Author's note: Sorry for the delay. I'm back.

Summary: Previously – Gnash followed bringing Angelus back to Sunnydale with creating a diversion in the form of a bunch of nasty demons. Tara came to terms with her new demon who warned her of the impending danger to her friends. Dawn got ready for school while Connor got ready for a day of demon hunting. Tara warned Angel of the coming disaster. Dawn was unaware of her impending danger in the form of Angelus.

Chapter 12: Preludes

He carefully ghosted his fingers over the drawing as if caressing it, but he didn't touch, not wanting to smudge the graphite markings he'd so carefully made. The lines didn't quite capture everything about the girl, he decided. The shine of her hair and lips or the light in her eyes couldn't be wrought in gray, but the rest, it was there. Angelus smiled. Beautiful. She really was beautiful and in some ways innocent. Certainly not in the ways of the world: in those disappointments she was quite versed. He could tell that from observing her. But in other ways, Dawn was still oh so innocent and ready to be persuaded. He'd bet that all she'd ever experienced were a few chaste kisses. That was where she would be vulnerable. Maybe she'd like someone to tell her she was lovely, maybe even desirable, perhaps prettier than her sister. Could he use the sibling rivalry card? Younger sisters often fell for such things, desperate for once to be better than their older sister even if they couldn't be first.

Dawn knew what he looked like, though, and Angelus doubted that she'd be easily fooled. No, he was going to have to capture her by force, but he was sure he could make her feel something, even if she resisted. She was naïve. The right touch, the right whisper, and he'd have her whimpering. The coup de gras, though, he'd wait for that until he had an audience to witness the debauchery. Spike would be best, if he could arrange it. Angel would feel badly for the young woman, and likely the requisite guilt – when didn't he feel that – but Spike would be better. His horror, his impotent rage at having to watch, bound, helpless, and preferably wounded while his little Nibblet's virginity was painfully stolen from her: that would be exquisite to see. Turning the girl if he so decided, and likely he would, would be for Buffy's benefit.

Looking towards the window, he could see the dark gold highlights peeking through the scant opening in the dark curtains. Reluctantly, he put his drawing down and rose from the straight backed chair. His musings had been pleasant and had passed the time, but now it was almost time to hunt. Angelus could barely wait. First though, he had to prepare. Staying here in the mansion wasn't an option, because they would look for him here. If not Buffy, then Connor, whose recent presence he could sense, both by scent and by an unidentifiable something that, unnervingly, still told him son. And Connor wouldn't be as easily swayed as Buffy by nostalgia into letting him slip by once or twice. The boy had been much too conditioned by Holtz in just the opposite reaction where he was concerned.

Angelus looked around, checking to see if there was anything he wanted to take with him and wishing that he had his coat to conceal a few choice weapons he might want just in case. He'd have to search the mansion for a coat or for smaller weapons that didn't require as much concealment. There was a little time left to do that. Glancing at the drawing on the desk, he wistfully considered leaving it there. Would someone find it? Would they realize what it meant and be properly unnerved? Maybe and most definitely, but he couldn't take the chance. He'd need an advantage on this one, so no letting Buffy or anyone else in on his plan, at least not yet. Regretfully, he folded the drawing and carefully put it in his shirt pocket before turning to search the mansion for useable weapons.

...

Connor hadn't expected this. He'd fought more types of demons than he could name in one sitting, but he'd never fought one like this. With an unusual mixture of bulk and swiftness, the demon wielded razor sharp claws and huge fangs with almost equal efficiency. The sharp spines covering its back were simply overkill: not really weapons, but more of an added layer of protection from a rear assault. That was too bad, Connor lamented, because the demon already had enough protection in the front as it was. The heavy skin and thickened plates that covered its body might as well have been armor. Actually it seemed almost worse than that, because instead of being at all vulnerable, the two parts of the demon's hide worked together to make one amazingly protective skin. The thickened hide between the bony plates gave some without being penetrated and allowed the plates some movement so that they didn't shatter if you hit them. They just deflected the blow and shifted a little. That last bit of information Connor had unfortunately come by through experience. That experience almost cost him to lose his arm when his weapon glanced off a shifting plate and became stuck between the monster's body and arm as it clamped the latter down on his blade. That particular axe now lay somewhere on the tunnel floor. The demon had simply ignored it as fell, its fangs and claws being all the weapons it needed.

Dancing back again, Connor pulled a large sword from its sheath on his back and reluctantly moved farther down the subterranean tunnel and away from the daylight which he knew provided some safety. Despite the thickness of its leathery skin, sunlight seemed to do the demon some damage with blisters forming almost immediately. He'd found this out when the demon had first lunged for him. The light also seemed to render the demon almost blind which wasn't surprising considering its strange eyes. The demon's eyes were unusually large, but faced forward like a predator, and Connor had the feeling it could see him very well in the dim light of the underground tunnel.

This was very bad. For the first time in a long time, a fight had gone from amusing to life-threatening. As another claw narrowly missed eviscerating him, leaving a thin bloody tear in both his shirt and the skin across his belly, Connor quickly decided he better consider running. He just wasn't sure how to do so without losing a large and potentially fatal chunk of flesh. He had to reach the sunlight of the tunnel opening, preferably before the sun got any lower in the sky.

Finding an unexpected opening, he scored a vicious stab to one of the creature's eyes before scrabbling back again. The creature roared in pain, its voice echoing loudly off the tunnel walls. Connor struck again, receiving a nasty gash to his shoulder this time, but lancing a likely fatal wound in the creature's other eye. The resulting bellow was even louder and elicited the answering calls of at least a half dozen more demons from a long ways down the tunnel. Connor knew it wouldn't be long before they arrived. Prickly tendrils of fear shattered his last bit of confidence. There was no more time to be careful. He had to go now, before the demon cavalry got there. His current demon still flailing at him blindly, Connor knew he'd probably be injured further if he ran for it now, but also knew he had little choice. Bracing himself for the pain, he leaped and rolled. He felt a searing trail of fire across his left leg as his trajectory brought him within the wounded monster's reach. He rolled through the impact, somersaulting to his feet and running for the sunlight. Blood ran down his leg with the effort and his lungs screamed for air, the unusual adrenaline rush of fear making him need more oxygen than usual. He grabbed for the ladder to the surface, taking one last look at the demon as it toppled to the ground with a sickening thud. On his other side, he could hear the other demons getting closer. He took a quick glance to confirm his assessment. Yes, there were at least half a dozen of them. Then he scrambled up the ladder. At the top, Connor panted heavily as he bandaged his deep leg wound as best he could with one of his sleeves. For the first time in a long while, The Destroyer limped home.

...

Angel paced, something he seemed to do more often recently, and he blamed that on Spike. Spike just wasn't as patient as Angelus had been: too much nervous energy. Angel wondered how his boy had ever gotten anything done at all. He growled in frustration and made himself stop. The sun was still out, or he wouldn't be pacing, but in a way the daylight was a good thing. He definitely wanted Buffy home before the sun set, but at the same time, he could go out and warn her if it was already dark. Of course Spike wanted to go out and find Buffy anyway even though it was day. No big surprise there. Angel could tell this even though he heard no coherent thoughts, because his annoying demon was choosing to make an issue out of it at present rather than be quiet. Again, no big surprise there either. Angel closed his eyes and mentally shut the door, the equivalent of smacking Spike upside the head and telling him to shut up. There, now he could actually think straight.

Tara had warned him of two problems, both of potentially equal magnitude. One was more vague and unknown in extent, while the other was very specific and obviously dangerous. Now what did they need to find out? Besides what kind of other dimensional threat was it that they were going to have to deal with, the main questions were how many somethings were called and how strong was Angelus right now? He couldn't have been back for very long, or Tara likely would've warned them sooner. Besides, Angel reasoned, he would've known if Angelus had been back sooner. Now if they only knew what kind of threat…

The door burst open at that moment, saving Angel from further thought, and he shrunk away from the lengthening, but still harmful rays that flooded inside. He expected Buffy, but was surprised to see Connor instead as the door slammed shut. "Dad, we have trouble."

Angel smelled the blood immediately and his eyes swept to take in Connor's limp and his bloodied appearance as the boy met him halfway across the living room. "Connor, are you alright?"

His son waved him off with an impatient gesture. "I'll be fine, but I'm not sure about the rest of Sunnydale tonight."

"What happened?"

"I found demons, but not like any I've seen or fought with before. And I don't know how many, but at least more than a half dozen."

"What do they look like?" As Angel asked, he tried to get Connor to sit down.

"Dad, stop." Connor brushed away his father's hands, indicating the blood that would get on the couch if he sat. "The demon I fought had claws. Big ones. And plates on its body in front, spines in back. It's big, but fast. The only weaknesses I found so far are that sunlight burns its skin quickly and blinds it for a while. Oh and it has big eyes that are vulnerable. Well, if you can get around its long reach to jab it in the eye that is."

"Sounds like you might've found one piece of our information," Angel muttered. He started pulling Connor towards the kitchen to clean him up.

Connor sighed heavily in annoyance, but let himself be led as he asked, "information?"

"Yes. It looks like our enemy has started bringing out the big guns. One of the things that Tara warned me about a little while ago was something or somethings bad were called up from another dimension. Looks like you found the somethings." He didn't elaborate as he started unwrapping Connor's hastily made bandage which once had been his shirt sleeve. "We'll have to get Willow and the gang to research and see if we can find out exactly what these are."

Connor was studying him, Angel could tell. His head was cocked as he watched Angel work, but that wasn't what he was interested in. He was waiting. Connor finally broke the quiet. "And?"

"And?" Angel asked.

"You said one of the things Tara warned you about. What was the other?"

Angel looked up from his bandaging and into Connor's eyes, wondering how someone with so little human contact growing up could read people so well. He wouldn't be able to keep the information from the boy for long, because soon everyone would have to know. Not breaking eye contact, Angel relented. "Angelus is the other. He's already here."

...

Buffy and Dawn arrived home to find a rather loud argument. They could hear it even through the front door as Buffy turned her key in the lock.

"I'm going and you can't stop me," Connor's defiant and agitated voice carried easily from the kitchen.

Angel's voice was softer and more reasonable, but just as determined. "No, you're not, and I will if I have to. You're hurt and there's no way I'm letting you go out there to find him while you're wounded."

"But if there's any chance he's not at full strength yet, now's the time to get him. Once the sun sets, he'll kill, and he'll get stronger."

Buffy decided it was best not to stand in the living room, because both Angel and Connor would know she was there soon enough, and much as she wanted to stay out of this, the prickling on her skin told her this wasn't just a regular argument. Something was very, very wrong. "Who?" Buffy asked as she made her way into the kitchen.

"Buffy," Angel said, the slight motion of his head indicating that he hadn't heard her enter. "We have…"

"Angelus," Connor interrupted. His sneer magnified the venom of his voice, and it made Buffy's skin prickle to see that much hate in a young person's eyes.

"You saw him? He's already here?" Buffy asked.

"No, we haven't seen him yet," Angel answered. "But he is already here."

"How do you know?" Buffy asked even though she wasn't sure that she wanted the answer. Part of her feared that Angel could somehow sense his presence, and she didn't want to be reminded of the connection he shared with the demon who delighted in tormented her.

"Tara told me."

"Tara? You saw Tara? But she's…"

"Yes," Angel answered soberly. "She still has the demon in her. In fact, the demon is what sensed the danger. I'm assuming he did, because he also let Tara know of the other danger."

"You mean Angelus isn't enough?" Dawn asked, managing to put maximum annoyance into her tone.

"Apparently not," Angel mumbled then more loudly, he added, "Tara mentioned some threat from another dimension that was called up with big, dark magic. Her demon felt the disturbance. Connor found demons while he was patrolling today."

"They were strong, dangerous," the boy added. "I haven't had that hard a time killing something in a really long time."

"This isn't good," Buffy said. "We'll have to warn everyone. Xander, Willow, Anya."

"I'll call Anya at the shop," Dawn offered. "Should I let her know we'll be by?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "We need to research. Find these demons. Find their weaknesses."

"I know one," Connor offered. "But it'd sure be nice if there were more, because, well, they're pretty nasty."

"And we don't know what they can do," Dawn added.

Buffy nodded. "Okay. Go call Anya," she directed at Dawn who nodded and rushed for the kitchen phone. "This'll have to be a quick research. We don't have a lot of time, I bet. Right?" she directed the last to Connor.

"Yeah. It looks like they're nocturnal, and they'll be ready to get out when the sun goes down. How did you know?"

"Because we almost never have a lot of time."

...

Across the table and on floor beside their chairs, books lay haphazardly everywhere. Well everywhere that was except in front of Willow where they were stacked in neat piles. Some of them even had small pieces of paper sticking out of them, and Xander thought he could see papers with colored notes on top of each pile. Some things didn't change.

Their goal was to find, as quickly as possible, anything they could about the demons Connor had fought. Buffy hated to have to leave her hunt for Angelus for later, but she said they had to choose the lesser of two evils, and a pack of dangerous demons was the greater threat.

Xander had argued that the demons might be a bigger threat, but he didn't agree with the "lesser of two evils" part of it. Buffy gave him that, but she didn't trust any of them going after Angelus alone. Who knew what advantages he might have? Angelus' ally was powerful, and he might've given the vampire some advantage they didn't know about. If Angelus managed to take someone hostage, that would put so many others at risk. Her eyes had gone dark then, likely remembering what had happened the last time Angelus had taken someone hostage. Giles had never talked about it in great detail, but Xander had seen the results, both physical and mental, when he'd saved him. Xander himself had experienced even worse.

Shaking the disturbing memories away, he flipped another page, mentally comparing the demon pictured on its yellowed paper to their search image that Connor had drawn for them and placed in the middle of the table. It wasn't what they were looking for, but… Something flashed in his memory. Something was familiar about the demon. The leathery hide, the piercing eyes, the somewhat reptilian face, and the broad torso all seemed familiar, but why? When had he seen a demon like that? His heart sped up as he read the description. The demon was green, large, and often reported to have an innate magic ability which was often honed and perfected… His mouth dropped open. Why hadn't he said anything before? It was as if seeing the picture opened up a door in his brain that had somehow been closed and locked. "Oh my God! Here!" he yelled, startling almost everyone.

"You found the demon?" Willow asked, scraping her chair beside him to gaze at the demon he was pointing at in the pages. "That doesn't look like Connor's picture."

Xander looked at her only hurriedly, taking in her furrowed brow and frowning mouth, before jabbing the picture of the demon frantically with his index finger. "No! This is the demon!"

"But Xander it isn't…" Willow was concerned now.

"No! The demon that took me!" he clarified. "The one that sent me to that other dimension. The one where Angelus was!"

"But that was a Vishnak demon," Anya pointed out from behind him. She too looked at the picture of the demon from over his shoulder.

"No it wasn't!" he insisted. "He was disguised. Look, I'm not crazy. I saw the picture and something clicked. This is the demon!"

"Let me see," Buffy said, taking the book from him. She, too, frowned at the picture. "A brevlok demon," she said, reading the caption.

"Wait a minute," Angel said from his position against the staircase. He put down the book he was looking at. "Let me see that." He took the book from Buffy, his manner agitated. No one was surprised when Spike surfaced. "Are you sure, Harris?"

"Positive."

"Bloody hell," Spike swore. "Gnash. This whole thing has been Gnash?"

"Who's Gnash?" Buffy asked.

"The demon that gave me the spell."

"The one that we used to bind you and Angel?" Willow asked with growing concern.

"Bloody bastard," was his only response to the question. "But how did he know about Angelus? I, mean yeah, he wanted something to happen, obviously since the spell was defective and all, but he wasn't there when we did the spell. How could he have known, and how could he have orchestrated this entire bleeding thing?"

"I think you better give us some background on this, Spike," Buffy said. "But unfortunately not now, because it's already past sunset and this 'bloody bastard' has called up some nasty demons we have to deal with first. And brought back Angelus, and if he's that powerful with the magic, we'll need time to prepare and no distractions of the Sunnydale munching variety…"

"He is that powerful," Spike confirmed with a dark tone. "He could give Willow and Tara together a run for their money, and probably take a block of downtown Sunnydale out in the battle." Perhaps only Xander noticed Willow's slight flinch at his words or knew that it likely had more to do with the mention of Tara than the gravity of the threat they faced.

"Great," Buffy said in a way that meant not. She rolled her eyes. "I should've known. Only you, Spike, could piss someone off this much."

Spike snorted at her good-naturedly. "Well, except for you, Slayer. In which case, I'm in good company."

Xander couldn't agree more, at least with the Spike part, but now wasn't the time to say it. Well, except with a snort of his own, because hey, he wasn't going to just let that slip by entirely.

"But at least now we know who our enemy is," Anya pointed out.

"Yeah, good job Xander," Buffy said with a wide smile. Then she scrunched her mouth up adorably. "You think now you might be able to find the other demon?"

"I'll see what I can do," Xander said. He'd take the compliment anyway, because such things were rare and went a long way to making him feel like a contributing member of the team. Now if he could only keep from remembering that hell dimension and how badly he'd failed there, he might actually be able to find the other demon too. Considering the dark memories his mind was insisting on visiting, however, Xander didn't think that was very likely. He took the bright yellow sticky note that Willow gave him to mark the brevlok demon page, then forced himself to keep looking.

...

Things weren't going very well. That wasn't unusual, Willow supposed, but somehow this seemed even worse than usual. At times, she hadn't thought that was possible, but here was proof. She just wasn't exactly sure how they could've done it any better.

The night had started out typically enough. Research had gone slowly and bared little fruit except the name of the demons (Zaxlar demons) and the fact that they especially liked to dine on livers and kidneys. Not that they wouldn't eat other organs when they were hungry or if those organs happened to be in the way, and not that it mattered much to the people or humanoid demons they dined on, because they'd be just as dead, but at least they'd found something. Basically though, that meant they'd found out some information someone like herself would find interesting, but otherwise a big fat nothing in the helpful department. Nothing much new there. They often had to go out and fight with very little to go on. At least they'd tried for as long as they could. Then suddenly knowing what they faced hadn't mattered so much anymore.

Angel and Connor had heard the screams, even through the closed and bolted door of the Magic Box. Everyone else had heard the horrendous bellow that followed. Xander had bolted up out of his chair, dislodging the Matheson Lexicon and sending it tumbling to the floor. Angel and Connor had risen swiftly but gracefully into fighting stance. Anya had run to the weapons chest to hand out weapons. Buffy'd sworn and announced "time's up." Each had been ready to do what they did best. Except for her. Willow had followed what was now her first instinct: to call up her magic reserves, the big guns in preparation for the fight. Except she couldn't. With barely time for that to register, she'd been caught up in the gathering of weapons, the attention to Buffy's quickly made commands over the commotion, and the rush to the door. It wasn't until she'd gotten outside and was running alongside Xander that her adrenaline rush had turned to realization and naked fear that her power was gone and that she was only Willow. No fangs or super powers. Not even the strength of a construction worker or the dim knowledge of a distant army guy memory was there to help her. Nothing but nerdy, little Willow with a sword strapped to her back and a crossbow over her shoulder.

She'd only had time to wonder why she hadn't stayed at the shop with Anya before things started to get untypical. As they'd neared the source of the screams, they'd gotten a hint of what was to come. There had been little left of the woman and no way to get information from her concerning what they faced. No lungs meant no breath, and generally no breath meant no talking. Unfortunately for the disemboweled vampire beside her, proof that humanoid demons were on the menu, he still had been able to talk. Unfortunately for them, that talking had consisted mostly of screams and gurgling cries. Willow had always wondered how much damage a vampire could take without dusting. After seeing the evidence, she'd wished she hadn't. Turning her head and trying not to lose her lunch, she'd heard Buffy ask the vampire "where did it go?"

"Please kill me," the vampire had pleaded.

"You point, I dust," she'd negotiated, and after hearing the poof, Willow was racing in the direction the vampire had presumably indicated, her and Xander bringing up the rear while Connor, Buffy, and Angel had raced ahead to keep on the demon's trail. She should've been surprised when a vampire had run beside them for a moment, then sped ahead to catch up with Buffy, but somehow she hadn't been. That was probably because she'd been trying to keep her heart from pounding out of her chest and the roar of white noise in her ears from almost deafening her. By the time they'd reached the chaos, there were three demons instead of the expected one, turning the small park into a small war zone.

As they skidded to a stop and watched, the strange vampire yelled for a weapon, and Buffy threw him a sword. How was that for bizarre? Things really, really weren't going well.

"We've got to help!" Xander yelled over the demons roar and the sounds of weapons hitting tough flesh.

She turned panicked eyes to him, knowing she'd sound pathetic, but she couldn't help it. "I don't have anything," she told him, demonstrating by shaking a few fizzled sparks from her hands. The sword draped across her back felt heavy and foreign, of no comfort at all.

Xander looked at her, his eyes showing understanding and sympathy for her plight. Then his gaze shifted to the battle before sliding back to her. His jaw was set and his eyes shinning with a hard fire. "Willow," he said.

The requisite, best friend entreaty for caution died on her lips. After so many years, Willow knew that expression and knew there would be no changing his mind. They didn't need lots of words to know how the other felt. "Go," she conceded. And be careful, though unspoken, was understood.

...

Bloody ow, Spike thought. Okay, this wasn't fun. Generally he was all for a fight, but this was less of a fight and more of a keep your ass moving or you'd be dust sort of deal. Or you'd be like that vampire they'd come across. That had been just disturbing, even to him, and it was hard to quash his instinct to run as fast as his legs could carry him. Live to fight another day and all that rot. But the instinct to stay and fight alongside Buffy was even stronger. This is what he did now. She was his raison d'etre and all that other poetic nonsense.

The boy, Connor, ducked and dodged with the exuberance of youth and the fear of damage as he did his best to distract one of the monsters so Buffy could get a clear shot. It worked, but almost cost him his head and Spike's own as he let his concern for Connor distract him from the demon in front of him. He jerked back at the last moment and received a glancing blow to the chest instead. Good thing he didn't have to breathe, because that would've knocked the wind right out of him. Bloody hell. In only the short time it took for him to recover, the demon managed to knock Harris down, and its fangs were headed for his gut. Spike let out what he hoped was a distracting yell and buried his battleaxe in the demon's back. The yell continued as the demon whipped around trying to dislodge him and instead smacked him into the spines on its back. Spike screamed in pain, but didn't want to let go of his axe. He put up his other arm to keep the demon's claw from grabbing the axe. He saw the claws sink in a second before that pain also registered. He heard Harris yelling something from behind him, but whatever he was doing, it sounded like it had more to do with not dying himself. Just as Spike was sure his arm was going to be sliced off, help came from an unlikely source. Well, it was sort of help. The third demon spotted him and yanked him off the second demon's back. As he slammed into the ground, Spike was proud of himself for holding on to his battle axe before he blacked out.

When he came to, he figured he could've only been out for a few seconds and was amazed that he still had his stomach intact. He saw the reason why immediately. Harris was screaming his bleeding head off as he led one of the remaining two demons in a circle while the vampire that they'd accumulated took pot shots at it whenever he had a chance. Buffy and Connor were engaging the last demon, looking a bit worse for wear than they had a few moments ago. Guess they'd finished off their demon finally.

"Just keep him distracted Xander!" Buffy yelled. "We'll…" Slash. "Be…" Stab. "Right there." Spike hauled himself up, ignoring the blood that leaked out from several places all over his body. How could his axe strike have not killed the bloody thing? Buffy's demon snapped his jaws only inches from her head. Okay, now he was pissed, and not in the good, old fashioned British way that involved a flask of whiskey either. He let out a ferocious growl that would've scared the shit out of any sane being if it weren't for the fact that it was drowned out by the now all too familiar sound of one of the Zaxlar demons barreling straight for them from somewhere behind Willow. Spike had only a moment to wonder who the hell Willow was yelling at before he threw himself out of the demon's path taking Buffy to the ground with him. They both rolled and sprang up as Connor did his best to distract both the first and the new demon. It wouldn't work for long, and Spike knew it was just a matter of time before the demons organized better and picked them off one by one.

Just as Spike was about to launch himself into what he knew would be a suicidal attack, a sound so loud split the air that he thought his head would explode. A blinding light followed the sound, and shouldn't that have been the other way around? Sure enough there was another sound, this one more sickening and ominous. When his senses returned, Spike saw a sizzled demon twitching on the ground. He took only a moment to marvel at it before he joined Buffy in fighting the last of the original demons. The other vampire joined Connor in battling the one Spike had axed in the back. Only Connor came out of that one unscathed. The demon went down, but took the vamp's left hand with it as a consolation prize. Spike could hear his curses assaulting his ears as he watched Buffy, waiting for her to give him an opening. As soon as he saw it, he heaved his battle axe into the demon's eye, knowing that if he missed, he'd likely be dead unless Buffy could somehow come to his aide. For once he was lucky. The axe imbedded deep in the demon's eye and the brain behind it, and the creature bellowed horrendously before going down. Unfortunately for him and Buffy, it took one last swipe as it did, getting both of them in the thigh. Spike didn't realize how bad it had gotten him until he saw the horrified look on Buffy's face. His falling down was almost an afterthought.

...

Buffy crawled to Spike's side, both of them looking at his mangled leg. "It'll fix-up, pet," he grunted. He seemed more concerned about the rapidly growing red patch on her thigh. "Here!" he said, more forcefully than he should have, but anxiety etched his face, so she brushed it off. Using both of his battered hands, he wrapped them around her sliced thigh and pressed his fingers over the wound, squeezing hard.

"Ow," she complained, frowning at him, but her attention sidetracked momentarily as she scanned the area, taking in Xander tending to Willow who looked a bit fried around the edges, but was otherwise okay. He was talking quietly to her and patting her face, so that seemed to indicate that Willow was out of it, but not seriously harmed. Connor, too, was okay, sitting a bit off to the side and tending his wounds. The quick assessment completed, Buffy returned her attention to Spike. "I've got Slayer healing," she complained, "so you can stop with the owey bedside manner."

"Yeah, but Slayer healing can't kick in if you bleed to death first."

"Hey!" she yelled over his shoulder, distracted by the sight of the vampire trying to sneak off with her sword. "Leave that here!"

The vampire stopped then turned to her and walked over to the two of them warily. He moved close enough to let the weapon drop so he wouldn't have to unclamp his right arm from where it cradled the stump of his left. He stared a moment as if expecting a challenge.

"Get out of here," Buffy said tiredly. "And get out of my town. If I see you again, I will stake you."

The vampire narrowed his eyes at her, but didn't complain. Then his face shifted, returning to its human planes. "Um, could you tell me where…"

"Right next to loading dock behind Al's Appliances," answered Spike. "If the ashes are still there, that's where they'll be."

"Thanks," he mumbled. He gave them a strange look, as if taking in the surreal sight that was a vampire tending to a Slayer. He shook his head slightly and wandered off with no further explanation.

"Okay, that was weird," Buffy said.

"He thought the same about us, pet," Spike chided.

"And what was that about?"

She pushed a bit at his hands and he let up on his grip a little. The blood flow seemed to be lessened, so he didn't tighten his fingers again. He didn't take them away though either as he answered her. "His buddy most likely. The one you staked. Probably why he joined our little battle there. He might want some of the ashes."

"Weird. I didn't think vamps were that nostalgic."

"You'd be surprised, love."

Beside them, Willow groaned and pushed herself up to a sitting position.

"Don't get up yet if you're not ready," Xander told her softly, and she moaned and looked at him with her brows furrowed and her eyes hooded as if she were considering his words.

Then she suddenly sat up straighter and sucked in a startled breath. "Tara," she said. "Where's Tara?"

"Tara?" Xander asked.

"Tara's here?" Buffy echoed. She hadn't seen Tara, but that would explain the toasted demon better than Willow having suddenly gotten her powers back. Beside her, Spike sniffed the air and turned his head.

"There," he said, pointing. He tried to push himself to standing. It didn't work entirely, but it didn't matter because Willow now saw what Buffy saw. In the darkness, it had been hard to make out the prone figure of Tara a slight distance from the main group. Actually it wasn't entirely clear to Buffy that it was Tara, but considering Spike's and Willow's identifications, she figured it must be.

"Don't touch me," came a strange, gravely voice from the lying figure. Then again, maybe it wasn't Tara after all.

Willow paused in her crawl towards her girlfriend, momentarily stunned. "You're h-hurt," Willow said, trying again to move closer.

"Yes, we are, but it'll pass. You stay back. The vampire can come though. I have something for him."

Looking beside her, Buffy saw Angel now, looking questioningly at her. She nodded. Even in the dark, she didn't miss the unguarded glare Willow shot in his direction. If Angel saw it, he politely ignored it as he grunted, assessing his current condition. "Ow," he said.

"Big, strong monsters with sharp teeth and claws," she explained apologetically.

Angel hefted himself up and limped over to Tara's form. Her eyes were glowing an inhuman green, visible even from where Buffy sat. So this was the demon talking now, she reasoned. She hadn't even known that the demon was actually able to think coherent thoughts, never mind speak on its own.

"Why won't you just leave her alone?" Willow said savagely. "Just leave and stop hurting her."

"He's not hurting her," Angel said softly as he sat beside Tara's form.

Moving closer herself, Buffy could see Willow's eyes narrow and her mouth press into a hard line as she turned to Angel. "How the hell would you know anything?"

"I tend to side with Will on this one," Xander observed.

"Because Angel understands," the demon answered. "You're hurt badly, aren't you?" it asked him.

"I'm fine," Angel said in a voice that may have convinced others, but not Buffy. Apparently not the demon either, because it smiled knowingly behind Tara's visage.

"She wants to fix you," the demon said.

"Why don't you let her out to do it then," Willow asked. She was inching closer.

"Stay back," Tapas warned. His eyes shifted to Angel. "He knows why. His own demon wants out now."

"Yes," Angel said, and somehow Buffy knew he was answering both questions at once. She wasn't sure how she felt about this kinship he seemed to have with Tara's demon. It was a little creepy in a way, but then again, they both had demons, didn't they? Willow, on the other hand, didn't seem to see it that way at all. She looked rather pissed actually. Angel seemed to sense this, because he turned to Willow. "He's sheltering her a little from the pain," he explained.

Willow's face filled with confusion, her skin even more pale in the moonlight, but it was Xander who asked the question. "Now why would it do that?"

"Because he likes where his is," Angel answered. "He wants her to be happy he's there too."

Tapas nodded Tara's head. "We have one more thing to do before we sleep. You will take us somewhere safe?"

"I will," Angel said.

"Good. Now let your demon out if he wants to come. This will hurt a lot, but it will fix you."

A shifting of bones indicated that Spike had pushed his way to the surface. "Right then, but maybe you should fix Buffy instead."

Tapas chuckled. "This wouldn't work on a human, or at least the results would not be pretty. Interesting that you would ask that of me rather than have me fix you. You are a strange demon."

"A little off yourself," Spike observed. "Could tell that when we met. Well when you and Angel met."

"You were there, too. I know."

"Suppose you do at that. Okay let's get this bloody over with then. We'll get you safe, and then I suspect we aren't finished for the night."

"There's at least two more," Connor confirmed. Buffy had almost forgotten he was there, he'd been so quiet.

"I'm not so sure we should fight any more of these tonight though unless we have to," Buffy said. She actually knew that they should since it was her job to keep Sunnydale safe. She just didn't think they would survive the effort. "We need more weapons first. We need to find more weaknesses." And we need a Willow who can do magic, she thought to herself, but she purposely didn't look in her friend's direction. That reminded her of something. "What happened to you?" she asked Tapas.

"Backlash," Tapas explained. "Built into my being. I'm not supposed to oppose any magic of your enemy. The demons still reek of that magic."

"Fixing me won't cause a backlash will it?" Spike asked. "Wouldn't want to hurt the witch."

"No. Fixing your injury isn't the same. Come here." Spike moved closer and took the hand that Tapas offered. "Hold on tight and brace yourself."

"Yeah I know. It's gonna hurt," Spike grumped. Perhaps just in case, he brought his other hand to wrap around Tara's and his first hand. It turned out that was a smart thing to do. As Tapas started chanting, the voice turned to Tara's, and as the energy swelled around them and what resembled electric sparks passed between them, Spike's body jerked violently. Buffy worried he'd let go as he bellowed and grunted out the pain of the magic transfer. She was at his side as soon as he let go. He panted unnecessarily. "Bloody hell," he mumbled. Tara was out cold, eyes closed.

"Didn't look fun," she said. "But hey. No more mangle." She touched his healed leg in almost wonder as she said it.

"Yay for the undead," Xander said without enthusiasm. "Now let's get Tara back to the magic shop to recuperate, and let's us get ourselves some rest before we drop."

"Good idea," Buffy said. "Then we research tomorrow, because we have way too many enemies here and not enough us or information to fight them."

"Same old, same old then," Xander observed.

"Somehow that's not as comforting as that saying should be," Buffy said. No one needed to answer her. They just picked themselves up and headed home.

TBC