Series Title: Maltrovata al Chiar di Luna
Title: Part Two, Frangeranno i Denti, Break the Locks Author:Ananda
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: They belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy and Fox. Some Like it Hot belongs to MGM.
Summary: Spikes feelings for Buffy come to the forefront during Season 4.
Notes: Please don't flame me because of my lack of medical knowledge. I'm never ill so it's not something I've ever needed before. Besides I doubt there's much on Supernatural Pheromones in the medical dictionary. Buffy and Spike seem to spend large parts of the time unconcious in this story. I don't know why, the plot trolls demanded it!

Dedication: To Gregorio, who asked to be included in this part. In reality he is shorter, gayer, and lacks the tattoo, but he asked for it to be there.

Rocce Ruggenti,
Scosse Frementi
Frangeranno i denti
Della Prigione.
E D'Apello la Briglia
Lontano Scintilla
Scuote e Scapiglia
Del Fato la Griglia.

Rochetto, Sogno di una Notte di Mezz. Estate

The journey into consciousness was not a happy one for Buffy, she was aware of a bright white light, shining directly into her eyes, of shifting, human sized, black blobs walking in front and around her and of pain. Pain in her arms and feet and the bottom of her spine especially, but most of all that aching feeling from an electric shock but a hundred times worse, all over. She groaned, and one of the blobs leaned over her.

"She's waking up." The blob said.

"That dose should have been enough to knock her out for five hours. She's barely been out for two. Whatever is in her constitution?" Demanded a slightly familiar female voice.

"I don't know, we need more tests. Give her a stronger dose this time."

There was a prick on her arm, just below the elbow and the world dissolved again.

The next time she woke Buffy was surrounded by white. She groaned and rolled slowly over.

"About time you woke up," said a familiar voice.

Buffy pulled herself slowly up and looked around, the room spun and then shuddered to a halt. Rather to her surprise she wasn't in some dark dungeon like cell. Instead blinding white walls surrounded her and there was a stark, military cleanliness about everything.

"Where are we?" She croaked.

Spike got up from where he sat in the corner of the cell and leaned over her. "This is the Initiative, Pet, where bad demons come to die." He said softly.

"The Initiative?" "'Fraid so. You ok?"

"Fine, apart from the mariachi band that's practising in my head. Have you got any aspirin?"

Spike looked at her. "Oddly enough, no," He said dryly, "I tend not to use it, being dead and all."

Buffy stood up, wobbled a bit as the world decided to spin round and round again and then recovered.

"Well, we can't stay here." She said and began to pace slowly but nervously.

"Where do you suggest we go?" Asked Spike, one eyebrow raised sardonically. Buffy glanced at him and found the world spinning again. She leaned against the wall and breathed deeply. Spike patted his pockets. "I don't believe it, bastards have nicked my fags."

Buffy rolled up the sleeves of her long sleeved top, prior to making some gung-ho remark about escaping, but she never made it. Her frozen silence attracted Spike's annoyed attention and he looked up. She was staring in shock at her arm. He frowned.

"What's wrong, luv?" He asked.

"Spike," She said tremulously, "Look."

Spike walked over to her, on her left arm from elbow to wrist were five puncture marks obviously made by syringes.

"What have they injected in me?" Buffy whispered in a scared voice. Spike turned her until she faced him.

"Nothing you can't handle pet." He said reassuringly, worried about the blank, stricken look on her face. "They probably took blood samples or something."

Buffy began to shake, memories of the Cruciamentum coming back to her.

"This happened before, they-they injected me with some stuff that made me lose my strength. Made me fight this psycho vampire who'd kidnapped my mom." She stared up at him with wide unseeing eyes. "I can't do that again, I can't be ordinary. I can't be weak."

Spike shook her as she slumped against him, arms tightly round his neck as if afraid to let go, weeping convulsively. "Hey, snap out of it slayer. You're not weak." But Buffy couldn't stop crying.

"He hurt me." She babbled, "He promised he'd never hurt me again." Spike frowned; he needed something to distract her. Menatlly he shrugged, at least if he did this here she couldn't stake him.

He kissed her, and tasted the sunlight again. He didn't want it to end but it had to. He moved his head away to look down at her to find she was smiling. When he tried to remove his arms from round her waist and step back from her, she tightened her hold on him. He smiled back.

"What the hell does she think she's doing?" He demanded angrily. Forrest grinned.

"Looks like you've been replaced by a bloodsucker, Ri." He said.

"Who promised?" Spike asked gently, needing to know what was wrong.

"What?"

"Who promised not to hurt you?" He repeated

The answer, when it came, surprised him. "Giles." She whispered. "Your Watcher? What the hell did he think he was doing?" Spike demanded angrily. Over the months he'd come to trust the mild mannered librarian, recognizing the steel at his center and his love for Buffy. He found it hard to believe he would intentionally hurt her.

"They made him." She whispered sadly. "The Council don't care about us. One Slayer dies; the next one's called." She laughed bitterly, dissolving into tears again.

Spike's face set in a hard, unforgiving mask. The Council of Watchers were not going to like what would happen to them when he got out of here. If he got out of here he tempered.

"Don't worry kitten," He said, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Buffy rubbed her cheek against the comforting leather of his duster and stared up at him, tear stained eyes wide beneath her messy hair. "Thanks." She smiled.

"Well, the Dingoes are pretty cool." Buffy replied, "But I like Cibo Matto as well. You're probably more into punk, being a Billy Idol wannabe and all."

Spike smiled arrogantly. "I'm much better looking than that pillock."

Buffy blushed as she thought about that, she had to agree.

The partners had gotten bored. Buffy had recovered enough to sit up and talk, even if she wouldn't let go of Spike so they sat, an arm round each others waists, leaning against the back wall of the cell. They were playing twenty questions, something they never normally had time for.

Buffy was surprised by how comfortable she felt. Her relationship with Spike was changing again, but she didn't mind. He had been becoming less vamp-like, mellowing when around her for a while now, but this was the first time she'd really noticed it, and she liked it.

"Favorite film?" Buffy asked.

Spike almost blushed. "You'll laugh." He warned, "But it's Some Like it Hot."

"I probably would laugh, if I'd ever heard of it."

Spike pretended to glare at her. "I swear they teach you nothing at school these days." He said, "It's a master piece of a film. Made in 1959 by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe. Two out of work musicians witness the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre and to escape the mob, they join an all girl band in drag. Then one of them falls for Marilyn, who's the Ukulele player, and pretends to be a millionaire to get with her, and the other is pursued by a genuine millionaire."

Buffy frowned dubiously. "It sounds rather a cuddly and gay choice for a vampire."

"Nah, the villain is quality."

"A vampire who likes comedy?" He asked incredulously.

Prof. Walsh shrugged. "Anything is possible Finn. Never underestimate the hostiles. After all he should at least have attempted to feed from Ms. Summers by now, despite the chip."

"But he hasn't." Graham said. "All he does is make fish eyes at her."

Riley turned on him.

"Hostiles are incapable of finer feelings, Agent. You know that. It must be planning something."

Prof. Walsh raised an eyebrow.

"I think you may be allowing your own 'finer feelings' to cloud your judgement. It is clear from her test results that Ms. Summers is not a human, perhaps that is why she is unattractive to the Hostile."

"Looks pretty damn attractive to me." Graham muttered.

Prof. Walsh glared at him and continued, "Abnormalities in her white blood cell count, muscle structure and neuron pathways indicate that she is stronger, faster and heals quicker than normal humans. There are some strange abnormalities in her CAT scans as well and her pheromones are frankly incomprehensible. She produces a pheromone we've never seen before but its levels are higher than all the others."

She frowned "But she passed the Van Horne test. She is not a Hostile. She is unharmed by religious artifacts, sunlight, or holy water, although a stake through the heart would probably kill her."

Riley sighed and turned back to stare at his girlfriend on the screen. "Then what is she?"

"Let's find out."

Buffy and Spike glanced at each other. "Any particular reason why we should?"

"Cooperation will ensure your survival. Answers mean blood for the Hostile and whatever you require. No answers mean no sustenance. Eventually the bloodlust within the Hostile will overcome the pain of the implant. Then you will both die." The voice finished smugly.

"'Hostile?'" Buffy demanded, "You mean 'vampire.'"

"We are a new breed of hunters, we do not refer to Hostiles by anything except our own labels."

"I think I've just been insulted, kitten." Spike joked to Buffy.

"Please state your full names." After that the voice would say nothing but that, over and over. They held out half an hour, then Buffy gave in.

"Elizabeth Anne Summers." She said.

"Please state the name of the Hostile."

"Spike." She replied.

"Please state the full name of the Hostile."

"This is really getting old." Spike said.

"So tell them your full name, I'm hungry."

Spike blushed greyly, stolen blood flooding his face under alabaster white skin. "I can't remember my full name." He hissed in the mistaken belief the listeners would not hear.

"What?" Buffy demanded in a whisper.

"I haven't used it in two hundred years."

In the room above them, Forrest exclaimed in suprise. "He's two hundred years old? That's older than any other Hostile we've captured."

Buffy glared at Spike. "Well try!"

"I think, I think, it's Carlyon, William Edward Phillip Carlyon. But I'm not sure." He said doubtfully.

"You have three names?"

"It's not so unusual in England."

"Oh."

The electronic voice interrupted them.

"Who sired you?"

Spike glared up at the camera in the corner of the room. "None of your bloody business."

"Who sired you? Who sired you? Who sired you?" The voice repeated the question over and over. Eventually Spike answered, if only to shut it up.

"Angelus."

"Is he still operating?" "What?"

"Is he still operating?"

"If you mean is he still undead, walking and talking, and acting like a complete poof, then yes. Unfortunately he is."

There was silence.

"Please state what Ms. Summers is."

Spike and Buffy looked worriedly at each other.

"I'm a college student." Buffy replied after a beat.

"You are not human." The voice stated. Buffy jumped up and glared at the impersonal camera lens.

"I'm a hell of a lot more human than you are." She replied

In the room above Maggie Walsh stared down at the angry girl. She almost believed that she was unaware of her differences to a human.

"What can we do with her?" She demanded of the men around her. Dr Angleman raised his hand.

"I'd like to run some more tests. The pheromone signals she's emitting are fascinating. I've never seen anything like them."

"Explain." Riley ordered.

Angleman paused for a moment collecting his thoughts then spoke. "Pheromones are volatile hormones and behavioural modifying agents which, when emitted, determine attraction and repulsion. Have you ever met a person you instinctively disliked? In some ways your dislike was governed by pheromones. They are given off by an individual, like Ms Summers, to cause specific reactions in other individuals, usually to attract suitable mates for creating offspring."

"Sort of like dogs in heat?" Forrest asked.

"In a way. Pheromones cause fixed behavioural reactions involving reproduction and aggression. Whatever type of pheromone Ms. Summers is emitting it is very strong and would cause an extreme reaction in whoever or whatever it is meant to attract."

"And the question is," Riley said, "'Who is it meant to attract?'"

Angleman paused again. "Truthfully, I don't know. The pheromone is similar to Androstenone, the pheromone which regulates human sexual attraction but has some interesting differences. It seems to rely on equal parts sexual attraction and aggression, and it seems to attract across species. I would like to study the subject further."

"Will it hurt her?" Riley demanded, unwilling to see his girlfriend hurt, even if she was, as it now appeared, less than human.

"The testing will be rigorous, and she will need to be conscious through most of it. Yes, some discomfort will be involved."

Riley turned to Prof. Walsh. "We can't allow her to be harmed. She's not a lab rat!"

Prof. Walsh smiled thinly at him. "I appreciate your concerns Agent Finn, but in essence, Ms. Summers is a lab rat. She is not human and may be dangerous. I have no compunction in testing her. The information gained may be extremely useful. We are fighting a war, Agent Finn. Some casualties on both sides are necessary."

Riley stared at her mutinously then nodded slowly. "Agreed, move her to room 317."

They came for Buffy two hours later; Angleman had needed time to set up his lab for her arrival. As four masked agents came to the door of the cell, Buffy and Spike stood.

"You will come with us." One commando spoke, but it was impossible to tell which behind the impersonal masks.

Buffy and Spike moved as one and retreated to the back wall of the cell.

"Why the bloody hell should we?" Spike demanded. One commando shook his head.

"Not you. Ms Summers is being removed for testing."

Buffy turned to Spike, and it was the first time he'd seen her this frightened since Angelus had held a sword to her throat that morning in the mansion.

He touched her back with his hand, and she glanced down at it apprehensively. Three fingers were held up. She nodded imperceptibly, relying on Spike to cause a diversion to allow them to escape, even though he could not harm the commandos because of the implant.

The screen was let down, and two commandos stepped forward to grab Buffy. As they did so, Spike vamped out and roared. He knew that he could not actually harm the commandos but hoped to distract them long enough to allow Buffy to escape. It worked; the two commandos holding Buffy let go of her to grab their tasers, and she turned. In one punch and a roundhouse to his face, she floored one of the men. She turned to the other and started to pummel him. Two seconds later, he was also on the ground, out cold. As the other two lifted their weapons, pointing towards Buffy, Spike rushed in front of her.

The commandos fired, and Spike took the double force of electricity, meant to subdue Buffy, it was enough to send him flying towards the back wall of the cell, limp and unable to move. Buffy turned on the commandos as they hurried to reload their tasers and fire again.

"That wasn't very nice." She said as she grabbed the nearest one. Two swift face punches and he was down. Only one commando remained standing. Buffy glared at him as he backed away, apparently looking for an opportunity to rush her.

"Thanks for having us, but we have to go now." The commando was down with one roundhouse to his face. The sickening crunching noise it made indicated she'd probably broken his nose as well.

Buffy rushed back to Spike, knowing she only had a few moments before reinforcements arrived.

"Come on, Spike. We have to go."

Spike stared up at her blankly, then he blinked. "Can't walk, pet." He managed, "Leave me."

Buffy stared down at him. Slayer or not she wouldn't be able to carry him out of the compound if he couldn't walk, but she didn't want to leave him. She made a decision.

"No, I won't leave you. Wherever we go, we go together." She made to hoist him up. Spike's knees gave way under him, and he sank to the ground. "Dammit, slayer. It won't work. Leave me." He wheezed angrily.

"No."

Spike vamped out, his game face descending in anger. "Stupid bitch." He whispered angrily. "I won't let you'die for me. Not worth it. Go!" He raised an arm and pushed her away from him with all his strength.

Buffy took a step away from him, then looked back, bent, and kissed him. "Don't die." She ordered. "I'll be back."

Spike watched her leave, the world darkening perceptibly, as it always did when she was away from him.

"The fuzzy end of the lollipop." He murmured before unconsciousness overtook him.

Buffy found herself running along the corridor, lined with bare white cells, trying to find the exit. It was an impossible task. She had been brought into the compound unconscious and had no idea of the way out. Still, she reasoned, if Spike could do it, so could she. Her heart constricted at the thought of Spike, and she nearly turned back, determined not to leave her partner to the mercy of the Initiative, but she did not. She would never be able to rescue him alone when he was wounded, and her best hope was to find the rest of the Scooby gang and saddle up. If only she could find the way out.

Suddenly a voice called to her, and she turned. In one of the cells she'd just passed stood a tall, handsome, dark haired vampire with a tattoo of a knife on his arm.

"Hey!"

Buffy slowed and turned to look at him.

"I'll tell you the way out if you let me go." The vamp offered.

"Who are you?" Buffy demanded before she realised this wasn't really relevant.

"Called Gregorio, Slayer, child of Angelus." The vamp leered at her.

Buffy nodded, it was no surprise, Angel had created enough minions to swamp Sunnydale during his conversion to the dark side.

"Release me, and I'll help you get out." He offered again.

Buffy was about to refuse when she heard the sounds of pursuit from behind. She needed to get out of the compound quickly. She nodded and pressed the button to lower the screen of Gregorio's cell.

He turned to her snarling, but then he saw the commandos approaching over her shoulder. He took off, followed by Buffy.

Gregorio and Buffy ran on through what felt like miles of corridors. They met no one, all personnel had been recalled, she supposed, as they were tracked through the compound. Eventually they came to a metal doorway.

When Buffy rounded a corner, she saw Gregorio look fearfully behind him, certain that the commandos would be arriving any minute. In front of him was a solid metal door. It was shut and locked. "We have to go through here." He said. Buffy looked as the door, it opened outwards. "We push." She said decisively.

The door was heavy metal, three inches thick and impossible to break. However it had been inserted in a wall of breezeblocks painted the same blank, stark white as the cells. They would withstand a human but could not stand against a slayer and a vampire. The surrounding blocks shuddered and burst outwards taking the door with them. Buffy and Gregorio rushed through.

Gregorio indicated an air conditioning vent.

"All we have to do is crawl through that and we're out." He turned eagerly to Buffy and saw the look on her face. Her fist caught his chin, sending him sprawling through the doorway before he could defend himself.

"Thanks." Buffy said cheerfully. "But I can go alone from here. Bye." She smiled, then frowned. "Damn, now I'll never find out how he knew the way out."

She dismissed the thought, turned, and vaulted clumsily into the air vent.

Riley halted his troops as they came to the vamp that lay on the ground nursing his broken jaw.

"Take him back to his cell." He ordered. Gregorio whimpered.

"The slayer," He whispered, "The slayer." Riley looked down at him disinterestedly.

"What?" He asked but all Gregorio would say was, "The slayer." He turned to dust with that word and the wooden wall slat which had pierced his heart dusted with him. Riley shrugged. "Never mind." He said.

The air conditioning vents were nothing new for Buffy; she'd crawled through worse. Although these were dirtier and more cramped than most she'd climbed about in they did eventually lead to another vent. This vent led out into the fresh air. Buffy pushed at it until it bent and bounced outwards and she was free.

"Vamp was telling the truth." She muttered in surprise. "Maybe I shouldn't have staked him." She shrugged. "Oh well, too late now."

She looked around and found herself outside Lowell house. It was night and she had no idea of how long she and Spike had been missing. The campus was probably crawling with commandos looking for her, but she had to get to Giles.. She looked down at herself. Her patrolling clothes were dirty and torn, her hair was matted and her face scraped. No one seeing her would believe she was just out for a walk but it was night, if she kept to the shadows she would get there, eventually.

Buffy pulled herself up tiredly and started to walk, keeping out of the patches as much as possible. Two thoughts were uppermost in her mind. One was the glory of Giles. bath and some food and clean clothes but the other, just as strong, was her confusion and worry about Spike. Giles was going to have a serious cow when he found out she was on the way to falling for another vampire. Thousands of Giles. cows would be wandering Sunnydale when she broke the news to him, let alone the herds of vampire cows Angel would create all over LA. She giggled a little hysterically.

And then there was the problem of getting Spike out of the Initiative in the first place. Try as hard as she could Buffy couldn't find any bright side to the situaion. She was just too tired to think.

"Hold on" She chanted dejectedly over and over in her head. "Hold on, I'm coming. I am." As she stumbled through the streets of Sunnydale.

By the time she reached Giles, dawn was beginning to lighten the sky. She knocked tiredly on his door and braced herself against the wall outside. She was exhausted, and for the last few blocks the world had been spinning gently around her. She was amazed she'd made it this far without interference.

As the door opened and Giles grabbed her in relief, Buffy smiled. "Missed me?" She murmured and sagged into Giles arms and the welcome blackness of unconsciousness.

Bottom, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Chapter Three, Declinare Quella Vecchia Luna (This Old Moon Wanes) Coming Soon!