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I opened my eyes to find myself surrounded by teenagers and college students, all of them dancing badly to some very loud and extremely mediocre rock music. The lighting was yellow and the rock band on stage seemed to be a little overly popular, considering their performance. People were bobbing their heads, smiling and laughing like they were having the time of their lives. Some of the guys wore jean jackets over white Ts, some wore sweaters with entirely too many designs on them, and the rest wore absurdly colorful button downs, while the girls looked, mostly, surprisingly normal, apart from the grungy chicks who wore the jeans and the rips with black lipstick. This was the nineties, and I knew I'd finally made it into the entertainment world, Buffy the Vampire Slayer season 1, to be exact.

Just to make sure, I looked up at the doorway. There, an angelic sign read The Bronze in big gold letters. I would probably just have to look around to find at least one of the scoobies. If not I might get a chance to test out my new powers instead, but I really wanted to have an introduction scene. Moving out of the crowd, I checked around to the different tables. They were all filled, of course. The Bronze was mostly always hoppin', as they say. As I moved I took note of my startling new power. Everything felt lighter, smoother, and I could feel the hidden levels of his strength bursting underneath the surface, coursing through me like a supercharged engine. It left me with a constant tingle.

My strength and speed would actually increase slightly as I spent more time here. I'd set the program to make me a half-demon descended from an old demon lord. Not much of a backstory other than that, but I'd make it up as I went along. I wouldn't have to deal with any of my own subplots, at the very least not right away. As with most half-demons in the show, I had a human form, which was a little weaker but still stronger and faster than a human, and my demon transformation, which would make me about as strong as a powerful demon, and especially fast even for my level of strength. Just for a little flavor.

For those of you who don't know, Buffy is not just some girl who happens to be good at fighting. She's got super strength that is greater than most of the vampires (who's strength I would generally put on par with a very strong animal like a lion or jaguar) and enhanced speed that came along with it, as well as greatly improved reflexes, coordination, and a natural ability to use all weapons as though she'd been trained with them.

I wouldn't have her automatic skill with weapons and would have to rely on myself and my brief but intense MMA training. I'd based my powers and my transformation's appearance on Michael Corvin, a character in the Underworld series. I had claws and fangs, black skin and black eyes, and vocal cords that would allow me to growl and roar like a lion or tiger. Generally fucking scary, in other words. As the show went on my power would scale up slowly. Eventually though, there would be some event that I'd let the program create that would let me unlock my hidden potential, and I'd suddenly become as mighty as the character in the movie I'd pretty much robbed. That meant moving faster than even vampire eyes could see, supercharged regeneration making me practically immortal, and the strength to stop a an eighteen wheeler going about thirty mph in its tracks. I'd be able to give the most powerful villains a run for their respective moneys, or that was the idea. It sounds unfair, I know, but I also didn't want to get myself killed before I'd seen the whole show. Shaking with excitement, I went to the bathroom to compose myself, and gather my swimming thoughts.

I looked in a mirror to see my familiar face, just to keep me grounded. I was going to be playing a sixteen year old, which in the real world would be laughable, of course, but I was twenty and well within the limits for looking like a highschooler in Hollywood. I'd worked out a lot before getting here, to the point where I was in the best shape of my life, and hopefully wouldn't look too out of place among movie stars and models. A few of my closer friends had assured me that I'd be "fine", but one can never tell who is being truthful in those situations. Exhaling audibly and stroking my brown hair back to make it look more presentable, I steeled himself and strode out of the bathroom, where I crashed into a dark haired girl on the way out the door, nearly knocking her off her feet.

"Hey, use you're eyes tard-!" the girl looked up at me, large brown eyes and a perfect beautiful face, make-up perfectly applied even though it wasn't necessary at all. I was a little stunned as Cordelia Chase's expression did a double-take from anger to fake amusement. "Oh, haha! I'm so clumsy," she said with a big smile. She clearly thought my expression was based on thinking she was hot. She was partially right, actually. Her face turned again, this time to amateur seductive. "But sometimes it's not such a bad thing."

He grinned at her like I knew her well, which I did. "Not for other people," I said back as she walked past me. I blatantly checked her out. She was wearing a black satin dress, pretty short, with heels and a gold bracelet on her wrist. Yow. Like... yooow, did she look good in person. I was surprised she'd hit on me. Not in the way she'd hit on me, that was pretty basic Cordelia, but if she was hitting on me that put me in a certain league of attractiveness on this show. Excellent. She was, at least at this point, an amazingly shallow person, the kind that basically doesn't exist in real life, but you wished they did just to make your place in the world a little clearer.

She looked back at me too, then headed into the bathroom with a blonde girl, Harmony of course, in tow. She giggled at Cordelia on the way in. First encounter, check. I was now mysterious and on the field as a bit of a stud. I got back into the main part of the club and looked over to the bar.

There I saw her in all her short, blonde glory, complete with absurdly shiny blue top and short skirt, the kind that got less and less common as the show moved forward. Buffy was talking to the redheaded Willow, her best friend and most loyal ally (also a powerful witch, eventually), who looked completely exasperated. I did a small doubletake, recognizing their outfits and situation as only a person who'd seen the show too many times would.

I'd come in too early. This was the first episode, before any character development, plot development, anything significant at all had happened. Buffy was giving Willow an off the cuff pep talk and being, as far as Willow was concerned, surprisingly friendly. If I interacted now it could change too many things that I wouldn't be able to predict.

Just then, Buffy noticed me looking at her, and I looked away a little too quickly. "Shit." I was still looking down, trying to decide what to do. I decided to just stay put. Maybe she'd just think I was a random shy guy looking at a pretty girl. I avoided eye contact, turning around completely, but then I felt a tap on my shoulder and winced. Shit indeed.

I turned around and saw Buffy's face only a foot away from mine, and she didn't look happy. Her finger jabbed into my chest. "Can I have an hour without some creepy weirdo following me? Is that too much to ask?"

Right, she'd just talked to Angel, her future love interest but current mysterious possible friend and possible foe who was, incidentally, fairly creepy. I decided to play the doofus angle though, see where it got me. "Sorry, I was just looking. I didn't mean to insult you."

She looked embarrassed, mortified even, and took her finger off me. "Oh god, I'm sorry. I'm... there was this guy earlier and... just... sorry," she said, and backed away, walking quickly towards Willow. She talked to her quickly, obviously stressed out, and walked away shaking her head and pouting, Willow looking worried. It seemed for a moment that the disaster had been averted, but then a guy with pale skin, slicked back black hair and a crazy colored, open button-up shirt walked up behind Willow and started talking to her. I recognized him as Thomas, the show's first vampire. Buffy was supposed to save Willow from him in a few, well, minutes, but she'd already left without even seeing the bastard. This was getting a little out of control very quickly. I thought fast and bolted out the door, rounding the corner of the Bronze, taking only a short, distracted moment to appreciate the scenery (what a lovely little town), before catching running up and catching Buffy.

"Hey! Uh, blonde girl!" I said stupidly, playing by ear.

She turned around was clearly surprised to see me. She wasn't in the mood for a conversation though and tried to brush me off nicely. "Oh, um, look, I'm sorry about before, you seem nice and all that but..."

I interrupted her, a little bluntly through my panic. "Wait, wait. I just wanted to tell you that the, uh, friend you were with in there might be in a little... trouble?"

Her face hardened with suspicion just a little and she crossed her arms in front of her. "What kind of trouble? And why do you think little old me can handle it?" She looked down, thinking. "Little old I..."

"It's a phrase, so it stays little old me." Nerd.

"Oh, cool. Knowledge," she said lightly, then shook her head. "Not the point!"

I faltered for a second, thoughts swimming, but managed to stammer, "I s-saw her talking to this guy, he looked like a bit of a, well, a creep." I grinned a little, words flowing a little now. "Creepier than me, I mean. I figured her friend could get her out of it."

She looked torn, but there was hero's work to do and she wasn't the protagonist of the show for nothing. She sighed a little and her face got an all-business look. I had to stop myself from grinning wider. "I'll... take care of it." she said, brushing past me. "Thanks."

"No problem!" My eyes followed as she walked briskly past me. "See you at school, probably!"

"It's a small place!" she yelled back over her shoulder.

She headed back into the Bronze and out of sight through the door and I thought the crisis had been averted, but just then I happened to see Willow and the vamp leave through the side. I wanted to trust Buffy, but I couldn't just leave Willow's life to chance. She was just a helpless little high school girl at this point, and that vamp would kill her if Buffy was even a second later than she was supposed to be.

I decided to tail them, as quietly as I could. The vamp had his arm around Willow's shoulders and led her through a park that led to a graveyard. That graveyard sure wasn't far from the club scene. Convenient for a town like this, I suppose. I realized suddenly that I could hear their conversation from quite far away. Did I not mention the enhanced senses? These powers were easy to get used to.

They got to a mausoleum and he shoved Willow inside after she gave a short protest. It was time to get worried. I didn't see Buffy anywhere, and I didn't want to step into the spotlight so early. This was supposed to be a pivotal moment for the friend group, and I was already getting in the way. Another figure moved on my left. A blonde girl, short and pretty, was standing quite close to me. My awareness needed a little work. I recognized her quickly as Darla, a vampire who would turn into a major player later on. For now though she was just the big bad's favorite lackey. She was smiling at me sweetly, in a sinister way.

"Hello handsome boy, what are you doing out alone so late?"

She sauntered up to me with her hands behind her back. A One of the other main character's friends, a guy named Jesse, was tailing behind her, pretty zoned out. He'd been bitten, and had clearly lost a good amount of blood. He needed help, but once again I was apprehensive about changing something so drastically as killing her this early while saving Jesse, who was supposed to die in the first episode. Although that change might be kinda cool...

I also really needed to get to Willow.

I felt the power of my form surging through me, and it filled me with confidence. I was made for this, literally. I even managed to think of a little witty repartee. "I'm just swimming in complements today." I winked, but turned my voice low, and I almost startled myself when it came out as a growl. "But if you're thinking what I know you are (rumble), you should probably hold that thought." I instinctively knew how to start my transformation, and let a little of the beast out, just enough to claw up, fang up, and turn my eyes jet black with a deep snarl.

She backed up a pace, her hands over her mouth. "What are you doing here, demon?" She spoke defiantly, but it was plain to see that she was spooked. "This place belongs to the Master!"

I didn't respond, but instead roared and quick stepped up to her, right in her face, baring a set of sharp white fangs that put her own set to shame. I was shockingly fast to both of us, and I surprised the hell out of her. She gasped and fell back after catching my eyes, her face making its own vampiric transformation, thick bones around her eyes growing and fangs extending in her mouth, and Jesse squinted at me as though he didn't believe what he was seeing in his trance-like state. I hoped the roar had gotten the attention of Thomas the vampire inside to buy me a second. Suddenly I heard running through the grass behind me and looked back, giving her a moment to recover. Darla used that moment and shot to her feet, then ran away as fast as she could. Fine with me, that made things simpler.

I felt relief come through me as Buffy had arrived with Xander, Willow's too good looking to be that nerdy best friend, who I'm sure had caught her while she went to track Willow. I managed to get behind a bush before she could get a glance at me. That left Jesse to slowly wander over to his friends. He'd barely registered me, but I didn't know how much he'd be able to tell them. She busted down the door to the mausoleum and started talking up Thomas the vampire. With Darla out of the picture the rookie vamp wasn't going to last long. Jesse collapsed to the ground before making it inside, and I winced. In their run to get to Willow they hadn't noticed him wandering aimlessly. I sighed audibly as I was forced to reveal myself.

Thomas' face turned, showing his demon to the horror of the rookie scoobies, but he rushed Buffy and she quick-drew her stake, stabbing him in the heart and turning him to dust, as all vampires are when destroyed. Even for someone who'd seen it many times, in person it was still shocking. Xander and Willow both gasped audibly and ran for it, and Buffy tried to call after them, but just pouted and put her hands on her hips when they ran past.

I turned back to human form and got their attention. "Hey! We need help!" I shouted, kneeling next to Jesse and putting pressure on his neck wound.

Xander yelped and rushed over. "Oh, God. Jesse man, are you ok?" He responded with a grunt, his skin pale and sweaty.

"What the heck is goin' on? Why was he out here?" said Willow. She looked at me. "Did you see what happened, guy who is suspiciously in... the graveyard...?"

"I just saw him wandering over here and collapse on the ground," I said. This playing dumb angle wasn't going to last for long though, as Willow was already looking at me fearfully while Buffy would surely think I was involved. Just then, she looked out the open door. Her eyes widened at the sight of me. With Jesse bleeding to death in front of me right after a vampire attack, this looked really bad, but I needed to keep pressure on this wound or he was a goner.

"Xander! Willow! Get out of here!" She sprinted out of the mausoleum and was approaching fast, thinking I must be another attacker.

"Keep pressure here!" I said, grabbing Xander's hands and putting them over the wound. It was time to book. I'd give everyone time to process their new roles and deal with Jesse. Hopefully at least Buffy would have the good sense to call 911.

Jumping to my feet, I was about to run, but then I noticed yet another figure, huge and imposing moving from the mausoleum. Luke, the Master's most powerful henchman, was coming up behind Buffy. The situation was getting way too chaotic and I needed to end it quickly. I was pretty sure Buffy would survive her encounter with Luke one on one, as she did in the show, but Xander and Willow were simply too close to the very strong villain who could kill them easily, and they surely wouldn't leave their friend bleeding on the ground. I had no other choice.

I can't believe I said these words, but I growled "It's morphin' time," and Xander looked at me incredulously as I let the beast out fully. My eyes and skin darkened to black along with my nails, which turned into deadly claws. My rib cage changed shape, caving my stomach underneath my shirt. I could already tell I was even stronger and faster than I'd just been, and my senses were further heightened. It was an exhilarating feeling. Luke was looking at me now, his ugly vampiric face serious, and Buffy looked terrified while the others screamed comically. She still didn't see Luke, and she'd never seen anything like me. She stopped dead between us, hesitating.

Luke came up behind to grab her, possibly thinking to use her as a shield of some kind. I sprinted hard, trying to get there first, but Buffy was braver and faster than Darla and clearly thought I was going to attack her. With Slayer speed, which I instantly respected, she took a spinning backfist at me. I had to stop short and duck to avoid it. She threw a front kick with pretty bad form (the actress, Sarah Michelle Gellar, wasn't exactly athletic in the first season), but her Slayer speed and strength was almost enough to put me on my heels. Thankfully, I'd been taking MMA lessons for a few months now, and super-reflexes and agility certainly brought out the best in my technique, which honestly wasn't perfect yet either. I sidestepped the kick, fluid as a cat, and caught her leg, tossing her behind with her momentum. She went into a handstand flip landed perfectly in front of Xander and Willow. Fancy fancy, and in the right spot.

I was in the middle of mentally congratulating myself when Luke's ham fist was on my face, a jarring hit that made a thudding noise in my head and put me on a knee. He kicked out while I was down and hit me in the chest, sending me flying back. I looked up at him, my claws flexed and my teeth bared in anger. He laughed in an absurdly low voice. "I see we both have a little blonde friend! Did you scare mine, demon? Believe me, I'm scarier." He squared up.

I merely growled in response. He was calling me out, and I was in this for real now. Besides, hitting him back was a matter of pride. I motioned to Jesse, and Buffy had figured out quickly that the I'd just thrown her out of the giant vampire's way. She nodded appreciatively and cautiously picked him up off the ground, making Xander and Willow reel.

"Woah!"

"How did you-"

Buffy caught their eyes and cut them off, "No questions, just stay ahead of me!" They started running back towards the street.

I was ready to cover their escape, but Luke didn't look like he was too interested in Buffy. He clearly hadn't put much thought into how a 5"2' sixteen year old could swing a tall skinny guy over her shoulders like a sac of flour, but then again, he'd never been one for brains and had the brawn to compensate. He looked me dead in the eyes, his hands balled in fists at his sides and a cocky grin on his face.

I'm sure he was about to make some kind of speech, but I didn't give him the time. I shuffled in on him with blistering speed, and this time didn't stop to stare him down. Instead I finished the shuffle by squaring up and delivering a powerful slash that wiped the smirk off his face. He'd basically let me hit him, I could tell. He was big and used to taking shots just for the thrill of it, but my claws were very sharp and I'd made him bleed and even howl in pain. He swung back at me, a wide hay-maker that I easily ducked and I delivered another slash in a hook of my own, like a boxer practicing against his trainer.

He was done swinging though, and made his first smart move, grabbing me with both hands and easily picking me up and throwing me about twenty feet into a the stone wall of the mausoleum. I hit with a painful thud and landed on my hands and knees on the ground, but gritted my teeth and growled through the pain as I looked up at Luke, who was walking towards me with purpose. I used the ground like a starting block and charged with a roar, tackling him at full speed. We went down hard and I scooted up, putting myself over his chest to hold his weight, like I'd been taught. I was set up to ground and pound and started slashing away with abandon, and I got three hits in pretty solidly, but vampires are notoriously hard to simply knock out and he grabbed my wrist, full strength, and swung out with his other hand. I blocked it, but he pushed out with both hands on my chest and sent me flying again. I found myself wishing I weighed a little more. I landed on my back and easily kipped up (that thing where someone doesn't need to use their hands to get straight to their feet), but all of a sudden I heard screams coming from the direction Buffy had run with Xander, Willow and Jesse. I looked over for a moment. Luke got to me and pushed out, knocking me back and cracking a gravestone with my back, almost knocking the wind from me. I got up again, a little slower, but pissed and ready for another round. Luke, however, was grabbing his wounds and grimacing. "Next time, demon, I'll rip your black heart from your chest!" he yelled while he backed off a few paces, and then started running. Fortunate, as I realized I hadn't accounted for the other vampires in the woods, including Darla, who easily could have doubled back. I had no idea how many there were, but I ran the opposite direction from Luke and followed the sounds of battle.

Jesse was still on the ground, probably in even worse shape after Buffy dropped him to defend himself, and Xander was throwing a lousy punch at a skinny vamp with a biker jacket while it laughed. Willow was behind him and trying to find a way to run, but another one was chasing her around the stones. The graveyard really was a dynamic space for fighting, I now realized. There was a lot of flat, soft ground, but there was also cover in the form of gravestones and mausoleums that made it easier to, plainly put, survive longer.

Buffy had a stake in her hand and rolled over a gravestone to deliver a kick to another random vamp. She was fighting three of them, historically not a huge deal, but with Xander and Willow in such peril the fight would be much more complicated. She looked up and saw me, but didn't take the time to really acknowledge it as she blocked a punch and tossed a smaller brunette. Darla was nowhere to be seen, which was a very good thing. This could have been going far worse.

I darted in and had the vampire that was attacking Xander by the back of the neck before it even knew I was there. I lifted it up a little, straightening the neck and delivered as sharp a chop as possible. It worked, knocking the head clean off and dusting the vamp instantly. Buffy had also gotten one with her stake, and the vampire chasing Willow turned to look at me and ran for it.

I made a move to help Buffy, but she caught my eye with a look that she reserved for others she trusted could handle themselves and yelled, "Don't let him get away!" I nodded and gave chase. He'd already crossed the street, and I saw him jump into the sewer. I looked back for just a second to see Buffy kicking the brunette vamp's face in, then chased the vampire down the manhole, hopefully moving quickly enough to avoid notice from onlookers.

I dropped straight down and landed in a puddle. I'd never actually been in a sewer before, but this one seemed pretty nice if I were going to make a snap judgment. It smelled a little, but more like mold than true sewage. It was easy enough to see the shoe prints in the water, so I followed them around a bend that led me a few hundred feet down. He was moving pretty fast, even though I was faster, and I was quickly moving pretty far away from the gang and into an unknown part of town. My sense of direction wasn't exactly the best.

I could hear him ahead of me more and more clearly and increased my speed. I still wasn't used to my own lightning speed, even though my body knew how to move efficiently. I tore around one more bend and saw him frantically sprinting. He tried faking around a corner, but it was a poor fake and I ended up catching up that much more.

I grabbed him by the shoulder, claws digging, and threw him into the wall. He was stunned for a moment and collapsed, but bared his teeth and tried to take a swing at me. I grabbed his arm and threw him over me like a doll, slamming him to the floor. For the sake of 90's T.V. ratings, let's just say I destroyed him off screen.

CHAPTER 2 FORTHCOMING

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