Disclaimer: If I click my heels together three times and repeat 'There's no place like Sunnydale, there's no place like Sunnydale' I'd probably have as much chance of getting there as coming up with any characters as brilliant as these.  In other words – none of this belongs to me.  Joss and ME own it all, damn them!

Hope you like it so far.

The Storm

"He calls himself Damon.  Thinks that's clever, like he has an education." Anya was pacing the small area in front of the TV.

Buffy shifted on the couch and reached for her soda. "Who does?"

"The H'nartach demon that's coming to Sunnydale."

"Hold on, love.  The what demon and why's he coming here?" Spike glanced at Buffy, his eyes twinkling with amusement.  Buffy was still squirming from being caught quite literally with her pants down.

"H'nartach.  OK; sure, I'll start from the beginning," Anya sat down on the edge of the armchair, nervously pulling at the sleeves of her shirt, "I was in Europe, touring some of the old haunts.  I heard some rumours about something coming.  So, I called some of my old demon friends.  They weren't too pleased to hear from me, let me tell you.  I mean, I left Europe for good reason; there was sort of a thing in Germany once.  A kid with problems with his mother, she was over-bearing - usual teenage revenge deal.  Not usually my thing, but I was covering Hallie's vacation and it seemed like her area; punishing the parents.  So I went with it.  Sort of started another war; some people got a bit pissed about it.  That kind of thing."

"Anya!"

She shrugged apologetically, "So anyway, I heard that there was a new demon looking for followers and he says he's going to take over the world.  I found him in Spain and pretended I was interested.  My God, Damon can talk; on and on, me, me, me, take over the world, demons are the real power in this dimension, blah, blah, blah," She cleared her throat, "So I figured, this Damon has a plan and Buffy's going to want to know about it, seeing as he thinks he has to start at the Hellmouth.  I followed him around a few more countries, listened to his interminable speeches, got him to trust me and now; here I am."

Buffy stood up, "You're telling me you appear in my bedroom while we're… when we… Anyway, you burst in uninvited to tell me about a demon with ideas above his station?  Who might possibly be heading here?"

"No; while you were having hot vampire sex, I was following a psycho demon around Europe and I came back here to tell you that this guy is dangerous.  Damon wants to take over the world – he's going to enslave all mankind.  Not an Apocalypse; total slavery, demons running the show.   And no real room for vengeance – that's kind of a human deal.  He doesn't need an amulet or a special staff or a sphere or a planetary alignment thing; he just needs followers and belief.  And he has that.  He's coming here with a small army and he won't stop trying until he's dead." Anya tossed her hair back over her shoulder, "So how've you been?"

Buffy sighed. "When's he coming to Sunnydale?"

"I don't know.  I'm here to organize things for him.  I've got a contact that I'm meeting.  I can tell you more in the morning."

Spike met Buffy's gaze.  She nodded and turned to the telephone, hitting the speed dial.  There was a moment's silence as she waited for Giles to answer.

"So, you two were getting all sweaty together?"

Spike glared at Anya, "Yeah.  Lotta things have changed since you left.  I got my soul back, there was another almost Apocalypse, we burnt Buffy's place to the ground, Red's talking to Tara in her dreams, Xander's rebuilding the house, and I have a job at the Magic Box."

"Huh.  Well, that was succinct."  She fidgeted a little, "You got your soul back?"

"Long story, love.  And just for the record, it's not hot vampire sex, cos I'm human now."

Anya's eyes widened.  She opened her mouth to say something and closed it again as Buffy put the receiver down.

"Giles says he'll look into it.  Scoobie meeting at the Magic Box tomorrow morning."

Anya stood up and drained her soda. "Well, as interesting as recent events in your lives are to me, I have a job to do.  I'll be back in the morning." She disappeared with a brief flare of light.

Spike glanced at Buffy again.  "Told you it was too quiet."

Xander slipped an arm around Willow as she sat down on the arm of the chair. "Hantartic demon?"

"H'nartach.  We don't know when he's coming, so we wait." Buffy put the bowl of popcorn on the floor in the middle of the room. "We don't know when he's coming, we don't know what he wants, we don't know how he's gonna do it.  But otherwise, we're good."

"This looks like a job for research-Willow." Xander smiled at his friend.

She stood up and went to her 'bedroom' at the other end of the lounge, "I'll hook up the laptop."

"Looks like the video night is out, then?" Dawn grabbed a handful of popcorn.

Buffy shrugged, "Sorry, Dawnie."

"Is it OK if I go do my homework?"

Spike grinned, "Yeah; knock yourself out."

Dawn turned away with a smile and headed into her bedroom.

Xander got to his feet. "I think I'll head off too.  Giles might need some help with the books and you know how much I love the research." He slipped his jacket on and made for the door. "'Night."

The door closed and Spike turned to Buffy, a wry smile on his lips.  She returned it and pushed herself to her feet, holding out a hand to him.  He took it. "Never ends, does it?"

"Not as far as I know." Buffy handed him a large book. "History of the Hellmouth.  If you find anything useful, there may be reward in it for you."

"Promises, promises," Spike grinned.

She was back in their old room standing by the window, the curtains filtering the early morning sunshine.  She was dreaming again.

"Willow."

Without turning, Willow smiled to herself; she knew who had spoken. "Hi, baby."  Tara's arm slipped around her waist, her cheek resting on Willow's shoulder, lips gently brushing her skin.

"I've got things to tell you."

"I thought you'd never get here," Willow turned to her lover, pulling her close, breathing in the smell of her.  Tara held her for a moment, then pulled away and led her to sit next to her on the end of the bed.  "Is it about the demon that's coming?"

Tara nodded, looking deep into her eyes, "He needs the Key."

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Oh no, I hear you cry, not that old chestnut!

Don't worry – all will be well.  Just take my hand and trust in me – I'll take us somewhere interesting soon.  At least, I hope it'll be interesting.