*****

Detective Chen tensed as she heard/felt the figure approach behind her. He might just be going to the bar... wait and see.

At five feet she was able to confirm that he was heading straight for her. At three feet she felt the breeze he made as he crossed the floor. At two feet she heard the rustle of his arms brush against his coat as he reached out for her. As his hand touched her shoulder she slipped into level one.

"Back off, creep." Her voice rang out, clearly heard across the bar.

His voice came back, low and rumbling. "Not tonight, little one."

Grace slipped into level two.

*****

Xander was halfway to his feet when Jarod laid a hand on his shoulder, "Wait. Look at her."

Xander looked at the slight Asian as the big demon approached her. He took in her body language and the tilt of her head. He didn't drop back into the chair but he stopped his upward motion. "She knows he's coming."

"Right. And she's ready for him."

Xander realized that Jarod was right. The Asian shifted her balance slowly, her weight slipping off the stool and onto her left foot as her right foot slid clear of obstructions. Xander made a decision. "Let's see how she handles this."

Konzaki smiled slightly, "Could be fun."

Jarod just watched the scene with growing interest.

*****

A quick flick of her shoulder, and a follow up twist of her arm, had the man's arm twisted nicely behind his back. Grace whispered into his ear softly, "I said, buzz off."

Damn, She though as the man didn't respond, not even a flinch. This guy is BIG.

The low rumbling voice sounded again. "Does little one want to play? Ok... I'll play."

Slowly, inexorably, the man untwisted his arm. Grace tried to keep up the pressure but she was shocked by the feeling of pure power in the man's movements. He just seemed to be going in one direction with a single minded 'nothing is going to stop me' motion. In a few seconds he was facing her, his arm still in her grasp.

"Play time." The low, rumble, seemed to vibrate through her.

Grace Chen stepped up to level three.

*****

"Uh oh." Xander said as his eyes swept the room.

"What?" Konzaki asked, nervously fingering his Atchisson under his long coat.

"New guy has some friends."

Konzaki looked around the bar. He noticed no less then three others moving closer to the confrontation at the bar. Most of the Patrons were following the kid's example and enjoying the show. But that still left four hulking demons for the little girl to handle.

Xander rose to his feet, hearing both Jarod and Konzaki do the same behind him. "Cover us, Andy."

Konzaki nodded, even though the kid couldn't see him, and gripped the modified Atchisson under his coat in a firm grip.

*****

Grace leaned back against the bar, lifting her weight of her legs, and swept both feet up in arcing kicks that struck the man across his hooded face. The blows pushed him back a couple feet and knocked the hood clear of his features. Grace gasped as his face came into view.

The man had an almost scaly face, with two long curving horns that swept back to where he should have had ears. His eyes were black on black, with just a hint of an evil red tinge.

"What the hell are you?"

Again the low, rumbling sound. "Hell? Yesss... That would be a good description, Little one. Play now." And he lunged toward her.

Grace skipped level four and shifted directly into level five.

*****

Xander was moving across the bar, trying to intercept the three demons before they reached the girl. He wasn't going to make it.

Elan. You know anything about these guys?

He could feel Elan shifting as she examined the brief glimpses they had gotten of the demon before it had lunged at the Asian.

Terknal Demons. Elan said finally, Prepare yourself, I'll try to project their weaknesses.

Xander lurched as a series of vivid images washed across and behind his eyesight. They didn't exactly block out the bar around him, but were instead overlaid on his regular eyesight. Xander had to fight back the urge to vomit as a wave of nausea washed over him.

Don't DO that. He thought scathingly from where he had been forced to stop in mid run.

Sorry, but I think it was important.

Xander mentally reviewed the information as he resumed his rush forward, and had to admit that the information was valuable. Teknal demons had completely different weak points then humans, he wouldn't have faired well without the data.

*****

Grace hit the ugly thing with a palm strike to the sternum and followed through with a savage kick to the knee. To depressingly little effect. The thing grabbed her at the shoulders, its grip like some irresistible force that tightened like a hydraulic press.

She brought her hands up between his arms and struck at them in a vain attempt to loosen the grip. Next she brought her knee up hard, striking at the groin, but again nothing. The thing came closer, its grip tightening, and behind it she could see three more advancing on her with what she took for leers on their ugly faces.

Grace let her legs buckle, her body weight dropping her out of the creatures grip and she struck out with an iron fist at the things kidneys. A lethal blow, but she didn't know what else to do. When that had no effect she tried rolling clear. Body armor. Bastard must have body armor.

She was halfway through her roll when the thing caught her ankle and drug her back. She was about to scream in rage and frustration when the weight over her suddenly vanished.

*****

Xander struck the first demon in the small of the back with his knee, sending a spear of pain through the creatures entire body. As the big demon stiffened he pulled the thing off the Asian lady.

Xander turned to look at the other three demons as they turned their attention to him. "I think you should back off."

"Why you think that?" one of them asked in the same rumbling voice of his companion.

"Cause you're new here, and that means you don't know the rules." Xander said, smiling tersely as he helped the woman to her feet.

"Rules?" The three creatures that weren't currently moaning on the ground looked genuinely puzzled. "What rules?"

Xander smiled wider, "This town is currently under the protection of a half dozen witches, a military commando unit, *two* Slayers, two angels, a handful of lunatics, a few other fighters... and me and my... friend."

The creatures had gotten increasingly nervous as Xander listed the local defenders, but when he reached the last bit they laughed. "Who are you that we should fear?"

"Me? I'm no one..." Xander grinned and held out his hand, a sliver shimmer flashed and suddenly his hand was locked around a seven foot silver staff. "But my friend here has a *really* nasty temper."

*****

Grace accepted the hand up, her ears already focusing on what the young man was saying. Rules?

She watched as he rattled off a list of things that made no sense. Slayers? Commando's? What the hell?

When the battle staff appeared in his hand she jumped in surprise. "What the hell is going on here?"

The brown haired man grinned, "Relax. We'll have you out of here in a moment, miss...?"

"Detective." Grace corrected, "Detective Chen."

The young man's eyebrows shot up, "Detective? I thought the PD told their recruits to stay clear of Willy's?"

Grace looked at the three creatures who were growling again and moving closer. "Can we talk about this later?"

"Huh?" the kid looked back at the group, "Oh... right. This'll take a sec."

Grace shook her head and shifted into a fighting stance as she watched the kid confront the creatures again.

*****

"Last chance guys." Xander said, smiling as he tried to exude confidence.

"I think the chance is your last."

Xander shrugged, sweeping Elan in an easy stroke between them, casually shifting his stance.

The first demon lunged forward and Xander reversed his grip on Elan, driving the end of the ancient weapon into a point several inches above where a human's kidney's would be located.

Grace Chen watched in shock as the creature dropped like a stone from the relatively minor hit.

Xander smiled back at her, "His 'kidneys' are located a bit higher then a normal person."

"How...?"

Xander ignored her and looked back at the two remaining mobile demons, "Don't suppose your willing to talk now?"

They growled and charged in tandem.

*****

Xander and Grace met the two creatures together.

Her earlier experience had told her not to try to out force these creatures, she couldn't win. Instead she shifted her weight and allowed the thing to rush past her, adding her own strength to the power of his lunge. As the thing over balanced she kicked out with a light jab of her foot and swept its legs from under it, changing its lunge into a dive that drove it through the hardwood bar.

Xander used a different tactic. He met the thing head on, hitting it in three places simultaneously. Elan clipped the creature under the jaw, staggering it back. Xander heel's drove into the demon ankle, mashing into a nerve bundle and paralyzing the leg, and his elbow drove into the creature's equivalent of a sternum.

It dropped to the ground at Xander's feet, clutching at its mid-section as it attempted to draw in breath. Xander looked down at the three at his feet and the third that was picking itself out of the remains of the bar and shook his head.

Elan, background please.

Terknal demons are a fairly low order group. Violent, but not exactly the brightest of the race. They usually work for more powerful individuals and groups as enforcers.

Threat level to civilians?

Depends on who they work for. Alone, they usually steer clear of humans.

Xander nodded and stepped over the one that was struggling to get up from the shambles of the bar and placed his foot at the nerve cluster at the small of its back. It howled in pain as he forced it back down to the floor.

"Let me get one thing straight here. This place is a NO FIGHTING ZONE!" He mashed even harder into the nerve cluster. "You start something in here again and I'll send what's left of you back to your employers in an ashtray. You got me?"

No answer. Xander dug his heel in a little deeper, causing the creature to scream out in pain. "Got you! Got you!"

"Good." Xander kicked it solidly on the side of the neck, knocking it unconscious.

A cowering figure rose from behind the bar, looking at Xander in annoyance. "Geez, kid. How many times I got to tell you? Don't trash the bar!"

"Shut up, Willy."

Willy shut up.

Xander sighed and fished some cash out of his pocket, glanced at it for a second, and tossed the money on what was left of the bar. Then he spoke loud enough for everyone in the bar to hear, "You wanna post a bigger notice, Willy? I'm not gonna let this place stay standing if Mortals start disappearing from here."

"Sure sure, kid." Willy promised as he scooped up the cash. He knew that the threat was only half sincere. The kid needed him and bar, but only to a point. So he'd make the sign and post it, and even try to enforce it as he could. Trouble with the kid and his friends wasn't something he needed. "I'll do that... Just try not to rip the place apart next time, k?"

Xander didn't answer he just turned back to where Konzaki and Jarod had weapons trained on the rest of the bar. "Put 'em away guys. I think everyone here has got the point?"

As Xander's eyes looked over the bar even Vampires turned a little paler. Several creatures nodded, some even spoke out. "Yep! Lesson learned... no killing mortals in the bar..."

Xander frowned at those that added the line 'in the bar' to their promise, but knew it was the best he'd get. "Good."

Grace Chen stared at the military grade weapons the kid's two friends slipped back under concealment and tried to decide if she should arrest them... or thank them. "What the hell is going on here?"

Xander glanced back. "Detective Chen, I'd suggest that you avoid Willy's in the future. Sunnydale PD is not equipped, mentally or otherwise, to handle the types that hang out here."

Several of the demonic patrons snorted and chuckled at that comment, causing Grace's Asian features to redden slightly. "Hey! Listen up, I could run your two friends in on weapons charges, and I'm sure that a quick search would give me something on you too!"

Xander chuckled, "Detective, You haven't got the slightest clue what's going on here. You've stumbled into something your better off not knowing... Go back to chasing purse snatchers and pick pockets, detective, this place is out of your league."

Grace reached forward and grabbed his shoulder, spinning him back around to face her. "Oh yeah? What the hell does that make you then?"

"A survivor." Xander said simply, dropping his shoulder and slipping clear of her grasp. "And if you know anything about Sunnydale at all you'll, back off. The Police won't touch me anymore then they'd touch your playmates back there if you had called for backup."

"What do you...?"

"Stein would have let them have you, Detective. He's not going to cross them or their kind, and neither are any of the other cops around here... except maybe a few rookies like yourself."

Grace ignored the rookie crack, "You're trying to tell me that the entire police force is on the take?"

"No. I'm trying to tell you that the police force was a healthy desire to go on living. And that is something that doesn't come cheap here in Sunnydale. You pay for every breath you take here, Detective. Some pay by ignoring the dark. Some pay by living in it."

Grace looked at Xander, still not understanding. "How do *you* pay?"

Xander joined his two friends and walked out of the bar, "By kicking it in the ass every chance I get."

*****

Grace left the bar right behind the three guys. She slipped onto her black motorcycle as they left in a red mustang convertible, gunned the engine and raced after them.

*****

"We've got company." Jarod said, glancing in the review.

Xander turned around in the backseat and grinned. "Cop has guts."

"Should I lose her?"

"Do your stuff, J-man."

Jarod grinned. "Cool."

*****

Grace gunned the motor as the mustang started pulling away, she wasn't going to lose this group. The two vehicles sped through the empty nighttime streets of Sunnydale at speeds surpassing a hundred miles per hour, neither vehicle slowing much for anything... even corners.

*****

"Whoa!" Andrezj let out as the car skidded by a lamp pole.

"Hang on." Jarod ordered as he cut down an alley, tapping the brake once as he went into the turn then flooring the accelerator as he came out of it.

Xander just hung on. He wasn't exactly having fun, but he trusted Jarod's driving and figured that if he said any of the things running through his mind he might distract the man form the road.

*****

"Damn!" Grace yelled as she skidded her bike to a stop after she overshot the alley. The Mustang had just made a ninety degree turn down a narrow alley at almost a hundred miles an hour, and even she wasn't crazy enough to follow.

By the time she had gotten turned around and back to the alley the car was long gone. "Damnit!"

She shook her head and spun the Kawasaki Ninja around and headed for her apartment.

It only took her a few minutes to arrive at her small apartment. She climbed off the bike and went up the stairs, brushing past the English gentleman she lived next to as she did. She barely noticed him, but heard him as he mumbled something about 'typical American rudeness'.

Under her breath she snickered, it was odd being mistaken for an American even after all this time. She figured she'd have to apologize to the man later, but for now she had too much on her mind.

Inside her apartment she went straight to the phone and dialed from memory. It was answered on the third ring.

"Amy? Its Grace. Yeah... No... No, it looks like you were right. Something is seriously screwed up in Sunnydale. I'll fill you in later, but I'm telling you that something really weird is going on here.... No... If you think that's wise... ok, I'll be glad to see Terrell... Ok. I'll be waiting. I will. Bye."

Grace hung up the phone and looked at herself in the mirror. It had been a rough night but she had finally started to make some headway into the town... even if it was a very weird way to do it. She sat down on her couch and stared at the wall for a long moment.

Who were those guys? And what am I getting mixed up in now?

*****

"Where the hell did you learn to drive like that!?" Konzaki asked as he got his breath back.

"Indianapolis." Jarod answered easily.

"What!?"

Xander snickered from the background, "I told you, Jarod is a generalist... he's damned good at a *lot* of things."

"Christ." Konzaki muttered under his breath. "Why do I get the idea that I'm hooking up with a bunch that makes Lyons and his pals look *normal*?"

"Who?"

"Never mind." Andrezj muttered and stared out the window as Jarod turned the sports car toward their building.

*****