Night Falls

Previously:

"I can't say that I trust Faith. But Hailey's right, I don't trust myself either. If she makes you happy, than I'm happy for you. But," Willow said, turning to Faith, "if you hurt her…"

"I know," Faith cut in. "You'll kill me. That really seems to be a recurring theme today."

Chapter Eighteen:

Hailey smelled the thick, acid smell of smoke invading her nostrils. It coated her throat with the taste of wood fire and she wanted desperately to cough, but something told her not to make a sound. Her eyes were clenched shut, but she knew that a layer of soot coated her eyelids by greasy way her skin felt. At first, she could not hear anything but a low humming in her ears and she thought that she had gone deaf. However, after a few moments, she began to hear the low beating of a drum. It was in the distance; a muted sound that, never the less, struck a manic fear in her heart. She wanted to flee.

Opening her eyes, she blinked away the sting of grime slipping through her eyelashes. The sky above her was a dark shade of gray that mingled with the bright, burning red of fire. The clouds that gathered in the atmosphere had a distinctly unearthly quality to them, as though something had changed them - something had defiled them. Hailey shuddered and sat up. She had been lying on the ground. Grass had once covered the spot where she lay, but the grass had been burned away until only a hard, crisp rock remained. Volcanic ash, she thought, but shook the thought from her mind. There were no volcanoes in Sunnydale.

Rising to her feet, she brushed a layer of dirt off her clothes and looked around. She wanted to scream out, but she found that her voice would not come. Everything had been burned to the ground. For miles in every direction, she turned, gazing out with unseeing, glazed eyes, at a world that no longer existed. She desperately wished to see some lone hawk circling in the sky, to indicate that she was not the only living thing left, but the sky was empty.

"Hello!" She finally yelled, her voice but a hoarse whisper in a landscape of despair. "Is anyone there?"

Bitter silence greeted her question, falling into the empty void of her heart. She stumbled forward, vainly trying to discern something familiar in the midst of the rubble. Finally, her eyes rested on something that she recognized. A sign teetered on the edge of a great chasm. The metal was bent and rusted, but the words were still discernable. It read 'Welcome to Sunnydale.' Hailey gazed out over the crater that had once been the town and struggled to breathe. "This can't be happening," she said to herself. "If I pinch myself, I'll wake up. This is all just a dream. It's just a dream," she repeated.

"Hailey!" A voice boomed out of the sky. "Hailey, wake up!"

Hailey bolted upright in bed, a sheen of sweat covering her body, as she panted for breath. "Baby, relax. You were dreaming," Willow said softly, reaching out and touching her girlfriend's arm with a brush of her fingertips.

Hailey turned her head sharply in Willow's direction and, for a moment, Willow had the sudden fear that Hailey was going to hit her. "Willow?" Hailey asked, her eyes focusing on the witch's red hair as her surroundings suddenly became clear.

"Yeah," Willow replied, smiling crookedly. "It's me. You're safe now."

"Bloody Hell," Hailey muttered, letting herself fall back on the bed. "That was intense."

"What were you dreaming about?" Willow asked, lying down on her side so that she was facing Hailey. She propped herself up with her elbow and casually rested her hand on Hailey's arm. The touch, however casual, sent sparks through her fingers and she wondered if Hailey was feeling the same thing. She hated to admit that whenever she was around the potential, she felt like she was back in high school – some adolescent girl that thought she was so clever with her secret touches and glances. Her heart flip flopped as Hailey looked over at her, her blue eyes shining in the dark of the night.

"The end of the world…I think," Hailey replied. Shaking her head slightly, she turned and mimicked Willow's position. "But I don't want to think about that anymore. You're right, it was just a dream."

"What do you want to think about then?" Willow asked, innocently running her fingers up and down Hailey's arm – innocently, though she knew exactly what reaction her touches were inciting in the other girl by the smoldering look in her eyes. Hailey seemed to arch into her touch, her body unconsciously moving closer to the witch.

"Anything else," Hailey muttered as she leaned forward and gently brushed her lips over Willow's neck. The witch shuddered and repressed a gasp that Hailey could feel trembling for release in her throat. Smiling, Hailey flicked her tongue out, tasting the salty flavor of the other girl's skin. At this, Willow did gasp, briefly letting her eyes flutter closed. "You taste good," Hailey whispered, kissing a trail up Willow's neck and onto her chin. Finally, she caught the witch's bottom lip with her teeth and sucked it into her mouth, feeling her body tingle as Willow groaned with pleasure. Releasing her lip, she watched as Willow opened her eyes.

"You stopped," Willow pointed out. Hailey nodded.

"I'm not usually one for the stopping," she replied. "But I distinctly recall you saying that you wanted to take things slow."

"I did," Willow said, partially concurring and partially groaning in frustration. "And we should." Smiling, Willow tucked a strand of Hailey's dark hair behind her ear. "You're so beautiful, you know that?" Hailey's smile lit up the room.

A sudden knock on the door interrupted the intimate silence that had settled between them. "Yeah?" Willow called. The door opened and Dawn poked her head in. As soon as Willow saw the teenager's face, she knew that something was wrong. "What is it, Dawnie?"

"We need you guys down stairs," Dawn said. "We've got Bringers."

Hailey and Willow leapt to their feet, following after Dawn as she hurried down the stairs and to the front door. Peering out one of the windows, Dawn motioned for them to look. "How long have they been out there?" Hailey asked, peeking through the glass. At least a dozen Bringers had assembled outside. They were standing in a semicircle, surrounding the front of the house. Moving away from the window so that Willow could look, she glanced into the living room. The other Potentials had gathered there, as well as Anya and Andrew.

"We just noticed them," Dawn said. "But that's not to say that they haven't been out there for a while."

"Where are Buffy and Faith?" Willow asked.

"They're on patrol," Dawn said.

"So we're alone here?" Hailey asked, restraining the urge to audibly groan.

"Yeah," Dawn answered. "I hate to say it, but if they decide to attack, we're done for."

"That not true," Kennedy suddenly said, jumping to her feet.

"Really?" Dawn asked, turning to regard the Potential. "How many fights have you been in, Ken? Do you really think we can take all of them on?"

"Dawn," Hailey said in a commanding tone that captured the younger girl's attention. "Now is not the time to get on each other. We have to stick together."

"So what's your plan then?" Kennedy demanded.

Hailey sighed. "Are there any around back?" She asked, turning to Dawn.

"No," Dawn replied.

"We should run while we still can," Hailey said.

"That's it? You just want to give up?" Kennedy asked in frustration.

"Hey, if you want to stay and get slashed to pieces, be my guest," Hailey burst out. "But if you want to live, then get your ass in gear."

"What happened to 'let's stick together'?" Willow asked softly.

"She pissed me off," Hailey replied.

"Guys?" Dawn said, moving back over to the window. "Something's happening."

"What?" Willow, Hailey, and Kennedy nearly said in unison as they moved over to the remaining window, crowding around it to see.

"Oh shit," Kennedy said, moving back.

"Still want to stay and fight?" Hailey shot over at her.

"Be nice," Willow said, jabbing her elbow into Hailey's ribs.

"What is it?" Anya asked, nervously rising to her feet and moving several steps towards them.

"Vampire," Hailey said.

"Just a vampire?" Anya asked. "You've taken on vampires before. What's the problem?"

"It's not just a vampire," Willow said, sighing. "It's one of those vampires."

"Oh," Anya said. "Shit."

"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "Someone untie Andrew."

"Everybody listen up!" Kennedy said, moving back into the living room, as one of the girls jumped up and untied their reluctant hostage. "Grab a weapon. We're getting out of here, but we have to be ready to fight."

"Who put her in charge?" Hailey whispered over to Willow.

"She's gotta learn sometime," Willow replied.

"Why's that?"

"Giles told me some stuff before he left. You know about the prophecy regarding Faith?" Hailey nodded. "Giles is convinced that Kennedy will be the one to replace her. At first he wasn't so sure, but when the Coven called, they told him to pay special attention to her."

"That means the both of you as well," Kennedy said, turning back to Willow and Hailey.

"I don't need a weapon," Willow said.

"No?" Kennedy asked.

"No, I am a weapon," Willow replied. Hailey quickly ran up the stairs, into the bedroom she had started sharing with Willow, and grabbed her gun out of her duffel bag. Then she rejoined the others on the first floor.

"Here's the deal, people," Kennedy said. "We cannot make any noise. If they hear us, they'll come after us. But if they don't know that we've left, we'll be fine. Stealth is the key here."

"Question," Colleen said, raising her hand. "What exactly are we gonna do if they notice that we're fleeing?"

"Fight," Kennedy replied.

"But we're Slayers. That vampire out there kicked Buffy's ass without breaking a sweat. What makes you think we'll be able to fight it on our own?"

"Now really isn't the time to worry about that," Hailey replied. "Look, I know it's easy to start wondering about the 'what ifs.' But we can't do that. We have to take one step at a time. Right now, we're running. If that changes, we'll deal with it. But until then, just focus on what you're supposed to be doing."

Kennedy nodded, for once finding herself in agreement with the sheriff. Gazing around at the frightened faces surrounding her, she set her mouth in a determined grin and said, "Let's go."

………………………………

"Whatever happened to big, bad Spike? I remember you rolled in here, arrogant as the day is long, absolutely determined to kill me. But something happened to you," the First said, pacing back and forth in front of Spike wearing Buffy's face. "And it was before the chip, too. You changed. You lost that edge that had guided you for so long and you become a neutered puppy. Why?"

"I guess I fell in love with you," Spike replied, his voice just a whisper. The First stopped and looked at him, pleased. Spike was chained to the wall. His left eye was swollen shut, where the newly born uber-vampire had beaten him to obtain its first taste of blood. His head was hung low, desperately low, as if all hope of rescue had left him. The First knew that it was breaking him.

"That's right," it said. "You did. What a silly thing to do. Now you have that soul. It must just be torture."

"You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" Spike asked, his voice stronger as he raised his head and glared at the First with his good eye. "You don't think I know what you're doing?"

"What am I doing?" The First asked, moving closer to him.

"You're trying to break me down. Trying to make me bloody crack. It's not going to happen. She'll come for me," Spike said confidently.

"Will she?" The First sneered. "If she was coming for you, Spike, she would have been here already. Face it, you're alone now. I'm all that you have left. She's moved on, Spike. She found someone new. She doesn't need you anymore to get her rocks off, not when she has Faith."

"You're wrong, you know," Spike said, letting his head fall back down.

"About what?" The First asked.

"You're not all that I have left," Spike said, realizing something for the first time in over a hundred years.

"What do you have left then, Spike?"

Spike grinned. "Me. Just me."