She felt Spike wrap his arm around her waist and she leaned back against him, “We should go raid that nest since it’s nighttime already.” Spike nodded but made no effort to move. Buffy whispered, “Are you happy Spike? Do you think you will be really happy here? You are living with a bunch of girls with only Giles as guy companionship and are not really battling to save the world. Is that going to bother you?” Spike shook his head, “I told you earlier, I’ll be fine. All I need to survive is you and blood. My demon needs violence and you and this pesky soul needs to do good deeds and I think you can provide it all. We will be fine.” He rocked her gently as she let out a sigh finally drawing away, “Let’s go get this council stuff.” Spike followed her upstairs to watch her change into a pair of black pants and a black short sleeve shirt. She pulled her hair back in a ponytail and pulled her duster from the closet, sliding on her boots. She watched as he removed his blue shirt sliding a black one in its place and put on his duster. He helped himself to a few stakes and a crossbow from her weapon chest as she did the same, “Ready luv?” “Ready when you are. Let’s go get those vampires!” Spike chuckled but followed her.
Buffy felt excitement as she fought by Spike’s side. Her leg was stronger and she was ready for battle. The bruises were just about gone and she didn’t even notice them as she fought for her life. She dusted one vampire jumping over him to land in front of a second making short work of him, giving him no warning. The other two now in front of her weren’t so easily tricked. She kicked one vampire knocking him into a stone wall which barely phased him while she punched the other, taking a few blows herself. She jumped into the air kicking one vampire then another, but the third grabbed her foot pushing her backwards where she bumped into Spike who growled at her, “Be careful Slayer” but up righted her just the same. She turned around at the now four vampires that were quickly approaching her and she lunged forward dusting one before she had another vampire knock her from behind. She easily fought off two of the vampires while the third kept getting knocked around by the kicks and punches she was giving the other two. Finally dusting one of the two she was knocking around she was left with two.
Staring at her handiwork, Buffy didn’t notice the vampire behind her until she heard Spike’s voice yell out, “Buffy!” and she swung around as the other two jumped on her. She felt dust surround her and she coughed as her head banged against the floor stunning her for a moment. She could barely make out the fight around her but heard Spike growling and the sound of heavy battle going on. She shook her head regaining her senses as she stood up taking on the vampire that had started to attack her. She was amazed by how big this vampire nest really was as she went to full battle form with him. She punched him twice in the face only to be backhanded by him. She jumped over him, kicking him in the back to land on his face and then jumped onto him to land a few punches in the face before dusting him. She then noticed it was really quiet in the room as she turned around looking for Spike who was not in sight. She panicked noticing all the dust piles and screamed out a loud, “SPIKE!!!!!” With still no answer she rushed out of the building with no one in sight. She tried to use her senses but felt so many vampire tingles she didn’t know what to think. She ran towards the direction where they were the heaviest and found another nest of five vampires.
She was angry and upset and so scared she quickly dusted three vampires and then managed to beat the other two to a pulp. As she stood kicking the one and then the other as blood poured out of them until finally one stated, “Just dust me already slayer.” Buffy sighed, pulling out another stake and dusted them both at the same time then fell down to the ground in tears. She couldn’t believe she had gained Spike only to lose him almost immediately. She was so distraught she never noticed the vampire behind her until she felt herself being lifted up and cradled against his cool body. She opened her tear-filled eyes whispering, “Spike.” He kissed her gently on the lips, “It’s me kitten. What happened?” Buffy sniffled, running her hand over her face to try to clear it, “I got the wind knocked out of me and then woke up to deal with more vampires and then all was quiet and I turned around and you were gone. You weren’t there and dust piles surrounded me and I thought perhaps you were one of them. Then I felt so many vampires again I found a second nest but again you weren’t there. After I dusted them I couldn’t take it anymore. I thought you were dead so I…”
Spike finished for her, “Cried. I’m sorry. I chased a vampire into another crypt where I had to deal with 10 vampires. Roughed me up pretty bad. There two more nests if you are up to it. I could sense them when I was over there. I’m not sure if there are any more. It appears that we have wandered into a huge vampire section of town. I should have remembered this place. Dru and I hung out here sometimes when we needed action. They are well known in the demon world for their big parties. Are you ok? Can you take on more vampires?”
Buffy felt Spike wipe her face and then run his hands over her body “I don’t smell your blood.” Buffy smiled through her tears, “I’m ok. I can do more. I just need to go back and collect my stakes. I ran out of there so fast I never bothered to collect them.” Spike nodded understanding as he picked up her one stake there and then they gathered the other stakes from the first place and he noticed a few books. He made a note to come back here after they had dusted the other nests to check it out. He glanced towards Buffy as they stood outside a loud nest and whispered, “Ready pet?” She nodded and together they kicked the doors open to find about 10 more vampires standing around talking with loud music playing.
There was even a pool table in the room that the vampires were using. She saw Spike’s eyes flicker over the pool table longingly and she made a deal with herself. If it wasn’t destroyed, she would have it taken back to the castle. She lunged into action with the first two vampires who noticed their presence. She roundhouse kicked the one into the other and ducked as they used their pool sticks on her trying to take off her head. She yelled, “Hey don’t break those. I want to keep the table once you are dusted.” The vampires looked unimpressed as they used the pool sticks as weapons despite her comment. She dodged one swing after another until one of the vampires tripped her while the other had her dodging. Buffy landed hard on her side jarring her back causing her to give a cry out in pain but she ignored it as she jumped back to her feet. She kicked the one vampire only to turn around and find another. She heard Spike’s growl behind her, letting her know he was still in battle too. She jumped up getting ready to use the trick Spike had taught her and turned around doing a back flip to plunge the stake into the vampire’s back, dusting him. She pulled another stake from her back pocket as she battled the second vampire who was greatly upset at her dusting the female. She felt a few punches of his hit her but she was determined as she punched him right back.
She kicked him into the wall but was thrown backwards and as he lunged into her. She kicked up her feet sending him flying across the room missing the pool table, which was surprisingly still intact, by only a few inches. She sighed in relief but that only lasted a second as a big demon with horns picked her up and threw her across the room near the vampire she had thrown, just missing the table. She moaned in pain as she stood up and dusted the vampire who landed on her stake when he jumped on her. She brushed herself off as she looked around.
The vampires were dead but Spike was in bad shape and being kicked by the big demon. She picked up a hunk of stone that had been broken off the walls in one of the battles and quietly but quickly approached the demon from behind and slammed the stone down as hard as she could on his head, knocking him out. She offered Spike her hand, noticing how badly he was bleeding, as he spit out some blood from his mouth. He wiped it then picked up the demon by the neck and twisted. She threw her arms around Spike, surveying the still standing pool table. She whispered against his ear, “We have ourselves a new pool table.” Spike chuckled as he gestured towards the huge stereo, “And a new stereo” as he swung her around ignoring the way he was seriously wounded. She frowned, “We can come back for the last nest if you want.” Spike shook his head, “This one is much smaller and full of what I would guess would be fledglings. I’m thinking it’s the hatching area.”
Buffy looked skeptical but followed him and had to admit he was right. There were two female vampires who were awake but the rest were dead bodies. She jumped up onto one of the tables holding the soon to awaken vampires and dusted one female as Spike twisted the other vampire’s head clean off. She then glanced towards Spike, “You take the ones on the left and me on the right?” Spike nodded as he pulled out the stakes still in his back pocket. If he broke the stakes he had in half, it would be enough for all the vampires to wake up and be immediately dusted. He went to work plunging the stakes into their hearts and leaving them there so that when they awoke, they would be instantly dusted. Buffy did the same with her side, using some of the stakes Spike had broken to set it up. When they were finished, Buffy dusted off her black clothing and sighed in relief as the only tingles she felt were made by Spike. She glanced towards Spike, “Any more? My senses are clear.” Spike shook his head, “I think this section is clear. Let’s see if we can find the council items. Can you call Xander to bring a bigger vehicle for the pool table and stereo as well as this nice leather couch?” Buffy nodded whipping out her cell phone sighing as she mentioned to Giles, “Send Xander and a few slayers over here. The vampires have donated some furniture to us…Ow!”
She dropped the phone and clutched her stomach where a demon with a sword had snuck up behind her and cut her. She screamed out as the demon struck her again on her arm causing her blood to fill the air. Spike smelled it form the next crypt over and ran into the room, roaring at the demon. The demon sliced into his abdomen before Spike had a chance to react but Spike ignored the pain at having two gashes now in his stomach and kicked the demon into the wall and punched him in the stomach before grabbing his neck. He used his knee to knock the sword from the demon’s hand before he released him just for a second to catch the sword driving it into the demon’s stomach. The demon fell over in pain as Spike twisted his head and he ran back over to Buffy. She had lost consciousness and he felt himself on the verge of doing so.
He picked her up, carrying her to the Viper, not caring that their blood was making a mess of the car as he moved his hands over her body trying to find her phone. He noticed it wasn’t on her and cursed as he ran as fast as he could while losing a lot of blood until he reached the crypt where he could faintly make out Giles’s voice yelling, “Buffy, Buffy are you ok? Buffy answer me. Bloody just answer me.” Spike picked up the phone racing back to the car, “Rupert, we are badly hurt. The nest is clean and there’s two dead demons but we have to get back. We are both losing a lot of blood. Sends some slayers to collect your items and send someone back to pick up the couch, stereo and pool table and probably even the TV if you want. Bloody Hell this hurts. We will be back in about 10 minutes.” He hung up the phone tossing it into the back of the car as he slammed the car into drive, stepping on the gas. He barely took the time to shift the stick as he headed towards the castle at record speed. Reaching the castle, he turned the car off after parking it and carried Buffy into the castle. He laid her down on the green room’s leather sofa before collapsing next to her and promptly passing out.