tendency to come back, and she was willing to accept that he had seen something she hadn’t.

After a couple of minutes, the pile of dust that had been Dracula began to coalesce, and she glanced over at Spike. He rolled his eyes but said nothing, and they waited until Dracula solidified again.

When Dracula spotted them, he appeared alarmed and immediately transformed into a bat. Buffy moved quickly, seizing the creature by one wing before it could fly off and tossing it into the fire. She swore she heard it scream, even though a bat’s sonar was in a frequency that humans shouldn’t be able to hear.

The walls of the great hall shimmered and disappeared. Buffy realized that they were standing inside one of the abandoned churches in Sunnydale. “Well, that’s not something you see every day.”

“No, it’s not.” Spike put a hand on her lower back. “I think we need to talk to the girl. Dracula seemed to think she was some kind of Slayer.”

 “You don’t think she is?”

Buffy shook her head. “I don’t think so, and if she is, I think we need to question why she’s here.”

“Even if she’s not—” Spike paused for a moment. “There’s the question of why she would pretend to be a Slayer. Dracula wondered why I was with you instead of her. He must have met her first.”

Buffy nodded, her mind racing. Why would Dracula have thought the other woman was a Slayer? How would he have known? “We need to talk about this later.”

“Absolutely.”

They made their way out into the foyer, finding Willow and Quinn sitting on the floor and Wesley standing guard over them.

“Are you guys okay?” Buffy asked.

“Quinn probably should go to the hospital,” Willow responded.

The girl shook her head emphatically. “No, I’m okay. I just need to go home.”

“We can drive you, but you might need to be looked at by a doctor, ducks,” Spike said, squatting down to put himself on Quinn’s level. “You lost some blood.”

“I’ll be all right,” Quinn asserted. “I just—I want my own clothes. Please.”

Buffy cleared her throat. “We’ll get you there.” She bent to help Quinn up. “I’m Buffy Summers, by the way.”

“Quinn O’Mara,” she replied. “I have a sociology class with Willow.”

“Well, then, you two already know each other.” Buffy gave Willow a meaningful look, hoping she got the message—no talking shop, and no giving any indication that they suspected Quinn of something shady. “I think they’re on Wesley’s bike, so Spike and I can give you a ride home in his car.”

“Thanks.” Quinn seemed to be fairly steady on her feet, so Buffy released her slowly after first making certain that she was okay to walk.

“I’ll get the car,” Spike said. “You ladies wait here.”

Buffy sat next to Quinn on the sidewalk outside, listening to the familiar sounds of the night. She had no idea of what to say. Although she wanted to be comforting, Buffy didn’t know what to tell her, and she didn’t want to get too friendly with someone whose motives were in question.

“Thanks. For showing up in time.”

Buffy sensed that the words had been hard for Quinn to say. “That’s kinda my job.”

“You’re a vampire Slayer?”

“How did you know about Slayers?”

There was a long pause, and Quinn finally said, “Something I’ve picked up over the years. I’m a demon hunter.”

“A demon hunter, huh? That’s a tough business to get into.”

“It’s a family business. I’ve been training since I was a child.”

“You know, same here.” The words had the ring of truth to them, but Buffy knew that sometimes the best way to tell a believable lie was to encase it in the truth. She’d done that often enough with her mom.

Spike drove up in the car a few minutes later, getting out to open the door for Quinn. “Where are we headed?” he asked once they were seated.

“A complex near campus.” Quinn gave him directions; it didn’t take long to get there. “Thanks again.”

“Do you want some help inside?” Buffy asked.

She shook her head. “No, I’m good. Maybe I’ll see you around on campus.”

“I’m sure you will.” When the door closed behind Quinn, Buffy turned to Spike. “She claims she’s a demon hunter.”

“I’m certain she is,” Spike replied. “The question is who’s paying her.”

~~~~~

“So, what do you want for your birthday?”

Tara glanced up from her history textbook. “I don’t really want anything.”

“Come on, Tara.” Willow smiled. “It’s not every day you hit the two decade mark. We could have a party at the Bronze. That would be fun.”

Tara realized that she wasn’t going to get out of celebrating her birthday, even though she hadn’t had a party since her mother died. “It really doesn’t matter, Will.” Wanting to change the subject, she asked, “How’s the hacking job coming?”

“I’m getting there. Bank systems are harder to hack into for obvious reasons, but I’ll get it.” Willow went back to staring at the computer screen. “So, did you notice anything about Quinn when she asked us for the class notes?”

“Not really.” Tara though about her first impression, trying to recall if anything had struck her as being strange about the other woman. “I thought she seemed to be at war with herself.”

Willow paused. “Huh. Maybe if she is a spy for the Council, she doesn’t want to be.”

“Is that what Spike and Buffy think?”

“They’re not sure what to think, which is why I’m hacking into her bank records to find out where her money comes from.” Willow grimaced. “And that’s why I’m going to feel pretty terrible if she’s just a normal college girl.”

“She’s hardly normal,” Tara pointed out. “She admitted that she was a demon fighter. Last I heard, there weren’t many of those in college.”

“And unless you’re a Slayer with a destiny, I would think that a college campus would be exactly where you wouldn’t normally be, unless you’re undercover.” Willow sighed. “She could be sniffing out a vampire gang, or some other demon activity.”

“Anything is possible.” Tara bent her head back over her textbook, but she was having a hard time concentrating on the dates and names. “Willow?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I talk to you about something?”

“Sure. What about?”

“It’s about something I saw when I did the tirer la couture.”

“Is this what you wanted to talk to me and Wes about?”

She nodded, hesitating. There had been so little time in the last few days, between trying to figure out what to do about Dawn and getting Dracula sorted. Tara had wanted to wait until the right time, but it was becoming obvious that there was no right time. If she waited, it would be too late.

“My dad told me that I have demon blood in me,” Tara said slowly. “I wasn’t sure whether or not to believe him until I did the spell. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, and—I knew he was right.”

Willow leaned back from her computer, giving Tara her full attention. “Okay. Is there something wrong with that?”

“I thought so. My dad seemed to think so.” Tara sighed. “He said the demon part of me wouldn’t come out until I was twenty, and now…”

“And now you’re turning twenty, and you’re not sure whether you’re going to grow a tail or horns or something,” Willow filled in.

“Pretty much.” Tara wasn’t sure how to phrase her request. “There’s a chance that I’ll go bad, you know. Dad seemed to think that’s what would happen, and—”

Willow snorted, interrupting her. “Okay, first off, I don’t know of anybody less likely to go bad, and secondly—well, that’s pretty much it right there. I don’t think you need to worry about that, Tara. Spike’s a vampire, Anya’s an ex-demon—you’ve seen the people we hang out with.”

“I know. That’s one of the reasons I’m okay with this, more okay than I was. I just—I wanted you to know.”

Willow smiled. “I’ll tell you what. If you suddenly go evil, we’ll definitely stop you from hurting yourself or anybody else until we can make you un-evil.”

Tara knew that she likely didn’t have anything to worry about, but Willow’s promise was reassuring. “Thanks.”

“Anytime.” Willow went back to her computer. “Hey! I’m in.”

“Anything interesting?”

“Maybe. I’m going to have to trace the payments. It looks like she’s making a regular income, and I’ve got monthly deposits from the same source. Let’s see what that source is.”

They both worked in silence for the next half hour as Willow rapidly clicked through screens and read entries. “Oh, shit.”

“What is it?”

“I think we need to call Spike and Buffy.” Willow looked up. “It looks like they were right to suspect that something was going on.”