Chapter 1

"Parta May Gae," Buffy read aloud a tombstone. "Must've been the center of everyone's jokes. Poor Parta Gae."

Buffy was out strolling through the gravestones, waiting for the undead to rise from the grave. So far she hadn't had any luck and it didn't look as if it was about to change. She sensed the sun would be up soon, so she turned to leave. From the corner of her right eye she saw a dark shadow slink back behind a tree.

"Angel?" She called out and waited for him to appear before her.

Unfortunately it wasn't Angel. A red and black spotted hideous demon leaped from her tree and lunged at unsuspecting Buffy. Its nails were long and curved, like the nails of a dead body that refuse to stop growing even after death. Her eyes were like the numerous eyes of a spider, reflecting in hundreds of shiny little pupils.

"Unh!" Buffy fell backwards onto the ground, but quickly leaped onto her feet prepared to do battle.

The demon circled, but Buffy was in no mood to mess around. She threw her stake at the demon. It spun around at least ten times before it drove itself into the demon's gooey center. Yet, not even that stopped it. With a long finger nailed hand it pulled out the stake and looked at it curiously. Then in a flash too fast to see, it ran up to Buffy and grabbed her by the back of the hair and bit her on the throat. She fell down to her knees and the demon, looking satisfied, slinked away into what was left of the darkness. Buffy lay there helplessly.

(At the library Rupert Giles picks up the telephone.)

"Hi Giles, this is Joyce. Have you seen Buffy? She never came home from patrolling last night," said Buffy's worried mother.

"That sure is strange. No I haven't, but I'm sure she's all right. I'll ask around and if I don't find her I'll go look for her," Giles promised.

"Oh, thank you so much."

"No problem Joyce. Anytime."

After they hung up Giles went to the halls in search of Willow and Xander. He successfully found them at the drinking fountain. Xander was slurping while Willow was rambling on about this really new, really hip computer program.

"There you two are," said Giles pushing his glasses up on his nose. "Have either of you seen Buffy?"

Wiping the water from his face with his sleeve Xander said, "No, but if you see her tell her I want my lucky pencil back. I have a test third period."

Ignoring that he turned to Willow and asked, "What about you?"

"No, now that I think of it. Why? Did something demon-y come up? A new evil stirring in the hell mouth?"

"I'm not sure. Joyce just called the library and said that Buffy never came home last night. I have to go look for her. Willow, if I sign you a pass will you watch the library for me while I'm gone?" Giles asked.

"Sure thing," she said and followed Giles back to the library.

"I'll just… go to class then," Xander called out to them, then turned and walked away.

Giles pulled up to the cemetery in search of Buffy in his old gray British car. He got out and began looking around near the tombs. Lying on the ground was the bloody slayer.

"Buffy!" Giles cried out and ran to her.

He picked her up from the blood covered ground and took her to his car. She seemed to only nod in and out of consciousness. Giles headed immediately to the hospital. The doctors came and took her off on a gurney, leaving Giles to call Joyce at the payphone. After the call Giles took a seat near the front desk and waited impatiently like a worrying father would.

When Joyce arrived they waited together for hours and hours, until finally a doctor approached them with news.

"Is she all right? May we see her?" Joyce asked urgently.

"I believe that Buffy will be fine. Though she lost a lot of blood and can't seem to remember much, she will still be able to go home tonight. We got her some blood, wrapped her up, and left her to rest. It's as simple as that. We just have to run a few tests and then she can go when she feels she's ready," said the bald headed M.D.

"Thank you so very much," Giles said.

Giles and Joyce headed into her room to see her sitting up in bed. A white wrap was wound around her neck.

"Hi guys," Buffy said in her usual tone. "I'm sorry I made you worry."

"It's quite alright, but are you sure you're okay?" He asked. "What was it exactly that attacked you?"

"Well, it was a she. Her nails were very untrimmed, her skin was blotchy, and her facial features were very spidery."

"Oh my lord!" Giles exclaimed.

"What? What was it?" Joyce asked.

"The spider demon, of course. It bites its prey and then leaves. After awhile the victim begins to hallucinate and wander. It leads you right to its web and then wraps you so it can feed on you later," he informed. "But the hallucinations are the key. They can make you very hostile and a definite danger. You being the slayer and all would make you nearly unstoppable. I'm sorry Buffy, but we'll have to restrain you."

"Well, isn't there a cure? Some sort of antidote?" Buffy asked hurriedly.

"Technically, there is. But it's nearly impossible to find. We'll need a true hero to seek it. Do you know of any?"

"Yes," she said. "As a matter of fact, I do."