The demon's blow to the face caused Buffy's lip to split and sent her reeling backwards, right into Angel, who grasped her arms tightly and turned her to face him, intense worry shrouded in his eyes.

"I'm OK." Buffy told him, stepping back and facing the Garlock demon once more. The elderly people the demon had attacked were huddled in various corners. Some had fainted, some were still screaming. It made the fight hard to concentrate on and that coupled with the immense strength and skill possessed by this demon was not boding well for Buffy or Angel.

"Catch!" Angel called, throwing Buffy the Falcrest stone. She caught it in her left hand and lunged at the demon once more. Seeing the stone, the thing grabbed hold of the nearest available chair and brought it down hard on Buffy's outstretched arm. She cried out in agony and dropped the stone, clutching her arm fiercely. Angel could tell, just from the sound and the look of her hand that at least three fingers were broken.

"I'm OK!" She called to him, noticing the worry. The demon was advancing towards where the stone had now fallen. "Get the stone before he does or it's all over!"

Angel nodded and dove for the stone, executing a perfect summersault as he felt his finger's grasp it, and coming up behind the demon. Before the thing could react, Angel's fist had connected squarely with his head and the demon spun from the impact of the punch, right into Buffy's fist.

Her punch didn't do as much damage as Angel's had done however, as she had used her injured hand for the blow. The pain was amazing, even to her. The demon recovered from the punch and retaliated with one of his own, throwing her across the room and into a nearby wall.

Leaping back up from it, she caught the arm of the demon as it descended towards her face, spun him around backwards and kicked him with as much force as she could in the small of his back. It jerked in severe pain as her knee collided with his spinal cord. She was able to hold the demon still for a few seconds as Angel rained punches and kicks into the demon's face and chest. Eventually it managed to elbow her in the face and hit Angel hard enough to cause him to stagger backward.

The demon used the pause to free himself and grab blindly for the Falcrest stone that Angel still held in his hands.

"Angel!" Buffy yelled, holding her hands up as if to signify she was open to receive a pass. Angel caught on and threw the stone to her.

Buffy caught it and made a run at the demon, leading the first punch to his head with her good hand. Angel immediately followed up her punch with one of his own and the two of them fought shoulder to shoulder against the beast, desperate to regain the upper hand in this battle, or at least to hold him off until time ran out and Adamson's plan failed.

Buffy clutched the Falcrest stone in her injured hand, her fingers whitened with strain and agony. She could already feel various bruises appearing on her face and the taste of blood was strong in her mouth as her lip bled profusely.

Angel was all too aware of the slayer's injuries, even moreso than his own. He could smell the blood on her and see the pain in her eyes as the demon managed to successfully kick her hard in the face. He watched as her head snapped back sharply and her body flipped sideways in the air before crashing into the cement wall.

Ignoring every impulse in his heart that screamed to rush to her and make sure she was OK, Angel attacked the demon, channeling that worry into incredible hatred and fury as he engaged the demon in a brutal fight.

Scrambling to her feet and ignoring the nausea that threatened to well up inside her, she watched the demon and Angel fight, hoping at some point there would be an entry point with which she could use to drive the Falcrest stone through the demon's head.

She watched as the demon lifted Angel into the air and hurled him towards her. Before she knew it, Angel's bulky frame hit her square in the solor plexus and she was thrown hard into a wall, the wind knocked out of her and Angel on top, seemingly unconscious.

"Angel!" She yelled, attempting to move him, but failing completely. "Angel!"

He opened his eyes and she smiled in relief and ran her hand absently over his face as if to affirm to herself that he hadn't been severely hurt. A tingle went through Angel as the slayer unknowingly caressed him.

"He's behind me isn't he?" Angel whispered, feeling the demon advancing on the couple, thinking Angel to still be unconscious. Buffy nodded and attempted to move him. "Stay still...."

Buffy was confused at Angel's request, but nevertheless obeyed it. She caught on to his way of thinking as she watched Angel take the Falcrest stone out of her injured hand, and clutch it tightly, preparing his attack.

The demon lifted a chair and prepared to bring it down on Angel's head, when he whipped around and before the demon could react, buried the Falcrest stone into his skull with as much force as he could muster. Buffy watched in awe as the demon jerked and seized up and then finally fell to the floor, dead. Angel turned back to Buffy and collapsed in satisfaction, his head resting lightly in her lap. Buffy smiled, and ran her good hand through his hair.

"Well that was a workout I wasn't expecting." He muttered, smiling wryly.

"I'll stick to the stair master at the gym I think." She joked back. Looking around, she saw that the elderly people in the room were either coming to now or blinking in confusion, as if they had no idea whatsoever of what just transpired.

"Were those....muggers?" One lady finally managed to ask. Angel sat up and managed to get to his feet, helping Buffy to stand after he did so.

"Yes they were. Ms. Summers and I are undercover detectives. You're lucky we heard the commotion in here."

"Thank you officers." The old lady said gratefully. Buffy smiled, grateful herself for the power of selective memory.

"We should go." She said to Angel. He nodded and the two of them headed out of the rest home and came face to face with none other than James Adamson himself, furious that his plan had failed and knowing it was the two of them that had been the cause of its destruction.