I drove the stake into the heart of the last vampire. I looked around but there was nothing around me. Piles of dust scattered the ground and the taste of blood filled my mouth. I picked up a small sword that had been dropped by one of the vamp gangsters. It was simple, not decorated with much. There was a small 'T' on the blade by the hilt but there was nothing too special about it.

I headed home, wanting something to quench my thirst. For some reason my throat burned with dryness. It was an odd feeling. As I walked in the back door, Xander came into the kitchen and threw a book onto the counter. He took one look at me and frowned.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"Don't ask." I said as I searched the fridge for something to drink.

"It looks like you were just thrown down the hellmouth."

"No, I was jumped by a gang of vampires after meeting with a strange yet almost decent vampire."

"A gang of vampires?" Giles walked in and added two books to Xander's.

"Yeah, there was like twelve of them."

"And they came to you?"

I nodded. "I had just come up out of the sewers."

"Is that where the other vamp was?" Xander asked.

"There was another vampire?" Giles stared at me as he cleaned his glasses.

"Um, yes, an old one. He wore clothes that were older style and looked very… mysterious." I said, sipping some milk.

"Did you two fight?"

"No. We introduced ourselves and then he told me that I was known as the invincible slayer. Then he told me that it wasn't the time or place to fight and then he was gone."

"He left?"

"He told me that we were a civilized people."

Giles laughed and started to flip through one of the books. "Civilized, yes. Did you catch a name?"

"No."

"But he lives down in the sewers?"

I frowned. "I don't think so."

Giles looked at me. "What do you mean?"

"The room in the sewers was disgusting. There was slim and mold everywhere and this vamp was clean and dressed in fashion. I don't think that would be a place he would sleep in."

"Interesting."

"What about the gang?" Xander asked. "Maybe they are the ones hiding down in the sewers. You said that they jumped you right as you left the sewers. The other vamp could be something completely different."

"Mm, great. Now I have to put up with two things at once. I guess it's a good thing that the gang of vamps was small." I frowned, sipping some more of my milk and groaning as droplets of the liquid slid down the side of the glass and pooled onto the counter.

"Well, we can focus on the other vampire now that we know the gang was… dealt with." Giles closed his book and stood up. "While you are busy with that, I will continue to study this thing with Spike. I am not sure when Willow will return. If you hear from her, make sure to notify me."

I nodded and continued to watch as the milk continued to pool. Xander returned to his books and Giles disappeared into some other part of the house. A screaming from downstairs alerted me to the one other presence in the house.

I walked down the stairs and stood in front of the cage. "What are you doing?" I asked. Spike was dangling from the chains on the wall. His butt was stuck straight up in the air and his feet were about to touch the ceiling above him. He just stared at me and grinned.

"Uh… nothing."

"Are you trying to escape?"

"Uh… no."

I couldn't help but laugh. Spike was the epitome of evil and he was dangling from my basement ceiling in a futile attempt to escape some flimsy chains. I watched as he twisted every limb until he fell, landing on his feet. He tried to muster a little dignity but, instead, managed to look bloated.

"So, find any goodies out tonight? I hear there hasn't been much action here on the hellmouth. Can't say I blame the poor bastards. Demons watched you destroy the last hellmouth… I don't feature them crowding around the next."

"It's nothing I can't handle."

"Don't be too sure of that, love. Not everything is that simple."

"Tell me about it." I sat down on the floor at the edge of the room. "Just once I would like the end of the world to arrive simply. Instead I get ancient vampires, old statues, crazy mayors, government experiments, hell gods, idiot nerd trios, magic addicted best friends, and even the first evil who adds everything together. Twice I gave up my life to save the world and believe me, that wasn't simple. I have come to learn that slaying vampires will never be simple and will only get harder the more I do it."

Spike laughed. It was a dark sinister sound coming straight from the bottom of his throat. "That's just the beginning, love. You have no idea what is really out there. You spend your days fighting on the hellmouth where most of the dark energy centers from… but what about the rest of the world. There are more demons and vampires that you could ever imagine and there are people dying every day. You can't stop them… you can't stop us. We will continue to kill until the day the world caves in on all of us and we are all swallowed into the pit of evil. You can fight until that day but no matter what you do… we will win in the end."

"You think so?" I asked.

He just continued to laugh. "You can try and stop us… but you will fail."

"You know, that gets scarier the more I hear it. I don't pretend to be invincible. I have died and have come back. You say that I will fail and look at how many times I did fail. That never stopped me." I stood up and faced him. "When I was 16 I was read a prophecy that stated that I was to fight the Master and I was supposed to die. I was so scared that I wanted to run. I just wanted to disappear and leave all of my friends behind, but I knew I couldn't. It was my duty to go up against the Master and if I died, then I died. I did fight the Master and I did die. I thought I had failed and that the world would turn into utter chaos. I didn't give up. I went after the Master and I killed him. Why?" I stared right at Spike. "Because it's what I do."

"You better be ready, love."

"I have come up against the first evil and I overcame it. Nothing will get in my way now."

Spike's attention was turned to the stairs and I followed his gaze to focus on Willow. "Will, what is it?"

"We have an issue."

"What is the problem?" I asked.

"There is a… complication." Willow said as Giles came out of his room with a stack of books. They had to be the same books he had had his face buried in for the last few days. He threw them onto the table and sat down next to Willow.

"Go on." Giles said.

"While I was gone, I did some research and talked to some other people. There is a slight problem with the spell."

"Will, just tell me what the problem is."

"In order for us to restore Spike to what he was before… we have to perform the spell using the power of the god that had stripped him in the first place."