There was red streaks in it, dark red, almost a wine color.

Damn, he looked good.

He was fastening a spiked dog collar around his neck when he picked up that I was looking at him. "What?"

"Nothing."

He critically stared at my outfit. "You're wearing that?"

"It's a Goth club, and this is old...stuff. From back when Darla and I..."

He waved his hand. "I was going to say, looks good on you, mate. Might want to lay off the gel a bit."

We were going to hit Wonderbar's big event, Club Noire. There was supposed to be a lot of vamps walking around abducting the local Goths. One of them, Raven, had come to AI wanting help; her boyfriend was among those missing. No bodies had been found.

I just nodded. Whatever he said.

"Hey, poof...have your ID?"

"ID?"

I checked my pockets. I'd been too engrossed in getting the gel out of my hair to remember it. "Uh...no?"

Spike smacked his forehead. "He would forget it, wouldn't he?" he muttered. He knew damn well I could hear him.

The bouncer shook his head. "No ID, no entrance. Unless..." He looked me up and down. "Hey, Vlad! Come here!"

A tall, scrawny pale guy came up, holding a leash attached to a collar attached to an even scrawnier male. "I might have found someone. Doesn't have his ID."

Vlad looked at me. "Hey, can you watch my bitch while I go and reapply my lipstick?" He smiled and flashed obviously fake vamp teeth.

What the hell was I getting myself into?

"Fine, if it gets me in."

"When he says reapply his lipstick, he means finding a chick to take in a dark corner to supposedly suck their blood." The scrawny guy looked at me.

And then he *looked* at me.

"You're a vamp, one of the real ones?" he asked, some fear creeping into his voice.

"Relax, kid, I'm not here for a snack. Name's Angel. You are..."

"I go by Dante, but the real names John. I like Dante better, though." He smiled slightly. No fake canines there. "Vlad...he gets the prey for the real vamps."

"What do they do with the bodies?"

Dante shrugged. "Vlad doesn't tell me shit."

Well, so much for that. I started to look for Spike. "You see the blonde...I mean, the guy I came in with?"

"You mean Gwar?"

I almost started to laugh until I realized Dante was serious. "Holy shit...yeah, Gwar." It took such an effort to keep from laughing out loud.

This whole scene was too much. The fake vamps, the slave-types, the people who thought they really were Goths...it wasn't real. It was a pretend game for them.

But hey, they looked damn good doing it.

Maybe even better than me.

"Gwar's a regular," Dante said. "Vlad gives him prey, but I know he just dances with them real close, pretending to suck their blood. He's a weird vamp." Dante looked wistful. "Wish I was Gwar's bitch and not Vlad's."

"Why's that?"

"Vlad...he doesn't treat me well. I'm his whipping boy. A lot of the time, I'm fine with it, but then he lends me to the vamps." Dante shuddered. "Don't want to think about that. The whole point here is to enjoy yourself."

"Not for me," I said, but even then I knew it was a lie. I really was enjoying myself here. I didn't fit in, but I did. It was weird.

"There's Gwar now," Dante said, pointing to one of the elevated cages.

Spike...dancing. He always had great hip movements. And damn, he looked good. I forgot he was known as Gwar and how stupid that sounded and I forgot there was a case to solve and who the hell is that bitch thinking he is dancing with Spike?!?

Spike ground himself against the guy and I could tell two things: I was hard and I was jealous. Not even watching Buffy and Xander grind like that bothered me this much.

"Come on," I said, yanking Dante's chain. "We need to get Gwar."

And then I need to have some words with Spike.

"...and he's the guy."

Spike looked at Dante. "You want to be my bitch?"

Dante nodded.

"Then Vlad's my next 'donation.' I do that, he'll leave here, permanently. And then you'll be my bitch. You understand?"

I don't know what was worse...watching Spike grind against someone else or having him take someone else as his bitch.

"Wait," I said. "Gwar...you know you're my bitch."

Spike raised his eyebrow. "Didn't think you were into this stuff, sweetcakes."

"Well, I am." I unclipped the leash from Dante and clipped it onto Spike. "You. Are. Mine."

Spike smiled, then looked at Dante and shrugged. "Look, I'll get you a better top than Vlad. In fact, I don't think Vlad will be much more of a problem. Go look for Alucard; he's looking for a bottom."

I yanked Spike's chain and we headed off in search of Vlad.

Spike took another drink from Vlad. "Now, who's the vamps making people disappear and what are they doing with them?"

"Get your bitch off of me!" Vlad screamed at me.

I shrugged. "Gwar...he's, well, a little erratic. Can't do much about it."

Spike leaned in for another bite and Vlad literally pissed his pants. I could smell it. "All right, all right...it's some chick named Drusilla. The she-bitch got the vamps together, and they're making an army."

Well, so much for Raven's boyfriend.

Spike patted Vlad on the shoulder, hard. "Get out of here. In fact, get out of LA. Move *very* far away."

Vlad took a look at both of us, turned tail and hauled ass.

"Looks like your loopy childe is at it again."

I sighed. "We go after her tomorrow. Tonight, however..." I yanked Spike towards me by pulling the chain until he was less than an inch away from him. "You are my main focus."

With that, I kept him close, pulling him into the crowd again. Now *I* was going to have my turn with him...