LOS ANGELES

Gunn sat on the driver's side of his truck, his left arm resting on the door, bored to tears. Wesley was sitting next to him, looking equally enthusiastic. An hour ago, Lorne showed back up in the hotel and told them about a human at the Caritas that had came up to perform. Lorne read him and found out that the guy was involved with a group of vampires. He and a couple co-workers at the hospital were selling blood to the vampires for cash. Since there wasn't much going on after the big Laibach/Drusilla incident, he and Wesley agreed to do something about it. Plus he needed to keep his mind off the throbbing pain in the back of his head. He took a couple pain killers, and it had died down a lot since psycho super-bitch tried to take him out, but being cooped up in the hotel all night worrying about how the rest of the gang were holding up in Sunnydale wasn't helping much.

Especially with Fred out there.

"How do you think it's going out there?" he asked Wesley.

"I don't have a clue. Angel hasn't called yet. I'm sure if it is something big he would let me know. He's probably all tied up right now being with Buffy and all."

Gunn chuckled.

"You got that right. Angel sure has been acting strange since he came back from seeing her last time, after finding out she was alive. I haven't seen him act like that since Darla…"

"Shh…" Wesley said quietly, putting his finger up.

Gunn remained quiet and concentrated ahead. An ambulance was pulling up slowly, stopping a good fifteen yards away from them. Two men dressed in green hospital garbs stepped out. Four vampires suddenly came out from behind a small alley behind the truck. Two of them approached one guy. They exchanged a few words, Gunn and Wesley unable to hear as they remained silent in the truck, hidden in the darkness. The first guy finished talking and signaled for the other man to open the back.

Gunn and Wesley watched intently, silently planning their first move. A loud ring sounded from somewhere in the car, catching them both off guard. Gunn jumped in his seat, elbow banging into the car horn. The horn blared in the wide alley, alarming the four vampires and their human cohorts. The two guys got startled and ran back into the ambulance. The truck took off, dropping bags of blood on ground.

The vampire glared at them, well aware of their presence.

"Damn." Gunn said, exasperated. He turned to Wesley. "I guess that means we fight, huh?"

"Precisely."

Wesley grabbed his crossbow and stepped out the car. Gunn followed suit.

The four vampires started running towards them. Wesley aimed and fired at the first. The vamp stared down at its chest in surprise as it dusted. Gunn fired a bolt as well, dusting the second one in lead. A third vampire busted from the ashes of the previous one. He grabbed Gunn's shoulders roughly and bared his fangs.

"Damn yo breath is kickin!"

Gunn shoved the vampire off of him and smacked him across the face with the bow. The vampire gripped his face and doubled over. Gunn took this opportunity to take out his stake and drive it home. He wiped the dust off his clothes and glanced over just in time to see Wesley finish off the last vamp with the stake that came out of his right sleeve. Wesley dusted himself off and took a deep breath.

"I needed that." Gunn said, breathlessly.

Wesley nodded. He reached into his pocket and took out his phone.

"Hmm, Angel called."

"He couldn't of picked a better time." Gunn replied sarcastically.

Wesley dialed his number back.

"Wesley?" Angel said, picking up.

"Angel. Is everything all right out there?"

"…Not really. We kinda got a problem out here. Laibach tricked us. Drusilla really wasn't possessed. She probably just came out here to destroy the Tedarke talisman to help Laibach. He was really possessing a girl named Tara, one of Buffy's friends."

"Oh dear…Did you manage to stop him?"

"No. I wasn't able to make it on time. Buffy and the others got there before us, but they were distracted by Dru. The portal is open. It's about to get ugly out here, Wes."

"What do you suppose you do about it? Do you need help?"

"Probably. Me and Buffy could probably do some damage. Also, Spike out of all people…But I don't know if that's enough or not. Willow would be great help but she's not able to. Laibach drained all the magick out of her. I'm in the hospital with Buffy and Giles now. We might need one more fighter just in case."

"I'll send one of us down. Don't worry, Angel. We'll help take care of it."

Wesley hung up. He knew just the person.

SUNNYDALE

Angel hung up the phone. He turned to Buffy to see her waiting patiently.

"Wesley called back. He's on his way out here. If not, he'll just send Gunn out."

"Great." Buffy said with a small smile. "We'll probably need all the help we can get."

"Are you sure, Angel?" Giles asked. "With the addition of you, Cordelia, and Winifred, the group is already quite large."

"True, but we have no idea how big this thing is gonna get. Sure when things get ugly, we have all of us…as well as Spike…but one more person won't hurt."

"I suppose." Giles replied thoughtfully.

Xander walked into the room to see Buffy, Giles, and Angel standing nearby. Willow and Tara were in separate cots, side by side.

"Xander." Buffy said, turning her attention from Giles.

"I rushed here as soon as you called." He turned over to see the two of them laying sound. "Are they gonna be okay?"

Angel spoke up.

"The doctor said Willow would be okay. She should be able to go home later on today. She's just resting right now…they're not sure about Tara. She's in bad condition. They don't know when she's gonna wake up."

Xander let the sea of mixed emotions sink in. He cared desperately for both, especially Willow, who he had known practically his entire life. He was still worried about her, but he was glad she was going to be okay. Hopefully Tara would be okay as well. She was a valuable part of the group. She kept to herself most of the time, but there was something about her that lightened up the mood for everyone, especially for Willow. Tara was her whole world. She had stepped in and aided Willow when she had been hurting the most, something him and the rest of the group unfortunately didn't really do for her. Over the years, the two of them had become closer. There wasn't a time you would see Will without her unless it was something serious. Xander didn't want to imagine the pain Willow would go through if they lost her…the pain they would all go through.

"Where's Dawn?" Buffy asked quietly, obviously feeling what he was at the moment, but eager not to let it show.

"She's out in the lobby with Anya. She would have come in but you know how strict nurses are with visitors, no matter how serious the situation is."

Buffy nodded in agreement. Xander went over to check on Willow. Giles headed for the door, motioning for Buffy and Angel to follow. They left the room quietly, allowing Xander to have some quiet time.

"I-I don't mean to be troublesome, particularly while a couple of our own are in such a condition, but we have a portal to a hell dimension to worry about."

"And I know that." Buffy said, exasperated. "But we're going on a limb here. We don't even know how to stop Laibach, let alone this portal."

"We're working on it." Giles said. "Cordelia and Winifred are already at the Magic Box researching."

"What about Willow?" Angel asked. "I don't know much about this hell dimension, but I'm pretty sure in order to close it, it's gonna take some pretty strong magick."

"I-I'm not sure myself, under her current condition. We'll have to wait till she's better. It shouldn't be much longer."

"Somebody has to stay with her." Buffy said.

"I will." Xander said, coming out of the room. "Gives me a better excuse to call in a day off from work, other than a hell dimension is bleeding into our quaint little town. I've pretty much used that one up already."

Footsteps sounded in the empty hallway. The three of them focused their attention from Xander to see Dawn and Anya coming up.

"Next time, Xander, you're on teen watch duty." Anya said, exasperated. "This girl pisses more than my cocker spaniel. Go ahead, I would say, get lost in the hospital so I won't have to worry about her anymore. But no, I have to play babysitter and follow her to the bathroom every time to make sure she doesn't get lost and become some mad doctor's lab rat."

"You know, Anya. You didn't have to follow her every time." Buffy said. "I'm sure the she's capable of going down the hall by herself."

"Now she tells me." Anya sighed.

"You had a cocker spaniel?" Xander asked.

"Well, he wasn't really mine...at first. He belonged to this wealthy landowner in the early 20s. His wife caught him cheating and I choked him to death with his own guts and burned down his estate. I got to keep his dog though, he was just so cute. D'Hoffryn wouldn't let me keep him, though. So I sold him to this friendly butcher guy in South Korea."

Everyone stood in silence, not knowing how to reply to another one of Anya's stories. Dawn decided to change the subject.

"So, how are they?" she asked.

"Willow is okay. No word on Tara as of yet. They need to run more tests on her. Hopefully everything will turn out well for her as well." Giles answered.

"Anya and Dawn should stay here with me to watch over." Xander said. "Not like we would be much of a threat out there against the extra-dimensional nasties."

"Sounds like a plan." Buffy said.

"I'll go call up the rest of the group to see how they're faring." Giles said.

Dawn, Xander, and Anya went into the room to see Willow and Tara. Giles went out to the lobby to use the payphone. Buffy and Angel stayed out in the hall, facing each other. There was a long, uncomfortable silence between them.

"Here we are again, huh?" Buffy said. "I guess it takes a huge apocalypse in order for us to continue seeing each other."

"Or one of us dying." Angel added. Buffy chuckled mirthlessly.

"Yeah I guess so."

There was another long period of silence. Angel sighed.

"You don't know how that felt to know that you were gone."

"Yes I do. I went through with the same thing with you. Only it was me who killed you. We've had this talk before, Angel. You stopped by not too long ago after you got the news that Willow brought me back."

"I know. It just still hurts sometimes."

"It's time to get over it. Here I am, alive and kicking. Literally. I understand what you had to go through, but that's past now and its time to let it go. Tonight I need you to be strong. No more sad, broody Angel. We can talk about our problems after this is all said and done. We have a bigger problem to worry about."

Angel nodded, understanding. Buffy gave him a warm smile. He smiled back at her. The two of them cherished the small moment between each other. The longing for her became overwhelming. Angel almost regretted leaving her a while ago, but he knew he made the right choice. As much as he loved her, it would have never worked if they decided to stay together. Plus, he had the team back in L.A now and she seemed to be faring well on her own. He just hoped nothing like that ever happened to her again. Angel looked down at his watch to see that it read 1:47am.

"Let's get out of here. The sun will be up in up several hours and we got a lot of business to take care of." Angel said.

"I'm way ahead of you."

They both walked down the hospital, hands linked. They found Giles in the lobby, looking out the window, confused. Buffy let go of Angel and walked up to see what he was looking at. She didn't see anything out the ordinary.

"Giles, what is it?"

Giles looked back at her in dismay.

"Where are the stars?"

---

Laibach roamed the streets of the town known as Sunnydale. He was familiar with it, after inheriting the young Wiccan's memories after he took over her. She was a strong witch, Laibach felt her power. But, she wasn't as strong as the other one. The one by the name of Willow. He wished he could have taken her instead. But it was not necessary since he was already able to draw her power away from her, make it his. All he had to do was use the trust she had in her lover and convince her to offer her power to him. The power that surged through him now was overwhelming. He was probably the most powerful demon to roam the earth. He no longer had to worry about being under the power of the Tedarke in his home in Batal. After most of the human race is finally wiped out during the merge, he would rule all of it.

He should have known getting the vampire Drusilla involved was a risk. After he escaped his dimension, he was left suspended in the earth's air, unable to form solidity. He took this advantage by contacting Drusilla. All he had to do was to bribe her with power. He lent her strength so she was able to locate the Tedarke talisman which was in possession of the vampire with a soul, whom she had a past with, and destroy it. To throw them all off even more, Laibach placed a glamour spell on Drusilla to make it seem as if she had his essence in her. After she agreed, Laibach was able to tap into Tara, who was foolishly using magick at the time, and use her to gain quick access to the Hellmouth while the vampire, the Slayer, and all their friends went after Drusilla. Getting them all involved was a risk, but still he was able to succeed.

Laibach faced the sky and drew out the dark essence from the gate above the Hellmouth. The daylight was inevitable, but he had a plan. He used the borrowed power from the witch and drew out the darkness from his homeland to cover the sky. The tiny dots in the sky disappeared one by one as the sky was blanketed in permanent darkness. His children should be coming out soon. They strived in Batal, where the sun was inexistent. The world was nothing but darkness.

The first step in the merge between Earth and Batal was to cover the world in darkness so they can roam. It would start from Sunnydale, then make its way all over the nation, before blanketing the entire world in darkness were his children could reign.

He would decide to go after the Slayer and her friends, but they were no longer a threat. Not without their most powerful Wiccan out of commission. The amount of demons that would start to come out would overpower them.

Laibach watched in the darkness as the first of his children slithered towards a young teenage girl and bit her throat out, cutting her scream nothing short of a helpless gurgle before it reached its peak. It was starting.

---

There's a nail in the door and there's glass on the lawn. Tacks on the floor and the TV is on.

Aaron Bates stared helplessly at the dance floor of The Bronze as Shivaree performed "Goodnight Moon" on stage.

And I always sleep with my guns when you're gone.

He watched as Margaret Figueroa danced seductively with Darryl Miles. The three of them were students at UC Sunnydale. Aaron and Darryl were teammates for the school's football team.

There's a blade by the bed and a phone in my hand.

He had known Margaret from sitting by her in General Biology class. They had both been lab partners. Margaret had transferred here from Cal State Hayward to get her degree in Biology. She was originally from New York, though born in Puerto Rico. Aaron could tell that from her beautiful caramel-colored skin and long, curly hair that went down to her waist.

A dog on the floor and some cash on the nightstand. When I'm all alone the dreaming stops and I just can't stand.

As much as he wanted to ask her out, he knew that she was already taken. She was going out with his teammate Darryl Miles. The two of them grew close and started dating not too long ago, which lowered any chances of him getting in the picture. Margaret had in fact invited him to The Bronze tonight, and like a fool, he agreed to come, unaware that she was bringing Darryl along as well. Now here he was by himself, watching the two of them get close while he sipped on his Sprite which was probably flat by now.

What should I do I'm just a little baby. What if the lights go out and maybe. And then the wind just starts to moan. Outside the door he followed me home.

He stared down at his warm Sprite, wishing he was anywhere but here. He got lost in the clear liquid, picturing Darryl squirming helplessly inside, wide-eyed and gasping as he drowned in the carbonated fluid. He smiled a bit at the thought.

Well goodnight moon, I want the sun. If it's not here soon I might be done. No it won't be too soon 'til I say goodnight moon.

A loud scream echoed through the club, heard over the lead singer as she wrapped up the first chorus. Aaron looked up, snapped out his thoughts. Down below, a crowd of people were spreading to avoid a group of strange-looking creatures as they came in through the windows and entrance. They had small spikes protruding from their knees and shoulders, and long sharp claws on their hands and feet that raked across the floor as they crawled on all fours.

He saw the fear planted on Margaret's face as she watched what unfolded before her. Darryl looked around, the same expression on his face. Aaron heard a loud shriek, when suddenly one of the creatures leaped up and pounced on top of Darryl. He screamed as the thing bit into him.

The crowd on the balcony began to panic and started running for the stairs. Aaron followed, desperate to get to Margaret. He hurried down the steps after the panicked crowd. Someone pushed him from behind and he fell forward. He fell the rest of the way down, smashing his skull on the hard floor at the bottom. His vision began to blur. He glanced over slowly to see one of the creatures make its way over to Margaret. It grabbed her with its sharp talons and opened its mouth towards her throat. She tried to fight back but it was too strong. Aaron watched helplessly as it bit into her left shoulder. She screamed out in pain as it continued to chomp down on her. Another one came up to her other side and bit into the right side of her neck. Her scream was cut short and her eyes went blank as her body gave in to the creatures. Aaron last saw her blank stare before feeling the sharp pain as one of the other creatures skittered towards him and ripped into his abdomen.

---

Don cut off the bathroom lights and slipped quietly into the dark bedroom, and into the bed next to his lovely wife, Grace. She laid quietly, her back to him. Don knew she wasn't really asleep. He wrapped his arms around her waist and moved closer. He buried his face in her long brown hair, the scent of her lavender shampoo invading his nostrils.

He felt a sense of cold resentment as she pushed his arms away from her. He sighed and sat up in bed, turning the lamp on.

"Don't tell me you're still angry at me." He said exasperated. Grace sat up to face him.

"It's not that I'm still angry. It's just that I'm not sure if I want to do anything just yet. How do I know you're still not thinking about her?"

"Honey, I told you, that was a long time ago. We were in high school. I'm over her now."

"That's not the way it seems. You should have seen how you two were looking at each other."

"That still doesn't mean anything. We were just two old high school friends that had happened to run into each other at the grocery store. Yeah we used to have a thing for each other but that was then. I have you now, and that's…"

"Did you hear that?" Grace asked, cutting him off.

"Hear what?" Don asked, trying not to sound annoyed from her cutting him off when he was trying to break the wall between them.

"It sounded like a banging coming from downstairs…like somebody trying to get in."

Don listened. He could hear it too. A series of faint thumps sounded from downstairs.

"What do you think it could be?" Grace asked.

He couldn't figure it. They didn't have a dog or a cat. Sandra was spending the night at her friend's house so it couldn't be her.

"Maybe it's the police, or one of the neighbors coming over for an emergency. I'll go check it out."

Grace nodded worriedly.

"Take something down with you just in case."

Don nodded and got out of bed. He went into the closet and pulled out a metal steering wheel lock. Holding it like a bat, he went out of the room, closing the door behind him, and went down the dark hallway to the stairs. He crept slowly down the steps. The banging continued, growing louder. He made it down to the kitchen and looked around. He noticed the noise wasn't coming from the front door or the door in the kitchen. It was coming from the basement.

He cut on the kitchen light and headed for the basement, weapon in hand. The pounding continued. He grabbed the door handle, and slowly opened the door. He took a peek inside to find nothing. Then suddenly, something leaped at his face. He yelled and fell back, trying desperately to claw the small, moist creature off his face. The creature latched on to a big chunk of his left cheek with its small razor-sharp fangs. He got a good grasp on it and flung it off, taking off a large portion of his cheek. Don held on to his face, blood gushing from the open wound. He looked up to get a good look at the creature. It had the face of a baby, only it had a mouthful of tiny sharp fangs and white, pupil-less eyes. The rest of its body was similar to that of a child as well, only it didn't have any legs. Instead, its body ended to form a curved tail. Two small arms protruded from its body, reaching towards him. Its whole body was a slimy, pink fleshy color. Like skin turned inside out. The thing that truly baffled Don was the way that it seemed to float. Its body was hovering above the ground.

The creature lunged for him again. Don swung the metal wheel lock towards it. The creature ducked under the swing and was on him. It stuck its tail out towards him and shoved it into his mouth. Don gagged as the creature began to shove the rest of its body in his mouth, making its way down his throat. He saw as its head mushed together like a sponge as it went in. He held on to his throat and gasped desperately for air. He fell onto the cold ceramic tile of the kitchen floor, and everything went dark.

Grace heard a loud scream followed by an inhuman shrill come from downstairs shortly after Don went down to check on the noise. She grabbed the phone and dialed 9-1-1. Her ear was met with the sound of a busy signal on the other line. She hung up and dialed again. The busy signal sounded again. She threw the phone down in frustration. She heard her husband scream again, as well as a series of high-pitched shrills. Should she go check on him?

She listened again. She heard a loud gagging sound, like Don was choking on something. She jumped out of bed and listened again before proceeding. The gagging suddenly stopped. All was quiet for another ten seconds or so, then she heard what sounded like a wet crunching noise. Her heart began racing. She didn't know what was going on down or what she should do. Was her husband dead? Did he fight off what ever was going on down there? Should she help him? Should she stay out of the way?

She sat there in the middle of the room, listening quietly. Footsteps were coming from downstairs. They were heading towards the stairs. Grace's heart began to pound faster as the footsteps came upstairs. She jumped back into the bed, pulling the sheets over half her face and watching intently, in hopes that it was Don coming back up from chasing off a rodent or a stray cat or raccoon that got into the house.

The footsteps sounded down the hallway, and the door swung open. Out of all the worst case scenarios that ran through her head through the whole ordeal, she wasn't prepared for what she saw. Standing in the doorway, was Don…only his face seemed like it was peeled off. He stared back at her with chalk-white eyes and wide, grinning teeth, except instead of teeth they were fangs. His whole face was a pink, slimy, fleshy color. Grace screamed at the top of her lungs as the monster in her husband's pajamas came after her. She jumped out of bed just as it landed on top of it, arms stretched as if it was ready to rip her throat out with its bare hands. She ran down the hallway in a blind panic and down the stairs. She ran past the kitchen and to the front door. She could hear the monster coming after her. She swung the door open and screamed as she saw a white-haired, pale man standing on her front porch.

Spike was making his way back over to the Magic Box to meet up with Buffy and the others when he heard a loud scream coming from someone's house. He ran over there just as a short, middle-aged brunette opened the front door, her eyes as big as tennis balls.

"Is everything all right?" he asked the frightened woman.

"In there!" she pointed inside the house.

"Bloody hell…"

Inside was a man in blue and white pajamas with a pink, flesh-colored face with grinning fangs. Spike heard about these buggers before through stories, but he never knew they actually existed. The woman pushing him towards the thing was the only invitation he needed. The demon came after him, and Spike greeted him with a hard punch to the throat. The demon shrilled and reared back from the blow. It shook it off and came back in. It swung its fist towards him. Spike dodged each blow and grabbed the demon by its shoulders, bringing his knee up and into its gut. The demon doubled over and slipped on the floor, landing on its stomach.

Spike saw a glimmer and glanced over to see a metal steering wheel lock sitting on the floor right next to a door which he guessed led to the basement. He went over and snatched it up. He turned around in time to see the demon stand up and come back for him. Spike swung the metal stick up and into its face. The demon flew up and landed back on the tile on the back of his head. If the stories were true, it was a human once, but Spike had no choice but to kill it. Whoever the unlucky sod was, he was already dead now. When a Daemite goes after its victim, it shoves its soft, boneless body into the victim's mouth and down its throat. With it tail, it pierces through the victims stomach and taps into his nervous system. It liquefies the victims head, ingesting it into is body and replacing the head with its own. The whole process was a bloody mess. Spike always wanted to see that happen. Drusilla would have loved it. But it was a bleedin' fairytale.

At least until Laibach showed up.

Spike swung the stick into the demon's face. The impact cracked its skull open. Blood spurted all over the walls and tiles. The demon let out one last shrill of pain, before it went limp.

Spike dropped the lock on the ground right next to it. The hysterical woman ran up to the body and began sobbing uncontrollably. It was no doubt this was once her husband. Spike watched as she held onto his hand and continued crying. Spike decided to say something to help the uneasiness he was feeling from watching the scene.

"I'm…um…sorry for your loss."

Pathetic. Spike sighed and decided to leave them here. There was nothing else he could do here. He had to get back to Buffy and everyone else. The portal was opening and from the looks of things, Laibach's friends were beginning to come out. There was no other reason a lone Daemite would be spotted in the middle of Sunnydale. They didn't exist in this realm. He had to get Buffy, Giles, and Angel rallied up before it got any worse.