Another day, another demon. Buffy sighed in exasperation and shifted her stance slightly, repositioning her axe so that it would easily swing to the level that would decapitate anything that emerged from the portal. Crawling out of the hole in the air was a creature that could only be described as–
"Disgusting!" exclaimed Anya.
Eyes rolling, Buffy turned, hefting her axe, to face her friends, who had congregated behind her and were watching eagerly. "Fantastic," she muttered under her breath, "there was nothing on TV so you need me to entertain you?"
"Geez, Buff," replied Willow as Buffy spun back around and began hacking at the monsters, "it's not like we've never come on patrol with you before."
"Hello? I'm a little bit busy here!" Buffy grunted as she sliced the head off a particularly nasty demon.
Just as she finished
off the last one and was about to continue her tirade about her
friends showing up randomly, Spike burst in, raising his hands in
surrender at Buffy's threatening gesture.
"Kill me now and
you'll never find out my information!"
"Leave me alone!" Buffy exclaimed.
"Maybe we should–" Dawn let the rest of the sentence hand when Buffy turned her "you're-already-in-trouble" glare on her.
"No," she said firmly, "we'll figure it out ourselves."
"Or," said Anya in her typical tactless way, "we could not get killed."
Practically able to taste his victory, Spike swaggered forward.
"Quit following me, I will never sleep with you!" Buffy whispered fiercely as she pinned Spike to the wall with an arm pressed against his neck.
"Really, 'cause I thought maybe later…"
Spike was spared punishment when Willow's squeak caught Buffy's attention. Towering in the window was the silhouette of a monster. Unwaveringly, Buff turned and hurled her axe through the window, burying it in the creature's chest.
"Vampire slayer: one; icky monster: zero," murmured Dawn into the silence.
"Willow! Xander! You–" with a glare at Spike, "go," commanded Buffy.
"Zombie," Dawn pointed out helpfully as they stepped over the body, and Buffy grabbed her arm and headed home, rolling her eyes for what was, unfortunately, probably not the last time that night.
