The Author Speaks: Samz who was kind enough to review mentioned something about the original story that I have to answer: Yes I did in fact NOT embrace Buffy in the original version of this story. It's a case of the current me just loves the story potential and drama that it would entail while the young me just wanted to get to the epilogue sex scene.

p.s. This is a spotlight the players chapter with some Buffy angst thrown in for good measure.

Chapter 10: A Light in the Darkness

She felt so cold walking barefoot around the darkened room that had become her life for the past few days. Feeling the caked blood around her lips and chin she found she didn't care. The white sundress she'd woken up in was torn and bloodstained as well. The last few days she'd swung between brooding depression as the hunger grew and an almost euphoric state of uncaring whenever she'd fed

How long had it been really? Time seemed to move differently now. Luna would come with a glass of blood, she'd struggle and sob and deny it for as long as she could. Last time she'd held out for what felt like hours before giving in to the hunger and greedily drinking the offered blood.

She looked at the window now boarded up tightly after her first few attempts to break through it. The light would set her free. The light would make it all better were thoughts that ran through her fevered mind whenever the hunger got to strong.

Picking up the empty glass from the bedside table she hurled it at the wall taking, small satisfaction from it smashing to pieces. Just like her life was now in pieces. For the hundredth time she thought about how she what they would say. What would her mom say? What Would Willow or Xander or any of her friends say about what she had become? All this just because of promising Willow she'd wait for her.

"Well Willow, you can take all the time you want now," she said, sitting back on the bed, disheartened. She had no clue why they were keeping her here. She'd ordered Giles to just stay away because every time she saw him she felt his blood call out to her. She hadn't seen Alfeo either, leaving her only company to be Luna.

The door opened slowly and she shielded her eyes with her arm as the pale light flooded into the room. The light would set her free and her fractured mind formed a plan.

"I see that you're lucid today," Luna said from the door. "That's good. It always takes the mind time to adjust to the change," she explained walking into the room carrying a fresh glass of blood.

Buffy smelled it right away, but tried to fight the urge. Her fangs tickled her bottom lip and her eyes narrowed. Her now slightly pointy ears twitched.

"Not this again. Please just drink it Buffy," Luna sighed and walked over to the Slayer holding out the glass. "Just a few more days and we can start weaning you onto the Nectar," she said and Buffy shakily took the glass from her.

"I'm not a baby," she protested showing a small flash of her usual self that was quickly shattered as she greedily drank the warm blood.

"In a way you are," Luna said and gently stroked Buffy's blonde hair.

"Don't… touch me…" Buffy stammered in reply. "You don't get to… touch me," she tried to protest as the undying who had embraced her started stroking her face.

"You didn't seem to mind before," Luna whispered and wrapped her arms around the shaking Slayer.

"You did this to me," Buffy protested and tried to push her away. Playing the reluctant pray, making sure her icy blue eyes were wide and frightened.

"I gave you a choice, live or die, Willow or the Reaper," Luna muttered and Buffy noticed she hadn't closed the door this time. Steeling herself, she started kissing the side of Luna's neck, raking her new found fangs over the woman's pale skin.

"Oh- Are we feeling better then?" Luna half moaned as she felt the Slayer's arms wrap around her while she sucked at the soft skin of her neck.

Nodding her head with closed eyes Buffy kissed and sucked at the side of Luna's neck for a while and then her icy blue eyes popped wide open. Biting down hard on the soft skin of the undying girl's neck she felt the spurt of lukewarm blood and sucked greedily.

Luna stiffened as the blonde girl started greedily feeding on her. Trying to push her away she found that she was no match at all for the undying Slayer. Struggling and trying to break free she only felt the grip of the Slayer becoming tighter.

Buffy slurped loudly as she fed on her prey and then with disgust she pushed her away and with speed she hadn't felt before she rushed for the open door. The light would end this. The light would make it all better.

Vaguely aware of Luna crawling to her feet in the room behind her, blood all over the sheets and she could hear the woman gurgle as she tried to talk. No more of this she thought. No more drinking blood and liking it.

She'd had a lot of time to think in that room. While a part of her just wanted to end it all. That was the part of her that was the Slayer. The part of her that hated how she had failed and fallen was in control now and most of the time. It was after all her instinct and her strength. It kept her going if only to find a fitting end to it all.

Still... There was that little voice, the other part of her being. The voice that had willed her to live when she had been drowned by the Master, the voice that had made her stagger back to Luna after being staked, the voice that whispered; "You did this for Willow" until it all she could was to curl up in a ball and sob while drinking the blood offered to her.

She shakily stepped into the light thinking that if it wouldn't kill her it would only make her stronger. Taking what would very well be her last breath she waited and nothing happened. Looking up she saw that the light of salvation turned out just to be ceiling light of the hallway outside her room.

For what felt like the longest time she stood there, shaking with blood dripping down from her chin onto the floor. Now she was mad. Mad for being such a head-case. Mad for turning into a total wreck in the face of adversity. Crying little girls didn't get the job done. The crying little girl didn't get to tell Willow how much she loved her. Was she just going to take this or was she going to do something about it? The little voice asked her.

"No!" she yelled at being denied the easy way out, but it also helped clear her head a little bit.

She started running down the hallway, barely aware of Luna who clutched her neck as she staggered out of the room.

Buffy didn't even look back she turned down the stairs. If she wasn't going to get her clean death a good old fashioned temper tantrum would just have to do.

"Buffy…" Luna tried to shout after her but it came out as a gurgle. "Oh stupid, stupid," she muttered and wiped the blood of her neck before reaching for her cell. "Alfredo… yes I know I sound strange… it's Buffy she's loose in the mansion. Just get over here and bring the Watcher along if you have to," she managed to say into the phone before she heard a loud crash from downstairs. "Oh bother there goes the large mirror in the foray," she muttered offhandedly and then realized her mistake of relaying that bit of information.

Anybody within earshot would have heard Alfeo yell: "What?" over the phone followed by another loud crash from downstairs.

"I'll try to stop her," she blurted out, dropping the phone and hoping she wouldn't be too late to save some of the furniture as she jogged the best she could to the stairs while her bitten necked healed up.


Said Watcher, Rupert Giles, was taking out his frustrations on the local nightlife with great enthusiasm. The vampire that looked quite a bit like Luna Largo crawled away from him, clutching the stab wound in her stomach. He stalked after her, sword drawn and coat billowing behind him. No glasses on tonight, his hair smoothed down.

"Oh you can do better than that," he mocked the vampire as she clawed to the door of a mausoleum.

"Please… I swear… please… just stop," the vampire girl pleaded clutching her sliced open stomach with her face fading from her demonic appearance and to that of a scared young girl.

Pointing his sword at the girls face with anger almost crackling visibly around him as he stared cold eyed down at the vampire. The girl looked up him with a fear stricken face. She couldn't have been older then eighteen when she was turned. Earlier he'd slaughtered her vampire friends. Leaving them as neat little piles of dust. Then he'd given chase to her in a cat and mouse game that had lasted almost an hour.

Now he had her corned in a graveyard, her short skirt torn, her heels lost somewhere miles away and wide holes ripped in her leggings. Her bare stomach had provided such a nice target to slice into. Feeling a headache coming on, he pinched the bridge of his nose and lowered his sword. The girl started sobbing and he couldn't tell if it was an act or not.

"I want my mom," the girl sobbed and curled up into a ball by the mausoleum wall. "I want my mom," she repeated and Giles face seemed to soften. Sheathing his sword he knelt down by the scared girl, knowing full well that this might be a ploy to draw him in close. He wasn't new to this business by any means.

"Don't worry you'll see her soon enough," he said to the girl rubbing her back, but then slitting a stake out of the sleeve of his coat her swiftly and cleanly staked her in the back. The girl gave a little whimper and exploded into dust with what he would have liked to think was a grateful smile on her face.

"Bloody mess this trip has turned out to be," he said to himself standing up and dusting off the remains of the vampire. "One girl joins a coven and turns into a bloody Casanova. The other gets herself turned," he sighed. Then his phone rang and he rather angrily pulled the offending piece of technology out while cursing about there being no peace anywhere these days. "Giles here," he answered shortly and his face fell slightly. "Yes, yes I'll be there right away, just keep her away from the mirrors," he replied urgently to the man on the other end and broke into a run for where he'd parked the car he had "borrowed" Alfeo's garage.


Willow woke up startled and gasping for air. Feeling like something was very wrong she fumbled about for the switch on the bedside lamp. Her white thin t-shirt clung to her body as she blinked a few times to adjust to the light. That had been one bad dream, worse than her vision a few days ago. She'd heard Buffy calling out for her and saying that she was so sorry. Rubbing her eyes she almost jumped out of her skin when she saw Lily sitting on the end of her.

"Aahh! Don't do that!" she shouted and gathered her sheets up around her body, rather painfully aware of the clingy nature of her bedclothes. When Lily didn't reply she moved a bit closer, the woman looked like hell. Blood shot eyes and pale skin, her fingers bandaged in white gauze and her usually spotless white dress sporting stains and burn marks.

"Lily… what happened? Has there been trouble?" Willow asked as she saw the woman's chest rise and fall slowly as she was clearly trying to calm down and gather her wits.

"It would seem that we have a war on our hands, little Willow," Lily finally answered and flexed her fingers. "The Undying or at least some of them have decided that they'd rather not share the night with the rest of us," she spat out.

"The girls are they safe?" Willow asked in worry about the dozen other girls sharing the large townhouse with her and training with the coven.

"The girl will be fine as long as they stay within the coven's area," Lily said. "Venture outside it at night and it's clearly open season," she muttered as Willow gently took her mentor's hands in hers.

"Here let me heal those for you," she said with her best smile and started unwrapping Lily's hands.

"You've come such a long way since first joining us Willow," the old witch admitted and then hissed as the gauze pulled at the burned skin. Willow just nodded and started to run her green glowing fingertips over the burnt skin, healing it as they past. "Which makes me loathe asking this of you," she added and Willow only looked up at her with a bemused look on her face.

"What? Do you think it's funny that I'm asking you to risk your hard work?" she asked.

"No it's just that it's funny that you should be nervous about asking. You know I'll do anything to protect the other girls," Willow admitted with an impish little smile. "Remember I've got this friend who sort of instilled this odd sense of justice in me," she added.

"Well your friend works for certain factions of the Undying, so you better be careful with her," Lily reminded her of Buffy's job as Alfeo's main bodyguard and thinly disguised protégé.

"I know. She only took the job so she could stay and wait for me," Willow said in a low loving voice as she finished up healing Lily's hands. "I'm ready… well almost ready, I've managed almost two hours now and that's plenty of time right?" she asked and then blushed as Lily giggled at her.

"Well some would call that plenty of time," the woman laughed as Willow's sweetness seemed to ease the seriousness of the situation.

"Just tell me what to do Lily and I'll do it. I know the girls aren't ready for a fight and I am the Witchy Slayer Clone after all," she said and Lily raised an eyebrow. They had talked at length about Giles' discovery of the ancient spell that seemed to bind the two girls with such devastating results and Willow blamed her friend Xander's bad influence for the endless array of phrases she'd come up with to describe herself.

"I need you to go out among our friends, gather information and see what's causing all this. I sense a great evil at work here, greater than just some undying Royal making a power play. This sort of open warfare generally isn't Largo's style. Some of the others from time to time like to assert themselves, but not Largo," Lily explained and Willow nodded her head firmly with her full resolve face on as she slipped of the bed.

"I'll go and give them a bit of the old Willow charm," she said and started to pull of her white nightshirt as Lily averted her eyes. The girl had really become a lot more comfortable in her own skin since coming to them scared and confused that spring.

"Just nothing too drastic. Your ability to store magic is impressive, but not limitless," she reminded the witch as she pulled on a pair of heavy grey cargo pants up her toned legs.

"Usually the green glowing evil eyes, a bit of levitation and growling does the trick," Willow replied as she looked around for her sports-bra.

"No corset?" Lily couldn't resist a tease at the girl who had taken up a very risqué way of dressing after she'd come to them, but now seem to have calmed down somewhat.

"Oh please, that was just to get attention," Willow snorted but blushing none then less as she pulled on a green turtle neck and then started pulling her hair up in a tight ponytail, but making sure that her silver streaks formed nice framing bangs around her face.

"You really have grown up a lot Willow," Lily said sounding more motherly then Willow's own mother ever had and the red head turned and smiled brightly at her.

"Thanks Lily, it means a lot coming from you," she said as she pulled her green hooded jacket of the back of a chair and slipped her arms into it. "I mean I just feel so in control now and it's a good feeling. Like I can take on the world sort of good," she tried to explain how over the last few days things just had seemed to get easier. She had put it down her training and efforts, but the real reason of course being much darker and laying with certain newly embraced blonde girl smashing mirrors to pieces in a dark mansion somewhere outside the city.

"How do I look?" she asked as she pulled up the hood and made her eyes glow with green ethereal energy.

"Like a bad ass renegade that will hurt me if I don't talk fast," Lily chuckled at the overly dramatic look the girl had gone for and watched as she slipped two stakes into her pants wide pockets and then pulled a silver stake out of her drawer. A gift from one her conquests. Before she had realized that she was just setting up future roadblocks for herself and Buffy.

"Wish I had a cool sword like Giles has. I mean- Not that I need one, but just it's so cool," she giggled a little bit, checking herself in the mirror. Thinking to herself that she didn't look half bad and maybe she would run into Buffy and she could see how good she looked and- her internal babble stream was interrupted by Lily clearing her throat.

"Go see what you can find please and I'll see about getting you a sword so you can play musketeers with your friends," she said sweetly and Willow blushed again making a mental note to do less of that, adults didn't blush every three minutes. Nodding her head she opened her window and started gently levitating to the ground outside. "Make sure the girls are safe and wish me luck," she said.

"Good luck my girl," Lily replied softly as she watched the red headed witch lower herself to the ground outside and then head into the city. In the distance she could see at least one large fire burning and she knew that underground and in hidden places a war was being fought. Silently she wished she didn't have to ask this of Willow, but the girl was the strongest of them all and if there truly was a greater evil behind this all. That girl and her Slayer friend might be their only hope.


Spike or William as the undying poofs insisted on calling much to his continued annoyance him was not having a good night. He now found himself stuck in a burning warehouse that had served as a hangout for various ghouls, goblins and ne'er-do-wells of the night.

"Why won't these bastards stay dead! he yelled angrily as he roughly snapped the neck of one of Largo's goons that had showed up and started shooting up the place. He'd told the group of undying Alfeo had sent him with to take care of the matter to get the hell out of here once the fires had started, leaving him to his craft. Pulling out a rusted railroad spike he rammed it into the undying man's chest and nothing happened. He looked around for anybody else still alive in the quickly collapsing wreckage of the warehouse. His ears twitched and he switched to his game face sniffing the air.

"Help," there came a very faint groan from underneath a pile of chairs, tables and rubble. "Help… please…" it came again

"Oh for the love of..." he cursed himself for being so soft in his old age. Pulling his jacket's sleeve over his mouth he made his way to towards the sound, bits of the roof crashing down around him. Alfeo would have his head if he left any of his people to die in here and he was already worried enough about what Willow would do him if she ever found out about the Slayer's little dietary change.

As he started to dig through the rubble for the owner of the voice he felt somebody jump on his back and try to bite him in the shoulder. An undying woman in the Largo standard issue black goon gear hung onto his back. With his coat taking most of bite he grabbed her by head and dug his thumbs into her eyes causing her to scream out in pain.

"Right, that's it…" he muttered and wrestled the woman off his back. Baring his own fangs. he slammed her to the ground with almost great glee tore out her throat. Sucking greedily and then coughing and spitting. "God that is awful," he cursed trying to wipe the blood from his face. "Just awful!" he said and kicked the body for being such a subpar meal.

"Help…" there came again from the rubble snapping him out of his critique on the taste of undying blood. Turning around he hurriedly dug through the pile of rubble, finding a petite pixie faced red haired girl covered in soot and dirt. "Give me your hand girlie," he said. The girl opened her icy blue eyes and recoiled at the sight of him.

"Oh what is it… oh sorry forgot…" he apologized rather sheepishly putting his game face away holding out his hand to the scared girl. A rather familiar looking scared girl at that, eerily so even. Don't be so daft, he thought and was reminded that he'd always had a soft spot for red heads. Hell, just cute girls in general. Bright red hair that could in no way be her natural coloring, but finding out if his guess was true or not would be a worthy endeavor.

"My name is spike and I'm with Alfeo. I can get you to safety," he introduced himself in what he hoped was his most heroic sounding voice. Weakly she took his hand and he pulled her with all his strength out of the rubble. To his surprise the girl clung to him. "Hey it's alright…" he said softly and gathered her up in his arms looking for a way out.

"Just keep your head down and we'll have you sucking on high class rent boys in no time," he assured her and heard a faint giggle.

Putting his head down as he rushed through the flames with the girl in his arms, jumping over burning bodies and scattered furniture, finally crashing through a door and out into an alley behind the warehouse. With his coat and hair steaming he lowered the girl as gently as he could do the ground.

"Hey what's your name?" he asked giving her cheeks a light smack to rouse her. Slowly opening her eyes she coughed a few times and exposed pearly white fangs to him. He gave her his best roguish smile. "I need to know your name pet so I can tell Alfeo who I saved," he said again.

"Just tell daddy that I'm alright and it's Jacobella, but you can call me Jae" she replied with a impish smile as her vampiric savior seemed to grown just a bit paler. Cursing rather loudly and colorfully about his rotten luck this evening and how he should have just gone walkabout in Australia this summer like he had planned.


Alfeo arrived at the mansion just a few steps ahead Giles. The Watcher driving the Austin Martin he'd "borrowed" from the garage like a bat out of hell. He came to stop with the squealing of tires right next to Alfeo who didn't even flinch.

"Mister Giles that car cost me well over 12.000 dollars back in 1965," he said and Giles just brushed past him into the mansion.

Glancing at his prized silver 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage convertible the undying sheriff sighed. First Summers getting embraced, then the Prince vanishing, then the open fighting and now people were taking his cars. Just how much more could possibly go wrong in one week?

The inside of the mansion was pure mayhem. Serving staff were running for the hills. Loud sounds of smashing could be heard coming from one of the rooms. But the first sight that greeted Giles was the smashed mirror in the foray and broken chair on the floor.

He looked up and saw Luna sitting on the stairs leading up to the second floor. She was rubbing her bloodstained neck one hand with her chin in the other, looking like she was just waiting for the rampage to stop. Unable to stop himself he walked past her with an amused look on his face.

"Plan didn't work, did it?" he asked her and she just sneered at him as he made his way towards the source of the noise.

"Good luck Watcher. She's been at for a while, so she must be getting bored!" Luna shouted after him as her only way of retort and then she heard Alfeo clear his throat. "Oh bother," she huffed out.

Since he'd had little to do in the past few days but to wander the spacious mansion that Alfeo called his out of town retreat he knew that the noise was coming from the ballroom. Even if the sounds of smashing weren't enough he could just follow the trail of destruction, smashed chairs, holes punched in walls and every single reflective surface shattered.

Stepping quietly into the mirrored ballroom he could see Buffy in her white dress bloodied and torn. One strap of it hanging of her pale shoulder, her mouth covered in blood and her blonde hair wild and unkempt.

"ARGH!" she yelled hurling a small statue at the last unbroken mirror in the room, the floor already covered in sparkling shards of broken mirrors among busted up furniture and smashed decorations.

"Why did this happen to me!" she shouted and stamped on the broken shards of the mirror. "I didn't want this!" she howled then turned and looked straight at him. Fighting the urge to gulp he met her icy blue stare. Her fangs bared and bloodied.

"Buffy… I know I will never understand fully how you feel, but right now the city is tearing itself apart out there," he said trying to appeal to the good in her. Trying to reach the girl who would never allow an innocent to be bullied, put down or harmed.

Falling to her knees amongst the broken mirrors she clawed at her shattered reflection. Why did she have to have a reflection? Why couldn't she be like Spike or Angel? She didn't want to see herself like this. See what Willow and her mom would see and what Giles saw right now. Even her brilliant plan to bite Luna and run into the sunlight at failed because it was pitch black outside. Some vampire she was... couldn't even tell the difference between night and day.

Looking down at her hands she noticed they weren't even cut or bleeding and smashing the furniture to bits hadn't even hurt. The skin was smooth, unbroken and pale. Her pointed ears twitched as Giles tried to make his way quietly across the sea of broken glass and mirrors.

"I can hear you Giles so just stop trying to be Batman," she said in a low voice, picking up a shard of the mirror she'd just violently smashed. She started to study herself, not in rage fueled damnation of her embracing, but just studying what had changed.

Curling back her upper-lip she looked at her pearly white fangs, noticing the blood on them she unconsciously cleaned them off with her tongue. Then she pulled her matted hair back so she could study her ears. Not quite Vulcan-like as Xander would probably say but close. Then she saw her eyes, perhaps the biggest change, gone were the soft colors she used to have, replaced with an icy blue color and dark pupils ringed with white.

Giles kneeled slowly beside her as she studied herself, unsure if he should hug her or not. She looked so fragile and lost as she studied herself in the mirror shard. Without turning away from her examination of her new self she said; "Don't worry Giles I won't freak out anymore," in a soft voice.

"That is good, I guess," he mumbled and slowly put his arm around her slender shoulders.

"Gee understatement much British?" she managed to softly joke. "I've just been in the dark for so long now, feels like it has been years up in that room," she mumbled feeling oddly tired as she leaned her head on Giles' shoulder. "Why can't things be easy Giles?" she asked after a while, looking up at him with shimmering eyes.

"I guess easy is for other people. We get the hard life so they don't have to," he tried to answer her. "As Spike would say: It's a shite job but somebody has to do it," he smiled and for the first time in what felt like ages Buffy giggled and graced him with one of her beautiful smiles, fangs and all.

They were interrupted by Alfeo's soft ahem and Buffy looked at him over Giles' shoulder. He was doing a very good job of concealing his utter horror at the destruction of his home, she thought. Behind him stood June along with Garfield and Odie and June holding a very familiar looking garment bag.

"As much as I hate to interrupt this touching moment I fear I must. Much has happened since you were embraced Miss Summers," he said in an apologetic tone. "Now I would under normal circumstances give you all the time in the world to adjust," he said and Buffy glared at him. "But events outside my control have forced my hand in the matter," he said and motioned for June to step forth.

"Right girlie, how about we draw you a nice warm bath and maybe see about finding you a toothbrush?" the seemingly unflappable woman asked in her Irish brogue causing Buffy to sniff herself for the first time in days and then do the breath test into the palm of her hand.

"Eww… maybe you're right," she admitted sheepishly. "And Alfie sorry… about well you know trashing your place and stuff," she apologized to her boss, showing some signs of her old self however temporary it might be. But in her mind she was thinking that brooding was Angel's deal not hers. This would not defeat her.

Alfeo just smiled at her and she flashed him an equally fanged smiled. "Hey it's not like I don't have a lot of time to pay you back right?" she lamely joked. Yep she thought no brooding for this Slayer just rightful bloody vengeance on the bastards that had caused this. Yet at the back of her mind that annoying little voice asked her: What about Willow? You think she'll want a want vampire for a girlfriend?

Across town, somewhere deep underground, Daniel tested his chains again. He had to give Largo credit for the old fashion style dungeon he'd been thrown in. Almost took him back to the Crusades. Well, aside from the security camera and the speaker mounted in the corner. Oh, and the bright lights. Other than that it was very dark ages.

Now as the Summers girl would say all he could do was hang tight and hope Alfeo would come through for him as always. Testing the chains out of boredom he found them still quite solid, almost surprisingly solid like his strength was being zapped somehow. Just who or what was Largo working with?

A few floors up from where Daniel pondered the walls of his dungeon Victor Largo sat with his feet up on a massive granite desk. Sipping blood from a silver cup, he leaned back and sighed happily to himself. So far the plan was working. The half-breeds and witches and werewolves and demonic scum were scurrying into their holes and all it had taken was a little bit of force.

There was a loud rumble, causing him to spill blood on his shirt. Just as he was about to demand what was going on there was another louder rumble and shadowy apparition stood before him. Hurriedly scrambling to his knees he prostrated himself in front of the figure.

"My lord, I'm honored," he said as growled in front of the shimmering figure.

"You have done well Largo, but I have yet to see my promised river of blood," the figure stated and its voice seemed to be emanating from the bottom of a pit. It's flowing inky black robes obscuring his shape so Largo could never tell if it was male or female or even if it had a gender.

"You will have it my lord, but wholesale slaughter takes time and you did request a certain level of fear," Largo assured his benefactor who snarled at him from beneath hooded robes.

"Good. The Red Witch will discover me soon enough and I will need all my strength to fully engage and take her," the being chuckled humorlessly and Largo briefly glanced up at the shimmering face under the hood and then down again growing paler.

"What about the Slayer?" the figure asked seeming amused by the undying man's revulsion to its appearance.

"Dead, my Lord. Staked as per your orders. It took a dozen of my men and many them did not make out ail…" he started to retell of how the Slayer had all put slaughtered the men he'd sent to kill her.

"I do not care about your losses Victor Largo, only that the Slayer is dead and can no longer lend her strength to the Red Witch," the chilling echoing voice replied. "I have waited half a millennium for this and I will not have ruined by some silly girls sapphic urges," it added.

"But she is but one witch and with the Slayer gone surely…" Largo started to try to argue that maybe killing of large chunks of the population wasn't that good for business. He was rewarded with a stabbing pain his chest like his heart was on fire as the being pointed at him.

"Five hundred years since the spell was cast! Five hundred years waiting for the stars to align so that a young witch would come into contact with a Slayer! Make no mistake Victor Largo that power was to be mine and that power will be mine!" the hooded apparition thundered angrily at him then lowered its hand and the undying lot go of his chest with a relieved sigh.

"Now don't forget my river of blood Victor Largo. Soon. I would hate to have to withdraw my aid. And just think who they'd lynch if they all stopped fighting each other long to figure out who was behind this all?" With a chuckle and with another shake of the ground, it was gone.

Victor Largo shakily got to his feet, fumbling about for the bottle of blood on his desk he pulled out the stopper and greedily drank the entire contents of it. He was between a rock and hard place now. The being, wizard, demon or whatever it was had made sure that tensions boiled over in the city clearing his way into power among the Undying, but if the fog were to lift everybody would be pointing at him as the culprit. Then picked up the phone and dialed his second-in-command. "New orders: Kill any being not loyal to us on sight, no exceptions," he tried to say firmly but his voice shook all the same.

To be continued in Chapter 11: Suit up Miss Summers or how the Author wishes the time line for the story would align better with How I Met Your Mother for awesome in-jokes.