Disclaimer:        Any character that you've seen on the show is owned by Joss, not me.

Colleen

The new slayer

Jordan

Psychic who receives The Visions

Holly

Half Sellar Demon

Dawn

The Key

Aaron

Currently exploring magicks

*****

            Colleen sat at her desk in her room trying to get her homework done. She looked down at the math problems she had done. They didn't make any sense whatsoever to her. She was glad that her teacher graded on completeness and not correctness. As she realized she made yet another mistake she furiously began to erase the problem. The piece of paper eventually ripped from too much erasing. Colleen was so mad that she threw her pencil across her desk. When she reached over to get her pencil back she looked at the photograph that it rested next to.

            The picture was taken a long time ago. Colleen couldn't even remember when it had been taken. It was her, her dad, and her mom. She looked at the picture and saw the way that she was so close with her father. When her mom had left she had overheard conversations people said about her. They always said that it was in her eyes. Colleen looked at her mom's eyes and she saw it. There was this longing for something more.

            Colleen knew that Kaoryn wasn't her mother. She knew that her mother's soul had left that body and a demon had taken over. She knew that her mother's soul was in the ether. The way Aaron explained it, after he had done some research on the topic, was that the soul waited in the ether because it still had ties to the body. While in the ether, it wasn't aware of anything. Once the vampire had been slain then the soul could continue on its travels, unaware of losing any time.

            "Do you still think about her?" Colleen's dad walked into Colleen's room.

            "Yeah," Colleen admitted. She really hadn't thought much about her mother until she had returned.

            "I like to think that she's happier now," Colleen's dad told her. "Wherever she's at now I like to think that she's happy."

            Colleen bit down on her lower lip. She looked at the picture as a tear began to move down her cheek. She hoped that her dad didn't see it. She was determined to help her mother get to a place where she could be happy.

            "I'm sure she is," Colleen told her dad.

*****

            Dawn lay down in bed staring at the ceiling. She had no clue how late it was but she knew that it was late. She sighed as she realized that she was never going to be able to sleep again. There was just way too much that was going on for her to be able to sleep.

            First of all there was the fact that powerful vampires where looking for her. They didn't know where she was, but she knew that it could only be a matter of time before they figured it out. It was so soon since the last time this happened. Little more than a year had gone by between Buffy dying to save her and Kaoryn and Gunner trying to find her.

            Next there was the fact that Dawn was lying to her friends. She was holding back very important information from them that could eventually get them killed. She knew that she at least owed it to them to tell them the truth. Beyond how irresponsible it was to not tell them, she at least owed it to them. And what about Xander, Anya, Willow and the others? Didn't she owe it to them just as much as she owed it to the others?

            And there was always the ever present awareness that Dawn wasn't really human. She was the Key. Even though everything she knew was human and that she felt human, she still was the Key. She had hoped that when Buffy died that maybe she was no longer the Key, but now it looked like she still was.

            And Dawn was letting all of this get in the way of her friendship with Aaron. Aaron had been the closest friend Dawn had ever had. A relationship with Aaron had honestly never passed through Dawn's mind, but when Aaron had suggested it Dawn had instantly turned the idea down. She realized that she had caused a wedge between her and Aaron and she hoped that they would be able to work it out in time.

            Dawn knew that she couldn't tell her friends that she was the Key and she knew she couldn't tell the others that someone was after her again. The fact of the matter was that if they knew they would try to stop her again. Buffy had sacrificed herself so that Dawn could live and now it looked like her sacrifice might have only gotten Dawn an extra two years. Everything Dawn knew about her being the Key made her believe that the best way to keep her loved ones safe was to keep it a secret, no matter how much it killed her to do it. Dawn knew what she might have to do and she knew that they would try to stop her. Dawn knew that to save the world there was a good chance that she would have to die.

*****

            "Breakthrough!" Aaron exclaimed as he sat down at the usual table in the library that the group sat at during study hall.

            "What's going on?" Colleen asked Aaron.

            "I think I might have found a lead on the Key," Aaron explained to everyone. Dawn tensed up a little bit.

            "Where?" Jordan asked him.

            "Online," Aaron told them. "I was going through some Pagan web-groups and message boards and I came across this post from this monk in Romania. Anyway, this monk was talking about how the Key had been turned and the world survived and how it's a miracle. The thing is, this post was made like sixteen months ago."

            Dawn's pulse quickened a little.

            "Did you get in touch with him?" Colleen asked Aaron.

            Aaron shook his head. "I e-mailed him but I haven't heard a response yet."

            Dawn became more and more nervous. She wondered if this was the beginning of the end.

*****

            Colleen sat on her back porch. She stared up at the stars. It was a very clear night and the sky was full with millions and millions of stars. Colleen let her mind idly wonder. Unfortunately, allowing herself to do that brought her mind back to Eben. She knew nothing about Eben and yet she felt this amazing connection to him. Was it a connection though?

            Colleen hated to admit it but she had felt an attraction towards Eben. There was no real reason for the attraction other that Eben's fighting prowess. She thought back to her conversation she had with Aaron on the night that she had discovered what had happened to her mother. She told Aaron how she wished that Mike had powers too. She wished that Mike would be able to rescue her just as Eben had rescued her.

            Colleen thought about that night more. She remembered the way she reacted to Kaoryn. She remembered the way that Kaoryn had affected her. Colleen had felt a void that night. It was an immense void that she had needed to be filled. The way she filled it surprised her a little when she thought about it the next day. She had sex with Mike. It wasn't something that was completely unexpected. Her and Mike were in love. She knew that Mike was going to be her first; she just wasn't sure when it was going to happen.

Although Colleen knew all this she couldn't get rid of the nagging voice in the back of her mind. Despite all of her reasoning and rationalization could the truth really be something that Colleen didn't want to admit. Colleen wondered to herself whether or not she had just been using Mike. Was she using Mike just to fill the void inside of her? Now that they were intimate with each other was she having sex with Mike out of love or for comfort?

Colleen heard Mike's footsteps coming down her driveway. She looked down at her watch and smiled to herself. Mike was right on time. He made his way from the driveway to Colleen's sidewalk and then up the steps to her back porch. He sat down next to Colleen and gave her a kiss hello.

"So are we patrolling tonight?" Mike asked Colleen.

"Yeah," Colleen told him. "In a little bit. Right now I just want to sit." Colleen held Mike's hand tighter and they both watched the stars together. They sat in silence but they didn't need to talk. They were comfortable with just being with each other. Eventually, Colleen did get a little bored with just sitting in silence and leaned over to kiss Mike.

"Uh oh Colleen," came Kaoryn voice from across the backyard, breaking Colleen and Mike's kiss. "You're grounded."

"Get out of here," Colleen said as she stood up.

"Come now Colleen," Kaoryn said to her. "Isn't this what you always wanted? Didn't you wait up in bed waiting for Mommy to come home?"

"You're not my mother," Colleen said to Kaoryn.

"Why don't we ask your father about that?" Kaoryn asked.

"Stay away from him," Colleen said coldly.

"You're going to have to make me," Kaoryn said as she rushed at Colleen. Colleen ran towards Kaoryn and met her halfway. They started to fight in the middle of the yard.

Colleen looked back to Mike. "Get in the house!" she yelled to him. In her moment of looking back Kaoryn had kicked her in the mouth. Colleen fell back and looked back at Mike who had his hand on the doorknob unsure of what to do. "Call for help," Colleen told him as she got back up. Mike decided that would be a good plan and ran into the house to call the others.

Colleen now could concentrate on the fight. She concentrated on the vampire she was fighting. She knew that this vampire was once her mother but she told herself if her mother's soul was ever going to move on she would have to slay this vampire. Kaoryn was strong, stronger than the average vampire. Colleen had to be at her best in order to compete with her.

There was a problem though. Colleen knew that her dad had gone out with some friends and could be home at any minute. If he did get back and saw his daughter fighting with his ex-wife then there would be a lot of explaining that would need to be done and Colleen was really not looking forward to that father-daughter talk. She needed to get Kaoryn away from the house and she needed to do it fast.

*****

Jordan sat at the Magic Box with Aaron, Holly, and Dawn. Once again they were doing research trying to find out information about the Key while Aaron worked. Jordan noticed the way that Dawn looked like something had been bothering her. She had been like this for a while now and Jordan was starting to get really worried about her. He had asked her if anything was bothering her a few times now and every time she told him that there was nothing wrong.

Still, Jordan knew that there was something bothering her. Jordan could feel that there was something bothering her. He had no idea what it was. He knew that he could read her mind to find out the answer but he knew that that was wrong. He would just have to wait for Dawn to tell him what was wrong. Of course, that didn't mean that he couldn't try to ask again.

"Is anything the matter?" Jordan asked Dawn. They were sitting at the table at the back of the store together. Aaron was at the counter and Holly was going through the book shelves looking for anything that might be useful.

"No," Dawn lied to Jordan. "I just didn't get that much sleep last night." The last statement was true.

"Bad dreams?" Jordan asked Dawn.

Dawn shook her head. She considered Jordan for a moment. If there was anyone she could trust with her secret it would be Jordan. She couldn't tell Colleen or Aaron. She would worry that they would do something stupid to try to protect her. Holly too. Mike wasn't really a part of the group but then again Dawn wasn't really that close with Mike. Plus he would tell Colleen.

"Nah," Dawn told Jordan, deciding that she didn't want to tell him. "I just couldn't sleep."

Jordan could sense that there was something else but he didn't want to pry if Dawn didn't want to share whatever she was keeping inside. "If you ever need to talk you know you can always talk to me," Jordan told Dawn. Dawn looked down at her book. Jordan looked at her for a moment but suddenly he received a vision.

"Saved by the vision," Dawn thought to herself as she looked up to see Holly receiving her vision by proxy.

"What's going on?" Aaron asked Jordan.

Jordan could see Gunner. He knew that Gunner was looking for the Key. He watched as Gunner entered an alley in downtown Sunnydale. He knew that Gunner was looking for an oracle. The oracle would tell him where to find the Key. Gunner walked into the alley and disappeared into a portal. The portal disappeared and time seemed to speed up again until the sun came up and shone on the alley.

Jordan was taken a little aback. This was the second time that his vision had a strange ending like that. He wasn't sure what it meant. At first he thought that it was a fluke, but now that it had happened again he wondered if there was something more that he didn't understand.

"It's Gunner," Jordan told Aaron. "He's going to some portal downtown to see an oracle to find out where the Key is."

"How soon?" Dawn asked. She was getting nervous again.

"Soon," Holly answered for Jordan. "We should get Colleen."

Just then the phone rang. Aaron was startled by the noise and then calmed down. After a few rings and realizing that everyone was staring at him Aaron remembered that it was his job to answer the phone.

"Oh yeah," Aaron said as he picked up the phone. "Magic Box."

"Aaron?" a male voice said from the other end.

"Yes," Aaron said back into the phone. "Who is this?"

"It's Mike," Mike told him. "I called your house and your mom said that you were at work."

"What's going on?" Aaron asked Mike.

"It's Kaoryn," Mike told him. "Me and Colleen are at Colleen's house. Colleen is fighting Kaoryn in the backyard."

"Shit," Aaron said into the phone. It was a distraction. Kaoryn was trying to distract them so that Gunner could go to the oracle.

"She needs help," Mike told Aaron. "She needs to get her out of here so that her dad doesn't see her."

"Don't worry," Aaron told Mike. "We're on our way." Aaron hung up the phone. "Problem. Kaoryn is trying to run interference for Gunner. She's at Colleen's house right now and she needs to get out of there before Colleen's dad gets home."

"Let's split up," Holly suggested. Holly really didn't like to make suggestions of what they should do unless the situation was desperate. "Jordan can go try to find that alley where the portal is and I'll go help Colleen."

"I'll go with Jordan," Dawn told Holly.

"I'm going to stay here," Aaron told them. "If you said that they are going to use a portal to get to this article I should get some supplies ready so we can use the portal too."

"OK," Holly said as she was leaving the Magic Box, "Everyone keep your cell phones on."

*****

Colleen continued to fight against Kaoryn. No one was really winning or losing the fight. Colleen didn't have any weapons on her. She hoped that back up would get there soon because she couldn't figure out anyway to get Kaoryn away from her house.

"Why don't you just give up?" Kaoryn asked Colleen. "You know you can't beat me." Kaoryn shifted from her vampire face to her human face. "You know you can't kill your own mother."

Colleen hesitated a little but not as much as she had the last time. She continued to fight Kaoryn ignoring the fact that she would have trouble staking her own mother. Despite what she knew about vampires, it would still be hard.

"You're not my mother," Colleen told Kaoryn.

"You keep saying that," Kaoryn said, staying in her human face, "but do you really believe it?"

Colleen again hesitated and this time Kaoryn capitalized on the opportunity. She soon had Colleen on the ground as she stayed on top of her. She pinned Colleen's hands to the ground.

Kaoryn looked into Colleen's eyes. "I was your mother once and I can be it again." Kaoryn shifted from her human face into her vampire face. Colleen's expression turned to horror as she realized what was about to happen. She tried to get away but she couldn't escape from Kaoryn.

Kaoryn's mouth got closer and closer to Colleen's throat. Suddenly though, Kaoryn found herself on the ground. Colleen looked up and saw Mike. Mike had waited patiently in the house for the others to get to there but he didn't have a choice when Kaoryn had pinned Colleen down.

"Get back in the house," Colleen said to Mike. Mike nodded and ran to towards the house. Colleen stood up but she wasn't as fast as Kaoryn. Kaoryn managed to grab Mike a split second before Colleen got to her.

"Don't move," Kaoryn said as she held Mike by the throat. "You move and I'll kill him."

Colleen slowly backed away. "Don't hurt him." Colleen had absolutely no idea what to do.

"Now," Kaoryn said with a sickening calm in her voice. "Where is the Key?"

"Why do you want this thing so badly?" Colleen asked. She was trying desperately to stall for time. Kaoryn tightened her grip on Mike's neck. "Okay okay!" Colleen shouted. "I'll tell you where the Key is. Just don't hurt him." Colleen had absolutely no idea what to say. She knew that if she didn't say anything soon that Kaoryn would kill Mike.

Suddenly, Kaoryn was separated from Mike and thrown to the ground. Holly, in her demon form, was on her and punching her for all she was worth. She reached into her pants and pulled off her stake. Kaoryn's eyes went wide and she managed to kick Holly off of her. Kaoryn stood up and didn't like her new odds. Without a word she took off. Holly, Colleen, and Mike tried to go after her but they couldn't find her.

"Where did she go?" Colleen asked.

"No time," Holly told Colleen, "Something else is going down."

"What?" Colleen asked.

"Kaoryn was just trying to distract you," Holly explained. "Gunner is going to see an oracle downtown to find out where the Key is."

"Great," Colleen said. "Where at?"

"Dawn and Jordan are searching right now," Holly explained.

"Okay," Colleen said. "Mike, you should-" Colleen stopped mid sentence. She looked around. Mike was gone. She felt her heart skip a beat. It seemed like a century before it started again. Holly and Colleen began to frantically search for Mike while screaming out his name.

So very close to them and yet so far away, Mike was held in Kaoryn's grasp. She had grabbed him while he tried to keep up with Holly and Colleen. She pulled him into the shadows and was now drinking from his neck.

Mike heard Holly and Colleen screaming his name. If he had the strength he would have called out to them. He had always wondered what it would be like to die. He wondered if his life would flash before his eyes. The only thing on Mike's mind was that he had never got a chance to say goodbye to Colleen.

Kaoryn finished feeding off Mike and looked at him in the eyes. Mike's eyes slowly open and shut. He was fading fast.

"Colleen's boyfriend," Kaoryn said to Mike. "I hope you realized the dangers that were involved with falling in love with a slayer."

Kaoryn heard Colleen and Holly and knew they were close. She had to do what she needed to do quickly. Kaoryn made a cut on her wrist with her fingernail and put her bleeding wrist in Mike's mouth.

"There's only one surefire way to kill a slayer," Kaoryn said to Mike. "You have to love her first."

To Be Continued…

*****

Author's Note: Like I said, this is going to be a huge milestone. Look for part two soon. And as always, feedback is appreciated.