See!!! GAWD DAWN!!! Can she DIE yet????!!!!

Damn! Riley knows he's there. Guess Angel's reaching out to him through the blood bond. Can't wait to see how this works out, since he certainly knows Riley's smell as well as his voice, he knows he's there. Fantastic read, thanks.

buffy is jumping to conclusions, again. now,i sure it is riley, but, in the interest of justice, why not have angel kill them both, slowly and painful. he can then put on his best puppy dog face and say "i'm sorry." great read, thank you.

Wow! All three major suspects at once. Could be interesting. I don't think Angel is the bad guy, I just think its a Childe/Sire thing.

So... if I'm reading this correctly, Buffy *isn't* reading the situation correctly? Will be on the lookout for the next chapter.

I am so utterly & completely addicted to this story it's not even funny! If you weren't updating this everyday, I honestly think I might have gone crazy.

What a chapter! You have quite obviously gathered all the suspects together for this little confrontation just to confuse us all! And... well, you've succeeded quite admirably. For some reason, I still want to pin the crime on Riley, but that could be just because I dislike him more than I do either Angel or Xander. :p I'm sure more clues will be slowly forthcoming in future updates.

Okay Dreams, that was a mean trick, getting all three of our possible villians in the house at the same time. Loved the Buffy fight with Angel, the big Wanker. And, Spike is so pitiful!

well that help clear things up a little for me..way to many clues pointing to angel ,so no way is it angel. riley is all hot and bothered so i don't really see him as the one. but the one least affected is xander more worried about buffy then spike so i am starting to lean toward xander now. lol who just happens to be the one i had pretty much decided was innocent in favor of riley. great work .every chapter has me changing my mind as to who is the guily SOB. This is by far the best WIP i have EVER read.

A good mystery always tries to throw you off of the trail, so I don't think it's Angel. I also don't think it's Riley as some things in the first chapter lead me to believe it's Xander.

The man says, "'After what you did – how you stole her from me – when you didn’t even care…'" And Spike replies, "'Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.'" EVERYBODY knows how much Spike cares about Buffy, so I think they're talking about Anya.

The man says, "'You made her want you instead of me…*you*! You’re nothing but a dead, disgusting *thing* -- and she still preferred you to me…'" The perp's gotta be human, so not Angel. Also, "instead of" implies that there was a choice between the two--Anya's choice between Xander and Spike

Then, “'Don’t know what it is about you that makes them want you – even *knowing* what you are…but they do – don’t they?” "Them" and "they" say more than one woman. Could be Buffy and Drusilla, but being a vampire wouldn't matter to Dru. Riley only had Buffy, so no "they." Xander could be referring to Buffy and Anya, both humans, both he sees as his.

As you can see, I am unhealthily obsessed with your work :-P

Whoa! This is just amazing. I am completely clueless as to which of these guys I should be suspecting, and I have a feeling you are throwing out red herrings all over the place. lol

No way is it Angel that did that to Spike. If he is affected, in a negative way if Spike is hurt, then it is not him. He's just too selfish and self-absorbed.

You are killing me! I can't believe you had all of the suspects show up at one time. You are so mean. Anyway great chapter. I don't know who the sadist is but I don't know anymore. You have done a great job throwing me off. Please update soon and solve the mystery.

I don't think Angel is the person who was abusing Spike, I think he just used a sire voice that Spike instinctively understood. It still is problematic given Spike's history of abuse and his history with Angel. At best it can help him understand that not all authortative men are going to hurt him, but it still isn't a lesson he should learn yet. i do think either Riley or Xander is the person responsible for his abuse. He clearly had a strong reaction to hearing one of their voices. I had always assumed it was Xander, but the reactions of both him and Riley make me think it might have been Riley instead. What's up with the exes coming out of the woodwork by the way. Not to mention Angel not going to admit that he could feel Spike and knew he was with Buffy and had been abused so horribly. or thinking that Buffy still loves him....um denial much? Can't wait to see what happens next

First Angel, then Riley,and then Xander. And then Dawn brought Spike.
Poor Spike, so many new. Who's the abuser?
And bad Angel! What did he do?

How funny that Buffy suspects Angel first *G*.....it's that vampire=bad, human=good prejudice and for once Angel (who she knows she doesn't love anymore) is a vampire like the rest. LOL. As for me, I'm glad he's there and expect him to help.

I have decided that Xander isn't a good enough actor to be the bad guy (not a harsh enough term!). The smile at the door wouldn't make sense after the $%^& discovered he had lost his vampire pinata/punching bag.....nope....gotta put my money on Riley still (and can't wait for other things to be put on him!).

Still hope Xander says something incredibly callused and gets smacked down for it though.

Excellent update. A Miss Marple special with all the suspects in one room! Not expecting the grand reveal yet though. Spike recognized the voice of his tormentor though...that's enough for now.

Kathleen

OMG< OMG< OMG!!!! Boy have you ever got an addict now. I cannot WAIT UNTIL YOU UPDATE. I had to read the last three chapters together and this one about caused me to hyperventilate--esp when all three suspects showed up. I was pretty much convinced it couldn't be Angel but now...you really have me confused--marvelous job!

it WAS angel, i KNEW it. I freaking KNEW It. unless it's still riley. but it's definitely not xander.

Maybe it wasn't angel. I know it's not xander. It could be riley

It could be riley or angel.

wow i'm a brainiac. woot!

Angel? Not Riley? You had me fooled. Explanations? Why a gun?

Nah, I can see where they'd draw that assumption, but I don't see Angel as the perpetrator. I really cannot see him using a gun. A gun is a human tool, why would Angel need it, and he's housing Angelus, arguably the worlds foremost tormentor, i can't see Angelus getting his kicks from the mentally disabled, he'd want his victim to KNOW what was going on and why. Hopefully Buffy will remember what Anya said about the attacker being human and put 2 and 2 together, that one of the human males is what did this to him. You've done an EXCELLENT job on this chapter. Can't wait for more. Please update again soon?

wow.
Is is really Angel, or is this just Spike's reaction to the authority of the Sire? It's the only way he knows how to react to authority, after all...
wow.
You are truly amazing.

Wow, I always thought that it was Angel, it really sounded like him. Anyways, good work on the story so far. It's really good, and has really pulled me in. Please update soon!!

Agh! Too much tension - please write fast, I really want to find out who Buffy is gonna have to kill.

Okay. So, maybe I didn't know it. But I had thought it before, and I'm not one hundred percent either way, now. The three obvious suspects all in a room...who was Spike reacting to? And did he only react to Angel in that way because he knew he was his sire? Freakin' A. You better update this again soon!

That's way more than a full house. Buffy needs to throw those louts OUT. Angel could maybe help, but he's such an ass, and now, well, it looks bad. But also, Dawn is an idiot.

Oh wow. All of them in one room. And maybe I'm holding on stubbornly to my belief in Riley as the bad guy, but I think Buffy and Dawn jumped to the wrong conclusion. I think that was probably Childe obedience. If nothing else, I doubt that the captor ever called him William.

Sooo exciting -- it's a real whodunnit - the Usual Suspects. I don't think it's Angel - that's this morning's assessment!

Oh this is getting very very good. I honestly do not believe Angel was behind this. I think Spike is simply responding to his sire. I think Buffy needs to remember Anya's words about Spike's torturer possibly being human.

Besides if it had been Angel why would he start out with a broken Spike? He would more than likely take a page out of his demon's book and START with a sane Spike so that he could END with a broken Spike.

I am starting to believe that it's Riley. He worked for the Initiative and carried around a plastic stake after all.

Xander might have just killed Spike and pretended for however long he could get away with it that he had no clue as to where Spike was.

Though going by your past stories you'll take all of our speculation and promply toss it out the window leaving us trying to scrape our jaws off of the ground when you finally reveal who the shooter really is. ;)

Wonderful chapter! I can't wait for another update! Your stories are addictive! ;)

Bwahaha. So the truth is about to come out. But I don't think it's Angel. Hee. I can't wait for more!

Oh, they misunderstand! He used sire's voice, not a command from a torturer. He's speaking to Spike's demon.

And I'm definitely more convinced that it's Riley. Xander isn't that good of an actor, and Angel is reacting too genuinely..Spike's family, and his adamant statement of that proves that he cares.

And the fun just keeps on leaving. I don't think it's Angel, that would be too easy. I'm still inclined to think Riley. But I could be sadly mistaken.

Wow! great chapter! Angel wants to help his childe but I don't think he knows how, so he uses his sire voice...
But he can help Spike and he is worst torturer so he can help them have vengence. If buffy can show him how to help he cure Spike maybe...
Actually I don't like Angel but I always prefer him to Riley and Xander, and he can understand Spike is afraid of any of them and can find out who is the shooter.
Can't wait to read more

was it angel!?!?! did angel do it?? or are they just horrified at the whole sire/chile control thing?

ARGHH.. going crazy.. need an update!!! lol :P

OMG, but I so know he didn't do it. Even though Spike can't remember Angel as Angel, some way he knows his voice from teh past, and all the years Angel spend teaching him, plus the whole sire/childe thing. Spike's demon is only reacting to its creator. But I'm thinking the fear he showed first was because of either Riley's or Xander's voice. How is Angel going to dig himself out of this one? And will teh girls realize that its not Angel? Can't wait for more.

okay...totally unexpected. Captain Cardboard,Whelp and Brooding wonoderboy at the same time.I don`t believe it`s Angel...at least I hope it`s not.But I really hope you will reveal it soon:)

Oh gods, they're all there, aren't they. My heart is pounding, love. I have got to stop reading WIPs.

I know this has the smell of a red herring, but then again, sometimes a fish is a fish.

Can't wait for more.