Disclaimer: Characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; created by Joss Whedon

Distribution: Free

Dedication: For Sharon, for her support and encouragement

Feedback: Please Sandras E-mail

Summary: Takes place after Enemies; Angel did lose his soul and join with Faith

This was the oldest part of the cemetery.

The words carved on the tombstones had mostly worn away, eroded by time and weather. No new burials here. No cadavers that would rise again...to resume an existence as a zombie...a demon...a vampire.

Yet, there was one vampire present- a lethally striking blond in a black leather coat.

Spike leaned back against a tree, fumbling for a cigarette. It was not by accident that he'd gone to the oldest section of the graveyard...'Home Sweet Home.' No one knew he was back in Sunnyhell; and he wanted to keep it that way. At least until he'd figured out what the hell he was doing back in this pathetic town.

He was about to strike a match when he heard a noise. He froze, arm uplifted.

There it was again...a tiny sob, almost like a lost child.

It was coming from a weathered mausoleum. Spike approached steathily; he could see the padlocked door had been breached. He was careful to make no sound, but soon realized it would have made no diffrence to the heartbroken girl sobbing on top of the stone sarcophagous.

With a sense of shock, Spike recognized the Slayer.

He watched her for a moment, puzzled by her condition; and by the fact that he felt no urge to kill her.

She looked to be in bad shape. Her blonde hair was tangled, her face streaked with tears. She wasn't wearing shoes, and her feet were cut and bruised. What's more, she didn't react when he stepped into the crypt.

"Slayer?"

She raised her head...and he had another shock. Her pants had been ripped open, and her shirt was a shredded, stained rag.

Spike's voice changed. "What in sodding hell happened to you?"

Buffy kept sobbing softly.

Impatiently Spike took a step forward, and grasped her arm. She screamed in agony...and his face went vamp as the two scents hit him- blood, and sex.

Realization swept him. "You've been raped. And beaten."

She nodded once, convulsively.

"Who did it, Slayer?" Spike demanded, in a tone he didn't recognize.

Buffy looked at him, tears streaming down her face. "HE did, Spike."

For a minute he didn't understand. "He? You mean...Angel?"

She shook her head.

"Angelus."