Many thanks to my beta Tandwr, couldn't have done it without you!


Chapter 3 - Not a slayer

England, London, Watchers Council's headquarters, April, 1993

A large group – primarily made up of middle-aged men in tweed, although there were a few younger men and two women present – filed eagerly into the conference room. The men and women took their seats at a large wooden table and faced the older, tweed-suited man at the head.

A younger man, also in tweed, with dark hair and glasses, rushed into the conference room quickly pouring tea into cups and placing them in front of the members. "Thank you, Wesley," Quentin Travers spoke and the young man gave the older man a nod before leaving the room.

Quentin cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "We're gathered here today to discuss the situation surrounding one of our Potentials, Miss Summers."

"That girl is out of control," an older Watcher exclaimed. "She was mouthing off to her Watcher, running in the hallways, and the language…"

"I agree with Mr. Wyndham-Pryce," a female Watcher, Miss Mann, announced. "The foul language and bad manners are typical for an American. But her constant angry behavior… Are you sure the girl is from California and not New York?"

"Her file states she lived above a bar called the Harvelle'sRoadhouse," the other woman stipulated, the disapproval of a child living above a bar obvious in her tone of voice.

"A bar." Miss Mann's nose wrinkled. "Americans these days.

"I admit Buffy can be a bit stubborn and impulsive but she shows a natural talent when she trains," Merrick informed.

"Which she uses to try and escape the premises," Mr. Wyndham-Pryce stated.

"Gentlemen, please," Quentin reclaimed their attention. "Whilst Miss Summers maybe the cause of some trouble, she may very well be the next Chosen One. We need to be patient and eventually she'll realize that all she has is us, thus stopping her misbehavior."

"Are you so sure she will be the next one Called?" Miss Mann wanted to know.

"She was visited by a messenger of the Powers That Be, none of our other Potentials has had such an experience," a male Watcher, Thomas Thorne, reminded the others.

"With all due respect to Thomas, we only have the girl's word on that," Miss Mann spoke up.

"Buffy wouldn't lie," Merrick jumped in.

"You are calling her by her first name Merrick?" Miss Mann inquired.

"She insisted… but as much as my charge tries my patience, she has been well raised, by both her parents and her aunt and uncle," Merrick answered.

"Her aunt and uncle are Hunters, hardly good parents. I heard Miss Summers even carried a gun when she was picked up," the other female Watcher, Alice Cambridge, reminded the others.

"As I recall, Bill and Ellen Harvelle are quite excellent Hunters, who stepped up and cared for Buffy when she had no one else," Merrick defended his charge's family.

"Merrick, you must not let yourself become too close to your charge," Roger Wyndham-Pryce lectured the other Watcher.

"She's not your charge, Roger. I am her Watcher. And I won't have her turn out like your son. I may not be Buffy's father, but she needs someone to care about her, to form a bond with in order to try her best. She fights for others, not herself," Merrick replied.

"Merrick is right Roger," Quentin stated. "As he forms a bond with her, she will come to depend on him, and though we disapprove of a Watcher becoming too close with their charges, in this case it may be prudent. Miss Summers will have no one aside from her Watcher and will therefore listen to him. Which is how we will control her."

"I do not approve of these tactics," Miss Mann let the others know. "The girl should be disciplined until she listens, not be given leeway… and to lower ourselves to such manipulation…."

"Miss Mann, should Miss Summers be Called as the next Slayer, we need her to be on our side. And not have her resent us by having us disciplining her," Quentin replied.

"Buffy needs time to adjust to her new life. I have no doubt that she will become an exemplary Slayer," Merrick stated.

"Yes, well we will have to wait and see," Quentin commented, not quite convinced. "Now, let us turn to the next point of our agenda…"

***

England, London, Council Headquarters, Merrick's room, June 24, 1993

"Did you hear the news, Merrick? I'm not the next one Called, to be the Slayer." Buffy sprang out happy she seemed to have been spared from becoming the slayer for some reason.

"Ah, yes. It would seem so," Merrick answered.

"You're not happy for me?" Buffy questioned, her happy mood falling slightly.

Merrick gave her a small smile, "Of course I am, Buffy."

"Then what?"

"Another Slayer died, another was called. One that might not be as prepared for her Calling as you are. Whether you'll admit it to yourself or not," Merrick shared with her.

Her good mood gone now as she now saw the bigger picture of the news another Potential, Gabriella, had shared with her. They and a Chinese Potential Slayer called Ying-Fa, were the only three Potential Slayers being trained at the Council Headquarters. Gabriella was older than her by a year and the Italian girl had a knack for gossiping.

The three of them had banded together once Buffy realized escaping would not be possible and she needed to learn more about her 'enemy' before making another attempt. As Merrick often told her, knowledge was power. And Buffy was learning… not just demon lore, fighting techniques, tactics and strategy either. Merrick was also trying to teach her Latin, while Gabriella and Ying-Fa taught each other Cantonese, Italian and better English since Ying-Fa was having trouble in that department. It wasn't like any of them were experts in the languages, but together they seemed to get basics… and were improving altogether, slowly.

"Just because you haven't been called as the new Slayer now, won't mean you won't be called as one in the future. There are records of a Slayer being called as old as nineteen," Merrick continued.

"So I'm supposed to what? Stay here for the next seven or eight years?" Buffy questioned, frustrated.

"That is up to the Council," Merrick answered.

"But I've heard of Potentials being trained in their own country," Buffy complained.

Merrick watches her carefully as he starts to reply, "Yes, this is true. However, these are Potentials Slayers found young and given freely to the Council."

"So there is no hope? No hope that I –" she stopped herself and then continued, "I can't ever go back?"

Unable to crush the girl's hopes completely, Merrick gave her an unsure smile. "It is unlikely, but not impossible. If you continue to do your duty and work hard to earn the Council's trust they might consider your request. But there are no guarantees."

***

England, , Council Headquarters, January 1994

"No way, Gab. Are you serious?" Buffy inquired, unable to believe the information her friend and fellow Potential Slayer just told her as she was handed an old diary meant for her thirteenth birthday.

Gabriella nodded excitedly, "Oh yes, according this she was in love with him and he with her."

Buffy opened the old diary halfway, still not believing the other Potential Slayer and started to read it for herself, speaking the Latin words out loud as she did so. Halfway through the paragraph she made a face and passed the Watcher Diary to Ying-Fa.

"That is just so gross. I can't even think of how that would look. If Merrick…" she trailed off looking sick now.

"Well he'd have to be a young Watcher. Like Wesley." Gabriella licked her lips. It was no secret amongst the three that Gabriella had a crush on Wesley.

"Wesley no Watcher, only trainee" Ying-Fa reminded her as she gave the diary back to Buffy.

"It's only a matter of time," Gabriella stated with full confidence.

"Another stuffy Watcher…" Buffy started but trailed off when the lights flickered and went out putting the room on darkness, only the moon providing some light.

"A black-out? I never had one here. Have you guys?" Buffy inquired.

"No, but this place has its own generator that should have kicked in by now," Gabriella reminded the other two.

"Are we under attack?" Ying-Fa asked Gabriella just before a scream could be heard.

"I'd that that as a yes," Buffy answered and the three of them went in different directions of the room, each taking something to defend themselves.

Gabriella took a poker from the fireplace, Ying-Fa broke a chair and tossed each girl a leg for a makeshift stake and Buffy tossed her one of those hammer things used to play cricket back, stuffing the stake in the back of her PJ's pants and taking a silver knife from her slipper, then taking her slippers off for better mobility.

"Should we stay or go?" Ying-Fa wanted to know from the other two.

"Stay," Gabriella answered at the same time as Buffy did with "Go."

"We don't know how many there are, who or what is attacking or if there even is an attack. The best course of action is to stay here and make this place defensible," Gabriella elaborated on her decision to stay here.

"But there could be trouble out there, if we stay here we won't know what is going on. We'd just be sitting ducks for them to storm in and take us by surprise," Buffy argued.

"Whatever we going to do, we do it now," Ying-Fa instructed them.

Gabriella and Buffy looked at her then each other, "Fine, you're the birthday girl. We'll do as you say, just stay close to me."

Just as the three headed for the door, the door busted open and an ugly demon stood smiling at the three girls. A moment later, the demon intercepted the poker Gabriella tried to drive through the demon. With the demon distracted, Buffy moved to plunge the knife into the demon's flesh. Its tough scales withstood her trying to knife through them and she quickly dropped herself to the ground, narrowly avoiding the demon grabbing her. As she did, Ying-Fa clobbered the demon's abdomen with the cricket hammer making it take a step back. As its attention turned to Ying-Fa, Buffy was up on her feet and sprang at the scaly back of the demon, using her legs to reaming there as she grabbed the knife with two hands and plunged it down with all her strength into the demon's neck.

The demon screeched, grabbing Buffy by her leg and pulling her off its back and was about to slash its claw through her when a poker slammed against its legs and made the demon turn its attention to Gabriella who smiled slightly at it and moved to strike the demon with the poker again only to watch as a stake thrown by Ying-Fa was now sticking out of the demon's eye.

Buffy swung her body forwards so she was higher and able to take hold of the stake. Grabbing it, she pushed it further in, making the demon drop her as it again screeched out in pain.

Gabriella quickly helped Buffy to her feet as Ying-Fa slammed the cricket hammer into the demon's abdomen again.

Grabbing her own stake, Gabriella stood still, breathing heavily as adrenaline pumped though her.

The demon stayed still on the ground, breathing heavily. Buffy walked closer to it ignoring Gabriella's warning as she knelt down beside it and yanked her knife out of the back of its neck. Holding it in front of the demon's one good eye she spoke, "How many?"

The demon seemed to try and stare her away or something, which wasn't the answer Buffy was looking for. Taking hold of the knife with both hands she plunged it through the demon's arm laying on the ground. The demon screeched out in pain.

"I do not like to repeat myself," Buffy informed him.

"I will tell you nothing," the demon wheezed out.

"Okay, make this hard on a gal." Buffy twisted the knife making the demon scream out once more. "Any of you know what kind of demon this is and where its sensitive or precious parts are?" she questioned her fellow Potential Slayers.

"I don't know, some kind of reptilian demon?" Gabriella guessed. "Does it matter, let's just kill him and see for ourselves what else is out there."

"Get your poker and hold in the fire, we'll get it to talk," Buffy ordered.

Gabriella raised an eyebrow at the change in the younger Potential, but did as she was 'ordered' none the less.

The demon's other hand shot out towards Buffy who yanked her knife out of the demon's arm before she force of the demon's hand threw her away from it. "Don't kill it!" Buffy instructed Ying-Fa, who was about to hit it with the cricket hammer again. She stopped and instead kicked the demon with her foot, making it fall down unto its back with its arms at the ground again.

Gabriella returned with the glowing hot poker and smiled at the demon. "Please tell me you're not going to talk," she pleaded with the demon who was eying the poker with its one good eye.

"Just be careful some of its gooey blood doesn't come unto your PJs," Buffy cautioned.

"Thanks for the tip," Gabriella replied, smiling brilliantly at her before turning her attention back towards the demon.

"I will not talk," the demon croaked out once more.

"The more fun for us," Buffy responded with an evil smile.

As Gabriella pushed the white-hot poker through the demon's belly, causing it to scream out in pain a figure appeared in the doorway. "What is going on here!" the figure screeched.

Three teenage girls looked up and saw Miss Mann standing there with an angry scowl on her face. "What does it look like? We're interrogating this demon for information," Buffy snapped, annoyed by the woman.

Miss. Mann's eyes narrowed on the blonde, "Miss. Summers, I do not care for your tone. Now all of you remove yourself from this Kwaini demon. They are a non-violent species."

Gabriella moved to removed the poker but Buffy quickly cut in, "Don't. That's not a Kwaini demon. They look very different."

Ying-Fa frowned, trying to remember what a Kwaini demon looked like as Miss Mann raised her voice, "I am a Watcher and you will listen to me, young lady. If I say this is a non-violent demon, then it is a non-violent demon. Do you hear me?" She took a threatening step forwards causing Buffy to take a defensive stance.

Buffy swallowed a lump in her throat. 'What the hell is going on? I know this isn't a Kwaini demon. Miss Mann, bitch as she may be, knows that too. But why would she be saying it is? Has she turned over to the other side somehow? Can that happen, someone suddenly becoming evil. I know that she's a bitch, but evil… but what else coul–' Buffy stopped her inner monologue as she figured it out. Miss Mann had to be possessed.

"What are you doing!? Stand down and report to your Watchers immediately," the 'possessed' Watcher ordered.

"Make me," Buffy bit out clenching the knife in her hand. She had no idea how to handle this. Merrick and her barely covered possession in her demon studies. Luckily, her uncle Bill had made sure Buffy knew how to check if humans were possessed.

"Christo!" Buffy spoke up making Miss. Mann flinch and eyes turn black.

"So you figured it out, who knew you had a brain on those tiny shoulders." Miss Mann smiled demonically at Buffy and the other two Potential Slayers.

"I'm the niece of a Hunter," Buffy reminded the possessed Miss Mann with an arrogant smile. In truth, she had no reason to feel arrogant or even confident on how to handle this situation. Yes her Uncle Bill had though her about the Devil's Trap, but it had been over a year ago. She did not have a photographic memory, and she had been ten at the time.

"Buffy? Are you in here?" Merrick inquired as he stepped into the doorway. "What is going on here?"

"Merrick, watch out! She's possessed," Buffy warned, then quickly turned to her two friends, "There is some chalk in the drawer next to my bed, get it."

Not looking to see if they did as she asked, Buffy slashed out with the knife at Miss Mann, who simply laughed as she evaded the slash, then grabbed her arm, twisted it making Buffy cry out in pain while dropping the knife.

Miss Mann caught the knife. "Little girls shouldn't play with grown up weapons," the demon possessing Miss Mann informed her, before kicked an advancing Merrick away who slumped against the wall unconscious.

With her free arm, Buffy punched the woman in the face. The grip lessening on her arm. She faked a repeat she instead stomped down hard on the woman's foot. Able to break free she did and dropped down to avoid a punch and moved to sweep the feet out from under the woman, who jumped over them and landed a hard kick against Buffy's small body, making her fly sideways through the air.

Crashing into the wall from the impact she gritted her teeth in pain as she got back to her feet, a little wobbly. Just then Ying-Fa and Gabriella got back and while Gabriella tossed her the chalk, Ying-Fa was already attacking the woman with the poker that she had taken out of the demon. Gabriella moved to help her with her stake as weapon.

Buffy almost missed catching the chalk but once she had it in hand she dropped down and furiously started to draw what she could remember being the Devil's Trap, finding that as she was drawing it was coming back to her as to what it had to look like. Still the symbols were the hardest, she hoped she was getting them right.

"Ying-Fa!" Gabriella yelled causing Buffy to look up and at the fight. Ying-Fa was standing there, a metal poker sticking out of her back.

"No," Buffy spoke as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Hurry up with whatever the hell you are doing!" Gabriella instructed Buffy. "I'll hold the bitch off."

Not wasting another minute, Buffy returned to her task setting the grief out of her mind and using the anger to fuel her work.

"And there goes number three. Demon three, humans zero," the possessed Miss. Mann spoke as she dropped the lifeless body of Gabriella unto the ground.

Buffy looked up just in time to see her friend's body fall. "Gabriella!" she cried out. Hatred burning in her eyes she glared at the demon. "You bitch," she snarled, grabbing her own stake.

"What in the world…" Quentin Travers stood in the doorway looking wide-eyed at the scene before him.

"Get help!" Buffy ordered the older man as she charged the possessed Miss Mann who smiled gleefully at the tiny blonde.

At the last second Buffy rolled sideway and pushed the stake into Miss Mann's leg. The woman winced and then counterattacked with a hard punch Buffy managed to half block. Taking hold of the arm of the woman, Buffy pulled her towards the symbol on the ground.

The possessed Miss. Mann took a few steps towards the symbol, but then stopped and grabbed Buffy by the throat. "A valiant effort, really. But you're no match for –" she stopped talking as Buffy pulled the stake out of her leg with her feet, then kneed the woman in the stomach.

Buffy was dropped to the ground where she struggled for breath, coughing.

"You little bitch!" the demon possessing Miss Mann screeched charging her.

Buffy got her feet up just in time kicking the woman backwards. Possessed Miss. Mann grunted, "Oh, you are so dead!" she screamed and charged her again… "What the… What the hell is this!?" the demon possessing Miss. Mann demanded to know as she bounced of a barrier of some kind.

"Devil's trap, you evil bastard," Buffy spat out coughing, ignoring the demon's screeching and threats she wobbly and unsteady got to her feet and made her way to her friends. She didn't see Quentin and hoped he and help were on their way.

Checking Gabriella's pulse first she closed her eyes after not finding any. Feeling overwhelming grief rise to her throat she almost let herself succumb to it when she hurt a sputter. Looking at its direction she saw Ying-Fa, still alive, coughing up blood. She ran over to her other friend and dropped to her knees next to her taking the Asian woman's right hand in her own.

"Hey, I'm here. Hang on Ying-Fa, help is on the way. Just hang on!" Buffy begged her.

"Bu-fy," Ying-Fa croaked, then her head fell to the side.

"No, Ying-Fa!" Buffy cried out just as Quentin returned with other men Buffy didn't recognize or take any notice off. She didn't notice being pushed aside, Quentin asking her what had happened.

She vaguely remembered grabbing her silver knife and moving towards Miss Mann. Then everything went fuzzy. Someone held her back pleading her to think of what she was doing. She had struggled to break free, the need to revenge too great to fight. Then she had woken up in her own bed, Merrick sitting in a chair beside her. For a split second she had hoped it had been a nightmare, but one look into Merrick's eyes and she knew it hadn't been.

She had asked what had happened to Miss Mann, Merrick had told her some witches from Devon's coven had come and exorcized the demon, sending it back to hell.

Quentin and the rest of the Council had been impressed with her, or so Merrick had told her. Merrick had then told her that the Council had agreed for her to return to the States. Buffy didn't care. It wasn't as if she could return to her family in Nebraska. All she had was Merrick, her friends were dead, her parents were dead. And she was damned if anything was going to happen to the one person she had left.

***

California, Los Angeles, car, November 1994

"Have a good day at school?" Merrick asked.

Getting Buffy back into school had been easy for an organization as the Watcher's Council, they simply created a fake birth certificate saying Buffy's twin sister was the one who had died, pulling some strings to not have Buffy's family be informed of it and have Buffy placed in custody of her guardian Merrick.

"I dunno. I mean I like how quiet and trivial my life is at school, but at the same time I want to strangle and slap them all for not seeing what is so obvious to see," Buffy informed him what had been on her mind.

"And here you want to add to that burden and take up cheerleading next year," Merrick told her.

"Yeah, 'cause no matter how stupid I think my friends are sometimes, they do help me take my mind off the demons and stuff," Buffy answered him.

"So they're a distraction that you hate, but need," Merrick summarized.

"I wouldn't say hate, more like dislike," Buffy replied then added, "I just haven't been able to let my guard down for anyone new since…" she trailed off.

"You can talk to me about it, you know," Merrick informed her gently.

"I know," Buffy responded. "It just bothers me that we still don't know who was behind the attack."

"They'll make themselves known eventually. And India will take care of them," Merrick tried to reassure her. India had been the Slayer for over a year now, which according to all the information Buffy had read about Slayers, was over the average.

Buffy let out a sigh. "I know… I know." and part of her did, still she wanted to revenge for whoever ordered that demon to attack the Council Headquarters. And she wanted to do it in person. Sure she hunted at night for vampires with Merrick, but they were stronger, faster and healed a hell of a lot faster than she did. Staking them required traps, cunning, strategy and tactics. There was a lot of work done before the staking part.

It would almost make her ask the Powers That Be to choose her as the next Slayer. Almost, because one, she didn't want India to die. Two, didn't want to die next year, since that was the average life span of the Slayer. And three, she didn't want to fight for the rest of her life, the prospect of her life becoming the Hunt, frightened her and that was one of the reasons she had wanted to go back to school. She needed some normal in her life, something to keep her grounded, keep her from becoming someone whose whole life was hunting.

***

Ohio, Cleveland, January 1995

Buffy had not wanted to be anyone near anything familiar when her Birthday was fast approaching. She was scared to death about what could happen. Merrick had written a note for school that Buffy wouldn't be attending for two weeks and they hit the road, ending up in some sleazy motel in Cleveland of all places. Still Buffy didn't mind, as long as they were far away from her family and even her superficial friends.

Right now she was walking by herself in the park. She had told Merrick she needed a walk to clear her head. Merrick told her to be careful and after taking a stake and putting it in back of her red leather pants. A silver knife strapped to her ankle.

So now she was on patrol. She had stopped referring to killing vampires and demons as hunting since she didn't use the weapons a Hunter usually used. She was a Potential Slayer, not a Hunter. Merrick had told her this many times. So she came up with a new term to fight her nightly activities.

***

Ohio, Cleveland, Park, January 1995

Fifteen-year-old Dean looked around, it was a nice night out. His dad was covering the other side of the park and Sammy was in the car, waiting. Somewhere there was a Wendigo. His dad said that it had been drawn here by some sort of fixation of mystical energies, whatever that meant.

Dean's hand moved towards his gun when he heard someone approach.

***

Buffy hand went away from inside her purse when she saw the figure remained in its place, not approaching her. 'Probably not a vampire', she thought to herself. Still she remained careful as she approached the guy.

Buffy moved her hand back towards her purse as the guy started to walk towards her. As his face passed in a nearby lantern she swallowed, damn. 'If this guy is evil, it'd be such a waste.' She quickly shook her head. She might not have a boyfriend, but that was no reason to let her hormones affect her job.

"Hi there, I heard there were some deaths around this place. You shouldn't be out alone at night," Dean commented as he tried to get rid of her.

'What's he up to? Is he being nice or is he just trying to get me to drop my guard so he can attack me'? Buffy wondered while plastering a fake smile on her face.

"Thank you, but I can take care of myself. But you should definitely take your own advice," Buffy responded.

"Listen, kid –" That's as far as he came because the tiny blonde stalked towards him.

'Kid? Why is it always the size? Well, I'll show him.' Buffy stopped in front of him and poked him in the chest. "Who are you calling a kid? I'm 13 and I may not be that tall, but you're not exactly Robert Wedlow yourself."

"Compared to you I am," Dean stated. Where did this girl get off calling him short? But damn, she may not be that tall, but she was pretty hot.

'Did he just insult me again? He did, the handsome asshole!' she thought to herself. "Well at least I'm not some creep warning young women to get out of the park and end up arguing with them."

"I was just trying to keep you safe, but if you want to continue your walk through the park and die, go right ahead. I won't stop you," Dean replied.

"Fine, I will. And if something would attack me I'm sure I could handle it a lot better then you could," Buffy informed him.

"Oh, I don't think so, princess." Dean drawled.

"Excuse me, do either of you have a light?" a man inquired.

"Do I look like I smoke?" Buffy demanded to know as she turned to the newcomer.

"Too bad, how about you?" the man asked.

"Yeah, sure. Hang on," Dean replied, searching his jacket for some matches.

"Figures you'd smoke, lung cancer that appealing to you?" Buffy questioned him.

"Listen, girlie, I do not smoke. I do, however, have some matches on me," Dean bit out at her and tossed the stranger his matches. "Here you go, pal."

It was only then that Buffy noticed the paleness of the skin of the stranger… and wearing of outdated clothes. She watched him light a cigarette and tossing the matches back to the annoying guy.

"Thanks, pal, I might give you eternal life after I have feasted on your girlfriend here." The guy's face shifted and the forehead ridges along with amber eyes appeared.

"He is not my boyfriend!" Buffy stated vehemently at the same time as Dean said she wasn't his girlfriend.

"Great, you run. Get out of here!" Dean ordered seeing the guy was a vampire.

"How about you run and get out of here?" Buffy instructed him as she drew a stake from her bag and took a fighting stance.

"You think you can take me, little girl?" the vampire asked.

"Okay, what is with all the short jokes? Did you put him up to that?!" Buffy accused Dean.

"Don't need to, darlin', everyone in the world can see how small you are. Or well they would but most people would just look over you," Dean drawled.

Buffy gave him an angry glare before avoiding a punch from the vampire and jabbing her own fist towards its abdomen. The vampire blocked it and grinned only to receive a kick against his shin with a follow up punch against his jaw.

Buffy shoved the stake towards his heart, only to have the vampire grab her arm. Before she could counter the vampire turned to dust and crumbled to the ground. She watched Dean stand there stake raised with a satisfied smirk on his face.

"That was my kill!" Buffy snapped at him angrily.

"I believe the words you should be saying are, thank you brave Hunter for saving my life. How could I ever repay you?" Dean corrected her.

"In your dreams," Buffy bit out.

"Oh trust me, darlin', there will be plenty of dreams featuring you," Dean shared winking at her.

"Oh… you… arrogant ass!" Buffy exclaimed just before he was tackled to the ground by some sort of demon with yellow skin and freakishly long claws. She threw her stake at the back of the thing, drawing its attention towards her.

Buffy swallowed taking steps back as she sought a way to buy time so she could draw her knife from her ankle and kill, whatever it was.

"Son of a bitch," Dean cursed and took out his gun, taking aim, he fired at it.

The rock salt hit the target and the Wendigo growled out loud turning its attention back at Dean.

Buffy drew her silver knife from her boot as she watched hot guy fire at the thing again. Whatever he was using, it was obviously hurting it. With the thing on the ground now Buffy stopped wasting time and ran towards it. Once close enough she drove her silver knife through its heart making it howl out in pain. Buffy stabbed it again, making sure she hadn't missed the heart the first time.

Something landed beside her and she was suddenly pulled away from the demon and carried a couple of feet way before being thrown to the ground, hot guy on top of her. A moment later an explosion erupted from where the thing had been.

Buffy looked at the smoke, then back at him. She noticed he was still on top of her watching her intently. "Thanks," she breathed.

Their faces were inches apart, and Buffy could feel the warmth of this breath against her lips.

Dean smiled and leaned in, capturing her lips in a kiss, to which she responded to almost immediately. There was only a second of time before his tongue was devouring her mouth. They kissed roughly, demanding and consuming as Dean moved his hands up to thread into the wild mass of her hair. He pulled against the strands, dominating her mouth as he slanted his head at a sharper angle to devour her further. His tongue batting and twisting around inside of her mouth and it felt like nothing she had ever experienced before.

When Dean broke the kiss when breathing became an issue they looked at each other for a moment. Suddenly Buffy's mind flashed back to a night almost four years ago. His eyes, matched the boys she had met in that alley. He looked older, more handsome and mature than before. But wait, if he was here… that meant his father was here. His father that no doubt knew her Uncle Bill. She couldn't risk her uncle finding out she was still alive. It was too dangerous. She was already pushing her limits to that sending Jo anonymous birthday presents.

She had to do something, say something. "Wow," escaped her lips. Inwardly she groaned, what was wrong with her. She was never this affected by a guy before. She had had boyfriends back in her life in L.A. But somehow they never could get passed just some kissing. Even with a guy on top of her she would get panicked and have flashbacks of a vampire molesting her when she was younger.

And this guy, this Hunter, had been on top for her a while now. She didn't know him, other than that he was a fair Hunter, had a father named John and a brother or sister called referred to as 'Sammy'. She didn't even know his name, yet she didn't feel that fear. The fear she normally felt when a guy was on top of her.

The guy was smiling self satisfied at her, about to go in for another kiss. She wanted to protest, but found herself unable to get her voice to work. Just as his lips were about to touch hers again a voice called, "Dean!"

Dean shot up looking towards the direction the voice came. "Over here, Dad!" he called.

'At least I know his name now, Dean…' Buffy thought to herself as she quickly and quietly got up and sprinted off into the darkness of the night.

As Dean turned to the sound of footsteps he noticed the girl was gone. Looking at the ground when something reflected off it he picked up the silver knife she had been using before.

"Dean! Where are you, we need to go before the cops show up. I assume you got it!" John Winchester's voice yelled from not far away.

"Yeah, Dad, I got it." With a smirk, Dean pocketed the knife and headed into the direction his dad was. He hoped that girl would be back looking for her knife. He wasn't quite done with kissing her yet. 'Cause damn, she had tasted fine.


review please