Kain grinned only as a devil could when he heard the story one of his fledglings told him, of the fight with the Slayer, of her battle technique. The pathetic creature was still holding the stub where its arm had been. Kain could only imagine the pain that coursed through its system. Though he enjoyed hearing of how the Slayer fought he could not bare to see this child in pain, so he proceeded to ease it.
    
Kain gave the fledgling a quick death by ripping its head clean off its malformed shoulders and watched as its body began to dissolve. Spike could do nothing at this point but hide in a corner and cower from this ancient evil. I'm beginning to wonder if this was a good idea after all. I mean, this guy has even less humanity than the Master did! Spike hated to admit it but this guy scared the crap out of him (and that wasn't easy to do).
    
He was also beginning to wonder just what it was that Kain was looking for. Ever since he "woke-up" he did nothing but try to make out maps of the surrounding area in a frantic state. Well, if it's got him in such a bunch, then it must be pretty damn important.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
        An apartment complex south of Sunnydale, Thursday, 7:37 PM.

    Everyone seemed pretty unnerved by the whole experience, particularly Buffy and Angel. Giles and Xander were both nervously searching for what demon it was that attacked, now that they had a better description of it. Oz was trying to comfort Willow; this creature scared her more than any vampire, werewolf, or devil that they had seen so far. And then there was Angel, trying to keep from making eye contact with Buffy. Instead he was watching outside the windows, he was certain that there was something else watching them during that fight but was unable to locate anything.
  
  "Well, I sure as hell can't find anything even close to 'Mr. Beauty-Contest'," said Xander as he put away the sixth old book on the demons of the world.
  
  "This is strange," said Giles, "The books I have here contain several references to demons of all kinds, but that particular one cannot be found."
  
  "That is because it is a 'demon' that you are already familiar with." Came a voice from the shadows.
    
At once, everyone in the room turned their heads to the darkness where the voice came from but could see nothing beyond the shadows.
  
  "Who said that?" Buffy yelled.

  "It is good to finally meet you, Slayer," This time the voice came from the other side of the room, "I have been pursuing you in hopes of gaining your alliance against our common foe."
    
Buffy tried to grab for where the voice came from but ended up empty handed.

  "You want my help, so why don't you just come out and say 'hello' instead of running from corner to corner," As Buffy said this she was reaching for her stake; she truthfully did not trust this voice, regardless of how harmless it sounded.

  "You need not be concerned for your safety, nor for the safety of your companions," there came a brief blur and the stake was knocked out of Buffy's hand, "And I truthfully expected more appreciation in return for my assistance the previous night."

    With that said, Buffy now knew to whom this voice belonged.

  "You were the one that saved me last night," she said.

  "And the one who was spying on her too!" Angel shouted.

  "And the one who kept you from sending yourself to the Abyss by combating me," The voice said from another corner.

  "Who are you?" Giles interrupted.

  "Silence mortal! I do not wish your assistance, only the Slayer's!" The voice shouted.

    Buffy took advantage of that little distraction and jumped at where the voice came from, this time she grabbed something. Using all of her strength she pulled the owner of the voice into the light of the room. She released her grip and everyone backed away when they saw the voice's owner.

    This... man... was much like the creatures that they had been fighting. He had the same talon shaped hands and feet and glowing eyes; only these were blue and not red. He had the posture of a normal human, but he had no skin or internal organs: as if they it had all been burned away. The muscle that covered his body was a blue tint rather than traditional crimson. He wore tattered cloth over his arms and over the lower half of his face. And on his back were two skin flaps that must have been twice his arm length, but they looked like something was ripped out of them.

    The man-creature stood up and looked around at the group. His eyes came to rest upon Buffy and he seemed to just stare at her. Angel, a little content with how this deformity was looking at Buffy, made the first move.

  "Al right pal, who are you and what do you want?!" He nearly yelled.

    The man-creature turned and walked to him then got right in Angel's face; the glowing blue eyes seemed to emit a strange, blue energy mist.

  "You know well that I could send this soul of yours to the tortures of the Abyss, do you not? And yet, you continue to challenge me. This persistence of yours could prove useful in future time." It responded, "Very well, I have already stated what I desire; the Slayer's assistance."

  "Assistance with what?" Buffy asked.

  "With destroying Kain."

    Everyone looked at each other in befuddlement.

  "How do you know about that? Better yet, what do know about him that could be of use to us?" Giles asked

  "I know of Kain because I exist again," It answered, "and I do believe that the first born 'son' of Kain would know a great deal about him. My name is Raziel."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
        An apartment complex south of Sunnydale, Thursday, 8:03 PM

        This Raziel character began acting very unnerved recently, and he had good reason to as well. Giles and the others had told him of what had happened to the empire of his past. Throughout the entire night he and Angel seemed to butt heads about anything and everything. But now it was time for them to ask the questions.

  "Ok Raziel, why don't you start by telling us what these creatures are that have been attacking us?" Xander asked.

  "I assumed that you would already know, Kain has been risen and those are his minions." He responded.

  "That's what we were afraid of." Said Giles.

  "Then how about telling us about why you want to kill Kain and not side with him, if you are his 'son'." Angel demanded.

    Raziel let out a labored sigh and spoke. "I suppose I should begin with my motive: I am the first born of His lieutenants, I stood with Kain my brethren at the dawn of the empire and served him for over a millennium. Over time, our gift would continue to evolve; we became less human and more... divine... Kain would always enter the state of Change first and emerge with a new gift. Some years after the Master our evolution would follow, until I had the audacity to change before our lord. I grew wings! I presented my newfound gift to Kain and for my transgression I earned new kind of reward... agony! Kain had ripped my wings asunder and now these tatters are all that is left of them. As punishment for my 'treason', I was to suffer the fate of traitors and weaklings, and was to burn forever in bowels of the Lake of the Dead! To us the touch of water is agony, and in my fate I tumbled and burned through the liquid fire: time ceased to exist, only the torture and a deepening hatred of the hypocrisy that damned me to that Hell! An eternity had passed and my torment receded, bringing me back from the oppressiveness of madness. My decent through the Abyss had destroyed me, and yet... I lived! I awoke in the forest not just two days ago with little memory of my former existence, when my mind was cleared, I remembered all and I decided to seek your help in destroying Kain."

  "That seems a bit far-fetched, don't ya think? I mean, you're telling us that you were killed almost a thousand years ago and then you just appeared in the woods?" Angel questioned.

  "It is simply the truth, vampire!" Raziel shot back.

  "Why don't we worry about that later, Angel, okay?" said Buffy. She then turned to Raziel, "Tell us more about these 'vampires'."

  "What do you wish to know?"

  "Like, why they're all deformed and what we can use to kill them." Xander asked.

  "I have already told you this; the 'Gift' would continue to evolve and we would grow stronger with each 'Change'." Raziel said rather irritated.

  "I don't understand, what do mean 'Change'?" asked Willow.

  "Our vampiric gift would evolve, our bodies would change and we became different than what we were, but we would always be stronger."

  "So then why does your 'Gift' evolve in the first place? The vampires that we've killed in the past never did anything like that." Buffy said.

  "The answer is in front of you, our blood is stronger; we carried more of the curse than any of the others," Raziel then turned to Angel, "Even yourself... vampire."

    Angel was angered by this remark. He did not trust this "ally" any farther than he... well a normal human... could throw him.

  "Okay, what are some ways to kill them? The other night I drove a stake right into one of those things heart and that just pissed-it-off, is the heart not the bulls-eye on them?" Buffy said.

  "You are incorrect. We... they... are still killed from wounds to the heart. However, our ... their ... blood heals much faster than the weaker vampires, I told you in the woods that they must be entirely impaled through the heart. They are unable to heal where their flesh cannot meet." Said Raziel.

  "There's also water, that was like acid to them." Willow said.

    Raziel seemed to cringe at the sound of the word "water" and began to hold his arms, as if he were remembering an ancient pain.

  "Yes, water... as I said, we carried the curse far stronger than the fledglings of these centuries. As we were the beings that gave nothing but death, we were harmed by all that gave life: sunlight burned the flesh and water seared like acid." Raziel explained.

  "So just what happened to you, then?" Angel questioned angrily, "You said before that you were thrown into a lake and was in there for almost an eternity. According to your weaknesses you should have died centuries ago and yet here you stand! How do you expect us to believe anything you say about yourself?! How do we know that this isn't some trick sent by Kai-"

    Angel was abruptly cut off as Raziel leaped at him and pinned him against the wall with more inhuman strength than Angel had witnessed in his unlifetime. Angel tried to break free of Raziel's grip but had little success.

  "I grow weary of your impertinence, vampire!" yelled Raziel

    In defense of her former lover, Buffy leaped at Raziel and drove her stake into his arm. Raziel let out a gruff noise and pulled the stake out of him. This gave Angel enough time to break free and back away with Buffy. The wound on Raziel's arm was a gapping hole with strange blue and green mists flowing through it. His injury began to heal quickly, but everyone could hear something from inside the wound: it was the sound of dead souls screaming in pain and agony.

  "Whoa, that was weird." Oz said stoically.

  "Okay, so it wasn't just me who saw that right?" said Xander.

  "What are you?" demanded Angel.

  "But... I thought you were one of them." Said Buffy.

  "No, I am something else, and something far more dangerous." Raziel said.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
        Outside Sunnydale cemetery, Thursday, 11:05 PM

    "And so... the hunt begins." Said Kain as he and his vampires stepped out of the crypt and into the cool night sky.

    Spike walked out of the crypt behind Kain and the others, he was at the very least trying to keep from angering Kain.

  "So, uh, what are we out here for?" Spike asked.

    Kain turned and walked over to Spike. He put his hand on Spike's shoulder and squeezed until he heard bones snapping.

  "We are looking for it." Kain said.

  "Aaggrrh, looking for ... aaggrrh ... what?" Spike said under the pain.

    Kain squeezed harder but he did not look like he was trying at all. He let go as soon as he heard Spike's arm dislocate from its socket.

  "You will know it when you find it," he said, "Now, it is somewhere in this area."

    Kain threw one of the maps to Spike and began to walk away and divide his vampires into groups. Spike looked at the map and was shocked. The area on the map was circled in blood, but it was also near, Well I'll God damned. It's right next to Buffy and The Slayerettes' college.

    As Spike came back into the group around Kain, he was able to barely hear what Kain had said to his vampires just before they split up: "We must find it before He realizes where it is."

    ...He? Who is He? Spike asked himself.