A/N: For uses of making this story better done chronologically, and for it to make more sense compoaring the two book/tv show, I will be using the end of Season Two of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Anne, as happening in the year 2003

Chapter 1

Solihull, England: August 21st, 1994

A young-looking woman with short, black hair and all knowing grey ees stood before a decrepit mansion, watching play on the grounds. She looked once more at the rickety sign on the ivy-colored gate. "Saint Dymphna's School for the Special Child," the sign said in spindly old-fashioned letters.

"This is the place," the woman whispered to herself. She turned back towards the children playing in front of the grim manor, her eyes searching for one in particular. As her eyes drifted, they came upon a brilliant orange-red and balck splotch sitting under a willow tree. The woman smiled as she watched the nine-year-old red headed girl with black streaks read a book under the willow, watching the stream flow in front of her, and the little disturbances the falling willow leaves made. The woman made a choice that would change the future then and there. She picked up her bags and walked down the dirt road to the school, where her new jobs awaited.

Briar Winters sat in front of the willow tree, reading her newest favorite novel. It was called "Maximum Ride," and it was an American novel she had saved up her allowance for months to buy. Briar sighed and closed her book. If only I could have wings and fly, Briar though, as she watched the water gurgle over the rocks in the stream in front of her. Maybe then I could get away from here and… I don't know what. Maybe I could be the heroine of my own story.

Briar closed her eyes and imagined flying. The breeze in her face, wind ruffling her feathers, moving her wings up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down. Before she could imagine where she would land and who she would become, a bell rang, disrupting her wonderful vision.

"Children," Mrs. Milligren chimed in her high-pitched, happy-go-lucky tone. "Come inside! I have someone I want you to meet!" Briar rolled her eyes as she stood up and brushed the dirt off her pants. She grabbed her book and ran from the tree and the stream in her bare feet, jumping over rocks and logs that blocked her path. She arrived at the door, not even out of breath, and went carefully into the Hall and sat in her designated seat near the back, waiting for the rest of the students to arrive from their myriad of places around the house. She was rewarded five minutes later by a rush of out-of-breath, laughing children, who all fell silent when they saw that she was already there.

Murmurs of "freak" and "weirdo" fell upon Briar's ears and tears gathered in her eyes, but did not fall, as she looked down to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw most of the kids sit down and one student come in softly, hiding from the rest before finding her seat in the front. Briar smiled, knowing that her only friend had made it alright. She waited for the rest to sit in their seats and for Mrs. Milligren to start talking.

"Now children," Mrs. Milligren said in her sickly-sweetvoice as she paced in front of her students, her voluptuous body shaking like jello with every step. "I have a very special person for you all to meet. This is Ms. Cynthia Adelié. She's coming to our humble establishment to be our new 'keeper of books'-"

"I think the more modern term would be librarian," Ms. Adelie said as she took a step to stand next to Mrs. Milligren.

"Yes," Mrs. Milligren said, her eyes narrowing, her lips pursing, and her face starting to turn a scarlet that did not look good with her hot pink outfit. "Librarian. Ms. Adelie will also substitute for any teacher that is sick, off, or has some sort of emergency. Ms. Adelié?"

"Of course, Mrs. Milligren," Ms. Adelié said, smiling amiably, though Briar swore that she could see sadness in her eyes. "I'm Ms. Adelié, your new librarian. If you need help, may come to me. The doors of the library will always be open to those who need it." Ms. Adelié's ees roved over the students before coming to a stop on Briar. Briar averted her eyes downward, unused to the good type of attention that Ms. Adelié was giving her.

"Now why don't we all make Ms. Adelié feel welcome in our wonderful little school. Why don't you, Ms. Adelié, choose a student and the student can tell you their name and their favorite saint." Mrs. Milligren said, a simpering smile covering her face. Briar shuddered as she looked downwards once more. "I'll show you. Britney, why don't you go first?" Mrs. MIlligren asked the star pupil, suck-up, and snob of the school: her personal favorite student. Britney flipped her long, fake blonde hair and stood up.

"I'm Britney King, the head prefect of the Second Years," Britney said, playing up to Mrs. Milligren, who thought that she should be proud of that stupid title. And I, Briar thought grimly, am, unfortunately, on of those Second Years she is head prefect of. "And I absolutely adore Saint Dymphna!" Mrs. Milligren smiled and clapped her hands together, glad that her favorite student liked the school's Patron Saint the best. Ms. Adelié simply tilted her head to the side and half-smiled mysteriously.

"Why?" was all she asked. Britney 's mouth dropped to the floor. She picked it up a minute later and her eyes narrowed dangerously. Uh-oh, Briar thought. You just angered the head Dragon, Ms. Adelié. I'd definitely watch your back if I were you.

"What did you say?" Britney asked, her teeth clenched.

"Why do you like Saint Dymphna?" Ms. Adelié asked, a small smile crossing her face at Britney's reaction.

"She's who the school is named after." Britney said, rolling her eyes. "Silly!" Briar stifled a giggle as Ms. Adelié rolled her eyes and turned to another person.

"And you?" She asked turning to a black haired girl with a nose ring and a ring in her eyebrow. The girl rolled her eyes and stood, blowing a pink bubble with her bubblegum before allowing it to pop.

"I'm Maria Turncoat," the girl said. "And I like Saint Peter."

"Why?" Ms. Adelié prompted again. The girl rolled her eyes again and shrugged.

"I dunno." Maria drawled. "He fished, he has a cathedral in London, he was friends with the Lord's son." Briar sighed, and Ms. Adelié did so as well. She turned to the next person and Maria sat down, crossing her legs, leaning back in her chair, and blowing another pink bubble.

"What about you?" Ms. Adelié asked a brown-haired, rotund girl in the second row.

"M-me?" The girl stammered as she stood, a blush coming to her tan face. Ms. Adelié nodded, still smiling. "I-I'm T-tarragon C-cook." Briar smiled as her only friend braced her worst fear: attention. "A-and I like M-mary Magdalen."

"That's not a saint, retard." Britney yelled and Britney's clique immediately started tittering.

"She knows that!" Briar heard someone say, and it took a moment for her to recognize the voice as her own. "I mean, Mary Magdalen is a good choice. She was the backbone of our Lord Chirst and his friends. She doesn't get half the credit she deserves, even if she wasn't technically titled as a saint." By this time, Briar was standing, though a slight blush was on her face, and everyone was silent. Tarragon smiled shyly in thanks at Briar as she slumped down in her seat and Briar smiled a bit back at her and nodded to her.

"That's enough Miss. Winters." Mrs. Milligren said, a frown marring her features as she glared at the school's charity case and resident trouble maker. "Sit down and we shall be talking about this later." Briar nodded complacently, though underneath her mask of complacence, she was bubbling with annoyance and anger. She started to sit when Ms. Adelié cut in.

"Wait, Mrs. Milligren," She said. "She is right. Mary Magdalen was often told as having… slept around, but that's not how historians say it happened." Mrs. Milligren glared at Ms. Adelié momentarily, before returning to her perfect mask.

"Right, Ms. Adelié." She said, hissing through her teeth. "We at Saint Dymphna's knew that, of course." Ms. Adelié smiled.

"Of course." She said, bowing her head complacently. Briar slid down in her seat. "Wait, you, the one that spoke out. Miss – "

"Winters." Briar said, standing again, her eyes meeting Ms. Adelié's. "Briar Kylie Nerissa Winters."

"Given name, Winters." Mrs. Milligren barked. Briar glared at her.

"Briar Kylie Nerissa Winters." Mrs. Milligren glared at her and was opening her mouth to retort when Ms. Adelié cut in.

"Briar," she asked, flashing a genuine smile in Briar's direction. "Who is you favorite saint?" Briar lifted her head up.

"Jean d'Arc." Briar said. Britney and her friends started snickering again.

"She's not a saint either." Britney said, guffaws coming out of her mouth. "Loser." She stage-whispered. Briar glared at her, her face turning red, and was about to retort when Ms. Adelié cut in.

"Actually," Ms. Adelié said. "Jean d'Arc, or Joan of Arc is known as the Patron Saint of France, service women, and virgins. A good choice, Briar. Why did you choose her?" Briar smiled.

"She had a dream," Briar said. "She had a dream and she followed it. She loved her country and her dream. She was even willing to give up her life for them." Everyone stared at Briar as she stood tall, her chest out, and her head up, proud of her choice. Ms. Adelié smiled genuinely at Briar.

"Good reason," She said. "Come to my office sometime. I have some excellent books on Joan of Arc that might interest you."

"Thank you Ms. Adelié." Briar said, bowing before sitting back down, a half smile upon her face. Britney fumed at the attention the little 'freak' got instead of her and you could almost see the smoke coing out of an irate Mrs. Milligren's ears.

"Anyway," Mrs. Milligren ground out, her teeth gritted in anger. "Let's all make sure to give Ms. Adelié a warm welcome and make her feel right at home in our wonderful establishment." She smiled fakely at Ms. Adelié before turning on the students and glaring at one orange-red and black haired girl in particular. "You are all dismissed," she yelled. "Now get out of my sight!"

The Next Morning

Briar closed her eyes and took a deep breath before knocking on the door of the library. A ruckus was heard within and footsteps echoed towards the door. The door was opened to Ms. Adelié's smiling face, though her hair was in a bigger disarray than it had been yesterday when Briar first saw her.

"You know you don't need to knock to come in, Briar." Ms Adelié said as she ushered Briar into the library. Briar shrugged her shoulders.

"The last librarian made us knock, Ms. Adelié." She stated, though she left out the strange feeling she had had that she needed to knock on the door; that what Ms. Adelié was doing wasn't her business... yet. Ms Adelié inspected Briar for a moment before nodding, accepting the explanation.

"Fine, but you don't need to do it ever again." Ms. Adelié said, smilingly. "And you can call me Cynthia, if you want." Briar raised her eyebrow and looked at her questioningly.

"Ok... You can call me Lee, if you so choose. It's short for Kylie, one of my self-bestowed middle names." Briar said. Then, tilting her head to the side, she assessed Ms... Cynthia momentarily. "May I call you Thia?" She asked. Cynthia smiled.

"If you so desire." She said with a smile on her face and in her tone. "Now Lee, i asked you to come here for an important reason."

"Okay," Lee said slowly. "I thought you told me to come here for the books." She stayed silent for a moment, thinking, before sitting down on top of one of the library tables. "So why's the why?" Lee asked, curiously, unknowingly leaning towards the knowledge that avoided her. Thia smiled once more.

"First, I must tell you a story and I need you to trust me and listen to the whole tale." Thia said, before sitting on the table next to Lee. Lee stared at Thia for a moment, unused to a teacher who had such a free personality. She slowly nodded and Thia started her tale. "There are vampires and demons that walk this Earth, just as there are witches, werewolves, and countless other magical, and mythical, beings. Once, long ago, before such things as Strategic Warfare and Politics were invented, the vampires and demons ruled and terrorized the humans, witches, werewolves, and the rest. One witch, a Gypsy or Romany, finally decided to put an end to the reign of terror. She summoned a now-extinct demon, that was one of the few good species ever in existence. She campaigned among her people for a test subject: someone who was willing to risk and give up their life for their people. Eventually, she found one girl, just around 15, who was willing to do the job. Her name was Luminita Mirga and she was the witch's niece. The witch, an elderly woman named Cici Kalderash, succeeded in her endeavors. She managed to place the demon inside her own niece, melding her niece into a creature that had never before been seen on the planet. The demon allowed Luminita to become stronger, smarter, more cunning, more imaginative, more confident, and altogether more powerful, and potentially destructive, than the average human being. This demon, anchored to Luminita's very soul, would pass on to the next girl, who would be Luminita's incarnate, and the next girl would take over the job Luminita was given by Cici. The job to fight the darkness that tried to encroach the world and to keep all beings free from it."

"Cici, after watching Luminita for a while, decided that someone must watch the girls and make sure she did her job correctly. This is how the Watchers started. Cici and a few other Romany individuals who applied for the job, trained and worked with Luminita and made sure she was alright. When Luminita died, she would be reborn into one of her many possible reincarnations. Many girls could have hosted the spirit of Luminita, but only one would be chosen at a time, though I have some theories that could possibly occur, if certain events were to happen. Each time one of the reincarnations died with Luminita's spirit within her, her own soul was added to the spirit, or so I have been able to gather."

"Anyway, the possible hosts of Luminita's spirit are the Chosen, the only ones who can fight the demons and the vampires. The one who currently holds the demon, and the spirit, is the Slayer." Lee shook her head, believing Thia for some miraculous reason, yet confused.

"But what does this have to do with me?" Lee asked, curious, before it struck her. "You don't mean that I'm..." Thia nodded solemnly.

"Yes." She said. "I, Cynthia Alyss Adelié née Brandon, am the next Watcher. And you, Briar Kylie Nerissa Winters, are the new Slayer."

~ 11 ~