Under the ethereal glow of the beautiful full moon hanging overhead between the glittering stars, the little town of Sunnydale looked perfect. The endless rows of neatly lined up houses were illuminated by the hundreds of streetlights employed to keep them safe in the dark, and the streets were relatively free of anyone who looked as though they were out to cause trouble. Well, that was how it looked to someone who knew nothing of the town or the activities which occured within it's boundries. To Gabriel, it looked like the mask that it was. For he knew that Sunnydale wasn't the perfect little suburban town every estate agent in the country made it out to be, and he knew, even from where he was stood on the hilltop overlooking it, that those people hanging around weren't actually people at all. They were vampires and they were out looking for a meal. A meal which seemed as though it was going to consist of that pretty blond walking in their direction. Gabriel didn't bother watching the outcome, he knew what would happen. They would surround her, drink her blood, and leave her corpse in some alleyway somewhere for a poor homeless person to discover. He knew because it was what he did every night. After a sinlge backwards glance in the direction of the pure white orb in the midnight sky, he began to make his way down the hill towards the town which boasted it's own Hellmouth. He had a task to do, and this was the only place he could get it done. So, after a weeks travelling across from Ireland, he was here. Ready to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting people of this suburban hell and anyone who got in his way.

The dark was the only place he really felt safe these days. When he was enveloped in perfect blackness, that was where he could think, feel and be without having to fear what anyone thought of him. That was where he was now. The only thing Spike was still aware of was the feel of the cold metallic surface of the bar against his skin. After his third drink of whiskey, he had simply had enough of the glares he was receiving from the demons who at one time would have trembled in his presence, and laid his head down before slowly closing his eyes. There was no one to stare at him here. He had arrived back in town the previous night, just before dawn, and gone straight to bed, against his friend Clem's wishes. The gentle demon had wanted to hear of all his adventures during his time away, only being supplied with the information that he had been to Africa before Spike pursuaded him to leave so he could get some much needed rest. So now here he was, back in his own little safehouse which he had come to more out of habit than anything else. He hated that. Habit was a thing he absolutely despised, it made one predictable and boring, something he had been desperate to get away from all his life. So why didn't he just leave? Because he was in the darkness now. The kind you could only find when you closed your eyes at night before you went to sleep free of worry. Suddenly, his perfect serenity was shattered by the sound of someone sitting next to him on one of the old bar-stools in Willie's Bar and laying their head close to his. "Bugger off." he groused before they had a chance to speak. He was not going to stand for any cheap shots at his pride that night. Anyone made a comment he didn't like and they were as good as dead. "When did you get back?" The owner of the voice's identity took a second to come to Spike in his intoxicated state, but when it did, his blue eyes opened and he sighed. Buffy.

A tiny smile appeared on Spike's lips as he slowly pulled himself upright, an action that was doubled by the Slayer. This was the reason he had come back. For her. Memories of his love for her swam through his mind, and it took all his determination to shake them away and answer her. "Last night," he informed her, retrieving a cigarette from his duster pocket before lighting it and taking a long drag. As she didn't offer any reply, he continued. "Just went away for a while," Spike said uneasily. He didn't cope all that well with silence. Unless he was the one in charge, he favoured conversations which were, well, two sided. "Got my head straight and all that." Buffy nodded mutely, and the vampire had time to notice how drawn she looked, how tired. Something was definitey wrong. "It's Willow." She told him in a strained voice which told him she was struggling not to cry. This wasn't what a Slayer was. A Slayer was strong, capable and confident. Not ready to cry on a vampire's shoulder at the slightest hint of trouble concerning a friend. "Tara got shot. She's dead." Spike frowned. He hadn't exactly been fond of the stammering witch, but then again he hadn't exactly hated her either. Tara had been one of those people who were happy to dwell in the background. "It was Warren." He straightened his back at the mention of that little rat's name. The only useful thing he had ever done was to check if the chip was still working, and even then he had been irritating as hell. "So Warren's a murderer now?" Spike said, thinking out loud. "Was," Buffy corrected him, tears brimming in her eyes even before she had uttered the next sentence to him. "Willow killed him." So Willow was apparenty the new Big Bad in town. Interesting. Funny what could happen when you go away for a bit. Oh well, he'd have time to catch up. In the meantime, there were things he had to attend to. Things he definitely wasn't going to tell Clem about. Things which started with getting out of Willie's delapidated bar and into the real world.Things which ended with the Slayer.

Gabriel had never been to Sunnydale before, but it wasn't too hard to find his way around. Not after he had mentioned who he was looking for, anyway. It seemed everyone knew his target, but everyone seemed to hate him too. So he hadn't changed, then. His search led him to an underground demon bar. The air stank of stale beer as he sauntered inside through the heavy double doors which were in desperate need of another coat of the hideous red paint it was slathered in. A few heads turned at his arrival, teamed with a small amount of whispers, but not that many demons were sober enough to care whether a newcomer had turned up or not. He made straight for the bar, weaving through a group of vampries roaring with laughter, and tapped the barman on the shoulder. The man yelped in fright and whirled around, visably shaking. When he saw who it was, his fear died down. "Jesus," Willie sighed in relief "You shouldn't sneak up on a guy like that." Gabriel smiled, running a hand through his unruly blond hair before speaking. "I'm lookin' for someone, heard you'd be the man to speak to for info." He began, notcing in amusement how the human had to strain to understand his thick Irish accent, only to be cut off. "I don't know where he is." Willie interrupted him in a sudden outburst. He was shaking slighly again, and sweat was beginning to bead on his forehead. "Haven't seen him and I don't know where he's been or whats happened to him." The lie was an obvious one, and Willie found himself wishing he didn't find things out so damned quick. This was one bit of gossip he hadn't wanted to know. As soon as the information had come to him, people from all over had been asking about it, and had alerted it's subject to it's circulation. Now he had been warned to keep it quiet. Or else. Gabriel smiled at the obvious lies and held up a hand to silence the babbling man. He knew who he was looking for had been there, but it looked like he wasn't going to get anywhere asking around anymore. He was going to have to find Spike himself if he wanted to kill him.

An awkward expression fixed on his pale face, Spike began to make his pitch to the Slayer as to why she should let him back into her little circle of friends and their activities. "I know you could never trust me, and you've good reason not to," He started, his mind once again going back to the night before he'd left when he'd...But he hadn't, he told himself decidedly. Why? Because he was whipped. The thought made Spike physically sick, and it showed on his face, although Buffy thought it was for a different reason. "But I want to help," he continued in his most earnest tone, realising they had walked to her home and now stopped outside it. "I want to try and put things right," And did you know, I'm also known as Angel? "I'm tired of being useless." The expression on Buffy's face was unreadable as she forced herself to look into his crystal blue eyes. He looked honest enough, but he wasn't exactly a saint. In fact, he was pretty much famous because he had been the opposite. Still, that was a long time ago, couldn't she just forget that? No. She couldn't. But she could at least let him help, if not because she wanted to forgive him, because Willow was still on the loose. Spike decided that staying silent might not be the best thing if he was trying to set himself back into her good books, so added one last thing. "I know I can never be good, but let me at least try to get halfway there." That decided it. Slip the word 'good' into one of his sentences and he was a changed man; well, vampire. She knew well and good that becoming anything like Angel was one of his worst nightmares, so now he had convinced her he was on a quest for things of the good, she was ready to take him back in without the threat of a stake being driven into his heart. "Alright," she conceeded in a quiet voice, lowering her gaze to the ground before any old feelings had a chance to resurface. "If you want to help, find Willow." Just because she was going to let him help, it didn't mean she had to be nice about it. Spike plastered on his most pleased smile and nodded. "Y'won't regret this!" He called to her as he rounded a corner. As soon as he was out of sight, the innocently pleased smile was replaced by a malicious one. So he had gotten the ball rolling, now it was time to make sure it carried on going.

Well, he hadn't been here in a while. This particular hangout was pretty much reserved for the certified bad-asses of the town, therefore his presence wasn't exactly welcome. As soon as he had stepped through the doors and come down the dirty steps, he was seized by an oversized demon with a really bad skin problem. Spike growled and shook himself free. The demon frowned. "Look who it is, boys," It laughed, leaning back a bit into the adjoining room, and blocking the vampire's way. Spike absently took the time to note that the comment was a bit sexist, as at the moment, the biggest threat in Sunnydale was female, before getting his mind back on task. "Spike!" To his extreme annoyance, this was met with roars of laughter. They wouldn't be laughing for long. He shoved past what seemed to be the bouncer and entered the smoky room which held the 'boys', a large portion of which, he was quick to notice, were actually girls. "What you doing here, runt?" A tall, bulky vampire who went by the name of Bull demanded, standing in front of him to accentuate the difference in height and build. "Business, mate," He announced, hoping that the others noticed the biggest's agitation. Bull had worked for Spike back when he ran the town with Drusilla. "Now be a good boy and run along, daddy needs to talk with the grown-ups." He brushed past the indignant vampire, remarking how easy it was to slip back into his old demeanor, and smiled at the group. "You talk like you mean something," Bull snarled behind him "You don't mean nothing, mate, you're just the Slayer's new pet. You're no better than Angel." Spike cocked his head to one side and clenched his fists. Looked like the guy was going to need a demo of just how much of a something he really was. Then, he really needed to get down to business.

To his credit, Bull deftly blocked Spike's first roundhouse kick, but from then on the fight was pretty much one sided. In fact, Spike would have been surprised if someone told him he had been hit once. He supposed he could thank that weird creature which had 'tested' him back in Africa. Nothing could have come out of that lot without having some new skills to show for it. Punch after punch landed in Bull's bleeding and bruised face, each one more powerful than the last. Spike was silent throughout his assalt, something unusual for him, but for some reason, all he wanted to do was beat the living hell out of something. That something just happened to be Bull. He didn't even want to kill the guy. When he decided the vampire had learnt his lesson, Spike stood up and turned back to the group, once again smiling at them, knowing he was coated in Bull's fresh blood. "Now," he sighed, pulling up a chair at the nearest table and grinning in triumph when the others seated at it shifted away from him. "Which one of you want to do me a favour?" His only answer was silence, so he took that as an invitation to pick someone. The Big Bads weren't as big and bad as they used to be, he thought. Just didn't make 'em like they used to. Back in his day, nobody would take this intrusion without a good fight; now, they just sat there. He stood up again and walked over to a petite brunette who vaguely resembled Drusilla. "How can I help?" She asked in a bored tone, which reminded him more of Buffy than his Sire. He smiled at her confidence, wondering if she was going to put up a fight after all, and sat next to her. "Need to know where Willow is." he told her matter-of-factly, expecting everyone to know who she was by now. Everyone did, by the looks on their faces. The brunette stayed silent. "Where?" he prodded, keeping his tone relaxed and gentle. She glanced around before taking a deep breath. "You know the factory?" She began, but Spike had already gotten up and was on his way out of the door. That was just too simple.

Damn. Gabriel had been running around in circles all night in search of Spike, and always gotten to his destination five minutes too late. Now he waited outside the Slayer's house. Not a safe place to be by anyone's estimation, but it was the place he was told Spike would most likely show up at. According to his sources, the vampire had been sleeping with the Slayer for a while before disappearing, only to resurface a night before his own arrival in Sunnydale. A bit off, that was. A vampire sleeping with a Slayer; but it wasn't as if it hadn't happened before. Buffy had fallen for the charms of Angel a few short years ago, leaving him souless, if memory served. Gabriel wished he could have been there to see everyone reunited again. Drusilla, Spike and Angelus, all back together like it was supposed to be. Well, until Angelus got on the wrong side of Spike and led him to back the opposing team. Maybe that was what caused Spike to start going good? Whatever, he didn't need to dwell in the past, all he needed to do was find him, and kill him. Simple as. However, as Gabriel's gaze wandered to the stars watching over, something in the back of his mind sent out a warning. It wouldn't be that simple. Things never were. He of all people should know that. Not ten years ago, he had been made a fine example of just how complicated things could really get.

For as long as he could remember, he had loved the idea of duels. Not just a brawl, a real organised fight to the death. That was why he made sure he was the best at them. Gabriel travelled all over the world in search of opponents, each time he won feeling more and more indestructable. But it was when he picked a fight with a Brukjat demon that he found out just how wrong he had been. After the fight, the essence of the demon had needed to find another host, it's original being destroyed, and had jumped into his body. The vampiric portion of Gabriel hadn't exactly taken too kindly to this intrusion, and an agonising internal battle had been waged, the result being undecided. Both spirits remained inside of him, and, call him a Freak of Nature, both remained. However, never one to be pessimistic, he took this to his advantage and continued duelling all over the world. The Brukjat had made him stronger. Unfortuantely, this meant that before long he had then run out of opponents worthy of him and his new counterpart. There weren't all that many people who could take on someone who was half vampire, half demon, and live to tell the tale. This had brought him to his old pal, Spike. They said that you only really proved yourself as a vampire when you better your Sire, Gabriel decided killing him would be a whole lot more fun.