Dawn screamed as she felt freezing fingers creep up the side of her face to cover her mouth, while a strong arm slithered its way around her waist. Xander stared blankly as the gruesome and deformed features of a vampire came into view just above Dawn’s shoulder.

"Let her go." Xander tried to sound confident and strong but his voice faltered.

"Or what?" the demon asked tilting the young girl’s head, successfully exposing the tender skin of her neck to his sharp teeth. Disgustingly, the vampire dropped his tongue to her flesh and licked her from collarbone to earlobe.

Xander instinctively jumped up in Dawn’s direction. Her eyes widened as she saw two other vampires approach the young man from behind. When he noticed her reaction it was already too late. The last thing he heard before falling unconscious to the floor was Dawn’s strangled scream.

***********************************************************

Buffy and Spike ran for a while before reaching the outskirts of town. Screams and roars plagued the silence of night time as humans and demons mixed in a savage dance for survival.

The Slayer immediately took over and Buffy fell into fighting position. Soon three demons lay lifeless on the muddy ground. Her heroic rampage came to a halt as she felt Spike’s strong grip around her arm.

"What?" she asked outraged and breathless.

"You just slayed a Myhan and two Lyourt demons." He tried to explain.

"And?"

"Well, on the demon scale of predatory evilness they’re just below cuddly little baby seals." Seeing the confused look on her face he added: "They’re bloody harmless. Something is making them act this way."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. We have to find out what is causing this." Spike said in a strong tone, looking around, trying to ignore the mayhem that surrounded them in order to identify the real source of that chaos.

It didn’t take him long. Soon another piercing howl cut through the skies. In a flash they were punching and pushing their way through the crowd and found themselves face to face with a bright pulsating circle of light. Around it a small crowd of demons gathered as if worshiping it, the spectacle eerily resembled the calm in the eye of the storm. From behind the brightness they could hear Ethan’s ungodly screams.

"We have to get to him." Buffy ordered, but as she looked around she noticed the circle occupied the entire street, there was no way they could pass without touching it. Realising what she had to do she began walking back where they came from. "We have to go around, I will take some time but-"

She stopped speaking as she felt Spike’s strong grip around her arm. She refused to turn around, face him and look him in the eyes. She knew what he was going to say but she really didn’t want to hear it.

"Buffy…" his voice was soft, a mere whisper that she almost couldn’t hear from under the pandemonium that surrounded them. She remained still, her back turned to him while he held onto her outstretched arm. "Buffy…" he tried again pulling slightly at her arm, but still no answer. "Buffy…" this time his tone was strong and cold, as he pulled her to him, forcing her to face him.

He caught a needless breath in his throat as he saw her liquid eyes, her gaze fallen to the muddy ground, her face flushed from the recent fight and the turmoil of emotions that took over her.

"I-I have to do this." He said simply as his cool fingers trailed the contours of her cheek, coming to rest under her chin and tilting it upwards, forcing her to meet his gaze.

She swallowed hard and rolled her eyes as she desperately tried to push back the tears.

"Why?" she forced the word out and it seemed to burn her throat in the process.

He gave her a tender smile and whispered: "You know why. There is no other way to destroy this thing. You heard Giles."

"But-but he could be wrong, he-he… sometimes he’s wrong." She babbled incoherently as desperation took over her lungs, making her words come out in gasps and the tears began to flow freely down her cheeks.

"He’s right about this one." Spike felt something seize his chest, pressing down on him, making it impossible to breathe and even though he didn’t need to, he felt the frightening sensation of suffocation.

"No-no he-he can’t be! He’s wrong. He’s wrong!" she cried out pulling at his arms, trying to keep him close to her. As she broke down she leaned her forehead on his chest, her fingers drawing incomprehensible shapes over the soaked fabric of his t-shirt. "Please let him be wrong about this." She whispered.

Spike gasped at the sensation of her forehead hitting his chest. The desperation in her words and action brought actual physical pain to his body. Slowly, he caressed her wet hair leaning in, as if trying to protect her from her stormy rain.

"Everything is going to be ok." He whispered as he rocked her body into tranquillity.

They stood there, in the middle of a mutinying town, surrounded by their own private circle of peace and protection. Slowly, she looked up into his eyes and with a trembling pout she dared to ask:

"What if-"

But before she could finish he bent down and swallowed her blasphemous question with a kiss.

*********************************************************

"Giles, we have to do something." Willow once more stated the obvious.

"We can’t get to the Magic Box, the circle is in the way." Giles noted as he continuously stared at the raging madman howling at the full moon. "The only way to stop this is by destroying the circle then we’ll deal with Ethan."

"But how? We can’t just throw a human being into the circle."

Giles remained silent as he pondered what to do. As he looked around him he wondered how was it that someone could cause so much destruction. Granted that he was dominated by all sorts of demons battling for dominance inside of him, but he was still a human being, he still had a…

"That’s it!" Giles yelled out as the epiphany hit him.

"What?" Willow asked confused.

"Ethan."

"What about him?"

"He’s human." Giles tried to make her understand.

"Yeah, so?" Willow asked as she remained confused. Giles gave her a look, widening his eyes. "Sorry, Giles, I quietly remain east of Eden on this one."

"He’s human, therefore he has a soul."

*******************************************************

"Now, what is a fine little girl like you doing here, in my humble home?" Dawn felt the vampire’s cold breath graze over the exposed flesh of her neck.

She pushed down the fear that was creeping up her throat and spat out in an overconfident tone.

"I don’t know. Stormy night, nothing on TV, I guess I just felt like kicking some vampire ass." And without another word she brought her right leg up as high as she could, hitting the vampire right smack in the face.

Before the other vampires could react she threw herself between the two, causing them to run into each other as they tried to catch her. Before the three vampires could regroup, she rolled off the floor and landed right in front of the fireplace. Quickly she grabbed a smaller, half burnt wooden stick and hid it behind her.

"The little girl wants to play does she?" the vampire that had been holding her and that appeared to be the leader asked in a mocking tone. He moved cat like towards her as the others took their place behind him, their formation resembling the tip of an arrow with the leader in front. "I think I’m gonna enjoy this." He continued as he rubbed his hands together and closed the distance between him and Dawn while the other remained in their places.

Suddenly, he lunged at her but she easily blocked his blows. Soon he realised he had greatly underestimated her as he found himself face down on the floor.

"What? No more playing?" Dawn mocked breathlessly but she wasn’t able to enjoy her victory for long as the other two vampires immediately jumped at her, cornering her.

********************************************************

"You know what to do, don’t you?" Giles asked for the second time.

The witch simply nodded before making her way to the other side of the street. Giles sighed, swallowed hard and stood up taking a few steps in Ethan’s direction.

"ETHAN!" he called out.

Slowly, the madman turned to face the librarian. Giles felt his breath catch in his throat at the sight of Ethan’s face. Something seemed to move under his skin, like a snake crawling, mercilessly tearing its way through muscles and nervous tissue. Any trace of humanity was gone from the now completely white orbs that had once been his eyes. It was the most gruesome thing he had ever seen in his life.

"Well, well, well. You decided to join us, uh?" The sound seemed to come from Ethan’s distorted mouth but it wasn’t his voice. It sounded like an ungodly, off key orchestra of demons howling in unison.

As Giles distracted the madman, Willow carefully approached him from behind and, as she stood just inches away from him, she made her move to push him into the circle of light. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt a strong hand grip her by the throat and the next thing she knew she was lifted off the floor, franticly kicking her feet much like Dawn had done a few hours before.

"Tsk-tsk-tsk. You should have known better, old man." Ethan screeched in a mocking tone. "I have the powers of countless demons in me, do you think we couldn’t feel her from a mile away? I mean, I can feel you’re little Slayer from the other side of this circle. She and that vampire are thinking about destroying it, but they’ll soon see what’s coming." He paused for a second before adding absentmindedly : "Oh! Did you know she’s all fluffy-woffy over that bleached vampire?"

Seeing there was no change in Giles’ expression, Ethan felt a bit disappointed, but he soon found a way to turn the game against the ex-watcher.

"You knew, did you? And you let her get down and dirty with-"

"Shut the fuck up, Ethan. I’m sick of hearing your voice." Giles said cool and calm.

The knowledge that his Slayer was on the other side of the circle actually calmed him. Willow on the other hand was speechless, for a moment she forgot the situation she was in and the only thought going through her mind was – "Giles said the F word, Giles said the F word."

"You’re an idiot you know?" Giles began. He really hoped this would work, otherwise they would be lost. "Actually no, you’re pathetic, you always were. Remember back in the day. You’d skulk around, always trying to be cool and hip, but the truth was you we’re always the weakest of us all. I mean even with Mary, remember Mary?" Giles knew he was on the right track when he saw the rage cover Ethan’s face. "You were always after her like a lost little puppy but in the end she always preferred me, didn’t she? She always-"

"SHUT UP!!!!" The inhuman howl ripped through the skies as the demons took over Ethan once more.

His hands immediately came to clutch his head as a dilacerating pain took over his entire body. Willow fell to the floor with a loud thud, her own hands gripping at her throat as she desperately coughed and gasped for air.

"Willow!" Giles called out.

Hearing her name brought her back to reality and she scrambled to her feet making her way into Giles’ open arms. From a safe distance they watched as the madman mindlessly drifted and wobbled erratically in the middle of the street.

**********************************************************

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath as she felt his fingers trace the edges of her cheeks. When she opened them, she found pure crystal blue eyes staring deep into her and a new wave of panic took over as she felt him pull away from her and move towards the circle.

"No-no, don’t go. Please!" she begged him, the tears overflowing as she pushed and pulled at his t-shirt.

"Buffy, Buffy!" he called her, but she refused to hear him. She vehemently shook her head, trying to block out everything he had to say to her.

"No! If you go, you’ll die!" she screamed; anger and fear ruling over her emotions.

"Buffy, there is a chance nothing will happen to me. I-" he tried to reason with her but it was no use. All logical thought had left her, she was ridding on pure emotion.

"No!" she yelled. "I’m telling you, I can *feel* it." She said pounding her chest. "Something bad is going to happen. I-I don’t… I-I can’t…" as the anxiety became too powerful to handle she began to stutter, her sentences constantly interrupted by small gasps and nervous hiccups. "Please." She begged once more, her face wet with a strange mixture of raindrops and salty tears. Her eyes seemed to glow while her mouth took the shape of a painful pout; her lips trembling. "I can’t-I can’t let you go. Not now. Not now that..."

"Buffy!" he tried to calm her down, but his own tears now flowed down his chiselled cheeks.

"Spike…"

"I have to go."

They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Slowly, he leaned in and pressed his lips over her forehead in a chaste kiss. Then, without a word, he pulled away from her and walked towards the circle.

Buffy felt a pang in her chest as she loosen her grip on his t-shirt and let him go. As she saw him drift away from her all the moments they had shared flashed through her eyes. She remembered the first time she had seen him, he seemed so sure of himself, so obnoxious and full of himself. A ghost of a smile spread over her trembling lips as she remembered Spike and her mom sitting in the living room while she went upstairs and got her weapons to fight Angelus. The memory of him coming back to Sunnydale drunk and heartbroken, seeing him so thin and weak when he escaped the Initiative, feeding him in Giles’ tub, going patrolling with him. She felt small butterflies as she remembered the day she found out he loved her, the day she went to him after Glory had beaten him up to a pulp, the first real kiss they had shared, the sight of him for the first time after she had come back, the conversations, the banter, the night in the crumbling building, the days and nights that followed. Everything, everything came rushing at her.

"SHUT UP!" the ungodly scream snapped her out of her thoughts and brought her back to reality.

She looked up at Spike. He now stood inches from the circle, his hands coming to touch it. Instinctively, she lunged at him, dropping him to the ground and landing on top of him.

"Buffy? What?!" he asked confused.

"I love you!" she blurted out and before he had anytime to respond she smashed his lips with hers in an urgent and bruising kiss.