"So this is Sunnydale?" George took a deep breath as he stopped his truck and climbed out to look around the small, peaceful town, his crossbow held under his denim jacket. "Air’s better than LA’s. Can see why Gunn left LA for the burbs with that babe."

"Be careful. It might look like its no big deal but," George looked over his shoulder to their group’s solitary white member, "Buffy always said in her letters that this place was real bad news."

"You haven’t heard from her in years right?" Rondell queried.

"Two years at least," Pike agreed, his eyes haunted.

"’Kay," George nodded, "what we do is-."

"What you do is," George blinked when a devastatingly beautiful brunette with mocking eyes appeared seemingly out of nowhere, "is tell me how you know about Summers and why you’re here packing all the hardware you are?"

"And," a bespectacled man stepped out of the bushes by his truck, "I’m afraid we’ll have to insist."

"We?" George’s eyes widened when people seemed to appear out of the bushes on both sides of the streets, casually yet firmly encircling them.

"When you drove past here the third time we got suspicious," explained a young yet weathered-looking man. "The fact it’s still light is in your favour, but you wouldn’t be the first humans hired to do a vamp’s dirty work. And you seem to know an awful lot about Slayers for newbies."

"I would advise you be fast with your answers," a dangerous looking man with a creepy voice commented. "Otherwise the alternatives might be serious."

"Relax guys," George felt some of the tension leave him when Gunn walked out of the shadows. "I know these dawgs. Pike, George, Rondell, good to see your ugly mugs."

* * *

"I’ve done it! I’ve done it!"

Giles paused from beating a tied by her hands to the ceiling Joy Joy with a chain to look towards an excitedly trilling Tara. "And what," he stepped towards his princess and cupped her cheek in his hands, the sobs of the Slayer’s mother sweet music to his ears, "have you done my dear?"

"The spell!" Tara jumped up and down on the spot, dead eyes still managing to gleam with pride. "It works." Tara cast her gaze coyly down. "Only there’s a problem."

"A problem?" Giles’ heart leapt into his throat as he grabbed the witch’s mane and yanked her head back. "Don’t play games bitch!" His eyes flashed golden. "Tell me what you’re talking about or you’ll be the next to feel my chain!"

Tara whimpered. "We have to sacrifice three powerful black arts mages to power the enchantment."

"Why," Giles smirked, his good humour returning as he released his grip, "that’s no problem at all. I have just the three."

* * *

Ethan hummed happily as he read the leather-bound volume before him. Ever since his turning his demon had increased his magical powers to undreamed levels, the demonic energy both focusing his power and gifting him with greater stamina, in addition to giving him ever more warped ideas. He started suddenly as he belatedly registered a presence behind.

He blanched inwardly as he turned and found himself being watched by the delectably deadly Tara. The apparently bats beauty was smiling at him and swaying from side to side almost as if being buffeted by a wind that only she could feel. "Miss McClay," Ethan nodded respectfully. He’d always had the highly honed sense of self-preservation that stopped him from irritating those higher in the pecking order than himself.

"Mr. Rayne." He was surprised when the witch giggled and ruffled his hair. "How are you my sweet?" the beauty smiled coyly. "Have you been using your magic? Experimenting with new spells?"

Off balance, Ethan looked away from the witch. In the past Ripper had always reacted with jealous violence when anyone had messed with his chits and that was before his possession had increased his volatility. "Oh shy Ethan," Tara giggled. "What are you reading?"

Ethan forced his gaze to meet his fellow demon’s eyes. "Just some research, some spells I might want to try."

"Ah inventiveness," Tara nodded. "It’s just a shame."

"What is-." Ethan grunted when the vampire hit him square on the jaw, the force of the blow lifting him from his seat and flinging him over the table to crash to the ground on the other side. The stars had barely begun to clear from his eyes when Tara bounded over the table and drove her heel into his face, bones shattering under the impact.

* * *

"One of Ripper’s boys aren’t you?" Rack commented as he stood aside from the doorway to his place of business. "Don’t usually get you people in here. Not exactly birds of feather."

"Yeah," Angelus stalked through the door, a disdainful look on the demon’s face.

"So," Rack shuffled nervously from foot to foot. "How can I help the great Ripper?" Rack was under no illusions, the only reason he still survived in Sunnydale was because of Ripper’s sufferance, he didn’t want Ripper to have any reason to be angered by him.

Angelus stopped, his brow furrowing. "There was something." Pain exploded in Rack’s head when Angelus drove an elbow into the side of his head, his knees buckling under the impact. "Oh yeah." Air gusted from his body when the vampire kicked him in his ribs. "He’ll take your life." His mouth opened in a desperate casting, but before he could a word Angelus’ arm was looped around his neck, choking him into unconsciousness.

* * *

Doc pulled on his dressing gown, scowling slightly at the nagging knocking on his door. "Who is it?"

"Jay-Don," a deep voice replied. "I’m here for Ripper, the big cheese needs something for some magic ceremony."

"Oh," Doc hurried to the door, trepidation filling him. He didn’t like being awoken late for anyone, but for Ripper, that was different. It was the way of the world that people made allowances for the powerful. "Just give me a second."

His hand shook slightly as he grasped the front door handle and pulled it open to find a flamboyantly attired man who insisted on wearing sunglasses despite the lateness of the hour. "Come in, come in," he impatiently beckoned the demon inside. "Now how can I help Ripper."

"Well," Jay-Don swept a hand through his hair as he talked, "it’s like this." The vampire turned up his red jacket’s collar as he talked. "Ripper needs your body." Doc’s mouth had barely begun opening in shock when Jay-Don grabbed him by the front of his dressing gown and threw him into the wall, knocking him and a stack of shelves to the ground. Doc groaned as he felt the shelves being lifted off him. "This ain’t nothing personal," Jay-Don commented as he flung the shelves across the room. "Just business."

"Oh," Doc ignored his bruised body to leap up at the vampire, "when you try and kill me it’s entirely personal!"

Jay-Don swayed away from his attack, his knee coming up to crash into Doc’s stomach. Doc wheezed as he doubled up, the vampire grabbing him by his shoulder and flinging him face first into the wall. Doc grunted as he hit the wall, managing to twist away from a kick to the back, but not from a backfist to the face that had his knees buckling. He caught the vampire with an elbow to the side of the head, but the vampire just responded with another knee to the gut that doubled him up into a front facelock that left him slumped in the man’s arms.

* * *

"So this is Sunnydale?" Pike shook his head. "Can’t see why you left our guys for the ‘burbs."

Gunn shook his head, the house’s other inhabitants having diplomatically left them alone in the lounge to have their talk. "I didn’t leave you guys, but the shit goin’ down here is important!"

"As important as your gang?" Rondell shook his head. "You’d leave us for a piece of ass? Man, I thought we knew you."

"That ain’t right!" Gunn hotly defended, stung by the insinuation that he was disloyal. But then Rondell always was pushy, quick to mistrust someone. "You know how things have got worst over the past few years?" He continued before anyone could comment. "It’s cause of this place-."

"Tell me this ain’t about that Faith chick?" George shot back.

"It ain’t-." He scowled at the others’ snorts of derision. "Okay, it was, but this is different now, we ain’t even datin’ or knockin’ bodies."

"Different how?" Rondell pressed.

"It turns out the guy who runs vampires in this town used to be a major player on the good side," Gunn explained. "He was this Buffy’s Watcher, a decent fighter, the master of a ton of occult lore, and a bad ass mage. When he got turned, it made a hell of a vampire, a real vicious, dangerous bastard."

"So?" Rondell shook his head. "That’s not our problem."

"It is, it’s everyone’s problem," Gunn argued. "He doesn’t just run vampires in this town, he runs them throughout the world and his influence and authority is growing all the time."

"Ah bullshit," Rondell shook his head. "No vampire has that sorta power."

"This one does," Gunn insisted. "You’ve all noticed how organised they’re getting, how they sweep people off the streets. That’s cause of this cat, here!"

"Even if this is right," Pike sounded doubtful. "That just means we should be with the others, holding the vamps back from what’s ours."

"No," Gunn protested. "We need to be here, dealing with -."

"You sayin’ you’re stayin’ here?" George interrupted, his eyes hard.

"No," Gunn shook his head, "I’m sayin’ this is where the fight really is."

"This ain’t where the gang is," Rondell rose. "I thought you knew that."

"I know that, but I’m doing this for the gang," Gunn struggled to hold on to his temper. "For all of us."

"Well while you’re doing that," Pike shook his head as he and George joined Rondell in standing, "we’ll keep care of your people for you."

"Damn it!" Gunn’s temper snapped as he stepped towards Pike. "Have you heard anything I said?"

"I heard you wanna stay here and not go home," Rondell spat.

Gunn took a breath and stepped back. "Fine, get out of here."

George cast him a look as he followed the others out of the room. "Be seein’ you."

Gunn’s stomach hollowed as he watched his friends leave. Somehow he knew he’d never see them again, but he forced a nonchalant expression. "Whatever."

* * *

Ripper watched avidly as Tara cast the spell. The witch was stood in the centre of a triangle, its points made up by the three gagged and hog-tied mages. Tara’s own eyes were blindfolded as she chanted in a mixture of Persian, Latin, Greek, and Aramaic. The witch dropped a selection of herbs into the bubbling cauldron before her, then pulled out a curved, ornate-handle brass knife and sliced across her palm, hissing slightly as her blood dripped into the cauldron.

Ripper turned his head away as the basement exploded in a blinding light that caused firecrackers to ignite before his eyes. "Bloody hell," he mumbled as he blinked his eyes clear to see that Rayne had disintegrated into ash and there was nothing left of the demon mages but their twisted skeletons.

"Did it work?!" Tara tore her blindfold off and peered around, eyes filled with a maniacal hope. "Did it work? Did it work?"

Even as Tara repeated her question for a third time, Angelus strode in, a stunned expression on the Irish vampire’s face. "It worked, boss. Dawn’s over, its pitch black again, dark as Hades out there."

Ripper smirked. The spell would only last for twenty-four hours, but that would be more than enough for what he had planned. "Angelus, send the boys to Sunday’s and wipe out the vermin."

Jonathan yawned as he awoke, his eyes opening and widening as they fell on the naked beauty snoring beside him. "Wow," he muttered as he trailed his fingers across her flat belly, "last night really happened."

Faith’s left eye opened and her curved lips tugged up into a shit-eating grin. "Last night happened three times. You rocked my world, babe."

"Really?" Jonathan’s breath caught.

Faith’s expression softened. "You’re a natural, babe. You need a little bit of training, but soon we’ll be putting the bed through the floor." Faith laughed softly at his blush. "Never lose the cuteness, babe."

"Yeah-, ummm."

Faith’s laugh cut off in mid-chortle. "Shit, did you hear that?" Faith threw the bed-clothes off, giving Jonathan a brief second to watch her g-stringed ass’ delightful wriggle. Faith looked over her shoulder, an irritated look on her face as she reached for her shirt. "No time for perving, there’s trouble on its way here."

* * *

Faith scowled as she exited the room she’d spent the night with Jonathan, her good mood rapidly dissipating after a very successful night indeed. Johnny needed her guidance, but with a little bit of gentle encouragement he’d turned out to be a wicked screw, and so freakin’ tender and respectful.

But now, some demon or other was attacking their place, ruining her happiness. And that pissed her off.

Faith blinked as a pair of snarling vampires appeared at the end of the landing. How was that possible, it should have turned light over an hour ago? Shaking the question off, she charged forward, Jonathan hurrying behind.

* * *

Xander ducked under the demon’s right cross, kicking at its legs, knocking it stumbling forward into his stake, the vampire bursting into dust with an anguished scream. "Owww!" Xander hissed as another vampire yanked hold of his hair, pulling his head back to feed.

And then a baseball-sized fireball flew past his head and exploded into the demon’s face, incinerating him. Even as Xander nodded his thanks, another vampire leapt through the doorway and onto Michael, knocking him down.

"No!" Xander started forward to help his friend only for another vampire leap in front of him swinging lefts and rights that had Xander bobbing and weaving to avoid his assault. The moment his assailant left a gap, Xander slammed his stake open, and leapt through his ash to help Michael.

"No," he whispered, shoulders slumping at his friend’s neck-torn corpse, shock robbing him of his reactions long enough for the vampire to bound up and catch him with an uppercut. "Ooooh!" Xander’s head snapped to the side, blood flying from his mouth to splatter the wall as he stumbled backwards.

Xander’s right arm swung down, slapping a follow-up hook away even as the demon launched a kick at him, Xander hooked the kick and pulled its leg tight to his body while leg-sweeping at the demon’s grounded leg. Xander savoured the look of surprise on the vampire’s face as it fell backwards, his stake driving down and through its chest. "This one’s for you Michael," he muttered as it exploded into dust.

* * *

Holtz flung himself from his bed, hand reaching for his crossbow on the bedside cabinet. His eyes widened as the door burst open and a pair of blood-suckers charged in, his finger pulling on his already loaded crossbow’s trigger.

The bolt whistled out of the weapon and into the demon’s chest, the vampire exploding in dust. Realising he didn’t have time to reload before the other vampire got to him, he swung the crossbow around and into the side of the vampire’s face, knocking it onto the bed. A savage grin stretching his face, Holtz dropped the crossbow, picked up a bolt, and drove it down.

His grin turned to a gasp when the vampire grabbed his wrist and held it steady while kicking him in the side of his gut. Holtz swallowed the pain as he drove his head down and into the demon’s face, shattering its nose even as it hooked a right into his face. Holtz caught the demon with a follow-up backhand to its mouth even as he brought his knee up into the vampire’s crotch. The vampire mewed in pain, his eyes flashing yellow even as his grip loosened on Holtz’s wrist, allowing him to drive his stake into his chest.

Holtz over-balanced the moment the vampire exploded into dust, slumping on the bed.

* * *

Wesley pulled himself up and out of bed at the sound of a disturbance outside, brow furrowing. "What is it?"

Wesley glanced over his shoulder, a smile tugging slightly at his lips at the sight of Amy sat on his bed, a blanket wrapped around her to protect her modesty. "I’m not sure," he replied as he lifted up his automatic and stepped towards the door, "I’ll just be a-."

The door crashed open, Wesley only just leaping back in time to avoid being hit by it, his automatic swinging up instinctively, trigger finger pulling as he put round after round into the faces of the three vampires swarming in. Each vampire fell, and was hurriedly staked as they clawed mindlessly at their injured faces.

* * *

Faith snarled as she blocked a right hook on her left forearm while leg-sweeping the demon’s feet out from under him, Jonathan snaking around the back of her to ram his stake in. Faith’s stomach flipped as she caught sight of a corpse at the bottom of the stairs, the distraction enough to allow a vampire to lunge in with an overhand right that smashed into her forehead.

"Fuck." Faith stumbled back a step, stars exploding before her eyes. Only instinct kept her on her feet and able to duck under the demon’s follow-up hook then leap into a jumping thrust- kick to the face that knocked the demon back down the stairs.

The vampire hit the floor ass-first and started right back up only to catch a stake to the back from Wood.

"Who’s the corpse?" Jonathan queried, her honey’s voice shaky.

Faith grimaced. "Looks like Owen to me, hon." Faith spun around at the sound of footsteps behind them only to relax when she recognised her Watcher, Amy, and Holtz. "We’ve just been attacked," she rather unnecessarily commented. "Must have been dozens of the bastards."

The others spilt through into the hallway, shock written on their faces. "Bloody hell," Wes wriggled past her to stride down. "I see Michael and Percy aren’t here?" he paused and swallowed before continuing. "Are they?"

"Dead," Xander nodded, his eyes fixed on Owen’s corpse. "Harmony too."

Faith cast a look around. "So, me, Wes, Jonathan, Holtz, Xander, Cor, Amy, Wood, Justine, Gunn, and Scott are all that’s left." Faith paused. "We should go on the attack."

Xander blanched and shook his head. "We can’t do that, we just lost -."

"That’s precisely why we should attack," Wesley interrupted. "The advantage of surprise will be on our side."

"Or we could wait here," Holtz growled, "wait until they come back to try again."

Xander sighed and nodded. "Let’s get equipped."

* * *

Ripper paced the Bronze’s floor, his tongue clicking against his fangs. What remained of his vampire minions had trooped back in just a few minutes ago, their numbers severely diminished by the Nightstalkers.

Ripper glanced towards his Masters – Penn, Angelus, Jay-Don, James and Elizabeth. He hadn’t wanted to put them into play, doing so would only mean risking his power base. However, they needed to strike while Nightshade held and before the Nightstalkers had chance to re-group. His mouth opened.

CRASH!

His head snapped to the front entrance to see a tinted-windowed SUV had crashed through the door, taking out a trio of vampires en-route to smashing into and through the bar counter, only stopping when it crashed into the drinks cabinet beyond. Even as he started to move, several of the rebels came charging through the gap, their crossbows dealing with his shocked minions. "Get them!"

And then the glass sun-roof exploded inwards, the Slayer, her Watcher, and Holtz rappelling through to crash down on the upper floor.

* * *

Xander blocked a left on his forearm before ducking into a crab under the demon’s follow-up right then straightened and rammed his stake into the vampire’s chest before it had chance to pull his guard back. "No," Xander’s legs turned rubbery when a very familiar person stepped through the minion’s dust. "It can’t be," he shook his head.

"But it is," Joyce whispered as she swayed from side to side and put her hand to his cheek, flesh pimpling at her chill touch.

Chill touch. Xander’s eyes widened as instinct took over, driving his stake forward and down at the woman’s heart. "Oh no!" Joyce grabbed his wrist and twisted, the weapon falling from his grip. He croaked back a shout when his wrist broke, his other fist thundering into the vampire’s jaw. "Naughty boy!" Joyce lunged forward, her fangs ripping into his throat, blood gushing out to flow into her mouth.

Xander’s fists thudded uselessly against the vampire’s face and torso, the last thing his greying vision saw was a sobbing Cordelia looming up behind the vampire, her stake driving into the demon’s back.

And then he was falling and falling.

* * *

Holtz snarled as he saw his enemy and lunged forward, blocking lefts and rights on his forearms, the pain reverberating through his arms and shoulders rendered unimportant next to his revenge. Angelus’ head snapped back when he caught him with a right to the face, Holtz ducking under a retaliatory left before lunging up with a stake that Angelus slapped away before hitting him with a right hook to the face.

Blood welled up in his mouth as he lunged at his adversary, knees almost buckling when Angelus caught him with a knee to the gut. The vampire laughed softly before grabbing him by his collar and yanking him upright. "Aaaaah!" The vampire’s laugh turned to a pained scream when he threw a bottle of holy water into the demon’s face.

"This is for my family," Holtz rammed his stake into the bellowing vampire’s heart. Suddenly all the blows he’d endured hit home, his body feeling like one bruise. He gasped as a hand grabbed his chin from behind. The vampire twisted his head to the side before he could react, neck snapping like a twig.

His bladder and bowels voided as his legs buckled under him, the vampire’s fangs tearing into his neck not hurting in the slightest. Holtz smiled dreamily as the vampire fed, growing weaker and weaker, a vision of his family flickering before him. Finally they’d be re-united.

* * *

"No!" Amy screamed as she saw Wesley go down under one vampire too many, his own stake shoved through his throat.

Pain replaced grief when Tara hit her with a blast of energy. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she fired back, her white energy bolt contrasting wildly with Tara’s blood red bolt. The vampire witch screamed, its actual words lost in the blood pounding in her ears.

Amy bit down on her bottom lip as her body began to throb and ache, both from the pain of Tara’s attack and the effort of her enchantment. Still she endured, ignoring the smoke wafting off her shaking body as she poured more and more power into her assault. Amy shook and trembled as her body ached, muscles contracting wildly then Tara threw her head back, black smoke billowing from her open mouth, and then the demon exploded into dust.

Amy gasped and wheezed, her heart thumping uncontrollably, the spell and Tara’s attack having pushed her further than she’d ever been forced to go before. Pain tore at her left arm, legs buckling under as her heart burst and she fell forward, dead before she hit the ground.

* * *

Gunn grunted as Jay-Don’s fist clubbed into his forehead, snapping his head to the side and stumbling back. He lunged back, stake shooting in under his adversary’s defences, only for his rival to knock the weapon down, and catch him with a left to the mouth.

Gunn felt salty blood fill his mouth as he ducked another right haymaker, his knee coming up at the demon’s belly. He grunted when the demon hooked his left leg to its body. He back-handed the vampire across the face but the demon ignored the punch to sweep his grounded leg from under him.

Gunn crashed to the ground, head bouncing off the floor. Seeing the demon’s heel stomping down at his feet, he rolled away from it, grabbed and twisted. Jay-Don let out a shocked cry as he stumbled backwards, giving Gunn time to roll onto his knees. "Ooooof!" he grunted as a foot crashed into his gut, doubling him up into a front facelock. His fist crashed into the demon’s thigh, but then the monster cinched in tight and his vision darkened, lungs heaving.

* * *

"Looks like it’s just the two of us," Faith drawled, her casualness concealing the pain that Wes and Jonathan’s deaths caused her. All around lay the corpses of those she’d be-friended, varying amounts of dust surrounding their valiant bodies. Once this was all over with, she’d go on one huge, self-destructive orgy of sex, booze, and violence, then end it all when the hurt got too much. But first she was gonna kill the fucker who’d caused her all this hurt.

"Oh not quite," Ripper smirked as Jay-Don and Penn hurried up to flank him.

Faith swallowed the gnawing ball of fear in the pit of her belly. Three Masters and a whole bunch of minions, she was beyond screwed. A snarl bubbled up in her lips as she dived forward, snatching a hold of Penn behind the head and bringing his face down into a pair of fast knees to the face before snapping off a kick to Jay-Don’s chest.

"Owwww!" She gasped when the garishly-dressed vampire grabbed her foot and twisted, before leaping into the air and swinging her free foot in the vampire’s face while snapping an elbow back and into the nose of Ripper.

All three vampires fell back as she landed in a crouch, their faces battered and expressions wary. Another vampire jumped at her from her left, only to land on Faith’s stake, his shriek echoing in her ear as Jay-Don leapt back into the attack. Faith grunted as she took a left to the forehead, sidestepped her adversary, and thrust her stake at the demon’s chest.

"Bitch!" Jay-Don scowled as he stuck his arm up, her stake going through his forearm as he back-handed her across the face. Faith grunted as she staggered backwards, ducking under a right cross as blood bubbled up in her mouth, her left foot shooting backwards in a heel kick to the knee of a demon sneaking up behind her.

Faith’s right arm came up, blocking a left hook from Penn even as she swung her left foot up and into the demon’s crotch. Penn greyed as her kick connected, legs buckling under him as he slumped to the side, his breath coming in a wheezing heave.

Seeing Ripper lunging at her from the right, fangs glinting and eyes burning yellow, Faith dropped face-first to the ground. Ripper let out a grunt as he flew over her and into Jay-Don, the two Masters falling into a table. The moment she hit the floor Faith was moving, first into a side-roll to the left to avoid a minion’s stomp, then into a forward roll that ended with her springing up and driving a stake into the nearest vamp’s chest while ducking under a right to the face.

Even as the demon exploded into dust she was side-thrust kicking another minion in the knee, allowing it to fall onto her hastily-swung stake. Blood flew out of her mouth when Penn caught her with a right, the blow sending her staggering towards a risen Jay-Don, her mane parting with the draught from a ducked under roundhouses kick. Faith leapt up and hooked the out-stretched leg against her body before Jay-Don could pull his leg back, stake slamming down at the vampire’s chest only for Jay-Don to grab it an inch from its target. "Not so fast-, owww!" the vampire gasped when she drove her head into its mouth, the momentary shock enough to get her stake rammed home.

A fist or knee crashed into her lower back but she spun away from it, flowing into a back-fist that knocked her rival away and from there she leapt into a thrust-kick to the chest that flung its recipient through the upper-floor’s railing. "Shit!" Faith stumbled forward when Penn swept at her legs upon her arrival, her stagger carrying her into the path of a clothesline to the chest.

Faith grunted as wind gusted from her but used the blow’s momentum to carry her into a backwards somersault out of the mob of vampires. Upon landing she grabbed at the nearest stool and flung it into the nearest vampire’s face, his features exploding inward when the stool’s metal leg crashed into his face. Even as the vampire stumbled backwards more took its place, Faith managed reach into her denim jacket, yank out a glass bottle filled with holy water and fling it at Ripper.

"Damn!" she cursed when the demon ducked under her attack, allowing two of his minions to take the skin-scalding hit for him. And then she was back in the middle of the melee again, ducking and blocking as the blows came reigning in from every direction.

Too late she sensed Penn behind her, the former Puritan grabbing her in a triangle choke. Faith’s eyes widened as the vampire started pulling tight. Her mind racing Faith threw her legs forward and into the torso of one of the vampires advancing on her, her heels resting on the demon’s chest, then pushed off, allowing the momentum to coil her up into a ball that twisted loose of Penn’s grip, and sent her flying over the demon, and into a back-flip that ended with her landing behind him.

She thrust at the demon’s back only for him to twist away and deliver a back-fist to her forehead that burst open a cut above her left eye. "Shit," Faith just about managed to twist away from a thrust to the gut, her stake driving down and into Penn’s leg.

"Ahha!" the vampire let out a scream, eyes bulging with a combination of pain and shock as he clawed at his wound, unmindful of her other stake flying up and into his chest.

Even as Penn exploded into dust, the other vampires swarmed in, kicking, punching, and stomping at her. She managed to get a few, three, maybe four, but eventually the blows she’d taken accumulated with the weariness of a long battle, and she slipped in something, either a spilt drink or her own blood, there was an irony, and fell to one knee. A knee smashed into her face, shattering her cheekbone and jaw, before she could get back up to her feet, and a foot crashed into her stomach, breaking a rib and doubling her up as she wheezed and gagged for air. Then a hand grabbed her by her mane and drove her face down into the floor. And then the vampires were on her, kicking and stomping her into a curled up ball of agony.

"I think she’s nicely tenderised," Ripper’s mocking words rang in her ears as he stamped on her left hand, shattering three fingers, her stake falling from her hand as he dragged her up into a knelt position.

"Fine," Faith looked up at the vampire, defiance gleaming together with pain in her eyes, her face a bloody mess, "end it." Ripper just smiled down at her as he walked around her. "End it!" Her defiance turned to a screaming plea. " END IT!"

"Oh I will," Faith gasped when the demon’s heel slammed into her chest, followed by a rib-cracking stomp to her stomach that brought tears to her eyes. "Only not in the way you expect." His heel thudded down on her forehead, pain erupting in her skull..

* * *

"Hello dear. What will it be today? The blow-torch? Knives? Whips? Something else?" He smiled at the brunette’s inarticulate whimper as he approached, eyeing the cage’s crouched beauty, the chained dollar leashed to its ceiling holding her in place. She hadn’t whimpered at first. No, for the first few weeks she’d cursed and threatened, then after the first month she’d started to bargain and beg, now, after three months all she did was cry. There was little if anything of a mind left. He didn’t even have to break anything anymore, when he did it was more of a whim than a necessity.

Yes, the last Slayer was indeed a work of art. Giles’ eyes roamed hungrily around the trembling beauty’s naked body, marvelling at not only her alluring curves but also her skin’s creamy-white perfection. When he’d finished playing last night, she’d been bruised, welted, bloodied, and burnt from head to toe, his toys having spent hours brutalising his pet, but Slayer Healing was a marvel. Oh the entertainment her suffering had brought him, the joy her tears had caused.

She’d cost him so much, he strolled around the cage, his eyes never leaving his prize. His entire command staff had been lost in that ferocious battle. He reached between the cage’s bars, and roughly groped the beauty, the whimpering brunette unable to move thanks to the chain fastened to her neck. At first he’d been so enraged, the first week he’d done nothing but beat her, pouring on more and more pain each day, seeing just how much she could take before her inevitable death.

But then inspiration had struck, a whispering voice that belonged more to the intellect of his cool and calculating host rather than his vicious demon. He had in his possession not only a winsome lovely that he could painstakingly re-make as his dutiful pet, but also the True Slayer. With the Council decimated and its remains in disarray, he had in his possession the only weapon that could threaten him, and killing her would only result in another warrior being Called. But if he kept her tethered and beaten, she could entertain him for years as he consolidated his power, and then he could either Turn or kill her.

"Yes," his fingers still pinching and twisting at her chest, he crouched down and peered into the cage, staring into the Slayer’s frightened eyes, "you are deliciously dirty and you caused me so much trouble. But you were a prize worth all the trouble you caused me," he purred, delighting at the silent tears streaking down the Slayer’s high cheeks, "and what fun we’ve had." He sighed. "But I realise I’ve been selfish keeping you for myself-." The brunette’s eyes snapped to the door, a choked sob escaping her luscious lips as her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of approaching footsteps. Ripper chuckled, delighted by her terror at what was to come. "Yes, I’ve invited some allies here, they’d like to meet and join me in playing with The Last Slayer."

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