Summary: Sometime Post-Chosen. While patrolling Buffy encounters a strange sight and finds that she might not be alone in the ultimate fight against evil... Eventual Spuffy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, because if I did I would have made that lost episode where Angel figures out that Buffy was alive again in Season Six. Cause that thing killed me. Stake through the heart kind of deal. Even though I'm not a vampire. Okay, shutting up now.

Chapter One -Sightson Patrol

Buffy was patrolling, just like every night. Even if it was Saturday and happened to be her birthday as well, it didn't mean that the vamps were just going to sit inside their musty old crypts and say, 'Hey, it's the Slayer's birthday! Why don't we give her the day off?' Not that she wanted a day to relax. She needed to kill something. And quickly.

She strode through the dark cemetery, taking great care not to trip over the extremely small headstones that laid there. This was probably her least favorite graveyard of all, since there were no trees to blot out the sky that lacked the moon and stars, the markers were no more then little rocks, and it was at least a mile and a half long each way. Course, what do you expect when the yard is right outside of a huge city where at least fifteen people die each day?

Buffy sighed and twirled her stake in her hand. A dapple of moonlight shone through the clouds as the late night wind made them to continue their journey across the sky, causing the single statue in the center of the cemetery to shimmer from gray to silver. It was beautiful, sure… in a semi-morbid way. She just didn't like New York, period. She'd much rather be in California.

With funds from their father – who miraculously remembered his daughters existed when Sunnydale fell into a giant crater, Dawn and Buffy had bought a house in a little suburban town called Chester, just outside of the Big Apple. They traveled often, though. Giles was still in England with Andrew (who Dawn wrote daily letters to in the delusion that Buffy had no idea what was going on between them), Xander had gone down to Africa to finally explore the world, Kennedy and Willow were in South America visiting Kennedy's cousins and recruiting new Slayers, and Faith and Robin were up in Canada somewhere, doing who knows what. They had, of course, left some Slayers to guard the Hellmouth in Cleveland. Vi and Rona were in charge of that group.

Then there was the traveling for fun. Dawn kept insisting to go to boarding school in England or Italy, so there was that little expenditure when they visited the private schools. Dawn had absolutely loved London and wanted to stay there forever – the fact that Andrew was there had a large impact on that, while all it did was remind Buffy of a certain bleached blond vampire with a black duster and an addiction to cigarettes. Almost everything reminded her of him, though, as Dawn had pointed out once in their hotel room in Romania, and she hadn't denied it. A lighter or a bottle of Jack Daniel's finest brought up memories of him, of his smell, of his touch.

But she was dealing. Oh, she was always dealing. The most common phrase she had heard from her friends these past couple months were 'Are you okay?' Of course she was. She was in her own little world, dealing.

Suddenly, a large, burly vampire jumped out from behind one of the three mausoleums that were on the edge of the graveyard. She plunged a stake through his heart without a second thought, walked right over the pile of dust she created, and sighed. Slaying wasn't even fun anymore.

Up ahead, a snarl reached her ears, along with shouts of distress. Finally, something fun. Saving people was better then just killing vampires, because now she felt semi-guilty since they weren't exactly doing anything wrong. But when they attacked people (and children, by the sound of it), she had a definite reason to go in for the kill and enjoy it.

She burst into a run, shooting towards the mausoleum at the far side of the cemetery. Of course, she was a mile and a half away, being at the other crypt. Buffy couldn't see the kids, as they were hidden by the stone building, but by the sounds of it there were about three, matched evenly with three vampires. She gave an extra burst of speed and raced into the fray.

There were three people there – she had guessed right – standing in a face-off with the vampires, each panting hard. One was a girl of about fifteen, with long black hair separated into two plaits and forest green eyes. She held a stake in her hand and a crossbow was slung over her back. Next to her was a young boy around thirteen holding a broadsword in one hand and a small double-edged fighting axe in the other. His shoulder length sandy brown hair was wild, and he had a maniacal grin on his face that reflected in his hazel eyes. Lastly, a little girl of about ten stood armed with two throwing daggers, blond hair worked free of its ponytail and blue eyes blazing.

Buffy stood there, mouth agape. Neither human nor vampire had seen her yet, so she backed behind a stone wall and watched. If they needed help, she was here. But something told her that these kids were handling it perfectly fine.

The vampires rushed at them again. With a lightning fast motion, the older girl whipped the crossbow off her back and shot an arrow directly into a vampire's heart. He collapsed into a pile of dust. But the girl didn't praise herself on her victory. Instead she threw the stake to the blond girl, calling her name as it flew. "Serenity!"

The ten year old dropped one of her daggers and caught the wood in her hand without taking her eyes of the vampire in front of her. He paused before aiming a kick at her stomach. She bounced back out of his reach and did a flip over his head, landing behind him. Before the vamp could turn around, a stake was protruding from his back and he was dust in the wind.

The boy didn't kill his foe straight off like the girls. The two were fighting, matched blow for blow. But something told Buffy that the boy was holding back. Maybe it was the tension in his muscles, waiting to be released. Maybe it was his eyes and his grin, implying that he had something the vampire could never beat. Or maybe it was his chuckle when his opponent hit him that sent shivers down her spine. The two other girls watched, bored.

The oldest rolled her tongue in her mouth, waiting for her companion to finish his work. Eventually, after about two minutes, she couldn't take it anymore and she called out to him. "Luke, just stake him already!"

The guy looked her way and rolled his eyes before picking up his discarded ax and whipping the head off his vampire foe. He dropped it on the ground again, eyes blazing. "Happy now?"

The little girl Serenity ran up to him and hugged him tight. "Why do you insist on fighting them?" she asked as she pulled away.

Before Luke could answer, the black-haired girl strode up to him and shoved her face in his. "Exactly my question. You know there are Slayers around. Our job is to kill vampires, not beat them to bloody pulps." Buffy smiled as she remembered Giles saying something like that to her back in high school. Then her thoughts turned to the Slayer comment, and she wondered what grudge these kids had against fellow demon hunters.

"Sorry, Katarina," he sneered at her, and she backed up a few paces. "I was having fun. Maybe you would like to just get everything over with, but I'd like to enjoy myself before I die."

"Well, the way you're acting your expiration date is looming close on the horizon."

Serenity tried to push herself in between her two comrades to calm them down, but it didn't work. Their voices rose in volume as they continued to argue.

"Look who's talking, Miss Must-Read-Tarot-Cards-Today-To-See-If-I-Die."

"At least I won't be surprised when it comes, but I know you will. Everything's a surprise because you can't see what's right in front of your nose!"

"Well –"

"Silence." An icy voice drifted down from the hill above thecemetery.The three spun to face a seventeen year old girl with long waves of fiery red hair and eyes made of storm clouds coming towards them. Buffy looked at her, surprised. She hadn't even sensed another presence on her Slayer radar. But as she watched, she understood how the girl easily could be skimmed over. Although she radiated power, she was silent, cold, unwavering. Part of the earth.

"Sorry, Lita," Luke and Katarina mumbled, their eyes on their feet as if they were being scolded by a parent. Serenity smiled up at her, relief clear in her eyes.

But Lita wasn't listening. She was frozen, staring at the Mausoleum. Although Buffy was well-hidden behind the wall, something told her that this girl could sense her just as much as vice versa. She peered out again, and saw Lita's eyes reflect sorrow and unbearable pain for a moment before disappearing behind the stormy depths.

Serenity noticedthatsomthingwas wrong. "Lita, are you alright?" She took Lita's hand. "The job is done. Lita, are you in there?"

But the next word that came out of Lita's mouth caused the group to freeze in terror. "Slayer."

A/N: Ha, first chapter of first Buffy fanfic! Do you guys like it? Please R&R, it makes me very happy! Plus, I'll send you a virtual cookie!

Anyway, the basic idea of this story came to me a long time in the form of a question. Why aren't there any kids that are heroes? As I got older, I learned that there's not exactly a great amount of kid actors that also have the skill to pretend to fight evil. So, introducing an hunting squad made up of preteens and teens!

And yes, her name is Katarina, not Katrina. I added the extra 'a' for funness!