Awareness, Chapter 2

A Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan fiction

"God, I'm just so hungry," the dark-haired vampire said as he and his buddy walked across the street.

"Stop being such a pussy and do something about it then," the large bald vamp replied.

The two entered a dark alley and continued walking. "We're supposed to be a hunting team, jackass," the smaller vampire said.

"Yeah, well there hasn't been a lot of teamwork in our last few kills," the bald vampire retorted. "You've been doing none of the fighting and most of the eating."

"Dude, wait a sec. What's that?" the dark-haired vamp said as he pointed to a figure on the ground under a streetlamp.

The two vampires focused their attentions for a moment. "It's a human," the smaller one said.

"And she's still alive," the larger one continued. "That's strange. Maybe someone started roughing her up but got scared away or something before they could dig in."

"I don't know what happened, and I don't care," the other vampire told him. "All I know is that that is no longer a streetlamp. It's a neon sign saying 'free dinner!'"

The two vampires approached the motionless girl lying face down in the cobblestone alley, getting very excited about the prospect of the fresh, easy meal.

"Oh, look at that beautiful, pale neck just waiting for some bites," the smaller vampire said as he kneeled next to the girl's head and pulled back her thick red hair.

"What do you think you're doing?" the bald vamp asked as he yanked the smaller guy up by the back of his shirt. "You do not get first bite."

"Why the hell not?!" the dark-haired vampire yelled.

"Were you listening to me earlier? When I talked about the whole no fighting, all eating thing?"

Willow awoke to find herself lying on her stomach on a very uncomfortable surface. She felt the cold roughness of stone under her cheek. Opening her eyes, she scanned her surroundings to realize she was in an unrecognizable alley. She could hear arguing from two male voices above her, neither of them familiar. Steeling herself for dizziness, she started to turn over and sit up.

She looked up the two men's bodies until her gaze reached their bumpy faces, and at that, she couldn't stop herself from screaming.

The two vampires turned to look at her, and much to Willow's surprise, began screaming themselves.

"Whoa, why are you shrieking like little girls? You're the vampires. I think I'm the one who's supposed to be afraid in this situation," Willow said in a loud voice as the two vampires quieted down.

"B-but you're a human," the bald vampire stuttered in disbelief.

"What are you? Who are you?" the dark-haired vamp asked Willow.

Willow looked at the two vampires who were obviously frightened of her. Her own fear started receding and she gained confidence as she spoke. "Right now, I'm just confused. Two vampires against one, defenseless, human girl. Shouldn't I be a bloody mess by now?"

The two vamps completely ignored Willow as they looked at each other in shock. "We have to take her to her," the larger vampire said to the smaller one.

"You're right," he replied.

"Wait, you have to do what? Take me to who?" Willow asked as the vampires cautiously approached her.

"You're coming with us," the bald one said, and then both vampires hiked the redhead up by her arms and, holding her by the shoulders, walked her back in the direction from which they came.

Willow and the two vampires arrived at a large warehouse and stopped in front of a steel door. The larger vampire knocked and then yelled in, "We've got a situation here that needs dealt with."

"What kind of situation?" a man's voice shouted out to them.

"Open the door and you'll see," the larger vampire replied, and the steel door opened to reveal a black vampire with an afro.

"Oh, my," the afro-vamp said in a surprised voice as he looked at Willow. "W-why don't you come in and stay by the door while I go tell her what's going on?" he stuttered, and then he ran away from the door into the darkness of the warehouse.

The two vampires pushed Willow in and then came in behind her and shut the door. The room they were in was completely dark, except for an area that looked like a stage and a dance floor, almost like…

"The Bronze," Willow whispered to herself.

"Quiet," the bald vampire uttered forcefully, and he gave Willow a sharp shove to emphasize his point. She fell forward a couple of feet, but was still in total darkness.

The raised platform that reminded Willow so much of the stage at the Bronze had nothing on it but a large chair. The chair was entirely black and red and looked like a throne. It had a high back with ornate designs, and upon closer look, Willow could see that the seat cushion was leather. There was a set of steps directly in front of the chair that would allow easy passage from one level to the other.

"Step forward, girl, into the light," a somewhat familiar woman's voice rasped.

Not knowing what else to do, Willow followed the order and walked a few steps into the lighted area. She looked around to see who had spoken, but no one was visible. That wasn't a surprise, however, because she couldn't see anything outside of the pool of light.

"Well, well, well, never expected you here," the same woman said with a throaty chuckle. Willow was confused; the voice had originally spoken from in front of her, near the stage area, but now it came from the darkness Willow had just left. "If you're trying to find where I am according to my voice, you might as well stop. I'm having a good time moving around to confuse you."

As the woman continued to speak, Willow tried to place where she had heard the voice before. She dug through her mind, trying to remember where and when this sultry woman's voice had been in her life.

"I see you're trying to put it all together," the woman said, now speaking from Willow's left side. "Think you've got it figured out?" she asked tauntingly.

After a long silence, the woman spoke again, this time with no chuckle or taunt in her voice. "I think you'll find it in your best interest to answer me when I ask you a question."

Willow cleared her throat and said shakily, "Yes, I think I have it figured out."

"Well, I do hope that you're right," the woman said, the laughter back in her tone. "I know how you love so much to be right. Why don't we find out?"

Willow stared straight ahead to where she had heard the voice come from. "Yes, why don't we?" she replied.

The voice gave another low chuckle, and as its owner stepped in to the light of the stage, Willow nodded her head. She had been right.

Standing onstage, in all her leather-clad glory, was Willow's vampire doppelganger. And the chilling smile she had on her face made Willow's blood run cold.