"Yeah, pretty much." Nicolas straightened back up and took a step closer to Spike, leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. "On slow nights I sometimes draw a protective circle and sit somewhere writing music or practising. Don't tell your uncle, he'd unleash his passive aggressive wrath.

But tonight he evidently hadn't brought an instrument or even just something to write. Everything else was quite enough to carry. He glanced at Spike and reached out to pull at the chains he could see vanishing into his shirt, just to make sure that he was indeed wearing the necklaces that could do a decent job of keeping him at least a bit safer.

"It might be a slower night this time. You never really know, but at least we don't think anything big is lurking, since Buffy took out the Master."