Xander ducked the vampire's wild punch, sweeping his leg to catch his opponent behind the knees and take the corpse down. He then sprang forward, ignoring his chance to stake the downed vampire, catching another vampire under the chin with his head. He swiftly realized why Buffy did that so rarely. It hurt.
It didn't hurt as much as the whole slayer power transfer thing. Xander swiftly blocked a punch from another vamp, sweeping the leech's right arm aside with his left and punching the vampire in the head with his right. The vampire staggered back and fell over a gravestone, and Xander was once again unable to go finish the monster, this time because his first opponent was rising. He moved forward in a kick, no martial arts mastery just football style. He actually lofted the vampire several feet.
All three vamps temporarily out of contact, Xander moved swiftly and staked the second one he had punched. It poofed into dust, but the joy was short-lived as the third vampire's foot crashed into his groin.
The pain might well have put him unconscious in normal conditions, but after the ten minutes of screaming agony during the transfer, the parts of his brain that would normally register pain were too fatigued. As Xander hit the ground and rolled to his feet, he was actually glad that the vampire had gone for his groin. The kick had moved him away from the vampires. A blow to the head, staggering him while the first vampire got up, might have been the beginning of his end. Ironically, a superhumanly strong kick to the groin was a good thing, comparatively.
Xander faced the two remaining vampires. He feinted at the one on the ground. As the stunned vampire dropped it's guard Xander staked it.
The remaining vampire turned to run, seeming to think that turning and fleeing a faster, armed opponent was a smart move. Xander shoved the stake in the vampire's back, noting as the leech dusted that the body, in life, had been Karen Martin. He'd had a crush on her after they were dance partners in seventh grade gym class.
Having defeated the rearguard, Xander ran after the other vampires. The information from Willie, that the vampires planned a ritual to summon a demon, concerned him. And, his body losing the adrenal rush of combat, was one huge mass of pain. Xander called up a memory, one he used whenever he felt overwhelmed, to give him strength. He remembered Buffy, sick, so feverish she would have been dead if she hadn't been the Slayer, trying to get up from her hospital gurney to go stake her first lover. As usual, after reviewing that junior year memory, Xander found the strength to go on.
Xander hoped the vampires were not finished with the ritual. He was only a few minutes behind them, and they were dragging a hostage/sacrifice.
Xander arrived outside the crypt, and looked in to see the vampires holding candles and chanting, the sacrifice tied to the wall. A glowing translucent humanoid shape was becoming thicker, solidifying.
Xander rushed in and staked one of the two vampires. He tore the captive loose, screamed "Run," and moved to stake the other vampire. Before he could, the shape solidified into the form of a . . . Fyarl demon. "Shit," Xander exclaimed. "The 'world threatening demon' is a mucus shooting moron?" Xander threw the final vampire at the demon, who ironically sprayed its summoner with paralyzing mucus.
The demon then broke for the door. Xander paused only to stake the paralyzed vampire and grab a bit of the summoning paraphernalia. He ran out the door of the crypt and saw the Fyarl demon menacing the former sacrifice. Xander saw the demon preparing to rip the woman apart, and desperately threw the althame he'd grabbed. It spun end for end, finally stabbing the demon in the neck. The demon died, and Xander remarked, "Real silver. Good."
Xander walked over to the intended sacrifice and said, "I think your clothes are in the crypt."
"They cut them off me, they're ruined."
"I think I saw a spare robe in there."
"Really? Thanks. And thanks for saving my life," said the naked woman.
"No problem," said Xander.
As the girl left to get clothing, Xander disposed of the Fyarl demon body, glad for his borrowed Slayer strength.
On the way back to Buffy's, agony hit him. After a short scream, he sank to the ground, twitching. Upon recovering, he continued to Buffy's house.
"Hey," he said to Willow and Joyce. "How's Sleeping Beauty?" He waved a hand in Buffy's direction. As if in answer, Buffy suddenly, loudly snorted. She proceeded to roll over.
"She opened her eyes a bit ago," Willow said. "I think the venom is wearing off. Did you stop the from summoning the demon?"
"Nah, but it turned out to be a Fyarl demon. I killed it. I'm kinda," Xander hurriedly changed the word 'pissed' after a glance at Joyce, "upset that Willie sent us out there after a world beater demon and that's what I found. Tara ok?"
"She woke up a bit ago and was fairly coherent," Willow said. "Thank the Goddess."
"That nosebleed worried me," Xander admitted.
"But the transfer spell did work," Willow said.
"Yeah, Though 'uncomfortable' was an understatement. Agony would not be going too far," Xander said.
"So nothing interesting happened," Willow asked.
Xander searched his memory. "Not really. Pretty much standard night. I'm heading home."
Upon getting home, Xander explained the 'kicked in the groin by a vampire' thing, and listened to Anya's 'genuinely caring boyfriends don't get kicked in the groin and lose interest in sex' lecture. He realized she was still angry when she announced, "But I taped 'Dawson's Creek' and 'Felicity' so you can watch them with me.
Xander sat through the hour and a half tape, thanking god for the fast forward button for commercials. But 'Felicity' was actually tolerable, and 'Dawson's Creek' actually had a few lines that were almost half as witty as the screenwriters had thought they were. "So," Xander mused, "I guess this is a memorable night after all."