Chapter 2

Somewhere in deep in the jungle along the Amazon River, seven figures slowly made their way through the endlessly winding leaves, bushes and branches. The moist heat was suffocating and the lack of paths made their journey infuriatingly slow. Suddenly Spike felt the burning sensation on his skin again and he sighed heavily, muttering to himself as he stopped. He turned to see how far behind she was this time. She was a pretty girl, in a plain sort of way, her black afro neatly twined and her dark skin smooth as silk. Looking up she flinched and her big dark eyes stared at him as if she just noticed a hungry tiger standing in front of her. She even stopped chanting for a second and his skin began to throb with the sun's piercing rays.

"Oh, come on pet, you know you'll never get this bloody amulet if I'm turned to a pile of dust!" He knew he should be grateful that she could keep him alive even in broad daylight, but for some reason she always brought out the worst in him. Maybe because she made him feel vulnerable. He had been around for centuries; eternal life was one of the few perks of being a vampire. But this witch with her magical chanting reminded him that he had died twice and could easily do so again, immortality or not.

Deanna had started chanting again and when she was close enough for the magic to work, the burning sensation disappeared. He knew he had been harsh with her and it was probably not a good idea to get her upset with him, so he used the most charming smile and voice he could manage, trying to smooth things over.

"Hey, I'm sorry luv, but we really need to get there before dark." He threw a sidelong glance at Riley and his men. They had stopped a few paces ahead, waiting for them to catch up. Deanna didn't look at him, just kept chanting and focusing on the ground in front of her, sweat dripping down her face.

"Just leave her alone, Spike. She's doing the best she can. Not all of us have super demon strength, you know." Spike noted with some satisfaction that Xander was up to his usual condescending ways this morning. They had spent over a decade sharing mutual dislike for each other and Spike at least had grown rather fond of their verbal abuse matches. But since Dawn had died nothing had been the same. There just wasn't any fun teasing a man on the verge of breakdown, especially not one he reluctantly thought of as a friend.

He watched Xander with some amusement, as he staggered past him, panting heavily. Xander pushed a big leaf out of his way, just to get it slammed back in his face as he let it go too soon. He stumbled and made a muffled sound, before managing to untangle himself from the vegetation. Spike had to smile. Xander was utterly useless in anything resembling a fight, but he had a heart of gold. There probably wasn't a lost puppy in the world he wouldn't want to save. He envied him. Xander never had to wonder if he was good or evil. He on the other hand never felt quite sure either way. He wanted to be good, but some days were easier than others. And for some reason having a soul didn't help much, if anything it just complicated things.

While Spike was watching Xander have it out with the jungle, Deanna had managed to get far enough ahead of him for the magical shield to fade. The tingle in his skin was back and he had to snap out of his pondering and catch up. When they finally reached Riley and the others, Xander practically fell to the ground in sheer exhaustion, desperately trying to breathe. Riley gave Spike a concerned look.

"Is everything all right?" Spike glanced at Xander and winced. Rolling his eyes he and Riley shared a moment of mutual concern. Neither of them wanted Xander there. He would be no use to them in a fight and he slowed them down almost as much as the witch. At least she was indispensable. But Xander had not taken no for an answer and Angel had insisted they let him come. All he could do was hope that the guy didn't get himself killed. Angel was sure to find a way to blame him for that and then he would never hear the end of it.

Riley handed Deanna some water, as she had already finished her own. She smiled warmly at him and accepted it gracefully. She may not have liked Spike much but she liked Riley. Well, all women liked Riley and the fact that he was supposedly happily married with two kids and a third one on the way didn't seem to make him less attractive. Probably because he had that good guy, save ladies in distress, super hero look about him. Spike could never figure out how he did it, but he didn't mind. He liked Riley too, in a manly sort of way. Not that he would ever admit it to anyone of course but Buffy did have good taste in men, well for the most part anyway. Most of the guys she'd been with had turned out to save the planet at least once. Not that there had been that many, or that any of them had had a chance against Angel. Their eternally doomed Romeo and Juliet thing was getting a bit old. Still, she had a way of making a guy want to be the best he could be and more. That's why they were all there, walking into God knows what, looking for some of the most hard to kill demons on the planet with the intention of stealing their precious amulet from under their very noses. No worries, they'd be done in no time...

Xander wiped away the sweat from his forehead. His legs were shaking, his head was throbbing and his eye-patch was itching like crazy. He knew he shouldn't be here. He was slowing them down. But he had to do something. He had to try. If Buffy wasn't going to stop this, they had to. Save the world one more time. It seemed that that was all they ever did. He wasn't sure why anymore, but he knew it had to be done. He pushed himself up, steadying himself against a tree for a moment. Hoping his voice would hold, he took a deep breath,

"Come on now, those demons won't kill themselves." He started walking again, despite every muscle in his body told him, actually screamed at him to stop. He could feel the others watching him, but he didn't care. He felt bad for Deanna though, this was probably worse for her. For some reason she was absolutely terrified of Spike. It was a bit strange, her being that scared of a vampire. She had surely faced worse. Growing up in the rougher parts of New Orleans, she would have had to deal with poverty, violence and drugs as well as voodoo and zombies ever since she was a kid. One would think someone who survived that, plus losing her parents at the age of ten, shouldn't scare easy and most of the time she was braver than most women he had met. But there was something about Spike that made her chocolate colored skin actually seem paler and her big black eyes flicker with the fear of a hunted pray. There had been a few times he had thought of asking, but she was always very private and it really wasn't any of his business. He had stuck his nose in too often not to have learnt something by know.

Then again he was certainly no fan of Spike either. It might have been the whole Spike doing his girlfriend-thing, but he couldn't stand the guy. It didn't matter how many times the ensouled vampire saved his life. The image of Spike and Anya on that table was etched into his memory forever. He thought of her a lot more now, ever since Dawn... He was beginning to wonder if Anya had been it for him. Maybe that was the only true happiness he would get in this life and he had done a good job of mucking that up. Everyone he loved always died on him. It was starting to get really hard to keep up the positive attitude. But he didn't want anyone to know just how much he was hurting. It wasn't fair on them. All his friends had problems of their own, they didn't need him to add to their burdens.

"Xander!" It took a few seconds before Riley's voice penetrated his thoughts and he stopped and turned, annoyed that they weren't going faster. He didn't bother to hide the irritation in his voice when he answered,

"What?" Riley was looking at him with such sympathy that it made his skin crawl. Spike on the other hand looked more amused than anything else.

"You're going in the wrong direction." Riley didn't sound accusing, just concerned. Xander sighed heavily. It was his destiny it seemed, to always go in the wrong direction. Riley and the others started walking again, and Xander had to hurry to catch up. Deanna gave him a look of understanding, but she quickly resumed her focus on the ground in front of her. Clearly she was even more afraid of falling than he was.

Riley had brought three of his best men on this mission and he would trust each of them with his life. They had all been to hell and back together, more than once. Still he had to admit this was no ordinary mission. The information they had managed to gather on these Taraga demons was sketchy at best but all the facts pointed to the possibility that they had become chameleons, able to hide in any environment without being seen with the naked eye. Presumably they were also similar to reptiles in the sense that they were cold-blooded which meant that any heat-seeking equipment would be useless. To make matters worse, allegedly the only way to kill them was to rip their hearts out, if you could find it. Riley kept a close eye on the detection device hanging from his belt. It would give off a sound if there were demons near by but unfortunately it wouldn't tell him where. They would have to fight blind and he really wasn't too happy about it. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure Spike wasn't too far behind. He had never been all that comfortable around Spike. As far as he was concerned Spike would always be Hostile 17, a particularly dangerous demon who had terrorized mankind for centuries. But he had to admit he was glad to have him along this time. He would have been even happier if Angel had been there too but whatever it was that wanted to destroy the earth this time, it was a lot smarter than anything they had ever faced before. It had effectively disabled the slayer, distracted not just Angel and his team but Riley and the government as well. In retrospect it all seemed a little too easy. It had taken them all far to long to understand just how close they were to losing this war.

A faint buzz broke the silence. Riley and his men froze, grabbed their weapons and held their breath. Demons were close by. Spike had already pushed Deanna into a bush next to him and was now intently watching the jungle to the north. Riley knew better than to doubt Spike's vampire senses so they all focused their attention in that direction. The only one that was completely unaware of the danger was Xander who was just catching up, panting heavily.

"Hey, what's going on, guys? Why are we stopping?" They didn't have time to answer him. A loud thump was all they heard and a second later Xander was flying through the air like a discarded doll. The large tree trunk coming at him was the last thing he would see for a while.

Riley saw no demon but then again he hadn't expected to. Unfortunately he didn't even see any kind of shift or silhouette. He literally saw nothing. Spike was grabbing something though, but seconds later he too was hurled against a tree. The Taraga demons were clearly stronger than they had anticipated. Riley and his men formed a circle, making sure no demon could attack from behind. Then, when Spike was on his feet again, they released the smoke, hoping it would show them where the demons were. For some reason it didn't work. The only thing they could see was the contours of the jungle. Riley then ordered plan B and they all fired their stun guns in every direction at once. The lightning beams shot through the trees and scorched the ground but there was no indication that any demon was hit. After a few minutes they let up and Riley checked his detection device. The demons were still there. Spike came out from behind the tree trunk and shook his head. That wasn't going to work. Riley lowered his gun and held his breath, listening to any sound that would give the demons away. There was nothing, complete silence except for Deanna's chanting from deep within her hiding place. Her voice almost cracked with fear but she kept going.

They stood in silence for a while, waiting for the demons to make a move. But this was their home-court, they had all the advantages. And they had time on their side. It would be dark soon and apart from giving Spike a better chance it would all but cripple Riley's team. Night-goggles where useless in close combat. Then he heard something, a faint noise that made the hair on his arms stand up. He forced himself to breathe calmly. He had been in worse situations than this. Slowly he pulled out his knife. He knew the approximate size of these things, all he had to do was estimate how high the heart was and aim his knife in that general area. Suddenly he felt it, the strong stench of rutting meat. It came in puffs from somewhere just above him as if something was breathing down on him. He reacted on instinct. Thrusting his knife out hard and fast he could feel it penetrate soft tissue, but that was the last thing he recalled before he was hoisted up into the air at least ten feet high. Seconds later he blacked out as his head hit the ground.

Spike had watched closely as Riley went into close combat with this thing. He was pretty sure there were just two of them and just as Riley was thrown to the side the other creature went after the other three men and tossed them aside too, as if they were nothing more than puppets. Spike knew he had only seconds to act. Tensing every muscle in his body he launched in the direction of Riley's attacker. Sensing the creature being close he hit his fist as hard as he could and it went through the creatures flesh. He could fell it breathing down on him and its sharp claws grabbed his arms and legs. He would be on the ground soon and if he couldn't find the heart the creature would certainly rip him apart. In the background he could hear the men scream in pain, as the other demon attacked them. But he refused to let his own pain bother him as the creature's claws pierced his flesh. He kept searching inside the creature's slimy interior and just as the creature was about to let him fall to the ground he felt it, the soft pulsating heart of the beast. When he fell he took the heart with him and the creature made a startled sound as it collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud. The cloaking mechanism faded and it was revealed in all its hideousness; greenish, scaled like a snake and with a face dominated by large, black eyes and a mouth with too many teeth to count.

Spike could smell the other demon coming at him fast as he struggled to get up. The demons claws slashed his back as he hurled himself out of the way. Unfortunately he wound up in the wrong direction. The burning sensation in his skin soon overwhelmed any other pain and he had no choice but to run as fast as he could towards the bush where Deanna was hiding. Then bang! He ran straight into the demon and as the burning went away it was replaced by the very uncomfortable claws around his throat. The grip was very strong, strong enough to rip his head off without a problem. But apparently the demon wanted to have some fun first. It kept Spike dangling in his grip, three feet off the ground. It was a good thing vampires didn't need air. Then to Spike's amazement, as he struggled to get his fist into the creatures body, the burning sensation was back. Seconds later a ball of fire flew out of the bush and hit the demon. He staggered a bit, then let go of Spike. As he fell hard to the ground, Spike saw his chance and immediately leapt up again, punched his fist as hard as he could through the creatures flesh, grabbed the heart immediately this time since he now knew where to find it, and watched the creature fall to the ground.

Spike stood still for a moment and smelled the air around him. When he was convinced the demons were gone he leaned down and pulled the leaves out of the way. Deanna was chanting again, focusing on it intently. She tried not to look at him but he could see she had been crying. He smiled at her as she threw him a glance of absolute terror. He always respected people who could get the job done despite being scared shitless. He offered her his hand but she firmly shook her head. She wasn't coming out any time soon. Spike nodded gently then put the leaves back over her. There was no rush, they weren't going anywhere for a while.

Riley tried to sit up but his head was spinning so hard he let himself lean back down again.

"What happened?" he asked when he noticed Spike standing with his back to him. But the vampire didn't answer, he just stood there silent, motionless, looking intently in the direction of the temple were the amulet was. Riley clenched his teeth and forced himself to sit up. He quickly noticed he wasn't the only one that had been hurt. Xander was still unconscious, Deanna was helping Don dress a bad cut in his chest, Terry had clearly broken his arm and Jack was trying to stop the bleeding from his head. Two demons lay dead on the ground, apparently Spike had been busy. But considering how much damage two demons had done, how could they possible tackle the entire clan? There was no telling how many there were but it was definitely more than two. Riley groaned in pain as he pushed himself off the ground. He swayed a bit on his feet but to his satisfaction his legs held up. Apparently there was nothing broken, except his ego. Xander stirred and Deanna went over to him.

"Where am I? What's going on?" he asked, still groggy from the head trauma. Since Deanna couldn't answer without ending her chanting, Riley gave him the quick update. When he was done, Xander looked in Spike's direction and grunted a bit sullenly, "So Spike saves the day again, huh. Maybe the rest of us should just go home and leave mister super hero to get the amulet alone." Spike didn't move and Riley went up to check on him. When he put a hand on his shoulder, the vampire actually flinched. Riley smiled, trying to soothe him a bit.

"Any other demons around by we need to worry about?" Spike hesitated, still looking north, or rather sensing something in that direction. "What is it?" Riley prodded carefully. After several seconds of silence, Spike's voice almost cracked with emotion when he answered.

"She's here." Riley stared at him. He almost didn't dare to ask.

"Who's here?" Spike's reply came simply, without hesitation.

"Buffy."