1 Sunnydale, August 2003
The sun shone fiercely, glaring down on the almost sizzling pavement. In the sluggish heat of noontime in August, Sunnydale was almost a dead town. Anyone with the slightest amount of sense was indoors where it was at least mildly cooler. Waves of heat rose up from the ground, slowly frying the inhabitants of the city into mindless, sweaty, glaze eyed sloths.
A bell tinkled in the heat induced silence. The occupants of the Magic Shoppe indifferently turned their heads to see who the intruder was. Even Anya, the usually chipper and cheerful saleswoman, only managed very mild interest to the prospect of a potential customer, before seeing that it was just a five or six year old girl, and slumping back down in her chair, not even bothering to give the girl a word of warning not to break anything.
The girl was a skinny child, but meticulously dressed in crisp red shorts and a yellow T-shirt with a smiley face on it. She shuffled up to the middle of the shop and just stood there, looking a bit confused. After five minutes of silence and immobility, seeing that no concerned parent or guardian had yet rushed in the shop, Anya sighed and approached the child.
" Little girl, have you lost your Mommy?"
The girl stared at Anya for a moment and then shyly shook her head no. Growing a little impatient, Anya crouched down in front of the child.
"Then why are you here?"
The girl looked at Anya gravely with clear gray eyes and uttered one word.
" Hi."
Anya looked at the girl curiously and tentatively responded,
"Hi."
The girl smiled sweetly. In the lilting lisp of childhood, she announced,
" I'ma looking for Bahfee Summers."
Hearing her name mentioned, Buffy pulled her head off the table and shook herself out of her stupor. When she saw the little girl, she smiled and approached her.
"Hi. I'm Buffy."
The little girl looked at her hard, studying Buffy with wise intelligent eyes. After several moments had passed, she announced,
" My name is Anna. My daddy said that you were purdy. But I think that you're purdier than he said so."
Buffy blushed at the compliment, but was struck suddenly by the strangeness of this encounter. Who was this little girl, how did she know her, and who was her "daddy"? The gang, who had risen from their little siesta, was watching the scene with curiosity.
" Anna, who's your daddy?" Buffy asked.
The girl blushed a little and then shook her dark curls back and forth,
" He's not really my daddy. He's my adaw...ado...adopt'd daddy. I used ta live at the Ivy Crown Orphanage. He stopped the scary people from eating me las' year after they ate everybody. Susan 'n Amy 'n Maddy 'n everyone got aten 'n everything was all red but my daddy tol' me they went ta heaven and killed all the scary people."
The gang, fully awake now, shuddered at the reference. Last year, a private orphanage just outside of New York had been attacked. The masscred corpses of 45 children and all the staff had been found. The incident had been in international news...no survivors, bodies drained of blood, two telltale holes in every infantine neck. They had explained it as a cult killing, but the gang knew better. It had obviously been vampires, and very bloodthirsty and sick ones at that, but the disturbing thing was, the Council had investigated it, and had found no trace of any implicated party. There had been reports of a large vampire nest in the area dating from several weeks before the attack, but after the attack, it seemed as if the 40 odd demons had just disappeared off the face of the earth. Evidently, someone had killed the perpetrators. Buffy grew very serious.
" Anna, can you tell me who your daddy is? And where he is?"
Again, the girl shook her head.
" I can't tell you. My daddy doesn't know I'ma here. But he tol' me so many nice stories about Buffy the Sla...Slayer, and I wanted to see if you were as purdy as he tol' me. Please don't tell Daddy, he's gonna get quiet and sad 'n he'll be mad cuz he's gonna say I was bad that there are monsters in the daytime too. But I don' believe him 'cuz the only monsters I saw came at night, and growled."
Buffy carefully chose her next words.
" How did you know I was the Slayer, Anna?"
The girl smiled.
" My daddy tol' me so. My daddy has lotsa nightmares, and he always keeps on saying 'I'm sorry'. I axed him who he was sorry to and he tol' me there was a very purdy girl named Buffy and she was a Slayer, and that he was mean to her before 'n...."
Anna was cut off as the door to the Magic Shoppe burst open and a blur of black and white rushed towards Anna. The man who had just barged in had swept the little girl up into his arms and was holding her frantically, berating the child all the while.
" Anna luv, don't ever do that to me again. How many times have I told you, there are monsters in the daytime too. Do you know how much I searched for you? I...I..."
" Spike?"
The sun shone fiercely, glaring down on the almost sizzling pavement. In the sluggish heat of noontime in August, Sunnydale was almost a dead town. Anyone with the slightest amount of sense was indoors where it was at least mildly cooler. Waves of heat rose up from the ground, slowly frying the inhabitants of the city into mindless, sweaty, glaze eyed sloths.
A bell tinkled in the heat induced silence. The occupants of the Magic Shoppe indifferently turned their heads to see who the intruder was. Even Anya, the usually chipper and cheerful saleswoman, only managed very mild interest to the prospect of a potential customer, before seeing that it was just a five or six year old girl, and slumping back down in her chair, not even bothering to give the girl a word of warning not to break anything.
The girl was a skinny child, but meticulously dressed in crisp red shorts and a yellow T-shirt with a smiley face on it. She shuffled up to the middle of the shop and just stood there, looking a bit confused. After five minutes of silence and immobility, seeing that no concerned parent or guardian had yet rushed in the shop, Anya sighed and approached the child.
" Little girl, have you lost your Mommy?"
The girl stared at Anya for a moment and then shyly shook her head no. Growing a little impatient, Anya crouched down in front of the child.
"Then why are you here?"
The girl looked at Anya gravely with clear gray eyes and uttered one word.
" Hi."
Anya looked at the girl curiously and tentatively responded,
"Hi."
The girl smiled sweetly. In the lilting lisp of childhood, she announced,
" I'ma looking for Bahfee Summers."
Hearing her name mentioned, Buffy pulled her head off the table and shook herself out of her stupor. When she saw the little girl, she smiled and approached her.
"Hi. I'm Buffy."
The little girl looked at her hard, studying Buffy with wise intelligent eyes. After several moments had passed, she announced,
" My name is Anna. My daddy said that you were purdy. But I think that you're purdier than he said so."
Buffy blushed at the compliment, but was struck suddenly by the strangeness of this encounter. Who was this little girl, how did she know her, and who was her "daddy"? The gang, who had risen from their little siesta, was watching the scene with curiosity.
" Anna, who's your daddy?" Buffy asked.
The girl blushed a little and then shook her dark curls back and forth,
" He's not really my daddy. He's my adaw...ado...adopt'd daddy. I used ta live at the Ivy Crown Orphanage. He stopped the scary people from eating me las' year after they ate everybody. Susan 'n Amy 'n Maddy 'n everyone got aten 'n everything was all red but my daddy tol' me they went ta heaven and killed all the scary people."
The gang, fully awake now, shuddered at the reference. Last year, a private orphanage just outside of New York had been attacked. The masscred corpses of 45 children and all the staff had been found. The incident had been in international news...no survivors, bodies drained of blood, two telltale holes in every infantine neck. They had explained it as a cult killing, but the gang knew better. It had obviously been vampires, and very bloodthirsty and sick ones at that, but the disturbing thing was, the Council had investigated it, and had found no trace of any implicated party. There had been reports of a large vampire nest in the area dating from several weeks before the attack, but after the attack, it seemed as if the 40 odd demons had just disappeared off the face of the earth. Evidently, someone had killed the perpetrators. Buffy grew very serious.
" Anna, can you tell me who your daddy is? And where he is?"
Again, the girl shook her head.
" I can't tell you. My daddy doesn't know I'ma here. But he tol' me so many nice stories about Buffy the Sla...Slayer, and I wanted to see if you were as purdy as he tol' me. Please don't tell Daddy, he's gonna get quiet and sad 'n he'll be mad cuz he's gonna say I was bad that there are monsters in the daytime too. But I don' believe him 'cuz the only monsters I saw came at night, and growled."
Buffy carefully chose her next words.
" How did you know I was the Slayer, Anna?"
The girl smiled.
" My daddy tol' me so. My daddy has lotsa nightmares, and he always keeps on saying 'I'm sorry'. I axed him who he was sorry to and he tol' me there was a very purdy girl named Buffy and she was a Slayer, and that he was mean to her before 'n...."
Anna was cut off as the door to the Magic Shoppe burst open and a blur of black and white rushed towards Anna. The man who had just barged in had swept the little girl up into his arms and was holding her frantically, berating the child all the while.
" Anna luv, don't ever do that to me again. How many times have I told you, there are monsters in the daytime too. Do you know how much I searched for you? I...I..."
" Spike?"