Back to Africa - March 2009
Chapter Forty-Seven
Africa (the desert, somewhere)
Buffy woke up disorientated. Her entire body was aching and she thought her head was going to explode. She slowly stood up, trying to regain her balance. She looked around, there was sand as far as the eye could see. She finally looked south and it looked as if there was a small set of caves in the middle of nowhere. She silently cursed herself for wearing jeans and her stylish, yet affordable boots as she trudged on to the caves that were about a mile away. The entire way there she hoped that the shaman wouldn't turn her away, because she had no clue on how to get back. Hell, she didn't have any clue where she was at right now.
Sweat was dripping from her entire body by the time she made it to the caves. She was dehydrated and she knew her skin was sun burnt. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand as she made her way into the caves. She sighed happily when she found it was much cooler in the dark, dank solace of the caves. Her slayer senses were in overdrive though, the place absolutely reeked of death. She made her way through that caves, desperately looking for her host. She was staring at the disturbingly brutal and prehistoric art work that covered the caves walls when she heard a voice from her that chilled her to the core.
"Slayer." The voice hissed.
Buffy turned around and looked at the shadowy figure. She could make out much other than it had green eyes, a tail, and it scared her half to death.
"Hiya. Your name's Bob, right? I'm Buffy." She said chipperly.
"How do you know my name, Slayer?"
"I'm friends with Lorne, you know the host."
Suddenly the demons demeanor changed slightly. He was still cloaked by the shadows, but Buffy could feel his defense wall break down a little bit.
"How is the green guy?" Bob asked cheerily.
"He's pretty good. We kind of lost a friend though and I want to go through your trials." Buffy said, getting to the point.
"It's the vampire, isn't it? The one I who I returned his humanity back to." Bob said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I want you to make him like he used to be." Buffy said.
"You'll never endure the trials little girl. And what makes you think I would let you take part in them?"
"Hey, I've died twice now, and defeated a Hell God, not overwhelmingly concerned about the trials. As for why I think you'll let me participate, I think I have something that will make you very happy."
Buffy then flung her backpack off her shoulders and threw it on the ground. She opened up and pulled out a stack of comic books. Bob's eyes lit up even more green than they previously were.
"What do you have there?" Bob asked curiously.
"Superman #1, some X-men, a few Batman, and the first five issues of Spawn." Buffy said, not really knowing what she was talking about.
"Are those for me?" Bob said, not even trying to hide the excitement in his voice.
"Sure, you just have to let me participate in your trials."
"I think that can be arranged. If you'll just remove your shirt and your shoes we can begin."
"I'm not taking my shirt off you pervert." Buffy vented.
"Get over yourself. I made your darling vampire abide by the same rules. Now, do it or get out." Bob said.
"Fine. But I get what I asked for, right?"
The shaman simply nodded and Buffy peeled of her jacket and shirt. She was wearing a sports bra underneath. She then stripped off her boots and her socks.
"Well, since this is decked out arena style and no number two pencils were provided, I'm assuming we're not starting out with the written." Buffy quipped.
The demon laughed at the Slayer's choice of words. He then moved back into the shadows so that Buffy felt like she was alone. She felt something move behind her. She quickly turned around to find her mirror image standing in front of her. Buffy thought she was going to laugh.
"This is so lame Bob, I can so kick my own ass."
Just then the fake Buffy vamped out and jumped onto the slayer.
"I swear, anything to make me look like a jackass." Buffy huffed, pushing her other self off of her.
The two circled around each other in hostile motions. Buffy pulled a stake out of her waist band, waiting for a good moment to strike. The other Buffy simply stalked her prey. The real Buffy couldn't help but notice how her vampire self dressed like a skanky gothic whore.
"Nice outfit, five years ago." Buffy said.
"I'm sorry it doesn't have a cute flower print with matching Prada shoes." Buffy heard herself say in her own sarcastic voice.
*I'm still a bitch* Buffy thought before she jumped on her vampire self. The two dueled trading even blows, then they would break apart. Vampire Buffy successfully knocked the stake out of Buffy's hand within minutes. This went on for twenty minutes or more. They were both evenly matched. Finally vampire Buffy scratched the real Buffy along face with her sharp claws.
"You are so dead for that." Buffy said.
"Already dead, genius." Vampire Buffy spat back.
The two faced off once more, and this time there was nothing beautiful or poetic about it. There was scratching, hair pulling, and even biting. Well biting from the real Buffy's end. The two separated once again, both holding clumps of the others hair. Vampire Buffy had a few good bite marks on her arms as well as some nasty gashes right above her breasts. The Slayer had a huge bruise forming on her under arm, right by her arm pit. The Slayer was pissed, and then she realized something she had in her pocket. She looked up at the vampire's hair, it was ratted in a fashion that was so 1987.
"So you had enough yet, ho?" Buffy asked.
Vampire Buffy screamed and jump at the real Buffy. Buffy then pulled the lighter out of her pocket and torched the vampire's hair. This sent the vampire screaming, running around the room in a very cartoonish fashion. Buffy chuckled a little and picked the stake up off the ground. She plunged it into the vampire's chest and her vampire self was dust. Bob emerged from the shadows.
"Very clever, now toss it over."
Buffy's face flushed like a school girl who had just got caught cheating. She tossed the lighter in the demons direction, where it disappeared.
"Kay, passed. Now I get what I came for."
"Yes, you passed the first of the trials."
"What do you mean the first of the trials?" Buffy fumed.
"You people never get it. If there was only one trial, then it would be called the trial, but it's called the trials, hence more than one trial." Bob said, irritated.
"Huffy much? Sorry." Buffy blurted out.
As soon as she did that felt more movement behind her. When she turned around she faced three very human assassins.
"Come on, this is so not fair." Buffy whined.
"It's a kill or be killed situation Slayer. They already know what they're in for, do you?" Bob said and then he was gone.
Buffy faced the three large men. She had never been faced with having to kill a human for any reason. She wasn't sure if she could do this.
"Come on guys, you don't want to do this. Let's just see if we can work something out." Buffy said nervously.
"She's kinda cute. You wanna have the first go with her?" The large man with brown hair and a goatee said to the bulky bald black man.
"If you don't mind, I bet she's nice and tight." The black man sneered.
Buffy assessed the situation. There was nothing she could do. She knew that it was kill or be killed. These men were obviously rapists, obviously bad, and they would obviously kill her. She couldn't just incapacitate them. The black man jumped toward the Slayer and she moved out of the way in time for him to crack his skull on the cave wall. The sickening thud made her feel nauseous. She stared at the two other attackers. They were both white. The one with the goatee was about 6'2, broad shoulders, and a grin played across his face that gave Buffy the creeps. The other was short, maybe 5'5, had dark black hair that was greased back and beady black eyes.
"She's spunky. A little too old for my tastes, but she'll do." The little man sneered to his partner.
Buffy thought they were just making her job easier. She took a deep breathe. This is what she had to do. For her, for Spike, hell for the rest of humanity. Buffy didn't even want to know where the shaman had found these creeps, she just knew that they had to be put down. She jumped and kicked the bigger one in the gut. The little one then rushed her, hitting her violently in the ribs. She shoved him off and focused on the big guy standing up. She pushed him down again before he had a chance to stand up again. She saw something shiny out of the corner of her eye. The little one had pulled out a pocket knife and was expertly twirling it through his fingers.
"The little ones always squeal when I use it on them. You want this inside of you? I wonder what you'll feel like after I've cut you?" The one with the beady eyes sneered.
Buffy felt like she was going to vomit. She forgot about her large assailant and set her eyes on the smaller one. She moved in for a right hook, but the man swiftly ducked and sliced her arm. She winced at the feeling of the cold hard steel slicing through her arm. Her blood was boiling, she advanced on her attacker.
"So you get your kicks off of torturing and raping little girls?" Buffy spat in digust.
"Don't forget maiming." The little on said lightly.
Buffy was on the dark haired man before he knew what was going on. The two wrestled with the knife, struggling to which way it was pointing. Buffy finally turned so it was facing the beady eyes man. She used all of her strength and shoved it into the man's chest. She held it there until she felt his last breath leave his body. She looked at the remaining man. She leapt on him before he had a chance to stand up. She looked into his hate filled eyes and twisted his neck, snapping it clean off. She then went to make sure her black attacker was indeed dead.
She then looked around, surveying the damage. She could feel the bile rising in her throat. She suddenly couldn't believe that she had been capable of doing what she had just done. She sunk to her knees and wept. She didn't even hear Bob emerge once more.
"Nice work Slayer."
"Just leave me alone. I can't do this." She wept.
"Slayer, those were apparitions, they've been dead for decades. You didn't actually kill anyone." Bob said, not sure why he was helping the girl out.
"I feel like I did though." She sobbed.
"Get over it for now. If you don't continue, I kill you where you sit." The shaman said sternly.
"Fine. Let's get this over with." Buffy said.
She sat there, expecting another creepy demon or even her own sister to come attack her. Instead she found strangely enough that her body had been covered in honey. She thought it was strange until she looked down and saw thousands of tiny fire ants crawling up her body, painfully biting her. Buffy let out a scream before she rolled over on the floor.
*********************
Dawn, Drusilla, Nick and Gunn were sitting in the office playing Uno. After two hours of attempting how to explain various card games to Drusilla, this was the only one that she could really grasp. And that was only because they agreed to let Dawn help her with her cards. Angel had talked to Dru that morning and she promised that she would play nice if her Daddy untied her. And so far she had kept her word. In the back of her mind she knew there was no way for her to get out alive and this wasn't her battle to win. She also knew that her former lover would fail. The stars had already said as much. So she sat there and played cards with the strange humans. She was taken back at how kind and gentle they had been to her after her initial arrival.
Dawn looked at Dru appreciatively. She could understand how Spike could have fallen in love with her. She was so dark and mysterious and she talked in this really cool rhyming pattern. Then Dawn looked down at Nick and wondered how it was that Buffy did her job. Sure Nick was a vampire, and desperately needed a hair cut, but he had risked his unlife so Buffy could save Spike's. All and all she thought that was pretty cool, so she cut him some slack and even volunteered to get his and Dru's meals ready. Gunn didn't care about either of them one way or the other. He was strictly there to baby-sit. Just as he was about to declare Uno he heard an explosion toward the back of the hotel. He re-cuffed Dru and Nick and grabbed Dawn.
Spike had managed to break through the barriers of the hotel. The entire back wall was blown to pieces. Gunn frantically searched for any bodies. To his relief he hadn't found any. He yelled at Dawn to go upstairs and find the others. Dawn bolted up the stairs, just as Spike emerged from the pile of rubble. He held Rupert Giles by the collar.
"'ello mate." Spike said happily, dropping the unconscious watcher at his feet.
"Not you're mate." Gunn replied angrily.
"Suppose you're not. Why don't you be a good little boy and fetch the poof or the slayer for me."
"Why don't you go look for them yourself." Gunn challenged.
"Why aren't you a big boy?" Spike said.
"Go fuck yourself, you useless pile of dust." Gunn sneered, not entirely sure why he was picking on a vampire that he wasn't allowed to kill.
Spike was about to launch toward Gunn just as Angel ran down the stairs, with Fred, Cordelia, Lorne, Connor, Dawn, Xander, Anya, and Willow following him.
"Leave him alone Spike." Angel said.
"Bugger, guess I'll just eat you later. So it's my giant poofter of a sire. And where is his former slutty high school girlfriend? Maybe we can bring her down to give you a happy again. Then maybe you'll pull out that gigantic stake that you have up your ass." Spike said pleasantly.
Everyone was equally disturbed to hear their William speaking like this. Even when he was a vampire he had never spoken to them in such anger.
"Sorry, she's not here. Try back later." Angel said evenly.
"What a bitch. Can't believe she left you all here to defend for yourselves. Just like her to go running when she gets scared though. I should know better than all of you." Spike replied bitterly.
"Spike, knock it off with the tough guy act. We can help you." Dawn said helpfully.
"Shut it bit. The only way to help is for you to all line up evenly so I can kill you one by one, instead of having to chase you through this bloody mansion." Spike spat.
"Just leave and we won't hurt you." Angel said, knowing full well that once Spike got an idea in his head there was no getting it out.
"Not going to leave and I wasn't planning to get hurt. Now you all on the other hand, it's going to hurt, a lot. You poofters don't even have your precious Buffy here to protect you." Spike mocked them.
Just then about twenty-five vamps were standing at the barrier of the hotel. Spike used his preternatural speed and grabbed Gunn by the throat.
"Now invite my friends in or your friend here is the first to go." Spike sneered.
The group looked at the vamps and then back to Gunn. Gunn had an even look on his face, he knew he could probably break free and dust Spike before the vampire could get his hands on him again, but since there was no dusting allowed he simply stood his ground, waiting for Angel to make his move.
"Isn't that a little cowardly Spike? You pissed because things aren't going your way. I mean you don't even have a Slayer to fight." Xander said.
"Shut up you whelp. S'not my fault your Slayer ran off like a scared little girl."
Just as Spike was about to snap Gunn's neck her heard a familiar voice.
"You're girl may not be here, but I can do the job just as well." Faith challenged.
Spike let go of Gunn and looked at the leather clad Slayer appreciatively.
"You miss me luv?" Spike asked sweetly.
"Whatever, let's just fight." Faith said.
"Fine, rather be fighting with you anyway." Spike said
And they began to dance while the humans and the vampires looked on.
Africa (the desert, somewhere)
Buffy woke up disorientated. Her entire body was aching and she thought her head was going to explode. She slowly stood up, trying to regain her balance. She looked around, there was sand as far as the eye could see. She finally looked south and it looked as if there was a small set of caves in the middle of nowhere. She silently cursed herself for wearing jeans and her stylish, yet affordable boots as she trudged on to the caves that were about a mile away. The entire way there she hoped that the shaman wouldn't turn her away, because she had no clue on how to get back. Hell, she didn't have any clue where she was at right now.
Sweat was dripping from her entire body by the time she made it to the caves. She was dehydrated and she knew her skin was sun burnt. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand as she made her way into the caves. She sighed happily when she found it was much cooler in the dark, dank solace of the caves. Her slayer senses were in overdrive though, the place absolutely reeked of death. She made her way through that caves, desperately looking for her host. She was staring at the disturbingly brutal and prehistoric art work that covered the caves walls when she heard a voice from her that chilled her to the core.
"Slayer." The voice hissed.
Buffy turned around and looked at the shadowy figure. She could make out much other than it had green eyes, a tail, and it scared her half to death.
"Hiya. Your name's Bob, right? I'm Buffy." She said chipperly.
"How do you know my name, Slayer?"
"I'm friends with Lorne, you know the host."
Suddenly the demons demeanor changed slightly. He was still cloaked by the shadows, but Buffy could feel his defense wall break down a little bit.
"How is the green guy?" Bob asked cheerily.
"He's pretty good. We kind of lost a friend though and I want to go through your trials." Buffy said, getting to the point.
"It's the vampire, isn't it? The one I who I returned his humanity back to." Bob said matter-of-factly.
"Yeah, I want you to make him like he used to be." Buffy said.
"You'll never endure the trials little girl. And what makes you think I would let you take part in them?"
"Hey, I've died twice now, and defeated a Hell God, not overwhelmingly concerned about the trials. As for why I think you'll let me participate, I think I have something that will make you very happy."
Buffy then flung her backpack off her shoulders and threw it on the ground. She opened up and pulled out a stack of comic books. Bob's eyes lit up even more green than they previously were.
"What do you have there?" Bob asked curiously.
"Superman #1, some X-men, a few Batman, and the first five issues of Spawn." Buffy said, not really knowing what she was talking about.
"Are those for me?" Bob said, not even trying to hide the excitement in his voice.
"Sure, you just have to let me participate in your trials."
"I think that can be arranged. If you'll just remove your shirt and your shoes we can begin."
"I'm not taking my shirt off you pervert." Buffy vented.
"Get over yourself. I made your darling vampire abide by the same rules. Now, do it or get out." Bob said.
"Fine. But I get what I asked for, right?"
The shaman simply nodded and Buffy peeled of her jacket and shirt. She was wearing a sports bra underneath. She then stripped off her boots and her socks.
"Well, since this is decked out arena style and no number two pencils were provided, I'm assuming we're not starting out with the written." Buffy quipped.
The demon laughed at the Slayer's choice of words. He then moved back into the shadows so that Buffy felt like she was alone. She felt something move behind her. She quickly turned around to find her mirror image standing in front of her. Buffy thought she was going to laugh.
"This is so lame Bob, I can so kick my own ass."
Just then the fake Buffy vamped out and jumped onto the slayer.
"I swear, anything to make me look like a jackass." Buffy huffed, pushing her other self off of her.
The two circled around each other in hostile motions. Buffy pulled a stake out of her waist band, waiting for a good moment to strike. The other Buffy simply stalked her prey. The real Buffy couldn't help but notice how her vampire self dressed like a skanky gothic whore.
"Nice outfit, five years ago." Buffy said.
"I'm sorry it doesn't have a cute flower print with matching Prada shoes." Buffy heard herself say in her own sarcastic voice.
*I'm still a bitch* Buffy thought before she jumped on her vampire self. The two dueled trading even blows, then they would break apart. Vampire Buffy successfully knocked the stake out of Buffy's hand within minutes. This went on for twenty minutes or more. They were both evenly matched. Finally vampire Buffy scratched the real Buffy along face with her sharp claws.
"You are so dead for that." Buffy said.
"Already dead, genius." Vampire Buffy spat back.
The two faced off once more, and this time there was nothing beautiful or poetic about it. There was scratching, hair pulling, and even biting. Well biting from the real Buffy's end. The two separated once again, both holding clumps of the others hair. Vampire Buffy had a few good bite marks on her arms as well as some nasty gashes right above her breasts. The Slayer had a huge bruise forming on her under arm, right by her arm pit. The Slayer was pissed, and then she realized something she had in her pocket. She looked up at the vampire's hair, it was ratted in a fashion that was so 1987.
"So you had enough yet, ho?" Buffy asked.
Vampire Buffy screamed and jump at the real Buffy. Buffy then pulled the lighter out of her pocket and torched the vampire's hair. This sent the vampire screaming, running around the room in a very cartoonish fashion. Buffy chuckled a little and picked the stake up off the ground. She plunged it into the vampire's chest and her vampire self was dust. Bob emerged from the shadows.
"Very clever, now toss it over."
Buffy's face flushed like a school girl who had just got caught cheating. She tossed the lighter in the demons direction, where it disappeared.
"Kay, passed. Now I get what I came for."
"Yes, you passed the first of the trials."
"What do you mean the first of the trials?" Buffy fumed.
"You people never get it. If there was only one trial, then it would be called the trial, but it's called the trials, hence more than one trial." Bob said, irritated.
"Huffy much? Sorry." Buffy blurted out.
As soon as she did that felt more movement behind her. When she turned around she faced three very human assassins.
"Come on, this is so not fair." Buffy whined.
"It's a kill or be killed situation Slayer. They already know what they're in for, do you?" Bob said and then he was gone.
Buffy faced the three large men. She had never been faced with having to kill a human for any reason. She wasn't sure if she could do this.
"Come on guys, you don't want to do this. Let's just see if we can work something out." Buffy said nervously.
"She's kinda cute. You wanna have the first go with her?" The large man with brown hair and a goatee said to the bulky bald black man.
"If you don't mind, I bet she's nice and tight." The black man sneered.
Buffy assessed the situation. There was nothing she could do. She knew that it was kill or be killed. These men were obviously rapists, obviously bad, and they would obviously kill her. She couldn't just incapacitate them. The black man jumped toward the Slayer and she moved out of the way in time for him to crack his skull on the cave wall. The sickening thud made her feel nauseous. She stared at the two other attackers. They were both white. The one with the goatee was about 6'2, broad shoulders, and a grin played across his face that gave Buffy the creeps. The other was short, maybe 5'5, had dark black hair that was greased back and beady black eyes.
"She's spunky. A little too old for my tastes, but she'll do." The little man sneered to his partner.
Buffy thought they were just making her job easier. She took a deep breathe. This is what she had to do. For her, for Spike, hell for the rest of humanity. Buffy didn't even want to know where the shaman had found these creeps, she just knew that they had to be put down. She jumped and kicked the bigger one in the gut. The little one then rushed her, hitting her violently in the ribs. She shoved him off and focused on the big guy standing up. She pushed him down again before he had a chance to stand up again. She saw something shiny out of the corner of her eye. The little one had pulled out a pocket knife and was expertly twirling it through his fingers.
"The little ones always squeal when I use it on them. You want this inside of you? I wonder what you'll feel like after I've cut you?" The one with the beady eyes sneered.
Buffy felt like she was going to vomit. She forgot about her large assailant and set her eyes on the smaller one. She moved in for a right hook, but the man swiftly ducked and sliced her arm. She winced at the feeling of the cold hard steel slicing through her arm. Her blood was boiling, she advanced on her attacker.
"So you get your kicks off of torturing and raping little girls?" Buffy spat in digust.
"Don't forget maiming." The little on said lightly.
Buffy was on the dark haired man before he knew what was going on. The two wrestled with the knife, struggling to which way it was pointing. Buffy finally turned so it was facing the beady eyes man. She used all of her strength and shoved it into the man's chest. She held it there until she felt his last breath leave his body. She looked at the remaining man. She leapt on him before he had a chance to stand up. She looked into his hate filled eyes and twisted his neck, snapping it clean off. She then went to make sure her black attacker was indeed dead.
She then looked around, surveying the damage. She could feel the bile rising in her throat. She suddenly couldn't believe that she had been capable of doing what she had just done. She sunk to her knees and wept. She didn't even hear Bob emerge once more.
"Nice work Slayer."
"Just leave me alone. I can't do this." She wept.
"Slayer, those were apparitions, they've been dead for decades. You didn't actually kill anyone." Bob said, not sure why he was helping the girl out.
"I feel like I did though." She sobbed.
"Get over it for now. If you don't continue, I kill you where you sit." The shaman said sternly.
"Fine. Let's get this over with." Buffy said.
She sat there, expecting another creepy demon or even her own sister to come attack her. Instead she found strangely enough that her body had been covered in honey. She thought it was strange until she looked down and saw thousands of tiny fire ants crawling up her body, painfully biting her. Buffy let out a scream before she rolled over on the floor.
*********************
Dawn, Drusilla, Nick and Gunn were sitting in the office playing Uno. After two hours of attempting how to explain various card games to Drusilla, this was the only one that she could really grasp. And that was only because they agreed to let Dawn help her with her cards. Angel had talked to Dru that morning and she promised that she would play nice if her Daddy untied her. And so far she had kept her word. In the back of her mind she knew there was no way for her to get out alive and this wasn't her battle to win. She also knew that her former lover would fail. The stars had already said as much. So she sat there and played cards with the strange humans. She was taken back at how kind and gentle they had been to her after her initial arrival.
Dawn looked at Dru appreciatively. She could understand how Spike could have fallen in love with her. She was so dark and mysterious and she talked in this really cool rhyming pattern. Then Dawn looked down at Nick and wondered how it was that Buffy did her job. Sure Nick was a vampire, and desperately needed a hair cut, but he had risked his unlife so Buffy could save Spike's. All and all she thought that was pretty cool, so she cut him some slack and even volunteered to get his and Dru's meals ready. Gunn didn't care about either of them one way or the other. He was strictly there to baby-sit. Just as he was about to declare Uno he heard an explosion toward the back of the hotel. He re-cuffed Dru and Nick and grabbed Dawn.
Spike had managed to break through the barriers of the hotel. The entire back wall was blown to pieces. Gunn frantically searched for any bodies. To his relief he hadn't found any. He yelled at Dawn to go upstairs and find the others. Dawn bolted up the stairs, just as Spike emerged from the pile of rubble. He held Rupert Giles by the collar.
"'ello mate." Spike said happily, dropping the unconscious watcher at his feet.
"Not you're mate." Gunn replied angrily.
"Suppose you're not. Why don't you be a good little boy and fetch the poof or the slayer for me."
"Why don't you go look for them yourself." Gunn challenged.
"Why aren't you a big boy?" Spike said.
"Go fuck yourself, you useless pile of dust." Gunn sneered, not entirely sure why he was picking on a vampire that he wasn't allowed to kill.
Spike was about to launch toward Gunn just as Angel ran down the stairs, with Fred, Cordelia, Lorne, Connor, Dawn, Xander, Anya, and Willow following him.
"Leave him alone Spike." Angel said.
"Bugger, guess I'll just eat you later. So it's my giant poofter of a sire. And where is his former slutty high school girlfriend? Maybe we can bring her down to give you a happy again. Then maybe you'll pull out that gigantic stake that you have up your ass." Spike said pleasantly.
Everyone was equally disturbed to hear their William speaking like this. Even when he was a vampire he had never spoken to them in such anger.
"Sorry, she's not here. Try back later." Angel said evenly.
"What a bitch. Can't believe she left you all here to defend for yourselves. Just like her to go running when she gets scared though. I should know better than all of you." Spike replied bitterly.
"Spike, knock it off with the tough guy act. We can help you." Dawn said helpfully.
"Shut it bit. The only way to help is for you to all line up evenly so I can kill you one by one, instead of having to chase you through this bloody mansion." Spike spat.
"Just leave and we won't hurt you." Angel said, knowing full well that once Spike got an idea in his head there was no getting it out.
"Not going to leave and I wasn't planning to get hurt. Now you all on the other hand, it's going to hurt, a lot. You poofters don't even have your precious Buffy here to protect you." Spike mocked them.
Just then about twenty-five vamps were standing at the barrier of the hotel. Spike used his preternatural speed and grabbed Gunn by the throat.
"Now invite my friends in or your friend here is the first to go." Spike sneered.
The group looked at the vamps and then back to Gunn. Gunn had an even look on his face, he knew he could probably break free and dust Spike before the vampire could get his hands on him again, but since there was no dusting allowed he simply stood his ground, waiting for Angel to make his move.
"Isn't that a little cowardly Spike? You pissed because things aren't going your way. I mean you don't even have a Slayer to fight." Xander said.
"Shut up you whelp. S'not my fault your Slayer ran off like a scared little girl."
Just as Spike was about to snap Gunn's neck her heard a familiar voice.
"You're girl may not be here, but I can do the job just as well." Faith challenged.
Spike let go of Gunn and looked at the leather clad Slayer appreciatively.
"You miss me luv?" Spike asked sweetly.
"Whatever, let's just fight." Faith said.
"Fine, rather be fighting with you anyway." Spike said
And they began to dance while the humans and the vampires looked on.