Chapter 1

September 2002

"Are you sure you don't need any help?"

Lilea smiled taking her suitcase and her big backpack from the bus driver. "I'm quite used to it, don't worry"

"We arrived late. The car crash on the highway slowed our journey a lot... It's already dark..."

The girl laughed and her peal of silvery laughter rang around. "It doesn't do any difference to me"

"No... Well... I mean..." The driver scratched his head with embarrassment.

"I know what you mean... I just was making fun of you." She laughed again, wrinkling her nose.

"Little witch!" he said with a fake mad tone.

"Is that so obvious?" She replied with false astonishment.

This time the man burst into laughter.

"Hey, listen, I'll be again here in Sunnydale with the bus, Friday, whatever you need..."

"You are so kind! It's not prudent to be that way with strangers."

"Hey, kid, you could be my daughter, you must be about the same age."

"She's a lucky girl"

"Be careful, ok?"

"I will, I promise" The young girl smiled again. She held her white stick in her hand, the heavy suitcase in the other. She could feel the protective look of the driver still on her. He had to have a sweet expression, she could tell from the way his aura was shining.

Sam seemed unable to stop watching the strange girl, even as she was walking away, slowly moving her stick to test her way towards nowhere.

Strange this sweet girl seemed to be able to look right to the depths of his soul. It was such a pity that her smiling eyes weren't able to see.

-O-

Lilea was still not far from the bus; people around her were still waiting for friends, lovers, or family. She could perceive love, but also other not so pleasant feelings. It was strange the energy you could feel in stations. If only people could just learn to listen to it. She had always loved the energies. She started to understand them better during her Aikido training, her instructor had forced her to start, when she put her feet on a stage for the first time. It was quite ironic that the only energy she could see now was the magic one. Usually the bad ones, but she could see also Spike's and Navarre's so it wasn't just evil!

Abruptly she turned towards someone who was walking in the direction of the bus. Someone very dangerous. She could see him, his monstrous colors, and he seemed scared. Why would something scare a vampire? Was the Initiative here too?

The demon was walking towards Sam's energy.

"Please, please, please... make him take another bus..."

The vampire climbed onto Sam's.

The young lady put her hand into the little fabric bag she had tied at her waist.

She extracted a bit of powder

"Protect... protect him, " and she blew on her palm. People would see just ordinary powder, if they cared to look, but she saw a cloud made of shining stars flying away towards the oblivious driver.

She smiled again "Blessed be, Sam, Goddess protect you."

-O-

She walked slowly, after all she had nowhere else to go. She enjoyed every step of this stroll. Every town has a different smell: there weren't two streets with the same perfume. She had that in the few months since she had lost her sight. The master where Spike had taken her to had taught her how. And her vampire friend was so supportive and helpful that she really never doubted herself. For the umpteenth time she wondered how she could have survived without him.

She breathed deeply "So this is Sunnydale. And now I would like to know why I'm here?" No answer, nor even breath of wind.

"What am I supposed to do here?" She asked to the night.

"Thanks for answering!" she said with sarcasm.

She walked on for a while waiting for any signal. She didn't notice when her fabric bag slumped on the ground. She would probably have to stay out this night. Spike was supposed to arrive here tomorrow so even if she would find the cemetery she never could find the crypt her friend wanted to bring her to.

"It's so not fair, by the way! Here alone, without even Navarre or Spike! You could let at least meet one of them! And I'm starving too! Ok, ok I won't complain anymore… but it's unfair!"

She rested her big suitcase on the sidewalk.

"I have to find another way to carry on this stuff…"

"Hey honey!" THE signal, she thought. But the voice wasn't familiar at all. The voice, almost covered by a car engine noise, seemed a little slurred - drunk?

"Who's speaking?"

"Come on … We're not that far away." Definitely not sober at all.

"She has a white stick, she's blind," a second voice from the same car.

"Oh right the stick, that's quite a big one, we could show you ours and you could play with us…"

She opened her eyes wide; she could hear the car noise every second closer and closer.

"Navarre!" she called "Navarre!!!!" She cried louder.

The men burst out laughing "Are you calling your protector?" The voice became more and more scaring.

Her hand moved toward her waist. The little bag with her powder had vanished.

Her suitcase was now abandoned on the ground somewhere.

Her big backpack was too heavy for her run with it on, so she let it slip down and slowly walked away from it.

Then she changed the way she was holding her stick. She couldn't see them, or the car, she just could hear the noise of the engine move closer and closer.

"Navarre... They are human!!!"

-O-

Not far from there, another girl was fighting. Kicks and fists, without pausing a moment for breath against two very strong vampires.

"Is it a big day today? Is there a party and nobody bothered to invite me?" The monsters shared a what-is-she-saying glance "It's been a while since there's been so many of your kind all at once. So where's the party?" she explained a little annoyed at having to explain.

"Am I losing my sarcastic touch?" The fight became breathless once more.

They were moving quickly, too quickly for them to notice that someone was staring at them - her, hidden in the night, between some bushes. A man transfixed by her movements was observing the scene with an amused and also slightly amazed expression.

He forgot even to breath, staring at her as if it was the first thing he had seen in his life or rather his unlife. Not just the Chosen One, but THE ONE with both the capital letters, the only one he was on this Earth for. Or maybe not, but this wasn't so important now. The girl who almost literally made him feel almost a man.

She seemed a little tired, but not so much as she had been in the last days before he left, and she seemed more serene. He hoped silently that the reason for this serenity wasn't his departure, even if it had probably helped a lot.

God. He had been so similar to Angelus, with her. Angelus made Drusilla go crazy killing all the people she loved. Spike was more subtle and maybe even more evil: he made Buffy feel as if she wasn't part of the "World of the Light" anymore. He had tried over and over again to persuade her that she belonged to the darkness with him. But that was so untrue. He used Buffy's need for being comforted after having been torn from Heaven instead of being a friend to her.

A younger girl ran quickly up to her. "Buffy!!!!!!!! There are five of them … I can't do it alone"

Little Bit. She had grown up in these few months. She dressed in a more feminine way, she still had some child-like gestures, but there fighting against demon she really seamed like a woman, still a very young one, but definitely she wasn't a kid anymore.

"Are they behind you?" The older sister asked, without pausing from fighting.

"I guess so."

"Ok, Dawnie, take these two, I'll take care of yours."

The younger Summers girl nodded .

The vampires who were following the girl eventually arrived. "You sure run fast, sis… they've only just got here, and you are the one who has to breath!"

"Well, " she pushed one of them. "There were so many of them, it's safer… and then I never would deprive you of the fun of a fight." She dusted one of hers.

"This is really love, sis…thanks," the older one commented with sarcasm and Dawn smiled.

The other one was quite tired from the way Buffy had fought him earlier. It was quite a relaxed training for Dawn, now.

Even thought the vampires were quite numerous Buffy had no problem with them, she was just letting the combat last long enough so that Dawn would not think she was taking too much time dusting her last vamp.

Dawn had improved a lot, Buffy was so proud of her, and they were sharing not just the daily patrol, they were friends now. Buffy was still the big sister and so really a mother-figure, but Dawn was no longer the kid she used to be.

The youngest Summers never told anyone what Willow said to her at Rank's place but that had hit the teenager deeply. Whatever it was, it helped Dawn grow up.

A woman's cry in the silence of the night distracted the two girls from the fight. The vampire tensed

"Navarre!" The fighting duo shared a glance. Dawn tried to run toward the cry but her enemy didn't let her take the opportunity, and further more another pair was arriving from nowhere.

"I have a surprise for you, slayer. Stand by to be shocked." The hidden staring man ran toward the cry.

-O-

The girl started to move her stick as her martial art trainer had taught her. The car was coming closer and closer, she could hear the engine noise approaching. They were coming to catch her with the car, they seemed to have no intention of stopping. Was it the Initiative again? She had seen a vampire run away from the city not long ago. She stepped back, a couple of times, and then she turned, starting to run into her darkness.

"Navarre, help!!!"

The car didn't even try to avoid her backpack. She heard the sound of glass shatter under the wheels as it ran over it. She tried to run faster but she stumbled. She was able to regain her balance again, then in her blind escape she hit her shoulder violently against a tree. And she fell.

The pain was so hard that she felt she was close to fainting. She started to panic. She couldn't let them take her again. Not alive.

The two guys slipped out of the car. They were on her in a seconds. She begged, "Please no, I don't wanna go there again… I…" One of them moved closer. She tried to push him away, but her shoulder ached so much. She kicked him further away, and the guy seemed to become even nastier. He hit her right on the injured shoulder, she gasped. She heard the noise of her shirt being snatched, she tried harder to reject the boy's assault but the pain, the shock, and the fear this time made her faint.

Spike was close now.

-O-

A car was chasing the running girl. She stumbled losing her stick but she was able to run anyway for several steps. She was now running with her arms outstretched, she probably tripped again and she fell hitting violently her shoulder against a tree.

The vampire saw one of the guys step out of the car, kneel on Lilea's body and tear her shirt.

Now Spike was the one who was running faster and faster screaming her name.

They both saw the guy rush toward them. The one who was driving took a gun from the car, a beer into his other hand.

The guy sitting on the girl was bending over her, he smelled of alcohol too. He thought that it would have been more fun if the girl had been awake, but he couldn't complain too much. She was quite gorgeous. It had been quite funny to see her scared expression earlier. It made him feel so manly.

The guy leaning against the car seemed to become quite impatient. "Hurry up, buddy, it's my turn for fun later."

"Well if you want to have fun, you have to try with me. "

The two boys looked up toward the voice. The guy who had been running and screaming was there. The armed one pointed his gun toward him.

"You, English dork, this is none of your business. Go away. "

The other guy bent over the girl again, laughing.

The blond Englishman pulled him off her without any effort and hit him violently, sending him crashing into the other guy.

The blond one screamed in pain. The other two guys thought for a moment that he was probably crazy, then they looked at him. And then they became unable to stop looking at him. They were horrified, hypnotized by him, with fear. Spike's game face was more threatening than ever. The morphed features were emphasized from the way his eyes were shining. Hate, anger, and also something very close to madness.

The English man one took the beer from the guy that had been leaning against the car. What was left in the bottle was drunk in a sip. Then the vampire smashed the bottle on the floor, not far from the boys.

"Go!" He breathed deeply in order to have enough self control to not try to kill both of them. It was more than a century since he had died and yet he usually forced himself to breath. "Next time I find one of you doing something like this, you will both die, in the most painful way I can think of. And believe me I hope you do. It's been so long since I've had a little fun. And now run. Before I change my mind".

The two guys jumped faster than they ever had before, despise all the beer in their bodies, jumped into the car and with a loud screech of tires they vanished.

-O-

The squeal of a car made Buffy look toward the street

The cries abruptly stopped minutes ago. Whatever had happened earlier, now was calm. And she was not sure it was a positive thing.

She was able to hear a male voice "Go! Go faster, drive!!!!!!!!" The voice from the car seemed so scared: maybe they saw a vampire too, there were so many of them lately and they seemed to increase their number every night.

Buffy was starting to be tired of this life. She staked a vampire, then another one. Eventually Dawn dusted her last one and she also took care another of her sister's ones. She didn't complain anymore about being alive again, but this didn't make things any easier. Every night, especially in the last few weeks, there hadn't been any free nights, patrolling until late. And always more vampires. The positive thing was that they came from out of town and weren't victims of a local serial vampire she had missed slaying. At least her work helped to prevent Sunnydale from becoming a Vamp-town like in the alternate reality Anya built.

-O-

The blond vampire was now bent over the senseless girl. He covered her chest with the edges of her shirt. If he had had his duster it would have been easier, but he forgot it the night he escaped… he left Sunnydale. He didn't know when she had fainted, or if she knew what would have happened to her if he had just been ten minutes later.

His hands tied the torn borders of Lilea's shirt, covering her exposed chest. He thought it would be less embarrassing, He remembered the way Buffy covered herself THAT evening. He still hated himself so much for that. This was his only real regret. He didn't care about the people he had killed. He was a vampire, they were food, but THAT was different.

"Hey, luv, wake up… you can't sleep here all the night, Lil." He felt stupid, completely stupid. "Come on, pet, wake up." He gave her some little smacks on her face, so light that his chip didn't even activate.

The girl opened her eyes and looked at him.

"It's all right now, they went away."

The girl gulped before speaking "It's not all right, and you know it! Were they soldiers?"

"No, just normal drunk guys."

"I couldn't fight them… I couldn't see them… and they were in a car… and I tried to defend myself but I lost the stick and my shoulder is hurting like hell… and…"

Spike covered her lips with his fingers in order to make her stop blabbing. "It's over. We're not far from my place. Can you stand up?" The girl nodded "Good. I'll take care of your shoulder when we get there. I hadn't time to make the crypt ready for the two of us, I only arrived a few hours ago.

"Thanks… Spike, where… where are they now?" Her voice almost cracked.

"Trembling and crying somewhere."

"Are they…?"

"Dead?" She nodded "What do you think?"

She thanked him again.

"You're early, luv, shouldn't you arrive tomorrow?"

The girl's eyes shone "I won a little fortune."

The vampire grinned. "How little?"

"It's enough for both of us, honey. So you haven't got to do anything illegal this time. And I saved your poor soul some future regrets. And after the way you led me astray, buddy, I simply love cheating at games!" The girl winked at him and the vampire burst out laughing. She had never seen his colors so messy. For the first time, since she had learned to read his colors she wasn't able to understand him. But never since she met him she remembered him seeming so alive.

"What about looking for my stick and bags? Not that I don't love staying here flirting with you, but really this shoulder is killing me."