Prologue
Late 2002

Outside of Los Angeles in an abandoned warehouse, two men stood on either side of a table that stands in the middle of a large empty room with a lamp being the only light. One of the men stood tall in contrast to the other with dark skin and clothing to match. The man is a professional assassin who returned to the profession after his wife was killed in a car accident - which was not an easy thing to do beings she was an immortal just as he is. His name is Everett Black and is the best in the business after his father.

The other man is a middleperson (who will not give his name). “You did say that the price was five million dollars, right Mr. Black?”

“Yes! And just call me Black!” Said Black in an irritated voice.

“You do know that she is exceptionally strong?”

Black reaches across the table and grabs the man by the back of the neck and brings his face within inches of the other man’s. “For a vampire, you are a dunce to not know that I’m immortal! I think I can handle her!" Releasing the vamp’s neck, he grabs the brief case from him and closes it. Turning away from the vampire, Black mutters, “You know it’s a shame that vampires hadn’t really went extinct! Especially this his breed…”

* * *

Walking into the motel room along the highway that was between Sunnydale and Los Angeles, Black drops himself onto the couch and rips the manila envelope out that carries the information on his new target.

Pulling the large file out of the manila envelope Black starts to read.

Buffy Summers is a vampire slayer that was born in 1981 and died in 2001 saving the world from being taken over by a Hell god… 

Chapter One

‘You don’t know what you had until it’s gone…’ Buffy had never understood why people said that. Until now that is. She was walking through a cemetery thinking over the past few months how everything had turned to shit so quickly. She hadn’t even seen it coming. First her and Spike making a big mess out of what little of a relationship they did have after their one time together, losing Tara, and then Willow going crazy… killing Warren. Buffy still couldn’t get her mind wrapped around that one.

Things were so quiet now… There is only two Scooby’s left. Willow and Giles are gone to some Wicca place over in England so she can get some help, and that only left Buffy and Xander. Speaking of Xander, Buffy, and Dawn hardly ever see him since the thing with Willow. That only left Dawn and her… Then there was Spike… He’s been missing since their tryst in that wrecked house. Which was really wrecked after we got through with it.

“OH, stop it!” Buffy chided herself, “You start going off on Him, and you’ll never stop.”

“Started talking to yourself, now, Slayer?” A voice said behind her.

Buffy turns around. Raising a brow, she gives the vampire a punishing look, and says, “Is that part of your criteria in choosing your meal? If they talk to themselves, you skip?”

Not waiting for an answer, Buffy takes a step forward and lands a side kick to the vamps face quickly followed by a double punch, and stake to the heart. “You’re not very much fun!” Buffy says, pouting as the vampire crumbles in ash. That’s when she feels it, again, like someone’s watching her. It has been going on for a couple of weeks now, ever since the first part of August.

She shrugs it off and starts to walk off toward home; she had a girl’s night planned with Dawn, no sense in keeping her waiting when the vampires weren’t cooperating tonight.

As she walks away, a figure in black steps out of the shadows next to a tomb, and starts to follow her, easily staying to the shadows as he followed her to her house. Staying back next to a looming tree, the dark figure waits until she’s in the house before he steps away from the tree and starts walking down the sidewalk. As he passes by the house, he looks out of the corner of his eyes to see if she was looking. Satisfaction flashes across his eyes.

* * *

In the house, Dawn walks up to Buffy in the living room and frowns when she sees her sister looking out the window like some paranoid person who hasn’t even seen a vampire in their life. “What are you doing Buffy?”

Buffy drops the curtain closed and turns to her sister saying, “For the past couple of weeks, it’s like someone has been watching me. When I came home, someone followed me. And just now, this tall, dark man came walking down the street from the same direction I came from.”

Dawn moves to the curtain and looks out for herself. “Do you think it was Spike?”

Buffy shakes her head. “No, this guy was too tall, had dark skin, and black hair. Defiantly not him. He didn’t have army boots either… they were loafers… I think?” Buffy said as she tilted her head frowning in a thoughtful pose.

“Maybe it’s Angel…” Dawn trails off as she turns to her sister who was shaking her head.

“No, I would be able to tell if it was him. This guy was lean and tall, with black hair. Angel has brown hair… Plus it didn’t feel like Angel.” Buffy says dejected, a pout coming to her mouth as they sit down on the couch.

* * *

Black effortlessly jumps up onto the porch of the Summers’ house and peers into the door. Seeing nothing, he moves to his right. The dinning room. He walks on to the left of the door and peers in through the sheer curtains, easily seeing the figures in the room moving about. They were getting ready to watch a movie, which, he couldn’t tell. Didn’t care what movie they were watching.

Black had been following her for the past couple of weeks after he had been hired. He liked to get to know his targets routine before he strike. It made it easier to deal with them. However, the Slayer was making things a little difficult. She didn’t have a set routine in which she patrolled the dozen or so cemeteries in Sunnydale, which he was really beginning to hate this town.

Turning away, Black walks; stone cold faced as ever, back to his car near the Bronze and heads for his motel room.

* * *

Chicago

He’d finally done it; he’d finally found someone to get it out. Just for payment, he didn’t kill the man after it was out. He let the bloke live. Plus, he felt extra jaunty too today so, why not let the bugger live?

Spike was moving down a street looking at all of the shops as he passed them, really not seeing them. Now that he had the chip out, he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do. He had decided to stop deluding himself by saying that he was going to kill the Slayer, because he knew that that was a load of bullocks up someone’s ass. So why bother? He figured it like this: Killed two and shagged one. Maybe he could one day even the scores!

He snorted dejectedly at that last thought. Yeah mate, keep tellin’ your self that, maybe you’ll believe it.

Spike stops when something catches his eye. He turns around and goes into the store. A few minutes later, he comes out as some people walk by, police cars coming in the other direction toward the store. A pleased, I-ate-the-canary-smile plastered on his face.

* * *

Two Days Later - Sunnydale, Cal.

Spike looks up at the house on Revello Drive and studies the yellow tinted windows. It had been over a year since had seen this house and the two ladies that lived in it. As he stared at the house, he wondered if the Slayer had had Red put the un-invite back on the house. It would be something that Buffy would have done.

As he had come back into the hell hole (literally), that these people laughingly called a town, he had questioned his decision to show his presence to Buffy right away or not. He knew he had reason enough not to make his presence known. Although, if he didn’t make his presence known she would throw one shit load of a fire storm because he had been there and not told her.

Spike pushing off of the tree he had leaned against so many times in the past. If he had any say in what happened in his future, his heart wouldn’t be ripped out again. He walks silently up the porch steps and lays his Chicago purchase on the welcome mat. A smirk crosses his face. “Welcome back Spike!”

Spinning around on his heel, Spike takes off down the steps and hits the walk at a run and disappears somewhere in the night. He needed to find shelter.

* * *

Black steps out of the shadows as the vampire disappears down the street. He had watched as the Slayer had entered the house, the vampire… Spike… had appeared. As he stood in the shadows of the bushes lining the right side of the house, he had studied the vampire. Shocking white hair, skin, black brow’s… a long leather coat, army boots, black pants, and t-shirt. The vampire was lean muscle, wiry even, and seemed to be arrogant. He was a master vampire? Black shakes his head. The vampire couldn’t be more than 120, 140 years old. “Young people!” black mutters as he turns and moves down the street in the opposite direction as the young vampire.

Chapter Two
Couple Days Later…

Spike drops his bags just inside the door and slams it shut in the relater’s face as she tries to sale him more things he doesn’t need. It was enough that she sold him the house she didn’t need to sell him all of Dodge with it. Shaking his head, Spike moves into the kitchen and turns on the light. As requested, the place was fully stocked with Wheatie-Bix, all the essential hard liquors, his cigarettes, and…. He moves over the refrigerator and pulls the door open. Sitting on the shelves are his jugs of blood and beer… His trade mark smirk pulls up the corner of his mouth.

Turning away from the refrigerator, he grabs his fags and walks to the bedroom, and swings the bedroom door open and peers in. In addition, as previously requested, the windows had been blacked out and there was a large bed standing in the middle of the room. He had more stuff waiting to be moved in but that could wait until later. The movers had asked why he had wanted the downstairs bedroom when the master bed room would suit his needs. He had told the guy to sod off and mind his own business. Just to do his job.

Shedding his leather coat, he hangs it on one of the four posts of the bed. He falls to the bed with his arms out spread and falls asleep as the sun crests over the horizon. The cigarettes still in his hand.

* * *

Out on the porch, a dark clad figure moves away from the front window, his feet silent so the now sleeping figure in the house wouldn’t be alerted to his presence.

* * *

Buffy yawns as she sleepily moves down the stairs and rubs the sleep from her eye as she blindly reaches for the front door doorknob. It had become a tradition of sorts in the young Summers’ home for Buffy to get up and get the paper. Then to get the breakfast going before Dawn had to get to school. Finally, she is able to get the open, steps out on the porch, and picks up the newspaper. She steps out a little further then suddenly steps back. She had been going to wave to her neighbor that lived across the street when something poked her in the foot.

Stepping back, she lifts her foot and looks down at the mat. At first, she doesn’t see anything because the welcome mat was made of autumn colors. She looks closer and sees a gold chain with a silver ring stung on it. The piece was beautiful. Both pieces of jewelry were simply made; the silver band was smooth and cool looking. The chain was curvy and warm looking. She bends down and continues to stare at it. I wonder who it belongs to? She idly wonders as she looks at it, but as she does so, she realizes that the jewelry was land there, not just dropped or carelessly thrown here.

Looking around, she reaches out her hand and gently picks the ‘gift’ up and looks closer at it. It wasn’t beautiful… it was gorgeous. The piece was simple but was still … gorgeous. Clutching it up into her hand, she moves back into the house to get ready for the day.

Later that afternoon, Buffy walks out of a small store with a bag in her arms and a receipt in her hand that she was frowning at. She wasn’t sure how she was going to get through being a grown up. Although, she was doing a lot better than the Doublemeat Palace. Ugh!! Double time! Shortly after Riley had left she had quite and gotten a job as a self defense instructor … in the afternoon to boot. That had taken off a strain in her life. No more working at the Doublemeat and flexible hours… plus she didn’t smell like ‘work’ afterwards either.

A dark shadow catches her eye and she turns her head as she starts to slow her pace on the side walk to a complete stop. That sensation was getting more easily felt the additional time it was around. It wasn’t like a vampire. It was stronger. This, this whatever it was that was following her wasn’t after her blood for survival, which she understood. This thing was here just to kill her or something… she wasn’t sure what ‘it’ wanted, but it wasn’t good.

She starts walking down the street again and she comes to the corner and waits for the little white man in the signal box to come on. As she stands there and waits, a tall dark figure J-walks across the street. He seemed very familiar to her. And as she watches him, she realizes that he reminds her of a combination of Spike and Angel. Not a little scary… she thinks sarcastically.

The man walked like both of them… his pace was slow; almost a swagger and he held his shoulders and head high. She could tell that he was clam but he could leap into action on a seconds notice and he didn’t hold things against himself. His clothes were his own, however. His leather coat was new; he wears black loafers and black dress slacks, and a black button up shirt. His hair was cut very close to his head. His skin is dark. Buffy could tell that much from the distance that they were at.

Seeing the sign change out of the corner of her eye, she walks down the street and heads for home. Not once does she realize that the black clad figure is the cause of her senses tingling.

“Dawn… I’m home.” Going into the kitchen, she puts her purchases on the counter and starts to put them away as Dawn comes into the kitchen. “I had a strange experience today while I was out."

Dawn’s eye brows go up. “What? Now you’re thinking that you’re seeing Spike or Angel during the day? Not gonna happen Buff."

Buffy pauses in her chore to scowl at Dawn. “No. But the guy I saw today was a lot like both of them.” She says as she turns back.

“You talked to him?” Dawn asks a little surprised. She had tried to get Buffy to see someone over the last month or more, but Buffy wouldn’t hear it. Now…. Now…. she goes out to just get grocery’s and she...

“No, I didn’t talk to him.” Buffy says as she finishes and turns her full attention to Dawn.

“Then how did you know that he was like Spike and Angel?” Dawn asks as she immediately becomes confused.

“Well… you know how each one has that walk of there’s that no one else really can pull off?” Dawn nods. “His walk was a combination of those two. And that… aura… thing... Willow was always talking about; he had that floating around him."

Dawn just nods her head. She was worried that Buffy had started creating this guy that would total full fill her wants and needs. “Hmm?”

* * *

The cave was dark and dank. Troches were stabbed into the wall light the small interior of the cave and cast shadows off of the three robbed men. The place was eerily silent. The drip of water could be heard far off, deeper in the depths of the catacombs. The three men stood in a triangle around a plate that held the ashes of three of the most powerful vampires, one from each race.

The one that stood at the peck of the triangle, pointing toward the back of the cave, throws off his rob and stands naked in front of the other two who very soon fallow his lead and throw their robs to the ground. The lead man bends and retrieves a blood stained, stone bowl and a wooden dagger. The blade was smooth, and dark. Three holes had been drilled into the blade close to the hilt at one time in its long, long history.

The lead man takes the dagger to his throat and makes a quick jerking motion. He quietly accepts the pain and places the stone bowl under the slit and waits exactly three seconds. He paces the bowl and dagger onto the man standing in front him to the right corner of the triangle. This man takes the dagger and craves an X over his non-beating heart. He quickly places the stone bowl under it and waits exactly three seconds. Without turning from the lead man, he hands the stone bowl and wooden dagger over to the third man. This man takes the tools, puts the point of the dagger to his wrist, and gives the dagger a quick twist. He holds his wounded wrist over the stone bowl and waits exactly three seconds. He hands the wooden dagger and stone bowl back to the lead man.

The lead man takes the two things; dropping the wooden dagger to the ground, it lands with the blade in the ground; the lead man holds the stone bowl over the plate of ashes. He looks at the other two men in the cave with him and then tips the bowl over and lets the barrowed blood poor onto the ashes. He drops the stone bowl to his other side and looks at the concoction on the plate.

The blood and ash were mixing together as if an invisible hand were stirring them.

Exactly three seconds later, the three men, the three demon vampires yell one word, yell one command to rise a thing better left permanently dead. “Come!"

Chapter Three

Black walks down the street, walking through the small town of Sunnydale like he usually tended to do these days. The town was a strange place. The humans noticed the strange things that took place here but choose better to forget them and go on with their lives. It was times like this that he wished that Lei was still around… Black shakes his head. That wasn’t something he wanted to think of right now. She wouldn’t have liked it that he had gone back to being a hit man.

Changing gears, he had decided to change his tack in handling the Slayer. She didn’t have a regular schedule on patrols, he hoped that she had a routine during the day and so far, the only thing he was finding that she did regularly was going to her job at the Tai Kon Jo place. The other night he had realized that with William the Bloody… he shakes his head …was back in town, it made his job of killing the Slayer doubly hard. If he killed the Slayer, he was sure as Hell that he would have one pissed off Slayer on his trail once the undead vampire figured it out. Black had the feeling that it wouldn’t be that long after. Then there was the Slayer’s kid sister; she would be turned over to the state…

So, he had taken to tracking the undead vampire at night to see if he could find away around that, but he soon discovered that he was wrong. The vampire was still in love with the Slayer. It showed in what he had been doing in the past couple of nights that he had been watching him, in what he was doing at this moment. The vampire had taken to patrolling an hour a head of the Slayer and taking care of any undead vampires or any other demons that happened to be around. As he watches the undead vampire, he realizes how good the young one was at fighting. He enjoyed it and fought with his whole heart in the matter. As did the Slayer. They would be a challenge. Alone, and especially together.

With the undead vampire, Spike, it would be an easy thing. His routine is to come out to out and fight until dawn and then go home and sleep. Black could inject a dart into his back as he moved into the house and then drag him out into the on coming sun. Yet, something held him back.

Black pulls away from the curb from across the vampire’s house. That was another that was odd about the undead vampire. He had paid for the house instead of killing the owners of another and just takes that as his place.

Forty-five minutes later, he gets out of his black 1954 Thunder Bird and closes the door. Pulling the edges of the open coat together with his hands in his pockets, he looks annoyed at the undead vampire. Spike had called it early tonight and there was still another hour until sunrise. “I was wondering when they would send someone.”

“You’re taking too long, Immortal.” The undead vampire says.

“Yes, well, I’ll get it done when I do. Tell your boss that I only take orders in the area of who you want killed… not how!” Black says as he moves to his motel room. However, the undead demon stops him with a hand on his shoulder. Black stops and looks at the hand on his shoulder. He then looks at the ground and then up to the ugly vampire. “Take your hand off of me before you find it missing.”

“There will more missing of you if you don’t finish the job you were paid for immortal,” vampire threatens in return.

“The last man to threaten me is dead… I would advise that you not do it.” Black says as he brushes the undead vampire’s hand off of his shoulder. Black goes into his hotel room and slams the door without a backwards glance. “The undead!” He throws his keys down. “Who needs them?” He turns the lights out as he throws his coat onto the small couch and crashes on the bed. The last thing on his mind, being the Slayer and her gold hair.

Chapter Four
Bronze - The Next Night

Nights were just slow on patrol anymore; the demons had seemed to take a vacation in the past couple of days. Buffy had been bored more than usual on her nightly patrols and had decided to take Dawn to the Bronze for a night of sister clubbing’. Dawn had squealed so loud, Buffy had been afraid her ear drums were going to pop at the decimals the girl was putting out. After she had told Dawn to go get ready, the teen had charged upstairs almost like she was afraid Buffy was going to change her mind in the next second if she didn’t hurry. Buffy had shaken her head.

“Hey Buffy?” Dawn draws her attention from the stage where the live band was playing the mock-up of the latest hit. It wasn’t very good.

Buffy turns to her and says, “Yes?”

“I was wondering… now, I don’t want you to go all ballistic when I asks this ok… its just thought, we don’t eve have to…”

Buffy cuts off Dawn’s nervous babble. “Verbose much? Dawn, the point? Get to it!” She says with a smirk. Much lighter than she used be. She felt so much better now. No unnecessary doom and glum here. Except…

“Well I was thinking, I’m going to be sixteen soon and I was wondering if I get my license?” Dawn whispers.

“Ok, now that you got to the point, say it where I can hear you.” Buffy says, already having an idea where the girl was going with her babbling.

Dawn takes a deep breath and then lets it out. “When I turn sixteen, could I get my license?” Her eyes widen as she speaks. Her eyes widen further, when Buffy bursts out laughing. Buffy couldn’t believe her sister was afraid to ask. She must have really alienated her sister if she was afraid to ask about that. Buffy suddenly sobers.

“Dawnie, you don’t need to be afraid to ask me questions ok?” Buffy asks seriously.

“Ok,” Dawn relaxes when she realizes her sister wasn’t going to bite her head off just for asking to get her drivers license.

“As for the license, what are you going to drive? How are you going to pay for the car insurance, gas, DEQ?” Buffy points out with a raised brow.

“All good questions there, but I was thinking one step at a time. First the license then…” She scrunches up her face when she starts to draw a blank.

Buffy smiles. “If you keep your grades up, and keep out of trouble from now and your birthday, I’ll see what I can do about the license part of it. Ok?”

Dawn squeals as she jumps up and down on her stool then jumps down and runs up to Buffy and squeezes her, still squealing. Buffy laughs and holds her in return then winces when the squealing becomes too much. “If you keep that up, I’m not going to be able to hear the vamps sneaking up on me!” Buffy jokes.

“Sorry,” Dawn mumbles as she pulls back. Her squealing turns in to the giggles. Her eyes are bright and full of happiness. “I have to go to the bathroom now.” Buffy laughs again, shaking her head as her sister heads to the bathroom.

Turning back to the horrible band on the stage, Buffy tries to concentrate on them and not on the other thing that keeps nagging at the back of her mind. Ok, it was more like two things. 1) When was Spike going to get back and 2) who that guy that keeps appearing? The questions wouldn’t leave her a lone. Especially the first one, ever since Clem told her that night that he had been gone for three months… ok, maybe at first she thought, “Good he’s gone. One less thing to have to deal with.” However, time had proven her wrong and him right. She did feel some thing for him. She had believed in him, not that she had would’ve ever admitted that to him. She had believed that he had changed, even without a soul. She knew it was possible now, although, she had a feeling that not many vampires would do what he did, but that made him all the more special.

Now that even more time had passed, she had been able to become comfortable with that little belief, and then had been able to admit some other things. Like one, there first time, that could have been done totally different. Argh, she could pull her hair out. Her internal groan escapes her mouth just as she hears someone say to her left, “Excuse me? …Sorry.”

Buffy turns quickly and says, “No, not you. Thoughts… the ones that won’t leave you a lone, you know the ones?” She asks. She doesn’t even blink when she sees the man standing before her. He was gorgeous, but she only flippantly notices.

“I know what you mean. My… job has that effect on me.” He says.

Something starts to tinkle in the back of her mind. Hadn’t she seen him before? “Have I seen you before?” Buffy asks.

“I don’t know.” He gestures to a chair, as Buffy nods her head, he takes a seat in the one next to the one Dawn had been sitting in. “I’ve only been in town for a couple of weeks. I stay mainly to myself. My job isn’t going very well.”

“I know how that goes. What line of work are you in?” Buffy asks, finally letting her mind take in the details about the man before her. He was tall, about 6’2” - maybe 3” - with ink black eyes. His jaw is thick, and his nose was almost straight but not like the Romans, more Native American like. His skin is dark, like cream coffee with an edge of red to it. Black, blue highlighted hair frames his face. The ends of his hair came down slightly past his shoulders and his bangs were pulled back into a half French braid. That tingling sensation in the back of her mind was getting stronger.

“Extermination, any body has a problem with something, for the right price…” He pauses suddenly, “What’s your name?”

Buffy smiles, “Buffy Summers.”

“What do you do?” He asks.

“I work as a defense instructor. I work at that Tie Kon Doe place.” She says.

“You sound like you don’t like the place…” He lets his sentence trail off as Dawn comes up and plops herself down.

“Hey Buff, whose the newbie?” Dawn jerks her chin to the man across the table.

“We hadn’t gotten to that part, but that was my next question,” she answers as she turns her eyes back to the dark man across from her. “Who are you?”

“I’m Black…” He says.

A/N: Now that wasn’t a surprise, was it?

* * *

Leather, black clad figure is flown through the air and crashes through a tombstone, both the figure and the stone tumble to the ground. A roar is heard form the direction the figure was thrown. Meanwhile, in the pile of rumble, a vicious snarl could be heard. The leather clad, army boot wearing figure springs to his feet. “Bloodily Hell! What is it with you bleedin’ people and me sodding nose? Does it have a blinkin’ sign on it that says ‘Come and have a go’?” Spike roars as he advances back over to the demon.

The demon was tall and pale, a gross pale at that. It was a pasty pale, like the demon had a chronic cold. Despite its sickly look, the bugger was strong, known from the throbbing in his nose. The demon had monstrous horns like that of a ram coming from the side of his head. His eyes - and Spike knew he was a he because the demon ran around without a stitch on him - were blood red, liquid blood red. Spike continues his angry stride over to the demon, which was a good foot taller than him, and hauls back and punches the demon square in the chest and sends him into a tree. A bone crunching sound could be heard and Spike could see a branch coming out of the demons chest. His body was stilling moving and he was hissing and roaring his indignities.

“That had to hurt,” Spike mutters as he turns to retrieve his battle ax. As he’s bending to pick up the discarded weapon, he hears a sickening sucking sound. Still bent over, his hand out stretched to the ax, Spike looks over his shoulder. The demon had put his hand over his head and his feet against the tree; he was using the tree as leverage to push his body off of the branch. In the darkness, Spike mouths the words, ‘What the fuck?’ Momentarily forgetting the battle ax, Spike turns to the now advancing demon, and pulls a cross bow from his leather coat and points it at the pale demon. “What the hell kind of demon are you?”

“A Na’Kron (nak-cron), vampire!” The word vampire was said with such distain that it had Spike pausing for a second. A little too long. Spike realizes that he had made a mistake when the demon was just on him and he lets the blot from the crossbow fly. Just as the blot leaves the weapon, the Na’Kron slaps the crossbow out Spike’s hand, leaving the blot to only embed itself in the demon’s shoulder. The demon didn’t seem to notice. Spike flinched as the demon grabs a hold of the labels of his coat and lifts him off of his feet and brings their faces inches from each other. “You are a stain to the demon world, vampire.”

“Ah, its me you’ve a problem with, that right? Yeah, well stand in line, mate. You’re not the…” Before Spike can finish, the Na’Kron throws Spike into another tombstone and is on him again before he has a chance to recover from the throw. The demon grabs him up by the labels again. “Oi mate, careful with the coat. I got it as a gift.” So, it was a Slayer’s that he had killed, maybe that would help his situation?

The Na’Kron, seemingly done with words, starts to punch Spike repeatedly on, you guessed, the nose. Getting feed up with being punched in the nose, Spike reaches up and savagely rips one of the horns off the side of the demons head. The demon roars, and stops punching Spike in the nose, but he doesn’t drop him. Instead, he lifts Spike into the air, keeping a hold of him, and smashes Spike into another tombstone. The grounds keeper wasn’t going to be happy. Spike groans as the demon pulls him back into the air. His nose and bottom lip were bleeding, as was a cut at the edge of his hair line and there was a smudge of a bruise appearing under one eye.

“You know what?” Spike asks the demon.

“What?” He growls.

“You should really consider wearin’ clothes, mate.” Spike says as a painful, but satisfying smirk comes to his lips.

“Why?” The demon growls in responses.

“Because, this,” he grunts out as he raises his knee lightning quick into his the demon groin and pushes off of the demon’s chest. The two demons fall back wards onto their respective backs. An unnecessary poof of air comes out of Spike when he lands with a thud to the ground. The Na’Kron demon on the other hand, roars in pain as he falls to his back, both the hole in his chest and the knee to the groin causing him pain. Spike stumbles to his feet, searching for his battle ax as the other demon moans and growls to his.

Bent over the ax, handing it limply in both hands, Spike tries to catch his preverbal breath when he hears the demon growl behind him. “Vampire?”

“Yeah mate?” Spike sighs.

“I’ll see you in hell, vampire.”

Spike turns slight, just enough to see the demon clearly and curtly laughs, fully amused. It was a full belly chuckle. Spike hadn’t heard anything as funny in quite awhile. He stops just as quickly, gearing up, and says, “You first mate!”

Spike brings the battle ax up so quickly; the Na’Kron demon looks at it in surprise just before the blade slices through his neck. The demon’s head slips from its body and rolls to the ground, the body follows a few seconds later. “Surprise, surprise, I could see it in his eyes.” Spike sings songs as he looks down at the body. He gives a short bark of laughter and turns away from the dead body.

He strolls away in the general direction of town singing, “I’m a bitch, I’m a mother, I’m a lover…”

Chapter Five

Black had decided to introduce himself to Buffy for one reason and one reason only: to find an opening. For one thing, at night, she was too aware of her surroundings. He couldn’t do it during the day because she was too busy at work or with her sister, he very well couldn’t kill Buffy in front of her little sister. He may be a paid murdered but he wasn’t that big of a monster. /p>

Now, he was finding out that it was a mistake to have introduced himself to her. She had been easy to approach, easy to talk to, and liked to tease around. He liked that.

“I’m Black,” he answers.

Buffy frowns, thinking that was an odd name. “Did your parents not like you?”

“Why do you ask that?” He asks.

“Because they named you Black.” Buffy says.

“Yes, my parents liked me. It’s my last name. Everyone calls me that, even when they know my first name.” He says, like that it explained it all, which it didn’t

“Why is that?” Buffy asks. This was guy was like trying to pull a metal door from its hinges… which she could do.

“What do you mean?” Black asks.

“Why is it a nick name?” Buffy asks.

“It probably has something to do with his attitude,” Dawn suddenly says from her part of the table. “He hasn’t smiled once since I’ve seen him, and he looks like he’s…” She moves her hands in the air, searching for the right word to use. “He’s sad. But not like Angel.” Dawn talked as if he weren’t even there.

“Dawn, don’t talk about someone on third person when they’re right in front of you…” Buffy says, raising one eyebrow at her sister.

“Sorry,” Dawn says.

“That’s ok, but she is right, although, I’m not sure what she meant about the ‘Angel’ comment.” Black says to them, the last words more for Buffy.

“Trust me, you don’t want to know.” Buffy says. “How long is your job going to keep you town?” She asks, wanting badly to change the subject away from Angel.

“I’m not sure. I was only supposed to be here a week, but that was over a month age… I think.” He frowns.

“So,” Dawn says, “What is your first name?”

“It’s Everett.” He says, “Black is actually from part of my tribal name. See, my father is a Native American Chief in the Sioux’s.”

Both of the Summers girls’ face light up with interest. “You’re Sioux?” Buffy is able to get out before Dawn can start babbling.

“Yes. I come from South Dakota and in that area. Although, most of the tribes are dispersed now, my father had run the tribe off and on for a good position of his life.” Black says. He liked talking about his family history, even thought he had to censor what and how he said some things. “My family dates back before Wounded Knee, all the way back to the…” He pauses while he thinks to how far back his family went. “To the 1200s. My Grandmother Mabry could tell you more.”

“That is sssooo neat that you know so much about your family history. As far as back as we know is our Grandparents.” Buffy says a little sad that she couldn’t contribute to the conversation more than that.

“Well, its passed down through the years. Its one of our traditions.” Plus, it was a good way to know who was an enemy and who wasn’t. He already had Mabry’s Toltec lover come after him, he didn’t need any more coming after him.

“What part of South Dakota did you grow up in?” Dawn asks, very warm to the subject.

Buffy tones them out suddenly as she feels a familiar thrill run through her body. It was a vampire but a very familiar vampire. This vampire gave her a very different kind of thrill. It felt like someone was blowing cool air over the nap of her neck. The regular vamps gave her a cold chill at the nap of her neck. She would know this vampire anywhere; he had given her the same thrill for the past two years.

Her eyes start scanning the crowds, especially by the bar, but every time a view to the bar was cleared, someone take the last persons spot, blocking her view again. She wanted to go check it out, but she couldn’t leave Dawn alone with a complete stranger, although, he was at this minute was giving a complete family history to Dawn.

* * *

Spike walks up to the Bronze, wiping at the blood that was drying under his nose. Some times, it was a bleeding pain not being able to see oneself in the mirror. He opens the door, and steps back to let a group walk out. “Your welcome,” his says sarcastically as the group walks away with no words of gratitude. “Figures.”

The place was a little more crowded for Spike’s likes but it would have to do if he wanted a beer. And he wanted a beer.

Sitting down on a stool, he says, “Hey barkeep, give us a round?” A few seconds later an opened beer is set on the bar in front of Spike. “Thanks mate.”

The side of his head hurt, his back hurts, his ribs hurt, but most of all his nose hurts. Why in the bloody hell do they have to go for the nose every time? It was like his nose had a beckon on it that the person’s fist was drawn to. It never failed that in every brawl he got into that his nose was hit at lest once during the whole drag down. It never fails! “Bloody hell!” Spike mutters under his breath.

He picks up the beer and takes a long swig. He drains the whole bottle in one gulp. “Barkeep, another if you will?” He says as he starts to dig around in his pockets. He wanted a fag, badly. Tonight had not been his night for fighting the good fight. That Na’kron had just about got him. Oh well, alls well that ends well…. Someone always says.

Finally finding his fags and lighter, Spike brings one to lips and lights it, inhaling deeply as he does so. Its then that a familiar sent comes to his attention. It never failed, just as with someone always getting in the mug. After keeping the burning fumes in his lungs for a longer than any human could have lived through, he blows the smoke out through his nose as he bows his head. He slightly shakes it as well. That strange pang brought up the question of why he came back. The answer was to the owner of that sent.

That sent that carried vanilla, strength, and something uniquely her. That rarity, that unique sent was always accompanied with that familiar pang, somewhere in his chest, stomach.

During his inner thoughts, the bartender had land a beer down for him. Now, as he turns around, he brings the bottle with him. He scans the club, and spots her easily. She’s sitting on a stool at the Scooby’s usually table… except it was only her, her sister…. and some guy. Like the whelp… but bigger.

She looked at gorgeous as ever. Her hair is lighter, cut differently. She looks happy… She hadn’t before he left. He vaguely wondered if it had to do with the fact that he left or that none of the Scooby’s were there? He was betting on the former. Her sister had grown quite a bit, quite the heartbreaker now. A smirk comes over his face at that thought, just like her sister.

The dark haired fellow stands and turns so that his side is next to Buffy’s. A slight twinge of jealousy crawls through Spike…. That is until he sees who, or more to the point, what it was she was conversing with.

Spike spits his beer out, causing a few people to yell and cruse at him. “Bugger off!” He says distractedly. “It can’t be?”

However, as he stares at the tall, dark skinned man - black hair, black eyes, Roman like nose - tall and broad shoulders. “Jesus Christ…. Bleeding Hell, it can’t be, but its Black!”

A vague - any other time amusing - thought passes through his mind. At lest it wasn’t Angel.

Not bothering to pay, Spike gets up and leaves. The barkeep yelling after him.

* * *

Finally, Black was gone. Don’t get her wrong, she liked Black and all, but he wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted what she thought wasn’t here. “Stay here Dawn.” Buffy says as she gets up and starts for the bar.

As she moves toward the bar, she sees a white head of hair moving toward the door. Picking up her speed, she goes for the door. As she moves through the crowd, that door closes as the white headed man leaves the club. Pushing a little to hard, she moves to the door, and almost rips it off of its hinges as she pulls the door.

She runs out the door, darting around people as she does so. However, once she finally gets past the small crowd trying to get into the Bronze, she’s out on the small street in front of the Bronze.

No one is in sight in either direction. Sighing heavily, she bows her head.

* * *

In the alley, a shadow passes over the walls, an almost human sounding howl follows but is swallowed by the noise coming from within the Bronze.

A/N - Sorry for such the delay, but life got in the way. As it seems for many people. Hopefully, I’ll have two chapters for you the next time, and longer ones at that! Keep your fingers crossed!

Chapter Six:
Three Ring Audience
10:00 pm
Few Days Later

A pout that hadn’t left her face since three days ago, adorned Buffy’s face as she patrolled the Northern Cemetery. She had seen Black once more when they had bumped into each other at the market yesterday, but he wasn’t whom she wanted to see. She knew without a doubt that the person she spotted at the Bronze was Spike. She didn’t know anyone else that went around with platinum blonde hair and a black leather pants and army boots.

She stops suddenly as a vampire jumps out in front of her and roars in her face. “Hello!” She says sarcastically. Before she knows it, she’s fighting the vampire with a punch to the face.

Buffy recovers quickly, retaliates with a round house kick to the vamps head, and then follows that with a back handed fist to his nose. The stumbles back as her blows hit on target. He shacks his head and charges at her again. Buffy stands her ground as he comes running at her and then at the last second she side steps him and he runs head long into a grave marker.

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you that you can go to jail for vandalism?” Buffy asks sarcastically.

The vamp recovers and gets his feet and roars at her again, trying in a weird way to scare her.

“You should really stop doing that,” Buffy says as she waves her hand in front of her nose. “Ever heard of breath mints? Blood breathe, never good.”

The vamp snarls at her blatant show of… no fear, and charges at her again, in a vain effort to capture her. She steps out of the way and he slams into a tree that was behind her.

“I can’t keep this up all night, so could you just stand still and let me stake you? Please?” Buffy says hopefully.

After he recovers, instead of charging her this time, the vamp walks up to her and punches her in the stomach. She bends over with the impact of the hit; the breath in her lunges explodes out of her mouth, making her cough with the force of it. He hits her again on the back just as quickly, knocking her to the ground. Playing dirty, he kicks her in the ribs while she’s down.

Getting her senses back, Buffy looks up as the vampire draws his leg back to kick her again in the stomach. As his foot comes within a foot of her, her hands flash out and grab him by the ankle. The vamp looks down at her in awe.

“You thought you had me.” Buffy says as she tightens her grip on his ankle. “Think again.” She says, and with all her might, she brings his leg out from under him and throws his leg into the air. With the momentum of his leg going in to the air, the rest of his body follows, making him turn up into the air and land flat on his face.

Buffy gets to her feet, stumbling a little as she does so, and walks over to the vampire.

* * *

A few feet away in the bushes stands a dark figure, watching the slayer and the vampire battle it out. There was no light in his eyes, black as the night on a stormy night in September. He watches the fight as if he were watching how to fix a flat tire. He took in every move the slayer made. She was fluid, def, and on target with ever blow that hit home.

* * *

Buffy stood up after that last knock down punch, and goes into a summer salt and comes out with a punch to the vampires gut. “Don’t you give up,” she grunts out as she takes the vamps head in her hands. She brings the vamps head down at the same time as she brings her knee up. The two part collide and a loud crack could be heard as the vamps nose breaks.

The vampire stumbles back from her as his nose starts to bleed profusely.

“That had to hurt!” Buffy says.

The vampire comes at her with a spin kick. Buffy takes his momentum and turns it around on his. She grabs his leg and spins it away from her then grabs the vampire in a head lock. Keeping one arm around his neck, she grabs his closest flailing arm and bends it almost to the braking point. The vamp howls in pain.

However, before Buffy can make his arm immobile, the vampire flips over her and lands behind, easily dislodging her hold on him. Buffy stumbles forward as she’s pushed to the ground.

* * *

At the other side of the cemetery, stands another figure. In the dark grove of trees where he concealed himself, the only thing that could be made out was the yellow-red glow of the creature’s eyes. The light from the moon glints off of his fangs as he snarls. The slayer was beating one of his best men. The thug vamp was only supposed to capture her, not get killed… or kill her for that matter.

Leather sounds as he shifts to watch the slayer in a better view. His clawed hand, old and gnarled, comes up and moves some leaves from his line of sight. “Stupid vampire,” he spits.

* * *

Buffy spins around with the force of the vampires spinning back kick to her jaw. Stumbling to the ground, she quickly recovers her footing and turn back to the vampire at hand. Its like the vamp doesn’t want either of us to win. We’ll see about that, Buffy thinks as she runs toward the vampire.

Going at a good speed, she jumps into the sir and spins as she extends her leg to catch the vamp on the side of the head.

However, before her foot makes contact, the vamp grabs her and spins her through the air then lets go. Buffy falls through the air with a squawk just as she collides with the same tree she had made him run into earlier. Everything seems to swim.

* * *

Com’ on, get the hell up Slayer, Spike thinks as he watches the fight from the tree he was in. The same tree that both the vampire and slayer had ram the other into.

In fact, it was a little humiliating on how he got up. He had been going through the cemetery like he did almost every night when he had heard the Slayer coming. He had climbed up the first thing he had found purchase on and up he went. Now, he sat up there watching one hell of a fight.

He just wished that the slayer had picked a different cemetery to hunt instead of this one. It was close to his apartment but far enough away from Buffy, or so he thought as he watched the vampire stock over to her.

* * *

A moan of pain spills from her lips as she blurrily looks at the vampire advancing on her with every step he takes. Come on, Buffy, get up, she couches herself. Slayers don’t fight on their backs.

Another moan of pain escapes her mouth as the vampire roughly grabs her by the hair and yanks her head up. The vampires other hand comes up and grabs the collar of her shirt and jerks her up off the ground and swings her around in one def move.

“Oh, don’t do that,” Buffy says as she tightly shuts her eyes against the waves rolling through her stomach. She doesn’t even see the next hit coming, and only realizes it when she’s staring up at the sky.

The vampire comes into her line of view, and bends down on his knees. He grips her shirt and jacket and tears it away from her neck. Its then that Buffy starts to struggle again as the vampire starts to lean over her.

The vampire straddles Buffy’s pelvis and holds her to the ground with his feet hocked over her knees, holding her legs down. The vampire leans down and bares his fangs to her. He hisses in her face.

Buffy turns her face the other way and coughs. “What did I tell you about? I’m sure your girlfriend doesn’t appreciate that.”

The vampire just laughs her comment off, and goes in for her neck…

* * *

Spike watches from the tree as the vampire stalks closer to Buffy as she lies on the ground. The whole time the mantra, get up, get up, get up, is going through his head as he watches.

A rage fills him as the vampire roughly pulls Buffy’s head up from the ground by the hair. He sees red as the vampire viciously jerks her up off the ground. He then watches in horror as the vampire lays Buffy on the ground and starts to divest her as he goes in for the kill. Its then that he realizes what the vampire has in store for the Slayer.

A clam stills over him as he reaches into his pocket pulls out a stake. The Master Vampire drops down to one of the lower hanging branches and waits for the other vampire to get distracted enough for him to move in for the kill.

Spike watches as the vampire moves over Buffy’s body and positions himself. Spike drops to the ground without a sound. He takes a few steps forward.

With his a foot planted on either side of Buffy’s legs, Spike raises the stake above his head…

* * *

Buffy starts to hit at the vampire with clenched fists but really gotten make a dent with the way vampire had her pinned to the ground. After she struggles for too long, the vampire reaches up, and grabs her wrists in both hands hold them above their heads, pinning her hands to the ground.

She’s completely immobile and its then that she realizes what the vampire was up to as she felt the creature’s hand palm her breast through the material of her shirt. She feels tears burn her eyes as the vampire starts to grind his hips down into her. She feels his mouth move over her neck, she tenses, waiting for the stinging pain to start. However, it never happens. What does happen makes her stomach roll all over again. His tongue moves over her pulse.

She feels his hand move away for her breast and slide down his stomach. She chokes on her scream as a sob clogs her throat. His free hand was opening her pants.

Just as the snap was to be freed, the vampire disappears in a cloud of dust. Buffy blinks as the cloud of dust settles around her, the tears sliding down her cheeks as she realizes that she was saved.

Shock sets in as what only could be a vision comes into her line of sight. The most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen and never thought she would see again.

“Hello cutie!” Spike says.

* * *

The figure in the grove of trees hisses as he watches one of his last descendants drop from the tree, and stakes his minion. Letting a low, rumbling growl lose, the creature with yellow-red glowing eyes turns and stokes from the cemetery, back to his lair.

* * *

At the other end of the cemetery, the dark figure detaches for the shadows and starts to go help the Slayer when the bleached blonde vampire drops from the tree. He quickly takes cover back under the trees.

There was no need to blow his cover when there was someone else to help her. Although, he couldn’t quite quill the strange sting to his heart that he didn’t get to help her first.

Turning on his heel, Black walks away from the scene playing out in the cemetery fields at his back.