Title: Her Own Fate (AKA "Niece")

Author: Lindzey

Disclaimer: I own none . . . yadda yadda yadda. Joss- Oh gracious King on the Universe owns most of em. 'Cept for the few that came outta my fragile little head.

Feedback: Please I never get any feedback. And I want some. YES. It would be SO deeply appreciated!

RATING: G- PG

Author Notes: None

HER OWN FATE: NIECE

by Lindzey

The door slammed open and a girl walked into Giles' house. "You home?" She threw her two bags next to the desk that stood right by the doorway. She closed the door behind her.

"Who's there?" She heard someone with a British accent ask from one of the back rooms. "Boy Uncle Rupert, you sound different." She advanced into the living room. "I came for a visit. Well, actually dad threw me out again . . ." She didn't finish her sentence. On the table across from the couch sat a cup of steaming blood. She pulled a stake from her sock.

"I'll be out in a sec." She heard the person call from the back. Slowly, she made her way over by the wall that separated her from the back. Whoever was back there wouldn't see her as he came out. She heard a toilet flush, and a door open. Heavy footsteps sounded towards her. She could smell the vampire. Just as he was about to step over the threshold she side kicked him right in his stomach. He crumpled to the floor. She kicked him again and he yelled out in pain. She pinned down his arms and raised the hand with the stake in it above her head.

"Well you're not Uncle Rupert are you?" She began to bring her arm down when the front door opened and Giles walked in.

"Kali?" He asked startled seeing the two on the floor. She lost the momentum and her hand only landed on Spike, the stake just barely piercing his skin. Spike pushed the girl off him and brushed off the stake.

"Bloody hell, Watcher. It'd be nice if you told me you were expecting someone. I wouldn't have left my blood out."

"Uncle Rupert. You've . . . got a vampire staying with you? The council would NOT approve." She shot Spike an annoyed glance. "It wasn't your blood that gave it away deadboy. It was your stench."

"What? You mean she doesn't know?" Spike asked looking from the girl to the watcher.

"No. She doesn't Spike. We lost contact years ago. It's nice to see you again Kali." Rupert didn't move from the doorway.

"Don't know what?" She interrogated looking from Spike to Giles.

"He not a watcher anymore. The bloke got himself fired." Spike sat on the couch and began to sip his now cold blood. "Bloody hell, it's gone cold again."

"You got fired from the council? Way to go Uncle Rebel. So what'd you do?"

"Let's not get into that now, I'm more concerned as in why you're here and not back in New York with your father." Only then did Rupert begin to step in the apartment.

"He, uh . . . threw me out. And for a change instead of groveling until he let me back home, I decided to visit good old Uncle Rupert." She said quickly. "I'm here to help fight the nasties. Don't worry dad knows that I was headed out this way."

***********

"So when do I get to meet Buffy?" she shoveled food into her mouth when she finished speaking and Giles sat there dumbfounded. He didn't remember Kali like this at all the last time he saw her. But she was only 8 then. Nine years can change a person a lot.

"Let's not rush into anything like that Kali, I mean your training in fighting . . ." she cut Giles off.

"My training is one of the best in the world, Uncle Rupert. I mean you know that. Dad said he told you all about it."

"No. I wasn't told." Giles sipped at the tea he had prepared himself which had grown cold.

"I trained with Henry Oldsburn and Mical Thompson. The two best trainers in all the council. I'm a black belt in karate and fought some of the worst and grossest demons in all New York."

"That is quit impressive Kali but . . ." This time it was Spike who cut him off.

"Hey would you two pipe down in there. My program's on."

"Spike I would like to remind you, that you are a guest in my home and it is day light out."

"Why is it again you let him stay here?" Kali asked over the rising noise of the television.

Giles rubbed the bridge of his nose. He felt a migraine coming on. If it was bad that he had Spike's attitude to listen to 24/7, now he was going to have Kali's sarcasm. That's one thing her father had mentioned to him. She had grown with the sarcasm.

*****************

Giles had excused himself to his room before ten o'clock complaining of a headache. That left Kali still fully awake, and Spike hyper as ever, together. In one room.

"How can you watch this crap?" Spike grabbed the remote from her hand and flicked it to some overacted drama. She grabbed the control roughly back and changed it back to the comedy show she had been enjoying.

"Back off, Spike. I've got the power." She stretched out a little more on the couch, taking up way more than her fair share of the space. Spike tried to ignore it. He was the older one dammit.

She stretched out more. She loved to test people. Especially those who could do her no harm. Her feet began to push against Spikes leg.

"Get your nasty feet off me." He shoved her legs off the couch.

"Don't touch me Rot o' matic." She pulled her feet back up and settled them on his lap.

"For your information, I haven't began the rotting phase yet, but I'll send you a post card when I do. How should I address that by the way? The girl with the matted hair living in the cardboard box in Los Angeles, or will you have returned to 42nd street by then?"

"Try addressing it to Kali Giles: Actor, Writer and Kicker of Asses Extrordinare." She pushed him into the arm of the couch.

"Real tough girl yah are. Beating up on a poor defenseless vampire." He crossed his arms and she could see the anger behind his eyes.

"Oh shut up, you bloody wanker." She said trying to mimic both his and Giles' accent.

Spike couldn't help it she sounded so pathetic he had to laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" She couldn't stand anyone laughing at her. It really pissed her off.

****************

Crash.

Giles sat up with a start from where he was laying on his bed. What the hell was going on? Couldn't those two be civilized for a few minutes?

Bang.

He had gone into his room to his room to escape the arguing of those two. It sounded as if they were tearing his house apart. He got up from his bed and dreaded what might have happened to his house.

Spike stood in the kitchen next to the cut out window that separated him from the living room.

And him from Kali.

She could really push buttons.

In his hand he held a sugar bowl. Raised and ready to throw it at Kali who in turn held some kind of rock she had picked up off Giles' desk.

Giles stumbled down the stairway and saw the two in a stand off. Kali with his healing amethyst in hand and Spike with his grandmother's sugar bowl. Both very precious items.

"I say what is the matter with you two?" Giles asked coming into the room. Kali seeing Giles, put down the rock.

"He started it."

Spike threw the sugar bowl at her.

She ducked. It crashed to the floor with out breaking. Giles sighed relieved. He began to pick it up and it disintegrated in his hands.

Spike lay restlessly on the couch. Giles had told them both to go to bed. Of course the girl got the spare room. He tossed and turned. He couldn't sleep. He needed a cigarette.

Kali heard the front door open and close quietly. She was alert and interested. What was Spike up to? Or did someone enter the house. She crept out of her room, trying not to disturb her uncle. But she didn't think she would. She could hear him snoring from his bedroom above her even as she made her way into the darkened living room. No signs of an intruder. She straightened herself out and walked to the door to see what Spike was up to.

Spike puffed away on his cigarette as the door opened silently and Kali appeared from behind. He sighed.

"Can't let me get a moments peace, huh?" He took another drag.

"I heard the door open. I was curious." They stood in silence for a moment. "Got an extra one?" He rolled his eyes.

"You're not old enough." He replied even as he pulled one out for her. "Don't say I never did nothing for you."

"Thanks." She lit the cigarette, and sat down on the steps that led up to her uncle's door. "So uh, you're William the Bloody?" She asked feebly, trying to make polite conversation.

"Yeah, what of it?" He exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Heard a lot about you, that's all. Read some Watcher's diaries. Thought if I ever met up with you, You'd have more . . .spunk."

"Funny. I've got this bloody implant in me that makes me . . .harmless. Can't hurt no one. Blah Blah Blah. The Watcher told you about it I'm sure."

"Yeah." She inhaled her own cigarette. "Ever see a Kraken demon?"

"Yeah nasty sons of bitches." He stomped out his own cigarette a little interested. What would this one know about Kraken demons?

"Yeah. Did that to me." She held up her hand where a scar went down it to just a little below her wrist. "But I killed him." She paused and took another drag. "You've got to decapitate them, than set them on fire."

"What'd he get you with?" Spike asked sitting down next to her eyeing the scar. "One of those talons?"

"Yeah. Sharp mothers. They got about 8 tentacle-like arms." She flicked the dying cigarette away. "Ever seen a Sandworm?"

"No. Only pictures."

"Seen one in Arizona."

"What haven't you seen?" Spike asked.

"Really? Nothing." She raised her eyebrows. Spike raised his back. "I'm not the slayer. No. But my father, he belongs to the Council. So I was trained as hard, and longer than any slayer." She paused looking away. "Never went to school. From the age of eight he had me go out, by myself, after dark in New York City, and fend off vampires.

"When I got old enough, he sent me all over the world, fighting everything and anything. That's why we don't get along. I wanted to be normal. He wanted me to save the world. Every night."

Spike didn't know what to say. "Your father is Giles' brother?"

"Yup. They really have nothing in common." She stood to get up. "I'm going to bed."

"Does the Watcher know?" Spike asked standing with her. He felt a pang of sympathy.

"Parts of it. But hardly any. He knows I helped a lot in New York with the vampires and all. But he doesn't know what my father's become."

"Become?"

"Insane." She left him and went inside. She crept back into her room and slipped beneath the covers. She was asleep before her head hit the pillows.

*********************

Giles was up early. It was only 7:30. He woke Spike up with his moving about in the kitchen making tea. That's what he needed some nice soothing tea, to help him get his mind straightened out.

Spike sidled into the kitchen and pulled the refrigerator open looking for his early morning fix of blood. That would help him clear his mind out.

"So, Watcher you ever hear about Kali's upbringing?" Spike asked nonchalantly.

"What? Oh yes, yes. Her father told me about all the expensive schools and such she had been to. Quite extraordinary actually."

"No it ain't mate. How often did you speak to the girl or her father?" Spike asked, his tone more than a little accusatory.

"Once or twice a year." Giles drank from his mug. "Why?"

"Maybe you should ask Kali what it was like growing up."

Giles smiled. "Kali's father always told me she always exaggerated how things were."

"Ask her when she gets up." Spike got up and left the kitchen and made his way down the hallway to the bathroom. He heard the shower go on, and Spike began to sing some dreadful 80's song.

Giles was beyond puzzled.

(2)

It was almost noon, and since their brief conversation Giles and Spike hadn't exchanged any words. Which in a way made Giles feel quite content. He didn't mind having someone staying at his house, even if it was Spike. But Spike had the tendency to never shut-up.

The front door swung open and Buffy and her crew stumbled in carrying bags of take out food.

"Hey G-man, we bring lunch." Xander greeted as they came in. Spike peered over the couch back to see who all was present. Everyone.

"Oh. How nice of you all to come. Unannounced."

"Just like always." Buffy said cheerily, sitting on the back of the couch.

Spike looked up at Buffy's back. "I see London, I see France. I see the Slayer's underpants." He taunted. Buffy jumped out and felt along her back. Her shirt was tucked in.

"And how's the fangless wonder doing?" She quipped, moving away from Spike and near the food.

Thump. "I presume Kali's awake." He stated. The teenagers all glanced at him with the same expression on each one's face: Who?

"My niece is visiting. From New York."

"Oh well we're all here because . . ." Buffy trailed off searching for an explanation to use.

"We help the elderly!" Xander exclaimed. Anya slapped him on his arm.

"If Giles is elderly, than what does that make me?"

"Oh I got one!" Buffy said.

Giles watched bemused. "Wait," Willow piped up, "How'd you explain Spike?"

They all looked expectantly toward him. "She knows, her father is part of the council, she was taking care of vampires in New York."

"Oh. Well, than let's chow down." Buffy said.

"Sort of like us huh? She doesn't have to save the world from those monstrous vampires," Xander glanced at Spike directing the comment to him, "like us slayerettes huh?"

"Sort of." Giles agreed.

"So she's like already unofficially part of the gang."

Kali stumbled out in a pair of air pants and an oversized matching shirt. Her hair was twisted up on top of her head and her eyes were still half closed. She walked directly into the kitchen poured herself a glass of milk took a sip, than laid her head on her hands and went back to sleep.

"Guess that means we don't have to share any of our rat and wormburgers with her." Xander said biting into his burger. All three girls stopped chewing simultaneously and gave him The Look. "I did it again didn't I?"

They all nodded.

"It's the one where I say the wrong things at the wrong time right?"

Three nods.

"Okay."

Kali's head slowly popped up from her arms. She looked at her arms as if she had just grown an extra one. "I'm going to kill you." She grumbled. The slayerettes looked on interested in who the girl was going to kill. She stumbled back to the room she had come from, than came back with a new shirt on. The one she had just been wearing was in her hand. She chucked it a Spikes face. "Merry Christmas."

She only than noticed the others in the room. "Oh. Hi. I'm Kali." She straightened out her hair. "I'm not a morning person."

"What's this?" Spike asked holding up the shirt.

"You spilled blood on the table. I laid in it. In turn, now it's yours. Merry Christmas."

"Hi. I'm Buffy." She held out a hand. Kali accepted it and met it with a returned firm handshake.

"I'm Willow. It's nice to meet you."

"Anya."

"You can call me Xander." Xander said grinning.

"As opposed to what?" Kali asked.

"Xander." He still had the dumb grin plastered on his face.

***********

"So he totally had me you know? He was holding me by my neck and said 'How's that feel?'" She mimicked whom-ever's voice by making her own deep and gravely. "So I says, 'I'm comfortable', than I kicked him in his balls and say 'How's that feel?' and he drops me and crumbles on the ground. Than I cut off his head and buried near the Jersey turnpike."

The group of slayerettes looked at her, fascinated by her stories. She and Buffy and the group had been exchanging them for over 2 hours. Spike only sat on the couch and made disgruntled noises and scoffed every so often. He was ignored.

After Kali had finished her story about the demon that she had killed Spike had scoffed again.

Buffy shot him a glance than began another story of her own. "So one time this vampire came to town, right. He's about six-foot, blonde hair and blue eyes. He was drunk off his gord. Well he decides to kidnap Will, to get her do some ridiculous love spell to get him back with Drusilla . . ." Kali saw where this was going immediately. She chuckled softly and watched Spike send the group glances of hate.

"So he comes into my house . . ."

"Slayer, shut your damn hole."

"What Spike? Can't I share one of my favorites? Oh no. Actually my favorite was when my MOM kicked his bleached butt."

"Your mom?" Kali asked laughing.

"Yup. She cracked him in the back of the head with an ax."

The group erupted in laughter. Spike growled.

"Shut up." Frustrated Spike got up. "I'm going out."

"Spike, it's day time out." Buffy told him in a voice like she was talking to a five-year-old.

"Yeah, vampire plus sun equals big pile of dust." Xander put in his two cents.

"You wanna trade stories slayer? Well I'll trade a story. Let's talk about Acathala. I remember it well actually. How is Angel doing these days?" His brow was furrowed, and his eyes gleamed madly.

"Hey Spike, that's harsh." Willow commented.

"Maybe you guys should go. I'm sure you have better places to be than here. We can hang later?" Kali didn't want this to go any farther. Besides, the company was overwhelming. The group agreed and gathered their things, calling goodbye to Giles who had retired upstairs to read. The scooby gang had commented at the beginning about him cutting himself away from the group.

They all slowly left, Buffy and Willow being the last. "We'll be at our dorm tonight, you can stop by after 7," Willow told her scribbling down the address. Kali smiled at her and agreed to be there later. She waved them off.

"Spike?" Kali asked. He had resettled himself on the couch and flicked on the t.v.

"Whaddya want?" He asked rather harshly.

She sat on the back of the couch. "Do you ever miss being alone? Being able to go where you want, when you want? Do you ever wish you were different?"

He contemplated her question for a moment. "Yes. More than anything. No." He answered her question in condensed form.

"I'm being serious. You don't wish you were just an average person?" He shifted his eyes her way. "No."

"Oh." She got up and began to walk to the back of the house.

"Do you?"

She stopped and turned to face him. "Oh, no. No who wants to be an average run of the mill girl?" He voice had a slight waver to it. "I'm happy being the limited edition girl. One of a kind." She turned back towards the hallway and went to her room. Spike heard the door slam behind her.

*****************

"Yeah. He doesn't deserve the money, he's lyin'!" Spike was yelling at the t.v. again. It was ten in the morning and he was watching Judge and Jury on the local cable network.

"Shut up!" Kali yelled from her room, pulling the pillow over her head. She didn't get home until near one that morning after spending some quality get to know you time with Buffy and Willow. He kept going on about how the man was a liar. She pounded on the wall. "Spike shut the hell up!!"

She heard the TV turn down, and closed her eyes finally some peace and . . . The TV's volume had rocketed full blast. Some punk song had come on the music station and Spike had turned it all the way up. She held back an anguished scream.

Her room's door flew open and she ran out to the living room. She turned off the TV as she came through the room.

"It's ten o'clock in the morning. I don't get up to twelve, maybe, possibly one. So maybe you could have a little consideration for others in this house!" She screamed at him as he just sat there smirking at her on the couch.

"Hey, I was staying here first luv. Seniority rules." He smiled at her.

"Seniority. Boy you've got seniority. You're 126. ACT like it!" She clenched her fists.

"I don't have to." He could see he was working her nerves.

"Uncle Giles!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. What was she calling him for? He hadn't so much as kept a real conversation going with her since she got here. And from what Buffy and her friends said, he was acting much more withdrawn.

"He's not here." Spike answered her yell. She turned to him. Her face had a scowl that might scare away some human but not him. Not big bad 'ol . . . Her fist met his eye.

"You make me so mad!" She screamed at him. "Uhh!!!" She just screamed at the ceiling in rage.

"You've got anger problems don't you luv?" Spike asked still taunting her.

"I've got everything problems," she moaned sitting down next to him. "Sorry about your eye." Spike stopped rubbing it for a minute and gave her a sidelong glance.

"Where's Uncle Giles?"

"You've caught it too, huh?" She gave him the weirdest look of what the hell are you talking about.

"What?"

"Calling him Giles."

"Oh, yeah. Well it's much better than Rupert, and everyone else calls him Giles so . . .where is he?"

"Out." Spike sat there a moment staring at the blank TV. He felt her stare boring into him. "With the Slayer. Training."

"Oh. That's nice." She got up and went into the kitchen, fixing herself breakfast. She mumbled under her breath not realizing Spike could hear her because of his vampiric senses. "Oh, he's with Buffy. Whoop dee doo! Oh, Buffy this Buffy that. Hey Kali! Problems at home? Sure you can stay. Just make sure you don't let the bad vampire out during the day. Oh and by the way, I can't talk to you right now, I've got to do something with Buffy."

***********************

Giles returned later that day after the sun had set. He carried in a box, which looked heavy as he stumbled along with it in his hands. "Where's Kali, Spike?" Giles asked taking notice of her absence beside Spike. "She's out with Buffy." Spike stood up and faced Giles as he removed books from the box and settled them on his desk.

"Oh, well that's good. I really don't have the time for her . . ." Spike cut him off.

"When have you had the time for her?!" Spike asked angrily. Since she's been here you haven't said more than three words to her. She's your niece for crying out loud." Spike approached Giles. "Have you asked her how it was growing up? She's got some tales that put yours to shame. Have you asked her, her interests? Have you even thought two seconds about her?"

"It's unexpected Spike. What am I supposed to do?" Giles spat back just as angrily. "Rearrange my whole life just 'cause she's got problems?"

"Well obviously you should take some time to consider that option. She obviously came here because she trusted you and thought you would help her."

"She's not my child to tend to." Giles said.

"The slayer isn't either."

"That has nothing to do . . ."

"Why bloody not??" Spike asked. "Why? You treat the slayer more like family than you do your very own flesh and blood."

"This is not up for you to discuss Spike. Stay out of this." Giles dismissed him by walking away.

"You better do some rearranging mate. Before something happens." Giles began up the stairs. "Ask her questions dammit! Talk to her!" Giles didn't stop he just continued up the stairs. "Bloody bastard."

**********************

It was after midnight when Kali returned to Giles'. She quietly closed the door and locked it when she came in. She heard Spike snoring on the couch and tiptoed toward the hallway to her room. She noticed that the kitchen light was on and turned around to turn it off. Giles sat at the table with his eleventh cup of tea.

"Kali?" She came to the table.

"Yeah?"

"I think we should talk." Giles took in her appearance. He shirt was torn, and she had a cut just below her eye. "What happened?"

She shrugged as if it didn't really matter. "Ran into some nasty vamps on the way home." She saw his expression. "Don't worry I took care of them. Complete dust factor."

"Oh. Very well than. Sit down." She looked at him hesitantly for a moment, than pulled out the chair opposite of him.

"Am I in trouble?" She asked.

"Not at all. I just wanted to know about . . .you. And your life in New York."

"Not much to say." She lied.

"I've been told otherwise."

"From the beginning?"

"That would be lovely."

"Well from the moment I could walk, I was trained to slay, fight and kill evil." She began her long harrowing story. "I was trained every day. Hard and long. I was trained the way the slayer used to be. I've never been to school." She looked at her hands. "Dad sent me out to slay when I was eight. Do you have any idea how scary that is? Being eight years old, alone on the city streets after dark?

"The vampires weren't even the scariest things I saw. I was mugged, chased and harassed by the people. At twelve, I was sent around the country to fight vampires, demons, and what ever else would pop up. My dad only came with me once. That was only because he wanted to see the sights. He was a great man."

She peered up at Giles. "Do you know how hard it is being that young with ALL that responsibility on your shoulders?"

Giles shook his head. He was told he had to be a watcher when he was ten but it wasn't anything compared to this.

"I've fought the biggest baddest things. And still the only thing I want is to be normal. I can completely understand Buffy. I mean she has the sacred duty and all . . . and I know I don't have to, but if I don't I think about all the bad stuff that might happen. I feel it's my job just as much as it is hers.

"I was robbed. Of a life, a childhood, an education, of a loving family. Of SOME sense of normality.

"Dad used to wake me up sometimes in the middle of the night, and drag me out into the streets. Telling me I wasn't allowed to go back to bed, inside even, till I dusted a vampire quick enough for his fancy. He's sick."

"I'm sorry Kali. I didn't have a clue." She looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears. Giles was at a loss for words. What could he say that could make up for a lifetime of this?

"I'm gonna go to bed now, I've had a rough night." She pushed out her chair and got up to leave. "Maybe it's not as bad as I think it is. But it still sucks all the same." She turned to go.

"Don't underestimate how bad it is Kali. It's unacceptable, and unethical."

"Yeah, but no one ever did anything about it."

She left, more tired than she was after he big fight with Pam, Leroy and Gregory. They had ambushed her, but her training had helped her out there.

She saw Spike lay back down quickly as she passed. She knew he set that all up. Maybe he wasn't so bad . . .

*****************

"I'm gonna kill you!" Kali raced into the living room with a pair of pants in hand.

"What? Spike asked.

"You can't even do laundry right! Look!" She threw her jeans at him.

He picked them up carefully looking them over. "What's wrong with 'em?"

"What's wrong with them, he asks," she paused for a second trying to control her anger, "You shrunk them! I can't even get a leg in them!" She looked at the pants in horror. "Oh God. What else did you ruin?!" She turned on her heel and raced back into her room.

Spike tossed the jeans aside and continued watching the TV. He heard Kali moan and groan as she went through the laundry.

She walked out slowly, an evil glare on her face. Without any warning she jumped on him punching him wildly. "Hey. Hey. Hey!" Spike yelled. "Stop . . ." his sentence was cut of by her fist ramming into his jaw.

"Kali, that's enough!" Giles said coming down the stairs. She reluctantly climbed off the vampire. "What in the world is going on?"

"He shrunk all my favorite clothes!" She said catching her breath.

"I did her a favor, which backfired." Spike said wiping off his bloody lip. "It's not like I did it on purpose."

"So says you." Kali got off the couch and grabbed her coat off the back of Giles' chair. "I need to go for a walk." She pushed the back of Spike's head as she left. "Deadboy."

"Be careful Kali," warned Giles as she stomped out into the darkness. She slammed the door behind her.

"I do say that was a bit out of hand." Giles commented setting down one of the watcher diaries.

"Well," was all Spike said turning back to the TV.

"Don't you think she's been a little on edge since that attack?" Giles asked.

"A little?" He turned to face the watcher. Giles had dark rings under his eyes and his hair was a mess.

"I don't think she told us everything that happened. I've been looking through the diaries about these vampires. I only found one little excerpt about those three." He ran his hand through his hair. "And what I found has made me quite uneasy."

Spike raised his eyebrows interested. "What was it?"

"They were assassins. But that's all it says."

"It only says they were assassins?" Spike asked knowing the watcher wasn't telling him everything.

"No." Giles opened the diary and read aloud. "Today Laurie ran into the most devilish vampires she has ever faced. Three of them, with the names Pamulus, Gregory and Leroy. They were skilled fighters and got the best of her. From what she got out of them they were assassins for 'the dark king' and sent to kill her. Though they did not succeed they left her severely injured." He closed the book.

"That's it?" Giles nodded his head. "Nothing about where they came from? Who's the 'dark king?'?" He asked.

Giles shook his head no.

"What kind of show are you watchers running here? Can't even get all the facts down!" Spike got up off the couch and grabbed his duster. "I'm going to get some answers." He put his coat on messily. "Does Kali know?"

"No. I just found this out." Spike walked towards the door.

"Warn the slayer and the others. I'll find Kali." Spike stopped by the door stunned for a moment. "Did I just say warn the slayer?" Giles nodded. "Boy I am going soft." He stood there a moment longer and shrugged, than walked out of the house.

(3)

Spike sat at the bar in Willy's Alibi Room and ordered his favorite, whisky with a little extra additives. He drank it down quickly, than motioned Willy closer to him so he could grill him about what was going on. "I've heard there's some new talent in town mate. Care to fill me in?"

"I don't know anything Spike." Willy said hurriedly looking around the bar.

"Look chum," Spike said menacingly, "If there's some bloody vampires in town trying to take over my turf, I wanna know about it. Got it?"

Willy shook his head in agreement. He leaned over the counter closer to Spike. "There's some new vampires and a couple of demons here. From what I know they work for some King guy. They're staying at the abandoned warehouse on Sycamore. They say they're here to take out the slayer and some other girl." He stood straight again. "That's all I know."

Spike smiled smugly. "Thank yah mate." He left a wad of money on the counter and Willy quickly stuck it in his pocket.

"I didn't tell you nothing remember." Spike left the bar in search of Kali.

***************

Kali met up with Buffy near the Sunnydale University. They patrolled around the campus than headed toward the heart of the town. "Quiet night huh?" Kali asked as they strolled.

"Yeah. It's weird." Buffy twirled a stake in her hand. "I enjoy having someone to patrol with you know. I mean, Xander and Willow are all right to patrol with but if it came down to it, I always have to watch out for them and myself."

"Well you don't have to watch out for me." Kali tossed her stake in the air than caught it behind her back. "I just hope this isn't the quiet before the storm."

"I know what you mean." Buffy agreed. She stopped and listened to the uncomfortable silence. They were approaching a bench. "I'm taking a time out." She walked toward the bench with Kali in tow.

"So you have a lot of friends back in New York?" She asked twirling her baton wide stake.

"Friends? What are those?" Kali chuckled nervously. "No. No friends. Acquaintances now they came by the handful, but real friends, no. Except if you count this guy I was seeing."

"Spill on the guy-age." Buffy prodded.

"Well he was nice, sweet. Incredibly funny." She paused. "But he got bit, so I had to kill him."

"Boy do I know what that's like." Buffy agreed.

They two sat there in silence for a while before Buffy sat up. "Well I got studying to do. Obviously, the vamps don't want to play tonight." She stood and so did Kali. "Want me to walk you home?" Buffy asked.

"No. That's all right, I think I'm gonna stick around for awhile. Enjoy the peace and quiet without Spike." Buffy chuckled. "I know what you mean." She waved than started walking towards the campus.

Kali sat back on the bench and pulled her legs up to her chest, it was getting colder.

She heard pounding footsteps running towards her. She was up in a flash.

Stake pulled out of her pocket and in fighting stance. The dark figure ran towards her. She stepped back towards the bench because the figure looked like he was gonna smash right into her. He skidded to a stop and Kali recognized him. He was one of the neutral demons from New York that she had helped out on more than one occasion. He stopped and grabbed her shoulders, inhaling as much air as he could. She startledly lowered her stake and looked at him questioningly.

"Dark King . . ." He stuttered. "Coming for you. Minions are all over. You must go now, do not let him get you. He'll kill you." The demon, whose name was Lucas, glanced back the way he came gasped than shook her twice hard. "This payment. Maybe not enough for what you done for me. You must leave. Now. Before too late." He let her go, but she could still feel the pressure from where he had been squeezing her shoulders.

"Leave the bench or leave Sunnydale?" She asked studying the poor demon's face. He looked human enough. Any person could easily mistake him for one.

Except his eyes were a deep purple and had no pupils. He screamed, loud and ran the opposite direction from which he came. She shivered as a wave of cold passed through her, and she immediately knew what it was. She jumped from where she had been standing and got into her fighting stance.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted at the air where she had been standing. There was no response, only footsteps running up from behind her again. She spun as fast as she could and launched in to a flying jump-kick towards the way she had heard the footsteps. Her foot connected hard with someone and they both toppled to the ground. Who ever she had kicked had held onto her foot and brought her down with him. She swung her other foot towards his face, but missed and the attacker grabbed it.

"It's me Kali!" She heard a familiar voice call to her holding her feet there in place. She propped the top half of her body up onto her elbows and let out a long sigh of relief. He released her feet and stood up, grabbing her elbow to help her up. She shrugged him off and shakily stood on her own.

"I heard you screaming at something."

She wanted to tell him about Lucas. And the ghost. And the Dark King. But her energy was gone. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Everything around her felt wrong. Looked wrong. She could barely make Spike out anymore.

"Kali? You all right? Kal?" His voice sounded miles away. Everything was a spinning blur. She was unconscious before her knees gave out.

***************

Spike hurriedly picked up the girl. He couldn't protect her if someone came. He measured the distance in his head, which was closest? Giles' or Buffy's? He decided Giles' and sprinted as fast as he could carrying both their weights to the watcher's apartment.

Spike kicked open Giles' door rushing in. "Watcher!" He screamed. He heard a loud thump and the rush of Giles' feet down the stairs.

"My dear Lord! What's happened?" Giles asked as Spike laid the girl on the couch and covered her up with the blankets of his own that had fallen to the floor.

"I . . . I don't know. She was yelling at the air when I saw her, than we scuffled, she didn't realize who I was. Than she passed out."

"Did you hit her in her head?" Giles asked frantically getting a rag soaked with warm water for her.

"No." Spike growled. "She stood up. Looked as if she didn't recognize anything, than fell down." He took the rag and placed it on her forehead. "I can't hit people remember?"

"Oh dear." Giles rummaged through his books.

"I don't think this is the time for your bloody books watcher. This is medical. Not supernatural."

"I'm not so sure."

*****************

Kali was flying. Everything around her was dark except for the figure that floated beside her as she flew. It was a woman. The most beautiful woman Kali had ever seen. She had curly red hair; green eyes and freckles just like her . . .

"Mom?" Kali stared at the young woman next to her. Her mother had died at childbirth. Kali had only seen pictures of her.

"He wants you Kali. He needs YOUR blood to survive. You must fight him and kill him. That done he will have peace." The woman's lips didn't move as she spoke. She just simply floated there as Kali was flying. Kali looked at her, examining the woman. The words she had spoken sounded foreign and nonsense.

"Who wants me?" She try to find some place to land so the wind wasn't whooshing by her ears so loud. She could barely hear the woman now.

"The Dark King. He knows your strength. He knows you have the power. He wants you."

"He can't have me." Kali answered the woman who resembled her mother.

"He will. Only if you can't stop him. If he has you, and the slayer, the world will end. Everything will become dark as it is here, and no one will breathe." The woman reached out her hand. "Take my hand. My power will be transferred to you, make you stronger."

She hesitantly took the woman's hand and her body jolted with the energy that came off her. "You must rejoin the living now. Help them." The woman slowly faded before her eyes, until she was just a mist. "Kali. Tell Rupert Sarah said 'the stars always outshine the moon.'"

The mist was gone. Kali realized she wasn't flying. She was falling.

********************

Kali thrashed wildly on the couch, her arms reaching out for something in the air that wasn't there. "Watcher what is going on here?"

Giles looked at Spike. Than to his niece. "I haven't the slightest clue."

Kali flipped in the air wildly and reached out her arms trying to find a single ledge in the darkness that engulfed her. There wasn't any. She couldn't tell which way was up, or down. Everything looked the same. Than she heard voices. Male voices. With British accents. She knew those voices but the couldn't place them.

As she flipped again she saw a light, which she thought was toward the way down. She aimed her body toward that light, all the while the voices had got louder. She prayed her hardest to any God or Goddess that was listening. She couldn't die. It was her time to fight.

Kali sat straight up. Her eyes popped open and she was gasping for air. Spike was by her side and jumped half a foot when she flew up like that. Giles raced to the couch to see what the commotion was about. She took in as much air as she could. She felt as she hasn't breathed in hours.

"You were dead. Your heart stopped." Spike sputtered. That explained the loss of air thing.

She was catching her breath now. "Not dead. Comatose . . .Vision of mom . . . said Rupert stars shine better than moon." Giles glasses dropped out of his hands and he paled considerably. He looked paler than Spike.

Spike carried Kali into her room and put her into her bed. She had told them everything that happened beginning with Lucas and ending with her mother.

Giles said it was a strange phenomenon and Kali agreed wholeheartedly as she drank down her third glass of green tea. He gave her the little bit of information about the dark king as she tried to keep her eyes open but it was nearing three o'clock and she had had a terrible experience. Spike sat next to her on the couch the whole time listening to everything, but he felt as if she was holding something back. He told them what he found out in Willie's.

He pulled the covers up over her shoulder and tucked them under her chin. Poor kid she had a rough life. And this was really only the beginning of it.

"What aren't you telling us, luv?" He asked sitting on the edge of her bed. She rolled over and he could hear her shallow breathing clear as day, well night for him. He got up and turned towards her. Tears ran down the sides of her face and her breathing grew rapid as he knelt next to the bed. He didn't know if he should wake her or not. He decided against it and brushed her soft brown hair out of her face. Her breathing returned to normal after a few minutes, and she mumbled in her sleep. "I know what I have to do."

Spike got up and turned off the light next to her bed. He kissed her left temple, than began to walk out of the room. He stopped in the doorway abruptly, "What in the world is going on with me?"

******************

Kali didn't get out of bed until near two the next day. She stumbled out of her room; her blankets wrapped like a cocoon around her. She came out into the living room to see Spike watching the television as usual. "'Bout bleedin' time you crawled out of bed." He muttered as she shuffled by. He glanced up at the sound of rustling and saw her completely covered in her blankets only a scant space for her to see through. A slow smile spread across his face, breaking into uproarious laughter. Her two eyes peered out and him in an angry stare as he tumbled to the floor laughing at her.

"What's so funny corpse boy?" He gasped for air that he didn't need as he chuckled on; fat laughing tears rolling down his cheeks.

"You look so funny." He managed.

"You look like the maggots have . . ." She trailed off as he interrupted her.

"Oh sod off, I wasn't being mean about it. I just thought it was a good laugh." He grabbed the blankets that hung off to the side of and yanked it toward him trying to anger her, so she would stop being so sullen and perk up and give him a go for his money as usual.

It worked. He yanked the blanket hard enough to pull her over the back of the couch, but on top of him. His plan didn't look so good now, when she was at the perfect position to mash his face in. And he liked his face. She shrugged off her blankets and slipped off of Spike, who was tangled in the blankets now. He couldn't find where one end started and the other ended. It was no use as soon as he thought he got the last blanket off, there was another one right after it. She began to laugh at him. She flipped herself back over the couch and landed on Spike and began to tickle the living hell out of him.

In between laughing uncontrollably and trying to find an end to the maze of blankets he yelped a curse or two and tried to push her off. No such luck though. He finally found the end to what he imagined had to be the last blanket and pulled it out from under Kali. Her elbows went out from under her and she landed face to face with Spike. The laughter died out of him and seriousness took them both over. Their eyes locked. Spike's smile crept back on his face.

"Hello cutie." They leaned into each other and touched their lips together ever so lightly. Kali backed away.

"No. Bad. Vampire. Bad. No." She leaned back towards him and continued the kiss more passionately. "Bad's not so bad." She muttered after the kiss ended. She relaxed her body on top of Spike and placed her head on his chest.

He stroked her hair.

"I've gone bloody soft."

The front door squeaked open at that point, and Kali jumped up. Giles stumbled in with Buffy and her clan close behind. Kali made a fist and raised it high to make it look as if the two had been in mid-fight. Spike got the idea and bucked her off him and she rolled on the ground than got up facing Spike, both in fighting stance.

"Knock it off you two." She heard Giles stutter as he came in. She playfully pushed Spike back onto the couch and sat down next to him, than faced the group that had came in. They were all soaking wet.

"Raining?" She asked.

"Not raining." Buffy answered. "Pouring."

"What's the word Uncle Giles?" Kali asked settling herself into a comfortable position so she could talk to them without having to get up.

"None. All my sources are mum on the subject. I . . .I haven't a clue what to tell you." He draped his wet coat on the chair then settled down with his books.

Willow came over and sat on the arm of the couch next to Kali. Xander and Anya lingered in the doorway, arms around each other. Buffy pulled up a chair beside Giles.

"Research party!" Willow said a little too enthusiastically. Everyone in the room, excluding Giles gave her a glance that read . . . 'the little things that excite you.'

The phone in the kitchen began to ring and Kali jumped up. "I'll get it." She stumbled clumsily over to the phone and picked it up. "House of Giles'" She said answering it on the third ring. "Hello?"

A voice on the other line whispered harshly in her ear. "Tonight is your last."

"Not by a long shot buddy."

"Yes." It hissed. "And you will only be the first, that pretty slayer friend of yours will be the second."

"Oh yeah?" She looked around the room to see its occupants staring at her.

"I'm not pretty?"

The only answer from the other end was an un-human growl.

"Name the time and place buddy." The phone clicked on the other end as Giles picked it up.

"I'll find you. Don't worry. It'll all be over soon. You'll be the first."

The phone clicked again, this time with the caller hanging up.

"What the hell was that?" She asked Giles'. "You get a lot of prank callers?"

"I . . . I believe that might have been our 'dark king'." He answered with a far away gaze, than returned to his books.

"That wasn't the dark king." She answered him without thinking. Giles turned and looked sharply at her and so did Spike. Buffy and the others didn't know the whole story first hand. So they didn't get the offhanded comment at first, as did Spike and Giles. Kali's hand fell away from the phone as the other's turned now, and stared at her.

"How would you know?" Giles asked slowly.

"I . . . I don't," she said, searching for a way to cover up her remark. "I . . .I thought he would sound more . . . British?" The last word was more question than it was an answer, which got her more glaring stares from the others. "Like all the other bad guys . . ." She squeaked trailing off.

The glares didn't stop. She didn't know what to do. She stood there looking from one face to another. "Kali . . ." Giles began " . . . If you know something, you must tell us so we can be properly prepared to fight this thing."

"I . . . it's hard Uncle Giles." She began to cry, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"It'll be harder if we die fighting something we can't understand because you haven't told us everything." Giles nearly yelled at her. He didn't mean to sound so harsh, but the more information they had the more they could conclude what they were up against. Knowledge is power.

"The Dark King was in New York." She wiped away her tears. "One night he came up against me and my father. It was one of the only nights he actually came with me." She held herself up by leaning against the wall. "He's a horrible looking monster. Eight feet tall, voice like grinding rocks. Talons two feet long, and fire that shoots out of his nose.

"He had about four vampire minions with him that night, strong ones. They ganged up on my father and me. I killed two of them and moved in to help my father. But as I was killing my third . . ." She sobbed but kept going " . . . the last one got my father, turned him. I saw it happen." She took a deep breath trying to regain composer.

"Than when I finished off the third vampire, the dark king moved in. He sprayed fire at me and I barely got out of the way on time. I grabbed a broken bottle that was lying near where I fell and threw it at his face. It stabbed him right in his eye. And when he took it out, he lost half the right side of his face. Including his eye.

"He shot his fire at me again and . . ." She took another deep breath. " . . . Melted my shoe right off. Burned the bottom of my foot real good. I managed to run off, before he could get at me again."

She looked around the room again, but she couldn't make out anyone's face, her tears blurred everyone out, although she heard Willow sniffling too.

"He took my father under his wing, taught him to use magick as well as his strength against me, but it wasn't enough. I was still stronger, and have my own magick.

"That voice on the phone. That was my dad." She burst out into a fresh set of tears and Buffy and Willow rushed over to comfort her. The held her up and guided her over to the couch.

"There's something else you guys don't know about me." She managed to get out, swallowing down her tears. "I have powers. Like Buffy, with the strength and everything, although I am not the slayer. I can do magick. I inherited my mother powers when she died. I don't know the details of it, my father never saw it right to tell me, but I has something to do with the fight against good and evil."

She stopped completely exhausted. The girls kept hold of her hands, afraid if they let go she would drift away. She inhaled deeply as if she had fallen off to sleep, than opened her eyes. "Tonight, I kill my father."

(4)

Giles watched as the sun was nearly setting behind the mountain. They had about an hour and a half before it was completely set. Kali sat with Willow, going over protection spells and defensive spells. Kali was trained in the offense magick, and didn't need any brushing up in that. But her defenses in that area were severely lacking.

Buffy was training with Giles: aim, defense, offense and energy savers.

On the other side of the room, Spike, Anya and Xander planned what they were going to do tonight, and back up plans. Every so often reading off what the plan was to see if the others agreed.

After Willow and Kali were satisfied Kali knew what she needed to, Giles made Kali train with him.

When the magick and physical training were done, the group settled around Giles' coffee table and laid out what was going down, who was to be where, and what would be needed. When they were satisfied every one had what they needed to know down, Kali had left them to change into clothes she could fight in.

She pulled on her much beloved gray air pants with the neon orange stripes and her gray sweatshirt. There was a quiet knock on her door. "Come in."

Her uncle came into the room pushing his glasses up his nose. "Kali." He shut the door behind him and sat on her bed. "I'm so sorry, you could have cold me sooner." He took the glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes. "Poor old Billy." He placed his glasses back on. "I know you will triumph tonight.

There's one thing you have to remember . . ." She turned to face him all the way now tears filling her eyes . . . "you have to remember that he isn't you father anymore. It's a demon set up shop in his body. With the memories of your father but not the humanity."

"There was no humanity in my father to begin with." Giles draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. She let him and cried on his shoulder. The only family she had left.

******************

Willow had left while Buffy and Kali were resting up, and it really wasn't resting at all. Buffy paced around the room, stopping only to look out the window to see if the sun had went down yet. Kali had sat next to Spike and they were bantering back and forth like children. Giles had driven Willow to her house so she could retrieve her laptop and do some additional research.

Xander and Anya were looking through the spell books, brushing Anya up in case she was needed.

The phone rang about five minutes after Giles and Willow left. Kali jumped up and answered it.

"Hello?" She paused. "Yeah. Yes. I will. The what? Ok. No, we're ok. Ok Bye."

She had visibly paled as she set down the receiver, making Buffy and the others rush up to her. "Willow . . ." she began explaining.

"Omigod, what's happened to her?" Buffy asked panic clearly written all over her face.

"No everything's fine. She found on the Internet quite quickly, information about the dark king."

"That's good isn't it?" Xander asked timidly.

"Yes. And no." They all looked at her questionably. "He can't be killed by with weapons or unnatural forces."

"Well, that's nothing new." Xander started. "I mean half the bad guys we come up against can't be killed."

Kali just stared at him. "He needs a book called Prophecies and Promises, and another called The Black Demon of Death. He says it's in the fiction section of his collection."

"I know fiction," Xander said, "I filed it for him."

He made his way to the bookshelf by the door and browsed through the collection, while Buffy rummaged through the desk for the prophecy book. Xander held up the book that Giles had called for. "This is what he wanted? This is a children's book." He held up a thin paperback, with a black mass of goo on the cover. It couldn't have been more than 10 pages long.

Giles and Willow burst through the door drenched in rain. Willow pulled her laptop out from under her coat and put in on Giles' desk. Giles shook his head and looked at the teens expectantly.

Xander held out the book. "Kiddy literature?"

"No. Prophetic literature." Giles snatched the book away from Xander and flipped through it. Buffy found what she was looking for and pulled out a large book with yellowed pages. She began to page through it.

_He can't be killed by weapons or unnatural forces_ echoed through Kali's head. She left the room and went back to her own to think without all the commotion. She was trained to figure out problems such as these. The answer couldn't be to far from her mind. She just had to think.

She could hear the soft murmur of her uncle's voice through the wall.

"It's a riddle." Giles commented. He voice was a little louder now and she could make out what he was saying.

"Like all the other things we come up against." Buffy answered. "Why is this any different from the Judge or any of that?"

"Well, for . . .for one thing," Giles' voice wafted in through her open door.

"This thing has never been killed before. All the things we've come up against have been killed and were only being resurrected. This dark king has never been killed before.

"We've always had resources about the others. Their weaknesses, how they we killed or bound in the first place. Never anything quite as difficult as this before."

"Oh," was Buffy's response. "Well we can still beat it. I mean we've got a lot of information here."

Kali sat on the bed in a trance from straining to her the others and picking her brain for a way to kill the dark king. She didn't see Spike walk in.

Kali was no longer in a trance though. She was back in that dark place.

Falling.

**********************

Spike had been unusually quiet when the others had come back, he was gathering the information they we saying and trying to figure out how this thing would be destroyed.

He had seen Kali leave the room, and went after her, but she seemed to be in a daze, as if it she wasn't controlling her own self. He watched from the doorway of her room as she slowly fell out of consciousness. Her head drooped and her eyes closed. He quickly went over to her and laid her back on the bed and yelled for Giles. She had stopped breathing again as she had the last time.

**********************

Kali looked around the dark place, she was near the light that would bring her back, but she had stopped falling and was merely floating there as her mother had been before. She wanted to get out of there, she realized she wasn't breathing when this happened and she didn't want herself to die. Plus, she had to help figure out the dark king.

There was a bright flash of pink light, making the darkness heat up. She felt as if she was on fire and yelped. Than the light was gone, along with the feeling and she was only left with a tingling on her skin and white dots floating before her eyes.

The dots suddenly cleared and she realized she was not alone in the darkness anymore, although it wasn't her mother that was floating beside her this time. It was a boy who she recognized immediately. The boy that she had been seeing and had gotten bit by a vampire. He was wearing the same close she had staked him in, a large sweatshirt and baggy jeans with a hat sitting backwards on his head.

"Brian?" She wheezed. She realized that this time it was hard for her to speak. Her lungs felt as if they were going to burst.

"Water runs deep. Still waters run deeper.

You are a killer no different than he.

Use your animal instinct and answers will flow free.

Don't drown yourself in sorrow, forget the past.

Watch his eye on you and kill off his life blood."

"What does that mean?" She whispered.

He shook his head slowly. "Find the answer within yourself."

"Give me a hint!" She tried to shout at him, although it only came out as a hoarse whisper.

He shook his head again slowly. "You and the slayer are the key, use your minds and it will come to you."

"Why do you all have to be so cryptic. Why can't you just spell it out for us?"

"Than the victory would not be as sweet, my dear Kali." He began to fade away the way her mother had.

"Why are you talking that way too? You would've said 'well than kicking their asses wouldn't have been so fun'." He faded away his last words echoing around her.

"Water runs deep. Still water runs deeper."

As soon as he was gone whatever had been holding her up floating was gone and her legs were suddenly above her head and she was falling to the white light again. This time when she hit the white light it felt as if someone had bashed a brick on both temples. She screamed in pain. Faces swam in from of her. She began hacking, trying to get air into her lungs. She coughed and gasped until she was able to breathe rapidly without coughing.

"We have to drown him and kill all his minions." Then she recited what Brian had said, and the part about her and Buffy being the key.

"How do you know that?" Giles asked. She tried to get up, but didn't have the energy.

She recited the message again:

"The water part is telling us what we have to drown him in. Plain and simple. 'Don't drown yourself in sorrow, forget the past.' Double meaning." She explained. "One being the method to kill the dark king. The other being don't let the fact that my father is one of his minions get in the way.

"'Kill his lifeblood' that means kill of his followers. All of them. It makes him considerably weak, and they are the one who give him the power to live, without them he is nothing more than an unkillable force by weapons or the unnatural.

"You are a killer no different that he. Use your animal instinct and answers will flow free."

"That's another reference to the water concept - flow. The other - being killers and using the animal instinct to get the answers, I think that means don't rely on training entirely. Go with our inner instincts. We have to remember that one.

"Now it may seem harsh," she began, "but that basically means worry only about you and take advantage of his weakness." She took a deep breath only pausing a second than continued. "The only thing I'm having trouble with is 'Watch his eye on you'."

The others looked at her. She has finally made it to a sitting up position though she was balancing herself on Spike.

"There's one other thing," Buffy said, "what is his weakness?"

"Us."

"We are the key." Buffy said, understanding.

*****************

The sun was just barely over the horizon now; it would be completely down in only four minutes. Kali had brought a bag out of her room filled with supplies that they might need. She rummaged through it to make sure everything she wanted was there: crossbow and bolts, over 15 stakes, supplies for protection, vials and vials of Holy water, a dagger, switchblade, and numerous crosses.

She was satisfied with the contents and zippered the bag up. She hefted it over her shoulder and turned to the others. "Let's move out." Buffy and Willow each carried a bag also, Buffy's filled with mostly the same as Kali's and Willow had a couple of spell books in hers. 'Just in case.'

Giles swung the door open and they retreated out of the house. Spike included. He was going to fight with them no matter how much it hurt.

They all stood on Giles' stoop soaking in the rain. No one had bothered to bring an umbrella; it would only slow them down. Kali had pinpointed where they would most likely be, by her father's musings about Sunnydale before he became a vampire and Spike's information from Willie.

Kali looked up at the raining sky and gasped, "It's not real rain."

The others followed her gaze and saw she was right. There was not a cloud in sight. They could see the night sky, stars and moon shining brightly above them. Water fell from the sky out of no where.

"Let's put this plan in action." Buffy said and they broke off into two groups. One group was made up of Willow, Buffy and Anya. The other was Kali, Giles, Spike and Xander. Willow and Anya both knew a little bit of magick that might help them fend off some users and of course Buffy was the driving physical force there.

In Kali's group she and Giles both knew a considerable amount of magick, both offensive and defensive to protect the four of them from anyone, and Kali was also the physical element there. Xander and Spike were the back up in case Kali got trapped.

They both departed in different directions. Kali's group to the east, Buffy's to the west. The plan was move quickly, kill anything that popped up along the way and rendezvous at the agreed place.

*************************

Kali was in the lead in her group. Xander and Giles hung toward the back stake in one hand cross in the other. She was sure they had more stakes and vials of Holy water stashed all over they're bodies. Spike merely carried a stake, a few paces behind Kali.

They had been walking for about ten minutes without interruption when suddenly exploding from the bushes to their right five vampires jumped out.

She surveyed them quickly. Two females, three males.

"Party time." Kali smiled as the vamps headed toward the quartet.

Kali quickly launched into action spinning around and kicking the first vampire to approach, square in the jaw. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Giles staking one of the male vamps and Xander trading blows with the sluttly looking female. The other three had circled around her and Spike.

The vampire she had kicked, snarled at her but it came out as more like a whimper. His jaw hung loosely on the right side.

She laughed at him. "Aw, poor mean vampy got an ouchy." She jumped towards him, the hand with her stake in it straight out and he was just ash in the wind. Without missing a beat she turned and threw the stake and hit another attacking vampire. The stake fell to the ground with a clack.

Spike was sparring with the one of the remaining female vamps. Xander and Giles contested with the other. Spike hit his with one hard blow to her head and a quick staking and she was dust.

Kali ran over to Giles and Xander and leaped onto the female's shoulders. She sat there for a moment giving the three guys a lopsided grin and wave, while the vamp stood there baffled.

Kali leaned backwards stretching her arms out to reach the pavement. She twisted the lower half of her body and snapped its neck. The vamp fell below her and she flipped to the upright position. The vamp was hurt but not dead.

It would be up in a few minutes, already partially healed. Kali wasted no time. She threw herself on the female and pinned down its arms with her knees. Staked raised high in the air beside her she grilled it for information.

"Where's the 'dark king'?" Kali asked waving the stake around threateningly.

"'Dark king'?" She rasped. Ignorance filled her eyes.

"Who are you working for, you disgusting piece of . . ." Kali didn't finish.

The vamp began answering her question.

"His name is Bartholomules. He has the face of a horse. He's also known as some black demon guy. Please don't kill me! I'll tell you anything you want."

Obviously, this vamp was a real beginner. Any vamp knows that a vampire killer isn't going to let you go and kill people for a bit of information.

"What else do you know?" The vampire's breath was livid. Kali turned her head but kept her eyes on the female.

"He's looking for the slayer and you. You are Kali right?" The vampire twisted her neck with a few loud snaps back to its original and natural position. "He says you two hold some kind of magickal power and together you both open something big, that would make him the king of something, and us his leaders."

"What are you stupid?" Kali asked. "He's not gonna do anything for you guys except use you until he gets what he wants, and when he does you all each be just another pile of dust in his book."

"Liar!" The vamp screamed. "Now let me go. I've told you all I know."

"You called me a liar." Kali said with mock-offense on her face. "Bye." She staked the vamp. She dissolved beneath her and her knees clunked to the sidewalk. Kali got up and dusted off her pants.

"Bartholomules?" Kali asked.

"Yes. Yes. That's it." Giles grabbed one of the books he had brought from his bag. He quickly flipped through the page and came upon what he was searching for. "Bartholomules. Demon. Cursed to walk the land until killed by a natural force. Is a master of trickery. And deceptive natures."

"I'm guessing the mule part is cuz he's got that whole really long snout thing going on huh?" Kali asked already moving on. "We've got a time limit people." She called and went on.

Spike stood in place for a moment then screamed, "I can kill vampires!"

Buffy's group had not been so lucky. As soon as they lost sight of the others, two men jumped out at them from the woods. Each held a gleaming blue ball of magick in their hands. Anya and Willow quickly reacted sealing a protective circle around the three.

"Buffy, you can't kill these guys. They're human." Willow stated.

"So what do I do?" Buffy asked as the men shelled blue streaks of magick at their barrier.

"Nothing. I'll take care of it." Anya spoke. She whispered a few words under her breath. The two men fell to the ground.

"What did you do to them?" Buffy asked bewildered.

"Sleeping spell. They'll be out for a few hours." Anya answered her.

"C'mon." Buffy said pushing ahead, bumping into the barrier. "Uh, guys?" Anya weaved her hands around, and Buffy pressed on.

"What if there are more of these guys, that we can't put to sleep?" Asked Willow worriedly.

"I'll knock them unconscious," Buffy stated matter-of-factly.

********************

Kali, Giles, Xander and Spike trotted along the road, trying to reach their destination as fast as possible. It was near eight o'clock, which gave them four hours to take out the Bartholomules before the ritual would start.

He could complete it without Kali and Buffy, but that would only bring a couple of menacing demons to surface that would be easily offed by the two.

If he had the two and offered them as sacrifices to whomever he was devoted to, all Hell would come to Earth.

She hoped that Buffy's group was hurrying as well. They had only devised a half-assed plan. Which was luring the dark king to the nearest body of water and drown him. But Kali didn't know the area well and didn't know how far from water he was, and how hard it would be to get him there.

(5)

It was eight thirty, by the time they met up at the rendezvous point. Buffy and her group looked relatively unharmed, Kali's was a bit more unkempt. They all crouched near a large barn, which Kali had determined to be quite near some source or swampland. She could smell the awfulness from where she stood.

"What's the plan?" Asked Buffy and she slid near to Giles and Kali.

"We send in the other's first." Kali stated giving Giles no time to say what he thought. The two looked at Kali with uneasiness written all over their faces, but they saw Kali was not going to be moved on the subject.

"This is how it goes. No arguments. I've got a pretty good plan going here, so let me spill it before I forget." She dropped her bag between her and Giles and began passing around the items. She saved the crossbow for herself. Her and Buffy would need these definitely. Besides they were the only actual trained shooters. "Xander, Spike, you two are going to be our starters ok? You do most of the physical stuff. I'm talking about the vamp's here. Don't hurt the human's too bad. They don't know any better. Giles, I want you to stick around those . . . No that won't work." She sat down and glanced at her watch. 8: 35. Precious minutes we're ticking by.

"All right, this is it. Xander you and Anya stick together. Xander, try to do most of the physical stuff here, ok? Anya you be his backup magickian. Will, Spike you two, same thing. Xander when you go out take the left. You two take the right." She pointed to the blond vampire and the meek redhead.

"Giles, you can be a floater understand? You go out and help whenever you see someone that looks like they don't know what the hell they're doing. If either group gets in trouble back them up. I'm not here to see any one of us die tonight ok? Everyone is everyone's back up." Kali took a deep breath. She so did not like this whole leadership thing.

"Buffy and I, we stick together. If one of us gets caught, that might be enough for this ritual. So we have to stick together and save eachother's asses." She shook her empty bag. "Everyone got this? No questions?" Several nodded 'no's'. Everyone got up and began to disassemble into the groups Kali had determined. "One more thing guys. I . . . Kill my father."

She motioned Buffy to follow her back into the shadows of the woods, and signaled everyone else to go. This was it.

*********************

The two girls followed the perimeter of the woods. They could see lights from the camp the 'dark king' had set up faintly in the distance. They had agreed to find the most vulnerable spot and attack that.

It had been nearly 15 minutes since the others took off and they heard an occasional shout or crash, both girls certain that it wasn't any of their friends. They had finally pinpointed the area to attack and waited scanning the area momentarily before running out into the open. Kali grabbed onto Buffy's elbow holding her back. Buffy stifled a complaint, Kali knew what she was doing . . . she thought.

"Buffy." She whispered loudly. "I'm scared."

Buffy's eyes widened. That was NOT what she was expecting Kali to reveal at that moment. She was scared also. But she couldn't do anything about it.

It was her job, her calling, and her destiny. She answered Kali's statement with the only thing she could think to say. "We're all scared."

Kali's face relaxed, than changed back into the look of determination and hardness that had been there before. That was all she needed to know, that she was not alone.

************************

Xander was on a roll. He had staked four vampires already and was working on his fifth. Anya on the other hand had shrieked when anything came near her, mostly just the vampires, the magick guys she merely put to sleep. It was a neat little trick really. He would research it later to see if he could do it to her one of the times she began rambling about her feelings and their whole relationship again.

He could see Spike in the far off distance. No one realized how big this place actually was. It was huge. He could barely make out Spike's hair in the distance and heard his voice only faintly as he yelled and cursed at his foe.

He couldn't even see Willow.

Giles was nearer. So near in fact he could hear Giles grunt and yell while exchanging blows with his opponents. No one had needed immediate rescuing yet, which he didn't know whether to take as a good or a really, really bad sign.

He didn't see Buffy or Kali either. He was pretty sure they hadn't materialized out of the woods yet, he didn't know how to take that either. He dusted the vampire sloppily only to be pounced on by another.

Xander punched him hard in the face, and he was pretty sure that he had broken something in the guy's face and his own hand as well, when he was rushed upon by four more vampires.

Anya yelled as one grabbed her from behind, but recovered by kicking him in his beloved area. The vampire dropped her and staggered backwards. "See you're all the same." Se pushed him and he fell to the ground but the pain of her kick was wearing off.

"Duck!" Someone yelled from the woods behind them, both Anya and Xander took the hint and dove to the ground. They heard the whoosh of the bolts whizzing above them, than strangled cries as each bolt hit it's mark. Anya and Xander's attackers were gone.

Kali and Buffy ran out of the woods attacking vampires in the surrounding area. They fought the vampires off quickly and easily. Soon there was only one straggler left, which Buffy disposed of with her crossbow. It was time to regroup.

The grounds surrounding the warehouse were now deserted save for the Slayerettes and their slayer.

"What now?" Kali asked as Giles approached limping slightly.

"I say we enter the warehouse and take out this guy." Spike said.

"It's not that easy." Kali told him. "We have to lure him to the woods. While we were in there looking around, I saw a path. I bet it leads right to the swamp."

"And than there's that little problem of drowning him." Buffy commented. The grounds had become eerily quiet. She looked around scanning for any attacks.

"I've got an idea." Kali told the group and whispered her plan to them quickly.

*******************

Kali took a deep breath. What was she thinking? Of all the stupid plans she could of thought up this had to take the cake. She marched up to the wooden door of the warehouse. Silently, she pushed it open. A foul stench assaulted her nose and she took a step back. Taking a deep breath of the fresh air outside the door she stepped in. Phase one had begun.

The darkness enveloped her. That was good . . . and bad. They couldn't see her lurking in the shadows, but she couldn't see them either. She had to rely entirely on her senses.

She stole forward quickly, carefully avoiding making any noise. She slowed as she realized she was approaching a turn. Stake ready in one hand and crossbow in the other she peeked around the corner. The hallway was completely dark as well, except at the end of it she could see a flickering light. She crept around the corner quietly and hugged the wall as she made her way to the light. She could hear voices now as well, but she was unable to make out what they were saying.

She halted when she heard a creak of a door opening. For a moment, the light of the room illuminated the hall, than it was dark again. Someone had come out of the room. They were walking quickly toward the way she had just come. She leaned against the wall as much as she could, allowing the shadows cover her. When the person was next to her she shot her leg out tripping him.

He fell to the floor, and tried to get up but she was on top of him, her hand covering his mouth. She knew immediately by his body temperature he was human. "Shh . . ." She put a finger to her lips. The man tried to get up but she was holding him down. She kept her hand on his mouth realizing she didn't have time for this. "Okay this is how it's going to go. I'm gonna ask you a question, you're going to answer it by shaking your head 'yes' or 'no'. Understood?" There was no response from the man. She grabbed his collar with her free hand pulled him up and slammed him down again. "Understood?"

'Yes'.

"Good. Is Bartholomules in there?"

'Yes.'

"Very good. Are there vampires in there?"

'No.' "Magickians?

'Yes.'

"OK."

She recited the spell Anya had told her for putting these guys to sleep, than got up and went back to the wall, picking up her weapons. She inched up the hall until she was at the bend before the door and took a deep breath.

She realized that the disgusting odor was worse now and wondered what it was that could smell that bad.

She took one last breath and took the turn and was standing in front of a wooden door that hung crookedly off its' hinges. It's now or never. She stood there for a moment longer than heaved the door open.

She sauntered in confidently as if she wasn't concerned or scared at all for her well being, which most certainly she was. She masked her fear well and continued in until she was near the center of the room. Along the wall were five magickians who jumped up as soon as she had opened the door. She delivered Anya's words and the fell to the ground, one snoring loudly.

"Oh Bartholomules. Here big nasty demon guy. Where are you?" She yelled in a singsong voice. In an unlit corner of the room she heard a snort. She immediately turned towards it. "There you are!" She said in her I'm-talking-to-a-little-kid-way. "I've been looking all over for you," she continued, "and here you are!" He snorted again; this time smoke billowed out from his corner. "I've got a proposition for you," she carried on, the seriousness back into her voice, "Do you wanna play a game?"

Bartholomules laughed. Well, it sounded more like a grunt, accompanied by a hiccup but she decoded it as a laugh. "A game my dear?"

"Did I s-s-s-tutter?" She asked him, her confidence growing by the minute. He was slumped in the corner, she saw now and looked very weak. She thought back to the poem, and considered that the part about killing of his minions was working. That gave her more hope towards the drowning plan.

"What is this game?" He inquired impatiently.

"I'll call it a cross between Hide n' Go Seek and Tag." She turned to the door as she heard someone approaching, sensing immediately before it even got through the threshold that it was a vampire she readied her crossbow and shot it as it walked in. She thought she heard a groan form the 'dark king'.

"And the object?"

"Well, I run, and hide with my good friend Buffy. You may know her as sacrifice number two: a.k.a. The Slayer. You count to let's say 25 . . . nah, make that 20, than come after looking for us. You catch us, you sacrifice us. We die; you take over the world. Fair?"

"What is in this game for you?" Kali faltered at that but thought quickly.

"Well if we managed to elude you, and eventually, maybe, possibly, catch you, we try to kill you."

His hiccup-grunt echoed through the room again. "I cannot be killed child. I have lasted through more eras than they have documented, and still I live through it all. You think you two children can take me out? You're only mere mortals, and women. I have been challenged by some of the most respected and feared gods and . . ."

"Who cares?" She interrupted him. She saw his nostrils flare red, and readied herself to jump out of the way if she had to.

"I will play your game. We begin now." He stood up slowly as if it pained him. "One .. . Two . . . Three . . ."

She turned on her heel as fast as she could muster and leaped out of the room, running down the corridor. She nearly tripped over the sleeping magick man, but managed to keep going. She flew out the door as she heard his voice growing louder, "Fourteen . . . Fifteen!"

She ran straight towards the path to the swamp, her lungs ached already and she cursed herself for smoking. She heard the door fly open behind her and the 'dark king's' laugh. She sped up. Her adrenaline was up and her fear was helping her speed. She did not want to become fried.

She entered the path, which was steep at the beginning and gasped for air as she climbed. The path was barely illuminated by the full moon above. She couldn't hear Bartholomules behind her anymore. He was walking, taking his time. She looked over her shoulder to try and see how much distance he had made up, but she couldn't see him. As she began to turn back she ran into something tall and hard. She though she hit a tree, but she didn't remember the path turning yet.

She looked up gasping for air at what she had hit. It was her father, or rather the vampire that had taken over her father's body, smiling down on her. She grabbed for the stake she had dropped but she couldn't find it. She didn't look away from his eyes. She stood slowly, and reached behind her searching for her extra stake, her hand wrapped around it.

She could now hear Bartholomules coming up behind her. Branches snapped and the ground trembled slightly. "I hate you!" She whispered loudly at the vampire. She raised her stake.

"You won't kill me." He merely said.

"Bet?" She asked him.

"You won't."

He leapt at her but she was knocked out of the way by someone. Giles had jumped from the bushes and saved her from being pounced on. She got up quickly. "We DON'T have time for this!" She attacked her father with a flurry of kicks and punches, until he was hunched over on the ground moaning in pain. Bartholomules was getting closer. She murmured a few words, instantly he was asleep. She staked him as an afterthought. "What do yah know? It works on vampires too!" She looked at Giles quickly. "Thanks," than pushed Giles into the thick of the woods and yelled after him. "Run!"

Bartholomules had just come up the crest of the hill and spotted her. He laughed. "You think you can beat me?!" Was his sick cry. She barely heard him; she had taken off again.

This time though, she wasn't looking back. She ran for what seemed like a lifetime, until she felt the air around her getting moister. She took a sudden turn off the path and crashed into the woods. She scrambled up a high tree and caught her breath. She scanned the treetops around her; she made out Buffy in the tree opposite her, Willow a tree down from her left and Xander a tree over from Buffy's right. She couldn't see Anya, Giles or Spike.

She had finally recovered her breath, just minutes before she heard Bartholomules approaching. Phase two was in action. The branch she was on creaked as she shimmied to the end of it. She glanced over and saw Buffy do the same.

"5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . . NOW!" Buffy yelled. The two girls dropped twenty feet to the path and ran without a moment's hesitation. They weren't more than ten feet in front of him now.

They continued to run, the ground around them had become mushy and soft, easy territory for a fall or a twisted limb. They ran as fast as they could but they were careful.

Ahead they saw their destination, a large pool of swamp water. They turned to each other and nodded. Phase three was about to begin. They spilt directions Kali to the right, Buffy to the left.

Bartholomules thundered after them and slowed when he came to the point where they had split up. He continued down the center of the path toward the murky water.

Kali made sure she could see Buffy from her position. She signaled to Buffy that he was doing what was planned, he was near the edge of the water now. She gave Buffy the signal to go.

The two stood up and crept back the way they had come. They did it soundlessly so as not to alert the 'dark king' of their approach.

Out of the blue something black and yellow fell out of the above brush and landed on Bartholomules. The girls took action immediately; Bartholomules was face down in the water. They climbed on top of him along with Spike.

Pounding footsteps approached. Buffy glanced behind them. It was the rest of the scooby gang.

"Help has arrived." Giles and Xander each grabbed the struggling demon's feet; Anya and Willow piled onto his back. Spike had his hands holding down his head, while Kali and Buffy held down the upper part of his torso so he couldn't get up. He struggled with all the power he had left. But there were too many people holding him down. He tried to lift his head out of the water, but Spike kept a firm grip on hid neck and held him down. Slowly, he stopped struggling. Willow suggested taking his pulse but nobody thought he had one in the fist place.

After ten more minutes of holding the demon down, he became limp and each person got slowly off. The last, being Kali. She kicked over his body so he was facing the sky. The moon reflected off his features, swollen and dead looking. Kali motioned to Giles to hand her his bag. She rummaged through it until she found what she was looking for. She pulled out a knife with a twelve-inch blade, and pulled off the sheath. She held the knife above her own head ready to cut off Bartholomules. The others turned so they wouldn't have to see the display. Spike and Buffy looked on though. With one fluid motion she sliced through Bartholomules neck.

She kicked the head into the middle of the water. The water around it bubbled as it sunk. The body began to fade in color, and soon the once black demon was a dull brown. He body had stiffened and it now resembled a weirdly shaped tree trunk.

They each turned and walked slowly down the path. Spike flung his arm around Kali. She had slumped to the ground and began to cry. The impact of staking her father had just sunk in.

**********************

Everyone had crashed at Giles' that night. It wasn't until midnight when they had all stumbled in. Each one was exhausted.

There were bodies everywhere: in the hallway, next to the couch, near his desk and blocking entrance to the kitchen. He immediately gave up and trudged up the staircase, back to his bed. Tea could wait. He was still tired anyway.

*******************

Kali got out of bed and lurched into the living room. She pushed Spike's legs off the couch, and fished through the cushions for the television remote control. She turned it on and kept the volume down so she wouldn't wake anyone. She flicked on some cartoons.

Spike groaned beside her. He slowly got up. "It's early, luv."

"Don't I know it." She whispered back to him, than pointed to the sleeping bodies around them. She raised a finger to her lips, gesturing him to be quiet. He put his arm around her shoulder, and gave her a quick squeeze.

"Everything is gonna be all right now." He whispered into her ear.

"No it's not." She answered him. "It'll never be all right. But it will get easier as time passes."

He smiled at her and kissed the top of her head. "You're right." He paused. "Now what is this you're watching?"

"It's Pokemon." She hid the remote by her side.

"Hand it over." He demanded.

"Nope."

"Seniority . . ."

"Yah old fart . . ."

"Gimme it!"

"No!"

"C'mon now!"

"I had it first!"

"Giles!" They echoed each other.

"Shut up!" The other slayerettes yelled at them from the floor. They growled at each other.

=30=