As they neared her house, Willow retrieved the chain from around her neck. It held a Star of David and the front door key. She unlocked the door and then put the chain back over her head. They entered and put the popcorn on the kitchen table and the video in the living room. "I need to check my e-mail first," said Willow "I'm a bit more wary of the people I come across since that business with Malcolm or whoever he was but there are some interesting people out there, so I like to check it just in case."

"Sure, go ahead," answered Buffy.

"Actually," Willow said turning back to Buffy. "I should teach you to use the 'net. It's really cool and it's definitely the 'in' thing at the moment."

"Sure, I'll give it a try. I'm not exactly likely to threaten your position as the Slayerette's resident computer expert," agreed Buffy.

"Right," said Willow. "Follow me." They went into Willow's room and booted up the computer. This time there was no e-mail for Willow. She always checked it regularly. Willow showed Buffy the basic way the Internet worked and then said, "I'll leave you to it for a bit while I cook the popcorn and put the video in."

"Okay," said Buffy, totally engrossed in looking at a site about the new Star Wars film.

Willow returned to the kitchen and put the popcorn in the microwave and started it cooking. Suddenly she heard a knock at the door. "So, Xander has decided to join us after all," she thought. She went to the front door and opened it. There was no-one there. "Strange," she thought and made the mistake of taking a step outside. The vampire that had been hiding flat against the wall of the house grabbed her and clapped his hand over her mouth as his companion rose from his hiding place. The vampires then gagged and tied her and one carried her over his shoulder to a van parked just around the corner. The other vampire attached a note to the porch where it could be seen from the open front door.

The vampire carrying Willow dumped her in the back of his van. As he tipped her off his shoulder, he suddenly felt a sharp burning pain in the side of his neck; the momentary pain made him just rub his neck and ignore it. He closed the doors to the back of the van and got into the front where his companion was ready to drive back to the warehouse, where Spike was living at the moment.

Buffy heard the "bleep" of the microwave and went to see if Willow had put the video on yet. She had told Willow to call her after the trailers, which Willow always insisted to watch. As she walked through the hall, she saw the front door was open and as she went towards it, she saw the note attached to the porch.

"Slayer," it read, "I felt our little fights so far have been unfair, you're not supposed to let your mom rescue you or suddenly become a Slayer again after being helpless. If you wish to see your friend again, you'll have to let us have a fair fight. Meet me in the warehouse. Spike

P.S. If you decide not to show I might just get hungry waiting for you."

"This is not good," thought Buffy, "I'd better call Giles." She went to the phone and dialled the librarian's number. There was no reply. "Miss Calendar must have asked him out on a date again, or maybe he actually managed to ask her this time, never mind, I'll have to go it alone," Buffy concluded.

In the warehouse, Spike was enjoying himself. "Hello Red," he said, as Willow was brought in. "You're lucky you're a friend of the Slayer, you know. Otherwise you'd just be a light snack. As her friend, you're far more valuable alive."

"Untie her and put her in the cage," he added to his minions. "But leave the gag on, Dru's resting and I can't have a hysterical girl screaming the place down. Not that you look like a screamer," Spike said, turning back to Willow and looking into her quite plainly terrified eyes. "But people can be unpredictable and Drusilla in an angry mood is not what I need just now."

Spike felt it unnecessary to hoist the cage into the air. Willow was too terrified to move much anyway as long as she knew she couldn't get out. She could quite plainly see that trying to bend the bars was beyond her strength, besides the fact that one of Spike's minions, who had carried her to the van, was standing on guard by her cage.

"Although it's an advantage when you're not patrolling in a car, it's bad news when you're in a hurry and you don't have a car," reflected Buffy as she ran through the streets of Sunnydale towards the warehouse. "It's a good thing there isn't a lot of this town, otherwise you could forget getting anywhere quickly on foot." As she approached the warehouse, she slowed down to catch her breath, not that she tired easily, being the Slayer, but she wanted to be as prepared as possible to face the undead. She pulled a stake out of her jacket pocket and checked the spare she had in her boot. As she carefully entered the warehouse and said, "Well, isn't this cosy, a little Spartan for my taste, but it has it's own charm."

"Mmmmmm!" mmmed a gagged Willow, trying her best to say that a vampire had dropped behind Buffy as soon as she had stepped into the warehouse. Buffy understood what she meant and did a back flip kicking the vampire in the face then plunged the stake she was carrying into his heart. As she withdrew it, she heard a voice from behind her.

"You have learned much," remarked Spike. Then he chuckled and added, "Young one."

"You'll find I'm full of surprises," replied Buffy.

"Your destiny lies with me, Slayer," continued Spike.

Suddenly Drusilla appeared from a doorway behind him and said, "Spike, what's going on? What are all these people doing here? I can sense the Slayer is near to me now."

"Continuing the theme, Drusilla, I recognized your foul stench as soon as I was brought on board," remarked Buffy.

"No-one insults my Dru like that and gets away with it. I'm going to enjoy this!" said Spike angrily as his face changed.

"I don't need my mom or the element of surprise to beat you, Spike," replied Buffy, readying her stake.

"Perhaps," answered Spike. "But this time we're on my turf, on my terms and I have the advantage. I also have your little friend as a snack afterwards."

"First you have to beat me, and at the school 'I was but a student so this time I am the master', well not *the* master, because I killed him, but I'm more than a match for you," Buffy answered him, tossing her stake from hand to hand.

Spike sprang forward catching the stake in mid air and collided with the Slayer hard enough to knock her on to her back. "You are unwise to lower your defenses," he remarked as he tossed the stake away. At that point, he fell to the ground as Buffy kicked his feet out from under him. Both combatants rose and Buffy kicked Spike in the chest and withdrew the spare stake from her boot in one smooth motion.

Having temporarily run out of clever quotes the two combatants closed and began battling in earnest.

The vampire guarding Willow's cage was watching the battle with interest. He moved to get a better view and in doing so obscured Willow's view of the fight. As he did so, she noticed a burn mark on the vampire's neck; a burn mark in the shape of the star on the chain around her neck. She realized that when the minion had dumped her in the van the star must have touched his neck. "Why did it leave a burn mark?" she wondered to herself. She remembered that as well as keeping them away crosses also burned vampires. The cross was a Christian symbol, why shouldn't the Jewish Star of David have the same effect for her?

Meanwhile the fight was going well for Spike. The Slayer, already having run across town was beginning to tire. "I'll have to finish this soon," she thought breathing hard. "Willow will die if I don't and we'll have lost everything we've fought for." As Spike kicked at her, she suddenly dropped to lie face down on the ground, rolled over and collided with his feet which tripped him up. The move was so unexpected that Spike was slow to react and Buffy managed to get her stake ready for the plunge into his heart. Just then she heard an anguished "Mmmm" from Willow.

"Let him go Slayer, or your friend gets it!" said the vampire, who had been standing guard over the cage. He had hauled Willow out of the cage and was now threatening her with a large knife held at her throat. Buffy reluctantly retreated from Spike giving him the chance to get up. The vampire lowered the knife but still kept his grip on Willow's hair. As soon as the knife was no longer at her throat, Willow grabbed her necklace and pressed the star against the hand that was holding her hair. The vampire howled and reflexively released her as he snatched his hand away. Willow ran for the door holding the star out to keep Drusilla back. After the burned vampire had recovered from the shock he chased after her. "Not bad for a little redhead, huh Spike?" said Buffy, as she delivered a crippling kick to Spike and ran out to help Willow against her pursuer. She found Willow, who backed away from the vampire and held her star in front of her. Buffy easily staked him from behind as he was concentrating on Willow. "Well Wills," said Buffy as they started the walk back to the house. "They're an undead rather than a Phantom Menace but you certainly bring a new meaning to the term Star Wars!"

Drusilla helped Spike get up from the floor where the Slayer's final kick had left him. As he put some weight on his injured leg he winced and said ruefully, "The force is strong in this one."