Joss Whedon owns all of the characters except the bad guy...he's from my own twisted mind...mwahaha! Anyhow, R and R please!

Chapter 1

It was night and the Scoobies had all given in on patrol. Except Buffy. Being a Slayer, she stayed out. Her head turned sharply when she heard a noise from behind a nearby tree. Stake at the ready, she crept to where the noise was.

Kennedy jumped out at her.

"Look at the Big Bad Slayer," Kennedy mused.

"Kennedy," Buffy warned.

"Lighten up, Buff," Kennedy said. "Not like we're over the Hellmouth anymore."

Buffy rolled her eyes and continued on her way through the cemetery. Kennedy trailed after her.

"Doesn't mean we still aren't fighting," Buffy said without looking at the other woman.

A man strolled casually onto the path, whistling as he went.

"Like that," Buffy muttered. Then to the man, she said, "Little late for a stroll."

He looked back at her and smiled.

"Not really," he replied.

She smiled at him sarcastically. The man's eyes went nervously to Buffy's stake.

"Does 'Slayer' mean anything to you?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, she died, the way I hear it," he said without thinking.

His hand suddenly went up to cover his mouth.

"I mean, the band?" he tried to cover up.

"That's what I thought," Buffy said.

As the vamp tried to make a run for it, Buffy tackled him from behind. The two went down hard. The vamp got up and began to run again. Kennedy caught him from the front and plunged her own stake deep into his chest. He screamed and exploded into dust.

"Catch ya later," Kennedy said over her shoulder, leaving Buffy still on the ground.

Kennedy walked off into the cemetery, disappearing before Buffy could say anything. Buffy got up and dusted herself off. She sighed and continued off across the graveyard.

Walking by an ornately decorated crypt, the wind seemed to pick up. Buffy pulled her jacket closer against the cold.

"Sssslayer," it hissed.

"Hello?" Buffy called.

A shadow formed from the darkness around her. It looked out at her from red light that served as its eyes.

"You're mine," it told her.

"What?" Buffy asked.

She looked down to see more darkness forming on her wrists, forming bonds.

"You've been found guilty of..." it searched its memory.

"Being the Slayer," she said sarcastically, struggling against the ever-forming chains.

"Being," it told her.

"Why me?" she challenged it.

"Silence," it boomed. "I am your judge, jury and executioner and you have been found guilty," the shadow told her firmly.

"You can't do this," she said.

"You have no choice," it said. "I was summoned to take the Guilty One."

"Guilty of what?" Buffy asked.

The shadow didn't answer and Buffy soon found herself being engulfed by the solid darkness. She struggled in vain to keep her head above it, but to no avail. Her screams echoed against the night sky and were soon swallowed as the shadow pulled itself and Buffy into the earth.