Okay, that Rolex makes perfect sense now. I'm sorry I was so hard on Giles' vanity now. i'm enjoying Andrew's integral role in this and the fact that Xander's still spun that the guy is helpful is entertaining. The idea of having to sift through SG-1 references to get to the meat of the matter gave me a smile, and when Xander is ready to start do the heavy lifting and ditch Andrew, this image made me laugh out loud: Andrew fondled the gun blindly. Fondled!

Xander's infiltration of the castle was vivid and entertaining and I enjoyed Giles alerting him to his whereabouts with spit. it's hard to believe Giles even knows how to spit! Giles' less than flattering assessment of the rescue attempt is already amusing, but Xander's right not to trust anyone. Kennedy and her slayers could be the tip of the treasoness ice berg.

Andrew watching the action unfolding and wildly misinterpreting it was hilarious. The time for weapon fondling has passed. It's time to storm the castle! This made me laugh out loud: Andrew studied the gun. He was vaguely satisfied that he’d seen enough rap videos to know how it worked. First he had to ‘rack the slide’ or something. Rap videos as a military training tool! Excellent. This was hysterical, too: He tried to shout the Klingon battle cry of Kalarf’hi, but all that would come out was a sort of high-pitched moan. The terrified moaning was a nice detail.

I loved this: He approached the figure slowly, feeling the orchestra swell up inside him again. He cocked his head and squinted at the dark being, dangling his pistol at his side. He tried to imagine how cool he must’ve looked at that moment, and suddenly wished that he had remembered to bring his camera-phone. The orchestra swell and the fanboying and wishing he had his camera are pitch perfect Andrew.

The cyborg knowing his name must have been one of the most wonderful moments of Andrew's life.





Author's Response: "The orchestra swell and the fanboying and wishing he had his camera are pitch perfect Andrew." Thought maybe I was laying it on little thick, there. Glad you don't think I overdid it. Andrew is one of those characters where I thought he was as funny to look at as he was to listen to. Every time I watch the jetpack scene in Seeing Red I crack up laughing "Well played, Slayer! This round to you. But the game is far from over." Baw haw haw.

Love powerful and angry vengeful Tara. So out of character, but believable in that hell. And One can't help but wonder about Nancy. That girl is clearly in a sticky situation.

Author's Response: Tara is totally OOC, I agree. Then again, Willow got pretty OOC herself after Warren bumped off Tara on the show. I think I've been trying to riff off of that somewhat.

Yup, done this one before, too. Still love the vamp doctor keeping his journal after he was turned too. Drusilla and her boys with books. :) And Dawn as a general is still pretty cool.

Author's Response: I was afraid I let it go on a little too long. It's not like the Doc is a major character or anything. I just wanted to have a fun way of introducing Dru. Thanks! :)

Loved the second by second play by play of the battle. Really felt like I was in the middle of the fight. And the non irony of Sam Finn saving the day in a chapter titled "Out of the Woods." Glad to see more of this one. And if I missed it in the last 1.5 years, I'm glad to see it back up. :) Hope Mel is okay.

Author's Response: Thanks BuffyRat. And Mel's okay. He's just a little miffed. And he's getting hungry.....

Buffy's anger and determination were chilling. Someone is trying to kill her, but not even waiting for an explanation before jumping right into the torture? She has cut herself off from feeling anything. You captured that sense of disconnect beautifully here: She floated towards him. None of this felt real - not her anger, not his pain. She was suddenly certain that she was still dead, still buried in a makeshift grave in the woods of southern California. I love that it just takes Giles uttering the name Spike to bring Buffy back to her senses.

Then the world explodes. Nicely done!

I liked this flattering take on Spike: His intuition was a razor blade, always the most supernatural thing about him. it was also lovely that Spike is up on the hill outside the villa trying to help, thinking pretty flattering things about Buffy, too.

Author's Response: "it was also lovely that Spike is up on the hill outside the villa trying to help, thinking pretty flattering things about Buffy, too." Yep. This is the type of couple that can only flatter each other in their private thoughts.

What a vivid, brutal fight. The tension was palpable and Buffy was already taking a beating when the slayer came on the scene. I like how quickly you established the new player as an enemy with The leering young face betrayed her intentions with a sinister clarity.

This vivid description is breathtaking: There was something frighteningly painless about it all. The monster did not jerk or growl or thrash her from side to side. Rather, he made subtle, almost tender adjustments to her writhing form, keeping the pressure to a slow, even crescendo as he murdered her. She felt her windpipe gently bend and squeeze shut, felt the strength drain out of her like cool sand. Buffy was in serious trouble until the strange superhero arrived and took both enemies out.

Buffy's pissiness in the face of her savior was in character and amusing. She's sore and a sore loser and she's used to being the hero of the piece. I loved her cockiness here: If only she had a little time with one of them; time to break them, grind out truth. Hmm, how quickly she forgets that if she'd had a little more time with these two foes she'd be well and truly dead!

Buffy's conclusion jumping about who sent the assassins makes sad sense. Giles sent her on that mission. That slayer is one of his wards. Let's see the old man explain his way out of this.

I'd remembered this story was wildly entertaining and I'm delighted to find it just as wonderful in the re-read!

Author's Response: "Buffy's pissiness in the face of her savior was in character and amusing. She's sore and a sore loser and she's used to being the hero of the piece. I loved her cockiness here..." Yes! Yes!! That's exactly what I was driving at.

Opening with the image of a woman rappelling down into the crater grabbed me and this Prologue never let me go.

I love this vivid, apt description: Invariably, he’d catch himself studying her instead; but furtively, a field mouse studying an eagle. The girl’s small body was a lie, he realized. She was like an athlete of some obscure sport, a network of lean muscle that seemed sculpted out of iron and misery. Rialdo has somehow sniffed out Buffy's slayer essence: Distilled loss and grief and violence.

This is incredibly powerful: They hadn’t seen him die. Not actually. They saw it in his eyes, heard it in his voice, for sure. Since then, the old African wraith had gradually abandoned her too, draining into the narrowest corners of her soul. She could still feel its seething company, but it was a remote, alien presence now; a knot of spiderwebs and black ice and nerves gone dead. It’d gone mad with grief at the theft of its lover, the unlikely kindred spirit who wore a bleach blonde vampire like a cheap suit. Magic and grief and anger seem to have burned through Buffy leaving nothing but loss in their wake.

This was gorgeous: She kept gasping him in, awestruck. Half afraid that she might choke on him, or worse, use him all up. The tattered leather seemed to magically shine itself in her fingers. It took several minutes before she realized she was crying. The coat coming clean under tears she doesn't know she's shedding is a powerful, emotional image.

I'm left wondering if Giles knows Spike has returned and sent Buffy on this mission anyway.

This is a breathtaking beginning.

This re-read is going to take some time because I need to savor the chapters.

Author's Response: Thanks BP. You always write such thoughtful and awesome reviews. I've missed that quite a bit, actually. I often looked back on your reviews while rewriting this, actually, especially when I wasn't sure if a line worked and was considering dropping or changing it. I think there have been three lines that you rescued alone!

SO glad I started this story. It's very well written and the characters and spot on. Wonder what Dawn is up to nowadays.

Author's Response: Cheers! Dawn arrives in style, eventually.....

Erm...Where is the story?

Author's Response: I buggered something up while posting, but all current chapters should be up now. (Explanation in member news).

Great placeholder chapter, might wanna actually put it up if you want people to read the whole story.

Author's Response: Sorry, I was trying to get the revised book up and I screwed something up in the process that made the update show up too early. There's a full explanation in the Member News. I think everything is sorted now, and all 27 current chapters are up.

I just started reading this story and I am so amazed. Your writing is absolutely beautiful. I am loving every second. I have to say that the suit Spike wears is highly original. In all the fanfic I have read I don't remember every reading anything like it. I reallly love that, while it allows him to walk in the sun, it doesn't actually free him from the "curse" so to speak. Brilliant.

Author's Response: Thanks astrodex! When I first started thinking about this story, I originally had all sorts of other ideas about how to keep him incognito, everything from ridiculous costumes to invisibility charms to him just running and hiding every time she entered a room. But the suit was my fave, and I'm glad you like it too!

Yes! YES! YES!!! For Buffy seeing the light and the two of them kissing! Now can Kennedy PLEASE drop dead???