Methos was walking back to the motel with a couple of bags of Chinese food as he heard the sounds of a fight in an alley nearby. He tried to ignore them, but finally his curiosity got the best out of him. Or maybe he was turning more and more into MacLeod, he thought with amusement.

    The grin on his face faded away as he caught a look of what was going in the alley. There was a blond girl, early twenties he would say, fighting a couple of - men, Methos observed as he noticed the faces of the men were awfully distorted by ridges and their eyes appeared to be yellow. Just great.

    Then only he noticed a frail redhead a few meters away from the fight. She was backing away from another one of these 'men', holding a cross out in front of her. Methos sighed, putting the bags of food down. He *was* turning into MacLeod. Kronos had been damn right, he had gone soft. But the redhead seemed quite terrorised and helpless and just in desperate need for a beautiful and mysterious stranger like him to come and rescue her. Yes, he liked her already.

    Methos quickly walked past the blonde and her two opponents; strangely enough, she seemed to be doing fine. He walked towards the third strange man and took a deep breath. He checked to make sure his sword was available. You never know.

"Excuse me, sir?" he called after the strange man who turned around to face him, his hideous face looking somehow surprised. "Yes, you with the failed plastic surgery-"

    Methos was interrupted as the man growled and jumped at him. They rolled on the floor in a heap and the Immortal managed to push his opponent off him by a well-placed kick.

    He stood up and dusted his coat, rearranging it. The other man got up as well. Methos took a quick look at the redhead who was watching him with eyes wide with surprise and horror. She seemed unable to be of any help. He reverted his attention to his opponent.

"Now, that was not very polite," he observed as he took his sword out.

    The ugly man seemed to hesitate for a moment, before resuming his  apparently usual aggressiveness and jumping on Methos again. Quickly, the old man eluded him, leaving his Ivanhoe in place for the fool to skewer himself on. Which he did.

    Methos pulled his sword out of the man and turned to the redhead to check on her. She still seemed paralysed in awe. Suddenly, her green eyes regained some lucidity as she yelled "Behind you!".

    Methos turned around quickly to find himself pinned to the floor by his previous opponent, who seemed to have perfectly recovered from his not lethal but still paralysing wound. The Ivanhoe was taken out of the Immortal's hold and thrown away.

"That hurt," the creature over him hissed.

    Then he descended his head to Methos' neck, just as the Immortal caught a hint of what really looked like fangs in the ugly thing's mouth. He tried vainly to fight him off, but the 'man' was incredibly strong.

    Suddenly, as he felt the creature's fangs on the skin of his neck, it was gone, and he found himself covered with a veil of dust. He looked up to see the redhead holding what appeared to be a stake in her hand.

    She offered him a hand and he seized it, getting up. There are going to be serious explanations here, lady, he thought to himself. He looked towards the other girl, the blond one, to see her drive a stake in the last creature to be seen's heart, turning him to dust in the process.

    Methos looked back on the redheaded girl next to him, with a quizzical expression.

"What the hell was that?" he exclaimed, puzzled.

    The blond girl walked up to them and offered her hand to him. As he shook it, she introduced herself.

"I'm Buffy. And that's Willow," she added, gesturing to the petite redhead.

"Hey," she added with a small shy smile. "Thanks for the help."

"Help in what?" Methos was even more puzzled, if ever that was possible.

"Well, it's not gonna be easy to believe," Buffy started.

"Try me," Methos answered shortly.

    As she was about to go on, they were interrupted by a young bleached blond man running up to them.

"Girls, I just found a great vampire lair. Care to join me in the massacre?" he asked, before taking in Methos' sight.

    He stopped short. The two girls felt suddenly left out as they both noticed the way the two men were looking at each other.

"Bloody hell," the blond added under his inexistent breath.

"William?" Methos ventured hesitantly. "That's no - you're not - you're supposed to be-"

    It wasn't often that Methos couldn't finish a sentence. This was one occasion that bereft him of the ability to speak, though.

"So it *is* you," the blond went on. "How come you're still alive? You don't feel vampiric to me."

"Vampires?" Methos repeated.

    Suddenly, everything made sense to him. The yellow eyes, distorted faces and fangs, the stakes and the cross had suddenly found a good explanation. Vampires.

"No, I'm devoid of fangs," he then added. "William, you are a vampire, then, I assume."

"Yes," the blond answered. "Only now my name's Spike. I was turned a few months after you left England, Benjamin. But I think I should repeat my question: how come you're still alive?"

"Yes, I think we should all like to know that," Buffy interrupted Methos before he could answer Spike's question. She narrowed her eyes. "You knew Spike when he was human?"

"Ah, yes. Long story. My name's Adam now, by the way."

"Nice to meet you then, Adam," the redhead - Willow - smiled at him. "He's got an original aura, but not a bad one, Buffy, no need to be suspicious. But I am curious as to how he managed to live through a century."

"I'm an Immortal," Methos simply said with a small grin.

    Lots of explanations ensued.  Methos explained about his kind, how only beheading could kill them, and the rules commanding their duels. Spike told the girls about how he had known Benjamin/Adam while the Immortal was staying in London. He then, somewhat grudgingly, answered Methos' questions as to why he was now fighting demons instead of killing the bloody slayer and being done with it. Buffy and Willow filled the Immortal in on what was going bump in the night and on the Scooby Gang. By the time all this was done, the four of them felt far less confused.

"So, old pal, you want to come over to the Watcher's and hang around a bit with us? Reminiscing about old times?" Spike proposed. "We'll just forget about the vampire lair tonight; it'll still be right there tomorrow."

"I don't know. I have to go back to my motel - a friend of mine is waiting for me to bring back some food, and she must begin to really worry," Methos explained.

"It's just a couple of blocks away, down that street over there," Willow informed him. "Here's the address," she took a piece of paper and sribbled on it for a few moments before handing it to Methos. "If you want to come by any time tonight, feel free. Giles would be glad to hear about these Watchers of yours."

"Ok, thanks, Willow," Methos replied with a smile. "I'll probably stop by with Sarah. But right now, I have to hurry because she's going to want my head for making her worry so much. Although she won't admit it."

    With a last "I'll probably see you later on tonight...", Methos walked away, picking up the bags of cold Chinese food on his way. Sarah was *really* going to want his head.

"I guess that answers the question whether she is Immortal as well or not," Buffy remarked as the three of them headed back to Giles.

"Smart girl," Spike remarked with a grin.

"Fangless vamp," Buffy snapped back.

    This remark caused a barrage of images of the tortured and eviscerated corpse of the Slayer to flash through Spike's mind. Which in turn caused the vampire to hold his head as pain shot throught it. Buffy grinned.
 

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