The first vampire exploded in a poof of shimmering dust before it even knew what hit it. Buffy took out another before it could fully react and was reloading the crossbow for a third shot when the three remaining vamps finally gathered their wits about them to attack.
As the first one came at her, Buffy sent a crossbow right through its ribcage and watched as it gasped in pain for a second before disintegrating. The two remaining vampires looked at each other, before quickly taking off in the other direction. Maybe on another night Buffy would have been content to let them go, but tonight that was not the case. Buffy took off after them and within two minutes the wretched creatures were no more.
Dusting off her jeans, Buffy continued through the tunnels. She realized that the vampire numbers had been severely depleted due to both her diligence in the past month and because of Spike's accident, but she was planning on making the population extinct as of tonight. As she progressed farther and farther into the tunnel which she knew would take her to Spike and Drusilla's, and now Angel's lair, she shot the occasional vampire, pulling arrow after arrow out of the seemingly never-ending supply in her backpack.
Buffy didn't know how many vampires to expect when she actually got to the lair, but she was hoping that there wouldn't be many. She wanted as much element of surprise over the vampire leaders as she could possibly get.
Ten minutes later, as Buffy peered around the corner into the large cavern the vampires were calling home, she was relieved to see that it was nearly empty. Only two vampires, as well as Drusilla, could be seen. Buffy debated on which of the three to kill first. Seeing one approach her, she quickly pulled back into the shadows, and as it passed by, she plunged an arrow into its back. The vampire was gone before it could even scream.
Buffy took a minute to load her crossbow before tiptoeing into the cavern. She had decided to take out Drusilla first. She was the more powerful of the two remaining vampires, and as soon as Spike and Angel realized what was happening, she would have to contend with them as well.
Drusilla had her back to Buffy, and as Buffy took aim, she had to pray that the vampiress did not suddenly turn around. Seconds later, as the arrow imbedded itself in Drusilla's back, Buffy silently thanked whatever deity was watching over her that night. Then she had to laugh at herself. She didn't *want* anyone to be watching over her.
However, Buffy's reverie didn't last long. The remaining vampire had seen Drusilla disintegrate, and looking up, he quickly spotted Buffy crouching on the platform near the entrance. Shouting, he ran around a corner of the cavern.
Oh boy, thought Buffy, here come reinforcements.
No sooner had this thought crossed her mind than Buffy felt arms grab her from behind. Before the vampire could get too tight of a grip, she had reared her head back and banged him right in the middle of the forehead. Staggering slightly but not letting go, he growled.
Buffy, by now feeling the adrenaline rushing through her veins, took the opportunity of the vampire's brief disorientation to slam her heel down into the top of his foot. This caused him to howl in pain and let her go. Pivoting quickly, Buffy stabbed the vampire with one of the arrows, watching with satisfaction as he turned to dust.
As Buffy turned back around to survey what was going on below her, she was surprised to see only five vampires intent on defending their territory. Another two were coming up the stairs toward her, but Buffy knew she could deal with seven vampires. In fact, she had expected at least twice as many.
Smiling grimly as she realized how easy this was going to be, Buffy fired her crossbow at the two vamps coming up the stairs. It had been several months since Buffy had mastered the art of a split shot, during which time she had had many opportunities to practice the technique, so she was not surprised when both arrows hit their marks and the vampires fell backwards.
This is almost too easy, Buffy thought.
After taking out two more vampires, Buffy found herself in hand to hand combat with one of the remaining three. Both Buffy and the vampire grunted as they struggled to gain the upper hand, but they were both evenly matched in skills. Buffy experienced a brief moment of panic as she was thrown to the ground and the vampire pinned her down as he bent toward her neck, but her martial arts training quickly asserted itself and she easily rotated her body and flipped him off and behind her. Jumping up and preparing herself to fight again, Buffy was shocked to see that the vampire was gone. It was only after she spotted the table which was turned upside down that she realized the reason why.
In her haste to defeat that vampire, Buffy had completely forgotten about the other two. She realized her error when she heard the imposing male voice say "Grab her."
Before she could spin around to confront her nemesis, her arms were grabbed by the two remaining vampires and pinned behind her back. She wanted to cry out in pain as she was yanked toward the center of the room, but she controlled the urge, knowing it would only give them satisfaction.
When she was finally face to face with her enemy, only one word, laced with loathing, escaped her mouth.
"Spike."
"Ah yes, good to see you remember me. One should always know their executioner."
Buffy was silent, all her witticisms having been absent ever since Angel's...transformation.
"What? No witty little remarks to put me in my place? I'm disappointed in you, Slayer. Oh well, I never did like to talk before I eat."
As Buffy struggled futilely against the two vampires restraining her, Spike threw back his head and laughed.
"Give it up, Slayer. Five minutes from now you'll be just a memory and Dru and I will be dancing over your bloodless carcass."
Ah-ha, Buffy thought, something I can use to my advantage.
"Drusilla is dead."
Spike stopped in mid-laugh and stared incomprehensibly at Buffy. Quickly walking over to her, he grabbed her throat and forced her head up to meet his eyes.
"What did you say?" he hissed.
Buffy was having trouble breathing because of Spike's tight grip on her neck, but she attempted to make her words come out evenly. "I killed her. You didn't know? Oh, I'm sooooo sorry. I guess you should have been there Spike. You should have been there to protect her. Now, I wouldn't go so far as to say that it was *your* fault exactly, but maybe if you had been around...but who am I to accuse?"
As Buffy's monologue progressed, Spike's hand became tighter and tighter around Buffy's throat even as the other vampires' grips on her arms loosened as they unconsciously pulled away from Spike. Just as Buffy thought Spike was going to attack her, she felt the others' grips loosen enough so that she pulled free and threw a punch to Spike's eye. Letting out a cry of pain, he stumbled backwards as Buffy turned around to deliver two swift kicks to the other vamps.
As they gasped in pain, Buffy ran across the room to retrieve her crossbow. She was breathing heavily because of her lack of oxygen, but she still managed to get there before any of the others had sufficiently recovered. Quickly, she fired the crossbow, and was already reloading before the arrow had even reached its intended target. Buffy tried to decide who to fire at first, Spke or the remaining vampire, and she quickly chose the former.
But Spike, realizing her intent, moved out of the way just as she launched the arrow. Damn, Buffy thought. This time, she sent her arrow at the back of the now-fleeing vampire, but that too missed.
Okay Buffy, she thought to herself, calm down for a second. She did, and this time when she fired off a shot at the other vampire, who by now was almost at the entrance to the cavern, her arrow hit its target and the vampire screamed before falling to the ground.
Buffy turned, prepared to face off with Spike, but could see the vampire nowhere. She knew he couldn't have made it to the entrance because she would have seen him, and she was over by the other tunnel that the cavern led into so he couldn't have escaped out that way, which left one possibility: Spike was hiding.
In earlier days, Buffy might have tried to bring the vampire out of hiding with a few taunts, but now that ability was beyond her. Instead, she started walking, as quietly as possible, through the stacks of boxes and other parephenalia that littered the cave, on a mission to locate her quary.
The stack of wooden crates toppling on her was a complete shock to Buffy, who nonetheless quickly threw up her arms to protect herself, dropping the crossbow in the process.
What seemed like minutes, but was probably only seconds later, Buffy was trying to climb out of the mess while trying to figure out where her adversary was hiding.
She didn't have to wait long. As Buffy finally stepped out of the pile, she looked up just in time to see Spike flying at her. Unable to deflect him, she simply prepared her body for the impact of hitting the ground as she fell backwards.
Spike's hands immediately went around her throat once more, and Buffy found herself choking as he slowly squeezed the oxygen out of her lungs. On the verge of blacking out, Buffy somehow found the strength to bring her knee up into Spike's crotch. The vampire gasped and released his tight grip on her neck, but he did not move off of her.
Buffy panted a few seconds as she desperately tried to draw oxygen into her lungs, but it was all the time Spike needed to recover and once more make a grab for her throat. But this time Buffy was ready for him and she easily deflected his hands. Using one of her favorite techniques, Buffy rolled over on Spike, who was so stunned by the move that he momentarily didn't react. Buffy, spying on of her arrows above Spike's head, made a grab for it, but Spike caught her arm before she could get there.
This time the vampire delivered a blow to Buffy's cheek, and her head spun from the force of the impact. But Buffy had experienced far worse, and quickly retaliated with a karate chop to Spike's neck. Spike bared his fangs and hissed, and before Buffy could realize his intentions, he grabbed her arm and brought it to his mouth, where he bit down. Hard.
Buffy screamed. Before she could think of what she was doing, she used a martial arts technique which she had always deemed disgusting...and something she would never do. Buffy, taking the index and middle fingers of her free hand and forming them into a `V', slammed her fingers with all the force possible into Spike's eyes.
Buffy felt and heard a sick sort of popping, and this time it was the vampire's turn to scream in absolute agony. His fangs disengaged themselves from her arm, and taking this opportunity, Buffy made another grab for her arrow.
This time she was successful in her attempt to reach it. Just as Spike recouped for another attack upon the Slayer, she slammed the arrow down into his heart and watched as the body below her disintegrated.
Standing up, Buffy looked at the mangled flesh of her right forearm. It hurt like hell, but to Buffy it didn't really matter. Nothing really mattered anymore. Drusilla was dead. Spike was dead. All that was left for her to do was to find Angel and then-
Buffy's thoughts were cut off as an arm wrapped itself around her throat from behind and then another arm did the same to her midsection. Realizing the implications of this, Buffy said a silent prayer heavenward asking for forgiveness for what she was about to do.
"So we meet again my love," Angel whispered, as his head descended toward her neck.
* * *
"Ew! I think that was a dead rat!" Cordelia screeched as they passed the limp carcass on their way through the sewers.
"Ssssssshhhhhhhh!" everyone admonished her, not wanting to alert any vampires to their presence.
"Oops, sorry," she said.
"That's actually a good sign," Giles replied. When the others just looked at him strangely, he elaborated. "Well, dead rats, as opposed to live rats, would mean that vampires must be nearby." When still all he encountered were blank stares, he quickly went on, " because the vampires have been feeding on the rats...."
He trailed off as he saw the light dawn suddenly in their eyes.
They walked along awhile longer in silence. It had been this way for the better part of an hour. Giles led the way, with Willow following, then Cordelia, and Xander bringing up the rear. No one really had anything much to say, so lost were they all in their own thoughts.
"How do we even know this is the right way?" Willow whispered, unconsciously voicing her thoughts.
"We don't," Xander replied. "But it's the only way we have."
But what if it's the wrong way? Willow thought, though this time she kept silent.
They continued walking. It seemed to Xander that they were walking endlessly yet going nowhere. He had to constantly fight off the urge to scream, `Are we there yet?" The silence was driving him crazy, but he realized that idle chit-chat would be even worse. It was just that the silence gave him too much time to think about Buffy. He knew that if she died, it would be his fault. He had been so wrapped up in his own life this past month that he had failed to pay attention to Willow's warnings that something was seriously wrong with Buffy. He had thought that Buffy just needed time and space to get over Angel's betrayal, and he had planned on giving her both. Now it looked as though he had given her too much.
They walked on. Giles was starting to sweat a bit, and he had to admit that tweed was not exactly the best material in which to do any prolonged exercise. But he easily ignored his own discomfort as his thoughts focused on Buffy. He didn't know what he would do if she succeeded in her plan to kill herself. He already felt guilty enough as it was since he hadn't noticed the now obvious signs of her horrific plan. When Willow had first come to him to try and get help for Buffy because she had obviously sensed the Slayer's desperation, he had told her that she was overreacting and that it was normal for Buffy to be depressed. He had believed that Buffy just needed time. And in truth, he had thought Willow too naive to fully comprehend the complexities of the world. Little had he known that she had understood the situation much better than he. If Buffy was successful in her attempt to end her life because of his own lack of attention, he would never forgive himself.
They walked some more. Willow had gnawed her lower lip so long that it was now raw, but she was oblivious to the pain. She was so angry with herself for not having noticed earlier the obvious signs of Buffy's suicidal tendencies. She should have known. She should have gone with her gut instinct, which was telling her that things were much more serious with Buffy than she was letting on. But no, she had preferred to listen to Xander and Giles' assertions that Buffy just needed time, wanting perhaps to delude herself into thinking that things would turn out fine. But things were definitely not fine now, and Willow knew that if Buffy succeeded in her suicide attempt, she was the one responsible.
As time wore on and everyone became increasingly tired, they all could not help but wonder if this entire effort was going to be nothing more than an exercise in futility. Their spirits were at an all time low and they all struggled with the seemingly insurmountable task of just putting one foot in front of the other.
It was at this point, when they were closest to giving up hope, that they heard the scream rip through the tunnels. All stopped walking for a second, so stunned to actually hear a confirmation that the Slayer was still alive that they could not think of what to do.
"Buffy!" Willow cried.
"The noise came from somewhere up ahead. She can't be too far away," Giles said.
Everyone took off running in the direction from which the scream had come, hoping to hear another one to continue to guide them, while at the same time fearing what another scream from the normally stoic Slayer would mean.
After what seemed like hours, but was probably less than ten minutes later, they finally found the entrance to the cavern. They had had to follow several twists and turns to get there, and had unfortunately made some incorrect turns, which they had had to double back on. Now, as they burst into the cave, they suddenly realized the consequences of their time-consuming errors.
Below, in the center of the cavern, Buffy lay limp in Angel's arms as he fed off of her. The others had no idea how long he had been at it, but Buffy's face was completely white. The others, paralyzed for a moment at the sickening sight before them, could only watch in morbid fascination.
Angel, noticing their arrival, took his mouth off of Buffy's neck and growled, revealing blood-stained fangs. Before the others could realize his intentions or act accordingly to stop him, he had dropped Buffy, who fell lifelessly to the floor, and had slit open his own wrist and was moving to hold it over Buffy's mouth.
Willow clapped a hand over her mouth, ready to vomit at the realization that Buffy was about to be turned into a vampire. She may have wanted to die, but Willow was quite sure that she had not wanted this.
Just as Angel's dripping wrist was about to be positioned over Buffy's slightly parted lips, the vampire gasped in pain and brought his hands quickly to his stomach. He hunched over and pressed his hands into his abdomen, and then brought them up to his chest. To the others, it appeared as though he was choking, although no one could see any explanation why.
And then, to everyone's surprise, he let out a howl filled with more pain than anyone had ever heard before, and took off towards the other exit of the cavern. Buffy's friends immediately made their way over to the fallen Slayer. Giles, quickly checking vitals, was devasted at what he found.
"She- she doesn't have a pulse."
All was silent as they were confronted with evidence of Buffy's death.
"No!" Willow suddenly screamed. "No! I will *not* let this happen! I will *not* lose my best friend! She died once before and was brought back. I refuse to believe it can't be done again!"
Xander, realizing the validity of Willow's argument, quickly started CPR. Cordelia ran off in the direction of the cave entrance, shouting behind her "I'm going to try and find a way to the surface that's closer and then call 911!"
Willow and Giles were left to try and cope with the situation.
As the minutes passed and Xander's efforts were rewarded with only silence, their anxiety all grew. Yet they had to believe that Buffy would survive, or else they themselves would not have been able to carry on.
The deathly still of the cavern was broken when Cordelia came running in crying, "I called the ambulance and it's going to be here any minute! We need to get her up to the surface!"
Giles and Willow looked at each other, and then at Xander, who had briefly stopped his ministrations. They all knew that if Buffy's heart did not start now, it would never start again. Deliberately, Xander went back to work.
Cordelia, who seemed to understand the situation, just stood by the entrance of the cave.
As Xander worked at filling Buffy's lungs with air and getting her heart to beat, he wondered if it was even worth it. His eyes filled with tears as he realized that he would be carrying one of his best friends to the surface to meet not an ambulance, but to meet a hearse instead.
And then Xander suddenly felt a heartbeat. Faint, but present all the same. But she was still not breathing. Realizing that it was now or never, he scooped up his friend and took off running toward the cave entrance. Willow and Giles, who had not realized what had happened, simply took off after him.
Within two minutes they were climbing through a pothole into the middle of a side street. They could hear the wail of the ambulance as it approached, and were just barely able to pull all of themselves out and recover the pothole before the ambulance flew around the corner.
The paramedics were putting Buffy on the stretcher and loading her into the ambulance before any of them could even say a word.
"Are you the father?" one of them asked, directing his comment toward Giles.
"I, uh- well, yes," Giles responded, realizing that in order to get her treatment, he would have to act as her guardian.
"Well, hop in the back then, you can ride with her," one said, jerking his thumb toward the ambulance as he went around to the front.
Giles, looking at the other teens to make sure they would be all right, was relieved to see them nod their heads, indicating that he should go with Buffy.
Quickly, he climbed in the back, and as he did, the paramedic said "I think we got here just in time."
I hope so, Giles prayed.
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