PART TWELVE:
"So, what's with you and Willow?" Buffy asked, punctuating every word with a hit to the vampire she was facing.
"What?" Angel asked, as he spun and kicked his opponent in the face.
Buffy dusted her vampire, and turned around, "You know, Willow, redhead, my best friend?"
"Oh, Willow," Angel confirmed, with a small smile on his face as he saw the look of impatience on the blonde's face. It turned to fear as she looked behind him, but Angel deftly swung round and stuck the stake that he held in his left hand into the oncoming vampire's chest. Then he looked back at the Slayer, and shrugged, saying "She's a friend, like everyone else," before turning to walk away in search of more vampires.
Buffy looked at him long and hard, and didn't say anything, but thought, And how long will it stay that way? Still, I guess he has to move on as well; after all, I have Riley. Buffy smiled softly as she thought of her boyfriend, and then ran after the retreating back of the dark vampire.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Are you sure you're all right?" Spike asked, as he calmly staked the vampire on the ground in front of him, looking up at Nareia as he did so.
The petite vampire was flying through mid-air at the time, and her feet connected with her opponent's neck with a sharp crack a few moments later. She twisted in the air, and landed deftly on her feet. Nareia looked at Spike, "Yeah, why?"
Spike stood up, and shrugged, "No reason. You're just, being a damn sight more aggressive than I thought you would be, that's all."
Nareia looked at him, puzzled, "Spike, I'm a vampire. When I'm kicking someone's ass, that's the time I can give in to the demon and not be afraid something's going to happen that I don't want to. It's when I'm free. Believe me, you don't want to see me when I'm mad."
Spike's eyes grew wide as he watched his lover spin on her feet, knock down the vampire that had been trying to sneak up on her, and stake him, all in one fluid move. "If that's you happy, you're wrong; I'd love to see you mad, pet," he grinned, and then turned exchange punches with another vampire that had attempted to leap at him from behind a tree.
"What is it with these vamps, anyway? The attack-one-at-a-time-so-I'm-easier-to-stake thing?" Nareia asked, a frown on her face as she quickly disposed of another opponent, "They never used to be this bloody wimpy."
Spike shrugged, as he and Nareia fought back to back briefly, and then stood, looking round, for their next victim, "I don't bloody know, luv. They always seem to do this in Sunnyhell. I think the Watcher put a spell on them to make it easier for the Slayer to dust them."
Nareia pouted, "That's all very well, but it's not as much bloody fun."
Spike laughed out loud, and turned to lift Nareia up, "You're right, again, Nareia. Let's see if we can rile them up a bit."
Nareia returned the grin, and kissed him quickly on the lips before he put her down. "What a fantastic idea, darling," she said, grabbing his hand, and dragging him off to where more vampires lurked.
~*~*~*~*~*~
"Vampires," they said in unison. Looking at each other for a moment, they then turned and strode determinedly towards where they felt the presence of many vampires.
"Wait," Angel instructed Buffy, putting a restraining arm on the enthusiastic Slayer.
"What is it, Angel?"
"Spike and Nareia," he returned shortly.
"Well, let's help them, come on," Buffy pulled out of his grip and walked forward.
Angel followed more slowly behind her, and saw her stop dead when she turned the corner of a mausoleum. Coming to a stop behind her, he looked round the corner at the fighting.
Spike and Nareia were surrounded by about twenty vampires, and, at first glance, it appeared that they were losing, and badly. Buffy and Angel could see that they were, in fact, not only holding their own, but dusting vampires left, right, and centre, and enjoying it immensely. The look of elation on their faces, and the speed and fluidity of their movements was mesmerising.
Angel smiled slightly at the faces of the younger vampires, but Buffy was in shock.
Spike saw them, and yelled out, "Hey, you're not going to ponce in and bloody interfere, are you? Because we're doing fine here ourselves."
Nareia turned to see who he was shouting at, and saw Angel and Buffy in the shadows. "Lair, over there," she pointed with one hand, while the other staked the vampire that was attacking her. "Have a good time," she grinned, and turned back to the fighting.
Angel nodded once, and pulled Buffy away, "They'll be fine, they can take care of themselves. Why don't we see to this lair?"
Buffy shook herself out of the trance she had been in, and followed Angel toward the lair Nareia had indicated.
Upon opening the mausoleum door, they found about ten vampires who were too injured to go out hunting, staring at them in astonishment. Acting on instinct, Buffy and Angel took advantage of their opponents' shock, and threw themselves into the job of dispatching them. It didn't take them long, and soon they were coming out of the crypt, dusting off their clothes.
They returned to where Spike and Nareia had been, to discover them alone, holding hands, with huge grins on their faces. "I haven't had that much fun in years," Nareia said, smiling.
"Me neither, pet," Spike agreed. "You were bloody fantastic."
"You weren't so bad yourself," Nareia returned. Then she turned to the waiting pair in the shadows, "Did you get them?"
Buffy nodded, "Easy as pie. Thanks for the tip."
Nareia shrugged, "No problem, you needed something to do. I couldn't let us have all the fun."
Buffy smiled, and moved over to stand next to the smaller woman, "So, tell me, how did you do it? I mean, I know vampires have superior strength, but you're not the largest person in the world, and, there were a lot of them."
Nareia let go of Spike's hand, and started walking next to the Slayer, leaving Angel and Spike to follow behind. "I know, but I have been fighting vampires for 120 odd years, so I've had a lot of practise, and you get to hone your instincts to a fine point when you're fighting for your life, or unlife, as the case may be," she explained to the attentive Slayer. "Besides, I haven't fought vampires on a big scale in quite a while, so it was nice to be challenged, and Spike's a good partner, especially when you know what he's going to do."
"Ah, the whole mind-bond thing," Buffy nodded her head in understanding. "Doesn't that get a little intrusive at times?"
Nareia shook her head, "No, I can always block out thoughts if I really don't want Spike to know what I'm thinking. Although the longer we're close to each other, the more we know about each other, and what we're likely to be thinking anyway, so there's less need to."
Behind them, Angel and Spike were talking about Nareia. Angel shook his head, "She's got a lot better since I last saw her."
"Angel, that was 100 years ago, she's had a lot of practise since then," Spike pointed out. "She's magnificent, though," there was awe in his voice as he admiringly watched her walking in front of him.
"A match for Buffy?" Angel asked quietly.
Spike continued walking in silence for a moment, thinking, "I don't know. It'd be damn close. She's as close as a vampire could get to Slayer strength. I'd love to see them fight," he added with a smirk and a glint in his eye.
Angel just looked from his childe to Nareia and Buffy talking together, laughing quietly, and walked on in silence, his face dark in thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Willow jumped up from the sofa when the four of them returned. "Are you all ok?" she asked anxiously, giving them all a discerning once-over.
"Yes, Willow, we're fine," Nareia smiled, and went to sit on the sofa. Spike followed her, and wouldn't let her sit down, saying, "Where am I going to sit?"
"On the floor?" Nareia suggested with a playful smile, but let the blond vampire sit on the sofa and pull her onto his lap.
"I could really do with some food, though," Buffy said, throwing her crossbow into the weapons cupboard, and walking into the kitchen.
"Giles, you should have seen Spike and Nareia. They were amazing," her muffled voice came from kitchen.
Giles looked over at the pair, who were sitting comfortably, Nareia cradled up against Spike's shoulder. "That doesn't surprise me," he replied. "They do have a psychic connection, which I should think would be very useful when fighting together." He raised his eyebrow at them, and Nareia nodded in confirmation of his hypothesis.
"Who's taken all the cookies?" Buffy's annoyed voice drifted through, and her heads popped out the hole to glare accusingly at everyone. The vampires just looked at her and shrugged. Willow and Giles shook their heads, hiding their smiles.
"Where's Xander and Anya?" Buffy asked suspiciously.
Xander's head popped up from behind the chair Willow was sitting in, his mouth half full of something as he tried to say, "I'm here, Buffy, what was it you wanted?"
"Cookies, you Hoover!" Buffy growled at him, and ran out of the kitchen.
Xander yelped, and hid behind the chair again, imploring, "Willow, help!"
Willow just shook her head, her hand over her mouth to stop her from laughing out loud, and tears streaming down her face. Buffy reached down and pulled Xander up by his collar.
"Why did you eat all of my cookies?" she demanded.
"Now, wait a minute, technically, they were mine," Giles protested half-heartedly, also trying not to laugh.
"What are you doing? Put him down, he's mine," Anya came storming out from the hallway, and pulled Buffy off Xander. "Are you okay, baby?" she cuddled him.
Xander nodded dumbly, and pointed accusingly at the infuriated blonde girl, "She accused me of eating all the cookies."
"Oh," Anya turned, and shook her head, "Xander didn't eat all of them. We all shared." The ex-demon swept her arm out to include Willow and Giles.
The look on Buffy's face as she turned to glare at Giles and Willow reduced them both into laughter, which Giles finally managed to control enough to gasp out, "Buffy, there are more under the cutlery drawer."
Buffy face lit up. "Double choc chip?" she asked hopefully.
Giles nodded, "Double chocolate chip, your favourite."
Buffy grinned, gave Giles a quick hug, and ran back through to the kitchen. Willow managed to stop laughing to tell the bemused vampires, "Slaying's a hungry job, I'm sure you understand."
They nodded, and Spike stood up, holding on to Nareia as he did so, "Speaking of hungry, I'm bloody famished."
Nareia nodded at the window, "It's almost dawn."
Willow, Xander, and Anya stood up as well, Xander saying, "We'd best be getting back home as well."
"We'll escort you home, if you like," Nareia offered to Xander and Anya.
They shook their heads. "It's all right. We can take care of ourselves. Besides, there aren't likely to be any vamps about now, are there?" Xander pointed out.
Nareia smiled in agreement, "No, there aren't."
Willow shouted to Buffy, "Come on, Buffy, I'm going home, are you coming?"
"I'm coming," Buffy's muffled voice came from around a mouthful of cookies. "I'll see you later, Giles."
The Watcher nodded silently, and saw them all out, before climbing slowly up the stairs to collapse, exhausted, on his bed.
Outside, Angel and Willow were looking at each while Xander and Buffy fought over the cookie box that Buffy was holding. Willow finally heard the commotion, smiled crookedly, and said softly to the vampires, "I'll come over later." She dragged Buffy away then, turning for one last look at the vampires, who were watching them leave.
Spike sighed, "What a bloody eventful night. Time for a quick snack before we hit the hay, if we hurry."
Angel and Nareia grimaced together, but followed the blond vampire down the stairs.
Part 13
