"So that's the situation." Buffy winced as she finished her story.

    The looks on the faces around her ranged from blank to furious to frightened.

    "This doesn't interfere with my trip to New York does it?" Dawn asked hopefully.

    "No you're still going to hang out with the mutant people. I think it's in your best interests to get out of town right now. I don't even want to risk him hurting someone I love." Buffy said, getting more weird looks, "That you know, can't fight back."

    "I can fight back! I'll teleport his head off ten times out of ten!" Dawn exclaimed.

    Buffy arched an eyebrow.

    "Well Scott said his friend Kurt could do stuff like that." Dawn explained.

    "Still Dawnie, I think it's in your best interests to get out while the getting's good." Tara chimed in.

    "Hey! I can't fight back! Anybody forget the Xan Man? No powers guy right here! At least Kennedy has fighting skills." Xander said.

    "I'm going to need you on tactical here Xan. You're always good at that." Buffy stated.

    "So I'm key guy again?" Xander said hopeful.

    "Key guy?" Spike asked.

    "It was a whole graduation thing." Buffy explained.

    "Sounds like Dawn should sue you for copyright infringement." Spike mused.

    "Quiet there, Key Guy's talking again." Xander smirked.

    "So Key Guy, can you drive Key Girl to the airport?" Buffy asked.

    "Now? With the Big Bad out there running around?" Xander asked, swallowing.

    "Her flight leaves in an hour and a half. Also it's daytime." Buffy added.

    "Oh plus Connor will be with us!" Dawn chimed in.

    "I think I should stay. You might need me. Plus this sounds fun." Connor grunted.

    "No. I need you with Dawn. This guy kills me, he might go after her or have agents that can go out in the light to abduct her on the way to the airport. You have to protect Dawn, Connor." Buffy explained carefully.

    Connor grunted in agreement after a long silence and started towards the door, "Let's go."

    "Well….bye!" Dawn said scrambling after him.

    "Well, they're not really for goodbyes are they?" Xander asked before sighing and following the two teens, "Great, I have to drive Dawn and Dead Boy version 2.0 to the airport. Peachy."

    Buffy quickly turned to the others as they exited.

    "Okay, here's the deal, Wills you and Kennedy are on research duty. Xander's with you when he gets back. Tara, Spike and I will go on patrol tonight. The three of us are more equipped to take this guy on if he shows up. Tara, I want you to keep in constant mental contact with Willow so you can alert her if we need her because I get the feeling we will." Buffy ordered.

    "Right. I'll also have Poe keep an eye out for any nasties coming our way that match the description of our guy." Tara added.

    "Good idea. Spike, get a blanket and go out in your car and hit all the demon haunts in town. Guy as big and bad as this one has to have a serious rep. Find out all you can." Buffy said as Spike instinctively headed for the closet to get his affectionately named "Day Blankie".

    "I get to crack heads?" Spike asked.

    "If you get the urge to apply some pressure, apply it." Buffy replied.

    Spike smirked evilly and put the blanket over his head as he ran out the door to his Desoto, smoking and cursing all the way. Buffy laughed slightly because that never quits being funny at all. She turned back to find Kennedy, scowling as usual.

    "So why didn't you bring all this stuff up earlier?" Kennedy asked, arms crossed.

    "I didn't think it was important. That's why." Buffy said to her.

    "Oh okay, big evil vampire that looks like Satan tells you that he wants to kill you and you never bother to tell anyone he might be after you. Okay, I got it." Kennedy said.

    "My bad. I guess I forgot what with all the other big evil demons trying to kill me week in and week out. And oh yeah, the First screwing with our heads for the better part of six months. You take things one step at a time in Sunnydale." Buffy replied a little agitated.

    "Yet you still have this one saying he was going to come at you at a future date and there's not a word?" Kennedy asked, taking a step forward.

    "Yeah. Wanna know something kooky? When they say they'll get you at sometime in the future they usually mean some distant date. Like the First. It first came up on our radar FOUR YEARS ago and not a peep of it was heard until it started torturing Spike. Besides the thing looked a lot like a demon that one of the Trio disguised themselves as when I was getting hot on their trail. That would explain the being quicker than me thing too as things got wonky when they were around. I wasn't exactly shaking in my boots at the prospects of crossing swords with Andrew and Jonathan at the time." Buffy defended.

    "It was still stupid. You should have said something." Kennedy growled.

    "And I did. I brought it up again when it became relevant like we always do it. I've come through before with a lot less casualties than most people would in my position. So until you lose the word "Potential" at the beginning I'M the Slayer. Got it?" Buffy said.

    "Got it." Kennedy growled.

    "Lose the growl, you're not impressing anyone." Buffy ordered, "Now I think we should also give Principal Wood…Robin…a call. He's fought vamps longer than any of us. He was raised by a Watcher. Maybe he's heard of this Bacchus guy."

    "I'll hit the books that Giles left behind for us. Maybe I'll give him a call too, just to know where to start. Kennedy, give me some help?" Willow asked, trying to prevent Kennedy and Buffy from coming to blows. That was a fight that Kennedy could NOT win.

    "I'm not built for research." Kennedy scowled before softening, "But I'll give it a shot for you."

    "I'll be right there too." Tara said.

    "Oh." Buffy said quietly.

    "U-Unless there was something you wanted me to do." Tara said to Buffy.

    "I thought we'd spar. Work on your thrust kicks." Buffy said.

    "Thrust kicks. I bet a guy came up with all these moves." Tara mused.

    "And surprise, surprise most of those guys were monks who never had sex."

    "It all makes sense now."

    "You lying, cheating, kitten stealing bastard!" a particularly pissed off Chaos demon growled, as it slammed Clem up against a wall.

    "Cheat?! I resent that tone. I never cheat." Clem defended as best he could.

    Several cards fell out of the folds of his loose skin. Clem laughed slightly as the larger, stronger, foul smelling, mucus covered, antlered demon pulled a fist back and prepared to take Clem's head off.

    "Never cheat huh?" the Chaos demon growled.

    "Well maybe once or twice." Clem said closing his eyes.

    "Now, now, I wouldn't try that. It might make Clem even uglier. Doubtful but hey, there's the possibility." Spike said, throwing down his smoking blanket as the bar doors closed behind him.

    "Spike! Oh thank you Allah! And you too Jesus….Buddha too…and the Pestilent Gods. Mustn't forget them." Clem sighed in relief before the Chaos demon tossed him across the room to the pool table.

    The Chaos demon eyed Spike for a moment and growled. Its eyes showed recognition.

    "I know you don't I? Well, well, so THIS is the Spike who turned against his kind to become the Slayer's lapdog." The Chaos demon said, "If I would have known you would have turned out like that I would've staked you back in Brazil when I stole your woman."

    Clem sat up and immediately rolled off the pool table and peeped over the top. Someone had just made the mistake of insulting Spike. Twice. Spike merely smiled and walked to the bar, pulling up a seat.

    "The usual, Dave." Spike said to the bartender.

    "Didn't you hear me Blondie? I was talking to you." The Chaos demon said walking to the bar.

    "I heard you. I'm just giving you the time to get out of the bar before I finish my drink and tear your head off." Spike said as his mug of blood was placed before him.

    "Well I think that being with the Slayer's maybe cut you down a notch. That it… what's the word I'm looking for? ...Castrated you." The demon smiled.

    Spike merely continued to drink his blood.

    "Tends to be the general impression, mate. Tends to be the wrong one too, but I'm a might more patient now that I have a soul." Spike smiled as he drank from his mug.

    "A soul too huh? Well just when you didn't think you could become a bigger freak you go and do it. You have a soul, kill your own kind, and lost your woman to me. What was her name?" the Chaos demon said, laughing a bit with his friends.

    "It was Drusilla." Spike explained.

    "Yeah, Drusilla. Man she was a good lay. Really easy too. I guess she wasn't getting what she needed at home. What's the matter, Spike? Souls make you go limp or do humans just like it easy?" the demon laughed.

    Spike's hand shot out, gripping it by the antlers and slamming its head into the bar repeatedly. Spike was off his stool in the next instant, throwing the demon into the wall across the room. The antlers stuck in the wall as Spike picked up his stool and slammed them over them. The Chaos demon squealed in pain as its antlers were shattered. Spike then dropped the stool and vamped out, throwing the demon into the bar on the other side of the room. Approaching, he grabbed the demon by its jacket and growled.

    "First things first then, right? I got the soul last year, so I couldn't have rightly had it in Brazil five years ago could I? Secondly, Spike is NO ONE'S lapdog. Not Angelus's, not the Slayer's, and sure as hell not yours. Third, I know Dru never did more than make out with you on a park bench, otherwise your slime would have been in her unmentionable parts. Lastly, never mock a man's manhood or you lose yours. I reckon it'll be hard for you to find a mate without your horns huh? You could always go poofter though. Now get out of my sight." Spike roared, tossing the demon yet again. It landed with a dull thud, before crawling out of the bar as fast as it could.
    "That was great Spike! Simply fantastic! Amazing! Stupendous!" Clem said running up.

    "You ever cheat at kitten poker again and I have to bail you out you'll find out why I'm called Spike." The vampire spat.

    "…Buy you another drink?" Clem asked.

    Spike pondered it, before reverting to his human features, "Okay. You can also tell me about any new arrivals to town. The Slayer's just dying to know."

    "You haven't heard?!" Clem asked.

    "Well I heard a new vamp was in town. Really old. It looks more like your standard issue Redhorn. " Spike said.

    "Oh Spike, my man, you haven't heard half of it!"

    "Two of them?!" Buffy asked, hours later.

    "That's what he said. Bacchus and another newbie that blew into town two nights back. Seems our second boy has been tearing into whatever demon he's come into contact with. Some are missing heads, some are missing skins." Spike replied.

    "Okay, that's big on the gross factor." Buffy said, "But hey, less demons for me to slay."

    "Well, yeah but word is our boy's gone after particularly impressive human specimens too. So I'd keep Kennedy and our wonderful friend Mr. Wood inside." Spike growled.

    "Still mad at him huh?" Buffy asked.

    "He tried to kill me for doing his mum in. Considering I haven't killed him yet I'm being surprisingly lenient." Spike admitted.

    "That wasn't you that did that." Buffy said.

    "It was me, but I know you don't want to believe that." Spike explained.

    "So I choose not to. Besides, she was a Slayer. You were a vampire, it's…"

    "Nature?"

    "…in the job. You're different now. You're sorry. That's all I know. It's all I want to know." Buffy said, before kissing him.

    "You're insane Slayer, but then again it's why I love you." Spike mused after the kiss.

    "So how are we coming along with the research?" Buffy said as she walked downstairs to the dining room with Spike in tow.

    "We're doing fine I guess. Though there are more demons in here than I've ever heard of or seen." Robin Wood said as he looked at a picture, "Though from the looks of things I never want to run into a Skallath demon."

    "Skoolath. It's a common mispronunciation." Willow corrected leafing through a book.

    "My mistake. I guess I'm just not the research type." Robin said.

    "That's what I said, but here I am too." Kennedy sighed.

    "Hey, I'll have you know that research time is very important to the Scooby Gang." Xander scolded.

    "Good. You can help." Tara said as she handed a particularly thick volume to Xander.

    "I said it was very important, not that I do it. Key Guy here remember?" Xander questioned.

    Poe squawked on Tara's shoulder making her giggle.

    "Yes. He is." Tara replied to her bird.

    "Okay what did he say about me?" Xander asked, "Fess up Heckle."

    "Please tell me you've kept your sanity all through this." Buffy asked Willow.

    "Are you kidding? I love research!" Willow smiled.

    "So obviously not." Buffy sighed.

    "What?"

    "Nothing. What have you got?" Buffy asked peering over Willow's shoulder.

    "Not a whole lot we don't already know. He's old and apparently wasn't lying about Akasha being his sire. Though a lot of what you hear about Akasha is myth thought up by Anne Rice." Willow stated.

    "Kind of makes you wonder how many vamps went after Lestat after supplying her info for the books and the movies." Buffy said.

    "Probably none since most of what he told her were exaggerations." Willow replied.

    "Brad Pitt was cute in the movie though." Buffy admitted.

    "Okay off track here. We need to get back on track."

    "My bad. Go on."

    "Akasha wasn't the first vampire, but was probably one of THE first of them. So Bacchus here is going to be really old. Older than even the Master."

    "Great, not only does he look like Darkness, but he's also higher up on the power scale than the only guy to really rattle me." Buffy sighed, "Is he a god like he claims?"

    "No, but he was worshipped as one. He took the name Bacchus when he took over one of the cults devoted to Bacchus or Dionysus as he was known in Greece. The name just stuck." Willow explained.

    "So no godhood?"

    "Nope, he's just really powerful and immortal…well I guess a case for godhood could be made."

    "Anything I could use against him?" Buffy asked, feeling her chances dwindling.

    "This book doesn't really mention any real weaknesses outside the usual vampire ones. Barring getting him out into the sun, I'd go for decapitation. If we still had the Magic Box I could just try to make that artificial sunlight bomb again." Willow said.

    "No, no. That way leads only to trolls and broken arms for Xander." Buffy said.

    "Oh, here's another thing. He's really good at killing Slayers." Willow said, reading a passage from the book in her hands.

    "Oh really?" Spike asked, suddenly interested.

    Robin just looked over at him with a familiar scowl, and looked to be ready to say something.

    "Down boys." Buffy ordered before looking back to Willow, "I'm so glad I didn't tell him that Bacchus admired his work."

    Willow was pale as a ghost as she read from the book, "This is bad. This is really bad."

    "What is it?" Buffy asked.

    "Well, by last count Bacchus killed….." Willow trailed off.

    "How many Slayers?" Buffy asked as the room went totally silent.

    "Forty Seven." Willow said, clenching her teeth.

    Xander's jaw dropped, "Holy shit!"

    "I think you said it." Robin added.

    "M-Maybe we'd better get out of town." Tara propositioned.

    "No." Buffy said quietly.

    "Whoa. He's killed that many and you're still going to take him on?" Kennedy asked, dumbfounded and now very afraid of this guy.

    "It's what I do." Buffy explained, though she was still very quiet.

    "The Slayer's right. She's not one to run and it wouldn't matter if she did anyways. This guy is an ancient vampire. It's hard enough to shake me when I don't want to be shaken and this guy has a few thousand years on me. Running wouldn't help." Spike noted.

    "Maybe we should call in Angel again! I mean he's been helping us a lot since the thing with the First. Or maybe you can call Dawn when she lands in New York and have your cousin Scott and some of his friends come on out." Willow said.

    "Hey, I've got Faith's number. Maybe she can come back with those Saint guys she was talking about when I saw her the last time." Xander explained.

    "Or maybe even call Giles. I know the new Council is just starting to be put together, but they may have stuff on this guy if he's as old as these books say." Willow added again.

    "We could give that a shot. No Scott and no Angel though." Buffy stated.

    "Why not?" Robin asked, "I mean in a situation like this wouldn't it be smart to get all the help we can?"

    "It's no big." Buffy mused.

    "No big? He's killed forty seven Slayers." Robin said, mouth agape, "I know you're good Buffy but that's ungodly."

    "We've handled huge messes here without having to go for help. Scott and Angel have their own problems. We give it a shot our way first. If we need help, then we call it in when there are no other options, understand?" Buffy asked everyone.

    Spike and a few others nodded.

    "Okay then, Xander are you off work today?" Buffy asked.

    "Yeah. We finished renovating the movie theater yesterday. We're waiting for our next job." Xander explained.

    "Good. Drive Willow to L.A."

    "Why am I going to L.A?" Willow asked.

    "Magick supplies. We've been deprived since you and Giles blew up the Magic Box." Buffy stated.

    "Oh that's no big. I can just open a portal to New York and get some from Stephen. Hey he might even have some information on Bacchus."

    "You can do that now?" Spike asked.

    "Yeah! At first I could only do it to closer places like L.A. but Stephen's shown me some cool new tricks." Willow smiled.

    "You know, I wish this would have come up when I bought the Bit and her little boyfriend plane tickets." Spike growled.

    "Xander, that frees you up to go to the S-Mart to pick up some supplies." Buffy said.

    "Okay, so what am I getting?"

    "A water gun; a really big honkin' water gun." Buffy said, "Just hurry back and avoid the demon parts of town. And while you're at it start thinking about our other boy. Remember people we have two new demons in town and we've just been talking about one of them."

    "So that means…" Kennedy's face dropped.

    "More research." Buffy grinned evilly as she picked up Willow's heavy volume and dropped it in front of Kennedy.

    "I really need to move out." Kennedy groaned.