Night Falls

Notes: Thanks for the reviews.

Previously:

Spike wheeled around on his heel, his eyes wide with fury as he stared down the First Evil. "You just keep talking and talking and talking, don't you? Well, it's about time you realized something. No one is listening!" Spike yelled. Turning, he walked out of the basement, fleeing up the stairs and into the high school. It was still night outside. Taking a deep breath, he caught the scent of the pack of Bringers and the vampire that had left some hours earlier. Smiling the smile of a man who had broken free from the last thing holding him back, Spike began to follow it.

Chapter Twenty:

Vaguely, Hailey could hear the whispering sounds of someone praying. She turned her head and saw Maria sitting on a box in the corner, her hands folded in her lap, whispering something that Hailey could not understand. "Find anything, just block the damn door!" Kennedy was yelling. Hailey looked up and saw Willow and Anya pushing a packing crate in front of the door. Kennedy was picking another up, prepared to place it on top once the two women had moved out of the way. Something crashed into the steel door again, bulging out the center. Colleen screamed.

"We're never gonna make it out of here," Molly said fearfully, her voice shaking as she spoke. Hailey smiled grimly and shook her head, restraining the urge to laugh. She did not know why the Coven wanted her to come to Sunnydale. She thought that she should have ignored Giles' call in the very beginning and just stayed at home, fighting the evil that disturbed her town. Instead, she traveled across the world, nearly died in an explosion, practically kidnapped two frightened teenage girls, and broke a dangerous criminal out of prison. She could not figure out why she had bothered with any of it. Had she truly come all of that way just to die in an old warehouse? Running a hand over her face, she closed her eyes briefly and tried to block out the banging of the door, the determined, yet scared commands of Kennedy, and the scraping of the boxes sliding across the floor as people moved them into position.

"What's going to happen?" Andrew said, looking over at her. "Are we going to die in here? I don't want to die in this town."

"Neither do I," Hailey replied. "But I don't think we have much choice in the matter."

"You're really a glass half full type of girl, aren't you?" Dawn said jokingly. Hailey smiled a little.

"What are you doing?" Colleen asked. "We need to get out here, but you're blocking us in!"

"The best thing to do is wait until sunrise," Kennedy said calmly. "It's not even an hour away."

Hailey looked out of the small window in the upper left hand corner of the room. It was still dark outside, but the sky was lightening, turning a dark shade of blue instead of black. Kennedy was right. The sun would be up within the hour and then the vampire would not be able to continue its attack. Assuming that it's even a vampire trying to bust in here, she thought. The door shook, dust showering down on them from the ceiling. "I don't think it'll hold," Hailey said softly.

"It'll hold," Kennedy replied. "It has to."

Hailey was about to reply when the window she had just been looking at suddenly shattered. Glass busted into the room, falling and splintering like crystal on the dirty floor of the warehouse. Kennedy, Willow, and Anya scattered. Rising to her feet, Hailey prepared her muscles for the fight she was sure was about to come. The rest of the girls and Andrew gathered tightly together, determined to stand together, rather than fall alone. A lone figure dropped through the window. As soon as Hailey saw his dyed blonde hair, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's Spike," she said.

"How do we know that's a good thing?" Kennedy whispered.

"I thought the First was controlling him," Colleen stated.

Hailey stepped forward, breaking the line they had formed as Spike rose to his feet and smiled cockily. "That really you?" She asked, eyeing him suspiciously as he stepped closer.

"In the flesh," Spike replied.

"You look like shit," Hailey commented, relieved to see the vampire.

"Thanks. I could say the same about you, but I'll be a gentleman," Spike replied. "I guess I'm here to rescue you."

"I never thought I'd say this, but I'm actually glad to see you," Willow said as the group breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"Let's not go and have a sentimental moment here, Red. I've still got an image to maintain," Spike responded, but smiled nonetheless.

"So what's your plan?" Dawn asked. Spike opened his mouth to reply, but quickly closed it again.

"I hadn't actually gotten that far," he said after a pause. Their conversation was interrupted by a loud crash that echoed through the outer portion of the warehouse. "What the bloody hell was that?"

The sounds of a fight broke out and Hailey looked over at the others. "I think we should find out."

"There's no way we're opening that door," Kennedy said. "Not with that thing out there."

"We don't know what's out there," Hailey countered. "It could just be a bunch of Bringers. But something's happening and I want to know what it is."

"Me too," Colleen said, nodding her head.

"I don't like it," Kennedy replied.

"Well, you're not in charge anymore," Spike suddenly spoke up. "I am and I'm busting that door down."

Moving over to the door, Spike quickly moved the packing crates out of the way and kicked it open. Stepping out into the warehouse, he let his face morph into its vampire form. The others followed him, each smiling widely when they saw Buffy and Faith fighting a crowd of Bringers. Their smiles faded, however, when they saw the uber vamp circling the Slayers. "Alright, girls," Spike said. "I think it's about time you had some field training."

"Field training?" Molly asked.

"Let's kick some ass," Spike replied, rushing into the fray. The others lingered behind, uncertain, until Hailey shrugged and stepped forward.

"What the hell," she muttered and grabbed one of the Bringers from behind. Spinning him around, she dodged his knife and punched him in the nose. He staggered backwards, the knife hanging loose in his hand, and Hailey snatched it from him. Smiling at her new weapon, she twirled it in her fingers, circling the Bringer. She could not figure out how he could see to block her moves. His eyes had clearly been gauged out, but he knew exactly where she was standing. Either his other senses had developed to an extraordinary degree, or the First was using some sort of magic to allow the Bringers to see without actually seeing.

Glancing around the room, she saw that the others had joined in the fight as well. Willow, Anya, and Andrew were triple teaming a Bringer, who was having a difficult time warding off all three of them. Hailey smiled and focused her thoughts on the Bringer in front of her. She had always enjoyed fighting and she had excelled at it in her training. Very rarely did she lose when she was sparring with the other potentials with whom she had trained in London. Her blood pumped through her veins, spreading adrenaline throughout her entire body. All of her nerve endings hummed and sizzled as if they were on fire. She knew that if she was feeling half of what Buffy and Faith were feeling, than the power of the Slayer was more potent than any drug that anyone could manufacture.

The Bringer charged at her and she sidestepped him, slamming the handle of the knife down on his back. He crashed to the floor, falling face first. Blood spurted out from under him as his chin split on the hard floor. Hailey hesitated as she straddled the Bringer, wondering for a moment if it would be wrong to kill him. As far as she could tell, he was human, though he was working for the wrong side. Pushing those thoughts aside, she shifted her grasp of the knife and took a deep breath before plunged it down into the struggling Bringer's back. His movements suddenly ceased and she knew that she had pierced his spine.

Leaning down, she whispered, her lips almost brushing his ear, "Now you know what it feels like." Twisting the knife, she pulled it out of his back and rose to her feet. A pool of blood slowly began to spread out from beneath him. It crawled closer and closer until it licked the tips of her boots. Turning, she caught Faith's eyes. The younger girl was watching her intently, a look of concern passing over her features. Hailey turned her eyes away and focused on the next Bringer.

Meanwhile, Buffy and the uber vamp were circling each other. Each time the vampire moved closer, Buffy backed away, knowing what would happen if she engaged it in a fight. "You have to do something, B," Faith yelled over to her.

"I can't fight this thing," Buffy replied.

"The girls are watching you," Faith said as she and Buffy circled closely to each other. "They need to know that you can handle anything that comes their way. They're counting on you to protect them. You're their leader, B."

Buffy knew that Faith was right. She would never have the potentials' trust and loyalty if she could not prove to them that their coming to Sunnydale had not been a mistake. Stepping forward, she prepared to fight the vampire. It charged at her, tackling her to the ground. Pushing it off, she leapt to her feet and slammed her fist down into its face. The vampire smiled and charged again. This time, Buffy moved out of the way. Turning back to her, the vampire growled. It caught her in the face with its fist and the blonde Slayer stumbled backwards, nearly falling to the floor. She could feel blood trickling down her face in little rivers.

Wiping it away, she moved forward, lashing out her foot. The vampire dodged her kick and grabbed her foot, twisting her leg until she fell. Grabbing her from behind, it tried to sink its teeth into her neck, but she slammed her head backwards, catching it in the face. It howled in pain and let her go. "Buffy!" Willow suddenly cried. Buffy turned to look at her friend and saw her holding a large, rusty chain. The witch threw it to her and Buffy caught it, moving out of the way as the vampire tried to bring its knee down on her back. Twisting the chain through her hands, she tightened it into a taught line.

The vampire rushed at her again. Buffy moved at the last second, spinning around, and grabbing the vampire from behind. Throwing the chain over its neck, she tightened it, choking it with the rusted metal. The vampire struggled in her grasp, but she held firm. The chain cut through the skin of its neck. She knew that she only needed to apply a little more pressure and she would kill it. Yanking the chain back, she closed her eyes as the vampire's head split from its neck. It exploded into dust. The Bringers stopped fighting and fled from the warehouse.

"That went well," Spike commented.

Buffy dropped the chain and looked around, into the faces of her friends and the potentials. "This is how it's going to be from now on. You came here because you heard that I could protect you. Well, I can. And I'm going to. It's not going to be easy. But I will do everything in my power to keep each of you alive, that much I can promise you," she said.

"Let's go home," Faith said, moving over to Buffy and throwing an arm around her shoulders. "That was good, nice and short."

"Not so depressing, right?" Buffy asked.

"No, that was actually kinda motivational," Dawn said, walking up to her sister.

"Dawn," Buffy stated, pulling her sister into a tight embrace. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm okay," Dawn said. "A little shaken up, but good."

Together, they filed out of the warehouse. Hailey lingered, falling in line in the back. She knew that she should join Willow, but she hesitated. Looking down at the bloody knife in her hands, she dropped it as she walked through the doorway. It clanged on the ground and Faith looked back at her. Hailey ignored her look and continued walking. She wanted to wipe her hands on something. There was blood on her fingers, sticky and wet, but slowly drying. "You okay?" Willow asked, slowing her pace to join the dark haired potential.

Hailey smiled a little and nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?" She asked. Willow watched her intently as she spoke.

"I don't know. You seem a little…."

"A little what?" Hailey asked, her voice taking an angry edge that she had not intended.

"Nothing," Willow said, shaking her head. "Forget I mentioned it."

"Already have," Hailey replied, regretting the words almost immediately as Willow quickened her pace, obviously angered by her flippant attitude and refusal to talk, and walked ahead of her. Sighing, she looked down at her hands, frowning. The blood seemed to be spreading. It was creeping down her hands, from her fingers to her palms. She could feel the warmth of it spreading across her skin and she closed her eyes for a brief moment. When she opened them again, the blood was gone.