"Are you sure they went this way?" Buffy spoke softly as the two of them stepped into a dark, narrow alley. There was no-one –or nothing– to be seen.
"Corner of Wilshire and Vine, yeah, this is where James lost them," Gunn replied, peering into the dark alleyway, trying to distinguish anything. "The crew's waiting 'round the corner in case we need back-up." Buffy nodded but didn't say anything. Her senses were focused on finding the demons right now.
"Here, demon, demon…" she muttered softly, twirling the axe she'd borrowed from James as she stepped into the dark passage, Gunn following close behind. She closed her eyes and tried to rely on her instinct. She hadn't used it for so long that she wasn't even sure she still had it, and at first she didn't sense anything. Slowly, however, something came to her. It felt like a knot in her gut. She knew what it meant, she'd felt it often when she was on patrol. It was her body telling her that she had to look out because something was nearby.
"In there," she said in a low voice, nodding her head towards a small metal door that seemed to give basement access. Without hesitation she walked down the steps to the door while Gunn ran back to warn his gang. She waited for Gunn to join her before kicking the door in full force.
At least fifteen demons with dark green skin and red eyes looked up simultaneously when the door slammed to the ground. There were standing in a circle, outlined by candles. In a corner of the room, Buffy could make out the huddled figures of Gunn's friends and sister. They were bound and gagged and looked terrified.
Buffy's mind suddenly flashed back to the past year. Willow, Cordelia, Giles and miss Calendar hanging upside down from a railing. Cordy being kidnapped and almost sacrificed a bunch of times. Miss Calendar's death. Kendra's death. Angel's death. Oh God, Angel…
She just stood there, frozen, trying to snap out of it but unable to move.
I can't run from it.
"Watch out!"
Suddenly she felt a seering pain as one of the demons lunged at her, hitting her full in her stomach. She fell to the floor and she looked up, she saw that Gunn was being attacked by the whole pack. Buffy jumped back onto her feet and grabbed her assailant by the hood of its robe.
"Hey! That was rude," she growled, and snapped the guy's neck. She rushed over to Gunn and pulled some of the demons away from from him. "Gunn! I got it covered, untie your friends, hurry!" He quickly fought off the hooded demons and started making his way over to Chain, Bobby and Alonna. "Try to get 'em to escape up the stairs," he said, nodding towards the exit, "my crew's waiting for them outside."
Buffy sent one of the demons flying against the wall. Some of them started to run outside, and she could hear their screams as they were ambushed by Gunn's team out in the alley. She kept fighting off the demons, snapping their necks or putting her axe into their head while Gunn rushed over and started to free Alonna and his friends.
As soon as she was untied, Alonna hugged her brother tightly before pulling back and hitting him hard in the chest. "Are you crazy G? Barging in here and starting to take out a whole pack by yourself, you coulda gotten yourself killed!" she yelled, more upset than angry. Her brother smiled.
"Don't worry, I got help," he said, signalling at Buffy who was slamming two of the demons' head together so they sank to the ground. "Now get out of here!" Alonna raised an eyebrow.
"In your dreams bro, I have a score to settle with these assholes," she scoffed as she scrambled onto her feet, ready to go after all of them at once. Gunn quickly put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Fine, follow the boys outside then and help the team in the alley to clean up the ones that get away," he said. The young girl looked ready to protest, but the look in her big brother's eyes told her that this was not up for discussion, so she simply rolled her eyes and followed Bobby and Chain up the stairs.
"Little sisters, what can you do?" Gunn told Buffy with a grin while he slammed his elbow against a demon's nose. Buffy felt a small smile tugging at her lips, maybe the first in months.
"I wouldn't know," Buffy said as another demon fell to the ground, headless. She looked around, surprised at how easy and natural it all felt, when she saw one of the last demons making his way for the ventilation shaft. With a well-aimed flying kick, he hit Buffy in the back of the head. A seering pain shot through her upper body and for a moment she was blinded. When she looked up again, the demon was pulling himself up the shaft and out of their reach.
"Can I borrow this for a sec?" Gunn suddenly said, taking the axe fom her and throwing it straight at the last demon that was making his way up the stairs. It hit him full in the back, and he came falling back down the stairs and landed in front of their feet.
They both stepped over the demon's corpse and headed upstairs to find Gunn's crew waiting for them, laughing and joking as if they hadn't just been in a fight to the death. Alonna came running up to her brother and hugged him. She couldn't be more than fifteen years old, Buffy thought.
"Ow." As she sat in the back of the pick-up truck again, she rubbed the big bump that was growing on the back of her head. "This is definitely of the bad…" she muttered. She glanced over at Chain, Bobby and Alonna who were surrounded by the rest of the gang.
"Good fight," she told Gunn. She felt like she had to say something. He gave her a small smile and shrugged.
"They're family. Anything happens to them, it brings passion to the fight, you know?" he said, glancing at her. "Gives you extra strength to fight." He paused and looked at her. "You know what I mean, right? You seemed pretty experienced back there when it comes to beating down the big baddies."
"Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean…" she said slowly as more memories came flooding back. Memories she'd shut out since she left, of her helping Willow, Xander, Cordelia, everyone…
"Hey, do me a favor okay?" Gunn said as the car parked in front of the warehouse and everyone jumped out. "You're pretty decent and this is not a city for decent people. You don't belong here. I don't know why you left wherever it is you come from, but it looks to me like you might be needed there."
Buffy sighed. "I'm starting to get that…" But I'm not ready to leave just yet, she thought to herself. Gunn seemed to have read her thoughts.
"Don't sweat it, I'm pretty sure everything is gonna work itself out if you go home," he told her with a kind smile. Buffy couldn't help but smile back and nodded.
"You're right," she replied as she hopped out of the truck. "I better go. Thanks for the advice Gunn." You've been a bigger help than you know. She shook his hand, waved at the other kids who were hanging out near the gates and started walking away.
"Hey!" she heard Gunn yell, and turned around. "You never did tell me your name."
"B- Anne. My name is Anne."
"Well, thanks for helpin' out Anne, I owe ya. Get home safe, and I hope I never see you again," he said with a broad grin. She smiled back over her shoulder before she turned around the corner and blinked against the bright sunrise in front of her.
TBC