Chapter I

Buffy stood in front of a black punching bag. Giles was talking at her in his usual, brisk tone, telling her the best way to come at it.

"Attack from behind, that will set it off guard," said the Watcher. Buffy dashed around to the bag's backside and hit it several times.

"Now, it's off balance, so hit him from the front," Giles commanded. Buffy did so wile saying,

"Giles, it's a punching bag. It won't get off balance no matter how many times I hit it in the back. It's inanimate," Giles took off his glasses and replied, rather irritably,

"Yes, but if you were to combat an actual foe, these are essential skills to learn. Drop your shoulders." Buffy rolled her eyes and continued hitting the bag. Hit after hit on various places on the bag were starting to wear it down.

Buffy and Giles were in the back room of the Magic Box, a store that sold magic equipment, such as potion ingredients, spell books, and candles. In the front of the store, a phone rang. Anya, an employee and ex-demon answered it.

"Magic Box," she said. The response on the other line was,

"Hello? May I speak with Mr. Giles?"

"Yes. Hang on a second… HEY! GILES!" Back in the training room, Giles jumped. He walked out to Anya, who pointed at the phone receiver. Giles took the phone from her, and shot her an annoyed look.

"Hello?" he said into the phone. Anya watched him out of the corner of her eye. He was getting an increasingly worried look on his face with every passing moment. Buffy walked out of the back room, breathing heavily. She watched Giles curiously. After a few minutes he hung up.

"What's up?" asked Buffy.

"There is a… Situation," He said, cleaning his glasses. Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"Situation? Giles, there are many kinds of situations. Explain,"

"Well, er… There is another Hellmouth, in Forks, Washington that has remained dormant for some time, but my informant has reason to believe that it will soon be re-opened." Giles continued to clean his glasses.

"Looks like a field trip." Buffy said.

In Forks, Washington, Jacob Black sat on the beach with Reneseme, watching her play in the sand. She was drawing pictures with a stick. She was bent over her work, and was concentrating hard.

"What's that?" Jake asked, looking over her shoulder. Nessie shot him an irritated look, telling him that her art wasn't finished. Jake waited patiently for her to finish, looking out at the beach. La Push beach was quite scenic, with waves lapping the shore, pieces of driftwood lining the sand, and cliffs off in the distance.

Nessie pulled Jake's arm and pointed at her picture. It was a picture of a big wolf.

"That's me, isn't it?" said Jake, smiling. She smiled back. The picture was detailed, very good for a girl that was only about one and a half. Nessie was growing fast. She was only one, but she looked like she was seven. Jake picked her up and hoisted her onto his shoulders. She giggled and wrapped her hands around his neck.

"Come on, we've got to get you back to your mom and dad," Jake said as he began to walk away from the beach. Nessie frowned and touched Jake's cheek. Jake saw his face, then Nessie's picture flash before his eyes.

Nessie often did this little trick. She could show people her memories to communicate.

"Yeah, I wish we could stay too," said Jake. "But if I don't have you home soon, Bella will kill me. Literally." Nessie laughed. Jake set her down and got on all fours. It was almost as if he had exploded. Fur had shot out of his body, and he had transformed into a large wolf. Nessie climbed onto his back and clung onto his fur tightly.

Jake ran. Through the trees, he shot like a furry brown bullet. Nessie clung on tightly. He ran into the woods, until he reached a large house. He skidded to a halt in the driveway. Nessie got off his back and hugged one of his legs. He smiled a strange wolf-smile, and headed off back into the forest.

The house was large, and its exterior walls were mostly made of glass. Within this house, Bella and Edward sat in front of a stereo, listening to Chopin.

"Nessie's home." Edward announced. Sure enough, Nessie had walked in the front door and was walking towards them.

"Hey, Nessie. How was your beach trip?" asked Bella. Nessie touched her arm and showed Bella what she and Jacob had done.

"That's a good picture." Edward said approvingly, after Nessie had showed him. The three began to chat casually. There was a ring on the telephone. Bella picked it up.

"Hello?" she asked into the receiver. There was no answer, but she could hear breathing on the other end. "Who's there?" she asked, becoming vaguely annoyed. The person on the other end hung up. She rolled her eyes.

"Who was that?" asked Edward.

"Prank call." Bella replied. How wrong she was.

On the interstate, Buffy, Giles, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya, Dawn, and Spike were packed into a rented RV. They had brought a bunch of books with them, in case they needed research. Willow and Tara were in the back room at the present time, researching the Forks Hellmouth. Giles and Spike took turns driving, Giles during the day, and Spike at night. Xander was currently arguing with Buffy.

"Why does Spike have to come?" asked Xander grumpily.

"Because he's as strong as me, and we need all the help we can get." replied Buffy, just as grumpily. Spike smiled smugly at Xander.

Spike was a vampire who had recently turned good-guy because of a behavior modification chip put in his brain by the government. Now, he couldn't hurt any humans.

Xander shot him a look full of hatred. Spike smiled wider.

"Bit sour, are you, Xand?" he asked tauntingly.

"Shut up," replied Xander, his voice full of venom.

"Ooh! Nice comeback!" Xander grabbed Spike by the collar of his shirt. "Hey! Watch it! I just bloody ironed that!" Buffy pushed herself between them.

"Can't you two just stop?" she shouted at them. They all sat down. A long silence followed. It was broken by Anya, who began to sing "99 Bottles of Beer", but a nasty look from Giles put a stop to that. After a few hours, Willow and Tara came out of the RV's small back room, with nothing to report.

"All the books said the same thing; Forks's Hellmouth died in the tenth century, and there are no other reports of it," stated Willow.

"Well, what happened in the tenth century?" asked Buffy.

"Not much. It just kind of… Died. Like a volcano that doesn't go off anymore," replied Tara. Buffy frowned. She was in deep thought mode, and the rest of the gang decided to leave her alone. Spike and Dawn were asleep on two of the fold-out beds, and Xander was still moody. Anya tried to cheer him up but nothing seemed to have any affect, until she suggested that she and Xander should go in the back room.

"Who would want to open a dormant Hellmouth?" said Buffy, more to herself than the group.

"I suppose the usual reasons," said Giles. "For Hell on Earth, that sort of thing.

"Yeah, but why a dormant Hellmouth?"

"Hm… Maybe the persons who want to open this Hellmouth have some sort of connection to said Hellmouth?"

"There is a ritual," said Anya. Everyone looked at her. Having a 1000 year old vengeance demon on their side had its perks. "It's that you can revive a dormant Hellmouth with the bones of a Nosferatu."

"Nosfe-what??" asked Tara.

"A Nosferatu. It's a kind of vampire that has a soul," said Giles matter-of-factly. "They believe themselves to be superior to humans, so they kill for blood."

"Guess I can kill 'em then?" asked Buffy.

"I suppose so," replied Giles.

Bella and Edward were in the woods, walking silently behind a deer. The deer was ambling through the woods at a leisurely pace, unaware of its impending doom. Edward pounced. He landed on the deer's back, breaking it. Bella walked out from behind the bush, clapping.

"Well done, Edward!" she said, moving towards the deer. Edward bit into the neck and began to drink. Bella bit into a leg. Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bush behind them.

"Could be another meal," Edward whispered. Bella nodded, and crept silently forward towards the bush with her husband. They peeked over the bush. It was a human. He had his back to them, and was ambling casually through the woods. Bella sniffed.

"He's dead!" she whispered. His skin smelled dead, and his heart wasn't pumping. The man had obviously heard them, because he turned around, smiling.

His face was horribly disfigured, and he had yellow, beady eyes. He also had fangs. The man jumped at Edward and Bella. They moved out of the way just in time, and he landed on hard ground. He was back on his feet again quickly, snarling. Edward pounced and ripped the man's head off. The man exploded into a thousand bits of dust.

"What was that?!" said Bella, her voice full of curiosity and fear. Edward was staring at the place the creature had been a moment before.

"I don't know, but I don't think he was human," replied Edward. "He looked like..."

"A vampire," finished Bella.