The Hydra swallowed the Doctor, and Buffy dived in after him. The water was surprisingly warm. It was also thick, and viscous. Probably not even water at all, Buffy decided. It clung to her clothing and shoes, dragging her down. She ignored the liquid's pull. The Doctor was in trouble. She was the Slayer; it was her birthright to kill vampires. And demons. Presumably, yucky green monsters were covered in the list somewhere, too.

 The Hydra was a dim shape, all flailing tentacles and belly. Buffy carefully swam towards it, keeping out of the way of its tentacles. They thrashed and twined, but in a seemingly random pattern. Could it see? Could it hear? Strange place to try and remember biology lessons. No time for that now. She moved forward again, dropping lower in the water. Its weak spot would be underneath, where the tentacles couldn't reach.

 Buffy scolded herself for dropping the knife, but kept going. She reached the Hydra. The water slowed down her blow, reducing its impact, but it still landed right in the middle of the underbelly. The tentacles twitched, and the body convulsed. Buffy kicked again.

 The liquid around her seemed to be turning red. Blood? Had she hurt it, or was it the Doctor's blood? Then her head started pounding, and Buffy realised that she needed oxygen, and badly. She pushed away from the Hydra, and up to the surface. Air had never tasted so good. For a few seconds she clung onto the side of the pool, gasping and wheezed. Then she pushed off, and dived underwater again. In the second that it took for her head to dip below the pool's surface, something extraordinary happened.

 She sighed.

 Since Mum had walked out, Dad had been getting home later and later. Last week it had been close to midnight before he'd finally staggered in, collapsing on the lounge. In the morning, he'd been surprised to find himself in the lounge room, and completely apologetic when she chewed him out for it.

 What was that sound outside? She stiffened for a moment, then relaxed. Just a dog barking. Sounded quite close, at the back of the house, perhaps. Probably just a stray.

 She didn't mind being home by herself. It wasn't frightening, or uncomfortable. It was just that the house was big. Too big for two people, and far too big for just one person. Even if she put the radio on, it wouldn't make enough noise to fill up the house. Not the kind of noise she wanted - the sounds of people just doing their thing, watching TV, cooking, working in the study, whatever.

 There was the dog barking again. Definitely around the side of the house. Fiona sighed, and put down her calculator. Best to go and find the dog, and see if it was wearing a collar, or something. She headed for the front door. She pulled open the door. A man was standing there, his hand raised as if to knock. They both gasped.

 'Wow, you really gave me the wiggins,' Fiona said.

 'My apologies,' the man said. He was middle-aged, with a nervous twitch. 'My son's puppy ran away, and I've been knocking up and down the street asking if anyone has seen her.'

 'Oh, right. I think she might be nearby. I keep hearing a dog barking.' She took a couple of steps onto the front porch. 'Come on, we'll go around the side and check.'

 Fiona took another step forward, expecting the little man to follow her. She didn't expect to see his face remold itself into the high forehead and fanged teeth of a vampire. She didn't expect that his arm would close around her neck with superhuman strength.

 Timmins smiled. 'No need, I think I've found what I'm looking for.'

 'What...?' Buffy panted.

 The Doctor began to swim to the edge of the pool. 'Quite simple, really.' He heaved himself up onto the side of the pool, and reached out a hand to Buffy. She clasped it, and pulled herself up to sit beside him.

 'Well, that was fun,' she said. 'In a "not-fun, almost-drowned" kind of way.'

 The Doctor looked ruefully at the pool. 'And that was my favourite coat.'

 'We just about drowned, and you're worried about clothes?' Buffy voice skittered a couple of octaves higher on the last note. 'Reality check, please. What happened to Mister Snake-With-Tentacles?'

 'The device I took from the vampire you killed,' the Doctor said.

 'I know, I know, little gizmo that made them super-vampires.'

 'And blocks the abilities of any human near them,' the Doctor continued. He pulled off one shoe, and upended it. A stream of water poured out. 'The Hydra was one of the Rani's creations, and I wondered what effect the implant would have on its genetic modifications. Oh, here we are!'

 His hand shot out, into the mini-waterfall. It plucked something from the stream, and turned to face Buffy. 'As it happened, the Hydra didn't like the implant. Not one little bit.'

 The Hydra rested in the Doctor's hand. It was about the length of his little finger, twisting and writhing.

 'So that gizmo of yours undid whatever she'd done to it,' Buffy said.

 'Crudely expressed, but that's about the essence of it. It's still a bit bigger than a normal hydra, but no longer large enough to pose a threat to our health.'

 'Neat. Can I borrow it?'

 'No. Here, hold this for a moment, would you?'. The Doctor passed the Hydra to Buffy, and continued wringing out his shoe. Then he removed his other shoe, and continued the process.

 Buffy looked down at the little wriggling body in her had. She prodded it with a fingernail, and the tentacles flailed. 'Who's a cute little Hydra, then?'

 The Doctor frowned. 'Don't taunt it.'

 Her finger paused. 'Why, can it hurt me?'

 'No, it's just tacky. Now, shall we stay here all night, or shall we move on?'

 Timmins picked up a manhole cover. He picked up Fiona, by now unconscious, and stepped into the sewers. There was only a slight movement as the cover dropped back into place.

 But the darkness noticed.

 A moment later, Willow, Xander and Wil approached.

 'I still think we should have, you know, stayed there.' Willow said. 'Buffy might need us.'

 'But only in a Slayer capacity,' Xander grumbled. 'No socializing with the hired help outside or work hours.'

 'But, um, we're socializing.' Willow plucked up the courage to smile at Xander. Unfortunately, he was looking down at the road. At the manhole cover, to be precise.

 'Guys, do you notice anything strange about this?' Xander said.

 'Ummm,' Willow said, and shook her head. Wil just shrugged.

 'See, the cover's not straight. Like someone lifted it, and didn't put it back properly.'

 The darkness took two steps forward, out of the shadow of someone's high fence. He was tall, clad in black jeans and a black t-shirt. His hair was also dark, and his face seemed ageless and brooding. 'You're right. I saw a vampire take a girl down there. Where's Buffy?'

 Willow managed a smile and a small wave. 'Hi Angel!'

 Xander muttered something under his breath. Then he looked up at Angel. 'She's busy. Very busy. Too busy to have time to talk to you.'

 'Busy?'

 'Slayer duties,' Willow said. 'Say, does this mean you're going to warn us about the end of the world, or something?'

 Angel shook his head. 'Worse. Trouble's coming. The Hellmouth's planning something special.'

 'Details would be nice,' Xander said.

 'I can't tell you,' Angel said. 'I don't know.'

 Wil ran his mind back over the conversation, and seized on something he could understand. 'You said a vampire took someone down through this hole in the road. Someone dead? Alive?'

 'Alive,' Angel said. 'He took her from that house over there.' He pointed at number 15.

 'Are you sure?' Willow said. 'That's Fiona's house.'

 'I'm sure.'

 'We have to do something.'

 'Would this "something" involve going underground?' Xander said. 'Because I, for one, would prefer a "something" that involved being inside, watching pay-per-view and laughing at all the people silly enough to be out on the streets.'

 'Fiona's my friend,' Willow said. 'We can't just let this vampire eat her.'

 'If he was going to eat her, he would have done it here, on the street,' Angel said. 'But he didn't. So my guess is that it has to do with whatever's going on.'

 Wil knelt down, and lifted up the manhole cover. 'Willow, I'm with you,' he said.

 Willow gave him a grateful smile. 'Thanks. Xander?'

 'Against my better judgement.'

 'Angel? Hey, where'd he go?' Willow looked around, but Angel had gone. One by one, they climbed down into the sewers.

 TO BE CONTINUED.