As if on cue, the door opened, revealing Andrew and said supermodel girls.
The second he had closed the door, Buffy started the yelling. “Where the hell is Dawn?! You know I’m only letting you stay here if you watch her!”
“Relax, Buffy, she’s at Vanessa’s house… And don’t worry, I checked with her mom first,” he added at Buffy’s frightened look.
Buffy collapsed onto the couch, exhausted from patrolling. If possible, she thought there were more vamps in Rome than there had been in Sunnydale… Okay, maybe not that many.
Seeing her, Andrew said “Were you patrolling by yourself again?” He sighed, knowing full well what Giles would have said. “You know you’re not the only Chosen One anymore. You could have asked one of the other Slayers to go out tonight.”
“Faith’s in Cleveland with Robin, Vi and Rona went for a normal night out for the first time since they came to Sunnydale, Xander's in Africa finding more Slayers, and Kennedy’s out at the Bronze with Willow… Speaking of which, who would have thought there would be a Bronze in both Rome and Cleveland… Not to mention about 100 other cities.”
Ignoring her statement about the club, Andrew countered, “So? Ask one of the other girls.”
“No offense to them, but they need a lot more training before they can go out on their own. Why do you think we train them nearly everyday? And to think I thought I would have a normal life now… I don’t think I could handle a normal life…” She laughed.
“Yeah, all that time being the only one… Excuse me, two… I guess old habits die hard…”
“Old habits of what? Demon fighting?” Buffy questioned, mostly to herself. “You know what? I think I’m going to go to bed… Got a little tired. Maybe I’m getting fragile in my old age,” she joked.
As she stood to leave, Andrew suddenly remembered something. “Oh! By the way, Angel and Spike came to visit you… They said something about a demon body, too…”
“Oh my God!” Buffy squealed like a little girl with her first crush. “Wait… Spike? But I thought…”
“Umm…” Andrew suddenly realized he had a lot of explaining to do, because he had let too much slip. But first- “Don’t’ worry, I told them you were out with the Immortal, and they should both move on.”
“WHAT?!?!?! ANDREW!!!!!!! I’m gonna kill you!!!” Andrew could have sworn that all of Rome could hear her scream as she started chasing him around the house. Unfortunately for him, she had Slayer speed still. After she had caught him, she tried to keep her voice calm. “Did you know that I slayed the Immortal tonight and that our “relationship” was a plan to get information? A plan that Giles made up?”
Andrew gulped- or tried to at least. “Umm, Buffy… Could you stop strangling me?” he gasped. When she loosened her grip slightly, he said, “Okay, I’ll explain… Wait. Did you just say that all that snuggling on the couch was just a ploy? Wow… You’re a good actress. And you killed the Immortal?! But I thought he was, you know, immortal?”
“Well, he’s only called that ‘cause he’s lived for so long. Now stop changing the subject, or I’ll go back to strangling you!”
A few days later, in L.A.
The battle against the Circle of the Black Thorne was ongoing. Right away, Illyria had done a front flip over the demons, landing in front of a giant. She hurried up a nearby ladder to a balcony, and from there, she leapt up to the roof. Illyria jumped onto the giant’s shoulder and took out her pain (from seeing Wesley die) on it, and it was dead within minutes. However, she was glad at how Wes had gone out. He had died from a battle wound, and he deserved to be in Fred’s arms, just like she had passed away in his. They would see each other in Heaven, no doubt.
Angel had taken on the dragon, slashing it as it flew over his head. After a while, he caught the pattern, and jumped onto it’s back as it soared. Angel screamed in joy; he loved dragons and had always wanted to fly on one. Soon, it was over, though, and he chopped it’s head off. Not before he had been scorched badly, though.
Spike sliced his way through the demons, enjoying the rush of this “dance.” Normally, he didn’t like using weapons, but there were too many of them for a plain old fist fight. Spike hadn’t had this much fun since Sunnydale- pre-amulet, of course.
Gunn had started at the opposite side. He may have been about to die, but he felt better than ever. Once Illyria had beaten the giant, Gunn was surprised that she came back to him, clearing a path on the way. Apparently, she still had some powers- like super speed, for instance. She actually carried him all the way to the hospital and was back within minutes.
Some hours later
Spike stumbled through the demon bodies and tripped over one. He was tired and bloody, just like the others, but he had survived. He heard Angel talking to Illyria, saying, “The sun will be up soon. We need to get him out of here,” and he felt himself being dragged across the ground before he lost consciousness.
When he woke up, he was lying in a hospital bed, looking into the faces of Angel, Illyria, and- Gunn? Spike had been sure Gunn would have been dead in minutes. ‘How did he manage to survive when I barely did?’ he wondered briefly. However, he decided to save that question, since Gunn looked fully healthy now.
“Why am I here?” he asked, instead. “I know I was in bad shape, but I have vampire healing, remember?”
“Yeah, well we wanted to be sure you healed faster,” Angel answered. “Besides, we just happened to want a victory party in a hospital room!” He tried for cheery, but no one laughed. Everyone felt too tired to laugh.
“We won?” Spike and Gunn asked simultaneously.
To Be Continued
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Author’s Note: Please review. It encourages me to write.