How to survive spring break, a buffy x-overs fanfic

Author's Notes: This takes place just after the first X-men Movie and in Buffy the Vampire Slayer time during the second Season just after School Hard, So translation, Spike is Bad, Angel is good and Drusilla is insane (as always)...Later near the end this will fade into somewhere after Innocence...Meaning Angel is bad and Spike is in a wheelchair...as he pretends anyway. I realize that they just came back from summer vacation...but this story is set after School Hard so that we only have the previous Buffyverse knowledge of what's happened up to that point, so we're assuming that nothing of importance happened between School Hard and Spring Break...

Summary: When Johnny's new and slightly wild(to put it mildly) girlfriend suggests that Rogue, Bobby, and Johnny should go with her to California for Spring Break and visit her cousin Buffy, things don't go quite as planned, and their week that was supposed to be full of sunshine and partying turns into a week full of Murder and Mayhem when Spike is thrown into the mix.

MARCH 12:

Logan paced furiously around the boy's body, he was dead, gone, frigid. There were two puncture wounds in the side of his neck, and Logan knew how they got there. Only one vampire had the balls to even go that far. He was supposed to protect them, all of them, but he lost one, he failed. His raven haired girlfriend knelt down by his body, her eyes staring off at something distant, but she didn't shed a tear. Logan knew the girl was in complete and utter shock. Bobby held the crying Rogue in his arms, and he was on the verge of tears himself. And Johnny lay dead, not a breath left in the body...The factory was abandoned not a sign even a scent left of the two vampires, they smartly fled the scene, but Logan knew they wouldn't leave town.

"Brooke, come on," Logan said gently trying to pull Johnny's girlfriend away from his body, but she stubbornly and silently refused to move.

"This is my fault..." She said distantly.

"Kid don't you dare blame yourself for this all right, you didn't..." Logan's voice trailed off, "It's not your fault."

March 8:

Logan hadn't thought it was a good idea to let the four kids go to California. Logan trusted Bobby and Rogue but it was that Pyro boy and his girlfriend, Brooke Castillo a.k.a. Tigress, that he didn't trust. Pyro was wild and unpredictable and not afraid to use his powers in a public place for his own twisted amusement. And Brooke, she had an odd mutation, she explained it to him in simple terms though. If you took half of a human's brain and half of a tiger's brain, and stuck them in a blender, hers would emerge, she was like a big kitty in a human body. Her strength and senses were enhanced, and her eyes at times turned golden like a tigers, and that made her vision infrared. Also her mutation gave her animal instincts, it made her violent and quick to react without thinking. She had little regard for authority, and wasn't afraid of proving that she can drop a guy three times her size. He'd trained with her before, she was a good fighter, but she was still young, and inexperienced but he knew she'd best most people in a fight and she'd proved that several times since she'd been there. She'd gotten into three fights and that's just in the first week she'd arrived, that number quickly rose. Xavier blamed it on her mutation, but Logan wasn't really so sure, they had also recently learned why she seemed to have this physical in ability to stay inside at night...she was nocturnal like a tiger...so she got extremely restless if she was forced to stay in at night, and she always slept during her classes.

Logan had voiced all his concerns to Xavier about why the children shouldn't go, and Xavier came up with a simple solution that made him regret saying anything.

"Logan why don't you accompany them?" Xavier 'suggested.'

Logan knew it more of a request than a suggestion though, Logan sighed feeling slightly obligated, he went with it. Besides Brooke had a cousin in California.

March 9: Sunnydale, CA

Logan sat far away from the kids, at the bar, gulping down beer after beer, but he still kept an eye on them. The kids, Brooke, Pyro, Bobby, Rogue, Buffy, Willow and Xander, sat around a table. Logan thought they were waiting for someone, but he wasn't sure.

Brooke was perched comfortably on Johnny's lap, talking ecstatically to Buffy.

"This is a far cry from LA, but its actually a cozy little town, I mean you can count the number of Starbucks it has on one hand, and there's more dead people then live ones with the amount of cemeteries we passed but I kind of like it..." Brooke said as Willow and Buffy exchanged glances.

"Y'up," Buffy said sighing, "We got dead people...Plenty of those...So How's New York?"

Even though the institute was in Massachusetts they often found themselves in New York, or in other states nearby other that Massachusetts.

"It's full of Crime, loud..." Brooke started.

"Full of mutant hating bastards..." Pyro chimed in.

"Smells funny...crappie bars that don't card you to buy alcohol, traffic jams..." Brooke continued on.

"Can't walk around at night without getting jumped, murdered, or robbed..." Bobby added.

"Can't see the stars at night when you look up its so bright..." Rogue said.

"All in all...I love it," Brooke summed it up.

"Sounds like LA..." Buffy said grinning then glancing around hoping Angel would show up.

"Not here yet?" Brooke asked.

It had seemed the two girls clicked right away, Brooke seemed to always be able to read Buffy's expressions and that was just in the one day they'd been there, they'd arrived late last night after a 15 hour flight. Bobby wasn't sure if Brooke had actually gone to sleep once since then, in the day time everyone was awake, and at night, she didn't sleep anyway.

"Huh?" Buffy said then replied, "Nope...it's not like we had plans...sometimes he just shows up."

"Well if he doesn't just show up we can go over to his house and kick his ass..." Brooke grinned.

That made Buffy smirk, just the thought of Brooke causing Angel any kind of pain seemed amusing, but she was a mutant.

"Hey I'll be back I'm going to get a coke and make sure Logan's still sober...Anyone want anything?" Brooke said hopping off of Johnny.

"I'm good," Johnny said, as the others shook their heads.

Brooke walked over to the bar, stopping beside Logan, "Drunk yet?"

Logan flicked a glance at her as if she were a bug...

"I love you too...oh crap I'll be back, I need to go get money out of the car..." Brooke said quickly after searching her pockets and finding no money.

He only nodded.

Brooke walked out the back door of the club into the alley and to the parking lot. Pulling the keys to the rental car out of her pocket, the car was a nice black Explorer, big enough to carry all of them. She unlocked the door, and pulled the money out of the glove box. She paused, smelling an unfamiliar scent...well not completely, it smell mostly like a dead body...a living dead body, if that made sense. She carefully closed the car door behind her, and scanned the area for the source of the smell, she almost gave up when she turned to go back into the club she heard a voice behind her.

"It's not safe out here at night love," said an unfamiliar voice with a thick British accent.

She nearly jumped out of her skin, no one has ever sneaked up on her before. She turned to face a tall, pale bleach blonde, quickly she slipped her money in the pocket of her black leather pants, just in case it was money he wanted he'd have to pry it from her cold dead hands...or pocket.

"Whatever you want I'm sure I don't have it," Brooke said flatly.

"But love you're wrong...you have everything I want..." he said smiling wanly.

"Is it really worth your life? Or your masculine ego for that matter?" Brooke asked him narrowing her eyes.

"You haven't asked me what I wanted yet love..." he stated.

"What's your name?" Brooke asked boredly.

"Spike..." he told her.

"Well Spike...You haven't asked me if I cared..." Brooke turned from him, "And if you're smart...you wouldn't bother following me..."

"You're a little fire cracker aren't you?" Spike smirked.

Brooke stopped, she didn't look at him yet, but her light teal eyes glazed over feral catlike yellow, "You have no idea..." she said before peering back over her shoulder to look at him. She flipped her hair over her shoulder, but she was surprised at what she saw, he had no body temperature.

"A mutant huh?" Spike smirked raising an eyebrow, most mutants taste just as good as humans if not better...though some...were...questionable, her blood on the other hand would be just perfect.

"Could say the same about you..." she replied turning away.

"But then love you'd be wrong...me I'm something you have nightmares about..." he smiled evenly.

"Obviously you've never seen one of my nightmares then huh?" Brooke rolled her eyes and turned to face him again, but she found that the gap between them had gone from about eight feet to about eight inches in the space of eight seconds. She immediately reacted, though she underestimated his strength, she threw a punch toward his jaw that was only meant to make him stumble backward.

Spike caught her fist easily in mid air, and closed that small gap by pulling her closer.

"Spike let her go now!" demanded a familiar voice.

"Buffy?!" the two said in unison.

Spike turned Brooke around to face Buffy, and held her by the neck like a hostage. Buffy, Xander and Johnny had come out to find her because she'd taken too long. Johnny's eyes flared with anger, he flipped open his lighter and flicked it closed again he repeated this action several times before speaking.

"If you don't let her go I swear, I'll teach you the meaning of the term 'Human Torch'..." he said in a low threatening voice.

"One problem mate..." Spike vamped out, "I'm not human."

"Well here's one more problem...I don't play damsel in distress..." She leaned forward flipping him over her shoulder, then she hauled him up by his jacket.

Spike was a bit surprised by her strength but he defended himself accordingly, then took the offensive position. He pulled back from her then blocked a punch, that had more strength behind it than the first one, at the same time with his free hand he hauled her up by her hair and held her dangling in the air.

Johnny couldn't take it anymore, he moved toward Spike but Buffy grabbed his shoulder, "Don't, he'll kill her."

Suddenly Spike contorted in pain his face melded back to its human visage, and he dropped Brooke. He looked down and found three blades protruding through his abdomen. He craned his neck and found they were attached to the back of the hand of a rough looking tall guy. How he'd managed to sneak up on him was beyond him.

"Bloody Hell..." Spike growled, but then he grinned as his lackeys came from the shadows, and attempted to surround him, but the guy pulled his claws from Spike's back, and another set came out of the back of the other hand. Brooke stood up slowly, Johnny was at her side immediately.

Spike made a gesture with his hand, and his vampires slowly backed away. Logan wasn't ready to back down though yet. So Spike smiled evenly then vamped out again, catching Logan off guard for a second, long enough for Spike to kick him in the jaw, causing him to stumble backward. Spike turned and locked eyes with Brooke. Her eyes were wide in amazement, she hadn't noticed until now that the others, had the same wrinkly demonic face, with yellow eyes. Spike held her gaze for a second, then ran his tongue over his fangs.

"See you around, love...maybe we can do lunch," he smirked, Before fading into the shadows with his lackeys.

Logan wanted to go after him but thought better of it, so instead he turned to Brooke, "You all right kid?"

"Yeah my hair looks like crap but I'm good..." she replied running her hand through her hair.

"You sure?" Johnny asked coming up behind her and slipping his arms around her waist.

"Yes fine..." she insisted resting her head on his chest.

"Kid what the hell was he?" Logan demanded looking at Buffy.

Brooke suddenly sat her head up as if she had forgotten to ask that, "Oh Yeah...he didn't have a body temperature...and he smelled kind of..."

"Dead," Logan filled in.

Buffy drew in a breath, "Xander, go get the others...we're going to see Giles..."

Angel stood silently for a second...though to most, he appeared to have a blank face, Buffy could see the worry etched in it. He knew that once Spike had his heart set on killing someone he wouldn't stop until that person was dead, and it seemed to him from what he'd heard that Buffy's cousin was the target.

They had met up with Angel as he was leaving to find Buffy, he'd checked the library first, and then he had planned to go to the Bronze, but he found Buffy first. He leaned against the table then looked from Buffy to Giles.

"Okay is somebody gonna tell us what he is or should we guess?" Logan said.

"I can tell you he's gonna be burnt to a freakin' crisp if he comes near her again," Johnny snapped.

"Won't be that easy..." Angel said simply.

Johnny smiled mischievously, but Logan held up a hand and glared at him stopping him from doing whatever he was going to do.

"What is he?" Logan demanded.

Giles looked at Angel "You would do better at explaining it than I would...but if you'd like..."

"Its okay..." Angel told him then turned to face the mutants.

Johnny sat next to Bobby and Rogue next to him. Brooke stood up pacing slightly. Johnny knew this whole thing bothered her more than she let on. Logan leaned up against the cage in the back of the room.

"He was a vampire..." Angel said simply, but continued to explain, "A corpse that a demon inhabits, It walks around with all the memories and personality, the dark side of it, mind you, of that person. The soul is gone, no conscience, no remorse, it's an easy way to live..."

"And you would know this how?" Johnny asked raising a seemingly unimpressed eyebrow, but in reality he found this too outstanding to believe.

"Because he's one too..." Brooke said stopping in mid pace but then she continued.

He nodded "I was Angelus the Scourge of Europe, I did worse things than you can possibly imagine...one was a gypsy girl that my sire Darla brought me...she was a favorite of her clan...I killed her, drank her blood...and the elders were angry and so they sought to punish me...so they restored my soul."

Johnny was about to ask how that was punishment...but he stopped...he really already knew the answer...guilt...it ate at him everyday and if vampire legends were true then for the rest of his eternal life.

"So I mean the legends...are they true?" Rogue asked speaking up.

"Most of the modern vampire legends like Anne Rice have little to no truth to them at all...we do drink blood, we can be killed by a wooden stake through the heart, fire, decapitation, sunlight, ingesting holy water...the cross burns us like a hot stove, holy water burns us like acid. Our senses are enhanced, some more than others, as with our strength, there are some of us who can hypnotize but most never learn that skill, even fewer of us who have physic powers, but usually they already had those powers before they were changed." Angel explained.

"Still fewer of them have this little thing we like to call brains..." Xander snorted.

Angel ignored him though he was right, "We can't turn into bats, wolves or fog...we can't fly...and we can't enter a person's home without an invitation, but once invited we can keep coming in, we also lack reflections, but have shadows..."

"If you have a soul...wouldn't that mean you don't drink human blood?" Brooke asked but continued before he could answer, "Which leaves the question Do you or don't you?"

It was obvious Brooke wasn't very happy that Angel was there, much less her cousin's boyfriend.

"I drink animal blood, bought from butchers," Angel explained.

"Where do you fit into this?" Bobby asked Buffy.

"Oh Giles is better at this speech than me...go for it," Buffy told him.

Giles cleared his throat then took off his glasses to clean them before he started, "As long as there have been vampires there has been a slayer. One girl in all the world, to find them where they gather and to stop the spread of their evil...the swell of their numbers..."

"And here is where they 'gather'?" Bobby said slowly, "Why here?"

"Because of la boca del infierno...as the early Spanish settlers called it...or..." Giles started but Brooke finished.

"The mouth of hell," Brooke said absent-mindedly. The girl was Colombian, Only half Though, most Pure-bred Colombians didn't have her eye color, her eyes were a light teal color and her skin was only slightly tanned, but her thick hair fell to the middle of her back.

"Yes exactly," Giles nodded.

"So this town is on top of hell?" Johnny asked.

"Actually this library sits on top of the hellmouth, its a place where the wall between dimensions has worn thin, a mystical convergence that attracts all kinds of unsavory creatures most worse than vampires..." Giles said.

"And she's fighting them..." Johnny cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, Buffy's abnormally strong for a girl...which obviously gives those two something in common, she practically picked up Spike..." Xander said.

"Yeah well I'm a mutant..." Brooke said in explanation.

"Spike will keep coming after you...its best you stay in at night..." Angel told Brooke.

"Can't," Brooke said simply.

"You have to..." Angel replied.

"Okay when I said I can't...I meant I physically can't do it...it's because of my mutation..." Brooke sighed frustratedly.

"She's nocturnal...if you keep in at night, it's like trying to keep a tiger in a cardboard box," Bobby explained.

"Not the safest or the brightest idea," Logan finished.

"Besides I can take care of myself now I know what to expect...so I can fight accordingly, and knock his damned fangs down his undead throat," Brooke said bitterly, "And Buffy the whole you going out with a vampire...thing...sort of like an exterminator keeping Madagascar hissing cock roaches as pets...it's not right and I protest it," Brooke looked at Angel, "And if you ever hurt her, I'll hunt you down, and yank your spleen out through your mouth...Entiendes?"

He nodded and smiled a bit, "I wouldn't hurt her."

"Good now that we got that settled then we can get along, I got no problem with the vampire thing if you don't bite," she said.

"Angel doesn't bite," Willow assured her smiling.

"So what are we gonna do 'bout this Spike guy?" Rogue asked.

"We're going to go to blockbuster and rent Halloween H2O and get lots of food and candy and watch the amusing slasher movie and debate on what Michael Myers really is, and then you guys are going to sleep while I stare at the ceiling..." Brooke said grinning.

"Oh we voted a Zombie, but he doesn't eat everything known to man like Zombies..." Xander said.

"Interesting..." Brooke said cocking her head to the side.

"You wanna come Angel?" Buffy offered hopefully, though she knew Angel didn't do group things.

"Maybe another time...I still haven't...eaten," he said in a low voice.

"Okay..." Buffy nodded kissing him briefly before he disappeared through the doors.

"So the question remains...was it really him? I mean she can't have cut off Michael's head right?" Xander said.

Brooke laughed a bit, "He always comes back doesn't he? You know he will..."

"Good point..." Xander nodded, then yawned, "Y'up this looks like a good spot to sleep..."

Xander was sprawled out on the living room floor, Bobby and Rogue sat on the couch, Willow and Buffy sat on the floor with a pillow, and Pyro sat leaning up against the couch with Brooke's head in his lap.

Brooke went to stand up but Pyro pulled her back down, "Come on Johnny, you need to sleep..."

"Yeah...are you gonna join me?" He asked smiling mischievously.

"Okay children my mother is gone, that doesn't mean my house is a brothel," Buffy rolled her eyes.

Brooke kissed Pyro, "Go to sleep," she insisted, standing up and offering him a hand, which he took allowing her to help him up.

"There's a room on the left upstairs for you and Bobby..." Buffy told him...Logan had volunteered to get himself a hotel nearby, but he had emphasized not inviting anyone else in, though Buffy assured him that they would be fine.

Johnny nodded, then kissed Brooke, "See ya in the morning babe..."

After all the others had disappeared upstairs, Buffy hung back.

"So whatcha gonna do?" Buffy asked her.

"I don't know, maybe sit out front I can't be inside for long..." Brooke said.

"Mind if I come with?" Buffy asked.

"Not at all..." Brooke said grinning. She was actually glad to have Buffy for company.

The two perched on the bench, talking freely about the years that had passed in between the last time they saw each other, which was when they were like eight and now.

"So you seem to really like Johnny..." Buffy said grinning a bit.

"I love Johnny but I don't think he feels the same way so I just keep that to myself," Brooke replied, but she didn't 'seem' bothered by it.

"He does seem to care a lot about you though," Buffy told her.

Brooke was quiet for a minute then she said, "He does doesn't he, Hey Buffy wanna know something weird that you are under no circumstance are allowed to mention to him...I'm Pyrophobic..."

"Yeah that is odd...but hey I slay vampires and Angel's a vampire, so we're both just a little twisted..." Buffy smiled.

"Guess so...Hey is there an Expresso Pump still around, I could use a good dose of caffeine," Brooke said standing up.

"Y'up there's one here, let me go get my shoes and we can go," Buffy said.

Instead of just changing her shoes Buffy changed her whole outfit. Which was probably a good thing considering she was wearing pajamas but now she wore a pair of blue jeans and a tank top.

Brooke on the other hand wore black leather pants and a black tank top.

They sat in the back of the Expresso Pump, each with a cup in hand.

"Oh my god, I don't believe, I'm related to Scott...No I refuse to believe that..." Brooke said shaking her head.

"Y'up he's related, second cousin," Buffy said smirking, "Hey Scott's a sweetie..."

"Scott's a prick, if you lived with the guy you'd understand..." Brooke said shaking her head.

Angel stepped inside Buffy's window which was open at the moment but he realized his mistake as soon as he did it. Mainly because of the scream that pierced the night air and was apt to have waken up the dead...at least the one's that weren't awake already.

Bobby and Johnny burst into the room where Rogue had pulled herself to the furthest corner of the room. A fireball was already in Pyro's hand when the two had come in.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Pyro demanded, he'd been itching to fry someone all night.

"Looking for Buffy...I didn't realize..." he voice trailed off and his gaze fell to Rogue.

"Buffy's down stairs," Bobby said slowly, "Normal people use the front door, you should try it,"

"Usually her mother's home...its a habit...sorry..." Angel moved past Pyro and Bobby and made his way to the stairs...but he noticed it was quiet down there, not even the sound of breathing, he called up the stairs, "No she's not down here..."

Pyro shrugged going downstairs, while Bobby comforted the still startled Rogue. He picked up the phone and dialed some numbers. Angel looked at him oddly not realizing exactly what he was doing.

Brooke laughed a little as did Buffy, but Brooke abruptly stopped laughing when she heard her cell phone ring.

"¿Aló?" she answered.

"Babe...Your with Buffy right?" Pyro's voice asked on the other end.

"Yeah why?" she asked.

"Tell Buffy if she doesn't want her boyfriend back in an ash filled urn, it's not the brightest idea to have him climbing in her window," Johnny replied.

Brooke couldn't help but laugh, "Hold on..." she told him putting the phone down.

"Chiquita, Apparently your novio, climbed through the window of your room..." she laughed as Buffy's eyes went wide.

"Oops...I should've warned them...I should've warned him...your flame throwing boyfriend didn't fry him did he?" Buffy winced.

Brooke picked back up the phone, apparently he'd heard them, because she found him muttering "Almost...lucky bastard..."

"Almost...but apparently not..." Brooke said.

"Oh hey your back..." Johnny said, "So where are you guys?"

"At the Expresso Pump...I wanted some cappuccino...We're coming...Buffy needs to sleep anyway," Brooke said looking pointedly at Buffy.

"Angel we're fine...it's not like anyone here's going to invite Spike in," Buffy told him then she added sarcastically, "Besides we've got two white knights anyway..."

Angel smiled a little, "Just had to make sure."

"I know...tomorrow night then?" Buffy asked, "But maybe try the front door for once..."

Angel nodded, smiling a little, he leaned down to kiss Buffy and then backed away into the night literally fading into it.

Buffy headed upstairs telling Brooke good night. Pyro stood leaning on the railing of the stairs. Brooke wasn't facing him but she knew he was there, she always knew when he was around, his scent was programmed into her, and it was automatically comforting.

"Shouldn't you be going to sleep?" Brooke said without turning around.

"Shouldn't you?" Johnny asked in response.

"I'll sleep in the morning," she replied, turning to face him as he approached.

"No you won't," Pyro told her wrapping his arms around her waist, "You'll put it off until you pass out from exhaustion."

"No I w..." she started but was cut off when Johnny gently pushed her backward, the backs of her knees hit the couch, and forced her into sitting down.

Johnny now stood over her, smiling slightly, with an eyebrow raised, "Yes you will..."

Johnny sat down next to her, draping his arm around her, then he leaned over and kissed her. With his other hand resting casually on her thigh the last thing on his mind was letting her sleep. Though Johnny had will power, he'd let her sleep.

"You wanted me to sleep didn't you?" she said smiling.

He drew in a breath, and he shrugged, "Yeah...in a second."

He kissed her once more, then sighed pulling away, "Yeah okay sleep."

Brooke took her shoes off and put her feet up on the couch, and laid her head in Pyro's lap. She was making it really hard for him to keep up his willpower but she fell asleep almost immediately leaving Pyro only to his thoughts. Then he quickly fell asleep also.

March 10:

Pyro was abruptly and rather rudely awaken to a sharp pain in his shin. His eyes snapped open to find Logan standing over them, with his eyes narrowed but a smirk was forming on his face.

Brooke was a light sleeper when she slept at night so she woke up when Pyro did her eyes darting open, but they were feral yellow, and her heart was pounding. An animalistic growl escaped her throat as she glared up at Logan who at the moment she considered to be the enemy, it took her a full fifteen seconds to realize where she was and that she shouldn't rip Logan into shreds.

Logan's smirk grew even more as a chorus of female giggles rang out from behind them. Brooke's eyes faded back to there normal turquoise hue.

"Logan...you know how they say let a sleeping dog lie?" Brooke said slowly rubbing her eyes, "That's because some sleeping dogs will rip off your face if you wake them."

"Trying to make a point sleeping beauty?" Logan's smirked grew more.

Now Brooke stood up, and punched Logan lightly in the stomach, but she pulled the punch considerably. He barely flinched.

He laughed again, "I know you can hit harder than that...if you can't we have a problem..."

"Didn't want to hurt you, I know how fragile you are." She replied.

Pyro got up silently still not completely awake and headed for the shower in a zombie-like state.

"Towels are in the closet on the left," Buffy called to him unsure if he heard her.

"Come on kid hit me," Logan challenged her.

"Logan it's too early for all that, I should still be sleeping you know with the sun being out and all..." Brooke replied.

Logan was standing directly in her path to the kitchen, which was where the coffee was located so she crossed her arms aggravatedly, "Move."

"Make me," Logan replied.

The was a paused, then a loud crash as Brooke grabbed Logan's wrists and with the aid of her foot on his chest she tossed him backward into the wall, leaving a large whole.

Buffy's mouth dropped open, "Hey my mother's gonna freak."

"Call someone to fix it and give me the bill," Brooke said as she kept walking to the kitchen aimed for the coffee.

"Okay..." Buffy shrugged as long as someone paid for it.

The group lounged in the library as Buffy was training, she'd tired out Giles who now sat on the floor up against the wall huffing and puffing.

"Your tired already?" Buffy asked bouncing on the balls of her feet though the two had been at it for a while.

"How is that training?" Pyro asked flicking open his lighter.

"It...Trains...Her...to...be...rea...dy..." Giles started gasping for breath between each syllable, sounding much like an asthmatic.

"In case an old British guy attacks her?" Pyro smirked.

Brooke got up suddenly from her perch on the edge of the table, with a grin on her face.

"Come Buff...Kick my ass," Brooke challenged.

Buffy raised an eyebrow, as Brooke now stood in front of her.

"I don't wanna hurt you..." Buffy said.

Brooke launched a punch directly at Buffy's jaw and her head snapped to the side.

"Fine be that way," Buffy said rubbing her jaw.

Buffy dropped down in a sweep kick, that Brooke easily jumped up to avoid it. Buffy sent a snapped kick to her side, which Brooke blocked but the sheer force of it sent her to the ground, but she barely touched it before she was on her feet again. She sent a spinning roundhouse kick to Buffy's head which the girl dodged and caught Brooke's foot. Brooke pushed off the ground with her other foot and using that movement she kicked Buffy in the side of the head but this action sent them both to the ground, but neither of them stayed there long. Brooke had her back to the table blocking several of Buffy's punches. Brooke leapt up and backward and landed on the table that she'd been sitting on earlier.

Johnny got up and moved up the stairs away from this fight, which the others soon followed after him. They watched from up there and allowed the girls their space to fight.

Spike had followed the group to the school then stopped outside. He went to retrieve some friends to play with so to speak. Actually he found some very large violent demons. But he was alone outside the double doors of the library the demons were all over the building already, searching for any sign of life. Their search would eventually lead them here.

Suddenly the library doors burst and the young raven haired girl from the other night flew through them landing on her back at his feet, with her eyes closed and breathing hard. The doors shut themselves again, before anyone saw him there.

"Buffy..." Brooke called inside without opening her eyes, "I think you broke some of my ribs..."

"I guess that makes up for my cracked jaw and sprained wrist..." Buffy called back, she also sounded winded.

Brooke ran her fingers over her ribs on one side, then winced in pain when she found the broken ones. Spike didn't wait for her to open her eyes he just kicked her in the side of the head, and knocked her unconscious. He scooped her up in a fireman's carry, and walked out as the horde of mindlessly violent demons found their way to the library.

March 11:

Brooke's eyes fluttered open, she lay motionless on a metal surface. It hurt for her to breathe, she guessed that was the broken ribs, and her head was throbbing. Once her eyes became completely clear she saw that the metal surface was actually a metal cage. She attempted to sit up but was surprised when the cage began to move. She realized that the cage must have been suspended in the air. When she finally did sit up ignoring the pain, she realized she was hanging from a chain about three feet off the ground.

"Spike..." Called a feminine voice, "She's awake..."

Brooke searched for the source of the voice, which sounded like she was a few kids short of a mini van. She found the woman sitting with a doll in hand, gently stroking it's hair.

"Is she now?" Spike strolled in the room looking rather pleased with himself, "Morning love? Have a nice nap?"

Brooke didn't say anything, though she watched Drusilla as the woman approached the cage.

"I'm Drusilla...and this is Miss Edith...What's your name pet?" she asked her.

She was silent a moment, then Brooke smiled a cold angry smile, "I'm Brooke," then she launched herself at Drusilla grabbing the woman by the hair and pinning her to the side of the cage.

Spike was over there inhumanly fast. Spike reached through the bars and grabbed Brooke by the neck slamming her into the bars, and squeezing the air out of her.

"Let...Her...Go..." Spike said slowly and quietly in a threatening.

Being that Brooke couldn't breathe she complied with his 'request.'

Spike let her go and went to Drusilla, coddling her and stroking her hair.

5:00pm

The group still sat in the library, all full of cuts and bruise from the battle the night before. This time Logan and Angel joined them. Angel was only able to be there because there was a heavy, dark cloud cover, as if a storm was coming.

Johnny was practically shaking with anger, but he remained completely and utterly silent. (Which was kind of out of character for him.) He had a fixed glare on his face, as he flicked open his lighter and slammed it closed again, he continually repeated this rhythmic action.

"So how the hell do we find this Spike guy, and How hard is it to kill him?" Logan asked eyes narrowed.

"We, um..." Giles cleared his throat and cleaned his glasses, "We actually don't know where to find him, he just recently came into town...all the knowledge we know about him is from, Angel, text books, and Buffy's brief encounters."

This was the point where Pyro got up and left the room angrily slamming the door behind him. Bobby got up to go after him but Buffy stopped him.

"Let him go...he needs sometime to vent," Buffy told Bobby.

5:30pm

After Spike was through comforting Drusilla and she had skipped out of the room with Miss Edith, Spike turned toward Brooke. Then suddenly he began searching his pockets for something, and what he came out with was a set of keys. He then proceeded to unlock the cage and yank Brooke out of it slamming her brutally to the floor. She didn't have time to get up before Spike, lifted her up by her hair and bit her.

He drained just enough blood to make her weak, he didn't make her pass out nor did her kill her.

"Let's get one thing straight love, If you ever lay your hands on Drusilla again..." She cut Spike off with a bitter laugh, as Spike allowed her to collapse to the floor.

"You'll kill me?" Brooke finished, "Neither you or your nut case scare me..."

Spike backed handed her, the coppery taste of blood filled her mouth, honestly she didn't know why they drank the nasty crap. She spit out a mouthful on the floor beside her. Spike smiled halfway and knelt down next to her then, grabbed her by the back of the hair and pulled her face mere inches from his, "Her name is Drusilla...and love, trust me, I'll make you wish I would kill you..." he said in a low voice.

Then he stood up and began pacing thoughtfully, "You know love...I heard an interesting story about you...not really a story I guess...I heard that you were the slayer's cousin...at first I thought it was the biggest bunch of BS I'd heard all night but now, I see similarities, Are you really her cousin?"

"What if I am? Is that a problem?" Brooke snapped.

"Not at all love...that's just bloody perfect..." Spike grinned.

6:30pm

Pyro was all in all completely and utterly pissed, pissed that she'd been taken, pissed that he was there and didn't stop it, most of all though he was pissed that all they could do was sit in there and examine this from every angle. He was going to get her, then kill everyone remotely connected with her kidnapping.

The problem was he had no idea where to start, but an idea quickly came to mind. He'd learned in his short amount of time that, vampires hung out in graveyards. Since it was about ready to rain they maybe out and about, so that's where he headed.

He figured if he kept walking he'd find a graveyard soon enough, as he had thought, he came across one. He climbed clumsily over the fence landing nearly on his head but he ended up flat on his back. He pushed himself off the ground from what he could see the cemetery was empty. He figured they wouldn't be easy to spot, but maybe once he found one, he could torture the creature into telling him where to find Spike, and if he didn't know maybe he could tell him who did.

"Hey kid, Whatcha doin' in a cemetery? They're not safe...anytime of the day..." a rather pale looking woman said from behind him.

Instinctively he pulled out his lighter and flicked it open just in case he was wrong, he tried to see her reflection in the silver metal of his lighter but he couldn't.

"Actually I was looking for someone like you..." Johnny smiled as if it were a pick up line.

The vampire cocked her head to the side. Her dark red hair, and dark clothing made her skin appear even paler. The tall willowy red head returned the smile, "Were you? Why's that?" she said obviously playing along.

"Actually I wanted to asked you something..." he said flicking the lighter closed then opening it again, "Where can I find Spike?"

Her smile faded, "I don't know who you are...But you don't want to know where Spike is...I mean you seem like a smart kid...you were trying to see if I had a reflection in your lighter...but Spike is dangerous..."

His eyes narrowed, "I'm dangerous..." With that a puff of fire reached out and grabbed her hair, engulfing it but he didn't let it spread any further.

She screamed and desperately ran around in circles, Pyro laughed a little.

"If you'd stop running in circles a second you'd realize the fire isn't spreading...but I can make it..." Johnny said.

She stopped and considered that, though the heat seared her skin and her long red hair would be singed.

"Now all you have to do is answer the question..." Pyro said calmly.

"I don't know," she said nearly to tears.

"Then tell me who does..." Pyro replied.

"Willy...The bartender at Willy's Alibi Room..." she said her eyes now squinted shut.

Pyro let the flames die down just a little, "Where?"

"It's not far from here...just down the street on the alley on your right..." she told him.

"Thanks babe," Johnny said flicking his lighter closed then he let the flames engulf her completely. It was a beautiful sight really. It was only a shame he couldn't create the fire. The sound of her screeching was enough to alert all the vampire's in the vicinity to the spot. He quickly climbed back over the fence and headed for Willy's.

8:30pm

Rogue had begun to worry even more, Johnny did stupid things when he was upset, very stupid things. No one else seemed worried though so she kept her thoughts to herself. The others had gone about this the easy way, and they'd decided to call the professor and have him locate her though Logan didn't want to tell him the whole story yet being as he felt responsible for this whole mess. He figured he'd make up a plausible story of her being mad at Logan and she stormed off, and hasn't been back for a while, in this town it wasn't safe for that to happen. Logan really didn't like the idea of lying to Xavier, but it was easier over the phone being that he couldn't read his mind from all the way over there.

Xander had begun whittling stakes, he showed Bobby how to do it also, and the two were whittling stakes together and laughing and talking. Mainly to keep there minds off the current situation. Willow was looking through old books for something or other though it kind of made Rogue curious and she began watching the girl intently. Finally Willow looked up at her and Rogue flushed red.

"Sorry...I was just wondering...What you were readin'," Rogue said looking away.

"Oh," Willow smiled Brightly and brought the book over and sat down next to the girl, "I was just looking for any Spells that might you know help us out a little, maybe a protection spell or a cloaking spell or something...might make it easier to make it in wherever it is safely maybe a spell so we can get in and out without any fighting...I mean I know at least Buffy, Angel, Logan and Johnny are probably going to want to fight but at least I can try to keep them from doing it while she's there you know cause Spike could use her against them in a fight too...a cheap shot but he'd do it...especially if he knows that Buffy's her cousin..."

Rogue was going to ask about the magic thing but something else Willow said caught her attention, that she was focused on but she didn't say anything.

9:00pm

Spike had left Brooke alone for a while but he didn't put her back in the cage. He figured that she was too weak to go anywhere but Brooke was intent on proving him wrong. She had pushed herself to her feet and forced herself to walk toward the stairs. Once she'd gotten herself moving it wasn't so bad but she was really dizzy so her path wasn't exactly a straight line, she'd run into a few things before making it all the way there. The stairs were easier, in the sense that all she had to do was hold on to the railing to walk straight but harder in the sense that it took more strength to go up the stairs, but she made it to the top and that was about as far as she got.

Two of Spike's Minions stood directly in her path glaring at her menacingly.

"Yo Spike...The little Minx tried to escape..." he smiled at her, a smile made to show off his fangs.

"Is trying....you mean," Brooke corrected and summoned all of her strength as she grabbed his leather bikers jacket and tossed him over the railing of the stairs. The other one leaped at her, and she simply side stepped him and he flew part way down the stairs and rolled the rest of the way.

A frigid dead hand closed around her upper arm and yanked her backward, then another grabbed her hair and threw her down the stairs. She allowed her body to go limp so it wouldn't hurt as much, though she wasn't sure that it helped. By the time she got to the bottom of the stairs Spike was already standing over her.

"Can't have you leaving just yet love...There's too much fun to be had..." a cold mischievous grin spread across his face as he lifted her up from the floor and forced her into a chair.

"Thank you Spike," Brooke said satirically, "As if the ribs Buffy broke weren't enough you had to go and break the rest of them...now they all match...so whether I inhale or exhale it hurts either way, before it just hurt to inhale,"

"You are a brash girl aren't you?" Spike said kneeling down at eye level with the girl looking at her thoughtfully, "But you can't fool me, pet...I can smell your fear..."

His face was mere inches from hers, from her neck...he was mere inches from her. He vamped out causing her to flinch ever so slightly. Spike smiled a toothy grin taking notice. Then leaned toward her as if to bite her, but instead he lightly ran his fangs down the side of her neck, of course hard enough to leave scratch marks, but they were so thin, it looked as if they were made by a needle or a scalpel. A thin line of blood appeared on her neck.

With his free hand he was gripping her side tightly squeezing her already broken ribs cause her to take in a sharp breath with sent hot needles of pain down that whole side. She was forced to take short shallow breathes to ease the pain of breathing ever so slightly.

"Your heart's beating ninety miles an hour love," Spike whispered in her ear, then ran his tongue along the lines of blood, as soon as she pulled away her sank his teeth into her yet again but only draining a little blood before pulling them from her neck. Her eyes squeezed shut in pain, but now movement cause her pain too, she was sure she'd broken more than just her ribs being thrown down those stairs.

He released her ribs, and let his hand fall to her thigh, then he ran that hand along her inner thigh, smirking slightly, staring her right in the eye. She head butted him feeling something give way in his nose. He growled nearly falling backward but he maintained his balanced and in one fluid motion he lifted her up by her hair and slammed her head down on the ground.

There was a sound of a bowling ball hitting a wooden floor which was in reality her head hitting the paved floor. White lights of pain danced around the corners of her eyes and she could've sworn she saw birdies and stars, before she went completely numb and she succumbed to the darkness, falling unconscious.

10:30pm

Pyro walked cautiously into the Alibi Room, The vampire had failed to inform him that this was a demon bar. But he tentatively approached the bar.

"Get outta here, I don't serve kids," Willy muttered barely looking up from his daunting task of cleaning a glass with a filthy rag.

"I didn't come here for a drink I came here for information..." Pyro said a deadly edge in his voice.

"Can't help you..." Willy said quickly, wondering if he was with the slayer.

"Really, Willy buddy, you haven't heard the question," Johnny said in a rather patronizing voice, "Where can I find Spike?"

"I told ya kid I don't know..." Willy said setting down the glass.

When he finally looked up Pyro had a ball of fire forming in his hand.

"Hey kid what are ya doing with that..." Willy said stepping back from the bar.

"You know now?" Pyro asked, dropping the flame on the bar, the flames spread across the bar causing all the patrons to look.

"Whoa, Whoa kid tone it down a bit okay I'll tell ya just..." Willy said as beads of sweat formed on his pale face; The flames on the bar lowered themselves.

"I'm listening." Pyro said crossing his arms.

11:30pm

"What's wrong?" Willow asked Rogue suddenly.

"Well remember when you said that Buffy, Angel, Logan and Johnny would want to fight?" Rogue asked.

"Yeah..." Willow replied.

"Well where's Johnny?" Rogue asked.

"He just went out to...Oh he's not back yet that's bad," Willow's eyes went wide, "Guys? How dumb is Johnny when he's mad?"

"Twice as dumb as he is normally," Bobby said.

"Johnny hasn't come back yet...I think he might be doing somethin' really stupid," Rogue said.

"He couldn't find Spike in some way could he?" Bobby asked.

"He could probably, he's upset his girlfriend's missing and he'd do anything to get her back," Angel said as if speaking from experience.

"Then we need to find him first," Buffy said grimly.

"I Guess we will just have to ask Xavier to find them both...if we're lucky then we'll find Johnny first," Giles said.

"If Pyro finds the vampire before we do then we wasted a hell of a lot of time here," Logan growled heading for the phone in Giles's office.

"All right we need to do is get in and get out...the first priority I'd getting Brooke of their unless she's well and able to get herself out...then all we need to do provide the way for her to get out...then everyone's fair...I call dibbs on Spike..." Buffy said automatically taking charge.

"We got em...We gotta move fast though Pyro's already found them, he's really close by I don't think we'll make it before he does," Logan said, "Xavier said there's a factory on the edge of the town where Spike has her, and Pyro's less then mile from it..."

"Then let's hope we get there in time..." Buffy said.

March 12: 12:00pm

Pyro stood outside the door vampires surrounding him. A sadistic smile was plastered on his face and his lighter was open the flame glowing bright. In a matter of mere seconds, streams of fire hosed down the vampires before they even took a step closer to him, they howled in agony as the searing heat of the flames engulfed them. He smiled enjoying the sight for a split second then he casually strolled through the front door.

He was met by several vampire and they were met by flames he stood at the top of the stairs, in ashes now looking down at the vampires on the bottom, who didn't dare come up.

"Where's Spike?" he asked, walking halfway down the stairs, but it was Drusilla who met him at then end of the stairs and cautiously moved up.

She had three objects in her hand, cards.

"I saw you coming, before you got here I you," she held the cards out to him, faced down and stacked on top of one and other.

Pyro hesitated, but curiosity got the better of him and he took them from her. They were large, bigger then playing cards, he recognized them as Tarot cards but he'd never actually seen them or took the time to take a second glance. He flipped over the first cards which depicted a man on top of a black horse with a sword raised.

"That's you, the black knight of swords...all brave and heroic," she said not even close enough to have seen the cards.

He flipped over the next one, and it depicted a devil sitting cross legged with a pentagram over his head and the Roman numerals XV at the top, and on the both 'The Devil' was printed.

"Unyielding power, Lust, an overwhelming force..." she droned on dreamily.

He flipped over the next one which depicted a skeleton on a pale horse, at the horses feet were bones and body parts and in the skeletons hand was a sickle. At the top the Roman numbers XIII were printed and at the bottom the word

'Death' was shone. That a nerved him slightly.

"It rarely means death...a great change it means, rarely death...The first was your past, the second present and the third future..." she laughed insanely.

"Drusilla!" Spike growled, in fear for her.

She recoiled whimpering a bit at Spike's reprimand. Pyro's cold gaze fell on Spike, he smiled, and took a few steps down the stairs as Drusilla backed away from Pyro. Spike slipped an arm around Drusilla as the two met. Pyro now was at the end of the stairs.

"Spike..." he said calmly.

"Who the bloody hell might you be?" Spike demanded, though he had remembered seeing him the other night, when he'd first met Brooke.

"Pyro..." he said pausing a second before continuing, "Where is she?"

"The Slayer's cousin? Oh you must be her boyfriend...How cute?" Spike made a gesture with his hand and the crowd parted, and the suspended cage became visible. Brooke lay unmoving on her back with her head to the side, her chest just barely rising and falling.

A spark of anger went through Johnny, and flicked open his lighter again...in one puff of fire he took out all the vampires on his left, in the second he took out half of the vampires on his right. One vampire, still on fire lunged at him wrestling his lighter from his hand even as he died, the lighter hit the floor when the vampire turned to ashes. The fire around them, died, as did the vampires that had been torches previously. Pyro and one of the few living lackeys dove for the lighter. The vampire got there first and proudly held it up, Spike snatched it from him and slipped it in his pocket.

"Aren't you the hero..." Spike said smiling.

Pyro glowered but remained silent.

Drusilla smiled moving toward him, "Look at me love, be in my eyes," she said looking Pyro in the eye and swaying a bit. Pyro stood immobile suddenly unable to tear his eyes from hers no matter how much he wanted to.

She looked from him for a second at Spike who nodded, and she smiled like a child that had been allowed to have candy and she sunk her teeth into his neck.

1:00am

Buffy had caught Spike and Drusilla trying to leave the premises, and along with Angel had gone to chase them down. Logan had insisted that Willow, Xander and Rogue stay outside though they were rather aggravated when he let Bobby come inside with him.

He kicked down the door to the nearly empty factory, the stench of burnt flesh hung heavy in the air as proof that Pyro had been there. He caught sight of movement two vampires, both male, dragging and unmoving body from a cage.

"Brooke," he muttered automatically.

Behind him he her a 'kerplunk' and two cross bolts flew through the air and hit their targets the last vampires were dust and Brooke was dropped. For a second Logan thought she might be dead as he now rushed down the stairs. But she moved, only a little at first, but then with much effort and a groan of pain she sat up. He didn't figure she could do much more.

"Logan?" she blinked looking at him a second before recognition passed through her weary eyes.

Bobby rushed down the stairs behind Logan and to her side he helped her up, but found she was putting too much of her weight on him, so he picked her up. Suddenly Bobby caught sight of something that made him drop her but Logan grabbed her, probably causing her a significant amount of pain because he caught her by her upper arms and her feet hit the floor. But Bobby was in motion silently moving toward what had caused him to drop her.

"Sorry," Logan apologized looking after Bobby then he set her down gently and went after him.

Brooke being stubborn, all but crawled over to them.

"Damnit," Logan said, as his eyes watered just a bit, from behind him he heard a noise, Rogue now stood, supporting Brooke.

Tears welled up in Rogue's eyes Brooke pulled away from Rogue and let herself fall to the floor, and crawled over next to the body that was now visible. Bobby quickly moved to Rogue's side coddling her turning her away from the vile sight.

"Brooke, come on," Logan said gently trying to pull Johnny's girlfriend away from his body, but she stubbornly and silently refused to move.

"This is my fault..." She said distantly.

"Kid don't you dare blame yourself for this all right, you didn't..." Logan's voice trailed off, "It's not your fault."

"I got kidnapped," she said airily.

"That wasn't..." Logan started but was cut off by the sound of more footsteps.

"Logan they got to their car we lost them...Logan...Oh my god..." Buffy's voice grew quiet, a tear slipped down her face as she ran to Brooke's side dropping to her knees to hug the girl who didn't move but allowed herself to be hugged, "Brooke come on...you don't need to..." she sniffed.

Still silence, Angel joined them too, and Buffy stood up.

"Can she walk?" Angel asked one of them.

"Um...no..." Logan forced out looking down.

Angel put a hand on Brooke's shoulder to let her know he was there and she all but jumped feeling the cold vampiric hand, but relaxed realizing it was Angel. He then picked her, and she didn't struggle much, but it was clear even though she didn't speak that she didn't want to leave, but she was to weak to protest too much and Angel wasn't giving her a choice.

March 17: Bayville, Massachusetts.

Brooke lay unmoving in her bed, as she often did, she rarely left her room. She often went out on the balcony, but even at night she didn't leave her room. She just stared blankly at the ceiling. At the time it was around 6 or 7 but she wasn't sure she only guessed by where the sun was outside. After Brooke had been rather harsh to her roommate Professor Xavier had moved her to anther room and left Brooke alone as she wished.

Suddenly Brooke caught a whiff of a familiar scent. The door had been locked so it could only be one person.

"Get out Kitty!" she growled not even looking at the girl.

"But they're worried about you, and I brought you something to drink," she said timidly, setting a cup down on the night stand.

Her eyes flashed feral yellow and Kitty recoiled, then her eyes turned back to their pale blue color, and she sighed.

"Gracious, pero get out," she said quietly.

Kitty nodded and backed through the door reluctantly.

Logan stood outside the door, looking expectantly at Kitty who only shook her head.

"She needs to come out...before she ends up starving..." Kitty told him quietly.

Logan sighed, and nodded knowingly even though he hadn't seen her she'd been in there for three days straight. Unbeknownst to them to them a pair of predatory golden eyes watched them from in a tree outside a window.

TO BE CONTINUED...(Look for the Sequel 'The protégé' (May take a while but its coming))