Four days had passed since the impromptu party at the Magic Shop. Buffy had worked twelve hour shifts at the Double Meat Palace for each of those days and went patrolling each night till late. She had felt guilty about skipping patrol for two nights, and lying to Giles about being on patrol Sunday night, and was trying to make up for it. Working from 10AM to 10PM and patrolling till 2 or 3 AM was bad enough, but getting up at 6:30 AM to get Dawn out of bed, fix her a breakfast and off to school had made it even worse. Three or four hours of sleep a night just wasn't enough. But today was different, she didn't have to work and Willow and Tara got Dawn off to school this morning so Buffy could sleep late.
From 2 AM when Buffy had hit the bed exhausted till 10 AM when she awoke, she had slept like the dead, unaware of the world around her. When she got out of bed she spent the next two hours soaking in the tub to get the smell of Double Meat grease out of her skin and hair and primping to make herself feel like an attractive woman instead of a greasy meat patty. She had fixed her hair, applied makeup carefully and chosen her cloths carefully. She was going to meet Willow and Tara on campus for lunch at one o'clock and wanted to look her best. It wasn't that she wanted to look good for Willow and Tara, although that did play a part, she wanted to look good for everyone. After four long days at the Palace she wanted to feel like an attractive woman to everyone who would see her.
Buffy was suppose to meet Willow outside Foster Hall at 1PM, they would go meet Tara at the Student Center for lunch. The front of Foster Hall was built on a terraced hillside with wide steps leading from the parking area and sidewalk up to the doors. On each side of the stairs there was a low brick wall capped with stone slabs. The wall ran up the stairs, flattened out on the terrace, ran up the next part of the hill and flattened out again. At the foot and top of each section of stairs a brick pillar was built into the wall with a light fixture mounted on top for lighting at night. When Buffy arrived early she sat down on the wall next to one of the pillars to wait. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, but not hot, just kind of warm and relaxing. She leaned back on the pillar, drew her legs up and rested her hands on her knees as she waited, enjoying the sunshine.
Buffy had been sitting for several minutes when she noticed that most of the guys going up the stairs were looking over at her and smiling. There were even four guys standing in a group on the stairs looking over at her, smiling. Buffy sat there smiling back at everyone, feeling really good about all the time she had spent getting ready and making herself look good. A girl needed to know her efforts were appreciated.
Buffy had been sitting there for about ten minute and the group of four guys had grown to nine. With that many men looking at her she was starting to get a little uncomfortable, appreciating your efforts was one thing, staring was another thing all together. She was just about to get up and go look for her when Willow showed up.
"Hi Buffy" Willow said "been waiting long?"
"Just a little bit Willow" Buffy replied "I've been enjoying the sunshine."
As Willow stood there talking she noticed the men smiling at Buffy and the group standing on the stairs looking her way. She also noticed for the first time what Buffy was wearing and how she was sitting. A big grin broke out on her face.
Buffy noticed the big grin and asked "What are you grinning about Wil? You look like a cat that just ate a bird."
Willow just grinned more and said "Looks like your drawing a lot of attention today."
Buffy smiled back at her and said "Yeah, it does. I spent two hours getting ready and I guess it's paying off."
"That could be it" Willow replied with the big grin still on her face, "Or it could be everyones looking up your dress to see if your wearing panties!"
When Buffy understood what Willow had just said to her, her legs shot out straight on the wall and she started blushing a bright shade of red as she stared down at her lap. The whole time she had been sitting there with her hands on her knees her dress had been wide open for everyone to look up and see everything. All the men that had been smiling at her had been smiling for a reason alright and it wasn't due to the time she had spent making herself look attractive. Buffy sat like that for at least thirty seconds before she could look up. When she did she glared at the guys still standing on the stairs looking in her direction.
Willow was still grinning at her and said "Give the guys a break Buffy, if I'd been coming up the stairs and saw you sitting like that I would have stopped and looked too. By the way, are you wearing panties?"
Buffy smiled at Willow, got up and took her book bag from her and set it on the wall, took Willow in her arms and gave her a long deep kiss, in front of everyone looking in their direction. When the kiss ended she said "No, I'm not."
Willow smiled and blushed at the same time. She picked up her book bag with one hand while she put her other arm around Buffys waist. Buffy put her arm around Willows waist and the two of them walked down the stairs past all the guys still standing there, smiled at them and headed off for the Student Center to meet Tara for lunch.
During lunch they told Tara what had happened, how embarrassed Buffy had been, both for letting everyone look up her dress and because she had sat there thinking they were all admiring her good looks and the effort she had made to look that way. They told her about Buffy kissing Willow in front of the guys and the looks of disappointment that had been on their faces as Buffy and Willow walked past them with their arms around each other. Tara had joined in on their laughter and sympathized with Buffy over her embarrassment. She told Buffy that she was also sorry that she hadn't been there to stand on the steps herself. Buffy looked around the room to see if anyone was near or looking their way then pulled up her dress and spread her legs to give Tara a full and closeup view.
"That's a better view than anyone else got to see." Buffy said to her "Does that make you happy?"
Tara smiled at Buffy, lean forward and ran her fingers up the inside of Buffys leg till she could brush her fingers across Buffys pussy. "I'm happy now" she replied.
"No fair, I'm on the wrong side of the table." Willow whined, but she was smiling.
"You got to kiss her, that counts for something" Tara responded with a smile of her own as she withdrew her hand from between Buffys legs.
They continued to talk while they ate their lunch, laughing and having a good time. Willow and Tara both had another class to attend and Buffy wanted to go by the Magic Shop to see Giles. Just before the lunch broke up Buffy casually asked them if they had seen Spike around lately. She told them that she hadn't seen him when she was patrolling and wondered if he was getting into any kind of trouble. Willow said that she hadn't seen him at all since the week before. Tara said she hadn't actually seen him to talk to him but she knew that he had been around the house on Tuesday evening because Dawn went out to the backyard and was talking to him for about an hour before she went to bed. They all knew that Dawn trusted Spike and liked to spend time with him and talk. Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about that, but when she was dead before Willow brought her back to life, Spike had been there to protect Dawn and had kept her safe from harm.
As Buffy drove from the campus to the Magic Shop her thoughts kept turning to Spike and the confused way he made her feel. She knew that he was a soulless vampire and that he was evil. She also knew that he hadn't done anything directly to hurt her or the rest of the gang for a long time. Sure the chip in his head kept him from killing humans, but there were other ways to hurt people without killing them. He use to do things like that all the time before he found out Dawn was the Key and almost got killed protecting the secrete from Glory. That was when Buffy found out that Spike had feelings for her, strong feelings, that he said that he loved her. Buffy couldn't except it then and she couldn't except it now. Someone who was evil couldn't love her and she could never love someone who was evil. The thought of Angel brushed across her mind, but Angel wasn't evil when she fell in love with him, and he wasn't evil now. Yes, he had been evil for awhile and had even tried to kill Buffy and her friends. Yes, he had killed Jenny and tortured Giles, but Buffy had killed him and sent him to a demon hell for a hundred subjective years. But something had brought him back, with his soul intact and he wasn't evil anymore.
When Buffy got to the Magic Shop and walked inside she saw that Anya was waiting on a customer and that two other people were browsing over items on a shelf. She didn't see Giles, he either wasn't at the shop today or he was in his backroom office. It was kind of funny about that office of his, before she had died he had never kept it locked up and Buffy had been in it dozens of times. Since her return he kept it locked all the time, even when he was inside it, and hardly ever let anyone inside with him, except for Dawn once in awhile. She wondered why Dawn was the exception, but shrugged the thought off as meaningless.
Buffy had sat down in a chair at the big work table and had watched Anya taking care of the customers. When the last one left the shop and Anya started walking toward her she hiked one leg up on the table as she pulled her dress up and gave Anya a full view between her legs at her uncovered pussy. Anya smiled at her and when she was next to Buffy bent over to give her a kiss as she slid her hand between Buffys legs and rubbed her pussy. Buffy returned the kiss as she rubbed one of Anyas breasts arousing the nipple. When the kiss ended Anya squatted down next to Buffy and inserted two fingers inside of her and worked them in and out slowly. Buffy smiled at Anya and spread her legs wider.
"This is much fun Buffy" Anya said to her "but why are you here? We can't have sex on the table, a customer might come in and see us. Also, Giles is in his office."
Buffy smiled at Anya again, it amazed and amused her the way Anya said things at times. So point blank and blunt, without any of the subtlety most people had in a conversation. When she had first started seeing Xander, Anya had confused and annoyed Buffy with the way she talked, but now she enjoyed her honesty. It wasn't that Anya was stupid or anything, she was in fact very smart, it was more like she was speaking in a language she didn't fully understand and hadn't learned all the nuances of the language. That of course made sense seeing that she had been a demon for over a thousand years and being a human was new to her.
"I actually came by to see what you and Xander have planned for tonight. I don't have to work today and if I do an early patrol tonight I might be able to meet up with you guys later" Buffy told her.
"Xander would like that, and so would I" Anya replied. "I'm sorry I didn't come back to see you again at the Double Meat Palace but the smell made me sick."
Anyas comment reminded Buffy that Xander and Anya had stopped by the Palace together on Tuesday night to see her. She had taken a break and went out back with them to talk. They had wound up behind the garbage dumpster with Buffy on her knees sucking Xanders cock. Anya had watched but had complained about the stench. Xander had come back alone on Wednesday night and she had gone behind the dumpster and sucked him off again, but even he had trouble with the smell. Buffy had to admit that sucking cock behind a garbage dumpster wasn't very romantic or sexually satisfying. Xander had obviously agreed because he didn't come back for more last night.
"That's okay Anya" Buffy said to her "it wasn't a very good idea to begin with, but that place numbs my mind and my nose."
"Xander said he wanted to go to the Bronze tonight" Anya told Buffy "you could meet us there when you are done patrolling? I think Willow and Tara are coming too. Xander saw them last night."
"Oh, that's funny" Buffy said "I had lunch with them and they didn't mention going out tonight."
"I might be wrong" Anya replied.
The whole time that Buffy and Anya had been talking Anya had been finger fucking Buffy as she knelt next to her. They both heard a noise at the same time, Anya stood up and Buffy dropped her leg off of the table and pulled down her dress. Giles came out from the back room and seeing Buffy sitting in a chair with Anya standing next to her he smiled at her. "Hello Buffy, are you enjoying your day off? There isn't any trouble is there?" he asked.
"Oh, pretty much and no trouble" Buffy answered. "In fact I wanted to ask you about that. I've been out late all week and have only caught one vampire lurking about. My kills are dropping off to nothing, you don't think were running out of them do you?"
Giles looked at Buffy with that straight faced look of his and took his glasses off and started cleaning the lenses. "No, I don't think that's the problem. Maybe it has something to do with that rumor you heard about, vampires gathering for some reason" he said.
Giles statement reminded Buffy of the lie she had told him to get him to watch Dawn on Sunday night while she was having a sex party right here at the Magic Shop. "No I don't think that's it" she said to him "if it was I should have found them when I was patrolling."
"Well you have been going out rather late, maybe they are doing whatever it is earlier in the evening?" he replied.
"If a big group of vampires were meeting somewhere I should have seen some sign of it, and anyway I haven't heard of any killings this week either, have you?" she responded to him.
"No I haven't" Giles said as he put his glasses back on. "But your right, it does seem a little strange that you have only seen one all week. What about demons, have you seen any of them?"
"Not a one. I don't want to jinx things but it's kind of strange for things to be so quiet" Buffy said to her Watcher. "This isn't some special time of year, like Halloween is it? When all the vampires and demons go on vacation or something?"
"No it's not, or at least not that I've ever heard of before" he replied. "Speaking of vampires, have you seen Spike lately, maybe he would know something about what's going on."
"No, I haven't. But Tara said he was by the house the other night and talked to Dawn for a little while." Buffy told him. "Do you think I should stop by his crypt tonight and ask him about it?"
"That might be a good idea, just to check things out" Giles said to her.
"Okay, I'll do that. I've got to go now, have to pick Dawn up from school. See ya later." Buffy said as she got up and headed for the door. "Anya, I'll see you guys at the Bronze."
When Buffy picked Dawn up at school the first thing out of Dawns mouth was a request to spend the night at Janets house. She told Buffy that everything was already cleared with Janets parents, it was just up to Buffy to say 'Yes'. Buffy told Dawn that she could spend the night with Janet as long as she promised that they wouldn't go out anywhere after dark. Dawn promised and Buffy agreed. Dawn told her that they would probably sleep late, so she probably wouldn't be home until some time in the afternoon. Buffy looked at Dawn and said "Twelve o'clock sharp, no later, or else."
As soon as they got home Dawn went upstairs, took a shower and changed her cloths. When she came down she told Buffy she was going to Janets now. Buffy asked her about dinner? Dawn told her they were going to order pizza. Buffy agreed to let Dawn leave and go to Janets.
With Dawn gone and Willow and Tara not home yet Buffy didn't really have anything to do. She could have done some house cleaning but it wasn't really necessary, Tara and Willow were keeping the house clean as their part of living with Buffy. And the truth was they were a lot better at it than Buffy. With nothing else to do Buffy went up to her room and took her clothes off, thinking she would change into something she could patrol in and still look presentable when she went to the Bronze. The choice was obvious, she got out her red leather pants and a sleeveless black pullover that fit very tight and emphasized her figure. She would wear her black leather jacket and shoes that were comfortable to run in or dance. She laid her cloths out but didn't put them on, instead she walked around her room naked posing in front of her full length mirror. After doing this for several minutes she decided she was thirsty and walked downstairs to the kitchen. She felt kind of wicked walking around the house naked, but it also felt extremely sexy for some reason. She was standing at the refrigerator drinking from a bottle of fruit punch when she heard a banging at the backdoor.
At first Buffy panicked, she didn't know what to do, she couldn't go to the door naked. She started to run back upstairs but as she glanced out the door she could see someone wrapped in a blanket with smoke risings from their back. It was Spike, if she didn't let him in right now he would burst into flames any second. Buffy rushed to the door, unlocked it and pulled it open. Spike rushed inside and flipped the blanket off of him. He stood there bent over cussing and slapping at his cloths where they were still smoldering. When he stood up and got his first look at Buffy he stepped back in shock at seeing her naked. Spike recovered quickly and a smirky grin spread across his face.
"Were you expecting me Slayer, or do you always answer the door that way?" he asked her raising his eyebrows and looking her up and down.
Buffy did a side kick and knocked Spike through the kitchen doorway and halfway down the hall to the living room. She grabbed up his blanket from the floor and wrapped it around herself. "What do you want Spike?" She said in an angry tone of voice.
Spike got up off the floor and glared at Buffy. "I thought I would come by and warn you that there's a new Big Bad in town. It's not my fault you go answering doors without your cloths."
Buffy blushed at the truth of what Spike had just said. "Okay, you've told me, now get out."
"Don't you want to hear the rest of it?" he asked. "There's a demon come to town and he's been gathering other demons and vampires to do his bidding. He's planning some kind of big action, don't know what, but it's big. If you take him out it will all fall apart without him."
"Do you know where I can find him?" Buffy asked.
"Not really, just somewhere in the sewer system near the old high school" Spike told her. "I thought we could go looking together, if your up for it."
"I don't need your help Spike. You can leave now." Buffy said to him, still feeling angry at him seeing her naked.
"Oh, your just going to go in there all by yourself looking for a demon and his twenty or thirty minions are you?" Spike said with scorn in his voice. "You don't even know what kind of demon your looking for or how to fight him."
"Okay, what is he and how do I kill him?" Buffy asked with less hostility in her voice.
"Can't really say for sure" Spike said to her "but I know someone that can tell us."
"Tell me who, I'll go find out myself" Buffy said.
"I don't think this bloke would be to interested in talking to you Slayer or letting you find him for that matter. I know where he hangs out and I can make him talk to us" Spike told her. "If you want to find this demon we'll have to go together."
Buffy stood there glaring at Spike not knowing if she should trust him or not. Spike stood there looking back at her waiting for her to say something. Standing there with just a blanket wrapped around her Buffy became more and more uncomfortable. "Okay, we go together, but your leaving now" Buffy told him "I'll come by your place after sundown."
Spike eased past Buffy and stood near the backdoor but didn't open it. Buffy stood there staring at him. "What are you waiting for" she asked, getting angry again.
"I need my blanket" Spike said.
Buffy whipped the blanket off and threw it at Spike. He caught it and wrapped it around himself but stood there looking at her naked body. "You've got two seconds before I kick you out the door" was all she said. Spike opened the door and was gone.
As the backdoor closed the front door opened and Willow and Tara walked into the house. When they saw Buffy standing in the kitchen naked they started to say something but when they saw the look on her face they decided not to. Buffy stormed past them and went up the stairs to her room to get dressed. Ten minutes later she came down the stairs but still had a forbidding look on her face. Buffy stormed around for awhile before she calmed down. She told them that Dawn was spending the night at Janets and wouldn't be home till noon tomorrow. She also told them that she was planning to meet up with Xander and Anya later in the evening after she finished her patrolling. Willow told Buffy that they hadn't made any plans for the evening because they thought they would be needed to watch over Dawn and didn't think it would be fair to ask Giles to do it again. They both said that they would go to the Bronze and meet up with Xander, Anya and Buffy later. Buffy suggested they take the car to the Bronze in case they all wanted to go somewhere else later. Willow and Tara smiled at her but didn't comment. Buffy seeing their smiles started grinning back at them.
Buffy then got on the phone and called Giles. She told him she had seen Spike and he had warned her about a new demon in town and his minions. They were going to go out later to look for the demon and kill it if they could find it. Giles told her to be careful and asked if she wanted him to come along? She told him that she thought she and Spike could handle the problem. She promised to call and let him know how things turned out. Willow and Tara had heard her talking to Giles and were concerned about her going out alone with just Spike to look for a demon. They both wanted to come along with her. Buffy started telling them that she didn't need their help when Willow waved her hand and a fireball appeared in her hand. Willow insisted that two powerful witches would be of help if she caught up with this demon, especially if he had all the minions that Spike claimed he had following him. Buffy looked at both of them and agreed.
They had to wait for sundown before they could go meet Spike. Tara and Willow fixed them all something to eat, Buffy was to agitated to eat and kept pacing the floor. Willow and Tara didn't know what had her so upset but figured it had to do with her being naked when they got home.
Just before the sun set they went out to the car. Willow commented that driving around Sunnydale was a whole lot better than walking everywhere. Buffy drove in silence and didn't comment. When they got to the cemetery she told them to wait while she got Spike. Buffy walked through the cemetery until she got to Spikes crypt. She opened the door and entered. Spike was sitting on top of a concrete vault waiting for her. He had a grin on his face.
"If you say one word I'll stake you on the spot" was all she said to him. She turned around and went out the door. Spike followed her out the door and closed it behind him. When they got to her car and he saw Willow and Tara in the back seat he raised his eyebrows at Buffy but didn't say anything. He got into the front seat with Buffy and waited for her to start the car. As she drove away from the cemetery she asked him where to go to find this friend of his. Spike told her to head for the warehouse district near the coast, he would direct her from there.
Before they got there Spike asked her if she was sure she wanted to take her car where they were going? They would have to leave it sooner or later and the warehouse district wasn't the best place to leave a car sitting out in the open. Buffy thought about it and drove her car two blocks from the Bronze and parked it. The Bronze was only a mile away from the warehouse district and only two miles from the old high school. They all got out of the car and locked it up. As they started walking down the street toward the warehouse district a car pulled up to the curb. It was Xanders car and Anya and Giles were with him, they all got out of his car and joined Buffy on the sidewalk.
At first Buffy didn't know what to say, the whole Scooby Gang was there and they came to help her. Buffy had been trying since her return to leave them out of as much of her Slayer action as possible. But seeing them all there made her heart swell with love for all of them. Xander opened his trunk and it was full of weapons, he handed a hand axe to Giles and took one for himself. Anya picked out a short sword for herself. Buffy hadn't brought any weapons except a wooden stake inside her jacket. When they offered Spike a weapon he opened his long leather coat and they could see he was carrying a sword hidden from site. Willow and Tara didn't need any weapons, they were weapons themselves.
Buffy tried to tell them all that they didn't need to come with her, that she was sure that she could deal with the situation on her own with just Spike to show the way. Willow made a fireball appear in her hand again and just looked at Buffy, not saying anything. Xander offered Buffy a choice of additional weapons and she picked up two more wooden stakes and tucked them into the back of her pants where they would be covered by her jacket. She walked around to each of her friends and touched them on their arms or shoulders smiling at them. She didn't touch Spike but she did smile in his direction, briefly.
"Well it looks like the Soobies are back in action." Xander said to the group, "Where are we going from here?"
Buffy told them they were heading for the warehouse district and they all started walking down the sidewalk with Buffy and Spike leading the way. It took them half an hour before Spike lead them to a warehouse that was close to the docks. He told them all to wait for him while he went in to find his friend. He was gone about ten minutes when they heard a noise inside that sounded like a cat being skinned alive. A few minutes later Spike came out dragging a small skinny demon with big ears and a face like a rat. He had it by the back of the neck and kept shaking it bodily to keep it under control. He had several bleeding cuts on his hands and wrists and seemed pretty pissed off at the little demon.
"This is Scratch and it's going to be dead if it doesn't stop trying to get away" Spike said as he gave the little demon another hard shake. The demon calmed down a little as it looked around at all the people standing around it. For fifteen minutes they questioned the demon trying to get answers. It confirmed that there was a big demon in town and he was recruiting other demons and vampires for something big. When they tried to find out what it whined that it didn't know and that the other demons didn't talk to it, they just tried to kill it. It only knew anything because it had heard some vampires talking. It didn't know what kind of demon it was that came to town, just that it was big and the other demons were afraid of it. It told them that it was lairing up in the sewers near the old high school where the drainage ditch for the storm sewers was located. Buffy knew the location. When they got all the information they were going to get Spike gave it another shake and told it that if it warned anyone they were looking for the big demon he would come back and find Scratch and kill it. He let the demon go and it scampered off into the dark.
Tara walked up to Spike and pulled a long piece of cloth out of her coat pocket and gave it to Spike to wrap around his bleeding hand and wrist. Giles wanted to know what kind of demon it was and was it safe to let it go. Spike took the cloth from Tara and wrapped his hand and wrist. He told Giles that Scratch was a rat catcher that hid from humans and other demons but traded information with some of the vampires because they wouldn't drink it's tainted blood if they were starving. Spike pulled a whiskey flask from his coat pocket and poured half it's contents on the cloth wrapped around his hand and wrist, then drank the rest in one long swallow.
"The little wanker can't kill a vampire, but his bites and scratches can make us sick as hell" he told them as they watched him tie the bandage in place.
Buffy looked at Spike and wondered again what to make of him. He had come to her in the middle of the afternoon with the sun still out to warn her about the demon. He volunteered to help her fight it. And he just got himself all scratched up and risked some kind of demon infection to get her the information she needed. Why does he do these things? What does he want? He says he loves me, but that can't be true, he doesn't have a soul, he's evil, he can't really love anyone. Buffy shook her head in confusion. That's all Spike seemed to do anymore, confuse her.
With the information they had they started walking again back toward the old high school. At one point they had to hide their weapons because of people on the street walking and driving past. As they neared the old high school Buffy led them to the storm drainage ditch, she had been down in this part of the sewers before and knew how to get into them. She cautioned everyone to be quiet and led the way. They tried to stay on the maintenance ledges most of the way but several times they had to cross from one huge pipe to another and wade through sewer sludge ruining their shoes. They were in the sewers for over an hour sneaking about when Spike signaled them to stop. He whispered to all of them that he had heard something down a cross pipe that was smaller than the others. The only way down the pipe was to duck walk or crawl. No one wanted to crawl through the sludge so the going was slow and painful as they duck walked down the pipe.
It took them ten painful minutes before Spike signaled that something was ahead. Buffy moved ahead with Spike and sneaked up to where the small pipe they were in opened out into a large area where a dozen or more pipes converged from different directions. At the bottom of this junction point, about twenty feet below them, they could see by the light of several burning torches that there were several demons and vampires gathered together. It looked as if they were waiting for someone or something to arrive. They didn't see anything down there that was a lot bigger than the rest of the demons and figured that was what they were waiting for, the big demon that was organizing demons and vampire to do something hadn't arrived yet.
They moved back in the pipe and joined the others. Buffy told them what she had seen and her guess that the boss demon hadn't arrived yet. They needed to get down there if they were going to do any good but Buffy couldn't figure out how to get down to the bottom of the pit without going back the way they came and try to find a new route into the pit. Xander took off his jacket and pulled out a bundle of rope that was in a pouch sewn into the back of the jacket. When he unraveled it he had forty feet of strong nylon rope that could be used to climb down from the pipe if they could find something to tie it off to. Buffy looked at Xander with a whole new sense of respect for his planning ahead for just this situation.
When they moved up to the opening again they couldn't find anything to tie the rope to. Tara worked her way forward and asked Giles for one of the heavy daggers he was carrying. Tara had Buffy, Spike and Xander stand closest to the opening and knelt down with her back to the opening. She started chanting and passed her hand over the dagger several times until it took on a faint glow. She then pressed the point of the dagger against the bottom of the concrete pipe and it went in as if the concrete were soft earth. When she let go of the dagger the glow went away and the dagger was fixed fast. They tied the rope around the hilt of the dagger and ran it to the opening. They would have plenty of rope to reach the bottom of the pit, all they needed to do was climb down it. Buffy knew that she and Spike could get down the rope and maybe Xander, but she was fairly certain that Willow, Tara and Anya would never be able to climb down and she wasn't certain that Giles could do it either.
Willow was the one who came up with the solution. She knew of a spell that could make a person very light in weight. Not weightless, but much less than their actual weight. Buffy went down the rope first so that she would be at the bottom to help and protect anyone else coming down. Willow cast her spell and Xander was lowered down next, followed by Anya, Giles and Tara. There was only Willow and Spike still in the pipe. Willow used the spell on herself and Spike lowered her down then came down the rope on his own with out the need for a spell. When they were all down at the bottom of the dark pit, Spike led the way because he could see better in the dark than anyone else. They got to within twenty feet of the waiting demons and vampires without being seen or heard. The big demon hadn't arrived yet. They sat in the dark waiting. They could hear three of the vampires talking and heard them talk about the plan for a large group of demons and vampires to all raid the hospital at the same time by coming up through the sewers directly into the hospital basement and raiding for what they wanted. The vampires were most interested in the blood bank, several hundred bags of fresh human blood just waiting for them. The demons had other ideas on what they wanted but the vampires didn't talk about what they expected to get out of this raid, except that it would make the boss demon even more powerful than it already was now.
Buffy didn't like the sound of that, a powerful demon becoming even more powerful was never good, but what could a demon want from a hospital that it couldn't get much easier somewhere else. She sat there thinking about it for several minutes before it hit her, babies, that's what the demons wanted, babies. She had fought and killed a demon that came through sewer lines once before who was after babies. All the adults in town had been charmed into acting like adolescent children by magical candy that time. This demon was going for a more direct approach, raid the hospital and steal the babies. Buffy whispered what she thought the situation was and Giles was the first to agree with her. Vampires had helped gather the babies the last time this happened and were involved this time too. It all made sense and explained why the demon was down in the sewer lines, it was it's natural home.
Buffy remembered how she killed that demon and was concerned. She didn't have a broken gas pipe to set it on fire with this time to kill it. She explained her concern in whispers to Giles, Willow and Tara. She was certain they wouldn't have too much of a problem with the vampires, she had killed hundreds of them before and with her friends backing her up felt the vampires were not a big threat. The other demons in the sewer could be more of a problem, but Spike whispered that none of the ones gathered so far had any special powers or fighting abilities, they were mainly big dumb beasts that depended on brute strength to over power an enemy.
Willow whisper back and forth with Giles and Tara to discuss what they could do. Willow had her fireballs, but didn't know if that would be enough to set the demon on fire and kill it. Tara said she had a charm that could turn water into alcohol. If they could get the demon into a pool of water she could turn it to alcohol and Willow could use her fireball to set it and the alcohol on fire. That seemed like the best plan to try. The decision now was should they try to take out the vampires and demons before the big demon arrived or wait for it to show up. They also had to worry about more demons and vampires showing up if the raid on the hospital was planned for tonight.
Spike moved around in the dark and came back to tell them that there were five vampires and six demons gathered now. That was eleven to seven odds. If they waited any longer the odds would just get greater against them. Buffy made the decision they needed to attack now and hope they could get all the demons and vampires at once. If they did they could wait for the big demon to show up and kill it. If any got away they could leave the sewers and go to the hospital and setup a trap in the sewers there. They all readied their weapons and moved in closer to where the vampires and demons were gathered. Fortunately for them the vampires were gathered in one area with the demons gathered across the pit from them. They went for the vampires first. Spike and Buffy hit them fast and three vampires were dead before they knew it. The other two vampires tried to escape but Giles, Xander and Anya were blocking their way. The vampires attacked but with three in front of them and two behind them they didn't get a chance to even strike a blow. The demons were a different matter, they might not be smart or have special fighting powers, but they were big and strong and they attacked without hesitation. The fighting got pretty intense for awhile. Spike had his sword out and was keeping them off of himself, but Buffy only had two wooden stakes and was relying on her speed and strength in the fight. Anya wounded one of the demons before it turned on her and knocked her down. As it came after her on the ground Xander caught it across the neck with his axe and killed it. Giles got one in the leg with his axe which slowed it down enough for Spike to kill it. That left four and three were after Buffy. Xander grabbed Anyas sword and threw it to Buffy, within seconds two of the demons were dead. The remaining two demons tried to escape but Buffy stabbed one in the back and as it turned on her Giles chopped it across the back and severed it's spine. Spike got the last one with his sword.
Five vampires were dust and six demons were dead on the floor. Buffy had them drag the demon bodies across the floor and arrange them as if they were sitting or sleeping near a pool of stagnant water. The rest of them arranged themselves on the other side of the pool and tried to look like vampires. Spike was the only one that could really pull that off and he stood near one of the torches where his vampire features could be easily seen. All they could do now was wait.
They waited for another hour and were almost ready to give it up and go to the hospital when Spike signaled that he heard something from one of the pipes. Willow and Tara prepared themselves and the rest of them stepped back into the shadows where they could be seen but still mistaken for a vampire. The noise from one of the pipes became louder as the boss demon approached. Suddenly it was halfway out of the pipe and into the open. It said something that none of them understood, but Spike said something to it and it moved further out of the pipe. There was at least twenty feet of this giant snake like demon out into the open and no telling how much still in the pipe when the demon raised itself up into the air. It was looking intensely at the demons that were not responding to it or moving.
Buffy stepped out into the open and threw the sword she was carrying at the demon snake and sank it to the hilt into it's body ten feet down from it's head. The demon let out a roar of pain and whipped its body toward Buffy. Spike jumped in and started slashing at it. The demon snake whipped around and butted Spike with it's head and knocked him across the room where he slammed head first into a wall. The rest of them took off as if in panic heading for the far side of the pool of water. The demon came further out of the pipe and started after them. It was half way across the pool when Tara stepped out to cast her charm to turn the water into alcohol. Willow stepped up beside her and tossed a fireball at the demon. The fireball clung to the demon and spread, igniting the alcohol. Willow tossed two more fireballs to make the fire spread faster. The demon tried to back up into the pipe but Buffy rushed in with Xanders axe and started chopping at it's body. The demon started to swing it's head toward Buffy when Spike jumped in and started slashing with his sword. Between the fire burning it's body and Buffy and Spike cutting and stabbing the demon didn't last long and fell to the ground, still half in the flaming pool. The heat and smoke was becoming unbearable and there was a great danger that they might not be able to get out of the pit alive. Tara canceled her charm and the alcohol turned back into water. Willow cast a spell and a wind from no where came through the pit and carried the smoke and heat out through a pipe opposite from them in the room. When Buffy looked around and saw that no one was seriously injured she let out a sigh of relief.
It took them an hour to work their way out of the sewers and another forty minutes of walking to get back to their cars. Everyone was exhausted, dirty, and smelled of sewer sludge and burnt demon. It wasn't to late to still go dancing at the Bronze, but no one felt like it anymore. Xander said he was going to go home and give Anya a nice long hot bath to help scrub the smell off of her and himself. They took Giles with them and dropped him off at his place. Buffy, Spike, Willow and Tara continued down the street until they got to her car. Buffy drove straight to her house and let Willow and Tara out, they were going to head straight for the tub themselves. Buffy drove Spike back to the cemetery, got out of the car and walked him to his crypt. He opened the door and Buffy followed him inside. She stood there looking at him not knowing what to say. She could see that the bandage around his hand and wrist had come undone and that his hand was swelling up. He looked battered and bruised and was kind of leaning to one side as if he might have injured ribs. His face was filthy and blood was in his hair from a cut he must have received in the fight. She started to turn around to leave.
"What Slayer? Not even a thank you" Spike asked with a tone of pain and irritation in his voice.
Buffy stopped, turned back to him and walked up to him and stood in front of him close. He was leaning against the concrete vault because he was to weary to stand without aid. Buffy step forward and placed her hands on each side of his face and kissed him. It was a gentile kiss, not a kiss of passion. She looked him in the eyes and said "Thank you Spike." She turned around and walked out of the crypt and back to her car. She drove home and parked the car, got out and went into the house. She could hear Willow and Tara, they were still in the bathroom. Buffy walked through the house and out the backdoor. She sat down on the steps, bent over with her face buried in her arms resting on her knees and started crying quietly. Long sobs of quiet pain and loneliness racked her body as the tears ran down her face.