Chapter Six

Author's Notes: Well, this is either the chapter where I hook readers, or I lose them. Thank you all so much for reading thus far and reviewing!

"Buffy, I'm driving you to school this morning, and that's final!" Her mother was still pissed that she hadn't called for a ride home the night before, not to mention she came home after dark, not that Buffy noticed.

Buffy waited until her mother went up to her room to get dressed for work before she grabbed her backpack, "I'm gonna take Jada out for a quick walk!" she called, before putting Jada in her harness and heading for school.

Her mother called her as she was entering the building. "Buffy Ann Summers-"

"Mom, I'm getting some help from my math teacher, and there's bad reception in the school," she interrupted her. "I'll call you during lunch!" she said, hanging up her phone and turning the sound off. Then she started off for the library.

"Giles!" she yelled once she entered the library, and she could hear his wet shoes squeaking on the tile; he must have stepped in a puddle from last night's rain or walked on the grass.

"Miss Summers?" he asked, "I thought I was going to have to track you down this morning," he said.

"Nice to see you too," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. Jada laid down at her feet. "I got attacked by a whatever last night, a vampire. And I'm not saying I'm agreeing to be this slayer thing, but I'd like to hear more about it before I decide. What type of time commitment does this include?" she asked.

He stared at her with an incredulous look on his face, which didn't affect her at all, and shouldn't, he remembered. He sighed, taking off his glasses and rubbed the lenses in his shirt so he wouldn't have to look at her, "Time commitment?" he repeated, "At least an hour after school for training, an hour or two patrolling in the evenings, barring any apocalypses or other problematic occurrences that might take more time."

"So it's like two hours a night, max right? I think my Mom can deal with that-"

"But she cannot know, otherwise you put her in grave danger," he told her, "No one but myself can know of your identity, no one should be put in undue danger."

"So I can't tell my friends or anything like that? I can't even tell my Mom?" she asked, staring at him, her unseeing eyes wide, "How the hell is that going to work then? I bet patrolling has to be done after dark."

"Yes, that's correct," he nodded.

"My Mom barely lets me out to walk Jada, she's not going to let me out after dark to…patrol, or whatever the hell you called it. Especially if she doesn't know what's going on! I can't lie to my Mom, she's always been there for me, through everything!"

"Buffy," he said, moving closer to her, putting a calming hand on her arm, in which she flinched as if he had hit her, "I'm not happy about this either. A-A slayer has to be on top of her game. One off night, and she could die. But, with you…you are going to have to work ten times harder than any slayer ever has just to survive each night. With no vision, this destiny is nigh impossible. I'm signing your death warrant by letting you do this. If the Council knew, they would have you killed just so another slayer could be called, to take your place, an 'undamaged' slayer, they'd say…"

At some point in his ramblings, her eyes narrowed in anger. This was just one more test, one more thing she couldn't do because she was blind. She was sick and tired of people telling her that she couldn't do something!

"Where do we start?" she asked, her voice low and filled with fury. He almost took a step back at the emotion in her voice.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Where do we start?" she asked again.

That night, after telling her mother she was going to the Bronze, and armed with the pointed wooden stick that Giles had given her, she started off down the street, towards downtown. About halfway there, she stopped, "Angel?" she asked the darkness. A chill ran up her spine, and her stomach ached. Not as bad as the night before, just enough to bug her. And she knew it wasn't indigestion; how she knew, she didn't know.

"Right here," the darkness said, and she smiled at his melodious voice. "What are you doing out-"

"I need your help," she told him as Jada growled low in her throat. "Sit," she commanded, and the dog did just that.

"With what?"

She sighed, "Giles says it's going to be impossible for me to be this slayer thing, because I'm blind."

"And you want to prove him wrong," he said. She nodded, "You know the dangers," he said, and she nodded again. "What can I do?"

"Y-You took out that vampire all by yourself!" she cried, frustrated that he didn't get it, "I need experience in the field, not just training with Giles. But…I don't want to die," she said quietly, "For the first time in my life, things are going okay. There are hours at a time that the accident that did this to me doesn't cross my mind."

He nodded, without thinking he reached out and touched her arm. She shivered. "I'll help you," he whispered. She nodded.

"Thank you," she murmured as he stepped forward. She could almost feel his large frame in front of her. They stood there a moment, mere inches apart, before he shook his head.

"I, uh, got something for you," he told her, and she felt him move away. Then his hand was on hers, placing a small box into her open palm. "It's a cross necklace."

"Vampires don't like crosses," she murmured, touched by his thoughtfulness. "Thank you. Would you, uh, help me?" she asked, and after a second's hesitation, she felt him take back the box, and she heard the small pop of it opening, and she pulled her hair back from her neck trustingly.

He stared at her bare neck a moment, shocked at the emotions that overcame him just by the small gesture of her trusting him completely. He moved behind her, putting the necklace around her head, clasping it in the back, laying the chain on her soft white skin, careful not to touch her.

She shivered as the cool metal touched her skin, "Thank you," she murmured again. "What now?" she asked.

"I know just the place to get your first kill," he said softly, walking over to her right side. He bumped her fingertips with his elbow, and she slid her hand into the crook as he started to lead her away from the downtown area.

They stopped after about fifteen minutes of walking. "This is Restfield Cemetery," he murmured, his voice carrying in the silence.

"A cemetery?" she asked, "Not a very romantic place to take a girl," she joked, feeling uncomfortable being completely alone with this man she barely knew.

"Don't worry," he murmured, "you're safe." She turned her face towards his voice, wondering if he knew her innermost thoughts. How she wished she could see what he looked like, even if only for a second, so she could picture his face in her mind for the rest of their friendship. Willow had tried to describe him after that evening at the Bronze, but her description made him sound…deranged, with a wide forehead and deep eyes and a big nose and chin.

"Most vampires, right after they're killed, end up getting found and buried. They don't come back as vampires for a few days, so many get buried. Since this is going to be your first vampire, I figured we'd start easy," he said, and she could hear the straight set of his lips.

"Why are you so tense?" she asked, "I can hear it in your voice," she explained, "I can feel it in your muscles," she said, wiggling her fingers in the crook if his arm.

"I just- I just don't want you to get hurt," he said finally, "This way," he said, pulling her towards the left. As they walked, Jada pressed herself closer to Buffy, growling into the darkness. Suddenly she got this cramping sensation in her stomach, and she stopped. "You can feel him, can't you?" he asked quietly, and she nodded. "It's not much farther," he told her as she huddled closer to him.

After a hundred paces or so, he stopped, "We're here. He's just rising from his grave now," he quickly went on to describe their location, and she focused on making a mental map of the area, hopefully to scale. "Remember, you're aiming for the heart. I'll be right here to protect you, if things get out of hand." She nodded, trying to remember the things Giles had taught her that afternoon.

She felt Angel disentangle his arm from her grip and step away, taking Jada from her. She knew she wouldn't be able to fight while still holding onto Jada.

She heard the vampire floundering while climbing out of his grave, but then everything went silent, besides the wind rustling the leaves of a nearby tree. Then she heard another rustling, this one moving closer to her. She stood there in the fighting stance Giles had taught her, waiting to feel the guy's attack. But she didn't, not until his fist connected with her face and everything exploded into color.

She fell to the ground, behind her she could hear Angel's shout of shock, and Jada's incessant barking. But as she pushed herself to her feet, she could see. It wasn't how she remembered seeing, but it was like the dreams she sometimes had, everything was dark and shadowy, but she could see dark shapes that she assumed to be tombstones, and there was a figure outlined in blue, with a dark blue spot radiating outward from the figure's chest.

The figure swung an arm at her, and she threw up her arm to block it. She threw a punch under his guard and landed a solid hit to his stomach. Then she spun, crouching, and kicked his legs out from under him. He fell, and she jumped on top of him, jamming the stake into the dark blue spot on his chest. And then the blue exploded to fill her senses, and she stumbled back, and when her head cleared, he was gone.

"You did it," a vice behind her said, and she remembered Angel was with her. She scrambled to her feet as she turned towards him, ecstatic. But then her face fell as she took in the sight in front of her. She could see Jada, outlined in red, with a red spot on her chest, but Angel….he was outlined in blue.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" he asked, amazed.

"Jada," she said quietly, patting her left leg. The dog broke free of Angel's hold on her leash and rushed to her master's side. "S-Stay away from me," she stuttered, taking a step back.

"Buffy?" he asked, his voice soft, caressing her name as he took a step towards her.

"Stay away from me, I-I know what you are!" Then she turned and ran, unsure of where she was going, unsure of the way home. All she knew was she had to get away from the vampire she had considered a friend, the vampire she had trusted.

She didn't know how long she ran, or in what direction. The farther she got from Angel, the more her vision blurred, until she was left in the dark once more. When she finally stopped running, she turned her head this way and that, unseeing, having no clue where she was. She hit the button on her watch and it told her it was 8:59. She had half an hour to get home. Fighting back tears, she bent to pat Jada, who was breathing hard.

"Lead me home, girl, take me home." Jada licked her face, and then she stood, letting go of the handle as she held only onto the leash, giving Jada free reign. "Go on," she told the dog, and slowly the dog started heading back in the direction they had come.

She entered the house after 10:30, and her Mom accosted her before she had even closed the door.

"Where were you?" she asked, her voice harsh.

"I-I got lost. I'm really sorry, it won't happen again."

"You're right it won't. You're not allowed out of this house in the evenings ever again, unless I'm driving you somewhere. And that's final."

"But Mom-"

"No, Buffy, I won't hear it. I won't hear your excuses. I was worried sick, I almost called the police."

"I'm sorry you were worried, but you should trust me by now! I'm not a little kid anymore, you can't keep me locked up forever!"

"While you live under my roof, you will follow my rules."

She started to say something, but the events of the day caught up with her, and she burst into tears, pushing past her mother and running up the stairs, falling twice before she reached the top in her haste. She heard the jingle of Jada's dog tags behind her, and she let the dog into her room before she slammed the door shut, throwing herself onto her bed.

Things were different now, why couldn't her mother see that?