This chapter has been a blight on my life for the past two months and I'd like to apologise to everyone for its lateness. I've had the worst bout of writer's block I've ever had. Then my wife and I went on holiday for a week in Wales, before she gave me a guitar for my birthday. Oh and then I went away to a conference where I caught swine flu - which I then passed on to Kathleen! So it's been a very busy few months that led to my writing next to nothing.

This is not the chapter I planned to write. It's too short for a start. But I'm now working on the next chapter and it should be out sooner than this one!

Those who had been given the sacred task of watching the Slayer's house more carefully now, or at least they were choosing their hiding places more carefully anyway. There had been the nasty incident involving Gar'Tak and the big handy container that he had been watching from. One morning a huge human vehicle had turned up and had loaded the container into the top of it. Grinding noises had followed and there had been a brief scream that the humans apparently hadn't heard, and then a loud scrunching noise. Gar'Tak hadn't been seen again.

And there had also been the incident involving Har'Var. His idea had been to built a fake tree and then climb into it and place himself on a corner overlooking the house. Some had wondered if any of the humans might notice that a tree had mysteriously appeared from nowhere, but Har'Var had been convinced that it would work and he had duly built and deployed the fake tree. The first small yappy mammal owned by a human had arrived about thirty seconds later. Har'Var was best approached from upwind even after a week and had been forbidden to go anywhere near the Great and Powerful Glorificus. Not unless he wanted to wear his own spine as a hat.

As a result people were a little more... careful about where they chose to observe the House of the Slayer. They had seen her of course, and her sister, as they came and went every day in a moving conveyance that was driven by different men. Several times they had seen the Jedi Xander Harris, and that had confirmed that he was known to the Slayer. It had also meant that those of them who wanted to keep their limbs attached had done their best to find extra safe observational places.

But it had paid off in many ways. They were there when the Slayer's mother returned from the great healing place. And their repeated observations had given them an idea of the Slayer's patrolling patterns.

The Great One had been very pleased.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Lindsey quietly as he watched Daniel and Rebecca pack their things in the back of his car. It was instantly obvious that neither Padawan was entirely comfortable in the other's presence. Come to that there were times when Rebecca didn't even look comfortable in her own presence, but she seemed to be more relaxed than she had been when she'd first started her lessons.

"I'm sure," Xander replied equally quietly. "We need them trained in a place with no distractions, and right now this whole Glory thing is the biggest distraction that I can imagine. They're both at delicate moments in their training. Daniel still thinks that some things are impossible and Rebecca has some demons in her past that she really needs to face. They need a place to train – and no mad hell god from a hell dimension trying to open them up and see what makes them tick."

"That's a nasty metaphor," muttered Oz to one side. "Might be very true around Glory though."

Xander looked at his first Padawan carefully. He seemed unnaturally terse even for Jedi Oz. "Is there a problem Oz?"

The Jedi Knight looked faintly pained for a millisecond. Then he nodded. "Keep an eye on Willow will you?"

"You know I will. Is there anything in particular you're worried about?" asked Xander with a raised eyebrow.

"I think she's been practising a lot more magic than she's been telling me about," Oz replied. "Worrying me sometimes."

"Ah," Xander said carefully. He stroked his chin in thought for a moment and then caught himself. The little Obi-Wanisms did keep leaking through every now and then. "Let me guess – she thinks that Glory can be defeated with the help of magic."

"Yes."

"She might be right."

"Yes."

"I'd prefer that we didn't use magic though. It tends to have... unanticipated consequences."

"Yes."

"I'd prefer to call it full of dangerous rebounds," broke in Lindsey wryly. "I saw a lot of things go horribly wrong at Wolfram & Hart when people who thought that they had all the magical bases covered turned out to be very wrong."

"How wrong?" asked Xander.

"One time there was this dimensional rift and a bunch of velociraptors. It didn't end well."

There was a pause whilst the other two Jedi processed that for a moment. "Huh," said Oz eventually. "Interesting."

"Yes. Messy too."

"Ok, then," sighed Xander, "I'll keep an eye on Willow and her mojo. Sithspit, why can't life be simple sometimes?"

Oz smiled at him. "This is the Hellmouth remember?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "One day I'm going to retire to a small village surrounded by enough holy places to make a vampire scream at the very sound of its name. That or found a Jedi Temple somewhere."

The other two looked at each other for a moment and then looked quickly back at him. "What?" he asked.

Lindsey grinned slightly. "We've been wondering where you're going to be building the Temple."

The Jedi Master directed a glare at the two of them. "Guys, let's not get too ahead of ourselves shall we? For a start we have a Hellgod to deal with."

This was sooo lame. The vamp that had just crawled out of its own grave less than a minute ago must have been sired by someone like Harmony Kendal, because right now he was just standing there looking about with an expression of deep puzzlement. He looked like he wasn't the sharpest knife in the toolbox to be honest. After a moment she finally broke in by clearing her throat meaningfully. "Ahem."

The vampire leapt up in the air at least a foot in total shock and then clutched at his chest, before turning. "Jesus! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Buffy blinked at this. "You're a vampire. Vampires don't have heart attacks."

He looked at her as if she'd just spouted hooves. "What?"

"Vampire. Bloodsucker. You."

The vampire looked around nervously. "Lady, are you on drugs or something?"

She folded her arms and then looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Look, Mr "I-have-very-few-braincells", can you explain why it's night, why you're dressed in a cheap suit from a funeral house and why you just had to break out of a coffin and claw your way up through six feet of earth?"

This threw him for a moment. "Uuummm... a practical joke?"

"How about the reason why you don't have a pulse right now?"

This really threw him and he finally placed a questing, dirt-covered finger on his neck and paused. "Jesus," he finally said, "I must be sick or something."

"No," she said patiently, "You're dead."

"I feel fine, honestly." He looked at her and then she could see him lick his lips. "Never better."

"Never deader," she sighed and then she threw the stake she'd been hefting up one sleeve for the past few minutes. It took him totally by surprise as it sank into his chest and skewered his heart and then a gentle rain of ash covered the grass.

"If that's the standard of opposition you have here, then you my dear are running waaay below the standard you need to," drawled a voice to one side. Buffy snapped her head around to see a woman in her late twenties standing to one side. She had curly blond hair and was wearing a tight red dress and an arrogant smirk.

"You must be Glory," said Buffy as she carefully walked to one side, watching the Hell-god intently.

"Oh, you know who I am," Glory squealed excitedly. "I see that my fame has preceded me!"

"More like infamy," conceded Buffy. She was thinking about unsheathing Aquila, which was strapped to her back, but then if Xander's lightsabre hadn't been able to even hurt this walking fruitcake, then a sword make of ordinary steel wouldn't stand a chance. "We've heard all about you."

"You have?" Glory asked with a frown. Then the frown turned into a scowl. "Oh yes. You know that piece of filth Jedi. Is he here tonight? I want to open him up and play with his guts."

"He's got other things to do tonight," said Buffy with a smile. "He's a busy guy sometimes."

"I'm sure he is," replied Glory through what looked like slightly gritted teeth. Then she perked up slightly. "But then I can always talk to you! If I can't beat the crap out of the Jedi, then I can beat the crap out of his Slayer friend. So I'll start off with asking a simple question. Where's my key?"

"Where's your what?" asked Buffy, looking as innocent as she possibly could.

This earned her a glare from Glory. "Don't play smart with me, little girl. I was breaking open the heads of people like you in my home dimension a thousand years ago and playing with their brains." She stalked forwards a few paces and then folded her arms under her breasts. "Now. Where. Is. My. Key?"

"Why is it your key," asked Buffy as she walked over another few steps to stand by the grave of the idiot vampire she'd just dusted. "What makes it yours?"

This seemed to puzzle the Hellgod, because she frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Uh... why is it yours?"

"It's mine! I heard about it, I need it to get home and kill the bastards who exiled me here - that makes it mine!"

"Ooo-kay. Want, need, take. You sound a bit like Faith before she got her act together." Buffy smiled pleasantly. "You can't have the key by the way. We have other plans for it."

"I hoped you'd say that," said Glory happily as she unfolded her arms and then flexed her fingers, "I'm going to have so much fun beating you to a bloodied pulp and then making you tell me all about the key."

"Yeah, well, good luck trying," drawled Buffy and then she heaved on the gravestone that had only been installed that day and threw it straight at Glory's face. It was made of granite or something so it was very heavy – but although it hit her on the bridge of the nose, all it achieved was to knock Glory's head back and make her take a step backwards.

"Ow!" exclaimed Glory as the now-chipped gravestone fell to one side, before she rubbed her nose. "That might have been nasty... oh wait, no it wasn't. You're sneaky. You're also about to be dead."

Buffy had known that Glory was fast and strong and near-invulnerable, but she was still surprised at the turn of speed she put on. The Hellgoddess literally leapt through the air at her, forcing Buffy to dive and roll to one side to avoid an outstretched and clutching hand.

Glory recovered her balance almost instantly and then came at her again, throwing a punch that almost had a sonic boom trailing after it due to its speed. It certainly surprised Buffy, who barely dodged it in time, but who then used Glory's outstretched arm as a handy pivot to use as she punched her firmly in the face and then leapt away again.

But the punch didn't even come close to stunning Glory, who rolled with it and then lashed out with roundhouse kick from her right foot. This one connected as it caught Buffy in her side and sent her sprawling into a nearby bush with a stifled yelp of pain.

The Slayer came back upright as fast as she could, which was a good thing as Glory was already almost on top of her, her hands reaching out and a horrible hunger in her eyes. Glory looked like she was enjoying herself way too much – and that she wanted to inflict a lot more pain. Buffy waited until the last possible moment and then she dropped onto her back and kicked Glory in the stomach with as much force as she could. This actually staggered the Hellgod for a moment and Buffy was then able to use Glory's momentum to send her flying off to one side. She then rolled and came upright – and then she ran, dodging as she went.

"Come back here!!!" came the scream from behind her and she knew that Glory was following her, probably as fast as she had been before. But it was dark and the Slayer had the home advantage – she knew almost every single graveyard in Sunnydale like the back of her hand by now and she made the maximum possible use of every twist and turn, every tree and tomb. It took her a good few minutes longer then she thought it would, but she finally left Glory behind after the Hellgod fell victim to a grave that had once held a now very dead vampire.

When she finally slowed up she took a great shaking breath of air and then flexed her right hand carefully. It had been like punching a brick wall! She'd known that Glory was a Hellgod, she'd listened to what Xander had told her, she'd read the file that Travers had sent over... but now that she'd met her she found herself staggered by the speed and strength and sheer power of Glory.

Glory was faster than Angelus and more powerful than the Master. She was a massive threat... and she was looking for Dawn.

"Over my dead body," muttered Buffy as she went looking for her watcher. Over my dead and bleeding body."

Riley chewed on a small piece of errant fingernail for a moment and then looked back at the file in front of him. He had a nasty feeling that Lam had an agenda that he couldn't quite put his finger on. There was something about the way that the man was organising his schedule that just had his hackles going up and down. There were times when it made no sense – and other times when it looked as if the man was looking for something – or someone. And if it was the latter then he had a nasty feeling about matters.

"How can we do this Giles?" asked Buffy in a small voice as she sat there and stared at the rack of weapons on the opposite wall. "How do you kill a god?"

Her Watcher looked up from the large and very battered book he was reading and looked carefully at her. "Are you feeling alright Buffy?"

She barked a short, almost bitter laugh. "Now that I've met her I understand what Xander meant, when he said that things bounce off her. I'm used to punching things and they stay down most times. I punched her and she didn't really feel it. How can we win this one?"

Giles sighed and walked over to her with the book under his right arm. "Buffy, I know that this is the greatest battle we've ever faced. I know that this is something that we've never seen before. But you shouldn't lose heart. Even gods have weaknesses. She's been beaten before."

"Yeah, but by other gods!" snapped Buffy. "We don't have a god tucked up our sleeves here!"

"So we look for other, um, angles," replied Giles with a sigh. He hefted the book. "Quentin Travers sent this over the other day. It's an account of the battles to defeat Glory in her home dimension. I'm still going through it, and some of the terms have been translated a bit oddly – I'm not sure how you can smite someone with sandals – but it's giving me a bit of an insight into Glory. We have a big advantage."

"We do?" she asked incredulously. "Well? Come on, spill!"

"She's a bit, well, thick," said Giles quietly.

"She's what?"

"Thick. British idiom. Stupid."

Buffy wrinkled her forehead. "We're facing a stupid god?"

"Not stupid as such, but certainly far less intelligent than she no doubt thinks that she is. The, the Chronicles are filled with examples of her less than stellar tactics for a start."

"Such as?"

"Well, I've come across five times when her army was ambushed when the enemy opened fire, or used their weapons, from concealed positions. Two of them were in exactly the same place. Each time she lost her entire army. Then there was the time when she and her army were lured into a swamp. She extricated herself by turning the surface of the water and mud to glass." Giles smiled slightly. "As her army was up to their necks in it at the time, this was a, a somewhat bad choice."

Buffy thought about a swamp full of headless demons and pulled a face. "Oh yuck," she said.

"Indeed," Giles said. "Apparently she was always able to raise more forces though."

This led to an unpleasant thought creeping into her mind. "Giles?"

"Um, yes Buffy?"

"Do you think that she's recruiting? I mean, she must be, how else did she know where I patrol?"

"Ah," muttered Giles. "That's a very good point Buffy. Um. Bugger. You're sure that you haven't been followed?"

She thought back carefully. "No," she said slowly, shaking her head, "I would have heard them or seen them. They smell a lot Giles. Have you been able to put a name to them yet? I mean, what kind of demons are they?"

"Oh they're not demons," sighed Giles. "It's a rather sad story really. They're a form of elf. A lost and fallen form, obviously, and they're not a patch on their ancestors, but they used to be... well so much more. A long time ago though. Thousands of years ago they came though a portal from a shattered world. I think the rough translation of their tribe was Blood Elves. Right now they're just a shattered and pathetic group that need a lot of soap. Perfect fodder for Glory of course. They're so ground down that they'd do anything for a pat on the head and an exhortation to be good minions." He shook his head again and then looked at his Slayer again. "Right. I think we need to talk to Xander. We need a plan. Or rather perhaps we need to rifle through his head and assess what possible plans are there."

Xander sat down at the desk and then pulled out what he'd been working on for the past three days. It looked good so far and he was very glad that he'd been able to pay a visit to the vault for a couple of gems a few months back and then get them cut in Los Angeles. He gazed at it critically, his head to one side and then rubbed his jaw carefully. Yes, it should work. He hadn't been too keen on the idea when it had first crept its way into his brain, but after a lot of thought he'd pensively come around to the fact that it had possibilities. The power issue was the one thing that that still nagged at him, but he'd put a call out to Jack and there was a chance that there was a way around it. In the meantime he still had a lot of work to do on it and he bent over the device carefully and resumed work.

The sun had long since set as the car drew up in front of the darkened house. The lights went out and the engine was shut off and then four figures emerged from it. One went to the door of the house, pulling out a set of keys at the same time, whilst the other three looked out at the desert that stretched out before them. The moon was rising off to one side, casting a pale, silvery light that lit the landscape.

The figure by the door opened it and then reached inside to punch in a seven-digit number on a keypad, which led to a small blinking red light turning green. Then the figure caught sight of the others and walked over to them. "Cool place, huh."

"Xander... trained here?" asked Daniel Jackson.

"Yes, he did," said Oz with a smile. "It's just like he described."

"You've never been here before?" Rebecca said.

"No."

"Oh."

They all looked out at the moonlit desert that stretched out before them.

"We've got a lot to do," said Lindsey after a long moment. "Let's get started."