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

SECTION 4 - ANGELS AND DEMONS

When you said everyone must fight
(Everyone must fight
That's what you said
Everyone must fight)


(The Tourists)




Chapter 4.10
Thursday, June 13th, 2002


By the time Buffy looked down at the Zippo in her hand and realised that Spike had pointed her in the direction of the fuel barrels for the generator, the vampire had already thrown himself back into the basement. Colliding with the Turok Han as it tried to leap free to continue its pursuit, the vampire had fallen back onto the concrete in a tangle of limbs. The blond managed to smack his opponent's head into the solid floor a couple of times before it retaliated, razor-sharp talons ripping into the flesh of his back through leather and cotton, leaving cuts a quarter of an inch deep from his shoulder blades to his waist.

The feral vamp sank its teeth into Spike's shoulder as it rolled them both until it was on top. Spike tried to resist but the Turok Han's strength so far outmatched his own that there was little he could do. His fist slammed into the side of the other vamp's head repeatedly and hard, trying to make it lose its grip before it could tear the flesh away from his bones, all the while thanking God or whoever might be listening that it had chosen to bite at the opposite side of his neck from Buffy's claim mark.

There was no finesse to the fight and, as the pair struggled on the floor, Spike drove a knee up hard between the creature's thighs but it didn't even pause as it sat up, tearing away leather along with muscle. Spike's arm felt like a lead weight as he reached up with both hands to grip either side of its head to snap its neck in one quick jerk. Instead, the beast pulled back, eluding his grasp to rise first to its knees and then its feet. Spike swung his legs in a capoeira style sweep, hoping to bring his opponent back to the ground. He needed to keep the fight in close. Anything else gave the primitive the opportunity to break off and go after Buffy.

The Turok Han jumped the scything legs as easily as a ten-year-old skipping rope and turned his back on Spike to leap clear of the basement even as Spike flipped back to his feet. He knew all too well that Buffy's blood perfumed the air, its scent all but irresistible to any blood-drinker.

Buffy was no more than a third of the way to her goal, but she turned as the monster moved out of Spike's line of sight, ready to face off against it. Spike was already in pursuit but Buffy couldn't risk having her back to their opponent when it reached her. Nevertheless, she continued to walk slowly backward as it approached, feeling her way with her feet, edging ever closer to the drums which were stacked up against the wire, praying that when she got there she wouldn't discover that they were the empties.

Spike was gaining, but it was touch and go whether he was gaining quickly enough. With one last bound the Turok Han landed facing her, knees slightly bent and claws outstretched, almost as if it were posing, giving her a fraction of a second to appreciate fully its intimidating appearance before it attacked. Instead of freezing like a rabbit caught in the headlights, Buffy simply raised an unimpressed eyebrow as Spike threw himself headlong at the beast, using all his power to drive his undamaged shoulder into the back of the beast's legs. When Spike's attack failed to completely drop their opponent, only driving it to one knee, Buffy pivoted on her right foot, bringing her left around in an axe kick that drove the nosferatu down to the ground. Spike clambered up its back, raining punches on its kidneys and ribcage as he moved and Buffy stomped a couple of times at its head. Nothing either of them did even left a mark.

"Get movin', love. I've got him for now," Spike spat out between blows as, almost unbelievably, the other vampire began to rise to its knees, even with Spike's weight on its back.

Buffy wanted to argue, to say that it was taking both of them to hold their own, that Spike would be able to get there more quickly than she could in her battered condition, that Ugly obviously wanted to fight her rather than him, anyway, but she knew that those were all reasons it would be so much more difficult for her to get away from their opponent when the time came. So, she turned and after a few limping strides she willed her body to ignore the pain until she was jogging and then running toward the generator enclosure.

Her mate couldn't afford the time to watch her go with his own eyes. Instead, desperate to avoid being thrown off, he let the change come over him. His teeth bit into the ubervamp's neck and he wrapped his legs around its hips as he drove one hand into its stomach in a straight fingered punch that would have gutted a human. It barely penetrated the thick hides the creature wore. Spike was soon slammed onto his back and lying on the packed dirt, but still he wouldn't let go of the nightmare creature that lay on top of him. He gnawed at the long dead flesh in his mouth, working his jaw until his teeth almost met before pulling back sharply with his head. The flesh was disgusting, tasting of bitter decay, but its blood was rich and tangy as it seeped into his mouth. The other vampire responded by alternately elbowing him in the ribs and raking at his legs with its clawed hands, at least until Spike's own claws reached for its eyes and it instinctively used both hands to try to shield the sensitive area.

---

Buffy made it to the fence that surrounded her goal. She was about to scramble up the mesh when she realised that it went not only around but over the top of the generator and its fuel dump. Instead, she worked her way around until she found the door into the cell. The padlock had already been forced open, pieces of the mechanism shattering off inside. She looked at the barrels, stacked two high, two deep and three wide and wondered whether it was best to move them or whether to simply burst them open. She swiftly decided that she would lose too much time rolling them one by one out of the compound and instead she pulled out her stake, hoping the wood would be strong enough to pierce the metal drums.

She only remembered just in time that it might not be the best idea in the world to leave the generator running while she made her diesel swimming pool and it took her several seconds to find where to turn it off, seconds her frustrated brain told her she didn't have with Spike fighting that thing. The first four barrels provided almost no resistance when she tried to tilt them and she tossed them to the far side of the pen. She was beginning to wonder how they could possibly deal with the monster if it turned out that all the barrels were empty. Beheading was always good, but as it happened she was right out of swords and garrottes.

The fifth barrel stayed firmly in position when she leaned against it. Buffy stabbed at the drum with her stake, but even slayer strength wasn't about to drive softwood through metal. The tip just skittered off smooth sides, leaving an occasional scratch on the paint but that was all. Buffy dug her toe into the chain link next to the barrel and hauled herself up until she could get a grip on the barrel's top rim. She pulled as hard as she could until both it and the one beneath it tipped over onto their sides, barely missing her as they fell. She climbed sideways and then squirmed her way into the tiny gap between the fence and the barrels and then pushed with her back against the drums until the remaining six barrels toppled over like dominoes.

Now she could reach the caps. One by one she twisted them open, rotating the barrels so that the openings lay close to the ground allowing as much as possible of the accelerant to escape. When the trickles were unable to seep into the bone-dry earth, they joined together to almost make a wide shallow stream, following the slight slope of the land. Buffy was thankful that whoever had chosen the site for the generator had put it on the highest ground, presumably to prevent the fuel from pooling around the generator if any of the barrels were to leak. She wiped her hands on her jeans as she left the cage. Pulling Spike's lighter from her pocket, she lit the flame and waited.

Spike rolled the ubervamp until both of them lay in the direct path the diesel had chosen. He waited until the fuel permeated both their clothing and only loosened his grip on the other vamp when the fuel burned into the open wound on his shoulder. With one last kick, the misshapen creature started to make its way toward Buffy. Behind him, Spike rolled clear of the wet area. He shrugged off his coat which had kept the rest of his clothing fairly dry, tossing it off to one side. Buffy waited until the Turok Han was within ten feet before she stepped off to one side and dropped the lighter.

Smokey orange flames raced downhill, engulfing the hydrocarbon-dowsed ubervamp. Spike continued to back away as the blazing trail zipped past him and then branched off, following the trail of drips he had left behind him. A massive detonation drove both the blondes to the ground as the Turok Han exploded, leaving Spike flat on his back and unable to move as the flames snaked toward him.