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A.Lite
DISCLAIMER: All of the characters appearing in this story belong to the WB
BACKGROUND: Season 4 story
101 Days to Apocalypse
The whole web gathered in the strategy room to watch the TV, tuned into the Sunnydale News.
An immaculately dressed anchorwoman announced calmly, “As part of our late-breaking news special broadcast, the police, with assistance from government authorities, are stepping up their efforts to make Sunnydale a safer place. In addition to a ten o’clock curfew, they are implementing a mandatory registration program for all residents. In the light of the recent crime spree, they want to make sure everyone is present, accounted for, and most of all, safe. Registration involves some simple health tests and fingerprinting. Here is a list of places you can go to register.” The screen changed to some locations, and Xander turned off the TV.
“I’m sure all of you know what the health tests are for,” Xander told the assembled group.
“What’s so bad about health tests?” Harmony asked clueless.
“Those aren’t health tests,” Xander tried to be patient with her. “The purpose of the tests is to determine who in Sunnydale is human,” He waved his hands to encompass everyone, “And who is not.”
“So what will we do?” Jheira spoke up from her corner.
“At this point, I want all of our current Sunnydale residents who are human to register.” He looked around the room. “That means you, Willow, Giles, Willy, myself- and that’s about it.”
“Why can’t we register?” Tara asked for everyone who hadn’t been named.
“Most of you are from out of town or should be out of town now, including you, whose family believes you are working this summer at UC Sunnydale.” Xander reminded the coven of the excuse they had given their families about staying in town. “If anyone else tries to register, they’ll want to know why you’re here, where you’re staying. Things like that, which we can’t answer.”
“What about me?” Anya said. “I want to register.”
“You don’t have a driver’s license or anything, remember?” Xander sighed. “And Buffy and Joyce, don’t register either. The commandos know Buffy’s the Slayer so we won’t take the chance. Once one of us registers, we’ll put David on making fake ID’s for the whole web.” Xander thought for a second, “Willow, can you go tomorrow?”
She frowned, “I can. Do I have to?”
“Yeah. If worst comes to worst, you can witch your way out of there. I can’t.” He spoke to the rest of the group. “I’ll assign surveying teams tomorrow to go over the rest of Sunnydale. I want the whole town mapped, charted, and all the other stuff so we have the goods on every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse in Sunnydale.”
Buffy rolled her eyes at his Fugative-lish and said, “Does anyone else in town know what the registration is for?”
Angel looked to the back of the room, “What are the humans saying?”
His question was directed at Kate Lockley, standing somewhat uncomfortably in the back. “We’ve got a few calls that their rights are being violated. I think a few may have some idea of what is actually going on?”
“And the demons?” Angel faced Spike.
He shrugged with his arm that wasn’t around Buffy, “They know, but they’re not worried. Most of them know to hide. They’ve been doing it for months now. It only makes them hate humans more.”
“The people who are in trouble are the closet demons,” Xander paced. “This is Sunnydale, and we’ve got a lot of ground to cover, demon-wise. There are all those people that escaped the first Initiative sweep, the ones who were quiet enough not to get noticed. We’re talking the werewolves, the half-bloods, all of whom have been living in Sunnydale without causing a stir. This is going to force them into the open.”
Buffy sat up from Spike’s arm, “What about their families? They’d have had help keeping the secret, if they even knew they weren’t human, under wraps. They’ve probably got family and friends protecting them. None of them are gonna be all thrilled with this.”
“Oh, so more people are going to want to save the world by sharing blood,” Anya summed up.
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100 days to Apocalypse
Anne hopped off the swings and ran to Liam, “Hi!”
He reached out and held her hand. “Nice to see ya, Anne.”
She gave him her biggest smile as warmth ran between their joined hands, “I missed you.”
“Missed you too, but don’t worry. I got back. Now it’s just you and me.” Liam walked her past the swing set and slide over toward some nearby trees.
“What ‘bout me?” Ang’lus appeared right in front of them, hurt by their exclusion.
“You?” Liam scowled, holding Anne’s hand tightly.
“Where’s Delia?” Anne checked all directions, letting go of Liam as she walked forward.
Liam grabbed her back. “Watch out for the road,” he pulled her out of the way of a passing car. “It ain’t safe.”
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The knock woke Buffy; she stretched contentedly in Spike’s embrace.
“Buffy! Spike! We need you downstairs, now!” Cordelia yelled. “You’re never going to believe who just showed up!”
“I feel like I went to sleep about five minutes ago,” Spike complained.
Sparing a quick glance at the clock, Buffy pointed out, “That’s because you did.”
He pulled a pillow over his head, “I hate keeping daytime hours.”
Taking his pillow away, Buffy smiled over him, “But if you stuck to night, we'd never be in bed at the same time, and you wouldn’t have been able to do all that stuff that kept us awake all night.”
“Are you saying that it wasn’t fun?” He accused playfully.
“It was very fun stuff,” Buffy gave him a kiss on the mouth. His arms held her tight, and there was no sound in the room for a few seconds.
“Cut it out, you two!” It sounded like Cordelia kicked the door. “I know what you’re doing! Put some clothes on, already!”
Spike released Buffy reluctantly, “Pet, are you sure I can’t kill her?”
“Only if you want a third set of Seer powers,” Buffy climbed off her side of the bed to the floor. As she pulled some clothes out of her dresser, Spike located his pants draped on a chair.
When he was done putting the pants on, he caught sight of her again. He laughed. She had her hair tied up in a little hair scarf, and she was wearing a cut-off T-shirt and a pair of old boxer shorts. “What?” she put her hands on her hips.
“Slayer, you look ten,” Spike told her, still chuckling.
Buffy gave him a hug so he could feel her not-so-ten-year-old curves. “I might, but I know you still want to jump my bones.”
“You’ve got that right,” Spike nuzzled her neck.
“If you two don’t come out right now, I’ll get Willow to burn down the door!”
Disentangling herself from his hands, Buffy left Spike on the bed and went to the door. Upon opening it, she found a very impatient Cordelia waiting with a silent Oz.
“Took you long enough.” Cordelia flicked her eyes over Spike, “Pulling an Angel I see. The shirtless look must be in.”
“Shoeless, too,” Oz commented.
Buffy examined Spike and had to agree that he did look like, well, like he had just thrown on a pair of pants. And nothing else. Which, in truth, was all he had done. She didn’t mind the view, but it probably wasn’t in the best interests of the new arrivals to meet him like that. “Spike, dress. Now.” Before he could protest, Buffy stepped out and closed the door with a parting, “Meet me downstairs.” His flash of indignation blossomed in her head, but she followed Cordy and Oz down the stairs anyway.
Cordelia was saying, “They came in about ten minutes ago.”
“Who?” Buffy asked. Then she saw Xander, Anya, and Giles waiting with two men she didn’t know. One was old, white-haired, wizened and bent over; his body partially concealed by a long coat, but he had this aura . . . The other was much younger, probably not a day over sixteen. He had dark hair, dark skin, and dark eyes that she swore she had encountered at least once.
Giles beckoned them over, “Buffy, I’d like you to meet these two.” Buffy went up to them and waved. “This is Buffy Anne Summers, the Slayer, and this,” Giles pointed to the old man, “Is Kendra's former Watcher, Sam Zabuto, and Gene,” he pointed to the boy, “Kendra’s brother.”
The breath caught in Buffy’s lungs. Kendra’s brother. She’d had no idea Kendra had a brother. Not that they’d ever really had the time to discuss that sort of thing. Finally deciding to do something, Buffy shook both their hands, “Hi.”
“So what brings you to Sunnydale?” Xander was ready to get down to business.
*If Kendra spoke anything like her Watcher did, I bet it’s a very dark power rising in Sunnydale,* Buffy thought.
“I sensed a dark power rising in Sunnydale,” Sam explained in an accent more British than Giles’. “When young Gene found me, we decided to come here to help.”
“And to kill vampires,” Gene said shortly. “Kill them, like they killed my sister.”
There was a silence as the group undoubtedly thanked God that all the vampires in the web were asleep upstairs at that moment. Xander broke the quiet with, “I understand. Kendra saved my life.”
“You knew her? You’re not the Slayer?” Gene was shocked.
Buffy stepped forward, “The rules are a little different in Sunnydale. We all knew her.”
“Except me; I wasn’t here yet,” Anya interjected.
“She helped save us all,” Buffy went on, embellishing slightly.
There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and Buffy turned to see a dressed Spike descending the staircase. “Who have we here?” he attempted in a chipper voice.
“Vampire!” Gene hissed, drawing a stake.
Energy instantly shot through the web. Someone dared to threaten the center . . .
In three short seconds, a multitude of things happened at once. As Buffy threw herself in front of Spike to shield him with her body, Oz-wolf had already transformed and knocked Gene to the ground. Giles and Cordelia had crossbows trained on the other Watcher’s head while Anya and Xander calmly gazed down the sights of their guns at Gene.
Eying the clothed werewolf sitting on his chest, Gene gulped for air. With the danger past, Buffy plucked the stake out of his hand. “I guess that solves any questions about the web working right.”
“At ease,” Xander commanded them. Everyone glanced briefly at Spike who nodded his agreement. Oz rolled of Gene and began to pull the wolf back inside. The others lowered their weapons but kept them out with the safeties off.
“I do not understand,” Gene climbed to his feet. “If you are the Vampire Slayer, why are you protecting that – that – thing?”
“Now see here-” Spike started, insulted.
Buffy gave him the cut off gesture, “Listen, Gene, he’s a ‘good’ vampire.” Spike gave her a dirty look for that one. “He’s also the one that staked the vamp that killed Kendra.”
“You did?” Gene was shocked enough to address Spike directly.
“Yes, kid. I did,” Spike’s face dropped a little at that. He could have done without the reminder of Dru and Eve.
“This is Spike. You may know him as William the Bloody,” Giles moved the conversation forward, somewhat embarrassed, “He is the center of the katra web spell I was telling you about.”
“And?” Buffy reminded him expectantly to tell Sam everything.
Giles ducked his head even more uncomfortably, “Spike is dating Buffy as well.”
Sam Zabuto struggled to find some words. “Oh . . . I see . . .” He glanced at Buffy who put her arm around Spike with the stake still in her hand. Not really wanting to comprehend much more, Sam went on, resigned, “So you wanted us to join the web? I think we can do that.”
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The four witches sat in a circle around the glass case. Candles burned in various corners of one of the mansion’s lower rooms. The air was heavy with growing power.
The chanting intensified, and Tara, taking Willow’s place in the circle, raised her hands and called, “What once was, let it be!”
A bright flash of light from the candles temporarily blinded them. When the smoke cleared, the coven saw a fifth person now in the room with them.
Amber handed the newcomer a robe, “Nice to meet you.”
Amy Madison smiled, glad to be human again at last, “Nice to meet you, too.”
“I-I hope W-Willow likes the surprise,” Tara said.
“I’m quite sure she will,” Wesley entered since he had been waiting outside the room and averted his eyes from the nude girl. “Can I have my books now? I’m supposed to be researching.”
Tara handed him the books that the coven had borrowed. Their hands brushed briefly, and they both blushed. June put her arm around Rowan, and Amber rolled her eyes at Amy, “I have got to meet someone.”
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By mid-morning there was a knock at the mansion’s front door. Buffy opened it. She had to choke back some laughter at the people who were standing on the shaded porch, “I hope you’re kidding.”
“We want to help,” one of the three told her. “We thought this was where you fought evil.”
Buffy gave them an extremely doubtful glance, “And about vampires?”
Lily spoke up, “You know I’m over it. We don’t want to be vampires, ever.”
“Hey, Xander. I need you over here,” Buffy called over her shoulder.
Xander stuck his head out the door to see the new arrivals, “Hey, if it isn’t the Sunnydale suicide corp. What are you doing here?”
“We want to help fight evil,” the first tried again.
“No more ‘greeting the darkness or the Lonely Ones?’” Xander couldn’t resist.
“I was going to let them in, but can you check them for Blightyness?” Buffy requested.
He checked them over. “No Blightyness here.”
“Okay, you can come in,” Buffy opened the door wider. The three former members of the Sunset Club followed her in.
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“I am Father Nicu and this is my niece, Jeta.”
“Yeah. So?” Buffy leaned on the doorframe, surveying the elderly gypsy and his young niece standing on the porch.
“I offer you the services of myself and my clan to you.”
Oz looked over the caravan that had parked itself in the lawn. At least fifteen people looked back at him. “What a clan.”
“Why?” Buffy had no idea what these people expected out of her.
“You are the love of William the Bloody. He saved my life. Therefore I owe everything I have to you.”
“I need your help because?”
“Haven’t you seen the signs? They all point to the end. You could use our aid,” the man replied forcefully.
“And?” Buffy waited.
He sighed, “I have been picked up once as a non-human. None of us can register with the authorities as humans, and I know that you have non-humans among you.”
“Like the wolf,” Jeta touched Oz’s arm. “Like me.”
“What makes you think that he loved me?” Buffy tried to maintain that Spike was dead and that she had no clue what he was talking about.
“It was in his mind at all times. When he saved my life, it was you that drove him on. I alone of all of the captives was human enough to see you in him.” The man spoke with great fervor, “He is dead, so we will help you.”
“Xander,” Buffy got him to come out again. “Can you tell them to leave?”
“No, we will do anything. Please,” Nicu begged.
“Anything?” Xander nodded at Buffy that the gypsies were all clean.
“Absolutely anything. All of us,” Nicu assured them.
“I hope so,” Buffy opened the door as far as it went and revealed Angel standing behind her in game face.
Nicu flushed for a second, but then extended his hand slowly, “We are yours to command.”
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“I am here in search of Master Spike,” the robed demon said.
“Didn’t you hear?” Anya told him, “Spike is dead.”
“I heard, but I do not believe,” The kwani demon answered ominously. “He could not have died.”
“Look, Spike is dead,” Anya said a second time.
“Master Spike cannot be dead! He saved my life, and He was alive the last time I saw Him!”
“And I already told you he was dead!”
“But I heard-” the demon insisted.
“What did you hear?” Xander stepped up to the door.
“It’s all over Sunnydale. We’ve heard the Messiah of the Pens died.” The demon glared at them, “But I do not believe. His sire used to live here, and if anyone knows where He is, they would be here.”
“Who else believes Spike is alive?” Xander wondered.
“Only a few. The rest want vengeance for His death.” It checked over its shoulder, “Help me. I took a big risk coming here.”
“What makes it so dangerous?” Xander pushed for more information.
“The humans still hunt. Perhaps the others are right to want all of them dead.”
Xander gave the demon a hard stare, “What do you believe?”
“I believe in whatever Master Spike believes.”
“I think that’s enough,” Spike called from the top of the staircase, where he’d been listening. “Let the bugger in.”
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“Ow!” Willow squeaked as the needle pricked her finger.
The tech ignored her, having listened to this for the past six hours with different residents. He emptied a portion of her blood sample onto a slide and slid it under the microscope.
Forrest waited in apprehension as the tech worked. When the tech nodded at him, visibly relaxing, Forrest took a packet out of his case and put it with her registration forms. “You can go pick up your ID card. Go through that door.”
Willow stood up, took the packet, and went to the door. She took a deep calming breath and opened it, half expecting a gas chamber or a firing squad.
All she saw was a clerk sitting at a large computer. She sighed and told herself that there were no gas chambers in the Sunnydale Community Center.
The tests it took to get the ID card hadn’t taken more than thrity minutes. It was the waiting in line for three hours, and the two hours of filling out forms that had taken so long. The forms had asked her all about where she lived, had lived before, religion, political party, her family, her friends, people she thought were strange. Then when they’d taken her in for testing; they gave her a full physical: temperature, blood pressure, pulse, eyes, reflexes, and probably a bunch of things she didn’t understand.
She walked up to the desk and handed her forms to the clerk. The clerk didn’t say anything as he put her information in his computer.
Someone got in line behind her, so Willow turned to look at whoever it was. It was a tall man with black hair who seemed to be a little harried. Checking him over for the Blight, Willow noted his address on his forms, East Maple Street.
Her attention was drawn back to the clerk when he said, “Carry this with you at all times.”
Willow took her small ID card and stepped out of the way to look at it. Her card had her picture, registration number, her physical description, age, and address on it. It was a lot like her driver’s license, but holding it made her feel less safe, not more.
“I’m sorry,” the clerk told the man. “Our computer seems to be having trouble processing you. Can you come by and pick up your card tomorrow?”
The man agreed reluctantly, “I guess so.”
“Good. Next?” The clerk greeted the other people who had finished their physicals.
Heading toward the door, Willow took a careful katra survey of the man. He was half yellow and half green. That didn’t mean anything, considering she was half yellow and half green herself.
The yelling in the main waiting area got her notice. It was coming from the pre-registration line where she had waited forever to pick up the forms. A man and a woman were standing in the front of the line by Riley, profoundly embarrassed of their son. A son that Willow knew pretty well.
“It’s against the law!” Devon shouted and threw his forms at Riley, who caught them. “I know my rights, and this is crap!” He rushed toward the people in line behind him.
“This is America, not Nazi Germany!” Everyone ignored him. “Don’t you care?” He went to the next group, “Why don’t you say anything?! Why don’t you speak up?!”
Riley spoke into his radio. Two armed Initiative members came out of other rooms and moved toward Devon.
Devon saw them and sprinted to the outside doors before they could stop him.
His mother coughed and apologized, “Sorry about that. He’s always been excitable about things like this. He’s a musician.”
“I understand,” Riley said in a sympathetic way that meant he couldn’t care less, “I’m sure he’ll come around. Don’t worry about it.”
Walking stiffly past the long, long line to the door, Willow tried not to show her own fear. She was very aware of Riley’s Blighted status, and she worried, a lot.
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“We’ve come to serve Angel,” a bunch of green half-demons said to Tara and Wesley.
Xander peeked over their backs on his way out to patrol, “Another set?”
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David Nabbit walked down Main Street with one of the spy cams on his bag, recording the area for later computer examination. A pretty woman walked up to him.
“Hello. Can you help me? I’m looking for Crawford Street,” she smiled at him.
He struggled to find his voice. Despite the fact that she had no make-up on to speak of and a hat covering most of her brown hair, he thought she was lovely. Plus, she wasn’t Blighted, “Wh-who are you?”
“I’m Rebecca Lowell.” He didn’t react. “You don’t recognize me?” That surprised her.
“Should I?”
“I was Raven.”
“Was that on Sci-Fi?”
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Spike stood watching out the window. He’d sent Buffy out on one of the two patrols. He didn’t feel safe, for her, not himself.
A rock crashed through his kitchen window. And he knew he’d been tricked.
Ignoring it, he ran to the living room and kicked down his front door. Growling, he confronted the twenty vampires lined up in his yard. They must have been hiding in the neighbors' houses or cars to have arrived so quickly after sunset. It didn't bode well for the neighbors, but Spike had more serious concerns on his mind. Staking two of the closest vampires, he managed to crash through the pack with only a few bruises. He caught sight of Buffy, striding determinedly away from him into the depths of the dark UC Sunnydale campus.
As he placed some distance between himself and his pursuers, he hoped with his entire undead heart that he wouldn't be to late, this time. He saw her enter into that copse of trees, he’d rescued Eve from a month earlier. But this time, he would save them both.
When he reached the trees, there was a flash of white light, and he wasn’t there anymore. He was in the crypt. Buffy was in front of him, not facing him, standing on the Wheel of Fortune etched in the floor.
They had to leave now, or they’d be caught.
He grabbed her shoulder and turned her around.
It wasn’t Buffy. It was Dru.
She smiled at him madly, “You shouldn’t have saved her. You should have let me win.”
“NO!” Spike sat straight up in bed. He felt to the side of his bed for Buffy. She wasn’t there, for she really was out on patrol. The gang had forced him to take a nap after the Lister demons had arrived.
Opening his mind, he listened down the web for the patrols. He heard Buffy first, as always, nearest to him in every way. She was fine, totally fine, without any worries in her head, except the ones he just created by waking up so loudly. She was cruising East Sunnydale in his car with Willow, Xander, and Ethan. Off in West Sunnydale in Angel’s car, Pike, Oz, Anya, and Harmony were on the prowl. Everything seemed okay. No one was in trouble of any type. The web was mostly quiet as the multitude of new people tried to get settled in their new home. Things were fine, okay.
Then why was he so uneasy?
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In the front room, Angel shook hands with one of the twenty Ano-Movic demons as his heart sank. First the Listers had turned up, then Rebecca, and now, Harry with the Ano-Movic demons. How had these people known to come find him? He hadn’t called them.
His fears and suspicions were confirmed when Harry came up to him with one spiny-faced demon. “I know we dropped in suddenly, but when you’re new partner called me and told me what situation you were in, I couldn’t stay away.”
“My partner?”
“Mr. Bill Summers. He knew all about Doyle-” Harry took a deep breath to control herself as unbidden tears sprang into her eyes.
Biting his lip for control, Angel knew who had called her. Only one person would use that name, “So he did.”
Harry smiled weakly and indicated the demon, “I wanted you to meet Doyle’s father.”
The Braken demon bobbed his head at Angel, “I understand you were with my son during his final hour.”
A door opened up behind them, and Cordelia came up from the basement, unknowing as to what she was walking into. She paled, catching sight of exactly who was in the mansion. There was no doubt in her mind who this blonde woman was, surrounded by the Ano-Movic demons. And Cordelia was swift enough to deduce the only person the Braken demon could possibly be.
Harry broke away and ran to her, “Cordelia. It’s so good to see you.” She gave Cordelia a tight hug, and in shock, Cordelia patted her on the back.
“I heard you needed help. I had to come.” Harry was crying, “You were so supportive of Francis.” The tears fell harder as she abandoned the strong pretense she had tried to show Angel. “It’s so hard with him gone. I miss him so much. I wish I had something of his to hold.”
Seeing Cordelia stiffen, Angel knew the words had cut deep, even though Harry had no intention of hurting Cordelia. Pulling out of Harry’s arms, Cordelia stumbled back, “I have to go.” She turned and ran up the stairs, away from the pain.
Giles looked after her, but Angel stopped him from going anywhere. “Help the others with the web. I need to take care of this.” Angel followed Cordelia up the stairs.
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“Stop here,” Willow called to Xander at the wheel. “I think this is where that guy lived.”
“And it looks like he has company,” Xander parked the De Soto and pointed to the cars in front of the house. “Those are government issue.”
“The government issues stuff like that?” Buffy asked.
The front door swung open, and three commandos dragged the man Willow had met earlier out to the lawn. They pulled out nightsticks and began to brutally beat him.
“That’s it,” Buffy got out of the car. “Hannibals?”
Smiling at Buffy’s use of code for Blighted humans, Willow climbed out too, “Nope, just three Scullies.”
“Then I guess I’m only gonna have to hurt them, a lot,” Dropping her black ski mask down, she knocked over the three commandos with one roundhouse kick. “Pick on someone your own size.”
Also in black, Xander and Ethan carried the man toward the relative safety of the car while Buffy mercilessly beat on the commandos.
Then things got out of control.
The roof of the house suddenly burst into flame, brightening the dark sky with shining orange and yellow. Buffy took the moment to sniff at the air. Uh-oh. Gasoline, all around the house. Apparently, they’d interrupted the commandos in the middle of committing arson as well as murder.
“Hey, W-High Priestess, Magician. I need a cloudburst now, or this whole place is going up!”
Abandoning Xander and the man by the car, Ethan rushed over to Willow, who was already chanting up a storm, literally.
Something growled behind Buffy; she turned, stake ready. It was a vampire, which she dusted without a second thought. Then she heard Xander on the comm.
“-Vaders crawling out of the woodwork!” Lightning crackled as the clouds began to form over their heads, blotting out the light of the stars. “Vaders. I repeat, Vaders all over.”
Buffy ran toward him and was met by a new group of vampires that were moving into the area. Xander doused himself and the man with holy water and reached into the backseat of the car for a new weapon. While he set up, Buffy tried to keep the attention of the vampires on herself, not the spell casters or Xander. The vamps were arriving in two or threes from all directions; there had to be at least twenty coming her way. She pulled the crossbow off her back and used it to take out a few, but the remaining seventeen or so weren’t perturbed. The fire crackled merrily behind them, making their number appear huge.
“Move it!” Xander shouted at her. All it took was on quick glance to tell her she was getting out of the way, leaping over one of the government cars for cover. Xander had his back braced against Spike’s car and a flamethrower in his hands. He pulled the trigger.
At the range of twenty feet, none of the vampires really stood a chance.
Two in the back broke off and tried to make a run for it between houses. “I’m on it.” Slinging the crossbow over her shoulder and drawing a stake, Buffy sprinted after them as the rain abruptly, though understandably, not unexpectedly came down.
She caught them in a backyard, dusting them both on the same stake. “You shouldn’t walk on the grass.” She informed the dampening piles of ash.
*Clap. Clap.*
“Nice to see you still have it in you, kid,” A shadow detached itself from one of the houses.
Buffy recognized him far too easily, “Nice to see you too, Mr. Cryptic.”
Whistler shrugged and played with his hat, which was getting wetter by the second. “Peculiar weather we’re having.”
“Can you cut to the chase? I’ve got people to see, vampires to slay,” Buffy didn’t feel inclined to listen to him hem and haw around the subject.
“There’s some big trouble going down in Sunnydale,” he tried to be ominous.
Knowing she was dressed like a commando/cat burglar and was armed to the teeth, Buffy laughed, “I hadn’t noticed.”
“The end is coming,” he stopped. “I know it’s still early, but the day gets closer every day.”
Her laughter increased, muted by the downpour, “Where would I be if you weren’t here to tell me this stuff? At least you didn’t wait until the day it happened, this time.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault. I don’t make the rules.”
“Are you going to tell me something that will help me, or are you just gonna play the Riddler?”
“‘Riddle me this. Riddle me that,’” he quoted. “You don’t need my help yet.”
“There’s the highlight of my day,” Buffy rolled her eyes.
“I need to tell you, though, that I’m here to make sure everything goes according to plan, this time.”
Her earpiece came to life. “Lover II. Get over here. STAT. More Vaders coming from the South Street area.”
“Gotta go,” Buffy raced off in the other direction and saw why Xander was calling for her. His flamethrower didn’t work so well in the rain, and Ethan and Willow were on their way back to the car, but they were too tired to give him any help with the six vampires that had shown up late to the party. It would have to be her.
A purple wave suddenly engulfed the approaching vampires form behind. Buffy saw two new figures come into view through the rain, a small pale woman and a large green demon who still had purple ooze sticking out of his mouth. The vampires that he must have hit were stuck rather unhappily in the purple stuff.
“Tower?” Buffy asked for confirmation of their status.
“Jedi, but not Vaders,” He assured her.
“Hullo,” the girl said in a very British accent to Xander.
“Hello there,” Xander stuck out his wet hand. The girl made a motion to shake and then stopped. “Is it the holy water?”
She let them see her demon face, “It is.”
“Who are you?” Xander tried to discern why a vampire they didn’t know was helping them.
“I’m Emily. This is my husband, Bob.” The huge green demon self-consciously wiped the purple off his mouth.
Buffy checked out his obvious attributes, “What is he?”
Emily gave her a half smile, “Well, he regurgitates . . . We’re actually here looking for my cousin. Goes by the name of Spike.”
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Angel found her curled up in the space between her bed and the wall. Her hair was a huge mess, her face splotchy and marked with tears from crying. She held her bandaged left hand close to her body, looking small and broken. He went to get pick her up from the floor, and she shrank further away.
“Don’t touch me!” she screamed hoarsely. “Leave me alone!”
He took a step closer, “Cordelia, I know it’s hard for you to see her-”
“You have no idea what it’s like!” she punched the wall with her bare right fist and broke into fresh tears. “Doyle’s dead, and she’s alone. She doesn’t have a connection with him anymore, nothing solid of his. But I do.” Cordelia stared past him, like she was seeing somewhere else. “I have the one thing that should have been hers.”
“It’s okay,” he knelt down at her level.
“No, it’s not! I can’t face her.” Cordelia focused her haunted eyes on him. “I saw her, and then I saw him. I thought I was okay, but then I saw her and him.” More tears fell, “Why couldn’t we have stopped him? Why did we let him die?”
“Shh,” Angel gathered her to him. “It’s not your fault. It’s never been your fault.” Angel assured her, patting her back as gently as he could.
She hid her head on his shoulder as he rocked her back and forth. “It just hurts.”
“I know, but Doyle picked you.” He kissed her hair, “And he couldn’t have made a better choice.”
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“We’re in pursuit of three Jedi heading west on Oakvale,” Pike yelled into his comm. as he pushed the pedal to the metal. “It appears they are after one Scully on foot.” He hopped the car onto the sidewalk, dodging a garbage can and shooting past the targets, skidding on the wet pavement into a sharp U-turn to face the four approaching figures.
“They’re Vaders!” Anya, shouted, being the first to scan the three demons as Blighted. It was difficult to see in the rain, but it seemed that three orange scaly demons were getting really close to one human. With no time to waste, Pike put the car back in gear and charged straight for them. Harmony and Anya cocked their crossbows, and Oz tensed to jump.
Pike slammed on the brakes the second they went parallel with the targets, thanking God Angel hadn’t been cheap on his car’s regular servicing. The girls fired, rock steady on their feet despite the sudden stop and the rain. The crossbow bolts hit the two back demons square on the foreheads. Transforming in the air, Oz tackled the demon that was practically on top of the human, shredding the Vader with his claws. It struggled and tried after the human, who scrambled back in fear, but Oz smashed the demon a few more times until it stayed motionless. Harmony climbed out of the car in her game face and broke the necks of the scaly demons for good measure.
The human stared at his saviors, awed and frightened. Harmony shifted back into her human façade and said, “Devon?”
Slowly, as not to frighten his friend with the knowledge that he was a wolf in human’s clothing, Oz inhaled and pushed the wolf back inside. Hoping Devon would be okay with it, Oz ventured, “Hey there.”
Devon beamed in relief, “Oz. Cool.”
From the car, Pike listened down the web for any stirrings. Nothing was moving. They’d acquired their target, dealt with the Blighted threat, and rescued a Scully that was apparently known to the web. His team had performed as perfectly as he would have liked, especially Anya and Harmony nailing those demons from the car. All that combat training they’d had drilled in during the past ten days must have been paying off. That did leave one more thing to do. He addressed Devon, “So, want a ride?”
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The door opened, but Spike already knew who it was. “Don’t say it.”
Angel glared at him angrily, “How could you? You had no right.”
Spike sat up tiredly in bed, worn out from the expansion of the web throughout the day. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I was just with Cordelia. She’s a mess.”
“I know,” Spike replied simply. He had certainly known how Cordelia had taken the reunion. She had been so loud, he’d personally shielded her from the rest of the web.
“This is your fault.”
“So what?” Spike didn’t try to deny anything.
“You had no right to call those people!” Angel exploded at Spike’s lack of concern. “They had no part in this. I helped them because it was the right thing to do, not to earn favors for later. Do you know what you’ve done? Do you know how much danger you put just the Listers in by asking them to come here? I got them to a safe haven, but you put them at risk. The Scourge could get them at any time here.”
“The Scourge is already in Sunnydale,” Spike told him quietly. He’d spoken to Anya on the radio, and she’d positively identified the demons for him.
“So you brought them into this,” Angel accused.
“I contacted the people who might have been able to help us. The ones you were too touchie-feelie to ask for help,” Spike wasn’t going to let Angel blame him.
“They had no reason to get involved. You went behind my back, and now you’re asking them to risk their lives for me,” Angel growled.
“Having a conscience attack? Scared some of them won’t make it?” Spike mocked him. “Get over it. This is it. The big A. The end of the world, and you were putting the whole lot of us at risk by not calling them.” Spike pinned him with one cold stare, “You held back. You held back on the web, which could kill us all.”
“I . . .” Angel didn’t have a response for that one.
“I don’t care!” Spike yelled at him. “If you’re too soft to make tough decisions like bringing all our guns in, then you’re the one out of line.” The next remark cut deeper. “Angelus would have never done that. If he was anything, he was all the way, no quit. None of this bloody, weeping, going half-assed crap I’ve been seeing from you.”
Angel drew himself up stiffly, “Never say that. You have no idea.”
Spike regarded him for a second, “You know what? I might prefer the bastard.”
“He is never coming back,” Angel hissed through his fangs. “He’d kill everyone.”
“I don’t think so. Web would stop him. I’d stop him.” The younger vampire tilted his chin, “Red doesn’t know it, neither does Cordelia, but I can ‘hear’ you. I can hear you, and I can control you, And if I need to, I can control Angelus.”
The retort froze on Angel’s lips, “What?”
“You heard me. This is my playground. You don’t like it, too bad. Collect your toys, say sayonara, and deliver me Angelus if you can’t handle it.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?”
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Buffy almost crashed into Pike in the hall on her way back to her room. She’d been debriefed, as Xander called it, about the commandos and the appearance of Emily and her demon, who were currently getting set up on the web. “Uh, hi.”
Pike checked out her outfit, “Nice ensemble. It beats the cheerleading uniform any day.”
Blushing at her obvious admiration for her black clingy cat suit, Buffy diverted the conversation elsewhere, back onto safe ground, “I kinda liked the cheerleading uniform. Nothing screamed ‘vampires come kill me’ like that yellow and purple.”
“Whatever happened to it?” Pike joined her on the trip down memory lane.
“I don’t remember,” Buffy admitted, thinking back to her old high school. “Last time I wore it was when Merrick-” She stopped there and changed the subject again, “It was a really long time ago. A lot of things have changed since then.”
“I’ve noticed,” Pike agreed and hesitantly added, “You’ve got this new gig here in Sunnydale. It’s nice and all . . . new people, new friends, new guys.”
So that was what he was trying to talk about. “I know it’s different. He is a vampire.”
“Noticed that one, too,” Pike deadpanned.
“Shut up,” she shoved him good naturedly. “Contrary to common opinion around here, I don’t sit around and throw darts, saying, ‘I wonder which of my mortal enemies I will fall in love with this year.’”
“Then what happened?” Pike became serious.
“I just fell in love. With a century-old British undead guy that used to try to kill me.” She then grudgingly revealed, “If we ever have kids, I’m blaming it one the Hellmouth. That or the Martians. I haven’t decided yet.”
Pike ruffled her hair in a big brother sort of way, “As long as you are happy.”
“I am,” Buffy told him sincerely. “And on that subject, I’d better go check on my British undead guy.”
“I’ll walk you. My room is a few doors past there anyway.”
She hesitated and then gave in, “All right. But do me a favor and don’t come in. I prefer my ex-boyfriends with all their pieces in the right spots, ‘cause I can’t make any promises if you get between him and me after a patrol.”
“Point taken,” Pike raised his hands in agreement. “I’m not looking to fight anyone for a girl who is so obviously not in love with me.”
Rolling her eyes, Buffy walked with him down the hall. However, at the door, she heard voices. Angry voices.
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“How long has it been since you got some?” Spike asked bluntly, “Been two years since Dru? Or was it Buffy?”
Angel answered him by punching him in the jaw.
Spike laughed and shook his head, shrugging off the blow. “I don’t really care, but do you think you’re being fair to Red? What kind of man are you to get her all worked up and then to pull out early?”
“I am not a man,” Angel pointed out through his clenched teeth.
“But you could feel like one again. Don’t you want to?” Spike looked him over. “I know you do. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Angelus.” The one word was the sum of his fears.
“Don’t hide behind that. I told you I’m the one in charge here. You’re tied by blood, mate. Odds are that the soul won’t even come off. And if it did, I can control you.”
“I don’t take chances with someone else’s life,” Angel informed him stoutly.
“I doubt that’s the case at all. Performance anxiety? You’re scared, yes, but maybe it’s because you don’t really want Red.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Let me be frank here, in the event you were having trouble following. Red. Witch. Dated a werewolf. Got comfy with you 'bout a week ago. Yeah, that’s the one.” Spike spelled out.
“You knew?” Angel sputtered.
“I also know the other girl. Seer. Brown hair. Stacked like something you wouldn’t believe. Name’s Cordelia. Ring any bells?”
Angel was quick to deny that one, “Cordelia and I are friends. Just friends.”
Spike snickered, “Sure you are. Honestly, I don’t care which one you decide you want. Screw one, screw both, it makes no difference, but do it. For the first time, you can, and believe me, as the guy who can see inside your head, you will.”
“I don’t use people,” Angel said shortly.
“Fine, let me put it this way,” Spike changed his tone, letting the frustration and tiredness seep into his voice. “You’ve got two girls who truly want you, but they don’t believe there’s even a chance of a relationship with you. I saw how tough it was with you and my Slayer to live that way. Now you can find out if the curse is over or not. Don’t you think you, Red, and Cordy deserve to know?” He sighed, “If he comes back, I’ll stop him, and we’ll recurse you. But at least you’ll know. Isn’t it time you stopped torturing yourself and everyone around you and finally found out?”
Before Angel could answer, the door opened, and Buffy bounced in, hopping onto the bed with Spike. “Miss me?”
Revitalized with new energy at her entrance, Spike kissed the corner of her mouth, “Always, luv.”
Angel shifted uncomfortably on his feet, causing Spike to address him, “Think about it. I’ll know when you decide.”
“Fine,” Angel stalked out, slamming the door shut behind him.
Buffy watched him go and asked Spike, “What was that about?”
“A little vampire to vampire talk. Nothing to worry your head about,” Spike assured her, running his fingers through her hair as he listened to the music of her through the bond.
“I wasn’t,” Buffy snuggled up to his shoulder and snuck her hands under his T-shirt. “But I did have a hard patrol, and I was hoping you could make me feel . . . better.”
Spike slumped back into the pillows, “I have a headache.” One of his arms snaked around her waist, holding her against him. “I’m lying.”
“I know.”
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