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b Chapter 2 /b

"Why is it that vampires always seem to know that I'm coming and run away?" Buffy asked as she and Xander strolled through one of the cemeteries a few blocks from Buffy's. "And furthermore, why do I live four blocks from a cemetery? I swore that I'd never do it again after Sunnydale."

"But here we are yet again, taking a walk through a creepy cemetery late at night, waiting for an undead or two to rise," Xander stated, twirling the stake he held in his hand. "Ah, just like old times, eh?"

"Yeah, old times," Buffy sighed. A shiver suddenly ran up her spine, but she shrugged it off and pulled her sweater tighter around herself.

"Cold?" Xander asked.

Buffy nodded. "Just got chilly all the sudden. Xander, I was just..." Buffy turned and found that he'd disappeared. "Xander? Come on Xand, this isn't funny."

Out of nowhere, four vamps suddenly had her circled, drooling as they stared at her. "Okay, this really isn't funny." Buffy launched herself, stake first, at the nearest vampire. She had him dusted in seconds. "Who's next?" she snapped, the other three bearing down on her and reinforcements emerging from nearby bushes.

Xander crept into the little ground-level treefort that Angel, Dawn, Willow and Anya were using as a hideout and sat down next to his wife. "She's all yours, A-man," he said, using the annoying name he'd bestowed on Giles years ago.

"Say that name again, and I'll have to kill you," Angel growled menacingly. "What was she doing when you left her?"

"Being typical Buffy and babbling on and on," Xander put an arm around Anya and pulled her close.

"No vampires or demons?"

"None at all," Xander shook his head. "Why?

A shrill scream echoed through the quiet LA night, coming exactly from where Buffy was. "That's why," Angel said, getting to his feet and sprinting off in Buffy's direction.

The others looked confusedly at each other. "Should we follow?" Willow wondered. She looked at all her friends and nodded once. "Right. Let's go then. They hurried off after Angel, the sounds of fighting getting closer and closer by the second.

Buffy, meanwhile, was trying to beat the crap out of five vampires, all stronger and slightly smarter than they looked. She'd already dusted another two to raise her nightly count to three. She had suddenly found herself outnumbered five to one, silently cursing Xander for ditching. Not that he would've been all that much help, but at least it would've evened up the odds a bit.

As she cursed him once more, two vampires grabbed her from behind and held her tightly. The leader vamp bared his fangs and hissed in delight as he approached Buffy. "Looks like I'm going to have the pleasure of killing the Slayer," he licked his fangs.

A loud growl came from Buffy's left, and she watched with the other four undeads as the leader was tackled away from the Slayer. Buffy used that precious second to pull herself out of their grip, retrieve her stake and make dust out of her captors. She narrowed her eyes and leapt at the two others whilst her savior fought the lead fangboy.

"Buffy, switch!" the stranger bellowed. He leaned forward and Buffy threw herself at him, rolling across his back with the fluid grace possessed only by the Slayer. She straightened up in time to punch the vampire in the nose. As he reeled back in pain, Buffy stared in shock at her fighting friend. She knew his moves, his grace...his voice. She'd been avoiding him for years, and he'd just saved her life.

"Angel?" Buffy said, paying no attention to the vampire advancing on her.

Angel himself staked both vamps with a broken branch and turned just as Buffy uttered his name. "Buffy, look out!" he roared, racing towards her.

Buffy looked around just as the vampire's fist connected with her temple, sending her flying backwards into a tombstone. There was a crack as her head hit it, and then she slid down to the ground, motionless and unconscious. Angel slammed a branch into the vamp's heart and was at Buffy's side before it exploded into dust, covering both him and his Slayer in it.

"Buffy? Buffy, are you there?" Angel shook her shoulders gently. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Buffy's head rolled to the side, revealing a stream of blood running down from a deep cut on her temple. Upon seeing this, Angel did the first logical thing that came to mind.

"Willow! Dawn, Xander, Anya!" he yelled, picking Buffy up and standing with her cradled in his arms.

The redheaded witch was first to appear, followed closely by Dawn, Xander and Anya. Willow stopped short when she saw Buffy, dangling almost lifelessly in Angel's arms. "Is she..."

"No Will, she's still alive," Angel said. "Almost comatose, but alive. We have to get her to the hospital. Fast."

"I'll get the car," Xander ran away as fast as he could, knowing that his best friend's life depended on it.

Angel turned to Willow, a strangely helpless look on his face. "Isn't there anything you can do?" he pleaded.

Willow muttered a few words in Latin, and Angel could see the cut stop bleeding and instantly heal. "That's all," Willow came up and lifted her friends eyelid. Her face turned so white that Angel could almost see the graveyard through her.

"Uh, I think you were just a tad off on the 'almost comatose' diagnosis," Willow whispered.

"What d'you mean?" Angel asked, getting more frightened by the second from the look on Willow's face. "Tell me, dammit!"

"She is comatose."