Episode 1: Mates

by JPC

Spike returns to Sunnydale, just when an old friend of his comes to town to kill Buffy

Author's Note: This was written this past summer, so it differs substantially from what has actually happened in Season 7 so far. It's part of a 22 chapter/episode story/season. Currently the first 14 episodes are written, and they will be up shortly. Episodes 2 through 10 feature Connor in Sunnydale.

The clock in the kitchen read 2:15. Her shift at the Doublemeat Palace did not begin until 4 that afternoon. Dawn would be home by 2:45. In the meantime there were dishes to finish washing.

Buffy worked the late shift the previous night. After leaving work at 11 pm she set off for the graveyard and her second night job. After several hours of patrolling, she headed home. Buffy's head had barely hit the pillow when it was morning once again. Without a hint of fatigue, she fixed Dawn breakfast and saw her off to school.

Mother, Slayer, burger flipper. When one job finished, another began. But when she didn't work the day shift at the Doublemeat, Buffy had the slice of morning between 9 and noon to herself. So she took a nap. Now it was afternoon. She was awake, cleaning the dishes, waiting for Dawn to come home. The cycle began again.

Then her routine was broken by several knocks at the front door. Buffy could not hear the first few knocks because they were muffled by the water running in the sink. But she heard the next set of knocks. She turned off the water, left the kitchen and walked down the hallway to the front door to see what her surprise was.

Buffy opened the door to see Spike. This was ridiculous, she thought. It's daytime. She slammed the door then opened it again. Spike was still standing there in his black undershirt, unbuttoned red shirt, and black leather jacket. He stood politely erect, his usual slouch not in evidence. There was a thin smile on his face, like he was about to be interviewed for a job he wanted. Buffy slammed the door again, still not believing what she saw. She walked to the window and peered out. Blue sky, bright sun. This could not be happening. This could not be happening.

She opened the door a third time to find Spike still standing politely erect with that thin smile on his face. And then it all made sense to Buffy. Spike found another one of those rings which make vampires immortal. She kicked her right foot into his nose, and he staggered back. She punched him in the mouth and cheek and jaw. Then Buffy leaped in the air and connected with a flying spin kick. Spike fell to the ground.

She stood over him, kicking him in the stomach and ribs. Spike curled up into the fetal position. He was begging Buffy to stop hurting him, pleading with her "please stop, please stop." Blood oozed from his nose and mouth. His face was smooth, soft, human.

"What are you?," a bewildered Buffy asked.

"I'm human," Spike told her. "I went on a journey to earn my soul, so I could love you, and so you could love me. I understand why you would want to hurt me, after I hurt you. But I am not evil anymore."

Buffy was not prepared for Spike's return, and she was certainly not prepared for this plot twist. "Call me an old-fashioned girl, but I remember a time when souls weren't just given out to every pathetic vampire who asked for one. What, is there, a new game show called So You Want To Be Human'? Guess those guys at Fox will trying anything."

Spike stood up slowly, grabbing his ribs with his right hand and wiping his nose with his left. He tried to explain. "Yeah, vampire gets a soul. That's gotta be a cliche round these parts. But as you can see from the fact that I'm not a pile of smoldering dust, I am not a vampire. I am a person again. I have been given a second chance. We have been given a second chance."

"We? There is no we! There never was a we!! There never can be a we. Don't make me a part of your little identity crisis," Buffy sternly responded.

Spike was hurt. Buffy's words stung harder than her fists. "So I see you're back to living in denial," a desperate and exasperated Spike responded. "You can try to deny your feelings, but you can't deny your actions! You can't pretend all those nights with me never happened."

"No, I'm not denying what our bodies did," Buffy answered. "But it was just bodies. Flesh, nothing more. I felt nothing. That was why I was with you. I didn't want to be in this world. I didn't want to be alive. And when I was with a dead thing like you, I could pretend I wasn't alive."

"Well, I have the broken box springs to prove you were very much alive. I know you didn't want to be back here. But when you were in my arms, and I looked into your eyes, I saw a woman who had never been so alive."

"Spike, you were a vampire. You killed. How could you possibly have known what it was to be alive? How could you pretend to see inside my soul when you didn't even have one?"

"Yes Buffy, I know. I did not have a soul. I was a monster. A cold, unfeeling monster who could never understand the pain I inflicted upon others. But that is why I left, that is why I changed. You cannot deny that I have a soul. And you cannot deny that I am no longer a monster!"

"Spike, just because you don't have a demon inside of you doesn't mean you're still not a monster."

"Bloody hell woman, bloody hell!! It's not like you've never forgiven monsters before. Your bleeding Angel, goes all baddie, puts you and your friends in the hospital, kills everything in sight, gets his precious rubber soul back, and you love him like he's as innocent as a newborn baby." By now tears were welling up in Spike's eyes. "Doesn't even have to say he's sorry, doesn't even have to make up for all the horrible things he did.

"Now what about me? I didn't have a soul. But I helped you. I saved your friends' lives. I risked my neck for you. I endured torture for you. And now I have a soul. And how do you greet me? With a kick in the bloomin nose! Do you even know the meaning of the word fairness?!!"

"Spike, you don't get it. You have never gotten it. All the connections you think you have to me, and you still don't know me. You still can't figure out why I do what I do. I loved Angel"

"Loved? Loved Angel?," Spike gleefully queried. What's with the past tense, love?"

"Spike, don't call me that"

"Doll?"

"Spike, stop it!"

"Pet?," Spike interjected with a smirk on his face.

"Stop it, Spike! Stop all of it! Angel made me happy. Being with him made me feel a part of something greater than myself. When we were together, I felt like I couldn't go on living without him by my side. You Spike, you made me miserable. Every time I was with you, every time you held me, I felt like the lowest form of life. I let you drag me down, take my humanity from me.

"And now that you're human, I want you even less than I did when you were a vampire. It was the demon in you that part of me was attracted to. Now the demon's gone. When I look at you, I don't feel revulsion. I feel nothing. You are nothing, you are no one to me."

Spike had failed to get Buffy to see the poetry in his transformation. For the first time in a century, he felt helpless. He was William again. As if he couldn't prevent his old self from re-emerging, he reverted to poetry.

"Buffy, you must see what you have meant to me. You are the star I have set my course by. The light that has led me home to safe harbours."

"Oh, gross! You're writing bad poetry again. You're mixing metaphors like they're going out of business. Spike, William, whatever you are, I pity you. But you are not a part of my life. And you are not a part of Dawn's life. For some reason I cannot begin to comprehend, you have been given a second chance, an opportunity to start over. Use it. Start over. Start a new life. Find some new people who will care about you, cause I sure can't."

Spike watched Buffy walk inside and slam the door. After all they had been through, she felt nothing for him. Not even revulsion. A little disgust would have been something, a sign that he still made Buffy feel. But no, she was an emotional blank slate. Spike put his head down in dejection and walked away. He did not believe the words Buffy spoke. She must be in denial, he thought. She must be repressing her emotions. Seeing him there, human Spike, that was just too much to take in. She needed time.

And while Buffy took her time coming around, Spike needed something to do. He was just a human being, just the same loser he had been before. But Spike never saw William as a loser. He believed William was just as man out of his time. After all, William lived in a world without microphones, in a time before electric guitars.

Dawn came home shortly after Spike left. Buffy did not tell her sister about their meeting. Spike was bad. He was out of their life. Buffy had taken care of that problem. No need to worry Dawn. Before Buffy left for work, Dawn asked about the two of them patrolling that night. Only if you finish your homework, Buffy answered.

Spike walked back to his crypt. Clem had been housesitting while Spike was gone. He was on the couch, eating corn chips, watching "Passions." This was the rare moment when Spike couldn't even care about his favorite soap.

Clem saw Spike enter and rose to great him. "Wow! Talk about a summer makeover! You're human!"

"But I didn't tell you. How'd you know."

"Well, you did walk in here in the daytime without your skin catching on fire. It didn't take much for me to connect the dots. So tell me, how is it, being human again?"

"There's a lot to get used to. I'm still having trouble with the whole staying awake during the day thing. But the food's nice. I had forgotten how much I liked chicken curry. But it's the weakness, the loss of strength, that is the hardest to accept. That, and the breathing. I mean, I run a little ways, and I have to stop and gasp for air. Respiration can be such a drag."

"I should have guessed that. You had forgotten what weakness was. But I want to know how everything is deep down inside. What are you feeling?"

"I don't know. Mostly what I expected. Guilt, pain, longing. My conscience beating my head in with a sledgehammer on a regular basis."

"Now now Spike. It's easy to be negative, to feel sorry for yourself. But look at your potential. Think of all the things you can do, the things you can feel, now that you're whole again. Speaking of which, when are you going to see the Slayer?"

"Already saw her. Not too thrilled with the new me. Gave me this bloody nose."

"Sorry to hear that. But this is a big change, and it will take her a while to get used to it. Just give her time. She'll realize you've changed."

"She didn't take to long to figure that out. Said she liked the old me better."

"Come on Spike, you can't believe that. She's just hiding her real feelings. You can't lose hope."

"Right now hope is all I got. Anyway, anything interesting go down while I was away?"

"Oh my goodness gracious! You missed quite the crisis. We missed the end of the world by the skin of our teeth."

"Doesn't sound too special to me. Demons are always trying to do that sort of thing round these parts."

"Except that this time it wasn't a demon." Clem them told a shocked Spike about Willow's raven-haired witchy woman star turn. When he recover from his initial surprise, Spike realized this presented him with an opportunity. Spike needed forgiveness and understanding. He figured that by now Willow understood the need for forgiveness and understanding better than anyone.

Spike climbed in his old beat-up jalopy, removed the foil from the windows, and went to the UC Sunnydale campus. He found Willow in the student center, drinking a raspberry iced tea and reading a book. She saw him approach. She was confused and scared, and stood up to meet him, whatever he was.

Spike tried to calm her. "Relax, Willow. I walk in the sun. I breath. My heart beats." He grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest so she could feel the beating heart for herself.

Her anxiety melted into excitement. "You're human? You're human!" Spike smiled and nodded. Willow gave him a big hug. The two of them sat down, and Spike told her about his adventures, and about how it felt to be human again. Spike didn't didn't ask Willow about her life, correctly guessing it would be an uncomfortable subject for her to discuss.

Around nine in the evening, shortly after the sun had set, about two dozen migrant farm laborers returned to their camp in the hills overlooking the lettuce fields they were harvesting. While preparing dinner, they were ambushed by twelve vampires.

This was more surprising than the average observer would have figured. Vampires preferred to stay in the valleys, near the towns and the cemeteries and the sewers. Furthermore, these vampires were unusually cooperative. They did not fight over victims. Each one took his or her share and nothing more. It was rare to observe such efficiency among vampires.

The leader of this gang was tall and broad-shouldered. His soft brown hair was parted on the left and slicked back. Not a single strand was out of place. He wore a blue silk shirt, open at the neck. His brown pants were unwrinkled, cuffed and pleated. A tight black satin waistcoat girdled his slender midsection. When through feeding, he fetched his hand-tailored Italian coat, which he had hung up on a tree branch. He did not like to spill blood on it.

He put the coat on and addressed his minions. "Now that our bellies are full, we shall retire to the chateau for the night. As we head to our accommodations, remember tonight's rules of engagement. No more feeding. And if you see the Slayer, do not engage. Do not even approach. Tomorrow night is for work. This night is for pleasure."

The chateau was the abandoned mansion on the hill where Angelus had lived. These vampires had refined tastes, and would accept nothing less. The male and female minions settled in for a night cavorting. Their leader left them to look up an old friend.

When he came to his destination, he found he could not enter. He had expected this. "William, my dearest boy. The cliche has truth. The more you've changed, the more you have stayed the same."

Spike recognized this figure from his distant past. "Percy, you look just like I left you. Since then you've been quite the standout You achieved far more than I ever expected."

"I could once say the same of you, Wills," Percy responded. You were the brightest of the butterflies. But your wings were clipped, and you chose to be a caterpillar once again."

Spike approached Percy, standing a few feet away on the other side of the doorway. "Your attempts at disparagement ring hollow. You talk as if I have become the same old William, but your face tells me something different. You hardly noticed William. But you loved Spike. And even now, as you hurl insults, I can tell you still burn for me."

"I have heard that unrequited love is a feeling you have become very familiar with. It's the best joke in all the world. The vampire who begs the Slayer to love him. If only you had stayed with me, and left that brutish Angelus, that mad hatter Drusila. You would still be one of the greats."

"Actually, I think I turned out rather well. After all, Percy, you are still walking in my footsteps. I take it that's why you're here. To snuff anther Slayer."

"Well, William, I am nothing if not obvious. Think of it as a favor. I take care of the woman who tortured you, and give back to you what you gave to me."

With that the vampire left Spike. He knew the danger Buffy was in, yet could not tell her. But there was always Willow.

Buffy came home shortly after 10 pm. Willow had come back from the campus. She had been waiting to talk. "Buffy, you'll never guess who I ran into today!"

"Was it Spike?"

"Okay, you would guess who I ran into today. So you've seen him too?"

"Oh, yeah. Not too keen on seeing him again. At least he can't kill."

"Don't you think you're being hard on the poor guy?"

"Poor guy! This is Spike we're talking about! You know who he is, what he did to me."

"But you can't hold him responsible for what he did when he didn't have a soul. It's not like this is the first time this type of thing has happened."

"Don't, Willow. Don't you dare bring him into this. That was different."

"You're right Buffy. That was different. I mean, Spike didn't torture Giles. He didn't put me in a coma. He didn't try to kill all your friends. So this is different. It should be easier to forgive Spike."

"You just don't get it. Angel cared for me. Spike only cared for himself."

"But you haven't even given him a chance. The Spike I saw today was sweet and tender and smart. It's nice to have a smart friend to talk to. No offense. I mean book smart. He's going to help me study for my Greek Drama midterm."

"You and Spike have a study date? Oh no Willow. No, please no. You have a crush on him, don't you?"

"No! Certainly not. It's not like that. He's just a nice person to be around. And he knows what it feels like to seek forgiveness for hurting the people you love."

"Don't do that to yourself, Willow. You're not like Spike. Don't say those things."

"You know, you're right. My thing was different. I had a soul. I should have known better. I knocked you unconscious and sicked zombies on you and here I am, sleeping under your roof. With me, forgive and forget. But Spike's beyond redemption in your book."

Buffy did not want to continue talking about Spike. She also had patrolling to do, and took Dawn along. It was an unusually quiet night, like the vampires were waiting for something.

Now that he was home, Spike had to figure out how to meet the full range of human needs. Apartments were expensive, and he already had a nice rent-free pad with electricity and free cable. It lacked plumbing, but there was a health club nearby where Spike could sneak in and shower each day. But even if he did not get a new place, he still needed a job to cover food expenses. But he lacked identification, a resume, or references. There was only one business that would take him.

The Magic Shop opened at 10 am on weekdays. Spike got up early, showered, and made it to the store as Anya was opening it up. She was still separated from Xander, and had tried to keep clear of Xander's friends. Thus she did not know about Spike's change. But of all people, she could understand and take it in stride.

"Let me look at you. No blanket, no burning." Anya then put a cross to Spike's forehead as he looked supremely annoyed. She then put two fingers to his neck to feel a pulse. "Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle. You're human. Welcome back!"

"What, that's it? No what a miracle!' or how did this happen?' It's not like this kind of thing happens every day."

"Spike, get over yourself. You went from half demon to fully human. I went from full demon to fully human. And you didn't see me bragging about it. So what is it? Want a job?"

"Well, yes. Was it that obvious?"

"You come here early, with this puppy dog please hire me' look on your face. You don't even slouch. You tuck in your shirt. It's transparent."

"So Anya, how bout it?"

"Sure, you're hired. Minimum wage or whatever. Wait a second. You don't have a Social Security card. You aren't a citizen. You don't have a Green Card. I can pay you whatever I want! No, just kidding. You're not my slave. You're more like, well, my servant."

"How about employee, or co-worker?"

"Stockboy! Yes, you're my stockboy. I could use someone to organize inventory. Welcome aboard, stockboy Spike!"

Spike was not pleased. This was yet another blow to his dignity, if he even had any left. But he knew he could charm Anya, and end this master and servant role playing pretty soon. She may own the store, but he had been the one on top on the table.

Around 5 pm Spike left to go talk to Willow. Anya reminded him he had only been on the clock for seven hours and had not earned a full day's wages. Like he cared. There were a few hours before nightfall, so Spike would tell Willow the important news after they had briefly gone over he midterm material.

After reviewing Medea, Willow said "I don't know. I just can't see how she could kill her own children. I mean, yeah, she was this witch who used her powers to save Jason's neck, and then once he gets home he dumps her for some princess and gets custody of the kids. I'd want vengeance. Any woman would after being treated like that. But her own children?"

Spike answered by saying "the idea is Medea is telling Jason if I can't have them no one can.' It's like when Napoleon invaded Russia, and the people of Moscow burned their own homes rather than let the French have them. Medea was Russian."

Willow thought this over. "Come to think of it, Anya's also Russian. But wait, they had vengeance demons in the ancient world. And Medea was a pretty powerful witch. Couldn't she have summoned a vengeance demon, or cooked up a spell of her own to punish Jason?"

"But Willow, remember that Euripides was writing plays for the male audience which watched them. Women using magic to wreak vengeance on unfaithful men would have scared the audience."

"I get what you're saying. But if the play's for a male audience, why does Euripides make Medea so sympathetic. Why isn't she some psycho bitch out of Fatal Attraction'?"

"Good question. Might even be on your test. Euripides was an artist. He liked to push people's buttons, to agitate. Plus controversy sells. Always has. You write a play which sympathizes with a woman who kills her children, and people talk. Word of mouth helps the box office."

"So Euripides was like the Greek Eminem?"

Spike grimaced. "Wouldn't go that far. Think more along the lines of John Steinbeck, who became rich wrote bestselling books which criticized capitalism. Artists always feel an urge to bite the hand that feeds them."

After finishing this discussion, Spike got down to business. "Willow, there is something you need to tell Buffy. She will be in great danger tonight, and must be prepared for what she will meet."

"Whoa, Giles flashback. You trying to be her Watcher or something?"

Spike grimaced again. "That's the last thing I want to become. I am telling you this because I created the thing which is going to attack Buffy. His name is Alcibiades. He was the first vampire I created."

Spike then took Willow back to late Victorian London. There was a boy named Percy. He was captain of the rugby team, the most popular boy in school. William was an outcast, a ridiculed wimp. Percy picked on him, insulting him at meals and physically intimidating him in the halls. Then William became Spike, and exacted his revenge.

Around nine one evening he went into Percy's dorm room, started insulting the popular boy. Percy thought William had lost his marbles. Spike struck Percy, who tried to fight back, but was quickly overpowered. Spike bit Percy, and made Percy drink Spike's blood. He didn't wait for the burial, and took Percy's body back to Dru's lair, waiting for him to rise.

"I didn't think Percy would make that good of a vampire. I just wanted to make myself his master, order him around, take away his pride. You know, bottom rail on top."

Percy had always been popular with the ladies. But Spike did not know Percy also enjoyed the company of men. To his utmost astonishment, the undead Percy, who took the name Alcibiades – after the Athenian athlete, statesman, warrior, homosexual and hedonist – fell in love with Spike.

Willow smiled in pleasant shock. "I don't believe this! You had a homosexual lover when you were in school!"

"No I did not!," Spike shot back. "Yes, it was the hip thing among rich boys in London at that time, but that wasn't my scene. That kind of thing never turned me on."

After maintaining his innocence, Spike grinned mischievously. "But Angel had a go at Alcibiades on more than one occasion."

"Angel!," Willow gasped. "I never would have suspected."

Spike then elaborated. "Now I'm not saying Angel went both ways, exactly. In the Mediterranean, you're not considered, you know, gay, if you don't receive. To them, it's not a question of gay or straight. It dominance versus submission."

"Kind of like Oz'," Willow responded. "Like prison sex."

Spike tried to clarify. "I guess that's how an American would see it. But it's an idea which goes back to the Greeks and the Romans. Angel went through this whole Greco-Roman phase, became this pseudo-classicist, thought he was Alexander the Great or something. Darla just encouraged it. She called Angel her Greek god. They were so over the top.

"Anyway, when I rejected the spirited advances of Alcibiades, Angel decided to have a go at the boy. Angel saw it as and Anglo-Gaelic thing, the Irishman sticking it back to the English, so to speak. Not like Alcibiades was his first. Angel dabbled in the rough trade. He'd find a tender young morsel, have his way with him, then feed. It was all about power to him. They'd go to their knees and he'd snap their necks."

Spike realized he was drifting off topic. "But that's not relevant to the matter at hand. Just forget I told you that stuff about Angel. Please don't tell Buffy. And for the love of God don't tell Xander! Can you imagine how much he'd love to know this?"

Willow giggled. "Yeah, you're right about Xander. It would be like a birthday present to him. Secret's safe. Lips sealed. Won't tell a soul. Won't even tell someone without a soul."

With that taken care of, Spike got down to the essentials. "Alcibiades is very dangerous. He has killed one Slayer. And he's not your only worry. He has a posse of 11 others, a vampire team, so to speak. He's still a sportsman at heart. They cooperate, fight together, support each other. This separates them from other vampires, and makes them especially powerful.

"Buffy will need all hands on deck. You, Dawn, Xander, Anya."

"What about you?," Willow asked Spike.

"Buffy doesn't want me around. I'd just distract her and inconvenience the rest of you. Besides, I'm not the fighter I used to be."

Spike then went home and Willow raced to Buffy's. It was about an hour before dark. She called Xander and Anya and told them to come to the house, pronto.

Buffy was nonplussed by Willow's briefing. "So this guy was made by Spike. Means he can't be too tough. It's these other 11 vampires I worry about. There's only five of us. But I've seen worse odds."

"But Buffy, three of us aren't even really fighters," Anya cautioned. "You and Dawn can handle yourselves. I don't know what good we are."

Buffy tried to reassure Anya. "You guys have been fighting for years now, and you're all still here. You can handle yourselves. Also, Anya, can you use that teleport power to confuse the vamps? No they see you, now they don't."

"I hadn't thought of that – teleported not for travel but to cause confusion. Neat. I do have power."

Xander then thought of a way to use machines to equalize the fight. "Buffy, vampires don't only fight in cemeteries, right? I mean, this Al guy wants to kill you, so he'll go after you in an open field, like at the park, right."

Buffy didn't see where Xander was going. "Yeah. So?"

"So in a nice clear open field I can drive my truck, mow them down. Won't kill em. But it will make it a lot harder for them to kill us. How bout this. Willow rides in the flatbed. When I knock a vamp down, it will take them a few seconds to get up. Willow gets out and stakes them while they're down."

Buffy was pleasantly surprise by the brilliance of Xander's idea. "I like it. Go with it. The whole mobile assault vehicle thing. Very cool."

Sunnydale is a small town, and there are few places to go at night. People go between their homes and the strip malls off the highways. Or they come home from work. A few go downtown to the Bronze. Almost no one goes to the graveyard or to the parks or playing fields after dark.

Alcibiades stood at the back of his chateau, looking down on the town, watching the people move about. Observing the places where only a Slayer would go. He fancied himself a general surveying the field of battle, waiting for the enemy to show themselves so he could order his troops to engage.

He saw a vehicle enter the park, and counted five people disembarking. So this Slayer had friends. More victims for his soldiers. They could dispatch the Slayer's companions while he went toe-to-toe with her. He was sure of victory in this fight. He had never been scared of women. He thought Slayers were glorified brawlers. The other one he faced wasn't too much trouble.

It did not occur to Alcibiades that the vehicle would be used as a weapon. Even if it had, it wouldn't have deterred him. Once his vampires were hand-to-hand with the Slayer and her companions, the truck would have to hit both of them, and would be as much an advantage as a liability for the humans. His enemy's choice of battlefield did not perturb him, either. In an open field the humans had nowhere to hide.

Also, his vampires had waited long enough. They were thirsting for combat. Alcibiades gathered them together, told them the time was now, and gave a few words of inspiration he had heard someone else say.

"We few, we merry band of vampires, against the multitude of the humans. If we stand and fight, it will be said, by all vampires through all time, that on this night you prevailed against the Slayer, that you triumphed where other, more exalted vampires have failed. Your names shall echo through the chasm of eternity with the names of the greatest heroes and warriors. Achilles, Aneus, Beowulf, Roland, Wellington, and you. And then the land and everything which dwells upon it is yours. Never will so few vampires do so much to so many. Teammates, are you with me!"

The vampires broke into a great cheer, and charged out to the field of battle with the greatest confidence and the highest morale. Meanwhile the humans waited, standing around for about a half hour and getting impatient. This was just how Alcibiades wanted them. He split his forces in half, attacking from north and south simultaneously. First, one vampire appeared on each side. Dawn attacked the one to the north, Buffy the one to the south.

After taking a few blows, each vampire retreated. Buffy and Dawn pursued. Each was ambushed by two additional vampires. Buffy held them off. But Dawn was knocked down and in trouble.

Anya ran to her aid. One of the three vampires attacking Dawn went after her. Right when it was about to hit her, she teleported. But she was not used to teleporting shorth distances, and ended up a quarter mile from the park.

Alcibiades was on Dawn's side of the field, and saw this trick. He knew it was just a trick meant to distract his vampires. He ordered the vampires to ignore her, and finish off Dawn. He sent the two vampires he held in reserve on his front to go after Willow and Xander, to prevent them from helping Dawn.

Now that he had their attention, Xander ran into his truck and Willow hopped on the flatbed. The two vampires pursuing him were stunned. One dove out of the truck's way. Another ran into his left headlight and was knocked to the ground. Xander headed for the two vampires around Dawn. As he drove by them, Willow swung at their necks with a long-handled ax, decapitating one of them. It was Willow's first decapitation, and she was pretty psyched.

"A chariot!," screamed Alcibiades. "How poetic!" At the ancient Olympics, Alcibiades won three gold medals in the chariot races. "And how clever!" He was pleasantly surprised at the ingenuity of these humans. There would be worthy adversaries after all.

Now that he had seen all the enemy's tricks, Alcibiades ran to the south side of the field. There three vampires were still in reserve. He ordered them to the north, to attack the other humans. He gave the same order to the vampires fighting Buffy. She had already killed one of them, and one of the remaining two got away, but the other was not as fortunate. Still, Alcibiades had nine vampires against the other four humans. At the very least, they would keep these humans busy while he took out the Slayer.

Alcibiades was in full battle dress. Black boots. Tight black jeans. A skin tight bright read long-sleeved shirt, with a jagged black line running down each sleeve. They were meant to represent lightning bolts, since the Athenian Alcibiades had a lightning bolt on his shield. As he ran to Buffy, muscles bulging, he looked fearsome. But Buffy was not impressed.

"So what's the deal here? You want to fight me for your boyfriend?," Buffy taunted.

Alcibiades was silent and expressionless. He stood frozen, eyes staring Buffy down. She attacked. He blocked her right jab and threw her to the ground. She rose quickly and came at him with a flying kick. He grabbed her feet, spun her 180 degrees, so she was facing the ground, grabbed her back, and pushed her down to the earth. A cloud of dust rose from the impact.

Buffy was still not impressed. She rose and kept up the taunts. "Honestly, you want him, he's yours. I've already told him to get lost." Alcibiades charged and Buffy eluded him and tripped him, knocking him down for a moment. He bounced to his feet. Buffy continued with the chatter.

"But you must be wondering, how was he? Lemme think. Five hours? Or was it ten hours? That must be fantastic by your standards. I can tell by your jonesing for little Spikey that you've never even known a real man, have you?"

Alcibiades attacked. Buffy parried his blows and landed a few of her own. Alcibiades retreated. Finally, he spoke.

"You don't know the first thing about your boyfriend, do you?"

Buffy screamed "he was never not my boyfriend!" She leaped at him and landed a kick to his chest. He punched, she ducked, and landed three blows of her own. Buffy assumed Alcibiades was talking about Spike. But he was talking about Angel. And what she didn't know about Angel could fill the Oxford library.

Buffy thought she was taking control. But Alcibiades was just warming up. She pummelled him relentlessly, with rapid-fire punches and kicks. Some landed, but he blocked most. He decided to sit back and let her run out of steam. Then he grabbed both her arms and threw her back about fifteen feet. Buffy did a back flip to avoid falling. How adorable, thought Alcibiades.

After decapitating that vampire Willow grabbed Dawn and pulled her onto the truck's flatbed. Xander counted nine vampires arrayed against them. He drove in circles around them, corralling them into a smaller and smaller radius. When they were all bunched together, he charged them from the West. Six vampires scattered, but three were caught in Xander's path.

One of them veered to the left, escaping the truck. Dawn leaped from the flatbed and put the vampire in a headlock while she was still in midair. She pulled him to the ground and snapped his neck.

Xander ran over the other two vampires. He then went in reverse, hitting them a second time. Willow leaped to the ground to finish them off before they could get up. Xander had turned a broom handle into a five-foot spear with wooden points at both ends, so Willow could stake the vampires on the ground while she stood up. One vamp was on it's back, and she was easy. The other vampire tried to get up, but Willow stuck him with the spear's other point.

"I got three! I've never gotten three before! It's, like, a Slayer hat trick!" Xander convinced the exultant Willow to get back on the truck so they could run down the rest.

The vampires were separated into two groups of three. Xander pursued the group to his west. But this isolated Dawn with the other three. She knew she couldn't take them all at once. But she remembered a story Spike told her about his vampire glory days.

Actually, it was the story of the Roman Horatii. Spike just lifted the plot and made himself the hero. In Spike's version, he was fighting three samauri in Japan. He retreated, and they followed, each man at his own pace. Spike turned and fought and defeated each of them individually.

Dawn noticed a hill to her east. She ran to its top. The three vampires followed one after the other. Dawn sent the first vampire back down the hill with a powerful kick. The second vampire charged at a run and grabbed Dawn. She used the vampire's momentum to flip it over. It too tumbled down the slope.

She allowed the third vampire to arrive at the hill's summit unimpeded. She then dodged its blows, landed several of her own, and staked it. She looked down the hill at the first vampire, the one she kicked down the slope. It was making its way up again. She ran directly at it. It retreated. Finding it difficult to backpedal downhill, it turned and ran. Dawn sped downward and staked it from behind.

To Dawn's west Xander chased another vampire. Instead of running it down, he drove up beside it, letting Willow get close enough to stake it with her spear. "Yes!," Xander exclaimed. "Now I know how Patton must have felt."

There were now only three vampires. One took on Dawn. The other two came together and devised a plan to defeat Xander's slaymobile. One vampire would lure the truck. The other would jump on the back of the flatbed and finish off the girl. The two of them would then finish off the driver.

Xander and Willow had never felt like such great warriors. Xander confidently pursued another mark. Willow planned for kill number five. That would make her a Slayer Ace, so to speak.

The vampires' plan worked perfectly. Xander pursued one while the other leaped onto the flatbed. This vampire knocked Willow off the truck and took her ax. He smashed through the cabin's rear window. Xander stopped the truck. He grabbed the ax which was about a foot from his head, ripping it from the vampire's arms.

On the ground the other vampire went to work on Willow. She attacked with elan, but was easily knocked down. The vampire grabbed her by her hair and threw her headfirst into the side of the truck.

Xander stepped out of the truck and beheaded the vampire threatening Willow. But now the vampire which climbed onto the truck jumped down. Xander raised the ax to strike him, but the vampire grabbed its handle. He gave Xander a powerful kick in the ribs, which doubled him over. Willow was still knocked out on the ground. The vampire began to ram Xander's skull into the hated truck.

Xander was helpless to stop the headbanging. But out of the air materialized Anya. She had found her way back, and staked the vamp in the back. He never knew what hit him.

Dawn was in her own dire struggle. She faced an especially diligent female vampire who didn't want to let Alcibiades down. Dawn was still a novice Slayer. She had singlehandedly taken out three powerful vampires. But she was tired, and underestimated her final opponent.

After beating back everything Dawn had, the vampire landed six straight savage blows to the head. Dawn staggered back and fell. But in her moment of triumph, the vampire got sloppy. She; leaped onto Dawn, who reflexively held her stake up, which the vampire fell into.

Meanwhile, Alcibiades began to handle Buffy like a rag doll. He knocked her down three times in a row. "I gather that you've been spending more time shagging vampires than fighting them, eh pet?," Alcibiades taunted. After her third straight fall Buffy did not get right up. Alcibiades lifted her from the ground, held her in the air, and strangled her with his two gigantic hands.

Buffy struggled, but she could not free herself. Her friends had their own troubles, and could not save her. She saw a streaking white light approach, and figured she was dying, this time for good.

But the white light Buffy saw was the moon reflecting off of Spike's platinum hair. He blazed a trail to Alcibiades and staked him in the back. Spike's creation vanished, and Buffy, suspended in midair with nothing to hold her up, fell to the ground. She grabbed her throat and gasped for air.

She looked up, and saw Spike looked down. Her face showed disgust. Disgust that she owed her life to Spike, that her fighting skills had sunk by so much that she had to be saved by the one man she never wanted to see again. The two of them stared intently into each other's eyes for about ten seconds. Realizing Buffy was not at all happy to see him, Spike left without saying a word. None of Buffy's friends saw him. They assumed Buffy killed Alcibiades, and she did nothing to disabuse them of this falsehood.

Dawn lay motionless, stake still pointing up. She had never come this close to losing before. It was sobering and frightening, the first time in her perilous life that she seriously contemplated her own mortality. Buffy went to her, helped her up, said how proud she was of her little sis. The two of them walked to the truck, where Anya was reviving Xander and Willow. Never had a victory left all of them so drained.

Off to the East, where the forest ends and the meadow begins, stood a gaunt figure who had watched the combat intently. He had found his new home.