Dusk 'til Dawn

by Sweetprincipale

During season five, a powerless Buffy needs to make a play for time to keep herself alive and keep Glory and company away from her family. Buffy's not sure if Spike will come through for her, especially when he might finally have a chance to get rid of her. His actions convince Buffy that he is more than an ally, he's a friend, and opens her eyes to the possibility that he's even more than that. Written as a response to Challenge Month at Elysian Fields archive.

Author's Note: My first ever response to a challenge, so I hope you'll be understanding. It's written for the October challenge month at the Elysian Fields Dark Solace archive. The full challenge description can be found at the end of the chapter. I'm going to play with it a bit, because I just can't leave stuff alone ;)

Dedicated to: The Spuffy community who continues to read and encourage creativity and new plots and twists for our favorite heroes.

Nothing of Buffy belongs to me, except my sincere admiration. However, this story is all mine.

Part I

"Take Dawn and Mom and go someplace safe. Do it quick, and do it like- like what's that word, incognito?" Buffy paced, and Giles nodded as she hit upon the right term.

"What will you do?" The Watcher frowned.

"Keep Glory and her little scabs busy and get the guys to keep popping over to the house and act like they're visiting, and basically run interference. Then you get back."

"Buffy, I don't think that there is a safer place than here, with you. The only way this would work is if you left as well. You're supposed to protect the Key-"

"My sister." Buffy corrected sharply.

"Exactly." Giles put a placating hand on her arm. "If Glory catches wind that they've moved, she'll head there, and you might not be able to follow in time. Any drastic change in the routine might attract her attention. Right now she doesn't know where the Key is, but if we suddenly whisk off two members of the Slayer's household, don't you think it'll raise red flags?"

"Probably." Buffy let his hand fall and paced the limited floor space in her Watcher's living room that wasn't covered by books and coffee cups. She finally stopped, head to the wall, hands in fists.

"We will find a way." Giles spoke softly.

"Yeah. That way is called kicking all the asses I can." Buffy's fists suddenly went through the wall. Angry and embarrassed, feeling out of control both physically and emotionally, she abruptly muttered, "Gotta go."

Giles stared after the woman running from his house. Calling her back would be useless. Running might be our only option, but then it must be all of us, together. No pawns have to be left on the board fro Glory to use…

He sighed. They could have discussed such a thing, but Buffy was not in a "listening mood". Understandable. She wanted action after feeling helpless. Unable to fight her mother's cancer, unable to beat Glory past a bloody draw, unable to stop Riley from his infidelity, and his abandonment. Giles suspected all those things were just fuel for one emotion at the moment, simple, primal rage. He felt bad he couldn't ease the pain or end it, felt like as a Watcher he should have been able to make her stay and work out something definitive.

As a friend and a father, he knew sometimes one just needs to unleash. He almost pitied the evil populace foolish enough to be found that night.

"She was too upset to plan. She'll go slay something, beat it to a pulp before dispatching it. Maybe get some useful information out of it as well." He went to the sideboard and after a moment pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "You clear your head your way, I'll clear my head mine."

I think Giles would say this is "rash". Buffy tore through the demons in front of her, barely feeling the blows they inflicted. I've been outnumbered before. Sure. Six to one. Maybe more. This is- how many are there? They all look the same and can't count now, busy.

Yeah, that's a bad sign. When you lose track of how many there are and you just keep fighting on an "as needed" basis,- she broke the jaw of one, turned to the left and put her foot through the solar plexus of another- you're in deep trouble. 'Cause you're just taking on immediate threats and you stop- being- aware…

Anger cooled with surprising rapidity as she realized what she'd allowed to happen. A wave of sickness at her own foolishness flooded her. I'm the only one who can protect her and I just let myself get into this situation where I could- She stopped that horrifying train of thought, keenly aware of the position her rage and desire for a good fight had put her in, and focused on getting out of it. You have to make it out, and get out quick, Dawn needs you.

"Yeah, this has been fun, but…" another series of blows traded and she tried to regain perspective. Four. Four of them and she couldn't check her back or past her periphery right now, busy putting them down but unable to keep all of them down at once. "I think I've gotta run, boys. Girls? Sorry, hard to tell with the wardrobe." All of them had long black hair, pale, flat faces, and wore long black tunics with tattered robes over them. Kind of like a "bad KISS rejects meeting grim reaper" motif. "Little lipstick might help. If you are girls. I mean- if you're into make up." Bantering helped. She hadn't been bantering before, just diving in, animalistic and furious, nothing more than growls and snarls, grunts and pants that came involuntarily with fighting. Verbal sparring bought time, threw them off, gave her space between punches to move the field of battle back, further into the clearing, less into the forest off campus where she'd found them.

And that's kind of odd. She thought belatedly that she'd pursued a pair of demons from cemetery to campus to woods without them turning to fight until they reached this area. Where their buddies happened to be waiting. Which means we're in their stronghold. Not mine. Shit.

If I get out of this, I'm getting such a lecture from Giles.

"Don't leave yet." A voice behind her rasped.

She whirled, she parried, and something sharp stabbed her in the back followed by a searing wetness plastering through her clothes. Decoy. I fell for that. They surrounded me and I fell for …

I'm falling.

What's going on? She unknowingly repeated the question out loud.

"Feeling weak? Don't worry, it's temporary."

Another rasp, or the same one, she was having trouble keeping track of faces and voices now, trying to recover her balance. And they weren't coming at her anymore. This is bad. "What…?"

"The potion wears off in a night or so. And you'll be dead before then. Hence, temporary."

They drugged me. They stabbed me with a needle or… No. It's worse. Her entire back was wet, saturated, but not only with blood, she could tell as she moved her hand across the fabric.

"Humans and their silly circulatory systems. Once it's in your bloodstream, every area is effected."

With a burst of strength, Buffy threw herself into the space where only one demon stood, the decoy who had been relatively harmlessly behind her, bowled him over, and ran. They didn't even chase her.

That's so, so not good. She knew from long experience that you only chase something if you think you need to run to catch it or cut it off. She heard words that confirmed it, coming a short distance behind her.

"Let her go. She can only make it a short distance before she collapses. An unconscious Slayer is easier to kill, and then Glory's bounty is ours. Where the Lei-Ach fail, we succeed, and we simultaneously avenge our distant cousins."

Thought they looked kind of familiar. But no color. And no real noses. That's freaky. Why am I thinking about this now?

Because I'm losing my ability to think and run at the same time.

Because I'm going to faint. And then I'm going to die. I haven't felt like this since … since my 18th birthday! Double, triple shit! Buffy suddenly realized what they must've hit her with. Gotta get to Giles.

That leads them to him. No. No, and I might not be able to walk that far anyway. She realized that what had happened to her before was gradual. This wasn't some slow, "you won't even notice until it's too late" dosage. This was God knew how much, how fast. Buffy tried not to panic. Keep calm. Plan. Gotta get to… someplace else, where I'm safe, or at least buy some time. It wears off in a night… They must have given her shorter, but swifter dose. Can't go home tonight. She cursed herself for being so hot headed and eager to take out her anger at feeling powerless against a "god" that she'd played right into the hands of one of her pawns.

Buffy looked ahead of her and planned her best option. Someplace where they'd have to work to find her, close enough that she could get there fast, far enough not to put any family members or friends in close proximity to the group hunting her. Five. Now I know there are five, but at least two aren't going to be much trouble for awhile. She recalled the cracks her fists and feet had made against various parts and knew she'd inflicted a few broken bones.

Okay, okay, old Initiative grounds are back near the forest, touching campus. Cemetery- I can get to Restfield this way, can hide out in one of the crypts… find one with a tunnel entrance nearby so when they get close I pop down, then double back. Get out of sight. She paused to catch her breath and heard heavy footsteps a few yards back. She needed to fool them, throw them off, and the sooner the better before the drugs completely saturated her system. Probably have ten to twenty minutes left, if it's like other meds I've taken, working in thirty minutes or less. Even if not, it's the best I have to go on.

A zig there, a zag here, then out along the road and walking against the glare of headlights. Buffy was aware of cursing behind her as her assailants hung back, avoiding exposure to more human eyes. Across the street like a shadow, she was lost in the passing of a bus and the quick shimmy of her slim figure down a storm drain. She didn't think for a moment that she lost them, only that she had a temporary stay of execution. The tunnels are a really bad place to go right now. It's like the demon subway down here. Well, not as crowded, but anyone I run into down here is going to be a demon.

But at night they come to the surface, so I can probably avoid a fight. I mean another fight. On top of the fight I'm already having.

She was tempted to sit down and just wallow in the epic-nes of the crappy train of events, and do some self-berating. Better wallow while I walk, sitting down might equal getting caught. She let out a muffled groan, checking over her shoulder. Great time to go postal. Not on a big snake this time, but on guys with slow-down-a-slayer drugs and ties to Glory.

She sped up, but quickly found herself reducing speed. Still moving at what could be considered a normal pace, but the Slayer speed was gone. Strength probably was too. If I don't get above ground soon, I might be stuck here all night- or until they find me. Because I don't think normal girl strength can lift a man hole cover above her head or kick out a storm grate…

I think I need help.

Fast.

Help that can take these guys and not put my friends in danger. This is when it's nice to have a supernaturally strong boyfriend for back up. She had a fleeting vision of Angel. Or at least one who had some decent fighting skills and equipment. She was treated to a longer, more bitter thought of her recently departed, demon fighting ex.

God damn, Riley. You couldn't have faked being happy for a couple more weeks?

Spike couldn't have waited to show me your new little vampire playmate until things were a little better?

Her steps faltered. Hm. I was going to head that way anyhow, right?

I hate needing back up. But…

Who owes me more favors ?

Hesitation marred that thought. Who wouldn't love to leave me helpless with a pack of unchipped buddies and watch them do what he can't?

She paused, coming to a fork in the dark tunnel, Slayer eyesight also beginning to let her down. Buffy did a mental map, said a prayer and hoped her bad luck was going to take a little break.

He who hesitates is lost, and I'm definitely heading towards "misplaced." She sighed and then jumped as she heard a grate opening far behind her. She began to jog silently in the dark. It's a total gamble. Buffy took a turn that would lead her towards the cemetery. Good thing I know where to find a poker player.

To be continued…

The Challenge, as given by Mia Vaan- Trapped : During season 5 – after "Into the Woods" but before "Crush" – Buffy has a run in with a demon and somehow can't access her powers. She's injured and helpless. Spike helps her escape the demons hunting her.

Somehow they end up underground and trapped. Buffy can't fight back, and Spike can. The pair and the demons stand at a stalemate, separated by a wall of rock Spike built for safety. The demons give Spike one chance: walk away. They know he hates the Slayer and wants her dead.

What makes things worse is that there's a hole right at the top of their hiding space, meaning that when the sun comes up it will shine through and kill Spike. Buffy's powers will eventually come back to her, but only after sunrise.

With all of this in mind, Buffy thinks that Spike will abandon her. But he doesn't. He stays with her the whole time, never even considering the offer, ignoring the taunts from the demons and not explaining why to Buffy.

When the sun comes up and Spike still refuses to leave Buffy's side, she begins to suspect why he's staying with her. When her powers come back the two are able to fight their way out.

Things go pretty off-canon after that…