“There’s no way around this.” Giles muttered, wiping his glasses. “Perhaps a spell... I could work with Miss Calender to prepare a spell to...”

“No.” Buffy snapped, her face determined. “We don’t need that...”

“Ahem.” Giles interrupted her. “That’s quite enough. And we may very well need...”

“Maybe not.” Xander said, looking down at the book in front of him. “We might be able to handle this ourselves.”

“Right. Xander has the right attitude.” Buffy said, smiling triumphantly.

“Does he also have a plan?” Giles asked sarcastically.

“I might.” Xander nodded, again looking at the words in the book.

“Do you plan to share it with us?” Giles asked.

Xander considered, then shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll be back later.”

“Xander! Where are you going?”

He turned and smiled, “I’ll tell you later.”

Then he was gone.

It was two nights later when Xander finally revealed his ‘plan’.

“This is insane.” Giles said instantly. “It will never work.”

“Ah ah,” Xander held up a finger. “I beg to differ.”

“Xander, the text clearly states...”

“Invulnerable to all weapons forged by man.” Xander finished for him, his voice unconsciously slipping into ‘lecture’ mode.

“We all know that, Xander.” Buffy said sarcastically. “Which is why this idea is nuts.”

“The phrase,” Xander continued as he worked, “is dependant on two qualifiers. Every trap has two triggers, Buffy...”

“What are you talking about??”

“Two triggers.” Xander continued, “The first one is the obvious one... The one you’re meant to see. It’s the second trigger you have to look for.”

Giles paused in mid breath, eyes widening. “Of course.”

Xander smiled.

Buffy looked confused, “Giles?”

“The phrase Forged by Man, Buffy.” Giles said, shaking his head as he grinned. “I can’t believe I missed it.”

“Hello?” Buffy said, “Some of us are still missing it.”

“The phrase has two key words.” Xander explained patiently. “The first one is the obvious one... Man. It makes you think that anything made by man is useless... But the second word is the key... Forged.”

“Huh? So?”

“Because,” Xander said patiently. “Only certain weapons are actually forged. Swords, for example... also spear tips, arrow heads, and so forth.”

“So... what? We use crossbows?” Buffy looked confused.

Xander shook his head, smiling. “No. That kind of cheap trick only works in the movies... My guess is that whoever wrote that prophecy basically figured out that the Judge was immune to any damage up to an including the biggest ‘forged’ weapons of the day. We’ll need something a little heavier duty then crossbow bolts.”

“Are you certain this will work?” Giles asked hesitantly.

Xander shook his head, “No. I’ll be honest, I wish we could get a rocket launcher or something... but you know... a .45 auto I could find around here... a Stinger? I don’t have a clue.”

“Normally I’d say thank the lord right about now...” Giles said dryly, “But this once... I wish we could find something like that.”

“Ahhhh....” The demon growled, shuddering in the pleasure of the kill as he reached out and destroyed the humans around him.

Beside him strode two vampires, cocky smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the brief moments of pain as the Demon sucked the energy right out of his victims and added it to his own reserves.

“Ohh... the glorious carnage.” The demon rumbled, his stiff face smiling slightly as they stepped out to a balcony and looked down over the bustling mall.

He casually reached out and started drawing life force from everyone around him, growling in pleasure as the panic started and people began to run and scream through the wide open mall.

That was when a sharp voice interrupted his moment of reverie.

“Hey, you with the skin condition!”

The Judge looked up, still smiling as he recognized his foe. “Ah. Slayer. You’re just in time for the fun.”

“Glad I could make it.” Buffy smirked. “I even brought a house warming gift.”

The Judge and the two vampires on either side of him frowned in puzzlement when they saw two men straining hard to drag something to the balcony beside the Slayer. She turned around and hefted whatever it was fairly easily and put it down into place. The younger man beside her whispered something, and she shifted it slightly to the right.

“What?” The Judge looked confused.

Spike and Angelus looked at each other in confusion, a single thought passing through their mind. <What is she up to?>

The Slayer smiled, and then lit a match and stepped back.

The three of them watched, still puzzled, as she lit a fuse and suddenly everybody leapt from the balcony they were on, in a big hurry to get far, far, away. Everybody but the Slayer.

The Judge frowned, “I can not be harmed by any weapon forged by man.”

“That was then.” She smirked, waiting until the last moment to be sure he didn’t move. “This is now.”

Then she leapt clear herself.

That was the last straw for the two Vampires. Spike and Angelus exchanged one more glance filled with communication, and threw themselves away from the Judge, diving bodily over the rails.

Then there was a huge explosion, and the mall filled with smoke and the sound of something whistling through the air. The Judge had time to look shocked, then the bowling ball struck him dead on in the chest.

The ten pound ball hit like a freight train, shattering the Judge’s body like glass, and kept going until it buried itself in the wall behind him. Pieces of the demon showered the mall, flying outward in a shrapnel pattern, and scattered themselves across the better part of the floor.

Down on the main floor, Xander lifted his head from the ground and adjusted the brim of his hat and smiled. “Damn. I think I have a whole new respect for cannons now.”

From one side he heard Giles groan and mutter, “Good Lord, please don’t let him make a habit of this.”

Xander chuckled until he heard Giles groan in pain, then he scrambled over there and checked on him.

“He alright?” Buffy asked from where she was getting up.

Xander nodded, “He twisted his knee. He’ll be fine.”

“Good.”

“Wait!” Giles said as Buffy got up, “Where are you going?”

“After Angelus.” Buffy growled.

As she took off, Xander glanced down apologetically.

Giles grimaced, but nodded. “Go.”

Angelus was running for the exit when a slim form that was all to familiar stepped in front of him. He skidded to a stop, and forced a smile.

“You going to stake me, Buffy?” He said, keeping his face normal to tug at her heartstrings.

Buffy lifts her stake, tensing.

For a brief instant, Angel feels a tremor of doubt worm into his chest, but then he smiled as her arm came down. “You can’t do it. You can’t kill me.”

Buffy’s face twisted, “Maybe not...”

She took a stride forward, and kicked out as hard as she could, nailing Angelus in the groin. He collapsed in shock and pain. As he groaned on the floor, Buffy looked down at him. “But I’m working on it.”

She turned to walk away, only to find Xander behind her.

“What are you doing!?” He demanded.

“Leaving.” She said flatly.

Xander shook his head, “You can’t do that, Buffy. You have to dust him.”

Buffy looked back, then at Xander. “I can’t. I just can’t.”

“Who offered you a choice!?” Xander demanded hotly. “This *thing* knows who you are. He knows Joyce, Willow, Giles, and me! And more then that, he’s a murderer! He WILL kill if you let him live, Buffy.”

Buffy growled, moving past Xander and grabbing him to pull him along. “Don’t question me, Xander.”

Xander ripped loose. “Question you!? Buffy... You’re the Slayer. He is a soulless vampire. You do the math!”

“It’s not the simple!” She screamed, tears welling in her eyes.

Xander nodded suddenly, taking a breath as he looked back to the stricken vampires. “Alright. I understand.”

“Thank you.” She whispered, her hands dropping.

Xander retrieved a stake from his jacket, “Just walk away. Just... walk away.”

“What? No!” Buffy’s eyes flashed in anger. “I won’t let you!”

“Let me!? Let me what!?” Xander demanded hotly. “Jesus Christ, Buffy! This is a vampire so evil he earned the title ‘Scourge of Europe!’. Do you have any idea how *many* monsters Europe has produced over the years?? Even Hitler didn’t get that title! If you walk away from this, if you let him live... then Nothing you’ve ever done means *anything* Buffy.”

Xander took a deep breath, trying to speak calmly. “You know that he’ll kill again if you let him go. You know that. Buffy, you can’t be a hero if you let a murderer kill some innocent person because you don’t have the heart for the job.”

“I don’t want to be a hero, Xander. I never wanted to be a hero!” Buffy said through clenched teeth and tear filled eyes.

Xander shook his head, keeping one eye on Angelus. “It has to be done, Buffy.”

“Don’t you think I know that!?” Buffy demanded, tears now streaking down her cheeks. “But. I. Can’t. Do. It! Not yet!”

“Then let me!” Xander screamed back, trying to push past her. “Just walk away. It’s not Angel! You KNOW that. It’s just a damned demon with his face!”

“NO!” Buffy screamed, grabbing him and holding him in place.

Angelus chose that moment to move, and rose from the ground like a ghost and sprinted for the exit. He smashed through the safety glass and broke out into the night.

Xander watched him go and slumped, Buffy slowly let go of him and stared out after the retreating vampire.

After a long moment, Xander spoke.

“Buffy...” He said coldly, swallowing. “If Angelus kills Willow... or Giles... Or Cordy... I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”

Buffy stared at him in shock, “Xander... I...”

“Save it.” He snapped, holding up a finger in her face. “You just remember what I said. Any of them die, I’ll come after you before their bodies are cold.”

Then he turned and walked away from her, leaving the Slayer standing in the Mall, alone.

Buffy watched him go, still in shock as she felt a surge of despair rush over her. Behind her, her love was running into the night, probably to kill the first person he saw. In front of her, her friend was turning his back on her.

Maybe forever.

“Xander?” Giles asked hesitantly as he walked into the gym, “May I have a word with you?”

Xander glanced to one side, then nodded curtly as he returned to punching the heavy bag. “Go ahead, knock your socks off.”

“Erm... Quite.” Giles said, “It’s about Buffy.”

“I’m not talking about her, and I’m not talking to her.” Xander replied. “You know what she did.”

“I do.” Giles nodded, “And it was irresponsible...”

“Irresponsible!” Xander snapped, hitting the bag as hard as he could before turning around to face Giles. “It’s called being accessory to MURDER. You get twenty five to life for doing shit like that in the real world, G. But Buffy lives in this damned fantasy land that you and the Watchers cooked up for her...”

“She’s a child.” Giles snapped, “As you were just a few months ago. Let me ask you something, do you think you would have reacted the same way without Professor Jones’ memories?”

Xander stiffened, looking at the white tape around his wrists and hands. Jones had been an accomplished brawler by nature, but he had actually started out in boxing when he was younger. Xander had to admit that a lot of his reactions were now colored by memories that weren’t his. He shook his head, “No. Probably not. But that doesn’t make me wrong, Giles.”

“No. It doesn’t.” Giles admitted, “And believe it or not, Buffy knows that.”

“Buffy knew that in the mall when she let Angelus go.” Xander said calmly, stripping the tape from his hands. “She knew it then, and she let him go anyway.”

Giles sighed, “Xander... When you staked your friend...”

Xander tensed, but his ears perked up as well. He’d never heard Giles talk about Jessie before this.

“When that happened,” Giles asked, “Do you think you could have staked him intentionally?”

Xander froze in place, the strands of tape brushing the floor as they hung from his hand. He hesitated, almost saying ‘hell yes’, but then realized that it wasn’t true. He deflated, “No. I couldn’t have... Today I could, but then? No. I... don’t think I could have.”

“Precisely.” Giles said calmly. “Please... come back to the library. Your presence would be of inestimable help.”

Xander smirked slightly, “Stop trying to confuse me with big words, Giles... It won’t work anymore.”

Giles rolled his eyes and sighed, “Ah the lost opportunities.”

“Do we have it?”

“Oh yes...” Drusilla clapped, “The lovely chaos and carnage it will bring...”

“Spike?”

“We have it, Mate.” Spike muttered in annoyance. “I still think...”

“Don’t think.” Angelus said, smiling nastily. “It’s not your strength. Just sit there and look pissed off... at least you do that well.”

“Listen here, you bleedin...”

“What?” Angelus snapped, striding toward his ‘grand child’. “What? Go on... say it. If you have the balls.”

Spike remained sullenly silent.

“I didn’t think so.” Angelus smirked, “Now... how do we wake it up?”

The scooby gang was talking softly in the library, going over the information they had available on the latest warning they had received concerning Angelus’ activities, when Xander walked in. Giles looked up and smiled, Oz just nodded. The three girls tensed slightly, for varying reasons, and then smiled hesitantly at him.

Xander’s image had undergone a dramatic change over the last few months and now, for the first time, because of his recent absence from their meetings, the full effect struck the group.

His hair was pretty much the same, but his multicolored spectacular wardrobe was long gone. In it’s place was a beaten old jacket that looked like it had been around the world more then once, but still looked tough enough to last a few more trips. Black jeans, tight fitted, had replaced the old baggy trousers. He wore black leather tanker boots, had a brown leather satchel slung over his shoulder, and had that same hat on his head.

“Xander...” Buffy whispered as she looked up at him sadly.

He nodded once around the table, then dropped the satchel where it hit he floor with a slight clunk. “Giles tells me we have an Armageddon to deal with.”

Everyone looked at the table without speaking until Giles nodded and smiled at him. “Indeed. Did you discover anything?”

“Not much more then I already knew.” Xander said, again using his ‘lecture’ voice borrowed from Jones’ classroom manner. “Acathela was a feared demon in several pre-summarian cultures. It seems he made a habit of opening portals to hell... one or two stories blame the sinking of Atlantis on this boy. He tangled with a couple demi-gods about three thousand years ago according to legend, and got his ass kicked.”

Xander turned his chair around and straddled it, leaning on the back as he put his hat on the table in front of him. “Good news, bad news situation. Good news is that Acathela’s been sealed so tight that he isn’t ever getting out. Bad news is that his powers can still be accessed from the outside...”

“Worse news I’m afraid.” Giles sighed, “According to my sources in the council, while Acathela’s powers are indeed accessible, they are not controllable. If Angelus does indeed know where to dig up Acathela... he must not be allowed to activate it.”

“Done deal.” Xander said calmly, pulling a pistol from his satchel and checking it carefully.

Jones’ old revolver hadn’t worked since that Halloween, so Xander had gone out and gotten a replacement. Without much knowledge of firearms he hadn’t wanted to get anything completely out of his experience, so he had managed to purchase a Smith and Wesson M66 .357 revolver out of the trunk of a car that belonged to a student at Sunnydale high.

Jones’ memories had actually shivered at how easy THAT had been, but Xander had shrugged it off. The Magnum weapon was a bit heavier then the old revolver, but it fit his holster and should pack enough punch to put even a vampire down for a three count.

“Xander! Where did you get a gun!?”

Xander looked up, shrugging. “You know Tony Richards?”

Willow blanched, “You bought an illegal gun??”

“I’m seventeen, Willow.” Xander said patiently. “How else was I going to get one?”

“But... but... but...”

Xander briefly considered thanking Oz for the tip on where to get the gun, but decided that he owed the guitar player more then that. Instead he just smiled slightly at the quiet young man, who nodded back.

“Xander... please don’t bring that weapon to any classes.” Giles frowned, shaking his head.

“Relax.” Xander nodded, “Actually I was hoping I could keep it in the armory here.”

“I’d feel very much better if you did.”

“Thanks.”

Giles looked around, “If that’s settled, can we move on?”

Everyone nodded.

“Very well. We simply MUST NOT allow Angelus to activate Acathela... this is Paramount.”

Everyone nodded, and Xander looked up. “Hey Giles...”

“Yes?”

“You never told me... How’d you find out about this anyway?”

Giles half turned to his office, “I believe you know the Council’s messenger?”

Xander half turned to see Kendra step out of the small office. “Hello, Xander.”

Janna Kaldarish sighed and sat back in her chair, smiling slightly at her final success. It had taken weeks, but she had finally located the original words of the soul curse that had created Angel.

She had watched the deaths mount from the release of Angelus with a horrible sensation of guilt, knowing that had she only told Rupert and his group sooner, all of this might have been avoided. The Slayer was obviously love struck with the vampire, and that made things all the worse because Angelus was a master at turning this like that to his own ends. As long as he existed, Janna knew that the Scourge would be able to twist the Slayer’s mind around his little finger with ease.

And worse, she understood it. The worst, most vile, things in the world could be made palatable by adding just a hint of decency to them. A touch of sincerity could sugar coat an atrocity, and Angel had given that to Angelus, albeit unwillingly.

Now it was up to her to fix the mess that her clan had unwittingly contributed to. She pulled the second copy of the disk that contained the spell and tucked it in her purse. Tonight she would give it to Rupert, and hopefully between them they could bring down Angelus once more.

The computer teacher never heard the sound of her fate coming up behind her, and the stinging blow to the back of her head was the first hint that came to her.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t also the last.

“You brought the sword?” Xander asked, his voice hushed as he spoke with the younger Slayer.

“I did.” She said in her peculiar accent, “An I was told dat if we could find the way, it would serve again.”

Xander nodded, rubbing his cheek as he thought back to what little he knew about Acathela. Jones had an astounding array of information in his memories, but demonology wasn’t his specialty, damn it all. The Archeologist specialized in the flip side of the coin, including religious artifacts and other sources of hope.

Xander fully understood that leaning, but wished that his memories were a little better balanced.

Luckily, Jones was nothing if not an accomplished researcher, and his memories DID include the best ways to track down information on just about anything. “May I see it?”

Kendra nodded, “Mr Giles told me to help you find anything you could... Why is it that he is not researching this?”

Xander shrugged, “G... I mean, Giles is looking for more information about Acathela itself... I’m going to see about tracking down any information on the sword. We don’t have time to waste on this.”

“I understand.” She nodded, then turned back to Giles’ audience. “The sword is there.”

“Let’s go.”

Giles let himself into his apartment quickly, and made his way to his personal collection of research material in order to bring it back to the library.

He paused when he heard soft music coming from his bedroom, and noticed that their was a dim light coming from there too. He moved quietly, slowly entering the room and his eyes widened when he saw Jenny on the bed.

“Jenny! What are you...”

“...”

“Bloody Bastard...”

“Let’s see...” Xander muttered to himself as he paged through a book, comparing almost invisible inscriptions on the blade to those in the book he had.

Something that scared him slightly, since Jones’ knew more languages then Xander realized *existed*, but he didn’t know this one. Which, unfortunately, was understandable since the language in question was one of the few demonic scripts that had survived the expulsion of demons from Earth.

“What is it?” Kendra asked over his shoulder.

“Blood.” Xander frowned. “Something about blood.”

“Blood? What dat mean?”

Xander shrugged, “Kendra, if I knew that... I’d be buying you dinner right now.”

Kendra frowned, “But I’m not hungry...”

Xander rolled his eyes and went back to t he translations. “Still toeing the company line I see.”

“What company?”

“Never mind.” Xander smiled, nodding his head to the table. “Here, see if you can make out this symbol here...”

The two of them returned to their work, managing to translate several more words before they were interrupted.

“Xander!”

Xander looked up, “What is it, Buffy?”

“Have you seen Giles?” Buffy frowned, “He said that he’d be back over an hour ago...”

Xander tensed, checking his watch instinctively and then swore lightly. “You’re right... Have you called his place?”

“No answer.”

Xander pushed himself up, grabbing his satchel bag, “I’ll go look for him.”

“Not without me.” Buffy stated flatly.

Xander hesitated, but then nodded. “Alright. Kendra?”

“Yes, Xander?”

“Could you try to make out the rest of the symbols?” Xander asked, smiling at the Jamaican Slayer. “Just sketch out the ones you can make out?”

She nodded, “Of course.”

“Thanks, Kendra.” Xander smiled, then turned to the door.

Buffy and Xander walked mostly in silence, until they were almost to Giles’ apartment, then Buffy broke the silence.

“Xander... I’m...” She hesitated, “I’m sorry.”

Xander’s face remained stony, despite what he had told Giles he wasn’t ready to forgive her quite so soon.

“I just couldn’t see his face... *him* die.” Buffy said in a sudden rush of words. “I can’t explain it... it’s just how I felt...”

Finally Xander felt he had to speak. “I know that, Buffy. And I understand, believe me, I understand. But you can’t let feelings, ANY feelings, stop you the next time... Angelus is a demon. A soulless vampire, the same as any we stake on patrol.”

“No... He’s not.” Buffy said, her voice sorrowful.

“No.” Xander agreed. “He’s not.”

Buffy looked up in surprise, but Xander just continued.

“He’s stronger, tougher, smarter, and a lot more dangerous. He knows us, our families... our strengths, and our weaknesses. He has a face we know, a face that we considered an ally... But he is NOT Angel.” Xander stressed. “Any more then Jessie was Jessie when I staked him.”

Buffy’s face fell at that reminder, her body slumping as they continued to walk.

“Don’t think that I’m throwing that in your face,” Xander said, “I’m not. It’s because of Jessie that I can understand you... It’s because of Jessie that I can forgive you.”

Buffy looked up, surprise and hope on her face.

“Not yet.” Xander said, wincing as her face fell. “But eventually. Because I know that I could never have staked Jessie on purpose.”

Buffy stared at him in surprise, still unwilling or unable, to speak.

“But I can now.” Xander said. “I know this. I could stake Giles, or Willow, or even you if you were turned. And this is something that you *have* to learn, Buffy. Remember what Giles said... when you see a vampire, you see the thing that killed the person whose face he wears. Angel is dead, Buffy. Angelus killed him.”

Buffy looked like she was about to cry, but the reflecting lights from ahead of them distracted her and she quickly wiped her eyes clean. “Xander... look.”

Xander looked up, his heart skipping a beat as he recognized the flashing lights of the police and paramedics. He and Buffy broke into a run towards Giles place.

“So, your saying that you came home and just found her like that?”

“Yes, for the eighth time, Detective Stein, that’s what I’m saying.”

Stein shook his head, looking at Giles in mocking amusement. “How... inconvenient for you.”

Giles growled, half standing up, causing Giles to poke him hard. “Stay down there. I’m not done with you yet.”

Giles growled again, but settled back.

“Now, at what time did you discover the body?”

Giles’ answer was interrupted by the sudden arrival of Xander and Buffy, who broke through the police cordon and didn’t stop until they saw that Giles was alive and apparently well.

“Giles! Are you alright?” Buffy gasped, “What happened??”

“Excuse me!” Stein snarled, “this is police business! You’ll have to wait behind the line.”

Giles got up, glowering at Stein. “I think that we’re done here.”

“Oh no we aren’t.”

“Are you arresting me, Detective?” Giles asked pointedly.

Stein growled, but then relented. “No. Not yet.”

“Then I’m done here.”

“Don’t leave town.”

“Don’t worry.” Giles’ snarl was almost sub audible.

He grabbed Xander and Buffy, pushing them away from the building.

“Giles’ what...”

“Not now, Buffy.”

“Jenny’s dead.” Giles choked out when they were away from the police.

“What!?” Buffy asked in horror. “How?”

“Angelus.” Giles snarled, hate written on his face. “He killed her.. And then... then he...”

Giles rubbed his eyes under his glasses, shaking with the anger. “Then he dressed her up in lingerie and left her on my bed.”

Xander’s head snapped around, fury flaring at Buffy as well as pure hate for Angelus, but the former died down when he saw the sheer horror on Buffy’s face and how hard it hit her. She actually whimpered from the shock and horror of it. “No...”

“Oh yes.” Giles muttered painfully. “Believe me.”

“I do.” Xander said quietly. “I read about Angelus in the journals. It’s his style.”

Buffy staggered, just catching herself from falling. “Oh God.”

<She sounds sick.> Xander though, almost sympathetically until a small vicious voice in him snarled back, <Good.>

Out loud he said, “We have to get back to the others. They have to be warned that Angelus is stepping up his game...”

Giles swallowed, “Yes... Of course, this is only the beginning.”

“No one goes anywhere alone from now on.” Xander said cooly. “No one. Understand, Buffy?”

Buffy nodded painfully.

Kendra looked up, a little triumphant, as she finished translating the phrase on the sword. She looked around, her first instinct to tell her watcher, but of course he wasn’t there.

<Mr Giles then...> But he wasn’t there either.

She frowned, hefting the sword thoughtfully.

There was a demon to slay, and that was what she was for after all. She stood up and took the sword, heading for the door.

“Kendra? Where are you going?”

She looked back at the red haired girl and shrugged, “Just out for a minute.”

Willow nodded, then looked back down at her own work. Kendra left the room quickly, not wanting to risk any civilians with her destiny. Just like her Watcher would have told her.

Giles, Xander, and Buffy stormed into the library quickly.

“Buffy? What’s wrong?” Willow asked.

Buffy stared tp speak, but choked on the words.

“Jenny’s dead.” Xander said cooly, looking around. “Angelus got her.”

Willow blanched in shock. “What?”

Xander ignored the question, knowing that it was one of those that didn’t really require a response. Instead he frowned, “Where’s Kendra?”

“She went out.”

Xander cursed. “Damn it. We shouldn’t be splitting up right now.”

He moved across the library, while Willow moved to comfort Buffy. Giles sullenly turned to his books, while Xander checked the table he and Kendra had been working on. The sword was gone, but there was a scribbled translation of the inscription. Xander read it, his eyes widening and suddenly he cursed. “Shit.”

“What is it?” Giles asked, looking up in surprise, but Xander was already through the library doors.

Xander pulled his things from the satchel, tossing the leather bag aside when it was empty, but didn’t stop moving. If he was right about what Kendra was thinking, she was walking right into a death trap.

His holster slipped easily around his waist, buckled tight so that the gun rode about halfway down his hip at the perfect height to draw it quickly. It was insanely obvious, and ludicrous to wear a pistol like that in California, but Xander knew that in Sunnydale there was no way a patrolman was getting out of his car to arrest somebody this time of night, so he just tied the strap around his leg and kept moving.

The whip was next, the entwined leather braid snapped to the other side of his gunbelt and rode comfortably on his left hip.

By the time he was geared up, Xander was running down the street in plain sight as he strove to get where he was going in time.

“W... what do we do now?” Willow asked softly, almost afraid of the answer.

Oz stepped up behind her and gave the red head a quick hug, causing her to lean back slightly and smile up at him.

Giles was silent for a long time, then shook his head. “I don’t know.”

They were all silent for a moment, then Giles spoke up again. “I’m going to check Jenny’s office... maybe I can find who to contact about her... demise.”

The young people watched in silence as he walked out, seeing the weight of his sorrow in every step the Watcher took. The older man looked much, much, older now. And so very tired.

Kendra slipped stealthily through the night, approaching her target with practiced ease. She had been right in the translation, she could feel the draw of the sword as it led her to the demon Acathela.

The face of the mansion was looming in the shadows as Kendra slid to a stop, and she paused to gage it’s grounds before moving on. A snap of a twig behind her, caused the young Slayer to jump.

“Aw, the pretty young Slayer has brought us the key...” A sing song voice called from the darkness. “Miss Edith says I should thank her...”

Kendra spun around, looking for the source of the voice, but she couldn’t see anything in the darkness surrounding her. Suddenly she felt a chill at her back, and spun around with the sword held high to attack.

“Ah ah...” Drusilla whispered almost sweetly, her eyes locking with the young Slayer.

Kendra froze, suddenly losing herself in the moment, a darkness ten times deeper then the night around her was swallowing her whole.

“That’s a nice Slayer...” Dru whispered, taking the sword from Kendra’s hand. “Miss Edith tells me to thank you nicely for the gift.”

Dru reached up, wrapping one hand around the Slayer’s throat, and began to squeeze. As Kendra began to cough and gasp for breath, Dru pulled her in closer until her lips were right beside the Slayer’s ears. “Miss Edith told me that you like the Man in the Hat... He likes you too...”

Kendra started to turn blue, the thrall finally breaking, but her strength gone from the lack of oxygen.

“I have a message for him...” Dru whispered, “Him and his nasty burning blood... Could you give it to him for me?”

Kendra didn’t even hear her by this point, the thudding of her heart was all that she could hear and the encroaching blackness this time signaled her end.

“I knew you could.” Dru smiled, then shifted to her game face. Slowly, almost tenderly, she leaned forward and nipped at Kendra’s throat, leaving tiny scores across the soft flesh. “Thanks, luv.”

Dru straightened up, then tightened her grip to snap the Slayer’s neck. Her ears perked up, waiting for that inevitable crack that would signify the end, her demon loving the anticipation as much as the pain she was inflicting.

Then the crack came.

Giles frowned, he’d found nothing in Jenny’s desk to indicate how to locate her family, but he had found a computer disk labeled, ‘Angel’. He palmed it, then let himself out of the office and headed back to the library at a quick walk. Inside, he found ‘his’ children still at work, and his heart tightened a little when he saw that niether Xander nor Kendra had returned.

“Willow,” He ventured, approaching the Hacker.

“Yes, Giles?”

“Could you tell me what’s on this?” He asked, passing the disk to Willow.

“Sure...” Willow smiled, and slid the disk into the computer.

It was wrong.

It was all wrong.

Dru dropped the Slayer, her hands scrabbling for her throat as she felt the biting pain around it. The Crack had come, but it brought with it pain for *her*, and the demon didn’t like that. Even Miss Edith didn’t like that, at least not when the pain didn’t come from Spike. Drusilla clutched at her throat, her hands feeling a tightly wound braid around it, and she gasped in an attempt to speak.

Behind her, on the other end of the Bullwhip, Xander Harris didn’t give her the chance. He wrapped the whip around his forearm, and took it in his other hand, then pulled as hard and fast as he could.

The force pulled the already off balance vampire off her feet and threw her to the ground several feet from where she had been standing. As she struggled to get up, Xander rushed forward, wrapping the whip around and around her neck to get better leverage, then he jerked at the handle as hard as he could.

Just as the force was transmitted to her neck, Dru moved. Instead of snapping her vertebra cleanly, all Xander managed was to yank her off balance again, and she recovered quickly from that.

Dru snarled, her hand hooked into a claw as she swiped at him and he punched at her. The two of them tumbled and rolled in a desperate battle for survival that ended, as it must, with the superior strength of the vampire overpowering even Xander best attempt at subduing her.

Dru grinned ferally down at him through her game face, “Miss Edith says I can give you the message directly now...”

Xander gasped under her pinning hold, “Tell her to call my secretary.”

Dru ignored the crack, pouting slightly. “I want to turn you... Spike and me could use a little friend for our games... but that nasty cup made your blood so bad for us...”

She sniffed lightly, then brightened. “I guess I’ll kill you and Spike and Me will play with the Slayer instead... Spike will like that so much more...”

“Not in this lifetime, bitch.” Xander gasped out, struggling again.

Dru pouted again, “That’s not nice...”

“Oh no?” He rasped, his thump pulling back the hammer on the Smith he’d managed to grasp. “How about this?”

The Magnum revolver boomed, an incredibly loud noise in the quiet town, and Dru’s face dissolved into shock as the heavy round slapped into her chest and delivered it’s payload of kinetic energy directly to her immortal body.

She was lifted off Xander, her hands going limp in shock, and thrown back to the ground where she rolled over and came to rest on face down, eyes still wide open and shocked.

Xander rolled to his feet, gasping for breath from the pressure she’d put on his chest. He got up unsteadily, and started to move toward her to finish the ground, but then heard voices.

“Hey, what was that?”

“I dunno.”

“Well check it out ya sodding wanker!”

Xander’s heart tensed, his face setting into a rictus of hatred as he recognized Spike’s voice. But he paused, looking between Dru and Kendra for a heart rending moment.

Decision made, he scooped his whip from the ground, then moved to the unconscious Slayer and picked her up, throwing her bodily over one shoulder.

And then he ran.

Behind him he heard the ruckus when they found Dru, and he hoped that would be enough to keep them from chasing him right away. Vampires were fast, but he could stay ahead of them with enough of a start.

Normally at least.

<Please God, let them stop to look after Dru.> He prayed.

“Spike! Spike!”

“What is it, Wanker?”

“It’s Dru...”

“What? What about her?”

“She’s hurt...”

Spike swore, then ran over to the minion vampire. He stared down in shock when he saw Drusilla, laying face down on the ground, twitching uncontrollably. He hefted her up, “Well? Come on... help me get her in...”

The other vampire moved into action, quickly helping him take Drusilla inside.

Xander arrived at the school badly out of breath, Kendra’s slight form adding to the fatigue he’d acquired in the desperate run that had carried him this far. And when he crashed into the library, “Giles!”

“Good Lord!” Giles swore, seeing the battered boy and his burden, and rushed across the room.

“She’s hurt.” Xander said, rather unnecessarily.

“I can see that.” Giles muttered as the others began to mill around. “Put her down here...”

Xander carried Kendra across the library and laid her down on the hastily cleared bench, then he finally took the time to check her vitals.

He swallowed. “She’s not breathing...”

Giles paled, and the others looked on, stricken.

“No heartbeat...”

“How long has she been like that?” Giles asked.

Xander shook his head, “I don’t know... no more then seven... maybe eight minutes.”

Giles searched his memory, “There’s still a chance...”

Xander just nodded, “You start the heart massage. I’ll breath for her.”

“Right.”

Even with both Giles and Xander working to the best of their ability, they had almost given up before Kendra finally choked to life. Xander slumped in relief, but also checked his watch in trepidation. “Almost ten minutes, Giles...”

“I know.” Giles said softly.

“Will she...?”

“I don’t know.” Giles responded, “Slayer’s are strong... they can take injuries that would kill a normal human a dozen times over... There have been instances of Slayer’s apparently resurrecting themselves from certain death in the past, but those stories are few and far between Xander.”

Xander nodded, straightening up as he watched Kendra’s chest rise and fall of it’s own accord.

“Time will tell.” Giles said, rising himself.

Xander half snorted, “Time always does.”

The two of them turned around to see Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Cordelia staring at them in a kind of fascinated horror.

Buffy hesitantly stepped forward, “Is she?”

Giles and Xander just shrugged and brushed past her. “We don’t know.”

Buffy stared between the fallen Slayer and them as they took seats and just slumped down. She stared for a while, but no one spoke for so long that she finally just went and sat down herself, staring moodily across the table.

Everyone sat around the library, the silence growing in tension as the seconds ticked by. Kendra didn’t awaken, and Buffy didn’t speak. And then it was broken.

“Oh my god.” Willow whispered from where she was working at the computer.

“What is it, Willow?”

“Jen... I mean Miss Calender was working on the soul curse to return Angel’s soul.”

“What!?” Buffy spun around.

Willow nodded, “It’s all here... I... I think she was done. Maybe that’s why he killed her.”

Giles didn’t speak, but Xander watched his hands as they went bone white where they were clenched around a chair.

“What do we need?” Buffy asked, “Can we do it tonight?”

“An orb of... thesulah?” Willow frowned, “One sec...”

She typed something into the computer and his search, then she smiled. “The local magic shop has one in stock!”

“So we can do it?” Buffy asked, hope in her eyes and voice.

Willow nodded, only to be interrupted by Xander’s voice. “This is a bad idea.”

“Why!?” Buffy turned on him.

“Miss Calender was an experienced caster.” He said patiently. “We don’t have anyone in her class. Giles is more of an academic, if you’ll recall.”

“What about me??” Willow looked hurt.

Xander smiled at her, shaking his head. “Please tell me you aren’t seriously considering that, Will.”

“Why not?” Willow sounded even more hurt. “I can do magic...”

Xander gripped the chair, trying to keep his temper. “Willow... This is a Soul Curse. Which one of those two words gives you the idea that this is a good plan?”

“But... but...”

“I’m no magician, Wills.” Xander said, “But I know two things for certain. One, messing with someone’s immortal soul isn’t an entry level spell... and two, the word CURSE is a BAD thing.”

“Indeed.” Giles spoke for the first time. “Xander is quite right. If Jenny were still alive, then it might be an option... but as it stands? No... We can’t risk it. There are far too many variables right now, including Acathela.”

“A perfect reason to try it!” Buffy objected. “Angel could turn over Acathela to us... no problem.”

“Assuming the spell works.” Giles said, “And just how do you propose to confirm that it does?”

“What?”

“He means, how can we tell if Angelus is Angel or not?” Xander asked.

“I can tell.” Buffy said confidently.

“Angelus is a master manipulator, Buffy.” Giles said, his voice tense. “And far too dangerous to play around with. He has already killed far too many people for us to play this game.”

“This isn’t a GAME!” Buffy practically screamed in her anger. “This is about giving Angel his soul back!”

“Angel’s dead.” Xander said flatly. “He died over two hundred years ago. He should have stayed dead then, but some gypsy’s decided to play god and they cursed him to be tormented for eternity for something a demon did. Let him rest in peace, Buffy.”

Buffy stumbled over her objections, not having anything to respond with right away.

Surprisingly, it was Willow that spoke next. She glowered at Xander, “I can’t believe you! Buffy loves Angel, you’d see that if you weren’t so jealous!”

Xander’s temper almost burned through right then, but he managed to pull it back. Just.

Later, when he had time to think about it, he figured that he probably would have been able to keep his anger in check had Buffy stayed quiet for just a few more seconds. But she didn’t.

And neither did he.

Buffy’s eyes flashed as she leapt on the lifeline that Willow had cast her, grabbing to it like a drowning woman. “Yeah, Xander! You were always Jealous of Angel... I love him, Xander. Do you really think I’ll forget about him in a snap and fall for you!?”

Xander knew, intellectually at least, that the scorn in her voice was almost completely based in the emotion of the moment. He knew that his own anger was pumped by the death of Jenny Calender, the near death of Kendra, and his own encounters with Angelus since he had been changed.

He knew both of those things, but for that one moment he just didn’t give a damn.

His eyes burned as he turned on Buffy, his face contorted by anger that he normally kept safely locked away. “Jealous!?”

The two girls fell back at the emotion they’d rarely seen in the normally jovial young man. “Jealous!?”

He seemed to get himself under control, but only superficially. Underneath the surface he seethed in rage that had been born weeks ago and fanned to a pure blaze in the ensuing time. And yet on the outside he seemed calm and in control.

“Once,” He said almost gently to Buffy, “I could have thought of nothing more perfect... nothing I wanted more, then to fall asleep with you in my arms. I fell for you so hard I still have the bruises.”

Buffy’s face was still rock solid, but Willow’s fell at the admission.

Then he continued. “But now? Buffy I don’t want you anywhere near me. I’m scared to death to even *touch* you, Slayer... Because you have so much blood on your hands now, that I’m afraid I’d never get the *stink* of it out.”

Buffy’s face dissolved into shock as she fell back from the disgust in his voice.

The he turned to Willow, shaking his head. “And you... you...”

Willow shriveled so much that Xander just shook his head and turned away.

Over his shoulder, he spoke as he walked out. “Hey, G... Let Kendra know I care when she wakes up. I’m going out.”

Giles stiffened as he hjit the door, “Xander! No! Don’t go out alone!”

But the young man never turned back, and the library doors swung shut behind him.

Silence reigned in the library for long moments until Kendra finally moaned as she moved. Giles went over to her and watched over the younger Slayer as she slowly woke up.

No one else seemed to have anything to say as Willow, Cordelia, Oz, and Buffy avoided each other’s eyes. Buffy moved around to sit beside Willow, “What do we need for the spell?”

Xander raged through the halls of Sunnydale High and out into the streets, his anger bleeding off him in such intensity that many of the town’s lesser dangers shied away from him as he passed. By the time he had gone a few hundred yards he knew that he had blow up so far past what he had intended that he was certainly going to regret it shortly.

The fact was that he understood a lot of what Buffy was feeling. He had felt the same denial over Jessie, and some times he thanked whatever power watched over him that he hadn’t really had to make that choice. Jessie’s life, or unlife, had been take by his hand, yes. But not by his choice.

Buffy’s situation with Angelus was a thousand times more painful, but the worst of it was that Xander couldn’t see anyway to make it easier on her. Angelus had to die, there was no other option. And He simply couldn’t see how any sane person could throw the dice on the security of the world, when all that was balancing it was the skill of a neophyte witch.

It was insane.

Xander sighed, finally stopping in his blind march and sitting down on the curb.

<It’s funny how things can change in the blink of an eye.> He thought.

Fifteen minutes ago he was worried about one Slayer, while still loving another. It was true, he decided, he had been jealous of Angel. The vampire had effortless taken something that Xander had dreamed and lusted after from the moment he’d seen Buffy. Her.

He grimaced, shaking his head. <That’s not fair. You know it’s not.>

And it wasn’t. Angel hadn’t taken anything that Buffy hadn’t given him. And Xander’s self honesty wouldn’t allow him to befuddle himself into thinking that Angel had somehow ‘stolen’ Buffy from him. He had his chance, and he’d even made his play a while back. She blew him out of the water, and that was that.

But all that had been burned away in a single flash of pain and rage. Xander could feel the change inside him. Whatever he felt for Buffy now, and he knew that there was still *something*, it wasn’t love. Not like it had been.

He turned his thoughts to Angel and felt nothing. That surprised him, but it was true. He had once felt disgust at the vampire. Disgust for being a vampire, for being a coward by times, a defeatist when Buffy’s life was the one the line. Disgust for controlling the demon when Jessie had been condemned for not controlling his.

But now there was nothing. Angel had paid more then Xander realized for that control, and now Angelus was running up another tab.

Xander laughed softly, bitterly, shaking his head. <And Buffy wants to put him through that torture again. My god...>

He got up, dusting himself off as he looked around the area he was in. He’d walked almost a half mile from the school in just a few minutes, and was standing outside Buffy’s house.

Xander frowned. <What on god’s earth brought me here?>

That was when he heard a scream from the house.

Xander Harris broke into a flat out run, charging toward the house on Revello drive without thinking twice.

“Mom!”

“Dawn! No! Leave her alone!” Joyce Summers screamed as she battered desperately against the... the thing that had grabbed her.

There were three of them, one hauling Dawn along by the wrist and the other two stolidly pulling her mother from the Kitchen. They were impossibly strong and Joyce cringed mentally when she considered that *she* had actually asked one of them to come in. By the young girl had looked so forlorn about being lost, that Joyce simply couldn’t slam the door in her face.

<Not that it would really have mattered.> She thought to herself as she fought. “They’re so strong, they would have easily gotten in anyway...>

So she screamed and she fought, trying to get loose so she could get her daughter free from the girl that was pulling her along like a rag doll. All to no avail, as the things... no the people, she corrected mentally, no matter what they looked like they were still people. They had to be, didn’t they? It didn’t matter, they were just so strong, it was like bashing her fists against stone as she was dragged into the living room.

“What now?” One of them asked, looking to the one that was holding Dawn for instructions.

“We only need one of them. The other is good only for an example.”

“Keep the little one.” One of the ones holding Joyce said, “She’s not worth much to us anyway... not much blood in that one. We’ll drain mommy here... then when Angelus is done with the girl, she’ll be available for more fun... when we have a little time to enjoy the screams.”

Joyce paled and started fighting all the harder, her own fate not really sinking in much as she considered Dawn’s. <Thank God Buffy isn’t here.>

“Fine.”

The two that were holding her grinned and bared their teeth suddenly, pulling Joyce close and she felt their teeth sink into her neck as her eyes widened in shock, pain, and disbelief. <They *BIT* me!>

“MOM!” Dawn screamed at the top of her lungs, terror lending her voice strength as she cried in despair.

And that was when the door suddenly crashed in.

Xander hit the door shoulder first without slowing to even check and see if it was locked. The lightweight door of the Summers home just splintered under his weight, and he crashed through into the hall and looked to the kitchen and living room wildly.

He spun around, striding into the living room as he saw the struggling forms.

“Hey!” He yelled sharply, distracting the two vampires that were in the process of feeding on Joyce.

They looked up, almost stunned by his sudden appearance, and Xander drew the .357 Magnum from his belt and cocked the hammer back with the same smooth motion.

Boom.

The report echoed through the small house, causing everyone to jump in shock and stare at Xander in shock. Xander just kept his gaze leveled on the Vampire that had been his target.

The vamp’s mouth worked once, then twice, then it’s arms fell limply away from Joyce as it fell backwards, the back of it’s neck blown clean away by the exit would of the magnum bullet. It vanished into dust before hitting the carpet.

“One chance.” Xander said calmly. “Let them go and walk out. I don’t want to make the woman vacuum up three more of you... It’s really too late for housework.”

There was a shocked silence as the two remaining vampires stared at each other, then at Xander.

“Xander?” Dawn squeaked in surprise and shock, staring at the big pistol in his hand and the deadly serious look in the joker’s eyes.

The sound seemed to galvanize the vampires, the girl vamp growling. “That was just a lucky shot. Get him!”

The other vampire growled in agreement and tossed Joyce aside like a rag doll, lunging for Xander.

Boom. The big pistol echoed again.

Xander had lowered his aim, not wanting to try his luck for a target as small as the neck when the vamp was moving. Instead the heavy magnum round slapped into the vampire’s chest and opened up like an origami fan as it chewed it’s way into the dead flesh.

The pain was, in itself, debilitating but the huge exit hole that tore through the vampire’s back was large enough to sever a large section of spine and drop the vampire in it’s tracks. Perhaps mercifully, the instant the spine when, so did the pain.

Xander shifted his aim, already moving to cover the one that had Dawn as he sidestepped the vampire that fell forward to the ground where he’d been standing. The room quieted as the echo of the undead body slapping to the ground like a landed fish faded, and the tension mounted as Xander stared at the vampiress and she back at him.

“Drop the gun!” She finally snarled, wrapping a hand around Dawn’s throat and squeezing. “Or I’ll kill her.”

“You’re here to kill her anyway.” Xander ground out, “And she IS the only thing keeping you alive... so to speak. Your life expectancy is about two and a half seconds longer then hers right now.”

The vampiress looked right and left wildly, her grip on Dawn’s throat tightening in her tension. “I’ll do it! I’ll kill her!”

“I’ll kill you.” Xander said, beads of sweat starting to form on his forehead as he sought to bluff the vampire.

“Drop the fucking GUN!” She screamed, spittle flying across Dawn’s flinching face as she tightened again.

Xander swallowed, noting that Dawn was starting to turn blue. After a moment he jerked the gun up, holding it loosely in his hand as he let the hammer down gently. “Alright... alright, you win.”

“Drop it!”

Xander carefully let the weapon drop onto the cushions of the couch, not taking his eyes off the vampire. “Now let her go.”

The vampire licked her lips nervously, looking between Xander and the gun. “Step away from it.”

Xander hesitated.

“Step AWAY FROM IT!” She screamed.

Xander grimaced and let out a breath of aggravation, but took a long step to the side and away from the pistol. When he had, he lifted his hands, “Alright... Now let her go.”

“I’m going to snap her neck right here!” The vampire snarled, “And then I’ll kill you too...”

As the vampire started to move, Xander brought his hands up. “Wait!”

“What is it?” She snarled sarcastically.

“If you kill her... that’ll take time.” Xander said in his most reasonable voice. “Seconds... seconds that I’ll use to get my gun back. Come on... let her go... come on... come get me. I’m just human... no gun, no stake... come on...”

The vampire hesitated, her grip on Dawn’s throat tightening and loosening reflexively. There was a certain truth in what the human had to say. Even snapping the girl’s neck would take seconds, and he could possibly make the dive to retrieve the gun in that time. Generally a gun wouldn’t kill a vampire, but a properly place bullet *could* do so if it inflicted enough damage.

She hesitated for seconds, then suddenly threw Dawn roughly aside and screamed as she charged the man who was standing there, waiting for her.

He never moved from his position, just snapped his arm down, and then back up. And her eyes widened in shock as she impaled herself on a wooden stake that had appeared, as if by magic, in his hand. “You...You said... no stake.”

“I lied.”

Dawn’s eyes widened like saucers as she watched the girl vanish into dust, revealing Xander again. He was dressed in the manner that she’d gotten used to lately, whenever he visited with Buffy. Roughly worn leather and denim, and an old battered hat that never seemed to leave his person.

The holster was new, that she had to admit, and she’d never seen the whip before either. But neither of those seemed important as she watched him throw a smile her way and move straight to where Joyce was struggling to sit up.

“Dawn... dawn...” Joyce rasped out, her neck covered in blood.

“She’s fine, Mrs. S.” Xander forced a smile as he looked around quickly. “Dawn. Water from the kitchen. Now!”

That shocked Dawn from her stupor and she nodded, then broke and ran for the kitchen.

Xander quickly located the wounds on Joyce’s neck and ripped his coat off. He threw it aside, then started ripping strips off his shirt. Two he bunched up over each wound, then he put his hands over her neck and squeezed as tightly as he dared. “Hang on, Mrs. S. Hang on. Your daughters need you.”

Dawn returned in that moment, holding a big pot of water and Xander nodded to her. “Come here... Put your hands under mine and hold tight. Ok?”

She didn’t respond.

“Ok?” Xander asked again, insistently.

“O... ok.” She nodded.

“Good Girl.” He said, smiling as she did so. He grabbed some of the water and splashed it over Joyce’ neck, cleaning away the blood from the areas they didn’t have covered. After a moment he nodded, “Alright... just stay like that.”

“I... is Mom going to be alright?”

Xander evaded the question, “Talk to her, Dawnie... Don’t let her fall asleep. Talk to her.”

Dawn swallowed, nodding a tears welled in her eyes. She knew that he hadn’t answered her question. “Mom? It’s me... Dawn. Mom?”

Joyce’ eyes fluttered open, “Dawn...”

“I’m here Mom! I’m here!”

Xander left Dawn talking to her mother and moved swiftly across the room toward the phone, stopping just once along the way to plunge a stake in the crippled vampire. He hit 911 at the phone and waited.

“911 emergency response, what is the situation?”

“Injured woman, bleeding from the throat.” He said quickly, “We need an ambulance sent out. Now.”

“Remain calm, Sir. What’s the address?”

“1630 Revello drive.”

“I’ve contacted the paramedics. They’re on their way. Can you tell me what happened?”

“She was attacked...” Xander swallowed his revulsion. “By gangmembers.”

There was a pause. “Are they still present?”

“No.” Xander half smiled. “I... ‘scared’ them away.”

“I see. Alright. The Ambulance will be there shortly. Please, stay on the line.”

“I’m not going anywhere, lady.” Xander assured the woman, listening intently for the sirens he hoped would come soon.

Xander was holding Dawn tightly when the Scoobs burst into the hospital waiting room, Buffy in the lead.

“Xander!” She jerked when she saw him, conflicting emotions assaulting her as he looked back at her with an expressionless mask on his face. She stopped, hesitating. “Mom?”

“She’ll live.” Xander said calmly. Far too calmly for how he felt, but he was holding a very scared child and he knew enough about his own emotions not to trust them at the moment.

“What happened?” Giles asked softly, treading lightly.

“Angelus sent some vamps to visit Miss Summers.” Xander replied, still outwardly calm. “Three of them. They’re dust, but one of them started to feed...”

“Oh God.” Buffy moaned. “Mom...”

She rubbed her face, looking pale and haggard as she was assaulted by emotions from all corners. Her *mother* had been attack, her sister as well. And her lover was the one who’d done it.

Xander glanced down at the shivering form of Dawn Summers, thinking about what would have happened if he’d been just a little later. This could have been avoided, he knew, if Joyce had simply known to not invite anyone in. That’s all it would have taken.

Then he shut his eyes, shaking his head slightly. <No... probably not. Angelus is cunning. He’d have found a way in anyway...>

He sighed, not wanting to speak too much at the moment, for fear of what he’d say.

Buffy though, he noted with satisfaction, was turning her fear and shock into anger. He nodded approvingly. Anger was good. Anger would keep her in the game.

“He went after my family...” She seethed, seeing red. “My mother, my sister...”

Xander listened quietly, not pointing out that he’d undoubtedly killed a good many other people in the meanwhile, mostly because he understood that this had nothing to do with morality or logic. This was emotion, plain and simple. Up until now it had been Angel against unknown faces. Now it was Angel and Angelus balanced against Joyce and Dawn.

And unless Xander was very much mistaken, not even Angel was going to be enough to sway the scales this time.

So he contained his anger, for the moment, and watched hers burn. And while she built up to a killing rage, he just tried to stop her little sister from shaking in shock and displaced terror.

“G...” He looked up after a moment, “Kendra?”

“Awake.” Giles said, taking a breath. “And apparently lucid.”

“You left her in the library??” Xander asked sharply.

“She refused to come.” Giles said helplessly. “She wanted to research more.”

Xander closed his eyes, and shook his head. “Damn it.”

He got up, disengaging himself from Dawn despite her complaints. “Hey now... I’ve got to go. Your big sister’s here, along with G-man. You’ll be safe with them, trust me.”

“I don’t want you to go.” She said softly, not quite pouting.

“I have to. I need to check on someone else.” Xander said simply. “I’ll be back. Count on it.”

“Alright.” She nodded slowly.

He winked at her, taking the fedora off his head and dropping it on hers. “Hold onto this for me until I get back. K?”

The big hat’s brim fell over her eyes, but she giggled involuntarily and nodded. “K.”

Xander straightened up and walked out, “I’ll be back soon.”

The others nodded silently, but Dawn called out to him as he left the waiting room.

“Xander!”

“Yeah, Dawnie?” He half turned back.

“Be careful.”

“Always.” He smiled and winked, then vanished.

“Bloody bastard!” Spike snarled as he fed more blood into his Dru.

The gaping wound in her chest was bad, but not as bad as the huge exit wound on her back had been and still was. Vampires heal fast, especially with blood to charge them, but whatever bullets the bastard had been using in his gun, they’d nearly put Dru down for the duration by blowing out her spine.

The pale Vampiress was sucking on the blood filled bag with the expression of a baby with a bottle on her calm face, and she’d be up soon enough, but Spike was still in a rage.

“Calm down.” Angelus ordered, “We’ll get him, and all of them, soon enough.”

“I’m going to rip his heart out.” Spike promised, “And FEED it to Dru. And when he’s dead and cold on a slab somewhere, I’m going to hunt that smarmy chaos mage down and feast on HIS heart!”

“Laudable goals, I’m sure.” Angelus replied, “But let’s stick with one project at a time. Acathela...”

“Screw Acathela you great bleeding POOF!” Spike snarled. “I don’t CARE about Acathela. I’m going to kill him.”

Angelus rolled his eyes, “Fine. Go ahead. He’s probably at the library. I need some peace and quiet to prepare anyway.”

Spike snarled, looking down at where Dru was finishing off the bag of blood.

“I’ll be back soon, pet...” He promised, handing her another. “Right soon, I swear.”

She paused, looking at the blood with unfocused eyes. “Careful, Spikey... The Man with the Hat doesn’t like you.”

“I’m not to bloody fond of him right now, either pet.” Spike snarled in response and left.

“Kendra?” Xander called softly as he stepped into the library. “You in here?”

“I am here, Xander.”

He breathed a sigh of relief and crossed to the section of books Kendra was practically buried in. “Hey you.”

She looked up at him with an awkward expression, obviously not understanding him.

He just shrugged and smiled, “You gave us a scare.”

She nodded, looking back to her books for a moment. Finally she looked back up and nodded, “I am sorry, Xander. I thank you for saving me.”

Xander shook his head, “Trust me, it was mostly that Slayer constitution of yours... I’d have been way too late for anyone else.”

“Still. Without you, I would be dead. Slayer or not.” She said stiffly, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Xander smiled slightly, then he became serious. “But you shouldn’t be here alone. You should have gone with the others.”

“I did not want to intrude.” She told him, “It was Buffy’s mother.”

“Yeah, but it’s your life if you get caught here alone. Especially since you were just hurt.” He chastised her.

“I know. But I... I lost the sword.” Kendra said, stammering. “I... I lost the key to Acathela. I let the key to ending the world fall into the hands of a vampire.”

Xander swallowed, nodding. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you screwed up, huh?”

She nodded, her vaunted control almost failing her as she started to shudder.

“Hey... hey...” Xander said softly, quickly wrapping an arm around the fragile Slayer. “It happens. You think anyone is perfect? Buffy’s made big mistakes over the past couple years, but she recovers and keeps moving forward. It’s what we do. Right now we can’t worry about having lost the sword. Right now, we worry about getting it back. K?”

She swallowed, nodding. “O... Ok.”

“Cool.”

He smiled at her for a moment, and she smiled back, and for a moment the world seemed alright.

Then a sneering voice filled the room.

“Well isn’t this just ducky. Almost a shame to break up the moment... Oh wait, I *like* breaking up moments.”

“B... Buffy...” Willow spoke softly, hesitatingly.

“What is it Will?” Buffy asked, her voice and face almost dead.

They were still waiting for more news from the doctors, and the tension was pretty bad and still mounting despite Xander’s words when they’d come in.

“Do you... I mean... considering everything that’s happened...” Willow hesitated.

“Will... just say it.”

“The curse... do we still do it?”

Buffy closed her eyes, “Did you get the stuff?”

“All but the orb.” Willow said after a pause. “We can get that on our way back to the library... it’s open late tonight.”

Buffy hesitated a moment, shaking slightly. “We’ll get it. But we only have one shot at it... If you can’t do it, Angelus has to die.”

Willow nodded, bobbing her head in agreement.

Xander turned toward the hated voice, a snarl appearing on his face as he spotted Spike moving across the library.

“You.” He spat out, glaring daggers at the bleached vampire.

“And you.” Spike spat right back. “You shot my Dru.”

“You’ve killed hundreds. Including a man named Marcus Brody.” Xander stepped away from the bookshelves as Kendra staggered to her feet.

“I told you before, boy. I kill a lot of people.” Spike smashed a chair out of his way, moving across the library with contempt.

Xander’s eyes flicked to the weapons locker, but he knew it was too far. He’d stashed his pistol at the Summers home so he could ride into the hospital with the paramedics. He had the bullwhip, but against Spike that was going to be a questionable weapon at best.

But he didn’t let the uncertainty reach his face. He just stared down the vampire, and sneered right back. “As I remember it I told you that you were gonna DIE for that one.”

Spike casually picked up one of the hardwood tables, and let out a roar as he flung it across the library right at Xander and Kendra.

“Move!” Xander snapped, shoving the Slayer back into the stacks as he hit the ground and rolled.

The table hit the wall behind him with enough force to shatter into a dozen ragged pieces and rain down around him. He grabbed one of the legs as he rolled clear, then jumped up and vaulted the rails, landing down on the main floor and glared at Spike.

“Come on, bleach boy.” He growled out, “You, me, and a man named Jones have a dance card to fill.”

“Summers family?”

“Yes!” Buffy jumped up, pulling Dawn along with her. “That’s us...”

“How’s our mom?” Dawn asked softly.

“She’ll be fine.” The doctor frowned, “But she took a hit to the head when she went down so we did an MRI to make sure everything was fine...”

Buffy blinked, nodding. “Ok... Is it?”

The Doctor frowned, “I’d rather speak with Mr Summers if I could...”

Buffy hesitated, wondering how she could possibly find her father at a time like this. “I’m a...”

“I’m right here.” Giles said smoothly, “What seems to be the situation?”

“Ah. I’m sorry, Mr Summers.” The Doctor looked relieved. “We detected an anomaly in her scan... we’d like authorization for further tests... I’m afraid that she’s still unconscious, otherwise we’d ask her...”

“Just tests?”

“That’s right. Nothing invasive.” The Doctor assured them.

“That’ll be fine then.” Giles nodded, taking the sheet and scribbling a scrawling signature on it. “Now, are you certain she’ll be fine?”

“Yes... She lost some blood, but other then that and the knock on the head, her injuries were minor.” The Doctor replied.

“When may we see her?”

“It’ll take some time to set up the Catscan, si I can let you in now... but she’s not awake yet...” The doctor cautioned.

“That’ll be fine.” Giles nodded, “I just want Buffy and Dawn to see that their mother is alright. Then we’ll leave for the night and be back in the morning.”

“Alright... This way please.”

Spike slammed into Xander for the fourth time, ramming his head against the wall and arm against a bookcase. Fourth time was the charm, apparently, and the splintered table leg fell from Xander’s limp hand and clattered across the floor.

Blood streamed down Xander’s face from a gash across his scalp, and he could feel the pain glowing from where Spike had broken his nose. Spike, for his part, was snarling through several busted teeth and was barely keeping on his feet as the spider web of pain screamed from his broken leg.

“You’re dead, BOY!” He ground out, keeping up the pressure.

“I... think... you’re mistaking me for... yourself.” Xander slammed his head forward, mulching the vampire’s nose and blacking both his eyes at a shot.

Spike fell back, hands clawing at his face as the pain blinded him.

Xander surged forward through the pervasive throbbing at the back of his head, grabbing a heavy book from the shelf, and slamming it down across Spike’s head. Spike went down like a sack of potatoes, crumpling in place in stunned shock for a moment, but recovering quickly and lashing out with a lightning fast kick.

Xander went down hard, and both fighters grappled with each other, fighting for a lethal purchase as they struggled and rolled across the library floor.

In this kind of fight, Spike had a distinct advantage, and soon it was all Xander could do to hold the vampire’s hands off his throat.

“I’m going to kill you now.” Spike gritted out, his teeth bared in an ugly grimace.

“Be... My... Guest...” Xander ground out. “But... if I were you... I’d look over my shoulder first.”

“You expect me to fall for that??” Spike snarled.

“No.” Xander grinned humorously.

The next thing Spike felt was a crunching pain in his ribs as something smashed into him with enough force to throw him completely off Xander and roll him across the floor.

Kendra slumped and leaned heavily on her makeshift club, a broken table leg with a rather large chunk of table still attached. “Hello Xander. Need a... hand?”

“Mom...” Dawn swallowed, noticing how pale her mother looked. She reflexively held onto the hat that Xander had passed her, crumpling the edges slightly as her small fists opened and closed.

“She’ll be alright. The Doctors said so.” Buffy whispered from beside her, pushing her forward slowly. “Let’s just sit with her, ok?”

Dawn nodded slowly, reflexively taking a seat as Buffy pulled another chair over.

“I’ll wait just outside.” Giles said softly from behind them.

Buffy nodded, looking back. “Giles... Thanks.”

Giles nodded once, then stepped out.

The door closed and the room fell quiet for a long moment.

“She looks so pale.”

Buffy nodded, “She lost a lot of blood. She’ll be ok, though.”

Dawn nodded again, swallowing. “Please listen to her, mom. Be ok.”

Spike wiped his mouth, slowly climbing to his feet, and glared at Kendra.

“Stay out of this, bit. This is between me and the bastard.” He growled. “It ain’t none of your concern.”

“But it is, Vampire.” She spat. “I’m da Slayer. So, you see... it’s really between you and me.”

“The Slayer’s a blond.” Spike muttered, shaking out his coat. He causally picked up a piece of debris and swung it like a club. “But if you wanna play at being a Slayer... I don’t mind showing you a lesson or two that every Slayer learns.”

“And what is dat?” Kendra asked, as confidently as she could given how weak she still felt.

“How to DIE!” He snarled, snapping forward with the club and a roar.

She met his blow, blocking it on her own makeshift club, and they locked in combat in the center of the library floor, neither willing to give up an inch.

Xander watched from the floor, still gasping for breath and trying to move as the fight stepped up a new levels and the two fighters started to force each other around the floor.

Shards of wood flew as the two clubs were forced upon each other, slamming with enough force to echo through the library, both fighters weak but determined. He watched as they fought, and Xander quickly saw that while they were more or less matched as it stood, Kendra was weakening and Spike was growing stronger with each passing moment.

He flopped over onto his stomach and pushed himself along the floor, trying to get to his feet as the sounds of the battle raged around him. <Hang on, Kendra... just... hang on!>

Rupert Giles stood in the doorway of the room, looking down at the Summers family as Buffy and Dawn slept sprawled across their mothers unconscious body. The doctors were wanting to do some more tests, but Giles had managed to put them off for a while in order to let Buffy and Dawn have a few more minutes with their mother.

In the meantime, he checked his watch, he should call the library and check in on Xander and Kendra. With Angelus on the loose, it didn’t pay to be careless. He stated to turn away.

“Mr Giles?” The voice was soft, causing Giles to turn back.

Joyce’ eyes were open, and she was looking down at her two daughters.

“Good evening, Mrs Summers.” Giles smiled softly. “It is good to see you awake.”

Joyce blinked softly. “I... What happened?”

“I... I think that’s something we can leave for a later time.” Giles put her off as best he could. “The doctors want to do some more tests while they have you here and...”

“Dawn!” Her weak voice was sharp as she looked down and instinctively clutched at her youngest. “They... Xander...”

She looked up, puzzled. “Xander had a gun... He shot them.”

Giles coughed, “Yes well... You see...”

“Thank God.” She whispered, looking down at Dawn. “They were going to kill us, weren’t they?”

Giles nodded, “Eventually, yes.”

Joyce paled, arms tightening on her daughters reflexively.

Kendra was weakening as Spike repeatedly slammed his free fist into her ribs. Two had already snapped, she was certain, and maybe more. Not that the vampire was getting away scot free either, she’d continued the damage that Xander had started until Spike’s face was a bloody mash of blood, bone, and cartilage, and while the vampire had been breaking her ribs, she’d been turning his to powder just as effectively.

But she was weak already at the start of the fight and now the strain of keeping up a running battle of this brutal nature was sapping the energy she’d managed to gather to herself, and it was telling as Spike was now getting at least two hits in to her one.

And what was worse, he knew it.

“Bloody Bint!” The Vampire spat out, causing flecks of blood and spittle to spray over her face.

She flinched back in disgust, but struggled to keep up her pressure as his free hand stopped pounding on her and slowly wrapped itself around her throat. Spike’s teeth were broken and bloody as he grinned down at her as the pressure increased.

Kendra gasped, hitting at his hands with swiftly waning strength, as her lungs began to burn. Spike marshaled all his strength as he tightened his grip and freed his other hand from her grip, bringing it up to join the first at her throat as he leaned in.

Stars were twinkling in her eyes as the harsh rasp of his voice sounded in her ear.

“It’ll all be over soon, Slayer.” Spike rasped out. “Just let it go, you can’t win... When I’m done with you I’ll finish off the bastard who shot my Dru and then maybe I’ll find your watcher and have a little fun with him too.”

The fire in her eyes flashed again, rekindled by his words, but it was a brief fire that only added to Spike’s enjoyment of the moment. As she glared at him he lowered his face to hers and then slowly licked the blood off her face as her weakened arms flailed down on him ineffectually.

“Slayer blood, bint.” He said, smirking at her through his injuries. “Nothing beats it.”

“Enjoy it, Vampire.” A pain filled voice sounded from behind him. “It’s going to be your last.”

Spike jerked up and started to spin around as a flash of steel cut the air and a biting pain tore at his neck. In the next instant, there was nothing but a column of dust drifting down to cover the nearly dead Slayer, as she looked up through the encroaching darkness and saw Xander Harris standing weakly over her with a Machete in hand, his battered jacket covered in blood and his face as badle injured as she felt.

Kendra reached up, her hand seeming to be miles away from her eyes as her vision tunneled suddenly.

The last thing she saw before the darkness claimed her was Xander toppling over to one side.

“Mom?” Dawn asked softly as she heard voices and recognized one.

“Yes, Honey. I’m here.” Joyce drew an arm tighter around her youngest. “Are you alright?”

Dawn crawled up closer to her mother, nodding into her shoulder. “I’m ok... But you...”

“Mommy’s fine.” Joyce assured her. “It’s alright, baby... Mommy’s fine.”

Dawn was so relieved that she didn’t even object to being called baby.

Giles sighed, smiling softly as he watched and backed out. “Yes well, I have a phone call to make. I’ll check back in later.”

Joyce nodded to the man and watched him go with a mildly puzzled expression on her face. “The teachers in that school are really something else.”

“Mom?” Dawn asked, puzzled.

“Huh? Oh, nothing, baby.” She said, glancing down at Buffy. “How’s your sister?”

“She’s ok.” Dawn said, looking over to where Buffy was still sprawled out, exhausted from tension and emotion. “B... but your throat...”

Joyce’ hand flew up to her throat where it found the bandage there and she reeled internally as memories flashed back.

“H... He... *bit* me.” She muttered in shock.

Dawn just nodded.

“And...” She frowned, “Xander came in with a gun. I... I can’t remember... He... He...”

“He saved us.” Dawn said softly. “He saved us both. When he’d... shot those... things... he had me hold on to your neck while he called the ambulance.”

“Where is he?” Joyce asked, half smiling and half frowning as she noticed that her youngest was wearing the battered old fedora that Xander had recently taken to.

“He went back to the library.”

Both Dawn and Joyce glanced over in surprise to where Buffy was looking at them with a serious, almost sad, expression on her face.

“What?”

“He went to check on one of our... friends.” Buffy told her mother. “In case the things that went after you tried to hurt her.”

“Buffy...” Joyce’ voice grew tighter as she stared seriously at her eldest daughter. “Do you know something about this?”

Buffy sighed, nodding. She’d heard the other two talk about what had happened, and they’d already seen too much to explain away easily. “It’s a really long story, Mom.”

“I don’t seem to have anything but time, young lady.”

The phone rang.

Xander shifted slightly in the rubble of the library, opening his eyes. He wished someone would answer the damn phone. He was tired.

It kept ringing.

He groaned, rolling over onto his back and wincing as a lance of pain strung him out.

“Ahhhh....” He groaned, blinking away something warm and wet that was filling his eyes.

The phone rang again.

He flailed out his hand and slapped at something blindly.

The phone stopped ringing.

Good.

He sighed and closed his eyes again as the darkness swept over him. He needed his rest.

When Giles reappeared in the waiting room, Willow could tell instantly that something was wrong.

“What is it, Giles?”

Giles frowned, “There’s no answer at the library. I’m very much afraid that something is amiss.”

“Ohmygod!” She blurted, her hand covering her mouth. “Xander?”

Giles nodded. “I’ll check with the doctors and Mrs Summers one more time and head over there. You should stay here, Willow.”

“I can’t!” She objected, jumping up and shaking her head. “Xander’s... Xander! I have to go...”

“Listen to me,” Giles grabbed her shoulders and held her still. “If he’s there, I’ll find him. If he’s not, there’s little enough any of us can do without regrouping and getting Buffy. Between the two of us, I have by far the better chance of getting there alive to help him, is that understood?”

Willow stared at him in shock for a long moment, the nodded slowly.

“Alright then. Now you wait here and be ready to help Buffy and Dawn.” Giles said as he gently pushed her back into a seat. “I need to go now.”

Willow nodded dumbly.

Giles sighed and walked out of the ER, making his way to Mrs Summers room.

“Well... that’s kinda the story.”

“Cool.” Dawn said, an almost grin on her face.

“Dawn!” Joyce snapped, her voice still holding the parental edge of authority despite it’s relative weakness. She turned back to her eldest daughter and frowned, “You do know how crazy that sounds, right?”

Buffy nodded, looking resigned.

Joyce looked at her for a long moment, her hand gently running along the bandage that covered her throat.

“Back in Hemery, when you were babbling about Vampires I thought we’d cured you with that...” Joyce started.

“Mom, I’m NOT crazy!” Buffy backed away, paling. “I can prove it I swear! Please don’t send me back there.”

“Buffy...” Joyce said softly, pulling her daughter closer. “Whether I believe in Vampires or not isn’t important anymore.”

“What?”

Joyce took her daughter’s hand and placed it over the bandage. “Someone did this with their *teeth*. That’s enough to tell me that, whether it really was a vampire or not, he believed he was one. And if he believed it, then others probably do... and I can’t call you crazy for that. I... I’m sorry Buffy.”

Buffy’s eyes shone with tears, but before she could say anything a male voice cleared his throat.

“I’m terribly sorry.” Giles said when the three women had turned to look at him. “I just wanted to see that you’re all right. I have to go...”

“Oh no you don’t.” Joyce glared openly at him. “You have some serious explaining to do, Mister. I understand that you’re part of this...”

Giles sighed and nodded, “Indeed I am, but I can’t stay to answer questions now. I’m afraid that Xander isn’t answering the phone at the library. I have to go check.”

Joyce paled at that and Buffy jumped up.

“I’m coming too Giles.”

“Buffy...” Giles hesitated, “You should stay here. It may be nothing... if it’s something, I’ll return and we can organize something...”

“No.” Buffy said firmly. “I’m going.”

Giles sighed, “Very well.”

“Buffy!” Joyce blinked in surprise.

“No time to argue.” Buffy threw on her leather jacket. “We’ll talk later. Dawnie... make sure that Mom cooperates with the doctors.”

“You bet.” Dawn smirked at her mother who shot her an annoyed glance, but didn’t say anything. “You going to kill some vampires?”

Buffy’s features set, but she didn’t reply as she and Giles stepped out of the room.

Buffy and Giles slowed from a run as they reached the broken doors that led into the library.

“Oh my God, Giles...” Buffy hissed in shock, fearing the worst.

“Keep a hold of yourself, Buffy.” Giles said as calmly as he could muster. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

The walked slowly in, picking their way over the wreckage of several chairs and a bookcase, until the still bodies on the ground came into sight.

“No! Xander! No!” Buffy leapt over the broken table, sliding to her knees as she came to a halt beside the still body of her friend. He hesitantly reached out, whispering, “No... please... Xander...”

As her fingers lightly touched his face, Xander suddenly hissed in pain and jolted from the floor a harsh scream in his throat as she jumped in fright.

“Oh!” Buffy screamed, jumping back for an instant before she crowded in again. “Giles! He’s alive!”

“Yes, I see.” Giles said dryly from where he was kneeling beside Kendra. “And so is she...”

The librarian frowned as he brushed aside some dust from her body, “It would appear to have been vampires.”

“No duh.” Buffy rolled her eyes as she tried to clean some of the blood from Xander’s face. “What do we do?”

Giles sighed and picked Kendra up, “I suggest we get them to the hospital, Buffy.”

“Yeah...” She said softly, lifting Xander easily. “Alright, let’s go.”

Giles spared a glance back around at his totaled library and sighed, “Indeed. Let us go.”

Joyce Summers was returned to her room after the latest barrage of tests to find that she was no longer the sole occupant. Xander Harris occupied the next bed down, and beyond that lay a young girl with a dark complexion. They both looked like they had bene through the ringer.

“My god.” She whispered, “What happened to them?”

Buffy looked up, just noticing her mother’s arrival. “We don’t know. They were like this when we got to the library.”

“Was it...” Joyce looked toward the door to make sure that the orderly was gone, but whispered anyway. “Vampires?”

Buffy nodded. “We found vamp dust all over Kendra. The place was a wreck... they put up a great fight...”

Joyce looked over to the dark skinned girl, “I don’t think I know her...”

“No, you never met.” Buffy replied, “She’s Kendra. She’s a Slayer too.”

“Didn’t you say that there was only one?” Joyce asked, confused.

“Usually.” Buffy said, watching the two motionless forms. “I... uh... Well it’s a long story, Mom.”

“Don’t you think I won’t hear it, young lady.” Joyce replied crossly, sensing that her edlest was holding something back. “But... alright. For now.”

“Thanks Mom.” Buffy said, really grateful. She didn’t want to get into her life and death just yet. Not here anyhow.

Joyce lay back on her pillow and sighed, still feeling weak.

That caught Buffy’s attention and she moved over to her mother, “Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Honey.” Joyce said, closing her eyes. “I’m just tired. They’re really putting me through the wringer with these tests.”

“What’s it all about?”

“I don’t know. They just say that they saw something odd on my X-Rays and just want to make sure.” Joyce smiled softly at her daughter, watching Buffy’s concern through slitted eyes. “I’m going to be just fine.”

“I know you will, Mom.” Buffy said, smiling back.

“How’s Dawn?” Joyce asked, looking over to where her youngest was asleep, sprawled halfway across Xander’s bed. She smiled as she noted the old battered hat that was resting under Dawn’s hand, just beside Xander’s head.

Buffy, on the other hand, scowled humorously. “The little buttpain won’t leave his side. I think the Doctors wanted to strap *her* down the last time they took a blood sample.”

Joyce chuckled softly, “She’s had a crush on Xander since they met, and it’s only gotten worse since he started dressing so rough and tumble.”

Buffy rolled her eyes, “Yeah well...”

“Yeah well,” Joyce mimicked slightly, drawing a glare of her own from Buffy, “I’d say that she’s also got a little hero worship going now. He did save us, you know.”

Buffy nodded soberly, her eyes settling on Xander face as she remembered their argument and the actions that had led up to him storming out.

Life worked out in funny ways sometimes, she realized. If they hadn’t been at each others throats, if Xander didn’t hate her now, then he never would have stormed out. Then what would have happened to her mother and sister?

Had she lost a friend, somehow, in order to keep her mother and sister?

Was fate that much of a bitch?

Or maybe it was just her after all.

Buffy didn’t know the answers anymore.

“Dusty Dusty.”

“What’s wrong with Dru?” Angelus asked, irritated by the mumbled noise that just wouldn’t stop.

Drusilla was hugging herself as she rocked back and forth in the corner, repeating the same words over and over again.

“Man in the hat. Dusty Dusty... Man in the Hat.... Burning blood.. Poor Spiky.”

“I dunno Boss.” A minion said, shrugging. “She’s been like that for a while now...”

Angelus growled, waving his hand in irritation. “Fine. Leave her here. We have an apocalypse to bring on.”

Rupert Giles sighed as he looked over the destruction that had been wreaked on his precious books, uncertain how much could be saved from what had been scattered across the library floor. He moved through the area, rescuing books first as he did.

“Bloody hell.” He muttered, face showing an almost physical pain as he spotted some particularly rare books on the floor, half trampled.

Giles walked gingerly over, avoiding causing any more damage, and knelt down to pick up the books.

He paused as he noticed that one of them was open to a section detailing Acathela.

<Odd, I haven’t seen this one before.> He thought to himself, picking it up and looking carefully through the section. <Kendra or Xander must have found this before they were attacked.>

The mess forgotten, Giles stood up and began to pace carelessly through the library as he read on.

After a long time, he stopped and frowned again.

“Oh dear. This isn’t good.”

“That, My dear Giles, is an understatement of epic proportions.”

Giles whipped around, eyes wide as he stared, first in shock, then in open hatred at the source of the voice.

“Angelus.” He said, voice dripping with venom as he slapped the book closed and let it drop to the floor.

Angelus smirked at him, “Nice to be remembered. You get my present?”

Giles tightened his fists, slowly reaching up and removing his glasses, then dropped the lenses in his breast pocket. “Oh I received it alright you bleeding arse. In fact I’d like to thank you properly for it.”

Angelus watched in amusement as Giles picked up a broken table leg fromt he ground and began to stalk towards him. He waited until the British man was only a few feet away, the yawned in mock boredom. “Take him.”

From behind Angels five vampires appeared and swarmed into the room, startling Giles. The librarian swung at the first with the table leg, breaking it’s jaw and sending it to the ground, then got the next one with a jab to the heart.

As it dusted, however, the remaining three swarmed over him and drew him to the ground.

“Don’t hurt him...” Angelus called lightly as he watched the melee. “Much. I have plans for this one.”

Willow clutched the spell components to her as she made her way back into the hospital, glancing around nervously as if someone was going to accuse her of witchcraft.

No one did, of course, and she made her way to Buffy’s Mom’s room with as much speed as she could manage. Once there she gasped and nearly dropped her components in shock as she recognized the person in the second bed.

“Xander!”

“Willow... Shhhh...” Joyce reprimanded her slightly. “Dawn and Buffy are sleeping.”

“I *was* sleeping.” Buffy said irritably, looking up at Willow. After a moment the irritation vanished, though, and she nodded. “Hey Will.”

“What happened?” Willow hissed, staring wide eyed at Xander.

“We don’t know yet.” Buffy sighed. “They haven’t woken up since we found them.”

“Oh god. Ohgod.ohgod.ohgod...” Willow hyperventilated.

“Wills... *breathe*.” Buffy ordered her.

Willow nodded, breathing deeply. Finally she stared at Xander again, “Is he...?”

“They’ll both be fine.” Buffy assured her. “They just had one hell of a fight.”

“Oh.”

“What do you have there, Willow?” Joyce asked after a moment.

Willow glanced down, red faced. “Oh umm... it’s really nothing and...”

“She knows about vampires, Will.” Buffy said tiredly. “She’s got some stuff to cast a spell, mom.”

Joyce Summers watched as Willow and Buffy conversed in hushed tones in the corner of the hospital room. Since Willow had come in with the materials she'd gotten for a 'spell' of all things they'd both been rather furtive.

She lay back her head, feeling a lot more relaxed then she thought she probably should have, and counted the feeling up to the morphine she'd been given for the pain. Across from her bed Xander Harris was still laying silently, not having woken up since he'd been brought in. His face was a mass of mottled bruises, but at least the nurses had cleaned off the blood that he had been covered in when he first arrived.

Dawn was slumped in the chair between them, her face covered by the overly large hat that Xander had propped up on her head when he'd left earlier, and Joyce worried about her. She'd seen too much that night, her mother attacked, some... things that were impossible to explain without thinking of them as 'vampires', which still didn't feel right to Joyce. She'd seen Xander kill people... things... vampires, if that was what they were, and he'd done it to protect both of them and save their lives.

It was a lot for a little girl to take.

<It's a lot for a grown woman to take.> Joyce thought grimly.

Her thoughts were disturbed when Buffy rose from where she and Willow had been talking.

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" Joyce asked instantly, startling both of them.

Buffy looked nervous, but covered it quickly. "I'm going to check on Giles. He should have been back by now."

Joyce eyed her daughter for a moment, struggling against the painkillers as she tried to sit up. "Now I really don't think that's necessary. Mr Giles is a grown man and..."

"He's not the Slayer, mom." Buffy said softly. "I am. I have to make sure that he's ok. I'll be back."

Buffy strode to the door, grabbing her leather jacket on the way. At the door she paused and looked back, "Love you Mom."

Joyce swallowed suddenly, her gut twisting as she saw something in her daughter's eyes. "Buffy..."

"Mom." Buffy just shook her head.

Her mouth was dry, but Joyce nodded. "I love you too, Honey."

And with that, Buffy was gone.

Rupert Giles groaned involuntarily as consciousness returned, bringing pain with it. His entire body felt like it was one large bruise, though Giles decided that was erroneous. It was probably just around ten thousand small bruises with a few hundred medium sized ones.

"The Prodigy awakes."

His lips curled at that voice before his conscious mind recognized it.

"Angelus." He ground out, forcing back the pain.

"How sweet." Angelus sneered at the bound man. "The librarian recognizes my voice."

Rupert winced as he tested his bonds and found them to be secure, then finally forced his eyes open against the pain and looked around. The room swam into focus slowly, but before long he was looking at the face of the man who had killed Jenny Calender.

"What do you want?" Giles asked, his voice rasping.

"Nothing much really," Angelus shrugged, "Just how to activate Acathela."

"You must be joking." Giles chuckled softly, then winced from the pain.

"Oh no, I assure you that I'm not." Angelus said, leaning in until he was looking at Giles from just a few inches away. "And you, my librarian friend, are going to tell me exactly what I want to know."

"Go to hell."

Angelus smiled, "Actually, I thought I'd bring hell to me."

Giles looked away, clenching his jaw shut.

"Oh look, he's playing the hero." Angelus sneered. "And everyone knows what happens to heros..."

The vampire picked up a straight razor from an end table and smiled as he looked at the reflection of the room behind him in it's gleaming surface.

"They die heroic deaths."

"Giles?"

Buffy Summers stepped over the debris that had been left in the library, gingerly avoiding the pool of blood from where she had picked Xander off the ground, and headed for the office.

"Giles?"

No answer.

She walked around to one of the bookcases, frowning as she looked at it.

"Was this down before?" She asked of no one, then looked at the dust on the floor.

"Oh God." She whispered.

"God no... no..."

The Slayer bolted then, rushing from the library and out into the night.

Everything hurt.

That was about all that Xander could think as he started to come back to himself. Everything hurt, but that was alright. It meant that he was alive.

He groaned as he started to move, and heard someone in the distance yell.

"He's awake!"

Someone else yelled for a doctor then, but they were so far off that Xander ignored them. He tried to move again, and groaned with each tightening of his muscles.

"Xander, it's ok... you don't have to move."

The voice was soft, soothing. It would be so easy to give in and listen to it, sink back into the comforting depths, but Xander shook his head and winced as a spike drove through his skull.

"Ahhhh...." He hissed, screwing up his face in pain.

Spike.

Spike did this.

He'd gotten Spike.

<For you, Marcus.> Xander heard the thought, but it wasn't in his voice. It was a voice from across the veil, but he seconding it without hesitation. <And for you, Doctor Jones.>

The voice wasn't heard again, but there was motion all around Xander as he tried to wake up. People talking, someone touching him, his face, softly. Gently. Then another touch, at his arm. Lifting it up, moving him.

"This will help with the pain."

Xander forced his eyes open and saw the waving form of the doctor above him. He couldn't see clearly enough to tell what was going on, but instincts filled in the details. His hand shot out, ignoring the pain it caused, and caught the doctor's wrist as it was nearing the IV stuck in his arm.

"No drugs." Xander rasped out painfully.

"It's just a painkiller, son." The doctor said, trying to get his arm free.

Xander didn't let go.

"No drugs." He said again, more clearly.

The doctor frowned, but finally nodded. "Alright. No drugs. Can you tell me your name?"

Xander had to think about it, his mouth opened to speak.

"Doctor J..." He shook his head, wincing under the pain. "I'm Xander... Alexander Harris."

"Do you know where you are?"

"In the hospital." Xander replied, his mind clearing. "I'm in the hospital."

"And what happened to you?"

Xander laughed, then grimaced from the pain it caused. He shook his head slightly, "I was attacked, Doc."

He could see a bit clearer now, recognized the doctor as his family physician.

"Who attacked you, son?"

"Gangmembers." Xander smiled grimly. "On PCP."

The Doctor stiffened in that way that only Sunnydalers in the know could, but nodded in understanding. "Yes well, you seem to be lucid young man. I dare say that you'll live, though this is about as bad as I've seen from you. You really should try to stay out of the gang's turf."

Xander groaned, but nodded. "Tell me about it."

"Now are you sure you don't want any painkillers?" The Doctor asked, lifting the needle up. "It's just a quick shot and..."

"No drugs, Doc." Xander shook his head. "I'll be fine."

"Yes well, if you change your mind... hit the buzzer."

"Will do, Doc." Xander said, then forced another smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." The Doctor said, putting the needle down on a tray and handing it to the nurse. "Now rest. You've taken a bad beating."

"Trust me, Doc. I'm aware of that."

Joyce watched from where she was laying as Xander groaned again, wincing as he shifted slightly in his bed.

"Are you alright?" She asked.

He looked over at her, a momentary look of almost surprise, maybe chagrin, on his face but he quickly wiped it away. "I'm fine, Mrs S."

Joyce could tell that he was lying through his teeth, especially given that he was speaking through teeth clenched so tight in pain that she was almost surprised that they hadn't shattered under the pressure. If he didn't want to admit the pain, though, she couldn't see anything to do about it.

"Where's Buffy?"

The question threw her for a loop for a moment, and she stared blankly at him as she processed what he'd asked.

"She went looking for Mr Giles."

Xander winced, then groaned. "Where's Giles?"

"I believe that he went back to the library... something about some books and a crisis." Joyce told him honestly, her attention focused more on Dawn who was shifting in her sleep.

Xander nodded grimly, his hand coming up painfully to rub his face. "Man I feel like I went ten rounds with Mike Tyson."

"You look it too." Joyce said dryly.

Xander laughed at that, then just groaned and held his stomach in pain.

"Xander..." Joyce said, hesitating slightly. "I wanted to say... Just... Thank you."

"For what?" Xander looked confused.

"For saving Dawn and I."

Xander blinked, then shrugged. "Forget about it."

"That's not going to happen, Xander." Joyce smiled gently.

Xander looked away, embarrassed, so Joyce let him drop out of the conversation.

They sat in silence for a while until Willow reappeared, coming back into the room with an arm full of books and paper bags. Things that she almost dropped when she saw Xander with his eyes open.

"Xander!" She rushed forward, eyes wide and watery. "You're awake..."

Xander had to laugh again as she reached his bedside and paused in confusion as she realized that she couldn't hug him without dropping everything she had in her arms, and couldn't find a place to put them down at.

"An armload of stuff kinda puts the kibosh on spur of the moment expressions of happiness, huh Wills?"

Willow blushed a little, but grinned and nodded. "I'm so glad that you're ok... I mean, you are ok, right? It's not like you're dying... right? I mean..."

"Calmly." Xander said, smiling. "Deep breaths. I'm fine. A little bruised, but I'll recover."

"Oh good... I mean, I was so worried and we'd had that fight and..."

"Willow. I'm ok." He said again, "Don't worry about me."

"I know," She said, looking down. "But those things we said and..."

He cut her off again, "Forget about it. It's not important now, we'll worry about all that later."

Willow nodded, then shifted nervously as she looked down at the things in her arms and her eyes darkened. She quickly dropped them into a chair and moved between the chair and Xander, "I'm really glad that you're alright, Xander."

Xander eyed her, then the chair past her, and smiled softly as he shook his head. "Are those the spell components?"

She blushed again, but nodded. "Yeah."

He nodded, grimacing, and started to sit up. "Alright."

She watched as he groaned in pain, and rushed forward. "Xander, you need to sit down... you..."

"No time for that." Xander shook his head, "Look, have you talked to Buffy or Giles?"

"Ummm... no. Not since she left." Willow replied.

"Call the library." He told her. "Go on, do it now."

"When you lay back down." She glared at him.

Xander chuckled but nodded. "Alright."

As he lay back down, Willow nodded, biting her lip as she backed out of the room. Xander waited till she was gone to push himself back up again, and rip the IV from his arm.

"Xander!" Joyce blurted, "What are you doing?"

"I've got a bad feeling that Buffy's in over her head." He said grimly as he slid off the bed and groaned as his feet hit the ground. "My clothes?"

"They put them in the closet... but..."

Xander just crossed to the closet and grabbed his clothing, groaning in pain as he pulled the pieces on one at a time. A few moments later he was dressed and the thin hospital gown was fluttering to the floor as he tossed his leather jacket on in a painful, yet casual, motion. He crossed back to the bed and gently lifted Dawn out of her chair, dropping the slumbering girl in the bed he'd vacated.

He took his hat from the little girl's head, sliding it up over his own with a comfortable motion, then turned back to Joyce. "When Willow gets back, tell her that she's on a time limit to do that spell."

"What?"

"Just tell her what I said, she'll understand." Xander said as he walked toward the door, limping slightly. He glanced back over his shoulder at Joyce with a smirk, "She won't like it, but she'll understand."

Then he was gone.

There was no sign of Giles at his apartment, and Buffy was more then just worried now.

<I should never have let him go off on his own like that! Stupid! Stupid!> She berated herself, shaking slightly as she walked from the apartment complex, trying to decide where to check next.

She'd been thinking so much about Joyce and Dawn that she'd completely forgotten to protect her other family, and she was never going to forgive herself if Giles died because of it.

Angel's mansion was the only other place she could think to look, though, so that was the direction that buffy headed at a brisk jog. Angelus was up to something, and she had to stop him.

Right after she saved Giles.

Willow came back in to the room, moving in a near run, "Xander! There was no answer at the library, and I don't know what to do and... Xander?"

"He's gone." Joyce said softly.

"What? Where? How? He's hurt!"

"He said that he had a bad feeling about Buffy being in trouble," Joyce grimaced, "And told me to tell you..."

"Tell me? Tell me what?" Willow asked, eyes wide with panic.

"To tell you that you're on a time limit to do your spell." Joyce frowned, "What does that mean?"

Willow's eyes widened, her face blanching from the shock of the words.

She swallowed hard, several times, then bolted for her pile of ingredients. "I have to get to work, Joyce... I don't have time to explain now."

Joyce watched silently as Willow grabbed all her things and moved to a corner of the room, gathering them all together in a pile and opening up her laptop. It was all incredibly confusing and monumentally frustrating to the older woman, to know that her daughter was caught up in something so much larger then she could understand, and be unable to even see any way to help.

Getting to the library was a chore, but workable. The beating that Spike had laid on him was survivable, but it was doing absolutely nothing for his mobility at the moment. Xander looked around the mess that had once been a rather fine library and sighed in a sort of quiet regret.

The part of him that was now opened by the memories of Doctor Henry Jones Jr was saddened to see the destruction of so many books, and the disruption of a research area. Of course, Indiana had learned the hard way that there were worse things in life, so Xander was able to easily put those thoughts aside as he moved through the wreckage.

The weapon cage was his target, right after he plucked his bullwhip from under the destroyed remnants of their research table. He didn't have the key, but knew where Giles' hid the spare so in a few moments he had several stakes and a gleaming shortsword as well as Giles' favorite crossbow.

They weren't his revolver, but that was still at the Summers' residence, and he didn't have time to look for it anyway, so Xander groaned as he straightened up and then headed out into the night.

Buffy prowled around the perimeter of the old mansion, carefully keeping out of the stray light that escaped it's half shaded windows. She could hear voices from inside, some familiar, some not. One of the ones she knew belonged to Giles, and he didn't sound like he was enjoying his stay.

She swallowed hard as she crept toward a darkened window on the ground floor, it was the closest one she could find to where the screams were coming from and she knew that she had to get in there as fast as she could.

Like the rest of the mansion, the window was still in outwardly good appearance but years of neglect had begun to take their toll on it. That, combined with her own strength, made forcing it open less then child's play and Buffy was quickly inside the dark room, padding silently to the door.

The screams were distant now, muffled by the walls around her, but she could still hear them and her blood chilled at what was happening to her watcher.

<It's not going to happen again.> Buffy Summers swore silently as he lips pressed tightly together, the reddish flesh whitening as the pressure forced the blood away from the surface. <Never again.>

She pushed the door open then, just enough to see into the hall and make sure it was clear, then quickly moved out of the room and into the mansion.

<Time to think, Harris.> Xander rubbed his chin as he moved quickly along the road, limping with every step but forcing himself to a high pace. <Where is Buffy? Where is Giles?>

<They're where Angelus is, of course.> He thought then, nodding to himself as he altered direction, <And the first place to check is Angel's old haunting ground. If Buffy and Giles aren't there, and Angelus is, then they're probably safe.>

Or dead.

Xander pushed that thought away, increasing his pace against the pain that flared in his body as he did so. He had to get to them before something happened, and in the mean time he had other worries too.

<Acathela.> He shook his head, bringing to mind everything he knew about the demon and it's powers.

The sword was the key, it had to be. Jones' memories were enough to tell him that, and his own research backed them up. More then either of those, though, Xander's gut told him that it was. Angelus, Spike, and Dru had stolen the sword. That meant that they thought it was the key too.

It didn't mean that they knew how to turn it in the lock, however.

Ancient locks were like modern ones, not the mundane or the mystical. They were each built and designed by individual inventors, and that made each and every one of them unique. The only thing they shared, really, was the concept of the lock and key.

Concepts were easy to spread, even in an ancient society, as Ideas they could be passed from mouth to mouth until everyone had some clue what the idea was. Actual locks, however, were another matter. They were complex, involving intricate workings that were not easily spread through word of mouth.

That meant that every lock maker had his own design that he had developed and implemented. Every key was unique, no mass production then. Even in the mystical it was the same, they all had their idea of what made a good mechanism, and none of the ideas were exactly the same.

That meant that to open Acathela, Angelus would need a translator. Someone who could divine the intention of the lock maker, the wizard who had bound Acathela to it's stone sleep.

There were only two people in Sunnydale at the moment who really could fill that roll.

Xander Harris and Rupert Giles.

<He's got Giles.> Xander thought suddenly, certainly. <He has him because he needs him. Angelus is clever, not smart. He can't figure out Acathela on his own.>

With that grim thought in mind, Xander again increased his pace while ignoring the complaints from his abused body. Angel's mansion 'haunt' was just a couple blocks away.

He also began to call up every detail of Acathela that he could remember, knowing that if Angelus broke Giles, the only way to stop the vampire might be to beat him to the lock.

"Damn it!" Angelus cursed, throwing the straight razor aside in disgust.

One of the vampire 'minions' that he had stolen from Spike cowered slightly until it was obvious that Angelus' ire wasn't aimed in his direction. "What's wrong?"

"He passed out again." Angelus growled. "Get some water."

The fresh from the dirtnap vampire nodded quickly and vanished from the room, leaving Angelus standing over his victim and glared down at the battered librarian.

"You're tough, English." He sneered, "I'll give you that. But everyone breaks, sooner or later. And I have something you don't. Time."

"I wouldn't count on that."

Angelus froze, head coming up but not looking back as he smiled slowly. "Hello Buffy."

"Angelus."

Her tone was frosty, but he could hear a quiver in her voice.

"That's all I get?" He asked with a smile, "Just 'Angelus'? I was hoping for a warmer reception from an old lover."

"You're not Angel." She said, still trying to control the quiver in her voice.

Angelus turned around slowly, looking at the blond who was holding a stake as she stood at the door about fifteen feet away. "Keep telling yourself that, babe. You might even come to believe it... eventually. Not that you're going to live that long."

"You can't kill me." Buffy told him.

Angelus smiled, "Oh, I think you have that twisted around. You..."

He took a step toward her.

"Are the one..."

She tensed, dropping into a fighting stance as he came another step closer.

"With the problem killing," Angelus finished as he came to a stop just feet from her position.

Buffy shook her head, "Not anymore. Not now..."

"Ooohhhh..." He mocked a shiver, grinning at her, "Did your mother get my message then? I wasn't sure since none of the messengers came back."

"You won't kill me." Buffy told him then, shaking her head. "Or anyone else."

"What? Going to finally do it? Buckle down and do your 'sacred duty'?" He sneered at her, "Face it, 'buff'... You haven't got the guts for it."

Buffy's tension had risen so high that she was actually shaking by this point, shuddering as she stood there face to face with the man she loved. The man she hated. The man she had to kill because she was unable to save.

"Shaking in your boots." Angelus shook his head in disgust. "Pitiful. I'm going to kill you, I'm going to kill your watcher. I'm going to kill your mother, and *turn* your sister... Then she and I will play 'Buffy and Angel' on your fresh GRAVE..."

Buffy's scream of rage was incoherent and her move was fast enough that it took Angelus by surprise as her fist smashed into his face hard enough to throw him off the ground and back several feet. By the time he landed, she was already charging with the stake high for a follow through, but he rolled with the landing and was on his feet before she reached him.

He blocked her stab with the stake, then caught her with a reverse punch that rocked her back for an instant as his fist mashed her cheek. Buffy moved to retaliate but a hard punch to her stomach winded her suddenly, then Angelus grabbed her by the shoulders and threw her full force through the open door and out into the mansion.

He tossed a passing glance at Giles, who was still laying strung to the bed.

"I'll be back for you later, librarian."

Then the Master Vampire let out the face of the beast and strode after his prey.

The sound of something like glass shattering into a thousand itty bitty pieces made Xander wince as he paused in the shadows of the old mansion. Buffy's inarticulate scream of rage that followed didn't do much for him either.

<Yep. This is the place.> He thought, eyeing the door as the sound of Buffy's own unique fighting style echoed from the place.

As long as things were breaking and shattering and people were flying through doors and walls, Xander knew he had time to think and plan. Buffy's fighting style wasn't pretty, to be sure, but it certainly let you know that it was going on.

Xander idly wondered if the mansion would survive the two titans inside throwing each other through the load bearing structures of the building, but decided that it didn't matter all that much. If the place collapsed, at least Angelus' plan would collapse with it.

For the time being at least.

In the meantime Xander crept into the house, using the last place he figured anyone would guess.

The front door.

Actually, he had to admit as he slipped into the foyer, he just didn't feel like crawling through windows in as bad a shape as he was currently in.

As luck would have it there was a vampire coming out in a rush just as he was coming in, and the two of them came face to face in stunned silence for a period that seemed much longer then it actually could have been.

The silence was broken by the snap of Xander's crossbow, and the vampire dusted with a look of betrayed shock on his face, while Xander quickly moved on through the hall as he cranked the crossbow and grabbed another quarrel from the pouch hanging off his right shoulder.

<Who's next?> He asked silently, smirking in the dark right up until he cracked his shin on a footstool.

"OUCH! Damn damn damn!"

Buffy picked herself out of the Buffy-shaped impression in the wall and dropped the few inches to the floor where she gingerly wiped the blood from her lips.

Angelus, in full vampire game face, sneered at her as he stepped into the large room that they had finally came to during their battle. "Having fun?"

"You'll find out in a minute." Buffy returned, circling to the left as Angelus went right.

The Vampire snorted, shaking his head. "You're nothing but a poor little girl who is in way over her head, Buffy."

"Is that a short joke?" Buffy asked with a half smile. "Cause I HATE short jokes."

She lunged then, catching the vampire with a crescent kick across the jaw that snapped his head around and away from her. As she landed, Buffy let her spin continue and delivered a jarring reverse punch that drove Angelus to his knees in stunned shock.

"To answer your question," He flipped her hair out of her eyes, and grinned, "Yeah. I'm having fun."

Angelus snarled, then reached up and caught her next blow in med air, stopping it cold. He rose up, halfway to his feet, and smiled into her face from just inches away.

"Good." He said, "So am I."

Then he slammed a right hand into her chest hard enough to lift Buffy off her feet and send her flying back against the wall over twenty feet away.

Joyce watched, not understanding anything she saw, as Willow laid out candles and items around her in a circle.

She wanted to ask, but the younger girl had hushed her up immediately, which was actually the least strange thing that had happened to her recently.

Willow was sitting cross-legged now, lighting the candles as she balanced her laptop awkwardly.

Which brought another odd thought to Joyce's mind.

What kind of 'witch' cast spells with a laptop??

She was actually going to ask again, but Willow cut her off by starting to chant something softly.

It was a truly bizarre night.

The fight had devolved, as most of her fights seemed, into a slugging match between Buffy and Angelus with neither of them gaining an obvious advantage. On the one side, Buffy was the Slayer and she was stronger and faster then Angelus to be certain. Her strikes were more devastating, and often drove the vampire to his knees, or flat back on his ass. On the other hand, however, Angelus had experience, fought dirtier then she did, and healed considerably faster.

So as Buffy's bruises were starting to make themselves known to her, pulling painfully on her muscles as she stretched them, Angelus was still smirking as he had at the start of the fight.

"You're going to die here tonight, Buffy." He told her during one of the moments of respite between the furious moments of violence. "And just for kicks, I'm going to open Acathela and take send everyone else to meet you... Just so you can apologize for helping end the world."

The smarmy grin on the vampire's face was really starting to make her blood burn.

"Old Acathela here," Angelus nodded to a stone statue that Buffy hadn't actually noticed until just that moment, "is gonna help me do it. Thanks to you and your friends, I already have the key."

He laid a hand on the sword that was embedded in the stone, grimacing just slightly. "With you dead, I'll get the secret out of Giles sooner or later. And there won't be a thing you can do about it."

Buffy screamed again, powering herself into a full strength lunge and charged him. Angelus, though a little later off the mark, did the same and they met together with the force of a thunderclap in the center of the room.

Buffy slammed a fist into Angelus' ribs, and felt them crack even as he grabbed his head and slammed the heavy bone of his forehead into the bridge of her nose. There was a crack that seemed to explode between her eyes, filling her head with white hot pain. She ignored it, drawing her knee up and catching her former lover with a Slayer powered knee between the legs.

That took the wind out of his sails, sure enough, and Buffy pressed home her advantage then and there. She drove two rapid punches to his face, rocking it left then right, then stepped back into a spin as he doubled over and snapped as powerful a kick as she could right to his face.

He was lifted off his feet, flung back through the air, right at the statue of Acathela.

Joyce' eyes went wide, her fists clenched in the blankets the hospital had draped her in.

Willow's eyes were black. Pure black! And she was now chanting loudly in a language that Joyce didn't understand and was pretty certain wasn't anything contemporary. For that matter, she was pretty certain that the deep, distorted voice that the girl was chanting in wasn't her own either.

Then, abruptly, a flash of light filled the air and Joyce slammed her eyes shut.

When she opened them again the light was contained in a globe in front of Willow that was actually *floating* in mid air. Joyce swallowed and shot a glance over to where Dawn was still asleep and she quickly thanked god for that.

Willow made a motion with her hands then and the light suddenly flickered and shot from the globe, flying out of the room and into the night.

A crack like a pistol shot filled the room, startling Buffy to a crouch as a sudden strangled sound of pain erupted from Angelus.

Her eyes widened as his flight checked itself in midair, snapping the vampire back like a shot and dropping him solidly to the ground with something wrapped around his throat. She followed the line back as it lead away from Angelus and thickened, until her eyes climbed to see Xander holding the pommel of his whip with the chord wrapped around one arm.

"Xander?" She blinked.

He looked at her, "Don't throw things at the demon that can end the world, Buff."

Xander was focusing every bit of concentration he had just to stay standing, the sudden yank of Angelus' weight against his arms had felt like they were being pulled clear from their sockets and he suddenly wanted nothing more then the painkillers that the nurse had been trying to foist on him earlier.

"Xander!" Buffy yelled, "What are you doing here?"

He closed his eyes briefly, slumping slightly, then she was at his side and holding him up.

"Xander! Are you ok?"

"Don't throw him at Acathela, Buffy." Xander ground out.

"What? Why?"

"Yes, Boy, why indeed??" Angelus sneered from where he was slowly picking himself off the ground, rubbing his neck.

Xander just shook his head, slumping against the wall as he looked at Buffy. "Trust me."

Buffy stared at him for a moment, then nodded and turned back to Angelus. "You'd better get out of here, Xander."

Xander didn't reply as he watched Buffy close on Angelus, who was moving back toward the statue.

"What do you know, boy?" the vampire sneered, eyeing the statue as he maneuvered for time. "What is it that makes throwing me at Acathela dangerous?"

"You'll never find out." Buffy snarled, closing on him quickly.

Angelus side stepped Buffy's first blow, hammering back at her with a right cross that rocked her head to one side. She countered with a jab to his ribs that lifted him off the ground, then slammed a left across his face that sent him back a foot.

Buffy moved quickly to follow up and grabbed Angelus' by the arm and shoulder, pivoting hard to throw him back and away from the statue. The vampire reversed his grip, hooking her tightly, and spun her around as soon as he planted his feet again.

They wrestled around and around as Xander watched, each jockeying for better holds as they struggled to gain advantage, any advantage.

Angelus held his face close to hers, his features deformed by his vampiric anger, snarling angrily. "You'll never win, Slayer."

"As long as you lose too, I'm not sure I care." She growled back, reversing her grip suddenly and pivoting into a shoulder throw.

Angelus flipped up and over her shoulder, landing on the other side with an acrobatic ease, then snapped around and hooked Buffy's weight over his hip, slinging her off her feet and into the air. While she was airborne, with no leverage, he pivoted himself and flung her straight at Acathela.

Her cry of surprise seemed to trigger a sudden slowing of time in the room as Angelus staggered as if under a blow, looking blank, then horrified as he watched Buffy flying away from him with arms outstretched.

"Buffy!" Angel yelled, suddenly lunging forward without understanding what was happening.

From the side of the room another form blurred into the air, not speaking as he grunting in exertion and pain, aiming to block the Slayer from her path.

For long slices of eternity, the three forms carved their paths through the room, and then time sped up again.

Xander slammed into Buffy hard enough to knock the air from them both, slamming her to one side of the statue and sending them both skidding along the floor in a heap as Angel faltered and fell to the floor behind them. The two bounced off the far wall from the force of their slide, coming to a stop in a heap, and Xander just lay there.

"That's it." He said, "I'm done."

Buffy winced, but picked herself up off the floor, getting ready to keep fighting, only to see Angel lying on the ground in a stunned silence. She stepped away from Xander, hands up and fists clenched, sidestepping to clear the area around her but the vampire didn't move from where he was shuddering on the floor.

"Get up!" She snapped angrily.

He turned his head to look at her, eyes wide, his face back to it's human disguise. "Buffy..."

"Get up!"

"What... Oh God. Not again." He moaned, shutting his eyes and rolling to his back.

Buffy took a half step toward him, snarling. "Get up, I said, or I'll...!"

"Buffy."

She froze, looking back to where Xander was pushing himself to a sitting position. "What?"

"Willow." He said, "I told her that she was on a time limit for the spell..."

Buffy's head snapped back around, eyes wide as she stared at the vampire on the ground. Her mouth suddenly felt dry, like it was filled with cotton. "Angel...?"

"Maybe." Xander said, shaking his head. "Don't let your guard down. Get something. Take my whip. Tie him up."

Buffy nodded quickly, grabbing Xander's whip from the floor where it had landed and quickly proceeded to tie up her former lover, maybe enemy. He didn't resist as she did, letting her wrap the tough corded rawhide around his wrists and ankles until he was immobile. When she was done she dropped to her knees by his side, staring down at him.

"Angel?" She asked softly, "Is that you?"

He didn't answer, just shut his eyes against something only he could see.

They stayed like that for a long time, bound vampire, emotionally and physically worn Slayer, and very badly bruised and battered human. None of them spoke until, finally, Angel shuddered and opened his eyes.

"I'm Sorry, Buffy. God I'm sorry."

Buffy stared down at him, trying to place her emotions, trying to say something, anything. In the end, though, she just knelt there and stared, unable to manage anything else.

It was Xander, finally, who moved. He rose to his feet, in pain but determined, and began to limp across the room to the statue of Acathela.

"Xander? What are you...?" Buffy asked, looking up as he grabbed the hilt of the sword that was buried in the statue and yanked.

The blade slid, grating against the stone, and came free in Xander's hands as he turned and walked away from the statue. He reached up as he came to one wall, yanking a curtain from the window there, and proceeded to wrap the blade in the curtain material.

Only then did he look back at Buffy and Angel.

"Where's Giles?" He asked dully.

A week later, Alexander Harris strode into the library, his injuries all but completely healed. He'd been moving around easily since only a couple days after the event, but the beating Spike had given him had been bad enough that new bruises were still appearing for several days afterwards and the healing of them took a long time.

"Hey Giles, How you feeling?"

Giles looked the worse for wear, to be sure. His injuries, while not as bad as Xander's, had taken longer to heal. His face was no longer bandaged, but the light line of the razor scar was still there, and Xander knew that there were other marks, far worse, on the librarian.

He smiled, though. "I'm better, Xander."

"Cool." Xander slid into a chair and nodded around at the rest of the gang.

Giles cleared his throat, then to get their attention. "Now, we've spent some time recovering, which I know we needed, but we do have discuss a few things... such as the disposition of Acathela and..."

"Got it covered, Gman." Xander said with a smile.

"Really?" Giles eyed him skeptically. "And what do you propose? Dropping it off the pier I suppose?"

"Trust me." Xander smiled, then looked serious. "But uh... I've got some news myself."

"What kind of news?" Willow asked, eyes suddenly wary as she noted how serious Xander looked.

"I'm kinda leaving Sunnydale... for the summer at least."

"What!?"

Giles winced under the two way scream from the girls, but Xander didn't even flinch. The boy just shrugged, "I've got to get out of here, guys... This last one..."

Xander shook his head, standing up. "I'll handle Acathela, Giles. You make sure that the Council puts that sword in a safe place."

"I will, of course," Giles said, rising up. "But I really must insist that you tell me what you have planned..."

Xander smiled, "It's going to be in good company, G-man. Trust me."

"I can't believe that Xander's leaving." Buffy said in quiet shock after he had left.

Beside her, Willow was in a similar state of shock as Oz stood by her side.

Giles shook his head, "It was, perhaps, inevitable."

"What do you mean?" She asked him plaintively.

The older man sighed, "This year, things have changed for him... for you all. Xander needs some time to cope."

"You think he'll come back?" Willow asked softly.

"I don't know." Giles said truthfully. "I daresay that he never believed that he would ever leave, but things change."

"He's leaving because of me, isn't he?" Buffy slumped into her chair.

Giles looked somber, but shook his head. "Not only that, Buffy. All of us. We've grown... we've changed. He's changed."

"I miss him already, Giles." Buffy confessed. "He's not even gone, and I miss him already."

"Xander has long been the wall that you rested on, Buffy. He's been your strong right arm ever since you met," Giles told her. "I'm afraid, though, that you'll have to learn to work without him until he comes home."

Two Weeks later

Washington DC

"I don't know who you are, or how you know what you know, kid but I promise you... it'll be safe with us."

Xander snorted, tipping his hat back slightly as he looked at the bureaucrat looking fellow who was assuring him of the safety of one of the most dangerous artifacts on the planet. "I'm sure it will, but just in case I've already arranged to have the second part of this nasty to be stored by someone else."

"There's a second part?" The man asked, frowning.

"Don't worry about it." Xander smiled easily, leaning back in the chair. "They don't know where I've stashed this part, you don't know where I've stashed that part. And I don't know where either of you stashed either part."

"Right." The man shook his head, sighing. Finally he smiled, shaking his head. "I have to admit, Mr Harris, you intrigue me."

"How so?" Xander asked calmly.

"Not many young people your age, what is it? Sixteen? Seventeen?"

"Seventeen." Xander answered.

"Well, not many young people your age show this level of resourcefulness, Mr Harris."

"I just got lucky." Xander shrugged.

"I doubt it." The man said dryly, "Besides, I don't think I've ever known anyone with your apparent knowledge of antiquity... at your age, or any other."

"Well Mr Brody," Xander smiled at the familiar looking man, "What can I say? It's a hobby."

"Indeed, and please do call me Malcolm." Malcolm Brody smiled, rising to his feet. "Perhaps if you have the interest I might suggest a summer job of sorts? There's this dig I know of that might be looking for a few good hands..."

Xander thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and smiled. "Sounds like my kind of fun, Malcolm."

"Excellent." Malcolm smiled, shaking Xander's hand. "I'll make the arrangements."

Warehouse Complex

Unknown Location

Two works slid the motorized lift into place, lowering the palette with it's heavy load down into an open space.

"Jesus, this one is something." One of them said, eyeing the tag.

"What's it say?"

"Just something about some old culture." The guy shrugged, "Sure is a heavy load though."

"Yeah."

"So, coffee break?"

"Yeah."

The two got back on their electric forklift, driving off as they left the large box in place.

Behind them the Statue of Acathela rested beside an old dust covered wooden box, hidden in plain sight among hundreds, even thousands, of other identical boxes inside the immense compound.