Xander the Vampire Slayer Book One

by CaspR383

Note to self, cough! remember to stand up-wind when staking a vampire."

1. Chapter 1

Author's Note; PLEASE READ!

This is my own take on the ever popular but still yet to be done decently "Xander as the Slayer" story. I've read just about everyone one of these there is and much to my disappointment not a single author has managed to come up with a version that works and still does justice to the characters and source material created by Joss Whedon. So I thought that I would give it a try.

Now I am starting at what would be the beginning of the series but I'm not simply swapping out Xander for Buffy and vice versa. That isn't interesting at all and to be honest it doesn't really work. Xander isn't Buffy and Buffy isn't Xander. By turning one into the other you lose what makes each of those characters special.

No, what I wanted to do was see what would happen if one stayed true to the characters and their histories but just changed their positions in life.

i.e. Guys are Slayers in this world. Xander is the chosen one and Buffy is normal.

However Xander still grew up in Sunnydale and Buffy is still the new student from L.A. There is a little more to it than that but this AN is getting a little long so I'm going to start wrapping it up with a few things you all need to know.

Ships;

Like Joss did in the first season I'm not going to commit any of the characters to a specific pairing in this first book. Don't worry though. I will still have plenty of flirtation and angst between the characters and everyone will certainly have someone they want to pursue romantically.

Warnings;

Number One. There is one character (two if you want to get technical) that has had a gender-bending makeover in this story. I tried to think of a way to avoid it but I'm not a slash author and I would lose some good plot points from cannon that I thought were worth keeping if I kept them their original gender. Sorry if this bothers anyone.

Number Two. There will be some character death. Which basically means that not everyone from the show is going to make it. However at the same time I will be bringing in characters that were either killed or dropped to the wayside in cannon and making them more prominent. I wanted this to be somewhat original and I had to look at this from a perspective of how would events play out differently with Xander as the Slayer.

Number Three. This isn't so much a warning as it is something I wanted everyone to know straight out the gate so that I wouldn't have to hear about it later. This first chapter that you are about to read does not deviate too much from cannon. That was mostly because I couldn't come up with a better way to set this up than what already existed. I have added scenes and changed the circumstances of others but this is still very similar to the events of the first episode. In the next installment you will start to see some big changes. I have even planned a couple of original adventures not based on events from the series for future installments.

Sorry for being so long winded and I hope everyone enjoys. Lets get on with the show.

Disclaimer; It's Joss' world I'm just rearranging it a little. So please don't sue me. You wouldn't get much because I don't have any money anyway.

Xander the Vampire Slayer

Book One

Chapter one

Welcome to the Hellmouth

In every generation there is a Chosen One. He alone will stand against the Vampires, Demons and the forces of darkness. He is the Slayer.

XXX

"Thanks for walking me home." the gorgeous brunette teen said to her date as they strolled through Sunnydale's Restford Park.

"Not a problem milady," the brown-eyed young man replied with a goofy grin "Twas the chivalrous thing to do." He finished with an exaggerated bow. For her part the girl just giggled at her date's antics.

"Well thank you anyway, it's very sweet." She said stopping to turn to him. All the while noticing they were very much alone on one of the parks more secluded paths. The stars were bright and the moon was shining. All together it made for quite the romantic setting. Something her date seemed to notice as well.

"I think this is the part where I say something incredibly suave then kiss you like you've never been kissed before." The young man said with a smirk.

"Yeah, I think so." The girl nodded in agreement.

"That's too bad, 'cause I can't think of a single suave thing to say. Man, I hate being put on the spot."

"Well, I'm willing to skip straight to the kiss."

"I was hoping you would be." The boy said as he and his date leaned in lips almost touching. However, before they could make contact the girl turned away suddenly startled.

"Did you just hear something?" She asked looking around the dark wooded area with wide eyes.

"No, I didn't hear anything." He replied shaking his head.

"I could've sworn I heard something moving over there." She said pointing to some bushes. Her date narrowed his eyes and scanned the spot she indicated.

"It was probably just a squirrel or something."

"Are you sure?" She asked turning away to look in that direction again.

"Yeah, I'm sure we're the only ones out here." He stated.

"Okay," she said as she turned back to face her date. In an instant her beautiful face distorted and morphed into a horrifying countenance. Her brow became large and bumpy, her eyes seemed to take on an unearthly yellow glow and her teeth transformed into a set of nasty fangs. Expecting an easy meal she was quite surprised when her date's fist connected solidly with her jaw.

The vampire staggered back and shook off the shock from the oddly powerful blow she had just received. However she was not daunted by it. "Not quite the kind of action I was hoping for, but I don't mind playing rough." She said grinning devilishly.

"Sorry to disappoint but I'm just not that attracted to you anymore." The young man said while casually stepping into a fighting stance.

"What's the matter baby?" The vamp asked still smiling "You thought I was pretty a few minutes ago?"

A cocky smile formed on the boy's lips and he just couldn't resist quoting his favorite movie hero "Honey, you got real ugly." Then he was on her almost faster than the eye could see. Her yellow eyes grew wide in astonishment as she looked down at the stake protruding from her chest.

"H-how…"

"Good night sweetheart. I'd call you later but…" as if on cue she exploded into dust before him.

Xander Harris, latest in a long line of young men to be called the Slayer coughed slightly as he brushed the dusty remains of his date off his clothes. "Note to self, (cough!) remember to stand up-wind when staking a vampire."

XXX

Buffy Summers awoke with a start, her breathing heavy and her heart pounding. The sixteen-year-old blond sophomore took a deep calming breath as she got a hold of her nerves. She was safe in her bed in her new hometown of Sunnydale California.

"I am getting really tired of these nightmares." She said to herself with a groan. She'd been having them ever since Hemery. Ever since she had found out the truth about the world. It was funny how learning that monsters were real could totally screw with your sleeping habits.

It had all started a few months ago. Back when Buffy Anne Summers had been just another popular cheerleader living in LA and lording her status over the rest of Hemery High. She had everything a shallow valley girl could want. She was dating the starting quarterback, had all the trendy clothes her Daddy's money could buy and the adoration of all her so-called friends. Then she met Oliver Pike, the Vampire Slayer. Nothing was the same after that.

Pike had been the consummate loner of Hemery High. He wasn't a complete loser but he also wasn't high enough up the social food chain for Buffy to bother with. He might as well not have existed at all considering how little she cared. What was one social outcast when compared to picking out the perfect dress for homecoming or landing the starting quarterback for as your date?

Boy, had she been a stupid, shallow and selfish little girl back then. Still, Pike had seen something in her that he thought was worth saving. He had opened her eyes to the truth of the world and forced her to look beyond herself. It was scary and sometimes she wanted to hate him for shattering her illusions. However, at the same time wouldn't want to go back to the way things were. Pike had sacrificed himself to save her and everyone else at Hemery from the vampire Lothos and she wouldn't cheapen that by wishing it had never happened. Even if it would make her life less complicated.

"Buffy?" Hearing her mother's voice snapped her out of her somber musings.

"I'm up Mom." Buffy replied looking around her room, still filled with unpacked boxes.

"Good, wouldn't want you to be late for your first day at a new school." Joyce Summers answered through the closed door.

"No," Buffy said halfheartedly "wouldn't want that."

XXX

Sunnydale High was on the outside at least, fairly typical of most American high schools. There were students milling about in their various cliques. The faculty was arriving for another day of shaping young minds. The building's architecture was typical for southern California with its terracotta-tiled roof to its adobe-like walls. It seemed like quite the inviting place to learn. Buffy could tell already that this was going to be a disaster.

'At least there aren't any vampires.' she thought silently to herself.

"Okay." Joyce Summers said as she parked the black Jeep Cherokee in front of the building's main entrance. Buffy sighed heavily resigning herself to her fate as she exited her mother's car. "Have a good day." Joyce said encouragingly. "I know your going to make a lot of friends. Just think positively." Buffy managed a weak smile for her mother as she shut the car's door.

"Okay, Mom." She said before turning to go inside.

"Oh, and Buffy." The elder Summers women said regaining her daughter's attention. "Try not to get kicked out." She added pleadingly.

"I promise." Buffy said with as much sincerity as she could muster. Joyce smiled in relief. Then with a wave she drove off leaving Buffy to her doom.

'Okay. Time to get this over with.' Buffy thought resolutely and began making her way to the school's entrance.

XXX

The morning sun was shining brightly as Xander Harris made his daily commute to school via skateboard with a contented smirk on his face. Things had been going well for Xander lately or at least better than usual. As of two weeks ago he was out of his drunken parent's house and was now staying with his very cool uncle Rory. And for the first time ever (thanks mostly to a little redhead that he knew) Xander was passing more of his classes than he was failing. Oh yeah, he was also a superhero to boot.

Even though Xan had a few mixed feelings about it he still considered becoming the Vampire Slayer to be one of the better things to happen to him recently. That's right folks. He, Xander Harris, was the Chosen One. The one boy in all the world with the power to hunt the vampires and stop the spread of their evil. At least that was the company line his Watcher had given him when they had first met a couple of months ago. Anyway, Xan just thought it was cool to have super powers. He also liked the confidence boost that came with them. The verbal barbs of the popular kids hardly even phased him anymore.

Of course being the Slayer wasn't all laughs and giggles. There were some definite downsides to the gig as well. There was the short life expectancy that came with the job of course but oddly enough that wasn't one that really bothered Xander. Like most teenagers he didn't really take time to consider his own mortality. At least not much anyway.

No, the two cons of the job that really got to him were first, having to maintain a secret identity and second, the extremely vivid nightmares. He would be quite happy to live without either one.

He wasn't sure which part of having a secret ID bothered him more. Having to "Clark Kent" his way through high school or not being able to tell his two bestest buds about what was really going on with him. There had already been five times in the last two weeks where he had had to blow off his friends due to Slayer related business. Most of those times being training sessions with his watcher. He was really getting tired of having to come up with lame excuses for why he was always running late or just didn't show up at all. He hated lying to the both of them. Xander sighed and shook his head as he effortlessly ollied over a curb and onto the sidewalk.

Maybe it was for the best. Anyway, if he did tell them they would probably just think he was nuts. He would just have to make more time for them.

As for the nightmares, they really sucked. Vampires, pools of blood and various other demons had been just a few of the disjointed and disturbing images bouncing around his subconscious lately. He had been told that Slayer dreams were supposed to be prophetic but Xan wasn't so sure about that.

'This was Sunnydale after all.' He mentally scoffed as the school came into view. 'No way could things get as bad as they are in my nightmares.'

For kicks he decided to perform a few complicated tricks on his board, finishing up with a nose grind across the back of a bench. The Slayer upgrade certainly had done wonders for his strength, agility and coordination. He could actually ride this thing like a pro now.

'Tony Hawk, eat your heart out.'

As he got closer to the building Xander started weaving through the crowd on his skateboard. Sometimes passing within mere inches of his fellow students. If and when he had the opportunity to buzz by Cordelia Chase and her herd of mindless sheep he made sure to cut it extra close. He was still the treasurer of the "We hate Cordelia" club after all.

The dark haired Slayer was about to come to a stop and dismount his board when a blond goddess passed before him. All thought of anything else vanished as his eyes tracked her forward progress. She was small, 5'2 at the most with deep hazel eyes and magnificently full-lips. She had to be new because he had never laid eyes on her before but at the same time she seemed incredibly familiar to the young Slayer. It felt almost like deja vu.

WHAM!

Xander suddenly found himself on the ground in a rather undignified heap after colliding with a stair railing. Most everyone in the vicinity laughed at the young Slayer's rather clumsy display but the new girl didn't even turn around. On the bright side, Xan thought as he lay there a moment longer, if he had still been a normal person that probably would have hurt a lot more. As it turned out the only thing that had been injured by the railing was his pride and if he was honest with himself he had never had much of that to begin with.

"Well, that was slick." A slightly mocking voice said from above. Xander turned his head to see the dark haired and lanky form of Jesse McNally, one of his two best friends. Jesse was slightly taller than Xander. He had a narrow face with a strong jaw and dark brown eyes. Standing above his prone friend, Jesse offered a hand up. Xander took the hand that was given and Jes hauled him to his feet. The Slayer then retrieved his skateboard.

"So you liked that new trick huh?" Xander asked trying to sound like he had fully intended to get up close and personal with the handrail. "I hear the pros do it all the time." Jesse just quirked an eyebrow at that remark.

"Trick huh?" He said with a smirk. "That's funny, because from where I was standing it looked like you were paying way more attention to the new girl's butt and not enough to where you were going." Then he shrugged. "Not that I blame you, Willow might but I wouldn't."

"What would I blame him for?" The girl known as Willow Rosenberg asked walking up to her two bestest buds. Willow was almost a foot shorter than Xander with red hair, sea green eyes and slightly freckled face.

"Xander was just scoping out the new girl's awesome…" A not so gentle elbow to the ribs from Xander made Jesse rethink what he was about to say next. "Um, personality." Willow just rolled her eyes at her boys' antics.

"Anyway," Xander interjected "have either of you seen her around before?" Both shook their heads with matching looks of confusion to their friend's odd question.

"No, why do you ask?" Willow queried.

"I just feel like I should know her from somewhere." Xander answered uncertainly as the three of them started toward the main entrance.

"Well, if her family just moved in you might have seen her around town somewhere before she got enrolled and just don't remember." Jesse ventured.

"No." Xander said shaking his head. "A girl that seriously hot I would have remembered." He finished as they walked into the building never noticing the shadow of jealousy that passed over Willow's face.

XXX

Things were off to a great start today Buffy thought sarcastically as she exited the Principals office and entered the busy hallway. Her meeting with Principal (just call me Bob) Flutie had begun well with him giving a speech about how everyone got a fresh start here at Sunnydale High and that they didn't care about a student's past history. Then he looked at her records. Apparently burning down a gym was the one thing that they weren't quite willing to forgive and forget. Never mind that it was actually Pike's idea and that they had had a very good reason for doing it.

Of course Buffy couldn't tell anyone what that reason was. If you start spouting off about vampires and vampire slayers it won't be long before you find yourself in a straitjacket and a padded room.

Buffy sighed heavily. At least they were going to let her stay. Although Flutie pretty much said without actually saying it out loud that they would be keeping an eye on her.

"As long nothing else goes wrong today I'll be okay." She said quietly to herself then she stepped into the crowd of teenagers heading to class and immediately collided with couple of seniors. Which of course caused her to spill her bag's entire contents all over the hallway's floor. Then the jerks didn't even stop to help her or at least say they were sorry.

"I should really learn not to jinx myself." Buffy grumbled as she bent down to pick up her stuff. Suddenly someone dropped down in front of her and began to help gather her things. Well at least someone in this school has some manners. The LA native looked up to face her white knight. He was marginally handsome and cute in the goofy kind of way. He had longish brunette hair, warm brown eyes and very charming lopsided grin. The only fault she could find with his appearance was his questionable fashion sense. That had to be the most horrendous Hawaiian shirt Buffy had ever seen.

"Thanks." Buffy said as he handed her the last of her things.

"Having you was no problem." He answered. To which Buffy gave him a funny look. It took a full two seconds for him to realize the Freudian slip what he had just made and his look of mortification was priceless. "I meant uh, helping you was no problem." He corrected with a blush.

"That's what I figured you meant." The Summers girl said with a chuckle and extended her hand in introduction. "I'm Buffy Summers by the way. I'm new."

"Xander Harris," the boy answered taking her hand "uh, is me."

"Well it was nice meeting you Xander, but I have to get to my first class."

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you too." He replied. "And hey, maybe I'll see you around sometime, maybe at school… seeing as how we both uh, go there." Xander rambled, the look on his face clearly saying he wanted to kick himself.

"Yeah, well…bye." Buffy said with a slightly puzzled expression as she started to walk away. 'Strange guy,' Buffy thought 'nice but strange.'

For his part the Slayer just stood there a moment longer feeling very stupid. "We both go to school. Yeah, that wasn't pathetic at all." He berated himself as he watched her leave and disappear around a corner. What the hell was it about this girl that was throwing him off? Further more he still couldn't shake the feeling that he had met her somewhere before and that wasn't making things any easier.

"Get a grip Harris." He said sternly to himself as he started toward the library. It was time to report to his Watcher.

XXX

"Hey Giles, you in here?" Xander called out as he walked into the seemingly deserted library hearing his voice echo in the large open room. The Sunnydale High library was large and octagonal shaped with the back half of the room being elevated about three feet higher than the front. In the center of the room there was a large reading table with lamps and chairs spaced evenly all around it. The elevated tier in the back was where the stacks were located containing most of the room's books. All in all it looked like how one would expect a library to look. But there was something about the place that always made Xan's spidey-sense (AKA Slaydar) tingle.

It wasn't a full-blown "a vampire is about to attack me" feeling but just a general sense of doom. The Slayer had decided awhile ago that it was just the quietness of the place and all the books (shudder) that gave him the wiggins.

As he walked further into the room he noticed a newspaper sitting on the checkout counter. Normally that wouldn't have been enough to get his attention but someone (most likely Giles) had circled one of the articles in red ink. The headline read "Local boys still missing" and beneath was a picture of three young men about Xander's age.

'No one I know.' The Slayer mentally shrugged. Just then a hand tapped him on the shoulder.

"Gah!" Xander yelped and almost backhanded the person that had snuck up behind him. Fortunately he managed to reign himself in before he lashed out. Turning around he came face to face with the very person he'd been looking for, his Watcher Rupert Giles.

"Jeez Giles, don't sneak up on me like that. I thought you were supposed to be a librarian not a ninja."

"If you had been paying attention to all your senses Xander, I would not have been able to catch you unawares." The British man said in his lecture voice, which was something that for inexplicable reasons caused Xander to fall asleep most days.

Rupert Giles was in his early forties with dark brown hair that was starting to gray at the temples. He was usually attired in a three-piece tweed suit with a pair of wire framed glasses perched on his nose. It seemed fitting then that whenever Xander saw him the word "bookish" always came to mind.

"Can we skip the speech about how I should be on guard at all times. I would like to make it out of here sometime this century."

"What exactly does that mean?" Giles asked sounding as if he was about to take offence.

"Not much really," Xander began "just that once you get going you have a tendency to keep on going and to be honest Giles, I don't listen to even half of what you say once you've gotten your lecture on." Xander said with a shrug. "I'm just trying to save us both some time while also keeping you from going to the trouble of telling me something that I'm probably not going to remember later. Everybody wins."

At that the older man did take offence but before he could voice his anger Xander interjected "So, do you wanna hear how things went last night or not?" Knowing that Xander was referring to last night's patrol he decided to table the discussion about the boy's earlier insubordination for later.

"Yes Xander, how did it go?" the Watcher asked of his Slayer with an expectant look.

"Pretty well actually. I picked up a nice girl at the Bronze. We had some good conversation and then…" The Slayer paused for dramatic effect "…she tried to eat me. I don't know about you but I found that to be a huge turn off."

"Well I should hope so." was Giles' incredulous reply. "Anything else to report?"

"Well…" Xander began with an audible sigh as took a seat at the library table "I met this other girl today and I think she was into me at first but then I made a really stupid observation about how we both go to school." The dark haired boy shook his head sadly. "I'm pretty sure that's when she decided that I'm a doofus."

"Um, Xander?" Giles said looking very confused.

"Yeah G-Man?"

"What in the Bloody Hell are you talking about?!" The older man shouted in exasperation. Xander for his part just looked at his watcher like he was the stupidest person on the planet.

"The new girl or more accurately "hottie" on campus, duh." Xander answered his tone suggesting that it was the most obvious thing in the world. However the roguish grin on the boys face made it clear to Giles that Xander was irking him intentionally. That seemed to have become the pattern for their relationship. "C'mon Giles, keep up."

A groan of complete frustration escaped from the older man. "Well Xander, I'm sure this new student is fascinating but when I asked if you had anything else to report, I meant anything pertinent to the supernatural." Giles said trying very hard not to grind his teeth with every syllable.

"Why didn't you just say so then?" Xander asked trying to sound put out but coming off as amused. "Jeez, for a second there I thought you might actually be interested in hearing how my day to day was going but I should have known better. If it doesn't involve blood sucking fiends, Giles doesn't wanna hear about it."

'And the boy says I like to talk.' Giles thought mildly irritated.

"Anyway, to answer your question not much else happened."

"Were you seen by any other vampires?" Giles asked his charge.

"Nope. I managed to fly under the rest of the undead's radar."

"Good." Giles had firmly told Xander to maintain a low profile until they knew how big a threat they were up against. Once vampires learned of a Slayer's presence said Slayer tended to become the hunted rather than the hunter. Best to avoid a situation like that if they could as Xander still lacked the experience to handle it.

"Well, if we're done I've got to get to class." Xander said getting up from his seat and heading for the exit. When he reached the door though he turned back to face his Watcher. Giles was surprised to see a very serious expression on his face.

"Was there something else Xander?" he asked slightly concerned at his charge's sudden change of mood. For a moment it looked as if Xander was having an internal debate before he finally spoke.

"Giles," he started uncertainly "have you ever met someone for the first time but you could swear that you had met them before only you couldn't remember where or when?" Giles pondered what his Slayer had just said but couldn't think of any similar experiences.

"No Xander, I can't say that I have. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." Xander shook his head as he opened the door to leave. "It's all probably just in my head. Anyway I'll see you tonight G-man."

"Don't call me that." Giles shouted after him but the dark haired youth was already gone. Not that it would have done much good if Xander had heard. This Slayer seemed to take great pleasure in driving his Watcher to distraction. In any event Giles had research to do. If he was reading the signs and portents correctly there might be more to this town's problems than a simple vampire infestation.

XXX

Buffy studiously jotted down notes as the teacher wrote the words "The Black Death" on the chalkboard and underlined them. European history didn't really float the former cheerleader's boat but Buffy also wasn't going to give Flutie a reason to show her the door. Hence the studious note jotting.

"It's estimated that about twenty five Million people died in that one four-year span." The teacher said stepping away from the board and addressed the students. "But the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe how?" The teacher waited a beat hoping someone would answer of his or her own volition. Buffy sure didn't see any volunteers though. "As an early form of germ warfare." The educator continued. "Now if you'll look at the map on page sixty-three, you can trace the spread of the disease…"

Buffy felt a little panic when she realized that she didn't have a textbook.

"Here." Luckily the brunette girl next to her offered to share.

"Thanks." Buffy said with a grateful smile.

"Sure." She answered with a smile of her own.

"…and this popular plague lead to what social changes?" Again the teacher waited a beat. Seeing no takers this time as well she pointed to a young man in the back and called out "Steve?" Luckily for Steve the bell chose that moment to ring saving him from answering.

"Hi I'm Cordelia." The beautiful girl said extending her hand to Buffy.

"I'm Buffy." She said taking the other girl's hand and giving it a quick shake.

"If you're looking for a textbook of your very own, there's probably a few in the library." Cordelia offered.

"Thanks for the advice." Buffy said feeling grateful. "I'll have to stop there after lunch."

"Not a problem. So what's your next class?" Cordy asked. Buffy pulled out her schedule.

"Um, geometry with Mrs. Lasseter," Then Buffy felt kind of silly. "Do you know where that is?"

"Oh yeah. It's on the way to my next class. I'll show you." Cordy said as she looped her arm through Buffy's. "Come on." She said taking her out of the classroom and into the halls. "So you're from Hemery, right? In LA?" She queried.

"Yeah."

"Oh, I would kill to live in LA that close to that many shoes." Both girls chuckled at that finding some common ground. Buffy was still a girl after all even if she had come to learn that there was more to life than shopping.

"Well, You'll be okay here. If you hang with me and mine, you'll be accepted in no time." Cordy said as they walked through the corridors to Buffy's next class. "Of course, we will have to test your coolness factor. You're from LA so you can skip the written, but let's see." Then she struck a thoughtful pose. "Vamp nail polish?"

"Um, over." Buffy said with only a moments hesitation.

"So over." Cordelia agreed. "James Spader?"

"He needs to call me." Buffy gushed.

"Frappaccinos?"

"Trendy, but tasty."

"And finally, John Tesh?"

"The Devil." Buffy answered with certainty.

"Well, that last one was pretty much a gimme, but you passed."

Buffy sighed in relief. "Oh, good." Buffy said as they came to a water fountain where a mousy looking girl was taking a sip. Upon seeing the girl at the fountain Cordelia's manner changed from friendly and welcoming to cold and predatory. The look on her face was one Buffy was quite familiar with. It was the same look she used to get back at Hemery when she came across someone she thought was beneath her socially. The way she used to be was something that Buffy wasn't very proud of and seeing it in Cordelia made her wonder if they should be friends.

"Willow," Cordy said in a typical mean girl voice. "Nice outfit. Good to know you've seen the softer side of sears." She said snarkily. Buffy gave the girl in question (Willow) a once over. She was pretty as well but not as made up as Cordy or even Buffy herself. Her beauty was a little more natural. The Summers girl also took a look at her attire. Now Buffy like any other good Cosmo girl knew her fashion. It was true that Willow's choice in dress wasn't that great. In fact it looked like the poor girl's mother had picked out her clothes, but that was no reason to be mean to her.

Willow seemed to wilt under Cordelia's gaze. "Uh well, well my Mom picked it out." She said stammering a little and confirming what Buffy suspected.

Cordelia just scoffed. "No wonder you're such a guy magnet. Are you done?" Willow's spirit seemed to crumble right before Buffy's eyes. She hung her head and walked away in defeat. She watched the meek redhead go feeling like a complete jerk for just letting Cordy do that to her.

"If you want to fit in here," Cordy said looking Buffy in the eye "the first rule is know your losers. Once you can identify them all by sight, they're a lot easier to avoid." Buffy just nodded her head dumbly as Cordy took a drink from the fountain. She decided that she definitely didn't like this side of Cordelia. The rich girl then took Buffy by the arm again and continued their journey through the school.

"If you're not too swamped with catching up," the friendly Cordelia Chase was back now "you should come by the Bronze tonight."

"The what?" she asked.

"The Bronze. It's the only club worth going to around here." She said like it should be obvious to anyone with more than two brain cells. "They let anybody in, but it's still the scene. It's in the bad part of town."

"Where's that?" Buffy asked a little concerned.

"About half block from the good part of town. We don't have a whole lot of town here." She answered with a giggle. "But uh, you should show." She said as they stopped in front of the door to Buffy's class.

"Well, I'll try. And thanks for showing me the way."

"Good. So, I'll see you in Gym," Cordelia said as she was leaving to go to her own class "and you can tell me absolutely everything there is to know about you."

"Great." Buffy said not really liking that idea too much. Especially considering all the craziness that had gotten her here in the first place. "Yeah, that sounds like fun." The LA native said very unenthusiastically as she entered the classroom.

XXX

"Have you seen the new girl? She's weird and what kind of name is "Buffy" anyway?" The Cordette named Aphrodsia asked her friend Aura as they entered the girl's locker room.

Aura just laughed "I know, it's like totally the strangest name I've ever heard." Of course if these two girls were a little more self-aware they might have noticed that there own names weren't that normal either. "Anyway," Aura continued as they got to their lockers "have you heard the latest gossip about her?"

"No." Aphrodsia answered almost bouncing up and down. They hadn't had anything juicy to talk about for quite awhile.

"Well, chatter around the caf is that she got kicked out."

"Neg!" Aphrodsia replied looking scandalized.

"Pos, word is that she was involved with some gang-banger and they burned down the gym at her last school and that's why she had to move here with her mom." Aura said smiling at her friend's shocked reaction. "She's like some psycho-pyro and Sunnydale was the only school that would take her."

"Negly!" Aphrodsia practically shouted.

Aura was on a roll now. "Well I heard from Blue and she said…" Aura didn't get chance to finish her latest bit of gossip because as soon as she opened the locker door the body of a girl fell out practically on top of her. Almost immediately she began to scream hysterically and didn't stop for several minutes afterward.

XXX

Classes had let out for lunch and now Buffy found herself on a mission. It was about five minutes into her geometry class with Mrs. Lasseter that Buffy discovered that she was just as behind there as she had been in the other two classes she'd attended that morning. Asking around about whom to talk to about getting caught up one name kept coming up. Willow Rosenberg. The same girl Buffy had watched Cordelia tear down earlier that day. She was still feeling guilty for just letting it happen. Anyway according to her new peers Willow was not the most popular girl at school but she was definitely the smartest. Now all Buffy had to do was find her.

Coming out into the courtyard Buffy immediately spotted the girl in question. She was sitting with a lanky dark haired boy on a bench near one end of the courtyard and both were eating their lunch. Deciding the direct approach was best Buffy strode over to the brainy girl and her friend.

"Uh, Hi. You're Willow right?" She asked already certain of the answer. Even If Buffy hadn't seen her once today already she was pretty sure "Willow" wasn't a common enough name for there to be more than one.

"Why?" The look on Willow's face as she turned to face Buffy seemed to be half alarmed and half questioning. Then her expression softened a little. "I-I mean, yes I'm Willow and this is Jesse." She said indicating the boy next to her. "Did you want us to move?" she asked.

"Why would we move?" Jesse asked looking at Willow incredulously. "Really Will, you need to get over this meek & helpless little girl thing." Buffy felt some sympathy for the girl and agreed with her friend. She really did need to learn to stand up for herself more.

"Why don't we start with "Hi, I'm Buffy," she said with a wave and her most disarming smile "and then lets segue directly to me asking you for a favor." Buffy said taking a seat on the other side of Willow and opposite her friend Jesse then continued. "It doesn't require you to move, but it will involve you hanging out with me for a while."

"Aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" Jesse asked with a slightly dubious expression.

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked pretty sure of the answer and not really lamenting the loss of Cordelia as a potential friend.

"Not legally." Willow confirmed.

Buffy sighed with a little smirk on her face. "Look, I really can't afford not to get by here. And Cordelia's been really nice…" Buffy winced at the memory of what Cordy had done to Willow by the drinking fountain "to me anyway. But I kind of have this crazy urge not to bomb in all my classes, and I was told that you were the woman to see if I wanted to get back on track."

"You have totally come to the right place." Jesse said putting his left arm around Willow and giving Buffy a thumbs up with his right. "There isn't anyone in this school as smart as this girl right here." Willow for her part just blushed at her friend's praise.

"You're pretty smart too Jesse." Willow said still blushing from the praise then she looked to Buffy. "He is right though, I could totally help you out." She said showing a lot more confidence now that the discussion had turned toward academics. "Seriously, if I could get Xander Harris to pass most of his classes then getting you caught up should be a cinch."

"Xander?" Buffy said surprised but in a good way. "I met him earlier. He was nice, a little goofy but nice."

"He sure is." Willow said with a little smile and a far away look in her eyes. Someone has a crush Buffy thought. She herself had to admit that she too thought he was cute, if not just a little off. Buffy could definitely see why Willow liked him.

"Anyway," Jesse said breaking back into the conversation "speaking of our bestest pal Xander, where is he? He should have been here by now."

"That's a good question. He promised he was going to have lunch with us today." Willow said looking around sounding worried. "Do you think he's flaked on us again?"

"Flaked on you again?" Buffy said questioningly. "Has he been doing that a lot?"

"Yeah, he's been acting kind of funny for the last couple of months." Willow answered with a concerned shrug. "He cancels on us all the time, he's always running late and whenever we ask him about it he gets all… avoidy."

"And he has been spending a lot of time in the library." Jesse added. Buffy was about to ask why that was weird when the lanky youth continued. "Anyone who knows Xander also knows that books are like his kryptonite. It's just strange." Buffy wasn't quite sure what she should say to that.

"Maybe he's just going through something and he doesn't know how to talk to you guys about it." Buffy offered as explanation. However before either Willow or Jesse could say anything else Cordelia Chase appeared.

"Are these rejects bothering you?" Cordelia asked snidely.

Buffy looked around at her new friends. "Uh, no." she said with a little laugh.

"She's not hanging out with us." Willow said shaking her head.

"Hey, Cordelia." Jesse said getting up to greet the popular girl flirtatiously.

"Oh, please." She responded rolling her eyes. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility," She said scathingly to Buffy "but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, you know, the woman with the chest hair because gym was canceled due to the extreme dead girl in the locker."

"What?" was Buffy's shocked reply. She wasn't sure what had bothered her more. That a dead girl had been found in a locker or that Cordelia had told them about it like she was talking about the weather.

"What are you talking about?" asked Willow eyes wide.

"Some girl was stuffed in Aura's locker." Cordelia informed the trio.

"Dead?" Buffy questioned.

"Totally dead. Way dead." Cordy said resolutely.

"So not just a little dead then?" Buffy asked still not quite believing what she was hearing.

"You know, if you need a shoulder to cry on or just to nibble on…" Jesse said to the brunette trying to sound comforting and failing miserably.

"How did she die?" asked Buffy seriously.

"I don't know. Something about a barbecue fork to the neck." Cordelia was now looking at Buffy like she was demented. "Why?"

"Nothing." Buffy mumbled thinking all of this sounding way too familiar but at the same time desperately hoping it was just a coincidence.

"Hanging out with losers and a morbid fascination with dead people." The popular girl was shaking her head at Buffy. "You almost had me fooled. I thought you had potential but now I see your just another loser." With that Cordelia walked off in a huff of superiority.

"Sorry that we messed that up for you." Willow said quietly. Buffy just looked at her and smiled.

"Don't worry about it Willow. I used to be the Cordelia of Hemery High and its not as great as she wants everyone to think. At least now I know who my friends are." Willow just smiled back. At least until she noticed that Jesse was staring at Cordelia's butt as she walked farther away from them. Then the redhead just rolled her eyes. Buffy also seemed to have noticed where Jesse's attention was focused. Looking at each other and shaking their heads both girls said with exasperation "Boys?"

"What?" Jesse asked innocently. "I think I may be wearing her down." Buffy and Willow giggled at that not liking his chances.

"Anyway," Buffy said her serious expression returning with the memory of the sobering news Cordy had given them "seeing as Gym was canceled I think I'll head over to the library and pick up my text books." Then she turned to Willow. "How 'bout we meet out front after school and then we can work out a time to study."

"Sounds good." Willow affirmed as she too got up to leave dragging Jesse with her. With that the three new friends parted company.

XXX

Thanks to the power of the SHS rumor mill, word about the dead girl had gotten around pretty quickly. Xander himself had been on his way to the courtyard to meet Willow and Jesse for lunch (like he'd promised them he would) when he'd heard about it. Now he found himself having to sneak his way towards the girl's locker room to investigate instead. It looked like he would have to come up with yet another lie to tell his friends. God did he hate having a secret identity.

Looking around carefully he checked to make sure no one was watching as he neared the door. Xander Harris had many fantasies that involved the girl's locker room, but breaking in to scope out a dead body was certainly not one of them. With the super strength that being the Slayer afforded him he easily broke the lock on the door. Then he entered as quietly as possible.

The body was lying on a bench in the middle of the room covered by a tarp. He had to be quick with his examination because the coroners would be arriving soon to take it away. He didn't want to be around when they showed up. Kneeling down next to the corpse Xander hoped and prayed that his gut feeling was wrong about this.

Taking a deep breath Xander pulled the tarp away revealing the body of a girl not much older than himself. On the right side of the victim's neck there were two little puncture wounds right where a major artery was located. The young Slayer's heart sank as he saw the marks and knew what they meant. "I guess you had a bad date last night too."

XXX

"Hey Giles." Xander shouted as he stormed into the library.

"Yes?" Giles said appearing from behind a bookcase. Spotting his mentor Xander walked toward him purposefully.

"We have a little problem." The boy said coming to a stop before his Watcher. "I'm sure you have heard about the dead girl right? The one they found stuffed in a locker."

"Yes."

"Well, I'll give you three guesses what happened to her and the first two don't count." Xander said crossing his arms with a dark look.

"Vampire?" the older man asked.

"Got it in one." The Slayer confirmed. "Of course the official story is that she impaled herself on a barbecue fork."

"That is a rather wild claim."

"What's crazier," Xander added shaking his head in disbelief "is that people are actually buying that story."

"You'll find Xander that people in general have an amazing capacity for self deception. They tend to rationalize that which they do not understand." Giles then sighed deeply and asked his next question "Is she…Will she rise again?"

"Huh?" Xander asked caught off guard by the Watcher's query.

"The girl." Giles affirmed sounding a little annoyed.

"No. She's just dead."

"Are you certain?"

Xander looked a little offended that Giles was questioning him. "I may have only been at this whole slayer gig couple of months now but I can tell the difference between someone who was turned and someone who is just dead."

"How?"

Xander sighed heavily but recited what he knew about vampire siring anyway. "She didn't have any blood on her lips. To make you a vampire, they have to suck your blood and then you have to suck their blood. It's this whole big suckfest. Mostly they're just looking to make a meal out of you."

Giles seemed satisfied with that answer. "In any event, I was afraid something like this might happen."

"What do mean when you say, something like this?"

"Most vampires are not usually so cavalier with their victim's remains." Giles answered intensely. "They are getting bolder. The girl, I'm afraid is just the start. Something is coming."

"What are you babbling about Giles?" Xander asked growing uncomfortable with the lack of a real explanation. Sighing and massaging the bridge of his nose the watcher decided to take a different tack. Going into his office Giles began to search for something while Xander watched.

A moment later the older man asked, "What do you know about your town Xander?"

"Sunnydale is a one Starbucks town Giles." Xander replied flippantly. "There really isn't much to know."

"I've been researching heavily from the moment I suspected there might be more going on than we initially thought. Dig a bit into the history of this place," Giles said still searching through his office "you'll find a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences." Finally finding what he was after Giles emerged with several books. "I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy, that things gravitate towards it that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires." Xander said seeing where the librarian was going with this.

"Like zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi." with each word Giles handed Xander a book. "Everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day." Xander was now holding quite a large stack of books in his hands. "They are all real." Giles said intensely.

"G-man, are you gonna test me on all this stuff later?" Xander asked with a little sarcasm.

"Oh, w-well, no." Giles' look of intensity vanished as he was caught off guard by the question.

"Pop quiz?"

"Um, I don't think so."

"Excellent." Xander said handing the books back to Giles. "Then I don't see what any of that other stuff has to do with me. I'm a Vampire Slayer after all, not an Inkyby Slayer."

"It's in-cu-bi," Giles said enunciating the word properly though he half suspected Xander had mispronounced it on purpose, "and as the Slayer your responsibilities extend beyond vampires though they are your primary concern."

"Well my responsibilities just made me blow off my friends, again!" Xander said indignantly. "So I think I'm gonna take the night off and just hang."

That caused Giles to stutter, "Ta-take the night off? Xander, you can't take a night off."

"Why the hell not?" Xander asked sounding every inch the petulant teenager.

"Because you are the Slayer." Giles stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "To each generation a Slayer is born." The Watcher began to recite. "One boy in all the world, a chosen one, one born with the strength…"

"…And skill to hunt the vampires," Xander said busting into Giles' recitation "to stop the spread of their evil yadda, yadda, yadda. This is like the millionth time I've heard you make that speech."

"I really don't understand where this attitude is coming from." Giles said shaking his head in confusion. "You have never had a problem with your duty before."

Xander let out a sigh of frustration "Giles, I'm not saying that I don't wanna be the Slayer. Far from it, but I would like to spend time with my friends too and enjoy my life a little." 'However short it may be.' Xander added silently to himself. "But if your so worried something is going to happen, hey here's a thought. Why don't you hunt some vamps tonight."

"I'm a Watcher." Giles stated sounding flabbergasted at the very idea. "I haven't the skill."

"Oh come on. Stake through the heart, a little holy water. It's like riding a bike. Once you've done it you'll never forget." Xander said trying to make it sound easy.

Giles wasn't convinced however "A Slayer slays, a Watcher…"

"Watches." Xander supplied sarcastically.

"Yes…No!" Giles verbally stumbled. "He trains him. He-he prepares him."

"Prepares me for what Giles?" Xander asked anger flaring in his voice. "For always having to lie to the people I care about? For constantly having to fight for the lives of others and never getting so much as a thank you?" Xander's voice grew colder with every word. "For probably dying before I've even really had a chance to live?" Xander looked coolly into the watcher's eyes "Go ahead Watcher. Prepare me." Giles was left speechless at the Slayer's tirade. Xander just scoffed shaking his head, then left.

"Damn." Giles muttered to himself and pursued the boy out into the halls.

A short time later Buffy Summers emerged from the stacks clutching her newly acquired textbooks with a look of absolute disbelief upon her face. "I so totally can't believe this is happening to me again?"

XXX

To say Giles was annoyed would be an understatement. The Council had told him at great length that the boy had only been discovered after being called and that his style would probably be unorthodox to say the least but not once did they mention how willful the young man might possibly be.

Giles knew that being assigned an active Slayer was the height of any Watcher's career but now as he chased after the young man he was thinking (and not for the first time mind you) that it was an overrated experience.

"It's getting worse." He shouted as he finally caught up to Xander.

The boy stopped but didn't turn around. "What's getting worse." He asked in an icy tone. Giles directed him to a more secluded part of the hallway.

"The influx of the undead," He whispered earnestly, "the supernatural occurrences. It's been building for years. There's a reason why you were called here, and a reason why it's now!"

The Slayer just rolled his eyes as he began to respond to the Watcher's claims. "I was the next guy in line and I live here Giles. Its all just coincidence." He deadpanned.

'By all that is holy, this boy is stubborn.' The watcher silently ranted. Still, he wasn't going to give up. He too could be quite stubborn.

"Somethings coming." The Watcher began again, "Something…Something is going to happen here. Soon"

"Did they give you lessons on how to be vague in Watcher school?" Xander asked not even trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

Giles sighed heavily, "The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval very soon." The Watcher looked around as the bell for classes rang. "Days. Possibly less."

"Oh, come on." The Slayer said in doubt "This is Sunnydale. I've lived in this town my whole life. How bad an evil can there be here?"

XXX

"The Sleeper will wake." A voice echoed throughout the remains of what had once been a church. Now it was merely another chamber in the extensive cave system that ran beneath the pleasant facade of Sunnydale. Various torches and candles lit the chamber, casting eerie shadows on the walls. There were several disciples around the cavern performing various tasks. Some were carrying torches others seemed to be meditating. One was kneeling before a pool of blood in the center of the defiled church as if praying.

"The Sleeper will wake." It was he who's voice echoed in the cavernous room. "The Sleeper will wake." He said again his voice gaining in volume. "The Sleeper will wake, and the world will bleed." He rose from his kneeling position, his demonic features revealing him to be a vampire.

"Amen!" Luke finished triumphantly.

XXX

School was over for the day and despite the fact that she had had a few hours to process Buffy was still feeling somewhat dazed by all that she had overheard. The biggest problems Buffy thought she'd be facing on her first day of school were things like not making any friends or having last month's hair. Now there were vampires on campus and the nice goofy boy who had helped her pick up her things this morning was the new Vampire Slayer. Not to mention (if she had understood the librarian correctly) something majorly bad and supernatural was going to happen soon.

"What are the odds that I could get involved in weirdness like this twice?" Buffy muttered to herself as she headed to the front of the school only half remembering that she was supposed to meet Willow there. A small voice inside her was telling Buffy that this was all going to end just like Hemery. That she should just run home, grab her mother and get the hell out of dodge. However there was another firmer voice telling Buffy that she should help Xander the same way she had tried to help Pike. That doing so would go a long way to repaying the debt she owed. Pike was only dead now because he had chosen to save her rather than himself. Buffy shuddered at the memories that assaulted her but pushed them from her mind as she came to a decision.

No, she wasn't going to let something like that happen again. Buffy wasn't the pathetic cheerleader anymore who hid when things got dangerous. No, she was going to help Xander and that was all there was to it. Now all she had to do was find him and tell him that she was in his corner for whatever. Then hope he didn't freak out too much when it became clear that the new girl was fully aware of his biggest secret.

Now that she had a plan all Buffy had to do was find Xander to get the ball rolling. The only problem was she didn't have a clue where to start looking for the new Slayer.

"Hi Buffy." A cheerful voice called from her left. Turning to find the source Buffy saw a smiling Willow waving to her. 'Problem solved.' Buffy thought as she walked over to one of the best friends of Xander Harris. If anyone knew where to start looking it would be the genius girl before her.

"Oh, hi Willow." Buffy waved back.

"Do you still want to set up a study session?" Willow asked still eager to help.

"Actually, I was wondering if you had seen Xander? I need to talk to him." A minor look of jealousy flashed across the bookworm's face but disappeared again just as swiftly as it had come. Willow being the rational girl she was quickly realized that Buffy could have a lot of reasons for wanting to see Xander that had nothing to do with romantic interest.

"Um, I saw him a little while ago." Willow offered. "He said he wanted to meet me and Jesse at the Bronze tonight to hang out and make up for flaking on us at lunch today. He even pinky promised that he wouldn't blow us off this time."

"The Bronze huh?" Buffy said thinking that sounded perfect. Cordelia did say that she should show and hey, it could be fun. That and she just had a brilliant idea that would totally benefit Willow. "Willow, would you mind if I tagged along with you tonight?"

"Um, sure." The brainy girl said with a smile. Then she asked "Where's your house and what time should I come by?"

"It's at 1630 Revello Drive but I was thinking that you should come with me now."

Willow looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Buffy said with a smile "If I'm going to do a makeover on you its probably gonna take some time. I'm not suggesting anything drastic. Just a little makeup, maybe do something with your hair and a cute outfit from my wardrobe to get the boys' attention. Yeah, that should do it."

"Uh, I don't know." Willow said uncertainly.

"C'mon Will, it'll be fun." Buffy urged using her most persuasive smile. "Just a little girl bonding between you and me. Considering that your two best friends are boys I'm sure you could use some."

That seemed to do the trick. "Lead on." Willow said strongly even though she still wasn't sure this was a good idea.

XXX

Xander looked around the bedroom that he would be calling his own for the foreseeable future. There wasn't much in it besides a couple moving boxes, his bed and his dresser. After all he had only moved in a couple of weeks ago. Still, it felt more like home than his parent's house ever had. Even with everything that had happened recently Xander was still glad to be here with his uncle Rory.

It was about the same time that the Slayer weirdness started that social services had finally noticed that the Harris' were neglectful drunks. Even at the best of times they had never been the most loving and supportive parents. So Xander hadn't been too surprised that when social services applied some pressure they had willingly given up their guardianship of him to his uncle. The young Slayer had a sneaking suspicion that the Watchers had something to do with his change in fortune. Not that he minded.

He couldn't thank God enough that it had been Rory who had decided to take him. Out of all the family he had Rory was the only one Xander could say he actually cared for. Xan was pretty sure the feeling was mutual.

Sighing heavily Xander pushed the reflective thoughts of the recent past away and focused on the present. He had pulled a few clothing choices from his closet earlier (most of which had a bright Hawaiian print shirt as the anchor) and was now trying to figure out which he should go with for his night out with his bestest buds. Just then he heard a knock on his door. "Yeah?" He asked.

"Hi bud." Rory greeted coming into the room.

"Hey." Xander replied.

"Are you going out tonight?" Rory asked noticing the clothes on Xander's bed.

"Yeah, I'm going to the Bronze. You know, the club in town."

"Will there be girls at this club?"

"No Rory, it's a monk club." Xander joked.

Rory chuckled at that. "Well, just be careful. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." The older man said sagely.

"I will…or won't." Xander floundered. "Whichever is the right answer that's what I'll do." Rory chuckled again at his nephew's interesting if somewhat confusing form of speech.

"You know, I think things are gonna work out just fine for us." The older man said still smiling. "We'll find a balance you and me and I'm gonna get the Garage up and running before too long." For as long as Xander could remember his uncle Rory had talked about opening his own auto-repair shop and now he was doing just that. "Oh, I may have found a parts supplier today."

"That's great, Rory." Xander said feeling genuinely happy for his uncle.

"And I'm going to do my best to provide a supportive environment for you, which is just what you need." Rory assured though Xander wasn't sure whom he was really trying to assure more, Xander or himself.

The Slayer gave his uncle a pointed look. He wasn't five years old after all. "Well, truth be told…" Xander started.

"Not too supportive." Rory interrupted. "I know. You're sixteen. You need to learn to stand on your own." Rory said with a smile. "You're gonna have to bear with me here, Xander. This parenting stuff is still pretty new to me."

Rory took a deep breath and his expression turned serious. "It's hard, your life changing and all. It's been tough for me too." He said placing a hand on Xander's shoulder. "But we'll make it work."

"I know." Xan replied.

"You're a good kid, Xander. I've always known that." Rory Harris said ruffling his nephew's hair. "I'm just sorry that your parents couldn't see it too. But that's all over and done with now."

"It is." Xander stated resolutely.

"Well have fun tonight and don't stay out too late." He told his nephew as he left the room.

XXX

Ten minutes later Xander left the house having finally decided on an outfit for the evening. In the end he had gone with a more serious look consisting of a dark blue button down shirt over a black T-shirt with a pair of blue jeans and his black leather work boots. Now he just needed to get to the Bronze. Which was only a brisk fifteen-minute walk from his and Rory's place.

Just before the end of school he had caught up with Willow and Jesse respectively and told them he would meet up with them at the Bronze for a little quality friend time. Giles was still pissed at him for taking the night off but Willow had made him pinky swear that he would be there and a pinky swear was sacred. Giles would just have to deal.

It was about five minutes into his trip however that his spidey-sense started doing the wacky. He couldn't see anybody but Xan knew he was being followed. Xander picked up the pace thinking maybe he could lose his pursuer but they stayed right with him, but just out of sight the whole time.

'Screw this.' Xander thought. It was time to be proactive. He quickly hurried around a corner into an alley. Looking up Xander noticed a metal bar running the width of the alley about ten or eleven feet up. Moving quickly Xander scaled the alley wall, grabbed the bar and swung himself into a perfect handstand atop it. Looking down he had the perfect view of the alley entrance.

Seconds later he noticed a figure cautiously enter the alleyway. He couldn't see much in the way of details about the person. Shadow obscured most of their features but he could see it was a woman. When she was directly underneath him Xander let gravity take back over and swung forward. His feet connected with her back just below her neck, the force of the blow flipping her forward and onto her back. Xander landed a second later instinctively slipping into a fighting stance while placing a foot on her chest to keep her pinned.

Now that he could see her better Xander examined his pursuers appearance. She looked to be only a couple years older than him and was stunningly beautiful. Her slightly wavy ebony locks framed her pale delicate features and dark eyes perfectly. She was wearing a black leather jacket over a low-cut blood red silk blouse that displayed her assets quite nicely. She also had on a pair of black slacks that hugged her in all the right places.

The girl chuckled and smiled up at him alluringly "Is there a problem pal?"

"Maybe? Depends on why you're following me." Xander said icily while trying very hard to keep his teenage brain from being distracted by her feminine whiles.

"I know what you're thinking," she said still smiling seductively "but don't worry. I don't bite." Then her expression became almost pensive. "Unless you're into that sort of thing." She added with an enticing smirk.

Xander backed off and let her get to her feet but remained on guard. Whoever she was, she obviously knew that he was the Slayer.

"The truth is I thought you would be scarier, or at least have bigger muscles and all that." She said giving him a once over. "Oh," She said painfully reaching to rub the back of her neck "you're pretty spry though."

Under any other circumstances Xander would be more than happy to discuss his personal dimensions with this girl but right now he wanted answers. "What do you want?" he asked directly.

"The same thing you do." She answered vaguely.

Xander sighed in mild irritation. He had gotten enough of the cryptic from Giles today without this chick adding to it. "Okay then. What do I want?" he asked trying to sound annoyed.

She took a step forward. "To kill 'em. To kill 'em all."

'Wonderful,' Xander thought 'five bucks says she knows Giles and he put her up to this to get back at me.'

"I'm sorry, that is incorrect." Xander said in his best game show host voice "but you do get all expense paid trip to the Bahamas and a years supply of turtle wax. What I want is nice quiet night out with my friends and occasionally something resembling a normal life." He finished then turned to walk away.

"Do you really think that's an option anymore?" the girl, asked him coolly. Xander stopped and turned back to face her. "You're standing at the mouth of hell, and it's about to open." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a small case. "Don't turn your back on this." She said tossing it to him. "You've got to be ready."

"For what?" Xander asked now feeling a little creeped out.

"For the Harvest." She answered enigmatically.

"Who are you?"

She smiled as she walked by. "Let's just say I'm a friend."

"Yeah, well, maybe I don't need anymore friends." the Slayer shouted defiantly after her.

"I never said I was yours." She returned with another smirk and disappeared into the night.

Xander shook off the feeling of dread the strange girl had left him with and opened the case. Inside was a beautiful silver cross and chain.

"Interesting gift." Xander said to himself.

XXX

Willow had to try very hard not to blush at all the looks she was getting from people (mostly boys) as she and Buffy walked through the Bronze to the bar. Willow hadn't been too keen on Buffy's makeover idea at first but now she was starting to like it.

It began with Buffy doing her hair, putting her long red tresses up into a messy twist leaving a few strands of hair to frame her face. Then she did Willow's make up. Buffy had told Willow that she wouldn't need much, saying that Will had a natural beauty and that they would only accentuate it. A little lipstick and a smidgen of eye shadow was all it took. Next came the outfit.

This was the part of the makeover that Willow was the least comfortable with, at first anyway. She felt almost naked. Buffy had put her in a low cut maroon top that exposed her midriff and a black mini skirt that showed off her legs. Legs that according to Buffy, most girls (and the blond had included herself in this statement) would kill for.

"How you doing Willow?" Buffy asked as they reached the bar and took a seat.

Willow took a deep breath to calm her nerves before answering. "Uh, I'm okay. I could live without the shoes but other than that I'm fine." As it turned out Buffy and Willow were the same shoe size and Buffy had given her a pair of strappy high heels to wear for the evening. They killed her feet but made her calves look spectacular.

"Did you see the way all the boys went totally non verbal when you walked by?" Buffy asked smiling at her new friend. "I bet you get some numbers tonight. Probably even a few date offers."

"Well um, I don't actually date a whole lot…lately."

"Why not?" Buffy asked her. Sure the girl was shy but someone had to have asked her out sometime.

"Well," she said looking thoughtful "when I'm with a boy I like, it's hard for me to say anything cool or witty or at all. I-I can usually manage a few vowel sounds, and then I have to go away."

"It can't be that bad." Buffy said chuckling at the redhead next to her.

"Oh, but it is." Willow said earnestly. "Anyway I think boys are more interested in girls who can talk."

She almost laughed out loud at that. "You really haven't been dating lately."

"It's probably easy for you." Will said with a smirk.

Buffy's face fell as she recalled losing the first boy she had every really cared for. "Yeah, real easy." she answered lamely suddenly starting to feel depressed. It wasn't something Buffy thought about very often. In fact she tried not to think about it at all but in the short time that she and Pike had known each other she had developed some pretty serious feelings for the Slayer. Before the final battle with Lothos he had taken her aside and kissed her. He told then that he felt something for her too and that they would figure things out later. Later never came.

"I mean, you're nice and don't seem too shy." Willow said noticing Buffy's sudden change of expression.

Deciding not to dwell on her problems the former cheerleader perked up and turned to her friend. "Willow, do you want to hear my philosophy on life?" she asked out of the blue.

"Yeah, I do." She answered looking very interested.

"Life is short." Buffy stated simply taking a sip of her drink.

"Life is short." Willow repeated digesting the words.

"Not very original, sure, but it's true." she told her friend. "Why waste all your time worrying about whether or not some guy likes you or if they're going to laugh at you? I say, seize the moment 'cause tomorrow you might be dead."

Willow nodded her head smiling. "That's nice." She said genuinely. Buffy could see that she was really going to take the advice to heart. It made Buffy feel good that her words might have a positive effect on Willow. God knows the girl needed to learn to be a little more assertive and not so timid.

"Well, I've got to hit the ladies room but I'll be right back." Buffy said getting up from her seat.

"Oh, that's okay." Willow said to Buffy. "You don't have to come back."

The Summers girl turned back to Willow and shook her head not believing that she still had to say this. "Willow, I actually enjoy your company." She stated smirking at the timid girl. "So when I say, "I'll be right back" I really mean it. Okay?"

"Okay." She nodded affirmatively. With that Buffy turned and headed for the ladies room.

Willow started looking around the club with a new perspective courtesy of Buffy Summers. "Seize the moment." she said to herself planning to do just that.

XXX

The Bronze was located in the industrial part of town and used to be a warehouse before it had been converted into a club for Sunnydale's adolescent population. Xander could hear the band playing as he approached the club entrance.

Xander flashed the bouncer his ID and paid the cover charge before walking into the club. It had two levels and both were filled with dancing teenagers enjoying the music and company. Now that he was inside Xander could see the band up on stage. Energetic seemed to be a good word to describe their performance as they danced and jumped around the stage.

Xander bobbed his head to the music while looking around the club hoping to see his friends. Not having any luck spotting them he decided to head to the bar to get something to drink. It was as he was navigating through the crush of people to the bar that Xander saw a flash of tweed out the corner of his eye. Looking up to see what exactly had caught his attention Xan beheld something totally unexpected. On the upper tier of the club looking totally out of place in his tweed suit was Giles.

'I don't believe this.' Xander silently groaned as he changed direction and headed for the stairs. When Xander reached the upper level he found Giles standing near the guardrail. He was leaning over it and looking down into the huddled mass of dancing teens on the floor below and hadn't noticed Xander's approach.

"Wow Giles," the Slayer began walking up behind the librarian "I didn't know that you liked to hang with the students outside of school hours? Isn't that kinda dirty?"

If the Watcher was surprised by Xander's sudden appearance he didn't really show it. "Oh, right. This is me having fun." Giles said with annoyance. "Watching clown hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party. I'd much rather be at home with a cup of Bovril and a good book."

"G-man…" Xander started shaking his head.

"Don't call me that."

"…You seriously need to find the fun." Xander continued not even acknowledging the watcher's interruption.

The older man sighed dramatically. "This is a perfect breeding ground for vampire activity." Giles said slipping into lecture-mode. "It's dark, it's crowded. Besides, I knew you were likely to be here for your "night off" and I have to make you understand."

"That the harvest is coming, I got it." The Slayer said rolling his eyes at Giles. "Your friend already gave me a heads up." The Watcher's reaction to hearing this however was not what Xan expected.

"What did you say?" The older man's face became a mask of confusion.

Xander furrowed his brow. "The harvest." He said again noticing that Giles seemed to have no idea what it was he was talking about. "That mean anything to you? 'Cause I got nothing."

"I'm not sure." Giles answered uncertainly. "Who-who told you this?"

"This girl," Xander told his Watcher hesitantly "dark, beautiful in a creepy kind of way. She knew that I'm the Slayer so I figured you two were pals."

"No." The older man said. "Did she say anything else?"

"Something about the mouth of hell." Xan replied. "Did I mention that she was really creepy?" He added as he turned to watch the crowd below. Giles didn't say anything for a moment as he absorbed what Xander had told him. Then the older man sidled up next to Xander.

"Look at them, throwing themselves about," the watcher said into the younger man's ear "completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them."

"Lucky them." For the first time since becoming the Slayer Xander felt truly envious of his peers' blissful ignorance.

"Or perhaps you're right." The Watcher continued. "Perhaps there is no trouble coming. The signs could be wrong." He paused for a moment. "It's not as though you've been having the nightmares." Xander's eyes went wide and he felt his breath hitch at his Watcher's comment.

XXX

Elsewhere in the Bronze Cordelia Chase presided over her flock of mindless sheep. All of them were hanging off of her every word. 'Idiots.' Cordy thought to herself as she continued to spout off about nothing.

"My Mom doesn't even get out of bed anymore and the Doctor says it's Epstien-Barr." Cordelia said in disbelief. "I'm like, "Please, it's chronic hepatitis, or at least chronic fatigue syndrome." I mean, nobody cool has Epstien-Barr anymore." Her loyal followers all just nodded like she actually knew what she was talking about.

"Hey, Cordelia." Jesse McNally shouted to the popular girl as he made his way through the crowd.

"Oh, yay, it's my stalker." She said to one of her "friends" sticking her tongue out in disgust.

"Hey, you-you look great." He said with a dopey grin upon reaching the self-proclaimed queen of Sunnydale High.

"Well, I'm glad we had this little chat." Cordelia said clearly trying to blow Jesse off. He however was not deterred.

"Listen, uh, you know," he started uncertainly "you wanna dance, you know?"

"With you?" She asked.

"Well, uh, Yeah." He answered optimistically.

"Well, uh, No." Then she turned to her posse and picked up her drink. "Come on, guys."

Jesse wasn't embarrassed by the dismissal. Unlike most guys his age he could handle rejection. "Fine." The ever-optimistic teenager said letting it just roll right off. "Plenty other fish in the sea." With his confidence rising again he said to no one in particular "Oh yeah, I'm on the prowl." Then he went to mingle in the crowd again with a little strut in his step. "Witness me prowling."

XXX

"Come on Giles, I never said that I didn't want to be the Slayer." Xander said in frustration. They had been arguing for the last five minutes and there was no end in sight. All this not getting anywhere was starting to ware on the Slayer's nerves. "All I'm saying is that I would like to be a part-time Slayer. You know, strike a balance between the normal and paranormal parts of my life?" Xan asked pleadingly. The Look on the Giles' face however clearly said that he didn't agree. Xander decided that he needed to take a different tack.

"Anyway," he began "I'll make a deal with you. Whenever I see a vamp, I promise to stake it dead whether I'm on or off the clock. I'm just not going to be all slay all the tim…"

"Will you be ready?" Giles abruptly cut him off. "There's so much you still don't know about them, about your own powers." The watcher was once again in full lecture mode. "A vampire appears to be completely normal, until the feed is upon them. Only then do they reveal their true demonic visage."

"Seriously, do you practice these speeches in front of a mirror?" Xan asked barely suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. "And FYI, I know this stuff already."

"The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway, with out looking, without thinking." Giles nodded to the rest of the club "Can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building?" he asked.

Xander looked around. "Sure," He said confidently but then became slightly apprehensive "maybe. How hard could it be?"

"You should know." The Watcher said sounding exasperated. "Even through this mass and this din you should be able to sense them." Giles paused then looked at Xander expectantly "Well, try."

Xander started to scan the room with his eyes looking for anything unusual. "Reach out with your mind." The Watcher started giving instruction not realizing that Xander wasn't paying any attention. "You have to hone your senses, focus until the energy washes over you, until you feel every particle of…"

"There's one." Xan said abruptly pointing to a young man down on the dance floor.

"Where?" Giles asked a little thrown at being interrupted during his instruction.

"Right there," He said, again pointing to the boy, "talking to that girl." The young man in question was currently engaged in an animated discussion with a scantily clad redhead on the ground floor.

Giles scoffed clearly not seeing anything out of the ordinary. "You don't know…"

"Oh, come on!" Xander said halting whatever Giles was about to say. "Look at the dude's skin." Xander said pointing out the young man's rather pasty complexion.

"He's pale?" Giles asked uncertainly.

"Pale, he's practically transparent." The Slayer answered. "Trust me, either that guy has been living underground for the last ten years or he wants to be a mime when he grows up."

"But you didn't… hone." Giles said with a little disappointment.

Xan shook his head and turned back to look at the vamp and the girl he was chatting up. Xander finally got a look at her face as she moved around the vampire and felt his heart nearly stop. "Oh, no!"

Noticing his Slayer's reaction Giles followed his line of site and comprehension dawned on the Watcher's face. "Isn't that your…"

"Willow." Xan supplied.

"What's she doing?"

"Putting herself on tonight's menu." Xander replied before quickly leaving Giles to pursue the vamp and his friend.

XXX

By the time Xander reached the Bronze's ground floor Willow and the vamp were nowhere to be seen.

'This sucks, this sucks, this really sucks!' That had become Xander's internal mantra as he searched the club for the pair. Soon he came across a quiet and secluded back area near the stage. To Xander it seemed like the perfect place for a vampire to take an unsuspecting victim. Close to the entrance to the back area there were some wooden chairs stacked near the wall. Stupidly not having brought a weapon tonight Xan improvised snapping the leg off one of the chairs turning it into a makeshift stake.

Now properly armed for slayage, he stalked through the deserted area of the Bronze looking for his best friend. There was very little in the way of lighting in this part of the club and most of the noise from the main area was extremely muted. The walls were painted a dark gray color and covered in band posters. He even saw one poster for "Dingoes Ate My Baby" who in his opinion were the only band in Sunnydale worth listening to.

Xan searched for a few more moments, opening doors and looking around corners but found nothing. He was about to leave to search elsewhere when a door behind him swung open. Reacting purely on instinct the Slayer grabbed his possible assailant by the throat and pinned them to the wall, stake ready to plunge if it turned out to be a member of the undead persuasion.

A pair of startled brown eyes belonging to one Cordelia Chase stared back at Xander. "Oh, it's just you." He said letting go of the teen queen. Taking a step back he felt a little disappointment at not being able to stake the shrew before him. Evil or not she was still human, though Xander would hotly contest that fact if anyone asked him.

It was clear from the rich girl's expression that she wasn't amused. "God!!" She shouted, "What is your childhood trauma?"

"Have you seen Willow around here?" He asked totally disregarding her tone.

"What?" Cordy asked placing her hands on her hips, "Do you need to attack her with the stick?"

Realizing he was still holding the stake out in the open Xander quickly shoved it into his back pocket out of sight. "No, I just need to find her. Its uh… important." He answered looking around finally noticing several members of Cordy's posse standing in the doorway. From the looks on their faces they had witnessed the whole altercation. Xander was pretty sure that whatever social standing he may have had had just been destroyed. Not that it really mattered. He was already considered to be a social leper by the elite of Sunnydale High's student body. How much worse could it possibly get?

"I gotta go." He said as he went back out into the club not particularly caring what Cordy and her harpies thought. Willow was still in danger and he had to find her. That was all that mattered right now.

After he was gone Queen C looked at her followers angrily. "Excuse me." She said in a clipped tone as she pulled a cell phone from her purse. "But I have to call everyone I have ever met right now." Harris had always been a loser but she had never figured him for a psycho.

XXX

Giles had been caught off guard when his Slayer had suddenly gone after the vampire and the redheaded girl. So much so that he had lost sight of the young man. Deciding that it would be easier to find the boy on the ground floor Giles headed for the stairs. It took him a few moments to get down the stairs and through the horde of teenagers to where Xander had disappeared. A couple of minutes later the watcher spotted Xander striding out of the back area of the club. However Giles failed to notice the look of frustration on the Slayer's face.

"Oh." Giles said approaching the Slayer with a proud smile. "That was quick. Well done. Now I need to go to the library. This harvest thing is…"

"I didn't find them." Xander broke in before Giles could get any further. The smile immediately fell from the older man's face.

"The vampire is not dead?" Giles asked forcing Xander to face him.

"No, but I'm sure I just heard what was left of my social life flat-line." The teen fired back utterly confusing the Watcher.

"So what do we do?" Giles asked shaking off the Slayers strange answer.

"I'll take care of it." Xander answered.

"I, I need to come with you, yes?"

"Don't worry G-man." The Slayer was clearly agitated now. "One vampire I can handle." With that the youth broke away from the older man and headed for the exit.

Realizing there wasn't much else he could do here Giles did likewise.

However neither Slayer nor Watcher noticed Jesse McNally talking to a beautiful but far too pale brunette girl near the bar.

"Tanya huh? You know, I haven't seen you around before. Are from around here?" Jesse asked trying desperately to sound cool.

"No, but I have family here." Tanya said smirking devilishly.

"Have I met them?"

Her smirk became a full-blown smile. "You probably will."

XXX

Luke sat transfixed before the pool of blood. Any moment now the sleeper would awake and the preparations for the harvest would begin. The Order of Aurilius had waited almost a half-century for this moment and now the hour of man's destruction was almost nigh.

Luke felt an almost religious fervor spread through himself as a form began to ascend from the pool. The crimson liquid seemed to roll off the figure leaving their black leather clothing immaculate and untouched.

Stepping away from the pool the being stopped before Luke and extended its clawed hand to the vampire. Luke took the offered hand and reverently looked up into the blood red eyes of the one he served above all others.

"Master." He said with awe.

"I am weak." The ancient vampire known as the Master said to his most loyal follower.

"Come the harvest, you will be restored." Luke assured supporting his weakened leader.

"The harvest." The Master repeated with a thoughtful nod.

"We're almost there." Luke confirmed. "Soon you'll be free." The master nodded again and reached out with his free hand. The air shimmered as he pushed against the barrier that kept him imprisoned in this vile place.

"I must be ready." He said pulling his hand away from the barrier. "I need my strength."

"I've sent your servants to bring you some food." Luke informed.

"Good." The Master answered turning to face his servant "Luke."

"Yes?"

"Bring me something…" The Master's smile became truly demonic, "young."

XXX

"Sure is dark." Willow said nervously to Darien as they walked the deserted streets of Sunnydale.

"It's night." he stated plainly.

"Well that's a dark time night. Traditionally" Willow answered apprehensively. She had been all for this "seize the moment" thing before but now she was starting to have doubts. Darien had been real friendly and nice back at the Bronze but now he was starting to act weird. Of course they had just met and maybe he wasn't comfortable around her yet. Deciding that was the problem Willow opted to keep the conversation going.

"I still can't believe I've never seen you around school." Willow continued "Do you have Mr. Chomsky for history?" Darien just smirked at her and kept walking.

"Um, the ice cream bar is this way." Will pointed down the street to their left. "It's past Hamilton Street."

"I know a short cut." The blond boy said taking her by the hand and leading her into Verdant Meadow Cemetery. Willow decided not to argue and go with it. As Buffy said "life is short" might as well enjoy it while you can.

XXX

Xander was almost out the Bronze's exit when a small hand grabbed his arm. "Leaving so soon?" a hauntingly familiar voice asked. Turning to see whom had stopped him Xander was for the third time that day struck by a near sense of deja vu as he again laid eyes on Buffy Summers.

"Uh hi, Buffy." the Slayer started uncertainly as he tried to shake the weird feeling that assailed him every time he saw this girl. "You wouldn't happen to have seen a redheaded girl come past here?" He asked managing to remember what his objective was. "She goes by the name of Willow."

"I know Willow." Buffy answered. "In fact we came together but I lost her a little while ago when I went to the ladies room."

That kind of surprised the Slayer. Girls of Buffy's caliber usually got swallowed up by Cordelia's crowd. "Well she left with a guy." Xander said sounding slightly frantic.

Buffy smiled brilliantly not hearing the distress in Xan's voice "Alright Will! I guess she really took my advice to hear-."

"I need to find her." Xander cut her off abruptly. This time she did notice the stress.

"Why?" Buffy asked not really getting what Xander was so worked up over. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks and her smile instantly fell away. "Oh no, he was a vampire wasn't he, the guy?" With that remark Xander felt the bottom drop out. For five full seconds all he could do was stand there with a shocked look on his face while his mind tried wrap itself around what the girl had just said.

"You know about vampires?" Xander asked finally finding his voice.

"Uh huh," the LA native confirmed with a nod "I also know that you're the Slayer if it helps. Although this isn't quite how I pictured this conversation going."

'And the hits just keep on coming.' Xander thought having received a second major shock in as many minutes.

"How in the hell did you find out about…You know what, it doesn't matter." he said shaking his head anxiously. "You can explain later, right now we can either find Willow or find her body in the morning, you can guess which I would prefer."

"Alright," Buffy said agreeing with Xander one hundred percent that saving their friend's life was more important "lets go."

XXX

"Okay, this is nice and uh, scary." Willow said to Darien as the pair continued to walk through the cemetery. Will was starting to wonder if their destination really was the ice cream bar. "Are you sure this is faster?" she asked voicing her unease.

Darien just smirked and ignored her concerns. "Hey, you ever been in one of these?" he asked walking up to a mausoleum and opening its door.

"No thank you." Willow said feeling thoroughly creeped out now. Maybe she could still get back to the Bronze in time to hang out with her friends.

"Come on." Darien said soothingly walking up behind Willow. He then started to brush a few wayward strands of hair away from neck "What are you afraid of?" He asked leaning in and kissing her nape. Willow was about to shove the creep off when she felt a sharp pain where Darien was kissing her. Before she could cry out in protest though Darien grabbed her roughly by the arm and shoved her into the mausoleum. As Willow stumbled into the crypt she managed to steady herself against a large stone coffin in its center.

Turning around Willow reached up to her neck. There was blood on her hand when she pulled it away. The freak had bit her. Darien began to stalk around the mausoleum with a malevolent smirk on his face. Willow started to edge toward the door hoping that she would be able to make a break for it.

"I uh, think I'm gonna go." Willow said fearfully as she finally reached the entrance. However when she turned to run she found her way blocked by a pale brunette girl wearing a malicious expression identical to Darien's.

"Go where little girl?" She asked Willow with a laugh as she came into the tomb. "You can't leave yet. The fun's just getting started." Darien then came around to stand next to the new arrival.

"What do you think of her Tanya?" Darien asked. The girl struck a thoughtful pose and then began to examine Willow as if she were a piece of meat.

"She's fresh." Tanya said with approval. "But she's so small though."

"I know," Darien said agreeing "barely enough to share. You should have brought your own."

Tanya turned to Darien with smug look on her face. "I did." She answered.

"Hey, wait up." At that moment a very dazed Jesse McNally stumbled into the mausoleum holding his neck. He shuffled down the stairs and then nearly collapsed next Willow.

"Oh my god." Willow exclaimed as she noticed the blood and much deeper bite mark on her friend.

Jesse looked at Tanya with a slightly drunken look. "You know," he began weakly "I think you gave me a hickey." Darien turned and gave Tanya a vaguely disappointed look.

"What?" she shrugged "You tasted yours too."

"Come on Jesse, let's get out of here." Willow said as she helped her wobbly friend to his feet.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." Darien said walking over to the pair.

"Leave us alone!" Willow shouted still trying to support Jesse.

"You're not going anywhere until we've fed!" As he finished Darien's face transformed into a horrifying visage with yellow eyes and sharp fangs. Willow screamed and fell back taking Jesse with her as both Darien and Tanya closed in on them.

"Hey everybody." a new voice spoke from the tomb's entrance causing both monsters to stop and turn around "I've heard of BYOB parties." Xander Harris continued as he too entered the mausoleum with Buffy Summers following right behind. The small tomb was becoming quite crowded. "But I always thought that last B stood for beer not blood."

"Who the hell are you?" Darien asked as he and Tanya now started to circle Xander.

"Oh, you guys don't know." Xander began seeming totally unconcerned that they were trying to box him in. "Phew, I can't tell you what a relief that is. Between Buffy here and the creepy girl earlier I thought I'd blown my cover for sure. Keeping a secret identity, not as easy as it sounds."

"Um, Xander, I think we should book now." Buffy said not liking the two to one odds the Slayer was facing.

"Not yet." Tanya answered for him.

"Xander?" Willow looked at her friend questioningly. He smiled at her reassuringly.

"It's gonna be okay Will, I promise."

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Tanya said snidely. Xan ignored her.

"First of all, what's with the skin?" Xander asked referring to Darien and Tanya's complexions. All the while hoping to distract both vampires just long enough for Buffy to reach Willow and Jesse. "I mean, have you ever heard of spray on tan? It would certainly make you look less conspicuous." A growl from Tanya was all the reply Xander received for that jibe.

The Slayer then turned to face Darien head on. "Okay." Xander said trying to sound serious. "Now, if you have your unbeating heart set on a fight there are a few different ways we can play this. Just so you know, all of them are pretty much guaranteed to end badly for you."

"That's fine with me." Darien said believing the boy in front of him to be bluffing.

"Are you sure?" Xander asked with a confident smile. "This is going to get ugly. Not as ugly as you of course but still." Having had enough of waiting Tanya lunged at Xander from behind. The Slayer slipped his stake under his left arm with the pointy end sticking out from his back and took a small step to the right but didn't turn around. Tanya impaled herself on the sharp piece of wood as she tried wrap her arms around him. The female Vampire fell back with a gasp and exploded into dust. The shocked expression on Darien's demonic face was priceless.

"It's all fun and games until someone gets staked through the heart." Xander chided to the now lone vampire.

"She was young and stupid!" Darien shouted sounding like he still couldn't believe what just happened.

This was the opening Xander had been waiting for. "Buffy, grab them!" The blond girl didn't hesitate. She immediately helped Willow and Jesse to their feet and the trio made a run for the door.

"Don't go far." the vampire shouted after the three retreating teens as he threw a punch at the Slayer. Xander deflected the vampire's punch and then proceeded to beat the living daylights out of the undead leech. The Slayer doubled the vamp over with a kick to the stomach then dropped him to the ground with a double fisted blow to the back. Darien tried to get up but swift kick to the side from Xander sent the vampire rolling to the wall of the mausoleum.

"You know, all I wanted was a nice normal night out with my friends." Xander complained as he pinned the vampire with his foot. "No vampires, no lies, just the three of us hanging out, but no. You had to pick them. You couldn't find someone else to go suck on tonight."

"Who are you?" Darien asked again though this time one could clearly hear fear in the vampires voice.

"Don't you know?" Xander scoffed amused that the vamp hadn't figured it out yet. However all amusement was forgotten when a steely hand grabbed him by the neck from behind and painfully lifted him into the air. Out the corner of his eye Xander could see that it was another much larger vampire that had gotten a hold of him.

The creature smiled cruelly at him and said in answer to Xan's earlier question, "I don't care." The large vamp then threw Xander across the room and into the solid stone wall of the crypt. The force of the impact left the dark haired Slayer stunned for a moment. It had been awhile since he'd experienced anything resembling real pain. Xander remembered now why he didn't much care for the sensation.

The other vampire savagely lifted Darien off the ground by the arm. "You were supposed to be bringing an offering for the Master." he scolded shaking the smaller vamp. "We're almost at harvest, and you dally with this child?"

"We had someone," Darien said fearfully "but then he came. He killed Tanya. Luke he's strong." Meanwhile, Xander was still trying to get to his feet.

"You go." Luke said shoving Darien towards the door "I'll see if I can handle the little boy."

Xander got his bearings back just as Luke came to stand over him. Swiftly rising from the ground the Slayer launched an all out assault ending with a powerful round house kick to Luke's face. However all Xander managed to do was slightly stagger the giant bloodsucker for a moment.

"You're strong." Luke said smiling sadistically and sounding almost impressed. Then he lashed out with a vicious backhanded blow that sent Xander reeling. "I'm stronger."

XXX

"Come on." Willow shouted frantically as she, Buffy and now thanks to the adrenaline rush a much more lucid Jesse ran through the cemetery. "I think the way out is just up here." The sound of a growl stopped the three of them in their tracks. Three vampires had just appeared in front of the trio of fleeing teenagers blocking their way.

"Oh, we are so screwed." Jesse said giving voice to the thoughts of all three teens.

"I couldn't agree more." Darien said coming up behind them.

XXX

"You're wasting my time." Luke growled as he and Xander circled around the mausoleum keeping the stone coffin in-between each other.

"Yeah, well, I had other plans tonight too pal." Xan said nervously. This fight was not going his way. This Luke guy wasn't playing around and unlike most vamps he wasn't at all surprised or daunted by prey that could fight back. Suddenly Luke jumped forward and shoved the cover off of the stone coffin and right at Xander. The Slayer dodged the stone cover then vaulted over the coffin to hit Luke with a two-legged kick that finally knocked the massive vampire down.

Not wasting any time, Xander retrieved the stake he had dropped when Luke backhanded him and went for the killing blow. Unfortunately for Xan, Luke was fast. He intercepted the Slayer's wrist before the stake could pierce his heart.

"You think you can stop me?" He asked the Slayer coldly. "Stop us?" He drove his point home by reaching up with his other hand and snapping Xan's weapon in half. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."

'This is so not of the good.' Was Xander's panicked thought as Luke threw him through the air for a second time. This time Xan fell onto the corner of the coffin and rolled off the edge to land jarringly on the floor. "Ouch." he groaned painfully.

"And like a plague of boils, the race of man covered the Earth." Luke started to preach as he walked toward Xander. "But on the third day of the newest light will come the harvest." Luke was now standing directly over Xander. "When the blood of men will flow as wine, when the Master will walk among them once more." With eyes full of malice the vampire looked down at the Slayer. "The Earth will belong to the old ones and hell itself will come to town." He picked Xander up by the shirt and then threw him over his head and into the now opened coffin.

Xander let out a startled gasp when he came face to face with the desiccated remains of the tomb's occupant. Xander gathered what remained of his wits and was about to see where Luke went when the large vampire jumped into the coffin as well.

"Amen." Luke said as he pinned Xander in place and closed in to drain the young Slayer dry.