A/N: I felt bad for leaving the last chapter at such a cliffhanger, so without further waiting, here's Chapter 4…

Buffy felt completely at peace.

The sand between her toes was warm and soft. The ocean breeze was cool. In the distance, a sea gull was making some noise, and the only other sound she could hear was the relaxing calm of the ocean. She closed her eyes and listened. A wave crashed in and retreated. After a short lull, another wave came rolling in.

This felt like heaven.

Buffy loved the ocean, but being here wasn't the only reason she felt so relaxed and content. She opened her eyes and looked at the man sitting next to her. His sunglasses were dark, and the smile on his face told her he was just as relaxed as she was.

"Put on some more sunscreen. You've gone from being too pale to looking like a lobster," she told him with a laugh, then shrieked as a wave came in, splashing her ankles. The water was cold. Then all she could do was laugh…

"Buffy had a seizure," Dr. Drake explained to the worried group outside the ICU.

"Is she going to be alright?" Angel asked.

"She's stable for now. Look, I know what happened back there seemed a little terrifying, but it's actually not uncommon for patients with TBI to have seizures."

Xander looked to Willow, confused. "Will, what's TBI mean?" he whispered.

"Traumatic brain injury," she whispered back, hating those three little words.

"Will she have another one?" Riley asked.

"She could. But we'll continue to monitor her."

"And if she does…have another one?" a worried Giles asked.

"If the seizures become more frequent or severe, it will hamper her recovery. But for now, like I said, she's stable, and that's good."

Riley walked away from the group and stared through the window, looking at Buffy. She wasn't seizing anymore, but she was just as much in a coma as she was a few minutes ago.

"Do you think she'll wake up soon?" Willow asked the doctor hopefully.

The doctor shrugged. "She might. For now we just wait and see. I'm sorry I can't give you a better answer than that. I know the waiting is difficult."

"Dr. Drake, Mr. Alderson is asking for you again," a nurse said, interrupting their discussion.

"Don't worry. We'll do everything we can," the doctor said, then walked away to tend to his next patient.

"Don't worry," Xander muttered, mocking the doctor. "Easy enough for him to say."

Outside the ICU, Angel watched Buffy through the glass. She looked the same as before. Small. Weak. Not the Buffy he was used to seeing. He clenched his hand into a fist, wishing that last vampire had not gotten away. If Angel saw him again, he'd finish the job.

Riley was sitting with her again, holding her hand. The boy hardly left her side. Angel couldn't blame him for loving Buffy, even though a part of him seethed with jealousy. He wanted to be the one holding her hand, but it obviously wasn't his place anymore.

Angel felt a hand on his shoulder and looked behind him to see Cordelia.

"Hey," she said, a half-hearted smile on her face.

"Hey."

"You doing okay?"

Angel looked back to the window. "I thought…I thought she was, when she…" Angel couldn't finish his thought, but Cordelia understood what he was trying to say.

"I know," she said, placing her hand over his. "We were all a little scared there for a moment. But Buffy's fine."

"As fine as someone in a coma can be."

"You've just got to give her a little time, but she'll be okay. She's the Slayer, you know?"

Angel looked at her, a questioning look on his face. "She's still human, Cordy."

"Well sure, but you and I both know that she isn't exactly normal. I've been thinking about it. She has all those freaky healing powers, right? Buffy gets bruised, and then the next day, poof! It's all gone. And a brain injury…well, it's not like a little cut or scrape. The more serious the injury, the longer it takes for it to heal. I say we give her a few days, let her recover. And soon enough, she'll be back to the same Buffy we all know and love. If only every coma patient was lucky to be a slayer, huh?"

"Faith is still in a coma," Angel said softly.

The smile on Cordelia's face fell. "Oh. Right. I uh…I sort of forgot about her."

Angel turned to Cordelia, gave her a half-hearted smile. "It's a nice thought though, that Buffy could heal herself."

"I do know one thing for sure."

"What's that?"

"Buffy wouldn't be alive at all if you hadn't found her in time."

"Did I?" Angel stared at Buffy again, picturing her in the cemetery the night before. Would he ever get that image out of his mind?

"That's what the doctor said. If you had found her a half hour later…"

She was alive at least, Angel reminded himself. At least she was still alive, and she still had a chance of recovery.

"Angel?"

Angel turned around, seeing Wesley standing behind him. "Yeah?"

"I think you should talk to Mr. Giles now, and you'll want to hear what he has to say as well."

Angel nodded, took one more look at Buffy, then followed Wesley to the waiting room.

"Hey, wait up," Cordelia said, trailing behind. "I'm part of the AI team too, you know!"

Giles was silent and his face etched with worry lines as Angel recounted his run-in with the warrior vampires.

"I don't have to tell you what this means, do I, Giles?" Angel asked.

Giles shook his head. "No. This would definitely appear to be the work of a master vampire, and it makes sense he would send his strongest after Buffy. But it couldn't be…I mean, it's not possible that it's—"

"No. The Master you're thinking of is gone, for good. But that doesn't mean there aren't more powerful vampires out there."

"And of course, he decided to come to Sunnydale," Cordelia remarked.

"They're drawn to the Hellmouth's energy," Giles explained.

"So I've heard," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes.

"I paid our friend Willy a visit. He says that business has never been better, vampires and demons alike. Has there been anything else unusual going on lately?"

"Well, a few weeks ago, Buffy encountered a Polgara demon on a routine patrol."

"What's a Polgara?" Cordelia asked.

"It's a rather nasty demon with skewers in his arms," Wesley said.

"And quite dangerous too," Giles added.

"But Buffy handled it?" Angel asked.

Giles nodded. "She killed it, yes, although Riley unfortunately got the brunt of the attack. Fortunately his injury wasn't as serious as it looked."

"Riley was with her?" Angel couldn't stop himself from asking. He was glad Buffy wasn't patrolling alone all the time, so why was he so jealous?

Because you're supposed to be the one patrolling with her.

"Never mind. Not important," Angel said before Giles could even reply.

"The Polgara demon was dangerous enough, and then last week she had a run in with a Mohra demon down at the beach."

Angel's head shot up at the mention of it. "A Mohra demon?"

Giles nodded. "Yes. Assassin demons, and they're known for hunting down warriors."

"I believe they also need salt to live which would explain their location by the ocean," Wesley said.

"I know what a Mohra demon is," Angel said in a low voice.

Giles looked at Angel. "Oh, that's right. I suppose you do. I remember now. Buffy mentioned seeing you kill one."

"You've seen one of these in action, Angel?" Wesley asked.

Cordelia glanced at Angel, seeing him flinch slightly.

"Yes. Last fall. Giles, did Buffy only see the one, or were there more?"

"There were more, actually. There was a small nest of them in one of the caves nearby."

"They didn't regenerate, did they?" Angel felt a sense of panic. "You have to be careful with Mohras. If not killed properly, they'll regenerate themselves and come back stronger."

"No, Buffy knew how kill them."

Angel felt his panic lessen. "Good." He wondered, though, how exactly Buffy knew how to kill it. The second time the Mohra crashed through his window, Angel killed it in no time. Had Buffy noticed the jewel on its forehead was the key to destroying it?

"So let me see if I understand correctly," Wesley said. "In just the last few weeks, Buffy has encountered a Polgara, a group of Mohras, and now these brutal warrior vampires."

"Yes, that about sums it up," Giles answered.

"You know what's unusual?" Wesley said, pondering aloud. "It's my understanding that the vampire and demon populations are usually at odds with each other. And if that's the case, why the sudden united front against the Slayer?"

"Something's obviously uniting them," Angel said.

"Or someone," Wesley said.

Giles sighed. "I knew I had a bad feeling about all this."

Cordelia, who had been silent for most of the conversation, looked from Wesley to Giles, then to Angel, and wondered why they all had such worried expressions on their faces. "I don't get it. Someone's always trying to kill Buffy. That's not news. What makes these demons any different than the rest of them?"

Angel was the one to answer. "Because these aren't your run of the mill attacks, Cordelia. And these have all been assassin demons. Someone is specially trying to eliminate Buffy. She could be in great danger right now. Giles, we need to make sure no one gets to her. Someone needs to stay with her at the hospital at all times."

"Wait a second," Cordelia said, a thought suddenly occurring to her. "Maybe their intention wasn't to kill her at all."

Wesley glanced at her with a questioning look. "What do you mean, Cordelia?"

"Think about it. If their intent is to get the slayer out of the way, then what good would killing Buffy do? All that would happen is that another slayer would be called, right? What better way to get a slayer out of the picture than by beating her into a coma? She'd still be alive, so no new slayer would be called. And now you've got two slayers, Buffy and Faith, out of commission. And that means—"

"The Hellmouth has no Slayer," Giles said, finishing her sentence. "You might be right about that, Cordelia. Angel, were there any bite marks that you saw?"

Angel shook his head. "No, but now that I think about it, I'm surprised there weren't. I don't think vampires like that would pass up the opportunity to feed on a Slayer. But I still think we should err on the side of caution though. If their intention was to kill Buffy, whose to say they won't try to come finish the job?"

A/N: Thanks again for reading, everyone! Some of you mentioned you had a few questions. I think any questions you have will be answered throughout the story, but just in case you're still a little confused…

This is sort of an alternate version of Season 4. All of the events up to "Pangs" have happened. After that is where it sort of goes off-canon. I try to stick to canon whenever possible, so not everything is entirely different, but some things have been changed for the purpose of my story. Some things major, like Joyce dying and Faith still being in a coma. Other things…minor. Okay, so I know Polgara demons weren't exactly "assassin demons" like Mohras, but they look downright scary to me! I think they'd be perfect for it lol.

As for "Angel", the story occurs sometime after the season 1 finale. Most of the events from the show have happened, with the exception, obviously, of Faith, as in my story, she never came out of her coma and therefore, never went to L.A.

There are a few other changes as well (for both shows), but I don't want to give everything away just yet….until Chapter 5! :)