2. Capture A Demon

Disclaimer: Not sure I want to claim ownership of this particular plot bunny but I've been assured its good.

Summary: Plans are made and set in place. Will they go off without problems?

Reviews: Yes please. Reaction to the first part of this strange exploration was phenomenal. Thank you so much! Readers Rock but Reviewers RULE!

A/N: As I said this is an AU set in season 4. Dawn is already there but no one knows she's the Key. Joyce is a little more forceful than was portrayed in the show, just cause I want her that way. Everyone else is pretty much the same. For all those who were guessing pairings, if you read much of my work you should know I don't reveal that information strictly because when I start a fic I have no clue who Spike will chose.

Rebel Goddess: You should realize by now that Spike is my favorite Buffy-verse character as well. I never break him without a plan to put him back together better than before.

WayWard Childe: Thanks for your help and letting me bounce plot points off your head.

As soon as they returned to his apartment, Giles poured himself a shot of Scotch. He walked over to his overfull bookcase and began perusing the titles in an attempt to find a text that would give precedence on what they had witnessed in the cemetery. Buffy began putting away weapons. She turned thoughtful green eyes toward her watcher.

"What do you think happened to him?" She suddenly found the coffee table very interesting.

Giles sipped his drink thoughtfully for a moment. "I don't know. It seems that something has stripped away the veneer of humanity and left the demon wholly in charge. It was something drastic and traumatic, I'm sure. Did it seem that he was in pain when he grabbed your arm?"

"Oh yeah, definite pain happening." The slayer chewed her lower lip distractedly. "What are we going to do about him? Stake him?"

"I'd like to study him and find out what happened. If there is a mystical force turning vampires into pure demon form, we need to know what it is. It could make your job more difficult if not impossible. But we don't know until we have the chance to investigate. We'd need a place to contain him, though." Giles gave up looking for a book, deciding to leave that search for the next day. He sat down next Buffy with a sigh. "We need to try to track him to his lair tomorrow night."

She nodded and got up. "I have early class tomorrow so I need to go make with the sleeping. I'll be by at sunset, okay?"

Rupert rose as well and escorted her to the door. "That will be fine. Maybe I'll have a plan by then."

The next evening....

The entire Scooby gang was out tromping through cemeteries, keeping their eyes open for the feral blond vampire. Xander and Willow were in one cemetery while the Watcher and Slayer patrolled the one they'd previously seen the vampire in. Giles had issued dart guns containing a concentrated dose of tranquilizer although he merely wanted to observe the demon before making any attempts to capture and study him. He still wasn't sure where they would hold the vampire once they captured him.

Fortunately it was Giles and Buffy who spotted the vampire first. He was making his way slowly through the cemetery. He was keeping to the shadows and glancing over his shoulder frequently as if in fear. Giles was intrigued to see that Spike never dropped out of game-face. They kept quite a way behind him. Buffy grasped her Watcher's arm suddenly, halting their progress.

Aware of enhanced vampire senses, Giles whispered his protest. "Buffy, we'll lose him."

"No, we won't. All we have to do is follow them." She pointed to the two camouflage-clad men who were tailing Spike. One of them was consulting a small hand-held gadget while they trailed after the demon, not seeming to be in much of a hurry. It appeared to Buffy and Giles that the soldiers knew where they were going and weren't in any rush to get there. They seemed to be following the vampire for sport.

The demon knew he was being followed. He could smell them. The humans were from that place. He wanted to hunt but was afraid they would stop him and take him back. He also knew that if he tried to feed the pain in his head would return. He'd sensed they had been in his lair and wanted to find somewhere else to sleep but as long as they were following him he didn't know what to do. His instincts insisted that he keep moving, trying to lose his pursuers.

"That is not a good sign." Giles muttered.

Buffy agreed. "Not good at all. I don't know what they're up to but I'm thinking they're going a little too far."

It took a while but finally the demon gave up and just went back to his lair. He couldn't lose those people no matter how hard he tried. Fear dogged his steps and hunger ate at his stomach. He curled into his corner and tried to figure out what was going on. The only problem was that every time he tried to think, panic swelled in his chest. He knew that thinking was bad and led to bad things. He could feel himself growing weak from hunger. He wanted, needed to feed. A low rumble of frustration echoed deep in his chest.

Buffy and Giles kept their distance while keeping the two soldiers in sight. Eventually, the demon led them all to the crypt he'd chosen as his lair. The Slayer and her Watcher noted the watching post the soldiers had set up several yards away from the entrance to the crypt. After there was no other activity for almost half an hour, they decided to find their friends and go home. They needed a plan of action.

Neither the soldiers nor the Scoobies spotted the dark figure that drifted in the shadows provided by the trees dotting the cemetery.

Giles's apartment...

After Giles and Buffy filled the others in on what they'd seen, the questions began.

"Why are we thinking about helping Evil Dead? Have we forgotten the kidnapping and subsequent damage on Wills and me? I say just stake him and put us out of our misery." Xander sat on the sofa with his arms crossed mutinously across his chest.

"The soldiers were following Spike. I want to know why. I want to find out what has converted him to pure demon. Was it something they did? If so, what was it? Are they doing it to all demons or just vampires? How do we know we're safe? If they find out about Buffy, what's to stop them from attempting to 'study' her?" Giles spelled out his reasons to the young man. He and Buffy had already gone over it on the way back to his apartment. Buffy had been in favor of putting the feral vampire in Angel's mansion. Giles shuddered at the thought of going back into that house and tried to come up with a better option.

"Xander, what I want to know is if you can install some chains to a wall in Buffy's basement." Giles removed his glasses as he tried to ask the question casually.

"My basement? No, no way! Think about Dawn and Mom. What if he gets loose?" Buffy screeched her protest, earning a wince from the Watcher.

"It hurt him to grab your arm. I'm guessing they've done something to him that causes pain if he hurts a human. That would explain why he isn't hunting or feeding. The fear we saw in him tonight is not normal. No Master Vampire would look like that without something seriously wrong with him. We'll have him chained. Willow can magically enhance the chains so they cannot be broken. I'm sure he's weak from not being able to feed. I want to know what those soldiers are doing and who's behind it. They are a threat." Giles replaced his glasses and glared at his Slayer, unmovable in his position.

"But that means I have to move back home. Willow and I just got settled in as roommates and now I have to move back. It's not fair." Buffy crossed her arms and pouted.

"I'm sorry. It's only temporary. I'm sure we'll get it sorted in no time." Giles stated, his tone was mildly patronizing and a flash of irritation at her petulance flickered through his sage green eyes.

Buffy didn't hear the undertones in her Watcher's voice, only the assurance that the demon would not be allowed to mess up her life very long. She wanted to be able to pursue the cute teacher's assistant from her psychology class, Riley.

In the end, it was Rupert who went to the house on Revello Drive to speak to Buffy's mother about harboring a feral, possibly insane, vampire in her basement.

The next day, Summers house....

"So let me get this straight." Joyce mused as she poured tea into china cups. "That nice young vampire, William, is now fully demon and could possibly put me and Dawn in danger. You want to chain him up in my basement and study him to find out what's wrong with him."

Giles winced. "He's not a nice young vampire. He's over a century old. He's evil, completely without redeeming qualities. I merely want to determine if the people who injured him could be a danger to Buffy and the other children."

Joyce sighed in exasperation. She really had no patience for anyone who refused to see the shades of grey in the world. Rupert was a very nice man but he could be so damned narrow-minded. "William has always been very nice to me. Aside from that one time at the school, that is. But he explained about that, it wasn't anything personal, just how things are between vampires and slayers. When he was here before, he was a perfect gentleman."

The Watcher choked on his tea. "Here before? When was Spike here before?" He rasped as he covered his mouth with a napkin.

"When he helped Buffy save the world from Angel and then again when that heartless Drusilla of his dumped him on his ass and left him to fend for himself. Actually, since then, he's visited several times. We drink hot chocolate and talk." Joyce stated matter-of-factly. "Dawn is quite taken with him and he fairly dotes on her."

The more Buffy's mother revealed, the more horrified Giles became. "Surely you haven't introduced your innocent child to that blood-thirsty fiend?" To himself, he continued in disbelief. "Hot chocolate?"

"He swore both Dawn and I were safe from him and others of his kind. He told me he.... what was it he did?" She smiled, remembering the fierce look in the dark blue gaze as he assured her of their safety. "Oh, yes. 'Put the word out so no wankers would dare touch the Niblet and her mum.' It was very nice of him to do so."

Giles gaped at the smiling woman. "Oh dear Lord."

"Oh, close your mouth Rupert. Yes, you may keep Spike in the basement. Someone must be here at all times to keep an eye on him. You must provide food for him. And you must promise that if you cannot fix him, you will stake him. He won't want to exist if he cannot be as he was. I've never met anyone who has such an appreciation for his life." Joyce laid out her terms calmly, smiling slightly at the stunned expression on her companion's face.

Giles pulled his glasses off and cleaned them vigorously with his handkerchief. "I don't know what to say." He mumbled.

"It's simple. Repeat after me: 'I promise.'" She put her cup carefully on the saucer. "I know why you can't keep him at Angel's house. There's no way anyone should expect you to go back there. Also, I wouldn't want you to have to leave him there with no one to watch out for him. It will be far easier to care for him here. But if you don't promise, the deal's off."

Rupert replaced his glasses and fumbled for something to say. "Joyce, he's not an injured puppy. He's a feral vampire. Wholly demon, acting on instinct only. He's dangerous."

"Do you know that for sure?" She questioned.

He studied his teacup as if it held the answers to the questions he had. After long moments of considering her query, he shook his head. "No, I'm only going by what we've seen."

Joyce nodded briskly. "Fine, what do we have to do?"

After Giles was finished explaining his plan, she agreed that it was the most sensible course of action. She insisted he give his promise to respect the conditions she'd set before giving her full agreement. He only had to make one phone call as Willow and Xander were waiting in his apartment for the go-ahead with the plan. Xander's job was to install the chains on the wall and Willow had a simple strength enhancing spell to make the chains unbreakable. Buffy's job was to test the chains.

It wasn't long before everything was ready. As soon as Xander had finished installing the chains, he'd been sent out – protesting vociferously – to the butcher shop to purchase a hefty supply of blood. At Joyce's insistence, an iron Army surplus cot was installed below the rings drilled into the concrete wall. Giles tried to talk her out of it but she was adamant. Spike was not going to sleep on the floor.

Later...

"What do you plan to do about the soldiers?" Joyce asked as she served the casserole she'd prepared all of them for dinner.

"Shake their hands?" Xander offered, shrinking under the glares he received from around the table. "Gee, I was just joking." Dawn kicked his shin under the table.

"No, I thought we'd merely tranquilize them and then the demon. Buffy can carry him back here while he's unconscious. I want him restrained before he wakes." Giles stated.

"I want to help take care of him." Dawn chirped.

"Dawnie, he's not a puppy. He's a vicious killer." Buffy admonished her sister.

The teenager pouted with all the sulkiness she could muster. "He's my friend." She whined.

"You will stay out of the basement." Giles instructed severely.

"At least until he's better." Joyce offered the compromise, ignoring the disbelieving stare she'd earned from her daughter and her Watcher.

Later, near Spike's lair...

The shift change for the soldiers assigned to watch the hostile went smoothly. So far the demon had not made a move but they hoped he would go out and start his nightly ramble looking for prey. Professor Walsh had been pleased with the behavior of the demon. It seemed to have learned its lessons well; it was hesitant to try to feed. It had learned that feeding caused pain. It was a matter of time before they saw the effects of a hostile that couldn't feed. The theory was that it would retain its awareness but would decline in physical appearance until it literally became a walking skeleton. Walsh was looking forward to finding out if the theory was correct.

Neither soldier saw the shadow glide up behind them. Fangs flashed and with barely a sound the first of the two was drained and dropped. The second one whirled around at the faint sound of his partner sliding to the ground. Icy blue eyes mesmerized the remaining soldier, rendering him pliable to the predator's will. A low seductive voice instructed put his gun down and throw the hand-held monitoring gadget away. A growl of frustration erupted when the sounds of the Slayer and her friends approaching echoed through the cemetery. Preternatural hearing picked up the humans long before they came into sight. With a hiss, fangs dug into the second soldier and he was drained in seconds. His body dropped silently to the ground and the vampire drifted away to keep an eye on the demon's lair.

Minutes later...

Xander stumbled across the body of the soldier, landing on his hands and knees with a yelp. Giles knelt next to the drained corpse, noting with alarm the twin holes in the side of the man's neck. Buffy pulled her stake out and scanned the area for the vampire responsible. Seeing nothing, the group pulled their tranquilizer guns. With her stake in one hand and her gun in the other, Buffy advanced toward the crypt door.

Inside the crypt, the demon raised his head when familiar smells assaulted his senses. The human female from before was coming toward his hiding place. Other scents underneath hers was tantalizing his nose. The male from before was there but there was another familiar scent. A word floated to the surface of the demon's confused mind. An important word. Just before the pain associated with trying to think kicked in, he tried to speak, snarling when he couldn't figure out how to say it. 'Sire.'

Outside, Giles moved up behind Buffy in preparation to backing her up with a second tranquilizer shot. Xander and Willow held their own guns at ready, each of them keeping their eyes open for anything that might try to sneak up on them. None of the humans spotted the dark figure watching them from the shadows several yards away.