Author: Tu
Rating: PG/R
Disclaimer: see chapter one.
Author's Notes: a short chapter.
Sunnydale
Buffy easily dispatched the two vampires that had come at her. It seemed like all the vamps she staked lately were newbies.
"Well, I guess I should head to Giles place." She said looking at the piles of dust.
As she walked toward Giles apartment, Buffy thought about what had happened lately. She had finally graduated. She was heading to UC Sunnydale. Ok, not my first choice, she thought. Angel had left her. Oh, bad train of thought. She had quit the council. She was no longer their puppet. She was still the Slayer, thought. As long as the Hellmouth was around it looked like she would have to stick around. Giles apartment building loomed ahead.
"I wonder what Giles's neighbors must think about people going in and out at all hours of the night." She said out loud.
"Buffy, wait up." Cried a familiar voice.
Turning, Buffy saw Xander, Willow, and Oz coming up the street. Ah, she thought, the ones who keep me sane. She stopped and waited for them.
"So, how was slaying tonight?" Xander quipped," Did we meet our quota?'
"Nope. It's like there's nobody around." She answered.
Willow and Oz just looked at each other. They all knew when things got slow on the slaying end, bad news was coming.
"So what's up? Buffy asked as the walked.
"Not much. Can't get a guitar rift right." Oz countered.
Buffy was still amazed by Oz's mood structure. Nothing seemed to faze him. Only he would state, after learning that vampires where real, that it explained a lot of things. As they entered the foray of the building, Buffy looked at her friends. They had seen countless horrors and endured things that no one should go through. Yet after all that, they still hung out with her. They walked toward Giles door. Each was deep in thought. Giles said nothing as he opened the door. The look on his face said it all. He knew something was going to happen. And as Xander would say, nothing good ever happens here.
Outside the building, a strange glow came from the alley. If someone had looked down in it, they would see a swirling portal on one of the walls. Had they watched longer they would have seen a figure emerge from the portal. Or what they thought was a figure. A hush came over the town. All evil seemed to recoil in fear. A strange and eerie figure stood in the alley. Dressed all in black, it seemed to melt and blend into the darkness. It climbed the side of the building and stopped at the window of Rupert Giles apartment. It listened to the conversation inside.
"Giles, this is stupid." Buffy said." I haven't seen a decent vampire in weeks."
"Perhaps you've scared them." He replied sarcastically.
"Ohâmaybe they finally realized that Sunnydale isn't so sunny and left. Oh, wait, that doesn't make sense." Willow remarked.
Willow slumped back down on the couch. Oz put his arm around her. Buffy just stared. From somewhere in Giles's fridge came Xander's voice." Is anyone else at all scared at the low numbers of deaths? Not that I'm complaining. It just seems that there's always a calm before hell breaks lose."
The figure grew bored listening to them. It knew that the time to reveille itself was soon. Soon it would extract its debt. As long as no one called in a debt it owed him or her, it could leave soon.