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 5: Suspicions
It was Saturday morning for Joyce Summers. She had been up early and said goodbye to Hank,
who had slept with her again. They had gotten back together after Buffy's death, but they had
decided not to marry or move back together. Their relationship had too many scars to bear being
permanently together again. Their feelings had been rekindled, but they were still careful.

Joyce smiled. Hank showed much more concern for her, when he was her boyfriend. Maybe it
was better to keep men at a certain distance to keep their interest. Distance made the man
remember that there were still others in the running for the female. Joyce broke out of her
musings as she came out of the bathroom.

She heard a strange noise from Buffy's room. Hank kept trying to make her put Buffy's things
away. He said it kept too many wounds open, but Joyce couldn't. She felt it would be the same as
to forget her. Her beautiful daughter, who commited suicide, because of the harsh treatment of
her by her peers, her school and her mother.

Joyce ripped the door opened and looked inside. A window was open and the wind was making
the curtains dance like a ghost. Someone had been here, Joyce realized and stormed inside. She
looked around. Some of the white sheets had been moved. She opened the closets. They were all
empty. "Fuck. I'll kill the thief, who did this", she swore and searched the room.

Joyce was shaking with rage. Someone had broken in and had stolen all Buffy's clothes, her
jewelry, her make-up and a photo album. Joyce had called the police and reported everything to
the man they had sent. He was looking at the window frame right now. "This damage isn't
recent", he said and looked out on the lean-to. "It seems someone has been walking around up
here. Your burglar definitely came in this way", he replied and got back inside.

"Has this happened before?", he asked suspiciously and eyed the window sil. "No", Joyce bit him
off. "Oh, well I'll write up a report, but we don't have enough to go on, so I might as well warn
you that it's very unlikely that we'll find any of it again", he said and sighed deeply. "It's just too
many thieves out there Mrs Summers", he replied as she lead him downstairs. Joyce felt like
screaming, but she knew the man was right.

"Wait a minute. Was anything in there valuable?", he asked as he stood in front of the door.
Joyce thought for a while. "No, but it all had enormeous affectional value though. It was the
property of my dead daughter", she answered truthfully. The man suddenly seemed angry. "What
a low-life does something like that", he thought and said: "Maybe I'll pursue this further. It's very
unusual for a thief to take something like that. Do you know of anyone, who would want stuff
like that? Did she have any boyfriends?". Joyce shook her head.

"You see my daughter Buffy commited suicide a while after she was accused of manslaughter,
which she was acquited from incidentally. She only had a few very close friends, but none of
them would even think off, let alone be capable of, such an act", she explained. The man's
shoulders sagged again.

"I'll let you know, if I find anything", he said and turned to leave. Suddenly he pointed at a
picture of Buffy, Willow and Xander sitting on the lawn laughing. "Is she one of those?", he
asked. "Yes, the small blond one in the middle", Joyce answered. The policeman nodded. "She
was very beautiful", he commented thoughtfully and walked outside. "Bye", he said and left.
Joyce sighed in resignation and went to call Willow and tell Buffy's friend the terrible news.
Officer James O'Neill walked away from the Summers house lost in thought.

Buffy lifted the heavy bags and walked up the creaking stairs. She had spent several hundred
dollars stocking her apartment and paying off her landlord. She had bought new clothes,
earrings, food, a refrigerator, a TV, a small electrical stove, a large closet, a couch, a bed, a table,
a new mirror for the very small bathroom, a mat and some other stuff to train with. She had also
bought a few electrical heating units. She was just moving the last things inside.

Buffy looked around her new place. It would double as a home and gym. She just needed to hang
the sand bags from the steel hooks in the ceiling, and she would be ready. Willy would be having
a very bad time right now. Finally exhausted with the long night and the morning spent shopping
and carrying heavy loads she dropped onto her still plastic covered bed and fell into a deep
pleasant sleep.

"You won't believe it!", Willow raged as she walked in behind Oz. "What's wrong?", Xander
asked and looked at Oz for information. "Someone broke into Buffy's room last night and stole
almost everything", Willow said and looked at Angel. He jumped up. "What?", Wendy asked,
she had been in Giles office sharpening stakes.

"I'm beginning to see a pattern here", Giles declared. "I think that someone, who either loved or
hated her very much is trying to gather or wipe out every physical memory of her. It all began
after Spike came to town", he explained. Xander whistled. "It's the most logical conclusion to
assume that he did it, but he hasn't been invited into Buffy's house as has no other vampire but
me", Angel said and looked up towards the sun shining at the drawn curtains.

"No, it all began on the exact death day of Buffy", Oz commented and dropped into a chair.
Everybody looked at him. Wendy suddenly snapped her fingers. "Weren't the first attacks by that
cloaked thing on the same night?", she asked and looked at Giles. He seemed lost in thought and
didn't react. "That would make it just as likely a suspect", he finally answered and sighed. "I had
hoped for an ally, but this could very well mean that the Cloaked One is just an alias for some
greater evil than Spike", he sat down in a chair like everybody else and sighed once more.

"Angel you got the best look at that sword. Could you describe it to us?", Willow broke the
pained silence. "Way ahead of you. I spent most of the morning drawing it", he said, "I don't
know why, but that thing filled me with dread and those things I remember". Angel handed the
paper to Giles, who held out his hand. He looked at the picture. "I didn't know that you could
draw so well", he said and smiled.

"It gives me something to do on the days when I can't sleep", Angel replied silently and then
whispered, " so I get a lot of practice". "Wendy. You seem to be able to hear it, when it stalks us.
Could you try to stay alert, while we research this creature?", Giles asked. Wendy nodded and
walked up amongst the stacks.

"Giles. You'll have to step up her training now. Spike will be more powerful than ever, and this
creature is even more powerful than that", Angel said. Giles nodded sadly, this decision would
cost the girl the last of her precious free time. "Let's hit the books", Willow said and grabbed one
of Jenny's sandwiches.

"I think I found a picture of it", Xander said and pointed to a black and white drawing in an
ancient tome. The back read: "The Sepulcher". Giles bent forward and looked at the drawing.
"Here", Xander said and handed him the book. Giles read the text below the picture: "The Sword
of Torin". He looked at the picture once again, so did Angel.

"No, that isn't it. The handle is too elaborate", he said. Xander sighed and grabbed the book back.
"Damn, it's late. I have to go see, if anyone of my contacts have heard any thing of either Spike
or that cloaked thing", Angel said and left. Willow moved her chair a little. Everyone was busy.

The clock was well past eleven. Giles and the others were discussing which of the swords they
had found were the right one. Suddenly the phone rang. Giles hurried over to pick it up. "Yes, it's
me. I'm listening", Giles paused to listen then laughed harshly. "Bye", he hung up and walked to
the end of the table.

"It seems that our dear friend Willy has had unwelcome visitors last night. The cloaked bitch, as
Willy calls her, walked in to his bar and broke his jaw with one punch. Then she walked out
again with his entire cache of money. He explained to Angel, as he visited him in the hospital,
that it was around two thousand dollars", Giles told them and smiled.

"Wait a minute, how could he explain anything, if his jaw was broken", Willow asked and
looked around. Xander purposedly bent forward and wrote something on a piece of paper. "Oh",
she said and leaned back in her chair. "Anyway Angel is coming back here to help us right now",
Giles explained and sat down. "I still think my candidate is right", Willow said and jabbed her
finger at a book open before her. The discussion began anew.

It was well past midnight. "I give up", Xander said and yawned. Oz blinked and shook his head.
"Well, I think that we should stop. There doesn't seem to be any record of either the creature nor
the long sword", Willow suggested and slammed a heavy book down. Giles rubbed his eyes and
put his round glasses back into place.

"Yes, you're right of course. We might as well call it a day and go home", he said and got up. He
still had to put the large piles of books away. "I'll go out and see if anyone has seen Spike yet",
Angel said and stalked away. The tired teens and Miss Calendar began cleaning the desk and
putting the last stuff away. They all needed sleep. Wendy had gone off to patrol her town hours
ago.

Like a shadow Buffy walked through Sunnydale. She was looking for her enemy. She was
looking for Spike. Suddenly she heard the noise of fighting. Buffy looked over the low wall
surrounding the small park.

Inside a large male vampire was fighting against a small darkhaired girl. It's latest victim lay in
the pale light of a streetlight. Buffy saw the bitten girl still breathing. She heard a wail. The dark
haired girl flew through the air and hammered against the lamp post. Buffy shook her head. Her
replacement needed help.

Wendy fought to regain her breath. She was fighting her third vampire already, and it had
surprised her. Her chest felt like it was burning, and she couldn't breathe properly. The vampire
closed the distance between them.

"Don't ever give up", Giles' voice said in the back of her head as he had told her a thousand times
during practice, when he had beaten her with a staff or held a sword to her throat. The vampire
growled and got ready to lunge at her. This could be the end of her life.

Suddenly another voice spoke from the darkness. "Hey. Why fight a snack like her, if you can
get your teeth into a real feast like me", it said.

Wendy gasped and looked to her right. The vampire turned and growled threateningly at the
cloaked figure standing there. "Who are you?", the creature asked. "I have come to save your
soul", the figure said. A sword seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the being's right hand. The
vampire broke into a headlong charge and tried to rush his enemy.

Buffy saw the creature coming. She spun the sword over her head and swept it forward while
taking a step towards her enemy.

It's head flew past her.

The body rapidly disintegrated into dust. Buffy drew back her sword and turned on her heels.
She wanted to go away before the Slayer regained her breath and poise. Buffy stopped dead.
Wendy stood in her way.

"All right. I've had enough of your act. Who and what are you?", Wendy demanded and readied
into a combat stance. Buffy sighed and held out her empty hands in a gesture of surrender.
Wendy didn't move. "Look. I just want the truth then you can leave", she said and gestured
towards the dark figure hidden in a cloak standing silently before her.

She felt a shiver going down her spine as she stared into the dark recesses of the hood. The cold
light of the lampposts didn't penetrate the darkness even though it should have. There were no
face or chin visible only darkness. Nothing happened. "Hey are you even listening to me?", she
asked again.

"I am listening", Buffy finally answered, "it's just not any of your business who or what I am.
Believe me when I say that I'm not your enemy". Buffy turned to leave the other way.

Wendy reacted as fast as she could and grabbed hold of shoulders of the creature. The cloak was
warm from the creature underneath. The creature at least couldn't be a vampire.

Buffy acted as fast as she could. First she elbowed the Slayer in the chest. She spuns around and
hammered the surprised Slayer on the side of her head.

Wendy became crosseyed and collapsed to the ground. The last thing she heard before
unconciousness claimed her was the One's steps disappearing into the night.

Wendy woke up. The early morning sun warmed her and made the birds chirp all around her.
Slowly the Slayer pushed herself to her feet. Wendy looked around. "Oh, no. I'm in so much
trouble", she cursed and began to run. After a few steps she groggily stopped and held out a hand
to support herself against the lamp post. She was still dizzy from the Cloaked One's punch.
"She knockouted me with a single blow", Wendy thought in bewilderment as she began the long
walk home to a hopefully still sleeping family.

Sunday afternoon...

Buffy walked in silence between the large warehouses. She felt bad, because
she had punched her replacement late last night. The Cloaked One's reputation was becoming
more and more unsavory. Buffy had punched a good person, because she had tried to stop her
from going away. She had been forced to protect a secret she didn't even want.

That also bothered her. Buffy knew that she had been changed by her death. She didn't know
how or even why she had returned. Alright she knew that she had been returned to Sunnydale to
fight some evil, which wasn't meant to be, and that she had to do this without her friends or
family knowing about her return. She couldn't reveal her identity. So someone had commanded
her. Buffy kicked an empty can. "If I could only remember why", she cursed and resumed her
walk.

The phone rang in Giles' living room. He was laying on the couch with a book on his face. He
had fallen asleep reading. Slowly the aging librarian reached for it. "This is Rupert Giles", he
said and listened for a response. "Hi, Giles", Wendy's voice said at the other end.

"Oh, hi Wendy How did the patrol go last night?", he asked and drew himself up to a sitting
position. "Badly. I got two vampires and fought a third, but that Cloaked thing killed it. Then
when I questioned it, it knocked me unconcious", she explained. "What!", Giles shouted. Wendy
didn't answer. "You fought it?", he asked. "N-No, as I said. It completely surprised me. First it
hammered all the air out of me, then it put my lights out with one punch", she answered ashamed
of her defeat. Giles took at few seconds to ask his next question.

"Did you learn anything about it?", he asked. "Well it fights so fast that it almost moves in a blur.
I didn't even see it's hands moving before it hit me. The vampires were right though. It's has the
shape and voice of a normal girl as far as I could tell for the cloak. Oh and it seems able to cloak
itself for real in somekind of darkness", she explained. Giles thought it over.

"Hmm, as you're still alive, we can ascertain that it doesn't want you dead. It could have killed
you easily. Secondly it seems that we're looking for an aggressive being with high strength and
incredible speed. For now don't confront it again. We'll have to wait for some extra books on the
subject I have ordered from the Council", Giles said. "I have to go now", Wendy said as a voice
spoke to her in the background.

"Bye Giles", she whispered. "Bye Slayer", he mumbled and hung up. "This is not good, and it
seems that our new townspook is a shaky ally at best. Why? Why can't I figure out what it is?
Who is the One?", he thought and sat down at his desk. Giles began to leaf through the
Pergamum Codex to see if it mentioned anything about the One in the Slayer Prophecies.

After nightfall...

Slowly the figure rose from it's sleep. It was still covered in the dried blood and
gore from it's night of war. "Revenge", the blond vampire screamed into the empty sewer.
Around him lay the leftovers of his unfortunate victims. Spike walked off into the deep darkness
of the sewers. He needed an army. He needed warriors. He wanted to kill his enemies.
Monday morning... Buffy walked down the road towards the mall. She needed some new clothes
and some magazines. She didn't even know, what time of the year or even what clothes and
hairstyles are in these days. "This calls for a major shopping spree", she said, as she walked into
the newly refurnished mall complex. Buffy hummed a happy tune and set about spending more
of Willy's hard earned cash.

Later...

Officer James O'Niell from the Sunnydale police was having a fairly bad day. He had just
come from the mall. There had been a spree of shoplifters these last few days. He had picked up
the latest batch of video surveillance tapes. He had to watch hour upon hour of boring video with
people coming and going through the entrances of mall and the stores. O'Niell sat down heavily
before the TV and popped the first tape into the video. A black and white picture flickered across
the screen. O'Niell leaned back and began his work.

"BAM BAM BAM", the sound echoed through the library. Wendy was venting her anger at the
sandbag. Willow was sifting through one of Giles' new books on magical and mystical weapons.
"BOOM", the sandbag suddenly flew of the chain and landed on the floor a few feet away. Giles
looked up from his studies. "That is enough Wendy", he said.

Wendy didn't listen. Instead she kicked the sandbag as hard as she could. She was sweating from
the exercise. "Stop!", Giles commanded. Wendy stiffened and turned to face her Watcher.

"Wendy. You only lost a fight. There is no need to be so aggressive", he commented. Wendy
scowled back at the sandbag. "It's not because of the cloaked critter. I nearly lost a fight with an
ordinary vampire. I'm not good enough. I just have to train harder", she said and went over to
pick up the sandbag. Giles sighed. He couldn't say more to appease her.

Willow turned a page. The left page of the ancient tome showed a sketch of a long sword. The
grip was simple and long, the pommel was unadorned and the guard looked like two feathery
wings. Willow gasped and grabbed her copy of Angel's drawing. The pictures matched. "Giles",
she shouted, "I found it!".

Giles and Wendy dropped everything and ran to the redhaired girl. Willow looked at the picture
in the book once again. The inscription read: Behold the sword of the Messenger. "Giles? What
Messenger?", Willow asked and looked up at the puzzled librarian. "The Messenger", Giles
muttered and remember one of the passages of the Slayer Prophecies:
"Beware of the Messenger for it shall be heralded by death. Beware of the Messenger for it's
appearance shall portent great woe and a Slayer long dead shall be forgotten. Beware of the
Messenger for it shall overpower the Slayer, and all will come to an end after that".

Giles suddenly had a sinking feeling in his stomach. This prophecy had always been one of those
everyone wished didn't exist. "Giles?", Wendy asked as she saw the suddenly pale Watcher,
"What's wrong?". "This is very bad. The Messenger is a portent of very bad times according to
Slayer Lore. It supposed to appear in the days of the end. The One could be an agent of the most
horrendous evil ever to exist or just an observer. No one knows for certain", he explained and sat
down.

"This is bad", Wendy remarked, "I say we capture that thing and find out for sure". Wendy
smiled. She badly wanted a rematch. "No", Giles said and rose, "we have to find out what it is
exactly. We're playing a dangerous game here, and only through knowledge can we win".
Willow smirked. "Strike another one down for the information age", she commented.

James popped another tape into the VCR and yawned. It was almost dark outside. "Oh, well it's
the last one", he said and leaned back with his still smoking coffee cup. Slowly black and white
pictures rolled in front of him. They showed the Mall, as it had been this morning. The tape
showed the entrance.

Suddenly a beautiful young girl walked in. She had blond hair and an even tan. The coffee cup
slowly fell from his hands. James gasped. The coffee cup smashed onto the floor. "She said, she
was dead", he stammered and jumped to his feet. The picture was frozen. James looked closer
trying to determine, if he was right. He didn't have a doubt. He had been called out to a break-in
and theft just this Saturday, and he still remembered the picture of the smiling girl, whom the
mother had said was dead.

This was the very same girl.

James always a sucker for a mystery popped the video out again and packed up. He had the
report about the theft somewhere, and if the girl had died there would be a report somewhere
with her name on it. He had already identified the shoplifters his partner could make the arrests.
James wanted to solve this new mystery as well. On his way out he stepped in the remains of his
coffee. James didn't notice.

Spike towered over the sorry remains of the vampires of Sunnydale. Their mightiest warriors and
greatest thinkers had all been eliminated during these last nights. Nights which should have
meant the end of the Slayer and her helpers had become their undoing, because of a mysterious
cloaked figure and her amazing fighting skills.

"You are all weak", he bellowed. The group around him slowly drew away. "But it doesn't matter
anymore. We have been beaten. But that doesn't matter anymore either. I have returned!", he
screamed and threw both of his hands up. "We need to destroy our enemies. And I have a plan",
he said and jumped off the heavy wooden table.

James looked through his disorganized notes. He always tried to write everything down. "Ah
here", he mumbled and looked over his notes to the Summers case. He ran his finger down the
paper. It stopped at a single word: "Buffy". "Got ya", he thought and turned on the computer to
his left. Sunnydale had enough money for a very modern police force. James clicked on the Case
File search feature and typed in: "Buffy Summers" as the keywords.

The computer rapidly looked through the police files of the last three years that were online. The
screen brought up a report. "Uh. It seems you have quite a record my dear", James thought and
began reading.

"Accused of arson. Acquitted. Multiple suspicions of violence and gang crime. Never proven.
Present at several crime scenes. Accused of manslaughter of a mass-murderer. Acquitted.
Commited suicide by burning in the Spring of 1998. Clearly identified by family and friends", he
mumbled as he scanned through Buffy's file.

"Amazing", he said and shook his head. Either this girl had a picture perfect twin or she had
faked her death. James O'Neill was astounded. She had seemed so different in the picture so at
peace and happy, but her record spoke of a life lived on the edge, a life lived with criminals not
friends. "I guess I'll have to look into this... Tomorrow", he thought and grabbed his jacket.