Chapter 11 Shadows of Light

A/N. (This time, I really do have a reason! I've been juggling two fics for quite a while now, and since I'm going into uni soon, I've realised that continuing that habit just won't work out very well in terms of my continued health and sanity. So I've been concentrating on finishing up the other one, and then I can return to writing this one, full-time and on-time!

So yes, here's the next chapter! I do apologise at its delay, but it's finally here. Thank you so very much to both Kim and Katana777. I'm glad you liked the fight scene and the new Council, Kim! I must admit that fight scenes don't appear to come naturally for me, so I was glad that one worked out well. And yes, Joss' bias sometimes did annoy me. And to Katana777, I'm also glad that you like my Buffy portrayal; I think she's such a difficult, complex character to write, and so if you like her, hopefully I'm doing something right! I would also be happy to post this story and the prequel on the website you mentioned when I garner myself some free time. Thanks again for the reviews: D

I hope you all enjoy this chapter. And as always, constructive criticism and reviews are much appreciated.

8 8 8

Buffy was running.

The tattered coat of the fleeing vampire was a few inches away from her face, but to the demon's bemusement, the Slayer seemed content to just follow him. With extra strength lent by plain and simple fear, the vampire sprinted across the grass, Buffy never losing pace behind him as the vista of one of Sunnydale's many graveyards flew past them.

The vampire darted to the right, suddenly, but before he could even make tracks in that direction, Buffy had leapt even further, hounding him back to the left. The vampire suddenly realized the Slayer seemed to be… almost… herding him somewhere…

Before the realization had time to sink in, the vampire walked straight into a punch and crumpled to the ground. Spike appeared out of the shadows, blowing on his knuckles for effect as his fangs gleamed in the moonlight.

"Good day, innit?" he called out.

The vampire on the ground looked at him in confusion as it struggled to its feet, only to be brought down again as Buffy let loose a flying kick from behind. "You might like the permanent cloudiness," she said, annoyed. "But that brings my job of hunting the photophobic temporarily into the daylight hours, and that never makes for a happy Slayer."

"Excuse me?" the vampire from the ground demanded. "I do beg your pardon, but…"

His sentence was broken as Spike casually backhanded him and flipped the vampire over onto his back. "I was beginning to wonder when you'd show up with another one, Slayer."

The vampire they were hunting seemed about to fume again, but then Buffy reached over and staked him. The two hunters were left with the dust of their prey flying in the breeze, and a smile of victory on both of their faces.

"Well just because I'm doing all the hard work today, since someone used the excuse of hiding near his crypt just in case the sun came back out," Buffy teased him back. "Which we know is absolute crap since it doesn't look like the clouds are ever going to shift. So I'd like to see how quickly you could have found all these."

"How 'bout we check tonight?" Spike suggested, a grin on his face as he regarded the flushed Slayer, still panting slightly from her exertions.

"Deal's on," Buffy laughed as they began to walk back together through the grass of the cemetery towards the western gate. There was a comfortable silence before Spike began to chuckle. "You know, that last vamp… he reminded me a bit of those tweed-stuffed ponces.

"That's true, actually," Buffy chuckled, before her face sobered. "Speaking of which, can I just say I will be in a world of gladness when they finally get out of Sunnydale. I mean, it's been two days already. Just how much do they need to sort out with Giles over our new arrangements?"

"It's a British gentlemen thing, pet," Spike explained. "That, and I think ol' Ripper is a bit suspicious. I know I am. From what you've told me, it doesn't exactly sound like these Council people of yours are the capitulatin' sort."

"No, they're not," Buffy said coldly. "They're more like the inject-me-with-drugs-to-take-away-my-Slayer-abilities-then-locking-me-up-with-a-vamp-to-test-my-abilities-on-my-18th-birthday sort… Spike?"

She stopped walking, realizing that the vampire was no longer behind her. When she turned, she saw Spike standing stock still about three feet away, a look of horror on his face.

"They did that to you?" he asked, a low dangerous growl creeping into his voice.

"Yeah," Buffy swallowed. "After Giles had been injecting me for a few days, he told me he was taking me to an ice-skating show. Then he dropped me off at an abandoned house, told me about the test, and voila, Helpless!Buffy had to fight an escaped vampire that had also kidnapped my Mum."

She'd been looking at the ground. It was difficult bringing up the memories again. But when she looked up again, she was shocked to see Spike completely rigid, his jaw locked and his eyes blazing with fury as though he was trying to say something but couldn't. Her own jaw dropped slightly in surprise. Spike wordless?

"The soddin' wankers," he hissed finally, bringing up clenched fists. "I'd like to go over to that bloody hotel they're stayin' in right now and rip their throats out. Chip or no chip."

"Spike…" Buffy rested her hand on his shoulder gingerly, amazed at how his muscles corded beneath her fingers. "It was a long time ago."

He turned his furious eyes on hers. "How?" he demanded hoarsely. "How could Giles have betrayed you like that? How could the soddin' Council put you in danger like that? I thought they were on your bloody side!"

"That's debateable," Buffy replied dryly, "But it looks as if as of two days ago, we're on the same side again."

She sighed and dropped her hand away from his shoulder to look at him front-on. "And Giles ended up coming in to help me," she said gently. "If he hadn't I might have died. That's why they fired him. They said I'd passed when I killed the first vamp, but the test had also been for him and he'd failed…"

"He should never have betrayed you like that in the first place," Spike cut in, the anger beginning to fade a little from his voice. "C'mon, I've seen you two. You're like bleedin' father and daughter. And no father should ever do that. Ever."

Buffy's gaze turned away. "It took a while for me to forgive him," she admitted slowly. "But he'll never do it again. I know he won't."

"Yeah," Spike's voice was gruff as he shoved his hands into his pockets and he started walking again. "He bloody well better not."

Buffy had no clue what how to respond to Spike's anger on her behalf, much less the edge of protectiveness that had crept into his voice, and so she trotted along after him, thinking up something to say. A thought hit her, and she smiled wryly. It had been a topic niggling at the back of her head ever since the sparring fight they had had a few days ago, but there hadn't seemed to be an appropriate moment to mention it until now.

"Speaking of the Council, though," she said lightly, "I couldn't help but notice your fighting was a little bit off during our… display."

It worked. Spike threw his head back and laughed at the memory.

"Of course," he said. "You needed to show off how sweet your fightin' was, didn't you? Works best with a partner playin' along."

Buffy shook her head, but couldn't do anything about the glimmer of amusement twinkling in her eyes. "You did everything because of that, didn't you? Giving me easy openings, exaggerating your exhaustion, heck, even never landing a shot on me when you could have…"

"I debated givin' you a light tap on the head to show them you could take it," Spike drawled. "But then I decided it'd probably look better if you just handed my ass to me."

She smiled. "Thanks, Spike. I appreciate it."

He grinned wolfishly. "You owe me, Slayer."

She couldn't resist at that. "Really?" her eyes widened and began trembling with innocence. "But Spike, I could have kicked you around like that even if you were trying."

Spike stopped for a second, and then a truly evil glint entered into his fanged smile. "Oooh, Slayer," he growled. "Gonna get it."

They dodged amongst the gravestones as they chased each other, laughing. It seemed a mirror of five minutes ago, when Buffy had been herding the vampire towards Spike, but now the two players were equally matched. Buffy sprinted harder and flipped up onto the top of a mausoleum, hoping to see the spectacle of Spike crashing into the wall, but the vampire merely mirrored her move and landed like a cat on the opposite side. At that, the Slayer somersaulted off and landed gracefully on the grass before running off again, every so often varying her direction with a selection of quick turns and twists designed to throw him off guard. He matched her effortlessly with every one. By the time they had covered the entire cemetery, weaving in and out through the obstacles, twin smiles decorated their faces. But it didn't end there.

Once Buffy reached the outer graveyard wall that Spike had been pushing her towards, she didn't miss a beat. With a flying leap, she leapt onto the hard surface, jumping horizontally from the left corner to the right to land behind her pursuer. Spike snarled and pushed himself off the wall, to see the Slayer retreating into the distance, her face turned cheekily towards his.

Of course, the problem with that was that for two seconds, Buffy lost track of where she was going. She went sprawling as her toe caught a lone tree root, and Spike was on her in seconds. Flipping her over with a deft flick of his wrists, the vampire straddled her hips, locked her legs underneath his, and pinned her wrists to the ground before she could move.

Suddenly, Buffy couldn't breathe.

Spike's length was pressed against hers, his face inches from her own, and as she watched, the look of playfulness faded from his eyes and was replaced by a frightening intensity as he too realised exactly what position they were in. Slowly, she saw a wicked smile cross his lips, and then his platinum head moved downwards and she felt his unneeded breath tickle her ear.

"So, Slayer…" he purred. "Now that I've got you, just what should I do?"

Kiss me, was the first thought that entered into her hazy mind. There was a second's pause, and then her eyes opened wide in shock. Luckily for her, Spike couldn't see her expression as he moved downwards, his lips almost brushing the gentle curve of her neck.

She twitched convulsively at the feeling as it sent a wave of shudders along her spine. But what scared her more was that the shudders had not been elicited by fear. Rather, they left a strange, almost tingly sensation in their wake that she associated more with… something else…

"Well, Slayer?" he was so close she could feel the vibrations of his voice on her sensitive skin. "Have you got any ideas?"

Mindlessly, she was about to open her mouth and vocalise the first thought that had popped into her head when this had all begun…

And then her cellphone rang.

Bollocks, Spike swore internally as he jerked back at the noise and their eyes met. Instantly, he was scrambling off as she reached for her hip pocket. He watched as she flipped the cursed thing open, looked at the name displayed, and frowned.

"Giles?"

"Ah… Buffy. There's been a bit of a… problem."

Spike's ears pricked as he heard the strain in the Watcher's voice, and he edged a little closer.

"What problem?" Buffy asked sharply.

"It seems that Glory came into our shop today and made off with a bloodstone and an amulet."

"That can conjure up a monster!" they heard Anya's voice yelling in the background.

"Quite right," Giles coughed. "That can conjure up a monster."

But Buffy concentrated more on the first part of the sentence. "Glory came into the Magic Box?" she demanded as she stood up. "Are you guys all okay? Did she hurt you?"

"No, actually," the Watcher sounded sheepish. "She just came in… and went out with the… items."

"Right," Buffy bit her lip. "And how'd she make away with the evil mojo?"

If it were possible, Giles' voice suddenly sounded even more sheepish. "Well… I, uh… sold them to her. And then Anya kindly pointed out what I'd done."

"Nice work, Watcher," Spike drawled as he bent his head closer to Buffy's face.

Giles started. "Spike's with you?"

"Of course," Buffy adjusted the phone. "It's so cloudy today, we were hunting out other vamps that might have decided to take advantage of that fact together."

There was a slight pause. "Oh. I see. Well, that may actually prove to our advantage. Two people trying to prevent Glory from raising this monster might be more successful than one, judging on your previous reports."

"What exactly is she raisin' this monster for?" Spike cut in, with a worried glance towards Buffy. "You guys have anythin' specific?"

"It's a Sobekian amulet that she's taken, apparently. Which means she'll be trying to transmogrify a snake."

Buffy and Spike's eyes met.

"Sunnydale Zoo."

8 8 8

Cassandra watched Dawn nervously out of the corner of her eye as she pretended to concentrate on the homework in front of her. It had only been half an hour since Giles had arrived to pick them up from school, and the strangeness of it all was still seeping through at the back of her thoughts. Somehow, this reminded her of something…

But then, she had more important things to concentrate on than why Giles had taken them back to the Magic Box, claiming that both Buffy and Joyce were busy and it was safer that they stay with him and the Scoobies. Dawn was still slightly off from the events of two days ago, and to be honest, Cassandra couldn't blame her. It was a lot to take in, Dawn hadn't even been told she was the Key yet. Silently, Cassandra couldn't help but think that it wouldn't be long before she found out. The research that Dawn had already done showed that. She just wasn't sure whether or when to tell her or not.

"Tell me again," Dawn demanded softly, her eyes checking the surroundings to see if any of the Scoobies were listening. "Why the Council asked you two to be there."

"Oh come on," Daniel dropped his pencil and sighed. "We've been over this at least three times already."

"Well indulge me, seeing as I was excluded from your little meeting," Dawn retorted. "Just one more time."

Daniel sighed. "Well, after the hullabaloo about Glory being a God died down, which mind you, took quite a while, Spike interrupted the Head Watcher guy to ask why he'd specifically gotten us to come along too. So then Travers pulls out this graph from his suitcase, saying that it showed mystical energy levels on the Hellmouth for the last year.

"Then he pointed out these two pretty significant spikes right next to each other and said that had been caused by Daniel and I arriving," Cassandra added.

"And he then went on to examine the whole prophecy business that came with us," Daniel continued, "And basically concluded that even though he had no idea what was going on, we were probably going to be important in something."

The teenager snorted and picked his pencil up again. "Like he was telling us something we didn't already know."

"Are you sure there wasn't anything else?" Dawn asked, her voice intent. "Anything? Something small, or seemingly insignificant, maybe?"

Cassandra and Daniel exchanged glances. And then finally, Cassandra took the plunge.

"Actually," the seeress said quietly, "there was something that we haven't told you yet. But that's because we were trying to figure it out, just to be sure. And… it wasn't quite something he said."

Dawn looked at her eagerly. "What was it, then?"

"It was the graph," Daniel picked up from his friend, his eyes grave. "The two spikes of energy announcing us coming in were pretty big. But then, Travers didn't say anything about this other one that occurred a few weeks later from us. And if ours were big, then this spike was massive."

"We think," Cassandra said slowly, "That it might have been you."

She didn't need to look at Daniel to see that the inner tenseness that had been present in his jaw ever since she'd told him about Dawn being the key had faded. It was finally almost out there, between them. It was finally the right moment to tell Dawn the truth.

And then the snake burst in.