Chapter two

Spike drove at breakneck speed, trying to outrun the sun. And trying to get to Sunnydale in time to save the brunette Slayer. And…maybe even a smaller, lighter girl. One who visited all his dreams, one who made him burn. Ponce he cursed himself get it out of your head. Don't go thinking you can save her. She's a VAMPIRE now mate. Not some golden goddess. And a Slayer to boot. She'll wipe out the world if I don't stop her. And yet, in his head another smaller voice still spoke. It was one that said Fuck the world. Rule by her side. She and you…you'd be unstoppable. It was a voice he worked hard to quell. One that had caused him to seek out and destroy two slayers. One that woke him with nightmares of what he could be come. Nightmares, and sometimes tempting visions…Not that he brooded like a certain poof. What's done was done. He didn't mourn who he had been, what he had been, the things he had done. He looked to the future, not the past. And right now that future was distinctly threatened.

*****

Faith's internal monologue currently consisted of Oh shit oh shit oh shit. Oh fuck! she wasn't used to this kind of fighting. She was fighting almost entirely defensively, while trying to think up a way to keep alive, however disable Buffy. So far she had: Disable Buffy. Keep Buffy alive. Keep yourself alive. It was not going well. Faith didn't play games when she fought. Her entire life consisted of them, and fighting was strictly- punch, kick, kill. She was rough and tumble and this was more than a little difficult for her. Not to mention that Buffy was impossibly strong, fast and accurate. She spun to one side as Buffy came at her with a series of kicks and flips, too fast for the eye to see. Buffy took advantage of Faith's stunned pause. Landing a solid punch to her jaw. Faith growled and retaliated with a kick that had the other girl flying into the wall. Buffy smirked as she pulled herself up. "You've gotten better Faith. Time was I had to save your ass during every fight. Now, I think it's every other." She laughed again as she sidestepped a punch to her face.
"Gonna have to be faster than that to beat me Faith. I thought you knew that." Faith felt some of her old annoyance at Buffy return. Believe it or not she was starting to feel some of their supposedly had-been rivalries spring up again. "How are you doing these days, anyway?" Buffy asked merrily "Your juvenile delinquent stage wear off? Now me I skipped right to the big leagues…but if you wanna play with the kiddies…"

It was Faith's turn to laugh. "You? In the 'Big Leagues'? Naw…You may be a big bad now, but you didn't get there by yourself. And me? I'm five by five B. never been better." Faith glanced over to where her bag lay on the floor. Trying desperately to find something, anything to distract the Blonde, her mind settled on Angel. "You know I stopped Acathla. Sent lover boy straight to hell. No more big bad apocalypse." She taunted, edging towards the bag. "I'm a better slayer than you ever were. You couldn't stop one vampire? that's sad B." Buffy growled and lunged at her, leaving a clear path to the bag behind her. Faith waited until she was almost upon her and then flipped clean over Buffy. She landed in a roll and, without pausing her momentum kept moving to the bag. Reaching in she dug for the tranquilizer darts that she knew were in there. Her hand rested on one and she spun around, thrusting Buffy dead in the neck with it. Faith watched as Buffy reached up curiously to finger the dart. As realization set in she sighed in exasperation, and glared at the other slayer. "Bitch" She muttered before she sunk to the floor. Faith looked down at Buffy and glared, before pulling herself up and grabbing some rope to tie her captive up with.

*****

Spike was fairly certain that he had broken every speeding law in the state by the time he pulled up at the mausoleum in Sunnydale California. He jumped out of the car, barely waiting for it to come to a complete stop. He ran through the building and skidded to a stop. What he saw would have made him laugh had it been another occasion. Buff was lying on the floor obviously unconscious while Faith sat leaning against a wall, glaring daggers at Buffy and eyeing a sword on the floor nearby. She seemed to be debating stabbing either herself or Buffy with it. Spike sighed in relief as he saw that both were alright. And then almost cried as he realized what his definition for Buffy being alright now was. Faith looked up as he entered. Her eyes a strange mix of sadness and irritation. She gave him a half smile as she caught him surreptitiously studying Buffy's wounds. "She's alright." She said quietly. Easing his fears. "Or as alright as she ever will be. See? I brought her back in one piece. Just like I promised."

"And you came through for me luv. Just like you promised."

She shrugged "I almost didn't."

"But you did, and that's all that matters."

"Is it?" She asked him and then without waiting for his answer. "What are we going to do?"

This snapped him out of his reverie. "We aren't going to do a damn thing. I on the other hand am going to…do something. I'm going to do something. Something that doesn't consist of silly birds following me around…so yeah."

"Great plan. I'll be joining you."

His eyes grew wide at the thought of working with her. "No bloody fucking way!" he exclaimed in horror.

"Spike…she's a Slayer. A slayer with vampire powers. Who knows what she's capable of, you need my help."

"Damned if I do."

Faith laughed at the look on his face. "What are you gonna do Spikey? You bad enough to take me out?"

"I don't know if he is, but I sure as hell am." Faith and Spike whirled around, to face a very vamped out Buffy. "Spike! Pleasure to see you again…I'll be killing you now." She said as she yanked the last of the cord from her feet. She laughed at the shocked look on Faith's face. "What? You thought a little rope was gonna hold me? Something makes me think…not. And those darts…wow. Those had almost no affect. How long were they supposed to last? Hours? Days? Well I guess half an hour isn't so bad." She laughed again at the shocked look on their faces. "Aw come on. You really didn't think you had a chance did you?"

Bugger Spike thought, even as he made sure his cocky bad ass mask was in place. I really should have checked those ropes. "Ah well pet. You know how it is, one of you, two of us. But I guess that was just wishful thinking huh? Unless of course I'm right and you are both hungry and wounded. Not to mention faced with a Slayer and well…me."

Golden eyes narrowed at that. "You really think you're that good?"

"Actually, yes I do." He replied, letting his demon through. "I have about a hundred and fifty years experience on you. And, I always was better."

Buffy growled low in her throat. His cocky attitude irritating her. " Are we going to fight, or are we just going to continue with this wonderful banter all day?"

He smiled and shrugged. "By all means. I just thought I was giving you an easy out." She bent to pick up her fallen sword and Spike smirked. "Do we really need weapons?"

"I hoped you'd say that." she threw the weapon away from her, watching as it landed against the wall. She nodded towards it. "If you get scared, it's up for grabs."

He smirked again. "I'll keep that in mind." He grew serious then. "But remember. You should too."

She smiled an enigmatic smile. "Oh I don't think I'll need to do that." She said as she pulled a hidden stake from the waistband of her jeans. "Always fight to win. You told me that Spike." She spit out as she threw it. It imbedded solidly in his chest and a cold smile flitted across her face. "Never saw that coming did you Spike? I win this time baby." Suddenly she gasped as she felt something hit directly in between her shoulder blades.

"No B, I think this time you loose." Faith's voice spoke directly behind her as she struck Buffy with another dart. "You should watch you're back. Who knows what might happen otherwise…" Faith chuckled as she moved away from the now collapsed Buffy. "Bitch." She muttered under her breath, before moving to check on Spike.

TBC

An: I know this is a *really* short chapter- and probably not the best- but I'm going to busy for a while and I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get written, so I thought I'd give my few (but wonderful.) reviewers something to tide them over. Not that any of you would die without another chapter but you know…also, I wanted to say that although I'm not sure how soon I'll update, if it'll be more than four days or so I'll let you know,

Indrani