"This is an insight, into my life.
This is a strange flight, I'm taking.
My true will, carries me along.
This is a soul dance, embracing me.
This is the first chance, to put things right.
Moving on, guided by the light.
And the spirit of love is rising within me, talking to you now,
Telling you clearly: The fire still burns.
Wisdom of ages, rush over me.
Heighten my sense, enlighten me.
Lead me on, eternally.
I'm talking to you now, the fire still burns.
Whatever you do now, the world still turns."
M.L. Gore 'Insight'

Westbury, England

As usual it was raining in Westbury. It was an especially wet summer. Usually they got at least 20 days of sun. It'd been so long since Giles had been there without some sort of end of world, hell mouth opening, Slayer raising, apocalyptic catastrophe which dragged him back to Sunnydale, that the past 3 months here felt odd. Sunnydale, funny it did live up to its name, even with eminent doom looming it was generally sunny.

Willow was doing better. The coven was helping her harness her powers. Teaching her the ancient Wicca ways. The coven was to her what Giles was to Buffy. He knew he should have brought her here when he knew what she had in her; when he started to see it. He could have prevented the world of trouble she caused. He was a Slayer watcher, not a Witch sitter.

He wondered why Spike had called. Spike sounded so odd. He wondered how he had gotten the number. He knew Samuel and Abdullah would take care of Spike. Zaezilla would bring him here. Giles would find out what he wanted. It was probably that he wanted airfare back to Sunnydale so he could go stalk Buffy again and fantasize about snogging her until the end of days.

"Giles, someone is coming"

"W-willow, you startled me. What?"

"Someone is coming. Someone we know, but somehow changed. Better. I can feel the positive energy moving towards us."

"Willow, Zaezilla is coming and yes she is good. I told you about this already. She's quite pure, and can help you a lot. You will like her, I am sure of it."

"Are you deaf? This is someone I, we, already know. Not Zaezilla. What kind of name is that anyways? I mean I wouldn't know Zaezilla from Godzilla! I feel a change in the scales from evil to good it moves."

"Zaezilla is a perfectly good Saxon name, wait never mind. You don't care. Well, possibly yes, someone else may be coming with her."

The rain was still falling, and it was getting dark. It wouldn't be long before Giles would hear the whole drama that was about to unfold if Willow was right.

"They will be here within the day. It is arriving with Zaezilla? She brings it?"

The rain streaked the glass like milk on glass. It clouded everything. He could lose himself in moments like this, peaceful England, milky glass...

"GILES! Are you even listening to me!?!"

"Sorry Willow, what was that again? I am just not myself today I guess."

"Zaezilla is bringing someone with her, someone who tips the scales, blah blitty blah tastes great, less evil!"

"That coven really has increased your cryptic prediction skills hasn't it?"

"Giles, all I know is I can feel it. The darkness in me feels the shift out. The lightness knows its coming. Do you know who or what it is?"

"No, no, Willow why do you think that?"

"It is coming for you. It needs help, guidance maybe. Anyways, you are a really bad liar. Even without the glasses you start to twitch and fidget when you are lying."

"Well, yes I know who it is, but I am not at liberty to tell you who it is. Not until I know why he comes here and what he wants."

"Okay but I hope your guest is friendly. The coven is great but they really are boring when it comes to the witty banter, I'm starving for conversation."

"It won't be long now Willow, it won't be long"

"I know."

The sun was gone now and the countryside had taken on the odd glow of dusk. This was when life began in Sunnydale, but here it was when the day was winding down. This was nice.

Cairo, Egypt

The train pulled in just after sunset. The window was black, but still warm with daylight. Spike had woken up when the train jerked to a stop. Sleep had come and gone and he was no worse for wear, it was a relief.

Spike gathered the contents of the bag he would continue to travel with. He then dressed himself in the tank, shirt and posh pants. He rinsed the blood out of the bags, what remained of it anyways. The porters already thought he was some sort of freak; he didn't need to prove it. In the past he wouldn't have cared, but now he did. Leaving the room felt wonderful, but terrifying, just when he got comfortable he always had to move on. Too quickly.

Cairo. Spike has never been here. Over a hundred years old, and world traveled, and yet never seen the pyramids. Cairo has a certain something. You could feel it the minute you set foot there. It was this bizarre mix of ancient and modern. It was the feel of a people older than America, older than Europe, older than civilization itself. You could also feel the magic that coursed through the earth here. Cairo was confused, much like vampires. Thrown into the future with nothing but the past to hold onto to. It was comfortable. Apparently though you couldn't be in Africa without the major city you landed in stinking like a pit.

The goddamn Cleopatra cigarettes, they would probably be the death of him. Spike could hear it run through the underground "Spike killed by Cleopatra cigarettes, taste alone ended him!"

"William? Are you William?" A man with caramel skin and violet, wait those were violet eyes, poked him on the shoulder.

" 'pends on who's asking."

Spike turned to him. He looked fierce, as Abdullah stepped back. It must not have been normal to see an incandescently pale man in all black smoking cigarettes fresh off a train. Spike definitely didn't look like a tourist. Thank god, all the American ones were fat anyways.

"I am Abdullah, the watcher of Egypt. I keep my ear to the ground looking for future Slayers. I am now also vampire transport it seems."

"Well Abdullah, you can call me Spike. William's my proper name, but it really hasn't fit me in decades. Outgrew that suit when the taking happened."

"Spike!?! The Spike? I have read so much about your conquests with the Order of Aurelius. You killed 2 of our Slayers. You are much feared by watchers and demons alike. Well, not Rupert, but he's also unconventional in his ways."

"Well, I was chipped by a secret US Government Agency called the Initiative. I couldn't hurt a damn fly if I wanted to. If I do try its like my heads 'bout to explode. Behavior modification they call it, I call it neutering."

"Well then I guess you are more than safe. Come now, we must go it is time."

"I thought you were meeting me at the airport."

"I was, but I had nothing to do, no new Slayer being called for a while. We've already got 2 out there, so us Watchers only watch large amounts of television. Also I though you would prefer to have your blood in the car instead of in the water closets at the airport."

Right then, let's go. Mind if I smoke?

No, no one else here will care either.

As they ewre walking out of the train station Spike saw No Smoking' signs written in both Arabic and English. Underneath them were ashtrays and Egyptian men smoking like chimneys. A man could get used to a place like this.

Abdullah, is there anywhere around here I could get a packet of real fags? These Cleopatra's are real crap you know?

Oh yes, they are terrible, no one smokes them! Here there is a cigarette stand just at the exit you can get Marlboros or Camels there. This is better?



Every 5 steps Abdullah had to greet another person. It was completely bizarre, as if he knew everyone in Cairo. Or maybe it was just that he was real friendly in a very creepy sort of manner. The cigarette man was Spike's salvation. Three Pounds for a pack, he gets 2. This was three pounds after Abdullah bartered with the merchant down from ten Pound a pack. Crazy Egyptians couldn't just list the price like normal people. Spike bet tourists fell for this sort of thing all the time. Silly fucks.

Abdullah's car was one of the most unnerving sights Spike had seen in a good long while. He figured it was held together with rope and chewing gum. There apparently was no 3rd gear so Abdullah jumped from 2nd to 4th. Headlights were optional at night. Seat belts were optional features in cars as well. The horn was not, every few miles everyone stopped, honked their horns and then kept going. Spike had never been so terrified. There were also apparently no lanes on Egyptian roads. There were those familiar yellow and white lines, but two lane roads here were made into 3 or 4 lane roads by the travelers. He hadn't seen this much chaos and confusion on a highway since, well, never. There were donkey pulled carts, semi-trucks, buses with people hanging out of doors and windows and brand new Mercedes all sharing this strip of road. This was unreal. A bloke could start to like this.

As they left central Cairo Abdullah started to point out attractions. He worked part time as an Egyptologist giving tours and stuff to tourists, so he had plenty to tell. It was all sort of mottling up inside Spike's head. He couldn't pay attention to him right now. Cairo was talking to Spike, and he couldn't to listen to them both at once.

Spike, if you turn around in the back seat there is a quart of blood. It's cow, we don't eat a lot of pork here, so it will have to do.

Spike replied as he turned around. The blood was directly behind Spike's seat. It was cold, it was from a cow, and it was just not very good.

How is it? Drink it up. I had to buy it from a Jew. They keep the blood you know. Strange people they are.

It's yummy good. Gag. So mate, what's the deal with all the lonely vehicles? People just dump Spike had seen many abandonded cars on the side of the road, many of them so rusty it seemed as if they had been there for some time.

Well when things stop working here most people just abandon it. In'sha'llah, they say. If God wills! Most of the time God wills them to leave things where they are, let buildings fall down, show up late, not show up at all. The only thing here that is cared for is the past. The temples and statues, the museums, the tombs, it is all more important than our current times. We respect the past, without it we would not be here. Spike, we have a few hours would you like to get some tea and a water pipe? Its very relaxing before a flight.

I really can't be late for my flight.

You won't be, there is a place in Garden City, near the airport. We will go there. It will be nice, you can buy something for your girlfriend.

I don't have a girlfriend.

What about that Drusilla girl you were always found with? She's always mentioned side by side with you in the journals.

Dru's gone in more ways than one. I'd rather not talk about it. You Watcher's really ought to stop relying on those books for all your info about us famous Vamps. We generally will surprise you.

Well it has certainly been a surprise to meet you and your chip. Does Angelus still have his soul? That was always a fun one to tell the new girls. Imagine that a vampire with a soul! You were friends with him weren't you?

Yeah, the poof still has his soul, lost it for a bit but its been back helping him help the helpless blah blah, Gandhi shit. We were never really friends. More like two men who had to tolerate each other for far too long. He's back in Los Angeles. Ha! Funny isn't that. City of Angels, and Angelus lives there! He goes by Angel. Found him in love with one of your Slayers he did. Imagine that, vampire and slayer in love! Crazy right? She got him back to evil scourge of Europe Angelus the terrible after a good shag. Then she killed him, but her friend who's a witch had restored his soul again right before. I guess it was real tragic, I left before that started. Then the First Evil brought Angel back out of the hell dimension to kill the Slayer, you know Buffy. Well that didn't work and he helped fight off the Ascension, which ended in the high school being blown up and the hell mouth being closed back up. Me n' Dru were in South America at the time, but from what I heard it was one hell of a day. Then he left to go start some sort of agency in LA with a real fox named Cordelia. A little up tight and prissy that one was, but she had legs up to Spike could feel him staring at him. Abdullah couldn't believe what he was saying. And well that's sort of Angel's story. We're really not friends, but if you hang around the Slayer's crew long enough you get to hear the story over and over and it sort of becomes second nature.

You are friends with Buffy? She has a crew? I am not understanding, but I am starting to see why Rupert was fired from the Council.

I'll go into detail once we have a cuppa tea and a pipe. Fancy that, never smoked a water pipe without a bit of the old illegals in it.

Westbury, England

To Willow it felt like Giles was trying to cut her off, shut her down, like she was the damn Buffy-bot, constantly returning to him for repair. Giles was so aggravating. The British in general were less Giles-ish than she figured but still! Half the time she had no idea what they were talking about. Willow had thought Spike spoke a foreign language; that was nothing compared to the pissed snogging shagging bints and poofs who just want a pint and a fag she had encountered. She just wanted to go home. She hadn't heard from anyone. She was not allowed to call Buffy or Xander. The only one she could talk to was Dawn, and that just wasn't enough.

The coven was helping. But she couldn't help feeling like they didn't realize all that was going on inside of her. Sure, she could learn that it was all connected, that nature governed all, that powers, which existed before there were words, run the show, but still, she felt so dangerous.

Willow felt things. Shifts in energies. Shifts in the powers of the universe. Shifts in the prices of mandrake root. This time the shift had occurred and it was moving towards her. Did Giles summon something? Something to help her understand what was going on with her. It wasn't every day that someone tried to destroy the world and then got to go on vacation half the world away, she got that. She could feel that some cosmic balance was off, it had shifted. She felt the darkness in her tug a little harder at her sensibilities. Most of all though, she felt alone.

Willow wondered if she could communicate with the thing that was coming before it got there. Since the 'incident' she had the uncanny ability to get inside peoples heads, telepathically speaking, not actually get inside of their heads. Some times she couldn't get in. It was easier when they were in a state of change or when they were hurting. It couldn't hurt to try, right?

"Hello? Can you hear me?

Cairo, Egypt

They were in the middle of conversation when Red got in his head.

"Abdullah, this is a football country, tell me how are Manchester United doing this season? You must know."

Abdullah started talking football, but Spike's mind went blank. He then heard her.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

Spike was doing his best not to think of a response.

"I know you are coming here, please tell me who you are. I don't mean to intrude."

Apparently a summer in England really increased her polite quotient. Now not only were dead people in Spike's head but so's a witch!

"I heard that. You sound familiar."

Damnit Red, it's me Spike. Leave me alone! I am not coming to visit you, you channeled in on the wrong bloke. Go find the wanker's frequency or something. Get out of my head!

"Spike? Is this really you? How'd I end up? I must have messed something up. I thought I had this down. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

He could feel her connection fade. Abdullah came back into earshot.

"Man U is really having an amazing season. I'm surprised you couldn't get the games in Kenya. We sit up half the night here watching football."

"Uh yeah right. Terrific, nice to hear Beckham's keeping it together."

The tea had gone cold, the tobacco had long since burned out. He thought he could get used to this kind of life: sitting about chatting, drinking, smoking, relaxing. Nothing but men were around there, apparently the women didn't frequent teahouses much. He did see them walking the streets with their sacks of groceries or bundled parcels. Some with scarves on their heads, others looking like they stepped out of a cab on 5th Avenue in New York. Cairo was a strange place indeed.

"Spike we should be going now. Your flight leaves in an hour. Well it may be an hour it may be 2 we never know here."

Abdullah took the teacups and pipe back to the counter. He hugged and kissed a few men on the way out. Cairo really was a city full of love. They loved their heritage, their country, their land, and each other. It's quite beautiful in a completely non-fluffy bunnies sort of way.

The airport was barely a mile away. There were people everywhere, they were crowding the exit doors, cheering and grabbing friends and relatives.

"During the summer many families come back from America and Europe to bring gifts for their families and to go on holiday in the Delta or near the Red Sea."

It looked like some of them were carrying body bags. Body bags not full of people, but bags full of gifts. He clutched the pounds he had left in his pocket, and he decided to pick up some gifts while he was there.

"Here is your ticket You need to go through that gate. Hand them your passport. They will stamp it and let you go. Wait, I forgot, give me your passport."

"Here" He handed it to him.

Abdullah pulled some stamps from his pocket, licked them into the book.

"Awful photo. What are you intoxicated?"

"Its my capture photo from the Initiative. I was half drugged at the time."

"Well, it shows. Here is your book. I wish there could have been more time between us. It was so nice to hear about your life. I have never chatted with a vampire before, this was very interesting. Please have a safe trip. Give Giles my regards."

"Thanks Abdullah. It's been a real pleasure. I wish I could have seen more. Maybe I'll return someday. I'll look you up."

"Here is my card, keep it with you. Let me know if I can be of any service to you."

"Thanks again mate. I should be going."

Spike left Abdullah where he stood. He stuck his passport into the tiny window and walked around to receive it again. Once through the gate doors, there was duty free heaven. He could pick some things up, gifts, like he thought before. Perfume wasn't right, he thought women shouldn't wear it anyways, they smelled good enough on their own. In front of the boarding gate it was: trinkets and knickknacks all with cheesy Egyptian crap on them, perfect.

Spike felt the need to pick up things for Giles, Red, maybe Anya, Niblet and Buffy. Xander the wanker deserved nothing. He wondered if he shouldn't bother, they all pretty much hated him upon his exit. He decided to buy anyways, people always liked a good gift, even if it came from someone they didn't like.

For Red he found a papyrus, of Isis, the goddess of magic who brought back to life Osiris. Spike figured Willow would get the symbolism she was well versed in wicca. For Anya he got small hieroglyph hair sticks. She was so vain, and always worried about her hair, that he knew she'd love them. For Niblet, his Dawn, golden earrings with the sun on them. He thought it was the Aten thingy, the sunrays, the energy, the Dawn. Giles was a bit more difficult to shop for. They didn't sell "My Vampire went to Egypt and all he brought me was this lousy tee-shirt" shirts. A nice set of tea glasses would do. The man did enjoy a good spot of tea. Buffy, she was near to impossible, as nothing here in this generic gift shop could ever be entirely worthy of her.

"Sir, which of these Gods and stuff was like a female warrior? And I don't want one that looks like a hippo or some other nasty."

"Try Sekhmet or Bastet, they are cats, not so ugly yes?"

There was a small generic list of what these gods represented.

Sekhmet: The Mighty One, represents the scorching, burning destructive powers of the sun. Defender and warrior of Ra and Osiris, Goddess of War.

Bastet: The Tearer, represents the life giving warmth of the sun. She was admired for her cat-like strength and agility. At times she was seen as the protector of Ra, in later times cults reassociated her with love.

Two opposite ends of the spectrum. The warrior, the lover, the reaper, the mother. Sounded like Buffy. Two small finely crafted statues and a delicately cut Ankh, symbol of life, of silver, this would do for her. He knew it would never be enough, but it was a start.

As usual people were smoking everywhere. Spike was surprised they weren't still smoking while they boarded. He'd never really been on a plane before. Generally too risky with the sun and windows and all, and pricey. Usually he preferred to travel in style and class, as a stowaway in the belly of a freightliner. Plane was nice enough; it lacked the chaos of the airport and of Cairo in general. He popped his last sleeping pill with a small cup of water in the waiting area prior to boarding, and he felt it kick in. Silent slumber awaited him, as London called.