Rabiteen

+Collinsport, Maine, 1960+

I stood out on the balcony of my bedroom looking at the full moon. It was beautiful, the same moon that William and I got married under nearly 80 years ago. I was listening to my new record on the phonograph. It was Sleep Walk by Betsy Brye. A beautiful song that describes how I feel. I was trying to get used to this new generation full of hippies. When I left the mansion, I had to dress to look the part so I wouldn't attract too much attention. The kids were grown now and out hunting with the coven. I didn't feel like going with them. I then felt a nudge at my leg and looked down to see my baby Layla.

"Hello my love." I kneeled down to pet her. Layla was my pet wolf. She was beautiful and kind. "Come on, beautiful, let's go for a walk." I didn't have to put her on a leash, she stuck by my side.

On our walk through the garden, I planned in my head the revenge that I would have once I found William. I wanted to kill him slowly. I wanted him to suffer as I and my children have. I hated him with everything in me. I will have my revenge.

+Sunnydale, California, 2001+

I had been fighting Spike for what seemed like forever. I was dragging it out on purpose. I couldn't kill him without the divorce. Although our marriage was over 100 years old, I still had to make it official in the eyes of my people.

"Um, guys, I'm sorry to interrupt your fight, but how do you expect to file a divorce from a marriage that is over 100 years? I mean the court systems would totally laugh in your faces." The girl with red hair now chimed in and I stopped beating the hell out of Spike.

"What do you mean?" I asked as I began to approach the girl. As I was walking toward her, the Slayer stepped in front of her.

"You're not coming near her." She said sternly.

"Slayer, Spike may have failed to kill you, but I can assure you that I won't. Now move your bloody carcass before I have to move it for you." She still stood there, testing me.

"It's ok, Buffy, I don't think she wants to hurt me...yet." The red head said.

"I won't hurt you as long as you have something of use to tell me." The Slayer then moved over enough for me to get through to the girl.

"Um, it's just that, if a divorce attorney or a judge looked at your marriage certificate, they would see that your marriage was in the 1800's and they wouldn't go for it."

"Ok, so what would you suggest then?" I asked.

"I say we forge a marriage certificate. Your kids could pass for 20 and we could just say you have been married for 20 years. I mean, I think they would go for that way more. Just a thought though."

"Well, if you think it will work. I'll give you two days to get it ready for me. I will return here in two days at exactly 8pm sharp. Do not fail me or I will kill you." I then turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait." I turned to see the man with glasses looking at me.

"What." I demanded.

"I'm sorry, but I must ask you something."

"What? I'm kind of in a hurry."

"Exactly how old are you?"

"I'm 10,500 years old. What's it to you?"

"You're a vampire, and you're that old?"

"I'm an elf-vampire hybrid. I was an elf and then Spike turned me in 1915. Why do you care?"

"Well, we have been researching a new evil and I thought you could give some insight."

"Don't ask her for help, Giles, we can do this without her." Spike said.

"Good, I didn't want to help you anyway." I then turned around and walked out, my coven following me. I don't care what evil they're facing, it had nothing to do with me. Me and my children had rented a house that I paid on weekly since it was only temporary.

When we got to the apartment, I took out some bags of blood from the fridge to heat up for me and the kids.

"Mom, why do you hate dad so much?" Victoria asked me.

"You're too young to understand my dear." I answered.

"I'm tired of hearing that bullshit, mom!" She yelled and slapped her hand down on the counter. I looked at her, shocked. "I need to know the truth."

"Your father stopped loving me and began seeking comfort in another woman. I tried to make it work after that, but it was just too much. He done it again, and I kicked him out. He decided to disappear after that and this is the first time that I have seen him since 1931. I swore I would make him suffer as he has made us suffer." I explained.

"Mom, why wouldn't you tell me that?" She asked with tears in her eyes.

"Because, I didn't want to hurt you anymore than you already have been." With that she hugged me and I just held her there for a long time. Life would get better, it had to.

+Buffy's POV+

"Ok am I the only one who is freaked out right now?" Xander asked.

"No, I think Spike has a lot of explaining to do." I said.

"Yes, indeed." Giles chimed in.

"What is there to explain? I married a fucking psycho!!" He screamed.

"She can't have always been like that, Spike." I said.

"She wasn't. Spike tell them the truth. They deserve to know why they were attacked by the strongest vampire coven in the continent." Angel said.

"Alright, I guess it's story time. But you get nothing until I get some blood." Spike said.

"Fine, here you go." I went to the fridge and pulled out a cup of blood and handed it to him. "Now talk." I demanded.

"It's cold." He said and I was becoming agitated. I went to the microwave and heated up the blood.

"Now Spike."

"Ok fine. Story time. I met Helena in the year 1876 when I was 16. She was so beautiful and young and full of life. She was my mother's nurse in the morning hours while I was in school, so she came to many of our parties. Mother even threw a party in her honor because she was her favorite nurse. I began writing poems for her that she would never hear, because I was too shy and nervous when it came to her. One day one of the men at a party snatched my poem out of my hand and began to read it out loud. Of course in the poem, I mentioned her name. Everyone began laughing at me except for her. She is the only one who didn't laugh. I walked away into a different room and she followed me. She told me how much she loved the poem. So from then on, we were inseparable. We done everything together and after I turned 17, I asked her to be my girlfriend. So we dated for 3 years and in 1880 Drusilla caught me in an ally and turned me. I came home the next night and immediately sent for Helena. I told her everything that had happened and expected her to leave me. She didn't. Instead, she told me her secret about being an elf. She told me when she lived in Middle Earth during all the wars and she was a great warrior princess for her people. She fought many great battles and defeated some kind of Dark Lord guy that used a ring for power. Which later there was a book written based on the legends about it. She is very powerful. What you saw tonight was child's play for her. Anyways, so in 1881 we got married under the full moon in the courtyard of my house. She didn't want me to kill people, but she knew I had to. She just didn't want to hear about it. So, in 1882 our son, William was born. William Elrond. Elrond after her father. Then in 1884 Cassandra was born. My first daughter. In 1886 the youngest, Victoria, was born. She's the baby. Since Helena was an elf, she was able to bare my children even though I'm a vamp. So then everything was great for us for a long time up until the year 1900 when I killed the first Slayer. Helena felt like we better just leave and move to America. We lived in Maine for a year when Helena felt like we needed something better for the kids. So we began production on the mansion in 1901. By 1903, it was finished." Spike stopped for a moment, like he didn't want to go on.

"Well come on Spike, finish the story. We're not getting any younger here." I said.

"Fine." He sighed and then continued. "Everything was perfect. We had the perfect life, but then something happened and she just stopped being affectionate. She wouldn't let me touch her. In the year 1910 Dru came back into my life. She found me and I began seeing her behind Helena's back. Helena found out about it. She flipped out and beat the hell out of me. I blamed it on the demon inside of me. I couldn't help what I done because of that. She let it go for awhile and then I became angry with her 'holier than thou' attitude and in 1915 I turned her. I made her into a monster just like me. She then had to kill to survive. I made her into a killer. and after that we fought constantly. Verbally and physically. It was horrible on the kids. It took Helena 16 more years with me to finally end it. She finally had enough of my cheating and abusive ways and kicked me out in 1931. After that I went and found Dru and disappeared. I heard that Helena would come to seek vengeance and kill me. So that's when we began traveling the world. After that, I don't know what happened to her. She is more psychotic now than when I left her. We hated each other in the last 20 years of being together. I done that to her though. I made her what she is now." Spike finally finished his story and I honestly felt bad for Helena. She was strong because she had to be.

"So, you made a warrior princess, sworn to protect people against evil, into an evil monster like you? Just because you wanted her to be on your level. That's pathetic and low even for you Spike." I said.

"Alright, come now, we have work to do before she comes back and we have to research Glory." Giles said as he cleaned his glasses. Everyone just sat in awe. We couldn't believe what Spike had told us. We simply had to let it sink in and process before we could talk about it any further.

The rest of the night we were all silent, either deep in our own thoughts or reading the books. It would be too soon when she came back. We had to prepare.