Chapter 20

’even the hero gets a bullet in the chest
oh yeah, once upon a time in the west’
- “once upon a time in the west” by dire straits

When your life is in mortal peril, you tend to forget things. Some of them are of minor importance like grocery lists or if you’ve left the stove on. But some of the things you forget are those that might eventually get you killed.

Buffy landed in a roll on the other roof but she had completely forgotten about the vampires (except maybe one or two) and that screeching creature they had met a few nights ago.

When the Slayer came to her feet again, she was attacked from one side and almost tackled to the floor. The air was knocked out of her lungs when strong arms closed around her body.

The tall vampire snarled right into her ear, the sound deafening her for a moment. Then she stumbled into a roll, taking him with her to the ground. During the fall, she produced a stake from her belt. Her opponent tried to slap her arm away but she had already regained her composure again, blocking the attack.

She had just plunged the stake through the vampire’s heart when a second one came at her. If it hadn’t been for Spike who leapt over the gap between the buildings, the vampire would have jumped right on her back.

He drove Buffy’s attacker to the ground, leaving a slight dent in the concrete. As Spike rolled off him, he pulled his gun from the holster, aimed at the vampire’s chest and pulled the trigger. He only needed that one shot to make the vampire explode into a cloud of dust.

“About time.” Buffy shot him angry glare when they took up their fighting position.

On the other side of the roof, three more vampires emerged from the shadows, ready to attack. For a moment, it seemed as though the members of the Secte and the Fates weren’t even paying attention to them. They still stood around the bronze stand that held the stone tablet, their hands half raised, murmuring some garbled words neither Buffy nor Spike could understand.

“They are here, the Slayer and her vampire. They want to destroy us.”

As if on a silent command, the circle broke apart, the robed people (they couldn’t make out whether they were men or women or both) gave way to the Fates. Once again, time seemed to slow down around them. Blue-white static crackled around their hands, the little cloud above the stone tabled never stopped swirling.

“Damn right, we will,” Buffy snarled.

“There are three teams closing in on your position,” came Jenna’s voice through the intercom. “The rest will be there any minute, too.”

“Do you think, your friends will come to save you?” Atropos, the redheaded Fate, asked, a smug smile tugging at her lovely lips. “They won’t be here in time.”

“And how would you know?”

The three women laughed, their voices mingling into a rich, velvety chorus. “Because you will be already dead,” Atropos added, chuckling softly.

“God, are you guys ever getting tired of the tacky speeches? ‘Cause it’s getting really annoying to hear it over and over again.” Buffy propped her hands on her hips, obviously trying to buy some time. They could probably take the vampires but they wouldn’t be able to take those, the Secte folk and Fates. And that wasn’t even taking into account getting the stone tablet. Right now, it was a lose-lose situation.

From the corner of her eye, Buffy saw another trio of vampires appear on the roof, surrounding them. If she had turned around, she would have seen even more of the undead on the adjacent buildings.

Suddenly, a whiplash cracked through the night. The braided leather cord wrapped around one of the vampire’s necks and he was pulled into the darkness.

A triumphant little grin appeared on Buffy’s lips. “Hey Katie,” she called into the general direction.

From the dark appeared a duo of Slayers, one of them was just tucking a whip into a loop on her belt. Her dark hair hung in two long braids down her slender shoulders.

“Heya Buffy,” she nodded once, the girl next to her doing the same. The second girl seemed to be of Asian decent but Buffy knew that Nya was originally from Hawaii and tired of explaining the difference.

“Who’s that? Indiana Jones junior?” Spike growled impatiently, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

“Shut up and be happy about the back up,” Buffy ordered with a sideways glance.

“You are boring us, Slayers,” Clotho said now, her blonde curls swaying in the slight breeze. “You and your army of girls.”

“Once, we let you go.” Lachesis stepped in line with her two girlfriends.

“This time you will die.” A languid smile spread on Atropos’ lips.

“If I had a penny,” Buffy all but sing-songed. In a blur of motion, she reached for another stake she had tucked into her belt, turned and flung it at the vampire at her back. He didn’t have a chance.

The moment, the wind picked up the vampire’s ashes, the fight was on.

“Kill the vamps, spare the humans. And kick the asses of these bitches,” Buffy commanded, producing another stake.

Apart from Katie and Nya, two more Slayer duos appeared just as Jenna had told them. For a moment, it seemed as though they had at least outnumbered the vampires but with every Slayer’s appearance, another undead emerged from the dark.

“Not to spoil the mood, luv, but we’re going to need more back up,” Spike called out to her just as he emptied half of his clip into two attacking vampires.

Buffy was busy fighting off her own attacker. Although the guy wasn’t half as bulky as the previous one was, he was all wiry muscle and stubbornness. She delivered half a dozen hard jabs at his chest and face, kicking at him for all she was worth until he finally went down. She dove down to him, plunging the stake through his heart. When she came up again, she hadn’t seen the vampire that had crept up on her from behind.

“Buffy, duck,” Spike yelled at her, raising his weapon.

“What?” The Slayer asked a little confused. When she saw him peering down the barrel of his gun, she dropped to her knees. Spike’s weapon barked once and ash rained down on her. “We definitely need to work on another codeword,” she grumbled when she got up.

“This time, I’m not insane. Should’ve wo…” Before he could finish, something smashed into Spike’s back. He was driven to the ground, his face scraping over the gravel.

“You’re one of us,” a throaty voice growled into his ear, his attacker jerked on his vest, cutting off his unneeded air.

“No, I’m hers.” The demon inside Spike rose to the surface as he pushed himself to his hands and knees, the other vampire still clinging to him. With a ferocious growl, Spike flung himself to one side, rolling halfway over his opponent. If he hadn’t seen Buffy in his peripheral vision, he would be dead now. As the Slayer lurched down on him, he pushed off the ground with one foot, propelling himself onto his stomach again.

The weight of the other vampire was lifted off him when Buffy drove the stake through its heart.

“That was awfully close,” Spike growled with a slight touch of relief.

“Sorry,” Buffy smiled apologetically.

A beat passed where neither of them moved. “Eh, luv, you’re straddling my legs. Not that I’d mind generally but…”

Buffy hopped to her feet, then pulled him up as well. “We need to get to the Fates, the vampires are just roadkill.”

“Oh, I feel so loved now.”

They didn’t have time to finish the conversation. Now the members of the Secte were throwing themselves into the mix. They didn’t have much of a fighting chance. As far as Buffy and Spike knew, they were mostly human. And even though they were determined enough, the Slayers overruled them quickly.

Just as Buffy thought they were gaining the upper hand, even more vampires appeared. And with them, half a dozen of the screeching guard-dog creatures.

One by one, the Slayer teams appeared but it seemed that with every Slayer another opponent showed up. Only very slowly, were Buffy and Spike able to fight their way to the inner circle.

Up until now, The Fates hadn’t participated in the fight. They still stood around the stone tablet, the black cloud above it growing steadily.

“They’re channeling their forces,” Spike had to yell over the ruckus of the fight.

“Figured that,” Buffy yelled back as she warded off another vampire. “We need to get that freaking stone.”

“We won’t let you have it,” Atropos appeared in her field of vision. She was hardly an inch taller than the Slayer but stared down at her with unhidden arrogance.

“If I say pretty please?” Buffy lunged at her but the Fate blocked the attack. In fact, she blocked every combination the Slayer tried but she never launched an attack herself. “What? You’re just going to stand there?” Buffy panted a little out of breath.

In a blur of motion, Atropos lurched forward, her hand closing around the Slayer’s throat. “You dare challenge us, mortal? We are older than time? We rule over life. We can snap your threat in a heartbeat.”

As Buffy’s vision started to blur, she croaked. “Then why don’t you?” She reached out and pulled hard at the redhead’s hair. The Fate screamed in agony, letting go of her throat. “I have a baby sister. I rule at catfights.”

When Buffy turned to Spike, she found him entangled with Lachesis and Clotho. They had pulled him to the ground; Lachesis sat astride him while Clotho held down his shoulders. They seemed to hold him with ease, almost entirely effortlessly. Spike didn’t seem to mind all that much, though. It was hard to tell if he was actually fighting back or writhing in pleasure.

“Spike, what are you doing? You’re supposed to be kicking ass not getting off. I’m the one, remember?”

The vampire struggled visibly to focus on Buffy. “Trying, luv,” he managed, his vampiric features clouded with desire.

Spurred by a surge of jealousy, Buffy stalked over to him, her hand closing around Lachesis’s arm.

“Get your hands off my man, bitch,” she snarled, and hauled the Fate off him.

The three women laughed their rich, velvety laugh. “This isn’t about you, Slayer.” Clotho ran her hands over Spike’s shoulders. His head rolled back with a lust filled moan. For a second Buffy thought she could see his cargo pants tighten in all the right places.

“You’ve got to be…” She never got to finish the sentence. The Fates attacked her at once.

It had been a long time since someone had beaten her up like this. Most of the time, she fought one attacker after the other, even if they were attacking in packs. But these three hell bitches moved as one, perfectly in synch. It wasn’t just a hit here or a kick there. It was three hits and three kicks, at the same time and perfectly painful.

Pain started to blur her vision. She didn’t even have the time to wonder why Spike still wasn’t helping her. The Fates had almost beaten her unconscious, when a hand closed around her ankle in a vice-like grip. She was hauled into the air, and crashed into the bronze stand.

Buffy let out a howl of pain when one of the metal rods almost pierced her back. She looked around her in horror.

The stone tablet had shattered to pieces.



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