Buffy and Willow walked back towards Stevenson Hall after a nice girl talk over some moccachinos and a very quiet patrol in the park. Buffy actually wondered where all the demons and vampires had gone, but it was quite possibly the commando guys had something to do with it. Or Giles would probably soon come up with something apocalyptic that made all the demons lay low.
When they passed the last copse before campus, they were alerted by the sounds of fighting. After exchanging a look Buffy and Willow hurried towards the sounds and upon reaching the glade inside, Buffy stopped dead in her tracks causing Willow to run into her. "What is it?" Willow frowned worriedly.
"It's a guy fighting vamps." Buffy whispered surprised.
"Eh, Buffy, this is Sunnydale. Hellmouth, remember?" Willow teased and came up on Buffy's side to see what about the vampires that had surprised the slayer. Her eyes widened in shock when she recognized the guy who was fighting the vampires like a professional. "Graham?!" she gasped.
Buffy turned to look at her friend, bothered. "That's your guy? Maybe you should be a little careful around him..."
"Well, isn't it a good sign he's not paralyzed with fear, but can take care of himself in a hellmouthy situation?"
"Yeah, it would appear that way, but Willow, he fights like me."
And indeed he did. There were three vampires left and when one of them grabbed Graham from behind, Buffy rushed out to help him, but before she reached him he freed himself. By leaning a little backwards and kicking his right leg straight up to his shoulder, he managed to kick the vampire in the head. That knock gave him enough time to turn around and stake the evil bloodsucker.
In the middle of the fight, Graham was just glad that somebody in this godforsaken town came to his aid, he didn't see whom, but whomever it was the helper fought well, because the vampire was dusted in record time. After releasing a wooden arrow from his mini-crossbow into the heart of the last vampire, Graham turned around to thank his helper and couldn't keep from making a surprised sound when he faced Riley's little blonde girlfriend.
Buffy let her eyes wander over the yummy piece of man in front of her. Oh yeah, he was Willow's love interest, but this time she had really found some eye candy. She let the slayer senses out again and noticed his clothing - jeans, sneakers and a sweater not even army green...his weapon was a wooden stake and the mini-crossbow with wooden arrows, not the teaser gun Spike had told them the commando boys had shot him with. Okay, so, not a commando, but still...there was something about this guy...something...familiar?...no, couldn't be, she had just met him.
Buffy pushed the slayer back in her mind and decided to be perceptive but not too suspicious of him. "Hi, I'm Buffy the vampire slayer, who are you?" She smiled sweetly and saw his eyes widen a bit and sighed a little. She expected a 'What?!' sounding like she had lost it completely, but it never came.
Willow walked up to them just in time to hear Buffy tell Graham she was the slayer and see him look at her friend warily. "Are you okay?" Willow asked him, worry evident in her voice.
Graham turned to the soft voice speaking. He couldn't hear the words through the whirlwind that suddenly had appeared in his head, but he liked the voice. Normally he would have been surprised (not to mention worried) to see the pretty redhead from JAVA class out after sunset, but after his resent shock nothing could surprise him more this evening and in the company of a slayer she would be more than safe, so he just smiled at her. "Hi, Willow."
Willow's heart made a happy jump at his words. *He knows my name!*
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