Buffy and Faith walked up to the mausoleum. Luckily, there were no more walking dead wandering around the cemetery. Buffy filled Faith in all the details on the way.

"So this Spike guy, you whooped his ass earlier and chased him out of town, and he came back?" Faith asked her.

"Yep."

"He must be one of those machismo types."

"Definitely. I don't think there isn't any other type of vamp, come to think of it."

"So what made him come back?"

"We're about to find out."

Buffy pulled the door open and both of them stepped in. The door slammed shut behind him and they were left in the dark.

"Damn it's dark, just the way I like it." Faith said.

"You would."

They walked through the dark hallways, towards the center of the mausoleum. Eventually their eyes adjusted to the lack of light. They stepped up to the center, where the alter stood. Buffy saw the switch Spike and Scylla pulled to make their great escape. The walls of the mausoleum crashed open, zombies poured out from the wrecked wall.

Dammit. Looks like my new little zombie-making friend isn't done here.

Faith launched a kick at the first one that came near her. The zombie fell to the ground, and started crawling towards her. Faith raised her foot and slammed it into the zombie's spine. Its spine gave way in a sickening snap, and it stopped moving.

I've seen some nasty crap in my day, but that was gross.

"Faith! There's too many of them! We have to run through the passage!"

Buffy was right, she looked around to see dozens of zombies making their way towards her. She saw Buffy kick through a crowd of zombies that surrounded her and ran to the alter. Buffy hit the switch and motioned Faith to follow. Faith ran towards the passageway quickly, dodging the corpses as they reached out for her. Buffy ran through the passage and Faith followed closely behind.

---

Cordelia was getting tired. She was at cheerleading practice all evening, and now this. She walked out of the book stacks and walked towards the table where Xander was buried in a dusty old book.

"Xander, I think I ran over a nail or something. Why don't we go change my tire? Together. I might need some help looking for the tire iron in the back seat." she said. She emphasized on a few of the words, hoping he would get the point. Xander looked up at her.

"Sorry, Cordy. No time for nookie right now, Buffy needs our help."

"Well, I'm sick of helping her. All we're doing is sitting here and looking at books. I've been here all night and I'm still in my cheerleading outfit. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going home." with that she stormed out.

Xander stood up to follow her.

"Let her go." Giles replied, not looking up from his book. "Cordelia has done enough for us tonight, she could use the rest."

"But…" Xander protested

"Please, Xander."

Xander reluctantly sat back down, bored out of his mind and frustrated that they weren't getting anywhere.

I hope Buffy or Faith at least come up with something while they're out there.

---

Buffy held the torch as the both of them made their way through the dark tunnels underneath the mausoleum. They encountered a few zombies along the way, but they were able to make short work of them. The only thing that really got under Buffy's skin were the spiders. They encountered a few spiders along the way the size of cocker spaniels. Buffy couldn't stand spiders when they were small, and it didn't help that they spat venom. The venom burned through her shirt. Buffy scraped it off with the end of the torch as Faith came up and stomped its guts out.

Buffy jogged up to the shrine and tipped the torch into the bowl. The bowl ignited into a burst of flame, and she heard a loud creak as the heavy metal door in the far chamber opened up.

"Great, let's get out of here. This whole place is giving me the wiggins."

"Tell me about it." Faith replied.

They ran through the tunnels, into a small chamber with a heavy, metal door that slid open. Three small torches that burned green fire were lined up along the doorway. Each torch corresponded with the three shrines she and Faith found scattered about the underground chambers. She ignited each one, and each small torch in the chamber ignited into green flame.

Cool trick, that.

Buffy and Faith walked through the door with the lit green flames above. They jogged down the long hallway. The hallway dead ended at a cracked wall. Both Slayers stepped back and simultaneously kicked the wall down. The wall crumbled, exposing a vast area which looked like it was once used as a sanctuary.

"The ground doesn't look steady, I say we run across." Faith said. Buffy nodded her head and they both raced across the chamber, the ground crumbling beneath their feet. Once they hit stable ground, they stopped.

"Good call." Buffy commented.

"Thanks."

The ground then erupted around them, and the living dead poured out. The two Slayers engaged in combat. Faith knocked down a couple of them with a roundhouse. Buffy lashed out at a crowd, crippling four of them, and then smashed their skulls in with her foot.

More zombies poured out and came for the both of them. The two soon found themselves cornered against the wall, back to back.

"What do you say; I take the bunch on the left, you on the right?" Faith asked as they had their backs to each other.

"No, there's too many of them. We gotta form another plan before they have a couple more members joining their club of the undead."

Faith saw two demons making their way towards the crowd. They looked like two big, metallic, skeletons, their skulls protected by helmets.

Or what looks like a helmet anyways.

The most visible feature about them were the glowing balls of green energy in their abdominal regions. It seemed to be the source of their power.

The demons slashed at the crowd of zombies, damn near breaking their necks to reach her and Buffy. Zombie pieces went flying everywhere as they slashed through the crowd.

"Do you think we can take them?" Buffy asked.

"Only one way to find out."

Faith and Buffy lashed out at the demons as they broke through the crowd of undead. Faith unleashed a combo at one of the demons. The demon screamed in rage and slashed her in the face, knocking her to the dirt. In the corner of her eye, she saw Buffy fall back from the vicious attack of the other monster.

Faith leaped to her feet in time for another attack. The demon threw a series of blows at her. Faith grabbed its wrists and kicked it in its stomach, and the demon jumped back. She saw the green energy in its stomach flicker, confirming her theory. Faith came back in and smashed the demon with some hard kicks, followed by an uppercut. The demon spiraled in the air, and suddenly disinigrated in midair.

Faith spun around to see Buffy catching her breath, the other demon nowhere in sight.

"What were those things?" Buffy asked her.

"I dunno. But who gives a damn, right? As long as we know how to kill em."

The both of them made their way through the rest of the chamber, and came along an alter, much similar to the ones they had to ignite to open the gate. The ground was swallowed up in front of it. Faith glanced down and noticed another cavern below.

"Ladies first." Buffy said as she leaped down into the cavern. Faith jumped down after her and followed close behind.

---

Spike sat on a ledge inside the huge chamber as Matereani prepared for the ritual. Laibach, still in Drusilla's body, ordered around the preparations as Scylla and Malik followed. They were all preparing for the rise of the Master, Spike's great great grandsire. A few of the sacrificial victims pleaded for their lives. Scylla and Malik smacked them around till they shut up. Spike wasn't up for the whole ritualistic ceremony and all that dross, it was too boring. He would have helped shut up a few of the sacrifices, but he would just rather kill them.

Spike just hoped the ritual was over soon, so he could get Drusilla back. So far he wasn't loving this plan at all. He didn't give a damn about the Master's return. He just wanted Dru back so the both of them could go back to England or South America.

Spike lit another cigarette and watched. Deep inside, he hoped Buffy would come and stop this, because so far, he wasn't having a good time.

---

Buffy met Faith in the small chamber, in front of another doorway with green flames. After jumping through the hole and searching through the various chambers, not to mention kicking some more undead ass, Faith and Buffy came across another doorway with small torches. But unlike the last one, this one had two. The both of them spilt up and searched the different hallways and chambers to find more shrines. During her search, Buffy came across another orb demon, a few icky spiders, and a handful of the undead. She finally found a shrine and lit it, now she was walking down the hallway past the green-flame door with Faith, who had apparently found one herself.

"How did it go?" Buffy asked her as they walked.

"Five by five."

"Same here, I guess. I ran into a buttload of zombies though, and a couple of those orb thingies."

Faith suddenly ran off, leaving her behind.

"Hey!" Buffy said as she ran to catch up. Faith was standing in the middle of a large, stone chamber, looking down at a fallen corpse.

"I just saw this guy get killed. He was standing her, and this demon, one of the ones with the green orbs, just came out of nowhere and dropped this guy. I ran over and it disappeared" Faith said.

"Let's find him, then." Buffy said as she walked down the length of the chamber, searching for the demon.

A group of zombies crashed through the cubicles in the walls, and stumbled towards her. Buffy made short work of them, and turned to see Faith finishing off another one. A flash of light busted between them, and an orb demon appeared in front of her. Faith ran up to help her. Both of them managed to get only a few bruises as they finished him off, the demon spun through the air and disinigrated.

"What do you say what other nasty little secrets this place has in store for us?" Faith offered. Buffy nodded, and the both of them walked through the set of double doors.

---

Xander puffed loudly and slammed the book closed.

"Nada. Zip. Zilch. The big goose egg."

Xander had been looking through books for hours and was getting nowhere fast. He rose from his chair and walked up to Willow, who was searching through the computer.

"Hey, Will. How's it going with the search." he asked her.

"Not good. I checked almost every site I could find, none of them don't know anything about tattooed vamps. Well, not significant tattoos anyway. This one site showed me a picture of some guy covered head to toe in one big tattoo, and, gross, but I don't think he's a vampire."

Xander pulled up a chair, and sat next to her.

"Willow, do you think Cordelia knows? About us?" he asked her quietly.

"What? That we've known each other since, like, forever?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I don't know. She has noticed us getting kinda close, twice in one night even. Maybe she knows and doesn't really want to admit it, like she's trying to deny it. Or maybe she doesn't really realize it, but maybe she is starting to feel it growing gradually, like she might catch on to us one day. The same thing with Oz. I notice he tends to be a little quieter than usual whenever he sees the two of us together. It's a scary thought, but do you think his enhanced wolf senses could notice anything?"

Xander stared at her thoughtfully.

"Anyone ever tell you how cute you are when youramble like that?" he asked her. Willow blushed.

"Not recent…" Willow trailed off as the both of them leaned in for a kiss.

The door busted open and Cordelia walked in. Willow and Xander quickly backed away and faced Cordelia. She was wearing a thin, red sweater covering up a white tanktop, and a pink flowery pink skirt to match the sweater.

"I changed my mind. I figured I wouldn't be doing anything at home but sitting in my room, doing homework, or catching up on my soaps."

"Cordy, it's three in the morning." Xander said.

"So? Why is it your business what I do in the middle of the night? Oh wait, that's because I spend most of my time here in this musty old library with you guys! I didn't have to come back, you know. I could have stayed home, while Spike and his cronies killed all of you, but I didn't want to live with the guilt. Now, if you excuse me, I have some homework to finish."

She slammed her books on the desk and sat down. She took out her homework and started writing; humming a song in her head to block off anything else Xander had to say. Xander just sighed and shook his head.

How do I put up with her?

---

Spike took in a lungful of smoke and breathed it out deeply. He watched as Malik and Scylla put the finishing touches on the ritual. They both backed off as Matereani stepped up and began the chant.

About bloody time.

"Oriundus quos cineras, oriundus qua umbra, consurgo magister aquila, cruentas ex tui cruentas, devoco vobis."

Energy expelled from the necromancer and struck the sacrifices. The bodies fell against each other in a smoking heap.

That was pretty neat, if I have to say so myself.

Suddenly, Buffy flew in from behind Matereani and kicked him in the back. Matereani fell off the ledge and landed face first on the ground next to the smoky carcasses.

"So much for stealth." the Slayer smirked.

Another girl soon followed behind her. She had long, black hair, and the darkest eyes Spike had ever seen. All in all, she was beautiful.

"Damn. Looked like one hell of a party. I'm offended nobody bothered to send me an invite." the girl said, looking down at the bodies. The room trembled violently. Rocks and rubble fell from the high ceiling.

"Right, falling ceiling. Time to dash." He signaled for the others to follow. Malik, Laibach, and Scylla followed right behind him as he ran out the falling chamber. Matereani stayed behind to face the Slayer and her doe-eyed friend.

Oh well.

"You are becoming a nuisance, girl." the demon raged.

"Oh, look! The grave robber speaks!" Buffy taunted.

The demon shook in rage. Crackles of energy emitted from his body and struck the ground. The ground erupted and a load of zombies poured out.

"Buffy, you want me to hold these things down while you take on the demon guy?" Faith asked.

"Sounds like a plan."

Buffy flew in the air and launched a high kick. Just like that, the demon vanished. Buffy landed on her feet and looked around. She was suddenly struck violently on the back of her head, numerous blows knocking her forward. She fell hard on her chest.

"Okay, it's safe to say I wasn't expecting that."

Faith pummeled the zombie to the ground, and then back kicked another one in the torso. She spun around quickly and smashed its skull in as it crawled on the ground. She saw the other fight going on at the corner of her eye, if you wanted to call it that. Buffy was managing to get only a few hits in, but most of the time the demon kept teleporting out of the way, and coming back to unleash a lethal combo on her.

Faith didn't have time to watch Buffy's battle as more of the walking dead were making their way towards her.

"Okay, this is getting really annoying." Buffy said as the demon disappeared again, but this time, Buffy was quick enough. She ducked out of the way as the demon rematerialized behind her and tried to pummel her. She snapped back with an uppercut, but the demon was faster. He grabbed her fist and twisted her arm. Buffy felt bones snap. She screamed in pain as the demon kept twisting. He finally let go, then he snapped a ferocious kick that sent her sailing across the room. She crashed against the hard, stone wall. She got up slowly to face the demon. He was walking towards her slowly.

Why do villains always have to walk that slowly? He must have seen way too many movies.

"Hey asshole, over here." Buffy looked to see Faith breathlessly calling out to the demon. Zombie pieces were scattered around her feet.

"You want a piece of me now? Come and get me you ugly son-of-a-bitch."

Buffy knew what she was trying to do.

Thanks Faith.

She reached down and grabbed a long, slender, metal candlestick that was stuck in the dirt she guessed they had to use for the ritual. She held in her hand like a javelin. The demon turned around to face Faith, falling for her taunts. Buffy took careful aim, and threw the stick like a spear. The stick sailed through the air and plunged through the demon's side. Blood and viscera spewed through his side. The demon doubled over and fell down. He sat up weakly and extended his arm out towards the center of the room. Dim energy expelled from his claws, around the corpses.

"No…the rite must be…completed." he said weakly.

His energy flickered, and he fell back to the dirt. He stopped moving.

"And nobody around to bring YOU back from the grave. What a drag, huh?" Buffy smirked.

Faith walked up besides her.

"Damn, way to go B."

"Thank's F. Too bad we couldn't save them though." Buffy said, nodding her head towards the pile of bodies.

The demon's corpse disinigrated, leaving behind a glowing piece of metal. Buffy picked it up and examined it. She could feel its power coursing through her body.

"Meanwhile, this little souvenir ought to help Giles figure out what all the boogedy-boogedy is about."

The ground shook violently. Buffy and Faith fell to their knees. A white mist swirled around the bodies in the center of the room, forming a figure.

Oh, no…it can't be…

The form of the Master rose from the mist.

"Oh…no. You're dead. I killed you. I crushed your bones."

Buffy felt a tug on her arm.

"Buffy, let's get out of here, or the ceiling is gonna crush us!"

Buffy turned around and ran out. They ran through the tunnels, jumping and dodging as rocks crashed down in front of them. They made it out into the air. They continued running, adrenaline and fear coursed through her veins. The image of the Master back in the chamber replayed in her mind. They ran and ran. Finally, Faith stopped.

"That was fun! Don't even try to tell me that wasn't fun!" Faith said

"That wasn't."

"You gotta lighten up, B. You can't tell me you didn't enjoy all that action back there."

"I can, and I did. Faith, I'm not in the mood right now. I have a lot going on. Thanks for you help. See you later."

Faith looked hurt.

"Fine. Whatever."

She turned around and ran home.

---

Buffy walked tiredly upstairs. She walked towards her room when the light in her mom's bedroom suddenly cut on. Joyce came out of her room.

"Buffy? Did you just get in? What happened out there? I was worried sick about you."

"Nothing. Nothing you should worry about. Just a long, stressful night. I'm just tired. Goodnight mom."

Joyce looked like she wanted to say more, but she listened.

"Goodnight sweetie."

Buffy walked to her room. She could feel her mother's worried glance behind her. She shut the door and changed into her pajamas. She jumped in bed and picked up the phone, and dialed the library.

"Xander's Snack Shack." Xander answered on the other line.

"Hey, Xand."

"Hey, Buff. How did everything go? Did you save those Bronzers?"

"No, I couldn't. But everything went okay. We killed the necromancer demon. Faith is at home right now. I'm at home too. Listen, Xander, why don't you all go home and call it a night. We'll meet up at the library around 3:30, after school. I'm not gonna bother showing up at school tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll let them know. You take care of yourself."

"You too."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Buffy hung up the phone, and laid down, staring up at the ceiling. Tomorrow as going to be a long night, she could feel it.