“Sorry, Spike,” the young hacker spit out. Her face matched her hair when she retorted, “I wasn’t looking to turn anyone on. Although I’m glad I didn’t succeed in your case.”

Spike leaned over and grabbed a handful of the fiery red strands. “I’d thank you to keep your hole shut, you bloody bitch!”

“Oooh, sweet talk,” Willow snarled. She didn’t know where the bravery was coming from, but she called every bit of it she could get to her. “You really know how to make a girl feel loved.”

“Keep it up, little girl, and all you’ll get is a morgue. Do you really want that, when you could have eternal life?” he coaxed.

“I’d throw myself on a stake,” she bit out. Spike chuckled.

“Somehow, pet, I don’t think you would. I think that your fiery hair would match your temperament and you’d be one of the most vicious killers around. And I think you’d enjoy it.”

“Never,” Willow hissed, beginning to become a tad bit fearful. Death she could handle. Vampirism? Being the one thing that haunted her nightmares? She couldn’t take it.

“Ahh, there’s the fear,” Spike whispered gleefully. He knelt down in front of the redhead and put a hand over hers. She yanked it away and he laughed. “Willow, luv, I could introduce you to passion you’ve never dreamed of. I see you, little one, when you think no one’s watching. You love him, don’t you? And he doesn’t love you back. I could change all that.”

“What are you talking about?” Willow whispered. Her face paled.

“Xander, of course. You love him. Even that Oz chap can’t take your mind off of him. You want him. Well, come to my side and you could have him,” Spike promised.

“I can’t,” she choked out. Tears began to fall. “He doesn’t want me. I’d just be dying for nothing, would become the horror I’ve fought, for nothing.”

*She’s thinking about it,* Spike thought, satisfied. *I have to get her to give in to her desires.* “Willow, ducks, you can’t see it because you’re afraid. But Xander? He loves you. He hates that you’re with Oz and he wants you all to himself. Maybe he doesn’t understand that it’s love that fuels those desires, but he knows how he feels anyway. Give in to me, and you can make him yours.”

“Why?” The question popped out of nowhere. Spike hesitated.

“Because I want you,” he admitted. Her eyes widened and she immediately looked for an escape route. “Not that way,” he quickly assured her. “Although I wouldn’t mind. . .” he added suggestively. She vehemently shook her head and he shrugged. “Drusilla has been killed. Darla is long gone. There are no female vampires around worth their salt as vampiress leaders. I want you to rule the vampire community. You could be the best, pet, and no one would ever dare stop you.”

“Buffy would,” Willow pointed out, her resolve already weakening. It sounded so tempting. . . A life of easy killing, no remorse, she’d never have to feel sad again, she’d be able to do everything she’d ever wanted to everyone who had ever made her feel bad. . . She’d have Xander. That last thought stopped her. “How would I have Xander?” she asked softly.

Spike smiled triumphantly, but Willow, with her eyes downcast, didn’t see it. “You can introduce to him in death the passion you denied him in life,” he purred. “You will be his sire. You will both be flooded with passion, vampiric passion, and you will turn it on each other. There’s no way that either of you will be able to walk away from the other. You’ll be bound for eternity.”

“Will it hurt?” she asked, defeated. Spike’s eyes lit up in victory.

“Yes, ducks, it’s going to hurt,” he admitted. Her lower lip trembled and Spike stared, fascinated, at the quivering flesh. “It’ll be terribly painful. But when you rise, you’ll feel all the power that you’re destined to have, and the pain will be insignificant.”

“You’re going to kill me anyway,” Willow realized.

“Yes, I’m going to kill you. But if you want it, I can give you eternal life. What would you rather have, an unfulfilled love for him that dies when the two of you do, or an eternity to spend with him?” he prompted. It was all over but for the feeding.

“I want to be with him.” With this Willow titled her neck, giving him access and showing her submission. Spike’s face quickly morphed into the vampire form and he sank his fangs deep into her jugular. She winced and faltered, but he held her steady. When he was done, just as she was on the verge of passing out, he slit his cheek and offered it to her. Weakly, she stretched up to him and tentatively licked the oozing blood. “It’s done. It’s over.” She slumped over and Spike caught her.

“It’s not over, luv, it’ll never be over.”

Willow stirred on the couch that Spike had left her on, and when she opened her eyes, it was Spike who stood by her. She stood up, straight and tall, and gazed at him. “Sire,” she acknowledged, kneeling to show her fealty.

“Rise,” he commanded. She did so, and stared him straight in the eye. “How do you feel?” he inquired.

“Thirsty,” she replied, her eyes turning yellow and her face growing craggy with ridges. She licked her lips and eyed the young girl who was tied to a chair, struggling frantically and screaming silently against her gag. Spike noticed the look and gestured for her to attack.

“Your first gift,” he announced. Willow’s eyes gleamed as she advanced on the terrified blonde.

“Harmony, how nice to see you,” she greeted the other girl. “You remember how you always made fun of me, you criticized that I had no taste? Well, I’m gonna have to hand it to you, you pegged me right. I mean, I must have no taste to accept an airhead as my first real meal. But, you’re here, so. . .” As she trailed off, Willow launched herself at the Cordette and sank her fangs deep into the girl’s pale white throat. She drank deeply until Harmony stopped twitching and lay still for the final time. “Satisfying,” Willow realized, standing up and licking the last drops of crimson from her lips. She turned to her sire and bowed her head.

Spike tilted her head up with his fingertip. “Willow, I believe that someone is waiting for you,” he revealed in a sing-song tone of voice. Her eyes lit up.

“Xander?” she cried. Spike nodded. “Where?”

“In the upstairs bedroom, two doors down on the left,” he informed her, and she was gone. She flew up the stairs and threw the door wide open to find Xander handcuffed to a four-poster bed.

“Xander,” she whispered, advancing on the resigned youth.

“Willow!” he cried when he recognized the figure making its way towards him. “He let you go?”

“Of course not,” Willow scoffed, sitting down next to him. She lightly trailed her fingers over his chest and he shuddered in pleasure. Suddenly he realized what was happening.

“Willow? What did he do to you?” Xander inquired fearfully.

“What do you think?” she queried rhetorically. She leaned down and vamped out. Xander’s heart dropped and he stared at the beautiful face, even with the ridges and fangs, and he felt sick.

“God, Willow, I couldn’t stop it,” he moaned. “I’ve failed you.”

“No, you haven’t. I’m glad you didn’t stop it. I’ve never felt so powerful before, so invincible. I only need one thing and I will have everything I want,” she purred. He looked at her warily. “I need you, Xander. I want you. Stay with me.”

“Do I have a choice?” he sighed, accepting his imminent death. Willow surprised them both.

“Yes.” He looked up at her, astonished. “I don’t want you with me if you don’t want to be with me. I love you, Xander, and I always have. I did this for you, so that we could be together. But I can’t tie you to me if it will make you unhappy,” she allowed.

Xander hung his head and took a deep breath. In that instant, he realized with sudden clarity how much he loved her, how much she meant to him. He understood everything that he had spent years denying. “Yes, Willow, I want to be with you. I can’t live without you, so I want to die with you.”

Willow looked at him, unable to contain the joy she felt at his admission. “Tilt your head, Xander. It will only hurt for a minute,” she promised him. Xander complied with her command and allowed her to move in on him. She ran her tongue over his throat and he shivered with the intensity of the moment. She carefully pressed her fangs into his neck, taking care not to be too brutal and painful with him. She drank for the second time in fifteen minutes and nearly drained him completely in her exhilaration. She stopped just in time and quickly made a cut on her palm, then held it up to Xander’s lips. He drank tiredly, and she gently pushed him back down on the bed. “Sleep, love, you’ve earned it,” she whispered. He nodded, and managed to whisper one last thing to her.

“Now I’m yours forever.”