Disclaimer: Thanks heaps Joss.
Chapter 3
Buffy warily watched the vampire as he led her and the girls to safety. She still couldn’t wrap her mind around it; a souled vampire. That supposedly meant he was a nice vampire, one who didn’t kill. The stuck up bitch, Carmela or something, told her he was like a Care Bear with fangs. Yeah, right. He didn’t look like a Care Bear. He was hot for a vampire. From an entirely professional view of course.
Buffy could hear Wesley and Gunn arguing over the dead demons, wondering how Buffy could have defeated them on her own. Buffy had news for them. She’d taken them all down, easily by the way, because she was The Slayer; The Chosen One. One girl in all the world chosen to fight evil and blah, blah, blah. She’d heard it so many times it had lost its meaning. The Chosen-to-die-young-one; The-Chosen-to-most-likely-never-see-her-twentieth-birthday-one. It sucked beyond the telling of it.
She’d had the whole world, figuratively and almost literally, on her shoulders since she was sixteen. Three years of being in the darkness and fighting to survive. She was breaking slowly and she knew it.
She felt a movement at her side and was startled to find one of the other girls keeping close to her. She’d been so wrapped in her thoughts she hadn’t heard or felt the girl approach. Some slayer, huh?
The girl opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, apparently at a loss for words. Buffy studied her quietly. She seemed like a nice girl, shy, pretty, she had gorgeous red hair most people would kill for and she seemed very smart. The girl noticed Buffy’s stare and blushed, almost as red as her hair. Buffy smiled. She liked this girl. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked the redhead who shook her head jerkily.
Way to much caffeine, Buffy thought. Since she hadn’t had any in a coupla days, she assumed it was lingering affects.
‘I guess so…sort of…yes,’ the girl nodded and shook her head at the same time. Buffy watched, mesmerised. ‘I-I was kinda wondering how y-you did that, you know back there…with the-’ she seemed at a loss.
Buffy sighed. ‘You know, most people forget what they saw after a while. You’re not gonna do that are you?’ The girl shook her head and Buffy continued. ‘Great,’ she muttered under her breath. ‘Well then, I guess you already know they were demons. Demons exist, so do vampires. I am a slayer. It is my job to hunt and kill evil things so people like you can sleep well at night. Got all that?’
The girl stopped walking and Buffy sighed before doing the same. As she turned to face the stunned girl, she could feel the vampires gaze on her back and it burned all the way up her spine. She mentally slapped herself and turned her concentration back on the girl. After making sure no one could overhear, she stepped closer to her. ‘Are you okay? I know it’s a lot to take in but-’
‘Actually,’ the girl cut her off. ‘It explains a lot.’
Buffy stood there, momentarily stunned before a huge smile split her face. 'I just knew you weren’t normal,’ she teased. ‘Most people would be running in fright or calling the men in white coats to come and get me.’
‘I’m not most people,’ she said, smiling tentatively. ‘So… have you been doing this long? I mean it’s not exactly a normal job is it? Not like sitting in an office, now that’s a normal job. Answering phones, filing; all fun jobs but I suppose your job has excitement ‘cause you definitely need excitement in a job or you’d go crazy, sort of like I am right now and-’
‘Hey,’ Buffy interrupted. ‘Are you okay?’ she asked with considerably more concern than before.
The girl laughed sounding high pitched and Buffy winced. ‘Yeah I’m okay,’ again she nodded jerkily- definitely no more caffeine- and took a deep breath. ‘I have a tendency to ramble when I’m nervous,’ she added sheepishly.
‘So it happens a lot, huh?’
‘Yep. My friends say it’s all a part of my charm,’ she shrugged.
‘I’ll remember that. Hows about we introduce ourselves. Buffy Summers of L.A, California.’
‘Willow Rosenburg, Sunnydale, California,’ she said as they shook hands.
‘Sunnydale? You live in that hell hole? Why?’
Willow shrugged. ‘I was born there.’
‘Oh. What are you doing in L.A?’
‘My friend, Xander, told me I needed a break. I work too hard or something.’
‘And you‘re how old?’
‘Eighteen. I meant study too hard. I go to College in Sunnydale.’
‘Why. You seem smart. You probably could have gone anywhere.’
Before she could answer, a commotion came from behind Buffy and she turned to see the Englishman and the Science geek- Weasley and Frank- standing there triumphantly. A portal was rapidly growing behind them. She smiled. ‘We’re going home ladies,’ she called out and everyone began to move towards the portal, eager to get home.
Willow stayed close to her and Buffy watched the girls go through, waiting till they were all gone before she would follow. The vampire was still watching at her and it unnerved her. Why did he keep doing that? Was he thinking, lunch? She didn’t think so. The gazes he threw at her weren’t screaming lunch. He seemed… attracted to her. Oh my god! A vampire has the hots for me. That is so wrong but he’s so hot. Merrick would have a fit. If he wasn’t already dead that is. Buffy, at the moment, was Watcher less. Merrick, her watcher, had been killed not long ago when Buffy had been fighting a Master vampire and his minions. She'd been torn by the loss. She had a problem keeping male role models in her life. Her dad, her friends, her boyfriends, her watcher; they all either left her or died.
Soon it was only the vampire- Angel- and his team and Buffy and Willow left. The redhead seemed to have developed an attachment to the Slayer in the short time they’d had. Slaying was a lonely life and Buffy was glad to have a person close to her who was not going to run when they found out what she was and what she did for extracurricular activities even if it was only for a few hours. Her last true friend had been Pike. He’d left when it became too much for him. Buffy couldn’t leave, not unless she died.
Buffy glanced at the team then took Willow’s arm and led her through the shimmering blue portal.
If they didn’t make it back, someone was going to pay.
***************
Buffy sat in the dingy diner on the corner of Second and Tyson and blew the steam off her cup of coffee. It had been just over a week since they came out of the portal and into the skating rink. The same skating rink Buffy had gone to when she was younger. All the girls had drifted off almost immediately, seemingly already forgetting the events of the past couple of days. That had annoyed Buffy immensely. People were stupid.
She sat up straighter as Willow sat down in front of her in the corner booth, carrying two giant raspberry muffins and her own cappuccino. She gingerly sat them down and looked relieved before going to take a sip of the hot beverage. ‘Freeze,’ Buffy ordered and Willow froze. ‘Is that decaf?’
Willow looked sheepish and Buffy shook her head. ‘What have we learnt about you and coffee?’
‘Coffee plus me equals spaz.’ Willow looked down hearted and Buffy laughed. ‘But it’s so good.’ Willow continued, staring longingly at the innocent looking dark liquid. ‘How can something so yum be so bad?’
Buffy laughed again and set down her own cup. ‘You do realise decaf and not decaf taste the same, right?’
Willow groaned. ‘I don’t care,’ she picked up the cup and was about to take a sip when a shadow was cast over the table. Looking up, they found the bald black man from the Angel’s Investigations team- Gunn, Buffy knew, because his name was a weapon- smiling at them.
‘Well, hello to you lovely ladies,’ he grinned. ‘What brings you to this particularly bad part of town?’
Buffy pointed to her cup. ‘Good coffee,’ she said deadpan and Gunn laughed.
‘You got that right. It’s the only reason I come here. Pickin’ up coffee’s for the boss. Something big’s goin’ down and they’re pulling an all nighter at the office.’
‘Is there anything we can do to help. I could research. I’m good with books.’ Willow jumped in, missing Buffy’s glare. She hadn’t seen the vampire since they’d left after their return. He still unnerved her.
‘Sure, girl. You wanna come now? Coffee’s ready and I gotta get back.’
‘Sure. Come on Buffy, please,’ Willow looked so eager to help that Buffy couldn’t help but get out of her seat and follow Gunn out the door.
Even though Willow had only found out about vampires and demons a week ago, she’d already become like a mini watcher. She helped Buffy out with the research by going on the internet and tried to go with Buffy on patrol because; ‘I know this is a sacred destiny and all but you shouldn’t have to do it on your own.’ Willow hadn’t seemed to grasp the whole idea of the Chosen One. It was sweet though, they way the redhead looked out for her. It made her feel cared for and she hadn’t felt that in a while, not even from her parents.
*******************
‘Nice place,’ was the only Buffy could think to say as her and Willow stood outside the massive hotel, staring in awe.
Gunn chuckled. ‘Yeah the boss has a thing for grand. Grand gestures, grand entrances and exits and grand pads. The hotel is off the hook. There are like two hundred rooms. Angel lets us stay whenever we want. Cordelia actually lives here.’
Buffy frowned. Were Angel and Carmela a couple? Why did she suddenly feel a little disappointed? No, that wasn’t disappointment, it was relief, yeah, right, relief. That’s what it was. She wasn’t attracted to a vampire. That would be wrong. So wrong.
‘Where is everyone?’ Willow asked as they entered, looking around the empty foyer.
‘In the office, most likely,’ Gunn replied heading in that direction. A door to the side of the foyer opened and Connor walked through, stopping dead when he saw Buffy and Willow.
‘I remember you. You’re the one who destroyed all those demons,’ he pointed at Buffy and she rolled her eyes. Of all the things to get stuck on, she huffed. To be fair, it was pretty noteworthy; ‘cause her killing all those demons on her own wasn’t a normal thing.
‘What’s up, man?’ Gunn asked Connor, who snapped out of it and forced his gaze away from Buffy.
‘Nothing,’ he said sullenly, sounding more like the teenager he was, as he dumped himself onto the lounge in the middle of the room. His eyes kept flitting back to Buffy. She felt like a science project.
Gunn shook his head and motioned the girls towards the office. He walked in before them and Buffy heard him say. ’I found some stragglers willin’ to lend a hand if y’all don’t mind.’
‘Gunn, one cannot just invite strangers to join in when we are in the middle of a case. That was very irresponsible of you. I expected much more. Who are they? Do they even know about demons and vampires?’ Buffy heard the Englishman- Weasley- say irritably.
She stepped into view, backing Gunn up. ‘I think I have sufficient enough experience with this type of thing. Do you doubt my abilities? I don’t mind that ‘cause, well, really I could care less what you think, but no one doubts my Wills.’
Weasley looked slightly green for a few moments before he turned white and he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times before he cleared his throat nervously. ‘’I-I would not dream of doubting you, Miss S-Summers.’ he stuttered.
Buffy felt movement beside her and she looked up to see Angel hovering closely. She looked at him askance and he gave her a wry grin. ‘Ignore Wesley,’ he said and Buffy mentally cringed. She‘d been calling him Weasley. Oops. ‘He’s still trying to work out how someone like you could take out a small army of demons.’
Wesley glared at Angel. ‘I’ve already told you my thoughts on that, Angel,’ he said forcefully. ‘I know I’m right.’
‘Look at her Wesley. You’re wrong.,’ Angel retorted calmly.
‘It all adds up,’ Wesley countered. ’How she took out the demons single-handedly and all those other little signs.’
‘You are WRONG,’ Angel bit out, turning to face Wesley fully. To his credit, he didn’t back down from the angry vampire, though he seemed to want to.
Buffy lay a calming hand on Angel’s arm and he turned to look at her. Her gaze flitted between the two confusedly,. ‘What’s going on?‘ she asked perplexed. They were having a fight over seemingly nothing.
‘Miss Summers I am going to ask you a question and I want you to answer me truthfully.’ Wesley took off his glasses and looked grimly at her. ‘How did you defeat those demons?’
Buffy’s eyes went wide and she felt, rather than saw Willow tense beside her. Willow knew how secret being the Slayer was. ‘Would you believe, luck?’ she asked hopefully, already knowing it was futile.
Wesley sighed. ’Miss Summers. I don’t believe that anymore than you do. I will ask you a different question and please answer truthfully,’ he paused and glanced from the angry face of the vampire to the worried look of the redhead and back to Buffy.
‘Are you or are you not, The Slayer?’
The whole room was silent. Buffy could tell by looks on everyone’s faces exactly what they were thinking. Willow was thinking uh-oh, jigs up; Wesley was thinking, God I hope I’m right and Angel was staring at her as if waiting for her to say ’What’s a Slayer?’
She sat there for a few moments, wondering what to say when Angel broke in angrily and started yelling at Wesley. A full on argument ensued and Buffy sprung up between them and spoke softly almost causing the men to miss it.
‘I was wondering how long it would take you to figure it out. Let me introduce myself,’ she said and felt Angel freeze beside her. She watched Wesley carefully as she spoke. ‘I’m Buffy; The Vampire Slayer.’
‘I’m Wesley Wyndam Price. Ex-Watcher,’ was the last thing she expected to come out of the stuffy Englishman’s mouth.
‘Huh?’
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