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The vampire grinned and tilted his head a little. He let his evil face fall away.<br />
“Girl’s too skinny, anyway.”<br />
Then in an instant, Spike was across the alley and was ripping the rapist off the girl.<br />
Xander ran up to her. She still wasn’t moving. Her lip was cut and her left eye and<br />
cheekbone were red and swollen. She was conscious, though, and Xander shook her<br />
lightly to get her to focus.<br />
“Hey. Hey, you’re gonna be okay. Snap out of it. You have to leave before Spike<br />
changes his mind.” The girl blinked. “Good, good. Stay with me. Listen, the Bronze<br />
is right around the corner. Find your friends. Go to the hospital. Tell the police<br />
about the guy. You fought him. You were really brave and strong. You fought hard.<br />
You got away. You’re very brave. You got away. Do you understand?”<br />
The girl stared. Then looked at Spike and her attacker. The guy was trying to wail<br />
on Spike. Spike was darting every swing and kick, laughing, playing. The girl<br />
turned back to Xander. She nodded.<br />
“Good. Can you walk?” He helped her to her feet and took the first few steps with<br />
her, helping her adjust her blouse and skirt. She gazed into Xander’s eyes one more<br />
time, and Xander saw something broken in them. His stomach churned again. “I’m<br />
sorry. I should have been quicker.”<br />
The girl gave him a very quick weak smile, the lack-of-expression not changing in<br />
her eyes, then continued the walk around the corner on her own. He followed her to<br />
the end of the alley and watched as she entered the Bronze through the back door,<br />
then he went back to where Spike was still mock-sparring with the guy.<br />
Xander watched for a minute, then his thoughts drifted back to the girl. He pictured<br />
her falling into the arms of a girlfriend in the club. The friend going into wigginsmode,<br />
then super-hero-mode as she collects their other friends and they drive the<br />
girl to the hospital. He pictured the nurses and doctors treating her with kid-gloves,<br />
tending to her wounds, and discreetly producing a rape-kit as they close the curtain<br />
around the examining table. The cops show up and she tells her story. Tells about<br />
how she fought back, and how she gave up for a moment, then how something<br />
snapped in her brain and she was able to get him off of her and get away. She<br />
describes the guy as slightly older than her, but super sweet as he picked her up at
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