Chapter 1

A figure slowly walks through a lonely stretch of a cemetery. As she approaches a mausoleum, she senses something evil near. She reaches behind her back and pulls out a wooden stake. She turns quickly ready to plunge the stake into her opponent's heart. She stopped short when she saw who it was. "Spike, what are you doing here?" She asked with an irritated tone of voice.

"Easy luv' my crypt is near here and I'm out for a bit of violence before bed." He said with a sneer. "Would you like to come back to my place for a bit of that violence?" He asked with a very suggestive look in his eyes.

"I don't have time for you." She said with an exasperated tone in her voice. "I have to finish my patrol and get back to Dawn." Spike tilts his head and smiles as he watches her walk away.

As she continues her patrol, she finds her self at her mother's grave. Instead of being, alone a stranger stood there looking at her mother's grave. As she tries to quietly, move closer the stranger spins quickly around to looks at her. The first thing she notices is his dark brown eyes, which seemed to hold great wisdom and sadness. She then pulls herself away from his eyes to look at the rest of this stranger. His looks are rugged and handsome and his stance was that of a warrior ready for battle.

"Don't you know it is dangerous to be out by yourself this late?" The stranger asked with a knowing smile on his face.

"I can take care of myself." She said with a sneer. "What are you doing here?" She then asked stressing the word here a little forcefully.

"I'm here to meet someone if that is any of your business. Miss?"

"Summers, Buffy Summers and you are?"

Looking at the grave then again at Buffy he asked, "Summers, is she a family member?"

"My mother," she said not liking the fact that this stranger is not answering any of her questions.

Before she could ask any more questions four vampires attacked. Thinking quickly she pushes the stranger away from what will be a big battle. As Buffy looks at each of the vampires, she recognized one. He wore blue jeans and an old beat up cowboy hat. She remembered him as Gorch and he seemed to be in charge.

"Encircle the Slayer," Gorch orders. "We have been preparing for you. You won't win this time." He growled. What he did not see was a shadow moving closer as the vampires prepared to do battle. Nor did they pay any attention to the man who was getting out of the way.

"Well Gorch I see you are no smarter then you were when your wife got dusted." Buffy mocked as she saw the stranger stand and lean on a headstone.

Gorch gave an animalistic growl as he attacked. Gorch grabbed her right arm, so she beat him with her left fist. By the time, Buffy had hit Gorch for the third time the dark shadow had moved in and grabbed him.

"Now this is my kind of violence." Spike said as he tossed Gorch six feet away. "Mind if I help Slayer?" He asked as he put on his vampire face and not waiting for an answer, he attacks one of the vampires that were left.

While whole battle was going on everyone had forgotten the stranger. He moved to get a better view. This meant that when Spike tossed Gorch, the vampire landed very close to the stranger. The strange then pulls out a sword from under his long black trench coat.

As Gorch gets to his feet, he pulls out a Bowie knife from out of left boot. He only takes a step towards the fight when he finds a sword at his throat. "Who the hell are you?" Gorch asked as he slowly turned to see who was holding the blade.

"I'm a friend of Buffy's and I won't allow you to hurt her." He said with a smile though he did not lower the blade nor takes his eyes off the vampire. Gorch looks at the battle then back at the blade holder. He quickly decides to throw the knife at the stranger. Just as the knife leaves Gorch's hand, his head is cut from his shoulders. The sight of a vampire turning to dust still surprises him. He then puts his sword away and looks at the knife in his chest.

When Buffy and Spike finish dusting the other three vampires they look over where Gorch had been. They see the man pull the knife from his chest and sink to the ground. Rushing over to the man's side she shouts, "Spike give me something to help stop the bleeding!"

Spike looks around and sees nothing for Buffy to use. With a grunt, he removes his black duster and then his red shirt. This left him standing in his black tee shirt and black jeans. "Here," he said as he thrust the red shirt at Buffy. Spike then put back on his duster.

"We have to get you to a hospital." She said as she tried to get him to stand.

"No, I can't go to a hospital." He said between choughs. "Please take me to your house."

Against her better judgment, she said, "all right. Spike get his left arm and help me." The walk home was not an easy one because they were almost dragging the man. "Every one please be quite I don't want to wake my sister." Buffy said as they reached her porch.

"No problem," the man gasped. "I think I'm going to pass out now." He then went completely limp.

Quickly and quietly, Buffy and Spike gets the man into the house and onto the couch. "Get me some bandages to stop the bleeding!" Buffy orders.

"Buffy that won't be necessary." Spike said walking to the door.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked getting up and stopping him before he left the house.

"That man did not just pass out on your porch, he died." He said pointing at the couch. "I heard his heart stop." From behind them, they heard the sounds of someone gasping for air. Turning to look at the couch Spike said in a confused state, "you had better check on him. I hear his heart."

Moving to the couch, she noticed that the blood had stopped flowing. Wanting to look at the wound, she takes the red shirt and wipes away the blood. She notices that there was no wound. When the man's eyes opened Buffy asked, "what the hell are you?" Standing up and moving away from the couch she continues. "I've seen fast healing but nothing like that.