The Return
(Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
By Thomas Mc

Author's Note: This story begins about three months after the end of the TV series. An old acquaintance, that the gang thought dead and gone, returns. This is my first attempt at a Buffy story and I would like to know what you think of it.

She awoke with a scream. Every nerve in her body jangling with the ghost of remembered pain slicing through her chest and back. Her hand came up to her breast. Still whole and unblemished. She breathed a shuddering sigh of relief as the fragments of the rapidly fading nightmare disappeared from her memory. All she had left of it was disjointed fragments. One fragment caught her attention. Her amulet! She clutched at the pendent at her neck. It was still there and undamaged. She relaxed. It had all been just a bad nightmare.

Something impinged at the back of her mind. Another wronged woman was in pain. This was her world. Her name was Anyanka, a vengeance demon, and this was what she understood. The last fragments of the nightmare faded away as she rose up and concentrated on the other's pain that summoned her. The world shifted around her.

She looked around at the new environment with a sense of disquiet as she shifted to human form in order to blend in. It was a typical high-school. Why would a high school make her so uneasy? She pushed the uneasy disquiet aside. She would worry about that later.

She felt a sense of distain as she looked around, zeroing in on the source of the pain. What was it with high-school girls? They were always so trusting, so naïve, and they were always getting their hearts broken by some boy that was following his hormones. It was a rather ordinary looking girl with a mild case of acne sitting over in a corner of the library.

She approached the girl and introduced herself as Anya. With a little bit of effort she was able to ingratiate herself with the unhappy girl and get her to open up. It was the same old story. The girl's name was Jenny and she was in love with a popular boy named Billy. The boy had left her for the hotter more popular girl with perfect complexion named Cindy.

Anyanka offered Jenny her pendant and got her to make a wish. "I wish he knew what it was like to be rejected because he was less than perfect."

Almost automatically, Anyanka channeled her power through the wish trapped within the pendant, granting it. Its purpose completed, the amulet returned to Anyanka. She stayed around to witness the results of the wish.

A few minutes later Cindy came through the library moving rapidly to get away from the boy that was following her. Acne and a couple of warts marred the boy's normally handsome face. Anyanka shook her head in disappointment at the scene and the mildness of the vengeance. Normally it would have been boils and weeping sores.

As she watched the two teenagers exit the library, she couldn't help wondering, what was it with this uncharacteristic mercy? It wasn't just that the curse itself seem to have less power behind it, it was her own unintentional limiting of the effects of the wish. Something was wrong not just with her uncharacteristic inhibition but with the level of power that had been available for the wish. She needed to talk to someone.

She summoned her long time friend and fellow vengeance demon, Hally. There was no response. What was wrong here? She tried again. Still no response. Something was definitely off kilter. Why wouldn't Halfrek answer her call? There was only one thing for her to do. She cleared her mind and called on D'Hoffryn. To her astonishment, there was no response. D'Hoffryn never ignored a call from one of his demon minions. What the hell was going on here? Everything was all wrong. She was off, her power was off, nothing was as it should be.

The pain of another wronged woman intruded on her troubled mind. Almost without thinking, she reacted to the other's pain. She found herself in another city. It was a construction site and the pain was coming from a woman that was running away from the site. Anyanka followed the woman to an apartment across the street from the construction site. She caught up with the woman at the elevator and struck up a conversation about the fickleness of men. By the time they reached the woman's floor, Anyanka had established that the woman badly wanted one of the construction site workers but he had led her on then cruelly rejected her. They entered the woman's apartment. As the woman went on about how horribly the man had treated her, she also called for all types of horrible disaster to befall him. Anyanka was thinking she had a live one here.

As she waited for a break in the woman's non-stop tirade so she could get her to make a proper wish, Anyanka noticed the telescope at the window and, with a growing suspicion, glanced through the eyepiece. The telescope was focused on the area occupied by a table with blueprints on it. Several construction workers passed through her field of view as she watched. She began to wonder how much of what the woman claimed had happened was only in this woman's mind.

A well muscled man followed by two other men came up to the table. The man studied the blueprints for a second then turned to talk to the other two men. He was wearing an eye patch and Anyanka felt a complex of strong emotions that she did not understand shoot through her leaving her stunned by its intensity. Who was he and why did he affect her like this? She had an intense desire to confront this strange man personally.

The woman screamed as she caught a look at Anyanka in full demon mode just before she disappeared.

Anyanka appeared before the one eyed man, still in full demon mode. The man exhibited shocked surprise at her sudden appearance. Then it was Anyanka that was startled when the man did something totally unexpected. He took three quick steps toward her and embraced her. She was so surprised by this strange man's action that she just stood there unable to speak.

"You're alive." He was hugging her so tightly she could barely breathe. "I thought I would never see you again. Andrew said that he saw you get killed while you were defending him." The man held her out at arm's length gazing into her eyes. There was the glimmer of tears in his good eye. "I've missed you so. What happened?" Then as she continued to stare speechlessly at him, his brows furrowed as he looked at her more intently. "Anya? Are you OK?" He glanced down at the amulet then back up into her eyes. Then he reached up and touched her face; the face that should have repulsed and horrified him. "Anyanka? Are you back in the bizz? What happened to you?" She saw a light of understanding and resignation cross his face. "It's that crazy woman across the street, isn't it? She's wished some terrible disaster upon me because I was not interested in her." He again pulled her into a tight embrace. "At least I got to see you again." Then he released her and backed up a couple of steps.

Anyanka had no idea how to react. This man was not only not afraid of her, he seemed to be concerned for her. He knew who and what she was yet he had embraced her like a lover. Even after realizing that he was her intended victim he was more worried about her welfare than any danger to himself.

Finally she got her voice back. "Who are you?"

The man's face fell as he shook his head. "Don't you remember me? I'm Zander. We were lovers."

She shook her head, stunned by this stranger's revelation. Then she felt danger from the left. She whirled around to face a petite blond that she somehow knew was the slayer. A slayer was one of the few things that she feared.

The man quickly stepped between her and the slayer. "Buffy no. Don't"

"She's a vengeance demon, Zander." The slayer replied.

The man took a step back toward Anyanka while holding his hands out toward the slayer. "It's Anya. She's back."

The slayer peered more closely then seemed to relax slightly but remained alert. "How can that be, Zander, Anya died when the Hellmouth collapsed."

"I don't know how, but it is Anya. I'd recognize her anywhere, even in demon mode." He glanced back at Anyanka. "All I know is that she's back." He again faced the slayer. "And, Slayer or not, I can't let you hurt her, not while I'm still alive."

Anyanka was getting more confused by the moment. The man knew what she was and he knew about the slayer yet he was trying to protect her from the slayer. To top it off she could see both recognition and uncertainty in the eyes of the slayer. Then she felt herself slipping back to her human mode as an unaccustomed warm feeling for the man began to spread through her. Suddenly all she wanted to do was wrap her arms around that man and draw comfort from him. Zander, she was beginning to think of him as Zander rather than the one eyes human, glanced back at her then turned to face her. She shook her head. "I still don't know who you are."

Zander seemed to be deep in thought for a moment then he reached out and timidly placed the palm of his hand over the pendent sending a warm surge shooting through her along with a spurt of uncertainty.

"Zander what are you doing." The slayer called out in dismay.

"Buffy, I know what I'm doing." Zander called over his shoulder. Then he looked her in the eyes and smiled. "I wish you could remember me."

As the power of the wish surged through her it all came back. She remembered everything from the day she granted Cordelia's wish to the day she died in the battle of the Hellmouth. Strongest of the returning memories was the memory of the love she had felt for Zander. "Alexander Harris." She threw her arms around him. All she wanted now was to hold him close and never let go.

Buffy spoke after a few seconds. "Very well Anya can stay but that that amulet is dangerous. It has to go."

Alexander held her away but kept a firm grip on her shoulders. "I'm afraid Buffy is right, Anya. That thing is very dangerous. I was taking a big chance making a wish on it. We really can't risk letting it continue to exist."

Anyanka took off the amulet and looked down at it resting in her hands. "What if I forget you when it's destroyed?"

"I'll be here to remind you." Zander replied.

"What about D'Hoffryn?"

Buffy responded. "I don't think he's around anymore. Willow compiled a list of major demons that seem to have perished when the Hellmouth was destroyed and D'Hoffryn was on that list."

Anyanka looked back down at the amulet. She looked back up at Zander, gritted her teeth and dropped it. Still looking into Alexander's eyes, she stomped on the amulet, smashing it to powerless shards.

"Anyanka?" Zander asked hopefully.

A strident voice broke in on them. "You . . . What are you doing with my boyfriend?" Anyanka looked over at the woman that had summoned her now striding purposefully toward them.

Anyanka shifted to full demon mode causing the woman to come to a sudden stop, her eyes wide in fear. A deep gravelly voice issued from her. "If you value your soul, you will leave now and never go near this man again!" The woman took a step backwards, crying out in fear, as Anyanka faced Zander again. "No one messes with my man." She stated defiantly. Then she shifted back to human mode.

Zander pulled her in close and they kissed as the woman turned and made tracks rapidly away from the construction site. When they separated Anyanka looked up at his face and frowned. "If memory serves me correctly, I believe you owe me a wedding."

The End ?

'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' and its characters are owned by Joss Whedon and Twentieth Century Fox. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given.