| *****PreBuffy***** Spike lay on the ground, recoiling from the strikes of the woman he had come to respect and even admire, confused as to why she had chosen to attack him when he was trying to help her. He had done exactly what she asked. Suddenly, the blows stopped and he looked up to find Angelus holding her, a good two feet off of the ground. He was pissed! He started to shake her and yell. Still under the impression the two vampires were now her enemies, Honey fought back, struggling to be freed. Spike stood up and glared at her from his new vantage point, looking between her and Angelus for an answer. Angelus simply shrugged and turned Honey loose. She landed between them, falling to the ground and pouting childishly. Angelus cast her a contemptuous glance and motioned to Spike. �We have to get out of here.� Spike stared at him questioningly, but trusted him enough not to argue. �What do we do with her?� Angelus looked down at Honey, crouched on the floor, and cocked his head. �Well?� Honey reverted back to her human face and stuck her bottom lip out. �Fine by me,� she replied. �I go where you go.� She started to get up off of the floor when a swift movement behind Spike made her cry out in warning. But it was too late. Honey barely heard her own scream as Sprawl rose from his spot on the floor and lunged at Spike with the stake he had hidden on his pant leg. Luckily, Spike was deft with his movements, and moved a hair�s breadth to the side, narrowly avoiding being dusted. Honey screamed again, this time in pure hatred, and threw herself at Sprawl, determined to make sure he died this time. Sprawl landed beneath her, weaponless, and in severe pain as Honey battered him with a m�nage of punches to the face and torso. Angel pulled the stake from Spike�s shoulder blade, threw it to the ground, and examined the wound for damage. �You�re okay.� �Ya think,� Spike replied sarcastically. �What now?� Angelus glanced around, grateful for the opportunity to assess the situation from another point of view. He had to get himself and his childe out of there before the building was blown to bits. Granted, he and Spike could probably survive the explosion, but the possibility of flying shrapnel of the wooden kind made him anxious to vacate the premises. Only one other creature wouldn�t be harmed by the blast. Angelus wanted to take care of him first. He looked back towards Spike. �Kangus.� Spike sighed. He was in pain and annoyed. He didn�t want to look at the club for even a minute longer. It was in shambles and the beautiful dream he and his sire had created was crushed. But the pure survival skills of the demon underlord would lead him to them wherever they fled. They had made a deal with a demon and the only way to break it was to break his neck. So, he had to be dealt with before they could leave. He glanced over his shoulder and observed Honey, still in the grips of battle with the man she had called �Sprawl�. Spike debated for a second longer before heading towards his partner, grabbing a broken chair leg on the way. He and his mentor took the mammoth demon by surprise. Many blows and a useful drummer�s cymbal later, the duo beheaded the monster, drenching the floor in blood. Sprawl was still bleeding as he tried to throw Honey off of him and regain his footing. She had thrown him through yet another table and the floor came crashing towards him. He landed with an �Oomph� and spotted his discarded stake laying inches away. He grabbed it and shoved it into his sleeve. Honey picked him up from where he had been lying and pulled him close to her by the shirt. �So,� she smirked, �now I�ve got the upper hand. I�m the one with the power. I�m the one with the strength. Who�s the bitch now?!� She threw her head back and laughed, leaving a wide opening for Sprawl to use the last of his strength to stake her through her duplicitous heart. Both Angel and Spike whipped around at the sound of Honey�s body being reduced to a small pile of soot. Immediately, as with most Childe-Sire bonds, they felt a sense of loss, as if someone had torn off a limb and neglected to replace it. Spike�s face twisted into a look of agony as the tremblings of the club�s center shook the pile-o�-dust that was once his golden-throated and skinned lover, and leveled it onto the gray marble floor where it swiftly blended with the blood and liquor and disappeared. Angelus tried to grab him as he made his way over to where Sprawl still stood. He shrugged him off and continued over to the detective cum criminal and used the chair leg he had used on Kangus to beat the demon to death, and continue beating him when he was already dead. Angelus strode over to his friend and bodily hauled him out the door. Behind them, the sound of an explosion knocked them off of their feet as the dynamite tore the club from its foundation and sent the establishment tumbling to the ground. Filthy, exhausted and melancholy, Spike and Angelus stared at the pile of rubble that had once been the hottest nightspot in inner-city Chicago. The place that had been their home, their feeding ground. The place where they had met, loved, turned and witnessed the death of an extraordinary woman neither was likely to forget. Spike looked at Angelus out of the corner of his eye and saw the disgust as he regarded the destruction of a place he had put so much time and effort into. He sighed and turned away from the sight. Angelus heard the despair in his voice and patted him on the back. �Maybe it was time we left here anyway. We have so much more to do. So many more people to kill.� Spike simply sighed again and began to pick his way through the debris. Angelus moved beside him and they walked side by side that way until they reached the end of the alleyway. Like Lot�s wife, both vampires turned and took one last look. Spike glanced at Angelus and tossed his head with defiance. Angel grinned at him. �Oh, don�t you worry, kid. There�ll be others! We�ve only just begun.� Spike smiled back, a toothy, boyish smirk and threw a heavy hand on his comrade�s shoulder. �Whatdya say we go look for Darla and Drusilla, eh?! If we�re gonna get into trouble, might as well do it with the best. Don�t tell them, but I might actually miss them.� Both boys stopped and took a moment of silence for Honey, the female companion they had lost. Angelus looked up and replied, �Yeah, it couldn�t hurt to check on them.� He shielded his face with one blood-spattered hand and surveyed the dark sky. �We should go.� Spike pulled a few cigarettes out of the warped case in his pocket and lit them, passing one to his sire. Jumping into a nearby manhole, they turned and walked into the distance, the heroes and the villans, side-by-side as the first light of dawn seeped through the night, and the sun began to rise over the horizon. |
| TOOTH & NAIL |
| BY PREBUFFY & MAZZY |
| PART X |
 |
| The Conclusion |
| THE END |