AN: As always, a big thanks to all the readers and reviewers of my story. I'm trying to wrap everything up all neat and tidy, but with only three chapters left to do it in I might have to skip some stuff. I'm dead serious when I say it's up to you to tell me whether or not you want season '9' in this story or if you want season '9' to have a story of it's own.

            *shakes fist at reviewers jokingly* You're stealing my thunder, guys. I was planning in making this chapter a phone conversation, but because of time/your deductive minds I'm going to have to skip that. Can't have my readers getting ahead of me. Don't worry, I'll probably have Spike 'remember' the phone conversation later on. Enjoy this one-it's going to be very interesting.

Disclaimer: All characters (w/exceptions) belong to UPN, Mutant Enemy, and the all-powerful Joss. ***note: if certain characters do not act like themselves/are in different situations than they usually are, I'm sorry.***

There Could Be Oil Of Some Kind Involved

            Buffy and Kennedy walked quickly down the street. Not knowing this town very well, they'd decided to stick to the main streets in hopes of finding a cemetery or sewer entry somewhere. So far, no such luck. The closest they'd come was a run down gas station.

            "It could have just been a quake, Buffy." Kennedy looked over at the other Slayer. "It doesn't necessarily have to be anything bad."

            "No." Buffy clutched her stake tighter. "I could feel it. That wasn't your run-of-the-mill plate-shift-y thingie. It was something else." As if on cue, a vampire ran around the corner straight into the arms of the two girls.

            Kennedy immediately delivered a swift kick to the vampire's chest. As she yelped in pain, she said "Buffy- he's got something…in his shirt…"

            Buffy grabbed him by the collar, yanking him to his feet before her. Punching him, she reached inside his jacket. Sure enough, there was something. Pulling it out, she found a very old-looking book- except it was bound in some sort of metal. The vampire growled, lunging for the book. She staked him through the heart, still examining the book. She looked over at Kennedy as the dust settled. "Let's get this back to Giles."

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            He stepped out of the gate and into one of the largest airports in the world. He stumbled out to the doors in his flip-flops, grumbling to himself. Real funny. Send me enough money for a plane ticket and then five dollars to buy shoes. Still, it was nice to know he was finally getting somewhere. Maybe. Now all he had to do was wait and see if the poof showed up.

            Spike sat down on a bench, watching the people hurry past him. The sun had set long ago-the stupid whelp was just trying to make some sort of a point, surely. Haha. Leave me here with no bloody way of getting anywhere until he feels like being merciful to poor, pathetic Spike.

            He looked up at the shadow that had stopped in his line of vision. Always have to be so sodding melodramatic. He turned his eyes up to the fixed glaze of his grandsire.

            "Angel."

            "Spike." Angel's frown deepened. "Buffy told me you were dead."

            "Was dead." Spike stood up, stepping closer. "Back now."

            Angel looked at him, confused. "How?"

            "None of your damn business." Spike started walking. Angel had no choice but to follow him.

            "I think you'd know enough to be nicer than that," Angel growled. "You should be down on your knees thanking me."

            Spike stopped in the alley. "Not much for that, really." He staggered back as Angel punched him in the face. "Bloody hell!"

            Angel came at him again, kicking him backwards into a dumpster. As he stood up, wincing, he remembered something.

["One of these days I'm just gonna put you two in a room and let you wrastle it out…there could be oil of some kind involved…"]

He smirked despite himself, launching an attack. He managed to land a few decent punches before Angel knocked him back again. "What- did you bring me all the way here just to beat me up?"

Angel contemplated that, before nodding. "Yeah. Pretty much." He kicked him hard in the ribs. "What do you want, Spike?"

"Buffy." The word was out before he could even think about it. Angel lost it, vamping out and lifting him high over his head before throwing him into the side of a building.

"Don't even think about it, pal." Angel was on Spike before he could get up, pinning him to the ground. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a stake.

Even in this dangerous situation, Spike couldn't help chuckling. "Oh please. You're only being huffy because you know she loves me instead of you!" He let himself be slapped before continuing, a smug look upon his face. "And you can't stand that." He took the beating willingly, still smiling. "Look at yourself! All vamped out because your big, bad Buffy likes lil' old me."

Angel shook him by the shoulders, loosing his temper. "Stop saying that!"

"Why?" Spike lowered his voice to a whisper, forcing Angel to lean in to hear it. He took the opportunity to head butt Angel in the nose, forcing him to get off. As the older vampire cried out in pain, Spike jumped to his feet, and kicked the stake out of his hand. They faced each other, waiting.

"Go away, Spike." Angel glared at him, letting his voice drop dangerously low. "Leave."

"No." Spike dodged the attempted punch, grabbing him by the arm and flipping him over. "Not until you give me what I want."

Angel looked up at him, incredulous. "And why the hell would I ever do that?" He kicked him, sweeping his legs out from under him. He lay there a minute before standing up. Spike stood as well, silent. The vampires faced again, wearily. "Do you think I'm just going to let you go and ruin her life?"

Vamping out as well, Spike dove at him even before the words were all the way out of his mouth. Kicking him in the stomach, he punched him once, twice, thrice before Angel ducked out. He chased after him, jumping on his back. Angel dropped to the ground, trying to fight him off. Spike pulled off a bit, only to smack him again. He slammed his head into the ground before flipping backwards. Angel started to get up as Spike kicked him again. Angel kneeled on the pavement, gasping for air even though he didn't need it. Spike picked up the stake, approaching the wounded vampire. He leaned over him, holding the stake against his chest and devamping. Angel stared at the stake, befuddled.

"Where is she."

Angel growled at him, returning to his human form. "Even if I knew, I'd never tell you."

"Wrong answer," Spike whispered. He carefully pushed the stake against his skin just enough to hurt. "Try again."

"I don't know, alright?" Angel rolled his eyes. "So you can pull that stupid stake off me."

He dropped the stake, grabbing Angel by the throat. "I really don't want to kill you. Figure she wouldn't be too keen on that." He drug him to his feet. "And what with the soul and all, it wouldn't be so great for me either." He pushed him away, brushing himself off. He blinked a few times. "Does this mean I won?"

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            Buffy opened the door, walking in with Kennedy behind her. Willow jumped up from the couch. "Hi! Is everything okay? Did you find anything?"

"Hi, yes, and yes." Buffy smiled grimly. She walked around Willow to Giles. "We found this." She handed him the book quietly.

            Giles turned the book over in his hands, looking like, well, a librarian who'd just been given a new book. "Extraordinary." He lifted the cover, peering inside. "Where did you say you got this?"

            "Some vampire." Buffy shrugged.

            "We were walking down the street, and a vampire ran into us." Kennedy's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Literally. He had that book hidden in his jacket."

            Buffy nodded. "So the book…"

            "Must be important enough for a fleeing vampire to try to conceal," Giles finished for her. He looked at it again. "It appears to be written in some ancient tounge…"

            Willow peered over his shoulder. "Ooh! I recognize that!" They all looked at her, confused. "Um, one of my spell books." She tried to explain. "I mean, back when I was practicing."

            Giles frowned. "Your spell book was written in this?"

            "No." Willow looked down at her hands. "It was part of a spell…a chant….I couldn't decipher it."

            "Which book?" Giles started walking towards his new collection of books.

            "It was a Book of Shadows Amy gave me…" She looked down again. "She said she'd gotten it from a very powerful witch."

            "And now it's buried in Sunnydale." Giles sighed.

            "I could try to translate it," She offered helpfully.

            Giles smiled at her. "That's quite alright. I shall enjoy the challenge." He went over to the table where Dawn and Xander already sat, opening it again and paging through it. After a moment, he frowned. "Buffy, I think you might like to take a look at this."

            She walked over slowly, looking down at the page Giles had stopped on. On it was a crudely drawn figure with light streaming from an amulet on its chest.

            "Spike," she whispered.

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One word, two syllables. Starts with an R. What could it be???