It nearly killed me, but I got through the exams. Yay! Well, this chapter came from an exhausted brain, so excuse any long-winded parts that you may come across. I hope I am at least maintaining some of my standards! Fair bit of conversation and explanation here, and then - well, the story is only about four centimeters down so I'll just let you find out... This chapter is a little shorter than I had intended because I have a fair bit left and simply couldn't leave you all hanging while I hammered it out. Nice, aren't I?

One chapter left so I thank you again for bearing with me through this entire thing! Hope you enjoy where I take this, and I hope I have given some pleasure with this little ficlet.

Twirling With the Breeze

Wrenching her muscles against the infuriating force that bound her, Buffy felt it snap and she rolled forward instantly, the talon aimed at her jugular nicking her shoulder instead. Flipping onto her feet, she swung a high kick at the demon and it staggered back several feet, its weakness evident. It took a step back towards her to attack again, but a white comet of power from Willow sent it sprawling before it turned abruptly and sprinted away out of sight, a harrowing screech peeling into the sky to signal its retreat.

Her misconception that she had broken free herself from the force that held her was rectified when she turned to see what Deparis was doing. An eyebrow arched sharply when she saw him impaled in the chest with an arrow, one that he tore from himself and dropped to the ground in irritation.

"That was unwise, Watcher," he warned tightly, milky eyes now narrowed to thin slits as his face turned to face his attacker.

Giles stood unflinching some distance away holding a crossbow, already reloaded, the deadly point promising a hit. Deparis made to sweep his right hand in a gesture, but Giles was faster and the arrow penetrated the thin palm before any force could be projected.

Curiously leaving this arrow in place, Deparis quickly glanced at the group and in the direction the Fresha demon had fled, before turning his eyes to the clear night sky. Hands turned palms-up, he raised himself from the ground, gaining speed and altitude rapidly and Giles had no choice but to lower the crossbow after one shot after the ascending figure proved untrue.

Silence descended on the cemetery now, and after a quick visual and verbal check of the others, Buffy turned to the only felled. Spike seemed to be more animated now; his condition somewhere between alert and comatose. He sat against the gravestone, hands folded in his lap and large eyes watching Buffy intently, blinking owlishly when she approached him.

"Come on," she beckoned to him in a soft voice, motioning him towards her. To the surprise of the others, particularly Xander who had shown some civility towards the Vampire by extending an unneeded hand, Spike rose eerily smoothly to his feet and trailed a few feet behind Buffy, his face a mask and his right hand trembling.

****

"How did you know to come there, Giles? Not that I don't appreciate your presence, it just seemed strange that you should turn up at the exact moment we needed you," Anya asked curiously, slender hands curved about the hot mug of coffee she had set for herself at the table in the backroom of the Magic Box. Giles was sat to her right, Buffy at his side, and save for Tara and Spike, the entire group had assembled with warm drinks.

"By no means that could be considered suspicious Anya, I assure you. Tara phoned me actually. She said that something had happened and that I should meet you at the cemetery with weapons," the Watcher replied innocently, a wry smile at the ex-vengeance demon's immediate suspicion of him.

"Tara's been keeping an eye on Spike's aura, ever since him found him impaled on Xander and Anya's wall. It's a bit touch and go; that's why it took so long to actually register. She sensed something was 'off' and that we would need a fair bit of magic to help, and then we spent some time trying to pinpoint what had happened.

"We couldn't though; that Fresha demon was causing magical interference. We only found out what was really going on when Buffy called, um, about an hour after Tara felt it," Willow explained in her lover's place. Her fingers clenched uncomfortably as she remembered the sensations she felt through the spell when Tara had allowed her to touch the Vampire's aura; the despair and a curious underlying sense of fear. Perhaps Spike had known beforehand that the demon would emerge.

"An hour? He was alone with the body for an hour? God, no wonder he's such a mess," Buffy mused, a hand going through her hair again in what was becoming a common gesture. Her shoulder had already healed thanks to the Slayer status she held, her top bloodied still as she had failed to change.

There was silence for a few minutes before Giles seemed to remember something of importance, his entire body jolting slightly before he cleared his throat, gathering their attention one more.

"I, um, received an interesting e-mail from the Council a few hours ago-"

"The Council has e-mail?" Xander exclaimed in surprise, further comments about the archaic Council and their seemingly sudden leap into the modern silenced by a glare from Giles, one that was mirrored by Buffy and, strangely enough, Dawn, who was leant against the wall with her arms crossed.

"As I was saying, it seems that the Slayer that took residence the last time Buffy, died, has been successful in destroying the god-like creature Vala in France. So now, Deparis is out of the job and we still have an uncontrollable demon on the loose, which in a few days will be strong enough to incinerate every creature capable of emotion on this planet," Giles rattled off quickly, bringing his own cup to his lips as he finished the sentence. He downed the scalding tea in one go, relishing the burning sensation down his throat, a momentary distraction from their current predicament.

"Have you dug up anything else on this thing? How to fight it, and more importantly how to kill it," Buffy asked, her attention still fixed intently on the Watcher.

Giles shook his head slowly. "Only what we already know. Chem is the only creature I've ever met who has had prior experience with Fresha demons, and now he's left we're been unceremoniously left back at square one."

"Damn weasel. I knew he was no good," Xander muttered, eyes narrowing at the memory of the peculiar creature.

"In the meantime, all we can do is research further, perhaps run through the stock we have in the shop, and try to help Spike in any way that we can," Giles interrupted before Xander could continue and rouse the group into another 'we hate Chem' discussion.

"Yeah, but what do we do about him? I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't study Vampire psychology," Willow stated honestly and offhandedly, her tone a vain attempt to disarm the feeling of impending doom which, although accustomed to by now, they really didn't need right at the moment.

Giles spoke truthfully when no-one else had anything to offer to her statement. "Quite frankly, I have no idea of what is happening in Spikes' mind right now. His condition earlier was a state of catatonia, but now he seems to simply be detached. Vampires have unique physical abilities that allow them to recover from bodily trauma, but we can only guess at what barriers he has erected in his mind for self-preservation. For all we know, there could be an internal battle with his demon between grief and vengeance taking place. He could simply 'snap out of it', or he could sink deeper into his own mind. Hopefully that isn't the case as he seems to be more alert than when Buffy found him."

"Anya, Giles, see what kind of fire-power we have here; maybe the big guns will stop it. Willow, Xander, see if you can find any books that'll help. Dawn, try and get something to eat. I'm going to check on Spike and Tara," Buffy instructed before stepping up from the table, striding purposefully into the training room whilst the others exchanged worried glances before turning to their own tasks.

*****

Things were no longer going to plan. His precious was finally out and reeking havoc where it belonged, granted, but he had intended to have the beast little more than a whimpering shell by now. Somehow the leach was clinging to sanity, something that Deparis simply couldn't allow, not while the others were interfering anyway.

Something had to be done before the situation became dangerous.

Vala was gone now, destroyed by that little foreign thing in a spectacular display of cunning and power, but his task was so close to completion it seemed a shame to simply step away. No longer restricted by a pre-determined final result, simply destroying this miserable, rotating ball of boredom, Deparis was now able to enjoy the luxury of toying with it first.

The slayer and her band of heroes, cliche as they were, were making a valiant effort to destroy his precious so soon after it's birth, and that rubbed him the wrong way immensely. They had to be stopped before they stumbled across the one thing that he could not prevent, the only aspect of his entire mission that he was entirely unable to create a fall-back plan for. He had hoped to have his precious overcome that weakness before it could be exploited but the leach had failed to break. Now there was a problem.

The Vampire had to be destroyed before they found out.

****

Tara was now very concerned. She had been trying her best to console Spike, or at least rouse him from wherever he had disappeared to mentally. Her methods ranged from unanswered questions to distraction by speculating upon anything and everything. At the moment they, she moreso, had turned the topic to films, something she knew Spike had at least an opinion on.

"I agree with the papers that it should have a higher certificate, 'cause the violence, especially near the end, is quite harsh. I know you don't actually see Osborn getting impaled, but I think the hint was enough. The sequel should be better; more Spider-Man and less Peter Parker. I know that they needed to get an 'how it all began' thing going before they started the series, but it was a bit tedious. What do you think?"

For his part, Spike continued to stare at his hands, blinking occasionally. Tara had gently cleaned them of his sister's blood, but it felt like it was still there; clammy, sticky and clinging.

"How's he doing?"

Tara turned slightly startled at Buffy's voice, rising from where she had crouched beside the silent Vampire in the chair. "Not too good. I don't think he's eaten anything in a while and he's refusing anything I offer," she sighed in exasperation.

"Maybe he'll take the real deal," Buffy replied flatly before extending her wrist to Spike, turning her arm so the faint blue lines could be seen through the soft flesh, warm blood entirely vulnerable.

Spike stared at the extremity for a few seconds before snorting in disgust and shoving it away, rising quickly and moving to the opposite side of the room, arms coming up about his waist in a protective shield. Buffy was unsure how to react to that; should she be happy that she had elicited a response from him, or concerned that he had refused the precious fluid?

She didn't have time to ponder it further though as Spike's eyes suddenly widened, arms snapping out as he moved from the wall and turned to face it startled, feet a step apart and legs bent slightly. Without his duster on and a sleeveless black shirt revealing his arms, they could both see whipcord muscles flexing in anticipation of the perceived threat.

Buffy had barely moved to his side when the wall suddenly exploded, bricks and dust spraying out towards them, causing Tara to shy back and Spike to crouch low, Buffy remaining standing through the barrage. As the cloud settled, a lone figure emerged through the darkness, large and predatory as it stalked in from the dark street into the room. The Fresha demon appeared to have grown stronger, it's frame easily six inches taller than before, barbed skin rippling threateningly as it gazed down at them.

It rose a clawed hand quickly and prepared to bring it down onto the wide-eyed Vampire, Spike simply staring at the beast and showing no inclination of dodging the blow. Buffy lunged at him, tackling him to the ground just as she heard a hiss of air as the talons swiped.

Rolling, she heard it make a noise that was something between a whine and a snarl as familiar bolt of blue energy slammed into it, sending it back a step before it recovered angrier than before. Willow stood in the doorway, pupils dilated enormously as she protected Tara whom was stood with a spell-book behind her.

Spike remained still where Buffy had pushed him as she stood preparing to attack the beast again. She arched a slender brow in surprise when she saw it begin to twitch, it's talons clawing at its chest and back as it tried, it seemed, to tear its very skin off. A tell-tale shimmer over its shoulder gave away what was happening, but Buffy was still wary. Shouting out a warning, Giles threw the Slayer an axe that she caught in one hand, barely taking her eyes off the scene before them.

Raising it in preparation, Buffy stepped forward and threw it, hitting it directly in the chest. Surprised when she heard a shout of pain that was definitely too human to come from the Fresha demon, she backed up instantly as she had been taught when she encountered something she could not quite figure out.

There was a flash of light from the demon's throat before it screeched again and slumped forward, its bristling skin finally falling still. The eyes dimmed but, disturbingly, remained open, staring bleakly at nothingness.

There was a groan of pain as the shimmer moved to the fallen creature's shoulders, Chem releasing his control over his appearance with a wince, holding the axe loosely in one hand. Holding it up to his face with a contemplative expression, he ran a slender finger over the blade, wiping the purple fluid from its surface.

Pressing a hand to the fresh wound in his right shoulder, he casually stepped off of the creature and offered the weapon back to Buffy. "Next time you throw an axe, try to aim for the correct demon my dear. I do not appreciate being injured fighting 'the good fight'," he said with a tight smile as she took it from him, holding it with a scowl at her side.

"Where the hell did you go?" she demanded, eyes narrowing as she took in the somewhat haggard state of the Kalmala. Even his eyes seemed to have lost a drop of their sparkle, the electric blue hair smudged with something unidentifiable and a few more lines had been added to the already worn face.

"I have been doing what you could not; research how to defeat this 'bane of humanity' correctly. I suggest that we move away from here before I move to explanations though. My attack will only render it harmless for a few minutes, and when it does wake up its demeanor will be less than amiable," he explained, ignoring the others and moving straight to Spike who was still sat on the floor, debris scattered about him.

Lip twitching as he regarded the staring Vampire, Chem reached down and grasped an arm in his hand, hefting him up and dumping him over his shoulder. Adjusting the prone form slightly, he then turned to the new exit the Fresha had created and made his way out, stepping carelessly along it as he left. Turning to Giles with a shrug, Buffy swiftly followed, the rest of the Scoobies in tow.

The air was crisp and cool outside, swirls of clouds hiding the stars and moon from them as they trooped out across the town. Chem had not spoken since they left, leaving them all in the dark concerning their destination, which Buffy was none-too happy about. When a few attempts at what would have been an argument failed to achieve a response, the young slayed gave up, falling back with the others as they followed a few cautious meters behind the demon.

Spike had fallen unconscious again at some point during their journey, a suspicious hand movement from Chem likely the cause Giles had mused loudly. Chem approved of the stiller Vampire though, his lack of movement meaning that his already tender shoulder did not cause him any more pain than was required.

Weaving through the woods on the outskirts of the town, Chem suddenly stopped without warning and dumped the pale body at the base of a large tree, looking about behind him cautiously before crouching down infront of him. Holding the angular chin in one hand, he pressed the other firmly to a cool temple, sighing after a few seconds and turning to the others as he rose. Uncomfortable on the ground, he moved lithely to a second tree a few feet from the one Spike lay at the base of, stepping up it backwards and squatting against the bark three meters above the ground.

"I am correct in saying that Spike has been quite unresponsive to your efforts to rouse him," he stated absently. Glancing down at the drying wound through his shirt, he returned his gaze back to the group. His face was now holding none of its usual amusement as he stared at them levelly. "Vampires are essentially a demon spirit in a human shell, as you are all aware. What you are not aware of is that the demon is affected still by stimulus that would usually affect the human spirit in a disagreeable manner. That is how Deparis used him to give the Fresha demon strength. What I did not know previously was that not only do negative emotions feed it, but positive ones too."

"That's why it appeared right after Dawn and I hugged him," Buffy said softly, glancing over to her quiet sister who bit her lip guiltily, arms crossing as she looked down at the ground uncomfortably.

"That would be a correct assumption, yes. Anyway, I have found out the way in which we can kill this creature, although, certain sacrifices must be made to accomplish that," Chem continued, rolling his eyes when Xander chose to interrupt this time.

"What do you mean 'certain sacrifices'?"

Ignoring the question entirely, Chem continued with a warning glare that implied that he would take action the next time he was interrupted. "The Fresha demon is still taking energy from Spike, feeding off of the oh-so tedious emotions of despair and suffering that he is feeling, even whilst unconscious. The only way to kill it is to attack during the transition period where it moves from feeding from Spike to the general population, which luckily takes a good hour."

Chem dropped from the tree then, striding purposefully to Spike before crouching over his legs, one hand pressing against his forehead so that the back of his skull was braced against the trunk of the thick tree. The other clenched into a fist before expanding, a pulse of light erupting and elongating from his palm until it was the shape and size of a dagger, the weapon glowing ominously with pulsating light.

Fingers curled knowingly about the hilt, Chem rose the dagger out to the side of the Vampire's skull, aiming the tip of the blade at the smooth temple. Lip curling against the pain in his shoulder that the position caused, Chem slammed the glowing weapon sideways before anyone could get close enough to him to prevent the action, Buffy screaming at him to stop. Too late.

Leaping up as age-old instincts prickled a warning, Chem landed upside down on his knees on the trunk just above Spike's head, hand snapping out to catch the axe that would have impacted between his shoulder blades, its course switching to Spike's throat when he had moved.

"Now what did I say about aiming for the correct demon?" he hissed as he dangled the weapon from his fingers, eyes flickering to Spike before moving back to Buffy.

The blade had evaporated into golden sparks when he had released it, but of course none of them noticed, more concerned as they were with removing his head from his shoulders. Sensing multiple threats to his immediate existence now, Chem brought about his abilities to hand and, with a ripple of blue, was gone. They heard him move up the trunk, the leaves behind them rustling as he obviously leapt to the next branch before all fell silent once more.

Spike remained as still and lifeless as before, but in the distance, an enraged howl could be heard, the sound seeming as if the very hounds of hell were voicing their outrage.

TBC

Hmm, Chem taking an interesting turn there, don't ya think? Evil or a goodie? I am far too evil to let you know until the very end, but I am interested to hear any speculation on your part. Hint there, by the way! Chapter-the-next will be coming in a while with an epilogue attached to wrap everything up. Now, as I have been so nice as to grit my teeth against a very persistent headache to type this, you should be so gracious as to leave me a review concerning how I'm doing. Go ahead. I won't stop you :-P.