Rendezvous at Twilight

Chapter One: Seasons Greetings

DISCLAIMER: I am not Joss Whedon. I do not own, did not create, and do not take credit for any of the characters that are not Natalie. I don't look to recieve any money for this, and all that other good stuff.

"Buffy, your Oogly-Boogly isn't in any of these books," Says a tired looking red-head. Six people are sitting around a marble table in a Magick shop, piles and piles of books on the table before them. "Do you know anything about it, Giles?" The girl looks over to an older man standing beside a staircase to an upper level, looking at books on a shelf.

"No, Willow, I don't know..." The man, Giles, lets out a tired sigh, cleaning his classes on a worn, white cloth.

"It was big... And blue... And it had a tail... With spikes..." The words come from a ruffled looking blonde sitting near Willow at the table.

"That narrows it down," A sarcastic voice comes from the lone male at the table.

"Just try and find this thing, Xander. It was strong... Dangerous..." The blonde's voice trails off as there is a loud clap of thunder outside and the sound of rain pelts against the building.

"Buffy, don't worry. We will find it... We can ask Spike if we need too..." A quiet voice comes from a brunet sitting beside Willow.

"Tara's right... We've survived worse." Willow and Tara give each other small smiles.

"I know... But I need to find out how to beat this thing." Buffy slams a hand against the table. "There needs to be some way!"

"Calm down, Buff. We'll figure out a way, won't we?" The table gives their nods of agreement to Xander.

The back door of the magic box opens and a soaking wet man rushes in with a wet, half burned down cigarette sticking out of his mouth. He closes the door behind him and adjusts his leather duster, water dripping from his cigarette, nose and ears. There is a thin cut along his cheek with blood dripping from one end.

"Spike!" Buffy sounds surprised. "What happened?"

"Some big bloke... Demon guy... Don'no what kind..." His eyes land on Buffy. "Had a run in with him too, eh?"

"Where did you fight it?" Buffy demands, standing up.

"Just over near the park, Love, why?"

"Let's go... Maybe we can still catch up with it," Buffy grabs a stylish leather jacket as she hurries towards the door. "Come on!" Putting it she hurries out. The other seven people follow her. Spike about level, Xander, a second blonde girl and a shorter girl with long straight brown hair a little behind them, then Giles, Willow and Tara bringing up the rear.

The eight Scoobies hurry though the streets towards the park. The rain is freezing against what skin that is bare.

"Xander, make sure Dawn is safe. Take her home." The shorter brunet gapes.

"But Buffy-"

"Now, Xander! And hurry back." Xander nods reluctantly, tugging on Dawn's shoulder a little bit. The two of them hurry off in another direction.

"Buffy!" Tara calls as they run around a corner, "What do you plan to do when we find this thing?"

"I plan to kill it. We should be able to..."

" 'Should be'? I don't like the sound of 'should be'!" Xander sounds out of breath as he catches up with them.

"Xander! Why aren't you with Dawn?!"

"We ran into that guy... Clem. She's with Clem."

"And you left her?!"

"She told me to! She said to help yo-" But Xander stops talking as they reach the center of the park and stop dead in their tracks.

Before them is a demon, night 11 feet tall with biceps about 30 inches in diameter. The royal blue monster sports a 5 foot long tail with foot long spikes protruding from it every six inches or so starting from the top of its head and traveling down its spine. Under the sheets of water, it is hard to tell whether the glistening blue before them are scales, leathery skin or merely a continuation of water. One enormous hand is wrapped around the waist of a lithe girl with long, pin-straight black hair. Strands of wet hair cling to her face as she pulls out a dagger stabbed into the demon's wrist. The Scoobies gape from behind the creatures back.

"Oh my God..." Tara gasps quietly, her voice drowned out by the sound of the rain.

Buffy begins to rush towards the demon, and the girl's eyes widen as she sees Buffy.

"Stay the bloody hell away from the tail!" The girl's voice shouts in a slight British accent to it.

"Wha-" Buffy begins to ask, but the free hand of the demon spun around, hitting Buffy hard in the gut, sending her flying. Xander hurries over to Buffy, helping her to her feet.

Giles gapes up at the demon as it lets out a loud roar. The girl stabs the dagger into the demon's wrist once more. She is thrown to the side and bowls into Spike, knocking the two of them to the ground, her landing hard on his stomach. The demon howls and runs, disappearing after a clasp of thunder. Buffy runs after it into the pelting rain but is unable to see several feet in front of her, loosing it at a crossroads in the park. She slowly returns to the rest of the Scoobies and the new girl.

Buffy raises an eyebrow and she sees Spike and the girl, who is still sitting on his stomach, looking into each other's eyes with a sense of vauge familiarity.

"Never though' I would see ye from this angle again, Pet." Spike's voice is low and suggestive, despite the rain, the corner of his mouth curling into a smirk.

"That was Vegas and I think I was drunk," She explains in a curt voice to the vampire before hastily pushing herself off of him. There is a loud clap of thunder over head and in a flash of lightning, the rain begins to fade.

"But... Who are you?" Anya, the first to break the silence after the strange reunion between Spike and the girl. "Everyone is thinking it... You know Spike... You weren't fazed by the demon... Who are you?"
"I-" She starts but as she is looking around, her eyes stop of Giles. "Ripper?!" She exclaims.

"How... How do you know that?" Giles asks, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Lucky guess?" She tries with a shrug. "I mean... You look the same as when you left... You don' change much."

"Do I know you?" He takes his glasses off, cleaning them off with a worn, white cloth that seems damp.

"You used to..." Her voice grows cold as she shrugs off the several sizes too big worn, old looking leather jacket from her shoulders. " 'Cause, you see..." She throws the jacket to him. "Fifteen year olds change a bit after almost five years." She folds her arms over her chest and Giles catches the jacket awkwardly.

"Five years...? But... Five years ago I left England and- Natalie?!" He exclaims, stepping forward, cleaning his glasses once more. "Good lord..."

"I was wonderin' ow long it would take you to say that..." Natalie cannot help chuckle, folding her arms over her chest.

"But who are you?" Buffy repeats in a demanding voice.

"What? That wasn't good enough for you?" Natalie asks.

Buffy answers almost immediately, "No."

"Well," Natalie stands up straighter. She bends her elbows, her right arm in front of her stomach, her left arm behind her back as if in a military pose. "I am Natalie Anne Douthy, so Ripper tells me. I am eighteen, roughly. I didn' remember my birthday so we jus' picked a day an' assumed I was about three. 'E only wanted to 'Elp me get well an' fix up my wounds, but we got... Attached an' 'E kept me. 'E tried to raise me like I was a Slayer, but got worried that I would get 'urt, so 'e tried to shield me from it, but it didn' work. Then, when 'E left, I decided that I needed to go find 'im, so I trained my self, just in fighting an' some old Whyte Majick spells, brought a few weapons, a few books, that jacket an' went on my way. Ran into a few friends on the way, along with a few," She an' Spike make eye contact. "... Things..." She adds after a pause. "Then, I got 'ere an' ran into another Crylothian..." A sigh emits her pouty lips as she rubs her hand over her eyes, ignoring the fact that it was stained with both red and blushing blood, "Man I 'oped I wouldn' 'ave to fight one of them again."

"A-Again?" Tara asks, looking worried.

"Yeah... Again. They're breeders..." Natalie lets out with almost an annoyed sigh. "I found one of 'em near Vegas, just before I ran into this bloke here," Natalie jerks her thumb towards Spike who gets a defensive look in his eyes. "Their spikes contain poison that-" But before she can continue, Giles seems to have absorbed what she had said.

"You were in Las Vegas drunk with Spike?!" His voice is curt, as if to hide confusion. Natalie just nods.

"Yeah… Long night… Fun though. Anyway-" Giles opens his mouth to speak once more, but she merely holds up her hand and continues. "Anyway, their spikes contain a lethal poison an' a Crylothian dies for two reasons: it breeds or it is marred by its own poison."

"Like I need to listen to you." Buffy scoffs. "I can kill that thing. I killed Glory, didn't I?" Her voice sounds quite defensive.

"Yeah, but you kind'a died, too." Xan'er points out.

To Be Continued