The night was warm and comfortable thanks to the gusting wind. It helped cover the sounds they made. The slight moans, heavy gasps and the slapping of skin against skin. They did this only because there was nobody around, nobody to judge them.

Trees shook with from the force of the two powerful beings. Branches cracked and fell. Sounds of clothes ripping and smacks began to overpower the howling of the wind. Loud grunts and screams echoed in the small forest and caught the attention of those uninvited.

One unwelcome spectator called Angel had wandered off to find her… his one-time love and battle companion. He had phoned before arriving so as not to run into any trigger happy slayers about. They did not know him and he wasn’t about to take the risk

Xander had answered and told him that she had gone off alone again to work off some aggression from an earlier argument with Faith and Giles. Angel wanted to deliver information he’d discovered of a threat to her and her troupe. The vampire had travelled long for this purpose and felt relief that soon his objective would be complete.

The wind had hindered him … unable to smell, see or hear where she could have gone he decided to phone back to the slayer headquarters for assistance. Willow answered this time.

“Do you think she has a tracking device on her maybe … or a cell phone that can be tracked… what? … no … I just wa-… wait you can do that… ok … yeah… sure. I’ll wait”.

As he hung up the phone a loud crash came from the distance. Angel, ever heroic and action-orientated began to run towards the noise. He closed his mouth during the run so as not to choke on the wind which became more violent as he got closer. Even though he couldn’t breathe having air forced into your lungs still felt uncomfortable. Soon he was trying to push his way through the gusts hoping to reach her in time to aid her or at least watch. He loved to watch her. She was beautiful and deadly and he could never get enough of the sight.

He began to feel like the fates didn’t want him to reach her, what with the wind becoming stronger and very hurricane-ish. With every step he took the wind pushed him back a few. Tiring he decided he needed to wait.

Maybe just wait for Willow to come. With her help maybe we can dampen some of this stupid wind for a moment. Yeah… Buffy can handle herself til then.

Willow showed up minutes later with Xander, Faith, Oz and Giles. And as she got nearer the wind became gentler, until it was only a mild breeze. Giles and Faith had come with her hoping to resolve the earlier argument that caused Buffy to run off. Xander and Oz had decided that they could help mediate any repercussion from that brilliant idea. Irritated that he wouldn’t be allowed any alone time with Buffy, Angel lashed out at the crew.

“I can handle this on my own and what makes you think she would even want to talk to you two right now?” he said pointing towards Giles and Faith.

“Look B can’t hide from the fact that me and Giles have been handling the infiltrating of vampire clans for a while now. She’s the boss ya, but I’m not gonna sit here and act all teach for the little ones. I just hate sitting around … and with any luck the bitch is just gonna send me on crappy jobs that she wants nothing to do with.” Faith yelled.

Xander bristled “That’s not true we would have sent you on whatever job you wanted all ya had to do was just ask us and if you did it nicely then maybe we give you some perks to go along with.”

Faith shot daggers at Xander. “And how nicely would that have been…hmmmm? You talking about treating your tubesteak like a lollipop, cause sorry soldier boy been there done that AND NOT VERY FUCKING INTERESTED!”

Willow rushed up and placed herself in front of Xander attempting to deflect the anger towards herself. “Look Faith, why don’t we just find Buffy and you can direct the I’m-A-Woman-Hear-Me-Freak on over to her. It might be better idea, don’t cha think?”

Angel watched on the sidelines getting ever more frustrated and glowery. Thinking of how bad an idea it was to phone Willow in the first place he started walk towards the crash site again. Hoping that he remembered where he saw the tree go down.

The others noticed Angel walk away and decided to follow and save whatever that had been for later. Willow caught up to Angel attempting to give the help she had offered earlier but was denied.

“I think I know where she might be Willow, so don’t worry about it. I heard a crash just after I got off the phone with you and saw some trees fall just over there. I think that’s where she’s going to be.”

“Well ok, but don’t forget I’m here in case we can’t find her. You did tell Xander the information you had was important.”

They kept walking until they saw wreckage up ahead. They rushed into the newly made clearing and saw broken trees, smashed boulders and overturned brush.

“What the holy hell happened here? You think the Buffster is ok? Oh my god is that blood there? Dammit someone answer me…”

The voice of reason and Watcher-like calm answered him. “Xander it is obvious that we don’t know. But if you don’t subdue yourself we might not be able to find out. And what if ‘time is of the essence’ in this situation and we end up with a dead slayer on our hands, do you think you could shut up then?”

Xander took a deep breath, then nodded and the group silently walked through the trail of debris. Pieces of flesh and clothing were strewn about giving the area a grisly feel. Willow began to feel bile rise in her throat and started to gag. Oz whom Willow had recently confided everything to grabbed her and pushed her head on his shoulder as they walked.

Five metres ahead the sounds of violence intensified. All became worried and moved more quickly towards the chaos. They all hoped that with their numbers they might be able to help with whatever struggle they were sure to find. They only hoped that they weren’t too late since Buffy was alone in this battle.

What they found shocked each and every one of them. They were frozen. Some entranced, others disturbed. None had expected this.


To be continued….

As the group got closer they could hear the sounds of a fight more clearly. They turned off the few flashlights they had, noticing small fires glowing up ahead. Even more closer they could see two dark blue figures attacking each other in the black night. Shapes of branches (the few that were left intact) covered some of the action taking place.

Each member of the group looked at each other and made motions towards their mouths indicating silence. All nodding they proceeded towards their destination a little more relaxed now that they didn’t see a large crew of demons lurking about. Still curious they pressed on unaware of who Buffy was fighting with.

Finally they were close enough notice who was the other combatant. Platinum blonde hair shone from the forest with a billowy coat all wrapped around his body. Oh yeah, there was no mistaking that guy. Angel and Giles wanted to see Buffy kick his ass again; Xander, Oz and Willow just wanted to know what was going on; while Faith was interested in watching only because she had never seen the duo in action before.

Willow realizing that they might be scented or picked up on cast a little spell to conceal their presence. She didn’t want to disturb what seemed to be some kind of argument between Spike and Buffy. Also she noticed how entranced everyone else was with the conflict in front of them. Some time ago Andrew had spilled the beans and told them that Spike was back and working with Angel. That had thrown them for a loop and depressed Buffy somewhat as he never once tried to contact them.

She eventually figured that Buffy was probably pissed with him and needed to work a few things out. Plus she was a little miffed at Spike too since she considered them all friends now anyways. And friends didn’t ignore friends or not let them know about something as big as coming back from the dead.

Stupid jerk-face doesn’t even call us. Doesn’t he know how upset he made Buffy? Dumb male, I thought he worshiped her.

Buffy flew back a few steps cracking against a fallen tree trunk. Winded she jumped up onto the tree waiting for her moment. Spike was making strides towards her and when he got close enough she jumped up with her hands held high above her. She had locked her fingers together to make a fist that landed with a thud against the side of Spike’s head knocking him to the ground. He landed and rolled over quickly just as her foot moved to stomp his stomach. He put his hands up defensively, fingers spread out to catch her boot. Once he did he pushed up and knocked her in the face with her raised knee using her own momentum against her. Stunned she flopped back onto her butt and shook her head.

Within seconds Spike had sat up and launched at her sitting form. Knocking her down he lifted a closed fist in the air which she easily grabbed with both hands since he hadn’t bothered to kneel on her arms. After successfully stalling the blow Buffy then let one hand drop to the ground and with the other she shoved his arm away from her. The hand on the ground moved up his leg to grab his thigh. Spike being the adaptable and cunning fighter that he was raised his other arm bending it at the elbow. He then clubbed Buffy in the face with his other fist momentarily stunning her. But Buffy wasn’t easily subdued, she carried out her planned move and swiveled her hips to push him off to the side. Quickly scrambling up and grabbing his duster she lifted him and threw him onto a nearby rock smacking his head against it. Spike having the longer body bent his legs so that his calves were underneath his thighs. He then used that new leverage to push his torso and head up knocking Buffy hard with the flat of his forehead. This stunned both fighters and Buffy fell off Spike while he fell forward onto his hands. Both recovered in mere seconds and Buffy lifted her leg to smash her foot in his face. Spike however had not been in any position to defend himself from her attack and dropped to the ground. Buffy scrambled to the tree trunk and pulled herself up. Spike rolled to the side and leaped up.

Buffy stared at him panting while he just glared back not giving away any indications of tiring. Resigned Buffy ran towards him to bull him over. Spike however grabbed her waist as she plowed into him and lifted her over his shoulder. Buffy flipped and landed on her feet twisting her body around and swinging her leg along to kick him in the face. This was unfortunately what Spike had been anticipating and he lifted her leg even higher up while using one of his legs to sweep her other one out from under her. When Buffy collapsed flat on her back Spike used the leg he was still holding onto and began to swing her in the air. Once he had lifted her high enough he released the leg to watch her crash against a standing tree, the force of her body breaking the trunk in half. Buffy groaned from the ground and struggled to get up.

The group hiding and watching in the brush next to them were for the most part frozen in place. All engrossed in the sight before them. Xander, Giles, Willow and Oz were astonished that the fight was quickly becoming so callous. At times one or two of them tried to interfere but Angel held them back knowing that it was really none of their business. He and Faith both understood what it meant to be a warrior. No matter what constant stress and internal torment built up inside oneself, fighting it out sometimes seemed like the most natural way to release it.

Angel looked over at Faith remembering that night in the rain when she wanted him to kill her. Faith feeling his eyes on her looked back at him. Seeing the tender knowing look in he was giving her she smiled back at him and nodded towards the couple raising her eyebrow. They then turned back to the action waiting it out, hoping the damage wouldn’t be too bad.

Buffy while pulling herself up began to wonder why she was going along with this. And just as suddenly remembered her first thought after accidentally backhanding Spike following the defeat of the demons lying all around them.

Payback’s a bitch.

Deep down she felt like she kind of deserved this and owed him in a way. He had been her punching bag more than a few times in the past and now she was returning the favor. It was easy for her to notice he was hurting in some way and she hoped that this therapeutic scrap would be just the trick. Years of fighting, screwing, talking and banter made it simple for her to read him and vice versa. She knew that if she didn’t go all out he would notice and probably think she was pitying him. He deserved her full attention even though she wasn’t really hyped for this.

Resolved with her plan she pushed herself up to turn around and rush him. Spike on the other hand used the break to drift off into himself and was not ready for her. She knocked him into a tree, pushing out all the air he had trapped in his dead lungs. His head snapped up and he clocked her full in the face. Her head flew back and blood spewed from her mouth. Unrelentingly Spike landed several blows to her chest. Buffy recovering lifted her leg slightly and stomped straight into his leg fracturing his tibia. She was angry now after the bastard hit her boobs along with her ribs. Grabbing his arm she pulled it behind her and used her airborne leg to kick at his stomach. She kicked so hard that Spike’s arm popped out of its socket dislocating itself. Buffy then released the arm jumping up onto a nearby fallen tree and kicked him full in the face knocking him back into the tree behind him.

Spike took a second to recuperate and with his blood dripping out of his nose, popped his arm back in before he reached up and grabbed the branches behind him lifting his body up. Fast as lighting he pushed himself from the tree and landed right in front of Buffy using his right arm to hit her. She slapped it away not realizing that his left was sneaking up for an uppercut. She saw stars as her head snapped back. Spike reached around and grabbed the hair at the base of her head to hold it still while he rained punch after punch into her face. Buffy coming to slowly kneed him right where it counted and he dropped to his knees. She then grabbed the top of his head and lifted her knee up connecting the two together repeatedly. Blood was spilling down from her forehead from a cut that one of Spike’s rings had created. Soon blood was running down his face as well, his nose a gnarled mess from her kneeing him in the face. On one particular blow Spike grabbed her leg from under her knee, vamped out and bit her right on her thigh. Buffy screamed and fell off the tree trunk while Spike slithered down with her and crawled up her body. He then grabbed the hand that had been holding his head and squeezed hard enough to break a few of her knuckles. Buffy through the pain quickly lost her edge and wrath. She tried to buck him off of her by thrashing about. Spike spread his legs out around her body and grabbed her jacket and pulling her up with him only to throw her to the ground viciously. He then raised his leg up and boot stomped her prone figure cracking a few of the ribs he bruised earlier.

Buffy screamed loudly begging him to stop. Staring down at her Spike felt his frustration mount and began to scream at her face. “FUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKIIING CUNT!” Still screaming he raised his face to the sky. “WHHHAAAATTT THE FUCCCCK IS WRONG WITH MEEEEEE???”


To be continued….