IMPRISON: Prologue

In the summer before her freshman year at UC Sunnydale, a strange encounter precedes a journey that could change everything Buffy knows...

The streets of Sunnydale were quiet that night.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," Buffy sang quietly to herself as she walked through Restfield cemetery, loosely gripping her stake in one hand. As usual, it had been an uneventful summer, with nothing more in the way of baddies than some fledgling vamps and one very polite demon who wanted directions to L.A. A good Slayer should be proud or at least content, satisfied with the work she had done in May and prepared for whatever new evil would come in September.

But Buffy was restless. When she slept, she dreamed of Angel coming back or turning bad or dying horribly all alone in the city. When she could not sleep, she worried about her upcoming freshman year. It was a sucky situation all around, and she was more than ready for the summer to finally be over. Maybe in the fall she would be too preoccupied with studies and slaying to worry about Angel.

Right, and all of the vampires will start picking daisies and singing in the rain, she thought bitterly.

How was she supposed to work off her frustrations and worries when all the creatures of the night seemed to have taken the night off? In a fit of immaturity, she kicked the ground and collapsed onto a tombstone. She stared into the foreboding darkness, hating how she could almost imagine that Angel was just beyond that tree. He could come back, admit that he was wrong. She would hear a slight sound and there he would be, brooding and beautiful and hers again.

Hey. She did hear a slight sound.

Buffy turned, trying to locate the source of the noise. Her eyes scanned the area expertly. There was a flash of movement, something bright in the suffocating darkness of the cemetery. Her fingers tightened around the stake.

"Jumpy, aren't we?" said an amused voice a few feet behind her.

As she turned to face him, she almost let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's you."

There Spike stood (or rather, leaned against one of the crypts), looking exactly like he had a few months ago when she saw him last. He did seem a little less drunk, though. Still, same blinding hair, same flashing blue eyes, same cocky stance, and the same annoying grin. The familiarity was almost comforting.

She would never admit to it, but she was kind of happy to see him. He could be just the right amount of trouble for her night, and the perfect punching bag for her frustrations. Plus, better the evil you know and stuff.

He was staring her down; trying to intimidate her, Buffy assumed. She crossed her arms, hoping he could not tell she was itching for a fight. Knowing Spike, he would leave just to piss her off. "What do you want?" she asked with as much hostility as she could muster.

Spike frowned slightly, like she was making fun of him. "What do I want, Slayer?" he repeated coldly, stalking closer to her. She swallowed, trying to fend off her body's fight-or-flight response. Those blue eyes were boring through her in a strange way, and she was a little confused. Sure, Spike was usually into the whole banter aspect of the fighting, but he was usually more invested in the actual fighting. He had a perfect opening to end this game and go after her.

Of course, she would be ready.

She was a little reluctant to openly start something herself, though. The last time she had fought him for real had been before their truce of necessity, and even though he had clearly broken the truce by returning (twice), some honorable part of her hesitated to start a conflict. "I thought my question was pretty clear," she said, meeting his gaze boldly.

"I want," he said, slowly and deliberately. Then his eyes widened. "Get down, Slayer!"

"What?"

Before she could register the booming sound echoing through the cemetery, the vampire had tackled her to the ground. Buffy tensed and struggled to push him away from her side. She sat up, gasping from the adrenaline and shock, only to be shocked again.

The ground where she had been standing before was gone. What she had heard had been like an earthquake, but no earthquake could have caused this particular devastation. The ground had not caved in; it was simply gone completely, and in its place was a yawning hole that crackled with mystical energy.

"What the hell did you do?" she demanded, glaring at Spike. "Is this one of your sick plans? Trying to get your ex back again?"

He could have been faking the surprise in his eyes, but why would he? "I've got no bloody idea why that happened, Slayer, so don't you go blaming it on me. Probably someone after you, trying to take the Slayer out." Spike was pissed off now, and that muscle in his jaw popped out as he snapped, "And you're welcome for saving your life!"

Ignoring his comment, she stood up and cautiously approached the hole. There was no discernible bottom, and although it looked different than the one she had sent Angel through a year before, she felt like it was safe to call it a portal. Who would do this? Who could do this? She was not exactly a magic whiz - ha, puns - but she could tell this was powerful. That booming, earthquake-like noise continued to sound, and the portal seemed to pulse. She shuddered.

"Nasty piece of work," Spike commented, almost in her ear. "Would hate to – "

She rolled her eyes and turned around. "What?"

Spike was gone. A split-second after she realized that, she saw the cause. Another identical portal had formed just a foot or two away from where she was standing, and this one was spreading.

Buffy tried to scramble away, but her exit was cut off by the rapidly expanding portal. As the ground fell away from her feet, she thought, Well, I guess tonight stopped being boring.

Then everything became dizzying and dark, and she lost consciousness.