Disclaimer: I claim no rights over the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer portrayed in the
piece of fiction. All rights of the series Buffy the Vampire Slayer is reserved by Mutant Enemy,
Sandollar, Kuzui Enterprises, Fox and(or) WB TV. This piece of fiction is not to be reproduced
anywhere or edited without the express consent of the author as named above.

Warning: This piece of literature contains scenes with violence, strong language and religious
references that may be considered offensive. Parental disgression should be applied.

Note: This story takes place just before Surprise during the 2nd
season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It represents an alternative storyline, which moves away
from the BtVS story arc as represented in the series for the purpose of the story I want to tell.

Chapter 1: Horror

Next morning...

Buffy walked into then kitchen. Her mother was reading the newspaper. She
looked very pale. "What's wrong", Buffy asked and began to eat her breakfast. Her mother didn't
react, then finally she put down the paper with a hopeless sigh and looked at her daughter.
"Something dreadful happened last night", she pointed at a headline in the paper. "FAMILY
DIES IN FIRE", the headline read. Buffy almost choked on her breakfast.

"Oh, no", she said and hammered her hand onto the tabletop. "That bitch", she muttered and
seethed with anger. "What?", Joyce suddenly asked and looked appraisingly at her daughter.
"Who are you talking about?", she asked. Buffy almost gagged on the toast. "No one mother. I
just cursed. This is horrible news", she said and quickly swallowed the rest.

"I'm late. Bye", she said and grabbed her bag. Joyce was left behind in her kitchen wondering.
"Did it just sound as if my daughter knew something about that fire. Is she really a criminal? Did
she lay those fire back at Hemery High in LA?", she thought, but finally dismissed it. Joyce
couldn't imagine something like that about her daughter.

Buffy walked into the library. Giles was reading the newspaper. "This is a horrible crime", he
muttered and sipped from his coffee cup. "I know", Buffy said and startled him. "Uh, Hello
Buffy", he said. "How did your patrol go last night?", he asked and set his cup down.
Buffy scowled at the paper then answered: "Well, I did away with three Bloodsuckers and I...
Giles, Angel told me he saw a vampire last night, who kills children and likes fire. He said her
name is Andrea". Buffy looked to Giles. He thought about it.

"If she did this", Giles jabbed a finger at the headline, "then we'll have to destroy her before
anybody else dies". Buffy nodded vigourously. "Hi Buffy, how are you?", Willow asked as she
walked in. Buffy turned and smiled. "Fine, there is this really sick vampire chick in town, but me
and Angel will dust her in no time", she boasted.

Xander followed Willow through the doors. "What? A new vampire in town. Now somehow that
doesn`t feature as headline news anymore. Isn`t that weird?", Xander stopped and looked from
Willow to Buffy. "Are we going to class or are we going somewhere fun?", he asked. "Class",
Willow promptly answered. "Fun... Hah", Buffy replied bitterly and followed Willow and
Xander out of the library. Giles was left alone with the paper on the desk. "Better begin then", he
muttered and walked heavily towards the vampire section of his book collection.

"Then you simply apply this equation to the problem then it should be solvable in no time",
Buffy's math teacher droned on. She was far away daydreaming about her and Angel sitting at a
tropical beach. The sun had set long ago. The waves of black water glinting in the white moon
light. Angel held her fast as they sat and watched the water. "I missed you", he said in an
exceptionally sad tone of voice, as if he was almost crying.

She turned and looked at him. "Don't. I came back to you. I'll always be with you", she said and
dried away one of his tears. Suddenly they were surrounded by flames. A powerful force
suddenly ripped Angel out of Buffy's grip. She was left sitting on a wooden floor with black
smoke rising between the cracks. "It's beginning. Don't do it. Buffy!! Saaavvvvveeee.....", his
voice disappeared as he disappeared in the orange blaze surrounding them. "ANGEL!", she
screamed and coughed. "Don't leave me...", she whispered and woke back up.

"So you'll have to do the exercises 8.4 until 8.8 until tomorrow. I want them delivered in the
usual fashion", the teacher said, while the bell rang. "Buffy. Are you all right?", Willow asked as
she looked upon her pale girlfriend. "I-I just had one of my dreams. Angel, he was burned in a
huge fire", Buffy stuttered and began packing her stuff. "Oh, no. Is it one of those prophetic
dreams?", Willow asked slowly. Buffy nodded her head and picked up her backpack. "We better
go talk to Giles, right", Willow suggested and followed. "Right", Buffy answered and turned left.
"Giles!", Buffy called out as she burst into the library. A freshman student almost jumped out of
his skin as she yelled. He was checking out a book. Giles hushed Buffy and tried to work faster.
"Remember to bring it back in time", he explained to the poor boy and handed him the book.
"Sure", the student replied and circled around Buffy on his way out as if he was afraid of her.
"Great. Another boost for my reputation", Buffy muttered and stopped in front of Giles. Willow
finally caught up to Buffy as she also entered the library.

"Giles. I think we should be a bit careful with this new vampire. I just dreamed of Angel dying in
a huge fire", she explained. "Oh... Wait when did you have this dream?", he asked
uncomprehendingly. Buffy looked sheepish. "Uhm, in Algebra", she mumbled. Giles lifted an
eyebrow, but didn't pursue it further. "And you dreamt that Angel burned in the fire", Buffy
nodded as Giles continued, "You're sure it's one of the nightmares?". Buffy walked over to the
stairs and sat down. "Yeah, and it was really intense too. I wasn't even sleeping only
daydreaming", she explained.

Willow looked at her wristwatch. "Buffy. We have to get to class", she said and turned to leave.
"I'll be just a second", Buffy called out to her as she left. "Giles. Have you discovered anything
yet?", she looked at him pleadingly.

"Well, yes. Here", Giles lifted a heavy leather bound tome and handed to her. "It says that
Andrea Schiller was a german pyromaniac back in the late 19th century. There was a huge
manhunt for her, but it turned up nothing. A few years later she turned up again as a vampiress in
London. She killed a score of people mainly children and set fire to their families houses to cover
her tracks. The slayer of that time tried to catch her, but she went undercover and was not heard
from again until you told me about her this morning", he set the book down.

Buffy looked at the yellowed picture of a timid looking woman wearing a very plain dress and
had very plain hair. "She doesn't really look fearsome", Buffy said to no one in particular, "She
looks more like a student than a vicious killer, but I'll take good care of her, when I find her.
Guess that I have to go look for her as soon school is over".

"I'll just grab some stakes and go to class. We'll talk again tomorrow", Buffy said and went for
the weapons locker. Giles simply nodded his head and bent to look at the picture. The vampire
really didn't look harmless in his eyes. But he guessed it all lay in the outlook of a person... or
Slayer.

Buffy walked towards the burned out building. The house had burned like a match under a
blowtorch, she thought as she walked amongst the rubble. Buffy didn't really expect to find any
clues, but the house had seemed as good a place to start as any other. The police had encircled
the place with yellow police-do-not-cross tape, but those really didn't bother her.

"Here I am walking around in the burned out husk of a house looking for clues on the
whereabouts of a pyromanic vampiress. If I had been told that just two years ago I'd have
laughed the person who told me right in the face, but then again back then I didn't really use my
brains for much more than remembering the most in hairdo of the week or who was dating who.
God. I have changed" , Buffy thought as she poked around between the burned walls. "Maybe I
should try and find something", she thought and stopped.

Buffy looked down. Nothing. Slowly she turned looking around in the leftovers of the house. She
saw the burned wood, the tatters of a carpet, the sootcovered remains of a bookcase. She smelled
the raw tang of ashes and burned flesh. Buffy almost choked at the thought but didn't. She
walked a little further.

Accidentally she kicked a piece of wood. She heard the clang of glass hitting the dirt. Slowly she
bent and looked at the framed picture lying at her feet. On the picture there was three persons. A
large powerfully built man who was grinning happily, a blond and equally smiling mother, who
was holding a nice little girl with a red ribbon in her hair. Buffy felt a tear drip onto her bare
arms. "I'll avenge you", she whispered and put the picture back down onto the soot. As Buffy
looked up, she percieved something lying under a toppled wall.

Buffy panted and hieved the wall up and over. It fell down with a huge bang and crushed several
burnt wooden planks. Buffy looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Nothing moved in the
garden surrounding the house.

Buffy looked at the little case of burnt matches lying besides a large piece of plastic which
seemed to have once contained something flammable. The cover of the matchcase had the name:
"Willy's", written in white print across it. Buffy's expression turned grim. Then Willy could
probably tell her, what she wanted. She would make him tell her. The sun was still up.

Buffy walked into the closed bar. The door of Willy's always seemed open no matter what time
of day it was. Willy was polishing a few glasses, as she walked in. "Hi old friend", she said and
grabbed him by the collar. "Oh, hi Slayer. Feeling good. I hope you're not still angry about that
thing back at the church", he stammered and began to sweat as he recognized her. "I haven't

forgotten yet, you rat", Buffy was pissed.
This man had connections to demons, who didn't even stop at killing children. She punched him
in the stomach. "Arrhhh", he said and collapsed to his knees. Buffy grabbed him again and flung
him against the bardisk. "Uhff", he gasped. "Now listen, Willy. I need to know where Andrea is?
And I'll not ask again", she drew her hands back slowly for another punch.

"Andrea? I-I don't know where she sleeps... All right. She's insane. I don't even wanna know.
She's a killer", Buffy prepared to punch him again. "Listen I told Angel that she was in town last
night, no one wants her here. If I knew where she was, I'd have told you. Please believe me", he
begged and held up his hands to cover his face. Buffy let go of his collarbone and turned to walk
away. "But I might know, where she'll be very soon", he explained. Buffy wheeled about and
walked menacingly towards him. Willy shallowed.

"She asked me to tell her where people went to party in this town... She might come to the
Bronze tonight", he explained. Buffy stared at him. She had a date with Willow and Xander there
tonight. Buffy shook her head and said as she was about to leave: "If I find out you lied to me.
I´ll break a bone for each person she kills".

Buffy left. Willy shook his head and looked towards his store room. "She's gone. Never say
Willy doesn't take care of you", he said to the shadowy figure that came forth. "Good. I can deal
with the Slayer later. Thank you Willy. You can keep your life and your bar as my thanks", she
dropped a bundle of hundred dollar bills into Willy's waiting hands. Andrea walked to the sewer
access and jumped into the darkness.

Buffy walked into the Bronze, where she had fought many battle already in her short time in
Sunnydale. Xander and Willow were standing a few feet from the dancing floor and listening to
the really cool band playing on stage. "Hi guys", Buffy said and startled them both. "You have
been spending too much time with Angel", Xander said and looked at his friend. "So did Giles
turn up anything on that new vampire", Willow asked.

Buffy smiled a sad smile. She didn't really ever have much time off these days. "Yeah, she's a
german and a pyromaniac. She's pretty tough, one of my predecessors tried to slay her but
couldn't defeat her. I was also down at Willy's. He says, she asked about the Bronze. She might
come here soon", Buffy said and stared around in the crowd for a while.

"It doesn't really mean that she has come yet though", she decided. "Well, how does she look",
Willow asked and looked around nervously. "She's about five feet five, has dark hair, grey-blue
eyes and looks older than most people here", Buffy explained and turned to have a better view of
the door. But Andrea was no where in sight.

Buffy, Willow and Xander was walking home from the Bronze. "Well that was a complete waste
of time", Buffy said and looked at Xander and Willow for confirmation. They said nothing, then
suddenly Willow asked: "Have you seen Angel today?". Buffy smiled but shook her head. "I'd
better", she replied and smiled to her friends. "Just to be nice", Willow agreed. Buffy turned on
her heel and walked in another direction.

"Wait a minute Buffy, should we come?", Xander asked, but Willow just slapped him across the
chest then pointed out the way home. Buffy didn't react, she was thinking about a lot of other
things.

She arrived at Angel's place. His door was locked. "Hell", she cursed and turned to leave, and
almost walked into the much larger man. "Hi love", Buffy replied and reached to kiss him.
"Hell...ummmmm", Angel was broken of by Buffy's insistant kissing. Slowly he drew her away.
"Buffy. I think I have a clue, where Andrea might be. A blood supplier told me that he delivered
some plasma to a female vampire looking like her to an abandoned house out on Dickens Street.
He was pretty sure", Angel walked towards his apartment.

"I have to eat before we leave", he replied at Buffy's questioning glance. "Oh. Do you think, we
can handle her?", she asked and followed him inside. "Sure. She's a loner and most vampires find
her too insane to be around after a while. I could handle her alone, but...", he explained and open
his fridge. "Oh", Buffy replied as she remembered her dream this morning. "Angel, you should
let me handle her alone. I have a bad feeling about you coming along", she said and started
towards the door.

"No, I'm not letting you go up against that maniac all alone. I didn't mean it. She is really
very...", he tried to grab her, but Buffy drew out of his grasp. "I have to do this alone this time.
Trust me Angel, I can't have you along not this time, not today", she said and thought for a
second. Angel reached for her.

"I'm sorry", she said with moisture in her eyes and punched him as hard as she could in the solar
plexus. Angel collapsed. Buffy struck his neck with a knife hand. Angel fell to the ground
unconcious. "I'm so sorry", Buffy bent down and kissed him. "I better take an extra precausion",
she thought as she left. Buffy locked his door and walked upstairs.

The basement Angel lived in was divided into two sections by a thick fire door. Buffy drew it
shut and barricaded it with an axe from a glass box that hung besides the door. Then she left with
intent etched all over her face. Andrea the Babykiller would die this night.

"Oooohhh", Angel said and shook his head. "Oh, shit. She knocked me out", he cursed and came
unsteadily to his feet. "I have to catch up", he moaned and stumbled out into the hall. Buffy had
closed the fire door. Angel grabed it and pulled hard. Nothing happened. He considered
pounding it for a while, but decided that no one would hear him. Instead he ran back to his
apartment and rapidly dialed a telephone number.

"Yo, G-Man", Xander called out as he and Willow entered the library. They had decided to
report Buffy's findings, when they had walked by and saw light inside. "Huh", Giles said. He had
been kissing Miss Calendar. "Whoops", Xander said, while Willow blushed. "Sorry Giles we
didn't mean to disturb you, but we saw the light and we wanted to tell you that Buffy had...
Xander you tell him", Willow said and backed out of the library.

Xander looked after her and grinned. Giles and Jenny were also blushing deeply. "Well Buffy
has had a little talk with Willy and he told her that this Andrea character might show up at the
Bronze later, but she didn't, so Buffy went to see Angel instead", he explained and looked at the
two they had caught making out. "Is it okay to come in now", Willow asked shyly and peeked
inside. "It's okay Willow", Jenny said and looked at Giles. "Oh, and Xander. Don't call me G-
Man", Giles said as the phone suddenly rang.

"Here it is", Willow said and walked up to the blocked fire door. "Giles. Xander. We need your
help with this", Jenny commanded and tried to pull the axe out from under the door handle.
Together they got it out and Angel could slowly open the door. "We have to follow her", he said
and began to walk up the stairs. The gang followed him. "But where did she go?", Giles asked
and walked towards their cars. "She went to an abandoned house over on Dickens", he explained
and got in to the car. Everybody quickly followed. Soon Giles' and Jenny's cars drove towards
Dickens Street.

Buffy had almost walked the entire length of the Dickens Street. "I should have asked Angel for
the house number, before I put his lights out", Buffy mumbled and rubbed her arms to get warm.
She looked to one side. Before her stood a two story house which was obviously abandoned.
Most of the windows weren't intact. There were no curtains. The frontdoor barely hung by its
hinges. And it lay in complete darkness.

Buffy ran across the frontyard. She drew forth a stake. The house seemed completely silent.
Buffy walked around to the backyard. She looked up. In a second story window a single candle
shone from the window sil. The entire room seemed to be lit by candles as well. Buffy's face
became grim. "Now it's time to roughhouse Andrea", Buffy thought.

She dropped the stake and grabbed hold of a sturdy seeming plant which grew up the entire side
of the house. As silently as she could Buffy climbed onto the roof. She was in luck. The house
even had a skylight. She sneaked over and looked into the candlelit room.

It could have been the studio of some artist, but now it was filled with hundreds and hundreds of
lit candles. It had a beautiful lacquered wooden floor which slick surface gleamed with each
candle. In the middle of the room was a large bed upon which Andrea the vampiress lay and read
a book. Buffy drew in a deep breath and stepped back.

Suddenly the Slayer crashed through the skylight and landed on the floor. "Don't you have to
ask: "who are you?" now", Buffy asked and looked in the direction of Andrea. She seemed
angry. "No. But tell me Slayer, how does your blood taste when boiling", she said and lit a
match. Buffy looked at her uncomprehendingly. Andrea stood besides her bed.

"Oh, well then we'll just have to see, won't we", she said and dropped the match onto the slick
floor. Suddenly Buffy realized that the laquered slickness didn't come from the floor, but from a
very thin layer of clear liquid which had been poured onto it. Buffy jumped into the air. The
house caught flame almost instantly.

Buffy landed on the bed. The flames seemed not to bite into it's fabric yet. Suddenly Andrea
came jumping out of the flames, which had spread beyond the room already. Buffy guessed that
she had spread the liquid all over the house as even the walls were all ready on fire.

"Why did you jump out of my beautiful flames!!", the mad vampire screamed as she tumbled
into Buffy. She tried to choke Buffy. Buffy slammed both of her hands into the vampire's jaw.
Andrea let go for a second and Buffy threw her off. The vampire landed at the end of the bed.
"Are you insane? You can't escape from this fire either", Buffy said and looked around. She
couldn't make out either the window, the skylight or the door through the intense sheath of fire
surrounding her. Thick smoke was rapidly collecting above her. The vampire screamed in utter
hatred.

"The flames won't kill me, they are my friends against the dreadful wooden teeth of death",
Andrea said and jumped towards Buffy. Buffy rolled forward and under her attack. She wheeled
about. "I'll kill you yet Slayer", Andrea screamed over the enormeous roar of the flames.
"I have to get out of here", Buffy thought and looked at Andrea.

Andrea launched herself into another attack across the asbest bed which was slowly being
consumed by the fire. Buffy dropped onto her back, while she drew out her last stake. Andrea
flew high once more. Buffy hammered the stake into the vampire and watched the woman turn to
dust as she sailed into the hot flames.

Buffy coughed. The smoke was getting thick even though the skylight was broken. "Think
faster", she chided herself and looked around. She thought that she knew where the window
would be. Buffy felt like she was breathing the flames, which had almost reached her. She
prepared to jump.

Buffy's powerful muscles pumped and pressed down upon the bed to gain momentum. Suddenly
the floor seemed the scream in outrage and the entire house groaned. Buffy fell instead of
jumping. She managed to grab hold of the ledge left by the bed crashing down to the ground
floor.

"Look", Angel screamed and pointed towards the pillar of smoke rising from a house down the
street. Giles hammered the accelerator to the floor. The car drove up to the inferno. Giles pulled
the handbrake and stomped on the brake. The car came to a screeching halt. Angel and Giles
jumped out of the car. Behind them Jenny's car did the same.

The house was consumed in flames. The orange inferno of fire, heat and toxic smoke raged
before them. "Do you think she is in there?", Willow asked to no one in particular. "Buffy!!!",
Angel roared and ran towards the fire. "Stop him", Jenny commanded the stunned teens. Xander
tackled the vampire.

"Angel, don't! You'll die if you go into the flames", Xander screamed down by his feet as the
vampire began hysterically kicking him. "Buffy", Giles whispered and stepped closer to the
flames. "She can't be in there", Willow cried and fell to her knees. "Hey, don't lose it just yet",
Jenny said, "You have no idea if she's really in there".

"She's right. We have to find out first", Giles said. "Willow, you and Jenny walk around the
house. See if you can find anything. Anything at all", he asked and turned to look helplessly into
the flames. "Please be all right my Slayer", he whispered. Angel and Xander got up. But Xander
didn't leave his side.

Willow and Jenny walked around the left side of the burning. Willow was still almost crying.
"Don't cry yet", Jenny whispered and tried to sound believable. Willow looked around teary
eyed.

Suddenly she screamed and fell to her knees, while pointing at an object on the verge of being
consumed by the fire. Jenny fumbled it out of the flames quickly. She was holding a half-burned
stake. Willow was screaming and beating the earth with her small hands, while the sirens of the
fire engines wailed from out in the street. Jenny shoved the stake under her blouse.
Giles felt like another had taken control of his body. The firemen ran all over the grass and
rapidly moved them all including the hysterical Willow out into an ambulance. Angel seemed to
have disappeared in the chaos. "Rupert. I have to show you something", Jenny said and drew
something from under her jacket. It was a stake.

"Is this one of Buffy's?", she asked while trying to whisper. Giles looked at the half-burnt stake.
It had been sharpened with a knife, had only a very short grip and a long sharp point. Buffy
always made her stakes like that. He had taught her to. Giles began to cry like a little baby. Jenny
cradled him against her chest. "Is there no chance", Xander asked Jenny. She looked at the young
man for a little while then finally answered.

"No. I don't think so, but I am not an expert", she said. Suddenly Willow got up and ran toward
the still burning house. "Buffy!!!!! NOOOO!!!!!", she screamed and dashed towards the fire. A
fireman managed to grab and hold her, while she kept on screaming Buffy's name. The house
groaned.

Buffy could feel the flames bite into her fingers. She couldn't see and all she heard were the roar
of the flames. "I am going to die", she realized. Strangely the thought of dying didn't fill Buffy
with dread. She was resigned. There was nothing to do about it. Death awaited.
The house suddenly shifted. Buffy felt the entire floor upon which she hung give away. She lost
her grip. She felt the hot air and smoke in the air as she fell towards the floor. "I love you all",
was her last thought, as she crashed onto the cement floor, as she fell into the hot fires. The 2nd
story floor landed upon her. Everything turned dark for the still young Slayer as her life slipped
away.

The house collapsed in on itself.

"No", Xander whimpered and looked upon the building. He felt pain deep in his very soul.
Xander looked upon the firemen in complete apathy.

"Buffy!", Willow screamed and struggled even harder then suddenly resigned to weeping. She
collapsed into a fetal ball on the cold wet grass. Her world seemed to have lost all reason.
Giles saw the walls collapse in on each other. "I failed", he whispered and cried again. His Slayer
had just died, and he had been helpless. He felt as if there was nothing left to fight for anymore.
As the house fell Jenny Calendar felt a loss of something she had barely known existed. She had
liked Buffy, respected her for her dedication to a unfair destiny and loved her Watcher. She knew
nothing would ever again be the same.

Angel screamed like an animal. He punched the earth as to punish it for her death. He felt like
his will to live was gone. He felt empty inside as if his soul had been ripped from him. Angel
raged crushing the life from the tree in the garden with a single blow.

He wanted revenge. He would avenge her and destroy every vampire he ever met. Angel fell to
his knees and remembered the blonde girl who had believed in his good side. Who had touched
his heart. Whom he would forever love. Angel screamed and thick tears of blood dripped onto
the weeds.