“Xander was right. It worked like a charm.”

****

“Oh, Xander, Xander thank God. It’s me,” Anya choked out and Xander rolled over to look up at her. Her face was streaked with tears and he felt his heart clench. He pulled her down to him and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

“Are you ok?” he asked, closing his eyes as he felt Anya’s presence calm the remnants of fear inside him. Anya too relaxed as he held her and the couple lay like that for several minutes, not moving. Finally Anya nodded against her lover’s chest. “I’m ok. But I don’t like it here. I want to go home.”

“Have you tried clicking your heels together three times?” Xander joked, relieved that at least she didn’t have to go through this alone. Neither of them did. They’d always have each other.

“No,” Anya told him, snapping out of her misery and looking at him, her eyes brimming with hope. “Does that work?”

Xander laughed. “Probably not.” Then he became serious. “Why were you crying? Did something hurt you?”

“There are rabbits here,” Anya announced and Xander tried not to laugh. “This place is truly evil.”

At that the young man did laugh. “There are rabbits back home,” he reminded her and she smirked.

“On the hellmouth. I think my point is proved.” Xander grinned and gave her a quick kiss before standing and helping his girlfriend to her feet.

“Do you know where we are?” he asked, looking around them once more, hoping to find something he had missed. Anya shook her head. “No.”

“Do you know how we got here?” Once again Anya replied that she had no idea. The pair sighed and silently started to walk hand in hand in the opposite direction, away from the field with the bunnies.

The door opened cautiously and he stared at the woman in the doorway. “Cordelia?”

The young woman’s face broke into a happy smile and she couldn’t stop herself hugging him. “Giles! Thank God.” She pulled away as quickly as she had moved forward, pulling him inside with her and quickly closing the door. “Do you know what’s going on?” she asked, getting straight to the point and completely ignoring the fact that he was wearing pyjamas.

“Faster, but not really safer.”

****

“Willow?” Tara shouted as she looked wildly around for her girlfriend. “Willow!”

“Tara!” the redhead’s voice sounded somewhere in the distance and the blonde witch sighed with some relief. Willow was there and she was alive. For now that was all that mattered. Tara started to run as best she could, pushing through the overgrown grass, towards Willow’s voice. “Willow, I’m here. Keep shouting.”

“Tara!”

Eventually she spotted Willow’s telltale red hair and sank down beside her lover, wrapping her arms around her. Willow smiled up at her, though her face was covered in tears. “I knew you’d find me.”

Tara smiled, “I’ll always find you.” Then she noticed the tears. “Honey what’s wrong?”

Willow frowned. “My ankle. I think I twisted it. It’ll be ok. Can you help me up?” The two witches climbed uneasily to their feet.

“Do you know where we are?” Willow asked, trying to spot some sort of clue over the top of the grass.

“I can’t see anything,” Tara told her shaking her head.

“Spike!” Willow called inside her mind, hoping her telepathic capability meant she could still speak to the vampire. There was no answer. Willow offered Tara a tight smile and tried Xander. “Xander? Are you here?” Again there was no answer. Willow frowned and glanced furtively at Tara. This didn’t seem right. She had to try something. “Tara? Can you hear me?” The blonde witch didn’t respond.

“Tara,” Willow said aloud and her girlfriend smiled gently at her.

“Did you reach any of them?”

“You didn’t hear me?”

Tara frowned. “No I…” She stopped as she realised what that meant. “But it’s only the mind stuff right? I mean you haven’t lost your…”

Without giving Tara time to finish, Willow started to recite a spell. One she knew she could do as easily as breathing. Something she had been doing for three years.

Nothing happened. She looked at Tara, a little panicked and tried again. Nothing. “Tara?”

Without a word Tara tried one of her own spells and was dismayed to find that she couldn’t get it to work either. “It’s ok. We just can’t use magic here. That’s alright isn’t it? We know how to fight.”

“Well, yeah, kind of. But we haven’t really had much practice in it. We always with the magic.”

“We’ll be fine,” Tara assured Willow firmly, sounding far more confident than she felt.

“Buffy, thank God!” Wesley exclaimed happily as he helped the Slayer to sit up. “Are you ok?”

“I’m fine, I think,” Buffy told him, rubbing her neck. Her eyes widened as she remembered the scene in the alley. “Oh God, Dawn. Wesley, we have to get back. It’s Darla, she’s…”

“Darla?” Wesley asked, becoming serious at the mention of the vampiress. “You saw Darla?”

“In LA, and you are going to tell me everything about that after you tell me what happened to you. Is Cordy here? Is she safe?”

“If she’s here, she’s not with me. You’re the first person I’ve seen. We were walking back to the hotel after killing the Lautum demon and suddenly there was this bright light. The next thing I knew, I was waking up here.”

“Ok. She’s here I know she is. So are Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya. We need to find them and fast. There’s no telling what’s out there hunting them. And us. That’s our first priority. Spike and Angel are working on the rest back home. I hope.”

“Spike?”

“Long story. I’ll tell you all about it after you’ve explained what Darla’s doing undead and well in LA.”

“I wish we knew where we were going,” Willow told Tara with an angry pout.

“I wish we knew where we were,” Tara said with a smile, squeezing Willow’s hand a little tighter. “But Buffy and Spike will find us right? I mean they’ll do anything to…”

“Oh sure, sure they will,” Willow answered, trying to sound optimistic. “They’ll find a way to get all of us back home no prob… arggghhhh!”

Tara was pulled to the ground as Willow fell straight down a well-sized hole that had been hidden from their view by the foliage. As she disappeared her scream rang out, as did Tara’s startled cry. “Willow!”

She held tightly to her girlfriend’s left hand with her right, trying to gain some leverage on the ground with the other.

The redhead dangled in the seemingly bottomless pit and divided her attention between Tara and the never-ending blackness. “Tara!”

“It’s ok sweetie just hold on,” Tara soothed gently, wondering how she could help Willow without the use of her magic. “I’m going to try and pull you up.” She took a deep breath and tried Willow’s resolve face.

“Tara, you saved me. God I was so scared. It’s been a long time since I couldn’t use magic to… And you were so strong, I mean you pulled me up like I weighed nothing.”

“That’s how it felt. I think something strange, well stranger, is happen…”

She was stopped by Willow’s kiss and the two young witches fell back onto the ground together, proving to each other that they were indeed alive and well.

“Yes it is rather picturesque. A little too perfect though don’t you think? Nowhere south of heaven could surely be so wonderful and not have any drawbacks.” Buffy’s smile faded slightly and Wesley frowned at her. “Is something wrong?”

The blonde Slayer shook her head. “I was just wondering…” she paused and looked around, considering what to say next, while her former Watcher kept his eyes trained on her face for her reactions. “I was just wondering whether or not I was in heaven. You know when I died.”

The Englishman nodded but didn’t speak. After a moment she continued. “I don’t remember any of it. It could have been hell, eternal torment… But I don’t remember. I just know I came back feeling different. At peace with myself.”

“Can I ask you something?” Wesley asked softly and the Slayer nodded. “Do you wish…? I mean do you ever think you’d rather have not come back?”

Wesley smiled a little, but knew that part of Buffy at least, was being serious. "You deserve peace, of course you do but..."

"I know, I know. There's so much for me to do here, blah, blah, blah."

"Actually I was going to say we missed you."

"Oh," Buffy murmured a little startled by Wesley’s words.

"I mean, I didn't really see the others for very long but I know Willow was devastated and Angel…. We're all selfish beings. And they thought they were doing what was right."

"I know. And maybe they were. Doesn't stop me wondering though."

"Willow!" Buffy exclaimed as they stumbled across the redheaded witch and her girlfriend, who were sitting together where they had landed on the ground.

"Buffy!" Willow and Tara jumped up from the ground and the redhead and Slayer shared a hug. “Wesley!” Willow exclaimed as her eyes came to rest on the former Watcher over Buffy’s shoulder.

Buffy decided to ignore the introductions of Wesley and Tara for a moment and concentrated instead on the scream. “Will, what happened? We heard a scream. Are you ok?”

Willow stood back a little as Tara gestured to the hole. “She fell.”

“Tara caught me,” Willow beamed proudly as she told her best friend.

“Yeah it was weird,” Tara said, shifting uncomfortably under everyone’s gaze. “I felt strong. I mean, really super-power strong.”

“And we lost our magic,” Willow told the others, the worry creeping back into her voice.

“This is all about me. Me, me, me!”

Cordelia - ‘Out of Mind, Out of Sight’

****

“William! Welcome back,” the Host called across the crowded bar as he made his way over to the two vampires and uncomfortable looking teenager in the doorway.

“We need information now,” Angel told him bluntly as he neared, glancing back up the stairs where Gunn and Fred were waiting.

“Well that wasn’t very polite,” Lorne said with a smirk, his eyes flicking over the small group. “You want to stop rushing into things head first, then maybe…”

“We really don’t have time,” Angel interrupted with a frown.

“Sure you do,” the Host told them with a smile. “You have all the time you need.” He turned his attention from the dark vampire to Spike. “Well, William? Was I right, or was I absolutely right?”

“No one likes a smart ass,” Spike assured him, albeit with a genuine smile as he reached into his duster pocket for a cigarette. “How you doin’ Lorne?”

“Actually a lot better since your Grandpa started dropping by. Did you take my advice? With the lady?”

Spike winced. “No. Next time, I promise I will do whatever you say.” He noticed the Host’s increasing interest in Dawn and smirked. “Lorne this is Dawn. Nibblet this is the Host.” The pair shook hands and Dawn smiled weakly at the demon. “You’re not evil are you? No of course not, ‘cause Angel wouldn’t come here if you were and Spike wouldn’t have brought me here and…”

“Shh, shh, honey it’s ok. We’re gonna get your sister back, no problem. You trust these two don’t you?”

Dawn looked up at Angel and Spike, and knew that each of them was willing to die to protect her sister. They’d get Buffy back. And the others. With a smile, she turned back to the Host. “Yes.”

“There you go then sugar. Now, Angel, send those two lurking in the doorway home. Nothing’s going to happen to them, the players are already in place.” He turned his head to catch the eye of one of the bartenders. “Charlie! Two beers and a coke,” he shouted, gesturing at a table next to the wall. “Oh and another Sea Breeze, if it’s not too much trouble.”

“She's good. A little nervous perhaps but she's young,” Lorne threw out to Spike and Angel as he focused his attention on Dawn, who was singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ up on stage because one, it was one of Buffy’s favourite songs and two, she knew all the words.

“Lorne...” Angel interrupted, feeling more frustrated with the green demon than he had ever felt before. Both Lorne and Spike ignored him.

“What do you see?” the blonde vampire asked, as he watched the young girl on stage with a feeling of pride.

“We're not here for that," Angel interjected again, ready to hit his Grandchilde, just to release some of the tension curling through his body. "We have to get everyone back, remember? Buffy and Cordy are...”

“I remember peaches. It's not exactly like I can forget. But Dawn's important.”

“That she is,” the Host murmured absently and Spike turned back to him, managing with some effort to pull away from glaring menacingly at Angel.

“So what do you see?”

“Hmm?” The Host looked at Spike and shook his head a little. “Not yet. Angel's right. Now is not the time.”

“But...”

“No,” he stopped Spike’s own mounting frustration with a look. “I can't reveal anything to you yet. When it happens, it happens.”

The three males sat back for minute, watching Dawn. Finally Lorne turned to them, keeping his voice low as he explained. “This is all about you two, boys. I gotta hand it to you; you sure know how to piss people off. Especially women.”

“So Darla and Dru are behind this?” Spike asked, struggling to remain calm, now their enemy was identified.

“They are,” the Host paused, searching for the correct way to finish, “the brains behind it, if you pardon the expression. The masters, pulling the strings.”

“Who else is involved?” Angel asked curtly, quite willing now to fulfil his promise to Darla about killing her the next time he saw her.

“Now that I don't know. All I can tell you is that you two are going to be taking part in a little game, along with some of your friends.”

“What kind of game?” Spike asked, his eyes remaining intent on Dawn as she finished.

“Do I look psychic to you?” the Host asked irritably. Angel and Spike looked at him with exactly the same sardonic expressions on their faces. “Ok good point.”

“I hardly think Spike counts as a knight in shining armour,” Angel mocked as Dawn appeared at Spike’s side and wrapped her arm around his neck, showing her fondness for and solidarity to the vampire at Angel’s words.

“What's that proverb about glasshouses and stones?” the Host stared Angel down and the elder vampire shifted in his seat. “Getting a little big for our boots aren't we? There's an awful lot you don't know about your Grandchilde.”

It was Spike’s turn to shift uncomfortably as his Sire stared at him in disbelief. “Are you seriously telling me that he's going to...?”

“I'm telling you that he already has,” Lorne told him, effectively ending the conversation. “And to you William I'm going to give you a little piece of advice.” Spike raised an eyebrow in response. “Trust yourself.”

“That's it?” Spike exclaimed, as he heard Buffy’s voice in his head asking the demon to vague it up a little.

“What do want Technicolor pictures and surround sound? It doesn't work like that.”

“But you know what's going to happen,” Dawn said, feeling a little lost in the conversation.

“How do we even know this is going to work?” Dawn asked as she trailed behind the two vampires as they re-entered the Hyperion.

“We don't,” Angel told her shortly before moving to the reception desk.

“You really trust that green guy?” Dawn continued looking pleadingly at Spike. “He was nice but...”

“Come here a sec nibblet,” Spike interrupted, leading the teenager away from Angel to sit on the couch at the other side of the lobby. Angel moved a little further away, seeming to give them some privacy but, desperate to know what was going on with his Grandchilde, he tuned his vampiric hearing to their conversation, listening intently to every word.

“I like your dress.”

Willow, Angel, The Master - ‘Prophecy Girl’

****

“We’re almost there,” Darla drawled, smiling cruelly as she anticipated what was going to happen. “You should have seen the looks on their faces it was priceless, it really was.”

“So we’re done now, yes?” Ethan asked, edging closer and closer to the door, his eyes flicking back and forth between the two females. “I’ve done what you asked. It’s all up to them now really.” His hand closed around the doorknob just as a beautifully manicured hand fastened around his throat.

The phone rang dead on time and Spike and Angel shared an understanding look, before the elder vampire snatched up the receiver. “Darla?”

“Hello lover,” the vampiress’s voice trilled down the phone and Angel nodded at Spike, never breaking eye contact with his surrogate Childe.

“Darla, just a friendly warning before we begin, when I get my hands on you I’m going to…”

Darla chuckled seductively, interrupting Angel’s tirade. “Too late sweetheart. I remember all too well where your hands were the last time we saw each other. Alone I mean.” She paused and this time Angel remained silent, waiting.

“Oh, baby’s not gonna play? Ok, have it your way. The sooner the pair of you get started, the sooner people start to die and that’s the kind of game I like to play.”

“What game?”

“We’ll explain when you get here.”

“If you seriously think we’re stupid enough just to…”

Darla sighed. “Relax Angelus. You have to come here to get there, we can’t explain it fully when you can’t see what we’re talking about. You come, we explain, you go and try to save your friends. It’s quite simple.”

“Fine,” Angel snarled into the phone, “Where and when?”

“Now and the apartment I’ll give you the address to in a moment. But first there’s just one more tiny thing.”

“And what’s that?”

“Bring the girl.”

“I can’t believe you agreed to this,” Spike hissed glaring at his Sire, while holding tightly to Dawn’s hand as they made their way up to the apartment Darla had indicated. “Do you understand what keeping Dawn safe means?”

Angel didn’t answer, knowing full well that Spike was right and fully deserved to be telling him what a fool he was. He stopped outside the last apartment on the corridor and looked back at his two companions. “Trust, remember?”

Spike and Dawn rolled their eyes at each other and shared a small smile before nodding reluctantly at Angel. The dark vampire raised his hand about to knock gently, before stepping back and kicking the door open instead.

“Show off,” Spike mumbled he and Dawn followed Angel into the apartment.

“Darla!” Angel called and was greeted by a light being switched on overhead. The three glanced around the room to find Darla standing at one end of the room and Drusilla at the other.

Spike thought about that for a moment, part of him wanting to tell her he’d always love her in some way, another part, a part that he had suppressed for the hundred and seventeen years he was with her, decided it was time to be a man again and tell the truth. “Yes, I do.”

Drusilla’s eyes flashed with hatred and Spike almost winced at his harshness, before remembering that Dru never apologised when she was cruel and realistically he had burnt all his bridges with her long before now anyway.

“Well, now the reunion’s over, what say we get down to business?” Darla spoke up, thoroughly bored by Spike and Dru’s evil-staring competition.

“And what is business?” Angel asked, casually moving to his right so that he was between Darla and Dawn as Spike was between Dawn and Dru.

“Why, the game silly,” she told him, gesturing towards the table in the centre of the room. Their eyes remaining trained on their former lovers, Angel and Spike moved with Dawn towards the table. On it lay a map, divided into grid squares. Some of the squares contained miniature figures of humans and demons; some contained buildings or weapons.

As Angel, Spike and Dawn became engrossed in what they were seeing, Darla and Dru moved to stand opposite them on the other side of the table. “The object is to rescue the princess,” Drusilla told them, her eyes coming to rest on Dawn who clung a little harder to Spike.

“Actually the object is to stay alive. You rescue the princess and you win the game. You win the game and you stay alive. You two will each captain a team. You play the game, you rescue the princess, the first of you to reach her wins.”

“What?!” Spike shouted as he stared in disbelief at the two women before him. “That’s sick. It’s insane.”

“We like to think so,” Darla said, smiling at him. Spike’s expression turned from disbelief to disgust and he looked away, ashamed that he had ever been involved in their lives. In a vampires life.

“What do you hope to gain by this?” Angel asked, understanding Spike’s feelings. He looked at these women before him and for the first time felt nothing but hate.

“Gain? Absolutely nothing. That’s the best part,” Darla answered before turning to Dawn with a small frown. “Ah the missing link. Ready for your big part princess?”

Dawn looked up at the blonde vampiress, her face expressing nothing but fear. “What?” she choked out nervously, as the same feeling she had had earlier started to surround her.

“No!” Spike cried desperately, realising what was happening and trying to hold onto Dawn as she was torn from his grasp. Both he and Angel tried to grab her, but as before, she floated out of reach.

“Bye,” Darla called as Dawn disappeared in a flash of white light, and a similar feeling started to surround the two males.

“Save the princess, win the game,” Darla reminded them, laughing as the vampires vanished into the game.

“Hi guys. Miss me?”

Buffy - ‘When She Was Bad’

****

Anya and Xander made their way towards the house wearily. They had been walking for hours and it was getting dark. They were tired and growing cold, so they pressed ahead, hoping that the owners would provide them with shelter for the night. “What if they're demons?” Anya asked Xander in hushed tones her eye fixed ahead on the small stone cottage.

“Right now? I don't really care. All I want is somewhere to sleep that isn't cold and isn't outside. So I'm going to ask. If they kill us... Well then we don't have to worry about sleeping out here with the rabbits.” Anya shuddered and quickened her pace.

They stopped at the door and glanced at each other before the former demon pushed her fiancée forward. “Knock.”

“Me?” Xander exclaimed moving back to face Anya. “Why can't you knock?”

“You're the man. You're supposed to do it.”

“Since when have I been in charge?” Xander asked exasperated.

“Since we got here,” Anya told him and once again pushed him towards the door. “Knock.”

Xander took a deep breath and knocked quietly on the door. “Knock louder,” Anya ordered and Xander knocked again.

“Ok, ok,” a voice greeted them as the door swung open. “God relax will y.. Xander?”

“Cordy?”

“Cordelia,” Anya said with a smile, remembering she had been close to the girl once upon a time. Her smile faded when she remembered why they had been close. “You can't have Xander back.”

Cordelia rolled her eyes. “Like I'd want him. Come in.”

Xander and Anya stepped into the cottage their gazes sweeping over the small room, coming finally to rest on Giles who sat at the table, still dressed in his pyjamas.

“Giles?”

“Xander! Anya! Thank God you're alright. What happened?”

The couple gratefully sat at the table and Cordy went to sit by Giles as they filled their friends in on what had happened.

“My fault? How can it be my fault? Darla and Dru are the ones who sent us here, and don't try and tell me I upset Drusilla because...”

“We both know she thinks the sun shines out of you. Well peaches I hate to be the one to break it to you but everything bad that happens I can trace back to being your fault. I've had years of experience at it. Lets see. How about, if you hadn't lost your soul and taken Dru away, we would still be together now? Maybe in Brazil. Not perfectly happy but getting along, just as we were before. I wouldn't have this bloody chip in my head, and we wouldn't be stuck here. Or maybe you'd prefer the one where, if you hadn't been such a drunken, whorin’ layabout, while you were alive Darla wouldn't have turned you, you wouldn't have turned Dru and she wouldn't have turned me. I'd have died of old age about eighty years ago.”

“And that's what you want is it William? To be dead and gone? ‘Cause just say the word and I will happily make that wish come true.”

“You still don't get it do you?” Spike said angrily. “You think because every woman you've ever met worships the ground you walk on, that I automatically will too.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Really?” Spike drawled. “Darla, Drusilla, Cordelia...”

“Spike...!”

“Buffy!”

“That's enough”

“Well I don't worship you. Maybe I did once upon a time, but that ended long ago.”

“When I got my soul back, I know...” Angel told him, growing angry himself and not wanting to talk with Spike about how much they hated each other now.

“No.”

“What?”

“It wasn't when you got you soul back,” the blonde vampire confessed quietly. “It was when you lost it again.”

“I don't understand.”

“Well I'll talk slowly and then maybe you'll manage to get the gist. When Dru turned me she was in no fit state to be my Sire in every sense of the word. You taught me everything; you helped me with everything. You made me what I was and I worshipped you for that. But when Angelus came back, a hundred years later, I wasn't the same. Inside me there were things that went against everything I was but as much as I hated them, all I could do was blame you for making me that monster in the first place.”

“Spike, I...”

“You took Dru Angel. You didn't want her, didn't care about her the way you did Darla or love her the way I did. But you had the power. And you wanted to show me that she was still yours. Sometimes, in those hundred years you weren't around, she'd call for you and I never knew what to do. She'd scream your name and not mine and every time it happened I hated you. But I had her. And that was all that mattered. She needed me. But she never chose me. She never could and she never will. If there was a choice between you and me she'd pick you. And now I'm right back at the start again. But this time it's hell of a lot worse. I can't win can I? Because you're always there. Good or evil, you've always done something better. Better vampire to the vampires and a better man to the humans. And none of them get it. The only thing that changes you Angel is your soul. Without it, you're a monster, just like the rest of us. I don't have a soul. Which of us is the better vampire? Or the better man?

“And your chip is all that changes you,” Angel countered. “If it stops working or comes out, then...”

“Then what?! I'm going to kill all these people I've spent the last year protecting? If I'd wanted them dead that much I wouldn't have bothered. All those months she was gone that I spent waking up just before sunrise and having to remind myself that I couldn't just walk outside and greet it. You think you had it bad Angel? At least you had her for a while. You got to hold her and look after her and you never once had to look into her eyes and see her disgust and hatred of you. You gave that up, so if you were in pain I really don't give a damn. I had a week. One week where she treated me as something other than dirt. One week where I felt alive again. Where I felt like I had found my place in the world.”

“What happened to you?” Angel asked after a moment’s silence.

“I don't know,” Spike told him with a slight smirk. “Whatever it was though, I glad for it.”

“You are?”

“Do you remember what you told me about what we are as vampires being based on what we were? Do you remember what I was Angel? A poet. A romantic. A poor fool who wanted nothing more than to love and be loved. I was a good man. So what does that make me now? A good vampire?”

“I don't know what it makes you. I don't think it makes you anything. You make yourself what you are.”

“And have you got any words of wisdom about what that might be?”

“No. But I think I know someone who could.” Angel couldn’t really believe he was encouraging his Grandchilde to be with Buffy, but something about the way the Slayer had looked at Spike, made Angel feel like it was all meant to be.

“You seriously expect me to tell her all of that?” the younger vampire asked incredulously. He’d said a lot of things to Buffy in the past year and a half. They’d shared soul-bearing moments together. Well they would have been soul-bearing if he’d had a soul to bear. But usually the blonde Slayer had laughed loudly in his face. Or punched him. Or pushed him. Or ripped out his heart and stamped her pretty feet on it.

“I expect nothing from you William. I never did. That's how you managed to make me so proud.”

“What?!”

“You make me proud. I mean, a lot of the time I want to tie you up and drive hot pokers through your chest just to show you what it feels like, but if you're half the man Buffy described, then I'm very proud of you.”

Spike looked away and shifted uncomfortably. “Do you mean that?”

“Yes.” A silence descended between the two vampires, but it was a comfortable silence as they both came to terms with each other’s feelings.

“We better go,” Angel said eventually.

“Yeah,” Spike agreed, finally looking back at his Sire. “Together or apart?”

“If we stick together we won’t be part of the girls’ twisted plan. We have to find the others, then Dawn.”

“Hello Dawn.”

“Ethan,” Dawn greeted with a fake smile. “I thought you were in some military stronghold.”

“Yes but I was let out for good behaviour. Aren’t you pleased to see me?” He set the tray he had been carrying down on a small table and sat opposite the teenager on one of the old-fashioned armchairs.

“Nope. Once again I am simply fulfilling the brief given to me.”

“By two evil demons. How could you?”

“Well they said, do it or die, and I quite like living so…”

“Buffy is going to be so mad when she finds out you’re the one who did this. She will kick your ass so hard…”

“Yes I imagine she will,” Ethan said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Still, can’t be helped. And if it’s any consolation Dawn, I really do hope they all find a way to win.”

Finally Buffy stepped back and the vampire looked down into her face. “What’s wrong?”

The Slayer gave a weak smile and shook her head slightly avoiding Spike’s eyes. He grasped her chin lightly and forced her face up to look at him. “Tell me.”

“It’s nothing Spike,” Buffy began adamantly, but she could tell he didn’t believe her. If there was one person in the world who knew her better than she knew herself, it was him. She sighed. “I’ve lost my power.”

“What?”

“My Slayer powers. My strength and speed, they’re gone. I can’t run as fast or as far, without getting breathless. I can’t even lift Willow.” Her voice her started to break and her lower lip trembled a little as she pouted. For a moment all of Spike’s attention was fixed on her mouth. It looked so kissable. A memory surfaced. ‘Oh pouty. Look at that lip. Gonna get it…’ Thankfully though his brain finally registered what she had said and his eyes snapped back to hers.

“It has to be part of the game,” he told her, deciding against the, everything’s-going-to-be-ok route again.

“What game?” she asked, as Spike’s statement drew the attention of Wesley, Willow and Tara. The Slayer glanced around her before a half confused; half fearful look crossed her face. “And where’s Dawn?”

“Love makes you do the wacky.”

Willow - ‘Some Assembly Required’

****

Angel realised too late that Spike had run in a different direction to him. He could feel the creature behind him still and couldn’t afford to change course now. He had emerged from the forest a while ago and was now running across open fields, his vampiric sight searching ceaselessly for some sort of shelter.

****

“Angel!” she shouted with relief as she flew towards the vampire.

“Cordy,” Angel shouted back, his arms waving at her anxiously. “Get back inside!”

Cordelia stopped in confusion and frowned, seconds before the vampire swept her up in his arms and continued on his path towards the cottage.

“Invite me in,” he said hurriedly, dropping her to her feet just inside the threshold. The words took a few seconds to register before Cordy did as her friend asked.

“Come in.”

“With that the vampire stepped inside, slamming the door shut behind him. “Keller demon,” Angel announced, moving towards the window to check on the creature’s progress. “I think.”

“Angel,” Xander greeted with false cheer. “How’ve you been?”

Angel turned his attention to the other people in the room, nodding briefly at Giles and ignoring Xander. He moved to Cordy. “Are you ok? I was so… when you didn’t come back I thought… And then Gunn said…” he trailed off, unable to find the right words and Cordelia smiled.

“I know.”

The moment passed and Giles cleared his throat. “Angel, do you know what’s going on? Why we’re here?”

“We’re participating in a little game Darla and Drusilla cooked up,” Angel answered, scanning the room for something to fight the Keller demon with. Cordelia gave an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. “Angel, I’m only going to say this once more. Kill them. Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them.”

“Actually you said that six times,” the vampire told her, moving towards the fire and lighting one of the logs that lay stacked at the side.

“I meant I’d only say the sentence once.”

“Um, I hate to bring this up,” Xander interrupted, “but Darla’s dead.”

Anya turned to look at him. “Are you sure?”

Xander smiled at his fiancée. “I was in the room when it happened. Not something I’m likely to forget.”

“Yeah,” Cordelia agreed with a smirk. “She died and now she’s back. Understand?”

Xander opened his mouth to ask how Darla could possibly have been brought back, but Anya, sensing what he was about to say, elbowed him none too gently, in the ribs. “Buffy,” she hissed and her fiancée nodded.

Angel passed a burning log to Giles and one to Xander, while Cordelia made a pair for herself and Anya. When each of them was finally armed, they made their way back outside, where the demon had finally stopped.

“Do you have a plan?” Cordelia asked her friend.

“Don’t die,” Angel offered before charging the demon, the others close behind.

The vampire turned his head slightly in her direction but didn’t look at her. “I’m sorry.”

Buffy sighed. “We’ve done this. We went through all of this once when I got back from…” Buffy struggled slightly. It sounded odd to her, saying that she had come back from the dead. She knew she didn’t have to worry about it though. Spike always knew what she meant.

“Well if I didn’t let you down so much,” Spike was arguing, “maybe you wouldn’t have to say it.”

“If you let me down I wouldn’t say it,” Buffy told him. “It wasn’t your fault I died. It really, really wasn’t. And it’s not your fault Dawn is God knows where right now. It’s your evil-ex’s fault. And my ex’s evil-ex.” Spike smiled. “I knew I could get you to smile,” Buffy told him, chuckling softy.

“I’m still sorry.”

“Yeah I know. But I also know that you’d have died trying to save her.”

He did meet her eyes then and she smiled softly, taking hold of one of his hands. They sat together like that for several minutes, neither saying a word.

Finally Spike spoke. “I’ll get her back for you.”

“We’ll get her back. For us.”

“So we’re looking for a castle or a tower of some sort?” Buffy asked Spike as she leant sleepily against him, her hand still entwined with his.

“I suppose so. That’s where evil tyrants usually stash the pretty princesses.” Spike was trying to act as casually as possible, despite Buffy’s warm body pressed against his side.

She yawned and unconsciously snuggled further into him. “And you’re sure Dawn’ll be alright ‘til we get there?”

“They might be nasty bints love; they might even be crazy, but they are not stupid. They won’t hurt Dawn until…”

“Until we get there?”

“Try to hurt her I meant. I swear Buffy, this time…”

“Don’t,” Buffy said turning her head up so she could look into his eyes. “I trust you. You don’t have to make me any more promises.”

“If every vampire who said he was at the crucifixion was actually there, it would have been like Woodstock.”

****

“Ow!” Angel exclaimed as Cordelia tended to one of the wounds the Keller demon had inflicted upon him. Luckily the others had escaped without serious injury. Xander particularly had fought determinedly and well, feeling a strength he didn't know he possessed as he battled the demon. He kept the surge of energy and power he had felt quiet however, not knowing where it had come from or whether or not it was permanent.

“If you held still it would hurt less,” Cordy told him matter-of-factly, her attention fixed on the long cut on Angel’s back.

“I agree,” Giles said, nodding thoughtfully to the young man. “If we’re all together…”

“We may not have time for that,” Angel spoke up as Cordy helped him back into his shirt. “Dawn’s in trouble. I know Buffy would want us to make her our first priority.”

“Are you sure you’re not just trying to save your own hide?” Xander exclaimed angrily, standing to face the vampire.

“Xander don’t,” Anya begged, pulling gently on his arm until he looked at her. There were tears in her eyes. He immediately backed down, forgetting even that Angel was in the room as he stared at the confused face of the woman he loved.

“An? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to say. My best friends, my only real friends are lost out there somewhere and I want to go and find them I do. But then I think of Dawn and how she must be feeling. She’s all alone somewhere, facing God knows what and we may be the only people who can help her.” She stopped and drew a shaky breath. Xander knew she hadn’t finished so he stayed silent.

“If Dawn dies, it won’t matter to Buffy whether she’s alive or dead. Regardless of our own feelings, I think we have to help the person who’s most vulnerable here. Buffy, Spike, Willow, Tara… they can take care of themselves. Dawn can’t.”

Cordelia gave her former boyfriend and the ex-vengeance demon what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “They’re probably going to try and rescue Dawn anyway. I’m sure we’ll catch up with them eventually.”

He had almost achieved his aim when Wesley shook his arm slightly, startling him back to full consciousness. He turned and faced the former Watcher, fixing him with an angry stare. “What?”

“I think we should talk about what we’re going to do this evening,” Wesley told him, far too familiar with Angel’s moods to be put off by an angry Spike. “Willow and I have discussed the situation, but as you’re in charge…”

“Look mate,” Spike said around a yawn that was intended for effect and was not the cause of any physical compulsion by the vampire, “You and Will have probably had far more practice at the planning thing and possibly had more success than I ever did whenever I bothered to sit down and work things out before hand instead of just charging in guns blazing. So here’s the deal. We’re going to rescue Dawn. That’s the plan. I don’t give a damn what you three add to that. To Buffy and me it’s simple. We find Dawn, we go home, we kill the bitches. Work from there.”

With that Spike gently shifted the Slayer and lay down next to her, pulling her firmly back against him so that her head was resting on his chest.