Weeks Later: Sunset

Crawford Street Mansion: Master Bedroom

Slowly waking from a deep slumber, Buffy rolled onto her back and stretched her arms over her arms over her head. She sharply inhaled a deep unneeded breath, feeling her stiff muscles awaken.

She turned her chin and looked to her left to find Angelus not in bed beside her.

Frowning, Buffy sat up in the bed, pushing back her long blonde hair from her face. Removing the covers, Buffy slid out of the bed.

Uncaring about her nudity, she moved around the grand bedroom to find her thin silk kimono robe hanging on a small hook.

Opening the door of the bedroom, Buffy moved past the vampires guarding the dark halls. She paid them no mind as she walked down the long hallway with the tussling in the self-made wind.

She descended down the long staircase and rounded the corner, entering another dark hallway which led to a set of stairs.

Buffy arrived at a large wooden door guarded by two vampires.

One of the guards bowed his head and opened the cellar door for the mistress of the mansion.

Wine Cellar

Opening the large wooden door of the cold, musky, and damp wine cellar, Angelus sat in a Victorian Era red velvet chair in the centre of the room with his back facing the main doorway.

He wore a pair of trousers and a white sleeveless shirt. His leg was crossed over his knee with his fingertips touching together, creating a steeple.

Standing behind Angelus, Buffy partially over the chair, she slid her hands flat from his shoulders to his wrists. Her mouth was at his neck, tenderly kissing his skin.

She rested her chin over her shoulder and looked at him, "Couldn't sleep?"

"No," he tilted his head back, resting the back of his head against her.

"What is it?" Buffy asked.

Angelus lifted his chin and said, "It's nothing."

"You sure?"

Angelus quietly nodded his head. Touching her chin, Angelus guided her closer to brush his mouth over hers as a reassurance that he was fine.

She accepted his kiss and gently smiled.

"I was going to wake you in a little while. You had said that you had big plans for this evening."

"I do," Buffy took his hand and moved around the chair to slide across his lap. "You're in them. We've played this game long enough I think, I am beginning to get bored. So," she hooked her arms around his neck, "I thought it would be a good idea to damn this charade. I can separate Faith from the pack and have her come here, she'd think you kidnapped me or something."

Angelus frowned, "She'd fall for that?"

"Believe it or not, our little firecracker of a Slayer has feelings for me," Buffy smirked. "She would never admit it, but she reeks of it." She straddled his lap and ground her centre over him. "It's quite sweet actually."

"And how can one not fall for you?" He cupped her cheek.

Buffy tried to bashfully hide her smile. "Oh yes, I am a basket of sunshine and all things good."

Angelus chuckled and intertwined his fingers through hers. "Before we begin the night, why don't you go play, a grá (my love)."

Sliding off of his lap, Buffy faced the tall cold cinder block wall with iron hooks tightly nailed into the walls.

Walking over to the wall, Buffy eyed the array of assorted devices, many torture instruments dating back centuries.

"Marcus."

The door opened, revealing a large muscled vampire standing at the door with his head bowed at the vampiress.

"Can you please lower my pet?"

Silently nodding to the request, Marcus walked over to the wheel with an old chain. He began to crank the stiff chain lowering the thick iron cage with large spikes that penetrated into the victim's body.

Buffy smiled as the narrow cage lowered down from hanging high up the tall ceiling.

Holding out her hand, Marcus laid the iron ring of skeleton keys into her hand.

"Thank you, Marcus. That'll be all for now." She looked at the tall vampire with a polite smile then averted her attention back to her victim trapped in the medieval era iron cage of spike's

Unlocking the cage, Buffy lifted her green eyes to her victim and slowly opened the cage door. She watched at the spikes embedded into Buffy's victim's forehead, cheeks, under the collarbone, along each gap between the ribs, down the spine, thighs, calves, and shines, Buffy pushed back the blood and dirt matted blonde hair from Darla's face.

"Good morning," Buffy sweetly grinned at the vampire trapped in the cage. "Shall we play doctor?"

Buffy turned away walking over to the cart devices and pouted her lips, trying to decide which instrument she wanted to 'play with' first.

Finally choosing a device, Buffy faced Darla holding a rusty double sided prong with a leather strap.

She walked over to the tortured vampire and tightly strapped the piece of leather around her neck. "When was the last time this was used?" Buffy asked over her shoulder to Angelus.

Thinking for a moment, Angelus rubbed his chin and said, "Uh, not for a couple hundred years."

Buffy smiled as she adjusted the Heretics Fork around Darla's neck, forcing her chin upwards. The sharp prong just dug into the base of her throat and underneath the chin.

Buffy then walked over to the neatly coiled rope and tied Darla's wrists together. She threw the rope up to hang over a wooden beam. Using a bit of her supernatural power, Buffy pulled the rope, forcing Darla to rise in the air until only the tips of her dirty toes touched the concrete.

Darla winched, exhausted from the years long torture. She regretted every single day that she followed the Master to Sunnydale.

"There's no sleeping. You that takes the fun out." Buffy gently pushed the hanging vampiress and smirked as Darla yelped, trying desperately not to stab herself. Her eyes were wide away, the sharp ends of the prongs kept her awake.

She pushed Darla's again and laughed as Darla's reddened eyes began to tear up from the agony.

Sunnydale High School: Library: Main Area

Walking into the library at her normal time at dusk, just before Faith went out on her nightly patrols, Buffy arrived.

She glided her hand over the counter top, tilting her head to the side, seemingly lost in her own mind.

Lifting her head, Buffy noticed that the gang sat silently at the research table with detached looks etched in their features. Buffy frowned and watched Giles step out from the office dangling his glasses from his hand.

Buffy frowned. "What's going on?" She asked curiously. "Who died?" Buffy asked as she watched closer to the table to find a human heart sitting on a piece of cloth at the centre of the table. "Who dropped this off?"

"Your boyfriend is leaving us gag gifts." Faith scoffed and jerked the chair back standing with frustration.

Deepening her frown, Buffy pursed her lips, "He's sending a message." She looked at the Slayer. "Hey," Buffy walked over to Faith, "this is about me. It's nothing to do with you—any of you. I should've been honest from the beginning and I'm sorry about that, but we have something bigger beginning to rumble."

Giles slid his glasses back on. "What is it?"

"It seems we've got a new player. The Mayor," Buffy revealed.

Giles frowned with a bit of confusion. "Mayor Richard Wilkins?"

"That's the one. It seems that he's even more shady than your average politician. I don't know exactly what he's up to but my sources are telling me it's big—like armageddon big." Buffy looked at Faith, "We should patrol tonight." Buffy began to turn away towards the door when Faith asked.

"What about your boyfriend? What are you gonna do about him if we see him?" Faith asked.

Buffy paused and looked over her shoulder at the Vampire Slayer and replied, "I'll give him a kiss." She continued to walk out.

Faith stuffed a stake into her back pocket and followed the vampire out.

Restfield Cemetery

"Did your boy always leave gag gifts for the ones he loves?" Faith asked as she and Buffy walked through the quiet cemetery in the dark night.

Buffy smirked. "Angel was never the sentimental type."

"How'd you two meet anyway?"

"We met in France. There was a riot at an armoury and we ran into each other—well, actually I ran into him."

"For as 'evil' as you say you were, I find it hard to believe that you fell in love just like that. Don't you need a soul to love?"

Buffy shifted uncomfortable talking about such an intimate subject, further eluding her soul-having-existence. "Faith, I don't really want to talk about Angel."

"Oh, why not?" Angelus stepped out from behind a mausoleum with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his long black coat. "You used to love talking about us, lover."

Five of Angelus' vampire men charged the Slayer and vampiress as Angelus stood and watched with amusement.

Buffy snap kicked a vampire to the ground. Faith backhanded punched another, and the vampire's head snapped hard to the side.

Buffy grabbed another vampire, charging at her and shoved him headfirst into the side of the stone moesolum.

Faith sidestepped her attacker, grabbed him by the arm and swung him around until letting go, throwing him over a gravestone. Meanwhile, Buffy ducked under a vampire's swinging arm and roundhouse kicked the vampire at the back of his knee, forcing him to collapse to the ground. She took out a stake from the side pocket of her long leather jacket and impaled it into the vampire's heart.

Another vampire jumped out of the darkness, tackling Buffy to the ground. She rolled on top of him and socked the vampire straight into the nose.

Faith threw her vampire off and did a full spinning hook kick to its head. Another vampire attacked the Slayer from the side and tried to surprise her from jumping above. Faith caught the vampire and threw it against the wall.

The vampire fighting Buffy jabbed her into the face with an elbow. Buffy grew angry and began to fight harder. She kicked him soundly into the stomach and blocked his counter attack. Buffy roundhouse kicked the vampire and jabbed the stake into its chest.

She whirled around to see more of Angelus' vampire flunkies charging them from the darkness, surrounding herself and Faith.

Sneakily, Buffy's eyes found Angelus', who still stood in the darkness watching the fight with a tugging smirk across his face. He surely did love watching his mate fight. She had always been a very talented and proficient fighter. Her combat style was polished and crisp. She tended towards a more improvisational style. She fought with her emotions and easily adapted to whatever the conditions were. But she was very graceful, like a prima ballerina. His Buffy was a brilliant fighter.

Beginning to get overrun by Angelus' vampires, Buffy and Faith were relentlessly jumped by the vampires, trying to slow them down.

Struggling to keep up with fighting them one after another, one of the vampire's grabbed Buffy by her arm and twisted it around her back and shoved hard against the side of the mausoleum, seemingly knocking her out.

"Buffy!" Faith shouted, struggling with her attacker. "You son of a bitch!" She glared at Angelus, who was now walking towards them.

"I came here for a reason." Angelus punched Faith hard into her temple and watched her fall to her knees, losing consciousness.

Faith's distorted vision likely deceived her as she watched a blurry vision of Buffy standing up from the grass, not at all hurt from the attack. She wiped her dark trousers from the grass.

The last image Faith saw as she slowly blackened out was Buffy standing over her wearing a sinister half smile.

1 Hour Later

Faith slowly awoke still in the grass at the cemetery. Her dark eyes fluttered open and her head pounded at all sides, squeezing her brain.

Becoming more aware, Faith sat up in the grass and realised that there wasn't anyone left here at the cemetery. Angelus and his lackey's were gone and even worse, so was Buffy.

Faith was alone.

Pushing her hair out of her face, Faith looked around. She had no idea where Angelus would've taken Buffy, she had to find her, who knew what Angelus would do to her.


Walking through the dark cemetery, Faith was still gaining her footing when a sound of rustling footsteps was heard.

Moving quickly, Faith hid behind a bush to see a group of the vampires she and Buffy had been struggling to fight against walk out of a door and into the cemetery.

Pinching her brows together, Faith decided when it was clear, she was going to find out where that door led too.

Looking both ways, Faith quickly stepped out from her hiding place and walked towards the door and snuck inside.

Crawford Street Mansion: Main Area

Standing with her back against the wall, Faith had a moment of realization that this was a terrible idea.

She didn't have any weapons, her head was pounding her head. This was definitely a bad idea, but Faith needed to rescue Buffy.

Taking a deep breath, Faith pushed herself from the wall and snuck around what she found was a massive mansion.

This looked like a place Angelus would be setting up camp. It was spacious, gaudy, and impressive.

Nearing what she thought was the main living area, Faith poked her head around the corner to see Angelus crouched in front of Buffy, standing against the wall, slowly coming to from her unconscious state. He fixed the chains behind her back and stood tall, towering over her.

"Morning sleepyhead. You know what I just can't believe? All of our time together and we never tried chains." Angelus smirked and gently pushed a piece of hair that went over her forehead away.

"'Cause neither one of us would be dominated." Buffy glared at him.

Angelus smirked. "Well, can't dwell on the past, especially with the future we have ahead." He pushed a strand of Buffy's hair from her forehead.

"Sir," one of the vampire flunkies appeared at the back end of the mansion. "We've got trouble."

Angelus rolled his eyes with annoyance, "What is it now?" He scowled at the vampire.

"We'll show you," the vampire vaguely replied.

Rolling his eyes, Angelus looked back at his mate and touched her chin with his index and thumb. He violently placed a hard smooch on her mouth before ripping away to find out what was happening.

Buffy sneered and tried to break out the chains when Faith revealed herself from hiding around the corner.

"Faith?" Buffy looked at the Slayer with surprise.

"Bondage looks good on you, B. The outfit's all wrong, but, hey…" She tried to lighten the mood as she walked over to Buffy, trying to appear cool and collected, though internally, she was terrified.

"No," Buffy looked frightened for the Vampire Slayer. "Faith, you shouldn't be here."

"I'm gonna get you outta this," she began to fiddle with the chains. Her supernatural strength seemed slow to recover after having the living daylights knocked out of her only a short while before. "Dammit, B." Faith cursed at the chains then asked, "Is there a key?"

Buffy nodded to the right. "Over there."

Faith followed Buffy's eyes to the coffee table.

"It's an iron skeleton key," Buffy explained as Faith ran over to the coffee table, in a hurry to find the key before Angelus' return.

Faith frowned finding a tray with an array of torture instruments. It was then Faith noticed something very odd, on the coffee table, beside the tray was a thick fashion magazine. She tilted her head curiously.

"Faith!"

The sound of her name tore Faith from her curiosity and ran back to Buffy with the key.

"You gotta hurry," Buffy said as Faith struggled to use the old key. "Angel will be back any second."

"Give me a sec." Faith grew annoyed at the antique key.

Buffy turned her gaze to the dark haired Vampire Slayer and asked, "Why would you come for me?"

Faith paused and stood straight to reply to the blonde vampire, "Because…" A soft smile began to tug on Buffy's face when Faith frowned. "Nah, B, don't get it twisted. Don't start thinkin' that we're friends or somethin'."

"No, of course not," she said playfully. "Wouldn't dream of it."

The two women shared a smile when Faith suddenly remembered that she needed to free Buffy before her boyfriend from Hell returned.

Buffy's smile slowly dissipated when Angelus appeared at the back of the room. His hands were in his pockets, eying his mate with amusement on his face.

Without shuffling his feet, Angelus carefully moved across the stone floor to sneak up on the Slayer.

"Faith, listen to me, you have to go. I'll get out of this."

Faith stood up straight and frowned at the Slayer in confusion. "B, what the fuck are you talkin' about? I'm not leavin' you here to be tortured by that psychopath."

"You have to. Angel's a killer. I can't die but you can. When he's done with me, he'll come after you and you need to be prepared."

"She's right," Angelus said, revealing himself standing behind Faith.

Faith immediately roundhouse punches Angelus across the head. Angelus recovered quickly and used his dominant strength to overpower the weakened Slayer.

Angelus kicked her into the side and watched as she staggered back, slamming against the stone wall. He followed his attack with another hard punch.

Faith kicked the master vampire away and tried for another attack to gain some sort of ground in this fight.

Angelus caught Faith by her neck and slammed her against the wall. "You think I wouldn't notice?" Angelus glared at the Slayer, morphing to his demonic features. "You reek of it." He backhanded her across the face. "She's mine, Slayer."

Faith kneed the vampire into his stomach, breaking his tight choking grip. "What's in it for you? You want a souled vampire? Kinda cramps your psycho killin' style, doesn't it?"

They exchange a few more hard blows.

Shoving her violently away. Faith's back hit against the wall, knocking the air from her lungs.

Choking for breath, Faith watched Angelus approach Buffy.

He tenderly stroked her face and tucked a piece of her blonde hair behind her ear. "She'll always be mine." Angelus softly smiled at his mate. He suddenly dropped his hand to the side and turned to face Faith.

In a flash, Angelus pinned Faith to the wall and knocked the back of her head against the wall, knocking her out cold once again.

Later

With a sense of déjà vu, Faith woke up from her unconscious state. She wondered if there was going to be some sort of lasting damage for being knocked out two times in a row.

Her headache felt worse. Her vision was hazy as it slowly cleared.

She pulled her wrists, realising quickly that she was now chained to the wall.

"B?"

In a panic, Faith worridily looked around for Buffy. Hoping to the Powers That Be that Angelus wasn't torturing her.

Buffy wasn't anywhere in sight.

Faith could feel her heart beating faster and her anger crept up her body as she thought of the nasty and terrible things Angelus was probably doing.

"For a long time, I thought I was cursed." Faith whipped her head to the left to see Buffy stepping out from the shadows. Her fingertips pressed together creating a steeple. Faith stared at the vampiress with confusion. "I thought somehow, I did something so sinful that God would give me a face that would do nothing but draw attention."

Faith immediately knew there was something very wrong with the vampiress.

"I come from a time where you put a lot of stock in the word of God. You did everything you possibly could in this life in order to be welcomed into Heaven." Buffy looked down at her hands with a smile. "It's funny now. Why should I care about of what God says or thinks? Mind you, this is the same God that damned us all before we even had a chance. This is the same God that's created Hellmouths, demons, Slayers... children's cancer... Is He really that much better than any demon?" She thoughtfully asked.

Faith wearily watched as Buffy's mind seemed to drift.

Shaking herself back to the start, Buffy looked at Faith and a soft smile appeared on her face. "I say I was cursed because what sort of sick sociopath would give a woman of God—a Puritan a face that would only draw so much attention from men?" Inhaling a needless breath, Buffy shrugged. "I know what you're thinking; 'It's been three hundred years, B. Get over it already'." Buffy's smile widened. "You're right. Why spend my days asking such stupid questions? I shouldn't choose to pout or whine or feel the burden of something I had no control over. This face," she pointed to her face, "made me rich and famous. With this face, I could have anything. Anyone." The master vampire took another step closer to the Slayer and seductively looked at her under long lashes. "Even you Faith. I could ride you at a gallop until your legs buckled and your eyes rolled up. I've got muscles you've never even dreamed of. I could squeeze you," Faith closed her eyes, trying to fight her own desires for the blonde, "until you popped like warm champagne, and you'd beg me to hurt you just a little bit more."

"Why are you saying this?" Faith opened her eyes and stared at the blonde confused and hurt as she teased her. "What's wrong with you, B?" It was right then Faith realised, "You never had your soul, did you?" A slow devilish smile crossed Buffy's face. "You played me?" Faith felt hurt then covered her pain with an angered expression. "You played me!"

Angelus stood behind Buffy and kissed the scarred bite mark on her neck.

"You pretended to have a soul?—To what?—Get me outta the way? To let the Mayor—Your new boss do whatever the fuck he's gonna do?"

Buffy frowned, folding her arms across her chest. "No, not at all. In fact, I don't care about any of that. It's always been about you." She intimately pushed a piece of Faith's dark hair off of her face. "You're a toy, Faith. A little toy I like to play with."

Disgusted with the vampire, Faith picked her foot into Buffy's stomach, forcing her to stagger away. "You had to chain me up to beat me? There's a word for people like you, B. Loser."

Buffy smirked, unbothered by Faith's kick or her flimsy comments that were supposed to somehow piss her off.

Instead, Buffy took the skeleton key that actually worked for the locks from Angelus uncuffed the Slayer from her restraints.

"C'mon, F," Buffy mocked the Slayer, "give us a kiss."

Charging the vampiress, fuelled by rage, Faith tackled Buffy to the ground.

They punched each other hard.

Faith spun Buffy to gain leverage but Buffy was at full strength. She easily caught herself and spun into a full spinning jump kick, hitting Faith's head.

Faith fell to the ground to see Buffy slowly approach her with raining confidence. Using her wits, Faith swept her leg taking Buffy out by her legs.

The Slayer mounted the vampire and punched her hard. Buffy maneuvers them, so she is on top. She slammed down double fists when Faith caught her fists, ripped them apart and shoved the vampire off her.

Buffy flew into the air, crashing her back against the wall with a thud.

Landing on her feet, she saw that Faith was headed for the torture instruments on the table.

Both lunging for a knife, the Slayer and vampire twisted around each other and held the scalpels to each other's throats in a sudden standoff.

"What are you going to do, Faithy, kill me?" Buffy asked. "You're not ready for that—yet." Buffy forcefully grabbed Faith by her face and smashed her mouth against the Slayer's in a violent kiss then shoved the brunette away towards the atrium.

Faith tumbled backwards and quickly got up to her feet and ran away.

Angelus held out his hand for Buffy to take to help her up.

Buffy accepted his assistance and got back to her feet.

"You okay?" Angelus asked.

A slow haunting smile crossed Buffy's mouth as she turned away to face Angelus. "Never better." She tenderly cupped his cheek and accepted his embrace when his arms wrapped around her shoulders.

Sunnydale High School: Library: Main Area

Bursting through the double doors, Faith walked into the library with a slight limp from the fight. Everyone jumped to their feet with worried concern.

"Whoa, Faith, what happened?" Xander stood from the chair and approached the Slayer to help her towards the table where the rest of the gang sat.

Oz stood from his chair and slid it closer for Faith to sit down.

Giles walked down the steps from the book step and frowned at his Slayer. "Faith, what's happened? Are you okay?" He asked as he approached her and looked over his shoulder at Willow. "Get the first aid kit in my office."

Willow nodded and ran into the office for the kit.

"Where's Buffy?"

Faith scoffed and touched the tender gash across her forehead with a wince. "B's been playin' us."

"What does that mean?" Cordelia asked with concern for her own safety.

"It means Buffy isn't as souled as she pretended to be. She's evil," she looked directly at Giles. "She's been fuckin' with us this entire time." She felt angry at herself for falling for the act and even worse, developing a sexually confusing crush. She was now questioning everything.

Giles slowly stood up tall feeling the weighted gravity of what this all meant.

"This is really bad, right?" Cordelia asked.

Giles removed his glasses and rubbed a hand over his face. "Yes, this is very bad." He said. "Very bad indeed."

"Is there anything about Buffy in the Watcher's Diaries, Rupert?" Jenny asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Realising quickly about the diaries in the office, Giles ran into the room and searched for the books on a long shelf stacked with centuries worth of diaries.

Giles returned out into the main section of the library with a large stack of demonology books and Watcher's Diaries solely based on Quod Spiritus Sanctus (The Beautiful Demon).

"Um," he scanned the paragraphs. "Lady Elizabeth Anne Summers, born sixteen forty-six and sired in the year of the Devil, sixteen sixty-six." Giles read aloud.

Willow frowned. "That would make her a little over three hundred and thirty. She's way older than Angelus."

Giles nodded and continued to read, "Lady Elizabeth, she was sired by… Oh dear…" his voice trailed off and his eyes grew large. "She was sired by Vlad Țepeș III of Wallachia." Giles lifted his eyes from the pages of the book to the ground.

"Țepeș..." Jenny frowned trying to remember the Romanian language of her family. "Țepeș is Romanian for Dracul or Dracula."

Xander stood up straight and waved his hands. "Whoa, hold on. Are you telling me Buffy's sire is Dracula?—Like Count Dracula?"

Giles swallowed. "Yes, that's precisely what we're saying."

"Well, okay." Xander plopped down in the chair.

"Buffy said that she was worse than Angelus," began Willow. "H-how much worse?" She asked, frightened for the answer.

"She goes by many names, dubbed Quod Spiritus Sanctus (The Beautiful Demon) by a Witch Hunter Reverend in the sixteen hundreds. That is her most common name and…" Giles fell silent as he read Buffy's terrifying history. "She is also known as the Slayer of Slayers because in the last three centuries, Buffy's faced eight Slayers and she's killed them all."

"It's a sport to her." Faith rubbed a hand over her face. Fuck me, she didn't quite realise what she now up against. "That's not what I needed to hear, Geeves," Faith grumbled.

"Buffy is a known notorious killer. She often manipulates and tortures her victims until many of them plead for death." Giles continued to read and paused, "Listen to this, in sixteen ninety-two, Buffy stalked and killed the Holtz family in Yorkshire, England. She seduced the husband, Daniel Holtz who happened to be a vampire hunter. He found…" Giles' face paled as he quietly read the rest of the passage.

"He found what?" Faith sat on the edge of her seat. "Giles, what am I up against?"

"He found his daughter tucked into her bed. Unveiling the covers, he found her head detached from her body—which was placed in the corner of the room."

Xander covered his mouth. "Oh jesus."

"Daniel Holtz' fate is unknown. Some say that she extracted his soul and sent it to Hell, others say, Buffy simply tortured and killed him. Buffy is the demon that darkness fears. She and Angelus are an unstoppable force." Giles looked at Faith. "Buffy will not be like any vampire you've ever faced. She knows us well—she knows you well," he emphasized to Faith. "She's powerful, she's cunning, and manipulative—"

"—Also passionate, artistic, and inquisitive."

The room's heads turned to see Buffy standing at the doors, leaning nonchalantly against the countertop with her arms folded across her chest.

She wore a long unbuttoned red leather jacket with a black top and matching leather pants. Her blonde hair was straightened and fell over her shoulders and down her back.

Her green smiling eyes bounced around the room to each face. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Faith got to her feet and ignored the pain in her body as she reached for a sword left on the research table and ran to attack the vampiress.

Out powering her, Buffy choked a hand around Faith's neck and grabbed her wrist and held it to Faith's side.

"Nuh-uh-uh, Faithy," Buffy grinned and tightened her grip around Faith's neck. "It would be a mistake to be so eager." She violently tossed the Slayer towards the Scoobies.

Catching the Slayer, Giles glared at the vampire.

"Just stopping by to say, 'hi'." She grinned and bit her bottom lip. "The next few months are going to be quite a ride." Buffy began to walk backwards towards the double swinging doors. "Merry Christmas!" Buffy exited through the doors leaving the Scoobies stunned where they stood.