The graveyard shift was about as boring as one normally associated it as being, which was weird, because the graveyard shift for a slayer was supposed to be jam-packed with work, demons and vampires alike running amuck, killing babies or something (at this point, Beth wasn't picky on the specifics). But no. Here she was, milling around the warehouse district with nothing to show for it. She'd gone as far as to spend her time learning some nifty tricks to do with her stake. So far, she'd gotten to where she could bounce it over her arm, kick it up with her knee, before twirling and grabbing it out of the air. Right now, she was engaging in some very pointy hackey-sack.

"For fuck's sake," she hissed under her breath when her stake clattered to the ground again. She bet everybody else was having more fun elsewhere. Tonight had been a patrolling extravaganza, with everyone—even Andrew—going out on duty. They were supposed to be in pairs—Maea paired with her—but the girl had bailed out on her at the last moment. Her whole family issue that could fill a nine-season reality show was really getting to the god. Beth didn't mind slaying on her own, she just hated how boring it was. It wasn't like she couldn't handle herself.

A light rustling sound off to her left toward an alleyway caught her attention and she perked up, picking up her stake before turning to face it's direction. She didn't see anything moving though and she sighed in disappointment, guessing it was one of those warehouse cats she would sometimes seem prowling about. She tried to pet one earlier—boy was that a bad idea. It hissed at her before trying to rake its dirty claws down the backside of her hand. She opted to stay as far away from them in the future.

"Scram, kitty!" Beth called out. She didn't hear anything else though and went back to her hackey-sacking.

The soft whistle of something sailing through the air immediately alerted her. She jerked to her left just as a rebar pipe shot through the air where her shoulder had been, clattering noisily to the ground. She whipped her head around and saw someone standing at the mouth of the alleyway It was a man—or at least, he looked human. He wasn't giving off any vampire vibes though, so she hadn't a clue as to who, let alone what, he was.

"Interesting," he noted, eyeing her. "You heard me earlier, but did not know I was there. Your hearing is keen, but you can't sense me very well."

"Can I help you?" she asked, wondering if this was some sort of test devised by her watcher. Maybe Margaret was doing the same thing as they speak? It was possible Maea only bailed on her because of some test Beth had to pass.

"No, carry on," he stated, waving his hand.

She blinked at him. "Did Mr. Wells send you to do this?" she asked.

He tilted his head in confusion. She didn't recognize him at all. He was tall and a little lean, like some of the younger watchers. He had an air of ease about him, and a look most would call devilishly handsome. Though, if she knew a few things about other beings who could be described as "devilish," that meant they were usually trouble.

"I don't know any 'Mr. Wells'," he repeated. "I was sent here by my brother."

Beth's eyes widened as comprehension bloomed in her mind. He must be one of Maea's brothers; likely the young one, since she had a good feeling this wasn't the feared Virothan. This guy seemed too casual, just throwing rebar willy-nilly.

"You're—" she stumbled, trying to recall the other brother's name. "Abercorn."

He frowned, his eyes narrowing. "Abechius," he corrected. "And it would be rude for you not to introduce yourself as well."

"Well you started it," she pointed out. "And it's Beth. The vampire slayer."

"Vampire slayer?" he echoed. "My, what a title."

"It's a bit misleading," she admitted before sprinting toward him, aiming to attack. He avoided her with ease, stepping out of her way as she approached him. She expected it though, having prepared to stop on a dime, sending her fist out in a sneak attack. So imagine her surprise, when normally such a trick worked every time, he caught her fist mid-flight. His hand wrapped around her own and her eyes widened. Maybe vampires were just really stupid. She didn't have much time to ponder that, before she was being thrown back with such an incredible force, she was surprised she didn't leave a dent in the concrete.

She didn't allow herself time to nurse her wounds though, standing up quickly.

"My, you are durable," he said aloud, looking vaguely impressed. "That would have incapacitated most. I believe you mortals call it 'paralysis.'"

"I'm about to paralyze you," she growled, falling into a fighting stance.

Abechius laughed. "Oh, you are a funny one. Either very brave or very stupid. I suppose I'll come to sort that out within the coming weeks."

Tired of his arrogant rambling, she attacked him again, using every ounce of strength she had to put behind her kicks and punches. He blocked all of them though, not even bothering to send her flying again. In fact, he looked to almost be enjoying it, pure glee creeping into his features. And as she grew tired, he seemed untouched, something which only renewed her vigor and she went in even stronger. She quickly switched over to dirtier moves, looking for an in wherever she could, but found none. Man, if this was Maea's brother, she didn't even want to think about how good Maea would have been before she got bound. This was ridiculous.

"Is this a common approach for your kind?" he inquired once she gave pause to her attack. She was breathing heavily as she pushed her hair out of her face. "Were you hoping to wear me down? I fear you did the exact opposite."

"I am only getting started," she breathed out, her irritation only making her tiredness dull. This guy was really starting to get to her. Not only was he full of it, he seemed to be able to back up his condescension with his strength. He wore her out with barely a hit and boy did that piss her off. She really wanted to sock this guy.

"Really?" he asked, his excitement renewed. "Do you have some hidden skill? Is this your only form, or are you capable of shape-shifting?"

What?

"Um, are you new here or something?" she asked.

He huffed, rolling his eyes. "Stupid girl, of course I'm not from around here. Did you think my sister was as well?"

"You don't know what I am?" she asked.

"Vampire slayer," he repeated. "Such a title means nothing to me. It tells me nothing."

"Well, here, let me give you a brief overview," she said. "Vampire Slayer. Noun. Means I will kick your arse from here to kingdom come, you arrogant, foul bastard."

He let out a bark of laughter. "You truly are amusing. Maybe, if Roth is kind, he'll let me keep you around for entertainment."

Making a face of disgust, she spat, "I will not be some pet of yours. Gross!" Stepping back, she went in with a high kick, aiming for his neck. He grabbed her leg without preamble, pushing it away and making her stagger back.

"I grow tired of your needless attacking," he told her. "You know you cannot hurt me unless I deem it to happen."

"Oh, just you wait, you royal prick," she growled. "I'm gonna mess up that pretty boy face of yours real quick."

He rolled his eyes. "I doubt that," he said. Before she knew it, he was in her face, lifting her up by her neck. "Bye now." He threw her again, this time even further, and she hit the side of one of the warehouses, dropping about ten feet to the ground. She let out a pained groaned as she rolled over, pain consuming her whole body. She didn't think she broke anything (though there was now a nice dent on the side of the warehouse), but she was definitely going to be bruised.

"You will pay for that," she ground out through her pain, pushing herself up off the ground. But when she looked up, she was alone again. Also, he took her stake.

"For fuck's sake!" she shouted, pounding the ground with a fist.

-.-

Ice pack pressed firmly to the back of her head (she was going to have a headache all day tomorrow), Nadja looked over Beth with concerned eyes. Nadja's house has been the closest to where Beth had the run-in with stupid Abechius and she hadn't felt up to walking any further. Thought Abechius hadn't done much to her, he sure had a good throwing arm.

"Are you sure I don't need to take you to a hospital?" Nadja inquired for probably the ninetieth time.

"No, I'll be fine," Beth promised. "My parents where be here soon enough to pick me up and I promise both my mum and Mr. Wells will give me a thorough look over while my father hovers worriedly around us."

"I know you're trying to make a joke out of this, but you just got creamed by this guy, if your story is anything to go by," Nadja pointed out somewhat ruefully.

"I did not get creamed, as you put it," she defended.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was that too American for you? Sorry, you got absolutely whammed."

Beth rolled her eyes. "Look, he took me a little off-guard, that's all. Nothing more than a real wanker, he was. Talked big, but I bet I could have kicked him down soon enough."

"He's a god, Beth," Nadja reminded him, beginning to twiddle with her ends of her braids. Beth watched her, almost surprised. It wasn't often she saw Nadja concerned over her state-of-being. Mostly, Nadja seemed to firmly believe there wasn't a thing Beth couldn't beat. It seemed that train had finally come to a full stop.

"So?" she asked. "It's not like slayers haven't fought gods."

"Do not bring your mother into this!" Nadja warned, turning on Beth, finger pointing. "She died!"

"Unrelated to her actually beating the god's arse!" Beth reminded her quickly. "I don't think Virothan and Abechius want to open up a portal here to their home-world. They're already there, remember?"

"You want to help Maea defeat her brothers, but how can you do that if you get tossed about like a ragdoll?" Nadja cried.

"Again, I did not get to—"

There was a knock of the door, interrupting Beth in the middle of her tirade. Nadja shot her a tired look before turning on her heel and striding over to the door. Beth heard it unlock, followed by the sound of muffled voices before Nadja's very loud exclamation of, "She's over in the dining room."

Beth wasn't surprised when her mother was the first one in, taking in the sight of her slightly battered daughter before sweeping her up into a tight hug.

"Ow," Beth said, wincing when her back yelped in pain.

"Are you okay?" her mother asked, pulling back. Her father was standing nearby as well, listening as Nadja recounted the same story Beth had told her.

"And then he tossed her one more time before skedaddling," Nadja finished telling him. "Thankfully, all of her assisted flying didn't damage her phone, so she called me and asked to come over. And now here she is."

"Thanks for callin' us," Spike said to her, before coming over to Beth. "You alright, love?" he asked, a gentle hand examining the bruise on her head.

"I'm fine," she assured. "He just tossed me a bit, that's all. Nothing I can't recover from."

"I thought Maea's brothers only wanted her," her mother complained. "How many of us are they going to go after?"

"Did he say anythin' to you?" her father asked.

Beth shrugged. "Sure, but nothing helpful. He seemed enraptured by the idea of me, though. Guess he's not used to humans like me."

"I don't think anyone is," Nadja pointed out, sitting down in the seat beside Beth's. "He didn't know what a vampire slayer was." At Buffy's confused look, she added, "I wasn't there. Beth just told me."

She sighed. "Yeah, like I said, he seemed curious. He didn't seem interested in hurting me, though I was interested in doing it to him."

"So, he came to check out a slayer and then bolted?" Buffy asked for clarification.

"And he stole my stake," Beth added. "So rude."

Sighing, Buffy exchanged looks with Spike. "Are we going to have to keep you indoors again?" she asked her daughter.

She sputtered. "What? No! I already said he didn't want to kill me! Look, his appearance was probably a one-off. Curiosity and all; we know what they say about that."

"And you think he won't come back?" her father asked, stern expression on his face.

"I can't guarantee anything, but he wasn't aggressive," Beth argued. "This isn't like James, okay? James had a very specific interest in me. This isn't the same thing."

"Really? Jus' earlier you were statin' he seemed interested in you," her father reminded her.

She rolled her eyes, making a light growling sound under her breath. "Like one is in a new species," she clarified. "He wanted to stick me under a microscope."

"I'm not letting you chance another run-in with him," her mother told her. "These guys are dangerous, Beth. You can't take them on your own."

"I wasn't planning to," Beth groaned. "Maea's the one who's going to actually fight them. We're all there for support."

"This seems like a bad idea," Nadja said. "Out of all of us, only one of us can actually defeat these guys and she's currently wearing iron bracelets. How can we expect Maea to handle them if she's not even at her fullest strength?"

"That's why we need to find a way to free her," Beth reminded everyone, and Buffy made a cautious expression. "Abechius won't be worth shite when Maea's free."

"He's not even the most serious one," Buffy muttered.

"Oh, Virothan sounds like a real nob," Beth responded.

"That might be your opinion, but that's not how history remembers him," she retorted. "Andrew's been doing some research on this guy and he is not someone I ever want you to go up against. He's not a guy to pull any punches, Beth. When he comes to kill his sister, he's going to kill his sister."

"Virothan can't be that bad," Beth brushed off.

Her father snorted. "You haven' seen the things we've seen. Your watcher's got more than his fair share of tombs up in his own apartment."

"Giles sent what he had on Virothan and where he's from, and the guy's wholly unpleasant," her mother said, making a face. "He's got a whole slew of names—The Dark One, Feared Son—the list goes on. Anyone who's ever gone up against him usually gets fried. He's got powers over the sky and he's not afraid to show off a little. If he decides to kill you, you're dead. Maea only got off because he sent someone else to do it."

"Yeah, and what do those same books tell you about Maeaonis?" Beth asked, unwilling to just leave her friend for dead. She wasn't going to let some fear-mongering cad keep her from helping her friend out.

Buffy's face scrunched up like it does when she saw or thought of something she greatly disliked. "There isn't much at all," she confessed. "She was a God of War from another world. Fierce. Kicked ass on a battlefield and that's about it."

"Seems like the Council did a pretty good job back when Maea asked for them to forget about her," Spike concluded. "Got 'er wish an' now it's buggerin' the whole thing up."

"Well, I trust Maea when she says she could wipe the floor with her brother's arse," Beth claimed, head held high even if it made the spot behind her eyes throb something bad. "Why can't you believe that too?"

"I never said I didn't," Buffy replied. "I only think that we don't have a way to make her as powerful as she can be, or even if that's a good idea!"

"Yeah, and what does Aunt Willow say?" Beth inquired.

Buffy grumbled under her breath.

"As long as Virothan is as strong as every reading says he is, we need Maea to be as strong as she can be," Beth stated. "We can take out his army, but it's Maea we need to make sure Virothan goes back to where he belongs—hell. He's coming whether we like it or not, and so we can't just sit by and watch as he trashes our world and defeats the only person actually capable of killing him."

Buffy looked her daughter in the eyes, searching for some sort of doubt. But her gaze remained firm and so she could only give in, letting out a long exhale. "I know," her mother said after a long moment. "We still don't know how to free Maea, though. It doesn't matter how strong she is if we can't find a way to unbind her."

"We will," Beth said firmly. "It's out there. We just need to know where to look."

"Well, let's hope we find it in time," her mother conceded. "Now come on, we're taking you home. You've had a long night and you're going to be benched until you heal up."

"Oh, come on! I'm not that bad," she whined, though she complied, allowing herself to be led to the car. Nadja waved goodbye to them as they left, a concerned expression etched into her features. While she too believed Maea could probably kill her brother twelve times over normally, she also knew that it took a lot of magic to bind something incredibly powerful. And if it took a lot of magic to bind it, it would probably take even more to free it. Law of Equivalent Exchange her butt.

Getting Beth into the car first, Buffy let out a loud groan as she rested her head against the frame of the car. The next few weeks leading up to Virothan's invasion were going to put her into an early grave—again.

"Did you call Andrew?" Spike asked.

She looked up, nodding. "I texted him. He said he and Margaret are already home. We're going to need to discuss what we're going to do about Abechius if he's just out wandering about."

"Believe it or not, I think Beth's right," Spike told her.

"Oh really?" she asked, her tone disbelieving.

"Abechius is nothin' more than Virothan's lackey, whether he thinks so or not," he stated.

"What made you come to that conclusion?"

"He does whatever the bastard wants," he claimed. "He can' be a threat like his brother is. He didn' even carry out killing Maea. What makes you think he'd kill Beth?"

She sighed. "You have a point. Still, I don't want any run-ins like this again. If they don't know what a slayer is, isn't that better for us anyway? If we need to go up against an army, I'd rather they not know what they're up against. I'd like to keep the element of surprise, thank you."

"I don't think Virothan could expect this at all," he decided. "He thinks he's comin' to get lil' sis. He doesn't have a clue."

She smiled slightly. "No clue," she agreed. "Bet he's not expecting anyone at all to give up their life for his sister. Did you hear Beth's speech back there? I haven't seen such conviction since—"

"Since you?" he finished and she blinked.

"Actually, I was going to say Willow," she said.

"You remember that night before we fought the First in the Hellmouth?" he inquired.

She snorted. "How could I forget?"

"You said we were goin' to win," he told her. "You said it like you knew it to be true already, even though we hadn't faced them. And how you believed in those potentials? She gets it from you, you know. She heard about her mum making speeches about strength an' loyalty. 'M not surprised she turned out this way."

"Well, I'm going to be upset if it gets her killed," she rebutted.

"Hey, do you two think you could stop talking about me like I'm not only separated from you by a car door?" Beth asked, her voice slightly muffled. "I'm tired. Let's go home. I wanna sleep."

Buffy sighed. "Alright, we're going."

"Sounds like you again," he joked and she elbowed him in the stomach.

"For that comment, I'm driving," she stated, pushing him away from the driver's door. He groaned lightly, figuring he had that coming.