The Phoenix & The Wolf

An old man sat crouched in a wooden chair a single candle illuminating the table as he wrote, his fingers clutching the feathered quill in desperation. On his shirt a pin gleamed, the seal of the watchers glinted from its copper resting place. As the old man finished the final words he set the quill in its holder, as he laid his head on his arm. For this was what he had written...

A thousand years will pass

and two will be born,

One destined to walk beside the chosen one

bathed in the suns love and light

a key between worlds,

to change destiny or destroy it

The other a sister to a fallen soul who loved the chosen

the night and moons light are what this child calls home

a life changed forever in an act of love

beyond all earthly knowing,

When heaven and hell come to battle only they can decide the fate of man

The Chosen one alone will not be able to stop the great darkness

The Beast of Hell shall call upon the aid of a fallen soul who loved and lost,

The Phoenix of heaven shall seek the love of one turned against his will.

God help us all...

The man never woke again these were the final words of a watcher, who's slayer had died only hours before.

A Thousand years later...

Dawn sighed as she left home, headed for the torture called school. Her long hair danced in the wind as she walked the sun on her back slowly warming her soul,a soft smile crossed her face as the song on her mp3 player changed. Chad Kroger - Into the night.Sang though her headphones as she walked, her thoughts elsewhere as her body walked on auto-pilot. Part of the day for her was normal and boring until lunch when she heard one of her class mates yell. "Dawn there's a fight going on in the parking lot!" Dawn raced after her friend hoping that some poor kid wasn't getting picked on again. As she shoved her way through the crowd she heard dark laughter, She finally made it to the center of the crowd to see a single figure standing alone against the varsity football team. The figure was wearing a leather duster startlingly similar to her favorite bleached vampire.

"I'll get you Bitch!" the captain screamed as he charged the figure now identified as a female. The figure reacted without a sound, twisting her body one of her long muscled jean encased legs snapped up. Her booted foot came into contact with the jock's chest, sending the teenager to crash against a nearby car hood. The leather clad figure snorted before turning and leaving the ring of students. "Y'er beneath me boy, best keep to yer own kind." The students cleared a path for the woman out of fear and awe, as she picked up a simple black bag and walked towards the office.

Dawn went to her next class that was history, as she sat through about fifteen minutes before the teacher called her name. "Dawn, the office has asked for you." She nodded and got up, leaving the classroom she wondered what she was being called for. She entered the office and gave the desk lady a grin. "Hello Mrs. Jackson, I was called for?" The blond woman smiled and pointed to the dean's office. "They want you to play chaperon to a group of new students." The older woman grinned as she called to inform the Dean of her arrival. "He said go on in dear, he's waiting." Dawn walked towards the dark blue door that signaled the Dean's office and tapped politely before turning the handle and walking in. There were four of them leaning against the walls or sitting in the chairs before the desk. "Ah Ms. Summers good timing, These are the new transfer students. Alright you lot introduce yourselves, Dawn here will be your student adviser." She looked at the one sitting in the chair nearest to the door, it was the leather clad woman from earlier. One of the others spoke first and Dawn's eyes snapped up to meet his.

"My name is Dru, It's nice to meet you." He extended his hand and she grasped it, shaking gently. In that moment she realized he was a man who knew his own strength and was careful how he used it. He had black hair that hung to his shoulders and gray-silver eyes. He was huge nearly 6'6" and Dawn enjoyed his accented voice. It sounded European. "Nice to meet you too." The other guy stood from his place on the opposite wall and extended his hand to her. "Name's Xander, Nice to meet ya girlie!" His accent was Canadian. He had shaggy dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes. One of the women stood up and they shook hands. "I'm Angel." She was a pretty girl about 5'8. With brown hair, hazel eyes and an European accent. The last one got up and turned to look at her, the woman was tall nearly 6' and she had blood red hair that glinted in the florescent light. She reached up and removed her dark sunglasses, though it was her eyes that nearly made Dawn gasp. They were an haunting spectral blue, but Dawn could see something about them. Flecks of what appeared to be a bright purple it made for unsettling but really stunning eyes. "Now come on introduce yourself, at least she isn't running away." The red-head chuckled before speaking. " You can call me Spike, short snip." Her voice was rich and sultry. She spoke with an English accent but under that the way she formed her words was different. "I'm Dawn, Dawn Summers. Nice to meet all of you." They nodded and the five were dismissed from the Dean's office to explore the school.

As they clowned around the school, Dawn discovered she rather liked the rag tag group. Spike rather reminded her of a female, red-headed, and if possible even more foul mouthed, tattooed version of her favorite vampire. Dru was dreamy and attracted a lot of girls, which for some reason annoyed Dawn. Angel was intelligent, charming and she charmed guys into doing whatever she wanted. Xander was a clown that made himself a love-able scamp that a single pout and the female teacher would let him go with a scolding. When they had music class the four were each pulled up on stage and told to preform something. Xander had a harmonica and had the whole class tapping to the song. Angel played the piano, a soulful song that wouldn't be out of place in a church. Dru had a violin and he struck up an Irish dance tune that everyone was bouncing along to.

Spike was almost pulled up on stage by the music teacher and made and annoyed face before spotting something and grabbing it from the side of the stage. It turned out to be a black electric guitar. She turned on the amp and flicked the strap into place before settling it comfortably. She cracked her knuckles and Dru gently pulled her to sit back in her seat where everyone else was leaning forward. She slammed down on the guitar and hammered out a wall pounding rendition of Metallica's One. Then she turned that guitar and made it cry, a mournful wail of some broken heart. She belted out a song no one had heard before, but it made the music teacher most of the girls cry from the emotion behind the words. The guitar cried a haunting note at the end and the music teacher clapped. "That was wonderful! Two entirely different genre within a single performance. That guitar doesn't have an owner anymore and the principal wanted me to get rid of it. So your welcome to it if you like." Spike nodded and set the guitar in a stand until the end of class.

The teacher also handed over a rather nice case, and Spike put the instrument inside. The case's keys were even still in the lock and she gently locked the case shut. "I'll make sure it has a good home." The music teacher smiled. "Be a good dear and take the noise maker with you? It only seems to work with that guitar." Dru picked up the amp and Angel and Dawn coiled the cables. Soon the group were leaving the school and they noticed that the jocks from this morning were waiting. "I'm thinking 's mornings ass whoopin' wasn't quite enough to put the fear of blood and pain into them.." A sinister chuckle followed those words. Dru and Spike advanced towards the jocks with the rest a couple of steps behind them. Spike ever so gently slid out of her duster, the halter top revealing a good bit of tanned skin. "Lets get this on the road." She tossed the jacket over a Harley that gave off an ominous vibe. Soon fists and boots were flying and to Dawn's surprise Spike laughed the entire time, calling the jocks a bunch of names she didn't even understand.

Then a sickening crunch of boot to face as Spike pressed her boot to the lead jocks face. "My friends and I better not see you again.. Lest the next time you wind up in a body bag." The boy whimpered and a stain grew under him, she let him up and within minutes they were headed off to the Magic box. When they arrived the group entered to find Anya working and she was only happy about making sales and not about the content of what she was selling. So she didn't notice one was running her for a good a mount of ingredients in measured amounts. While Spike was up in the little loft were the real magic books were kept and she had an arm load and was passing them down to Angel who passed them to Xander. Dru and Dawn were getting a couple different mortar and pestals, along with crystals and candles of varying colors and types. They payed for their stuff , Anya didn't even look that close at the books before ringing them up and the new pack left.

They gave Dawn a lift home. She laughed with Dru in his pickup, when she got out at her house she looked at the truck, jeep and motorcycle. "Today turned out to be the best day of the school year so far. I am looking forward to tomorrow." They nodded and left with a laugh and she waived until she couldn't see their taillights anymore.

Little did Dawn know her new friends had a great and terrible secret.