CHAPTER TWENTY: MISTAKEN IDENTITY
Buffy was halfway through the cemetery when the heavens opened up and the rain began to pour down heavily. She shivered in the cold and wrapped her jacket around her a little more tightly.
She hadn't even made it to the exit when a group of about five vampires had sprung up from one of the crypts. She hadn't realised that there had been a nest so close by. She and Spike should have heard about that before now. She could only shrug and retrieve her stake from behind her back as the group of vamps realised they'd come across the Slayer.
The rain was making it a little hard to see and was throwing off her sense of timing. She couldn't sense how close the vampires were to her, and their superior eyesight made it easier for them to get in cheap shots at her expense. She had dusted two of them when one of the remaining three had turned his attention away from her and had looked directly behind her.
Buffy followed his line of sight, quickly staking one of the other two vampires who had also been attracted to the new scent in the air.
The first vampire who had turned pounced towards the newcomer, and Buffy was distracted by a kick to the face from the other remaining vamp. She ducked to avoid another blow and grappled with the vampire for a moment before finally seeing an opening and thrusting a stake into his heart.
Buffy quickly scanned the area around her and saw a scuffle going on behind one of the taller headstones. She couldn't see very well in the rain, but by the sounds of it, someone was working off some serious aggression. She stepped closer, her stake still raised, uncertain as to whether the newcomer was friend or foe.
She watched as the vampire received a stick to the heart, looking decidedly annoyed as he turned to dust. Buffy watched as a young woman tried to pull herself together, trying to wipe the grime away from her face, but only succeeding in spreading the mud further across her face.
The girl stood up shakily and Buffy finally got a better look at her. The girl from the hospital. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She couldn't understand how a girl who was obviously capable of kicking some vampire ass had been subjugated by a group of vamps for at least a month.
Somehow, in the pondering, the question had been answered in itself. Spike had mentioned that vampires liked the free feed, which meant that the girl would have been kept weak to avoid her running away from them. The hospital would have given her a transfusion to get her blood count back up to normal, and even though the girl had seemed a little shaky at first, she had definitely had a lot of potential.
The girl stared at Buffy for a moment, raising the stick that she had plunged into the other vampire. Buffy immediately backed down, her hands going up in the air as a sign of friendship. The girl stared at her a little more closely and recognised her.
"You're the girl from the hospital," she commented.
Buffy nodded and managed a small smile. "That's pretty much what I was about to say to you."
The girl regarded Buffy cautiously, never letting her eyes leave the tiny girls frame. Buffy's size was always a constant source of amusement to most vampires in Sunnydale. It gave her the advantage of being underestimated however. No one could understand how someone in such a small body could wield so much power.
"Where's the vamp you were with last night?" the girl asked.
'Direct and to the point,' Buffy thought.
"He's at home. Probably sleeping or watching Passions," she replied.
Buffy had intended to confuse the girl and it had worked like a charm.
"Passions?"
"Yeah. Some lame-ass soap-opera that he got addicted to. He and my mom used to watch it together," Buffy said, a slight smile on her face as she thought of her mom.
The girl looked completely thrown and she leant her weight against a headstone, trying to keep herself standing.
"But…he's a vampire."
"Yeah. He's a good guy thought. Pretty funny once you get to know him. He's harmless," Buffy said. She almost winced at the though. He could harm her now though. The only person on the planet that he could actually hit without getting an electronic migraine and it just had to be her.
"But…you killed those other vamps. Why would you let him live?" she asked.
"Those other vamps are killers. It's…my job I guess. Fate or destiny," Buffy said.
The girl paled and Buffy immediately felt a stab of worry pass through her.
"You okay?"
The girl looked up, white as a sheet.
"You're the Slayer?" she asked.
Buffy nodded, a little surprised that the girl had known who and what she was. It wasn't often that people knew about her calling, and it was even less often that people told her that they knew.
"The Slayer before you…what was her name?" the girl asked.
Buffy was shocked at that question. She had never asked Merrick or Giles the name of the girl before her. She hadn't really wanted to know, hadn't really wanted to think about someone who had died in her own line of work. She had never wanted to think about the person who would one day take over from her, but had inadvertently ended up meeting not only the first replacement, but the second and third as well.
"Uh…I don't know. I never asked," Buffy replied.
Buffy heard the girl swallow loudly and if Buffy hadn't have been the Slayer, she would never have heard the whispered name that crossed the girl's lips.
"Rik."
Buffy looked up in shock. Her first suspicion had been right. This girl did know Rik. And, now, this girl thought that Rik was dead.
"Did you just say Rik?" Buffy asked.
The girl looked up, tears in her eyes, and nodded.
"Rik as in Erika Wylcroft?" Buffy asked.
Again the girl nodded.
"I'm not her replacement," Buffy said, watching as the girl took the news in. The girl looked up with hope written clearly in her eyes.
"But…there's only meant to be one Slayer at a time. I mean…if you're the Slayer, how could you have been called if you're not her replacement?"
"Long story short, I've been the Slayer for six years now," Buffy said. "I died for about a minute, activating another Slayer, she died, which meant another one, and then she killed herself, which meant Rik was called."
The girl swayed unsteadily and Buffy rushed to her side, putting a hand on the girls arm to keep her standing. She didn't miss the almost unnoticeable flinch, but there was too much happening inside her head to push Buffy away from her.
"So…you know Rik then?" she asked hopefully.
Buffy nodded and gave a small smile. "Yeah, she's here. In Sunnydale."
The girl suddenly smiled brilliantly as though everything had suddenly been righted for the first time in her life. Buffy took a step back from her and suddenly everything clicked into place.
This girl had been subjected to all sorts of horrors for the last month. And, a month ago, Rik's best friend had given her own life in place of Rik. Two weeks later, Rik's Watcher had been turned, and Rik had been sent to Sunnydale, her stalker vampiric Watcher coming after her with his own pet.
Buffy stared at the girl and swallowed hard.
"You're Katiana aren't you?" she asked quietly.
The girl looked up, obviously shocked.
"How…how did you know that?" she asked.
Buffy smiled softly and leant on the headstone opposite the girl.
"Rik told me about you. About what you did for her. She…she was devastated, but…at the same time I think she realised how great a friend you were to be willing to do that for her," Buffy said.
Katiana just nodded, a tear slipping down her cheeks, mingling with the rain drops already on her face.
"She…she's my best friend. Ever since we were little."
Buffy grinned and stood up straight.
"You wanna go see her?"
Katiana looked a little nervous at the thought. She swallowed hard but finally gathered her courage, trying to work out why this girl would be helping her when she had no idea of who she was.
"What's your name?" Katiana asked.
Buffy stopped short, not having expected the question. She laughed a little and stuck out her hand for Katiana to shake.
"Buffy Summers. It's nice to meet you."
"Katiana Ashson," she replied. "Better known as Kat. And it's nice to meet you too."