Note: Thanks to my beta t_geyer for her unending patience, perseverance and support.

SECTION 4 - ANGELS AND DEMONS

Like freezing nights
In some cold stark lights
When you said everyone must fight
(Everyone must fight
That's what you said
Everyone must fight)


(The Tourists)




Chapter 4.09
Thursday, June 13th, 2002


They were still a block from the construction site when Buffy felt her bond with Spike kick in. The vampire had, by sheer force of will, managed to close the gap between them despite her slayer speed.

"What is it?" she gasped, slowing to look for enemies, her breath uneven from the prolonged run.

Spike grabbed her hand and pulled her on toward the chain link fence that surrounded the site until she resumed her former pace. "Not here. Up ahead. Blood. Lots of it." His gaze fixed on the figures moving around the perimeter of the half finished building. "That and the fact that for all those people moving around up there there's not a builder's bum cleavage in sight."

Buffy trusted to the vampire's guiding hand, knowing that if she stumbled he wouldn't let her fall and focused on his clearer view of the distant figures. The area around the site's generators was brightly lit and other lights showed throughout most of the building where a veritable crew of workmen moved around in brightly coloured hard hats. From a distance everything appeared much as it would if the crews had been working overtime, only, Spike was right. The black robes didn't go particularly well with their disguise.

"Bringers."

---

They barely slowed as they launched themselves at the fence, Spike clearing it in one bound, Buffy throwing herself high onto it and then using her momentum to carry her into a forward roll over the top. Black-robed figures began to spill from the building as the pair closed over the rough ground, Spike swerving slightly to grab a couple of lengths of scaffolding pole from a pile on the ground and tossing one to Buffy.

"There's too many," Buffy whispered. "It's going to take too long to fight our way through."

"Then, don't go through them." For just a fraction of a second Spike's gaze dropped to the six foot pole she carried. "I'll keep as many of them busy as I can. You, go, find the girl."

Buffy shifted her grip on the metal in her hands, letting Spike get slightly ahead. For just a second she watched with pride as Spike and the harbingers came together, the metal rod twirling in his hands with a speed and dexterity that kept his attackers at bay. The sight triggered memories of their second meeting, way back on Parent Teacher Night, and caused a heat that made her hope the situation could be resolved quickly. Then, she grabbed her moment. Planting one end of her pole in the ground between two bringers, she launched herself into the air feet first and sailed over their heads while they were still expecting an attack. Even as she loosened her grip on the pole and sprinted for the basement, Spike's makeshift staff cracked into the nearest bringer's shinbone, sending him falling on top of his neighbour.

Through Spike's eyes she saw two of The First's other minions back away from the vampire and chase after her and she could almost feel his frustration, even though he was managing to keep a further seven occupied. It didn't matter, two she could deal with easily.

She ran as if she had no more thought than to put as much distance between herself and her unseeing pursuers as possible, but as soon as she rounded the first corner, where she was hopefully obscured from their sonar or whatever "Daredevil" power they used to find their way, she pulled up as quickly as she could and reversed direction to wait for them, pressing her back against the wall. Fortune smiled on her and the harbingers took the corner two abreast, the nearest one even carrying his wickedly curved dagger unsheathed in his hand. All she had to do was reach out across his body, grab his wrist and twist. His own momentum drove him onto the blade. As his wrist snapped he was unable to hold the dagger any more and Buffy grabbed the hilt with her free hand. She kept a firm grip on the leather-bound handle as her foot rose in a front kick that connected with the blind man's hip, pushing him sideways and away to block his companion's approach and incidentally ripping the carefully sharpened blade out of the bringer by a very messy route.

She didn't have the advantage of surprise with the second one, but she was the slayer, she was armed and even if she had to keep watching for new arrivals from the basement, she had all the advantages she needed. A flurry of punches, a couple of kicks and then, as the evil monk blocked low, the blade in her hand slashed high, slicing through the arteries on his neck and leaving blood spatter in an arc across both the wall and her as he fell.

For an instant she concentrated on Spike's fight. Holding off so many opponents, the vampire seemed to be making little progress. As she watched one black-robed figure fall to his knees from the force of the blow Spike landed on his shoulder, another regained his feet and joined the circle around the blond. Nevertheless, his opponents seemed wary of getting too close and the arcs described by the deftly handled staff kept them too far at bay to use their daggers. It was pretty much a stalemate... so long as Spike didn't make a mistake, which meant it was her job to do what she had to do before he got tired enough to make one.

---

Somehow, Buffy wasn't surprised to see the pneumatic drill and the concrete rubble that was all that remained of Xander's attempt to ensure that the seal couldn't be used. The giant wooden wheel suspended over it, she had to admit, was new, and the lifeless corpse tied to it, her blood slowly draining, drop by drop onto the shiny metal, made her stomach heave.

"You're kinda late, girlie girl. Ah had been hopin' that your little friend there would still be alive to pass on my message so me and mah boys wouldn't need to hang around." The sneering Southern drawl came from the shadows and Buffy wished she had Spike's night sight to allow her to penetrate the gloom. The voice seemed to come from higher and higher as he continued, the scuff of leather on metal hinting as to why. "But then, a whore of Babylon such as yourself who lies down with creatures of the night probably isn't the kinda person you can rely on for good time keepin'."

"Are you anywhere near finished, yet?" Buffy's sarcasm meter hit full tilt. A long rasp of metal on stone told her that her tormentor had most likely removed his means of escape, but it wasn't like she needed a ladder to get out of a one storey hole. She ran toward the darkened corner as the voice floated down to her.

"Ah do believe Ah am... for now."

A vicious slap to her face lifted her off her feet and sent her flying back across the room, landing badly as her back impacted the sharp edge where she assumed the bringers had dug down through nine inches of concrete to clear the seal, and the back of her head colliding hard with the floor.

"Ah think you'll find mah co-worker here can provide ya with sufficient amusement for the time bein' an' maybe if ya open that gapin' maw between your legs ya might even distract him from beatin' ya to a bloody pulp. Course, he hasn't eaten in a while so that's not exactly likely... Be seein' ya."

---

Spike gave up his attempts to hold the harbingers at bay, ramming the hollow pole like a spear-cum-cookie cutter straight through the chest of the figure blocking his most direct route to Buffy and then sprinting through the resulting gap. He expected the monk-types to follow him, but right now his priority was to get himself between Buffy and the nightmare creature who was tossing her round like a rag doll. The bringers seemed to melt off into the darkness, not that the vampire was turning back to check. Buffy landed an occasional well-placed blow, but that first impact had her unsteady on her feet, her vision blurring in and out before the fight had even properly started.

Spike understood all too well what was going on. The feral vampire, a creature Spike had thought to be only a myth, a misshapen beast that could no more pass for human than walk in sunlight, was playing with her, brutalising her body until her blood was tinged with pain and fear. Buffy was no quitter and she wasn't going to roll over and play dead, especially when she knew he was on his way, but it was obvious that her injuries were slowing her down and every blow the creature struck sent her flying into concrete or brickwork. Still, she managed to circle around so that it had its back to Spike as he entered the basement. A deft twitch of his wrist and the blond held a stake in his hand. He flung himself across the room and thrust the stake dead-centre between the Turok Han's shoulder blades.

A pale taloned hand reached up and pulled it out as the monster turned to face him. Spike wasn't staying around for the rest of the show. Launching himself toward the corner of the room, he kicked off one wall and then its neighbour to land just behind Buffy. Despite her weak protests he scooped her into his arms and leapt for freedom, using the same escape route that the Southerner had.

Buffy stumbled as he returned her to her feet, fumbling in a pocket to press something rectangular and metallic into her hand. "It won't stop. I'll try to stall it. Try an' give me enough warning to get out the way." His eyes moved to look at the chain link enclosure where the generator was situated and with a gentle push he sent her off.