The others returned a half hour before the sun began to set. They were chatty and giggly and reminded Spike of the times he had observed them from afar. When they had been carefree and so young. The teenagers who had thwarted every evil scheme he could come up with were gone and here in their place were three people aged by time and experience.
They had gotten a call from the two young slayers that lived nearby telling them that they would be arriving within the next few hours. There was nothing else to do but wait for night to fall.
********
"Do you have what I asked for?"
"Yes master. The woman you seek is here in Cleveland staying at the house of the other slayer."
"Now that is interesting. And how do you know this?"
"The demon you sent to kill the slayers in this area was destroyed by her. She had been staying at a motel and relocated after the failed attack."
"So they would be together then. We shall wait until tomorrow I have the perfect thing in mind for them." He noticed that his favorite minion seemed to pause. "Something else I need to know?"
"The others say that they are not alone."
"No this one never is. We shall deal with that when the time permits. Now leave me."
"Yes master."
He bowed and made his way out of the room.
********
The bar was more of a dive than even Willy's had been. It felt like it looked dark and dirty. Buffy noticed a cockroach crawl across the top of the bar and cringed. Gross was an understatement. At least she was comfortable enough with the demon clientele. Nothing in here she didn't recognize and she had the advantage, none of them knew who she was. She was sure they could tell she was a slayer, most demons would be able to sense that, but no one knew her. It made the evening a little more exciting and gave her a small thrill.
They had gone in separately of course. Spike went in first getting a feel for the room. Watching as a few of the others gathered together near the back to talk quietly to each other. He stopped at the bar and ordered himself a whiskey. Taking his drink and moving stealthily through the crowd he made his way closer to the group of vampires. Stopping at a chair near them he sat down quietly his attuned ears straining to hear. He could make out a few words something about a certain master and slayers and the word that caught his attention, tomorrow. Something was going to happen and it was going to be done tomorrow and it involved the slayers.
Buffy watched him from beside the bar saw him concentrate on the conversations around him. She waited patiently having done this with him so many times in the past. It was comforting in a way to know that even though she had changed so much some things were timeless. She watched his brow furrow and scan the room looking for her. When he caught her gaze he nodded in the direction of the guys directly behind him. She nodded imperceptibly.
She approached them easily a slight smile on her lips.
"This seat taken?" she gestured to the chair near the vamps her voice light and flirtatious. She stared at the group, four in all sizing each one up in turn. Two were brand new fledglings maybe a week old she guessed. The other two were slightly older and one of them Buffy noticed was not reading quite right to her. It occurred to her that the odd one was just a little too sure of himself that maybe he was older than she thought. The two youngsters just stared at her. Both had a dark complexion one slightly heavy and neither looking much older than fifteen or sixteen when they were turned. The one she was not getting the weird vibe from was a skinny nerdy looking blond. Vibe boy was a different story all together. He had light brown hair and was built almost like a line backer. Mostly muscle she guessed on his huge frame. His eyes however shined with knowledge and a small shiver ran up and down her spine.
He was the one who finally answered.
"We don't need your company."
"Now that’s kind of rude don't you think? I was being all social like." She pulled a stake out of the waistband of her skirt. "I just thought maybe you guys could answer a couple of questions for me."
He snorted in disgust. "Not from you Slayer." he waved his hand at the other three and all of them stood up.
The growls could easily be heard around the bar and with the four standing over the petite blond woman there were no doubts about what had caused them.
"What is it with you guys. Can't anyone just answer the questions for once? Dare to be a little different." She sighed. "Alright but can we make this quick I have other things I could be doing."
"I just need enough time to snap your neck bitch."
"Oh yeah that's so original." She tossed her hair.
They began to stalk towards her and she reflexively took a step back trying to give herself enough room. The skinny blond was first kind of tripping over his own feet. It was kind of sad really as her stake sunk home and the dust settled around her.
The two fledglings charged together each fumbling into each other before making a grab for her. She tugged on the arm of the lighter one pulling him over her shoulder sending him crashing into the bar. She could hear a roar from that direction but ignored it as she sidestepped the other dark vampire. Reaching out with her foot she kicked him sending him in the opposite direction contacting the wall with a thud.
Spike watched as the vamp made like he was on a trapeze and flew through the air with the greatest of ease. To bad the landing was so awful. The poor fledgling slid over the top of the bar and knocked into the drinks of some other demons. They came to their feet quickly a roar sounding out from the taller of the two. Uh oh. Moving quickly Spike placed himself between the fighting group and the quickly approaching demons. Putting on his best charming smile he greeted them.
"Hey let me get you guys some fresh drinks. Damn bloody bar fights never let a bloke finish a quiet drink anymore."
The growl he got was more than enough answer.
"Well since you put it that way." He started letting his fists fly at the pissed off creatures.
Buffy still had the edge on the younger vamps and had finally managed to stake the thinner of the two after he came back from his encounter with the wall. She warily eyed the older vamp noticing that he was still just watching and not taking part in the fight. She spun to face the remaining brunette sending a punch into his face. His stumbled and ran into Spike's back.
He turned and pushed the other vamp off of him towards Buffy. In a few quick strides she had closed the gap between them and gave him a solid kick to the solar plexus. As he doubled over she shoved her stake into his chest. Turning she saw the last vamp make what looked like a quick decision and rap on the wall behind him. Buffy groaned she just knew this couldn't be good.
Where it had appeared to be a solid wall she could now see a hidden door opening. It looked like the room behind it must be rather large as judging from the group of other vampires made their way towards them. This was not looking like it was going to go in their favor.
Spike wasn't sure what noise it was that drew his attention from the two now bloodied demons but he turned and looked in the direction he thought it came from. He watched as a group of twenty vamps sauntered into the room. There weren't very good odds and he knew it. Without time for further thought his attention again returned to the angry fellows from the bar. At least Spike could tell they were tiring and the fight was going easy enough. But now wasn't the time quickly he dispatched the two demons not giving them time to react using razor sharp claws to slit their throats.
As Spike watched Buffy slowly back up to him trying to maintain some distance to this new threat. There had to be at least twenty of them filing out of the tiny doorway the vibe vamp leaning nearby against the wall. He could see that it looked pleased at its little surprise for them.
"Right let's do this then." Spike mumbled.
There was a blur of movement as both Slayer and Vampire converged on them. Even as dust started to fill the air around them they could sense that they were quickly losing ground. Still fighting hard both began to back towards the entrance to the bar.
"Well is this a private party or is anyone invited?"
A smile tugged at the corners of Buffy's mouth hearing the familiar voice.
"Let's just consider this your wedding gift."
"Well thanks B it's just what I wanted."
Pressing their new advantage the three of them began retaking the bar from the vamps. The air was clogging with dust as the numbers started to dwindle down. Ten, eight, seven and then just five. Spike and Faith fought two at once each easily moving between their respective targets. Buffy was left with a rather heavyset vamp that couldn't move very well. Not using much effort she feinted to the side letting his size carry him past her. And like that he was a big dust cloud.
She gave a slight nod of approval seeing them readily taking care of their adversaries. Confident she scanned the room again and saw the one demon that might have some answers for her. His sly confident air was now gone and he seemed to be looking for another way out. It was obvious that there wasn’t one and she could see the resignation in his face as she approached him. She walked slowly giving the appearance of a predator stalking its prey.
"Now see how messy that was? We could of had a nice little talk been all friendly like but nooo you wouldn't cooperate."
She watched him grit his teeth. "I'm not telling you anything."
Buffy sighed loud and dramatically. Placing her hands on her hips she gave him her best Slayer look. "You'll tell me what I need to know." She let a slow powerful grin spread across her lips. "Or don't talk it will make it more interesting."
Slowly they began circling each other as the sounds of the others fights filtered in the air around them. Sizing each other up determining if the other was a true threat or not. With a sudden burst of speed the vamp lashed out at her stake hand knocking it away from her and she could hear it clatter across the floor. Not a problem considering all the broken chairs that were now dispersed through out the bar. They began to trade blows in earnest now evenly landing some and blocking others. Buffy knew now that this vamp was really closer to fighting a master vampire than she had previously thought. His age confused her though. It seemed like he was still too new to justify his fighting skills and strength. She shrugged mentally. He wouldn't be the first master vamp she took down.
Lurching he got in a couple of lucky shots to her face. Buffy battled back knocking him back against the wall he had recently been leaning against. When she stepped near him he took advantage and reached for her throat. She caught the gleam of the knife blade its arc cutting through the air.
Dusting one of his two vamps Spike took a quick glance around the room. He could see Buffy fighting the vamp she had been talking to before this brawl broke out. The one he was still fighting took this moment however to come charging at the bleached blond. Ducking he let him slide across his back as he tossed him out into another poor table. He could hear it smash as the thing landed with its full weight.
Turning back to look at Buffy he saw as the vamp reached out and grabbed her throat and caught the shiny glint of steel as it was brought out from behind his back. Reacting quickly he was at her side in a flash and pushed her out of his grasp. He caught the other vamp by the wrist forcing him to drop the knife. So intent was he that he took no notice of what was going on behind him.
The force of Spike's push had sent her into a short roll across the floor. Glaring at him she jumped to her feet. She watched as his forgotten foe stalked carefully towards him her dropped stake curled in one hand. Slidding over to him quickly she took hold of the now upraised stake arm and twisted it down so it penetrated his own chest. As it exploded into dust she turned back to the lone conspirator.
Spike still had one wrist on his hand the other was wrapped around its throat. He squeezed tightly and grinned evilly when he was the pain flash in the others eyes. Relaxing his hold ever so slightly he looked deep into his eyes.
"I believe the lady wanted you to answer some questions mate." He growled low and long.
If anything the younger vamp's eyes grew wider in appreciation of the predicament he found himself in.
"I don't know anything."
Buffy snorted loudly. "Please we're blond not stupid. Now I want you to tell us who is putting you guys up to this."
"I don't know."
Spike's grip tightened again. "Straight answer right now might be your best bet."
"I don't know! There was a thing on the internet wanting everyone to band together, rid ourselves of all the slayers." Came the choked response.
"And exactly what was the plan?" Anger clearly lacing her voice.
"To get enough participants to stalk all the slayers and take them out at the same time."
"Then what?"
"Don't know we were waiting for our next contact."
"When and How?"
"Internet all done on line. They just send us a message when their ready."
Buffy nodded towards Spike and the offending demon slowly floated in tiny pieces to the floor.
She turned back to see Faith leaning against the bar watching them.
"Ready?"
"Yeah B this place is a dive even by my standards."
Together the three of them walked outside into the warm night
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