Chapter 1: It Came from the Cold

Buffy Summers was your typical twenty something American female. Except for the part where she must save the world almost every single week from demons and blood thirsty vampires. Yes, other than that she was…normal. She had two best friends. One of them was just as normal as she. A carpenter named Xander. The other was just as weird and unusual as she, a witch named Willow. Buffy also had one sister, Dawn. Dawn was also one of the oddballs of the group. At one time in her life she was a Key. Not just any key though. She was the key to open up a different dimension. Soon after the door was shut and locked, so to speak, she was as normal as Buffy or Xander. Then about a year ago, when all the Potentials came knocking at the front door of the Summers' household, she thought she would be destined for greatness and be a Potential as well. However this didn't happen.

Buffy and her friends were on their way to Cleveland, Ohio on a school bus. They had come so far from Sunnydale, California. There they had just gotten done defeating the most powerful evil that her and her friends knew, The First. Of course they couldn't do it alone. They had the help of Potential Vampire Slayers, who were now Actual Vampire Slayers, thanks to Willow. They came from all corners of the world and all directions of the United States just to help Buffy in, what she thought, was her Ultimate Battle. Of course now there might be another one in store according to Giles, Buffy's watcher, if there is another Hellmouth in Ohio.

A Hellmouth was literally a mouth to Hell. The Master, the first evil that Buffy had to face when she moved to Sunnydale, had tried to open the Hellmouth. Buffy had of course stopped this and defeated The Master. Six years later, The First tried to open it again. Buffy didn't want to wait for the battle to come so she took it to them. She and her Potential Slayers had went down into the Hellmouth themselves and fought for their lives in a raging war. Many lost their lives. Some where still hurt now at this point, but the only thing Buffy could think was;

"Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we…God I sound like Dawn!" She laughed at this thought then shook her head and brushed it away from her mind. She couldn't think about such things now. One of her Potentials;

"NO! Not Potentials anymore! Actual Slayers!" Buffy thought, was still bleeding. Buffy was surprised that she made it this long, she knew she would be dead soon. As unfortunate as it sounds, when you are a Vampire Slayer, death is inevitable. "Something I am way too familiar with!" Buffy thought again as she thought about both times she had died the past seven years. And then, just last month when an Ubber Vampire, one of The First's deadly assassins had thrust a blade through her. And before that, one had nearly beaten her to death.

"We're almost there." Xander said. He was driving the school bus that they were in. He was excited because his shift was almost over, then Giles would have to take over. "Just hold on…we are close to a hospital I think." He was right. Just about a mile ahead was a sign that read, "HOSPITAL: NEXT EXIT". He felt himself get a little more enthused. He was starving, as many others were. They hadn't eaten since they left the last truck stop almost an entire day ago.

"Okay Xander, pull over and I will take it from here." Giles said with his British accent. Giles had been with Buffy, Xander, and Willow from day one. They were a team. At this point, he really didn't want to drive. He hated driving this damn school bus! It is much bigger than his little red car that he owned, but he was just trying to be nice.

"No, it's okay. I will drive to the Hospital and then, you can take over from there." Xander said. Giles had just gotten as excited as Xander. Especially when he noticed that he wouldn't have to drive at all. They had just reached their destination. Cleveland, Ohio.

Buffy could see that they were getting ready to enter the city and noticed a man at the side of the road. This man was dressed in very nice cloths. He wore a suit and tie as he just stood there. As they passed him Buffy could have sworn that he looked at her, and had been looking at her the whole time.

"Yo B, I think that guy was checkin' you out." Faith said with a laugh. Faith was also a Vampire Slayer. ("If you really think about it…I'm the real slayer" she would tell the Potentials whenever Buffy wasn't around.) Faith had been a Slayer just about two years after Buffy figured out she was one. Buffy had drowned when she first moved to Sunnydale and a girl by the name of Kendra was called to be a Slayer. When Kendra died at the hands of Drusilla, Buffy's ex-lover's ex-girlfriend (relationships with Buffy weren't exactly normal), Faith was called.

"Yeah, that's just what I need, another freak for a boyfriend." Buffy said to Faith. They both shared a laugh. It hurt Buffy to call the loves of her lives (literally) freaks. They weren't freaks. They were just…vampires.

Buffy could feel herself getting drowsy. She closed her eyes. She probably hadn't slept for at least two days. For a short moment she could hear all the noises she had been hearing on the bus; girls chatting about their battle scars and their near-death experiences. Rona, the girl who Buffy thought would be dead soon, was crying over her pain as Vi held her and kept her company. Willow and Kennedy, Willow's gay, potential slayer, lover, were sitting in the back of the bus cuddling up next to each other and Buffy could hear the occasional smacking of their lips.

But soon, Buffy found that the noises were fading. All she could hear now was crying, nothing else except for crying. She listened for a moment then realized it was herself. She was crying. She couldn't picture anything. The only thing that came to her mind was the man that she just saw on the side of the rode. He was just standing there in his black and white dress cloths in an all black room. Buffy, behind him, was crying. Then she finally heard something besides her crying. The man said "It's okay. Do you know what you want?" The crying Buffy looked up at him, and nodded.

"B! Are you okay?" Faith asked as Buffy gasped awake.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Buffy said. She looked out the window of the bus and saw that they were in a parking lot. "Are we here?"

"Yeah, we just parked. They are taking Rona in now. Let's go in." Willow said as she came out from the back of the bus with Kennedy. Faith, Willow, Buffy, and Kennedy all walked off of the bus and into the hospital.

As they walked in they didn't see any of their friends so they had walked up to the front desk. "Hi! May I help you?" a short stubby woman said with enthusiasm.

"Um, yes we are looking for…" Buffy started to say. She looked at Willow. Knowing that Buffy still hadn't memorized all the girl's names, she cut in.

"Rona."

"Oh yes. I think that they just took her back into surgery. Gosh she looked like she got mauled by a group of wild dogs! What happened…if you don't mind me asking of course?" The woman was speaking so fast.

"We don't exactly know. Um, some other people brought her in. We are with them. Do you know where they went?" Willow asked. She wanted to get as far away from this woman as wiccanly possible.

"Oh yes, they went to the café." The woman said with the biggest smile on her face.

"Okay thanks." Faith said with the fakest smile on her face. The four girls walked off in search of the café. As they walked down a hall Buffy looked into a room. She saw that man that was on the side of the rode. She grabbed Willow by the arm. She didn't dare take her eyes off him. He stood in the middle of the doorway and stared at her as she stared back.

"Willow! There he is!" Buffy said as she pointed at the man. Willow followed Buffy's finger and saw nothing but a poor dieing old man in a hospital bed.

"You know him?" Willow asked.

"What do you mean? That is the guy from the side of the rode."

"The guy on the rode looked younger than that guy."

"What?" Buffy looked at Willow with a confused look. She looked back at the man but he was no longer there. All she saw was an old man in a hospital bed. "He was standing right there."

"Okay." Willow said. She took hold of Buffy's arm and walked with her in the direction of the café.

When they walked in they could see Xander stuffing his face with all different foods. There was even a little stain from butter on his eye patch. Xander had had his eye gauged out a few months earlier. It was a difficult time for him and he didn't much appreciate the "eye for an eye" jokes that Giles kept saying.

"So did they take Rona back to surgery?" Willow asked as she sat down at the table with her friends. Buffy was still looking behind her. She couldn't believe she saw that man.

"They didn't just take her! They nearly tackled us trying to get to her!" Xander said with a mouth full of food.

"So they slay-napped her?" Willow said with a chuckle.

"If you want to call it that." Xander said trying to swallow the food that was still in his mouth.

"LOOK! There he is again!" Buffy said as she saw the man come out of the kitchen, look at her, then walk into the hall and into one of the rooms. Buffy looked at her friends. "Did you see him?"

They all looked at Buffy for a few seconds before someone spoke. "Sorry Buffy, but no I didn't." Kennedy said.

Buffy looked back at the kitchen and saw about five cooks come out trying to warm themselves up.

"We are not going back in there! It's freezing!" said one of the cooks to his manager. The manager was shivering just as much as the cooks but still tried to talk them into going back in.

"Huh. That's weird." Kennedy said as she, and the others, watched all the cooks.

"Well someone had to touch the thermostat!" said the manager. He had finally warmed up enough to speak without a quivered voice.

"I'm going to go check that out." Buffy said when she saw that nobody was around to see her.

Buffy crept over to the kitchen door. She saw that it looked normal inside, at least it didn't seem like it would be cold. She slowly opened the doors. It felt like she had just been hit by a blizzard. It was freezing in the kitchen. When she got inside she tried to warm herself up as she looked around. She didn't see anything, except the man that she saw on the side of the rode, standing there. Buffy gasped. He walked away through a wall and into another room. Buffy ran out of the kitchen.

"He's crashing!" a nurse said as Buffy came out of the kitchen. She saw about three nurses run into a room. It looked like this room was connected to the kitchen. When she went to the door, she heard one of the nurses say;

"Oh my gosh! He is freezing!" Buffy looked around the room and saw all the nurses…and that man from the side of the rode.