Buffy woke up and grumbled. Then she realized she was in a huge bed and remembered where she was and smiled. Finally, comfort. There was a God. She sat up yawning and looked over at Dawn who was watching TV in the hotel room.
"Morning.", Buffy greeted while stretching.
"Hey. How'd you sleep?" Dawn asked.
"Fantastic. What time is it?" Buffy asked.
"Around eleven." Dawn replied. She was also eating a huge bear claw.
"Where'd you get that?" Buffy asked puzzled.
"Room service." Dawn replied with her mouth full.
"Dawnie, we can't just order room service whenever we like!" Buffy scolded.
"Why not? Giles is paying for it." Dawn reminded Buffy.
"In that case are there any crullers?" Buffy asked.
Dawn handed Buffy the plate of assorted glazed pastries and went back to watching the news. Buffy greedily ate a cruller then a glazed donut. She shoveled the pastries into her face enjoying the taste and the fact that she wouldn't gain any weight due to her Slayer metabolism.
"Where's Willow?" Buffy asked licking her fingers.
"In the shower. She's got that meeting with that guy, what's his name? Doctor Weird?" Dawn stated.
"Doctor Strange.", Willow said poking her head out the bathroom door.
"Yeah that's the guy." Dawn concluded.
Buffy turned to Willow and spoke to her friend, "You think you're up for this?"
"No. Not at all. I'm scared. The way Giles talked about this guy, I mean he's supposed to be the greatest sorcerer on earth. I did research on the guy before we came. He talks to guys like Prince Namor and the Silver Surfer for crying out loud." Willow said nervously, "I mean how do you talk to a guy who had tea with a Herald of Galactus?"
"You probably start with "hi". Just relax. You'll do great. Besides we'll be there" Buffy replied.
Willow winced, "Actually there's something I should probably tell you. This whole interview thing has to be solo."
"Why?" Buffy asked confusedly.
"Well, he's going to have to ask me questions and you know, if you guys are there it might affect how I answer them. Giles said I should do this alone. I have to answer everything completely honestly. You might not like some of my answers." Willow explained.
"Okay. I can see that. Gives us more chances for sight seeing I guess. Besides Xander wants to see if he can get any other autographs from super heroes. He's been nuts since he got Wonder Man's." Buffy said.
"Why don't we just call Scott?" Dawn said biting into a jelly donut.
"HEY! That's a great idea!" Buffy smiled.
"Who's Scott?" Willow asked.
"Oh he's our cousin. He works at a school in Westchester. I had totally forgotten that he lived in the area. I definitely have to give him a call. That way he can be our tour guide during the day." Buffy explained.
"He's a mutant too." Dawn added biting into another donut.
"Oh that's cool." Willow replied as she got dressed.
"Yeah, its nice having more than one person with super powers in the Summers clan. Scott and his brother Alex are both mutants. God, I haven't seen either of them since after graduation. Scott and his wife flew in about a day after we blew up the high school." Buffy explained.
"She's a mutant too." Dawn added again, eating yet another donut.
"Did your mom know?" Willow asked as she put on makeup.
"Yeah. Mom was always pretty tolerant. She handled the Slayer news pretty well, so mutants were nothing really out of the ordinary. I mean, she used to invite Spike in for hot chocolate. Considering he was a soulless monster at the time who basically wanted to kill me, that's tolerant." Buffy added.
"We're out of donuts." Dawn belched.
Buffy knocked at Xander's door about an hour later. He opened it and was clad in a plain white t-shirt and his boxers.
"Okay, you need to get ready. We're heading out." Buffy stated taking in the whole image.
"Let me put some pants on." Xander replied.
"Just some pants?" Buffy asked.
"You'll find we men don't take as long to get ready as you perfume reeking women." Xander said looking for his jeans.
"How's Spike?" Buffy asked.
"Sleeping, thank God. I swear it's some colossal joke that time after time I'm forced to share a room with the undead Billy Idol." Xander told her as he pulled up his jeans.
"You know the rule. Boys with boys, girls with girls." Buffy reminded him.
"Well it's not like you'd have to worry about me putting moves on Dawn. Hello, jailbait. And I think Willow kinda speaks for herself." Xander said as he put his shoes on.
"God help you if you were even so much as thinking about Willow and my little sister getting it on." Buffy growled.
"Wouldn't dream of it. Want to live." Xander continued, "But it could have worked out, then you could share a room with Spike."
"Xander, don't even start." Buffy ordered.
"What? I'm not trying to rub anything in. Much as I detest the bleached wonder, he's different now you know? He's not as obnoxious or bloodthirsty anymore. I have no problems with you two getting horizontal now. Well I do, but not as much." Xander explained as he stood up.
"Nice to know I have your blessing Xand, but we haven't gotten horizontal in almost a year." Buffy replied.
"You haven't?" Xander asked genuinely surprised.
"Why's that so shocking?" Buffy asked.
"Well, I mean you guys….well the things you did….well you did them so much..." Xander tried to form a coherent sentence.
"Yeah, but things are different now. He's different. I'm different. The relationship has to be different. I mean we're still talking." Buffy explained.
"Okay, well I'm going to go down the hall and hang out with Will and Dawn in case you want to "talk" to Spike." Xander teased.
"Better hurry before I kick your ass." Buffy teased right back as Xander headed out the door.
Buffy walked into the hotel room and closed the door behind her and stood by the bed where Spike lay completely silent. He looked almost like a corpse under the sheets because of the vampire's lack of breathing. He was perfectly still. Buffy had to admit he looked peaceful, serene. This made it all the more satisfying when she jumped on top of him waking him up.
"Bloody hell!" Spike protested before he was cut off by a kiss.
"Happy to see me?" Buffy asked as she pulled away.
"Ecstatic. To what do I owe this visit?" Spike asked sitting up and draping an arm around her.
"Well, we were getting ready to head out. I have a cousin here that I gave a call to. We're going to meet up with him in a few hours. I was wondering if you wanted to put your bandages on and go out into the day with us." Buffy asked.
"Sorry pet. Much as I'd like to revisit my old stomping grounds, I'd rather just sleep. Bloody bus trip screwed up my biological clock. Need to sleep now so I can be up tonight." Spike said as he reached down beside the bed to the cooler and pulled out a blood bag, "There a microwave around here? Never mind. I see it."
"Well, you don't have to sleep. Even if you don't come out with us I'm sure there are other things you could do to pass the time. Why don't you go exploring the sewers?" Buffy asked.
Spike flat out laughed as he poured the blood into a mug and set it in the microwave, "What and contend with all the alligators, giant turtles, Morlocks, and CHUDs? Thanks but no."
"What's a CHUD?" Buffy asked.
"Very nasty. Besides, I have to rest if I'm taking you out to dance tonight.", Spike replied as the microwave clicked off.
"You're taking me dancing?" Buffy asked with a smile.
"Why not? I know a few places that'll serve demons and humans. We can dance, maybe get in a good scrap, have ourselves a hell of an evening." Spike smirked and he began to drink his blood, leaving a crimson rim around his mouth.
Buffy giggled, "Ew. You have fruit punch mouth."
Across town, at a DEO facility something stirred deep within the cold recesses of its prison. It didn't know where it was but it wanted out. It weakly strained against the body bag that covered it and slowly managed to unzip it. Wherever it was, it was dark, and cold, and naked. It stretched out a shaking arm and felt the walls of its prison. It felt around just behind its head and began to push. The wall did not give. Angrily, the creature pushed against it harder. It had taken this long to recover from its wounds and it would need to feed soon if it had any chance of surviving.
Memories flooded back. Memories of burning pain, of the hunt. Memories of the spectacle of the hunt, of its glory. These memories fueled it. Harder it pushed and soon the tell tale sound of metal straining was heard. More memories flooded. Memories of cornering its prey. Memories of having its prey beaten and helpless. Memories of briefly tasting its prey.
The small metal door to the DEO's morgue slab flew across the room and smashed against the wall. A forensic pathologist jumped at the crash and looked to the now open slab. The pathologist should have called for security. It was standard protocol, but his curiosity was aroused. He walked to the open slab, with cold air pouring out and dancing in the warmer air as mist. There was no movement. There was only darkness. The pathologist moved closer and stared into the dark hole.
A scaly reptilian hand struck out at amazing speeds and gripped the pathologist by the neck. He tried to scream, but the hand was preventing that now. Eerie yellow light began to form around the hand. The pathologist heard a low growl.
"Give….me….your…strength."
The pathologist felt himself growing weaker and weaker. Like the flue had struck suddenly. He soon lost consciousness so he couldn't see the reptilian hand and arm become human in appearance. Within a full minute of being grabbed by the hand, the forensic pathologist dropped to the floor dead, a husk of his former self.
Another hand crept forth from the hole and with its mate gripped the metal slab and began pulling the occupant out. His bare feet touched the floor gracefully. He was tall, heavily muscled and had a long flowing mane of black hair. He regarded the pathologist and knelt down, taking his clothes and placing them on his own body. His eyes flickered red for a moment before he walked for the large metal door. It was locked. No matter. A mere moment later the huge metal door exploded outward with incredible force and slammed into the wall opposite it. The figure simply walked out the exit he has made.
"Let the hunt begin anew." the figure said calmly.
Morlun had returned.