Part 35 - Unexpected Battle
One month later
8 pm

Buffy and Xander were at Giles' place, getting ready to patrol.
They'd been almost out the door, when there was a knock.

Giles went to open it, and Angel was standing there. Buffy
looked at Giles, wondering how he'd take the presence of Angel
on his doorstep. He'd never quite gotten over the events which
had occurred when Angelus had returned, and she couldn't blame
him for that. She also knew that Angel was well aware of how
Giles felt about him, so the reason Angel was at his door was
bound to be important.

"Giles, I'm sorry to bother you," Angel said, "I knew Buffy
would be here, and it's important."

"Come in," Giles said with a sigh, stepping back into his
apartment.

"Thank you," Angel said. "Buffy, I finally found out where Spike
is. Willy told me he's in one of the abandoned warehouses at
the edge of town. He's been recruiting vampires, and that only
means one thing.

"Time to come after Buffy again?" Buffy replied with an
irritated sigh. Life had been so nice for the past few weeks
without any sign of Spike. He'd been laying low, and she'd
enjoyed the reprieve. She should have known it wouldn't last,
though.

"Exactly," Angel said, nodding. "So why don't you let me take
patrol tonight--"

"Absolutely not!" Buffy replied with a frown. "Angel, I'm tired
of that Bleached-Blond Billy Idol Wannabe ruling my life. I'm
thinking that it's time to rid the world of Spike once and for
all." She moved to the weapons chest. "Now if you want to join
me, that's fine, but no more talk of my hiding from Spike.
Okay?"

Angel nodded, knowing better than to attempt to argue with her
when she was in this kind of mood.

"Xan--"

"I'm coming," Xander said firmly. The last thing he wanted was
Buffy and Angel going out on patrol alone. He'd prefer to be
there with them. That way his active imagination wouldn't get
the best of him while he was home alone waiting for Buffy to
finish patrolling.

Buffy opened her mouth to argue with him, but shut it again. *I
know that look.* She realized it would be pointless to try to
convince him to stay away.

"Fine. Giles we'll check in when it's over. Angel, you're
coming, right?"

"You don't really need me--"

"Yeah we do," Xander interjected.

Angel looked at him a moment in shock. He knew that his presence
was precisely the last thing that Xander wanted, but was glad
the boy could put his feelings aside in the interest of Buffy's
safety.

"You know I'd be happy to back you two up," he replied finally.

Buffy reminded herself to be shocked later at Xander's request
for Angel's help. She'd never imagined she'd see the day when
her ex and her current boyfriends would be exchanging civil
words without her prompting. Now, though, she only had room in
her mind for one thing, and that was killing Spike.

She nodded, and handed out the weapons, before saying, "Lead the
way, Angel."

Buffy looked over at Xander as they were walking down the
street. She knew he wasn't thrilled about the situation, but was
grateful he could accept the fact that Angel could help them.
She and Xander had gotten closer the past few weeks, feeling
more comfortable around each other, though they were far from
completely back to their original greatness. She reached over
and squeezed his hand, and he looked at her with a smile.

"I'm fine," he said. She nodded, having no choice but to believe
him for the moment.

Angel stayed several feet ahead of them, Buffy knew he was
trying to give them their space. She appreciated that he was
trying to keep this from being any more awkward than it had to
be. She also knew it wasn't easy for Angel to be around them,
either.

Angel finally stopped, and waited for them to catch up. "There
it is," he said, pointing at the building across the street.

Buffy looked at it, it looked completely uninhabited. There were
several broken out windows, and it was pitch black.

Angel guessed at her skepticism, and said, "About twenty of
them. Trust me, I can smell them."

"That's gotta be a handy skill," Xander said with a grin. It
soon faded though, and he said, "No, wait. You can tell if any
demon or human is near, right?"

"Yeah..." Angel looked at Xander, not sure what he was worried
about. He finally got it though. "Yeah, all vampires can sense
when others are near, so that means they'll know when we walk
in, if not before."

"So I'm thinking it's better to lure them out here, rather than
go in there for an ambush," Buffy said.

The others nodded. "Spike will be thinking the exact opposite,
though" Angel asked. "How do you propose to get him out here?"

"Watch me," Buffy said with a grin. "HEY SPIKE!" she screamed.
"GET YOUR SORRY ASS OUT HERE AND FIGHT ME!"

Xander quickly clamped his hand over Buffy's mouth and pulled
her back away from the street. He then looked at her as if she'd
lost her mind. "Buffy, please!"

She pushed his arm away, and said, "What?! We want Spike out
here with his idiot fledglings, and I'm trying to make that
happen."

"Well that just killed any hope of a surprise attack," Xander
said with a sigh.

"I thought we just established there was no chance of that,"
Buffy growled, stomping her foot in irritation.

"Well, there could have been SOME surprise," Xander insisted.
"They didn't know, that we knew, that they knew..." Xander
frowned as he lost track of his own point.

"I think I get it," Buffy replied with a smile. "Sorry, Xan, but
you should know by now that patience isn't my strongest point.
My idea didn't work anyway," she looked at the building. "So I
guess we're onto plan B."

"Which would be what?" Angel replied. "Because I think I speak
for both myself _and_ Xander when I say that we weren't aware of
a plan A. And screaming it to the world at large at the same
time you let us in on it doesn't count."

"Geez," Buffy sighed. "I was just having a little fun." At their
twin looks of disapproval, she said, "Okay, okay. Some people
can not take my sense of humor. So plan B.... I dunno. Go in and
kill them?" Quickly followed by "Joke!" as they both prepared to
start in on her again.

"Got any matches?" she asked, contemplating a return to her
arson days.

"Yes but no," Angel said firmly. "Too windy."

"Okay, so what..." Buffy trailed off as a van pulled up at the
front of the building. They watched as ten vampires rushed out
of the warehouse and opened the back of the van, dragging five
teens back into the building.

"Plan time over," Buffy said then. "We go in now."

"Not in this lifetime," Xander replied, grabbing her arm. "I'm
not interested in suicide."

"Xander, sitting here wasting time planning Spike's demise was
all well and good when it was just a bunch of annoying vamps in
there. But now there are potential murder victims in there too.
And last time I checked, I was supposed to protect the
innocent."

Xander stared at her for a moment, trying to come up with a
proper argument. He finally shrugged, "I hate it when you're
right."

"Okay, we go in, but we stay close to each other," Angel
insisted. "The only chance we have of ending this with minimal
bloodshed is if they can't separate us." The other two agreed,
and they ran into the warehouse.

Angel was the first one in, and three vampires exploded in a
cloud of dust as he shot off his crossbow. Ten other vampires
charged them, and with axes and stakes they were soon slain as
well.

When the dust cleared, Buffy saw Spike, twenty feet across the
room, with his remaining seven minions. "I think you're a little
out of your league, Slayer," he said with a grin. "And 'ello,
Peaches. I'll enjoy killing you again. I think, though...." he
chuckled, looking at Buffy. "Yeah, I'll take out the boytoys
first, while you get to watch. Stuff the nightmares are made of,
hey, Pet?"

Buffy stared at him, not sure how he knew. It _was_ her worst
fear, that Angel and Xander's deaths someday would be due to
her. "No."

"Buffy, don't let him get to you," Xander said, grabbing her
arm, and turning her to face him. "Nobody's going to die. Not
here, not now, and definitely not because of him!"

"'Fraid you're wrong, Mate," Spike interjected as one of his
minions brought a struggling blond girl over to him. He vamped
out, "'Cuz this one's most definitely dinner!" he added and sunk
his teeth into the girl's jugular.

"NO!" Buffy screamed, running at him, ignoring Angel and
Xander's pleas to the contrary. She made her way through two
vampires, before reaching Spike. It was too late to save the
girl, though, as Spike dropped the dead body to the ground,
turning to face her.

"It's my blood you want," Buffy said angrily. "So come on,
Spike, come get it!" she challenged.

"Don't worry, Pet. That was just an appetizer," Spike replied,
flashing his fangs at her. He then growled and charged her. She
punched him in the face, sending him back a few steps, then
followed with a kick to his stomach. This succeeded in knocking
him off his feet, and she approached with her stake while he was
still recovering.

He surprised her by tripping her up then, and she fell on top of
him, her stake flying off across the floor. "Damn it!" She
yelled, and rolled away from him.

He chuckled, and leapt to his feet, "Oh no, Slayer's lost her
stake," he mocked her. "Now whatever will she do?"

She growled, and pulled a knife out of her boot, and said,
"Knife in the heart will do just as well."

"You talk too much. If you were _able_ to off me, you woulda'
done it already. I don't think you're 'alf the Slayer you play
at being," Spike said.

"I talk too much?!" Buffy replied in disbelief. "Yeah, _you're_
one to talk," she muttered. "I think sometimes you try to kill
me with your wit. And if THAT'S your plan, you're gonna be
waiting a looooong time for that." She then charged at him
again.

Xander dispatched a vampire with a swing of his axe, then looked
over at Angel. He had drawn the interest of the remaining five
vampires, and the odds were not looking good for him. Xander
glanced at Buffy for a moment, trying to decide who needed his
help more. She was handling Spike well, but she was obviously
distracted by Angel's predicament. That settled it, he couldn't
have her distracted. He rushed over to help Angel.

He yelled, "Angel!" Angel looked over at him, and Xander threw
him the axe. Angel smiled in relief, and beheaded two minions
quickly. Xander found a stake someone had dropped on the floor,
and staked two more vampires from behind. Angel took out the
last one, and Xander finally was able to catch his breath.

"You okay?" he asked.

"I'll heal," Angel said with a shrug. He had many bruises and
cuts, but no serious wounds. "You?"

"I'll feel it tomorrow," Xander replied. "No big."

They both looked over toward Buffy in time to see Spike kick her
in the stomach, sending her flying against the wall behind them.
"Buffy!" Xander yelled in worry, and ran to her, helping her up.
"Are you okay?" he asked, looking her over closely.

"Few cracked ribs, nothing I can't live with," she replied,
holding her arm around her ribs gingerly. "Where'd Spike go?"
she wondered, looking around.

"Good question," Xander said, trying to look for the vampire as
well. The warehouse was huge, and very poorly lit. He didn't see
any sign of Spike, but knew he could be anywhere.

Angel saw that Buffy was okay, and ran over to the corner where
the teens were tied up. He freed them, and rushed them to the
exit. He pulled out some cash from his pocket, and handed it to
one of them. "Take this, run to The Bronze, and call cabs to
take you home. And from now on, stay inside after dark!" They
nodded, obviously frightened, and ran off.

Angel watched them get to safety, then turned and walked back to
where Buffy and Xander were standing.

"Where's Spike?" Buffy asked him.

"Well, I thought _you_ had him," Angel replied with a shrug.

"Well fine, blame me," Buffy muttered, and looked away, her eyes
searching the darkness for the vampire. Suddenly Angel cried out
in pain, and fell to his knees. Buffy screamed in horror as she
saw the arrow which had entered his torso from behind, very near
his heart.