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"Till Dawn"

Giles had managed two blocks before traffic had cornered them in and he came to a stop with a hard brake that jerked all the occupants forward. "Hey!" Cordelia shouted. "You're going to give me whiplash!"

"What are you guys doing here?!" Buffy exclaimed.

"The question is what are you doing here?" Giles asked, glaring at Buffy. "You have to know you've worried your mother half to death with your disappearance."

Buffy frowned. "Giles..."

"And what were those things? Where'd they go?"

"I assume those were gargoyles." Giles said, looking out the window. "Fascinating."

"You know about them?"

"W-well, not directly. But the Watchers Council have reported their sightings for a few years now, ever since David Xanatos built that ridiculous tower with an old Scotish castle on top. I doubt they would make their presence known, which would explain their abrupt departure..." He rolled his eyes at the tactful change of subject. "Speaking of departure."

"Giles. Not now." Buffy said. "Listen, there's a diner not far from here, I need you to drive us by, I've got to check on someone."

"Do you mean that one?" Cordelia pointed out as they drove past.

The diner was in tatters; broken glass covered the street, the door blown out. It was as if a bomb had detonated and the police and ambulances swarmed the remnants. Buffy noticed a familiar figure wrapped in a blanket and quickly rolled her window down. "Wanda! Wanda are you okay?!"

Wanda looked up and smiled at Buffy as the car slowed to a stop and she walked over. "Oh, Anne. Thank goodness you're alright. I assume these two are friends of yours?"

"Y-yeah." Buffy admitted.

Wanda smiled meekly. "Sorry if I frightened you, but when I saw those men attacking you..."

"It's okay." Buffy shrugged. "I'm sorry I brought that to your diner, is everything going to be alright?"

"I think so. It'll be a couple months before we can open for business again but I will. I always do when something like this happens."

"It's happened before?"

"Yes about...twenty years ago. Back in seventy-seven when another slayer and a vampire came crashing through my diner fighting." She sighed. "I'm not sure what happened to that young lady, but you remind me a lot like her. Maybe she also had her own destiny to fulfill."

The honking of a horn reminded Giles that he was still in traffic. "Buffy." He urged.

"Oh. Thanks, Wanda. I really appreciate it, have a better night."

As the car drove off, Wanda smiled and waved. "Have a good night Buffy. Maybe you can get the jerks that did this!"

There was a long, awkward silence as Giles made his way through the streets, stopping every ten to twelve seconds and waiting two to three minutes to move again. Cordelia spoke up finally. "She seemed nice." She admitted.

"What are you two doing here?

"We came here looking for you. Now that we've found you, we're headed back to Sunnydale."

"Not until I've gone shopping on Times Square." Cordelia said. "You know, my dad is paying for this trip, right?"

Giles glared at Cordelia through his mirror and rolled his eyes. "Right. Of course, how could I forget?" He answered sarcastically.

"I'm surprised you came to New York." Cordelia said, looking at Buffy. "I mean, I am totally jealous, how are you liking it so far?"

"Well let's see. I've only been here half a week, I've met gargoyles and vampires and a group of gangsters who want to kill me for those vampires." Buffy said. "How do you think I'm liking it?"

"O-okay?"

"Vampires? Yes. That man I struck was a vampire wasn't he? He seemed quite strong. I assume that was the one you said was given this mysterious gem?"

"Wait a minute, how'd you know about the gem?" Buffy pondered. "In fact, how did you know where to find me anyway?"

"Suffice to say I have my connections." Giles answered. "And one of my connections contacted the council about a girl matching your description here. Of course I was sent to retrieve you as you are my responsibility."

Buffy sat back in the seat. "No one asked you to look for me, Giles."

"You didn't think we would try to find you?" Giles said. "Ever since Acathla was stopped and you vanished, we worried that perhaps you had been pulled into his hellish dimension. You left us without warning and not only your mother but we've all been worried sick about you."

"Mom was the one who told me not to come back!" Buffy shouted. "She found out who I was and she couldn't hack it, and when I was given the choice to save the world or stay home grounded, I made the only decision I could and left."

"You had other decisions. What about Angel? Did he come to New York with you?"

"I'm surprised with everything else, that you don't know..." Buffy's voice trailed off.

"What?"

"No. No he's not here, okay. He's dead."

Giles looked back. "I'm... I'm sorry, Buffy. I suppose you did it to save the world."

Buffy remained in silence, watching the street lights go by as they drove along. After a time, Giles took a turn and parked in front of a police station. "Here we are." He said.

"Where's here? This better not be the hotel we're supposed to be staying at because that looks like a police station." Cordelia pointed out.

"What are we doing here?"

Giles sighed. "I'm supposed to meet with my contact here and he is going to show us where the Gargoyles live. We have a mess to clean up here and I mean to clean it up before we leave."

"You Mr. Giles?"

A voice made Giles jump slightly in his seat as the red headed man approached the car's open window. "Yes. And I assume you are Mr. Bluestone?"

"Matt, please." He chuckled and glanced at the women in the back seat. "And you must be Buffy." He added.

"Hi." Buffy answered with a bit of apprehension in her voice

"And...you are?"

Cordelia was almost lost in the man's eyes for a moment and she quickly shook herself out of her stupor and brought a hand out. "Oh, I'm Cordelia. Cordelia Chase." She almost giggled as he took her extended hand and gave it a light shake.

"Nice to meet you too, Cordelia. So yeah, our friends are expecting you guys, they live upstairs in the clock above the police station. They like to keep it well hidden, but as long as you're here to help with this vampire problem, they agreed to have you go meet them."

"That sounds good." Giles said. "We'll head straight up. Thank you, Mr... Matt, Matt. Sorry."

Matt smiled. "No problem. Least I could do for the Watchers' Council right?"

As Matt walked away, Cordelia seemed to shake off whatever was holding her tongue and spoke up. "Are we going to be long? I'd really like to get to the hotel and get some sleep, I've got a lot of shopping to do and it's already like... three in the morning?" She groaned as she looked at her clock. "If I'm going to be worth anything tomorrow I need to get to bed, otherwise I won't be able to get out in public until Sunday and who goes shopping on Sunday?"

"Cordelia, I have spent the last day and a half with you in my ear." Giles said as he angrily grabbed his steering wheel. "You have frayed every last nerve with your incessant complaints, surely you can wait another fifteen minutes?"

"Fine." Cordelia said. "But I'm staying in the car."

"Thank god..." Giles said under his breath as he and Buffy got out into the cool night air. "We'll be back." He said with a sigh.

Buffy and Giles made their way across the street and slipped around the side of the police station unnoticed. As they entered the alleyway, they noticed a fire escape ladder several feet up off the pavement that led up the side of the building. As Giles watched, Buffy performed an astounding leap, kicking off the side of the building and grabbing the ladder, pulling it down with her to the street. As she landed, the two quickly began to ascend toward the tower level.

"And then BAM! Out of nowhere this car came in and slammed right into the vampire and sent him flying!" Brooklyn exclaimed with the wildest gestures. Lexington jumped back momentarily. "It was the most incredible thing I'd ever seen. Me and Hudson hopped onto the car while Buffy got in and we took off."

"Wow. That's amazing!" Lexington replied. "I wish I'd have been there."

"Oh that's nothing, the vampire actually got up. But he didn't chase us though. He just watched us go, he looked pretty defeated."

"Aye, but that's somethin' to worry about." Hudson chimed in. "Why give up the chase? He was strong enough, he could've easily stopped us."

"Maybe he was just scared to tangle with two gargoyles?" Broadway suggested.

"It just seemed too easy."

"You think maybe he was biding his time?"

Before anyone could answer, Hudson saw Buffy emerge from the railing of the fire escape and got to his feet. "Lass! I didn't expect you to find your way here." He said as the others realized that Buffy and Giles both were now making their way around to the glass windows of the tower and the four emerged to meet with them.

"Oh, hey." Buffy said with a smile. "Giles, this is Brooklyn and Hudson..." She gestured to the others. "I don't know you guys yet though..."

"I'm Lexington, and this is Broadway."

"Enchante." Broadway attempted his air of charm toward Buffy and bowed to her.

Lexington stared at him. "Broadway? What are you doing?"

"I saw it in a movie once." Broadway answered. "Some guy greeted a beautiful girl by saying that."

Buffy suppressed a smile and nodded at them. "It's good meeting you guys."

"Oh, I'm Giles. I'm Buffy's watcher..."

"What do you watch?" Broadway asked, leaving Giles stunned for a moment.

"Th-that... that is, I don't watch her." He said. "A watcher is a trainer, one who prepares the Slayer for any imminent dangers of... ah... demon hunting."

Hudson nodded. "Aye, I am familiar with you Watchers. I've actually had the opportunity to meet them, it doesn't cease to amaze me that after over a thousand years, not much has changed."

"Really? Howso?"

"Well, back in my day; Watchers were overly stuffy, arrogant and book-learned men who couldn't see past the end of their noses to get involved in a Vampire Slayer's line of duty. It does my heart good to see that you've gone above and beyond that expectation."

Giles smiled politely. "Yes, well... I do have certain obligations to fill, and I am a bit more hands-on than my counterparts, admittedly. But I would not see the order as...stuffy..."

Hudson let out a bit of a belly laugh. "You worry too much. You are a much younger man than the Watchers I once knew."

"That wouldn't be the first time I've heard that." Giles admitted with a push on his glasses. "So now, straight to business; the gem that this vampire has, have you got a description of it?"

"Not really." Brooklyn admitted. "Buffy and I were there when Dracon gave it to him, but we weren't close to get a good look at it."

"It did change colors when he touched it." Buffy said. "Remember? It was almost white when Dracon had it, then it started to glow red when he touched it."

"He called it something too... I mean the vampire saying that Dracon's offerings were getting better and better, but what was it...?"

"A dragon's eye." Both said at the same time. "Right." Buffy continued. "He grabbed that gem in a hurry, and ever since then he was able to hit me like a freight train."

"Dragon's eye? Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Pretty sure." Brooklyn said. "Why?"

"Well, in some circles a gem with mystical properties like that is given a distinguishing name to separate it out from others. Dragon's eyes are specific for substantially increasing the strength and longevity of its wearer. While not granting a vampire immunities to their weaknesses, it will considerably increase their resistance; for instance, sunlight will instantly kill a vampire. But one wearing one of these gems might be able to survive for five, ten minutes without suffering long term damage.

"Why haven't we heard about these before?" Buffy asked.

Giles shrugged. "Well to be honest they are so rare that I had not expected to hear about one in my lifetime, only three are known to exist. One that shines in red was once called "aeternumque adytis effert" which is quite literally translated to undying. But I have no way of knowing how to destroy it."

"Simplest way would probably be to just find a way to kill Nathaniel, right?"

"It...won't be that simple, Buffy. With the protection of the gym, not only could he see you coming from a mile away and stop you, but he may very well overpower you."

"Plus we'd have to find him first." Brooklyn agreed. "It's not likely they're just going to be hanging around those docks waiting for us again."

***

Cordelia shook awake from an unexpected nap and winced as she placed her hand to the side of her head that had been pressed so hard against the glass that it had begun to fog around her face's impression. She looked at her watched and rolled her eyes, it was past three-thirty and Giles and Buffy still hadn't gotten back. "Great." She groaned aloud as she crawled into the front seat and checked for the keys, which were not in the ignition. "Sure, take the keys. I'd like to get to my hotel at some point!" She rolled down her window and leaned out. "Giles! Come on, if you can hear me you need to get your butt down here! I'm tired of waiting for you!" She paused and was met with an eerie silence. "Okay if you're not down here in the next thirty seconds I guess I'm just going to have to go to the hotel on my own!" There was another long silence. "Well that does it! I'm out of h-MMPH!!"

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed her from behind; instantly covering her mouth to keep her from screaming as a swarm of arms pulled one of her arms back and pulled, yanking her clear of the window. She kicked hard to try and free herself, but the unknown assailants were too strong for her. As one of her heels slammed into the side of the car an alarm sounded and darkness followed as a bag was subsequently tugged down over her head. She flailed as she was picked up and carried off into the night.

"Do you hear that?" Giles asked, looking up from Lexington's computer to hear a distinguishing noise over the din of the city streets below. "That sounds like a car alarm." He observed.

"Oh don't worry about it." Brooklyn said. "We hear them all the time, a lot of times it's just the owners being unable to turn their alarms off. We used to try and bust people stealing cars only to figure things out the hard way."

"Must be hard to protect such a big city." Buffy said.

"Not as hard as the weight of the world, girl." Hudson said with a smile. "You got a lot more responsibility than we do."

Buffy smiled softly, but Giles insisted on walking toward the balcony. "No, no. That alarm...sounds like mine." He rushed outside and the others gave pursuit, all running to lean over the ledge of the tower and look down into the street where the lights of his Citroen were flashing far below across the street. "Good lord, it is my car. Can one of you help me get down to it? We've got a friend down theeeEEEEEEREE!" He cried out as Hudson wrapped an arm around Giles' waist and jumped from the tower, quickly and silently gliding his way into the alley just behind the car as the man turned it off. Brooklyn and Buffy landed, then Broadway and Lexington followed.

"Cordy? Are you okay?" Buffy asked as she ran to the car and opened the door, only to find that it was empty. "Cordelia!" There was no answer. "I knew we shouldn't have left her alone that long."

"Well in your defense, she rather insisted on staying here." Giles said.

"Hey guys?" Lex spoke up, pointing at the dent in the side door. "This is probably what set off your alarm, Giles. Unless it was here before."

"Certainly not." He said indignantly. "I am not sure what happened to Cordelia but she wouldn't have done that on purpose."

"Looks like she'd been dragged from the scene and literally kicked your door in her struggle to free herself." Hudson surmised.

"Hey, a note." Broadway pulled a slip of paper from the dashboard and handed it to Buffy. "What's it say?"

"We have the Slayer, if you want to see her again, leave town and we'll send her to you..." She paused and looked up at Giles. "Piece by piece."

"Wait, they mistook that Cordelia for you?"

"Wouldn't be the first time." Buffy admitted. "I never said my enemies were the smartest individuals."

"Downright idiots is the right word for it." Hudson said.

Broadway sighed. "So, what now?"

"Dracon is likely behind this." Brooklyn said. "Probably got hired on by Nathaniel to kidnap the Slayer and take her somewhere."

Hudson nodded. "Aye. Since Dracon is behind the kidnapping he's probably got a place to hide her. But where could it be?"

"What are you guys doing here?" Matt asked as he rushed across the street. "Suddenly a car alarm goes off and now all of you are hanging out? You're lucky I managed to get my boss to let me investigate this on my own!"

"Matt. You might know a thing or two; looks like Dracon kidnapped their friend thinking she was the Slayer. Do you have any idea where they could have taken her?"

Matt paused and put a finger to his chin. "You mean that cute brunette that was with you? No I..." He hummed in thought.

"Matt?"

"Sorry, I'm just thinking. Dracon would know better than to try and stash her at one of his regular hang spots, but if he's wanting to keep her from escaping there might be a place he could hold her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key attached to a blue key ring. "This place here, Goliath and I encountered it when we were investigating the Illuminati. Since Dracon's family was caught up in them, if he knows about it he might try to hide there. It's been abandoned for months, so it might be the best place to start looking."

"Hotel Cabal." Buffy read the words on the key. "I guess it's as good a place as any."

"Be careful though." Matt warned. "If it's back up and running, it's like a horror show of traps. One of these keys should see you through the rooms safely, but I don't even know if mine even works for that anymore.

"Thanks." She said and looked at Giles. "Giles, you stay here and try to find a way to stop Nathaniel and this gem of his."

"I'll help." Lexington said.

"Th-thank you, Lexington." Giles replied. "I would appreciate your assistance."

"Great. And you two are going to come with me, we're going to have to take out Nathaniel and Dracon's goons, if you're up to it."

Broadway raised his thumb with a smile on his face. "Sure thing! I'm always up for kicking Dracon's butt."

"We need to have a plan though." Brooklyn said.

"Oh, don't worry. I think I've got something in mind."

As the four of them departed, Giles removed the glasses from his face and approached Lexington, who had already powered on his computer and was typing into a search engine. "Yes, well. Let us begin our research."

"You got it. So any ideas on how to stop this gem?"

Giles swirled the cloth he'd extracted from his pocket around the glasses. "Well, according to the legend, there were once hundreds of these gems all over the world. All having various degrees of energy with which the wearer could wield. It was said that the gods that created them had also designed them so that none would rule others with their power."

"So, it's got a failsafe." Lex surmised.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. They were bound to the elements of nature."

"So fire is cancelled out by water or something?"

"No, it was a bit more complex; primarily there were six crucial elements used in the formation of the crystal: Green represented life while purple signified death, Red was indeed fire; but it was more akin to the fire of longevity or immortality. It provided aid against one's personal weaknesses and that is the one we are dealing with most likely. Its counter was yellow in hue and it represented the very essence of the gods. Remarkably the most powerful, it was able to counter two of the gem elements while the rest could only counter one. Being a power that controls mortality it counters immortality and life. Bringing radiant death in its wake."

"That's kind of dark, you'd think gods would be more benevolent."

"Not these gods, apparently." He sighed. "The last element is unknown to us as all records of that were destroyed in a fire some forty-seven hundred years ago. There had been dozens of gems for each element scattered throughout the world, but over the centuries scant few survived. It is believed that as little as four remain and even that may be a generous number. We may be looking at perhaps the rarest gemstone of its kind on this planet."

"Is there anything that can destroy it other than its counterpart?"

Giles bit down on the end of his glasses frame, somewhat lost in thought for a moment before responding; "No, I-I don't think so."

"Well we better find something, they're counting on us." Lexington paused for a moment and hummed before typing something into his computer. "You know, I know someone who's kind of a collector of ancient and mystical artifacts. I wonder..."

"Lexington, I am sure you're aware by now the odds of finding just one of these gems is astronomical, the odds of finding two... I must say; is a considerable impossibility."

"If it's one thing I've learned is that things like this don't happen by chance. If one gem found its way to the city, maybe the other is here too. Maybe even in the vault of one David Xanatos."

Giles scoffed. "I could just imagine it; good evening Mr. Xanatos, my gargoyle friend and I were wondering if we could borrow this priceless gold jewel in order to stop a dangerous vampire from possibly killing the one person strong enough to kill him, thus ringing in an era of an apocalypse."

"Why not?"

The response from Lexington wasn't what Giles had expected, his amused laughter faded out slightly. "Are you serious?"

"Come on." Lex said getting up. "I'll introduce you two."

"Come on, Brooklyn. Hurry up." Broadway whispered. "They're gonna spot us out here, I know it."

"Calm down big guy." Brooklyn said as he turned the knob on the door and pushed it open. "Oh well what do you know? The door's unlocked."

"Smells like a trap."

"That's what we're expecting ya big boob." Brooklyn said as he stepped through the door, Broadway entered behind him and quietly he closed the door behind him. "We're just here to give Buffy time, now follow me..."

"It's so quiet here, are we even sure they're here?"

There was a rumbling noise behind them, and Brooklyn turned to see a red light on the far wall flick to a green color. Suddenly, the floor dropped out from under them, and both were hurtled down into the darkness. The cold chill of metal slid along their backs as the tunnel impossibly withstood the two of them screeching fast downwards. "Brooklyyyyyn!" He could hear Broadway's voice mere seconds before the two of them collided faces before the shaft deposited them hard onto the ground of an incredibly dark room. Brooklyn letting a huff out as the massive Broadway landed on his back.

"Y'know... this has got to get old sometime." Brooklyn complained, giving himself a push up and rolling the larger gargoyle off of him.

"It's pretty dark in here." Broadway said.

"Yeah, no kidding. Here, see if we can find a light switch." As soon as he said that a light came on, slightly illuminating the passage. "Oh, great. Thanks." He said.

"That wasn't me." Broadway said confused as he and Brooklyn turned around to see that it wasn't a light that had come on, but one of the walls illuminating with a fiery red heat. Instantly the pair of them felt heat radiating off the wall in a wave that nearly knocked them off their feet.

"Oh, perfect."

"Hey, hey boss. They found the first trap." One of Dracon's men said with an amused laugh. "Oh it looks pretty painful!"

Dracon approached him and stared over the man's shoulder at the monitor displaying Brooklyn and Broadway backing away from the lit wall, raising their arms as an attempt to protect themselves. "Well, well. Looks like the cavalry arrived. You idiots might have grabbed the wrong "slayer" ...but at least with this bargaining chip, we've got these guys right where we want them."

"Not likely." Cordelia sneered from her chair behind him; prompting the gangster to turn around and look at her. "Buffy's dealt with more things than I can even count. You punks won't be any different."

"Oh, really? It's not like she's in a hurry to rescue her new friends, now is she? What makes you think you're even on her bucket list?" Cordelia was silent in her response. "Truth be told though, you don't look half bad. Maybe after all this is done we can have some dinner or something."

"Ugh god. As if!"

"What's the matter, sugar? Not into bad boys?"

Cordelia nodded. "Sure I can be, but it's so one-dimensional. You've got to have class, and I'm sorry to say you're neither. Not. Interested."

As she spoke, Dracon had moved closer to Cordelia until he was very near her face, bringing his foot up and resting it on the edge of the chair only made her try to pull her bindings away with a bit more effort. "Oh, I'm sure we can arrange for a change of heart. Unless of course you'd rather be a three-course meal for my buddy Nathaniel."

"Dracon..." A voice from the darkness sent a chill down his spine as he felt the vampire's fingers drum down his neck and pull him back. He turned to look Nathaniel in the face and he almost recoiled at the crimson red eyes glimmering back at him. "I for one do not like to play with my food. You keep an eye on our prisoners and as we agreed I won't turn you into a vampire to get you to listen to me, yes?"

"Sure." Dracon said after a brief moment deliberating if he thought it would be worth it to talk back to the vampire. He turned around and stared at the thug by the monitor. "Well what the hell are you staring at?" His voice trailed off as he looked past the man and at the monitor before rushing towards it. "Oh what the--what the?! Where are they!?" He exclaimed grabbing the monitor where the walls had been deactivated and the room was empty. "Glasses, where are the gargoyles?"

The man behind the opposing computer monitor was typing furiously into the machine. "They're not on my scanners, Tony. Tracking them now."

"Hurry up and find them!"

"Is there a problem?" Nathaniel hissed in frustration.

Dracon shook his head. "No, no we'll get them."

"Good. And still no sign of the Slayer either, so much for her friends."

Suddenly from above, there was the sound of glass shattering that prompted everyone to look up to see Buffy falling through the skylight landing in a heroic pose; she brought her hands up in an attack posture before wheeling around and kicking Nathaniel hard enough to send him through a nearby wall. "Oh, I don't know." She said. "They seem to be doing pretty good without me."

"Tony, they're running through the hotel halls. None of the traps are triggering!" Glasses exclaimed. "Something is overriding them!"

"Damn it! They must have a hotel key." Dracon surmised before running over to Glasses' side. "Reset the system, turn off access for all the keys not in this room.

"Got it."

Buffy freed Cordelia from her restraints and helped her to her feet. "Come on!" She said. "We've got to get out of--"

With a loud roar; Nathaniel emerged from the wall and pulled Buffy away, leaving Cordelia to turn and make her way out the door to make her way down toward the street while Dracon and Glasses rebooted the system, causing all the power in the building to momentarily flicker off, then back on again.

"Damn." Brooklyn said as he waved his key in front of the next sensor. "They must have shut down the power."

"That's good, isn't it?" Broadway asked. "It means we won."

"What happens when those traps reset and we're stuck in here with a key that no longer works, Broadway? We need to get out of here!"

"Uhh, Brooklyn? Does the room look like it's getting smaller to you?"

Brooklyn turned around to see that the wall had begun to slowly slide itself toward them. "Oh crap." He moaned in frustration.

Nathaniel chuckled as he approached Buffy. Standing at odds several feet apart in the adjoining hallway from the control room, the only lights filling the room were occasional blinks from surrounding control panels. "So, this is it." He said.

"Yeah." Buffy replied. "And I'm still waiting to be impressed."

"Oohhh." Nathaniel said as the gem around his neck flickered red as he approached. "Well then, allow me to show you something."

With a roar and a quick facial change into his demonic form, Nathaniel charged at Buffy. Swinging wide, Buffy was able to block the attack but she found her withdrawal difficult due to the confined space. She ducked under his arm and punched up into the man's armpit, making his body tighten up. She kicked right between his legs, as expected he let out a grunt of pain and she went to backhand him, he effortlessly caught her hand and drove a hard kick into her, sending Buffy flying backwards through the door several feet behind her. The metal clanging of her hitting the fire escape ladder rang in her ears before jumping back up to her feet. She saw him charging toward her and realized she needed to take him someplace where she'd have the room to move. Grabbing the ladder she swung toward him with a solid kick to the face before quickly climbing upward as he recovered. She could already feel the vibrations of his pursuit as he climbed up the stairs after her and she got to the roof with only a two second reprieve before he tackled her to the ground. She grunted and tried to force him off but he was much heavier than expected.

"Oh come now, Slayer. You know you like a vampire on top, isn't that the rumor?"

"You know what else is a rumor?" Buffy grunted. "The fact vampires don't all smell like corpses." She said as she finally reared back her head and struck him in the face, then kicked him square in the chest and knocked him back. Getting up, the pair faced each other once again.

Both of them charged at each other this time, and the collision was hard. The two bounced off one another as Nathaniel threw a punch, which she deftly dodged. She swung back, but she felt her fist get caught and quickly she countered that catch with a kick. He released, and the pair exchanged painful blows to the face. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and tried to snatch the jewel back, but she was unable to grab it as it looked like it had almost embedded itself into his skin. His eyes glowed a more brilliant shade of red and he snarled at her. "Nobody touches the dragon's eye." He spoke in a dark, deep voice that resembled growling than actual speech.

"Well I told you before, I'm not interested in grabbing your dragon's eye." She answered back cheekily before suddenly slamming a fist straight between his eyes and forcing him to release her.

Buffy kicked up hard into Nathaniel's abdomen and caused him to double over, she rolled across his back and served him another solid punch, uppercutting him backwards and sending him crashing into a chimney stack sticking through the top of the roof, howling out in pain as the metal he'd landed on penetrated his abdomen. "AHHHH!" He screamed. "I may be immortal, but it sure as hell hurts!"

"You're not immortal." Buffy said. "One way or another, I will find a way to destroy you."

"A cocky one, aren't you Slayer?"

"You're just now noticing this?"

With a snarl, Nathaniel began to move towards Buffy, only to be distracted by a sudden flood of light as a helicopter suddenly burst onto the scene out of nowhere. The vampire cried out in surprise and put his hands up to block out some of the lights as Giles appeared at the footing of the helicopter holding something in his hand.

"Buffy! Catch!" He shouted as he tossed the object down toward her. As she caught it, she saw the jewel she'd just caught flashed yellow. "Touch it to his, it'll cancel it out!"

Buffy looked back at Nathaniel, who passed a look of confusion toward her. "Hey you, dodge this." She said as she threw the jewel at Nathaniel.

Everything seemed to pass in slow motion for them as the yellow gem sailed across ten feet only for the vampire to catch it. He gloated momentarily before looking to see Buffy running at him, she grabbed his arm and forced the gem he was holding to touch the one around his neck. Letting out a cry of pain, she watched as the red gem began to tremble, to crack and eventually to turn to dust, vanishing from sight. Buffy wasted no time with her usual quips as she rushed him again, she sent a left hook flying across his face, which sent him staggering back. She ran up and kicked him square in the chest, which pushed him back further and with a final, powerful uppercut, she sent him flying backwards, exiting the roof in a glorious backwards swan dive straight down. He kicked in a vain attempt to slow his falling, which caused him to shatter a perfectly good window on his way down, and when he collided with the ground, his body came to a rest.

"Definitely seems a lot weaker." Buffy said.

"C-curse you... Slayer. I'll get you, I'll..." Nathaniel then noticed the glint of light reflecting off the shards of glass falling toward him and before he could even react with a scream a particularly lengthy line of glass slid through his neck in one fell swoop; decapitating him with the sheer force of the landing and his body evaporated.

Inside, Dracon was looking down when he saw Nathaniel slain and swallowed the lump in his throat as he took a step back. Glasses had already long since fled the scene before the police could arrive, so he was surprised as he stepped back and bumped into someone standing behind him. As he looked he saw Cordelia standing behind him with Brooklyn and Broadway behind her looming over him. "Ah... we can talk about this... right?"

Without missing a beat, Cordelia sent a fist right into Tony's face. He fell back out of surprise and collapsed onto the floor much to the gargoyles' surprise. "Nobody calls me "sugar"." She said over his unconscious form.

***

Dawn was approaching as the Gargoyles, Buffy, Giles and Cordelia all convened at the clock tower. As the others spoke inside, Buffy joined Brooklyn out on the balcony.

"So, you're leaving then?"

"Eventually." Buffy shrugged. "There's a lot of stuff at home I've got to sort out."

"But we made a pretty good team, I hope you come back to visit."

Buffy smiled politely and gave half a nod while saying "Not a chance. But it's good to know I've got some good friends here. And these good friends are doing good themselves."

"We've got a friend who's a lot like you." Brooklyn admitted. "I'll be sure to tell her about you when she gets back...if she gets back."

"Hey, if she's anything like me she'll find a way. Even if for some reason she has to find herself first." She shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe she's a potential slayer."

"Potential?"

Buffy smiled. "In all the world only one slayer is chosen. It doesn't mean only one is born."

Brooklyn chuckled. "I'll be sure to tell her that."

Moments later, the others emerged from the tower as the horizon began to illuminate with the impending daylight. "Where's Buffy?" Giles asked.

Brooklyn looked around to see that she had indeed vanished into the coming dawn and he let out a light chuckle. "Not sure, maybe she's headed home?"

"I'm not sure. But we'll hope so. Brooklyn, Hudson. Lexington, Broadway, it was a pleasure to meet the lot of you. And don't worry, your home is a secret with me."

"Me too." Cordelia chimed in. "Besides, I don't think my parents would have approved of me hanging out in a musty dusty old clock tower anyway."

"Thanks, lad. And if you're even in need of aid, we'll always be here."

"Speaking of aid. I guess we owe Xanatos." Lexington admitted. "But I'll have to tell him tomorrow that the jewel he spent seven million dollars on was destroyed along with the other one."

"Not necessarily. Once used, the power returns to the earth where it may surface for another one worthy to--" Giles' voice trailed off as he noticed the others staring at him. "Erm. Yes, probably best to tell him it was destroyed."

As the dawn came, the gargoyles returned to their stone sleep, leaving Giles and Cordelia alone on the balcony to face the sunrise. Dirtied and tired for the night before, Cordelia broke the silence. "Well, I don't know about you but I could use a long hot shower and a nice long sleep." She said

Giles smiled. "And for once, Cordelia...I couldn't agree with you more."

THE END