A scream ripped out through the cemetery, echoing in the darkness. Buffy stood in the silver moonlight as the shrill of the scream crawled up her spine. It was not a doubt that the vampire she had been tracking had gotten to a human. Her breath quickened and her heart raced in her chest as she ran, her golden hair brushing along her neck. Soon she would see it and slay it; nothing new for the Chosen Oneājust another cool night's work.
Buffy's stomach tightened as she followed the cries of the terrified person. She huddled against the the corner of a mausoleum she had followed the sounds to. Buffy took a deep breath and leapt onto the intruder but realized that it wasn't a vampire whose was causing turmoil in the night, it was a demon. A 7 foot tall scaly ice blue skinned demon with piercing red eyes and bright white horns growing right above its eyes. Buffy was shocked to see the demon holding the struggling fellow classmate of hers and realized she had to act fast. She quickly pounced on them, grabbing the girl as they both did a tuck and roll out of the demon's grasp. Buffy pulled at the shirt of the girl who was crying hysterically.
"Get out of here!" She said as the girl took off running. The demon was angered as it realized what had just occurred and it slammed its massive clawed hands down, crushing a huge thick tombstone to dust.
"Well, that's just plain disrespect. Didn't your mother teach you any manners?" Buffy said, making her way towards the monster.
The demon's eyes brightened as it lunged for Buffy, but she calmly stepped aside and it fell on its face. Quickly it stood up for another attack as Buffy landed a double punch into its chest. The demon took a step back or two from the blow but it didn't fall down. It took hold of Buffy's arms and picked her up, then tossed her across the cemetery where she landed hard on a ground grave marker. The demon charged for her again grabbing a handful of hair pulling her towards him, maneuvering its massive hands to clench around her throat and begin to squeeze. It had lifted her high off the ground and grinned as he could hear Buffy struggle and grasp for breath. This demon was stronger than she had thought and panic had set in. She wriggled her feet trying to get loose but the strength in the demons hands were too much for her to combat. Buffy suddenly felt herself choke and cough as she gasped for air. She felt lightheaded and if she didn't get air soon she'd pass out. The demon's hands squeezed harder around her throat as a sudden shimmer in the moonlight caught Buffy's eye. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she watched as a sword swooshed across the neck of the demon, severing its head. Buffy, the demon's body and its head came crashing to the ground as she began to cough for air. She looked up and noticed a woman standing there with the gleaming sword, half the size of a katana in one hand and the other stretched out reaching to help Buffy up to her feet. She smirked and spoke as Buffy got back on her heels.
"Natusk demon. Ya gotta cut off the head." The woman said putting her sword into the sheath behind her back.
"Dually noted." Buffy managed to say as she regained the breath to speak. She looked the woman over wondering who exactly she was. She had to be mid-20's or even 30-ish. She had reddish brown hair cut in a pixie with matching thin eyebrows and pale skin almost like a vampire but the warmth in her hands when she helped Buffy up made her realize she wasn't. Her eyes were brown and charming with a lot of mascara and she wore black loafers, black tights, a denim mini skirt, a long sleeve pink t and a fuzzy gray vest. There was a beautiful deep purple teardrop amulet around her neck that sparkled despite it looking quite old.
"And you would be?" Buffy asked.
"Vivian. Vivian Castlegame. You're Buffy Summers, right?" She said smiling, yet her eyes were scoping out for other creatures in the surroundings.
"That's me. How do you know me?" Buffy dusted herself off and stretched her arms out in front of her, cracking her neck from side to side. She would have a lot of make up cover to do in the morning when the bruises on her neck showed up.
"Oh, sorry, the watchers council sent me."
"Watchers council? Are you a slayer?" Buffy's eyebrows crinkled.
"Demon slayer. We're not chosen ones like you, our insanity is strictly voluntary. Oh and in my case, family generated." The woman said smiling and Buffy smiled back. She liked her.
"Great. If the watcher's council sent you then that is the twenty four thousand dollar answer to the question 'is there's a big bad on its way?'" Buffy said, beginning to walk with the woman.
"Oh yeah, big BIG bad. I was told to report to your watcher as soon as I got to town but I wanted to meet you first before I just showed up." The woman said. "I hope you don't mind."
"How could I mind? I'd much rather have my breath taken away by a hearthrobby Hollywood hunk and not a 7 foot demon treating me like his own squeaky toy. How did you know how to kill it? It was really strong."
"Long hours of painful training and research. Sometimes I envy you being a vampire slayer because you the killing down simple. Stake. Sunlight. Gone. The more demons there seem to be, the more you have to learn the way to kill them properly. Books and books of long words and when a demon is directly in front of you it's difficult remembering if you have to cut off the head or drive the sword through the pelvic gland. It's quite exhausting."
"Speaking of that sword, where did you get something like that anyway?" Buffy realized they had walked their way out of the cemetery and by the nearby bus stop. Vivian had picked up a large leather backpack up off of the waiting bench that was obviously hers and another small purple duffle that she also slung over her shoulder.
"Family heirloom. My father's side was all demon slayers. He was one as well, one of the very best."
"Was?" Buffy said softly.
"Yes. He died last year from cancer. My mother's gone too, she passed quite a few years ago."
"I'm sorry." Buffy said, deciding to take Vivian back to her house for the night.
"It's ok. I know they both had good lives and they succumbed to their deaths by natural causes." Vivian took a deep breath and stayed quiet for a minute before talking again. "Sometimes I think about it and hope I go that way too." She closed her eyes then shook her head as if to take the bad thoughts away. "So where we going now?"
"Well, it's too late for anything other than sleep and a giant bottle of muscle relaxers so let's get you back to my house to crash for the night and I'll take you to see my watcher in the morning."
"Sounds good. Thanks for the hospitality."
"Hey it's no problem. Thanks for helping me not be fresh squeezed Buffy juice."
Vivian smiled.
