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“Angel!” Even in her own ears her voice sounded like that of a guilty child caught with its hand in the cookie jar. “What are you doing here?”

“Buffy” despite all the years apart, all the many gallons of dirty water that had flown under the bridge, still his voice held a note of adoring, reverence even, when he said her name. “You have to come back to the house with me, Giles is there, he can explain everything”

“What, Giles? Here? And you, here too! What is this Angel? Because this sounds like trouble to me. Trouble, you know, of the supernatural kind” Buffy eyed him suspiciously, had it always been this way? Had the arrival of Angel always signalled impending danger ‘Angel comes with bad new’ God she had been young then, so yes she thought, it had always been this way.

“Trouble doesn’t begin to cover it Buffy, but Giles needs to explain it to you. We should go back now” he turned as he spoke expecting her to follow.

“What! No way, I am retired!” Anger and just a trace of panic in her voice “Do you understand what that means? It means you call someone else. I don’t work there anymore”

“Buffy I’m sorry, I know you have a normal life now, but this is important, and there is no one else to call” he was calm as always, the voice of understanding and reason.

“Not my problem Angel” God she wished he would get angry with her once in a while, the calm was unnerving “I’m not the Slayer anymore”

“Then what are you doing in the cemetery at two am?” Again so calm, not a trace of sarcasm or annoyance in his soft voice, just that ever-present gentleness. She had loved it once she remembered that, it had made her feel safe. But she had been a child then, scared and desperate for a protector. Once more her annoyance gave way to that familiar guilty feeling

“Umm I was out walking, just walking” He looked down at the stake in her hand and she through it aside “don’t know why I had that old thing. Some habits dye hard I guess, but just walking that’s me, walking girl”

“Buffy?” Oh the worry in his voice, the suffocating pressure of his concern, she had to get away from it now

“Okay back to the house then, come on times a wasting” and with that she was off at a brisk pace, leaving her erstwhile lover scurrying after her



Marcus stepped out onto the stage, the cheers of his followers loud in his ears, signalling for silence he stood before them fang and feral golden eyes flashing, arms outstretched in a terrifying parody of a southern style evangelist

“My Brothers” he began his voice deep and powerful, rich and intoxicating “rejoice for our time is coming. You who have seen the future through my eyes, you who have heard the call of this fellowship rejoice for a brave new world is at hand

“Demon kind has hidden in the shadows for too many millennia, and why? For fear of her, fear of that chosen girl. And yes you do well to fear her, them now, for they are death to all our kind, meet a slayer alone in the night and know your time has come. But we no longer walk alone, for in this fellowship our power is multiplied a thousand fold.

"Before the moon has swelled and shrank again, the war will have begun and the children of darkness will cut a blood red swathe across the land of men.” Marcus paused a cruel smile on his face while he basked in the sound of his own name chanted in a hundred different demon tongues, oh yes the time was coming.

Sometime later in his quarters he was approached by his second in command, a Vaith demon named Solomon

“Sire, I have news” the demons gravelled voice filled the room “They are going to her, just as you said they would”

“Of course they are Solomon my friend, where else would they go? She is the power, the source, and it is she that we must conquer to make our plans reality, we know this and so do they”

“Yes sire, but it will not be easy, many great powers have fallen before this girl”

“This I know Solomon, but they had not our strength of unity, we are many bound as one through me, no mere girl, even one as powerful as Buffy Summers stand against us?” He looked thoughtful for moment before giving his horned companion an arrogant smile “Still it would do no harm to weaken her before the battle commences, shake her up a little, hey? What do you say?”

“An excellent idea my lord”

“Very well, send for the Shaman I know just the place to start”


“Giles?” she questioned as she pulled out of his welcoming embrace looking around the room she caught sight of her sister standing quietly with Willow, it was the later who broke the silence.

“I didn’t know you still patrolled Buffy” It was a statement, but somehow the witches enquiring eyes demanded explanation

“Not patrolling” God she felt like a kid again trying to hide her obvious guilt “Walking, out enjoying the night air”

“In Spike’s duster? With a stake in your pocket?” And thank you Dawn for bringing everyone’s attention to the coat

“It’s a great walking coat” she gave a forced laugh and slipped the long coat from her small frame, folding it haphazardly and drawing it into her arms, a leather shield between her and their enquiring, oh so concerned faces.

“Buffy, the fact that you are patrolling again is a good thing” Giles began, Buffy frowned okay so not very convincing then, “there is not much time, and I was honestly worried about what shape you would be in. Battle wise” he amended at her offended look

“Battle!” that same note of panicked anger “Do I have to explain this again? I am retired!”

“Buffy, I am sorry” Giles move toward his slayer as he spoke “But the fate of the world hangs in the balance and every other avenue has already been explored, with not inconsiderable failure. There is only you, now let me explain the situation”

“No! Damn it! I am retired!” She didn’t want to hear this, she had her picture book life now, she was doing what he had told her, living in this world and she was making a damn fine job of it, they couldn’t take it from her now, he could not have died for nothing.

“Buffy, please” Giles’ voice implored the slayer to hear him out, and she relented sullenly glaring at him in invitation for him to get the hell on with it.


“Am I missing something? ‘cos I’m really not seeing the big here” Buffy was confused to say the least “This Marcus guy is just a vampire, right? Get one of the mini slayers to slay him, that is there job you know”

“Buffy” Angel cut in patience ringing in his voice “Marcus may only be a vampire, and yes a single vampire is no great threat but what Marcus is achieving is a terrible threat, you have to see that”

“What so he’s managed to rally his demon chums, some rousing speeches and now they’re all gonna work together, its heart warming really, you know people putting aside their differences, commendable in a way” Buffy laughed at her own joke but it quickly died on her lips as she took in the stony looks of her companions.

“When you patrol how many vampire do you face at one time?” She frowned at her watchers question

“I don’t know, no more than ten I guess, fifteen if I have Spi…” she trailed off her head falling forward to hide the pain she knew would be written large on her face

“Ten Buffy, and that is a hard fight. Now imagine fighting twenty, thirty, a hundred. No mystical talisman to aid you, just a stake in your hand. And if you kill those hundred, another hundred would come. Imagine an organised army of vampires and demons, united under a single leader” Giles paused while he let that sink in “Marcus can do it, he is doing it already and he must be stopped. The balance of the battle between good and evil is reliant on the fact that the demons hate each other as much as, if not more than, they hate us. How else could a single girl be expected to control them, think about it Buffy!”

The slayer looked up with a contemplative look on her pretty face

“Buffy he has already killed over seventy of the girls, we must stop him Buffy, before his army grows too large, and we must move quickly, word of him is spreading fast in the demon world and they are coming to him in their hundreds”





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