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Pier 3,
Sunnydale Docks,
01:25.



When Buffy emerged from her unconscious state once more, she found that she was no longer lying on the floor. Instead, she found herself suspended in the air, her hands and feet secured by heavy-duty rope to the floor and ceiling so that she was in a spread-eagled position. The ropes had been pulled tight so that her limbs were at full stretch, once again finding that she had no leverage in which to break free of her bonds.



To Buffy's horror, she found that she had been stripped of her trousers and top, leaving her in only her sports bra and white cotton panties. While Buffy wasn't a prude, her 'encounters' with Spike had pretty much eradicated any such thoughts from her mind, she did find herself blushing madly at the provocative position she was currently in, coupled with a shiver of desire that she once again blamed on her interactions with the bleach-blonde vampire.



She suddenly heard a loud crack behind her, feeling amoment later intense pain in her back. "Ahh!"



"I thought that might get your attention," her captor said with humour in his voice.



Hearing the voice of the bastard that was currently holding her captive, Buffy tried to turn her head round enough to see him, but found her position simply too inflexible. He must have got his tying people up' merit badge at scouts. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" she yelled angrily, fuelled by both the pain in her back and the helplessness she felt.



Connor didn't answer, instead letting fly with the whip once more, finding her scream of pain both sickening and enjoyable. He had acquired the whip last night during his preparations, deciding that the vampire that had it in its possession had no use for it, especially as he dusted it moments later. He'd had one similar to it in Quortoth, and was very proficient in causing the largest amount of pain with the smallest amount of damage.



Connor really didn't know why he was taking this current form of action, as his original plan was to simply slit her throat upon seeing the first rays of sun peeking out from the horizon, but now he had started down this path he could see no reason to stop. Buffy had made noises of coming out of her enforced slumber twice since he had brought her here, the first he had briefly talked to her and the second he had simply hit her over the head once more to keep her knocked out, and it had been after knocking her out a third time that he'd decided to change his plans.



Connor was well versed in the art of torture, but he had never used it without cause and never for personal gratification. The only times he or his dad had even resorted to torturing one of the other creatures that inhabited the accursed place he had called home all his life, was to extract information from a particularly uncooperative demon concerning the latest tin pot dictator that had called itself ruler. The idea of causing pain for the sake of it was an unsettling one to the teenaged demon hunter. Even though he had revelled in the knowledge that Angel would die a long and tortuous death at the bottom of the ocean, it was because he had considered it a fitting punishment for the creature that had murdered his dad.



When he had first thought of torturing this Slayer Connor had been repulsed by it, but there was something about this golden haired warrior that instilled in him a desire to inflict pain, a desire that overrode any misgivings he had for doing so. To appease his conscience however, he had decided to use this as a way of finding out whether she still loved his biological father the way he did her and, if she didn't, who had taken Angel's place. Connor only hoped that she was as stubborn as Cordelia had made her out to be, and not give up the information too quickly, as he really wanted to cause her harm.



Connor continued whipping her in silence for the next few minutes, ensuring that he never hit the same place twice, so that the entirety of her back was covered in red and angry welts. He was aware that Buffy's mystically enhanced healing would ensure they didn't remain for very long, especially as his hits were aimed at causing pain not permanent injury, so Connor knew that he would be able to keep up this pace for as long as was necessary, or until sunrise, whichever came first, without causing irreparable damage. Connor was nothing if not a man of his word, which meant that Buffy would die when the first flashes of sunlight appeared and not one moment sooner.



Once Connor was satisfied he could see no unblemished skin on Buffy's back, at least for the moment, he stopped and moved round so that he was facing her.



"I want you to answer a simple question," he told her in a soft and yet steely voice. "Who do you love above all others?"



"Drop dead," Buffy snarled.



"I think not, at least not before you." He stepped back a few paces, giving him a better striking range. "Your options are few; cooperate and this," he let fly with his whip, catching her across her abdomen, causing her to let out yet another involuntary scream, "will cease. If you do not cooperate, I will have no choice but to continue until you either do cooperate, or until the first rays of sun hit this building."



"What happens then?" Buffy asked, already having a fair idea of the answer.



"Your death."



This wasn't the first time that her life had been threatened, but there was something about the matter of fact tone her captor used that made her take him more seriously. However, she was not going to give this strange young man the satisfaction of knowing that, she was the Slayer after all. "How can I put this? Oh yeah; fuck you."



"I think not," Connor replied as he scrunched up his face in disdain. "I do not want one of my father's cast-offs."



Connor struck Buffy several more times on her front before she could dwell too much on his last words, careful to keep away from her more... sensitive areas, at least for the moment. When he had finished, Connor had left a glowing red crisscross pattern on her stomach and outer thighs.



"Are you sure you will not change your mind?" he asked, half hoping that she would refuse.



"Go to hell you son of a bitch!" Buffy replied venomously.



Connor didn't respond to her taunt, instead he moved round so that he was behind her once more, noting with some relish that the marks he had made were already nearly healed. A shiver of anticipation flowed through him as he prepared to put her accelerated healing through its paces. The thought of testing her limits of endurance overrode the last vestiges of unease he had been feeling, and he was now completely focussed on breaking her before he snuffed out her life.



~*~



Summers Residence,
1630 Revello Drive,
Sunnydale.
01:40.



There are days when Dawn felt really old. She knew that she was made of energy that was, supposedly, as old as time, but given that whenever she ever made mention of it to either her sister or Xander she had to suffer through a lengthy and mind numbing lecture, she generally thought of herself as sixteen. However, there were moments like tonight when Dawn felt far older than that, and yet she wouldn't have it any other way.



Dawn was worried, justifiably so, about Buffy, but as worried as she was, she was even more certain that Xander would bring her back safe and sound. Dawn's crush on Xander had faded the last couple of years, and she no longer thought that he could do no wrong, but when it came to him protecting 'his girls', she knew that nothing but the Creator herself could prevent him from saving Buffy, like he had done so many times before.



Dawn had less faith, however, in Xander's ability to remain in close proximity to Angel and not shove something wooden into his chest, and wouldn't be surprised if the souled vampire met with an 'accident'before the night was through. If she were being honest with herself she wasn't all that bothered either way; while Angel had pretty much ignored her during his stint in Sunnyhell, his soulless self had more than made up for it. On more than one occasion Angelus had come into her room and held her down with one hand covering her mouth to prevent her screaming, telling her in sometimes-graphic detail what he was going to do to her mother if she ever told a soul, he always smirked when saying that, about his visits. He never did anything... bad to her, but his mere presence was enough of a trauma to ensure that she barely spoke a word to anyone about anything during those months.



He had apologised to her before he left for LA, but by then the damage had been done and she had never truly felt comfortable in his presence. Even after three years of absence, she had still felt a chill run down her spine when Angel first walked into the house, something she would need to rectify after Buffy was found. She agreed wholeheartedly with Xander's policy of not allowing ANY vampire access to the house, especially after finding out what Spike had tried to do before he ran off to parts unknown, and it was only due to the fact he had already being invited that Angel was allowed in tonight. She knew that whatever happened tonight, Xander would find someone to cast a de-invite spell on the house once more to revoke both Angel's and Spike's ability to enter the house.



Dawn had been doing her best to get on with Fred, the member of Angel's group who was 'keeping her company' read babysitting, but Fred reminded her a little of Willow, and that made her on the defensive. She tried not to let it show, as it had nothing to do with Fred herself, but it did prevent her from warming up to her like she might have otherwise.



Despite Dawn's inability to connect with the other woman, the conversation had been flowing freely, Fred regaling her with her stint in another dimension, as well as some of the Fang Gang's, as Xander called them, adventures in LA. The subject of Cordelia was avoided at all costs, something Dawn knew would not last long with Xander once this situation had been dealt with, but apart from that Fred was quite willing to talk about anything, including how Connor came into existence.



Both herself and Xander could tell that despite what they had been told, elements of the story had been left out, particularly who the mother of Connor was. When explaining just how Connor came into existence, they only ever called her 'Connor's mother', never by a name. Fred had no doubt gone along with it then, but had no qualms about telling her now. In away Dawn was extremely glad for it, as she wouldn't have wanted to be in the room when Mt. St. Xand-Man erupted.



Noticing that Fred was still talking to her, making aserious challenge for the 'longest time talking without taking a breath' world record currently held by a Wicca not currently in her good books, Dawn decided to zone back in.



"... and then Angel went all vampy and beat on the vamp that hit me while Charles and Wesley went after the geomage."



"It's a shame I missed it."



Fred didn't seem to notice the sarcasm in Dawn's voice and nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah that was fun, in a really scary way though."



Dawn was saved from making whatever biting remark had been waiting at the tip of her tongue when the 'hotline' phone started ringing. She knew that one day she would have to pin Xander down and work out just how he got a reputation impressive enough that the demon community would ring and give them the heads up on situations.



"Yeah?"



"..."



"Hey Clem, how are you?"



"..."



"You know I don't like playing for kittens, Clem, otherwise I would."



"..."



"I'll play for rats, it's just a shame that bitca Amy isn't one anymore. Not to sound impatient, but was there a reason you called?"



"..."



"What, again?"



"..."



"You be careful; you're just as susceptible to those poison spikes as we are."



"..."



"Alright, we'll get someone there as soon as we can." Dawn disconnected the call and quickly used the speed dial to call Xander. "Hey Xan."



"..."



"No, nothing yet, but I've had Clem call and tell us that the Kirsch brothers are back."



"..."



"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"



"..."



"I've met your mother, and you're probably right. They're at the theatre; they've interrupted a Shirley Temple marathon, so you know how testy Clem is right now."



"..."



"Don't get stung; you know we don't have any mojo wielders in the group at the moment."



"Yes, I do know you, which is why I'm telling you to be careful."



"..."



"Yeah, you too."



Putting the receiver back, Dawn Noticed Fred looking at her strangely, which given her side of the conversations she'd just had wasn't all that surprising. "Clem is a demon... friend I suppose is the best word, of ours. He's just let us know that a couple of Donj'who'ses demons, known as the Kirsch brothers, have come back to Sunnydale."



"Come back? Don't you normally, like, kill the demons? "Fred asked in confusion.



"Not as often as myself or Xander would like," Dawn mumbled darkly. Raising her voice, she began to explain. "The Kirsch inadvertently helped Buffy out a year or so back, killing a group of those Byzantium Knights that were looking for me, so she gave them a 'Get Out Of Sunnydale Intact' card. Trouble is, demons as a whole never keep their word, and they're back. Never a dull moment on the ole' Hellmouth."



~*~



House Of The Rising Sun Theatre,
Sunnydale,
02:15.



"They came from out of the screen! Run for your life!"



Xander and Angel were nearly knocked over by a man wearing a very bad, very cheap alien costume as he came running out of the theatre like the devil himself was after him, quickly followed by several of his extra-terrestrial friends.



"They would have to be showing a Sci-Fi marathon on the other screen wouldn't they?" Xander sighed, realising once again that his luck was free, plentiful, and bad.



"Are you sure we can trust this Clem?" Angel asked suspiciously.



"Of course we can," Xander replied as they entered the theatre, his voice tinged with mockery, "he has a soul after all." Seeing the look Angel gave him, and realising that he was actually being childish, he relented slightly. "Clem does have a soul, Willow checked to be certain, and as his type of demon is pretty much human friendly, we leave him be while keeping an eye out just in case. I did some research and Clem's breed of demon had been known to terrify villages, but I think they just got a bum rap because of all the excess skin. That and their penchant for kittens."



"Kittens?" Angel asked, not quite sure he wanted the answer.



"Yeah, they use 'em like currency."



"Lovely."



"At the end of the day he's never tried to kill me or mine, something that can't be said for other demons in my acquaintance, so Igive him some slack," Xander said, his not so subtle jab at Angel hitting it's mark as he'd intended.



They reached the first screen and found Clem fending off a reptilian like demon with bone like spines, keeping himself between the demon and a group of humans who had been unlucky enough not to escape with the others.



"That and he doesn't skulk off into the night once giving some information."



Angel restrained himself from replying, knowing that he would never make ground with Xander.



As they got closer, the seat Clem had been using to keep the demon, Xander guessed it was Stanley and not Oliver, from spearing him with one of its spikes was knocked away. Xander moved first, not wanting to see one of his friends, which given his views on demons was pretty ironic he decided, get hurt. He saw Stanley about to skewer Clem and didn't think twice about shoulder blocking him out of the way, the spike catching him slightly on his upper arm.



Angel in the meantime was having his own problems, as the other demon, Oliver, had come lumbering in from the other cinema screen toward him. He'd dealt with demons like this before when he... wasn't himself, so he knew that their poison couldn't infect dead tissue, but he also knew that he'd barely managed to get away undead.



"Of course last time I didn't have a nifty sword," he said to himself.



He regretted saying anything a moment later as his first swing ended with the sword vibrating strongly as it hit the seemingly impervious hide of the demon. Knowing that it was the only thing he had, he kept the demon at bay with the sword, dismayed that his favourite weapon was slowly becoming dented and blunt. He mistimed one swing and the demon caught the blade, leaving Angel open to attack.



As he prepared for the blow, Angel heard a loud sickening crack and a hellish howl of anguish, followed by a loud thump as Oliver collapsed to the ground unconscious. Standing behind the fallen creature is Xander, his sledgehammer in his hand and a smirk on his face.



"These little buggers can only be hurt by blessed items,"Xander informed him with a smile, "which pretty much means you better get back to the other four Marx brothers Deadboy."



"What are you on about, Harris?" Angel snapped.



"Get everyone out," Xander replied, not having time to argue, "I've got work to do."



Wondering what he meant, Angel looked behind Xander to see the other demon getting up slowly, hearing a pop as it put what goes for an elbow back into place. Angel knew he had no way of helping, as any blessed weapon would hurt him as much as it would the demon, so he reluctantly took Xander's advice and went to lead Clem and the other movie goers outside.



Roaring in anger and pain at having one of it's limbs dislocated, the demon began ripping up chairs and throwing them at Xander, causing the young man to use every ounce of agility he had to bob and weave through them to get close enough to strike. Xander was glad that Buffy had put him on a diet now, as he doubted he could have moved as fast a few months ago. That didn't mean he was able to dodge them all, as one clipped him on the hip; not by much, but enough for him to have trouble putting his whole weight on it.



Knowing he wouldn't have time to use his sledgehammer, as it wasn't exactly light, Xander slung it over his shoulder into the custom made harness for it, a present from Giles before he departed with Willow off to England, and grabbed a vial of holy water and a blessed dagger from within his jacket. Once he was close enough to make his move, he threw the vial in the face of the demon, causing it to smash and temporarily blind it. While the demon clawed at its eyes in agony, Xander was able to get close enough to use the dagger, thrusting the blade right up to the hilt into the small of its back, where this type of demon's heart was.



Pulling the dagger out as the demon dropped lifelessly to the ground, Xander went over to the other, slowly rousing demon and thrust the blade into the same location, before he finally allowed himself to relax. He walked over to the first intact chair and slumped down into it; finally allowing himself time to check what he already knew was there.



"Dawn's gonna kill me," he said to himself as he looked at the wound, finding that his reflexive need to add humour to any situation kicked in even when he was alone.



The demon had only nicked him, but that was all it took for the poison to get into his system. The poison itself was extremely rare, as was the antidote, but for the time being he was fine. At the moment the poison was dormant, but at sunrise the poison would be activated and Xander was in for around ninety minutes of excruciating agony as his internal organs slowly liquefied.



He couldn't wait.



The upside was that Xander would still have enough time to save Buffy one more time before his time was well and truly up, and that was something he could live with, pardon the pun.



Checking his wound once more and kicking himself for not bringing an extra top with him to change into, Xander got up and left the theatre, and found Angel and Clem waiting for him.



"You're hurt," Angel pointed out.



"You're observational skills are as good as always, Deadboy." Xander ignored Angel's glare and focused on Clem. "You alright?"



"Yeah, thanks. You've been infected haven't you?" he asked, Xander feeling touched by the concern in the demon's voice.



"Certainly seems that way."



"I'm sorry," Clem said sincerely.



"Nothing to be sorry about" Xander said with a wave of his arm. "I'd do the same for any of my friends."



"I don't suppose there's any chance..."



Xander cut Clem off before he had a chance to continue. "There's no one in good old Sunnyhell powerful enough to do anything about it, Clem. You better get home; tonight seems to be one of those nights."



"I got that," Clem said sympathetically. "You take care of yourself alright?"



"You know me."



Clem looked at Xander sadly before making his way home.



"You should go back," Angel suggested, although his tone indicated that it was more of an order.



"Fuck you, Deadboy; we both know I'll be fine 'til sunrise and that's plenty of time."



Xander pushed past Angel and began stalking towards the warehouse district, leaving the souled vamp no choice but to follow.



~*~



Sunnydale Docks,
03:00.



Gunn and Wes had finished their patrol of the cemeteries and were finally joining the search for Buffy and Connor, going to the docks first as the last cemetery they checked had only been half a mile away from them.



As they reached the entranceway, they spotted a group of five vamps leaving the docks and headed their way. What really caught their eye was the fact they were all laughing and joking about something, so much so that the group walked by them without a passing glance in their direction.



"Well," Wesley said, "that was a little strange." Taking one final glance their way, he continued his journey into the docks.



Gunn, however, had different plans. "If there's one thing I hate more than vamps, its vamps that ignore me," he growled before heading off in the vamps' direction.



"Gunn, we don't have time for this."



"I'll make time," he replied, continuing on his way.



Wes sighed and changed his course to follow Gunn. Ever since the revelation about Connor's involvement in Angel's disappearance, Gunn had been getting more and more agitated and short tempered. Wesley knew a lot of the anger Gunn was feeling was directed at Gunn himself, as he no doubt felt that he should have known Connor was deceiving them all this time.



Whatever the reasons behind it, Gunn's anger had made him irrational, which was very evident in the way he'd been fighting. On more than one occasion tonight he'd been so lost in his anger that he forgot about trying to stake the vamp he was fighting and continued to pummel the demon until Wesley himself finished it off.



Now was just another example of his anger getting the best of him, and Wesley had gotten tired of pulling his arse out of the fire.



"Hey fangboys!" Gunn shouted. "You don't like dark meat?"



That got the groups attention, as they all stopped laughing and turned round.



"You had to go and ruin the mood didn't you?" the centre vamp, who could easily be identified as the leader, sneered.



"Yeah, I'm employed by the government to ensure none of you suckheads enjoy yourselves too much."



During their little 'talk', Gunn had been getting progressively closer to the group and, before they had a chance to react, he removed his axe from behind his back and dusted the vamp closest to him.



"Damn, I love my job."



Seeing that the other four were about to jump him, Wesley took it as his cue to join the fray. Luckily, they were the only two with bladed weapons so the fight was pretty much one-sided and only a couple of minutes later only one vamp remained.



Knocking it to the ground, Wesley placed the point of his sword against its throat. "Now then, what was so funny that you neglected to acknowledge just how tasty a morsel my associate is?"



The vamp, Michael, had only been turned a few months ago but had learnt a few things in that short time. He knew that no matter what happened in the next few minutes, he wasn't leaving alive, or unlive in his case. He also knew that the information they were asking for would no doubt help these white hats immensely. That was something he'd rather die than do, which was where the stake in his back pocket came in. His sire had instilled in him one thing above everything else; never give the good guys the satisfaction. To that end, he would give each of his childer a stake to keep with them at all times, to use on themselves if the need arose.



Moving as surreptitiously as possible, he slowly worked on freeing the stake from his pants while answering. "Well, you see, my sire Hank, that was the one Denzel here made a head shorter, wanted to check the docks for vagrants, so we could feed and keep under Harris' radar..."



"Harris?" Gunn asked.



"Xander," Wesley told him. "Why Xander and not the Slayer?"



"The Slayer?" Michael said with a snort. "She doesn't know whether to stake us or shag us; Harris on the other hand would rather stake you than look at you."



"What do you mean by that?" Gunn asked.



"We'd just finished draining this bum," Michael continued, ignoring Gunn's question, "when we heard a scream. We go to check it out, we're always on the lookout for a little mayhem you see, when we look in this building to see none other than the Slayer Layer herself, spread-eagled in mid-air, being whipped by this kid. She was screaming and shouting in agony she was, it gets me going just thinking about it I can tell you. Danny fell over he was laughing so much, and knocked over a couple of crates. The kid heard him and, before we even saw him move, had thrown a stake through the wall and into Danny, dusting him there on the spot. Well after seeing that and what he was doing to the Slayer, we hightailed it out of there, which is when we ran into you."



"Where did you see them?" Wesley asked, pressing the sword a little into its throat to make the meaning clear about what would happen if he didn't talk. That was the question Michael had been waiting for.



"I'll never tell." Before either Wesley or Gunn could stop him, he rammed the stake into his chest and turned to dust.



"That bastard!" Gunn roared, kicking at its remains in anger.



"The important thing is we know where they are." Wesley quickly got his cell phone out and dialled Xander's number. "Get to the docks, we've found them."