This is the eighth Part of Luna's Point of View of the latest scheme from Luna and Maggie.

If you're trying to keep track, the first part was Newfound Depths by Luna,

The Second was Unusual Depths by Maggie.

The Third was Newfound Desires by Luna.

The Fourth was Unusual Desires by Maggie.

The fifth was Newfound Strength by Luna.

The sixth was Unusual Strength by Maggie.

The seventh was Newfound Determination by Luna.

The eighth was Unusual Determination by Maggie.

The ninth was Newfound Dangers by Luna

The tenth was Unusual Dangers by Maggie

The eleventh was Newfound Realities by Luna

The twelfth was Unusual Realities by Maggie

The thirteenth was Newfound Existence by Luna

The fourteenth was Unusual Existence by Maggie

Now comes Newfound Enemies from this corner?notice a theme? LOL.

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as we are enjoying writing it!

Love ya,

Luna

Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton and the Berkley Publishing Group do not authorize this author. All characters that you recognize belong to Laurell K. Hamilton Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, and UPN own all rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and do not authorize this author.  All characters that you recognize belong Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB, and UPN.  Except for the ones created by the people in this group. This is solely for entertainment purposes.

Rating: R to be safe for strong language and minor violence

Author's Note:  A special thanks must go to my beta and friend Maggie, without whom I would be hopelessly lost and constantly behind.  I'd also like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed thus far.  It's been a hoot to write this I hope that you continue to enjoy our meager efforts to amuse and entertain you!

Newfound Enemies

My eyes opened.  "It was just a nightmare," I told to myself.  "Nothing more than a nightmare."  I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.  I guess my mind was now ready to show me that I had indeed been in some version of hell.  It wasn't a pretty place let me tell you.

I lay in bed and thought about all I hadn't told the AI gang, like how I'd known about them and what they were.  There was enough going on here that I didn't need to add that to all the other things that they had to deal with.

Just because Micah had reacted so well to finding out I thought he was fictional doesn't mean that others would.  It was a sobering realization.  I turned over on my side trying to find a comfortable position.  It wasn't working and I knew why.  I was alone, again.

After sleeping with a bed full of people it was so hard to adjust to being the only one in the bed.  I wasn't about to ask any of the people I'd just met to share a bed with me.  For one thing the guys were likely to get the wrong idea, and secondly, I didn't think Fred would be as comfortable with it as Maggie had been.  Granted Maggie hadn't been too keen about sharing her bed with me at first either.  However she like me had gotten used to always having someone in bed with her.

Flinging back the covers I rolled out of bed and picked up the jeans off the floor.  I pulled them on as I searched for the shirt I had been wearing.  Finally I found it half under the bed and put it on.  There was a faint hum of buzzing power.  It had my nerves on edge and left me grumpy.

I opened the repaired door.  It was amazing how fast they'd repaired it.  You couldn't even tell that it wasn't the original door.  It might not have been the first time they had to do such a thing.  With Spike and Angel in such close proximity it could well have been the thirtieth.

Opening the door as quietly as I could, I peeked outside.  No one was around.  I let out a breath that I'd been holding.  Roaming the halls inside Wolfram & Hart didn't seem like the wisest idea I'd ever had but I was on edge and needed something to do.

Something brushed the back of my neck; turning quickly I saw nothing.  My heart accelerated and fear began to boil inside me.  That touch was something so purely evil that I was moving before I gave my feet the command to move.

I shot down corridors, flew past doors, and sailed past security guards.  Panic clawed at my throat.  I wouldn't give in.  I wouldn't let my fear rule me.  I kept repeating that as my feet continued to move through the maze that was the evil law firm.

My muscles ached and my lungs burned.  I was pushing myself harder than I needed to but the fear I had felt since that phantom touch had me spooked.  Turning another corridor I ran right into a dead end.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood at attention.  "It" was coming again.

Grabbing the first doorknob I came to I turned it.  Just like I expected it was locked.  I used every ounce of strength in my body to twist the knob a second time.  The lock broke easily and I slipped inside the room.  A huge grin split my face.  The evil menace was forgotten, replaced instead by something comforting and familiar.

I had found the armory.  It was my idea of heaven.  My eyes scanned the rows upon rows of weaponry.  Like one of Pavlov's dogs I could feel my mouth watering at the sight of them.  I found a computer stationed near the end of one long counter.  I booted up the machine and waited while it loaded its programming.

Searching the database I found they had every weapon I would normally carry.  They even had the location of them so that you didn't have to go through every one of them to find it.  Holsters were my next concern.  I shouldn't have worried though.  They were cataloged right along with the weapons.

I fitted myself with a familiar Browning high-powered 9 mm, which I put in the shoulder holster I was "borrowing."  There was the long blade that went down my spine and the funny thing was that my hair up it covered the hilt.  Next were the ones that were usually on my forearms.  Last I added another Browning to the small of my back.  All the weapons were locked and loaded.

Taking care to make sure each and every item was accounted for I signed my name on the dotted line.  I would *not* be accused of stealing them.  If I wasn't supposed to be here then they should have had a better security system, not just a locked door.

Feeling much more like my normal self I once again peeked out the door.  There was no phantom touch, no breath of the evil that had pushed me down to where I was now.  I eased out into the hallway and made my way back to the upper levels of Wolfram & Hart.

Not willing to sleep now that I had felt the touch of malevolence I went in search of a gym, training room, anything I could use to dispel the nervous energy coursing through me.  Fifteen minutes were spent in fruitless searching.  It dawned on me as I stood in one of the many halls that I was going about this all wrong.

Closing my eyes I searched, not with my human senses, but with my inhuman senses.  There was a faint whiff of stale sweat.  Opening my eyes again I smiled.  I had found the training room.  My body felt more at ease now that I wasn't trying to block off my beast.  I hadnt even realized I was doing it.  "Maybe YOU weren't doing it," some corner of my mind breathed.

I flowed down the hallways as my body moved fluidly through the spaces.  It was short work finding the right place.  I gazed in wonder at the room.  It looked so much like the weight room at the Lair I almost called out for Jason or Jean-Claude.  I didn't but the thought was tempting to say the least.

My fingers brushed over the machinery as I strolled from one to the next.  I stopped beside the old-fashioned weight bench.  I added another two hundred pounds before I lay flat on my back my feet positioned at the end of the bench.

My arms slowly brought the weight down before returning it to its original position.  I went through several reps working on my pectorals.  From there I used the free weights to tighten the biceps and triceps.  I made sure that I kept the movements even, if a bit quick.  I only wanted to tone the muscle I had.  I didn't want to add any bulk.

Next came the dreaded thigh machine.  The jeans didn't allow for some of the movements but I did what I could.  I could feel my muscles beginning to tire.   A small smile broke across my face.  The simple act of working out somehow made me feel less stressed, less out of my element.

I crossed over to the treadmill.  I adjusted it until I was satisfied with the speed of the machine.  My eyes closed and I could almost hear music.  It played softly in my head, the strains of Three Days Grace's "Just Like You" filtering through my mind.

Humming along with it, I never noticed that the sun slowly began its ascent and the building gradually filled with people.  The song reminded me of Anita.  She wasn't in the way, per say, but she sure in the hell didn't make things easier for the rest of us.

It was like if she was unhappy and uncomfortable with her life the rest of us had to be too.  Well, I'm sorry, but I'm not going to act like I hate my life.  I don't.  I may not always LIKE it but I've never hated it.  I don't know how long I'd been running but the burning in my lower back and the cramps starting in my calves told me I'd done enough for one day.

I stepped carefully onto the side rails as I turned the machine off.  Turning I was surprised to find I wasn't alone.  My hand dropped to the Browning, as my heart started to pump quickly.  This "thing" was evil with a capital E.  I reached for a cross that was no longer hanging from my neck.

My eyes widened in surprise and panic.  My lips moved as I softly repeated the Lord's Prayer.  It looked at me.  I tried to figure out what it was.  It wasn't male though that's the form it wore; however it wasn't female either. It was as if it was neither and both at the same time.  He was dressed in a three-piece suit and managed to look bored.

It was funny.  I'd never run into anything truly evil.  Anita had and it scared the living daylights out of her.  I now knew what that felt like.  There was a throat closing rush; the body begins to quiver as if electrified and your breathing becomes rapid and shallow.  All in all I'd have to say on a scale of one to ten with ten being the most frightening thing you've ever encountered, this rated about a million.

His voice came out as a spine tingling hiss and deep bass.  "You're a lot like the champion.  You both have darkness in you.  You both refuse to give in and let it reign."  He took one step forward.  I took two back.  This thing reminded me too much of the creatures that I'd had nightmares about.

My fingers gripped the handle of the gun more firmly.  It was reassuring in a way I couldn't explain.  His eyes dropped at the action.  "That won't kill me," he said in that strange hissing baritone.

"No, it won't," my voice was oddly calm and even.  "But my faith is something that can."

'You've had a taste of what the suffering is like, and yet you still believe that your faith will keep you safe."

I took another step back, making sure that I didn't trip over any unseen gym equipment.  Slowly I was angling my way towards the door.  The man followed me.  His movements slow, unhurried, as if he had all day.  I was close but some deep inner sense told me that if I made a run for it I was going to be cut off at the pass.

"Call it a hunch," I said stalling for time.  "But with you here, giving off the vibes that you do, I'm pretty sure that He's there."  I pointed towards the ceiling.

His face thinned out, becoming harsh with angular planes.  His eyes bled over to an unnatural inky blackness.  It was enough to freeze the blood in my veins and begin my prayers again.  My lips moved fast and furious.  The prayers fell from them and meant with every fiber of my being.

The creature rushed me and the one moment of inaction was enough.  He became a sickly mist that slithered through me.  "Soon you will both belong to us," floated through my head.

I turned quickly expecting to see him behind me, but I was alone once again.  I breathed a sigh of relief.  'That had been relatively simple,' I thought.  No sooner had the words crossed my mind than the pain tore through me.

Agony was the only word to describe what I felt. I fell to the ground, my knees cracking on the concrete floor beneath me.  My hands stopped my head from meeting the hard surface.  I felt my heart pumping a mile a minute though my breathing was strangely calm.  Something twisted in my gut and I screamed.

I screamed until my throat was raw.  I screamed until I was hoarse and still the pain persisted.  It was getting worse the longer I remained inactive.  My brain couldn't seem to function around the suffering.  Tears fell from my eyes and still I continued to scream.

A curtain of jet black hair surrounding a handsome face and deep sapphire blue eyes filled my vision and I knew that Jean-Claude had heard my suffering from wherever he was.  His accented voice floated through my head. "Mon petit chaton*?"

Without realizing I had done it I lapsed into French right along with his first words.  "Pour l'amour du papa de Dieu aidez-moi*!"

I could feel his cool strength slipping into me pulling the pain from me.  God, help me.  I let him.  I let him, knowing it was going to cost him a great deal to do it. "Papa," my voice held both warning and a threat.

"Silence.  Papa's vous a obtenu*," he crooned softly.  He give the equivalent of a mental kiss to the forehead and was gone like a whispered dream.

Strong arms snatched me up.  I got a good look into flashing golden eyes before they melted back to chocolate brown.  "Hurts so much," I managed to whisper raggedly.

"Shhh.  I've got you," Angel replied.

"Wha's the matter with her mate," Spike asked as he stepped around the older vampire.

"I don't know," the brunette replied.

Another sharp twist of pain made my spine bow and dragged a hoarse whimper from my throat.  "Help me," I cried softly, staring into Spike's cerulean eyes.

His cool hand came to rest on my forehead.  It helped, but not much.  "We will.  Won't we?"  He turned his crystalline eyes on Angel.

The elder demon said nothing, just strode from the room carrying me in his arms.  It had all been too much.  The panic, utter terror, and finally the physical attack had taken too much from me.  I knew I was going to pass out and for the first time I could remember, I welcomed that darkness with open arms.

Okay you might have noticed that there were some notations in the story.  I wanted to add the French to the story so I did, deal with it.  :oP  Just to make it perfectly clear to everyone here's what was said.

Jean-Claude: My little kitten?

Luna: For the love of God papa help me!

Jean-Claude: Hush.  Papa's got you.