She leaned her cheek on his shoulder -- an arm around his back, below his wings. Happy to feel him solid and alive. To sense body heat and hold her own breath long enough to feel the rise and fall of his. Alive, now. And she didn't even know he'd been dead.

"Spike's gone. If he was here then he could sniff her out or...sense her out. It's a sire thing. But we don't even have that advantage, now."