The pain shot like lightening and Cordelia collapsed at her desk.

"Oh god...oh god." she rubbed her eyes and tried to remember where the hell she was. It was all coming back in lumps and clumps. "Oh god... The men... THE MEN! CASSIDY!!"

Hearing her screams Xander rushed in. He held her shaking body, trying to buffer her. She felt him kiss her hair and whisper soothing words but her brain was wired, trying to decipher what she had seen. She groped for the phone, and with her eyes closed, still concentrating on what was left of the images, started to dial.

**************

Cass leaned back in her chair till Spike was upside-down. She watched him that way, surrounded by books, even though she could feel her blood pulse loudly in her ears.

"What are you doing, pet?" he asked eventually, having realised that he couldn't hear her typing.

"Nothing." Cass swung her arms over her head, grazing her fingers along the floorboards. "Do you fancy going out tonight?" she asked, hopefully. "Raucous noise, alcoholic beverages... it could be fun."

Minutes later Spike was showering and Cass, already towel-wrapped was routing through wardrobes. Nothing caught her eye except...

She clumped through to the tiny bathroom and stomped about. "How do you wear these?" she asked, lifting each leg to test the weight of his boots. "It's like you're not human." she added, mock seriously.

Spike stood in the empty bath, drying off. "And you'd prefer me to wear...?"

"Brogues!" Cass cut in. "Brown ones. With tassels. You'd look ever so smart."

"Pervert." he growled.

"I know," Cass said over her shoulder, as she skip-clumped out of the room. "I'm sick!"

**************

The club was thick with bodies. The music pounded, people thrashed, and already parts of the floor were slippery. Cass finished her second drink and threw herself into the crowd. Grinning at no-one in particular, she recognised the song that was playing and started to dance. Spike watched her from where they had been standing, a bottle of beer held loosely by his side.

As the song broke slightly the lights flickered and charged, bathing the club in a blue glow. Spike could make out the shake of her hair, catch glimpses of an arm flailing skywards, as she bounced and spun.

The club was fast becoming their regular. It was big, noisy, and played the sort of tunes that were maybe two generations on from punk; the stuff that influenced the people, who influenced the people who packed out the hippest places in the city. You were guaranteed a Beastie Boys whine or, as was playing at that moment, a Prodigy stomp. It met both Spike and Cass' tastes and gave them plenty of room to get lost.

Spike chugged down his beer and stalked his way into the throng to join her.

**************

The gang convened in Giles and Jenny's lounge. The flurry of calls had turned into panicked drives and hushed words. No-one had managed to get through to London, or rather frantic messages had been left, but neither Cass not Spike had actually been spoken to.

"Her phone's off." shouted Buffy from the kitchenette. "I couldn't even get onto the messaging service."

"I'm mailing her pager." called back Jenny, her fingers moving over the keyboard at lightening speed.

Giles and Xander sat either side of Cordelia on the green sofa, trying to work out what the hell she had actually seen.

"They were men... big men!" Cordy said, gesturing.

"Do you have any idea who they were?" asked Giles. He looked pale, like everyone else, and felt sick in his stomach. How could he have let her go so far away?

"No." replied Cordy, quietly. "It was all a blur. But it's safe to say they were pretty mean looking."

"Did you see Cass or Spike?" Xander asked, stroking Cordy's hair, trying to calm her.

"Not clearly, but I know wherever they are it is dark... and they are in danger." She clutched Xander's hand and looked at Giles with frightened eyes. "The men, Giles. They were human."

Jenny bit her lip and turned to Willow who was sitting with Oz behind a growing pile of open tomes. "Is there anything we can do?" she asked.

Willow wrinkled her forehead. "I'm not sure." she said, slowly. "I mean they're far away. We're talking serious magik. Even together I'm not sure we can affect things half way around the world."

Oz looked up from his book. "What if we look for something Cass could do herself?"

"If we can get in touch with her." Xander replied.

"We keep looking." said Jenny, slowly. Her gaze locked on Giles'. "There has to be something."

**************

A dirty funk track had the crowd in a frenzy and in the midst of it all were Spike and Cassidy. He gripped the small of her back with one hand, their hips and eyes locked. Cass pressed her damp forehead against his pale one, and kissed his nose lightly as they grooved. She ran her fingers up through her hair, stretching them towards the ceiling then let them float down, and settle around his neck.

In her bag, in the corner of the cloakroom, her pager buzzed and stuttered. On the balcony dark figures converged and watched the crowd.

Cass lead Spike by the hand into the ?chill-out room' at the back of the club. It had a separate bar, good tunes, very little light and soft cushions. It was one of her favourite places. Spike flopped into a chair and Cass slid on to his knee. She rested her head on his shoulder.

"Tired, love?" asked Spike, staring at Cass' closed eyes.

She shook her head. "Nah, just comfy." she said, half-opening an eye and gently brushed her lips against his. "Having fun?" her voice was now a whisper down his throat. They relaxed into a lazy kiss, his hands tangled in her hair, her fingers tracing the edge of his shirt.

**************

Giles looked beyond the page and thought about his daughter. If he closed his eyes he could see her laugh. He could vividly remember when she learnt to walk, to swim, to ride her bike. He remembered the first time he held her. How frightened she had made him, despite everything; watching her yawn like she didn't have a care in the world. And he remembered watching her leave, believing she would return in a few weeks, then realising that she couldn't.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Buffy standing beside him. "She will be fine." she said, quietly. "There isn't much that we all didn't try to teach her. She's not stupid, and neither is Spike, though I'll deny I ever said that." she smiled slightly and squeezed his shoulder gently. "We were told about this for a reason, Giles. We just need to figure out why."

Cordelia looked at the paper in front of her and adjusted the image again. She couldn't work out what it actually was but the final part of the vision had included a flash of it. She showed it to Jenny.

"Do you know what this could be?"

Jenny stared at the drawing, then picked it up and carried it through to Giles and Buffy. "Have either of you seen this before?" she asked. "Cordelia saw it but I can't place it."

Buffy fazed out of a second then snapped her head up. "I need to check something but I think this could be their best hope." she turned to Jenny. "You're going to have to change your message to Cass, fast. I won't be long." and she grabbed a box of old computer disks..

***************

Cass found the damp, screwed up ticket at the bottom of her back pocket. She smoothed it out and slid it across the counter to the assistant, who routed around for a few minutes then produced her bag and coat. Cass grabbed them and went to find Spike, who was smoking in the pre dusk morning. She held her bag between her knees while she put on her coat, and Spike watched as she froze, in mid flow, dropped her bag to the floor and began to frantically scrabble through it.

"What is it?" asked Spike, drawing on his fag, a puzzled look on his face.

"Buzz." replied Cass, not looking up. She grabbed the pager and held it close to her face. There was a huge scroll of messages from her mother, at fifteen minute intervals throughout the night. The last eight each said the same thing. *Cordy says: keep safe, hold prong*

"Cass, what is it?" Spike repeated, crushing the end of his cigarette with his boot. "What the hell does it say?"

"Trouble's coming." said Cass quietly. "And I don't we're going to have to wait long." She was no longer looking at Spike, or the pager, but beyond them, at the figures stood at the end of the alley way. The club crowd had rapidly thinned out and the place suddenly felt eerily quiet. "I don't thing you get to play." she continued slowly. "And I'm guess that was deliberate."

She left her bag on the ground and, watching the men move steadily towards them, pulled a small object from the waist band of her jeans. Spike watched her, his eyes pale against what was left of the moonlight. He didn't want her to fight but didn't have much choice.

Before the men got too close Cassidy hissed. "Don't try and go for them, promise me, Spike? If anything happens I need you to get away. You have to destroy everything. They can't know what we know."

"I'm not leaving you." Spike replied, flatly.

"You have to!" said Cass, trying to control her breathing. "You can't get me out of this but you can protect what we know."

As the thugs got closer Cass raised the object and pointed it at them. She could feel her breath quicken. It didn't feel real, like she was in another body, that it wasn't really happening to her. The men were huge. They looked like they were made purely of muscle and gristle, forced into human-shape moulds. They were obviously heavy duty, and hired. She fixed her eyes on the nearest one, not daring to look around, to look at Spike.

"Back off." Cass said, trying to keep her voice even.

The hulk looked at the object in her hand and smirked.

"I said, back off." she repeated, louder.

"Do what the lady says, fellas." said Spike, his head down.

The men looked the two of them up and down, and one spat " Oh shut it Vampire. Don't make me start on you."

Cass could feel her blood begin to boil. They did know who they were. They knew about Spike. They were going to take them down without a second thought. She looked at the thing in her out-stretched hand. Not without a fight.

"You don't want to see this go off." she said, inching her leg backwards to brace herself.

"You're human, little girl. I think you and your Vamp boyfriend are a little out of your depth here." the hulk replied. "I don't think you should be threatening us. You might make us angry."

He stepped forward, Cass squeezed the trigger, and suddenly the hulk wasn't there anymore. A shock of blue had propelled him against the nearest wall, a good twelve feet away.

Cass and Spike stared, first at the prong in her hand, then at the unconscious thug, squished slightly against the wall.

The other two men looked at their companion, then at the prong, and then at the girl holding it. She looked different.

"Or maybe you do." she said, her voice more confident. "You see, I was having a nice night and I don't intend to have it ruined by you." she paused. "So BACK OFF!"

The two remaining thugs looked at each other, shrugged and stepped forwards. Cass threw herself on the ground, avoiding the opening blow and pressed the tip of the prong against the man's leg. He pulled back slightly, and Cassidy managed to avoid a kick to the head, though his boot grazed her cheek.. She could her Spike being repeatedly punched somewhere behind her and prayed that we wouldn't loose it and end up hurting himself. She watched the leg swing back for another go and grabbed on to the cuff of his trousers, jabbing the prong against the soft flesh beneath it and squeezing the trigger.

The thug spasmed and twitched as the shock ran up his leg. Cass rolled free, watching his knees buckle beneath him as he hit the floor hard.

She jumped to her feet and scanned around for Spike. He was taking quite a beating, but was resisting the urge to fight back. He was also drawing the last thug away from Cass.

Cass looked down at the prong. She wasn't sure exactly how long in was going to last. It already felt warmer in her hands. She wracked her brains wildly for an alternative. If Spike lost it and hit out at his attacker she knew he could end up knocking himself out. She needed to keep him awake if the two of them were to get away.

"Hey." Cass called out to the remaining goon. "Try fighting someone who can fight back!"

He picked Spike up by the collar of his jacket and threw him against the wall, then turned to face Cassidy. Through the scars she could see eyes that viewed her like vermin. She was just a mess that needed cleaning up.

"Now, now pretty," he said moving towards her. "Getting lonely over there?"

She held out the prong and watched in horror as it spluttered and died in her hands. Instinctively she grabbed the front of the thugs clothes, and tried to propel him over her shoulder, using his own weight against him. As he fell he grabbed on to her and pulled her over with him. She was locked against his chest and could feel his grip tighten. She kicked out, and watched in horror as Spike got up and tore towards them.

Cass could feel the air being forced from her lungs and hear the mutter of laughter.

"You're a feisty little bitch." he whispered, against her ear as she struggled, "but you're stupid."

Cass froze. It was not meant to end this way. She closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts. A tiny voice in the back of her head started muttering, and Cass felt that if she opened her mouth wide enough it might leave her as a roar.

"Goddess Hekitae..." she said, as the energy began to circle the two of them. "Work thy will," The air began to crackle and Cassidy started to shake. Her eyes were dark, her voice clear against the cold. "Before you let the unclean thing crawl!"

She jabbed her fingers into the flesh that engulfed her and felt her power drain. The energy pulsed bright orange, and faded as quickly as it had appeared. Cass hit the ground hard and felt the squish of fur beneath her. She felt exhausted, and sick, and was breathing hard.

Spike ran forwards and crouched down beside her. He pushed the hair away from her damp skin and stared into his eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked, running his finger along the graze across her cheek. His touch cooled the sore skin.

Cass looked wildly about. "Did I do what I think I just did?" she asked in a near whisper.

"Yeah," he said, looking around them. "They are either knocked out..." he gestured to the two dark masses. "... or in no fit state to fight." he peeled her off what was left of her attacker and helped her to her feet, pulling her into a hug. She clung to his coat and tried to feel less ill.

"What the hell was that thing?" Spike asked, looking at what remained of the prong.

"Can I tell you when we get home?" Cass asked. "I don't want to be here when they come round. And I feel like..."

**************

"So what is a prong?" asked Cordelia, sipping her coffee. Only seven hours had passed since the vision had hit but everyone was exhausted.

"It was an idea I sent Cass when she arrived in London." replied Buffy, tucking into a donut from the large box on the table. "Giles was cataloguing some notes he made years ago, about the weapons the Initiative used to use. I thought something similar might keep Cass safe on the streets so I told her a bit about it."

"And when it came up in the vision..." prompted Xander.

"You knew she must have actually made it." finished Jenny, looking up at Giles with tired eyes.

"No." replied Buffy. "I just hope that she had."

"Thank god she's safe." said Giles quietly, holding his wife's hand.

***************

Cass lay on her back and stared at the stars on her ceiling. Her clothes were in a pile on the floor. She didn't want to look at them, at the blood. Her face was bruised, where the boot had hit her cheek, and her ribs were sore.

"We can't stay here much longer." she said, turning her head, and staring into Spike's grey eyes. "There are two many records. We're too easy to find."

"There are places..." replied Spike sucking on his teeth. "I'll show you them. But later." He pulled her into a hug, and felt her limbs tangle with his own. "We are safe for now, and you need to sleep, pet."

He brought his lips close to her ear. "You were wild." he whispered, and kissed the edge of her jaw.

HOME