***

In Spike's defense, it took him only a little while to get outside and fire up the car. We drove across town and searched every place Spike might go. At a coffee bar, we ran into Jonathon who told us of a girl in her twenties killing vamps behind the Bronze. Spike's eyes lit up when Jonathon talked about her using a switchblade on the bloodsuckers.

"Is there something about the blade I should know about," I asked him later as we drove.

"It's her alright, That blade is her trademark there are some who have never met Sonja that know bout her switchblade."

"Is it magic, maybe I can get it away from her and use it against her."

Spike looked at me as if I was crazed. "You try to take that blade from her she will rip your arm off and beat you with it." I must have looked incredulous because he continued. "In a round about way her switchblade is like your Mr. Stick…"

"Mr. Pointy" I corrected him automatically "If she is this big bad ass slayer how did she get this reputation"

"Urban legends an' bar talk" he glanced over at me "have you ever disemboweled a vampire with your bare hands."

"Not that I am immediately aware"

"Well that is just one of the delightful tales that bring vampires here to Sunnydale looking to get a crack at the infamous Slayer"

We spent another hour looking for the Blue Woman. We came to a dive on the edge of town. It looked deserted. One obvious reason for its desertion was the fire and smoke pouring out of the windows and doors.

"She seems to have a bit of an impulse control problem" I deadpanned

"She's less then an hour away…we can still catch up with her though what you're going to do when we find her is a mystery to me"

"How do you know she's close can you sense her …some kind of mystic link"

"No the gas…she used gasoline to start the fire and the flames are still feeding off it"

We continued up the road. Sure enough, there was another dive and as we approached I saw a cacodeamon lurch out the door and fall on the ground with a pool cue lodged in his chest. Spike spilled out of the car and stooped to check the cooling body on the ground in front of him. I didn't need him to tell me that demon was dead. We than walked in the bar and down a short hall leading to the main room there were bodies strewn across the hall. Many had crawled to this hallway to die. As we walked down the hall, I heard Spike muttering a list of the various methods of death Sonja had employed

"Disembowelment, dismemberment, tracheal extraction…very nice, clean lines too, Ouch, now that had to hurt. I wonder what she did with the other half of the pool cue…Oops there it is. Guess he won't be mating much with that sticking out of him."

We pushed open the door to the main bar. The room looked like a cyclone had hit it…hard. There were wrecked chairs and tables; the unmistakable smell of smashed beer and liquor stock had turned the air rancid. In the center of the room perched on top of someone was a girl no older looking then me with wild hair, a long leather jacket with Doc Martins on her feet. Her eyes, hidden behind a pair of mirrored sunglasses.

She seemed to become aware of our presence. She stood up and walked slowly toward us, the person she had been speaking with abandoned like a rag doll. Although she was wearing shades, I could tell she only looked briefly at me before dismissing me from her mind and focusing all her attention on Spike.

"You must be William the Bloody…a.k.a. The Big Bad a.k.a. Spike. Do you know who I have gone through in order to find you."

She moved slowly, with purpose, Her movements had the graceful predatory air of a panther. Despite the punk outfit she wore, she didn't walk so much as she glided across the floor toward Spike.

"The full bore Abattoir outside was a clue" I sneered. She was ignoring me and for some reason, that pissed me off. "Is massacre your traditional method of interrogation."

She looked at me. "GO home Barbie." I heard the voice in my head as well as in my ear.

There was a pressure in my head and an urge to run out of that bar as fast as I could go, but even as I turned to flee, I felt a flash.

A sensation of primeval power and a stirring within the darkness of my mind of a thing I know lurks just beneath the surface, the thing that was the source of my power as a slayer. It was responding to Sonja's Presence. Sonja, whatever, or whoever she was; was a force that I could cut loose on and would come back for more, for some reason that excited me in a terrible way. .

She had moved on backing Spike against a wall. "Spike I have had a long night. Many things have tried to kill me and the fact is that time is running out. Therefore, I'm going to ask this once. Where is the blade, I know you had it where is it now?"

"I don't know. I stole it from a private collection, but it was stolen from me by…an old friend they may have given it up to anyone by now"

"Alright Spike, next question…Antonio, has he approached you and what did you tell him about the blade."

"Antonio's in town, I didn't even know …there is no way in hell I would do business with that psycho."

"See Spike, I know that's a lie. You would do anything to get help with your little problem. I'll just bet Antonio promised to help fix your head if you helped him score the blade"

"I don't have the blade"

"Well how's about we just make sure"

Sonja reached for Spike with her switchblade in hand, which is right about when I reached for her.

* * *