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Thank you all for your fab reviews!!!

SB,SM has been nominated for Best Angst and Best WIP at Vampires Kiss Awards (http://vampires-kiss.net/vkawards) and Blood Ties Awards Round Three (http://www.blood-ties.net/). Thank you for being so kind and nominating this fic! Please go to these site and express your support for the fic and vote!


So now I grovel at your feet . I'm soooo sorry it's been awhile since I posted. I'm actually at an impasse on the next chapter. A few chapters back I thought I'd be done with the angst by this chapter.

Oops..my creative juices stayed angsty, so it looks like a little more angst. So I beg your forgiveness...sorry! On the other hand if you would like some fluffy stuff or need a pick me up after reading this chappie o' angst, go read my little off canon fic Spiked Christmas or for a good read that will get you laughing Ariel Dawn's Walking A Mile (it's really good, I reccomend it!).

Hugs to Meli! She has continued to do a marvelous job betaing much of my work! She's done another fine job with this chappie as well.

**hugs** ~ opal

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Chapter 14 - Revalations

Willow had managed to infiltrate the Initiative by mid-afternoon. She hacked her way into Maggie Walsh’s personal files. Willow had gone through almost everything in the Initiative’s systems and found nothing about an order to go after the Slayer and her kid.

She did find that not only had Riley put on “unpaid leave” but also that Forrest and Walsh were on the “paid leave” list.

Something was not right with this picture.

She figured she start the old-fashioned way and look up some info on Forrest. A quick search on Google turned up that he had an active blog. Willow pulled it up and began to read his entries. The first entry that caught her eye was one titled “Satan’s Spawn.” It was around the time that they first found out that Buffy was pregnant.

On duty today at the clinic found out that my commander’s crush was knocked up. He had told me before that she was some kind of demon fighter. That fetus was over a month old, couldn’t have been his. That bitch is trying to play him. She’s gonna take my best friend down, well she’s gonna pay.

The next entry was not any better

Apparently, the bitch got knocked up due to some spell, I bet it’s a demon spawn. Walsh would give me a great promotion if I brought her the demon spawn. Good thing my friend is coming with us to South America, I can work on convincing him to turn her into us.

She scrolled to find that there had been no further entries for several months until about the time Buffy had the baby. It was at that time she found the next entry regarding the baby.

Finn’s ex-girl had the demon spawn today. These months down here in South America have been good for him. He seems more loyal to our family again, so when we return home he should turn over the hell spawn with no problem.

Willow finally made it down to the most disturbing entry.

Talked to the family head today. Said we should take demon spawn down. I tried to keep Finn in the loop, but he was at the girl’s house when I called him. It will take a little more convincing, but he will see that the girl and her hell spawn would be best turned over to Maggie. He ran off, but he won’t be able to protect them for too long.

Willow was afraid for her friend. Was Riley protecting them or was he going to turn them in? After Giles told her what had happened at Angel’s in LA, she was not sure if Riley was going to stay protective of Buffy and William.

~~*~~

Buffy slowly started to awake. As she tried to stretch, she felt her hands bound behind her. She was still a little weak, and her full Slayer power had not yet recovered. She heard William whimpering and Cordelia whispering soft words to him. Then Buffy remembered what had happened.

Riley. Angel.

They had burst in when she was claiming her mate. The last thing she remembered was Riley coming towards her with one of those tasers. She felt her body move along with the bumps in the road, and realized she was in the back of Riley’s SUV. She looked up and she could see Cordelia looking back at her.

Cordelia made a silent “Shh” with her lips to indicate to Buffy that it was best for her not to speak. Buffy indicated she understood by winking back.

The next twenty minutes were silent, with the exception of William’s whimpers. Finally, the SUV seemed to have stopped and Riley spoke.

“Cordelia, we’ll rest here for a few hours. We’ll only sleep for six hours and then we are off again.”

“Sounds good Riley. Looks like Buffy’s still asleep back here. Why don’t I stay out in the car with the baby so you can get us a room out back? That way no one will see us carrying Buffy in.”

“Smart plan Cordy. Good to have a girl like you around.”

Cordelia gave him another one of her winning smiles as he exited the car and shut the door behind him. Cordelia watched as he entered into the motel to get them a room. Once he was in, she felt free to speak.

“Ok Buffy, I’m gonna make this quick before he comes out. First, I’m not on his side, I’m just pretending so I can gain his trust. Second, he used that taser thing on all of us. Third, I saw you biting Spike! What was up with that?”

Cordelia looked out the window, keeping watch for the soldier to come back. Buffy took the time to quickly explain the mating bond.

“Spike and I agreed to do a familial claim so that he would be able to protect me as the mother of his child. It also would help stabilize William, knowing both of his parents were linked together by the claim. Of course, we started the familial claim and then I just knew in that moment I wanted him as a mate. So, I bit him. In fact I bit him with my own fangs!”

Cordelia was astonished. She knew Angel would not take it lightly, but hopefully he would bond with Spike to come and get them. She looked up and noticed Riley making his way out of the clerk’s office.

“He’s on his way. Look, when you’re able to break out, do it, but not until you think you can handle him.”

Buffy shut her eyes just as she heard the SUV door open.

“Ok Cordelia,” Riley said. “I could only get us one room but it has two double beds. William can sleep in his car seat and you can share a bed with Buffy. Is that good?”

“Yep that’s great. So what is your plan with them anyway?”

“Well it started out I was protecting them from the Initiative. Now I’m not so sure. When I was cleaning some of the blood off her face, I noticed she had these tiny little fangs. I’m afraid she maybe a demon now too, and the best thing maybe to turn her over to the Initiative so she can be chipped like Spike.”

Buffy heard and sent a silent plea through her mind, ‘Oh no, please Spike where are you? I’m so scared!’

~~*~~

Spike jerked awake just as he felt the rich blood of his sire touch his lips.

“Dru?”

“Daddy! He’s awake, now let’s go save Sunshine!”

Spike was about to ask what was going on, but then he felt his mate’s plea for help through the claim. He remembered Finn and Angel coming in before being shocked repeatedly with the taser.

He vamped out and searched the room for his grandsire. Furious that Angel had something to do with whatever frightened Buffy; he wanted to off the bloody poof as the first victim of his path of vengeance.

Dru had other ideas. She overpowered Spike, who was still weak from the taser.

“Tut-Tut. Not Daddy’s fault. Soldier boy’s fault. Daddy will help us.”

Spike’s game face melted away. Angel walked over to him.

“I may not approve, I may not understand why she chose you. But, I know that you were trying to protect her. I will not challenge the claim. I will honor it. Now we are going to find that stupid soldier boy and show him what the Scourge of Europe does when it works together to exact vengeance.”

Angel reached out his hand to Spike and Spike accepted it. Drusilla placed hers on top of theirs. Each of them vamped out, with their eyes glowing Spike spoke with conviction, “Vengeance will belong to the Order of Aurelius, cursed those who bring harm to my mate and child.”

Under the protection of shadows, they exited the Hyperion and made their way to Spike’s car. Thanks to Dru’s vision, they had a destination in mind. Las Vegas.