"Hey, pal. In case you can't tell, we're closed here," Willy stated nervously, shifting his eyes from the large man standing at the door of his bar to the glasses he was in the middle of cleaning. Despite Willy's half-hearted dismissal, the immortal waked into the bar as if everything in it belonged to him, including the weaker man behind the counter.
"What do you know about the slayer?" The Kurgan asked with his signature deep rumble, causing Willy's heart rate to speed up along with the scrubbing pace of his hand.
"S-Slayer? The one in Sunnydale? Wouldn't know, man – doesn't come around these parts. Not good for business." A hand was clenched around the snitch's neck before he had a chance to set the glass back down. Instead the object slipped from his grasp and shattered onto the floor.
"I saw the girl walk in here tonight. Tell me what you know." His eye's narrowed, daring Willy to object. Willy was used to his fair share of threats, physical and verbal. This however felt different, a strange darkness lurked underneath the man's hungry eyes – they held a mission; a secret. Something that only he and the world were connected to and nobody else.
"Okay – I'll tell you anything –" Willy spluttered, now a few inches off the ground and his head feeling ready to pop like a kernel.
The Kurgan dropped the weasely man on the ground and grinned. "I'm glad we could come to a negotiation."
"What do you wanna know about her?" Willy managed to cough out as he fought for air in the foul scented bar he gave refuge to demons in. In the short span of time he was in the Kurgan's clutches, his neck already had begun to bruise.
"Anything. Everything." The Kurgan answered.
"Well – well… her name's Buffy. She's ah…she's only young…sixteen? Seventeen? I think. She's tougher than she looks, and she has a group of friends that have her back, y'know…help her fight the bad guys; vampires; demons…immortals. I mean, it's her duty. Chosen one and all." Willy watched for a reaction at the mention of what he believed the man standing before him was. "I mean…if you don't mind me askin'…what are you exactly?"
"Anything else? The Kurgan growled, ignoring the snitch's question.
"Uh – uh yeah. She recently had a…a thing with a vampire. Angelus."
"Angelus?" The Kurgan repeated, eyebrows lifting in surprise. "The Scourge of Europe and the Slayer?"
"Well like I said, not anymore. Angelus got a curse put on him way back when. A hundred or so years ago. A soul. A vampire with a soul, you can imagine, huh?"
"He must have gone crazy with the guilt. Innocent blood all over his hands," The Kurgan said to himself as he stared into space.
"But he's back now. Curse had a little clause, y'know? A moment of happiness – some sappy poetic tragedy type thing."
"Happiness? The Slayer and the vampire…" The Kurgan laughed when it registered.
"Yeah, ." Willy laughed nervously. "Lovers now enemies. That's how the story goes."
"Well, you've been a great help – I really appreciate it," The Kurgan thanked in a patronising tone, patting the man on the shoulder. "It hurts me to have to do this."
"Whoa…wait. Do what?" Willy stuttered. He watched as the Kurgan pulled back his sword, and fled.
***
"Hey, Buffy. How was patrol last night?" Willow greeted her friend as she found her by her locker, dressed in a red ruffle top and a conservative beige knee-length skirt.
"Ugh, don't you wish we were like normal people sometimes? Like, hey how was last night's episode of Dawson's Creek?"
"Dawson's Creek's season finale was over two months ago," Willow filled in, playing with a loose thread on her fuzzy orange jumper.
"Oh," Buffy replied, eyes widened. "Wow. I really haven't kept up to date with TV. That's so depressing."
"You've had a lot on your mind," Willow reassured, giving a sympathetic glance. "But how was it, did you run into that Kurgan guy?"
"Nah – got a neat ol' visit from Angelus though. And YES, I'm okay," Buffy insisted as soon as she saw her friend's hand raise to offer her concern.
"What happened?" The red head questioned instead.
"I dunno. I mean, it was weird. We didn't fight. It was like he was…helping me."
"Helping you?"
"Yeah. I dunno, tipping me off about the new guy. Like he was on my side of something."
"Trap?"
"Could be. So I didn't take it any further. Just walked away."
"Well, as you know I'm not 'team Angelus'. But be open minded, if he knows something it might help you defeat this guy."
"Working with Angelus? Please, Will. Pigs will fly before I see that happening."
What am I doing here?
It was almost 2:00 a.m. and this time the full moon was fully out, bathing its silver glow over the small blonde Slayer as she stood in front of the mansion; the chilling two story building that occupied Crawford Street – a basis for ghost stories that spread through Sunnydale's younger residents like sugar bombs – stories that even the most daring knew better than to confront. Maybe Sunnydale wasn't as ignorant as it seemed and deep down in their subconscious people knew something wasn't right here, and the mansion was one stepping stone to the truth they weren't quite ready to face. Buffy knew for a fact she never caught anyone dead in the cemeteries she scouted – anyone that wasn't dead already, that is. In fact, it was rare to catch anyone around the creepier perimeters of Sunnydale past 11:00 p.m.
No, I don't think people are as dumb as I give them credit for. Buffy thought. But why is there always a new vamp on the receiving end of my stake?
Buffy shook herself as she realised she was once again caught in the binding net of her thoughts.
Time to do this.
It had been three nights since any Kurgan – or Angelus – confrontation. She had swept the area that Willy's bar engaged again onto to find it was strangely deserted – Buffy couldn't remember a time she saw Willy's was closed. That alone was abnormal; more abnormal than regular occurrences Sunnydale offered – so finding Angelus was quickly appearing to be her last resort, if he knew anything that could be useful. The Slayer had already found the headless corpses of at least three demons, along with additional slashes to their flesh and dismemberments to their limbs. It was becoming more obvious that the new player didn't just enjoy a good fight – he basically looked for one, and Buffy needed to know why. Not that she was opposed to someone doing her work for her, however these demons appeared to be, well, harmless, and hadn't come up on the Scooby radar thus far. Buffy knew it was a matter of time before the human bodies started piling up, she'd already seen snippets of news that entailed the murders of a couple of prostitutes killed due to strange circumstances – unsure if there was a relation, the Slayer wasn't prepared to risk it.
She willed her feet to start moving as she headed towards the mansion's front entrance, only to be stopped by an all too familiar conniving chuckle.
"I was wondering when you'd finally cave. 3 days, Buff. Wow. Didn't expect you to be that eager."
Buffy hated that she was caught off guard. She had a visual plan in her head that involved her breaking the door down and taking a bit of charge, regardless of Angelus's intolerance at being demanded for answers. She didn't enjoy the fact that her moves were anticipated.
"Let me guess…Drusilla saw me coming? Buffy asked, folding her arms across her chest, trying to uphold her dignity upon seeking Angelus for help.
"Dru didn't see anything other than her usual astrology. She went on about the stars crossing over to one another, but you can only pay so much attention to her insane ramblings." Angelus stepped away from the wall he had been leaning against, revealing himself from the curtain of night - a frighteningly close five or so feet from the Slayer. His voice had been so low; she assumed he was a safe distance away.
"No, my love. I saw you coming before you had even left your bedroom."
Buffy stepped back and her heart skipped due to her lack of precaution.
Angelus is an unpredictable monster, she subconsciously reminded herself for the hundredth time. Don't let him get close.
"Then you know why I'm here. And I can assure you, I wouldn't be if I had a choice."
"Oh, but you do," Angelus interjected; playing the mind games he so loved to inflict upon the Slayer. His slayer. "You didn't have to come here tonight. You could have stayed out a bit longer, hunted a bit better. You could have found him, fought him. You could have made it home before dawn and crept into bed – washed your bloodied body and mom would have been none the wiser. You could have done it, you just didn't want to."
"Then why did you confront me? Warn me about The Kurgan?" Buffy demanded, her voice nearly shaking with anger at his accusation.
Angelus laughed and once again it brought her back to the moment in his apartment, the day after they had made love.
"It's not like I've never been there before." -
"I just wanted to see how gullible you could be."
Buffy was fuming. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to beat him senseless or regain her composure – walk away with the dignity she had been busy fighting to keep before. Deciding that she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her emotions and telling herself she was only wasting her time being there, Buffy turned to leave and eventually fell into a fast and determined run; to find the thing that Angelus accused her of not being able to fight herself.
She barely missed the blade that swung at her head.