Title: Experimental

Author: Jillian K.

Disclaimer: See chapter 1

Summary: In a very different Sunnydale, the slayer protects a vampire from the Initiative labs. B/R but really B/S.

Entry #4

Got him!!! After reading Riley's very thorough profile I understood that my target would not attempt to flee Sunnydale as much as blend in. Also, he couldn't have been in the best shape after his time with the labs. Direct confrontation with the Initiative border patrols would be more than he could handle. So, I was looking for a newcomer to the Sunnydale scene. And I was also looking for a bleached-blond vamp because before his capture his hair was always treated.

Sunnydale's nightlife is pretty tame. This city houses the Initiative world headquarters and scientists rarely party (then again there was that incident with Walsh and the naked Chaos demon).

The city's only real club was the Bronze so it was a given. He was there.

Even without my slayer sense I would have known it was he. Blond spiked hair that framed a face that hadn't seen the sun in over a hundred years. Baby blue eyes that were emphasized by the slight shadows under them. His lab clothes, (white T-shirt and pants), had been replaced by black jeans and T-shirt combo complete with Doc Martens. He was sipping something that looked quite red (real bloody Mary?). I approached him from the back. My stride was confident and sure. I was the slayer.

"Hello Cutie"

He froze and slowly turned to my smile. His eyes roamed my face questionably and then he knew.

I saw him getting ready to flee. My muscles tensed with expectation and I gave the metal retractable syringe in my pocket a comforting tap.

It was over in a few seconds. I caught him mid-stride and plunged the syringe in. The fast-acting tranquilizer had been designed with vamps in mind. Within seconds his legs started to give and his arms tried unsuccessfully to break his fall. Amazingly enough, no one paid any attention to us.

I half-carried/dragged him into the Bronze's deserted parking lot. My car was parked near the lot's exit. I let the vamp drop to the floor for a minute while I hunted for the set of chains I had kept in the trunk since I started looking for him. I quickly secured him and shoved him into the back seat.

It was not until I had my hands on the steering wheel that I noticed they were shaking.

I was halfway to the lab's aboveground exit before I remembered that I had left my lab id at home. Without it I was bound to spend half an hour arguing with the entrance guard before he contacted Walsh or Riley for permission to let me in.

I did a U-turn and headed to Revello Drive. I was seconds away from my home when I heard a muffled sound from the back. I pulled into my driveway and grabbed the vamp by the scruff of his shirt. It was then I that saw something that I will always carry with me.

I had seen a lot of pain in my life. My own face in the mirror the day after my mother's burial had been a study in misery. But I had never seen the depth of it until I looked into the eyes of William the Bloody.

His eyes expressed fourteen years of calculated torment at the hands of an evil woman with zero ethics and total power. And here I was taking him back to that hellish existence.

I knew I couldn't do it. And I didn't.