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Xander approached the back of the warehouse at a steady run. He quickly spotted the vampire by the rear door and the crow circling above found the two vampires standing guard on the roof. Not even slowing his pace, Xander reached in his pocket for a stake he had taken from the apartment. The vampire was lazily leaning against the wall of the warehouse and was too slow in spotting the black figure coming out of the night. Before the vampire could stand up straight Xander pinned him to the wall with one forearm under the chin and staked him with his other hand.
Scanning the area, Xander found the ladder leading to the roof. He walked over and started climbing. As he neared the top he saw one of the vampire guards passing the ladder. In a rush, Xander was over the top and tackled the vampire. Totally surprised, the vampire fell to the roof with Xander on top of him. Before the vampire could react, Xander slammed a stake home into its heart, turning it to dust.
The second guard saw his companion go down with the black form on top of him and turn to dust. When the intruder rose to his feet the vampire recognized the young man he had helped to kill a year ago. “So you’re the messenger that loser was talking about. You are a persistent one aren’t you?”
The crow settled on the edge of the blacked out skylight between the two adversaries and watched. Xander acknowledged the vampire with a nod of his head and started walking silently toward the third target of his vengeance. The vampire hesitated for a moment and then closed the distance with a rush. Xander easily stepped out of the way and tripped the demon as it sped past him. The surprised vampire landed spread eagle on the roof and skidded to a stop.
It rolled over, sat up and looked at Xander shocked that it had missed. Mortals were not supposed to be able to do that. Now the damn boy stood by the skylight, grinning, feet spread apart, and beckoned it to come on with one hand. Getting up, the vampire advanced on Xander, cautiously this time, looking for tricks. It threw one fist at Xander’s face that he simply bobbed his head to avoid. The vampire followed through with a roundhouse punch that should have taken off Xander’s head but he blocked it with a simple slap of his palm. When the vampire next tried to kick him, Xander caught its leg and dumped it back on the roof.
His face a mask of fury, Xander was on top of the vampire, planting one knee in the demon’s gut and grabbing a fistful of hair. Xander released his rage, pounding the vampire’s face into a pulp and knocking it senseless. When Xander was satisfied with the damage, he stood and pulled the vampire up to a standing position. He held the weaving vampire steady with one hand and slapped its face lightly with the other until a look of coherence returned to the demon’s eyes. He pulled the vampire close and growled, “Don’t worry, I’m going to kill you, but I need you to announce my entrance first.” Then he picked the vampire up over his head and tossed it into the skylight.
Thanatos waited in the old warehouse lost in his thoughts. As he leaned against an old desk he decided that the squad he had sent to ambush the Slayer was not coming back. He knew it was a suicide mission when he sent them, but a few casualties were acceptable if it weakened the Slayer. Besides, after tonight he would have a free rein in this ripe little city. “Yes,” he said aloud to himself, “it is time to end this campaign and get on with larger plans.”
He looked around at his small assemblage of troops. He only had eleven survivors of this little war now, but these were his best. Four of them were outside on guard right now. The Slayer would definitely be getting a warm welcome. The first warning he had that something was wrong was the sound of breaking glass.
Thanatos looked up as the blacked out skylight shattered inward and his last surviving comrade from that night in the alley came crashing down toward the concrete floor, landing on his back with a sickening crunch. A crow flew in and landed on one of the ceiling girders. It was soon followed by a dark figure falling in feet first.
Xander landed on the balls of his feet then bent his knees and touched one hand down to the floor to stop his momentum, his black jacket billowing around him and then settling. He stood up in a fluid motion, pulled a stake from a pocket, walked over to the prostrate vampire and staked it before it could move. He pointed at Thanatos while all the vampires stared. “Now there’s just you left, Thanatos. I’m here to collect my bill and you owe me big time.”
Thanatos studied the figure in front of him. Tall, thin, pale and scarred and dressed in torn black clothing and a bloody bandage, Xander looked like a gothic scarecrow to the vampire. “Damn, boy. You sure are hard to kill, but who do you think you are coming in here like this?” He pointed at the dust that used to be a vampire. “It took me twenty years to find a lieutenant as good as him.”
Xander looked at himself and said mockingly, “Death, of course. I get all dressed up for Halloween and people still don’t figure out my costume.”
Just then the door at the front of the warehouse burst inward and the vampire that had been on guard out front stepped through. He started to yell and then burst into a cloud of dust as Buffy pulled her stake out his back. “Knock, knock,” she said as she stepped in. Giles and Willow followed and fanned out to her left and right. “Is this a private party or can anyone join in.”
Thanatos looked toward the Slayer and then said, “Enough of this. The rest of you take the Slayer. This boy and I have unfinished business.”
With that order the remaining seven vampires rushed at the Slayer and her companions. Buffy released a year’s worth of pent up fury and started going through them like a scythe through stalks of wheat.
Xander and Thanatos concentrated on each other. They met halfway and Thanatos started punching Xander with everything he had. Xander waded into the vampire, trading blows, leaning into the punishment, wincing only when the vampire managed to hit his bandaged shoulder. When Thanatos stopped and stared in amazement at the lack of effect he was having, Xander grabbed the vampire’s head and pulled it down to meet his knee. The vampire’s nose crunched in a spray of blood and he reeled backward. Xander followed him, grabbed the front of the vampire’s shirt and lifted him off the ground. Xander coldly whispered, “Do you know what it feels like to be helpless while everything around you crumbles?” Then he threw the vampire away from him.
Thanatos landed on his back in the middle of the old desk and it crumpled under him. He shook his head to clear it. He had lasted too long as a mercenary and a vampire to be brought down by this punk. He watched as Xander stalked toward him and zeroed in on the bandage.
When Xander was a step away Thanatos came up off of the desk and clamped his hand on Xander’s shoulder, digging his thumb into the wound. Xander screamed in pain and stepped back. The crow dove screeching from its perch in defense of its charge and flapped its wings in the vampire’s face, clawing and pecking at its face and eyes. Thanatos raised his hands to fend off the bird. He grabbed the crow by one of its wings, heard the bones snap and flung the bird away. The crow hopped away dragging a wing.
When the bird’s wing was broken, Xander stumbled and went to one knee. Thanatos saw his chance. “Oh, so my back from the grave friend does have a weakness,” he said. He reached down low and hit Xander with an uppercut sending him sprawling on his back. Then the vampire walked over and kicked Xander in the gut, making him double up. Then Thanatos kicked him in the head knocking him senseless.
Across the warehouse Willow watched in horror the fight between Xander and Thanatos. When Thanatos broke the crow’s wing and Xander stumbled, she immediately understood. The bird was not just Xander’s guide but his link to the power that brought him back. Without pausing to think, Willow took off running for the bird.
Giles saw Willow start running and yelled, “Willow, no!” as he raised the crossbow he had brought with him and took aim.
Willow ducked the vampire just as it exploded with Giles’s crossbow bolt in its heart. Focusing on the crow she caught up to it in what just seemed a second and scooped it up in her arms. When she turned around she was confronted with an angry and bloody Thanatos.
When Thanatos thought he had Xander down for the count he knew if he destroyed the bird the boy would be easy after that. He turned away from Xander to get the bird and found the little witch holding it and glaring at him. “Give me the bird, girl!” he yelled at her.
“No,” Willow said defiantly, shielding the crow from the vampire. “I won’t let you kill him again!”
“Okay,” the vampire growled. “I’ll kill you and then the bird.” Then he heard the distinctive sound of the hammer on a pistol being cocked back. He turned and saw Xander up on his knees, blood running from his shoulder and his mouth, pointing old man Smith’s Colt .45 service revolver at him. “What do you think you’re going to do with that, boy?” he asked and laughed. “Kill me?”
“No,” Xander cruelly replied, “I’m going to hurt you.” He lowered his aim and pulled the trigger. The old pistol fired and the bullet tore into Thanatos’s leg just above his knee. Xander cocked the pistol and fired again hitting the vampire in the left shoulder, staggering him backwards. Xander cocked the pistol again, aimed higher and fired. A hole the size of a dime blossomed on the vampire’s forehead and he fell on his back.
Xander stood up, dropping the pistol and pulling the knife from his belt. He walked to the vampire and in one motion dropped to one knee and brought the knife down on the demon’s other shoulder, driving it through skin, muscle and bone into the concrete, pinning the vampire to the floor. The vampire screamed and Xander’s soul rejoiced.
He stood and walked over to the desk. He ripped off one of the metal legs and returned to Thanatos. He began beating the vampire, using the desk leg as a cudgel. Every time he swung the leg down he screamed in anger and sorrow.
Giles, one sleeve of his jacket ripped, moved over beside Willow and put his arm around her, trying to shield her. Willow winced with each blow on the vampire, but did not turn away, determined to watch her friend. Buffy, having finished with the remaining vampires and watching Xander, walked up behind him with a slight limp. She put her hand on his shoulder to stop his next swing. When Xander looked at her she said quietly, “You’ve won Xander. End it.” She held her hand out offering him the stake.
He took the stake and dropped to his knees. As he raised the stake above his head Thanatos opened his eyes and screamed, “Nooooooo!” Xander thrust the stake down through the vampire’s heart and it was finally over.
Xander sat back and looked up at his three friends. “I’m so tired. Could you guys help me out of here? I’ve had a rough day.” Buffy and Giles helped him up and Willow moved to his side, putting one arm around his waist and holding the crow with the other. They all headed for the door. As the dust blew away, the only evidence of the night’s carnage was the broken skylight and the crushed desk.
When they stepped outside into the night air, Xander turned to Willow and took the crow from her hands, lifting it up to his left shoulder. The crow’s broken wing hung down covering the bandage on Xander’s shoulder. Xander looked at his friend, feeling the sorrow, the only emotion he had left. But he knew he could rest soon. “It’s over. I have to go now, Will.”
“I know,” she said, crying and smiling. “I’ll still miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too, Will,” he said. He put his hand behind her head and pulled her close to him, kissing her on the forehead. “See you on the other side.”
When he turned to Buffy she simply pulled him close and hugged him tight. Then she pushed him away to arms length to get one last look at her friend and tried to smile. He smiled back.
Giles put his hand on Xander’s shoulder and said, “Safe journey.” Xander nodded and turned away. His three friends watched him walk past the end of the warehouse into the light of a street lamp, listening to his footsteps.
Buffy and Giles were about to turn away when Willow stopped them. “Guys. Look,” she said. As Xander entered the pool of light a young woman with brown hair walked up to meet him. Xander smiled and offered his arm to Anya. She took it and laid her head on his shoulder. As Willow, Buffy and Giles watched, the two souls walked out of the light and the sound of their footsteps disappeared.
If God be willing
There is a train that’s heading straight
To Heaven’s gate, to Heaven’s gate
And on the way
Child and man and woman wait
Watch and wait
For redemption day
-------Sheryl Crow