A/N: I do not know if there really is a Ramada off of Times Square. I just made it up so that there would actually be a hotel for the characters to stay. And if it did exist, I wouldn't own it either. This chapter is longer than the last one, as promised. And I hope you enjoy.

Continuity: Buffy – Everything up to Joyce's death. After that, it's AU. X-men – Future movieverse. Scott and Jean are married. Spider-man – The Animated Series after Peter found Mary Jane again and married her. Just consider everything AU, which technically, all fanfiction is...

Disclaimer: See first part. I own nothing and nobody. Not even those guys with guns. They were from Rent-a-Goon and I had to give them back at the end of the day or pay a late fee. :)

The Web of Our Life: Part III

By Gaeriel Mallory

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." --Shakespeare, Twelfth-Night, IV, iii, 83

New York, New York

Buffy had managed to slip off to the bathroom when the men with guns burst into the art gallery. She heard several gunshots and screams as she carefully balanced onto the toilet seat, reaching over her head to push aside one of the ceiling tiles. She pulled herself into the ductwork and had barely replaced the tile when the bathroom door opened and one of the gunmen entered to search for stragglers.

Great. If it's not vampires or apocalyptic prophecies, it's regular humans with very large guns trying to compensate for something. I swear somebody up there wants to ruin my vacation. She carefully crawled over the flimsy tiles, distributing her weight so that she would not go crashing through them. Every so often, she'd push one aside and peer through the crack to see where in the gallery she was.

All I would ask for is just one week—one week!—where I could delude myself into thinking I was normal. No enhanced strength, no demons to kill, no nothing. The most challenging part of my life would be passing chemistry. But noooooo. Buffy mentally flicked off the Powers that Be, who had decided to concentrate into her being the power to defend the world against evil.

The gunmen had gathered everybody in the hall of statues—incidentally, the hall with the highest ceiling. From her vantage point high above, Buffy spied the people from Xavier's huddled together by a bust of King Louis XVI. She snickered a bit when she saw the glare Logan was directing at the leader. Better get this over with before Mr. Claws decides to go medieval on their asses. It would be kinda hard to explain away those marks to the police.

She moved so that she was directly over the lead gunman. She cleared the tile above him completely out of the way, giving her a clear path. Mentally mapping out where the other gunmen were, she leapt, dropping down nearly three stories. After squashing the leader to the ground, she somersaulted back into the air, landing in front of another gunman and kicking him in the head.

She ran towards a third and managed to dispatch him before the bullets started flying. She dodged and jumped, mapping out in her mind where the innocent bystanders were in relation to the gunmen, trying to keep the bullets away from them. Behind her, she heard a familiar growl over the chaos and grinned. Gotta love these enhanced senses. She heard the sound of flesh hitting metal—or metal encased in flesh—and turned back to her own fight.

*          *          *

Spider-man had just entered through a skylight when the sounds of fighting met his ears. "Someone started the party without me," he muttered as he swung towards the brawl. Visions of civilians trying to overpower their captors and getting mowed down by bullets floated through his brain as the noise got louder.

"Whoa." He somersaulted and landed on the wall near the ceiling, not believing his eyes. He absentmindedly stuck a camera to the wall, capturing the scene on film. A group of five or six taking on the gunmen and winning. A man with red glasses punched a gun-toting man in the stomach while next to him, a brown-haired woman swung her purse and hit the same gunman in the head. Another man whose fighting style screamed bar-brawler was taking on three men by himself, and seemed to be enjoying himself. And in the corner— "Why am I not surprised?" Spider-man shook his head ruefully before launching a webline and swinging towards a familiar blonde figure.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said as he landed next to Buffy.

"Small world," she answered as she kicked a gun out of someone's hands and following through with a kick to the side of the head.

"As much as I love physical violence..." Spider-man quickly shot out webbing and yanked guns out of hands and then webbed their owners to the wall. "Much more efficient." He turned towards the people huddled in groups in corners. "Everybody all right?" he called out.

And then the police stormed into the hall, riot gear on and rifles loaded. Buffy smirked at their slack-jawed expressions. "Better late then never, huh?"

Spider-man shot out a webline. "And that's my cue to leave before they get the bright idea to turn me into Swiss cheese. See ya around, Slayer. I have a feeling we'll meet again." He grabbed his camera and swung over the heads of the police, down the hall, and through a window before they could react with more than a few surprised shouts.

An unconscious gunmen groaned and stirred slightly. Buffy lifted her foot and slammed it into the base of his neck. "Back to beddytime for you."

One by one, the police lowered their guns. One of them, with the word 'Captain' emblazoned on his bulletproof vest, tilted up his helmet and scratched his head. "What the hell happened here?"

Wolverine walked over and clapped him on the shoulder. "Wonderful timing there, bub."

Buffy squashed down the impulse to laugh hysterically.

*          *          *

"So that was Spider-man." Dawn smirked. "He looked pretty darn nice in tights."

Beside her, Remy sniffed. "No self-respectin' man woul' dress 'imself up in tighs. Is a sign dat he not quite all right."

Rogue giggled. "If you say so. But I think that it's a sign that he's sure of his masculinity."

Buffy tuned out the rest of the teenager's conversation as she sat back in her bus seat and sighed. She mentally reviewed her life from age fifteen, the same age as Dawn and her friends, and the age when she was Called. She compared it to her old life of cheerleading and parties and hours gossiping on the phone.

She felt a momentary pang of envy for Rogue and the others with their normal lives. Then she paused, remembering that for all that they acted like regular teenagers, they were anything but. Mutants, the Key, and Slayers. Are we so different after all?

I wonder how Spider-man handled growing up. Buffy stared out the window at the passing buildings and wondered.

*          *          *

The bus dropped them back off at the hotel. The students got off, chattering excitedly amongst themselves. Buffy hung back, feeling decidedly out of place. Dawn disappeared into the building with her friends; Xander and Anya walked in holding hands; Tara was talking animatedly with Ororo. Where did Buffy fit in?

A hand lightly touched her shoulder and she turned around to see Jean. "Would you like to talk about it?" the woman asked gently.

Buffy nodded mutely and let herself be led inside.

*          *          *

Jean closed the door behind her and studied the young woman sitting on the bed and staring at the wall. "Buffy?"

Buffy turned and smiled slightly at her. "I'm fine, really. I guess I feel..."

"Out of place? Unwanted? Different? Tell me if I'm getting close." Jean turned the chair at the desk so that it faced Buffy and sat down. She smiled. "Buffy, it's perfectly normal to feel those things. It's called growing up. All teenagers feel that way. And I'm sure that it doesn't help that you're the Vampire Slayer, huh?"

Buffy sighed. "I dunno. I had gone through all this already in my life and I thought I was over and done with it. When Merrick first came to show me my destiny, I was in total denial. I refused to believe him. And then he died and I thought it was over. I could be normal again. But that didn't happen. I tried so hard to ignore it, to pretend to be normal, but in the end it didn't work."

Jean nodded and made encouraging noises.

"I finally accepted who and what I was. And then the world threw me another curve ball. There was another Slayer. You have no idea how tempted I was to just give it all up. Just hand it over to Kendra and say, 'Here you go. It's all yours now. Have a nice life.' But I couldn't. It wouldn't let me."

"And I'm guessing that a part of you didn't want to let it go, either."

Buffy blew out a burst of air and flung herself backward onto the bed. "I know who I am. I'm the Slayer. I can't escape it; I know that. Believe me, I tried. But I always get sucked back in."

There was a tapping and a blue and red head poked itself in the open window. "Forgive me for interrupting, but I couldn't help overhearing..."

Buffy had to grin. "Right. We're thirty stories up. I suppose you were just passing by."

"Well, actually, I was coming to see you anyway." He swung his head towards Jean. "Um, I don't suppose I can come in? I feel a little silly out here, with only my head inside."

Jean waved a hand towards the other chair in the room.

Spider-man entered the room and sat down. "If I may be so bold, I'd like to share something that my uncle once told me. 'With great power comes great responsibility.' Take from it what you will."

"That must have been a pretty big influence in your life to have stuck with you," Jean observed.

"Let's just say that during the first few years as Spider-man, I was reminded many times of that. I was either trying to use my powers for my own gain or I was like you," he nodded towards Buffy, "wanting a normal life. I even gave up the suit for a while. But it didn't last. Being the wall crawler was a part of me and looking back now, I wouldn't give it up without a pretty big fight."

"But don't you still want to be normal?" Buffy asked.

He shrugged. "Hey, what's normal? In my life, I've seen people that can fly, control electricity, lizard men, guys with metal arms... Compared to those people, I'm almost boring! I'm just a regular normal guy that just happens to be able to walk up walls."

Even with the mask on, Buffy could hear the smile in his voice.

"Seriously though, yeah, I have my moments when I would give anything to have never gotten my powers. But then I come to my senses and realize that I would never want to give up the feeling of soaring over the city or have never met some of the people I have as Spider-man. The police may hate me and J. Jonah Jameson may personally be gunning for my hide, but for every person I save from being robbed or killed, that's one more person who knows that I'm not inherently evil. And that's something."

Buffy had a thoughtful look on her face. "I'll think about what you said. Just give it a moment to sink in."

"I'm not saying that my life is perfect, either. Not by a long shot. This is a pretty thankless job. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the city thinks I'm the antichrist but that last point one percent makes up for the rest."

Jean snorted and Spidey looked over at her.

"Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. It's only ninety-nine point eight percent that hates my guts."

Buffy laughed.

"So, crisis of faith over with?" His voice had gone from joking to gently serious.

Buffy smiled slightly at him. "Yeah. Though you have to admit that it's odd to be getting a pep talk from a guy in a red and blue cat suit."

He laughed. "Lady, I like your spunk."

Jean smirked at the two of them. "You said you were looking for Buffy?" she asked him.

"Oh, yeah. A friend of mine was supposed to deliver a message to you but since you were at the gallery and not the hotel, I don't suppose you got it." He quickly relayed everything that the Black Cat had told him. "Does that make any sense to you at all?"

Buffy nodded slowly. "I'll need to talk to Giles and Willow to compare notes, but I definitely think that this ties in to something else that we're working on."

"Anything I can help you with?"

Buffy's gaze sharpened on him. "You said that your friends are professional vampire hunters? And that you have dealt with vampires in the past?"

He nodded.

"Can you get in touch with your friends for me? I want to see what they know."

"That might take some time since I don't know where they're holed up. But I'll try. Meet you up at the roof of this hotel tonight at ten?"

Buffy nodded. "In the meantime, I need to talk to the others." She stood up and started heading for the door. "See you tonight."

Then he was alone in the room with Jean. "She's all business, isn't she?" he remarked

"Only when it deals with her night job, Mr. Parker." Jean smiled and winked at him. "I think you had better leave. My husband is coming and he tends to be the jealous type."

*          *          *

Buffy was a bit surprised to hear that Spider-man's friend had been Peter Parker, the same photographer who had taken her picture yesterday. That coincidence was quickly pushed out of her mind when Willow told her of what she had found. "Sunday night, huh? That doesn't give us a lot of time. And me without my weapons chest." She sighed and frowned.

Giles cleared his throat. "Well, we are almost positive that they will try and grab Willow to feed to the creature."

"Maybe Tara, too. If I were the vamps, I'd grab her only because she's right there. Save some time." Buffy chewed her lip. "Do you think we should send the two of you somewhere safe?"

Willow's look turned defiant. "If you think that we're going to run away, then you thought wrong. I've never run away before from danger, well, except for maybe that time with Angel killing my fish, but that was a long time ago and I've changed. I've gotten braver and I am not running away."

Buffy smiled. "That's the Willow that I know and love."

"And I didn't run that far, anyway. Only to your house."

"So, you're in?"

Willow nodded. "Ready and willing." She faltered for a moment. "But what do you want me to do?"

"Do what you do best, Will. We're going to need a lot more information if we have any hope of stopping this Rising. And whatever we can't find online or through Giles's contacts, we'll have to find using magic."

*          *          *

Spider-man's first stop was the old horror movie theater where he had first met Blade. He landed on the wall and crawled through the open window to the side room. A familiar figure stood up from his seat to greet him. "Spider-man. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I'm looking for Blade and Cat. Have you seen them?"

The man walked towards the wall crawler, leaning a bit on his cane. "Blade? No. I receive letters from him every so often from places all around the world, but I have not gotten any for a few weeks now. And as far as I know, the Black Cat is still traveling with him, as well as Morbius."

Spider-man sighed. "Thanks, Whistler. They're in the city, I know that. Cat contacted me this morning. But I need to find them. If you see them, could you tell them to meet on the roof of the Ramada off of Times Square at ten tonight?"

Whistler nodded. "Is there anything else I could do for you?"

"Not really. There's something big brewing, but I don't know what it is. I just know that if it doesn't get stopped in time, the entire world's in trouble."

"Vampires?" When Spider-man nodded, the man who had trained Blade walked across the room and opened a cabinet. He took out a duffel bag and began stuffing items into it. "If it's vampires, these will help you." He handed the bag to Spider-man. "I wish you luck, for all our sakes. I'll keep a look out for Blade and pass on your message if I see him."

Spider-man nodded and left the same way he came in, through the window. Peeking into the bag, he saw an assortment of weapons that he recognized as being specially designed to fight vampires. He slung the bag onto his shoulder and headed off again.

*          *          *

Willow typed furiously at her computer, bookmarking any sites that could be relevant and moving on. She scrolled down almost faster than she could read, her eyes scanning the screen so quickly that it made Xander dizzy just looking at her.

"Will ya slow down a bit? Not all of us can read at the speed of light here."

"Sorry, Xander," she murmured absentmindedly and slowed down slightly before finding something that interested her and speeding up again.

Xander sighed and exasperation and walked off. "Hey, G-man, got anything I could help with?"

Giles looked up from the pages of notes he was scribbling down. Putting a hand over the receiver of the phone, he looked over at the dark haired young man. "I'm fine but I suppose you can go see if the Professor needs your help." He turned back to his noted and wrote down another two lines. "Yes, of course, I see that," he said into the phone. "But could you check again for me in the Merdel text?"

Xander shook his head. Obviously Giles was so immersed in his prophecy-finding mission that he did not realize that Professor Xavier had left almost an hour ago with the rest of the school to visit the Statue of Liberty. "And once again, Xander Harris is regulated to the important and life-altering job of donut boy." He grabbed his wallet and headed out the door.

As he passed Buffy and Dawn's room, he knocked on the door and stuck his head in. "Hey, I'm making a snack run. Want anything?"

Buffy paused in mid-kick to look over at her friend. "Sure, grab me some of those twisty donuts and a hot dog." She finished her kick and her target grunted.

"Thanks for asking if I wanted anything," Anya called out as she winced away from Buffy's punches, holding two pillows out in front of her as protection and targets.

"Cream-filled?" Xander asked.

"With chocolate icing." The former vengeance demon let out a small shriek and ducked when Buffy's foot came a bit too close to her head. "Hey, watch it! I don't have to be your punching bag, you know."

Xander let the door swing shut and continued off in search of donuts.

*          *          *

A red-haired woman walked from the bedroom of her apartment into the living area. Dressed in a business suit, she hunted under the couch for her shoes. "Of course, Tiger," she spoke into the phone. "I understand. Promise me you'll be careful, all right?"

She paused, listening to the voice on the other line. A smile graced her lips. "Yeah, I love you to."

Mary Jane Parker, nee Watson, hit the off button on the portable phone and threw it on the coffee table. She then sat down on the couch and sighed, staring out the window. She had a casting call to go to in an hour, but for now, she thought back over the phone call from her husband. Vampires, end of the world, Slayers... As if it isn't bad enough that he has to deal with supervillians and petty crime. Now he has to fight things that belong in a horror movie.

Ever since the first day the two of them had met, Spider-man had been there. At first, it was like a love triangle with Peter trying to have a relationship while still keeping his superhero duties. At least he had finally come to his senses and told her. And for all his constant running off, she had still stuck by him, giving him chance after chance. If it had been any other guy, she would have told him to take a hike long before. Of course, if it had been any other guy, she would not have married him either.

Being married to Spider-man was full of worries. Will he come home tonight? Will he be hurt? Will a police officer try to shoot him? And now, she had to worry about vampires on top of everything else.

She sighed and shook her head. Please, Peter, be safe. Come back to me.

*          *          *

"Okay," Willow announced. "From what I found, the Rising will have to take place below ground, hence the sewer setting in my dream. It also has to have easy access to the surface because after the demon creature thing eats the witches, it will have to start terrorizing the rest of humanity. And then there was something about having access to water or something too, but that could be taken care of in the sewer thing."

"That doesn't narrow things down much, does it?" Giles referred to his notes. "From what I've gathered, the cult that follows the demon is a fairly large percentage of the vampire population around the world. They have been around for centuries, but are still relatively new in relation to other demon sects or followings. Therefore, there isn't a lot of information out on them. What I have found corresponds with what Willow has already said. However, I would like to add that I believe they would be found near a park. I found several references to 'worshipping the green'."

"Great. So now we have vampire eco-freaks. What else is next? Pro-life hell demons?" Buffy bit into her donut and chewed furiously.

"That does help, though," Willow commented. She turned back to her computer and pulled up a map of the city. "The biggest park is Central Park and that does seem like the most likely place. But there are also smaller ones which we might have to check out. She grabbed a pad of paper and took the pen that she had stuck behind her ear to scribble furiously. "Here's a list of all the parks. We'll have to go through them one by one."

"That's still a lot better than before when it was the entire city." Buffy looked over Willow's shoulder to study the map. "We can start on those tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a meeting with the friendly neighborhood Spider-man."

*          *          *

The Black Cat swung high on her jump line, enjoying the feeling of weightlessness that she achieved at the apex of the swing, right before gravity reasserted itself and pulled her downward. She timed it carefully and released the line right before she would have swung back and landed on the roof of the Ramada, crouching to absorb the force of the impact.

A white-skinned man with blue hair and a disfigured face soared through the air and came to a rest behind her. He set down the dark-skinned man he was carrying and looked around. "Are you sure this is the correct place?"

"This was where Whistler said to meet," Cat replied.

"So what now?" the second man pulled his leather jacket away from his body, keeping his hands near the weapons he had concealed on his person.

"We wait." Cat prowled around, searching for possible traps. A few minutes later, a familiar figure landed on the roof. She turned around and smiled in greeting. "Spider."

"I see you got my message. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a hold of you three? Forget about a needle in a haystack." Spider-man nodded towards the two men. "Morbius, Blade."

The mutagenic vampire nodded in return. "It is good to see you again, Spider-man."

Blade grimaced. "Forget the pleasantries. What's with the meeting?"

"There was someone I wanted you to meet. She should be here soon." Spider-man glanced over at the roof access door and willed it to open and a blonde figure walk out. Blade was not one to be patient.

Cat looked thoughtful. "The Slayer?" she asked.

He nodded buy Blade interrupted before he could say anything. "A myth. There is no such person."

"I've met her and talked to her. She's real all right," Spidey asserted.

"I don't know who you talked to, but there is no such thing as the Slayer. She doesn't exist. I should know."

"Well, I seem pretty solid to not exist," a voice called out. Spider-man sighed with relief as Buffy let the door swing shut behind her.

*          *          *

Black Cat studied the woman—no, girl—in front of her. She looked like any other normal teenager. If she had past her on the street, she would not have given the girl a second thought. The Slayer (if she really was the Slayer) was small, delicate looking, and appeared harmless. Glancing over at Blade, she interpreted his look to mean that he felt the same way.

"Who are you trying to play here, girl?" he growled.

Her gaze hardened. "I think I should be asking that question, vampire." She looked over at Spider-man. "I thought you said that your friends hunted vamps, not were them."

The wall crawler shrugged. "It's only two of them. And the guy with the bad attitude there is only half one, anyway."

She looked confused before shaking her head. "I don't wanna know. It sounds like it's a long story and we don't have time."

Morbius walked up to the girl. "Michael Morbius," he introduced himself, bowing over her hand. She looked shocked and a bit repulsed but managed to reply a bit awkwardly, "Buffy Summers."

"Oh, yeah." Spider-man shook his head. "Buffy, that's Blade and the Black Cat. They hunt vampires. Cat, Blade, that's Buffy. The Slayer."

Blade snorted. "Listen, girl. We don't need your help, Slayer or no. We've done fine by ourselves up till now and we'll keep doing it."

Buffy bristled. "Who the hell asked you, anyway? Maybe it's me who doesn't need your help."

Cat sighed and stepped forward, holding her hands out. "Can we please stop arguing? It's getting us nowhere. Now, I'm sure that Spider-man has a very good reason for arranging this little meeting." She looked over at him expectantly.

"Um, right." He cleared his throat. "Just information exchange, really. I don't do vampires. That's more your guys' thing so I'll leave it to you."

Morbius nodded. "That does make sense. We may leave the bickering till the end."

Cat grinned slightly and looked over at the mutagenic vampire fondly. She took a seat on the edge of the roof and looked at Buffy expectantly. "Why don't you start?"

*          *          *

"…so that's about all we know so far." Buffy looked at the other three vampire hunters. "What about you guys?"

Cat shook her head. "That is impressive that you have found so much. All that we knew were that the vampires were gathering in the city. We did not know why."

"Well now we know and we can go in and kill the whole cult." Blade sneered a bit.

Buffy looked over at him. "What's his deal?"

"His mother's a vampire. He's a bit bitter," Cat confided.

Buffy's mouth formed an "o"-shape. "But I thought that vampires couldn't— Never mind. I said I didn't want to know and I mean it."

"Wait. You still don't know where the vamps are hiding though," Spider-man pointed out.

"Yet. We're working on that. Give Willow a computer and she can find anything. Same with Giles and his books." Her gaze swept over the three hunters. "And when we do find out, leave it to me. I can handle it myself."

Blade growled under his breath. "I don't think so girlie. If you think that you can handle that many by yourself—"

"I think that I've been doing this since I was fifteen."

"Which was what? A year or two ago?" Blade snorted. "You would not last five minutes—" He was cut off as Buffy leapt forward without warning and slammed her feet into his chest. He tumbled backwards and looked up to see her holding a wooden stake above his heart.

"Don't tell me how to do my job. Okay, fang-face?" Buffy straightened and walked away, turning her back to Blade who was still on the ground. "Don't worry about me. I've lasted this long. I'll last a little longer." She headed for the door but was stopped when Cat placed a hand on her arm.

"Let us help you. I don't care how good you are. Walking into a nest of vampires alone is just stupid. Especially with the numbers that will be there—you might as well be committing suicide."

"If I die, I die. Wouldn't be the first time."

"Whoa." Behind his maks, Spider-man's eyes widened. "You were dead?"

She grinned humorlessly at him. "Twice. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt." She turned back to Cat. "I know the danger. I'm not walking in blindfolded. This is my job." She shrugged off Cat's hand and opened the door to the stairs. "I don't need any help." She left.

Cat looked over at Spider-man and quirked an eyebrow. "Nice friend you have there."

Blade got up and groaned, rubbing his chest. "'Nice' isn't the word I'd use to describe her."

Morbius grinned slightly. "You should not have antagonized her."

Blade scowled but did not answer.

"She can be pretty stubborn, huh?" Spider-man commented.

"Understatement of the year, Spider." Cat looked thoughtful. "Right now, we know as much as she does. We can find the nest ourselves and destroy that egg." She glanced over at the wall crawler. "Are you in, Spider?"

He shrugged. "Vamps aren't my thing. I don't really see how I can be much help. I wasn't last time. But I'll do what I can."

Cat nodded and turned towards her partners. "Why don't you two go back to Whistler's without me? I'll be along in a minute."

"You're going to talk to her, aren't you?" Morbius asked.

She nodded. "I won't be long."

Blade was about to say something when Michael grabbed his arm. "Let's go, Blade." The black man sneered but did not argue, letting himself be pulled off the roof and into the air.

When the two had disappeared into the night, Cat turned back to Spider-man. "Alone at last."

He shifted uneasily from foot to foot. "Um..."

She walked closer to him and ran one finger down his chest. "What's the matter, Spider? Shy?" She came closer to him and purred under her breath.

He grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her back. "Cat, this isn't a good idea."

"Why not? We used to have so much fun." She smiled teasingly at him.

He shook his head. "It's too late for this Cat. Really too late." He sighed and released her. "Why don't you go try and talk some sense to Buffy? I have to finish my patrol."

Cat watched as he swung off and sighed. Why do I keep pushing it with him? It's obvious that he's moved on, even if he doesn't want to tell me. She wondered briefly what woman had stolen her Spider's heart. She herself loved him from the first time they'd met. Even as socialite Felicia Hardy, she had loved him. When she became the Black Cat, it was exhilarating. She was finally his equal and she had a chance with him.

But then Morbius came back into her life. But not the Michael that she had known before, but a changed Michael with bleached pale skin and blue hair. A Michael that craved plasma and needed it to survive. A vampire.

When she had first seen him in his new form, she was frightened. But then she remembered the man he used to be and she revealed herself to him, taking off her mask and willing her body to take on the form of Felicia Hardy.

And in the end, she had to choose between the two and had picked Michael. Looking in the direction that Spider-man had swung off, she sighed. Oh, my fickle heart. Why can't I be content with what I have?

*          *          *

Buffy was telling Giles about the meeting on the rooftop in his hotel room.

"His mother was a vampire? That's very interesting." He sat back in his chair.

"I thought vamps couldn't have children," Buffy pointed out.

"There was one...He's known as the Daywalker because sunlight does not kill him." Giles looked thoughtful. "That may be this Blade you met tonight."

She blew her hair out of her eyes. "Great. A vamp that can go out in the day."

"Half-vampire. And I don't think you have to worry about him, Buffy. From what I've heard, he's supposedly on the side of good."

"And Spike helps little old ladies across the street. I'll believe it when I see it."

"Yes, well." Giles cleared his throat. "I know that the story is a bit unbelievable but you must have figured out by now that there is a grain of truth to everything. Is the notion of a half-vampire that absurd?"

"Almost burned at the stake by Hansel and Gretal," Buffy muttered to herself.

"Exactly." Giles nodded.

There was a tapping sound at the window and the two of them looked up. White hair stood out against the dark outside. "My word," Giles murmured.

Buffy sighed and got up from her seat to open the window. "Don't you people use the door?"

The Black Cat grinned. "Windows are more fun."

Buffy rolled her eyes and leaned back against the dresser. "Let me guess. You're here to convince me that I need your help to stop the Rising. Let me save you some time. Like I told you guys before, I can handle it."

"You can never have too much help in our line of business. You'll never know when you'll need it and you're always glad it's there."

"Ever hear of too many cooks, lady?"

"Buffy," Giles interrupted. "Care to tell me what is going on?"

"Huh?" She looked over at her Watcher and shrugged sheepishly. "Sorry. Giles, Cat. Cat, Giles."

"You hunt vampires?" he asked.

"With Blade and Michael. We've been all over Europe and parts of Asia."

His eyes narrowed and he leaned back in thought. "I believe I heard something about you three. Something about taking out a castle full of vampires in Greece?"

The Cat nodded. "That was us." She shot Buffy a triumphant look. "We're not rank amateurs here. We will help you."

"I work alone," the Slayer insisted.

Cat raised an eyebrow and pointedly looked at Giles.

"He doesn't count. He's my Watcher. He's book guy. When it comes to the fighting, it's me and me only."

Giles cleared his throat and Buffy glared at him. "They don't count, either!"

"All right," Cat began. "It's obvious that you don't work totally alone. You have him for one. And then there were the others you mentioned earlier. So what exactly is the problem?"

Buffy looked her in the eye. "Slaying is my gig. I don't need people coming in and trying to do my job. I've patrolled with someone before, but I work best by myself."

"Maybe you should rethink that, at least for now. From the looks of it, this Rising is going to be big. A lot more than any one person can handle alone, no matter how strong or fast you are."

"You don't tell me how to do my job. I won't tell you how to do yours. If I tell you that I can handle it, then I can handle it." Buffy glared at the other woman. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to see what Willow's found out." She turned around and left.

Giles sighed and stood up. "You'll have to excuse her. She can be a bit stubborn at times."

Cat snorted. "Really? I didn't notice."

"Granted, it is a good trait to have in a Slayer but an awful one when you're trying to reason with her."

"What does she have against me?" Cat asked.

Giles took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, if you ask me, she doesn't trust you. Traditionally, the Slayer cuts herself off from emotional ties, focusing all her energy into her work. But Buffy...is unique. She has friends. She has family. She guards these ties ferociously but does not easily forge new ones. She has a very hard time trusting outsiders. In the past, she has been betrayed horribly by some who she had considered her friends. I wouldn't take it personally. I really don't think she even realizes that she does that."

Cat shook her head. "So young…"

"She was Called at fifteen. And she's the oldest surviving Slayer in almost a century. Buffy is a lot of things, but she is by no means young."

"It seems a hard life."

"Oh, no doubt about that. But she does have it easier than previous Slayers. The cheese does not stand alone." He smiled to himself as if sharing a private joke.

She shook her head and headed towards the window. "We're still going to try to help," she told Giles. "No mistake about that." Her features softened. "But at least now I understand a bit where she's coming from."

Giles nodded and slipped his glasses back on. "Then I wish you the best of luck. It was nice meeting you."

Cat smiled in return. "And the same to you." She shot out a jumpline and was swallowed up by the city.

*          *          *

They're coming for you, the voice whispered. Ware. Ware.

The egg rested on the raised platform and Willow approached it. The Rising… the voice whispered. Grarrum must feed. Ware…

She gently touched the egg with her fingers and jerked her hand back. "It's warm," she whispered.

A gentle hissing sound reached her ears. She watched mesmerized as a large white snake appeared from behind the raised platform, slithering across it. It raised itself up so that it was eye level with her and hissed again, baring fangs. It danced closer and closer until it dipped its head towards her neck.

The egg began to shake and it cracked down the center.

The snake bit her neck.

*          *          *

Willow gasped and opened her eyes to darkness. She clasped a hand to her neck and sighed with relief. Only a dream. Beside her, Tara stirred a bit before falling back into a deeper sleep.

Willow lay there, trying to slow her breathing. She could still hear the strange voice from her dream. The Rising is coming. Ware.