"I'm telling you Buffy, there was someone there." Xander had to quicken up the pace as Buffy sped up in front of him, entering the first Sunnydale cemetery of the night. It had been a while since he had been on patrols with her and he'd forgotten that you had to keep up or stay home. "She was gorgeous." Buffy stopped and turned to look at her friend, she'd heard him repeat that same thing at least a dozen times. Maybe she had him under a spell? Wait no it was Xander, all he thinks about is sex. No matter how much older he gets he'll always be the same to Buffy.

Buffy decided to change the subject back to some familiar territory. "So how are thing with you and Anya?" Xander stayed quiet for second before responding, telling Buffy that things were pretty much the same as they had been since the World didn't end.

Once again from afar a pair of eyes glowed in the distance, locked on to the Slayer with deadly intent. The face only covered over with a shadowed veil still let through the look of a wicked smile. "Let's see how strong you are, pretty girl." The figure began to chant in an unrecognisable language, the dialect was old and seemed almost forgotten. It pierced the air with a silent hum, a cry that had not been heard in centuries. The ground beneath began to shake ever so slightly, hardly noticeable. The figure held out its arms and as it did two snakes slithered their way down its body before shooting into the ground with force. A violent hiss erupted but then there was silence.

"At one point I thought she was going to leave but I've begun to realise that…" Buffy froze, and slowly scanned the area. She held up a hand behind her to show Xander to be quiet and for him not to move. Xander quickly obliged and wondered what Buffy had sensed. "Did you hear that?" Slowly creeping forward Buffy made her way through the gravestones in a zig zag pattern, crossing diagonally to where their watcher had been standing. "I don't think we're alone, I felt it when I was out with Dawn too." But her attention was soon drawn elsewhere as she saw two figures hobbling towards them. "Great." Buffy said silently before drawing a stake out from under her coat. "Xander heads up" She pointed towards their attackers, but there was something weird about them they were moving far too slowly compared to the normal hack and slash demons she was use to facing.

As Xander pulled out a stake also he heard dirt erupting from the ground behind him as he turned he found a body clawing itself out of a grave. "Err… Buffy." But she was more worried about the first two attackers. On approaching them she saw disfigured faces and rotten clothing. It was far from the normal vampire attire, but maybe they had just risen. Charging at them with force she jumped with arms stretched out knocking both aggressors to the hard muddy ground of the graveyard. Xander on the other hand was having much more trouble but with only one, as the corpse had slowly pulled itself upwards it had scrambled to his feet and set its sights on Xander. Swinging a punch at it seemed to have no affect, the first time he missed and the second he hurt his hand. He swung round looking for help from Buffy.

Buffy rolled back and pushed herself up right with her hands. She caught the sight of her two attackers still coming. She gave a roundhouse kick to one of their faces, but it only seemed momentarily stunned. From what Buffy could tell the two she was fighting both seemed to be male but it was hard to tell through all the dirt and rotten flesh. She decided to take her chances and bound towards the two and thrust the stake into the first ones chest as far as she could. There was a terrible sound of tearing flesh as blood began to ooze from the wound caused by the stake. Buffy smiled but as she looked up the inhuman face of her attacked screeched loud causing her to move back with haste. Her stake still protruding from its body, Buffy seemed bewildered. "Xander they're not vampires!" As she shouted out to him her other attack grabbed hold of her arm pulling her stunned body back towards the two.

"Yeah, I got that." His attacker had tried to grab hold of him many times and all Xander had managed to do was push him back. "But Buffy…" Xander looked round at the graveyard. "We have bigger problems." The foul stench of death filled the air as more of the same foes littered the grounds and as they spoke even more were raising from their graves.

Willow dare not look up at the shadowy figure that now stood in front of her. She seemed petrified though she had no real reason to be. She'd faced countless numbers of demons and hell beasts in Sunnydale, why should she be afraid of someone who is trying to help her. "To begin your recovery process, you must first find your centre. The place where you feel safe. It is only then that we can begin to help with your craving of the dark magic's and of power.

Willow was confused, her centre? What does that mean? She hadn't noticed at first but the leader seemed to be holding a staff by his side, she could have sworn it wasn't there a minute ago. The cloaked figures around her in the circle still hadn't moved or said a word. They all seemed to be in perfect harmony with each other. "We must begin." She heard the words but she wasn't quite expecting what happened next. The leader's staff cracked down on the cold surface beneath them and as he did a pentagram appeared sparkling with light on the stone surface. Willow looked down and noticed she was in the exact middle and she became increasingly afraid of the following seconds. The others members of the coven began to chant low and deep, one voice was not recognisable above the rest they were completely in sync with each other.

The coven seemed to pull down their hoods all at the same time, but there were no faces there was just a magnificent light that appeared from each. As Willow looked forward she seemed to be completely content to stay in that moment forever. The leader of the coven's hood fell down and as it did Willow was shocked into disbelief. "It can't be." She stood cold unable to move or say a word. "Baby?" Her voice almost a whisper as her eyes traced down the lines of her lover as Tara stood before her with a smile on her lips.