I've got to admit, Deborah, I liked it better before the Slayer got pulled into it. Emma could have routed them all by herself. OK, with a little help from Crispin. And I'm thinking Spike would have been just a touch more "Bring on the Slayer! I've already munched one, I can take another!"

She did. No Slayer visiting or involvement; she's just a threat to scare Ethan into behaving himself. And the mention was needed; getting the gen on her was the reason Spike came to Oxford. He's a smart boy.

more:

"Blast." Crispin, his face indistinct in the summer night, sounded glum. "I really wanted to bring those two down, and instead? I let them both get clean away. Fine demon hunter I am."

"Demon hunter? Crispin, you rogue!" She saw the slump of his shoulders, and remembered that, no matter her perception of him, he was rising sixty-four years old. "Come on, let's go back in and deal with our cheeky little sorcerer. You're going to tell me all about this demon hunter thing of yours, make no mistake. I can't believe I've just met a pair of genuine vampires. Vampires with friends, no less; I wonder who was driving the milk flo- oh, bloody hell!"

They stared at each other in consternation for a second before both turning back to Number 17 at high speed.

They were too late. A section of the pentagram had been smudged by Ethan's heels as he slipped out. The girl was gone, as well; whether she'd woken up and wandered away on her own, or had been taken away by Ethan, she was no longer on the path. Whatever she was doing was likely to raise some brows, however, since her shirt was precisely where they'd left it.

No Slayer visiting or involvement; she's just a threat to scare Ethan into behaving himself.

I got that, but even the mention threw me. Possibly a little too self-referential.

Well, I kinda like my bit of sixties Oxford as it is; after all, none of this is publishable, or even canon (I mean, Avengers meets Buffy?) This is purely a giftie for Fay. So I think I'll keep as is, unless there's a lot of negative feedback. In and out again go Spike and Dru. Besides, I want them fleeing town on a milk float, as an homage to the original series, which I love.

So much more fun than having a souled Angel brooding away in the back garden at Number 17.

Wow, this was fun to read. Love the drabbles, kat, ita, deb, and anyone I forgot. Oh, and plei, though I think I said so already. Loved the continuations Connie and Deb.

It really wasn't, uh, work-appropriate, you know? Heh.

No, shrift, it wasn't, which made me very happy when I got home.

Connie, I love the take on Willow you've got going. This, though:

"There are so many of them," Willow whispered.

"I guess she's a big eater," Xander shrugged.

Manoman, would he really be that cruel? Tara's in a bed across the way, having suffered the same thing as the people he just dissed. And he loves Willow, and Willow loves Tara.

And here (thank Jah) is the end of it. How it got to push 7000 words, I don't know.

But I may revisit this, all or most of the characters, in future.

• * *

"I'm not saying I don't believe you." John Steed leaned back in his Chesterfield chair, listening to rain bouncing off the window ledges. The summer heat had broken, and London was luxuriating in streams of stormwater, sluicing off the dusty buildings. "I do, actually. For some reason, those two vampires sound familar. The demon is a bit harder to swallow, mind you. But I find I jib rather hard at the milk float."

"I still wonder who was driving it." This one detail obviously rankled. "I can't see how it could possibly have been Ethan Rayne; he hadn't time to get past us and out to that damned float."

"I can't help wondering whether that girl, whoever she was, simply wandered off like an exotic dancer and went, er, toplessly wandering through Oxford City Centre." Seeing this had raised a smile from Emma, Steed relaxed. "I'm shocked about deVries, though. He's actually set up as some sort of paranormal investigator?"

"Not only that, he has clients. Who would have thought there would be so much other-worldly activity in sleepy old Oxford? I wonder if it has something to do with he presence of someone he called a Slayer?"

She knew, by the the way Steed's face suddenly went impassive, that she'd guessed right. He knew something, that was clear. Equally clear was the fact that he wasn't going to talk about it, not now. There were moments when she could cheerfully have run him down with his own Bentley.

"I wouldn't worry about that, if I happened to be you," he said vaguely. And anyway-"

He was interrupted by the jangle of the phone. He lifted the handset and listened for a moment.

"Mrs Peel," he said tersely, "we're needed."

• * *

Connie, that's marvellous stuff.

Manoman, would he really be that cruel?

Well, he's still a bit snarked at the "dependable" thing and Willow being all trusting of V!Giles. It's a tense night.

Connie, yuppers on the tension; that comes across really well. I just don't see her taking that one without so much as a "I heard that, it was ugly as hell and I'm filing it away but don't think you're getting off scot-free" look.

Love the rest of it.

I just realised, I have a whole mess of Avengers stuff and I think I have some on DVD.....