Title: If I should die before we wake

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters or situations, or concepts, or anything, really.

Summary: After the events described in Deconstructing Hell, Spike, Andrew and Dana are menaced by a shadowy threat to Spike's life. You should read DH first.

Rating: T, because Spike is violent, rude, crude, and the bad guys are worse. Well, that's a lie. The bad guys are never worse than Spike. And violence.

Chapter 16: Dance with the devil

--

As Barclay, Lucy and Kri approached Andrew stepped closer to Dawn, protectively. This wasn't lost on the party approaching them, who slowed. Barclay even threw a glance over his shoulder.

"So," said Dawn. "Nice of you to show up and all. Didya call your friend Boris, find out what happened? Because, you know, he lost. Spike tricked him."

"What?" Barclay's eyes narrowed, and he glanced from Andrew to Dawn to Lucy. "What are you talking about?"

"Your friend, Kri," said Andrew. "He's one of them."

"Balance demons," said Dawn. "I mean, a lesser known breed of them, true enough. Even once Spike knew we were facing balance demons he didn't think of you. I did, though. I always do my homework."

Kri's face shifted into what might have been a smile on a human face. "I see. I'd heard that about you, but I didn't actually believe it. Good… work. You've got me. Go ahead, take me away."

Dawn smiled. "Ah, we're into the part where we bait each other and pretend it's going to be a fair fight when we both know that we've both called for reinforcements?"

Lucy dove for Kri, lashing out with a fist. The impact knocked him back and to his knees, coughing, and she whirled, kicking him in the face so hard that he pirouetted backwards to the ground, smashing into the runway pavement so hard it cracked underneath him.

"Let's go," said Andrew, drawing a gun.

"Whoa!" said Barclay. "I'm just supposed to take your word for it he was evil?"

"He admitted it, you knucklehead!" snapped Lucy. "Come on, we're going!"

"But he always fought evil!" groaned Barclay.

"No," said Dawn. "He didn't. He fought imbalance. He fought evil when it was too powerful for good to beat it, and he turned against good when it was too powerful for evil to win. That's why Spike remembered him as being on the wrong side. Isn't it?"

Kri groaned. "You don't understand. The universe needs balance!"

"No, it doesn't," said Dawn. "You'll dress it up to look nice. You'll say that nature needs balance, that there is no good without evil. But the truth is that the real balance is within each and every one of us. The good and the evil. And if you decide to let the evil win within you and decide to fight for evil, then you're not fighting for some balance; you're just plain fighting for evil. You and your entire lot are a bunch of liars. You've lied to yourself so you could fight against the forces of good. Well, no more. No more."

Andrew shot Kri in the head then, a loud gunshot that echoed up and down the tarmac. "I think we should be heading back towards the car now, before his reinforcements show up."

"How'd you get a gun past security?" asked Barclay. "I never could do that."

Andrew frowned. "I used my magic bone, of course."

Dawn scanned the runway. "Incoming."

Andrew glanced up at the heavy-set man approaching them slowly, and swallowed hard. "That'll be Boris himself." He glanced up at the sun overhead. "Sans vampires, fortunately. Anybody else have weapons?"

Dawn grabbed at the collar of her shirt and tugged. With a ripping sound the Velcro there gave way, and she pulled a ceramic knife out. She tossed it to Lucy. "Go for the eyes. If you can blind him we'll have an advantage. How many shots do you have left?"

Andrew shook his head. "Six. But I've got my magic bone."

"Can you do anything really useful with that?"

"There's one or two illusions I can do. I can try to confuse him."

Barclay cracked his knuckles. "Play me like a chump, huh? Yeah, I got some rage issues I want to work out."

"He's strong and fast," warned Andrew.

Dawn sighed, backing up a little to form a semi-circle. "Anytime you have a shot, Andy…"

The tiny cracking noise came at about that time, followed by a high-pitched whine. When Boris exploded in a fireball Andrew jumped back, dive-tackling Dawn covering her with his body.

"Oh, this is so fifties," she complained in a slightly winded voice as a hot wave of wind passed over, knocking Barclay and Lucy off their feet.

"Yeah, you know you love it," he groused, rising into a crouch over her with his gun held in two hands. "Come on, come on…"

Boris was still advancing, now running.

"Who fired that shot?" yelled Dawn.

"Riley, of course," said Andrew, firing at the approaching demon. "Lucy, now would be good!"

Lucy charged forward to meet the demon as Andrew tossed away the empty gun. "Good to know that Spike was thinking," said Andrew, nodding at a group of black-clad soldiers running to join them.

Boris slapped Lucy away from him, sending her sprawling across the black pavement. "You think a few men with popguns are going to stop me? I'm not afraid of you," growled the big man.

One of the black clad soldiers attacked Boris with a sword, slashing it him so fast Andrew's eye couldn't follow it.

"That's our Slayer liaison to him, isn't?" asked Dawn, climbing to her feet.

Boris grabbed the sword in one hand, whipping it around and sending her flying off into the air. As she tumbled across the runway he turned back to Dawn and Andrew, holding the sword loosely.

"You have nothing that can stop me."

"Run!" yelled Andrew pushing Dawn away and stepping forward. As he stepped forward his body seemed to balloon outward, and he transformed, Bruce Banner-style, into a hulking monster with large fangs. "Now you face our true might!" he bellowed.

Boris frowned. "That's an illusion, not a true transformation."

"Oh." The big demon sagged. "What gave it away?"

"Your feet. You didn't start crushing the pavement or anything, and something that size must weigh enough to crush it."

The soldiers opened up with machine guns, and Boris threw the sword, skewering them, and started running after Dawn, who was halfway back to the terminal. On his way by Andrew he threw a punch that sent Andrew skidding and tumbling back down the pavement.

--

Dawn ducked through the terminal doors, checking for security guards who might have a nightstick or a gun or some other weapon to use against the demon behind her.

Seeing none, she ran on.

Once again, Spike's plans had gone to hell. He'd put together a great plan, and a great team to take Boris down. But Boris wasn't in the same place as the team. And he certainly wasn't planning on staying here long enough for them to get here.

Right now Dawn had two Slayers, neither of whom appeared sufficient. She had an idea on killing Boris.

Twice before Buffy had faced enemies too powerful to kill. Both times she'd had to get better weapons to wield. First, Olaf the Troll-God's hammer. Then the scythe.

Both weapons were currently in England, and not doing Dawn a lick of good. But that was a good place to start, when they got around to it.

She ducked into a shop to catch her breath, slipping behind a rack of suits and leaning over a display of belts, which should rig into a weapon if she had to.

She assumed his sense of smell would ferret her out eventually but in an airport, where people were walking constantly, it would take him time. Especially if he didn't have a good grasp on her scent.

Giving her a minute to take out her cellphone and call Illyria back.

"Hello, this is Clem."

"Clem? Seriously? This is Dawn."

"Dawn? As in Dawn Summers? Hey, it's good to hear from you!"

"Yeah. Is Illyria right there?"

"No, sorry. She and Spike just broke into a place and are kicking people in the head. Would you like to speak to Dana?"

"Um, okay."

"H-hello?"

"Hi, Dana, it's Dawn."

"Hi."

"Hey, Boris is chasing me through an airport."

"Oh. Which one?"

"The one right by Riley's base, of course. Riley is here and he brought a Slayer, and we had a Slayer, and a rocket launcher, but Boris isn't hurt."

"Hm. They said he was really tough. A rocket launcher, you say? You guys get all the good toys. Oh, and Illyria says that enchanted weapons might not work too good on him, because he's immune to magic, and she knows you were thinking it."

"She's back with Spike?"

"Nope. Still kicking people."

Dawn knew what that meant. She counted to ten in her head. "Somebody has to tell Spike that he needs to consult with us before going off on his hare-brained schemes."

"Well, so far it's worked out pretty good. Oh, Spike found out what he wanted to know. We should be there soon."

"How soon is soon?"

"Um, stay on the line. I'll keep you updated."

Dawn reached into the suits and opened up a gap so she could see the terminal. Boris was wandering up the escalator, glaring around. Dawn let the suits slide back into place.

"Dana, how is Spike?"

"How is he? Um. He's fine. What's that question mean, really?"

"I mean… he's crazy to go off on his own, sure, but why'd he do it? I mean, crazy in a non-judgmental sense."

"I really don't understand what you're asking. But Illyria does, and she's insulted."

"Well, good. That's part of the question. Doesn't he think it's kind of a stupid idea, making you the high priestess of a previously evil and possibly insane hell goddess?"

"Um. No, quiet. Really! Sorry. She didn't like that. No, I-I think he's pretty sane. About it. I think it was a good idea. Or I wouldn't have done it. And Illyria really didn't like the idea, because it leaves Spike defenseless, but it makes me much better able to defend him. And I really like that, because sometimes he doesn't have the common sense to stay out of trouble… like right now. He just kicked a bunch of wizards in the head. Fortunately, Illyria was there to smack them when they got mad. But that's just what I mean. He doesn't think about the risks. He just thinks about you in danger and gets really mad."

That was actually fairly heart-warming, even for somebody as cynical as Dawn. "So I take it from the reference to wizards that you guys are going to try to use magic to get over here?"

"Well, yeah. Spike wants to open a traveling portal. Like the one Boris was using. Only all the people here claim they can't. Not that it's discouraging Spike or anything. Not Spike, no sir."

"Yeah, sounds right," she sighed.

She took another peek. Boris was returning down the escalators, an angry look on his face. Apparently he didn't like the hiding part of hide and seek. "It looks like I'm going to have to run again soon."

"Stay on the line," said Dana, and her voice sounded funny now. Strained. "I think we're about to do something stupid."

A clerk cleared his throat. "Excuse me, are you going to buy that?" he asked Dawn.

Boris stormed into the shop. "And I see you. You can run, but you can't hide."

"Hey!" said the clerk, turning to face Boris. "Watch it, buddy, or I'll call security!"

Dawn had already fashioned a rudimentary nunchakas from the belt and the legs of the stool she'd been found there. She sprang forward and aimed for his eyes, hoping to blind him.

He did flinch back from the sudden attack, but didn't appear to be blinded. He wasn't fast enough to grab her as she darted back out the door, running so fast she could feel the veins in her neck throbbing.

The bright colors flashed by her as she headed for the exit. She could hear screams, but she had no idea how far back he was.

And looking back meant slowing down, and she had no intentions of slowing down. Instead she put it into high gear, pounding the floor with her feet, trying to outsprint him.

Then a bench went flying over her shoulder, smashing into a glass wall. She ducked and rolled, trying to avoid the flying glass and the inevitable second bench. While she was down he had plenty of time to catch up.

"That's really, really, annoying," he said, leaning over her. "Did you just a nunchaka out of a belt and two table legs?"

She twirled it upwards, making contact between his legs and then again on his face on the backswing. He danced back, surprised, and she rolled to her feet.

"Isn't that unstable?" he asked. "I'd think it'd all fall apart."

"Nuh-uh. Slayer training 101. Weapons. Durable weapons. Weapons that'll do damage."

"Yet I'm still standing."

"Well, you're a little tougher than the usual. You know, vampires."

"Yeah. Okay, listen, you seem like a reasonable person. Is a little balance too much to ask for?" He lunged forward, trying to hit her while she was distracted by the question. But she hadn't been listening to the question, knowing that she needed her focus. She dodged and took off again.

This time it was a chair, and it slammed into her back, knocking her to the ground.

She lay there for a second panting, trying to catch her breath. She could hear him walking up behind her, and braced herself, trying to think of a way to break loose and start running again.

"You don't give up. Strong survival instincts. I do like that in a woman," said Boris, putting a foot on her back and pressing her down on the floor. "Of course, that's not going to change the all-too-inevitable outcome."

Then the wall in front of them exploded inward, a bright orange plume, and Andrew came stumbling through the sudden hole in the wall, holding Riley's rocket launcher. "Get away from her," he croaked.

Then Boris was knocked away by the two Slayers, who both struck at once this time.

Dawn rolled over, staring up at the others. Riley was trying to attack Boris with a sword from behind while both Slayers were trying to stay out of Boris' reach while hitting him with makeshift spears fashioned from flagpoles.

There was another flare of light as Andrew fired the rocket launcher again, taking out another wall. He grabbed Dawn and tossed the rocket launcher aside, heading out the sudden gap towards a helipad where a helicopter was landing.

"Extraction team!" he yelled.

Dawn was hobbling, but Andrew managed to get an arm around her waist and half carry her. It was hard, since she was taller than him, and weighed almost as much as him. And he'd never been very strong.

There was very real fear on his face.

Dawn heard a scream of pain behind them. She winced, knowing that at least one of the Slayers was down.

Then they were hurled forward, a body slamming into them from behind. As Dawn toppled down she managed to turn, catching the pavement below with a shoulder.

It was Lucy who was sprawled over them, her face bloody. She was breathing, a labored breathing that was closer to a wheeze.

Soldiers had got off the helicopter and were running forward, large machine guns in hand. They were shooting at Boris, but Dawn was pretty sure the bullets still wouldn't work.

"Hang on, Lucy. If we make it to the helicopter, we're golden," coughed Andrew, struggling to his feet and trying to pull the two girls with him.

He wasn't strong enough to pull them both along, and both of them had been hit too hard to help.

And she knew they weren't going to make it.

She tried to work up the strength to tell him that she loved him, just one last time, but that last impact had winded her too badly. All she could do was work her jaw and hope that he knew.