Chapter 52:

Eden's POV:

"Angel's absolutely livid." Dawn's voice was distinct, sharp and straight to the point. "He hunted it down last night and him and Spike just destroyed it."

"Yes, I imagine he would be." Giles' soft British accent answered her. "He and Buffy look to Eden as theirs. He acted as most older brothers, even fathers would."

"Buffy was upset, crying in worry mostly, but she didn't want to kill something." Dawn then chuckled. "For once."

"Her maternal instinct is more pronounced." The smile could be heard in Giles' voice. "They weren't the only ones upset, at any rate. We all are."

"Have you looked at her? Of course we are. Eden looks like hell. She bruised and bloody everywhere." Dawn sighed. "Is she going to be all right?"

"She should be. Her cuts and abrasions are already closing up nicely and the bruising is going to that yellow-green healing color for the most part." Giles assured her. "She should be fine, as there were no broken bones, thank the lord."

Their voices had at first sounded distant, coming through a fog, but as I began to come to, I felt them in close proximity. Everything thing else I felt was just pain. I felt as though I had been hit by a Mack truck, then beaten with a baseball bat for good measure.

With a groan of distress, I opened my eyes. Thankfully they had drawn the shades so I wasn't blinded by the sun. The first thing I saw were the bloody bandages that had yet to be removed from my nightstand. Giles was sitting on the window seat, mixing herbs into the balm that Willow had been swabbing on my wounds for the past two days.

"Eden!" Dawn crossed the room in two strides, her brunette curls bouncing around her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Remarkably like my punching bag after a workout." I managed to quip, with as much a smile as I could manage with the bruising and massive cut along my left cheek.

"Sarcasm's a good sign, means you're healing." She shot right back with a quick easy grin of her own.

"Bet I still look like Hell though." I sucked in a deep breath, wishing I could just burrow into my pillows.

"I won't be nominating you for the Ms. Vampire Slayer contest at the moment, but you're looking better than before." She brushed loose strands of hair off my forehead.

"Well the pain's now just excruciating, rather than unbearable, so I must be healing." I sank further into the pillows. "Did you find anything in your research, Giles?"

He sat on the edge of my bed, and smeared the paste into the open gashes on my arms and shoulders as he spoke. "Wesley and I did do some research and there was some fairly cryptic passages concerning you and Cian, the demon hunter."

"Who is Cian, if you don't mind me asking?" Dawn inquired, raising one of her perfectly manicured eyebrows.

"A demon hunter, who died a couple years ago." I explained, closing my eyes and gritting my teeth against the sting of the salve Giles applied to the cut on my face.

"Well, I know that much, but you never even told Buffy and Angel about him?" Dawn rolled her eyes in exasperation. "How'd you meet him? Is he hot? That kind of stuff."

"He's very hot." I could help but giggle at the girlish reaction Dawn had coaxed out of me. Closing my eyes again, I thought back to the day I had met Cian.

Flashback

"Oof." My hands took the brunt of my trip and I was soon very up close and personal with the cool dewy grass beneath my fingers.

The sound of advancing footsteps had me scrambling to get back to me feet. Just as a hand went to close around my ankle, she pushed all my weight into my palms and hoisted myself into a handspring, catching the vampire right beneath his chin, sending him reeling backwards.

"You crazy vampires always suckers for the damsel in distress act. Does it really do something for your bloodlust?" I quipped, once again on my feet. I retrieved my wooden stake from my back pocket and gripped it tightly in my right fist.

The vamp growled violently and lunged at me with fangs bared. My left palm came in contact with its right shoulder, while my right hand thrust the pointed end of the stake into the creature's heart. It looked from the stake up to my face in shock, before its world exploded into an obscure cloud of ash.

"Why can't they explode downwind?" I asked, brushing the dust off my jean jacket and returning my stake to its rightful place in my back pocket. "Or, can't they burst into bubbles or something?"

When I turned to resume my patrol route, I met a punch in the face that sent my sprawling to my hands and knees. I looked up to see a Paris Hilton look-alike, in full vampire visage stalking towards my, fury written all over her face.

"Bitch!" She snarled, as I swept her feet out from under her. "You killed my mate!"

"Give me a few minutes and I'll kill you too." I rolled back on my shoulders and flipped up to my feet, this time ready for her.

The vampire was about to lunge forward when a third party decided to enter the scuffle. This one a man, dressed in blue jeans and a fitted black t-shirt. The muscles beneath the cotton rippled as he met the vampire blow for blow. He was an excellent fire, all power and deadly accuracy.

I could only stand back and watch as he blocked all her shots, hit some of his own, before he plunged a stake into her heart. The blonde exploded in a whirlwind of dust and the man was left smirking victoriously over the kill.

Then he turned to face me, and I felt my throat go dry. The first word I can think of to describe him is sexy, at an outrageous level. His hair was as black as ink trimmed close to his head. His eyes were the color of gilded oak that burned to a near black color during the intensity of the fight. He was tall, cut and well proportioned. He moved with the grace and power of a vampire, but my senses told me he was all human.

"I always thought you were a myth." It was the first thing to come out of his mouth.

"Excuse me?" I raised an eyebrow and put on a more defensive stance at his tone.

"The Slayer. I always thought she was a myth." He chuckled dryly. "Relax, I don't bite, at least not in the way you're thinking."

"I'm as real as you are, or whatever it is you are." I retorted. "Who or what are you?"

"I'm Cian." He said easily. "I'm a demon hunter."

"Okay,I'm Eden, then what are you exactly?" I frowned quizzically I'd never been told anything of demon hunters.

"Exactly what the title says." He laughed outright. "I hunt demons and kill them, much like you, with different plumbing."

"There's nothing in any of the books about Chosen Demon Hunters." I felt my defense system go up at his laughter.

"Well, we're not prophesized or anything, but I come from a long line of demon hunters. My family chose to fight the darkness and over time we've developed natural skills much like your own." Cian explained.

"Okay." I tilted my head to the side in a curious fashion. "So what brings you to the Hellmouth?"

"You do." He chuckled. "Come on, let's take a walk. Tell me what you know of Cyvolte Demons?"

I fell in step beside him. "Cyvolte Demons?"

"Yeah, their nasty beasts from South America." He nodded.

"Enlighten me." I tucked my stake into my back pocket.

End Flashback

"So we took out a Cyvolte together." I was getting drowsy from some of the meds that Giles had given me.

"That's enough excitement for now. You need to rest and regain your strength. Sleep now." Giles ordered.

With barely a sigh of protest, I drifted off into the land of dreams.

A/N Sorry I couldn't update this weekend. I was competeing in a horse show. Home now and the updates are coming. Review please.