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Chapter 3, There’s No Replacement Here

“Pass the popcorn,” Anya said. She held out her hand towards Buffy who was studying the book on her lap. “This kicking movie is really good.” The two girls sat at their boyfriends’ feet.







Without looking up from her book, Buffy handed the snack bowl to the ex-vengeance demon. “Too bad there’s no good movies about the Crusades.”







Anya took the bowl from Buffy. “I was at the Crusades. They lasted for 200 hundred years. There was much vengeance to be had.”







Spike rubbed Buffy’s shoulders from his spot on the couch behind her. “We can study history later, pet. Why don’t you watch the movie?”







“I guess it has been a long day with history. I can take a little break from the violence to watch… some violence.” Buffy laughed when she realized that they were watching a kung fu movie where the voices didn’t match the mouth movements.







“Incompetently-dubbed kung fu,” Xander chuckled. “Our most valuable Chinese import.”







The four watched the movie for a few minutes before Buffy scrunched her nose in disgust and shook her head.







“Oh, give me a break. This is all wrong.” Buffy gestured towards the television screen. “See, first you would get the big guy with a flying kick. Then, you would take out all the little ones.”







“Little ones are cannon fodder,” Spike replied. “They’re there to wear you out.”







“Besides all that fighting looks good in the movies,” Xander replied.







“But it’s just not right,” Buffy protested. “Besides, you can’t blame me for being critical. Willow’s the same way when we watch a movie about witches.”







“Oh yeah,” Xander agreed. “She’s all like, ‘What’s that? A cauldron? Who uses a cauldron anymore?”







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*







Inside the dark cave, Toth stood over a steaming cauldron. Steam curled out of the glowing liquid inside the boiling pot. Toth pulled off the hood of his robe to uncover his ugly face. Yellow-lit cracks crisscrossed across his brownish skin, and his eyes were red.







Toth spoke in his deep voice. “The last step in thy forging is my pain. This is the price with which I purchase the death of the Slayer.” He held his weapon of choice aloft before he plunged it and his hand into the boiling cauldron. His screams of pain echoed off the dirt walls of his lair.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*







Riley strolled along behind Graham, his mind not on the patrol but instead on the remembered pleasurable feeling of fangs buried within his flesh. In fact he was so preoccupied he failed to notice when Buffy and Xander joined Miller.







“This demon, Toth, attacked Giles earlier,” Buffy said. She glanced at the spacey Finn with a bit of displeasure. She still didn’t like being around the ex-soldier. “It was looking for me. He also told us it had a specific old-factory presence.”







“Yes, we’re off to patrol the city dump where smells go to relax and be themselves,” Xander commented. “Wanna come with?”







“Haven’t seen any other action,” Graham replied. “Sounds good to me. Whatcha think, Ri?”







Riley looked up startled. He realized that Buffy and Xander were giving him odd looks. He cleared his throat, and he said, “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say. You’re the boss.”







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*







“People say they’re recycling.” Riley shook his head. He knew Buffy and Xander were ignoring him, but he felt that he needed to break the silence. “They’re not recycling.”







Graham patted his old army buddy on the shoulder. “People are just busy, Ri.”







“Maybe I should do something about it.” Riley peered around him at the trash.







“Sounds like a plan,” Xander muttered. “Now, if I was a tall, robed, and skin kinda hanging off demon where would I be hiding?”







Buffy wrinkled her nose. “Gah, it’s nasty here. Willow found a spell so you can’t smell anything.”







“Didn’t it take off your nose?” Xander asked. He glanced around to keep an eye out for the demon they were searching for.







“Yeah, so, well, you know, no,” Buffy giggled.







“Hey pet, got here as soon as I could.” Spike ambled around a pile of garbage.







“What are you doing here, Spike?” Riley growled. He pointed his crossbow at the vampire.







Spike smirked, and then said with a fair amount of sarcasm. “Oh, there’s a nice lady vampire who set up a charming tea room over the next pile of crap. What do you think I’m doing here? I’m here to kick demon arse.”







“Have you seen any hanging around here?” Graham asked.







“You mean like that one?” Spike pointed behind the others. “Giles was nice enough to supply me with a picture of what attacked him.”







Buffy slapped her forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that?” Then she whirled around to see Toth standing next to a pile of garbage.







Toth raised his hand, and he pointed his stick at the Slayer. Fire flashed out the end of the weapon, but to his disappointment Buffy ducked out of the way.







“Take cover,” Riley shouted.







Toth fired his weapon again, but his prey jumped out of the way of the flame again. He fired again, but this time Riley stepped into the line of fire. Toth grunted to himself. That wasn’t supposed to happen. Now he’d have to recharge his weapon. While the humans ran to the downed man, Toth made his escape.







“Hey, Ri, you okay?” Graham hurried to his buddy’s side.







Riley nodded. “I’m okay. I’m fine.”







“Take it easy, man.” Graham helped Riley to his feet. When Riley let out a groan, Graham turned to Buffy. “I’m gonna make sure Riley gets home okay.”







“Sure, no problem,” Buffy said with a nod. “We’ll go back to the Magic Box and figure out our next avenue of attack.”







“Sounds good. See ya later.” Graham helped Riley hobble off.







Buffy glanced around again. “He’s gone. Let’s get.” She put her arm through Spike’s as they strolled out of the dump.







Nobody looked back, or they might have seen the second Riley knocked out cold in a pile of garbage sacks.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*







Riley sat up, and he wrinkled his nose. The last thing he remembered was being blasted by some damned demonic weapon, but why did the Slayer and her idiot friends leave him lying in pile of trash. “Disgusting,” he grumbled while he climbed to his feet.







Riley stretched his arms above his head, and he let out a groan of pleasure when his back popped. With a smirk he strode off towards the section of town where he knew the vamp whorehouses flourished. Tonight would be the night where, instead of just letting the whores feed on him, he’d take his sexual pleasures with the undead bitches too.







~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*







Riley twitched when he heard someone walk down the hallway outside his apartment. Ever since he’d been hit by that magical blast a few hours before, he’d felt out of sorts a bit. A bit more paranoid than usual he thought. Of course, it was Sunnydale. He had every reason to feel paranoid. There were demons everywhere, and any one of them could be plotting to kill him.







With that thought firmly in mind, Riley decided to clean and load all of his weapons. He unloaded his arsenal from his foot locker, and he went to work with the solvents and rags.





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