I own nothing! this is all someone elses creation. cept the story. thats mine. mwahahaha. sorry, came over a little evil then. any way, heres the opening chapter of my second story in this trilogy. don't worry if its confusing. it will get sorted out by chapter three. i'm just hoing everyone likes the alternate universe-ness of it :D lol. any way, revie please? i love seeing what is working and what isn't. thanx people. and on to the story:

Nowhere, Present/Past/Future

Good and Evil.

It was a game.

Like chess.

One made a move, then the other followed.

Strategic.

You sacrifice one piece in order to take full advantage of another.

As each played chose their weapons, the battle field shifted.

Distorted.

History was changing.

The game was changing.

And good wasn't winning…

Sunnydale, California – 2004

He ran.

And ran.

This thing wasn't human, whatever was chasing him. It was like some kind of … demon.

The idea seemed ridiculous, but he had watched it kill his friends, tear out their hearts… no, now wasn't the time to be thinking about this. Escape, survive, and then worry about loss.

These were the thoughts of Parker as he runs through the forest. Earlier today he was partying up with some hot girl. He forgets her name. He always forgets their names. Is that a reason for him to die? He doesn't think so. Many of the forgotten do.

He runs, his chest burning against him, the breath that enters his lungs feeling thinner than it should.

It doesn't fill him; it leaves him needing more, even with his lungs full.

He tries to breathe deeper, but all that follows is a cough that stalls him for a phew precious seconds. He hears a tree branch snap behind him. He turns to look, but remembers the importance of survival and runs again.

Parker can see lights through the branches. He's near salvation. He runs faster, or at least harder. It hurts, it burns, but it doesn't matter. He's going to survive. He's going to live for another day.

He runs. And runs. This prey. Soon it will be like the others, feeding this beasts hunger. The demon senses the pitiful creatures joy at thinking it has found salvation.

And at that moment, it swoops.

And kills.

And Parker is no more.

Just a memory.

To those girls that he couldn't be bothered to remember all those times.

Spike wondered what he had done to deserve this. Why was he forced to endure this Hell? This never ending Hell.

"Look," he blurted out, "I don't care Anya, just get it out of my crypt!"

Anyanka looked visibly hurt. She was a vengeance demon, a being created to right the wrongs caused towards women.

Well that was her old job, until the observers had gained power over her, by stealing her power centre. Her necklace.

And now Spike, the one they made her work with, was denying her of her one true love in this mortal world.

"But they're so cute, with their floppy ears, and large feet," she told him in her most matter of fact tone, while holding a rabbit.

Spike looked at her, anger in his face, "I don't bloody well care, if you leave them in here, I will eat them,"

"You will do no-such thing!" Anya yelled back.

"Well if I don't, you can bet wolf boy will," Spike replied, pointing to the man in the corner of his crypt.

He was shorter than average, with a dark shade of ginger hair.

He looked wiser than his years, and in his lap was a woman at least five years older than him.

Wearing glasses, she was rather skin, worryingly so some might say, and talked with a Texan drawl as she argued for the man.

"You leave Oz alone, captain Peroxide!"

Spike rolled his eyes. His natural brown hair could still be seen at the roots, but the rest of his hair was bleached blonde.

He hated that nickname. And he hated it more when Winifred Burkle used it so insultingly.

The tall black man in the corner laughed.

"Laugh it up Charlie boy," Spike turned to him, "But guarantee you next demon we fight, it'll be me saving your ass"

"C'mon Spike, we all know I'm twice the bad ass you are, even with you're vampy-ness," Charles replied, a smile on his face.

Spike was getting ready to return an insult, when the crypt door swung open.

Spike backed down. He never insulted the White Hats of Sunnydale when his Observer was around.

"Children, if you don't learn to control your tempers I shall have to do some kind of wonderful spell that makes you all mute," the man sparingly announced, with a smile on his face.

"He'll do it you know," Oz piped up for the first time, "Ethan is a bad ass with the Magicks,"

Ethan Rayne.

Member of the Observers Council.

He had never wanted this life.

He had been a wild child in his youth, terrorizing central London with his best friend, 'Ripper'.

But he had come to realise the dangers of Magic, and of the world he lived in.

And he had decided at that point, that it was his duty to try and defend this world.

Even if that meant training an en-souled vampire in the ways of fighting, keeping him sharp.

And keeping him fed on blood.

Ethan smiled at Oz's comments. "Yes, well it seems we have a new target for our talents…"

Spike cocked his head towards his Observer. "What is it?"

"Demon," Ethan replied plainly. "Has a habit of ripping out peoples hearts. So only Oz, Anya and Spike on this one please people"

Charles stood up. "Ethan, man, you know I can handle myself…"

"Yes, Charles, but I also know that this demon has killed 23 people in the time its been in Sunnydale," He paused. "That's since last night. And if it can tear its way past people that quickly, I'm not going to risk you or Fred. Besides I need help with research."

Anya turned to Ethan. "Something big?"

Ethan shook his head. "No, I don't think so," he paused, "Just a build up of magic in L.A., and I want to know if it could be any thing big,"

Los Angeles, California

A shadow followed the rodent as it ran through the alleys.

It was hunting its prey.

It needed to feed, and this was as guilt three a way of doing so.

It pounced, and grabbed the rat, only for the rodents slippery fur allowing it to glide free of his grasp.

He looked at the ground and sighed. And then punched it. He was so weak, not even a crack appeared. How had this happened to him? He had been the most feared vampire of his generation.

Now he was a homeless demon, living of rats, for fear of what might happen if he killed another human being.

There were demons enough in this world. But he was a monster. A monster with the face of an Angel. A dirty Angel, but an angel all the same.

Sunnydale

Spike loved this part of the job.

The part where he got to let out all his anger.

All his frustration with the world.

He was a monster, but this soul wouldn't let him be one.

And the others didn't treat him like a monster, but they didn't treat him like a man.

He was lost between both worlds. Unable to be loved or love, yet unable to be hated and kill.

He was mankind's saviour, and had been for a hundred years. But it never felt like he was doing anything towards ending the cycle of violence.

The demons still existed, that never changed.

The vampires still came.

The Immortal was still the commander and chief of the world, and that wasn't going to change any where near soon.

When Ethan gave him something to hit, it made the job a lot easier.

He didn't have to think about all these…. thoughts.

He could just unleash on whatever nasty got in his way.

And tonight, as he wielded his pike, he was feeling particularly vengeful, and he didn't really know why.

Los Angeles,

Lilah Morgan was the C.E.O. of Wolfram and Hart. And when her psychics started registering a massive magical build up inside her building, she began to get annoyed. She wanted to know what the hell was going on.

"We don't know Miss Morgan, but we'll be getting right to the bottom of it, real soon," The tall spindly man told her.

"Well you better do," She told him as she turned to walk out the door, "Because Knox, if you don't, there will be hell to pay."

And with that Lilah Morgan stormed out of the science department, leaving the man behind her to look longingly at her.

"My goddess…" He sighed.

Sunnydale,

Spike stood over the grave of a girl he didn't know.

Willow Rosenburg.

For some reason, he felt like he knew her.

Or that he should have known her.

Maybe it was just that she had died when she was 16.

So young.

Too young.

A girl Spike had never met, but he felt like he should have saved her.

It was at this moment that Spike picked up the scent of his prey.

"Bollox…" he muttered.

"What?" Anya asked.

Spike looked around. No one. "I told you not to talk in my head, it makes me-"

"Shirty, I know, I know," Anya sighed, even in his mind, "but its tactically better. Now why the bollox?"

"It smells like a Treshnar Demon," Spike muttered, trying to keep quiet, so the demon wouldn't hear. That was assuming he was near, which Spike (always assuming the worst) did. "Big, strong and bloody hard to kill."

"Well best get to work then," Anya replied "Instead of talking to voices in your head like some kind of crazy person"

Spike scowled, and then followed his nose.

He had moved about ten feet, just past a small stone alter, when he saw it. A second later he felt it. A strong fist to his face, and Spike was flying through the air.

As the vampire hit the alter, breaking it clear in two in the process, Oz appeared from no-where.

He had partially transformed.

In the years since he had become a werewolf, Ethan had trained Oz how to control the transformation, and ultimately how to manipulate it to suit his needs. Right now he needed speed above strength, so this form made the most sense.

He ducked the first blow, and clawed at the demon's mid section.

Los Angeles,

Lilah Morgan didn't know what it was, only that it had appeared moments before. A ball of blue energy and a ball of green energy. And now they were merging, and changing colour to white. As Lilah looked at it, it grew, and grew, and expanded to engulf the entire room…

Angel looked up from his place in the alley as the white beam struck him. it didn't seem to hurt, or do anything, just pass through him…

Sunnydale,

Spike looked down into the wreckage of the alter. He could see a strange weapon. It seemed to be a axe, but had a stake pro-truding from the handle. Raising an eyebrow, Spike turned back to the beast and charged at it.

Oz felt the blow of the demon's fist, and suddenly wished he had transformed into the wolf in its entirety.

As he rubbed his head, he looked up to see Spike jump at the demon with his pike raised behind him.

As he came down on the beast, the pike struck the beast's chest. It let out a bellow and fell to the ground.

Spike rubbed his head. "That shouldn't have been this easy…"

"That was easy?" Oz asked as he regained human form. "Felt hard to me"

Spike smirked. "Bloody ponce"

Oz let a smile slip. "Heh, not what Fred says"

"Too much info mate…" Spike stopped. "What's that?"

Oz almost choked. "You're trying that trick? Gotta say you're slipping Big Bad…"

Oz stopped as he turned around and saw a wave of white energy rushing towards them…

In the woods near Sunnydale, a beam of light appeared where the wave had hit moments earlier.

As it did, a man fell from the sky.

Wearing a brown duster, with a shaggy beard, he hit the ground with a thud.

As he tried to get up, he realised a startling fact. His heart was beating. When he had begun this game, he hadn't expected that.

"What have you gotten yourself into Wesley?" He muttered to himself. "What have I done…"

and thats chapter one up and running... hopefully those of you that read the first story know whats going on to some extent :) and hopefully the others of you are intrigued. remember, i love reviews, so keep it coming :) next chapter will be up by wednesday, maybe the third as well. laters