Slowly, Xander dropped to his knees and picked up his belt knife from where the dusted vampire had dropped it when he died. Flicking it around in his left hand until he found a comfortable grip, he rose to his feet.

He ignored he pain from his neck where the first vamp he'd come across had bitten into his flesh. Xander hadn't panicked, or screamed. No, he'd just retaliated, bringing around his deliciously curved blade to slice open the neck of the creature above him. It had released its fangs then, and had clawed at him, tearing open his clothes but not his skin. The soldier in him had pushed it away and with a stake from his bag had dispatched it in one fell swoop. But the youth in him was aware of the blood that still stained his arm and knife from when he'd sliced open arteries and veins in its throat. And his wound still dripped a little, colouring the fabric of his sweater dark red in reminder.

He'd gone back to check on Willow immediately, and together they'd killed another with a stab from his knife and a shaft from her bow. He was almost proud at their success.

But that pride was gone now.

Spike was there instead.

And he was talking.

"…So we have the red-head and the weakling. Both armed. Both mobile." The vampire raised his eyebrows as though he was impressed.

Xander noticed suddenly that he wasn't in his demon face. The soft-skinned half-attractive (the teen wouldn't grant him anymore praise than that) human face of the enemy played across his features instead.

"And both out without the slayer. Well, I really must congratulate you on your bravery. Course that won't matter much once you're dead, but still."

Xander felt it was time for him to say something.

"Don't come any closer Spike," he warned, slowly slicing the air in front of him with his right hand and the curved blade. "We've already done two of you tonight, and they were pathetic."

"Not surprised," the blond Vampire returned, "they were fledglings, not even a day old. A child could," he snorted, "and quite obviously did, 'take care of them'."

Xander bristled, but still answered him in a neutral, level tone.

"Still, we're armed and you're not. We've got Buffy and Dead-boy, sorry - Angel, and you don't. How about you all just quit before you get hurt?"

Spike laughed again, while Xander ignored him and stepped around Willow so he was partly shielding her from the threat of the blond.

Immediately she moved to one side so that she still had a clear shot a Spike, before purposely aiming at each of the vampires in turn with her bow. Despite the fact she only had four shots left she wanted them to know that if she was dying, so were they.

But despite her determination she realised she didn't want to die just yet. No, what she wanted now were answers. Death could wait a while.

"Spike," she said, taking a step closer to him, "Why was I taken last night? Was it your fault?" Slowly she moved her aim back to him, "Did you order them to beat me within an inch of my life?"

Xander reached out towards her but she ignored him and took another step towards her enemy. Spike, she was surprised to see was watching her closely, a wary look in his human eyes.

"If I say 'Yes'," he said, "what will you do then?"

"Depends on what you say after that." Willow said. Just being near him scared her but she tightened her grip on the crossbow and stood her ground.

Spike considered.

Willow waited.

Xander worried.

And the minions shifted uncomfortably; why was he hesitating? They wanted to attack, and drain these insolent children. Why didn't they just attack? But they waited, this battle was Spike's and they were his to command. If he wanted them to wait, then they'd wait.

Didn't mean they'd have to like it.

Buffy and Angel watched as Willow approached Spike and demanded answers for her questions. They saw the indecision that played across the vampire's face and the confusion of the minions over his actions.

And they waited.

"Why is he even thinking about this?" Buffy murmured as they hid in the bushes and witnessed the events. "Why haven't they attacked?"

"Just watch," returned Angel, "This is how you find insight into peoples' characters." He paused, then continued, "Spike is, at heart, a fighter and a leader. And like many other leaders he wants to be respected. His motivations though, are unique in other ways."

"Like what?"

"You're the only Slayer whose fought him and lived. He respects you for that, and he's, well, curious about you." Angel turned and looked at Buffy, "you're a slayer with friends, family and a life. That's not really the stereotype."

"So why's he talking to Xander and Willow."

"Because they know you, and despite lacking a destiny they fight along side you. That's enough to make anyone curious." Angel looked back at Willow, "And it probably helped that he always had a thing for red-heads."

"Wait a sec; Spike likes Willow!"

"Probably only unconsciously."

Buffy wanted to question him more but their time of grace was up. Just as she was about to fire off another range of vampire question time, Spike lifted up his head to meet Willow's gaze and spoke.

"Yes."

"Yes what?" Willow demanded.

No reply.

"C'mon Spike," Xander said, "Answer the lady. Or do you really want to know how good you are at dodging speeding stakes?"

Every vampire in attendance growled, except the blond. He just fixed his baleful eyes upon the boy and stared at him.

"I'd eat ya mate," he said his tone halfway between threatening and amused, "But I doubt somehow that you'd taste any good."

"Try it," Xander grated in reply. "Just try it."

"No!" Willow said, stepping between the two - and closer to Spike - trying to prevent any confrontation. "We didn't come here for this," she added, softly. Then, with a deep breath, and biting her lip nervously as she did so, she lowered the crossbow.

"Why I came here," she said slowly, "is to find out what happened to me last night." She raised her eyes to Spike's. "And to try to understand it."

Her gaze crossed the distance to the vampire, and he looked back at hers. Her eyes were almost pleading with him for answers, begging him for clarity, but he saw something else as well. Something that made him look twice, something that he recognised in her. Determination.

He made his decision.

"How far are you willing to go for the truth?" he asked, honestly curious about her answer.

"As far as it takes," she replied.

He looked at her, his head cocked to one side and an expression on his face akin to that of a cat and mouse game. The problem was that he didn't know which he was; the cat or the mouse?

"Good." He turned to the minions and waved them back. When they hesitated he ordered them away. It was foolish and he knew it, but something drove him to answer the redhead's questions.

"You want to know the answer, red?" he said once it was just the three of them before the dull stone monument. "You really want to know while it was you and not him?" he asked, indicating Xander.

Willow nodded.

"Then come here."

She began to walk towards him, no longer frightened, just driven by an urge to know the answer.

"Willow," Xander warned, "Don't do this…"

She silenced him with a cut of her hand.

"You," Spike said to her in a low voice when she stopped a few feet from him, her crossbow still pointed at the ground but ready to fire. "You're the one who'll destroy it."

"What." She whispered aghast.

"Everything."

"But why…?"

"Did I have you taken?" he finished, "because pet, I wanted to know how it would happen. She said it would, you know? She said that you, the pathetic red-haired child would be the end to it. So I had to find out. Would you call them? Could you call them?" He shrugged. "I couldn't think of any other way but that."

He paused in his speech, as if he was waiting for questions. Willow stayed silent, she had so many questions but she suspected that all she would get out of him was this monologue.

So she listened.

"But you didn't call them," he snorted again, "No, you called him." A harsh laugh. "You could have been the greatest threat ever, but you're not. You could have been important, but you're not." He laughed again, and stepped back into the shadows, disappearing into them as he called out one last time.

"You're just a girl, a child, an innocent. And you'll never be anything more."

His laughter faded into the trees, gone within a few seconds, but to Willow it echoed round her head, mocking her. - You could have been the greatest threat…could have been important -

She wanted to go home.

- But you're not -

Willow felt her knees begin to fail and her balance desert her. She dropped the crossbow and would have fallen to the ground had Xander not caught her in a hug as she wavered.

She didn't see Buffy and Angel approach them where they stood in the clearing, Xander holding his best friend tight in his arms as if he could erase all of Spike's words.

Angel felt uncomfortable and held back, but Buffy went straight up to the couple and put her hand on Willow's shoulder.

"You know Will that what he said wasn't true," she said softly, "It's all some kind of sick sense of humour he has to make you doubt yourself." She took a deep breath, "And he didn't even order it. Angel and me got the truth out of some vamp in the park. It was a random attack. Just two new boys in town and trying to make a name for themselves by going after you. Spike was just playing with you."

"No," Willow moaned against Xander's shoulder, "he was right…last night I could have done something…with that. Maybe I could have done something. But I didn't. Why else would it happen? Why did Xander? Why?"

"Willow, look at me." Xander leant back from the embrace and cupped her face in his hands, "You're not the slayer, and neither am I. We just do our best, right?" She nodded, ignoring the silent tears that ran down her cheeks. He smiled at her and softly kissed her forehead.

"C'mon," he said, slipping his arm around her shoulders and walking her away from the clearing, "lets go home."

Buffy watched silently, with Angel beside her, as Xander guided Willow out of the clearing and back towards the path. She looked up at Angel and saw the he was watching the couple too.

"You know," the vampire said, his voice so soft she had to strain to hear it, "he had a point."

"Who did?"

"Spike - Willow is more dangerous than she thinks she is, probably even more than she dreams. Last night proved that. All she needs is training."

"No," Buffy returned leaning her head against his shoulder as she watched the two disappear into the shadows. "What Willow needs is to be needed."

Xander was basically holding Willow up as they walked. She wasn't really crying properly, but tears still ran from her eyes and onto the shoulder of his jacket as he held her against him and slowly walked them out of the cemetery.

He'd picked up the crossbow as they passed it, and Willow'd taken it almost as soon as she'd seen it in his hand. It hung loosely from her wrist now, and banged against her leg as she walked. Xander had sheathed his knives, and neither of them held a cross.

They were basically sitting ducks when the attack came.

That however wasn't going to be a problem.

Three vampires came at them.

Spaced out around the two teens they appeared to have the upper hand, but only for a second.

And then there were two, the third lying only the ground writhing in agony with one of Xander's knives through his throat. It wasn't enough to kill him but it evened up the sides for the few minutes that it would take him to work it loose then get up again.

Xander pushed Willow behind him, trying to protect her waved his curved blade defensively in front of him. The nearest vamp growled, and started forward.

He got about two steps before a shot from Willow nailed him in the heart. He was dust before he even hit the ground. She stood there in the darkness, tears dripping down her cheeks, but her mouth set and the crossbow levelled at the single standing vamp.

"Glad to see you're feeling better luv."

Spike stepped out of the shadows beyond the one remaining vampire.

Xander took advantage of the vampire's fear at Spike's entrance to slit it's throat and impale it on a stake.

Willow didn't look away from the new arrival.

"I'm a threat Spike" she said softly, her crossbow aimed at his heart. "Believe me I'm a threat. I may not be able to kill you but I'll certainly try. And if I don't do it then one of my friends will, believe me they will."

"We're all threats Spike," Xander added. "Because we help the slayer, not because we fight. And we'll do everything we can to stop you and the ones that'll come after you."

"Everything you say," Willow added, "is lies to try and makes us doubt ourselves or stop helping Buffy." She smiled, raising the crossbow higher on her body and aiming the sights by eye. "you know" she said, "I think now would be a good time to run."

"I don't run." The blond Vampire said, his voice dripping with contempt for her.

"Learn," she said as she fired the bow.

Even as she fired she knew she wasn't going to kill him. She also knew that it was a perfect shot and that if he didn't move he'd be lint.

But she knew he'd move.

And he did. Within a blink of an eye he was gone, and the crossbow shaft thwacked it's way into a tree directly behind where he'd been standing.

And they were alone. Well it was Xander, Willow and the Vampire writhing in agony on the floor with one of Xander's knives through his throat.

For good measure, Willow shot him where he lay. Xander wiped the retrieved blade on the grass and slipped it back into its sheath.

"You okay?" he asked simply.

"Yeah," she said lowering the crossbow to her side. With a sad smile she looked up at him in the darkness, "We showed him didn't we?"

"Yeah, sorta….you know we'll never be as much of a threat as Buffy."

"I know," said the girl with a sigh, "But hey, it was fun making him run wasn't it?"

Xander grinned.

"Come on," she said slipping an arm round his waist. "Let's go home."

"Sure."

Arm in arm they left the cemetery.

"Will?"

"Yeah."

"You know I've decided I kinda like scaring vampires, d'you think we can do it again sometime?"

"Sure thing, but can I not be the victim next time we do this?"

"Oh come on, you know that tears just wouldn't help this macho thing I've got going here."

"What macho thing?"

Xander held her tight for a minute as they walked then hit back with another comment.

Willow smiled. This was how it was supposed to be…if it ever was.