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Author's Chapter Notes:
Yes, I am using alot of the dialouge from the Pangs episode. I am attempting to put my own spin on things.
"Pretty darn scary out there. It was more like a riot than a Ralph's," Buffy commented as she kicked open the door to Giles's apartment. She was juggling both bags of groceries since she asked Willow to run to the college library and find some books on the Chumash Indians. "And I thought I was going to have to use Slayer moves on this one woman who was completely hoarding the pumpkin pie filling."

Spike chuckled at the thought of his mate flashing a bit of fang at some poor unsuspecting innocent. He held his hands up in defeat when she glared at him and went to help her with the grocery sacks. Spike set the bags on the kitchen bar while Buffy went into the kitchen. He then settled down on one of the bar stools.

"From what Spike tells me, it's clear we're dealing with a spirit of some kind. It's very common for Indian spirits to change to animal form," Giles announced as he followed Buffy into the kitchen.

"I didn't get there in time to save the father, but he was able to tell me that the spirit can be killed by its own weapons," replied Spike, "'m not sure why I didn't kill it while I had the chance. Could be the mating and the sharing of Buffy's soul. I got all mixed up with guilt and the destruction of an indigenous culture."

"They are called Native Americans now, guys," Buffy said distractedly as she studied the pumpkin pie recipe on the side of the can. She turned the oven on to preheat.

"What?" both Brits said together.

"We don't say Indian. It's politicially incorrect. So don't say it front of Willow, she's channeling her mother today," Buffy replied as she began setting the pie ingredients on the kitchen counter.

"Oh right. Yes, yes," snarked huffily Giles, "Always behind on the terms. I'm still trying not to refer to you lot as 'bloody colonials'."

Spike chuckled once again, but quickly stopped as he got a mental slap up side the head from his mate. He could tell she was a little stressed out between the holiday and the big brooding poofter stalking her every move.

"Well, this spirit warrior... Hus, you called him... has killed innocent people," Giles reminded Buffy.

"Yes. I get that, okay. And I do want to stop him. I'd just like to find a non-slayee way to do it," Buffy announced just before she was interrupted by a knock on the door. "There's Willow. Can you get the door, Giles?"

Giles went to the front door, opened it and found Willow standing there with her arms full of books. He grabbed about half of the books before walking over to place them on the table. Willow stepped inside the apartment and closed the door using her foot.

"You know who is hovering across the street," Willow grimaced as she crossed the room to the table. She set the books down and grabbed a chair to sit in.

"Idiot vampire," Buffy muttered, "Why he thinks I can't handle seeing him is beyond me."

"You know Angel's in town?" Giles asked. He guessed he didn't need to keep it a secret after all.

"Yep, he scared Willow half to death in the Espresso pump. She told me he was here. Stupid vampire," Buffy said as she returned to mixing the pie filling.

"I could go out and thump him for you, Slayer. It'd be great fun," Spike smirked and curled his tongue behind his teeth. Visions of pounding on Angelus's ass floated through his mind.

"Mmmm, it's tempting, baby, but just let him play his stupid games and he will go back to LA soon enough," Buffy gave her mate a mental kiss as she poured the pie filling into the crusts. She placed the pies in the oven and set the timer on the back of the stove. Buffy moved to the grocery sacks again and pulled out a couple of boxes of chocolate pudding and a graham cracker pie crust.

"What's all this?" Giles asked indicating the books that Willow had brought with her.

"Atrocities. I got the full poop on the Chumash Indians and our fabulous buried mission. I have been busy reading about the Chumash War," Willow picked up one of the books and turned to a page she had marked with a slip of paper.

"The Chumash were peaceful," Giles said in a confused voice. At least, he thought they had been.

"Oh, they were peaceful, all right. They were fluffy indigenous kittens, till we came along," Willow practically growled causing the others to look at her with raised eyebrows.

"So what happened to the Chumash?" Buffy asked. She was almost done with the chocolate pies; they just needed to harden in the fridge for a couple of hours.

"How about imprisonment, forced labor, herded like animals into a mission full of bad European diseases?" Willow was on a roll now. She grabbed a book and turned it so the others could see the pictures.

"Boy, cultural partnership center really didn't stress any of that stuff," Buffy murmured. She walked out of the kitchen to settle herself on the bar stool next to Spike.

"Not even a diorama. And it gets better. The few Chumash who tried to rebel were hanged. And when a group was accused of stealing cattle, they were killed. Men, women, and children. And for proof to bring back to their accusers...," Willow continued to open books to paper-slip marked pages.

"They cut off their ears," Giles hazarded a guess.
"So Hus wasn't kidding about the rightful vengeance routine," Buffy replied.

"He's recreating all the wrongs done to his people. And it's up to us to stop him," Giles announced.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be helping him?" Willow asked. The others stared at her with puzzled looks on their faces.

"No, I think perhaps we won't help the angry spirit with his rape and pillage and murder," Giles's forehead wrinkled as he tried to figure out Willow's line of reasoning.

"Well... okay, no, but we should be helping him redress his wrongs. Bring the atrocities to light," Willow said a bit fanatically.

"If the history books are full of them, I'd say they already are redressed, Willow. I would have no problems helping him, if the people that wronged him weren't dead for centuries. We have to stop this thing," Giles told Willow in a mild tone, "Besides if Angel's friend is right, Buffy might be in particular danger from this menace."

"He was here talking to you, too?" Buffy growled. Idiot vampire.

"Yes, he informed me of his friend having a vision involving you. And he is the one that told me about Father Gabriel," Giles was interrupted by a knock on the door. He got up to open it to find Anya and a sickly looking Xander standing outside.

"Happy Thanksgiving," Xander whimpered.

"Xander, you look like death," Giles observed. He wondered how the hell Xander had gotten out of bed this morning, looking so deathly pale. Giles could see that Xander's skin was pale with dark circles around his eyes, his hands and legs were shaky and his skin was moist and fevered.

"Are you okay?" Buffy and Willow asked at the same time as they saw how terrible Xander looked.

Anya and Xander entered the apartment. Anya helped Xander lay down on the couch where she plumped a pillow before placing it under his head. She took his hand as he smiled sadly up at her.

"The doctor couldn't figure out what was up with me. He said I had a lot of symptoms that didn't connect," Xander muttered weakly. His energy seemed to seep from his body right in front of his friends.

"I think they are connected," replied Spike.

"To the Chumash spirit vengeance guy?" Xander asked.

"Willow, didn't you say the Chumash got all diseased when they were all holed up in the mission," Buffy asked. She had immediately picked up on Spike's line of reasoning. Being connected sure did have its advantages.

"Yeah... yeah," Willow grabbed a book out of the pile and started to flip through the pages, "This is a better account of everything. It lists the various..."

"Various? As in... " Xander interrupted Willow in a panicked voice. He partially sat up only to be pushed back down onto the couch by Anya.

"Well, the important thing is not to panic," Willow said calmly.

"You just recited the mystical panic-causing incantation, so little hope there and why does this always happen to me? So let's talk about the various," Xander answered. He continued to try and sit up and Anya continued to keep pushing him back down on the couch.

"Well, they did suffer from malaria, some smallpox," Willow began to list the 'various.'

"I was going to say smallpox," Anya chirped cheerfully. She thought she had recognized smallpox, of course, it had been a good many years since she had actually encountered the disease.

"You know, syphilis, but basically..." Willow mumbled softly, hoping Xander didn't catch that last one.

"Syphilis?" Xander squawked in shock. This was bad. Very, very bad. Things couldn't get any worse could they?

"Well, I could turn you, Whelp. Vampirism cured Darla of syphilis. Probably cured old Liam of it, too, when she turned him," Spike offered. He chuckled at the mental thumps he got from both his mate and his Wicca.

"Um... thanks for the offer, Spike, but I think I would rather find different way to get this cured," Xander said.

"Well, this is probably mystical and it'll go away as soon as... But if we need to I can always curse you with a soul," Willow told her lifelong friend.

"There will be no cursing of Xander. I want many, many orgasms as soon as he is well," Anya declared loudly. No, this wouldn't do at all. Xander told her of the curse on Angel's soul and while it sounded like wonderful vengeance, there was no way she was going to go without sex.

"Okay, it'll go away as soon as what?" Xander asked quite pointedly.

"We still don't know what we're gonna do. Well, maybe I can find something," Willow replied as she moves to Giles's book collection and started to glance at the titles.

"Can we come rocketing back to the part about me and my new syphilis?" Xander asked sarcastically. Why was everyone ignoring him? It wasn't like he was dead yet.

"It'll make you blind and insane, but it won't kill you. The smallpox will though," Anya stroked Xander's forehead as she tried her best to comfort him the only way she knew how.

"Maybe there's a Wiccan spell that can cure it. Something regular medicine doesn't know. Oh, there was a potion," Willow pulled an index card out of one of the books and began to recite the ingredients, "Sage, salt... onion?"

"That's the stuffing. Gosh, I hope mom doesn't need that."

"Oh my God," Xander muttered as Anya continued to tell him the symptoms of the diseases he had. Sometimes having such an honest girlfriend wasn't as pleasant as it appeared. He would rather she tell him he was going to be okay.

"Uh, you're gonna get vesicles and pustules. They have pictures," Anya informed him as she tried to show him the book of pictures.

"I really hate this guy," Xander muttered. He closed his eyes hoping to block out the pictures Anya was showing him.

"He's just doing what was done to him."

"Oh and why's big and broody hovering across the street in the bushes? I thought he went to LA to start a new life?" Xander asked. He had noticed Angel when he and Anya had walked up to the apartment building.

"You saw him, too? My God, that's not very stealthy of him. I think he's losing his edge," Willow laughed. Then she told Xander and Anya of running into Angel at the Espresso Pump. "Ya, he doesn't want Buffy to know he's in town so we are all pretending that she doesn't know, but we do. By the way, what all did that guy want earlier, Buffy?"

"Oh ya, he said his name is Ronald Jones and he is an Uixa demon. The commandos are part of a government agency called the Initiative who are trapping demons here and experimenting on them. They even put some sort of chip in Harmony so she can't hurt people. Professor Walsh is interested in Spike and me, big time. He pledged himself and his mate to the clan, so I think he is telling the truth. He's going to keep us informed about what is going on," Buffy apprised the group of the meeting she had earlier with the commando.

"That's interesting, luv. You seem to have all the fun around here," Spike chuckled and kissed his mate on the cheek.

Buffy jumped up from her seat when she heard the buzzer on the stove ding. She hurried into the kitchen, pulled on oven mitts and took the pies from the oven. Buffy set the pies on racks to begin cooling.

"So are we going to take this guy out? There will be slaying sometime soon, yeah?" Xander asked.

"That's the question on the table right now, Whelp."

"Question? It's a question? I say slay him. The representative from syphilis votes yea. Because how else am I going to get cured, guys?"

"There's 2 sides to it. It's not that simple," Willow warned Xander.

"He's a vengeance demon. You can't talk to vengeance demons. Anya, did any of your victims ever talk you out of performing your job?" Xander asked looking up at his girlfriend who was still stroking his head.

"Nope, can't say that they ever did," Anya said, "Besides he's a spirit, not a demon."

"Yes, and we've never faced this sort of spirit before. Thankfully due to a bit of information Father Gabriel gave Spike before he died, we do know how to kill it," Giles replied.

"Again with the killing," Willow humphed and sunk down into her chair. She decided she was going to ignore them all until they saw things her way.

"Figuratively speaking. Or bind it or whatever, Willow, if you can find a way to do that. And yes, we all appreciate your perspective," Giles went over to pat Willow on the shoulder.

"Sometimes vengeance is justified," Anya said quietly.

"I don't think anyone appreciates the truth of the situation," Willow muttered forgetting she was ignoring the others.

"Oh, I think we do. Xander's in danger. Hus won't stop. Vengeance is never sated, gang. Hatred is a cycle. All he will do is kill." Giles warned the group.

"Could you guys not talk so much?" asked a whiny voice from the staircase.

"So sorry to interrupt your sleep, Harmony," Giles said sarcastically, "Isn't it time for you to go visit your parents anyway?"

"Yes, daddy got special windows installed in the limo. I'm going to go wait for it," replied Harmony as she swept out the door flinging herself from shadow to shadow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hus laid the six weapons of the floor of the dank cave as he started to recite the ritual to raise the spirits he needed to exact his vengeance.

"First people who dwell in mishupashup, hear me and descend. Walk with me upon itiashup again. Hear me also, nunashush. Spirits from below... Creatures of the night... Take human form and join the battle. Bring me my revenge," he chanted and watched as green mist rose from the cave floor and formed into Chumash warriors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's wrong, Giles," Buffy asked her Watcher as she watched him take off his glasses and rub the arch of his nose.

"The victims; apart from Xander, Hus has targeted authority figures. Father Gabriel, the curator of the cultural center. Who else fits the pattern?" Giles twirled his glasses as he tried to think.

"The dean. Dean Guerrero. He's the king of us and he was at the ceremony. He participated in the actual ground breaking with the professor," Buffy replied.

"Yes, likely candidate. We should warn him," Giles advised Buffy.

"Will, anything in those books about how to stop a Native American spirit guy? Some nice, non-judgmental way to, you know, kill him?" Buffy questioned Willow indicating the pile of books in front of the Wicca.

"I'm not gonna help you kill him. I'm not on board, damnit," Willow surprised herself with her cuss word.

"What choice do we have, Willow?" Buffy rubbed her forehead. God, this was getting old fast. She could see Willow's point; really she could but as the Slayer what was she supposed to do? Let the spirit continue on killing people?

"Buffy, this isn't a Western. We're not at the Fort... Giles with the cavalry coming to save us... unless you count Angel. It's one lonely guy. Oppressed warrior guy who's just trying to...

"Kill a lot of people? Will, you know how bad I feel about this. It's eating me up, but even though it's hard, we have to end this. Yes, he's been wronged. And personally I would be ready to apologize..."

"Give it up, luv, she's not listening to you. Red, quit this mamby-pamby boo-hooing. You won. All right? You came in and you killed them and you took their land. That's what conquering nations do. It's what Caesar did, and he's not going around saying, "I came, I conquered, I felt bad about it." The history of the world isn't people making friends. You had better weapons, and you massacred them. End of story," Spike stood up and moved over to put his arm around Buffy.

"Well, I think the Spaniards actually did a lot of..." Buffy broke off for a second when she saw the look on Willow's face, "...not that I don't like Spaniards."

"Listen, Slayer, how are you gonna fight anyone with that attitude? Besides, if Reg is right you should be able to tell Hus's true intentions the moment you see him. Willow, she understands your point, she really does, but let her do her job," Spike tried to reason with his two women. Ya, Red was part of the clan; she was his woman just like Buffy was. Not in a sexual way, you dolts. 'Cause that's just ewwww.

"If we could just talk to him..." Willow continued as if Spike hadn't spoken.

"You exterminated his race. What could you possibly say that would make him feel better? It's kill or be killed. Take your bloody pick," Spike was already tired of the argument.

"Fine, but someone still has to go warn the dean," Buffy announced.

"I'll go. I need the air," Willow stated loudly.

"Not alone. I don't care if the commandos seem to be off for the holiday," Buffy said.

"I'll go," Anya and Xander both said together. Anya stood and then helped Xander stand up on weakened legs.

"Sure you are up to it?" Buffy asked Xander worriedly.

"Can't have the girls going out there alone. Even if I feel sick and dizzy. At least I can still scream and attract attention while they hightail it to safety," Xander said as he flung his arm around Anya's shoulders.

"We'll keep looking for a solution," Giles muttered as he started to look through the pile of books that Willow had collected on the table.

"Yeah, we will. Guys, the dean's house is up past the gym. And hurry. We'll meet back here before going over to my house," Buffy declared.

Willow, Anya and Xander left the apartment in a flurry of shuffled movement. Buffy watched them disappear out of the courtyard before she closed the door and turned to the two remaining people in the room.

"Wonder how Mom and Reg are doing? I'm going to call and let them know we should be there soon," Buffy moved to the telephone and picked up the receiver. She dialed her home number and waited for someone to answer. "Hey, Mom, how are you and Reg doing?... That great, huh?... Cool, we all should be there in about an hour. Just have a little spirit demon to deal with... Okay, I will be... Bye Mom."

An arrow zinged through the air and hit a decorative scarecrow on the table. Spike and Buffy look up to see Hus in the upper level window with a bow and arrow. He fitted another arrow into the bow and raise it, ready to shoot.

"You. Listen, maybe we weren't clear before about how terrible we all feel. 'Cause we're trying to help," Buffy shouted as an arrow zipped by her head.

"It isn't working," Giles practically sing-songed.

"Uh you have casinos now," Buffy tried again.

"Get down!"

Giles and Buffy crouched behind the table as arrows began to rain through the window. They could see Spike dive for cover behind the couch, an arrow catching him in the chest. Buffy let out a screech and could feel her fangs descend. Her mate was hurt and she was majorly pissed off.

"Hey, watch the heart," Spike yelled from his hiding spot.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, that was a waste of time," Anya said as she, Willow and Xander left the dean's house. She was carrying a plastic wrapped plate in her hand.

"I think he thought we were crazy," Xander muttered quietly. He wasn't feeling so well and the walk to the dean's house hadn't helped any.

"Maybe if Anya hadn't opened the conversation with, 'Everyone got both ears?' it might have gone a little better," Willow snarked.

"I liked his wife. She gave me pie. Peach pie," Anya announced, showing the other two the plate of pie that they both already knew she was carrying.

"So what do we do now?" Willow wondered aloud. She knew they were supposed to meet back at Giles's apartment before going on to Spike and Buffy's house.

"We could stay here and stand watch. I just don't..." Xander was interrupted by a big dark shadow dispatching itself from the surrounding shadows, "Angel! He's evil, again."

"So this is Angel. He's large and glowery, isn't he? No wonder S..." Anya was unable to continue her speech as both Xander and Willow covered the ex-vengeance demon's mouth with their hands.

"I'm not evil again. Why does everyone think that?" Angel asked in a petulant tone, "I haven't been evil for a long time."

"Angel's here to help Buffy," Willow hinted heavily before tapping Xander's leg with her foot and raised her eyebrow at him, "She's not suppose to know he's here. Angel, you have something new?" Willow ended perkily.

"Yeah, all the Chumash weapons are missing from the cultural center. Something's up. Where's Buffy?" Angel informed Willow.

"Still at Giles's. She sent us to check on Dean Guerrero," Willow indicated the stately house behind them.

"Why the dean? Dean's not a warrior and the spirit is a warrior. To a warrior, the leader means the strongest fighter," Angel related his theory to the three Scoobies.

"Buffy," Willow murmured, 'and Spike'

"He's formed a raiding party. I'll call, you guys get there as fast as you can," Angel said as he crouched by some bikes chained to a tree and used his vampiric strength to break them free. He watched as Anya, Willow and Xander each grabbed a bike and started pedaling towards Giles's apartment as fast as they could. Angel shook his head as he imagined the Lone Ranger theme song accompanying the three Scoobies as they rode the bikes. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Giles's phone number.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"H-hello... Yes... Yes... w-w--we're well aware of that... We-we're under siege now, actually.... Thank-you...," Giles spoke into the phone and then abruptly hung up as another arrow zipped through the air.

"Who was that?" Buffy asked.

"Angel. We need a plan," Giles said. He ducked as yet another arrow hit the table.

"Yes, let's talk about it some more. Where's your weapons chest?" Buffy questioned.

"Over there," Giles indicated the chest across the room directly in the line of fire.

Buffy nodded at her Watcher and began to sidle towards the chest, but as soon as she moved away from the cover of the table she was shot in the arm. She yelped in pain as the smell of her blood filled the air.

"Buffy..." "Slayer..." Giles and Spike spoke at once. Both men tried to get to Buffy but were stopped by shooting arrows. Giles did okay, but Spike caught another one in his chest. When he grunted, Buffy growled. This would not do at all.

"I'm okay, guys. How many are there?" Buffy reassured the men in the apartment with her. She didn't want them to be worrying about her and getting hurt any more than they already had. She had some of her own vengeance to exact for her mate getting hurt.

"Uh, the leader upstairs. 2 by the living room windows. Uh, one through the window by the door," Giles popped his head up long enough to count enemy heads.

"It's too many. We need help. Oh, Willow and the others just showed up outside. The girls are hitting one with shovels. Cool," Buffy hopped up from behind the table just as two of the spirits broke into the apartment, "One thing I like about vamps, they can't get in without an invite."

Buffy launched herself at the nearest spirit while the other one rushed at Giles. Spike stood up from behind the couch as he pulled an arrow from his chest.

"Bloody hell, that hurts," Spike snarled as he flung the arrow to the ground.

"Giles, these guys... they don't die," Buffy yelled as she continued to wrestle with the spirit.

"Bit busy over here," Giles muttered as the spirit he was fighting grabbed him around the neck and started bouncing his head off the wall.

Spike looked at his mate and then the Watcher. He knew his mate could handle herself, so he jumped over the couch towards Giles to wrestle the spirit away from the other man.

Outside, Willow and Anya continued to hit the spirit with shovels as Willow gritted out, "Why... won't... you...die?

Angel opened the courtyard gate, just in time to see another Indian sneaking towards the two girls, his tommahawk pulled, ready to hit them over the head. He leaped towards the spirit, grabbed it and snapped its head with a deft twist. Angel let the spirit fall to the ground and looked at Willow and Anya.

"What's he like when he IS evil?" Anya asked, just a tad scared now that she wasn't immortal anymore.
Another spirit came up behind Angel and grabbed him around the neck. As they wrestled, Angel yelled at the two women to help the others. It was then that they noticed Xander was weakly holding his own against the spirit he was fighting and the two women hurried to help him, hitting the Indian with their shovels.

Inside, Buffy continued to wrestle with a startled Hus. She could feel the hatred that seethed inside the spirit. Buffy's eyes began to glow green gold as she grabbed his knife away from him and sliced him. This wound bled and didn't close.

"Your knife can kill you," Buffy screamed.

"That's what I said before, Slayer," Spike yelled back at her from the hallway where he and Giles were still fighting one of the other spirits.

It was then that Hus morphed into a bear and began to growl at Buffy. She backed up a bit and snarled back at it.

"You made a bear, Slayer," Spike shouted.

"I didn't mean to," Buffy said in a sheepish voice. She glanced at her mate in the hallway and could feel the tension rolling off of him.

"Undo it! Undo it!" Spike growled, not caring if everyone found out that he still held a fear from his human days back when tamed bears were kept for entertainment and as a small boy he almost got mauled by one of the declawed, toothless animals.

Xander, followed by Anya and Willow, chose that moment to enter the apartment effectively distracting the bear long enough for Buffy to stab it in the back. The bear and the other spirits disappeared into thin air. The entire room sighed in relief as Willow closed the apartment door behind her.

"Did we win?" Giles asked groggily from the hallway.

Outside Angel watched a smiling Buffy through the window. She looked so happy and he was glad. He was about to leave when he saw the most mind-boggling sight he had ever seen in his entire life. His irksome grandchilde, the one he thought was dust, came up behind Buffy and kissed her on the bare shoulder before resting his chin there. And instead of pushing him away or staking him, she reached up and cupped his cheek in the palm of her hand as she turned to return the kiss to the side of his mouth. All Angel could do was stare in shock.





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