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Buffy and William made a sweep through the warehouse district and the usual cemeteries. All quiet on the West End front. They decided to hit Camden on their way back to the Flat. After the morning’s big scare with Willow, Buffy was on the talkative side. She got that way when something made her nervous, especially when the something was a great big unknown.

“Kennedy’s always leading high. Like this,” Buffy said. She imitated Kennedy’s right hook, aiming for William’s chin. He parried it like a bear swatting at a butterfly.

“Yeah, I’ve seen it,” he said.

“Meanwhile, she all like, ‘You’re weak. You’re not trying. You can’t be the Slayer without all that misery... blah, blah, blah,” Buffy said.

“She’s an upstart. A Slayer with vision,” William said, gesturing widely.

They meandered through dark alleys behind clubs long closed for the night, taking their time. They ran across a few straggling clubbers bound for the trains, but no demons.

“Did you talk with Willow?” William suggested.

“Oh, right. ‘Hey, Wil. You’re girlfriend is a pain in my ass, so I had to smack her down.’ Plus, after today’s insanity...”

“Kennedy remind you of anyone?” William said.

Buffy fidgeted. “Yes. Okay? But she shouldn’t. They’re really not that similar.”

“No, they’re not. But Kennedy wants the same things Faith did. She sees the lot of you, finishing each other’s sentences, borrowing hairbrushes and shoes. She wants a part of it. Not to mention the massive back story she’ll never share,” he said.

“Okay. Granted. But Kennedy’s going about it in the wrong ways. She’s always pushing. She questions every plan or lack thereof,” Buffy said.

“So she has the people skills of a Borentz demon, but...” William stopped walking. “Wait. You do have a plan, right? You and Rupert?”

“Of course, I have a plan,” Buffy said, becoming more animated as she spoke. “Once Carmen, Renee and Althea finish with their weapons training, we’ll take them out to patrol with us. Give them the whole London undead tour. Then they’ll be ready for the trial. If they pass – and I have no doubt that they will – we can divide the city into sections, ya know. Each Slayer with her route of her own. Keep them close to their host families to start. The last thing we need is a bunch of scared girls running around in the middle of the night. They aren’t gonna be alone in this. We can overlap, set up a grid. Keep us safe. What?”

William was smiling. “Good plan. Kudos to all that. Except, I wasn’t talking about them.”

“No?”

“No. I was referring to the Bigger Bad. The one that caught Willow in its Deeper Well spell. Any plans there?”

Buffy glowered. “No plans as such. Unless you call waiting for Bigger Bad to roll into town and then kicking its Bad Guy ass a plan. Besides, Giles is Plan Man. Leave the thinking to the thinkers, William. We fight the fight.”

“Speaking of,” William said. He pointed in the direction of the alley’s end, where a gang of burly biker vamps loitered. They were smoking, talking, looking menacing.

“And hey, here’s a chance to prove my point,” Buffy said. She pulled a stake from her pocket.

Buffy walked right up to them. “Hey,” she said. There were four chaps-and-chains guys. They did not look pleased to see her.

“Like, what are you guys doing tonight?” Buffy asked, going valley. “Wanna... play?” She brandished her stake.

The first of the four cocked his bald head to the side. He seemed wider than he was tall. His fleshy belly spilled out over a razor strap belt.

“As a matter of fact, we do,” he said. His hammy fists shot out with bat-blinding speed. Buffy sailed back. She crashed into dustbins and stacked wooden crates. William rushed in, leading with a kick. Booted foot smashed into biker face, but the vamp barely flinched.

The other three didn’t wait for a signal to charge in. William backhanded one. He ramped off the wall, slamming elbow to vampire ribcage. Buffy was up again. Two flanked her. She lodged her stake in one vampire’s eye. She kneed his chin. Stunned him. The second dug claws into her shoulder and arm. Felt like he tried tearing it off. She jammed her heel into his knee. It was like kicking boulders.

William fared no better. The first vampire got his fists around Will’s neck. He hefted him off the ground, ready to play the tossing game again. William groined him. The vampire’s hold weakened. William slipped down, gasping and choking. The second vampire seized William from behind, looping his arms under his shoulders.

“More like it,” the first vampire growled, fanging out. “Nice of you to present a target.”

William broke free. He rolled the second vamp over his shoulder, into the path of the first vamp’s bite.
Buffy squared off with her two attackers. Both lunged. William slung one into the wall. Buffy caught the second, dropped, carrying him down with her. She flipped him over, straddled him, went for the staking. But he threw her off.

“Damn it,” she spat. She and William were shoulder to shoulder now. “That usually works.”

“Something’s not right here,” William said.

The four vampires regrouped, closing off the mouth of the alley.

“Fall back,” Buffy said, quietly.

“What? Run?” He looked scandalized.

“No.” She was out of breath. They needed the higher ground. “Sort of. Follow me.”

Buffy backed away. The vampires advanced.

“Scared, Slayer?” the first one taunted.

A little bit, yeah, she thought.

The alley ended in a ‘T’ intersection. Buffy nodded to William, indicating they take the left. They bolted down the dark passage with the vampires close behind. The alley veered hard right, then forked. Letting her instinct fly, she chose left again. And came smack to the dead end of the path.

“Cornered? Us?” she breathed. “How did this happen?”

“Shh,” William said. They could hear the vampires, very near.

Buffy scanned the area. Glass bottles – useless. Stacks of newspapers – no good. She looked up. A ragged canvas tarp draped from the rooftop three stories above.

Buffy turned to William, eyes wide. “How long can you hold them?”

A faint, intrigued smile appeared. “How long do you need?”

He followed her gaze, then nodded. Buffy squeezed his hand. The shadows swallowed her as she shimmied up the gutter pipe toward the roof.

Buffy slid over the ledge just as the vampires found William. She heard him say, in his familiar, strident tone, “Well, boys. Let’s have us a jaunt, shall we?”

The tarp was wider than she counted on. Better for them. It was secured over a pile of bricks, probably to protect them from the London damp. Seeing as water damage was not high on her priority list, she yanked the tarp free.

Buffy dragged the musty thing along behind her to the edge of the roof. Below, William was fending them off, but barely so. She eased onto the fire escape.

Through the metal mesh floor, she saw the vampires almost directly below her feet. If she timed it just right...

The bald vampire had William by the throat again. Must go now. She flung the tarp over the edge. She jumped with it, riding it down like a magic carpet.
When she landed on the very surprised vampires, she rolled off, taking one edge and pulling down hard. William did the same on the other side. They all came tumbling down.

“Got em?” Buffy called out.

William was climbing over the top, stake in his right hand, stabbing down through the squirming canvas. Buffy slammed her fist into a vamp body. It sprawled. She tackled. They took out three in the onset confusion, but the last one wriggled free. He vanished, leaving William and Buffy panting and bloody.

They collapsed on the canvas tarp adrift with dust.

“Plan worked,” William said. A cut along the bridge of his nose was closing up. “Thinking to the thinkers? You can put a check mark next to brains.”

Buffy tried to steady her breathing.

“They were strong, yes?” she panted.

“Eating their spinach.”

“But they...” she began. She noticed something very wrong with the sleeve of William’s coat. “Your arm. It’s on backwards. It’s broken.”

William sighed. “Was broken.”

“Oh,” Buffy said slowly. Her brow creased with concern. “I have to reset it.”

William winced involuntarily. “Please say there’s whiskey involved.”

“C’mon. To the bar. Let’s go.”

They crouched together near the mouth of the alley where they first encountered the super-amped vamps. Buffy went inside and returned with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s that William downed like a professional drunk. He caught his breath, then waited for the familiar burn to ignite in his belly.

“I feel... nothing,” William said. He sounded woozy. Buffy took that as a good sign.

“Nothing’s good. Nothing is the desired end,” she said.

“No. I feel nothing. At all. The boozing up has up and gone,” he said. Pain flashed in his eyes. Followed by realization. He chuckled softly. “Oh. This is a bloody riot. Regeneration’s got the new liver on hyperdrive. Whiskey might as well be water.”

“You’re saying alcohol has no effect?” Buffy balked.

William looked heavenward, then rolled his eyes back. “Good to know the Sisters have a sense of humor,” he said.

“William, take off your coat,” Buffy said.

“Don’t think I can, pet.” His teeth clenched.

Buffy took his arm in her hands. “I have to re-break it. You can’t walk around like this. You look like a little teapot.”

William caught her wrist. “Don’t be a ginger about it. I’ve had...”

The bone cracked like a rifle shot. William screamed. Buffy did too.

“Ah, bugger it,” he gulped. He smashed the empty Jack Daniel’s bottle against the opposite brick wall. “I should’ve known.”

Buffy smoothed her hand down the now straight sleeve of his coat. “I did what I had to,” she said.

“Nah. Not that,” William said. He bent his arm at the elbow, at the wrist, swiveling it around. “See? Full range of motion restored. I should have known, about what I am.”

William was not one to wear the weight of his age. Eternal youthfulness seemed his permanent press. At that moment, though, his face held all of his many years. He looked unbelievably old and tired and sad.

“I’m a thing, Buffy. A different kind of thing, but still...” He swallowed. “A thing.”

Buffy laced her fingers in his. “A good thing,” she said.
William had his doubts. She allayed them. Three little words.

“We should be getting on. Don’t want to miss our train home,” he said.





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