Wrong order's been sorted out. Sorry. Disclaimer as usual. Chanel was beta :-)

Chapter 9

Spike's heart, if it hadn't been dead for more than 600 years, would've been beating in an erratic staccato. He'd said goodbyes to Virginia just moments ago, probably for the last time, but he'd made his decision. And it would work out for every one... he hoped.

He closed his eyes against the sandstorm and held his hand in front of his mouth. He thanked the Powers that Be for his lack of need for oxygen and cursed the grains of sand that still managed to get between his teeth. Even with his enhanced senses the storm reduced the visibility to the hand in front of his face.

His ship was probably, hopefully, on course towards the main station to pick up Buffy and Gordon. They were only a few miles from here. And River too, if everything had worked out right.

But he'd probably never know.

Over the deafening noise of the wind he heard the sound of a weapon being cocked. He could vaguely make out the sight of people, six or more, now circling him. He couldn't see their faces since they were covered by protecting masks. The one in front of him waved, directing him to the left. He leaned into the wind as he trudged through the sifting sandy ground and after a few minutes he had reached a small hill. One of the formless drones leaned down and a trapdoor opened, leading down into the dark, where before there had been nothing.

Spike stopped, staring into the tunnel for a moment until he felt a hot pain on the skin of his back. He growled, his game face showing as he turned around and saw the cross now held in front of his face.

"I'm going, I'm going. The torture and experiments won't start without me, will it? We have all the time of the worlds."

The trap door closed with a loud reverberating clang. White, sterile lights brightened the floor. Spike could smell the dust, the waste in this bunker. The stench of horror and pain permeated the air around him. It pressed against his soul.

"How do I know I can trust you?" he asked.

"You will. I promise," came the muffled reply and the stranger took his mask off revealing a face Spike hadn't expected to see. He had thought her dead a long time ago, had actually buried her and stood at her grave, grieving for another lost friend.

"Red?"

The witch smiled and following a wave of her hand, the others sank down before they even had a chance to raise their weapons.

"Hey Spike! I thought I'd pick you up, before you do something really stupid, like handing you over."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Smoke filled Mal's nostrils and he held a hand in front of his mouth.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked and turned his head, staring up to Bernard who stood as if erected in front of them. Next to him Book had crouched down too, looking alarmed. The Shepherd gave Mal an intense glare.

"Don't! Whatever your suicidal mouth is planning to shout out loud… it'll only get us killed," Book whispered loud enough for Mal's ears and then concentrated on the happenings in front of them. The door was obviously blasted away and the surrounding wall was completely charred. Three men stood outside the door, the leading one flanked by two guys who looked like twins.

"Mr. Chang," Bernard said with the slightest hint of panic, winking his right hand behind his back to tell Mal and Book to stay put. "I'm…"

"Bernard," the Asian looking man interrupted and shook his head with a smile. "This new behavior of yours is most unbecoming. The Council is tiring of members who think they know best, ruining our years and years of work. This Council knows about your lack of… understanding, however we can't make allowances. As a result you should understand our decision." He lifted his hands, holding them in front of him and Mal could see him gripping a small object tightly in his fist.

The old man gasped and one of his hands flew to his throat while the other one sneaked behind his back revealing a small plastic card which Book took without hesitation. Mal threw him a questioning glance.

"Run when you hear the signal," Shepherd whispered.

"Signal?" Mal hissed back. "What sig…?" He had no chance to finish his question as Mal's world started to turn up side down. Their accompanying Watcher threw his hands in the air and screamed a single word with as much force as his sore throat could manage.

"Exudo!"

"Oh, that signal." Mal ducked even lower when a shining mass of energy shot from the Watcher into the three men, throwing them into the wall across the floor. Then a hand, it must have been Book's, pushed him towards the door and he started to run.

"What the gorramn hell is going on?" he screamed without slowing down. Book ignored him and turned his head repeatedly to check if they were being followed. Unfortunately they were.

Book expressed a very uncharacteristic swear and quickened his steps until they reached the end of the corridor while turning the small plastic card in his fingers. With a look towards the fast approaching chasers he tried to put the safeguarding card into the matching slit. When it didn't fit the first times Mal jumped to his feet. "Now'd be a great time to hurry," he growled and stepped between Book and their attackers, who had caught up with them. His fist was introducing itself to the first nose when Shepherd gave a relieved cry.

The heavy doors slit apart and Book saw two more guards standing between them and Serenity. The first one opened fire and Book jumped back into the relative unsafety of the doorway, avoiding the bullet by inches as he heard a angry shout from Mal. "Hey! Watch where you're pointing that thing. Somebody could get hurt." The captain managed to hold off their followers and rammed his elbow against the panel controlling the opening mechanism. A sparkling rain came down and he jumped backwards, protecting his face with his forearm.

"Mal!" Book warned and pulled Mal back. Mal was more then ready to make his way back to his ship, but first they had to get past the guards. The two gunmen were barricaded behind the corner and their weapons were leveled in the direction of Mal and Book.

"Guay! I don't want to visit your friends anymore! Never! Dong-ma?" Mal announced and tried to look around the corner. A bright light missed him by inches and he pressed his back to the wall, his eyes never leaving his comrade. "Any suggestions?" he asked with a raised an eyebrow.

"Well…" Shepherd began but was interrupted by a loud hiss. Another deadly beam shot between them, followed by a crashing sound, silence and finally the voice of Jayne. "Mal? Shepherd? You dead?"

"Ask again later," Mal answered and relaxed for a second until a nail curling screech from behind drove the two from their hiding place. "Whooahh!" Mal said and ran towards Serenity. "Time for us to get outta here… like now, right Shepherd?"

"I absolutely agree." They stepped on board and the door closed behind them. "There's nothing more here for us," Book mumbled and turned around, waiting for the station to vanish from the cargo bay view as Serenity rushed towards the darkest of all planets. "We've two Slayers to save."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"How is he?"

Kaylee's eyes left the sleeping figure of the young doctor and she gave Inara, who was leaning in the open doorframe, a sad smile over her pretty face.

"Asleep, finally," she answered and got up quietly to accompany the beautiful woman into the common room. "I don't think he even realized I put the sedative in his water."

Inara smiled sympathetically and nodded toward the sleeping figure on the couch. "He's going to be unhappy when he wakes up."

"Oh, you betcha," the young mechanic answered, wincing when she thought about how angry he'd be.

"You did the right thing, sweetie."

"Yeah, everything's shiny," Kaylee managed to sound slightly optimistic and let herself fall down on the couch. "What've you got there?"

The companion put a heavy book on the table in front of her. Moldy smelling dust dispersed from it and fell down, leaving a dark trail of old dirt. "Where did you find this? In the trash can?"

"Book gave it to me when I asked for some more information about those demons."

"Shepherd has reading material about demons? That's just-, I never thought..." Kaylee shook her head but leaned closer when Inara sat down and carefully opened the first page. The letters looked like they were handwritten, a little quirky but mostly legible. Inara turned the page and had to fight against a wave of unease when the picture of a gruesome creature stared back at them. It had two horns sticking out of its cheeks, two teeth, at least an inch long, squeezed between his lipless mouth. Small beady eyes were positioned at either temple, which made him look like a huge and really freaky kind of frog.

"That's... gross!" Kaylee grimaced but couldn't take her eyes off the creatures that filled the pages. Succubae, Banshees, Werewolves, Manticores, a damn scary looking snake-like creature. One page showed two faces. One was looking perfectly human but in the next picture it was terribly contorted with deep lines on its forehead, dangerous looking eyes beneath a ruffled forehead.

"So, that's a Vampire," Kaylee whispered after the two women had stared at the picture for a few seconds. "I hope I never have the pleasure of meeting with one of 'em, I think I'd just faint."

"Does the book say how to kill them?" both women nearly jumped from their seats when Simon's voice came from behind. His face was unmoving, his eyes looking tired and bloodshot.

"Simon!" Kaylee squealed, doing her best to look as innocent as possible. "I thought you were sleeping."

"Not really," Simon replied and leaned down between Kaylee and Inara to have a closer look at the book. "Got immune to suppressants in my second year of medical school. I still have no idea how I managed the other four years."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Bloody hell!" Spike cursed, staring at the familiar face looking at him with an expectant expression. "What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On?" He demanded to know. "Who are you?"

"That's not the nicest way to greet an old friend, is it?" she said with a smile and stood still until she complained with a loud "Ouch!" when Spike nearly poked her eye out to see if she was real.

"How... What... Who?" he stuttered.

"You lost your ability to speak? Do human beings talk telepathically in the future?" she asked excitedly.

"No, of course not, dummy," Spike growled and he finally realized that this wasn't a funny joke from his imagination. But still… Willow Rosenberg had died a peaceful death at the age of 79. He could remember her funeral like it was yesterday.

"I remember your funeral!" he complained. "Damnit, I even put some flowers on your fucking grave."

"You did? Oh, that's so sweet of you," she beamed. "So, how did I die?"

Spike looked at her like she had just sprout another pair of arms out of her ears. "Ahh… uhh, you were there… kinda dead though."

"Well technically I wasn't. I cast the spell sometime after Buffy vanished. So everything you see is Willow Rosenberg at the age of 28. Cool, isn't it?"

She looked around his shoulder as if she heard someone else in the corridor. "I really think we should get going before you start telling me everything," With a slight shove on his shoulder she got him walking. Stunned, Spike didn't refuse and started to follow her. Until he asked:

"What spell?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gordon spied around the corner, his body tense. In his head there was a hell of a battle going on. Should he follow her? She obviously seemed to know what she was doing and especially where she was going.

He'd followed her three floors down, passing different doors, when she suddenly stopped in front of a door looking exactly like the previous ones.

"River!" he hissed, wondering what was going through her mind. But she just smiled at him, stretching out her hands to press down the latch.

"Don't! Where are we going? We can't just walk in here. We need to get you away from here. Please let's just..."

"Oh come on. Don't be a spoil-sport! It'll be fun," she answered with a bright smile. "I like the cookies. They taste like chicken."

"Cookies? What… River, damnit, let's go. We need to…" But his words died on his lips when he saw a person exiting the staircase. It was a young, dark haired woman whose eyes widened at the sight of the girl in front of her, like she had been waiting for them. To Gordon's surprise she looked suspiciously over her shoulder to see if there was someone behind her before she scurried through the door closing it behind her.

"What are you doing here? You were supposed to leave immediately after you'd delivered River!" she said, looking angrily at Gordon.

"What?" Gordon blurted with as much force he could manage without screaming. "What the hell is going on? Who are you?"

"I'm Mika Giles, I am Virginia's granddaughter. I was to get River as soon as you had left. You don't actually think that they really going to give you Ms Summers, do you?" She said as she carefully opened the door to check if they could leave the staircase without being seen.

"Well…?" He held his hands in front of his forehead, thinking hard and trying to comprehend what was happening. "Daughter? You are Virginia's granddaughter?"

"Yes! Stop shouting!"

"I am not …" Gordon visibly tried to calm down and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were shining with a fierce intensity. He wouldn't accept another paltry explanation. He wanted answers.

"Tell me what is going on!"

Mika glared at him, obviously unsure if she could trust him. Finally she exhaled acquiescently and motioned for him to follow her.

"I don't have time for this. I'll tell you everything on our way down."

"Way down? Where are we going? You can't just-…" But his ramblings were interrupted, when suddenly an icy gust of wind swished against their faces, causing them to shiver with cold. River, who had walked on some meters in front of them, bouncing like a little girl on its way to the candy shop, stopped abruptly and looked towards the ceiling when the lights flickered and turned off with a hiss.

"She's coming," the girl whispered in awe over the sound of the wind, like a thunderstorm in the darkness. It echoed from the walls and Gordon could feel the floor under his shoes starting to vibrate.

"Who's coming?" he asked, flinching at his own words. He could physically feel the nervousness pour from Virginia's granddaughter and shrunk away from her when she illuminated the pitch-black passageway by producing a small glowing orb out of nothing. Then his concentration was on the door at the far end of the corridor. Surrounding the heavy door thin slits were showing a warm light from the room behind and Gordon thought he could see a faint cloud of mist gushing through, spreading slowly over the carpet. Then River's whispering voice announced: "It's her. And she's not alone."

TBC