*He looks her up and down, smirking cockily. She's easy on the eyes that's for sure.* Spike. You mind tellin' me what the deal with this place is, pet?

*The smirk does nothing but amuse her - she's secure enough with the knowledge that she is far more powerful than him, though she doubts that she will ever need to use that power (and she's rather confused by his existence, as she wasn't aware that any vampires other than the so-called 'Coven of the Articulate' survived Akasha's recent near-genocide - but she assumes that he must be a newly created vampire, then, and doesn't ask, at least not yet)* It's evidence of the existence of some power beyond us. *and she smiles, aware of how utterly infuriating an answer that is, but she can be infuriating when she likes to be, and one of those times is when people call her 'pet'*

*He rolled his eyes, obviously she wasn't going to be helpful* Well yeah, that's a given pet, why else would we bloody well be here? I wanna know what this 'power beyond us' is! *he quotes her words back to her in a slightly mocking tone, he's getting frustrated.*

*She is still utterly calm, a smile that oddly human on her statuelike face the only hint of emotion,* I admit that I don't know completely, though, I have my suspicions. *Almost abruptly,* Come. The hallway is no place to discuss such things.

*He's slightly disapointed by her lack of reaction, in fact she's almost unnervingly calm. He senses a power from her totally unrelated to this castle. She's older than him that's for sure. He wonders if she knows this human woman* Sure thing luv, let's go somewhere a little more cozy, eh?

I suppose so, although 'comfortable' was more the word I was intending to use. *She turns briskly and walks down one of the corridors, not looking back, as though trusting him to follow her*

Comtortable works too *He watches her walk for a moment then follows, although he doesn't like the implication that he'll do as she says. It just happens that his agenda involves finding out what the hell's going on and she seems to know more than him*

*She walks for sometime until she reaches a relatively small room that is - if only a bit - more comfortably furnished than the rest of the castle. In it there are several chairs, an unused fireplace, and a chessboard which languishes in one corner. She settles down in one of the chairs and gestures to another of them with a smile*

*He glances around the room, typical castle furnishings. No TV of course. He sits down, slouching with his legs stretched out in front of him.* So Red, is it time for show and tell?

*She is utterly confused by that; though she may have picked up some modern expressions from Jesse and the other young members of the Great Family, there are still a good many of them that are completley unfamiliar to her* I beg your pardon?

*He raises an eyebrow, feeling some satisfaction in confusing her.* Show and tell *he says it slowly, as though talking to a child* to share news or information.

*She nods briskly* Thank you. *And she returns immediately to more important matters* I believe that the power which has drawn us here is from some sort of spirit - what in these days might be called a demon. As far as I can tell, it created this castle and the surrouding area and this entire thing is probably some sort of game to it. Such creatures do remarkable things on a whim. *This last statement has some weight to it, as if it matters to her somehow*

A demon? *He said increduously* Trust me, luv, I've tumbled with my fair share of demons and I've never even heard of one that could do something like this. *But then by the sound of her voice so has she*

*Not at all taken aback by his doubt* Demon is the modern term...I apologize if it further confused things. And, if such a spirit could create our entire race, why would one be incapable of this?

A spirit created out race? *He's interested by that, he'd never given their origins much throught. He wondered how she knew this*