AN- Huge apologies for the delay in writing, but school's really been kicking my ass recently and I have exams throughout May so I probably won't be able to fully update until the last week or so. This chapter was pretty much very quickly typed up, so please excuse any spelling mistakes or grammar and that. I hope whoever's reading is enjoying the story, and please leave a review.

Disclaimer- See chapter one.

Soldier

Chapter Four

Xander had to return to the group as quickly as he could. If the others suspected anything in the least, he'd be forced to reveal what had happened to him. Not something he was looking forward to. At all.

He slid down the stairs and threaded through the crowd, careful not to bump into anyone and possibly tick them off. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. His hand went to his gun as he turned around to face them.

"Hey," said the shy blond Willow had introduced him to earlier. What was her name? Zara? No, it was Tara, or so he hoped.

"Hey," he said, smiling down at her. She seemed like a nice person, a little shy and unsure of herself, but nice all the less.

"We were getting worried about where you had got to." She said to him, frowning slightly at him.

How long had he been upstairs? He wandered, it couldn't have been that long, could it?

"I was just--" He didn't get to finish his sentence as someone barreled into him from behind, forcing him against Tara. Her hands came up to steady them both and when she touched his chest, he felt bolts of magic rip through him.

A voice shouted in the dark.

Tires screeched in protest.

A bullet bit through flesh and bone.

Blood sprayed out of a woman's chest as she collapsed to the ground.

Dead.

Xander shoved himself away from Tara and stumbled back, eyes wide in a mixture of fear, surprise and pain. He was too stunned to move. Memories of that night had turned him to stone. He could remember that time only too well. The car…the street…

His first kill.

Shit, he muttered inwardly, realizing she must have seen the same thing he did. He scanned the crowd in front of him for any sign of the blond girl, but couldn't see her anywhere. She must have slid off when he was dazed, he realized.

"Damn it!" he cursed. She was a witch. This night probably couldn't get any better, he thought, as he made his way over to where the others were.

"I've got time for a quick patrol before I head home." Buffy was saying as Xander rejoined the group. Her gaze rested on him, a slight frown flitting across her face. "What took you so long?" she asked, almost carelessly.

"There was a queue," he replied, gesturing over his shoulder. He reached for his drink and sat down next to Buffy when he noticed Willow talking quietly with Tara on the couch. "What's going on?" he asked, frowning.

"Nothing." Buffy said, reaching for her coat. "I just have to get home early. I have work in the morning." She looked at Willow. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Willow nodded with a smile. "I have Oz here to keep an eye on me. And there's Forrest, too," she frowned at the man in question. "If he ever wakes up."

"Am 'wake." Forrest mumbled, rolling over onto his side so that his back was to the group.

"Okay, I'm off." Buffy said, "I think I'll swing past Green Gates on my way home."

"Green Gates?" Xander asked, curious. "My apartment's not far from there. Mind if I join you?"

"Sure." Buffy replied, heading off.

"See you guys later." Xander said as he followed his old friend. Willow smiled at him before turning back to Tara. He lsot sight of them in the crowd.

"I thought you went to college," he said, once they were outside. He pulled his coat closer against the cold, automatically falling into step beside her as they headed down the back alleys.

"Gotta pay the bills somehow," she replied. He paused and watched as she walked on ahead. Hadn't her mother left her anything apart from the house? He really needed to get some answers out of her. Straight answers, preferably. In particular, answers that told him more about what had happened between her and Finn.

"So, how far is your place from the cemetery?" Buffy asked, jerking him out of his thoughts.

"About half a block," he replied, glancing over his shoulder. There was something weird going on tonight, he could feel it. It itched under his skin.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked when he cricked his neck.

Shit, he'd forgotten he never used to do that. It only happened when he was really, really nervous, like right now. He lived no where near Green Gates cemetery, in fact, he now lived on the other side of town.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered as they crossed an intersection and headed into the cemetery.

Green Gates was one of the more recent cemeteries that had been built in Sunnydale. The land sloped slightly down to what Xander presumed was a river or stream of some kind. Idly, he wandered what was down there as Buffy lead him along the path.

"You live on the other side, right?" she asked as the path began to climb uphill. Xander turned round when he sensed a presence behind him, and froze when he saw the vampire sitting on a headstone to his right.

"Er… Buffy?" he croaked.

The vampire grinned at him, sensing his discomfort, and then looked up at the slayer. "Hello, kitty," the demon purred.

Xander wanted to glance over his shoulder at Buffy, but didn't want to take his eyes off of the vampire in front of him.

"What do you want?" Buffy's cold voice rang out.

"My little boy's having a party," the vampire pouted, staring at the ground. "You're going to miss it. Do you know who's going to be there?"

"Who?" Buffy asked, descending the path to look the demon in the eye.

"All your little friends," the vampire said, she leapt off of the headstone and began spinning round in a circle, arms out wide and singing to herself. "They'll be dancing around and around and around. The witches, the wolf and the killer will all be there, but the slayer will not." The vampire stopped spinning suddenly, and fixed her eyes on Buffy. She leaned forward and smiled coldly, whispering. "You're missing the party."

With a laugh, the demon leapt up onto a mausoleum and disappeared, leaving Buffy and Xander alone. Xander finally felt his muscles relax and slouched against the mausoleum wall. Buffy remained standing still, eyes closed.

"Buffy?" Xander asked, cautiously taking a step forward.

Buffy's eyes snapped open. "Willow. Oz…"

She took off running back along the path, Xander attempted to keep up but with her slayer speed, she easily outmatched him. He paused when he came to the gates. This was a part of town he didn't recognize. He glanced around, trying to remember which way they had come, when he heard a growl behind him. Slowly, he turned, hoping that it wasn't Drusilla again. She was one vampire he didn't think he'd ever be able to face without either freezing up or running.

It was a Kethlon demon. A largely harmless, dog like demon that preferred to spend its time hunting deep in forests than socializing with humans. It didn't seem to have seen Xander, and Xander moved into the darkness of the cemetery walls as it passed by. Strangely, it seemed to be speaking in Italian, and not its own native tongue.

Xander managed to recognize two words though. 'Il Bronzo'. Roughly translated, The Bronze.

He managed to follow the demon back to the Bronze without being detected and watched as a large, vampire stepped out of the front door and discussed something with the Kethlon for a moment. The Kethlon shrugged and headed back down the alley. Xander ducked as the demon passed his hiding place and frowned down at him.

The front door slammed, jerking him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw a Buffy standing in front of the vampire. The vamp crossed his arms and smiled down at her, golden eyes gleaming with malicious anticipation.

Buffy didn't seem in the least concerned by the vampire's appearance. Instead, she merely demanded to be let in. When he slid into game face, she merely shrugged and slugged him right on the nose. He fell back from the force of the blow, blood trickling from his nose and grinned at her as she folded her arms over her chest.

Xander frowned as the vampire stood back and allowed her to enter the club. He looked up at the roof, searching for another way inside, and spotted a boarded over window near a third of the way up. Lowering his gaze, he searched for a way up.

Picking up an empty beer bottle that was lying near his feet on the alley floor, he threw it as hard as he could down a neighboring alley and watched as the vampire turned to look that way. Taking his chance, Xander ran across the fire escape and began to climb up. He managed to reach the window and jumped across. Taking a pen-knife from his pocket, he pried the board open and slipped through, carefully slipping the board back into place when he was done.

He turned and scanned the club from the balcony. If the vampire outside was any clue, then there was definitely a party going on in here tonight. Carefully, he made his way downstairs and stopped as close to his old friends as he could without alerting them to his presence.

Buffy had been talking to them when she turned and scanned the club, eyes flitting back and forth looking for something.

Or someone.

Xander pushed as far back into the shadows as he could.

"What is it?" Forrest asked quietly. Xander glanced over at the black man. Forrest had one hand in his pocket and looked about ready to pull out a weapon of some kind.

Buffy's gaze rested on the stage. "We have a very big problem."

Xander turned towards the stage, as did the others, and saw that the band was either slumped on the floor or against the drum kit. Blood leaked from bite marks on their necks and the lead singer struggled uselessly against a hooded figure on stage. The crowd had fallen silent, and watched as the figure grabbed the man's head with one hand and squeezed. The sound of the singer's skull cracking open resounded around the club.

From all over the club, Xander could hear the sound of people vomiting and he started to breath through his mouth when the smell of blood and vomit reached his nose. He could still taste it on the air, but the taste didn't really matter, that he could ignore.

Glancing around, Xander realized that the crowd had fallen back, staying as far away from the stage as they could. Some tried to run for the exit, but the large vampire sent most of them scurrying back with a few well placed punches. As the vampire turned, Xander caught a glimpse of a scar along the back of the demon's head.

"Spike." Buffy muttered under her breath.

Xander's eyebrows rose. Spike as in the Spike? The one who had kidnapped Willow and him? The one who had tried to kill Buffy just because he wanted to win an award for the most slayers killed? Slowly, Xander turned to face the stage as the vampire threw back his hood and grinned at them.

Tbc…