Chapter Two:

The wind blow a steam of leafs pasted the tall young man whom was dressed in jacket that nearly fall past him ankles, black was the only color he wore with the exception of a gold chain the hang around his neck.

He had dark features and dark brown hair in coloring, he looked normal enough that only thing that gave away that something might be different about him was his pale grey eyes looked hallow and cold, that and the two fangs that curved around the top of his mouth.

He hand craved around the hang of the crypt as he pulled the entrance to the tomb open with seemly super human strength and close it seal once more once he pass through to the other side. Inside the tomb reeked of decaying bodies and splatter blood, bones litter the floor of the crypt,

Not that he minded for a second of the unsanitary mess that lay about, it was all home to him, his world.

He continued on his way making to a trap door in the bottom of the tomb which it to he passed through, entering a system of caverns, twisting and weaving their way about.

He continued to head straight about half way before reaching his destination. A piecing scream echoed from ahead. Whoever the screamer was, they wouldn't last much longer,

The young Vamp moved through an archway, which was carved into the stone of the caves. Torches and candles lit the great chamber before him. Other Vampires could be seen scattered across the room. The only human figure in the room was a girl in her late 20's laying face down of the floor, clearly dead – the screams must have come from her. Pity really…that he wasn't there to join in with the fun, but that couldn't be helped.

"Joshua. " He looked up, hearing his name, though the word only came out as a low hiss that escaped the aged Vampire before him. Placed on a seat made of stone – his pale face filtered in the light of the candles placed closely around his throne.

Joshua looked at the creature before him, Cyril his master. Cyril's eyes looked the younger Vampire over, a look that would've pieced his very soul – if Joshua had had one

"Have you checked up on our…little problem lately?"

"No Cyril, I haven't. In fact I'm not exactly worried about it. Shouldn't take more than the end of the week to take care of it, that is if there isn't any problems."

"A week, huh? Not quite what I had hoped to hear from you, Joshua, but I assume that the reason for this delay has something to do with the fact that she hasn't suspected anything yet and you want to have a little fun this mission."

"Pretty much. She only knows what those dammed Watchers tell her, and that's pretty much only that your hear in Paris, planning something big. – As for me, well, let's just say that I'm one of your little secrets. Even if The Council found out it'd still be too late for her, long over in fact."

Cyril laughed a hollow sounding laugh as he added,

"Who would have thought a Vampire Slayer and a Vampire"

"Strange yes, absurd even, but then who am I to break up her little dream world? Too bad for her I'm not afraid to bite." Joshua couldn't help the slight smile that formed over his lips showing only the tips of his fangs at the thought.

~~*~~

Alex sat at one of the many tables in the mansion with his nose buried in a book, one of the many dumped over the large oak table. Alex scanned the open pages' contents and sighed with frustration as he once again come up short of his goal. He couldn't believe it! He had read nearly 30 chapters of the Watchers Vol. and not a thing about Cyril's plan in a single one of them.

Veronica and he had about a month left before whatever it was happened and they didn't even have a single clue as to where to start. This wasn't going to be an easy adventure, that was for sure.

Why couldn't the Watcher Council give them some kind of hand with this one? It was almost as if they expected Veronica to fail like the three Slayers before her and they, The Council, had decided not to bother anymore.

Alex snatched another book from the pile and began to scan the newest book's pages. As he did, he heard the sound of china coming somewhere from his left and in walked Emma with a tray full of tea, which the young girl placed carefully on the table, near one pile of books Alex had already checked. Emma glanced at the pile of books. Alex only looked up long enough from the one he was reading to mutter, 'thanks.'

"You know, we do have a Liberty here. I hardly think all of these are necessary to keep you entertained," Emma exclaimed, trying very hard to sound older and knowing exactly what she was talking about.

Alex held back a laugh at her comment.

"No, no, Emma, these book are for The Watcher's Council business. Very important"

The way he said 'business' you'd think he, personally was on a secret mission for the Queen or something, Emma thought.

"What kind of business? Anything I could help with?" Emma asked hopefully

As Alex caught her glaze she gave him a pleading look

"Oh, All right. I suppose you can help."

"Yay! Thanks so much Alex. Serena and Veron' never trusted me enough to do anything. They think I'm too little"

Alex got the feeling that no one truly believed in the young girl or, at least let her know, and with them gone all the time Emma must really be a lonely child, especially with what happened to her mother.

God, their mothers! He had almost forgotten about Grace. , Veronica hardly talked about it – but then that was like Veronica. She was closed off from the rest of the world, trying to be an enigma, a shadow. One of the main reasons he worried she was on the wrong path in life, though he wouldn't confront her with it. But Alex had this bad feeling that Veronica would ultimately lose herself and Alex prayed that it wouldn't be to death.

~~*~~

Veronica walked through the small garden that was almost hidden behind the Taylor Mansion. The garden itself was overgrown and had high hedges that made it more of a labyrinth than a true garden.

But for some reason Veronica felt safe, like she did in a graveyard.

As a child she had always liked the strange and even darker things of life. It was almost as if something wanted her to go down that path in life. In a way it made things ironic. Here she was the warrior of the people, when at the back of her mind all she wanted to do was have some peace and she had long ago figured out that peace of mind was death.

Wasn't like there wouldn't be a replacement a new Slayer would come to replace her. It was one of the written rules.

And yet at the same time, even though she wanted death, welcomed it, she felt that maybe fate had it's own ideas and would let her survive Cyril and maybe…. Why she going on about all this again? It wasn't healthy. It was just strange! Wrong even.

'God, this is a losing battle. No matter what I do I can't win this, Veronica thought to herself as she bowed her head. hoping not to cry.

"Pain, it communes the soul. The more the pain the darker you are, the closer you become to being the very thing you fight."

Veronica looked up at the person, or rather thing, that moved out of the shadow towards her. He was cloaked. Veronica stood up straight, all the while trying to see the face of the masked person,

"Who are you?" Veronica backed up slowly moving closer to the stone fountain, which was in the middle of the garden.

"Come now, you must know what fate looks like"

"Fate?"

Veronica reached into her jacket, gripping her stake waiting for the Vampire to make his move,

"Yes the fated, and believe me I'm not talking about the simplicity of your Slayer heritage. There's far more planned for you, all of which will come to pass in time"

"You don't what you're talking about"

"It'd surprise you, just how much I do know about all this. You should be careful for what you wish for: someone might give it to you."

Veronica was surprised at the statement. What was it that this Vampire knew other than her being the Slayer? How could he claim to know her wish? Veronica was surprised at how quickly all this had gotten to her, almost as if he himself had entered her mind

"Like I would fear a Vampire"

The Vampire showed no sign of hearing her. Instead he moved placed her towards the fountain. Looking into it, he signaled her to come closer. Veronica wondered why she suddenly had the feeling to obey him, no longer having the feeling of her controlling her own body. She followed suit; sitting at the edge of the fountain as she looked into it.

She saw the scene of horror, play out in front of her eyes.

Her sisters, all dead,

Even Alex,

Him too…what is this? …

Violent images played out before her -- over and over again, burning into her mind.

Suddenly she felt a wave of guilt

Not mine fault, how could this be my fault?

As the scenes played out before her Veronica couldn't bring herself to look away…she just couldn't.

As unreal as these scenes of the future, her future! She believed it and knew it was coming now; it was her fate.

Finally Veronica did the only thing she could thing of…

Veronica looked at the masked figure with tears in her eyes, tears of anger, those visions haunting her eyes as she lunged towards the vamp. He caught before she could do any real damage, but she still fought on and managed to land a punch at his head, causing him to drop her.

Veronica stood back up, in a fighting stance this time, not waiting for him to make a move. Veronica did a back flip, landed both feet on his chin snapping his jaw backwards as her foot landed; knocking the Vamp onto the ground

Veronica pulled out her stake. Grabbing him, she drove it into his heart. Veronica dropped him and as she did, the mask came off. She saw his face finally – as she watched him combust into ashes

The scene slowed down and slowly the face before her morphed into another…

Her own,

Veronica was left speechless as her clone turned into dust. As she finally let sink in just what had happened, she screamed…