Chapter One: Stabbing and Darkness

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from BtVS or Angel. Joss Whedon is a god! I do however own Rebecca, Hayley, and McKenna and would appreciate it if no one takes them. Thank you!

Spike crept out of the bar as Buffy began to pummel Willy for information. He chuckled to himself and began to swagger down the back alley, taking out a cigarette and lighting up. The moon was full and a cool wind whistled through the trees lining the street. "It's a bloody good night in Sunnyhell," he sang into the night.

After walking half-way toward the Magick Box, Spike paused and frowned, his hands on his hips. "I'm bored." He glanced around, turning a complete circle. "I wanna kill something," he mumbled to no one in particular. "Oh come on! Won't the soddin' demons come out to play?" he called out, his voice carrying over the wind.

As if in answer to his question, a woman's scream filled the night. Spike's eyes flashed gold, a grin cutting across his face. "Bloody good show mate!"

Spike tore down the street, his boots barely brushing across the black cement. Sniffing the air, he recognized a scent. "Slayer!" Buffy's scent just made Spike move faster, afraid that she would kill whatever demon had decided to show its ugly face in her town before he even had the chance to get a blow in.

He reached the demon just as Buffy began to pummel it. Spike jumped into the fray, shoving the victim toward the slayer to confuse her for a second. She glared at him, furious. But as she saw that he was quickly gaining the upper hand, she nodded slightly and left, the young girl in tow, Buffy's eyes promising that she would return.

With Buffy and that bird out of the way, Spike held back slightly to study the demon. It looked like a Gorkes demon. Or something much like it if he weren't mistaken. He had always thought it to be the biggest ugly he had ever come across. With a very large face and long arms, he reminded Spike of an orangutan. Except for the fact that this demon had one feature he hadn't seen on the last Gorkes. On the end of the long arms were two needlelike swords that dripped with something that Spike really didn't want to get on himself.

The Gorkes demon charged at Spike, its swords pointed straight out. "Whoa mate! Watch where you're pointing those bloody things!" Spike dived out of the way just in time. He turned and the demon sent an upper cut straight to his jaw. Spike flew back into a pile of god knew what. Slowly, Spike got to his feet, game face out and ready. "Now that was going too bloody far mate."

Spike charged, fists flying. The demon blocked as well as he could but Spike was just too fast. Finally though, as Spike tried to push his fist through the demon's face, he in turn shot his sword through Spike's chest. The whole sword snapped off of the demon's hand and he howled in pain. Then, as Spike fell to his knees, his hands gripping the sword, the demon jumped over the building and into the sewers, favoring his injured hand. Spike stared at the sword coming out just under his heart and was able to make one final conscious thought. "Bloody things made of… wood." Then everything went black.

Buffy slowly walked with the young woman, trying to lead her away from the encounter. "Where do you live?" The girl looked at Buffy like she had spoken Latin or something. "Your house; where is it?"

Completely ignoring the question, the girl looked at Buffy as if seeing her for the first time. "Who are you?"

The slayer smiled slightly to her before replying, "Just someone who's got your back." The girl seemed to think on this for a moment before she nodded. When they reached a small blue house, she stopped. Buffy gazed at the house, trying to figure out what it was that was giving her the chills. "This your place?" she asked. At the young woman's nod, Buffy slowly backed away, allowing the girl to rush up the walk and into the house, locking the door behind her.

Buffy had just realized what was giving her chills so bad, "white picket fences," when she heard the demonic howl. Sighing and shaking her head, she took off in the direction of the howl.

After the howl went quiet, Buffy heard something that made her pick up speed. She heard silence. Which meant one of two things: Spike had slayed the demon or…

"Spike!" Buffy quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed Giles' house. After it rang a few times, Buffy heard her best friend's voice on the other end. "Hey Will. Get some healing magick ready. I'm on my way." After she turned off her cell, she saw that Spike had regained consciousness.

Spike's vision slowly cleared and he saw the slayer leaning over him. "Slayer?" He tried to sit up but found that she was forcing him to stay down. "What the…"

Quickly, Buffy yanked the sword out of Spike and tossed it away. Spike growled and fell back, the gapping hole in his chest burning. "What happened, Spike?"

Spike cursed under his breath and tried to explain, hiding his pain as much as possible. "The bloody demon stabbed me nearly through the heart. Would have dusted me too, if he hadn't had such poor bloody aim." He cringed as the pain slowly took over, forcing him to quit speaking.

Suddenly his eyes shot open and he stared at Buffy, even as his vision began to dim to black. "Hold on Spike. Hold on," was the last thing he heard before he was lost to the world once more.