Sorry about the long delay, I haven't had much time to carry on with this story due to A-level coursework and other commitments. Progress may be slow for a while but rest assured, I will get this book finished.

-Andy

Chapter 4

Shadows and Darkness

Buffy was alone again walking through the baron streets of Sunnydale. It was still night time and hardly anyone was around apart from a few teenagers and some people doing late night shopping. She thought about the girl she saw. Buffy could have sworn it was her mother. She said that her name was Choice Summers, she had exactly the same birthday and she looked exactly like her since Buffy had seen her mothers year book hundreds of times. She was really confused, someone or most likely something was going to blow up the world and all Buffy had to figure out what the big bad was and it's motives was just a load of meaningless riddles. Buffy saw a figure from the corner of eye standing in hidden the shadows next to a small corner café she walked closer and saw the warm welcoming face of Angel.

"Angel," Buffy called, "What are you doing here?"

Angel stepped out of the darkness and stumbled onto his knees and coughed blood onto the pavement. Buffy ran towards him and held him in her arms. He was badly injured, covered in burns, cuts and bruises. She saw a large cut across his chest and he was clutching a large wound on his stomach. Despite his many injuries, he still smiled at the sight of Buffy.

"Angel! What happened to you?" asked Buffy who took off her jumper and wrapped it around his large stomach wound.

"Something…" Angel mumbled, "I don't… know what… it was dark, powerful… I didn't even see it… coming… it summoned flames and burned me then we fought… and it defeated me…"

"Why did you come here?"

As if on cue something had jumped off the roof of the café and landed just a few feet away from them cracking the pavement beneath it. It looked like a man wearing gleaming black armor that showed off every single one of his huge metallic muscles, he had a silver belt around his waist and he wore a black mask around his face which revealed nothing but two triangular white eyes. He rose majestically to his feet and his eyes glowed softly. Buffy grabbed Angel by the waist and dragged him back. The man walked forward slowly, cracking the concrete with each step. Buffy and Angel walked faster as the Hunter began to quicken his pace. He cracked his metal knuckles menacingly.

"You did this to him you b******! Stay back or I'll really do some damage to your metallic ass!" Buffy bluffed. Hunter didn't listen, his eyes just glowed as he carried on walking towards Angel.

Buffy ran towards him and performed a graceful flying kick which hit the side of his head and made him stagger slightly. Buffy was relieved, the Hunter's armor felt more like fabric than metal so she thought it would be any easy fight. Buffy threw a punch but Hunter blocked it with incredible speed and pushed her aside. She managed to kick his leg but he didn't even flinch.

"Go away girl, you have no business here…" Hunter said in a low, raspy voice.

"I'm the slayer, this is my business."

Buffy punched him in the gut, he fell back as she threw another punch and then a kick. The Hunter groaned as she kicked him hard in the chest and he went flying through the café window. Buffy ran towards Angel, he looked a little dazed but still alive.

"Come on we've got to get out of here…" Buffy whimpered.

"Behind you!" Angel shouted.

Buffy ducked as the Hunter suddenly appeared behind her and threw a punch. She kicked him the leg and the waist then punched his chest. She drew a silver dagger that she brought with her and she slashed the Hunter's arm. He started to back away.

Got to keep him off balance thought Buffy.

She kicked him in the stomach, punched him twice on the chest and then performed a low spinning kick which caused the Hunter to fall on the ground.

"The bigger they are…" she said.

Hunter lied on the ground motionless. Buffy moved towards him, curious to find out who or what the Hunter really is. She reached for his masked but she was caught off guard when he grabbed her arm. He raised his hand then Buffy felt a rush of warm air hit her chest and she was thrown onto a wall on the other side of the street. Everything went black and the world slowly faded away.

Everything came back into focus, she was in the arms of Angel who was stroking her hair.

"Hey," said Angel softly.

"How long was I out?" asked Buffy.

"Only for a few minutes."

"What happened to that thing…"

"I knocked him out."

Buffy stood up and walked towards the unconscious hunter. She looked at Angel and was surprised to see that he had his vampire face showing.

"Angel?" said Buffy.

Angel laughed, it was the evil laugh that brought a cold chill and the deepest fear into Buffy's heart.

"No… not Angel…" he muttered.

"Oh God no… Angelus…."

He laughed again, "No, not him either…"

Angel smiled as he raised his hand and a black ball of dark energy formed and hovered in the air. He muttered something and then it shot straight towards Buffy who only just managed to avoid it by diving in air. There was a huge explosion behind her and debris was flying all around her. She turned around and saw that the café was lost in fire and smoke.

"I haven't had this much fun in centuries," laughed Angel.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked as she shielded her eyes from the ash.

Angel raised his hand and the earth began to crack and open beneath her. She leapt from the ground and kicked Angel in the chest. Angel just laughed.

"Kill me, kill Angel," he shouted insanely.

"Who are you!" screamed Buffy.

A wave of darkness shot from Angel's hand and she was pushed on to the ground. Angel grasped her neck and lifted her from the ground. She felt weak, her energy was being drained from her, she couldn't fight back.

"My name is Nemesis."

His grip tightened. She couldn't breath, she felt a large ball of fire burning inside her lungs. She gasped as she tried to kick Nemesis away but he was draining the power from her and she alone was helpless. Buffy knew that she was going to die, again.

Nemesis abruptly released her and stumbled backwards onto the pavement. Buffy fell to the ground, she had no idea what just happened but she knew that she had to regroup and take him down before he introduces her to more surprises.

A black figure appeared out of the shadows and punched Nemesis in the face. It was the Hunter. He grasped Nemesis' neck and lifted him off the ground. Hunter muttered something and a beautiful aura of yellow mist surrounded them. The eyes of Nemesis glowed red, then he screamed, he screamed so loudly that the windows around them shattered, then a dark cloud seeped out of his mouth and he fell to the ground. The Hunter walked towards Buffy, she tried to shuffle away but she was still too weak.

"You needn't be afraid, the Nemesis is gone, your friend will recover," said the Hunter.

"What happened?" asked Buffy.

"Your friend was possessed by an entity called Nemesis, I'm not sure of its true intentions but it seems to be to destroy you."

"Yay. God why do these things keep happening to me?"

"I must go…"

"Wait… who are you?"

But he was already gone, he had completely disappeared into the night. She ran towards Angel who was still lying unconscious on the street floor. He began to stir and then he stared at Buffy looking completely confused.

"Um… how did I get here?"

***

It was morning, Xander was lying in his comfy double bed next to Anya who was sleeping and had her arms around him. He looked at her, she was as beautiful as she ever was, still as graceful and precise in her words. He was the luckiest man alive to be given a second chance. He would never leave her again. He was going to marry her then have many children and live happily ever after. The phone begun to ring which suddenly brought him back to reality, he reached over Anya who was snoring loudly and he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Xander said groggily.

"Xander, hey it's Willow uhh… have you noticed anything strange going on?" asked Willow.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean shadowy thingies that climb out the wall and try to kill you…"

"No… not that I know of, why what's happened?"

"Last night, Dawn saw Anna again but… something came out the wall and it killed Anna… at least I think it killed her…"

"But Anna's already dead Will, once you're dead you can't die again, can you?"

"Well, you can but only if the spirit is exorcised or destroyed by a soul-eater."

"A what?"

"It's this thing that drains the life from spirits, they tend to hang around in the hell dimensions and torture the souls of the damned."

"That's nice. What does Buffy have to say about it?"

"Well she had a fight last night, she's pretty beat up…"

"Oh god, is she OK?"

"Yeah she's fine, slayer's healing powers and all but Angel…"

"Angel?"

"Hey, I've gotta go now, Buffy's waking up…"

"Hey wait."

"Love you."

She hung up the phone, Xander sat next to his sleeping girlfriend and pondered about what was going on. Anya began to stir and slowly got up.

"Morning honey," Anya said as she kissed him gently on the cheek.

"Hey sleeping beauty."

There was a loud knock on the door which made Anya scowl.

"Tell them to go away," she said, "it's too early, come back to bed and snuggle with me."

Xander kissed gently her on the forehead and walked to the front door, unlocked it and slowly opened the door, Xander's smile disintegrated.

"Oh good god no…" Xander choked.

Spike was standing outside the door looking pale as ever, he still had his bleached short hair, his leather coat and black jeans. He had a soul now but Xander still despised him and as far as he was concerned, Spike was a despicable evil creature of the night.

"You're not welcome here Spike, go away," Xander said as he quickly tried to close the door on Spike's face.

"Hey," Spike protested, "I saved your life, if it weren't for me, that Caleb guy would have had both your eyes out."

Xander stood there in silence. Xander had lost his eye after a battle with the mad priest, Caleb who was a servant to the First. Willow had managed to heal him but it still haunted him, it was extremely traumatic for him and his friends.

"Listen, I need to speak to Anya…"

"Why?" asked Xander.

At that moment, he saw someone step out from behind the wall and stood next to Spike. It was Oz.

"Oz, what brings you here along with dead boy over there?"

"Hey!" said Spike.

Oz remained silent.

"What's wrong?"

"We have a problem," said Oz.

"Which would be?"

"I uh… we uh…"

Spike cut in, "Released a few unspeakably powerful demons, no bigy"

"I think we should talk to Buffy," said Xander.

"You what?" shouted Buffy who still looked a little weak from her battle.

The scooby gang was at Giles' house later in the afternoon discussing the strange events from the past few days. Angel was lying on the sofa still recovering from his wounds. Willow wasn't there because she had a class to teach at the high school and Dawn was at school despite being still a little distraught after the supposed death of Anna.

"It tricked me, I thought I was destroying the demons, but the spell released them," Oz said simply.

"You said this creature's name, the one who tricked you was Chaos?" Giles inquired.

"Yep," replied Oz.

"Interesting," murmured Giles, "and Buffy, the thing that possessed Angel, what was its name?"

"The tall, creepy Hunter guy said its name was Nemesis," said Buffy.

Giles nodded and went to his bookshelf and started to browse his old, musty and rare books.

"So why did you want to see me?" Anya asked Spike.

"Well because you know a lot more about demons and evil things than anyone else does who isn't evil," replied Spike.

"Oh come on, all you wanted was to have sex with me and you was hoping that Xander wasn't in…"

"Hey, I told you…"

"Ah, found it," said Giles pleased with himself.

Giles opened the book at the middle and began to read. His eyes widened in terror and snapped the book shut. Buffy sighed. End of the world again I suppose she thought.

"What is it?" asked Xander.

Giles frowned, "Nemesis and Chaos are Gods, they are Glory's brothers, the Gods that exiled Glory from the hell dimension. They loathe humanity and inflict eternal pain and torment to anything with a soul. According to the book of Eren, they tried to destroy the heavens with a grand demon army but they were defeated by the force of Five, whatever that is. "

"Well I killed a God before so…" Buffy started.

"Glory was banished to human form, her power cannot compare to the power of her brothers who are pure Gods… "

"What about these four demons that dog boy released?" Spike asked.

"They were the first pure demons to walk on the Earth, they extremely powerful. They were defeated by the Shadow Men and captured in four crystals. Part of it's spirit was then used to form the slayer who was destine to fight the forces of darkness as long as they exist. I think Willow may be able to capture them again, she has proved to be one of the most powerful witches who ever existed, " said Giles, "but the real trouble is the duo of Dark Gods, I do not know many of their abilities but they seem to be able to possess people and they will be much more powerful than Glory. You must be vigilant, all of you."

The group didn't say anything, everyone of them was fed up the constant apocalypses that plagued the Earth and this new evil sounded pretty bad. Giles shut the book and placed it on top of a large pile of musty books on his desk.

***

At Sunnydale high, Willow was managing the after school computer sciences club but only two students had turned up, Dawn and someone called Chris Redwood. Willow had a feeling that he had a crush on Dawn. She was tempted to read his thoughts but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Willow looked at her computer and noticed that she had mail so she opened the message.

They are coming, the army of darkness is near and soon the world shall turn to dust. Only the force of five can prevent this but they are lost. Prepare.

She closed the message, it didn't have a return address and it seemed to have come from nowhere. She had to talk to Giles about this later on, she looked at the window and noticed that it was starting to get dark.

"Uhh… miss Rosenburg, we have a little problem…" said Chris who was standing next to Dawn.

Willow walked over to Dawn's computer and saw that the computer screen was black.

"It wasn't my fault," whimpered Dawn, "It just kinda bleeped then went black…"

"Don't worry about it, I'm sure that I can fix it up later, but um… oh, time, we have to go now its starting to get dark," said Willow.

"Hey, uhhh Dawn I could um… walk you home if you want…" murmured Chris.

Dawn smiled kindly and said, "Uhh… sorry I have to walk home with Will… uh… Miss Rosenburg."

"No its OK I can stay behind for a bit and give you a chance to talk…" said Willow who smiled cheekily.

Dawn looked at Chris looked back at Willow, smiled and said a silent thank you and then they walked out into the hallway. Willow sat at the desk and took one last look at the mysterious e-mail and then turned the computer off. Grabbed her coat and headed for the hallway.

***

Dawn looked at Chris, he was really handsome, kind, sweet and a bit shy. I can't believe I turned him down when he asked me out yesterday, thought Dawn.

"So uhh… how long have you lived in Sunnydale?" asked Chris.

"Oh, for a few years, I can't wait to get out of this place," replied Dawn

"Yeah it can be a real hellhole sometimes…"

"Tell me about it."

They smiled at each other, their eyes were locked, Dawn desperately wanted to kiss him but she wasn't sure if she should. Chris held her hand gently and moved towards her but he suddenly stopped and staggered back.

"Chris what's wrong?" asked Dawn.

He fell back onto the wall and put both his hands on the side of his head, then he cried pain and crouched on the floor. She rushed over to him and held him, she had to try and make him calm down but his cries were getting louder. Luckily Willow got out of the computer room and ran towards them.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Willow.

"I don't know, he just started to scream, I…"

Chris moved his head up and looked at Dawn, she stared in horror, she saw that his eyes were pure black like Willow's eyes when she used black magic. Willow looked stunned as well.

"You have to get out!" shouted Chris, "Now! Run!"

"Why? What's going on?" asked Dawn.

"HE'S COMING!!!"

Willow and Dawn simultaneously looked to the left of the corridor and saw what Chris was talking about, a tall, broad man in a grey tattered trench coat, he had deep black eyes, white skin and long, grey scruffy hair. Chris stood up, his eyes were back to normal and he seemed to be fine. Dawn wondered who he really was and hoped that he wasn't evil or a vampire.

"I can take care of this," said Willow.

"No, you can't," said Chris.

"I can take care of this," Willow repeated.

"Believe me Chris she can…" Dawn said.

"I know what she is capable of and it isn't enough, we have to go now!"

Dawn looked at the thing that was coming towards them, she could sense the evil that was radiating from it but she was the slayer now, she could take on anything, just like her sister. Her mind was made up. She was going to slay the demon. She ran towards the thing and performed a flying kick which was one of the moves Buffy had taught her. Dawn heard Chris screaming at her but she ignored him because she knew that she could take down the demon. Her foot landed in the demon's chest, it didn't move and Dawn fell on her backside.

The monstrosity stopped and looked down on her, it pulled out a dagger from his trench coat that had runes and symbols inscribed on it, Dawn starred in terror as the dagger came closer to her but she saw something block it's attack and it was so fast she couldn't see it. She thought that it might be Willow performing a spell but her defender turned out to be Chris, Dawn saw him kick the beast in the stomach, the beast flinched a little but it's focus was regained and he stabbed Chris in the stomach and pushed him onto the floor next to her. Dawn was in shock, she saw the open wound on the side of his stomach, he was clutching it tightly but blood still seeped though.

"WILLOW!" cried Dawn.

She looked behind her and she saw Willow speaking in a strange language and her eyes were pure black.

"VERETRISIUM!" Willow yelled.

The demon was thrown back and forced to the other side of the corridor smashing through one of the classroom walls. Willow ran to them, grabbed Chris and Dawn and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction. Dawn looked at Chris, he looked extremely bad, he was pale and it looked like he had lost a lot of blood. She looked behind her saw that the beast was back on it's feet again and it was coming towards them.

"Willow! He's coming back!" screamed Dawn.

Willow began to mutter in that strange language again. Dawn looked back at Chris who was getting paler and he was unconscious. Please don't die Chris, she thought.

Dawn began to feel sick, the world around her was pealing away, twirling and she felt a dull pain in her stomach, then overwhelming pain shot straight through her. Then there was darkness.