The moment the sun fell beneath the horizon Buffy and Angel began loading up on weapons. Gunn stood up and grabbed a crossbow off the table and stuck a stake in his back pocket. Willow followed suit, putting a cross around her neck.

Buffy stared at them. “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked them.

“Getting ready to go hunt,” Gunn said, loading the crossbow.

“I don’t think so,” she said.

Gunn raised his eyebrows at her. “I do. No way I’m letting you two go out there alone. Besides, I figure if the vamps are waiting for Angel’s big homecoming party tomorrow night, they aren’t going want to get in the mix tonight.”

“Gunn’s right, Buffy. We’re not letting you go alone. I can help, you know, with magic and stuff,” Willow said.

Buffy glanced at Angel for his take on this. He shrugged. “We’re only doing re-con. Should be safe enough.”

“Did you forget where we are? Hel-lo?! Hellmouth? Nothing is ever safe when it should be,” Buffy cried.

Willow raised her eyebrows in an I-told-you-so manner. “Resolve face,” she said, pointing to her set jaw.

Buffy rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help smiling. “Fine, fine... Ignore me. I'm just the Slayer."

Xander, Cordelia, Oz and the rest were also loading up on weaponry. “Okay, look,” Buffy said. “I appreciate that everyone wants to patrol tonight, but I think that ten of us out there--”

“Eleven,” Spike said, walking in from the front door this time.

Buffy glanced at him. “Eleven of us will be just a bit too obvious, don’t you think?”

“No," Xander cut in. “As I see it, you, Spike and Angel will be looking for this book. You already know there’s a warehouse full of vamps right around the corner just waiting for Angel’s big event. You need backup. Me, Anya, Cordy and Oz will check out the warehouse, see what the party situation is. Willow, you, Giles and Wesley and Gunn will go with them and guard the house, make sure this guy doesn’t try anything funny.”

Everyone looked surprised. “Since when did you get all Cloak and Dagger?” Buffy asked him.

He grinned nervously. “I don’t know. But it sounded pretty convincing, didn't it?"

Giving in, she nodded. “Fine. That’s the plan then. But be careful. We don’t know what we’re messing with here.”

“Are we ready then?” Spike asked wearily, “or should we bicker some more first?”

“Any news?” Angel asked him.

Spike shook his head. “Nah, same ole same ole. Angelus is going to rise, best night of the year, big kegger afterwards…you know.”

“Wonderful,” Angel said, and shrugged into his coat. “And the book?”

“Safe and sound, right where I told you it’d be,” Spike said, pulling out a cigarette.

Angel nodded curtly. “We’re gone,” he said to the group.

They exited the shop, each laden with weapons. Willow began to chant. “Protection spell,” Oz explained when Cordy looked nervous.

“Ah,” she said. “Of course. Those always work so well.”

“Listen,” Buffy interrupted. “This is an in-and-out situation. No heroics. If there’s big trouble, come get us. Afterwards we head back to my house. If it’s safe, we can go back to the shop later, but I want to make sure there are no attacks tonight. My house is the only place vamps can’t get in uninvited.”

Minutes later they rounded a corner, and stood across from the alley where Buffy and Angel had been attacked the night before. She took a deep breath. “Where’s the house?” she asked Spike.

“Other side…around the corner,” he said, pointing down the street.

“Ok…let’s go. You guys, be careful,” she told them again. Xander, Cordelia, Anya and Oz took off for the warehouse as the rest followed Spike.

“Here it is,” Spike said moments later.

Buffy turned to Giles, Wesley and Gunn. “We might have to…entice him. Don’t worry if you hear struggle. Worry if you don’t.”

They nodded. “We’ll be right outside,” Giles said.

“Shall we knock on the door like good girls and boys?” Spike asked as his face morphed into full-on vamp mode.

“I vote we crash,” Angel said lightly, game face already on, and kicked the door in. Buffy rushed in ahead of them to find an old man sitting in an armchair, reading. He looked up suddenly and recoiled upon recognizing her and her companions.

“So, what kind of demon are you?” Buffy asked casually, strolling around the room.

“Demon?” the man said timidly.

“Well, see, my friends here couldn’t come in if you were human. You know, vampires…have to be invited, that whole spiel. But it’s different if a demon owns the place…then that deal’s null and void. So, again...what kind of demon are you?”

He ignored her. “What do you want?”

“The second half of the Codex,” Angel growled.

“What makes you think I have it?” the man said defiantly.

“The fact that you know it exists helps me out,” Spike said, taking a step forward.

The man stared at them blankly. Suddenly he hissed. “Fools,” he whispered and rushed at them. Buffy bent at the waist and flipped him over onto his back. Angel grabbed his arms and held him, when two more arms appeared from beneath the old man’s shirt. The free arms punched him in the gut, scratched at his flesh. With a kick the old man was loose and sprang to his feet with unnatural ability.

“Oh no you don’t,” Spike said, grabbing the rug the man stood on and yanking it out from underneath him. The man’s legs flew out from beneath him and once again he landed on his back. “Can’t leave the party so soon. We haven’t even eaten yet,” he said, licking his lips.

A reptilian hiss escaped the old man’s lips as he ran at Spike with all four arms outstretched in front of him. Buffy jumped onto the coffee table in front of him and leaped to the chandelier, hanging from it. The motion swung her in a circle and she moved around to hit the old man dead on with her feet. He was thrown backward across the room and landed with a sickly thud. Before he could react the three of them were upon him, weapons steadied, forcing him to keep still on the floor.

“It matters not if you obtain the Codex,” the man growled. “It can do you no good. It will happen, Angelus will rise, tomorrow night.” He turned to Angel. “Why do you not embrace this, Master?”

Angel ignored him. “Where’s the book?”

The old man smiled at him. “You’ll have to kill me.”

Buffy cocked her head. “Have we been giving you the impression that that's a problem?"

His eyes shifted to her. “Stupid girl. So you seek your future do you? The prophecies of the Slayer that the Codex contains? Are you sure you want to know? Can you live with the knowledge of how you will die?”

Buffy faltered for a split second but kept her crossbow leveled at the man’s heart. “Just because you look human doesn’t mean I can’t kill you. And enjoy it."

Angel snapped and reached out for the old man. Grabbing him by the collar of his robe he jerked the man standing. He leaned in, his face inches from the old man’s. “You know me. You know Angelus. You know what I’m capable of. Produce the book.”

Fear entered the old man’s eyes. He glanced at Buffy, who smiled at him sweetly as Angel increased his grip. Suddenly the man returned her smile. “This is a test. When Angelus rises, he will remember my fealty. He will honor me, I will be in his good graces. Sit at his right hand. And what a righteous day it will be! Torment will rain down on all that do not worship him. Blood will be spilled in his name. He will--”

“Oh bloody hell,” Spike said, and stabbed the man through the heart. The man gasped with pain and jerked, then settled onto the ground, dead. “Angelus would eat your heart, you simpering sod,” he said to the body, “and dance a jig on your entrails.”

Buffy and Angel threw him a look. “What?” Spike asked innocently. They looked back at each other and shrugged.

“Whatever,” Buffy said. "Let’s find the book. Get Giles and the others,” she told Angel.

“Yes, run along,” Spike taunted, leaning in close so Buffy wouldn’t hear. “I’ll stay here with the missus.”

Angel growled. “Don’t test me, William,” he said, heading to the door. He returned moments later with Giles, Willow, Gunn and Wesley. They grimaced at the sight of the old man.

“Buffy…you killed this man?” Giles asked.

“Nope, Spike did,” she said, searching the bookshelves that lined the living room.

Giles stared at her. “He’s not human,” Angel informed him. “Don’t worry.”

Relief flooded the Watcher's face. “Right, of course. Good. Well, ah, find the book, shall we?”

“Um, perhaps someone should get the others?” Wesley suggested. “It would make the search go more quickly.”

Angel nodded. “I’ll go. Spike will come with me.”

“Need me to protect you now, do you?”

Angel glared. “Go,” he ordered and grabbed Spike’s arm hauling him to the door.

“Hey! Wait a bloody minute! Hands off the fine-Italian,” he shouted, dusting off his jacket as Angel strode purposefully away from the house.

“Shut up. I need to talk to you,” Angel growled.

Spike raised his eyebrows and lit a cigarette. “Do you now? What’s the topic?”

“Tomorrow night. I need you to be there.”

Spike glanced at him sideways. “Oh, ever your servant,” he said, bowing low. “Why on earth would I want to be there? I’m not one of the all-important ten, remember?” He took out a cigarette, lit it.

Angel looked at him, his eyes hard and cold. “Buffy and I are going to fight to the death. I need you to kill me if she fails.”

Spike’s eyes flew open. “Come again?”

“If Angelus defeats her, you have to be there, ready to kill me instantly. You can’t hesitate, you can’t be off a beat. You have to strike me down before I can hurt anyone.”

“Woah, mate. Think about this. You could be recursed. Red, she did it before…and she’s stronger now, more powerful. You don’t have to die.” He stopped suddenly, thinking. "Wait... yeah, sure," he quickly changed his mind. "You. Dead. My pleasure."

Angel rolled his eyes before looking Spike in the eye, seriously. “If I kill Buffy, I don’t want to live.”

For once, Spike kept his mouth shut and instead stared at the elder vampire. Slowly he nodded. “Yeah, right,” he said only slightly disgusted. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “The Slayer’s not going to lose, you know.”

“We don’t know that. I know how strong she is, but this…it’s thrown her. She might be off her game. I can’t take the chance. Everyone will be there. I’ve told them to come armed, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Angel crossed his arms over his chest, completely serious. “This spell, whatever it is, it might have after-effects. They could be dazed. It could ultimately get them killed. I need someone on the outside, someone strong. Someone who knows how I fight.”

Spike studied him as he took a drag from his cigarette, said nothing.

Angel looked at him expectantly. “Well? What’s it going to be?”

Spike threw the cigarette to the street and ground it out with his shoe. He stepped close to Angel, “She’s going to kick your ass,” he hissed, nose to nose with the elder vampire. He stepped back. “But if she doesn’t…I will. Sire,” he said, reverently.

Angel nodded curtly. “Thank you,” he said softly. The two vampires, grandfather and grandson, shared a moment of silence. Then Spike clapped his hands together.

“That settled, shall we gather the rest of the Get-Along Gang?” he asked. Angel nodded. Spike reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cigarettes. He offered the pack to Angel. “You look like you could use one of these.”

Angel hesitated, then took one. “Yeah,” he said and pulled one from the soft-pack. Lighting it, they walked towards the warehouse.

*~*~*

Angel and Spike found the others and led them back to the house where the search for the Codex was in full swing. “I’m not worried about housekeeping,” Buffy said, “let’s just find it and get out of here.”

“What did you find at the warehouse?” Giles asked.

“Vamps, lots of them.” Xander told them. “Maybe a hundred.”

Buffy’s eyes bulged. “Oh goody,” she said wryly. “That’s a few too many to take on all at once.”

“And may I answer that with a hardy, hardy thank you,” he said to her. He turned to Angel. “Everyone’s come out for your big day.”

“And surprisingly, I’m not touched,” Angel said off hand, rifling through some desk drawers.

“This is going to take forever,” Cordelia moaned, looking around at the vast household.

“Let me,” Willow said stepping to the middle of the room. She closed her eyes. When she reopened them her eyes were black with the power of dark magic and she mumbled a few words under her breath.

The room began to hum and a painting on the wall rattled violently. It flew from the wall and landed, broken, on the opposite side of the room. Behind the painting was a wall safe.

“Solid,” Gunn nodded approvingly. “I thought people only had these things in the movies.”

“It’s a combination lock,” Wesley said, studying the metal door. “It will take some time to open.”

“We don’t have time,” Buffy said crossing the room. She grabbed the door handle and pulled. The hinges broke and the door fell to her feet. She reached in and removed the book. “Found it,” she said, and handed the book to Giles.

“And if the Slayer thing gets stale, you’ve got an upper hand in the high-stakes field of robbery,” Oz said to Buffy. He turned to Willow, whose features had returned to normal the moment the painting hit the ground. “The eye thing is new,” he said to her.

“A girl likes to change her looks sometimes,” she bantered. “What’s in the book?”

Giles was quickly scanning through the pages. “Fascinating,” he said, “It mentions the Champion and the Chosen, the battle of Ten-cai.”

“Does it mention tomorrow night? Flip to the index,” Buffy said impatiently.

“There’s no index—oh, right…sarcasm,” Giles sighed, giving her a look. “It does say that--” he was abruptly cut off by Spike who was looking out the window.

“Um, children…I think it’s time we give that running for our lives thing a try.”

“Why?” Angel asked, moving to the window and peering out. "Oh." Glancing back at the others his eyes hardened. "Run."

After years of working together, no one hesitated at the command. They bolted for the back of the house just as the front door flew open and vampires began flooding the room.

“I think they decided to bring the party to us,” Spike said, grabbing Anya and hauling her out into the backyard.

“Spike! Take them!” Buffy shouted, indicating Anya and Xander who were closest to him. “My house, now!”

Angel followed suit by herding Willow, Oz and Wesley with him, taking off in a different direction.

Buffy watched him go, knowing her friends would be safe with him. “Giles! Book!” she shouted. He tossed her the book and she shoved it in her jacket pocket. Gunn and Cordelia passed her, running into the street before they were abruptly stopped as four vampires closed in around them. The duo each produced a stake and prepared for battleas Buffy rushed past them and leaped at two of the vamps, tackling them to the ground.

“We didn’t crash your party, how come you have to make trouble with ours?” she taunted them and staked the one on her right.

The one on her left grabbed her arm and swung her into the side of a dumpster. She recoiled and dropped to the ground, kicking out with one leg, tripping the oncoming vamp. Quickly she glanced at her friends and after realizing that Giles was in full-Ripper mode with vamp number three, and Cordy and Gunn were battling the fourth, she turned back to her attacker.

The vamp had scrambled to his feet and was lunging for her. She rolled to the side as he landed beside her and rolling back she plunged her stake into his back. Jumping to her feet she ran to Giles. “Help them!” she shouted, taking over the fight for him. Moments later it was over, all four vamps dusted.

“Run, keep going. We don’t know how many more of them there are!” Buffy yelled.

“Four less than there were before…that leaves us with oh, what, 90 something?” Gunn shouted back to her as they took off on foot for Buffy’s house. They ran through the streets of Sunnydale as fast as they could. Rounding the corner of Revello, Buffy’s street, they saw Xander, Spike and Anya bolting inside the house and slamming the door.

Cordelia hit the front steps first. “Open the door! Open the door!” she screamed. The door swung open and they flew inside. Buffy slammed the door shut.

“They can’t get us now,” she gasped as she leaned against the door to catch her breath.

“Where’s Willow and the rest?” Xander asked, hunched over, panting.

“They’ll be here. Angel took them,” Buffy answered him, peering through the window. "They won't hurt him."

"It's not Angel I'm worried about."

“I know,” she said, giving him a small smile of understanding before turning back to the window and parting the curtains. Movement caught her eye as several figures came hurtling through the dark. “There they are, open the door!” she called loudly to the front hall. Giles opened the door and Willow ran inside, quickly followed by Oz, Angel, and a hyperventilating Wesley.

“I told you to use that treadmill,” Cordelia chastized, helping him to a chair. The rest followed them, collapsing into chairs and onto the floor.

“Is everyone all right?” Giles asked from his position on the couch. Answers were given in the forms of nods and slight grunts as they caught their breath.

Angel wrapped an arm around Buffy, squeezing her before pulling back to look her over, concerned. “Are you okay?” he asked, kissing her forehead.

She nodded. “Yeah, you?”

He smirked. “Got my run in for the night at least.”

“We got the book,” she announced, reaching into her jacket pocket and retrieving it. Only Giles and Wesley showed any interest as Buffy and Angel began to read.

*~*~*

The breeze lifted her hair as she stood on a hillside, the moon bright overhead, almost full. She watched them, crowded in the living room, begin to interpret the Codex. Though miles away from that room she had perfect sight and hearing and listened now as they made their discoveries. Turning to the old woman beside her, she smiled. “They have the Codex.”

The old woman nodded. “So they do.”

“This is good. They’re so close.”

A man, middle-aged, stepped up beside them and looked over the city. “It is not enough. The book is only a tool. It is what they do with it that matters.”

The younger woman looked back into the room. “They’re smart. They will figure it out.”

The man glanced at her. “Do not get your hopes up just yet, Janna. They have quite a ways to go.”

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Chapter Twelve: Green-Eyed Monster