Disclaimer:  I don't own Buffy, the universe she inhabits, or any of the characters who share it with her.  Those all belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Dee, to the best of my knowledge, is mine.

With apologies for not updating sooner.  I was out of town for a few days.  I hope my failure to update recently has not affected my readership.

Chapter 8:

Beijing, China

Xia allowed herself to breathe in the night air, not that she really needed to.  It had been a while since she'd allowed herself out on the streets.  Right now, though, she needed a bite.  It was just after nine o'clock in Beijing, and the sun had set less than an hour earlier.  The streets of Beijing were never truly quiet, though.  There was always someone who could be made to disappear without drawing too much attention.

Ever since the hellmouth had opened here, she could walk more freely.  In a world where strange had become somewhat commonplace, she blended in perfectly with the background.  She'd lucked out, to some degree.  It had been her talent for blending in that had attracted Dreanis' attention.  He was basically running the undead show in Beijing, and he needed someone with a talent for finding things.  If he needed something, the odds were that she could find it.  For the last few months she'd been completing the largest task that he'd ever put before her: "Build me an army," he'd said.

The army was almost together, and would be at full force within the week.  Some of the strongest, most deadly demons in eastern Asia had been gathered together.  Soon, Dreanis would be ready to step into the void left by the destruction of the First.  The slayer in town had made things somewhat difficult, but even she was powerless to stop the building of such an unstoppable force.  She had a way of surprising them, though, so Xia made a mental note to arrange to have her eliminated at the nearest convenience.

The fact that there were a few more slayers in the mix had changed the game significantly.  Demons of all types and varieties had banded together to hold off the slayers in groups.  It was an eerie level of cooperation, considering that they were demons.  One-on-one, no demon lived who could take on a slayer, but the demons had the advantage of numbers on their side.  Slayers, while there were more of them now than there had been back in the heyday of demonkind, Xia recalled with some longing, were still few and far between.  She'd heard of one eliminated in San Diego only weeks before by a delightfully simple ruse: destroyed by the sheer weight of numbers.

She smiled to herself at the thought of the onslaught which would be Dreanis' army.  Not even the slayers, all together, could possibly stop it.

She allowed her thoughts to drift to more pertinent matters.

Where was dinner?

Tonight, she was in the mood for someone young, someone with a lot of life ahead of her.  A baby would be ideal.  Someone whose life she could suck out before it had even really begun.

As she walked slowly past an alleyway, she saw a young woman, about twelve, huddled next to a building.

Ah, yes, she smiled, young, beautiful, and someone nobody will miss.

If she had a beating heart, she imagined it would be hurting at that moment.  She'd had a daughter once, before she'd… changed.  Now, she would be about the age of the young girl she was about to eat.  She couldn't help but wonder what the blood of her own daughter would taste like.

The young girl was rocking back and forth against the building, as if trying to warm herself up.  Her hair was tangled and filthy.  Dirt, grime and tears streaked her cheeks.

[Is there some way I can help you?] She spoke perfect English, but she figured it was far more likely that her victim spoke Cantonese.

She looked up at Xia, shivering from the cold.

[There, there.  It's okay.]  Xia held out a hand and gently caressed her cheek, [I'm not going to hurt you.]  She smiled, tenderly, [what's your name?]

[Y-Yue.]  She spoke, finally.

Xia smiled.  She was about to die when she'd probably felt hope for the first time in months.  They should all be so lucky.

"You know, they say you shouldn't eat before bedtime.  You'll give yourself heartburn."

The voice spoke in English, but that wasn't the only thing that seemed odd about it.  The new voice did not echo off the hard walls of the buildings surrounding them.  It was as if the voice itself had no life.  As if it passed directly from mouth to ear without taking any opportunity to live for itself.

Xia stood up and looked at the newcomer.  She was about 5'6", she could tell in the moonlight that she had dark red hair.  A black leather jacket extended down her legs, which were covered by a pair of black leather pants.  "I think you should leave now.  This does not concern you."

"This, or actually, she" the stranger indicated the young girl, "does concern me."

By way of response, Xia raised her right hand and snapped her fingers.

From the shadows, five distinct forms materialized.  They melded into large, heaving, bulky forms surrounding the strange woman.  "Kill her," She ordered, simply.

The fight was over in fewer than thirty seconds.  She watched in shock as this stranger dispatched, almost effortlessly, each of her bodyguards, one at a time.  Her speed, her strength… it was incredible, well beyond anything human.  The stranger was moving with grace that seemed incredible, considering the sheer brutality of her strikes upon the five demons.

As the fifth creature fell, the newcomer looked skeptically at Xia.  "Is this your army?  I must say that so far I am completely unimpressed."

"They are my bodyguards…"

"Oh, yeah, your army's at the other end of town.  Don't worry, they'll be dead long before daybreak."

"Do you believe I would allow that," Xia allowed her demon face to come forth, "Slayer?"

"Good guess, but I'm no slayer."

"Then why…?"

The stranger's brow furrowed, and her eyes shifted from a pleasant gray to an unnatural yellow, assuming the unmistakable visage of a vampire, "you were stealing my lunch."

She attacked, viciously.  Xia was horribly outmatched, and knew she was horribly outmatched.  Anyone who could take on five of her bodyguards…

Finally, making a choice, Xia turned and ran.

A pebble struck her in the back of the head, and Xia pitched forward, landing hard upon her face.

"Tsk, tsk.  Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to run out before dinner is finished?"

"Who are you?"  Xia asked, desperately trying to crawl her way, backwards, from this evil creature.

"I guess I'm your worst nightmare."  She ran forward and planted a single knee on Xia's chest, pinning her to the ground.  She reached into her inside jacket pocket, "I'm a vampire with a vial of holy water."

Xia clawed desperately at the leg which held her pinned to the ground, but she may just as well have been a fly trying to move a stampede of elephants.  She simply had no possible way to lift this creature off of her.

Slowly, deliberately, the vampire uncorked the vial she held in her hand.  Then, again very deliberately, she poured its contents down Xia's throat.

Xia could feel it burn its way down her throat and through her veins.  She could feel it burning every organ, every tissue, every cell in her body, one at a time.  She could feel her body crumbling, those parts that has first been in contact with the holy water being the first to go.  She could feel herself burning from the inside out.  It was as though she'd swallowed a bottle of acid, and could feel it burning its way free of the confines of her body.

Through senses ravaged by inhuman pain, she heard the strange vampire speak four last words to her:

"Osiris sends his regards."

At the same instant, 6358 miles away, Dee awoke, screaming.