Disclaimer –SM's and JW's characters, not mine!

Chapter 3 –Bound Beast

Buffy POV (BuPOV)

I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Xander was unconscious, with Willow keeping watch over him and checking his vitals as best she could. He was sickly pale and bleeding from the wrist. The only times she wasn't keeping watch of him, she was looking at the decapitated body roughly tied up against a broken park bench.

I didn't know what to do first, check on my friend or examine what could very well have been a dead innocent, dismembered and tortured by my friends, my team.

Giles was an absolute mess, talking feverishly to no one in particular, and moving between the body and what was now apparent as a humanoid head sitting under a tree 50 odd meters away.

I honestly just wanted to take a long rest, but my slayer instincts took over and I walked over to the head. After checking it over I realized that it was both monstrous and beautiful at the same time.

"Giles, is it a demon?" I asked forcefully.

"No, demons bleed, especially from the neck. Clearly, this rules out the possibility that it was a human also."

"Great, that takes care of my next question. Kendra, what do you make of it?"

"I have never seen anything like this, boss. What do you make of the head?" Kendra asked, circling the disfigured body.

"It's amazing, it seems to be dead, but its glistens in the sun, like glass being reflected, or"

"Diamonds," the head said, interrupting me and freezing everyone else in place.

I too was frozen on the spot, but not in shock or horror, it would be better described as morbid curiosity.

"What the fuck are you?" I said slowly, drawing out every word, trying to hide my nerves and fascination.

"What do you think I am?" it replied, just as slowly."No need for harsh language, we're all civilized people here, well mostly."

I knew he wasn't referring to himself, but had to think for a second as to who he was talking about.

He whispered so that only I could here. "The one you call Faith, she has had quite a displeasing past, hasn't she? She appears to desire…everything this world has to offer."

"Is she who you're here for," I demanded. "Cause I don't sell out my friends."

"Fair enough then, that is not why I'm here, I just wished to explain my assessment of this situation. If you could be so kind as to return my head to the rest of my body, which luckily for you is not in any pain right now, I will explain everything to you and your motley crew here."

His voice was seductive, almost hypnotic. I picked up his head gently. He seemed to enjoy it somewhat. I took a moment to look into his eyes, to see if there was a story there, a clue as to his identity even. Instead I saw a honey brown iris, with a scarlet ring outside of it, his brown hair was close to shoulder length, but it shimmered much like his face was now. It no longer blinded me, instead it made me self conscious about my own face, if there was a reflection in it, I was sure it would reflect a disfigured face. After what seemed like an eternity I snapped out of it and placed his head on his rigid torso which was also close to being hit by sunlight.

"Where's Angel?" I asked.

Giles replied, "After Kendra dealt with his attacker, he had to go back to the mausoleum, sunrise was fast approaching and he saw the destruction of the beast before he hit the sewer."

Giles stopped there as he was too busy watching what was happening with their mysterious hostage. The head was reacting very strangely to where it was placed. Bubbles of red and gold popped occasionally as his head slowly bonded back to the original join. Soon muscle-like strands were drawing in a zigzag pattern across the join before changing colour and texture to a marble-like substance, and as the sun rose ever-slowly, glistened from marble to diamond, in a way that dared people everywhere to turn and watch this magnificent event.

"Astonishing, it really is, why don't I know what you are?" Giles mused as he crept up to the bound beast.

I had to physically force myself not to watch as I switched my attention to Xander and Willow.

Willow was watching, astounded and concerned, her face telling a thousand stories all at once. I tried my best to snap her out of it for a second.

"Will, is he alive? What happened?"

"Spike…came…with Drusilla, he brought reinforcements. But…he…only wanted Xander."

"Willow, please, focus, I know you're tired, thanks for the scythe, I wouldn't be here right.."

"Don't mention it", she said, interrupting me as she rose to make her way over to the newly restored creature.

"WILLOW!" I shouted, probably too loud, but hopefully effective.

"I'll be one second, Buffy, I promise."

Faith took her place next to me and assessed Xander herself.

"It looks as if Spike brought a party, and we lost a good man to him." Faith said, with sincerity thick in her voice.

"We haven't lost him yet, Willow looked like she was checking his vitals before."I replied.

"That's not the case now though, everyone's gone gaga over Mr. Ra-ra there. Perhaps I should talk to this guy, see what he can tell me." Faith suggested.

"No! No Faith, that's fine, I think I was close to developing a rapport with him…it" I replied, this monster had less tact than Cordelia and Faith put together. I wanted to see what he had to say before Faith let loose on him.

"What's your name?" I asked, walking over to the bench.

"I am Tagre, but you could call me Tag, it's the Western equivalent I suppose." He replied wistfully.

"Thanks Tag, you said you could explain what's just happened tonight?"

Tag nodded, much to everyone's horror and wonder.

"How about we start with what you are, your species, descendancy, dimension, yada yada yada."

"Oh Buffy, this is quite simple, I am a vampire." He said with his now radiant smile. He was clearly very proud of this fact.

"That doesn't really fit the bill though, Tag. You've gone through quite a lot for your average run of the mill vampires, hell you've taken it worse than The Master, and you're still here to tell the tale."

"Without even a scratch," Kendra interjected. "Tell me, Tagre, what kind of vampire can withstand a beheading, and a stake to the heart?"

"Quite simply, one without a heart and a head, I would imagine. That would make me ethereal though, and I am no God. I am a true vampire, not a half breed as the ones that slayers have dealt with over the past millennia. I believe only one true vampire has taken on a slayer and lives to tell the tale, albeit in great regret.

"I'm sorry, half breeds? As far as I'm concerned, all vampires are half breeds." I paused to assess his reaction to this, he remained calm and curious as to how I would proceed. I decided to tell the tale I had been told. "Long ago, a demon spared the life of a human, but only to mix their blood. This created a change in the human, a half-demon, half-human monster. It thirsted for blood of humans only, and sought comfort in companionship by turning other humans into their kind, by mixing their blood again. Please Tag, explain your origins on this world."

"We don't know of our origin, however we differ greatly in nature to the vampires that you describe. We can withstand greater amounts of damage, as our skin is as hard as granite, and equally impenetrable, we can suffer internal damage also and a thrust of wood into our hearts would not cause us much burden. Any limbs we lose, we can reattach, as I demonstrated earlier. Sunlight causes us to shimmer and glow, like a million diamonds in a clear sea. Only fire can burn us, and it is also our only undoing. This makes me wonder, Kendra?"

Kendra stopped her pacing and focused on his radiant glow, managing to see past it somehow. "Yes, Tagre?"

"How were you able to drive that wood through my skin? I could feel it, the heat of the friction through my skin, the piercing blow of it. My skin is not usually weak like this, and if it had been broken, it would heal and force the foreign object out within seconds."

"I have to admit, it was not easy. I first decapitated you, which was interesting to say da least. I expected dust, and dere was no dust. I was not in shock however, and your reactions did not surprise me in da least. I assumed you were a demon and as such decided to secure you, using some rope and barbed wire I found in the van. Surely, you were aware of dis, you could sense it? Feel it?"

"I'm afraid not, Kendra. When my head was separated from my body, it was as if I was experiencing sensory deprivation. It has happened before, when I was with a strong coven who were able to reassemble my body in such a fashion. It is frightening and mostly unpleasant. You truly feel dead. Anyway, please continue."

Kendra was now in awe of this. This creature was not angry after what his body had endured, he was simply relieved to be in the know. This took her off guard, and then she seemed to notice his face, as if she was blind to it before, in denial that this monster was not what he seemed. I could see what Faith meant when she said everyone was going gaga over him. Even I had to compose myself. At least Angel isn't here.

He glanced toward me with a wry smile, and then looked away as if to prompt Kendra to continue her story.

"Right, right! Now, I tried to use an ordinary stake at first, as stakes usually kill most demons, and hearts are generally in the same vicinity from species to species. However, your exterior was impossible to crack. We have some customized weapons for most situations, so I went back to the van to see what I could find. A crossbow seemed too weak, although accurate from a long distance. It wouldn't break your skin, Tag. I then thought of attacking your chest with an axe, which seemed effective at first, but by the time I had launched the stake through da incision I'd made, it had closed up, and expelled da axe. Tankfully it only expelled it a short distance and didn't hurt any bystanders. Den Giles had an idea."

As if prompted to carry on this relay, Giles spoke up now. "It was ingenious, if not crude, if I do say so myself. Kendra attacked the chest once again with the axe, and Willow held it open using magic. To be sure it would not be expelled, we had to make sure that it pierced through both sides of the body, front and back. Although it seemed like overkill, we thought the most effective way was to chain a fiberglass coated wooden stake to the front of the van, and then literally drive it into you. This was assuming that your body would break down the fiberglass particles and react to wood spearing you through your heart. Of course, it didn't work, but it stayed in there fairly well. Are you able to take it out yourself?"

"I'm sure I can manage, Giles. As I understand, you're their watcher?" Tagre asked.

"In a sense I am. As there is an unprecedented situation here, watchers have been made obsolete and my three slayers have formed a team with local friends who have various benefits they can contribute to the cause.

"What do you mean, unprecedented situation, Giles?

"Please, call me Rupert."

I shot Giles a scathing glance.

"Rupert Giles, that is, call me Rupert Giles, or just Giles for short." He reiterated. "Basically, there should only be one slayer alive at any given time. When the current slayer has passed on, the new slayer is called, and claims her birthright. However, Buffy has been brought back from the dead, as has Kendra. Because of this, we have a veritable dream team of slayers, who help protect the town from vampires and other various demons. Needless to say, I can't watch all three of these girls at once."

"Yeah, that might be a bit too hot for him, Tag." Faith said, ambling over from Xander, who seemed to be recovering, now sitting upright with his head cradled in his chest. "Three girls might even be too much for me to watch."

"You'll have to excuse Faith, she must have misheard and thought we were talking about precedented occasions for her…from this week." I said, rudely, intentionally.

Suddenly, Willow was mind-lecturing me again.

Ouch, Buffy, you're really giving it to her tonight

Yeah, well she dissed me and Angel. And you know damn well that she deserves the attention. Fuck, she's begging for it.

She disappeared and walked over to Xander, who was now shaking his head.

"Why would you tell us how to destroy you Tagre?" Giles asked. "If nothing else, you could see that we had no idea what to do with you."

"I tell you this, as I request that you spare my life. I will not beg, and I will understand if you do choose to kill me. The reason I'm telling you this just happens to be the reason that I'm here.

Xander and Willow rejoined the group, after Tagre had waited for him to collect himself somewhat.

"I have travelled here from Forks in Washington, a very troublesome city, which has experienced its own hell over the last decade. It is now akin to your LA. In this forsaken place, true vampires run the show, with the townspeople oblivious to the constant danger. There are some disappearances from time to time. However, these are victims of wild, crazed vampires that travel through the area. These vampires are judged and executed almost instantaneously by a family of these vampires. The vampire family prefers to feast on the local wildlife, by which I mean deer, mountain lions, bears and such. There is an abundant supply of fauna in the area, and they are never known for what they are. I personally prefer to eat human, despite the risk involved. It's slightly more tart and increases your strength more than 10 times what it would if you ate a mountain lion for instance.

"This family is good and honest, having formed a bond lasting over 100 years in some cases. Unfortunately, it would seem that one of the vampire sisters has become corrupt with power, and has been letting wild vampires in before notifying the rest of the family, at which point, it's obviously too late to prevent a murder. As well as this, your inferior mixed-demons have also discovered this town of late and have successfully infiltrated and turned a small group of teenagers into their kind. They now run an underground crime racket, well under the radar of the overseeing vampire family. They deal with crooked cops, local pimps and prostitutes who now do not know of another way of life."

"This sickens me to my core, and I plead with you to meet with this family and organize a treaty to eradicate this unwanted population."

"I also beg you to destroy the one they call Alice."

A/N – I really wanted to make this more concise and fit some extra stuff into this chapter, but it seems that this chapter wrote itself. I hope you enjoyed, and please review it; I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts so far.

krueger84