Ames sat back in his chair feeling content after finishing his meal. Buffy approached the table and stop next to it to stare at the man. He looked at her annoyed by her staring. She tilted her head to one side.

"Don't you have something to be doing?" Ames asked irritated.

"Pretty maids in a row. You keep them in line don't you? A row of corpses," Buffy said.

The man jumped in his seat. Buffy could hear his heart pounding. "What are you going on about?" Ames asked.

"Hands stained red," She growled. "Cursed with death." She could almost feel the man's blood run cold. He stood up from his chair and backed away with wide eyes. She stalked forward trapping him between herself and the wall. His eyes flicked toward the hall to his right. Buffy reached toward him and he ran down the hall and into his own bedroom. He looked the door and tried to find something to barricade it with but there was nothing.

The locked door was no match for the vampire and she kicked it down easily. A scream broke free of Ames's throat. "Pl-please. It was an accident. I never meant to harm anyone!"

Buffy shook her head disbelieving. "Wasn't just one was it? Can never stop at one. Belle, Camille, Sarah. You broke them all. The sunshine doesn't like such nasty vermin. Someone should punish the rat. The Angel isn't here to avenge them." Buffy paused looking thoughtful. "But the sunshine can burn all the same."

She shifted into her true face and Ames nearly fainted from the shock. She grabbed him and pulled him to her as he whimpered and cried. His blood was pumped full of adrenaline. It did nothing to mask the taste of filth on the vampire's tongue.

Buffy left the body to rot and sat down at the dining table just as Gregory returned. "Are you alright, cheri? I heard banging," He asked concerned.

"I'm fine."

"Good," he looked relieved. "My uncle can have a bit of a temper. Have you eaten enough?"

"Yes and I'm ready to head out now," she said politely.

"As am I. Just as soon as I bid farewell to my family. Where did uncle Ames run off to?"

Buffy panicked for a second before regaining composure and saying. "He retired early."

Gregory nodded. "I thought he might. He was looking a bit drained earlier this evening. Stela as well?" Buffy nodded. "Well then I believe it is time we set out. We have a long way to go."

The pair left the old Romanian town behind them. As to the blood on his companions hands, Gregory was none the wiser.

Inside the gypsy's home Spike sat comfortably across the table from the woman. Angel leaned against the door frame, ready to make a break for it. Not that he would admit he planned to run from the small woman.

"I know who you are. I have seen where you come from. A strange time that I will not pretend to understand. There is no time to discus it. I have seen the girl. The one that you arrived with. Yes I have been watching you," she said to Angel's distrusting look. "Your presence here is unnatural. Many of us could feel the disturbance in time itself. We have seen what is to come."

"What do you mean 'we', Spike asked.

"My sisters and myself." two younger girls came hesitantly into the room from the door on Spike's left. They sat at the table looking down shyly. "We see what is meant to be and what is soon to be. The blonde girl, Buffy-"

"She is going to alter the effects of time!" the youngest said suddenly looking with excited eyes toward Spike. Her older sisters looking annoyed at her.

"What is it she's gonna do, pet?" Spike asked her.

The girl blushed at the pet name. "She's... the vampire slayer..." the girl mumbled suddenly shy again. Angel looked at her confused. Buffy was the slayer. Past tense. She's dead now, so what is that tiny gypsy going on about?

The final sister nodded in agreement. "She will rewrite history as it is known."

Then the first sister said,"Unless you can stop her."

"She's going to kill the Chinese slayer, isn't she?" Spike asked. The three nodded solemnly confirming his theory. He turned at looked at Angel, his face a combination of "I knew it" and "Bloody hell!"

"She's has several hours head start on us. What do you expect us to do while you're holding us up here?" Angel asked impatiently.

"There is a ritual," said the oldest sister.

"We can transport you to the very time and place that Buffy will find the slayer," said the middle sister.

"And you can save her!" the youngest said, again excited.

"It must all be restored to its proper pattern," the oldest said with a knowing look directed at Spike. The young slayer would die either way, but it wasn't meant to be job. It was Spike's. A younger more murderous Spike.

"Great," Angel said clapping his hands together. "Let's get this show on the road then. We're losing moon light."

The journey was long and tiresome. Buffy wished more than anything to be in a car. Several times she told Gregory so. He laughed at her "enchanting" stories of metal carriages that drive themselves. He grew to adore the small broken girl. He found her ranting to be a comfort on the silent forest roads. They saw little traffic as they went and Gregory worried that they would find China in ruins by the time they reached it.

Finally they reached their destination and all of Gregory's fears were realized. There were fires burning in every building. The streets were lined with bodies and overturned carts. Some of the roads were blocked off by the debris that had piled up. The main city gate was missing whole boards. It appeared at one point someones had tried to close the city and off and someone else had responded with a battering ram. Gregory parked his cart on the side of the road and jumped down. He helped Buffy down.

Gregory watched the city burn feeling confused and disoriented. Buffy felt nothing but hungry. Her mission ran chaotically through her mind. Find the girl. Find Spike. Run with wolves. Dance with real beasts. The purest of monsters. She wasted no more time. Her face shifted and twisted. The sound of bone morphing and grinding together drew Gregory's attention and he nearly fainted at the sight of Buffy's true face.

Of course, she wouldn't want to be rude. "Thank you, Gregory. I wouldn't have made it without you," she said sweetly through rows of fangs. She tore into his neck. His screams went unnoticed as the fires raged on. Once Buffy had fed enough to keep herself from distraction, she headed into the city. The air was full of the stench of death, fear, and smoke. As she recognized her path she grew in confidence. She strutted along the road and found the right building and then the right room. Neither Spike nor the slayer would see her from where she hid behind a pillar.

It wasn't long before the young girl strode into the room. She had coming looking for supplies to help the injured. Slayer or no, she was not permitted to fight and so she helped however she could. Her watcher said that was a good sign that she would grow into a strong slayer who would do her country proud. She smiled proudly at the thought.

Spike stalked her from the opposite hall. Her steps were light but the building was symmetrical and he could tell where she was on the matching opposite side. He peered into the room and Buffy almost gave herself away with an excited gasp. Both Spike and the slayer were too wrapped up in their tasks to notice her presence and things played out the way they were always meant to. Spike strode into the room and the pair immediately sized each other up. Spike licked his lips and Buffy suddenly wondered what slayer's blood would taste like. He taunted and bragged and teased the slayer but if she understood him she didn't respond. The two found themselves wedged between two columns. A large explosion went off to Spike's right and the building shook dislodging debris. A large beam above Buffy's head fell and she jumped and she jumped and rolled out of the way just before it smacked into her head.

She found herself about 4 feet from Spike's boots as he twisted the slayer's arm around and broke it before pulling it behind her back. He noticed the hungry look in the strange new vampire's eyes. "Wait your turn pet," he told her. Buffy intended to rip the slayer from his arms when she was distracted by a sudden rush of mystical energy. Someone had cast a pretty powerful spell and she had a feeling Angel was involved. Spike didn't notice it and went about biting victoriously into the slayer's neck.

Buffy watched from where she knelt at . The girl spoke before she lost consciousness. "Want a taste then love?" he asked Buffy. She nodded and stood. The sound of feet thudding against the floor echoed from down the hall. Buffy ignored it and took the throat that was offered to her. Spike walked away from her to greet Drusilla. Buffy lost herself in the slayer's blood. It was so pure; pure love, strength, power. She had never tasted anything so intoxicating.

The persons attached to those loud running feet finally found her. Angel skidded into the room and saw the mess in Buffy's arms. "Buffy. What have you done?" He asked. Spike was right behind Angel. The sight of the dead slayer brought back that blissful memory of violence, blood, and sex.

Buffy dropped the cooling body to the ground and smiled. She'd made quite a bloody mess on her face around her red stained lips. She closed her eyes swaying in a calm and rhythmic pattern. Angel looked nervously at the entangled couple that had slid onto the floor. They were too wrapped in each other to notice anything else. Good. Angel thought unsure of how to deal with that sort of paradox.

"Buffy," he said. "It's time to go home." She didn't acknowledge him. She was busy humming song that Angel thought sounded like the one Joyce used to hum while she cooked. Spike was busy watching his previous self get all tangled up with his previous girl friend. "Buffy," Angel tried again.

He walked toward her careful to step around the small pool of blood that the others hadn't bothered to gulp down in their excitement. Gently, he grabbed her right arm. Her eyes blinked open and she looked up at him lazily.

"The angels come at last," she said with a laugh. Angel's blood lust roared to life from the smell of blood on her breath. Not just any blood of course, but slayer's blood. Angel still remembered what Buffy's was like. He shivered.

"We're going home now," he growled clenching his teeth. He just wanted to be back in his office nursing a warm mug of pigs blood with a hint of otter. Spike finally snapped out his daze to join them.

"Come on, pet. I could kill for a shower." There was another large explosion and the ceiling cracked, preparing to cave in. Buffy was still lost in a trance. "Uh, Buffy..."

Angel grabbed her and she squealed. Past Spike and past Dru disentangled themselves and ran off laughing and chatting excitedly. Current Spike followed Angel as he pulled Buffy outside. The building collapsed behind them.

"You've had you're fun Buffy. It's time to go," Angel said.

"Time. Time," She giggled. "Who's got the time? Oh, yeah." She snapped out of her trance. "I do." She pulled the amulet out from inside her dress. "Who needs wolves when you can become a lioness?" She sighed. She took Spike's hand and she closed her eyes. Same as before, in a flash they were gone.

As Spike and Drusilla walked arm and arm through the chaos Dru watched the whole thing in her mind. "The Angel left with the sunshine. But he didn't leave poor Princess. Princess has an Angel of her own, but sunshine has a way of making trouble. I won't forget."