Chapter Five

He had only been standing there for a minute or so when he saw the witch and her male companion entering the room. Making sure he was hidden from their view, he watched as the young woman greeted the other club members. It was obvious that she had been there several times before, having known each individual by name. The two engaged in small talk with the others for a few minutes before the tall dark-haired gentleman lead the redhead through a door and into a private exercise room. Going back through the hallways in the rear of the building, Spike found another door to the room the two were in. Luckily, the door had a small window and was situated in a location where he could safely observe them without being seen.

By the time he reached the door, the hacker had taken off her long sleeve top and pants to reveal a pair of loose running shorts, a black sports bra and light gray tank top. The room was very large, with what looked like a an obstacle course on one side and a few exercise machines, free weights, and a boxing ring on the other. The vampire stood at the door and watched as the two talked back and forth as they headed over to the obstacle course.

"So, you wanna start with the course tonight?" Willow asked, turning to her friend.

"Sure, we could do that. Why don't you do a couple stretches, and I'll make sure everything is set up." At the nod from his small student, he walked over to the course. After checking the apparatus for a few minutes, Adam was satisfied that everything was as he had left it and motioned for her to join him.

"Ok, it's ready. You still remember what to do, right?" The girl nodded her head once more and positioned herself at the course's starting point. "Then I'll tell you when I start the timer, and you can begin." He looked down at the stopwatch in his left hand and held up his right. Bringing his right hand down, he pressed the start button and called out, "Go."

As soon as the word had left his lips, the witch was running down the path, weaving back and forth with the markers. She soon came across the first obstacle, and with perfect balance, quickly crossed the thin balance beam. Jumping down, she ran ahead until reaching a rope ladder. Once she had climbed the swinging ladder, she swiftly maneuvered the three successive sets of steps. Coming up to a row of hanging rings, she jumped up and caught a hold of the first ring. As she continued across the several feet of rings, she swung from one hand to the next until reaching the other end. Letting go and landing gracefully on her feet, she then ran through a series of tires and turned a corner.

She stopped for a split second when she ran into the ten-foot high wall before grabbing the rope that was hanging from the ceiling, directly in front of the wall. Holding tightly with both hands, she pulled herself up, placing both feet flat on the vertical surface. With each step she took, she placed one hand over the other, pulling hard on the rope.

The top of the wall leveled off, and once she had traversed it, she sprinted across the final twenty feet. At this point, the track suddenly disappeared and a ten-foot drop greeted her. Without slowing her pace, she jumped off the precipice. She hit the ground, and reaching out with her hands, immediately went into a roll before coming to her feet once again to find Adam's smiling face above her.

As she came out of the roll, he hit the stop button and smiled down into her flushed face. "Very good, you didn't stumble once. You've beaten your record by a good ten seconds." Before he could say anything else, there was a muted ringing from inside his jacket. Tilting his head towards the rack of free weights across the room, he pulled a small cell phone from the jacket's inner pocket. Willow headed over to the weights as he answered the phone.

"Hello?...Oh, hey Joe..."

Blue eyes moved from the man, who was now fully engrossed in his conversation, to follow the hacker's movements on the other side of the room. After a few quick stretches, she had picked up two medium sized barbells and began going through sets of arm exercises. It was clear from the girl's perfect form and balance that she had done these exercises many times as she moved from position to position, working all the major upper body muscle groups.

He noticed, for the first time, that her arms and legs were much firmer and more muscular than he remembered. Since she had been wearing long sleeved tops and pants, he had not really seen the change before now. As he moved his gaze slowly over her, he also saw several bandages, the largest ones being in the middle of her right calf and over left shoulder. There were also various cuts, scrapes, and bruises littering the pale flesh. *So that's why she's been dressin' like that. Must not want her mates to see, which means she doesn't want them to know she's been workin' with the dark-haired bloke. Hmmm, interesting. Red's got herself a little secret.*

Spike was pulled from his thoughts as the man put away his cell phone and started over towards the redhead. Seeing his approach, Willow set down her weights and stretched the muscles she had been working. "So, what do you want to work on next?" he questioned.

"Um, how about doing some hand to hand. I'm still having trouble with some of the blocks and footwork."

"Sure. I'll get your practice gloves and we can get started."

Pulling her sweat-soaked tank over her head, she used it to wipe the moisture from her face and neck. Setting the top on the bench and grabbing a water bottle, she drank greedily as she walked over to join her friend and teacher in the ring. As she turned, facing Spike's hiding spot, the vampire caught sight of a large white bandage covering the lower left corner of her stomach. It was obvious by her well-toned abs that her work-out routine included more than what he had seen that evening.

For the next thirty minutes the two went over several defensive moves including some the vampire recognized as coming from different karate and judo disciplines. They then began going over the basics of savat, or French foot fighting. Once she could hold the positions and go through the movements in slow motion, the older man had her repeat each sequence over and over, making her increase her speed with every repetition.

The duo went on like that for almost an hour before she could perform the moves without loosing her balance. The blonde was surprised at how fast she seemed to grasp the various concepts. He also saw first hand how she must have gotten all the bruises, having watched her fall hard on the mat numerous times. After nearly two and a half hours in the ring, she was moving fluidly on her feet, despite the pain her injuries must have been causing her. Spike was impressed with her stamina and athleticism; almost not believing it was the same girl who barely managed to stake a fledgling without the slayer's assistance.

*I bet that's one reason she don't patrol with Slutty anymore. Her new fightin' ability would probably raise too many questions. 'Specially if she don't want the annoying twits to know what she's been doin'. Well that, and the fact that she must spend a hell of a lot of time working out to be as good as she is. And as sculpted, damn the chit's hot. I gotta admit; she was pretty before, in that sweet innocent way, but bloody hell. I've always 'ad a thing for strong women.* The novice witch had always been the only member of the rag-tag evil fighters that he actually liked, and who could actually carry on an intelligent conversation, besides the watcher.

If he was completely honest with himself, he'd admit that he might even have a bit of a crush on the girl. Her innocence was enticing, and it was a lot of fun to see how many times he could make her blush in one conversation. The young woman he had seen in the last few hours, however, was quite different than the shy hacker he had always thought she was. But this new development just made him want her all the more. Of course, he, William the Bloody, would never admit that fact aloud. Yet, whether he spoke it out loud or not, it was still true.

His musings were cut short once more as the object of his thoughts exited the ring, downing half the bottle of water as she went through a previously unnoticed door. Several minutes later, she returned, having changed back into the clothes she had worn to the club. The vampire assumed she must have taken a quick shower to rinse off, since her hair was wet. While she had been changing, her instructor had gathered her things for her. Handing them to the tired girl, the two made their way back into the main room of the club.

Spike left his hideout as well, following them back to the hacker's at a discrete distance. When they reached the Rosenberg's front porch, he hid nearby, just close enough to be able to catch their conversation, yet not close enough to be 'detected' by the girl's companion as he had that first night.

"Great job tonight Mys. I think you made a lot of progress."

"Thanks Trav. I think I've finally nailed that course. It sure took me long enough though."

The gentleman smiled at this, shaking his head slightly. "You're too hard on yourself. Your times are a lot better than I would have expected from someone who's only been running that course for under two months. Then again, you always seem to catch on to everything a little faster than I anticipate." Her cheeks reddened slightly at the compliment and he let out a small laugh. "I'll tell you what. Since you've made such great progress on the physical aspects of your training, why don't we work on the magical stuff for a while?"

Her face lit-up, a grin forming on her lips as she looked at Adam. "Really? Cool! I've been working real hard on my focus and concentration, and I'm getting better at the new illusions you told me to try."

"Good. We'll meet at the crypt tomorrow, at say, seven-thirty?"

"All right, I'll see you then. 'Night."

"Goodnight Willow." The two hugged, exchanging light kisses on either cheek before the man left and she went inside.

*Seven-thirty eh? I guess I've got plans for tomorrow night.* A match was struck, flaring bright against the night sky momentarily as the vampire lit a cigarette, expelling a cloud of smoke from dead lungs as he made his way towards the librarian's apartment.

End Chapter Five