Continued...

"So why would you…." Spike looked pointedly at the man, "want to help me….. with the Slayer?" asked Spike as he flashed the man a steely grin.

"We both have a need for her extermination. Mine is for, shall we say more spectacular reasons than yours, but all the same I want her dead as well." replied the stranger.

"Spectacular!" exclaimed Spike laughing. "What could possibly be more spectacular than seeing the Slayer dead?" he asked as the pain from the last night he saw her still reeled inside of him.

"I have my reasons." the stranger replied.

"Oh I get it, your another one of those apocalyptic types huh?" asked Spike. "We seem to get a lot of your type round here. Must be the water."

"I think apocalyptic is such a strong word. It has such an awful connotation to it, don’t you agree? I choose to think of my reason as a more…… holy one." declared the man.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill, you religious types always get the hankerin' for a good ‘end of the world’ kind of day. I’m not much for that myself." said Spike as he took a cigarette from the pack he had been keeping in his coat pocket, and lit it.

"Well, I think I could very well make you an offer that you couldn’t possibly refuse." said the stranger. Spike took a long drag off his cigarette as he walked closer to his new acquaintance, still unsure of this whole situation.

"And what makes you think I’d even be interested in any offer of yours? How do you know that I’m not just gonna go get that blasted Slayer myself?" Spike inquired.

"Because you can’t. You have tried and you have failed and no matter how angry you get with her, she gets the best of you every time. If you were able to do it, she’d be rotting by now." said the stranger. "Do you really think this time would be different, especially since she has Angel with her now?" the stranger goaded Spike.

"That was Willow. Everyone is going to stay at the shop until we can get back to them." said Buffy. She sat back down.

"Did Fred and Dawn…..I mean are they okay?" asked Cordelia.

"They’re fine, for the most part anyway. Dawn hurt her foot somehow, but Liz seems to have taken care of it. You know just cured her right there. It apparently was ‘really cool’." muttered Buffy sarcastically.

"Listen, we’ve got awhile before we can get to the shop, why don’t you get some rest." Angel said as he pulled the cover up over Cordelia again.

"I’m fine. I don’t know what you are getting all worked up about." insisted Cordelia as she tried to stand up.

"Whoa, major head thingy going on here." she said as she crumpled back onto the couch.

"Are you okay?" asked Buffy who was becoming genuinely concerned about her friend. She’d had to remind herself that the misunderstanding hadn’t been Cordelia’s fault and now felt guilty for the way she’d treated her as well.

"Cordy? What is it? A vision?" Angel asked, studying her closely.

"No, it’s not a vision, just a major headache. I’m okay. I think I will just lay back down here and get some rest. You know since we have like all day and everything. I’ll just take me a little nap." She declared, settling in on the couch.

"Maybe she should see a doctor." Buffy quietly suggested to Angel.

"No, no doctor! I….I just need a little rest and then I’ll be fine. Okay?" Cordelia groaned as she looked towards Angel with an expression he knew well. Knowing what answer she was expecting, Angel just quietly nodded his head in agreement.

"Well mate, this here’s the new and improved Spike, and I got all the information I need to do the Slayer in all by my lonesome. Don’t need none of your ‘holier than thou’ bullocks gettin' in my way." announced Spike. He walked right up to the stranger and looked him straight in the face.

"I certainly believe that you know the Slayer well, that you know her strengths and her weaknesses, but I don’t believe that you are strong enough to kill her lover." replied the stranger.

"Angel?" Spike scoffed. "Listen mate, I’ve known Angel just ‘bout as long as anyone ‘round these days, and he may bark loud, but the thing about that big pup is, he ain’t got quite the bite he used to. Besides, he’s not her lover anymore, gypsies saw to that a bit ago." continued Spike with a hint of a smile on his face.

"That may be so, but I think you underestimate him, and his friends." replied the stranger.

"What friends?" asked Spike. "You can’t seriously mean that befuddling crew that was with him earlier can you?" In reply, the stranger simply raised his eyebrows. "Are you daft?" Spike spat.

"His friends are smart and strong, and they now possess one of the great witches of this century." replied the Stranger. Spike shook his head, sighing dramatically.

"You don’t know what you’re talkin’ bout mate. I think your information is a little out of date. The big witch quit the craft, got a ‘lil too black for her if you know what I mean, and the other, well she’s not quite got what it takes to pack the big punch." replied Spike.

"Can I….uh….use your phone?" asked Angel.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you need." replied Buffy absentmindedly as she began pacing back and forth.

"I kind of need to check on things back at the office." said Angel.

"I thought everyone was here with you." replied Buffy. Angel could have kicked himself. There must have been a smoother way for him to call and check on Connor.

"NO…. Lorne, he’s looking out for…things while we’re gone." said Angel.

"Another friend of yours?" asked Buffy. "I don’t remember hearing about him. Is he ‘new old’ like Liz?" she smiled. Angel shook his head, ‘Oh great!’ he thought to himself, ‘Real slick. That helped a lot.’

"No, no, not like that at all. Lorne is from…you know, I don’t even want to go there. How about the brief summary….Lorne’s a demon who can read people when they sing. He used to have a karaoke bar, but now he just lives at the hotel and helps out with….things." interjected Cordelia as she cautiously glanced at Angel. ‘Obvious much?’ she thought.

"I’ll be right back." said Angel and he headed off to the kitchen to call Lorne.

"Two witches?" repeated the Stranger. "I think you are the one who is mistaken." he continued.

"Nope, no mistake here mate. There’s the red headed witch who got a little out of control with her magicks and been going ‘bout it cold turkey here lately, then there’s her girlie friend who is still doin’ the mojo, but just ain’t got the same kick that ‘ol red had. Both friends of the Slayer they are." Spike said.

"I do not know of these witches, I am speaking of the great and powerful Elizabeth, who has come to this Hellmouth with Angel and his friends. They are seeking to destroy me and disrupt my plans." said the Stranger, who was now becoming upset at these thoughts. There weren’t supposed to be any other witches for him to worry about.

"You mean that lil’ cutie I was talking to, she’s a great and powerful witch?" asked Spike.

"Yes. You must be warned of the Great Elizabeth. She has strength beyond your wildest imagination, and great powers with her magic. She can do things that most cannot even fathom." said the Stranger. Spike just looked blankly at him in reply.

"Lorne, it’s Angel." he said into the phone.

"Hey big guy! How are things going on the Hellmouth anyway?" asked Lorne.

"Could be better. How’s….." but Angel stopped before he said Connor’s name as Buffy walked into the kitchen.

"Connor?" asked Lorne.

"Yeah." replied Angel.

"We’re doing great! He’s sleeping right now, but we’ve been having a blast. You know dirty diapers and puke is a total party!" replied Lorne sarcastically.

"Well, as long as things at the office are okay." said Angel, as he glanced at Buffy and smiled.

"She’s standing right next to you isn’t she?" asked Lorne.

"Oh, you could say that." was Angel’s reply.

"You do know that you are eventually going to have to tell her about him don’t you?" asked Lorne.

"I know." replied Angel.

"So how’s that cute little ex of yours doing? I really liked her. She certainly has some class." said Lorne. "I mean to hunt you down and not actually want to kill you by means of extreme torture for what you did to her and her…" Lorne wasn’t finished, but Angel had had enough of his ramblings for the moment and interrupted,

"Everyone is fine, but I really need to go now. Call me if there is a problem with anything." said Angel.

"Connor will be fine, but I’ll call if there’s a problem. Just be careful." replied Lorne, and with that their conversation was over.

* * * * * * * * * *

Chapter 11 –

Spike began walking around his crypt, contemplating all the information that this stranger had been telling him and trying to decide his next move. He finally concluded that more questions were in order. He’d made some ‘unwise’ business decisions in the past, and he certainly needed to find out what this rather large lad was really after, so he began again.

"If that ‘lil thing I was talkin’ to has so much greatness, how about you explainin’ why Angel came runnin’ to her rescue then?" asked Spike. He leaned back against the wall and lit another cigarette.

"Angel is not aware of the vastness of her power. She needs no one to protect her." replied the Stranger who was now beginning to pace back and forth by the door of Spike’s crypt.

"Then why would she have Angel and his stooges following her around like little trained pups?" asked Spike. The stranger was beginning to look frustrated now.

"I do not know why The Great Elizabeth has sought the help of her sire, but she is trying to interfere with my plans and therefore becoming a great hindrance to me." replied the Stranger.

"Hang on there. Sire?" repeated Spike, with amusement in his voice.

"Yes, Angelus sired The Great Elizabeth, she was hunted down and killed by him, but her parents had been foretold this, and protected her soul. She is not evil, nor can she ever be. Her destiny is for the good of human kind only." said the Stranger.

"Ohh, got to love this. I just bet the Slayer is having a grand time with her ex-lover and one of his old honeys taggin’ along. Serves her right." hissed Spike.

"I’m sure that if the Slayer knows of such past events, it will cause her some pain and that should help us." said the Stranger.

"Help us?" asked Spike. "I never said anything about helpin’ you out. I don’t know who you are, and I still don’t know what you want."

"Oh please pardon my lack of manners." replied the Stranger. "I am Bangola, High Priest of the Palkees Tribe and my people need your assistance. The Slayer must be killed as part of a sacrifice for my ancestors." he continued. Spike didn’t reply right away. He carefully considered what he really wanted. And then he though about what he could really have.

"Well….okay then, as long as you plan on killin’ her." he replied.

"Damn! I knew we should have packed some of the weapons, but nooo, Angel was in to big a hurry to grab anything." Gunn muttered.

"But we don’t even know if weapons can kill this thing." Willow pointed out.

"Yeah, remember the Judge, all the books said that ‘no weapon forged to man could destroy him’." said Xander as he used his best dooms day voice.

"So what’d you all use then?" asked Gunn.

"We borrowed…..and I use that in the non-legal sense….one of the U.S. Army’s finest toys. " replied Xander. Gunn just gave Xander a looked of "and," so Xander finished, "Basically we blew him to bits with a rocket launcher. Man, that RPG was great." Xander smiled at the memory.

"You faced the Judge?" asked Liz. The look on her face was one of disbelief.

"Oh yeah, it was so cool seeing the look on his ugly face when Buffy pulled the trigger!" said Willow with excitement.

"Yeah, he was all ‘Oh shit!’, then Angel and Dru had to jump out of the way so they wouldn’t get blown to bits too, and then it was all ‘kablam!’ and then nothing but little tiny pieces of the Judge scattered all over the mall." said Xander who felt quite proud of his role in helping to defeat the Judge.

"Angel was there with Dru?" queried Liz. Willow and Xander’s eyes met for a second, ‘didn’t she know?’

"Yeah, that was in his ‘evil Angel’ days." replied Xander.

"Evil Angel? You don’t mean Angelus?" she gasped. "He has been Angelus since he has been in Sunnydale?" stunned by this news, Liz sat in total astonishment.

"That’s a big fat yes!" replied Xander. Part of him still relished the opportunity to bring up Angel’s rarely discussed rampage.

"But he’s had a soul for……but……" then Liz’s words stopped, as she began to put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind.

"Well, he and Buffy…" began Xander, but Liz simply raised her hand, and Xander immediately stopped though he wasn’t sure why.

"So, how’s things back at the ranch?" asked Buffy. Angel looked blank for a second.

"Oh, you mean the Hotel. Yeah, everything is fine, Lorne is taking care of…..things." replied Angel. "It will be sundown in less than an hour, we can head to the Magic Shop then." he continued, trying to steer clear of any mention of LA.

"I hope the others have found something that we can use against whatever it is that Liz is after." Buffy admitted.

"We’ll have to be extremely careful, especially if we have to worry about Spike now too." Angel added.

"Oh, don’t worry about him, I really don’t think Spike will be a problem." said Buffy quickly, as she tried to avoid any conversation regarding Spike.

"How’s your head?" Angel asked as Cordelia walked into the kitchen.

"Well, the big pounding going on inside has gotten a little better. Not quite the vision pain, but it’s still a major ouch!" Cordelia replied, as she ran the tap and splashed water on her face.

"Do you think you will be able to go to the Magic Shop with us?" asked Angel as he looked at Cordelia with a great deal of concern.

"I’ll be good to go, besides do you really think I’m going to stay here by myself?" asked Cordelia as she glared at Buffy and Angel.

"So what’s your plan then mate?" asked Spike.

"The plan, as you say, is for you to find a way to distract Angel and The Great Elizabeth so that myself and my counterparts can attack and kill the Slayer." Bangola responded.

"Hey! Now wait a bleedin’ minute. What makes you think your gonna get all the fun?" asked Spike.

"I’m not sure I know what you mean." Bangola looked nonplussed.

"I mean killin’ the Slayer!" retorted Spike in disgust. "You know exactly what I mean!"

"Is that what you consider to be fun?" asked Bangola. He studied Spike up and down, looking for any signal of what his response might be.

After a brief pause Spike answered. "Well yeah. Bad here! Besides," Spike continued, "have you ever tried to kill a slayer before?"

"No, but my people have spent much time researching the Slayers past. We are well prepared to do battle with this one." Bangola said seriously.

Spike just laughed at this remark and turned and walked away from Bangola. He sat down in his chair facing the doorway and began to light up another cigarette.

"What do you find to be of humor?" asked Bangola. This was not to his liking, the utter impertinence of this demon was starting to grate on him.

"You mate. I find you to be ‘of humor’" replied Spike.

"And what about me do you find to be humorous?" demanded Bangola.

"What I find humorous is the fact that you think you and me are gonna just waltz right over to the Slayer and while I’m supposed to be distracting ‘The Great Elizabeth’ and Angel you and your followers think you’re going to kill the Slayer." replied Spike. "Just like that."

"Yes, that would be the plan. But I don’t understand what you find amusing about that." said Bangola.

"Because it ain’t happen’ mate. It doesn’t matter how much plannin’ you do, the Slayer just doesn’t go down that easy." explained Spike. "Do you really know anything about this bird? She fought a bloody hell goddess and won, do you really think anything you can throw her way right now is going to work?"

"I think you should wait and see. The Palkees Tribe has a great many resources, and great powers of our own. You simply need to come with me to our retreat." Bangola said with enthusiasm as he was trying to make his case to convince Spike to help him.

"Retreat? What’re you runnin’ here some kind of get away vacation destination for demons?" Spike quipped.

"Will you join me?" asked Bangola. His tone made it clear that he expected an answer.

"Guess I ain’t got much better to do." sighed Spike and so the two walked out of the crypt and began the journey to Bangola’s retreat.

"Are we ready?" asked Angel, as he was becoming restless. His vampire senses were telling him that the sun was almost set.

"Yep." replied Buffy.

"As ready as I’ll ever be." added Cordelia.

"Are you sure you’re going to be okay?" asked Angel.

"Just walk will ya. I’ll be okay." snapped Cordelia.

"I just want to make sure…" he started to say but didn’t get to finish as Buffy broke in, "She’s fine. Let’s go." As they walked out the door and down the front steps of Buffy’s house, a strange feeling came over Cordelia, and she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What’s wrong?" asked Buffy.

"I…..I don’t know. Something just feels funny. I can’t quite decide what though." Cordelia tried to explain.

"It’s your head isn’t it? I knew this wasn’t a good idea. You better go back in and lie down, you took a nasty bump to the head." said Angel.

"It’s not my head!" exclaimed Cordelia.

"Then what’s wrong?"

"I don’t know Angel…. I can feel something, like something is near, but I can’t place what. I mean it isn’t a vision, but still I have this familiar feeling." replied Cordelia.

"Maybe you should go back.." Angel began.

"I told you my head is fine! Let’s just get to the shop and get this damn trip over with!" snapped Cordelia who was growing increasingly impatient. She had not been fond of Liz from the beginning, and her feelings for Angel were beginning to get the best of her. This whole thing was draining her. The three began walking down the street.

Cordelia nudges Buffy, "Have you ever figured out what Spike wanted with you?" Buffy froze for a second, ‘God I really don’t want to talk about this’ she thought to herself, then in as uninterested of a tone as she could come up with, she answered,

"Uh…. no. I have no idea why he wanted to talk to me."

"I think talk was the least of what he wanted to do with you. You know he sounded really mad about something. He never said what exactly, but you could tell. You must have really pissed him off." Cordelia insisted. Buffy tried to keep her bearings and concentrated on walking in the direction of the Magic Shop, determined not to have this conversation any longer. Being she didn’t get a very straight forward answer Cordelia simply looked at Angel and shrugged her shoulders and continued to follow Buffy down the street.

"Do you think Buffy will be here soon?" asked Dawn for the tenth time in as many minutes.

"I….I’m sure she’ll be here any minute Dawn." replied Tara.

"You think they killed Spike?" asked Dawn.

"If we could only be so lucky." quipped Xander.

"Hey! He did a lot for us. I mean he could have told Glory on me, but he didn’t, he protected me! So just….keep your opinions to yourself!" Dawn sniffed as she turned and walked away from Xander.

"Great, you made her angry." said Anya.

"I didn’t mean to. I just meant…you know I don’t care! Spike is evil, he’s always been evil, he’s always going to be evil, and now he apparently has gotten his taste for killing innocent people back, so yeah I can only hope that Buffy dusted him." Xander looked at Anya. "I mean we knew this would happen, right?"

"Well fine, but you didn’t have to upset Dawn. She’ll tell Buffy and then she’s going to be mad at you." scolded Anya.

"Whatever. This isn’t Kindergarten you know. I’m going upstairs to look for another book." said Xander.

Tara walked over to Dawn and gave her a hug. "I know that Spike looked out for you while Buffy was…..was gone, but I think we all knew that this would eventually happen." said Tara. Tears began to well in Dawn’s eyes as she looked at Tara.

"But why now? He’s been my friend, why would he want to hurt me or Buffy?" asked Dawn as she tried desperately to fight back the tears.

"I…I don’t know Dawnie, but you have to know that whatever Buffy did, it was what she had to do. You know she wouldn’t hurt him unless she had to. You know that right?" asked Tara as she pushed Dawn’s long brown hair out of her face.

"Yeah, I know." Dawn replied as a tear slowly crept down her cheek.

Dawn knew all of those things. She knew he was evil. She knew he had done a lot of bad things in the past, but he had also done a lot of good things for them and she knew Buffy would only kill him if she had to, but it didn’t make her feel any better, Spike had been her protector, and she was missing that.

"I think I’m just going to go look in one of those books over there." she said she wiped the tear from her cheek.

"Oh…okay." replied Tara.

"Is she okay?" asked Willow as she walked up next to Tara.

"I…I’m not sure." replied Tara. "She’s pretty upset about Spike."

"That had to be really hard on her, seeing him like that." Willow agreed.

"What do you think we should do?" Tara asked.

"I guess just give her some time. She’ll be okay." offered Willow as she turned towards Tara, their eyes met. Neither could look away from the other until they heard the front door open and they quickly turned to see what was going on.

"Why are we headed towards the Slayer’s house?" asked Spike.
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