Chapter 6: Precognition

A/N. (winces. I am incredibly sorry for taking so long with this one. Suffice to say that, seeing as my important exams ended a while ago, I really have no excuse except that I've been trying my hand at some original fiction.

Thank you again, Kim, for your reviewing : ). Yes, Buffy is a bit insane-o… except that this time she really has a reason. I hope that you lot enjoy this chapter! )

8 8 8

Buffy paused at the gate, turning back to him. "We have to be careful. I don't think that security guy's warning was just him being loopy."

Spike frowned as he fell into stride next to her. "I don't like what you've told me," he admitted. It wasn't like he hadn't stared down the gullet of madness time and time again. But the mere fact that the perfectly sane man they'd met the day before was now insane was enough to make him uncomfortable.

"Well, it wasn't exactly pleasant," Buffy replied dryly. "Then again, I'm surprised. You didn't seem to have a problem when the craziness of your ex-ho."

Caught off guard, Spike stopped in his tracks. Before she knew it, his nails were biting into her shoulders, not quite hard enough to hurt, and she was swung angrily around to face a pissed-off vampire. "That was bloody uncalled for," he snarled, snapping at the air with his fangs.

Slightly shaken at how quickly things had changed, she slapped away his hands hard enough to bruise. "Don't touch me," she said coldly.

His golden eyes flamed. "What the soddin' hell is this, Slayer?"

"Nothing," she retorted, shaking off her jacket as if he'd carried something foul. His eyes glittered even more dangerously as she kept walking.

"Well, you coming or not?" she tossed over her shoulder.

With an effort, he slipped out of game face, but he couldn't stop the growl in his throat. "I should bloody well leave you to whatever beastie is in there," he said darkly.

If she'd heard, she didn't show it. Scowling even more now, Spike turned his back on the Slayer and strode away into the night, muttering to himself.

He made it five steps before remembering that Slayers had no defences against going insane.

Growling in frustration, he turned back to run after the quickly disappearing Slayer.

8 8 8

"Right," Dawn muttered unsteadily. "We're alone, we're outside, it's night time. You two have only just woken up again, my knuckles are bruised from bashing the door… and… uh… what do we need to worry about first? Ah, ah… weapons check?"

"A p-pen," Cassandra gulped.

"Two pencils," Daniel said softly.

"One stake," Dawn gripped her hand around the wood tighter. "Man, am I so glad I tucked this into my pocket this morning."

"Yeah," Cass agreed shakily. "I'm rather glad too."

"Here," Daniel tried to quell the rising panic in his chest. "Have a pencil."

The ignominy of the moment would have sent them all into gales of laughter had they not been so scared. It was night. They were in Sunnydale. Buffy had just acted absolutely crazy. Dawn was hurt… you could almost see the pain in her eyes, and Cassandra knew she'd been hit the hardest. Daniel was bewildered… but he was hiding his fear well. She swallowed.

She knew why Buffy had gone crazy on Dawn. She'd forgotten about that. But… why had she gone crazy on all three of them, and then… done this? Her head still ached incredibly from where she'd been knocked out, and she doubted Daniel was feeling any better. The night air was cold enough to cut through her jacket, and she shivered miserably, clutching the 2B pencil he'd handed her.

"Uh…" Dawn couldn't seem to keep still, to keep silent. Hysteria was gripping her, and it was all Cassandra could do to not feel hysterical too. "We… we need to…"

"C-could we knock on the neighbours' doors?" Cassandra tried hesitantly.

Dawn shook her head instantly. "Not an option. You know how most people around here would as soon as pull out a shotgun than let three strangers in."

"Anyone from school?"

Dawn's eyes were frustrated. "They're all on the other side of Sunnydale."

"Well, we need to do something," Daniel bit his lip. "Or else we're all gonna die."

8 8 8

When he'd caught up, she ignored him. Biting back his frustration, he concentrated on focusing anywhere except the bloody impossible bint he was standing next to. The concrete yard seemed empty as they stepped silently, like the predators they were. Uneasy, the blonde vampire gazed across the seemingly abandoned warehouse. He was already jittery from after he'd met the Slayer and had almost gotten staked… their little scuffle hadn't helped. Next time, maybe he'd think twice about sneaking up behind her when she was walking so determined-like. But still… she should have realised it was him. Or at least that there was someone there.

He frowned again as he realised something. The Slayer was off her game.

Turning his glance towards her, he watched as she shone her light over the remains of the shattered door. Gazing out into the black hole it had left, Spike kicked a fragment of the steel. It rolled across the concrete, making a pitiful, dead clank.

"Whoever, whatever did this…" he started.

"Is of the bad," Buffy finished, her mouth in a grim line. She stepped forwards, through the massive gap where the reinforced metal door had once stood. "Is definitely, of the bad."

He cast another glance her way, and she was too fixed on what was ahead to notice his wary eyes. That was enough to make him bite his lip gently. There was no doubt about it… something was off about the Slayer. He could tell it was her… it wasn't like when it had been Faith in there. But she was too tense, too rigid. Every step she took was something harsh and brutal… something that he hadn't seen from her for a long time. It was just enough for him to curb his anger and replace it with worry.

"You alright, Slayer?"

"Perfectly fine," she said cuttingly as they reached what appeared to be light. "Stay outside, in case anything tries to cut off our retreat."

He didn't take orders, but he had to silently agree. Still, he wished he could somehow become two and send one half of him in after her and one to guard the door. He didn't like this place. It wasn't just vamp intuition, it was just plain fact. Anything that had smashed through those doors couldn't be good.

He watched her as she snuck through the corridor, making sure to angle his position so he could leap to her aid if she needed it. She moved like water, and he admired her before he stiffened as she gasped and then broke into a run.

"Whoah!"

Carefully, so he remained hidden, he crept along the wall so he could keep an eye on the Slayer as well as an eye on the entrance. His own vampiric senses were tingling now. The heavy darkness of the corridor and the harsh light of the room seemed in such heavy contrast even his powerful eyes were disoriented when they switched between the night outside and the false day inside. Steeling himself, he switched his vision into the room.

What he saw shocked him. She was on her knees, untying a bound up, beaten-looking monk. He winced and felt his blood begin to rush without the aid of his undead heart.

"It was you who planted the Dagon sphere, right?" she babbled, her fingers shaking, but still quick and nimble. "I got it. Don't worry. I'm stronger than I look."

Spike felt his blood move even quicker. There was a Harmony look-alike… at least from the back, beginning to creep up on the Slayer. His fist tightened.

"I've had experience with this kind of stuff before. And best of all…"

He raised his voice to shout the warning just as she turned and smashed her fist into the woman's face.

"I'm not stupid," she said sweetly.

His heart sang. "That's the girl," he muttered, grinning, before his smile was quickly wiped off his face. Before his eyes, the not-so-Harmony-look-alike-now-he-could-see-her-face picked his Slayer up and threw her against the wall.

The concrete cracked.

"You sure about that last part?" Evil-bitch-queen asked.

He saw red.

8 8 8

"It's no use," Dawn kicked the door unceremoniously. "We can't get back in."

"Windows?" Daniel asked, his voice still unsteady.

The brunette grimaced, and almost kicked the door again. "I locked them tonight myself. It's times like this I hate the fact that Mum replaced them with shatter-proof glass."

"We've g-g-got to go somewhere," Cassandra whispered faintly. "We c-can't stay out here."

"And we can't really knock on neighbours' doors and ask ourselves in," Dawn said grimly. "So I guess it's to Giles'. He's the closest one from here."

"Yeah…" Daniel let loose a strained, painful laugh. "And it's still at least seven blocks away. With a cemetery in between."

As Cassandra felt another wave of icy fear steal over her again, she couldn't help but stand in silent awe of her friend again.

"Well," Dawn patted her pocket. "It's good that I had a stake on me then, isn't it?"

"Fortuitous," Daniel agreed, an eyebrow raised.

"It's Sunnydale," Dawn shrugged. "What more can I say? Speaking of which… we'd better get started."

Or we'll give the things that go bump in the night even more chances to start with the munchies, Cassandra couldn't help thinking.

8 8 8

With a roar, he leapt onto her back without thinking, ready to sink his fangs into her neck. He didn't even have time to feel surprise register at the fact that the chip didn't go off… before he felt his arm being twisted at an incredibly unnatural angle. Howling, he wrenched away desperately, trying to get away before his bloody arm snapped in two like a twig. He needn't have worried. Just before he felt the white-hot pain grow into a shriek, he found himself staring face first at a rapidly approaching stone pillar that was coming closer at around 90 miles an hour.

"Oh shi…"

Impact was nauseating. He'd managed to twist in time to avoid smashing headfirst into the sodding thing, but that meant that his shoulder had copped most of the shock. The pain made his vision blur. Growling,
Spike span to his feet, regaining his eyesight just in time to see Buffy charge the queen-bitch again and get held aloft in the air.

"The whole 'beat ya to death' thing I'm doing?" he heard her mocking voice ring out over the floor. "It's valuable time out of life that I'm never gonna get back."

Buffy struggled as she tried to break free of the hold choking off her airway. Too fast… she kept thinking blindly. It had all just been too fast, but now as she began to see white spots in front of her eyes, she stopped trying to break free and lashed out, desperately.

"You hit me!" the woman staggered back, and Buffy dropped to her feet, wheezing. "What, are you crazy?"

It was the opening that she hadn't quite been looking for, but she took it anyway. She could see Spike running towards them, fiery gold eyes as furious as she'd ever seen them, and felt a cold, warrior's smile on her face.

They hit the woman at the same time; Spike with a roaring backhand and Buffy with a roundhouse kick to the stomach. Her body snapped back and forth like a lolling marionette, pressing in and out. What should have killed her though, seemed to only offend her.

"You can't go around hitting people," the blonde cried indignantly, elbowing Buffy to the ground and sending Spike spinning back several feet with a flick of her hand. "What, were you born in a barn?"

Spike was still seeing red. As Buffy grabbed her wrist and shoved her into the same column his body had graced only seconds ago, he leapt from the side and impacted… only to find his ankle in an iron grasp and thrown away again.

"Fine," she said petulantly. "Be that way."

In the midst of his pain, he heard Buffy cry out. He didn't think before he charged again. Nobody, but nobody, could hurt his Slayer like that and live.

Even though they were majorly bollocksed.

8 8 8

"Say something," Dawn commanded.

"Huh?" Cassandra looked up surprised. They were walking as fast as they could into the cold of the night; heads down and legs moving so quickly it felt like they would fall off. She would have liked to run, except Dawn had pointed out that their elevated heartbeats would have attracted more attention. The thought in itself was frightening.

"Anything," Dawn's teeth were starting to chatter, despite the fact they were going at a breakneck pace. "It's too quiet. I hate it when it's too quiet."

"Then why don't you say something?" Daniel muttered.

Before Dawn could respond, Cassandra stopped them. "I'm betting that you two starting your fight again will attract attention even more than us running. So don't even think about it."

"I don't understand why we can't just run there," Daniel grumbled, shoving his hands deeply into his pockets, before removing them agitatedly. "We would have been there by now."

"Not quite," Dawn disagreed. The mere mention of what had happened before Buffy had come in had somehow changed their atmosphere of fear into hostility again. Cassandra walked between the two of them like a faltering barrier, but all three of them could feel the anger running rings around all of them. "We would have been eaten by now. Buffy always told me only to run when vamps or demons were already there."

Daniel opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say anything, a low laugh echoed through the empty street.

"Well then… girlie… you three had best start running."