Chapter One: The Flight's Welcoming Committee

"Would the visitor whose red Camero with the license plate from California, please move their car? If it is not moved, it will be toed immediately. This area is restricted from all visitors."

Riley rolled her eyes in annoyance as she heard the same announcement five times over. All right, we get the picture, she thought bitterly. She knew that she was feeling tense, but her tension was mainly from the prospect of flying. She'd never lived outside of America, and never taken a trip on a plane before. In fact, she'd never been outside of New York. This was a first-time experience for her, and she knew a lot of people who said that an airplane flight was enough to make a person sick, along with many other exotic notions.

Hoping that it would settle her stomach, Riley stopped at one of the many convience stores in the place and picked up a couple of new magazines on the latest pop and rock groups, along with a bag of trail mix, a burger meal, and a large bottle of Dr. Pepper. It, along with Mountain Dew, were about the only things that could settle her stomach under any conditions, and since the airport only sold Coke products, she had to stick with Dr. Pepper.

Riley was in the middle of paying for the purchases when she grabbed the bag of stuff and turned around, only to bump into someone and spill all of her stuff. "Woah!" Riley exclaimed, surprised more than anything else. Her first instinct was to look down at her stuff, panic rising when she saw that her Dr. Pepper was beginning to fizz. She silently cursed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to open it for another half hour now, that is if she didn't want to get a face of foam and sticky hands. Riley fell to her knees almost instantly and began to reach out for her stuff.

"Oh, my gosh," a voice (quite monitone for a male) said as the person got down on both hands and knees and began to help Riley pick up her stuff. "I am so sorry. I should have been looking at where I was going."

"No, no, it's my fault," Riley said, shaking her head. "I should have looked before I turned around."

Riley looked up and blinked in surprise when she saw a boy who looked to be in his early twenties, staring right back at her. He had a pale face and green eyes, along with brown hair that had obviously been died at least a dozen times. He was wearing a brown jacket that seemed to fit just right, blue jeans and a plain red T-shirt. Looking at him, Riley was both dazed by his good looks and his normal form of dressing. Nowadays, most boys liked to go either ultra tight with their clothes, or ultra baggy. He seemed to wear the kinds of clothes that fit hi right, not necessarily what was "in".

The boy smiled and said, "Well, let's just call it a mutual act of oblivion."

Riley smiled in amusement as she stood up, taking her stuff from the boy. "Well, that certainly sounds like me. 'Oblivious' would be a perfect adjective."

The boy handed Riley her magazines, glancing at them for a second as he did. He looked at her with an expression that Riley (if she were to go out on a limb) could guess was surprise, and asked, "You like music a lot, huh?"

Riley nodded. "Just about everything, from rock, to country, to rap, to pop. I try to keep up mainly on the pop and rock scenes, though."

The boy looked Riley in the eyes and said only one word, "Interesting."

Riley and the boy stood there for a moment, looking at one another, and Riley realized that his mono-syllable conversational skills must be his personality, not coy. She found it as interesting as she did strange. Her thoughts were interrupted only by a voice on the intercom talking again, only this time saying, "Would the last of the members flying Flight 1183 to Australia please their way to Gate 55? The plane will be closing up in ten minutes for departure."

Suddenly realizing that that was her plane being called, Riley said, "I'm sorry, but I have to go. It was nice meeting you, though." She noticed the guitar case slung over the guy's back, and said, "Good luck with your music." With that, she ran past the boy, making her way to the plane.

It took Riley a little over a minute to find her way back to the gate. She gave the person standing outside of the gate, wearing a dorky uniform, her boarding pass and waited until it was scanned and verified. Once she was clear to go, she walked onto the plane, adjusting her backpack on her back. It was one of two pieces of luggage that she had, and the other one was being run through security. Still, the backpack had everything that she would need for short-term: her I-Pod, her laptop, a couple of books, and a sketchbook and pencils.

Moments after Riley boarded onto the plane, a woman wearing a black leather jacket that came down to the floor, a red dress underneath with red heals on her shoes, walked through the security machine. As she did, the metal detector went off. The security officer stepped forward and said, "Excuse me, ma'am, would you please take off any metal objects that you may have?"

The woman turned around and suddenly grabbed the security officer by the neck, yanking her head to the side. She opened her mouth, revealing fangs, and bit down hard on the woman's neck. The security officer let out a gasp of shock, only to fall to the ground several seconds later. The woman who had bit her turned around, her black hair swinging to the side as she revealed her face, a smirk all over it. "Don't worry, I won't be coming back through here." With that, she sauntered off, not stopping until she reached Gate 55.

On the plane, Riley felt a pit grow in her stomach when she saw how tiny the plane was. It had two rows of seats, but the rows were only two seats wide on one side, and three on the other. The aisle was the width of one seat, and Riley saw signs for a bathroom at the far end and at the back of the plane. She swallowed hard, determined not to show her discomfort if at all possible. She made her way down the aisle, hoping that her seat would be in the aisle of three, but dismayed when she saw that it was in the aisle of two. She sat down and set her backpack underneath her seat, having heard the way that a person was supposed to act on a plane from her friends in New York

Riley leaned her head back against the pillow of the seat and closed her eyes, only to be surprised when she heard a familiar voice say, "Well, isn't this a coincidence?"

Riley opened her eyes and blinked in surprise when she saw the boy from the convience store looking down at her, a semi-smile on his face. "Hi," she said, not masking her surprise and pleasure. "This is a surprise."

"It looks like I'm seated next to you," the boy said.

Riley stood up and let the boy sit on the seat beside her, sitting down beside him in her own seat once he was settled. She re-buckled herself in, only to see him looking at her with interest. She frowned, wondering if something was wrong. "Is there something wrong?" she asked, voicing her thoughts.

The boy shook his head. "Just marveling at the world's coincidences."

Riley shook her head. "I don't believe in coincidences."

"Then it must be Fate," the boy said, "Although I have to admit that that's a pretty cynical way to look at life."

Riley shrugged. "It's the way I've had to be in order to survive."

"Where are you from?" the boy asked.

"New York," Riley explained, pulling her hair back behind her shoulder as she looked at the boy. "You?"

"California," the boy said. "So, are you from the rich, eat-only-salad part of New York?"

Riley chuckled. "Not at all. I'm from the Bronze."

The boy raised an eyebrow slightly and said, "Wow. I visited there once."

"Really?" Riley asked with interest. "And what was a boy from California doing in New York?"

"Playing for a club, with my band," the boy said.

"Really?" Riley repeated. She held her hand out and said, "I'm Riley, Riley Fielders."

"Oz," the boy said, shaking Riley's hand.

Riley smiled, impressed. "Interesting name."

"Not really," the boy said, sounding as if he didn't really care about much.

Riley blinked and asked, "Is that why you're going to Australia, to play with your band?"

Oz shook his head and said, "No, not yet. They'll be joining me in a month or so to check out if there are any good clubs, but we're not that big yet. No, I'm going to go visit some friends of mine."

"Is there a girlfriend in this bunch?" Riley couldn't help but ask. She couldn't imagine Oz being part of a relationship, because his personality (if you could call it that) was pretty much non-existent. It would take an incredibly patient girl with an overabundance of personality to deal with his sarcasm.

Oz shook his head. "Not one, several."

"Oh?" Riley asked with mock interest, knowing that he was joking. "Sounds exciting."

Oz nodded, also playing along. "Totally. One for every major song played by Greenday."

Riley chuckled and shook her head. "I have to admit that I'm not a big fan of Greenday."

Oz blinked and said with another semi-smile, "Me either."

The two continued to talk, and Riley learned quite about Oz in the ten hours they sat together. She learned that he'd had a girlfriend, Willow, but they weren't together anymore (for reasons he wouldn't explain) and that he hadn't dated anyone since, and that had been three years ago. He'd traveled with his group, grown up in Sunnydale, California, and had traveled all over the world, even Tibet. Riley envied his experiences traveling, and told him about where she lived, how she had been on the high school soccer team, graduated two months ago, and was planning to attend one of Australia's colleges, that she was going to a city called Terano in Australia, a place where she could attend the local college and get an education (where she secretly planned to fight vampires and demons, since there was a hellmouth under the local high school). Oz seemed interested (if you could call it that) in her plans, and she admitted to him that she had once tried to learn how to play the guitar, but it had turned into a big mess with a bunch of caluses and no tallent. The last two hours of the flight, Riley and Oz were silent, Riley tempted to fall asleep, but reminded to stay awake by I-Pod and sketch book. She wasn't great, but she knew that her drawings at least came out looking like what they were supposed to look like. She went as far as to draw a picture of Oz, who spent a large portion of the end of the trip looking out the window next to him, not even noticing her as she drew him. She smiled as she watched the progress of the drawing, which came out remarkably well.

Riley felt herself drifting off to sleep after she heard the flight attendant mention over the intercom that they had less than forty-five minutes before they arrived at the airport. Feeling that she could relax for the first time, Riley closed her eyes, and felt herself begin to drift away. All of a sudden, a scream sent her eyes flying open, and her senses became attuned all over again.

Riley spun in her seat, stopped for a second by her seatbelt. She quickly fumbled around and got herself unbuckled, only to hear Oz do the same. He looked around, confused as well, as he asked, "What was that? Did you hear that?"

"Who didn't?" Riley muttered, getting to her feet. Oz did the same thing, both making their way into the aisle. Riley looked up toward the front of the plane, past the curtain that led into first class's space. She was certain that the scream had come from there, but caution told her not to rush in panic. That wouldn't do anyone any good.

Everyone in the coach department began looking around nervously. Riley made her way slowly toward the first class department, surprised when she realized that Oz was following her. She looked back at him and said, "Go sit down."

"No way," Oz muttered, barely loud enough to hear. "I'm going with you."

Riley felt like arguing, but when she felt a special tingling through her body, saying that whatever was in the other department was moving, she decided not to and focused her attention on the front of the plane. She made her way toward the other department, passing by several rows of scared passangers, and stopping only when she reached the curtain. She opened the curtain up, her eyes widening in alarm when she saw several bodies lying on the ground, blood oozing from their necks.

"Oh, my gosh," Oz said, looking around. "There must be ten of them."

Riley's eyes were only on the bodies for a second, moving to the one standing person in the room. She was standing up straight, holding onto a body that she clutched in her arms. Her mouth was rested on the teenage girl's neck, drinking blood from it viciously. Sensing that someone was there, the woman looked up, revealing dark eyes. She had long black, curly hair that was partly pulled back, the rest sprawling out over her shoulders and back. She wore a black leather jacket that came down to her ankles, and a red, provocative dress underneath. She had her mouth open, revealing lots of blood, and fangs. Riley's eyes narrowed angrily. Vampire.

"Uh-oh," the vampire said, dropping the body in her arms and stepping back a step, looking almost bashful. "I've been caught."

"The scream kind of gave it away," Riley said, stepping inside and over a dead body. "Though you could have been a little tidier in your luncheon."

"But it's no fun to have a party without someone else," the vampire said, touching her chin with one of her hands while the other rested underneath her arm. "After all, it was such a lovely meal."

"Druscilla," Oz said, his voice colder than normal and his eyes narrowed in dislike.

Riley looked at Oz in surprise. "You know this vampire?"

Oz just said, "More than I'd like to admit."

"Hello, puppy," Druscilla said, looking at Oz with a twisted smile. "Come to enjoy the picnic with me?"

"Sorry, Druscilla," Oz said sarcastically. "Not interested."

"Too bad," Druscilla said. "I guess I'll have to kill you both now."

"I don't think so," Riley said.

"Watch out, Riley," Oz said. "She's tough."

"I can handle her," Riley said, stepping forward. She punched out at Druscilla, only to have the vampire dodge. She expected this, and as Druscilla was distracted by moving, she kicked the vampire in the stomach, knocking her backward against the wall. As Riley went in for another attack, Druscilla blocked the punch, landing one of her own before shoving Riley away. She then raised her hands, her middle and index finger in particular, and said in a strange voice, "Look at me."

"Don't look at her, Riley!" Oz exclaimed. "She'll take control of you."

"Got it," Riley said, closing her eyes. She focused on her senses, able to detact where Druscilla was by her natural Slayer senses. She then felt Druscilla punching out, and instinctively blocked, hitting a hand and deflecting it. Instead of letting it go, however, she grabbed onto the wrist and suddenly did a spin-kick that sent Druscilla flying up against the wall again. This time, Riley opened her eyes and reached back underneath her leather coat, instinctively thinking that she had a stake. She cursed herself when she remembered that they were all in her trunk.

Druscilla fumbled to her feet, looking somewhere between drunk and drowsy as she stumbled toward Riley. She then blocked a punch Riley sent at her, only to grab Riley by the head, holding her by the hair, and forcing her to look into her eyes.

"Look at me," Druscilla insisted. Riley felt herself being drawn into Druscilla's gaze, unable to look away. She feared that she would be caught there forever, when she suddenly felt the connection break. She felt herself fall to the ground, all of the energy within her suddenly drained. She looked around, completely confused, and was surprised when she saw Oz on top of Druscilla as they fell to the ground, him holding onto her as he ripped her off of Riley.

Riley gasped for air, feeling her limbs shake. She then felt strength begin to fill her again, and she made her way to her feet, waiting a moment before joining the attack. Her surprise only rose to a maximum when she saw Oz draw out a stake, the type that Riley used in her Slaying, and prepare to stake Druscilla.

"Wait, Oz," Riley said, holding a hand up.

Oz turned and looked at Riley in surprise, clearly not expecting an interference. Riley shook her head. "Don't stake her yet. I'll take care of her later, after I squeeze as much information out of her as possible."

"Information?" Oz asked, sounding as though he didn't quite understand.

"Yeah," Riley said, somewhat uncomfortably. "She was here for me, and I want to know how she knew that I was on this plane."

"You?" Oz asked, though Riley wasn't sure if it was out of surprise, curiosity or disbelief.

"Yeah," Riley said, and then asked, "How did you know her?"

Oz looked around and said, "Riley, I'm not sure that this is the best place to talk about... you know... stuff."

Riley suddenly remembered where they were, and added, "Yeah. I guess you're right."

Oz sat down beside Druscilla, who was unconscious, and said, "We're almost there. We'd better get seated."

"Right," Riley said. "But I don't want to leave her."

"We'll sit here," Oz said. "I'm not going to move until I have to."

"Okay," Riley said, sitting in a seat across from Oz.

The flight attendent, who seemed to know nothing about the incident, had been locked in the bathroom. Riley didn't let her out, not wanting to cause a scene. When they reached the airport, the first thing that she and Oz did was to grb Druscilla and make a break for it, before the pilots or anyone else could get off the plane. They gave the excuse that they were getting a patient to urgent care, but they quickly grabbed a cab and stuffed Druscilla inside, neither saying a word to one another the entire time. They stuffed all of their luggage (which they'd quickly grabbed) in the trunk and told the cab driver to leave, but with that aside, nothing was said.

As the cab driver drove away, Riley couldn't help but think, Australia, New York, I guess there isn't a difference. I really am a Slayer.