Michelle looked at the night sky and shivered. She wasn’t use to seeing an orange moon this far from the city pollutants. A cool breeze blew her long brown hair from her shoulders reminding her for the millionth time that she had forgotten to pull it back before she went patrolling. There was more to the orange moon than good ol’ Spike was telling her. That’s why Michele was on her way to see the Seer.

The only problem was she couldn’t find the Seer. Stupid dimensions kept changing on her. If she could just pin point the moving dimension that the Seer lived in she could get all the answers she needed.

She walked through the dark park and thought about her argument with Spike the other night. She couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t leave her alone. It bothered her that he had had the gall to come to her home to talk with her. Weren’t there rules with these guys?

Another cool breeze flew by and Michelle pulled her black leather jacket closer around her. Time to really start looking, well sensing anyway.

She left the paved path and seated herself on a stone bench. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and wished with all her might that she would find the Seer. She focused all her thoughts and energy on the mystical woman.

Her breathing slowed and her mind cleared. She felt her body relax and an energy she had never felt began to tingle at her toes and soon was seeping up the rest of her body. The familiar scent of sandlewood and amber drifted passed her nose.

Her eyes snapped open.

Spike!

Michelle jumped up from her seat and began to look around her. She knew he was lurking somewhere in the shadows it was just a matter of finding him. She couldn’t handle his creeping around tonight.

“Spike!” she called into the darkness surrounding her. “I’m not in the mood for this!”

“What’s wrong pet?” he asked, blowing in her ear. He had snuck up on her quietly like the creature of the night he was.

How did he do that? It was her job to keep track of guys like Spike. If she couldn’t keep track of where he was how was she suppose to watch her back? Did girls like her lose their touch if it wasn’t exercised regularly? Na, couldn’t be.

“Why are you following me Spike?” she turned and crossed her arms across her chest.

He looked at her and cocked his head to one side. His hooded brown eyes pinned her to where she stood. She opened her mouth to demand that he go away but she couldn’t get any sound to come out.

He smiled his crooked smile before answering her question. “I wasn’t following you. I was taking a stroll in the park.” He started to walk around her, “And besides, you need my help.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes as he walked away into the dark. Damn him! He was right! There was no way she was going to find the Seer, especially now that all she could think about was the bodily harm she wanted to do to him.

“I wouldn’t need you help if you hadn’t broken my concentration!” she yelled after him. “I was this close to finding the Seer!” she said holding her thumb and fore finger a few inches apart.

“Are you coming or not?” Spike yelled back over his shoulder. She easily caught up to him and walked quietly with him for a few minutes observing the strange man walking beside her.

His gait was confident and sure footed. With his hands tucked deep into his long leather jacket and his bleach blonde hair shining in the moonlight he was the epitome of cool. He was suave and sexy, the kind of guy every rebellious young girl wanted to bring home to her parents. If she knew that it would bother her own mom she probably would have brought him home too. As it was her mother was more attracted to him than she was! If she didn’t know any better she would think that he always had this magnetizing persona.

She rolled her eyes and wanted to smack herself for being so stupid, but refrained. She was not some young girl who could be swayed by a sexy accent, devilishly good looks and charming words. She wasn’t about to let it show how out of sorts he made her feel.

She clenched and unclenched her jaw a few times before she stopped and casually leaned against a knarled old oak tree.

“Where’s the Seer Spike? I don’t have all night. Mom wanted me home for dinner like yesterday and I have a pile of books to read before tomorrows history lecture. Then again I could just ask you. You were alive in the 1800’s. Kind of a geek I heard.” She smiled sweetly at him as he turned and glared at her.

He was silent as she walked back to her. She could see the change of his mood by his swift decent on her. He didn’t much like talking about his past, especially the past he was still alive in.

“You know pet, I’ve had about enough of you.” Spike said angrily, blocking any path of escape with his hands on either side of her head.

She threw caution to the wind and pushed a little more. “Then tell me what I want and get lost.” She growled back trying not to show the fear she felt deep in the pit of her stomach. He smiled cruelly at her as he fingered a dark strand of her hair and lifted it to his nose before breathing deeply.

“Your hair reminds me of Dru. You know about her too of course. She was insanely beautiful like you and always, always,” he paused for effect and let his eyes drift over her face. “She always came back to me. I think you’re like her. You can’t resist me.”

His eyes pierced hers and held her gaze. He was right about one thing, she couldn’t resist him. He was a pain in the ass and she loved fighting with him. At the same time he scared her to death. He wasn’t human, not anymore despite how he looked at the moment. Even ensouled he was dangerous and not to be trusted. The Counsel still kept tabs on him as well as his equally ensouled Grandsire.

There was something more about him that was very human. He had a kindness, a soft spot more like, for children. Never in all his gruesome and bloody reign did he ever hurt a child. It was more than that though.

But now was not the time to be contemplating his humanity.

“You’re right Spike. I can’t resist you.” She brought her knee up into his groin and watched him fall to the ground clutching his injured parts in pain. “I can’t resist hurting you.”

She bent and pulled him to his feet. He was lighter than she’d thought but then again everything was lighter with the strength she had been empowered with.

She held him by the collar of his shirt until he was steady on his feet. She narrowed her eyes daring him to say something.

She should have been paying more attention to his fists though and less to his face. As quickly as she had injured Spike he had connected his fist to her face. She flew back with such force that when she hit the ground she could barely breathe. She was still staring at the blue – black summer night sky, stunned when Spike came to stand over her.

His eyes were cold and unfeeling. Michelle had never seen such malice on his face. He took a step toward her moving her into action. She tried to pull her self away on her hands but she quickly backed into a tree realizing for the first time just how controlled Spike’s anger was. If he had really wanted to do her bodily harm he would have knocked her head against the tree when he had launched her across the park. She couldn’t keep the fear from her face any longer. She had finally pushed him too far and now she was finally meeting the real Spike and that wasn’t a thought that highly appealed to her.

He stopped and leaned forward then paused when he realized she was pressing her body tight against the tree at her back. She was scared. Well she should be.

“What the bloody hell did you do that for?” he demanded. Whatever the thing she had seen in his eyes just moments before was now gone relieving her of some of her fear.

Her eyes widened and her brain began to function again as she realized what he had just asked her. She watched him stand straight and glare at her while he casually protected his injured parts trying to regain his cool just in case she decided to kick him again.

Michelle let out a deep sigh of relief. She had never seen Spike wig out like he had. When he attacked her she had a very frightening glimpse into his horrific past. She had never felt terror like never before. She now knew what every person who had been attacked and died by the hands of the demon in front of her had felt. It was a state of helplessness she never wanted to feel again and a position she would never allow herself to be in again.

“Let’s just get one thing straight,” Michelle said, stretching her hand out to him. “When we fight, I win”

He laughed as he pulled her to her feet. “I don’t think so love.”

“You never go psycho past Spike on me again and we can be equals. Only on the field of course.”

He raised an eyebrow and turned to walk away. Well at least he had forgiven her, she hoped.

She smiled as she watched him walk away. He was an interesting man to say the least. She wondered if he really ever would have hurt her. Maybe before he got his soul back and the government goody – two – shoes chip in his head, but not now. Not after he’d helped save the world a few times.

She grinned wickedly. He was a better trainer than her Watcher ever was and more fun too! Before taking the time to think better of her actions she charged him from behind.

Michelle leapt into the air and side kicked Spike and knocked him to the ground. She landed a few feet away in a crouched position. He rolled onto his back and looked at her as she stood hands on hips. He chuckled.

“You’re in love with me pet. Admit it.”

“In what world? Now get up! I’m going to put the ‘ow’ in meow!” She stood at the ready waiting for him to attack.

Quicker than she would have liked he put his feet in the air, arched his back, and flipped himself onto his feet like she had seen so many times in those old English dubbed Japanese ninja movies. He brushed off his duster and smiled at her. She smiled right back with a charming sparkle in her eyes.

“Well are you going to look at me all night or are we going to fight. I haven’t got al night. Got kitten poker game I can’t miss.” He said nonchalantly.

Kitten poker is barbaric, she thought. Best make it hard for him to see and bruise up his pretty face. Another day on campus looking like I was in a bar fight is worth saving a few kittens. With that final thought she advanced him with an image of a fluffy ginger kitten in her mind.