Author: Elizabeth Wilde (Gabby Spike)

Title: Blood and Fire

Distribution: Anybody who has my fic, anyone who asks me for it, .net/wilde [my site]

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Angel or Buffy chars. Or the songs. I do own Erin! And anybody else you don't recognize... Uhm, don't sue!

Classification: romance, action, drama, humor

Summary: Doyle and a new Slayer fight a growing attraction while saving the world from the reincarnation of Mordred.

Pairings: Doyle/OFC, Spike/OFC

Rating: R

Spoilers: none

Author's Notes: This story was inspired by The Mists of Avalon by Marrion Zimmer Bradley in case you couldn't figure that out on your own. It's an amazing book, and I think the story came off well too.

Date Completed: uncertain. I believe sometime in 1999 or 2000.

I'm feelin' kinda loose I'm feelin' kinda mean;

I've been feeling kinda wild since I turned seventeen,

Or is it madness?

~Melissa Etheridge "Ain't it Heavy"

The demon's footsteps retreated into the shadows, a small trail of greenish blood the only sign of its presence. Erin Lerner smiled to herself as she listened to the pleasant strains of an enemy fleeing in terror. Whatever the creature was, it wouldn't be coming back to L.A. anytime soon after the beating it had received. /You'll have to do a helluva lot better than that to take down a Slayer, ugly-boy./

Brushing a hand through her short brown hair-a style blatantly borrowed from Sarah McLachlan-Erin looked around to get her bearings. /Should be just around that block.../ Though a sense of direction remained one attribute the young woman did not possess, Buffy's directions had been relatively easy to follow. Erin picked up a stake dropped during the fight and began striding purposefully toward Angel Investigations.

After only a few months as an official Slayer, Erin was already completely at home with her new occupation. A lifetime of training made the transition from bookstore clerk to heroic-fighter-of-evil much easier. /I'm even starting to look the part,/ Erin mused with a glance at her newly-acquired black baby-t and flared jeans. /Buffy must have rubbed off on me more than I thought./ It wasn't that Erin disliked her model-esque counterpart. On the contrary, the two had formed a tight bond during Erin's relatively brief stay in Sunnydale. Still, the newest Slayer was unsure as to how far she wanted their similarities to go.

/The girl doesn't have the cleanest track record ever./ Though Erin admired Buffy's immense strength-both mental and physical-she wanted to keep her life more on the simple side. /I've gone this long without any messy emotional entanglements. I sure as heck don't want to start now./ In the past, keeping people at arms' length had been to preserve her own feelings. Now that every second she drew breath meant another chance to get killed by a heinous creature, Erin saw no reason to drag anyone else down with her. /I'm pretty much a walking time bomb. Nobody deserves to be chained to me when I finally run out of fuse./

Upon finding the correct building, she sprinted up the stairs, then stopped short of throwing the door open herself. /You're working on your complete lack of manners, remember? Just because you don't need to make any new best friends doesn't mean you can't be polite./ Instead, Erin knocked firmly three times. /If they don't answer, *then* I can knock the door down./ She felt something akin to disappointment when the door swung open.

An attractive, dark-haired man of medium height with clear blue eyes stood before her. "You need help?" he asked.

/Oh, sure, he would have an accent. That's one fetish I really should have taken the time to get over before now. Focus. Maybe you can play with the nice boy later./ "I don't, but you do. Where's Angel?" She knew from Buffy's description that the man in front of her was *not* Angel. Forgetting her resolution to be more polite, Erin stepped past the cute Irish guy and entered the small office. A pretty young woman with long brown hair sat nearby, looking at Erin with almost as much disdain as the demon had before she beat it to a bloody pulp.

"He's out," the girl replied shortly. "And unless you need help, you should be too."

"That's okay. I'll wait." Erin sat purposefully down in the nearest chair and glared at the girl while propping her feet up on the nearest desk. /I dare you to get up and try to move me.../

Obviously attempting to get a handle on the situation, the man asked hurriedly, "Who are you?"

"Erin Lerner. I'm the new Slayer. I'm here to help you save the world."

The snippy girl groaned and looked extremely put-upon. "Again?"