She had been sitting on top of him, and Buffy was in midair for a moment after the vampire turned to dust. Then, her butt collided with the ground. She got up and dusted herself off. She turned to face Willow and Cora, who were already getting to their feet.

"Who was that?" Willow asked.

"I don't know," said Buffy, "but he definitely poofed the way he was supposed to."

"Grieshlin," Cora said, as if that one word could explain it all. "Or at least he was."

"The vampires who took you?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, this one must have been sent to find me, or spy on me, or something. He won't get to tell anyone anything now." Cora smiled. "You're good, Slayer. When all this," she motioned towards herself, "heals, you'll have to let me train with you. I'm sure we could learn a lot from each other."

"You fight?" Buffy asked, as she resumed her position helping Willow to half carry Cora back into Spike's.

"Are you serious? I lived with Angelus—what do you think he bought me toys?" She laughed. "We fought, a lot." Cora thought a moment. "Actually, I guess we still do. I just win a lot more often now."

"You can beat Angelus?" Willow looked at the girl in awe.

"Well, I'm sure he lets me win half the time. I get the satisfaction of kicking his ass and then he gets his…" Cora stopped, letting the sentence hang in midair. "Well, he has fun."

The three girls had already entered Spike's crypt, and Cora motioned to the couch. With Buffy and Willow's help, Cora resumed her earlier position on the couch.

"I guess living here is…nice," suggested Willow.

"Haha, yeah sure, red," Cora said. Willow looked at her inquisitively at the nickname. Cora seemed to understand what she was thinking. "Oh, sorry, I mean Willow. Spike's talked about you before. Hazard of living with a vampire?" she offered.

"It's okay. So it's Cora right? You know you're named after the goddess of the underworld right? Well, I mean, only if you believe in Greek mythology, which you might not, do you?" Willow seemed nervous at possibly offending the girl.

Cora laughed easily at Willow's discomfort. "Yeah, you can call me Cora. Or Calla I guess. Either's good. My birth name is Calla Annabelle—from my parents. It was Angelus who started the Cora thing. He said I cried a lot or something. And there was this one time, for some insane reason he was always at our house, and he was sleeping on the couch one day. I was like four. And I wanted the curtains open in the living room. I didn't know he'd catch on fire," Cora looked sheepish. "He told my parents I was the devil. I guess he thought the name just fit?"

Willow was laughing, "Good for you," she said. "About setting Angelus on fire, I mean."

"Yeah well, I was always doing things to make him mad."

"So you lived with him? Wasn't he evil all the time?"

"Evil, yeah, that goes with the vampire thing I think," Cora said mockingly. She smiled at Willow. "Living with him wasn't all that bad. He just had a hard time remembering that I was human and, as a nine year old, I had certain…needs…that I couldn't get on my own. Like food and water. He forgot those two sometimes. Then when he and Spike met up again, Spike was around a lot more, and so he started taking care of me a little more. I think he enjoyed having a human around. He finally had an excuse to eat more normal food without being made fun of so much."

"Wow." Willow stared at Cora with a mixture of amazement and admiration. "Did you live underground? Like in those stinky sewers? Or in a crypt like this one?"

"Actually, soon after he got me Angelus wanted to go back to Ireland for a while, so we were over there mostly. A house, not a sewer. It was always interesting with him. Not too many crypts though. Angel actually has a lot of class so we usually lived as large as he could manage at the time."

"Havin' a good history lesson you two?"

Spike had entered the crypt behind the girls. They hadn't even heard him enter. "Calla Beckman what're you doing up?"

"Geez, I just wanted some fresh air."

"Where's the poof?"

"Angelus got cranky. He hasn't been eating much lately—or sleeping much. He won't say so but he's been worried," Cora said with a smirk and a quick wink.

"Right, so if the poof's gone, I get my telly back." Spike plopped on the couch next to Cora and flipped on the television. "Slayer, red, you stayin'?"

Willow looked to Buffy. "No," Buffy said, "we're patrolling tonight. Just helping Cora inside when a big nasty attacked us. She can fill you in later." Buffy turned to leave.

"Coming by tomorrow Buffy?" Cora asked from the couch. She was really starting to enjoy having the Slayer around, and she knew it made Angelus crazy.

"Sure, I can stop by. I've got some homework to do before class on Monday, but then I can."

"Willow, you're welcome to stop by too if you want. We can get to know each other better?" Cora smiled at the talkative redhead.

"Sure, maybe I'll come with Buffy." From his spot on the couch, Spike made a snorting noise.

"What I meant was," Cora began, "Spike…do you mind if Buffy and Willow come back tomorrow?"

Spike turned his attention to her. "Oh no, by all means, pet, invite all the Slayers you want into my home, and her friends too. We'll have a right ol' time."

Cora laughed. "See you later," she mouthed as Buffy and Willow turned to leave Spike's.

Once they were gone, Cora adjusted herself so she was leaning against the arm of the couch and facing Spike.

"They were here, Spike. Buffy just slayed one outside."

Spike's expression turned hard, his eyes fierce. "Did he hurt you?"

"No," Cora shook her head, "No, Buffy killed him. I just—do you think he was the only one?"

"You've only been here a day, pet, and you haven't even been out of the crypt. I doubt they could have gotten information about you that fast. He probably just got lucky. Maybe he saw you out tonight for the first time, an' didn't expect you to be with a slayer. He was stupid."

Cora relaxed. "I guess."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. Then Cora spoke, "You know it's coming right? You know that the Grieshlin are up to something big?"

"Yeah, pet, I've noticed."

"Then you know we're going to have to start to get ready. We have to figure out what it is they're planning…what they're up to. And we're going to have to tell Buffy. We'll need all the help we can get."

"Gettin' worried already love?" Spike put one of his arms up around the back of the couch and studied the worry lines on Cora's forehead.

Cora ran her fingers through her hair and let out a long sigh. "I'm just saying. We're going to have to tell Buffy about the Second Generation sometime anyways. Or from what Angelus said, her Watcher will figure it out pretty quickly."

"That's all right," Spike said, not understanding her concern. "The way I see it, she oughta be glad about it."

"Maybe, but Buffy won't be happy that we kept it from her."

Spike put his feet up on the coffee table and added, "Maybe you should stop worrying about what the Slayer might think and concentrate more on gettin' yourself better."

Cora spun around so that her legs dangled from the arm of the chair, and her head rested against Spike's shoulder. "I missed you, you know," she said plainly, adjusting her body so she fit perfectly against his. Spike was always there for her when they were in Europe, and he had come through for her when he realized that the Grieshlin had taken her. She hadn't even realized all that he had done for her.

"Yeah, I missed you too, pet." He put his arm around her. "I'm gonna take care of you now though. Get you better, yeah? Then we'll focus on what's coming."

---------------------

Angelus had spent the last hour walking the streets of Sunnydale. It was getting late, and the place was quiet.

"Damn Cora," he complained. "Do everything in the world for that girl and she turns to the freaking Slayer." He rounded the corner and came to a small café. Inside, a man and a woman were exchanging an awkward hug. First date? Angelus guessed.

After the couple exited the coffee shop and attempted an awkward good-bye, the man headed towards his car, while the woman headed the opposite direction. From his spot at the corner of the café, Angelus smiled. Then, he started off in the direction the woman had taken.

--------------------

After Buffy and Willow's interesting encounter with Angelus and Cora, and after Buffy had slayed the robed vampire, the two girls had decided to call it quits for the night. It seemed like a quiet night anyways, Buffy had told Willow. They could afford to leave the other graveyards for the night.

Willow had dropped Buffy off at her house, with a promise to call her the next day so the girls could hang out. After spending some time watching television, Buffy decided that she wasn't ready for bed. She grabbed her bag, equipped with all kinds of pointy weapons, and told her mom she was going for a walk.

She wasn't sure where she was headed, but she walked towards the center of town, her eyes and ears open, searching for something to slay. She walked down the sidewalk, careful to peek down each alleyway she passed, just in case something was wrong. It was Sunnydale, and even during the most peaceful time of the night, something was always lurking behind some corner or in some dark alleyway. As she was heading down the next alley, she heard garbage cans crashing into each other a block ahead of her. Nothing about the scuffling that came from that direction sounded peaceful or friendly, and so Buffy broke into a quick and silent run. She reached into her bag for a weapon as she ran ahead to see if a vampire was the cause of all the commotion.

As she rounded the corner, her body poised and ready for anything, her eyes scanned the dark alley. There was a garbage can turned on its side on the ground, its lid lay on the other side of the alley. As Buffy's trained eyes scanned the rest of the alley, she saw the figures pushed up a wall behind a doorway. She had found Angelus, who was holding a blonde woman up by her shoulders. She was trapped by his strength against the building wall, and her neck was bleeding. His fangs dripped blood, and he let out a loud snarl as he heard her approaching them.

Angelus' head spun around to find Buffy. He could smell the Slayer before he had even seen her. He let the woman fall to the ground in a crumpled heap. He hadn't had his fill, but if the Slayer was here, he had much more important things to worry about.

"Slayer," he began, his vampire face distorted into a twisted smile.

"Vampire," she responded, pointing to him. "You're learning fast aren't you?" She mocked him, her head cocked to the side.

"Cute, Buff. You know," Angelus looked around him and then held up his hands towards Buffy. "Cora's not around right now. And that means I get to kill you. No more protection for the wittle Slayer."

"I'd love to see you try, Angelus." Buffy's voice was confident and sure, and her hand tightened around the stake she had.

"Watch closely then, baby." Angelus closed the distance between them and waited a second before throwing the first punch.

The fight began easily. The two enemies took turns taking the offensive and throwing the punches, the kicks, and then switching to the defensive and blocking their offender's moves. They were well matched, but Angelus finally landed a blow to Buffy that sent her to her butt.

"Havin' fun now, Slayer?" Angelus kicked her in the stomach again before she could get up. She swung her legs out from underneath her to get her footing back, but Angelus, who had the advantage point of higher ground, kicked them back to the ground before she could get them underneath her.

Buffy's chest collided with the ground, and before she could make a move, Angelus grabbed one of her arms and twisted it backward, pulling her to a standing position, with her back against his chest. He bent her head to one side with his free hand and bent to bite her.

Buffy's heart pounded. She was trapped against him. Angelus couldn't win; that wasn't how they were supposed to finish the fight. Although Buffy's stake had clattered out of her hand when he had sent her flying to the ground, her bag was still around her shoulders. With her free arm, she reached in for the first thing she could find.

Her hands closed around a double-edged knife. She knew it wouldn't kill him, but it would hurt. She brought her arm back, and before his teeth could make contact with her skin, she plunged the knife towards his gut.

Both vampire and Slayer were surprised when the knife met an invisible barrier and flew out of Buffy's hand, clattering against the building wall more than ten feet away.

Angelus' head came up. "Well, that was interesting," he said. Then he bent his head back towards her neck. "You must have some terrible aim there Slayer." With another grin, he closed the distance between his mouth and her neck. When his fangs reached her skin, he suddenly struggled. He couldn't bite her. "What the hell!" he bellowed.

"Seriously." Buffy's rigid shoulders relaxed as she realized he wasn't going to get to bite her. But why not?

"What did you do," she demanded, taking advantage of his hesitation to swing her body free of his grasp. Angelus let go easily, knowing he couldn't touch her anyways.

"I didn't do anything, Slayer, what did you do?"

"Nothing," she replied. She reached into her bag again and pulled out another knife. "Hold still," she told him. Then she ran at him with the small dagger. He stepped easily out of her path and laughed at her.

"Are you freakin' kidding me? Hell no you don't get to run at me with a knife. Come here, let me see if I can bite you again."

"No," she said simply, inspecting him. "Here," she consented, "hold out your arm. I'm not going to 'run at you'."

Angelus narrowed his eyes at the girl, and then held out his arm. She walked towards him, stopping at his outstretched arm. She didn't want to be any closer to him than he did to her. She took the knife and tried to slash it against his forearm. She couldn't even get the blade to reach his skin.

"That bitch!" Angelus shouted suddenly. "She must have done this. I am going to kill her!"

"Who?" Buffy's eyes showed her confusion. "Cora? What would she have done?"

"I dunno," he said in an exasperated tone, dismissing the Slayer's confusion. "She's always doing something she shouldn't. Unless…" his sentence faded away as he seemed to realize something. "No, not possible." He looked at Buffy with an annoyed expression on his face.

Then his posture changed. His face transformed back into his human features and he turned away from Buffy. "Tell Cora I'm leaving Sunnydale," he yelled from over his shoulder.

Then to himself he added, "No way in Hell will I ever work with that slayer." He turned out of the alley and then headed to where his convertible was parked a couple of streets away.