Chapter One - Nightmare
Lightning tore through the thick cold grey clouds that settled over London, the rain playing a soft melody on the rooftops. Buffy sat looking through the window at the sleepy empty streets beneath her. Nightmares crowded her dreams and she often found herself unable to sleep. Giles had insisted on her arrival in London, a show of support to the new Watchers Council and for the ten year anniversary of the Final Battle. When Buffy had first heard that the Watchers Council was being reformed, she had insisted thoroughly that she wanted nothing to do with it, that was until Giles had been put in charge. Wesley had joined him shortly after and together they had formed a working, understanding council that not only regathered all the lost texts but was also able to offer support to Buffy and her friends, morally and financially. Dawn was finally finishing off her medical training, newly engaged and settled in New York. Willow and Oz had finally been reunited and after a few years of working together, complicated feelings had resurfaced. Xander never really moved on from Anya, this was mainly because he never really attempted to. Like Giles, he had buried himself in books and undergone watcher training... And so Buffy found herself alone a lot of the time, just like tonight.
She sat picking the split ends from her hair, unimpressed with the way the water in England made her hair feel. She could just make out her reflection in the window, her thirty two year old skin was starting to show its stress lines and her eyes didn't quite sparkle the way they once had. She was feeling old and alone. She sneezed, an odd sensation she rarely felt, scratching her head she tried to remember the last time that had happened, pulling her fingers through her long blonde hair, smoothing down the mess of waves that threatened to frizz at any given moment. Her mind wondered to what could have been? She thought about Riley and Spike and how she had loved them both but was never really in love with either of them. The truth was Angel had stolen her heart and she never fully recovered from that. Just thinking his name sent her heart fluttering and it was in that moment that she caught her reflection once more. All those years ago, she believed that aging wouldn't matter, that nothing would matter if they were together. In this moment, she remembered how he was always the older looking one, how others had gossiped about Buffy's older Boyfriend. But now, she looked older and this aging would never stop. She let go a long suffering sigh. If only they had left her when she had died, the last ten years wouldn't have happened and she would have been happy.
The hours passed, she laid in bed, eyes wide without even the slightest hint of sleep. Frustration struck and she decided once more patrol tonight wouldn't hurt. Throwing her clothes and boots on, she headed into the rain, watching the shop faces illuminate with every strike of lightning that pierced the thick clouds. She strolled, not really hunting, just killing time until she reached the local cemetery. 'Just like the old days' she laughed to herself as she remembered the first time she had taken on a cemetery alone.
Lost in her thoughts, and unaware to her distracted self, a figure emerged from the bushes behind her. Although awake, she hadn't taken into account the symptoms that seemed to be starting up and how the last time she had the flu, she was seventeen and ended up in hospital with it. Slayers didn't usually get sick but when they did, it was always much worse than the average person. She felt a round of sneezes coming on and quickly pulled a tissue from her pocket.
"Damn it!" She moaned, her muscles beginning to ache and burn. Deciding to head back to the small house Giles had bought her in an attempt to convince her to stay, she spun on her heels rubbing her nose.
Then she was on the ground, everything was starting to spin and she took a long deep breath. Her body beginning to slowly sink into the mud. She lay there, trying to catch her breath as the water pelted her in the face. She searched her pockets for her mobile and groaned when she remembered seeing it on the bedside table. 'Double damn' she thought. Finally pulling herself up, she noticed how everything was spinning and her stomach started turning in time to the trees and graves circling her. Her head felt light and she struggled to keep awake... then there was only darkness.
She awoke inside a concrete room, vaguely aware of her throbbing head and serve hunger pains as she sat up. 'What the...' she thought as she figured out she was in a mausoleum. The stone grey walls allowed very little sunlight to enter through the thin slits on the south facing wall. At least her flu seemed to be gone, but she still didn't feel right. She opened the tomb door, noticing that it was much lighter than she anticipated for but was too hungry to really care. The sunlight burned against her face, it reminded her of standing near Santa Monica Pier and watching Angle walk through the sunlight. She shook her head... 'If only'. That daydream was vaguely familiar, she could almost feel his hand on her skin, his lips on her lips...
"Miss are you ok?" A deep mans voice pulled her from her daydream. She spun to give him a reassuring smile.
"Yes I'm..." Her eyes drifted to his neck and she could see his throat pulsating with every heartbeat.
"Are you sure? Do you want me to call 999, that is a lot of blood on your top dear" he raised his hand to signal at her collar. She forced her eyes away from his neck, aware that she was suddenly ravenous and focused her attention on her own blood. She inspected the streams of blood that ran down her light blue sweater, starting on the neck line. Her finger traced her neck and she could feel small thick lumps.
"I need to go" She refused to take a breath, scared of the hunger that threatened to control her and the panic that was beginning to set in.
Buffy ran towards the small town house, in the door almost breaking the key off in the lock, up the stairs and in to the bathroom to examine her neck. Two little holes were there. Healing but there.
"Oh crap" her whispered toned voice trickled out. Full panic mode began to surface and she jumped in the shower in order to gather control and erase all signs of the night before. The water was too cold on her skin and she ended up only using hot water, the steam bellowing off of her in a thick mist. "Its a coincidence, its a coincidence, its a coincidence..." she repeated over and over again as she scrubbed her sore skin.
Wrapping a large white towel around her, she stood facing herself in the mirror. He face looked softer, smoother as if last night had erased a few years from her delicate skin. She gulped deeply as she stroked her fingers down her neck to those same two small marks. She noted the paler skin tone, the coldness of her own touch but quickly countered her own thoughts with that of running back through the sun. She let out a hysterical laugh, she had walked in the sun... she was being foolish, vampires couldn't walk in the sun.