Title: Vengeance Satisfied is Justice Served 4/?
Author: 3D Master
Feedback: 3d.master@chello.nl
Website:
Rating: R
Keywords: X-over BtVS/The Crow, drama, action.
Time frame: S7, starts during dirty girls.
Summary: Buffy has a choice to make: Xander or Spike? Who gets to live? XanderZone Challenge response.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its characters do not belong to me, but to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions. The Crow and related concepts are created by James O'Barr.
Vengeance Satisfied is Justice Served
Chapter 4: Uncertainty
The sun was up already, and Xander was meticulously inspecting, and cleaning all of his loot; it wouldn't do to have one of the things blow up in his face, killing his bird and himself in one effective go. As he sat there, doing his work, that would in total take hours, his thoughts continued to wander back to his newly acquired old memories, and the way he lost them, what it did to him. Was Buffy, and her recent behavior nothing more but another victim of some overzealous monks? But why in blazes would the monks who were trying to protect the key in the form of a little sister make Buffy crave dead, demon animated flesh; blood-drinking, murdering vampires? That was rather counter productive - it made no sense. Plus when he was dead, he had both sets of memories, that would mean Buffy had both sets as well when she was in heaven, didn't she? And if she can remember being in heaven, wouldn't that mean she must remember that second set of memories? All those questions and no answers.
He was here to set the wrong things right. He got up abruptly, leaving the inspection to be finished later. He went to his bathroom and wiped the make-up from his face. He needed to right a very import important wrong, right now.
*****
"Willow?" Kennedy asked uncertain from the door to Willow's room. It was an unfamiliar sensation to the potential slayer: uncertainty. Kennedy wasn't ever really uncertain, she was secure. Secure in her abilities, secure of her view of the world, secure in her sexuality, secure about her place in this army that Buffy had raised, hell she was even secure about her chosen girlfriend. She was however completely insecure about what to do about how that girlfriend was inconsolable. Death of a loved one was new to her, and she had no idea how to comfort someone that was going through it.
The redheaded witch sat on her pillow, her legs pulled up, silently sobbing. She looked up, and looked at her girlfriend, and said, "I'll join you . . . in a minute . . . Ken, I just wanna . . . wanna be alone a . . . little longer . . . ok?"
Kennedy decided she did not like being uncertain. Should she go to her, or oblige her wish? She felt so - so empty, so useless, so unimportant. She knew it wasn't fair, Willow knew Xander since they were little children, but she resented Willow somewhat for being so down, so not with her! She was also angry at Xander for dying. He was not supposed to die. He was part of the core group that ran all this, the guy had fought the darkness for seven years straight, those kinds of people weren't supposed to die, were they? Especially not when their presence was needed to help others, him being the only living male here that had been here all the time, he kind of had become the referee for some of the other potentials. His seeming lame jokes diffused situations that threatened to become childish 'she started it' arguments in no time. Those feelings of anger and resentment toward a dead man and her girlfriend in turn bred guilt. Which was once again a whole new territory; Kennedy had been guilty of a lot of things in her short life - no real bad things, but there were lies, the occasional shoplift on a dare - but she never felt guilty about any of that. That in turn painfully drove home the fact that she was very wrong about thinking she knew everything; she did not know everything, she probably didn't know anything at all - which in turn made her even more uncertain. No, Kennedy definitely did not like feeling insecure, she hoped she never would be again, and then she left Willow alone.
Willow sat on the bad, the sobs threatening to become cries of anguish again. Xander, of all the people that could die, why him? All the pleasant memories of him from kindergarten onward rushed back again, and the damn broke once more. Willow cried out loud, realizing she would never have such moments with Xander again.
Suddenly there was a ticking. An insistent ticking that just wouldn't go away. Willow looked up and saw a large black bird sitting in front of the window, ticking its beak against it. "Shoo, go away," Willow called out through her cries. But the bird kept ticking, and ticking, and ticking. Annoyed Willow got up off the bed and walked over to the window. She pulled the window open, and the moment the window was open wide enough, the bird flew into the room, squawking its approval. "Hey!" Willow called indignant as she completed opening the window fully. She turned around and watched the bird swoop through her room, and land on the lamp on her night stand. "Get out," Willow said somewhat perturbed, no real emotion in her voice.
"Hey, Will," a voice sounded that she would recognize from a mile away. It sounded right at the moment she was aware of someone suddenly standing behind her, as if he teleported in. She whirled around and looked up until he saw his face. She stood ramrod straight, shocked in place. This couldn't be! She'd seen his corpse. Xander smiled at her and casually walked around her, until she was the one at the window side, not him. But those dark eyes. Wait! What was she thinking of course it was possible! He was a vampire, had to be, but Buffy hadn't said anything of a vampire attack. Come to think of it, neither of the three survivors had talked much about what had happened.
Xander smiled, and looked into Willow's shocked eyes. "How are you doing?" he asked softly, very gently.
Fire magic! But magic was useless Willow realized, her heart was racing too hard, her thoughts colliding at a million miles per minute, she just couldn't focus enough to do it, and if she did manage it, she couldn't do it without blowing up herself and the house along with it. Willow's head turned right and left, and saw a stake lying on the dresser right next to her. Oh, thank Kennedy's sloppiness. She grabbed the stake and raised it to strike, and hesitated. This was Xander! NO! This was the thing that killed him! Rage erupted through Willow when she thought of the body standing in front of her in that way, and she plunged the stake down toward Xander's heart.
Xander could easily catch Willow's plunging hand, but he was just in too much human shock to react. The only thought racing through his mind was: 'She thinks I'm a vamprie.' He had never considered that possibility, he really should have. The stake plunged home, he felt it tear through his skin and flesh. Pain blossomed from it, he groaned and took a step backward. "Willow," he said as he grabbed the stake and pulled it out. "I'm not a vampire."
Willow's eyes widened in fear as Xander didn't turn to dust. She watched him pull the stake free, tell her something she only fleetingly registered, and then the blood pulled back into Xander's wound and it closed right in front of her eyes. She looked up at him, fear growing, she needed a Slayer here to take down whatever demon Xander had become, but since both were out, she had to settle for a bleached blonde vampire and an army of potentials.
When Xander realized Willow was going to scream, he rapidly crossed the distance and covered her mouth with his hand. The scream was muffled completely. "Ssh!" Xander said, looking into Willow's giant fear-filled eyes. "I'm not a vampire, Willow. I'm not a demon either, I still have my soul. I did die, but I came back from the dead, all on my own. Resurrected is the term, we did with Buffy, remember? I'm here to put the wrong things right." Xander cocked his head at the crow, while he continued, "He did soup me up some though, so I could perform that task. I'm still one of the good guys, ok?"
Throughout his speech Willow's fear was ebbing away, for one thing, since Xander was touching her, that other possibility she had missed earlier - him being the First Evil - was proven quite false. Willow blinked, could it really be? Slowly, very slowly she felt the hand covering her mouth move away. "Xanderisthatreallyyou?Howcomeyoureyesaresodark?"
"Yeah, it's me," Xander answered and pointed at the Crow. "Eyes are his doing, I guess."
Suddenly Willow surged forward, wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest, Xander embraced her happily. There her sobbing babbling sounding even less intelligible than usual, "OhXanderIthoughtIlostyou.Nowyou'reback.I'msohappy.What happpened?Whyareyouhere?Whichwrongthings?You'reback!You'reback!You'reback!"
"Ssh, Willow," Xander said gently, having understood only half of what she said. She took a breath and relaxed, then looked up, loosening her hug somewhat. "Let's sit down, you can't tell anyone I'm back ok?" Xander said, gently leading her, and sat down upon the bed with her. "I'll explain," Xander said, and gave her a quick recap of meeting balance, and his resurrection.
"So, you're like an angel, then?" Willow asked with large eyes.
Xander smiled wistfully at her, and answered, "An Angel of Death, perhaps."
"What happened?" Willow asked with a sniff. "How did you die exactly? Buffy and Spike, you know them . . . and Faith won't talk either. She's even freakier than usual? All I got from her was 'You don't want to know.'"
"I think she's right, for now at least. I don't think you should know just yet," Xander answered her softly smiling. "I have a favor to ask Willow. When I came back my memories were restored, Willow. Those without Dawn, the ones that were altered by the monks who made her. I've got two sets of memories now. I'm still the same guy, mostly, but there are some key differences." Willow looked at him uncomprehending. Xander continued, gently, "I know you don't like doing magic anymore, Willow, but do you think you could find a spell to do the same for you, Buffy, Giles, Faith, and Spike? It's important."
"Ok, I could do that, it'll take me some time to find or make a spell that does it, but I can do it," she said gently.
Xander smiled at her, wanting to talk some more, but the crow cawed and then started flying. Xander cocked his head once, and then turned back to Willow. "Sorry, Will, someone's coming," he said as he stood up, give her cheek a quick brush. "Don't tell anyone. Oh, have people touch each other regularly, keeps the FE out." Willow nodded - her eyes widened 'we we're stupid' written all over her face - and watched as Xander dove out the window, but instead of falling he turned upward and climbed up the wall.
A moment later the door opened and Kennedy tentatively walked in, searching for Willow. "Willow?" she asked uncertain. A moment later a red whirlwind attacked her and kissed her deeply and passionately. When they broke apart, Kennedy looked astonished at the broadly smiling Willow. "How?"
"A birdie talked to me," Willow answered happily, earning her a concerned and worried looked from Kennedy. Willow laughed, kissed her girlfriend again, and said, "Wanna help me research a spell?"
"Oh, ok," Kennedy said even more uncertain, following Willow as the redhead brushed past her. They fell in step together, and the raven-haired girl asked, "You're not turning Xander into a zombie are you?" Willow laughed again as she pulled the other girl along.
*****
The crow sat perched on the window sill, looking through the window of the small stone window and listening. Back in his apartment Xander was busy with cleaning a gun, and preparing everything so he could just grab what he needed and go along the way.
With the crow and thus Xander watching, Caleb was there, picking up a goblet with red whine and drank from it. He then wondered about the color of the whine and what would have happened if they had chosen to drink white whine at the last supper, after which he went on and on about trying to find god in all the wrong places.
"Then you showed me the light," Caleb said, and turned around looking at a dark shadow.
The First as Buffy walks from it and asked, "Do you think I'm god?"
"No. No I don't, I'm beyond such concepts," Caleb answered him, smiling.
Xander looked grim at his task and Caleb through the Crow's eyes, and said, "Don't you worry your pretty little head about god, preacher boy. One of his messengers is coming for you."
FirstBuffy looked amused and said, "You still wear the outfit."
"I can't just turn my back on where I come from," Caleb said, his voice thick with his southern accent.
"Do you like what I'm wearing," the First asked, and did a lovely twirl.
Xander watched and listened calmly but uninterested to the sickening two's conversation, until they came to an interesting part. Caleb saying that the First had never shown him the Slayer throughout his time organizing the Bringers and blowing up the Watcher's Council.
"Buffy isn't The Slayer you stupid halfwit," Xander hissed as he furiously polished the gun in his hands. "You're going down, little coward."
Xander heard the Crow caw and then it flew away from the window, and looked down at the scene below it in the forest. Faith and Buffy were there following a lone Bringer.
"No eyes . . . look at him go! Do they have sonar or something?" Faith said incredulously looking at the Bringer walk toward the vineyard.
"They're usually not like this one, they work in threes," Buffy explains to Faith.
Faith continued to track the Bringer, and said, "Makes me think this is a trap." Faith listened to Buffy hiss about how she was done sitting around, and Faith got a little scared. It probably was better to wait until they found out what and where they were. Then Buffy started about avenging Xander's death. First Faith felt a bitter taste in her mouth, as she remembered Buffy not helping Xander, why was she so adamant about avenging Xander's death? But that soon was dispersed by blinding anger, wanting to get to the fuckers who had killed one of the few friends - however tenuously - she had.
Xander tuned out when the two Slayers started talking about their old rivalries and Angel. The crow cawed a short time later and he watched and listened when the Slayers saw the Bringer reach the vineyard, then turn around talking about getting the potentials.
Xander put his work down, thinking over that. He couldn't believe they weren't even going to check out the building, entrance ways and exit ways, let alone how many Bringers there were, whether Caleb was even there. For all they knew they could storm into the place later, find absolutely nothing until the whole place exploded by a ticking bomb. Faith even called it for the trap it was. Fine you can go in knowing something is a trap, but you better be prepared then, expect a trap, and only looking at the walls of the fortress wasn't going to help you one bit. He really wanted to believe they had some kind of plan, but he couldn't. Growling in frustration he got up, put his make-up back on and disappeared into the night.
*****
The Bringer entered the vineyard and walked down the steps, then knelt down in front of Caleb and the First.
"Did they follow?" Caleb asked mildly amused.
'Yes, master,' came the answer, it wasn't a voice, it wasn't exactly telepathy, but the answer was there nonetheless.
"Good," Caleb stated with a grin.
'I have some disturbing information, sir,' the Bringer 'said' for lack of better word.
"What is it?" Caleb added.
'Some of the demons, even the toughest kind, are scared. They say something very, very bad arrived here last night,' the Bringer answered the southern priest. 'Some of them have even decided to flee. They say it's something ancient, something . . . dark.'
"Of course," Caleb answered smugly.
'Not you, sir, not the great master either, the demons said it was something worse. They said it arrived during the sudden storm last night, since then the whole town as been saturated with what they termed as "pitch black" and the more perceptive called a "promise of pain and suffering for the unjust",' the Bringer explained, a little nervously.
"That's preposterous," Caleb exclaimed with conviction. "There is nothing worse than our beloved." Caleb wanted to point at the FE but it was gone. It had left a little earlier, walking through a wall, and looking out into nothingness.
"No," it said softly, breathlessly. "Not you, I won't let you beat me."
*****
Xander sat calmly on the branch in the tree, watching the vineyard. "'Lots of yelling?' That's the signal?" Xander shook his head. "What if the place dampens sound, dimwit? Ever heard of Walkie Talkies? You can find them in every toy store." Faith and a group of SiTs were hanging back outside, while Buffy with Spike at her side - which caused Xander to grimace - and some more SiTs went inside the building. Xander bit his teeth together as the crow once again flew down to the window sill to allow him to watch the proceedings inside. He couldn't believe it. Until now he had been willing to give Buffy the benefit of the doubt, that her brain wasn't completely fried, that she had some plan, some essence of recon on beforehand, but no. The just entered a potentially heavily fortified position, facing potentially heavily superior numbers, through one single narrow entrance way. If one knows something is a trap, or can't for some reason have any intelligence, you make sure the enemy can never close you in, in short: make some more entrance and exit ways, like blowing a hole in each wall, thus you have four wide exit ways, as well as a potential to surround whoever is inside. Xander shook his head, this just couldn't be true.
*****
Buffy, Spike, Molly, Kennedy, Rona and Choa-Ahn came down the chairs of the vineyard, followed by a three more SiTs.
"What is this place?" Molly asked looking around the damp, stone-walled place, large barrels of wine lining the walls.
"Looks like an old vineyard," Buffy commented looking around the place.
Kennedy put her two cents in, "An evil vineyard, huh?"
"Like Falcon Crest," Spike mumbled, looking around.
"Stay alert you guys. Bringers are here somewhere. Just need to find out where," Buffy stated, looking into the shadows trying to see.
Suddenly the Bringers came out of the shadows and from behind the barrels, and attacked. Buffy's group defended themselves, getting a few hits in, but so did the Bringers. The two groups were basically even, neither getting a handle on the other. Buffy threw one aside, and Spike sent a second Bringer sprawling with a punch to the face. Just as suddenly as the Bringers arrived, they stepped back into the shadows. Buffy's group was perturbed, but Buffy hid it quickly, exuding with confidence, as Caleb, in his priest robe stepped out into the light.
Caleb smiled, as he stood in the middle, and said, "Well, now, you girls are just burning with righteousness, aren't you? Problem is, you think you're blazing like suns, when really you're burning like matchsticks in the face of darkness. You having fun? Now, I hope my boys haven't worn you out too much - I need you fit for when I purify you."
Buffy got angry at that, took a step forward and told him, "Save the sermon, Padre, I hear you have something of mine."
Caleb gave a chuckle, before answering, "Well, I do now. You liked my little message, did you? You know, I ruined a perfectly good knife on that girl. Got her soiled blood all over the place. I may have to get a new truck." Buffy was taken aback by his statement, this guy had no human feelings at all it seemed. Caleb continued his tale undisturbed, "So, you're the Slayer. The Slayer. The strongest, the fastest, the most aflame with that most precious invention of all mankind - the notion of goodness. The slayer must indeed be powerful." Caleb seemingly casually threw a backhanded punch that connected solidly with Buffy's jaw, and she was sent speeding through the air, not hitting the ground until five meters further, and then rolling around several times before stopping. "So," Caleb stated superiorly, "what else you got?"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, then Spike vamped out and attacked the priest. Caleb grabbed the vampire easily and held him down. With a smile he gave Spike a head but and then casually tossed him aside. Spike flew through the air and crashed into a large wine tank, which splinted on his impact, wine pored down over the vampire and he was washed aside.
"Let's go!" Kennedy commanded, finally shaking herself free of her shock, and surged forward at Caleb. The other potentials followed, but before Kennedy could reach Caleb the Bringers returned to the fray and one of them intercepted her. As Kennedy struggled with the Bringer, she managed to disarm him of his knife, at which point Caleb punched her in the face and sent her reeling back into a few wine barrels, bruises quickly forming.
"Kennedy!" Rona exclaimed worried, and went to help the raven-haired girl. Caleb intercepted her though, and she swung her spiked bat at him.
Caleb easily caught the bat, and said casually, "Now, miss, I do believe you have your own problems you should be worrying about." Caleb grabbed the black girl's arm, and snapped it with ease. Rona screamed in pain, staggering back. Caleb gave a chuckle and bent down to retrieve the knife that Kennedy knocked from the Bringer's hands. He tossed it to the Bringer who lost it, and the Bringer caught it, then plunged it toward Rona. The potential twisted her body and so the knife only got stuck in her shoulder instead of her heart. She screamed at the pain, but then got relief when the Bringer's arm got skewered by the sword of a newly arrived potential, which made him need to pull himself free and he sank to the floor.
The second team had arrived, and Caleb said happily, "Oh good, there's more of you."
Faith held two knives, advancing on Caleb, as potentials fought with Bringers behind and around her. She attacked Caleb, but he easily avoided her blows and slices. She paused, and Caleb looked her up and down, and casually remarked, "You're the other one, aren't you? You're Cain to her Abel." Faith threw a knife at him, but he once again easily avoided it. "No offense meant to Cain, of course."
Faith attacked Caleb with her other knife, but he grabbed her arm, twisted it, and crossed it with her other one. Faith looked directly into Caleb's eyes, but she couldn't move. He squeezed her hands until she was forced to drop the knife. Faith grunted at him and kneed him in the crotch, causing Caleb to let go of her just enough that she could escape his grasp. Then she backhanded him across the face.
Gritting her teeth, Faith said, "Never was much for the good book."
Caleb grabbed Faith's arm and twisted it painfully behind her back, causing her to double over. She fell to her knees as he twisted and pulled her arm. He walked around to the front of her, going on another sermon, "Oh, it has its moments. Paul had some good stuff, for instance. But overall I find it a tad complicated." He gave Faith a hard slap, pausing his speech for the moment, but quickly continued, "I like to keep things simple." He kicked Faith across the room into a stack of wine barrels, making him pause his speech once more. "Good folk, bad folk . . ." he continued, grabbing the sword from long-haired raven potential who had swung it at him. He then grabbed onto her face, adding, " . . . clean folk, dirty folk." Caleb snapped the potential's neck with a casual flick of his wrist and dropped her to the ground.
Molly watched Caleb kill her fellow sister potential, and screamed out, "NO!"
Her outburst drew Caleb to her, and he said, "Yes." Caleb continued menacingly toward Molly, who backed up slowly, frozen with fear. Across from Caleb a Bringer started fighting with the once again risen Kennedy, but it was obvious Caleb's earlier hit, weakened her physically as well as mentally. The Bringer was starting to win. Molly raised her arm to stab Caleb with her knife, but he grabbed her wrist, then her neck. Behind Caleb another potential got pummeled by a Bringer. Closer to where Buffy slowly came to, a Bringer threw Amanda against a wall and continued his attack on her. Buffy stood up just as Caleb squeezed Molly's neck, lifting her off the floor. Caleb took Molly's own knife from her and held it up. "What can I say? I work in mysterious ways," he said, and was about to plunge the knife in when a small bolt penetrated his knife hand. Across from him a same bolt penetrated the Bringer's forearm who was about to stab Kennedy in her heart, causing it to drop his knife.
"Ah!" Caleb yelled out, grabbing the painful hand with his right one, letting go of Molly, and she fell to the floor. Angry he looked at the bolt and pulled it free, looking up to where it came from. There on the steps, on the plateau in the shadowed corner stood a man, dressed all in black, it seemed as if darkness itself had enveloped him. His long flowy, black, leather coat still whirled around him, obviously he had just landed there, and had turned around and shot the bolts from the two wrist mounted crossbows in one move, and his aim had been perfect. His longish hair was flowing around his head and face, and with the long standing up collar of the coat it kept most of it obscured, increasing the fearful effect when he looked at someone allowing that someone to see his face. That face was the most striking aspect of him; pale like death, Caleb couldn't discern whether that was make-up or his natural color. His eyes were black around, and his irises were so dark brown it almost looked black, and from Caleb's position it seemed black. Blood red stripes were in the middle of his eyes, above and below, the ones below went all the way down where it intersected with black lightly curved upward lines coming from his lips, which were completely black as well.
"Retreat! Now!" came Xander's command, even as Caleb watched him pull two guns from beneath his coat. The command had effect, because Caleb was vaguely aware of Molly scampering away from him, toward the exit, and so did other potentials. His main attention though was on Xander, who fired both guns twice, his aim switching in between shots, one of the shots directly aimed at him. Caleb twisted his head and body back, only narrowly avoiding the bullet that shot right past him. Around him, three Bringers dropped dead, each having a whole to their heads.
Caleb looked back in anger at the mean, and for a moment, as all the good guys started their difficult retreat, their gazes locked. Caleb felt a shiver go up his spine when he saw those eyes - these #were# burning like the sun, with anger, rage, desire to inflict pain, and righteousness, righteous revenge. An unsaid understanding passed between the two: they would meet again, and for at least one of them it wouldn't be pretty. It was then that Caleb recognized him. "The one who sees," he whispered in surprise, as he watched Xander dash up the stairs.
A few seconds later only Caleb, and the Bringers were left in the vineyard. "Well," Caleb stated flippantly. "That was unexpected. Mr. Harris has decided to branch out on his own, and take up modern weapons again. This changes things . . . not much, but it changes things." Caleb turned half around and looked at the First who arrived just then, it didn't look happy. "Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing," the First answered flatly before stalking off.
*****
"Who was that guy?" Amanda asked breathlessly as the whole group was back safely out in the woods.
"Don't know, didn't get a look on him," Molly answered with a quivering lip, still afraid because of her near death experience. "He sounded familiar though."
"Who told anybody to obey him?" Buffy suddenly blurted out looking around the group. "We can't start obeying strangers!"
"You did too," Faith pointed out logically.
"That's because everyone else was going, I can't fight them all at the same time," Buffy answered her fellow Slayer, a haunted look in her eyes.
"From where I'm standing," Rona commented with difficulty, hanging onto Kennedy with her good arm, "he saved all our lives."
"Yeah, B, I think you know it was time to retreat as well, you're just got your panties in a bunch because someone else voiced it first," Faith added, trying to keep the peace. *And got a good few kills in while all of us combined got nothing,* Faith added silently, remembering the frightening accuracy of the shots, killing three Bringers with ease from such a distance. She also remembered her gun battle with Angelus, and wondered how much of her and him avoiding the shots was luck and bad aim, and how much was speed and agility.
Nobody noticed Spike stare off in the distance, he knew who the mystery man was. He had smelled him. Harris! There was something strange to his scent, but it was still unmistakably him. How he could still be alive he didn't know. And he could still smell him now, but he couldn't pinpoint him. Suddenly without warning he felt a hand wrap around his mouth, and another around his waist and was yanked away and pulled along as if he weighed no more that a match stick.
"SPIKE!" Buffy exclaimed in fright and concern as without warning the vampire was dragged off into the woods and nobody had been able to do anything about it. "We have to go help him!" she said afterwards with wide eyes.
"Broken arm, stab wounds, and lots of other injuries all around," Rona remarked dryly, "and we don't have Speedy Gonzales healing."
Buffy took in her words, and realized Rona was right. "Faith, you take them to hospital, I'll go rescue Spike." Then Buffy ran off in the general direction Spike was pulled into.
Faith blinked at that, took a breath, and said, "You heard the general, let's get you all to the hospital."
*****
Spike slammed against a tree and landed on his ass, then looked up at the black figure, with the pale face. Filled with false bravado he said, "Well, hello, Droopy. Nice paint job - didn't know you were an artist. Do you want the same treatment as Wood?"
Xander didn't answer, he just stared down at Spike with those dark, dark eyes. It didn't require an empath to feel the hate radiating from him. "Come on, Harris, do it." Spike paused and gave a chuckle, "Buffy's little lapdog, that's what you always were, can't do anything without her permission."
"Wrong," Xander answered, his voice was so cold and filled with hate that Spike felt a chill run up his already cool spine.
Spike continued with his taunting though, "You don't have the guts. You kill me and Buffy's going to kill you, and you know it. You just may have the balls to fight me, but never your precious Buffy."
Spike felt the animal blood he'd been feeding off drain from his face as he saw the cold and cruel smile form on Xander's face. Suddenly Xander shot forward as he bent down. Spike's eyes widened, realizing he was much to late to stop him from doing from whatever he was going to do. He felt Xander's hands - warm to Spike's surprise - grab his head. Suddenly there was a flash that shot through his dead brain. He didn't know what it was, but Xander took a step back. "You son of a bitch," Xander muttered, looking down at Spike. "You're even worse than I thought." Spike stayed silent, gritting his teeth.
In the distance, coming closer, Buffy's voice sounded, calling for Spike, asking him to shout if he could. Xander cocked his head in the same direction, then back at Spike. "Don't worry, Sparky," Xander stated icily cold. "When I'm done with the First and his crony, I'm coming for you. And I'm going to make you suffer." Then Xander shot away into the night.