Chapter One



The crypt door slammed open with a resounding bang against the wall and before it could swing back around, the figure in the doorway swept through and stayed the motion with her tiny but deadly hand. Knee-high boots stepped forward, revealing a slim and shapely leg through the slit in her skirt.


As she made her way further into the room, the moonlight through the windows highlighted her form, washing her in deep blues and grays, the colors of the night and where she spent most of her time now. Hearing a scraping noise coming from further inside the crypt, she walked around the sarcophagus and peered into the hole carved into the floor. A faint flickering from a torch set in the wall revealed the ladder that would take her down to the level below.


Shifting her weapon to her other hand, she climbed down the first few rungs and then dropped the short distance to the ground. Turning around, she found what she had come for- the vampire. She raised her weapon up as he turned around and fixed his eyes upon her form. A corner of his mouth lifted up as he saw her weapon. Uggh, he could be so annoying sometimes.


“Have axe, will travel,” Buffy said as Spike closed the trunk he had been digging around in before she showed up. She noticed he wasn’t wearing his usual black on black ensemble but had donned a dark blue wardrobe consisting of jeans and a button-up long sleeved shirt. The short jacket that he had pulled out of the trunk completed the new look.


“What’s the matter? Didn’t want to get demon blood on your normal, everyday clothes so you decided to let them ruin a perfectly nice set instead?”


He finished pulling on his jacket and walked past her to the ladder. “Never know when I might meet a nice lady friend on patrol, pet.”


She rolled her eyes and handed him the axe as she climbed back up the ladder to the crypt above. “I think the only ladies we’ll be meeting tonight will be the kind that ends up on the sharp side of my axe.”


Spike climbed out of the hole behind her and proceeded to lead her out of the crypt. “Hope you don’t mind, but I thought we’d take the Desoto to the Gixlar nest. It’s on the other side of town and I don’t fancy taking a morning stroll if we don’t get the job done in time.”


“Sure, but I really hope it doesn’t take that long. I have to get Dawn off to school tomorrow and then go meet with my dad’s lawyers to work out a fund for us, and then go apply for late admission for school, and finally come home to a busted microwave. Don’t know how we’re gonna make popcorn.” She saw that Spike had stopped walking and was looking at her. “Sorry, didn’t mean to dump all that on you.”


“No. Don’t be sorry. Anytime you want to unwind, I’m here.” He touched her arm and gave her a little smile, which she returned.


“And any time you want to physically unwind, I’m here for that too.” He smirked at her.


“Pig,” she said as she hit him on the arm.


“Oink, oink.”


She smiled and got in the car as Spike started the engine and took off.