Author's Note: Thanks for reviewing this story, I've been busy and haven't had time to work on this, also I've started writing a seperate Spidey story. About this story; yes, Spidey is stronger than a vampire, but I'm trying to show him as being confused and the side of him that doesn't believe killing is justice. About Spike, in one episode of Angel in series 5 he said that he haunted Angel, not Wolfram and Hart so I let him follow Angel to New York. Now enjoy the next chapter and please review.

Chapter 4: To Slay an Angel.

"Buffy!" The blonde English spectre shouted as he walked through the door of the slayer's hotel room. "Buffy I need to talk to you!"

Buffy's room was untidy to say the least. Cases open, books strewn, magazines thrown all over the place and four inhabitants, Buffy, Xander, Dawn and Tracey, watching TV in a dimly lit part of the room.

"Buffy!" He called again.

Buffy jumped in shock and turned around and calmed down when she saw Spike's face. Dawn and Xander stood slowly, but collapsed as soon as they saw Spike.

"Dawn!" Tracey cried worryingly, "Xander!" The two slayers helped the two humans back up and on to the couch.

"We told you that Spike was back." Buffy moaned as she checked her sister's head for injuries. Xander twitched in his semi-conscious state.

"I didn't collapse because of him." He uttered objectively. "I just wanted to see if this was real shag carpeting." He continued nervously, pointing at the carpet covered floor. From all the stares he was getting, he could tell no one believed him.

"Look, whatever mate." Spike interrupted the silence, "Buffy I need to talk to you."

"Sure." Buffy said, standing up and moving aside, allowing Tracey to attend Dawn and Xander. "What's up?"

"I'm fine!" Xander exclaimed. He was fidgeting on the couch and trying to stop Tracey helping him. He stood up, using one hand to rub the growing lump on his head and the other hand to straighten his eye patch. The two blondes watched him oddly. When he stopped fidgeting, Spike and Buffy inhaled equally oddly and returned their attentions to each other.

"So… anyway." Spike tried to remember what he was talking about. "Arrogant vampire of the century has taken another bid for glory."

"Angel?" Buffy asked. Spike nodded, unsubtly gleeful.

"Yeah, he's been hired by some news editor to take out Spider-man." Spike explained, obviously not concerned with Angel or Spider-man. Buffy's eyes were wide and fixated on Spike.

"Spike!" She said trying to grab his jacket, but her hands went straight through him. She had remembered how Peter had told her that J. Jonah Jameson, editor of the Daily Bugle, hated Spider-man. "Where's Angel?"

"I don't bloody know." He moaned, "I'm not his sodding keeper!" He started to walk circles around the room waving his arms, outraged.

"Wait a minute," Xander interrupted, "Angel, vampire with a soul, against Peter Parker, Spider-man? Man, that's a comic nerd's dream."

"Peter Parker, Spider-man?" Spike asked, very confused.

"Yes. Peter is Spider-man." Buffy settled, "Now before anyone else finds out his secret let's go stop Angel."

"Love to love, but I'm, unfortunately, indisposed." Spike's sarcasm was the most obvious thing to hit New York, as he showed them his indisposed state by shoving his hand through a hotel lamp.

The door nearly fell over from the force that hit it when Willow and Kennedy came rushing in to the room. They were both panting extremely fast and Willow seemed to be saying something.

"Buffy,wewerewalkingwithPeteronhiswaybackfromseeinghisauntyouknowtryingtogetafeelofthebigapplewhenweranintoareallyoldvampireinastinkyoldalleyway,wethreatenedhimintotellinguswhytherewerepoliceatthisclubdownthestreet,GilesknewhimandhetoldusthatAngelhasturnedevil!AndGileshasgonetolookforhim"

A few seconds past before Buffy responded and Willow stopped panting.

"Come again?" Buffy asked unsurely.

"Angel has turned evil!" Willow barked at them all.

"The match has just got a whole lot more interesting!" Xander yelled excitedly, waving his arms in the air.

Buffy turned back at Spike.

"We definitely need to stop him! She ordered, running to an armchair and grabbing her coat off it.

"Wait!" Spike bellowed, causing everyone to stop moving, "I would have known if Angel had become Angelus." He explained, "Who told you that he was evil?"

"Some vamp named Vlagre." Kennedy shrugged.

"Vlagre? That bloke's so messed up, he'd say Satan was a saint!" he contemplated over his words ,"although he used to be an archangel."

"But if Angel isn't evil…" Willow started.

"And Peter thinks he is…" Kennedy continued.

"And Angel has a job to take out Spider-man…" Xander also continued.

"And Peter is Spider-man…" Tracey joined in.

"And Peter has killed vamps and knows how to kill them even if he doesn't believe in them…" Buffy continued further. They all looked toward Spike.

"Oh bloody hell!"


Behind his mask, Peter was wondering when the fighting would begin. He had counted the seconds and he had gone two and a half minutes of what seemed like a staring contest with this stranger. The steam rising from the gutter gave the situation a gangster feel to it.

'Any minute now Al Pacino is going to come down the street with two Tommy guns blazing them between us.' Peter thought to himself. He even looked over Angel's shoulder for a quick second to see if Al Pacino really was coming.

'This guy is really strange.' Angel began to think, 'He's supposed to be a wanted man and a villain but he shows no signs of starting a fight between us and he keeps looking over my shoulder for some reason. Probably a trick, oh no I'm not falling for it!'

Peter was taken aback when Angel started to move. He clenched his web covered hands in to fists, expecting the coming battle. Angel, however, didn't seem to be doing anything violent. The vamp straightened his jacket, turned back to his human face and looked up at Spider-man.

"Do you know what I am?" Angel asked.

"I've got a fair idea." Spider-man answered.

"I'm a tortured soul, a vampire that hunts other vampires." Angel explained.

'Some kind of cannibal vampire?' Peter asked himself.

"And now I have to stop you." Angel continued, "Because, apparently you've become a thorn in the side of a few people."

'Ahh,' Peter thought, 'He's been hired by some underground group that have a grudge against me. Probably because I put a few of their members in jail.' "I get on a lot of people's nerves, what's it got to do with you?"

"Apparently, I'm being paid."

'Not if I stake you!' Peter thought viscously, 'Wait I don't believe in vampires! But he's a threat to Buffy! – Buffy? Since when do I think protectively about Buffy? Sure she's beautiful and amazing… Beautiful and amazing? Where did that come from? What would MJ think if she knew what I was thinki… Wait a minute - Mary Jane? How did she get in to all of this? Oh screw it!' Without warning Spider-man ran inside the nearby newsstand, with a rather hideous Jack o lantern in the front, and awoke the owner, who was not impressed.

"Who the Hell do you think you are..? Have you no respect..?" The old man ranted.

"Sorry," The vigilante apologised, "Can I borrow this?" He asked, snatching the wooden chair from under the man and snapping one of the legs off. He jumped back out in to the street through the elongated window at the front of the newsstand, leaving the stand's owner screeching about having his chair stolen. Spider-man held up the long, sharp piece of wood threateningly to Angel.

"So…" Angel spoke doubtfully, "You do know about vampires?"

"I've killed a few." Spider-man replied. Angel began to breathe really fast, well he would if vampires could breathe. Angel hesitated before making a move, but then decided that from what he knew this costumed weirdo was a danger to innocent people.


"Where are Giles and Faith?" Buffy asked rapidly and angrily, marching quickly out of an apartment building's elevator. She was followed by Spike, Dawn, Xander, Tracey, Willow and Kennedy. Xander was continually fidgeting with his eye patch while Dawn yawned in boredom. Willow and Kennedy were exhausted by all the running they had done in the last few hours. Tracey seemed very excited about the chance to slay that evening and Spike just blew through his lips even more bored than Dawn.

"Faith is still in Queens." Xander informed the slayer, "She just called to say that twelve more vamps showed up and she may be late."

"Wherever Faith goes trouble doesn't seem to be far behind." Buffy mumbled. They approached Peter's apartment door. Buffy was about to knock when she saw Spike about to walk through the wall. "What do you think you're doing?" She said, he immediately stopped.

"What?"

"What if his family or his roommate's in there?"

"Can I help you?" A calm and charming voice asked. Buffy was so concerned with telling off Spike that she hadn't noticed the door opening. In front of her stood an obviously non-average New Yorker. He was dressed smartly with a stylish haircut. He leaned against the door frame, analysing the people in front of him.

"Harry Osborn?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah." Harry answered, "And you are?" He extended his hand to her.

"Buffy Summers." She shook his hand impatiently. "Is Peter here?" Harry continued to stare at the strangers, the look of them made him hesitant with his answer.

"No." Harry droned, "I haven't seen him in days."

"Harry? Is that Peter?" A sweet feminine voice came from inside the apartment and an equally sweet, redheaded face came around the open door. "Hi." She greeted the scoobies amiably and opened the door further to let them in. "Come in please."

"No, we can't." Buffy refused. She turned around towards the elevator. "We have to find Pete…"

"I know you." Tracey declared excitedly, "You were at the University when I was in that fire. You know Peter, he called you MJ."

"Mary Jane Watson." She introduced herself, shaking hands with all of them until she reached Spike. He avoided her hand by twitching away from her.

"Uhh, don't worry about him." Dawn told MJ, "He's English." She whispered as an excuse. Mary Jane looked at Spike again.

"Nice hair." She said awkwardly.

"Do any of you want a drink?" Harry offered welcomingly. Spike face instantly shone at Harry.

"More than you'll ever know." He mumbled under his voice. Many of the scoobies seemed eager to enter the apartment and meet Peter's friends. Buffy sighed and turned back towards the elevator. She closed the lift door and nearly jumped in shock when she turned around and found herself face to face with and eye patched Xander. The elevator started to descend as Buffy started to question Xander.

"What are you doing here?" She yelled at him. He shrugged.

"I don't know." He groaned, "I just thought that there'd be more action with you than with those guys."

As the elevator continued its decent Buffy and Xander could hear the above chattering of the New Yorkers and the scoobies.


Angel jumped forward, Spider-man dodged the attack. As Angel continued his attack he leapt over Spider-man, as he did Spider-man's right fist pummelled Angel's left cheek extremely quickly. Spider-man went to kick his torso but was blocked and punched back in the abdomen. They continued to punch and kick one another until Angel heard something, a car speeding down the street. Spider-man's spider-sense hadn't warned him yet and hurriedly Angel grabbed Spider-man's back and threw him out of the way, leaving himself in the car's way. Spider-man dropped his stake as he went slamming against the sidewalk, giving him a small gash on his arm. He looked up in anger and looked on in shock. CRASH. Angel took the full front of the car's impact. Smoke came rushing out from the car's engine, engulfing the whole street in a grey shadow. Peter sighed under his mask, expecting him to be dead. He sat on the edge of the sidewalk.

'Of course there's no such thing as vampires.' Spider-man thought, 'If he was a vampire he would have survived that.'

"JEEZ MAN!" He heard the driver of the car screech from the front seat of his car, "HOW THE HELL DID YOU..?" Spider-man looked up and saw a tall figure approach him through the heavy vapour.

"Surprise." The figure said calmly. "It's me." The figure came out through the smoke showing his face, which was Angel's. The frightened driver of the vehicle scrambled out from his driving seat and sped off in to the distance, leaving the wreckage of his car behind.

"You saved me?" Spider-man gaped at the vampire.

"You're wanted alive." Angel replied.

"Wanted? Well I'm not going anywhere." Spider-man argued firmly. He shot a web-line up to a lamppost and swung up to the top of a small donut shop across the street.

" Not willingly." Angel mumbled and began to chase after him.

"Angelus!" He heard a voice cry. He landed on the same donut shop that Spider-man had recently landed on but had already left. He looked back down in to the street to see Giles running down the lane, calling his former name. "Angelus!"

"Angel!" Angel corrected him, "I'll be with you in a minute Giles!" He called returning his attentions to the vigilante.

He jumped along the rooftops, following the scent of Spider-man's blood from his gash. He landed on a rooftop that he knew occupied more than one person. The air was musty and unclear. Angel's vision seemed to be failing him as he could not make out certain objects thanks to the steam rising from ventilation shafts on the roof. The surrounding atmosphere was bitter and cold, reminding Angel of himself.

"Come out, come out wherever you are." Angel mumbled under his voice. A flash of red and blue shot across his path. "Damn this guy's fast!" Angel thought out loud. Angel steadily paced in the direction he saw Spider-man go and saw the red and blue crusader crouching on a gargoyle on the left side of the rooftop. He was tending to his gash, wrapping it in a web bandage and stopping his arm from bleeding. Angel considered if this man was innocent but looked at the red spider on his back, which reminded Angel of Spider demons. 'He's going down!' Angel thought.

Spider-man looked up, sensing danger was near, he turned around but had no time to dodge from Angel's punch. The hit knocked him out cold, leaving Angel to rub his hand in pain.

"Man that smarts!" He exclaimed painfully. He looked down at the unconscious superhero, "Better call that JJ guy and take this guy to NYPD." He grabbed the masked man and carried him down to the street. Once on the ground he placed Spider-man over his shoulders and began to walk. He hadn't gone five yards until he heard someone calling to him.

"Angelus! Angelus!" It was an English accent, and very familiar. Angel turned around to see Rupert Giles sprinting across the street, holding a crossbow. "Angelus!" He cried once in a close radius of the vampire. He lifted the crossbow. "Put Spider-man down." He ordered.

"Giles…" Angel tried to calm the Englishman, "Put down the crossbow." Angel lowered a flat hand slowly to indicate that Giles should lower his weapon.

"No Angelus!" Giles protested, tightening his grip on the crossbow. "Put Spider-man down!" Angel slowly lowered to the floor and placed Spider-man on the pavement. Angel shot back up and took Giles by surprise. He snatched the crossbow from out of the watcher's hands, threw it away and pulled him closer.

"Why are you calling me Angelus?" He growled through gritted teeth. Angel felt a surge of pain in his stomach as he felt Giles stab him with an exceptionally sharp knife. He took the knife from Giles' grip and raised it. He held the knife firmly above his head, pointing it down towards Giles. Spider-man came to and rubbed his face with his gloved hands. He looked up at the sight above him.

"Giles!" He yelled, leaping forward and grapping Angel's knife wielding hand. Angel struggled with fighting Spider-man and holding Giles simultaneously. He dropped the knife and threw away Giles, sending him in to a lamppost. Angel returned his attentions to the web-swinger. The hit to the lamppost caused Giles' crossbow to fire two arrows straight in to Angel's back and knee. Angel punched and punched the vigilante's face until Spider-man had fallen over backwards. Angel leaned forward to grab Spider-man by the neck but instead was propelled down the street by Spider-man's feet. Peter jumped back up on to his feet. He spun on his foot to find his adversary. He twitched his head around desperately trying to the vampire. He found Angel standing the other side of a road but disappeared after a truck past between them. His spider-sense told him that Angel had gone, he quickly turned back to help Giles.

"Did you kill him?" Giles murmured in agony. He was tightly grasping his right shoulder and letting out small moans of pain. Peter shook his head. "We need to find Buffy." Giles instructed. Peter noticed the knife Angel had dropped on the floor and retrieved it. He held it between them and looked from the knife down at Giles.

"So this Angelus guy is a vampire?" He asked slowly.

"Yes." Giles replied. "One of the worst." He sighed and was hesitant in speaking. He pulled himself up and leaned back against the lamppost. "We need to find Willow as well." He stared at the vigilante who looked back curiously.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because she is a witch and can perform the spell needed to give Angelus his soul back."

"What do you mean give him his soul back?" Peter continued to ask.

"With a soul Angelus becomes Angel, a champion for humanity, without his soul he is nothing more than a murderer." His voice had a very grim tone.

"So, no stake through the heart?" Peter asked hopefully, already disliking Angel.

"No. We need to find Willow and get her to perform her soul restoration spell." Giles instructed as he struggled to get up by his hands. "There's a vampire behind you." He told Peter, surprisingly calmly. Peter turned and saw another vampire, with shining canine fangs and demonic features. The beast grinned at the hero and ran at him, thirsty for blood. Peter rose to his feet and propelled the knife he was holding straight through the vampire's chest.

Peter felt unlike anything he had ever felt before. He could feel the dust slowly fall on his hand through the glove that covered it. He wanted to know why he was feeling that the creature he had just murdered probably deserved to die. He saw Angel, atop of a lorry down the avenue, jumping from the vehicle's surface to the roof of a small building. After a few minutes of soul-searching he decided the answer to everything he had ever doubted since he met Buffy and killed his first vampire. He finally understood everything Buffy had been trying to tell him, vampires were real.

"Okay." He said standing straight, allowing the vampire's unholy dust to fall off him. "I'm a believer."

"What's Peter really like?" Tracey's curious, innocent voice asked Peter's closest friends. "I mean I've only known him from the hospital." She explained to Mary Jane who was sitting sideways facing the slayer on Peter's couch. Leaning against the back of the couch was the blonde slayer's sister, Dawn. Spike was pacing impatiently through the kitchen, (and when no one was watching, through the kitchen unit). Harry, Kennedy and Willow chatted by the window frame. Harry swivelled the cocktail glass in his hands sophisticatedly.

"Well he's…" Mary Jane drifted off, trying to think about Peter. She had to think hard, because she was seeing him less and less lately. "He's… Peter. You know?"

"Kind of." Tracey smiled in a friendly way.

MJ felt embarrassed when she heard Harry say the shameful words, 'So you two are lesbians, huh?' in the background. The three girls at the couch giggled as they could hear Harry laugh nervously by the window.

"I tried asking him to go out with me." MJ informed. "A few times actually." She seemed to drift off again, looking very thoughtful in to space.

"Really?" Tracey whispered, moving closer to hear the redhead. "What did he say?" She beamed at MJ, expecting an interesting story of love and adventure.

"He turned me down." She answered. "He said he would always be there for me…" She drifted again, Dawn and Tracey began to think that this was a funny habit Mary Jane had.

"But..?" Dawn said, motioning her hand in forward circles signalling that MJ should continue.

"But he said the most we could ever be is friends." On her face she smiled, but in her soul she was crying. The memory of Peter walking away from her in the cemetery was too emotionally painful for her, but she forced the smile to remain strong on her face. "Hey Spike!" She called, looking in to the kitchen. Spike looked up blankly at her. "You haven't touched the drink Harry gave you." Spike looked away and sighed.

"Would if I could." He said staring sadly at the large glass of brandy on the kitchen counter.


In a dark and dreary apartment opposite the Daily Bugle, stood the dark figure of the man present at the finding of the body in Central Park that morning. He watched the news building through his dusty window. His apartment had become littered with broken appliances and pealed over wallpaper. The walls of the room were damp but strong against the floor above. The shadowy figure sneered through the window and turned his attentions to a distracting disturbance behind him.

On the wall opposite the window, the man that had stood in the shadows in Central Park that morning was chained and suspended off the ground. He was twitching violently and drooling over the floor below him. He growled irately and focused on the figure in front of him. He shrieked and jolted ferociously against his iron bonds.

The shadowy figure pulled up a seat. He sat down and reached for a table. He lifted a heavy looking dictionary.

"Photo-stimulus" He read aloud, "A growth or change in a life form due to a specific light source." He closed the book and placed the dictionary on the floor and smirked menacingly at the chained up man. "Like moonlight." The shackled person responded to this comment with a huge explosion of spasms. The sitting individual sighed in a bored manner and stood again. "Werewolves." He sighed. The figure faced the window once more and watched the round moon which shone through the clouds. Slowly, the billows of cloud moved out of the way of the moon's beam of reflected sunlight. "It's funny how this light, which is just sunlight that's been reflected by the moon, is nothing to most nocturnal demons like vampires. But this light is an echo of those demons' worst poison." He turned to see the locked up man lug the chains from the wall. "Ahh you're ready." The man told him. The chain wielding werewolf slung the chains around the room, causing more damage to the already worn down apartment. The shackled man's body began to grow rapidly, his muscles became the size of truck tyres. His newly enlarged muscles broke free from his clothing. His body hair lengthened and grew darker, giving the man a greyish shade to his body. The hair completely covered the man's body and face. His eyes glowed shortly and dimmed again but did not have the look of human eyes, but rather the eyes of a wolf. His nose protruded from his face and its shape changed to the snout of a canine. The ears of the man moved up his head until they reached the top of it. The ears grew long and floppy.

The werewolf screamed in agony at the end of its transformation. It stared forward and growled at the standing man. It broke in to a run, its arms hurling through the mass of air in its path. At the last second, the man held up his hand and the werewolf stopped in its tracks.

"Now." He said calmly, the werewolf looking peacefully at the hand in front of him. "I need for you to do a little job for me." He said, showing the wolf a photograph of Peter Parker. "Find him, eliminate him." He put a real emphasis on the word, 'eliminate,' as if it was the grandest word ever created in the English language. The werewolf knelt there patiently, staring at the photo. "Well…" He said, the wolf looked back, confused. "Go!" The werewolf shot up and jumped out through the window. The man looked out of the wolf-shaped hole in the wall to see the werewolf swing on a lamppost and run in to a gloomy alleyway. "Stupid mutt." He groaned, examining the damage caused on the wall.


The steam from the greasy manhole in the shady New York alley rose and spread through the surrounding atmosphere like a mushroom cloud. Several dumpsters were scattered carelessly through the alley, making it impossible for anyone to walk through the passage. As the steam rose through the maze of dumpsters several rats climbed through the piles of garbage. The squeaks of the rodents echoed as two young figures walked through the alleyway's opening.

"Eew." The blonde female amongst the two complained as she first saw the vermin. "I'd much rather have a vampire now than a rat."

"Now do you mean to slay or to sleep with? Given your history." An eye patched Xander enquired. "Aye Buff?" The slayer stared at him through a frustrated face.

"You know I'm the slayer, so why did you say that?" She said, clutching the wooden stake in her anxious grasp.

Xander suddenly became very aware of the wooden weapon.

"Umm…" He stuttered, "I… Uhh… Say isn't that Angel." He said, pointing to the top of the left wall of the two surrounding buildings. There Buffy could see a figure, standing tall and looking over his shoulders cautiously. The figure's head turned back and looked down in to the alley.

"Buffy!" He called. The soulful vampire jumped down in to the gap. He limped over to the slayer and her companion.

"What happened?" Buffy asked quickly, observing Angel's difficulty walking. "You look like you've just been kicked by the world kicking champion." Angel felt his own leg, trying to sort out the pain. He looked up at the two demon hunters.

"I ran in to some trouble with a certain web-slinger." He explained, kneading the sore part of his knee. "And then Giles showed up, with a crossbow I might add," He moaned as he pulled out the arrow that remained in his knee, and started trying to grab the arrow that stuck out from his left shoulder blade. "As you can see I got hit." He started going around in circles on the spot, his arm reaching further over his shoulder. "Could one of you give me a hand?"

"Here." Xander said, moving forward and pulling the arrow out from Angel's back.

"Thanks." Angel said.

"Did you hurt Spider-man?" Buffy panicked, worrying for Peter's safety.

"No." Angel answered, "Well I did knock him out once but he woke up and started fighting again."

"Good." Buffy relaxed, looking pleased at what she had just heard. Angel stared at her as if she had just jumped out from a mental institute.

"Did I miss something?" Angel asked, with the expression of the most confused vampire in history. "I, one of your longest friends in vampire slaying, just got an ass kicking from Spider-man, a public vigilante, and you're happy?"

"A public vigilante and new close friend of mine." Buffy lectured her ex.

"Well why was he so keen to fight me?" Angel enquired the slayer.

"Willow told us that an old friend of yours and Spike's, Vaglur or something like that."

"Vlagre?" Angel suggested.

"Yeah, that's him." Buffy continued, "Willow told us that Vlagreno, or however you pronounce it, said you were Angelus again." She stopped for a second and stared questionably at Angel. "You are still Angel, aren't you?" Angel was rubbing his back at the part where he had been stabbed, he looked forward and nodded. "And Spike then told us that you had been hired by the Daily Bugle to bump off Spider-man." He again nodded as a response.

"Well that's where it got complicated." Xander burst in. "You see we know old Spidey personally and we came to stop either him from killing you or vice-versa."

"I wasn't going to kill him." Angel protested, looking from one to the other. The former Sunnydale residents looked pleased at this and smiled. "I'd only get the Bugle's reward money if he was alive." Angel continued, causing the smiles to disappear from Buffy and Xander's faces.

"Oh well that makes it all so much better!" Buffy exclaimed sarcastically.

"Come on we got to get back to Peter's." Xander pulled at Buffy's arm. The three of them marched out from the dark alley way and in to the fractionally light street. The street was lit by several street lamps and the headlights of the occasional car. The three of them were silent. Angel seemed confused about everything that was going on, but Buffy and Xander seemed calm.

They managed to walk a few blocks and in to another alleyway before Angel became aware of a change in his surroundings.

"I smell blood." He said, still walking behind Buffy and Xander, as if stalking them. "His blood." He announced suddenly, turning quickly to see a pair of red, web covered boots close in on his face. SMACK! The kick sent Angel flying over Buffy and Xander's heads. Once they realised what had happened they ran to his aid, but before they could reach him a web, shot from above, pulled Angel back up behind them. Buffy witnessed the action as Angel was pulled towards the superhero, who was standing on the wall on her left, and the vampire got a punch square in the face. The punch sent Angel somersaulting backwards through the air and crash on one of the randomly spread, metal dumpsters. Spider-man released his hold on the wall and plunged in to the alley's dense environment. He landed on the dumpster that Angel lay on and stood over the vamp. He held up the knife that he had kept since their last encounter and swivelled it in his fingers.

"I know it's corny but, 'We meet again.'" The vampire gained consciousness once more and stared in shock at the weapon above him. He spun the knife again. His spider-sense blared through his brain, something was heading his way. The vigilante turned to his right and witnessed the slayer leap towards him, with her arm extending for the knife. "What are you..?" CRASH! The blonde hit the masked man and brought him down off the dumpster and on to the ground. The two lay there on the far from hygienic floor in a numb sort of pain. Angel was sitting up on the dumpster, rubbing his head. Xander was still ducking, because Buffy had to jump over him. The slayer had knocked both herself and Spider-man unconscious and lay on top of him on the ground, lying still. Her limbs were hanging over the sides of his body and her long, blonde hair was draped across his webbed face. Beneath the fabric of his mask, Peter Parker was waking up and could see through the eyes of his mask, nothing apart from yellow tresses. He started to twitch and tried to lift the girl off him because of his pain, but at the same time make sure she was not hurt. "I feel numb." He told himself. He tried to remember why she had attacked him and realised quickly that he was still holding the knife she had tried to take off him. He tried to pull the knife back gently but felt that it was tucked in to something soft. "What the Hell?" He said, tugging at the blade once more. 'Oh my God!' He thought exceedingly seriously, 'I've killed her! I stabbed her!' He felt the warm blood from the wound, steadily flow over his knife holding hand. The girl began to wake on top of him and moan sorely. She shook her head to get her hair out of the way of her face and looked down at Peter's mask.

"Hey." She said cheerily. "Sorry about that whole jumping on you thing." Peter held her close by her arms, worryingly.

"Don't worry." He panicked, "I'll get you to a hospital." His hands were shaking and his right hand was covered in blood, from the stab wound he had just felt. Buffy noticed the blood and made a quick mental check of her body. She felt okay and wondered what Peter was on about.

"Why?" She asked anxiously.

"Because of the knife in your…" He began to talk but broke off in mid-sentence. "Wait a minute." He started to lift the girl off of his body and the two of them looked down him at the knife that was protruding from his right calf muscle. "Oh… This is not my week."


SMASH! Spike's brandy glass shattered over the hard kitchen floor of the Osborn/Parker apartment. The glass fragments flew through the spirit, but luckily no one noticed. He had tried concentrating on the glass in an effort to lift it, but failed.

"Oh bollocks." He whispered to the empty kitchen.

"Hey Spike!" Harry called from the living room, "Need a hand?" Spike looked up at him nervously.

"No thanks mate." He uttered, "I'm alright." His attention was then brought back to the tiny pieces of glass on the floor. He bent down and closed his eyes. "Okay… concentrate." He reached forward and attempted to lift the glass and put it away. "Ouch." He said, cutting his finger on the glass. "Great, I save the world and now I can't even pick up a tiny piece of glass." He stood and looked down, sneering at the glass. "I'll leave it to the superhero to do." He looked back up towards the living room and walked casually through.

"How'd you like your brandy?" Mary Jane noticed Spike's calm strolling.

"Yeah, it was great." Spike said awkwardly. "Anyone seen the others?"

"We were just going to ask you that." A rough yet feminine voice came from the doorway. The scoobies turned around curiously to see Faith carrying a limping Giles in through the entrance. Mary Jane and Harry just turned around curiously.

"Giles? Faith?" Willow noted as her vampire slaying companions entered the apartment and Faith helped the Englishman in to a comfortable armchair. "Is everything okay? What happened to you Giles?" Giles straightened his glasses, then removed them, cleaned them and squinted at the witch.

"Well I sustained injury when…" He began tiredly.

"I found him like this in Hell's Kitchen shouting about our profession." Faith told the scoobies, hiding the fact that they were demon hunters from the vigilante's comrades.

"What about the others?" Spike seemed suddenly concerned, "What about Buffy?" He stepped closer to the Boston slayer and English watcher. They all knew why he was concerned.

"Well Angel was…" Giles began.

"I don't care about bloody Angel!" Spike exclaimed. Giles was starting to get really annoyed of people constantly interrupting him. "How is Buffy?" He was shouting, making everyone suddenly brace their chairs or take a step back out of slight fear.

"I'm fine." Buffy's tough voice came from the still open front door. She was struggling with Peter Parker being held up between her and a bruised Angel. They had managed to change Peter in to his normal clothes and Angel had found Peter's backpack and hid the hero's costume within the bag. Xander followed the three champions in to the apartment.

"Peter!" MJ jumped from the couch and ran to his side. Angel and Buffy lowered the vigilante on to another armchair. Everyone noticed that the right leg of Peter's trousers was drenched in blood. He twitched as Buffy lifted the fabric of his trousers to reveal his wound. "What happened?" Mary Jane panicked.

"Bike messenger." Peter panted, helping Buffy to apply bandages to his cut. "Knocked me down." Harry stepped away from the witch and slayer from the window towards the injured photographer. He swivelled his drink again, this time his attitude was much more smug.

"It's always a bike messenger isn't it Pete?" Buffy glared at him, thinking Peter didn't deserve this treatment, especially not from his best friend. She was about to say something in protest but was cut off by Peter.

"Harry, do me a favour will you? Take MJ home." No one moved or spoke, they all just stood stock still. The only noise that could be heard were the young people and Giles' breathing, the vampire and the ghost couldn't breathe. Peter pulled the bandage on his leg tighter and stared sternly at his close mate. "Like, now!" Harry's eyes widened, he had never seen Peter come anything close to angry before and now Peter was almost threatening him.

"Pete… I…" Harry stuttered, practically shaking with nerves.

"I don't have time for this Harry!" Peter began to shout. He pulled harder on his bandage, causing him to hiss with pain. Harry moved closer and tried to pat Peter's shoulder.

"Peter I just thought you'd need…"

"Harry!" Peter glared straight at Harry's face, dropping his shoulder out of Harry's reach. Harry instantly withdrew his palm. He quickly grabbed his coat from the back of the chair Peter was sitting on. He marched past the guests in his apartment. He shoved the door of his apartment open and stomped out.

"MJ!" He yelled back in to the room, "Let's go!" He was obviously angry. Mary Jane, who was still kneeling at Peter's side, was stroking his arm.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She said sympathetically, looking up at Peter's agony filled face. He looked back blankly. She stopped stroking and just breathed heavily against his face and gripped his arm. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. She stood and walked after Harry. Peter forgot about the pain in his leg and turned his head to watch Mary Jane leave and seal the door behind her.

"What a creep." Buffy mumbled as she pulled Peter's trouser leg back down. Peter turned on her quickly and angrily.

"Hey! MJ is a kind, sweet, talented person!" Everyone took another step back in fear. Peter exhaled infuriately. He was very defensive of Mary Jane.

"I was talking about Harry." Buffy whimpered, staring in to Peter's extremely close, enraged face.

"Oh." Peter said, looking back to the door. "Sorry." He apologised. He watched the door thoughtfully about Buffy's comment about Harry. "Yeah, he is a bit agitating," he admitted and looked back at the interested scoobies, "but he's been like that ever since his father died." Peter sighed. "That's all he talks about, all the time is about killing Spider-man." Peter saw a bottle of Coke on a far table. He shot a web at the container, yanked it towards him and swigged the contents. He panted for air after finishing the bottle's liquid substances. "Does anyone see the problem with that?" He asked the room sarcastically. He threw the empty bottle over his shoulder and everyone watched as it landed straight in the trash can in the kitchen. "Now do we have anything to talk about? Or did I just yell at my nearest and dearest for no reason?"

"I just wanted to make sure you got here safely." Buffy answered, still feeling angry from when Peter yelled at her a few seconds earlier. Peter could hear this in the tone of her voice.

"I'm sorry." He groaned, he wasn't used to apologising.

"That's okay." She smiled at him.

"Peter?" Angel started talking for the first time since he had been in the apartment. "Sorry about before. It's just that Jameson…"

"Don't sweat it." Peter laughed, "Jameson has got an entire city believing what he says, he's good at twisting the truth." Peter was instantly reminded of all the articles written against him in the Daily Bugle. He remembered how J. Jonah Jameson had placed a reward on him and called the police for his arrest.

"Do you want us to take care of him for you?" Spike asked eagerly, hoping for the chance to see some violence.

"No." Peter ordered. "He's the source of my income, my employer, my boss." He told them all what he had told Buffy before.

"But I thought he hated Spider-man." Xander questioned the now comfortable Peter.

"He doesn't know." Peter answered. "And as long as I enjoy having the gift of hearing, I will never tell."

"But then why do you work for someone who hates your alter-ego?" Giles said in his usually confused tone.

"He needs pictures of Spider-man for his paper, I need money." Peter made it as simple as possible. "Now if that's all…" Peter began as he pulled himself up from the armchair. Angel stood in front of him.

"Wait." He said, pushing Peter back down. "I need to ask you…" He began, pulling out the printed sheet he acquired from the police station. "Does this date mean anything to you?" He past the sheet over to Peter's fingers. Peter read the sheet and stared intently at the date that was printed on the paper. Peter stared silently at the sheet. "I know it's a year ago, but does that mean anything?" Angel questioned. Peter stood slowly, as if he had to stand but didn't want to. He moved gradually across the room, still staring at the piece of paper that he held in his quivering digits. He dropped the paper and jogged in through the kitchen.

"Peter?" Tracey asked, sticking her head around the corner to see what he was doing. "What's up?" The rest of the scoobies followed her in to the student's kitchen, each one equally intrigued as the next. They found Peter searching through a calendar on his kitchen wall. He pointed at the date as if it was a demon.

Peter stood back a couple of paces from the calendar and walked to his front door. He pulled his coat of the hanger that was next to the door.

"I've got to go." He told them, something about his voice told the scoobies that all was not right. Buffy tried to ran to grab his arm but he was out the door before anyone could do anything.

"Why did you give him that?" Buffy turned at Angel, pointing to the floor at the piece of paper Peter had dropped. Xander retrieved the document and read it carefully.

"There's a new demon heading for New York. He came through the LA Wolfram and Hart and made a deal with one of my employees. All we know is that this new demon wants revenge on someone, but we don't know who." Angel informed the scoobies. "And…"

"And we got some sources and checked some police files, apparently your new boyfriend is in on this demon somehow." Spike interrupted his fellow vampire with a soul. Angel's jaw had dropped from Spike's interruption.

"That's impossible." Buffy exclaimed. "Peter didn't believe in vampires until tonight, how could he have anything to do with some demon?"

"I don't know," Angel returned his attentions to the present situation and walked steadily through the small crowd and in to the kitchen, "but we have to… Ouch!" Angel slipped and fell on the huge puddle of brandy that still soaked the floor.

"Bloody brilliant!" Spike laughed ecstatically at his fallen sire.