Title: Sirens' Song
Author: Sinayah
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from Buffy, Angel, or Xmen. They belong to very rich people who don't appreciate them as we fanfic writers do.
Disclaimer 2: The Chapter Title and Lyrics belong to Barry Maguire.
Authors Note: Many heartfelt thanks to my muse Zenura, without her I wouldn't have had the guts to write. If you like this story please review or send me an email, I'd really appreciate hearing what you think. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Eve of Destruction
"But you tell me over and over and over again my friend, that you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction…"

Dinner passed easily, and the group complimented Serena on the wonderful stew. Leaving the scoobies, Kurt, and Kitty to clean up the kitchen and wash the dinner dishes Spike and the rest of the Xmen team retired to the courtyard for a breath of nicotine filled air. They smoked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. When they went back inside, and the others had finished their chores, the groups sat down in the small living room, filling the space to overflowing. Serena wanted to get back to working out a way to return their voices, and she started by asking Buffy to tell them anything she could remember from her dream besides the nursery rhyme.

The blond slayer borrowed a computer from Evan, who was sitting near her spot in the corner and typed, "There wasn't much else to it. Something about the sun going down, but that might have been a normal dream. The only weird part was the little girl singing that song and the flash of a really ugly demon."

"Tell me about the girl. What did she look like? What was she doing besides singing?" Serena typed back, wishing she had Jean or the professor here so that they could just look at the memory. 'Getting information from this girl is like pulling vampire fangs, not bloody easy.' The raven haired woman thought, her dislike of the slayer growing.

Buffy thought for a long moment before typing again, "She was young, maybe seven, with long blonde hair. She was wearing a dress, ankle socks, and mary janes. Oh, she had a box in her hands, a small wooden box with a pattern on it. It didn't really look special."

Serena nodded her thanks and mused, wondering how the box might be significant. She looked around the room to see the teens hard at work with their noses stuck in the ancient tomes. 'I wish I had a camera with me. Charles would love to see this.' She thought idly. Her whiskey eyes landed on Logan. The big man was fidgeting in his seat, rubbing his temples.

Something about this whole thing was making Logan edgy. He had a niggling feeling in his skull, as if a memory were trying to push forward and hitting the blank space left by the experiments. He kept thinking of Ireland, at the end of the war. Taking action he tapped at his armband. "Half Pint, I need you and the Pixie on the computer. I want you to do a search for me."

Kitty and Willow got up from the floor and sat at the laptop with Logan hovering over their shoulders. He tapped another message, "I want you to get into the newspaper archives, Galway or Dublin, near the end of World War Two. Look for articles about mass laryngitis, combined with seven murders."

Feeling better now that a search was underway, Logan re-took his seat. The group was looking at him questioningly, but he gestured for them to wait. He was sure the girls would find something soon. Kitty was a genius with a computer, and from the way she was silently gossiping with the pixie like redhead, he guessed the older girl was a kindred spirit to the little brunette.

About fifteen minutes later there was a flurry of excitement at the desk. Kitty and Willow clapped their hands to get everyone's attention, then gestured at the computer. Rather than crowding around it, Serena gestured for everyone to remain seated while she joined the girls at the computer. She scanned the text on the screen, and her eyes lit up. Shooing the teens out of the way, she sat in front of the monitor and started typing the relevant text into her armband so that everyone could hear what it said.

"A small farming community outside Galway is grieving today. Two days ago, the villagers woke to find that their entire population had come down with laryngitis…roads into and out of the town were sealed off, to stop any spread of disease…a neighbour to one of the victims said, "monsters came in the night"…three murders the first night of quarantine…mutilated, hearts missing…four taken the second night…third morning found villagers able to speak again…disease vanished as quickly as it appeared." She typed, quoting the passages that had the most meaning for them. The computer, its volume set high, relayed the information to the group, who turned their eyes to Logan, asking silently how he'd known.

A small grin accompanied the sigh of relief when the irritating feeling in his head went away. Seeing all eyes on him once again, Logan typed, "That's been annoying me all day, trying to get through the amnesia. All I could remember was that this sounded familiar, and the general place and time it came from."

Kitty and Willow were the first to applaud him, and the others followed suit, showing their appreciation. Logan waved them off, wanting to get this thing over with so he could speak again; he also wanted to get the hell out of this town. The bad vibes of the area Serena had told them about were beginning to get to him; he felt the rabid urge to kill something, as violently as possible. The big man figured these demons would do nicely to settle the burning need.

Giles had gone for a set of books that remained untouched when the newspaper article mentioned the seven murdered people with missing hearts. The title on the leather-bound volume, written in gold, was 'Fairy Tales'. The librarian flipped through the pages at a fast pace, until he found something near the end of the book. He read for a few long minutes, and then looked up.

Seeing that Kurt had the nearest computer, he gestured to the boy, and was typing a moment later. "These demons are fairy tale monsters. They take our voices when they come to a town because the only way to kill them is a human scream. We need to get our voices back before we can rid ourselves of the demons."

Giles received the same applause Logan had gotten and he waved it off the same way. Now the group knew what they were facing and how to kill the threat. It was time to go to work. Logan took charge and concocted a plan.

"Okay kids, we know what we're facing and how to kill it. I wanna get these things before they hurt someone. We'll divide into groups and patrol the town. They'll have set up a lair somewhere, and that's what we need to find. Serena, Buffy, Giles, and I will each take a team. I want Xander and Porcupine with me. Slayer, you get Speedy and Half Pint. Chatterbox, you take the Elf and the Pixie. Spike, Giles, and Stripes are the last group. That suit everyone?" He typed quickly, wanting to get this done. The look he gave the group suggested that anyone who argued was going to meet the business end of his claws. As he expected, no one argued.

Giles pulled out a well worn map of the town and gave each group an area to patrol. Logans' team would take the warehouse district, looking for a lair. Buffy, Kitty, and Pietro would take the college campus. Serena and her group would take the park and the town itself, and Giles, Spike and Rogue would sweep the cemeteries.

Serena took Kurt and Evans computers and handed one to Giles and one to Pietro. She showed them a button near the top of the device and explained its function. "All my computers have an inbuilt communicator, a walkie-talkie if you will. If you press this button before typing a message it will be relayed to all the other communicators in a five mile radius. If you find the demon lair, or run into trouble of a different sort, press the button and let everyone else know where you are and what's happening."

The teen and the older man nodded before clasping the devices to their arms. The Scooby gang went to their weapons chest to load up, and Evan went into the courtyard for a moment, returning with an armful of ready made stakes. "Now that's what I call handy. Think of all the hours we could've saved carving stakes if Evan had been around. We should call him Spike instead of wasting it on Junior." Xander commented, using Logan's computer. The others nodded, laughing silently, and Evan smiled brightly.

The four teams walked out into the courtyard, and Evan used a computer to tell the older boy, "That actually is my nickname, we all have one. I'm Spyke, Kitty's Shadowkat, Rogue…well duh, Logan's Wolverine, 'Tro is Quicksilver, Kurt is Nightcrawler, and Serena is Siren. We normally only use the names when we're on a mission." The groups parted ways in front of the housing estate, each heading a different direction.

* * * * * * * * * *

Logan, Xander, and Evan made their way through town to the warehouse district without much conversation. The trio checked abandoned warehouses and prowled through the alleyways, hoping to come across one of the demons so that they could follow it back to its lair. The night time noises were minimal in this area of town, the factories having been closed due to the epidemic.

Logan kept the boys moving, even as hours ticked by. The gruff man was determined to find something to take his frustrations out on. In front of a particularly run down building, an old abandoned warehouse, he stopped and scented the air. The two boys, standing close behind the man, listened carefully. Xander didn't know why the older man had stopped, so he gestured at Evan, nodding is head at Logan as if to say 'what's up with him?' Evan tapped his nose with a finger, and then took a deep breath through his nostrils, trying to reply that the older man had smelled something.

Signalling the teens to wait where they were, Logan made his way to one of the dusty windows where a board had fallen away. Peering inside, his lips twisted into a feral grin. There was a group of vampires in the building, and they had a couple of large demons with them. The older man gestured to the boys to come over, and he let them get a good look through the window before pulling them back a fair distance, so as to be out of hearing range.

"You boys think we can take them? I doubt they're the monsters we're lookin for, but it oughta be fun. You game?" Logan asked, wanting to do some damage. Evan nodded eagerly, but Xander was more cautious after years of battling vampires and demons. He took Logan arm, and typed into the computer, "Sorry to have to be the voice of reason here, but unlike you two, I'm no superhero. A couple of vamps I can deal with, but there are five in there, plus the two demons. Are you guys sure you can handle that many?"

Logan and Evan both nodded, and the dark skinned boy took the computer to add, "Our group took out thirteen vamps last night in about five minutes. Logan can handle the demons; you and I will deal with the vamps." Xander sighed, and nodded his ascent. He held up his stake, and gestured to the younger teen, asking silently if he could get a couple more.

Agreeably, Evan shot two of the wooden splinters into a nearby pile of debris. After Xander had collected his extra weaponry, the trio made their way to the front door of the building. Logan extended his claws with a soft snick, and Evan grew spikes from his chest, arms, and back. Xander held his own stake tightly, and put his hand on the door handle.

Logan stopped the boy, shaking his head. Wanting to surprise the creatures, the man used his claws and quickly ripped the wooden door to shreds. Evan stepped through the new opening first, letting the assembled monsters see him. Logan and Xander came in and stood slightly behind the youngest of their group, waiting for the vamps to make a move.

The two demons made frantic gestures at their vampire minions, and all five rushed the intruders. Logan waited until the vamps were close enough, and then vaulted over the oncoming creatures to take on the demons. Evan took his time, holding his arms straight out in front of him. Choosing his targets, the boy waited until the two largest vamps were in range, and shot a stake from each hand, dusting the vamps before they even had time to realize what had happened.

The demons didn't know what to think of the small human standing in front of them. As far as they were concerned, this man was no threat. Logan proved them wrong a moment later by impaling the nearest one on his claws and eviscerating it. The remaining demon roared silently, and then charged the man.

Xander and Evan were engaged in hand to hand combat with the remaining three vampires. Two had gone for the young mutant, and the other had headed for Xander, thinking the human would make an easy meal. Using that to his advantage, Xander let the vamp get close, and then slammed his stake into its heart. The older teen turned to help Evan, and found the younger boy doing quite well.

Evan was easily blocking punches, the armour that came with his spikes preventing him from being hurt. Xander ran over and spun one of the remaining vamps away from the boys back, punching it in the face. Evan spared a moment to glance behind him at the older teen, and then decided to use the move that had worked so well the night before.

He grabbed his vamps arm with the next punch it threw, and pulled it into his chest. Xander saw the move and as Evan backed up, the dark haired boy lunged at his vamp, slamming it onto the huge spikes protruding from the blond teens back. As the vampire on Evans back turned to dust, the one hanging off his chest spikes finally realized that these two boys were not easy prey.

None of the spikes had hit its heart and it was now trying to free itself. Xander shrugged and took it by the shoulders, pulling it away from Evans chest. The younger boy grinned and held his hand out, index finger extended and thumb raised, as children often did to imitate a gun. He pressed his index finger to the vamps chest, and as it looked down he lowered his thumb. The minion felt the small stake leave the boys finger with enough force to bury the wood deep in its heart.

When the last vampire exploded into dust between them Evan and Xander exchanged high fives and turned to see how Logan was doing. The big mans feral grin had returned, and Logan looked as if he were having immense amounts of fun. Evan knew instantly that his guardian was toying with the large demon, as a cat played with a mouse before eating it.

When Xander went to aid Logan, Evan held him back and instead led the boy to a pile of crates, taking a seat to watch the show. Xander joined him, realizing that if the other boy wasn't worried about the big man he shouldn't be either. As he'd done many times before on patrol with Buffy, he sat back and enjoyed the show.

Logan was indeed having fun. He kicked and punched, weaving and dodging the demons attacks, his claws raking over the putrescent skin of his opponent. The creature was about two feet taller than Logan, with huge teeth and claws of its own. But the demon was outclassed by the smaller human, and now that all its minions were gone, it was trying to find a way to escape.

Xander was watching, awed by the skill and fighting style of the older man. 'Even Buffy would be impressed by this guy.' He thought. After watching for a few minutes, the teens were getting bored, and Evan shot a stake into the demon to catch Logan's attention. The big man looked at the kids and Evan pantomimed a yawn, silently telling the big man to hurry up and finish.

Logan waved at the boys and, as the demon tried to charge past him, making a break for the door, he took off its head. The boys hopped off their crates, and Evan grabbed a scrap of cloth to give Logan so that the man could wipe the demon blood off his claws before he retracted them. The blue eyed man thanked the teen, and congratulated both boys on their quick dispatch of the vampires. Feeling good about themselves, the man and two boys left the warehouse and continued prowling through the dark streets.

* * * * * * * * * *

Buffy was pissed off. The slayer didn't like this group of people who'd come barging into her territory and taken over for the duration of their stay. The older man, who seemed to be in joint charge of the 'rescue team' with the woman, got on her nerves. The teenagers seemed okay, reminding her of the way she, Willow, and Xander had acted at their ages. Buffy wondered what they really wanted in her town, certain they wouldn't have travelled a single step to rescue Spike.

Pietro and Kitty walked close together behind the annoying blonde girl, neither of the younger teens impressed by the slayers attitude. Since their meeting that afternoon at the watchers place, Buffy had behaved like a spoiled brat who wasn't getting her way. The older girl had taken every opportunity to glare daggers into the Xmen team, focusing her anger at Logan and Serena. The final straw for the teens had been when she'd made a move to attack Kurt, just because of his tail. They hated to think of what she might do to them once they exhibited their powers, if she could lay hands on them that was.

The trio had been walking around the outskirts of the college campus for hours, seeing nothing unusual. Not even a vampire had come their way. The slayer was now leading them into the woods that flanked the far edge of the campus, hoping to find something to slay.

Pietro was keeping track of their position in his mind. He had a feeling that the slayer wouldn't come to their aid if he or Kitty found themselves in trouble, and he wanted to be sure he knew which way to go if the two of them needed to leave in a hurry. Feeling uneasy, the tiny hairs at the back of the speed demons neck rose, and he moved closer to Kitty.

Buffys' slayer sense told her there was something close by, probably vampires looking to have a co-ed dinner. She glanced over her shoulder at the two young mutants, and found that the boy had a stake grasped tightly in one hand. The girl was casting her cornflower blue eyes nervously around her, and keeping within touching distance of the white haired guy. The slayer motioned them to stop, and then listened closely to the night sounds.

The trees creaked loudly in the cold breeze, and the bushes that grew low to the ground shivered restlessly. Somewhere in the distance a car horn blared, and close to the small group, off to the right, a large foot came down on a dead branch, cracking it with a harsh snap. With the element of surprise gone, the four demons attacked.

The creatures were short and stocky, about five feet tall. But as they attacked the group they perceived as helpless mortals they showed a certain amount of strength and agility. The first two demons to get to the group went after the slayer as she was closest. The nearest one was immediately kicked into its partner, and both flew back in the direction they'd come from. Leaving the mutants to fend for themselves against the two remaining demons, Buffy pursued the two she'd sent flying.

The initial charge took Pietro and Kitty by surprise, but the girl was fast enough to grab Pietros' arm and phase them both so that the demons rushed through them. Quickly realizing they'd missed their targets, the demons whirled and headed back to the young mutants.

Pietro separated himself from Kitty, trying to lead the demons away from the girl. Only one fell for the trick and both teens engaged one creature. Kitty used her power to phase through a punch that otherwise would've knocked her unconscious. The girl had a sweet, passive nature, but faced with a life or death situation, she fought like a small wild cat.

As the demon tried to catch her in a series of lightning quick punches, the girl ghosted and moved into the attacks. Once she was close enough, she ducked under the blows and rammed her stake into the demons abdomen.

The creature doubled over, and though it was by no means dead, it was wounded, and bent now on revenge for its injury. It bent its short, heavily muscled legs, and sprang up, vaulting over the young girl to attack her from behind. Kitty whirled around, but not quickly enough, and a harsh blow grazed her shoulder, throwing her to the ground in pain.

The demon saw the brunette go down, stunned by the punch it had thrown and immediately pounced on the girl. Kitty phased just before its deadly teeth reached her and sank into the ground. Seeing an opportunity, she moved herself through the earth to the area where the demons feet should be and reached up.

The demon was on all fours, looking dazedly at the hard earth it had landed on, where a small girl had rested just a second before. Kitty grabbed the demons ankles and phased the creature into the earth with her, so that it was stuck in the soil up to its waist, with its knees bent to make sure it wouldn't have an easy time freeing itself.

Kitty lifted herself out of the dirt, just beyond the demons reach, and dusted her hands off, smiling at the incapacitated creature. Then she turned to see how her companions were doing. Buffy was nowhere in sight, though the sounds of a fight came back to her ears from the trees about twenty yards away. Pietro wasn't exactly in sight either, but there seemed to be a small tornado just ahead of her.

Pietro had kept the small girl in sight, wanting to be able to help if she got into trouble. When he'd first engaged the demon that was following him, he'd zipped around it, pausing every few seconds so it could get a look at him. He knew he couldn't use that tactic for long, but it gave him time to think about how best to kill the creature.

Darting about, he kept the demon confused. As long as he didn't stop in the same place twice, it couldn't anticipate his next move. He'd taken a second to look in Kittys' direction just when her opponent landed a blow to her shoulder. Not even thinking about the creature he was fighting, the white haired boy had stopped in his tracks as he saw his not quite friend fall to the ground. That pause had given his demon the opportunity it needed, and the creature punched the slender boy in the back. Pietro had fallen to his knees, winded by the blow and in pain, fearing a cracked rib.

Knowing he had to get up and move or he'd be killed, the teen had pushed his pain away and shot to his feet. He began running around the creature again, not stopping this time. He forced himself to run faster and faster, building up speed and quickly forming a tornado that lifted his opponent into the whirling air currents.

The force of the wind he created broke the leafy end of a branch off of a nearby tree, and Pietro noticed the convenient sharply pointed limb that was left. The speed demon slowed, allowing the tornado to subside enough so that the demons torso was level to the broken branch. Waiting for the right moment, Pietro let the creature get into position and then shoved it with all the force he could muster, impaling the creature on the branch.

As soon as he was sure the monster was out of commission Pietro dropped to his knees, clutching his ribs in pain. Kitty rushed over to her fallen companion and knelt at his side. She unclasped the armband he was wearing and quickly typed, "Pietro how bad are you hurt? Should I call for the others?"

The boy took a deep shuddering breath and released his torso, then shook his head in the negative. One long fingered pale hand reached for the computer and he typed, "No, I'm ok. That thing actually managed to hit me. Are you ok? I saw you go down."

The brunette gave him a smile and a thumbs up, indicating that she was fine, and then typed, "We should find Buffy and see if she's ok. She took two of them on herself." Pietro nodded and allowed the girl to help him to his feet. He kept an arm around her slight shoulders as they made their way in the direction the slayer had gone.

They found the slayer quickly enough, but not battling demons as they'd hoped. The demons were down, one appeared to be dead, a stake through its throat. The other was lying on the ground twitching and the slayer was facing off against a young man in fatigues. The man had a weird looking gun aimed at Buffy and the blonde girl was mouthing the word "Riley".

Not knowing what to do, Kitty and Pietro stopped at the edge of the clearing. Demons and vampires they'd expected, but the group had forgotten about the commandos that were the reason they'd needed to come and get Spike. The soldier lowered his gun as they watched, and mouthed the slayers name, looking completely befuddled.

Pietro took a step forward, bringing Kitty with him. The slayer and the soldier both turned quickly, and Buffy relaxed noticeably when she saw the two teens. She limped over to them and took the computer from Kitty. "Are you two ok? What happened to the demons?" she typed. Kitty took the computer back and explained that Pietro had killed one and she'd left the other half buried in the ground. Then she gestured at the unknown man and typed, "Who's he? One of the commandos?"

Buffy took the computer back and typed a message quickly, "I don't know Kitty. Until just now I thought he was a psych major at the college, a T.A. for one of my professors." Turning to the soldier who still had a confused look on his face the slayer typed again. "Well Riley, answer the girls question. Are you one of the commandos?"

The mans blue eyes widened with astonishment. No one was supposed to know about the military presence in Sunnydale, yet here was the girl he had a crush on, and two high school kids who seemed to know something about his team. He opened his mouth to make some kind of denial, but of course, no sound came past his lips. Giving the trio another bewildered look, Riley Finn turned and ran quickly into the woods.

Buffy glared after the man, but didn't pursue him. She turned to the two younger teens and tapped at the keypad, "I'll talk to him later. Right now I think we should go back to Giles' place." She typed one more message before handing it back to Kitty. "Tell the others we'll meet them back at Giles. Let them know we're hurt but not seriously and that they should keep patrolling."

Kitty quickly relayed the message to the other three groups, receiving an almost immediate reply from Logan saying that he and his group would meet them there. 'I should've known Mr. Logan would come running if I said we were hurt. He's like, so overprotective sometimes.' The brunette thought, walking slowly between Pietro and Buffy.

* * * * * * * * * *

When Kittys' message came through Giles armband, the librarian was too busy to take much note of it. After patrolling Sunnydales many cemeteries for a few hours, the trio had come across three of the straight jacketed, muzzled minions that accompanied the Gentlemen. They knew that these were the monsters because Rogue had caught a glimpse of one of the voice snatchers and described it to the man and the vampire as being 'a funeral home director, post mortem.'

The three minions had spotted them in the cemetery and immediately come at them. Rogue and Giles had each taken one of the ghastly creatures while Spike dodged the blows of the third, thinking himself unable to fight the demon without setting off his chip.

They were holding their own in the fight until Giles tripped over a headstone and went down. Rogue had abandoned her fight to run to the librarians side, sending a flying side kick at the demon who was about to pummel the fallen man. The girl was helping Giles to stand when the demon she'd been fighting appeared behind her and struck a hard blow to her side.

Spike had seen Giles fall and Rogue go to help him, getting a punch to the chin as a reward for his inattention. The master vampire was beginning to get pissed off. 'Without this bloody chip in my head I'd have already beaten these useless things into the ground.' He thought, dodging another punch successfully.

Rogue got back up and held her side for a moment, taking a deep breath. She caught sight of two minions ganging up on the librarian, who was doing his best to fend them off. 'He's got balls for a librarian. Doing pretty good at holding em off.' The redhead thought as she took off running to Giles aid again.

The blond vampire smirked as the gothic dressed girl shook off the painful blow she'd been dealt and got back to business. It was a few minutes before Spike had a chance to check on the others and when he saw the predicament they were in, the vampire saw red. Giles was unconscious, having been knocked hard against a tree. Rogue had obviously gone to defend the man, and was unsuccessfully trying to keep them away from the watcher.

One minion got a strong backhanded punch through her defense and the girl went flying, landing a few feet away in a heap. Without even thinking about the pain that might accompany his next actions Spike blocked a punch, his face shifting, fangs and claws lengthening. With blinding speed, the master vampire reached in and tore out the throat of the demon he was fighting.

Not even waiting for the body to drop, he ran at full speed to Giles, who was about to be beaten from unconsciousness into death. Leaping onto the minions back from five feet away, Spike wrapped one leather clad arm around the demons neck, holding it under the chin. His other arm came up and grasped the top of the creatures head, Spike then gave a vicious twist and heard the satisfying crack of the minions' neck breaking.
Rogue was lying on her side, her face set in stoic resolution, though her green eyes betrayed her fright. One of the minions was nearly upon her, and she knew she couldn't get away in time. She didn't have anyone's power in her but her own, and she couldn't see a spot of bare hide on the creature to touch. As the minion got closer, she cocked a leg up, intending to kick the monster in the gut, hoping it would buy enough time for her to regain her feet.

As the girls jade green eyes glared at the demon, she saw something flash silver in the moonlight, just beside the minions muzzled head. As the silver blade came across the creatures' throat, Rogue saw Spikes blond head and glowing yellow eyes. The vampire had an evil grin on his ridged face as he slashed the last minions' throat with his boot knife.

Letting the body of the demon drop, Spike went to Rogues side and offered a pale hand. Looking at his handsome face as he shook off the ridges, the girl saw him mouth the words ' 'Ello Cutie.' Embarrassed to find herself blushing at the light flirtation, Rogue took the vampires hand and let him pull her to her feet. She tried to walk, taking a step in Giles direction, but stumbled on a twisted ankle and was caught and lifted into strong, leather clad arms. Blushing fiercely and silently berating herself for it, the girl wrapped her arms around Spikes neck and allowed him to carry her over to the librarian, who was beginning to wake up.

Spike kept the girl in his arms as he knelt beside Giles. The man groaned silently and clutched his aching head. Realizing that the vampire wasn't going to put her down, Rogue took one arm from around his neck and rested it on the watchers shoulder. When he looked over she mouthed the words, "Are you ok Mr. Giles?"

Giles nodded and typed into the computer on his arm, "I'll be fine child. I've been knocked on the head so many times now I must be developing a thick skull. How are you? And what happened to the demons?"

Spike finally set Rogue on the ground next to Giles and took the computer to type, "I killed the bloody things. Chip must not activate if I'm fighting a demon. Saw them about to make mincemeat out of the two of you and stopped prancing around like a ponce. I figured it'd be worth the sodding headache to keep the little spitfire here alive."

Giles was about to comment when the body of the minion nearest to them started shivering. He pointed at the thing, thinking maybe Spike hadn't killed it after all. The vampire and the girl looked, then glanced around to find the other corpses shivering as well.

Spike went to the nearest one, the minion with the broken neck, and kicked the trembling corpse. As his boot connected with the demons ribs, the heads of all three bodies exploded, showering green goo over the ground, and Spikes jeans. They gazed at the now headless corpses, astonished. A moment later three white wisps of smoke drifted into the cemetery, and entered the mouths of the trio.

Rogue coughed as one entered her mouth, and to the men's surprise, the cough sounded loud and clear. The girl opened her mouth and spoke aloud, "Well, it looks like someone's gotten our voices back." Spike and Giles thought they'd never heard a sweeter sound than that of the redheads' lilting southern drawl.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kurt was enjoying the nights patrol, though the hours of walking had tired him. After making a thorough sweep of the park, Serena had let Willow take the lead as they patrolled the streets of the town. The older woman had handed her armband over to Willow early in the walk, so that the girl could talk to Kurt. The two teens had quickly gotten engrossed in conversation.

As they neared the center of town, Serena thought she saw a strange floating figure. She caught the attention of her young friends and made a swift gesture across her throat, indicating they should stop conversing. Willow signed quickly, "What's up?"

Serena signed back, "Demon, over there near that building. Wait here while I check it out." Willow nodded and took Kurts arm, moving them both into the shadows. Serena moved away silently, and followed the well dressed monster into an abandoned building. Keeping close to the wall, Serena moved up the stairs and peeked at the second floor. There were half a dozen of the skeletal creatures, and four of their minions inside.

The raven haired woman practically flew back down the stairs and out of the building. She gathered Willow and Kurt and led them to a spot about a block away. Using the computer she told them what she'd seen. "The demons have set up shop in the clock tower of that building. There are six demons, and four minions on the second floor. I thought I caught a glimpse of the box Buffy was telling us about, on a table with some empty mason jars."

Willows eyes widened, the redhead couldn't believe the monsters were audacious enough to make their lair in the middle of town. From her experience, most demons preferred to keep to the outskirts of town, in the caves or the woods. She typed into the computer, "Should we call for the others? I don't think we should go after that many alone do you?"

Serena nodded for the girl to get the message out, but before she could, one came to them from Kitty. After Logan's response Willow went to go ahead with her message but Serena stopped her. Taking the redheads arm she typed, "Scrap that idea. Buffy, Kitty, and Ptichka are hurt, and Logan needs to go take care of them. Giles team didn't reply so they're probably busy. We'll have to do this ourselves."

The raven haired woman thought quietly for a moment, trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't get any of them killed. 'Kurt should be able to get the box easily enough, if I distract the demons. But what about Willow, the mud ugly things will think Kurt and I are other demons, but Willow looks human and doesn't have any special powers. Or does she? Spike said she was a witch, and if she could work a 'will be done' spell she can probably come up with a convincing glamour.'

Serena took the computer again and asked the redhead, "Willow, can you perform a glamour on yourself? One that will mask your heartbeat and give you a vampire face at least? I don't want the demons to see that we're human. Kurt and I can both pass as demons but we need some kind of disguise for you."

Willow thought a moment and responded, "I can do a glamour easy enough, and I know what I look like as a vampire. But muffling my heartbeat and stuff would require another witch, I don't have enough power to do it myself and then fight demons." She typed, thinking of her vampire twin.

The older woman sighed, and then typed, "I have a bit of power in the magicks, you can take what you need from me. Let's do it now, I want to get this over with so we can get to the others in case they're more injured than they think." She held out her hands to the younger woman and closed her eyes, focusing on the natural magick within her. Willow took the offered hands and pulled the power from Serena, silently chanting the spell to make her appear to be a vampire.

Kurt watched in amazement as the women's joined hands glowed white. He looked at Willow and saw that she was changing. Her pale skin became translucent, her elfin face grew the forehead ridges he'd seen on Spike earlier, and her canines elongated into fangs. When the glamour was complete and Willow released Serenas' hands it was impossible to tell that the older girl wasn't a walking corpse.

Serena leaned against a convenient wall for a moment, catching her breath. Willow had taken quite a bit of her energy to complete the spell, but when the womans whiskey hued eyes took in the girls' appearance, she was pleased with the results. The redhead hadn't merely covered her face and body functions, she'd changed her whole body. If Serena had known the girl the previous year, she would've recognized the disguise as that of the vampire Willow.

She gave a bright smile to let the redhead know she'd done a good job, and then took the computer to outline her plan. "Ok kids, we'll go in the same way I did. When we reach the upstairs room Willow and I will distract the vampires. Kurt, as soon as the demons come toward us, you teleport over to the table and grab the little wooden box. It probably won't open willingly so I need you to smash it with something heavy. That should release our voices and we'll be able to kill the damn things."

The teens nodded and the trio made their way back to the old building. Outside the front door Serena closed her eyes and allowed her fangs and claws to come forth. When her eyes opened again, they were shiny black pools. She gestured to Kurt and the boy turned off his image inducer, revealing his natural appearance. Serena led them silently into the building.

No more than two minutes later Serena was cursing silently in every language she knew. The plan would have worked, if luck had been on their side. But luck was a woman, and a fickle one at that. According to the plan, Serena and Willow had made themselves visible at the top of the stairs, and the demons had come after them. Kurt had teleported when the creatures moved away from the table, but one had seen him and come back.

Before the blue teen could lay hands on the box, he was knocked backwards with a powerful blow to the stomach. One of the minions came after him and he had no choice but to fight it, needing to gather his thoughts before he could teleport again. His training with the Xmen proved well worth the effort as he defended himself against the mindless creature.

Serena, seeing her friend fall, had rushed the demons floating toward she and Willow, gesturing for the girl to stay back. The dark haired woman forced her arm fins out. The shiny iridescent fins, thin and silky smooth, had jagged barbs protruding from them, their tips poisonous. She drew her arm forward and slammed the first demon a backhanded blow, raking the deadly barbs through its hide. Using all the fighting skills she'd learned from Spike and Logan, the small woman battled her way through the demons, trying to get to Kurt.

Willow had a stake clasped firmly in her hand, prepared to defend herself if one of the ugly demons got past the furious mutant. Her attention was so focused on the battle in front of her, the redhead didn't see one of the minions, just arrived from the outside, come up behind her. The strong creature hit her between the shoulder blades, and the petite girl flew forwards, hitting her head against the table before landing in an unconscious heap on the floor.

Kurt saw the girl land and teleported to her side, relieved to see her still breathing. He grabbed the box in one hand just as Serena reached them. The woman looked into his opalescent eyes and touched his fuzzy cheek gently. Behind the woman, Kurt saw one of the demons coming at her with a scalpel. His eyes widened in alarm and Serena turned just in time, the scalpel making a gash through her arm rather than stabbing into her back.

Jet eyes tearing from pain, Serena pushed Kurt away from her, making a gesture for the boy to take Willow and teleport out of there. Not wanting to leave his surrogate mother to face the demons alone and wounded, Kurt hesitated. She made the gesture again and pointed to the box still held in his hand.

Realizing that she could destroy the demons if he got the box open to release her voice, Kurt knelt and grabbed Willow by the arm, then teleported to the safety of the street. Serena let out a relieved sigh when the teens vanished in a puff of foul smelling smoke. Gritting her teeth, she turned to face the demons and their minions, prepared to defend herself until Kurt got the box open.

Outside and a block away, Kurt and Willow appeared. The redhead was beginning to rouse, groaning silently. Her emerald eyes opened and she looked into the boys blue face and glowing white eyes. He spared her a fang filled grin before standing and looking around, trying to find something to smash the box that held their voices within.

Willow saw her new friend holding the box and an idea came to her. Gesturing wildly, she made him set the box down and step away from it. Dropping her glamour to leave her powers free, the amateur witch focused on the box and shouted a silent command in latin. The box exploded under the force of her spell and released a huge cloud of white smoke that rose and separated as each voice headed back to its owner.

Inside the clock tower, Serena was getting tired. There were just too many creatures; she couldn't hold them off much longer. As she raised her good arm to block a minion's punch, she saw a white wisp of smoke shoot into the room and enter her mouth. Realising that Kurt had opened the box, Serena leaped backward away from the monsters. Falling to the floor, the raven haired beauty opened her full lips and screamed with all the force of her powerful hypnotic voice. To human ears, the sound barely reached Kurt and Willow, sitting together a block away, but to the demons who couldn't bear the slightest sound of a human voice, it echoed throughout the city, reaching the ears of all the creatures.

Serena watched through black eyes as the sound of her voice killed the demons in the lair. First they stood completely still, and then their skeletal hands came up to cover their ears, attempting to muffle the shrill scream. Their heads began to shake, and the Sirens lips formed a beautiful, evil smile as the horrible grins on the creatures faces exploded into green goo.

As the sound of Serenas' scream faded from his sensitive ears, Kurt took Willows hand and teleported them to the front door of the old building. A minute later Serena appeared, stumbling slightly, bruised and bleeding from her injured arm. Kurt left Willow leaning against the wall of the building and ran to help his friend.

Serena graced the boy with one of her lovely smiles that reached all the way to her now golden eyes. She leaned on the teens shoulders, his lean form having more than enough strength to help her walk over to the small redhead. She leaned against the wall beside the younger girl and ripped her already torn sleeve away from her injured arm. Giving the scrap of material to Kurt, she offered the bleeding arm to the boy and indicated that he should tie the sleeve around the wound, making a pressure bandage.

After Kurt had tied the makeshift bandage, he wrapped Serenas' good arm around his shoulders again, then held out a hand to Willow. The petite redhead took his three fingered hand and Kurt teleported them back into Giles courtyard.

* * * * * * * * * *

Kurt left his companions in the courtyard and went to get some help. His strength was failing and he hoped by now someone was back to help him get the injured women into the house. Logan met him at the door, having smelled the odour that accompanied the blue teen's teleportation. "Hey Logan. I need some help out here. Serena and Willow are hurt." The boy said, his German accent becoming heavy with his fatigue.

Logan ran out, as did Pietro. The two groups had arrived almost simultaneously a few minutes earlier. The man and the two teens went back to the courtyard and knelt beside the injured women. Logan saw the bandage on Serenas' arm and the many bruises that were forming on the visible parts of her skin. A rumbling growl came up from his throat as he lifted his Chatterbox into his arms.

Pietro was supporting Willow as the girl stood on shaky feet. The knock on the head had made the hacker dizzy, and the use of her magic had weakened her severely. The five were about to go back into the house when Spike came into the courtyard carrying Rogue, with Giles weaving along beside them. Logan yelled for Evan and Xander and the two teens came running. "Go help Spike and Mr. Giles. We need to get everyone inside and patched up." The big man said as he walked past them, anxious to find out the extent of everyone's injuries. It appeared that his group was the only one to have escaped the night unscathed.

When the whole group was assembled in the watchers living room Anya and Olivia could only stare. Eight of the twelve warriors were injured, though except for the gash on Serenas' arm no one appeared seriously hurt. Xander and Evan went into the kitchen and brewed a large pot of tea, as well as several mugs of coffee. They handed the beverages out while Logan assessed the damage done to their group.

Rogue was nearest to the big man, and he saw that she was still nestled in the vampires' arms. Her ankle was swollen and he could see a large bruise forming on her side under the sheer green over blouse. Logan held his bare hand to the girls' cheek for a moment, until she'd absorbed some of his power. He moved to Serena, who was still bleeding, but she waved him off after taking his armband.

Logan growled at the woman, she was the most seriously injured of the group and he needed to take a look at her arm. "Let me see that arm Chatty." He growled. She waved him off again, pointing to Willow who had a cut on her forehead oozing blood. When her friend growled at her again, she typed a message into the computer she'd taken from him.

"Go tend to the others and stop growling you big bully. Spike will fix my arm; he can get it sealed in a couple minutes. You'd just want to put stitches in it." She typed, wanting to wait until everyone was patched up before she spoke aloud to the group. Logan gave her a confused look, but did as she asked, crossing the room to kneel beside Willow.

Serena tapped out another message, "Spike, Rogue is all better now, you can put her down. Come and fix my arm for me, it hurts like the devil." The blond vampire stood up, placing Rogue gently in his seat. He winked at the blushing girl and then walked over and knelt at Serenas' side. The woman was sitting in one of the recliners, her left arm bandaged and laying uselessly over the arm of the chair.

Spike gently took her injured arm at the elbow with one hand, and untied the scrap of cloth binding the wound with the other. The cut was shallow but long, extending from her shoulder almost to her elbow. The vampire looked at the still oozing gash and was glad that whatever had cut his friend had a clean edge on it. It made his job that much easier.

Various cries of shock were heard a moment later when the vampires' face changed and he began lapping at the long cut with his tongue. Xander started to go for a stake, then changed his mind when he saw the raven haired woman smile down at the vampire. Whatever Spike was doing was making the injured woman feel better.

Serena turned to face the shocked stares of her friends and the scooby gang. Sighing loudly, she laid her computer in her lap and typed with her good arm. "Vampire saliva has healing properties. He's sealing the cut so I won't have to get it stitched. He's also numbing the area so it doesn't hurt anymore." She explained. Her friends shrugged and went back to resting, though the scoobies continued to watch Spikes actions closely.

Spike was taking a great amount of pleasure in treating his friends wound. It showed great trust on her part, and helped her friends to trust him. The rich blood had nearly stopped flowing, but the vampire continued to lap at the wound, a low purr rumbling up from his chest. It soothing noise grew louder when Serena reached over and began petting his bleached hair.

Buffy watched the proceedings with a look of utter disgust. The slayer was appalled that the strange woman would allow a vampire to lick her wound clean, even if it was closing the gash. When Spike started purring with enjoyment the girl couldn't help but comment. "Healing my ass, he's getting a free snack. Don't you know better than to let a vampire anywhere near you when you're bleeding? If it wasn't for that chip in his head he'd have already taken a bite."

Serena rolled her dark eyes at the girl before typing, "And if he was hurting me now he'd be groaning in pain don't you think? I don't mind that he's drinking my blood; he's done it before and probably will again. And I could ask the same question of you child, I see you have a nice ragged scar on your neck. At least when I got bitten they took enough care that I didn't have a nasty scar, mine are barely visible."

The slayer scowled at being called a child but took a closer look at Serenas' throat anyway. The woman tilted her head, first to one side, then the other and Buffy saw that she did indeed have a scar on each side, which was only visible if you looked closely and knew what you were looking for. The slayer grumbled, but refrained from making any more comments.

Logan asked Giles for a first aid kit and then went around the room caring for the injured teens. Pietro had his ribs wrapped tightly, as did Kurt. Buffy bandaged her own sprained ankle, knowing it would be healed the next morning. Rogues injuries were completely healed by Logans touch, and Willow had a bandage placed over the cut on her temple. Kitty asked for some aspirin to take care of her bruised shoulder, as did Serena for her multiple bruises. Spikes attention had worked wonders on the gash, and Logan only had to bandage it to make sure it didn't re-open.

After the first aid was given and everyone had settled into a seat, Serena decided it was time to get the hypnosis of the scoobies over with. Sitting back in her chair, with Pietro leaning against her knees and Logan perched beside her the dark haired woman closed her eyes and began to hum a lullaby. Giles, Willow, and Xander went under almost immediately. Buffy took a little longer, almost making it through a whole verse. Spike had built up a strong resistance to her voice over the years, and it took about three minutes to make him fall under her influence.

The Xmen team watched their new friends become glassy eyed with hypnosis, glad that they'd already been through the process so that they could just relax and enjoy the soothing sound. When Serena was sure that Spike had gone under, she quickly gave the group the 'forevermore' suggestion and watched amusedly as they shook the effects of her voice off.

Spike was the only one to realize what Serena had done. He shook off the hypnosis to find himself in game face. No matter how often he heard his little Nymphs' voice, he always went game face just before he was hypnotized. The vampire forced the ridges and fangs away, then arched a scarred brow at his friend. She smiled back at him and signed that she'd explain later.

The adults sat quietly for a while, letting the teenagers talk about their night's adventures. Xander and Willow sang the praises of their new friends, each telling Buffy and Giles that they absolutely had to see the mutants in action. Giles commented on Rogues exceptional fighting skill, comparing her to a younger Buffy. The blonde slayer fumed silently at the comparison, and was the first to leave the watchers home a few minutes later.

When the slayer made her exit, Logan looked at the clock on the wall behind him. Seeing that it was nearly five a.m. the big man stood and said, "I hate to break this up, but we'd better get back to the hotel. You kids need some sleep and Spike'll get fried if we wait too much longer." Serena and Giles nodded their agreement and the exhausted teens pushed themselves out of seats grown comfortable to leave.

As they left Willow called after them, "Will we see you guys tomorrow before you leave?" The redhead wanted to talk to the group more, especially Kurt and Kitty. The younger girl reminded Willow of herself a few years earlier, and the redhead thought Kurt was a fuzzy blue sweetheart. For the first time since Oz had left, Willow looked at another boy and found him attractive, and was surprised to find she didn't feel the least bit guilty about her interest.

Giles also wanted a chance to talk to the group before they left. They'd proven themselves to be friendly and helpful, despite his slayers childish behaviour and violent outburst. "It would be nice to have a chance to speak with you under more pleasant circumstances. If you're not in any great hurry, maybe we could meet tomorrow afternoon?" the librarian asked, hoping they'd accept his invitation.

Serena looked at Logan, and the big man nodded his head in agreement. "We'll come by after lunch tomorrow. The kids probably won't wake up until after noon." He said, also wanting a chance to speak to the slayerettes, though hopefully Buffy would make herself scarce. Waving goodbye, the group trudged wearily out of the housing complex and headed for their hotel.

* * * * * * * * * *

The large group made it back to the hotel with about half an hour to spare before dawn. Spike settled himself on the balcony of the upstairs rooms to enjoy a last smoke before the rising sun forced him inside. The teenagers had walked into their respective rooms and flopped onto the beds without even changing clothes. Shaking her head in weary resignation, Serena had followed the girls in order to nudge them into at least putting their pyjamas on.

Serena settled Rogue and Kitty into their beds, giving them the same attentions she did every other night. When they were tucked in, and had each been given a warm hug and kiss, she left them already dozing, shutting the door softly behind her. Giving Spike a small smile as she walked past, she entered the open door of the boys' room.

She couldn't hold back a chuckle when she walked in and saw the boys already sound asleep. The dark haired woman nudged them awake and made them change clothing. Too tired to argue, they'd crowded into the bathroom and stripped to their boxers before coming back out and falling into bed again.

Softly singing the same lullaby she'd put them to sleep with the previous night, Serena pulled the covers over the teens and kissed them each on the forehead. A loud snore from Evan followed her out of the room. Again shutting the door behind her, the exhausted woman went into her own room and changed into her pyjamas. Logan had been in there while she was tending to the kids and after she'd changed, she joined he and Spike on the balcony.

Serena leaned into Logans embrace and sighed contentedly. She had Spike, she had her voice back, and her charges weren't seriously hurt. The blond vampire handed her a lit cigarette which she accepted, taking a deep drag on the filter. Logan looked down at the top of Serenas' dark head and smiled, his Chatterbox was asleep on her feet.

"Why'd ya take the trouble to tuck the rug rats in tonight Chatty? I don't think any of em noticed." The big man asked, squeezing her good arm lightly. She tilted her head up and met his deep blue eyes, smiling at the sight of his heavily stubbled, rugged face.

She lowered her head to look at the lightening sky and took a drag on her cigarette before replying. "They noticed. After a day as strange to them as this one has been, they needed the comfort of that familiar ritual, even if they were too tired to realize they needed it. Remember, it was only yesterday that they found out all their nightmares were real. They hadn't even had time to adjust to that before I brought them here and threw them into life or death battles with those monsters."

She took another drag on her smoke, and let it out on a shuddering breath before she continued. "I realize now I shouldn't have asked them to come here. I was so frantic to get Spike back that I didn't stop to think about the effect this place and the creatures that live here would have on them. Every one of those babies could have died tonight, and it would've been my fault."

"I doubt you could've stopped em from comin Chatty. They sat in the ready room yesterday and listened to your story, but even with Jeannie and Wheels backin you up, they didn't really believe it was true. They didn't volunteer for this mission just to help you, no matter how much they love ya. They had to see it for themselves, had to face the monsters, look em in the eye, and fight em to the death so that they knew it was real. Don't you go blamin yourself because they got hurt, they all had a chance to say no, and none of em did." Logan tried his best to reassure the woman, but he could tell she still felt guilty.

The door to the corner room opened softly in the middle of Logan's speech, and Pietro stepped out into the cool breeze of early morning. The snowy haired boy padded over to his old friend on bare feet and spoke softly to her when Logan had finished. "Listen to him 'Rena, he's right. We didn't just come to help you, though that was a big part of it. When you were telling us about demons and vampires yesterday, I almost thought you were playing some kind of joke on us all. But I looked in your eyes, and I saw the same look in them that you had when my father took me away."

"Back then you were scared for me, about what might happen to me, and yesterday you were scared for Spike. I knew then that you were telling the truth, but I still didn't want to believe you. When you picked me as one of the team, I didn't accept only to help you; I also accepted so that I could see everything you talked about for myself, so I could make myself believe." The boy finished his speech, and was pleased when she looked at him with dark eyes free from guilt.

Serena opened her arms and hugged the slender boy tightly, being careful of his bruised ribs. She whispered a thank you as she brushed her lips over his cheek and then spoke louder, "Go on back to bed now Ptichka, you need to sleep." The teen gave her a cheeky grin and quickly walked back into his room.

Spike, who'd been silent through the conversation, spoke up now, "You listen to them Nymph. You've got a good bunch of niblets there, but they wouldn't have come unless they really wanted to. Now, where should I bunk down? A few more minutes out here and you'll be taking a large pile of dust back home tomorrow.

Serena threw her cigarette butt off the balcony and headed into the room she shared with Logan. The big man followed and passed her as she stopped in the doorway. "Better stay in here with Logan and me, if you stay with the boys they might forget your 'allergy' and open the curtains on you." Spike nodded, and followed the womans retreating form, closing the door as the first rays of sunlight hit the balcony.

Inside the room, Logan had laid down on one side of the large bed and closed his eyes. He didn't know where Serena was going to put the vampire and was too damn tired to care. Serena had closed the heavy curtains tightly, and then moved the single armchair over to hold them shut. She made sure no stray beams would get through, then turned back the covers and crawled between the sheets, snuggling her back into Logans chest. "Strip down to your boxers and climb in Spike. I'm too bloody tired to think of another place for one of us to sleep." She said, a large yawn following close behind the words.

Spike shrugged off his duster and laid it over the chair, then shed his shirts and jeans, putting them in the same place. Serena giggled at the sight of the vampires' Halloween themed boxer shorts, having given them to the blond as a gag gift the previous year. Spike looked down and saw the reason for her laughter, then tried to glare her into silence. "Bloody hell. Not a word about em tonight eh? Save your jokes for tomorrow."

Serena nodded, trying to hold back the giggle fit. As Spike crossed the room to the bed Logan opened his eyes to see what was amusing his friend. When he caught sight of the black boxers with their broom riding witches and cape wearing vampires, and the words 'happy halloween' over the crotch, Logan snorted in amusement.

"Wait until you see the back Wolvie." Serena said, her giggles having started up again at Logans' snort. The blond vampire gave the laughing pair a rude gesture and climbed into the bed. Unfortunately for Spike, his actions gave them both a good view of the bright orange pumpkin that covered his rear end. Logan roared with laughter and his Nymph went into hysterics.

Spike pouted and grumbled something unintelligible. When the laughter behind him faded away he said, "Better watch how much you laugh at these things mate. The little Nymph has a habit of giving gifts like these to her male friends. Before you know it she'll have you in something I'll find just as bloody amusing." He heard Logan growl softly, and felt Serena let out another silent chuckle. The blond had a feeling she'd already given the gruff man something that was equally as bad as his boxers.

The three exhausted people settled down quietly, spooning against each other as they drifted into sleep. Logan wrapped an arm around Serena, who in turn wrapped one around Spike. The vampire rested his arm over the womans, lacing his fingers through hers. Tangled together, the two men fell asleep with the petite woman between them, and all three enjoyed a long, peaceful, dreamless sleep.