Disclaimer: ARRGGGH! The legal bit! Okay, okay! I hold none of the rights to the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any of its characters and locations. I am writing this solely for the entertainment of others and no money whatsoever has, or ever will exchange hands regarding this story. That oughta make matters clearer. Also, if you are interested in posting any part of this fic elsewhere, for whatever reason, please ask me first at rab_ruth@darkfox.freeserve.co.uk

Dragonslayers Of Sunnydale

Prologue:

Close Encounter

He walked along the harbour feeling, as he had for the past week or two, like his heart had been ripped from his chest. The night air would have frozen him stiff, were he not already cold as stone.  He took a swig from the hip flask in his hand, hoping the bourbon would dull his pain, and help him get over his loss. If anything though, the drinking made it worse. The memories remained fresh in his mind in spite of his attempts to get rid of them.

He remembered pulling out the bloody knife that had been stabbed into his back and dropping it to the ground, standing between Dawn, who was at the edge of this 'walkway' which protruded from the top of Glory's tower, her hands tied to metal posts at either side of her by ropes, and the strange man known only as Doc.

"You don't come near the girl, Doc." Spike had warned him.

"I don't smell a soul anywhere on you." Doc said in disbelief, "Why do you even care?"

Spike was quick to give him his answer, "I made a promise to a lady."

"Oh?" Doc said, before shooting his long tongue out at Spike, who dodged to the side. Doc dropped to his knees and pulled Spike's legs out from under him, so that he fell to the floor. Dawn watched anxiously as they grappled. They got to their feet, Doc holding on to Spike, pinning his arms behind him.

"Then I'll send the lady your regrets." Doc told Spike in amusement.

Spike's eyes went wide as he looked at Dawn, realising at that moment, he'd failed.

"No…" He whispered, just before Doc threw him over the edge of the walkway, sending him to the ground below, where he landed on a pile of bricks.

Later, as the portal opened, he came around to find a crack opening in the ground beneath him, and rolled to the side to get out of the way. By the time he managed to get his feet, it was too late.

He looked up to see a figure jumping from the top of the tower, plummeting down through the portal. As the figure fell from the portal, it shrank away to nothing and the now lifeless body landed on top of a pile of debris. Now he could see who it was.

It was Buffy.

Spike bit his lip, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to escape his eyes. He was ready to take another swig from the hip flask, but as he lifted it to his lips he realised how light it felt. He held it upside down and nothing came out.

Bugger, Spike thought. He needed something, something to take his mind off the pain, so he began searching his duster pockets, finding a packet of cigarette and his Zippo.

He put the cigarette butt between his lips and flipped open the lid on the lighter, striking his thumb across the flint to ignite it. The flame burned and then the wind picked up at his back, extinguishing it. Spike tried again, holding the lighter closer, the wind grew slightly stronger, dousing the flame yet again. 'Sodding wind.' He thought, sighing in exasperation before trying a third time with the lighter. Again the wind put the flame out. He scowled at that, removing the cigarette from his lips again and throwing his eyes to the heavens in exasperation, feeling a slight breeze blowing in his face as he brought his head back down.

Wait a sec… Spike thought…a breeze blowing in his face? But he could feel the wind blowing behind him, a warm, moist wind… No…not wind… He realised, his eyes going wide as the realisation came to him.

Something breathing… right down my bloody neck.

The ground shook beneath him as something landed behind him. He could feel it now, a presence, a dark presence, darker than any he'd felt before.

Filled with dread, he slowly, almost reluctantly, turned his body around to face whatever it was, and found himself staring into large, yellow, reptilian eyes.

The eyes of a dragon.

"Bloody hell…" He muttered. If it were even possible for a vampire's blood to go colder, Spike's would have at the sight of the thing. It seemed to be studying him, as if unsure what it was looking at, sniffing at him as one would sniff food they thought had gone off. Nervously, Spike held out his cigarette shakily and asked in a quiet voice, "Hey mate, got a light?"

Whether the dragon understood him or not, it reared it's head back a moment and let off a deafening, bloodcurdling roar, right in his face. It was hard to tell if it was pissed or not, as the ridges above it's eyes gave it a constant cross-eyed expression. Spike was no wimp, but being faced with this creature and hearing that thunderous noise was enough to make even him turn on his heels and run.

So he ran. He didn't really care where to, just as long as he got away from that thing. Looking behind him, he became further panicked when he realised the dragon had taken to the air and was flying after him. A hiss could be heard as it drew a breath, just before it spewed fire upon the ground below, while it continued to pursue Spike.

Looking back to see the stream of flames flowing towards him, Spike snapped his head back towards the path ahead in terror, picking up the pace as much as he could, trying to reach a stack of crates up ahead. As he looked back ever few seconds, he could see the flames pouring closer and closer. Out of habit more than from lack of oxygen, Spike found himself puffing and panting in fear. The flames were dangerously close now, almost touching the back of his duster as it fluttered behind him.

Reaching the stack of crates, he took cover behind them, crouching down and pressing his back against the wooden wall they created, only one part of his body was sticking out as the fiery breath reached the crates, his hand. As the fire rolled along the edges of the crates all around him, Spike was just quick enough to pull his hand clear as the flaming breath moved on ahead, and as he looked at the hand, making sure it was still there, he found the cigarette that he had been holding in it had been lit by the flames.

Relaxing a moment as the dragon flew overhead, ceasing its exhalation, he held the cigarette out towards the dragon as it flew forward of him and said, "Huh, thanks mate!" Then he took a long puff from it as he watched the dragon prepare for another pass. He took a moment to savour the tobacco; in the same short moment he stood up, still pressing his back against the crates, and looked around, considering his options.

Walls of flame blocked off he path he had just taken, the stack of crates he'd taken cover behind formed an L-shape, so further stacks of crates blocked off the water until the way out to the next pier. He could probably just go back the way he came and maybe take the heat, but the flames would catch onto him and he might burn into a cloud of dust before he could reach the water. The dragon had been smart too; as Spike looked around he could see that the other ways out of the harbour had fires blocking them too. Spike exhaled despondently, there was one other option, it could work, or it might just be suicide.

As the dragon came round for it's second attack run, Spike briefly considered just giving up, the painful memories that had brought him here in the first place still eating away at him.

But he couldn't die, someone had to warn the Slayerettes, so they could stop the creature, because a dragon in town was bad news for demons and humans alike. But there was something else too…

"I made a promise to a lady."

"I'm counting on you…to protect her."

"Till the end of the world…even if that happens to be tonight."

"No…" Spike said through gritted teeth. He couldn't give up; he had to warn them, to safeguard Dawn.

Taking his cigarette and throwing it aside, Spike steeled himself for a moment, then pushed off from the crates, sounding a battle cry as he ran straight ahead, making a mad dash for the pier. As the dragon swooped down closer to the ground it let off another of its ferocious roars to match Spike's cry. But Spike wasn't going to let it faze him this time, he ran on regardless. Even as the dragon let loose with another volley of its hot breath, he continued to charge onwards. As the flames rushed like a wave towards him, Spike grew closer and closer to the turn into the pier.

Then, just as he reached the turn, the flames reached him. Yet he continued to run down the pier, the dragon continuing to train it's breath on him as it approached, flying closer to the ground. Then it aimed straight at him as it flew close to the ground, and the flames engulfed him.

Even as his clothes caught fire and his body began to cook, he ran to the edge of the pier and lunged forward, throwing himself towards the water. The dragon saw what he was doing, ceased its breath and landed near the edge where he had jumped from mere seconds ago. It's mouth snapped forward to grab onto the one part of Spike's body that was not yet submerged, his flaming leg. The dragon's teeth clamped onto the exposed limb just in time and it moved to pull out its prize, but came away with nothing…except for the mouthful of ashes that were left behind as the limb vaporised from being on fire for too long.

What little ash the dragon hadn't caught in its mouth fell to the water's mirror-like surface, as a few smaller particles of ash floated to the surface from the depths below.

Whether the dragon was pissed or not before, it was certainly pissed off now. It's prey, whether dead now or not, had gotten away, and so it roared furiously at the loss of a good meal, before taking off and letting loose with it's napalm breath on everything that was nearby at the time. Boats, ships, crates, offices; nothing in the nearby harbour was safe from the dragon's wrath.

Nothing.

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Author's Notes:

Okay, let me just clear up a few details here. I'd describe the genre of this fic to be an action/adventure/angst story; the action/adventure part is of course the 'dragon' story, which will be the main plot of the fic. The angst part deals with the recent death of Buffy Summers and the effect it has on the Scooby Gang members.

I'm also gonna try and include some foreshadowing for events that occurred later in Season Six, and may also include little teasers for a fanfic project I'm working on with my good friend Ellie-18, which we have called the Unofficial Season Seven.

By now, the real season seven of Buffy has already started, but we'll probably still have a crack at the idea anyway.

Also, if anybody is curious as to what happened to the other 'creatures' that came out of Glory's portal in 'The Gift', then I have my own theories about that too. Please let me know whether you'd like me to explain it in a flashback for this story, or as a separate one-shot fic.

I'd like to take this opportunity to give special thanks to Ellie for being my beta-reader for this fic.

Chapter One will follow shortly, since I already have it written. However, I am still trying to get started on Chapter Two, so there may be a bit of a wait for that one.

Hope you enjoyed this little prologue, please send feedback so I know to keep working on the story.

Cya l8r folks!