A/N – I'm going to be jumping between New York and Sunnydale in this fic so I thought I would warn you know. Oh, and in the Blade timeline, this takes place during the first movie right after he met Karen. Oh, and I still don't own any of the characters in this fic.
Memories
Buffy sighed as she trudged through the streets of New York, the evening wind whipping around her small form. She walked towards her apartment, head bent to avoid any unwanted attention. She had lived in New York for three months now. After selling her house and most of the furniture, she had collected the money she had saved up and moved her entire life.
Her apartment in New York was small and not in the best area, but it was hers. And she already had pinned down a job as a waitress just a couple blocks from her apartment. So life was decent. She had money to pay rent, a place to live, and enough to eat. But something was missing in her life. Something…
Images hit her suddenly, causing her to stagger slightly in her steps. She shook her head to clear it but by then they were far too vivid to push away. She slouched against the wall, breathing heavy as images of that night came back to her.
She groggily opened her eyes, her head pounding immediately. She tried to stand up but for some reason she couldn't move. Her vision was blurry at first but it slowly sharpened.
"Where am I?" she asked, her voice hoarse. The last thing she remembered was riding in Xander's car with Xander, Willow, and Dawn, and then suddenly a flash of light appeared in the windshield and –
"Oh my God," she whispered. "We were hit."
Her eyes finally focused and she found that she was still in the car, though the dashboard was now crushed against her. She moved her arm and a fire hot pain shot through her arm. *Dislocated.*
But even with the hurt arm she pushed against the dashboard and with one swift burst of strength, the car creaked slowly away from her. She took a deep breathe, her arms shaking with exertion and pain. As she sat there, breathing, she noticed the wetness on her forehead for the first time. She brushed her relatively uninjured hand across it and when she pulled it back, blood dripped from her fingertips.
A wave of fear passed through her as she realized now, how bad the accident was. Suddenly, because of her enhanced Slayer hearing, she heard the faint screeching of sirens. *The ambulance. They're coming to help us.*
"Us," she stated suddenly, remembering the others that were in the car with her. She turned her to the left to see if Xander was alright. He sat in the driver's seat, slumped against the steering wheel.
"Xander," she said forcefully. "Xander, get up."
When he did not respond, she reached over to shake him. As she did, his head rolled towards her and she found herself staring into his unseeing eyes. A scream bubbled in her throat as she realized he was dead. She immediately withdrew her hand, her entire body shaking.
*OhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGodOhmyGod…*
She froze as she stared at him, not wanting to believe it. One of her best friends was dead. Never coming back. Never. The bile rose in her through but she pushed it away and immediately turned around. Dawn was in the back seat, her body sprawled across the seat.
"Dawn. Dawn!" Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at her sister, her last link to her family. Her hand, shaking, slowly reached out to push the hair away from her sister's face. But as she had just brushed Dawn's dark brown mane, Dawn shifted slightly in her seat. Hope rose in Buffy as her sister moved slowly, pushing the hair away from her face.
"Buffy?" Dawn asked her voice distant. She stared at Buffy with unfocused eyes. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure. I think we were hit by a car," Buffy whispered, her voice choked by tears. Dawn nodded slightly, wincing at the pain of the motion. Suddenly, her entire demeanor changed. Her body stiffened and she looked at her sister, her eyes suddenly focused.
"I love you," Dawn said simply. "Thank you for taking care of me."
Buffy's eyes widened as her sister's eyes slowly started to close. "No, no, no. Dawn, not yet. It's not your time. DAWN!"
The last word came out as a scream as her sister closed her eyes and breathed her last. Grief she had never known passed through her, pain worse than when her mother had died, worse than when she had sent Angel to Hell. Her friend and her sister were gone.
But there was still Willow…
Buffy was torn out of her memories as she was thrown against the brick wall of an alley. She winced as her back hit the wall. She slowly stood up, glaring at the creature that had attacked her. All thoughts of that night were gone.
"You're in the wrong area, little girl," the creature whispered, chuckling as he took a step forward. Four others appeared behind him, stalking forward menacingly. But Buffy only glared at them. "Next time you should be more careful. But then, you won't have to worry about that now will you?"
"Don't you ever come up with new lines?" she spat, annoyed at being interrupted. "All I wanted was to go home, maybe watch some tv, maybe get some sleep. But now I have to put up with you. God, can you people be any more annoying?"
The creature in front growled at her and took a step forward, stepping into the dim light of the alley. Sharp fangs extended from his mouth, though his features looked normal. Only the way he moved and his fangs showed he was different then a man.
He leapt forward. Buffy jumped up to meet him and immediately kicked him in the chest. He stumbled back, not prepared for the unexpected attack. But she didn't let him recover and, faster than he could see, whipped a jagged knife from under her coat. With one swift stroke, she beheaded him and his body turned to dust.
"Who's next?" she asked, turning her attention to the rest of the vampires. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do. Suddenly, they all turned towards her and attacked in unison. But, expecting this, she twisted out of their way and punched one with a series of hooks and jabs. She quickly twisted her knife again and beheaded the next vamp. Now, only three were left. One got lucky, landing a sharp kick to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She was stunned for a moment but quickly recovered and kneed him in the groin.
The vampire went down, moaning in agony. She went to behead him but the knife was knocked out of her hand. She fell back against the wall as she was punched in the face. The three vampires stalked forward, though the one winced with every step. She leapt at them and flew into a tornado kick, knocking one to the ground and the other two back. She kept coming forward, punching and kicking randomly, not letting the vampires collect themselves.
One of them grabbed her and pushed her against the wall, his arms enclosed around her abdomen. He leaned forward and pushed her head up, preparing to bite her neck. Before he could do so, she reached around his arms and, grabbing his head with her hands, wretched it with all of her might. The vampire turned to dust as his head was jerked from the rest of his body.
As the remaining two circled her, a sudden movement caught the corner of her eye. A black blur jumped in front of her, his sword shining silver in the dimly lit alley.
"Daywalker," one of the vampires sneered, hissing at the man standing in front of Buffy. Before Buffy had any time to react, the two vampires jumped at the man. With one quick slash of his sword, he beheaded the two, leaving nothing but dust.
"Idiots," the man said, spitting on the ashes in the alley. He turned around and eyed Buffy for the first time. She stared at him, eyeing him warily. He wasn't a vampire but he wasn't exactly human. She could feel…something about him. He was different.
"Next time, be more careful," he said sharply. "I won't be there every time."
Anger rose up in Buffy as she glared at the man, her hands automatically going to her hips. "I don't need your help. I was taking care of myself just fine."
An eyebrow rose in disbelief behind his dark sunglasses – How can he see with those anyone? – though he didn't say anything. "Just be careful, kid. There are dangerous things out there."
He started to turn but before he could go anywhere, Buffy's attention was drawn to a person behind him. Without acknowledging her "savior," she flipped over him and, grabbing her fallen knife, cut the head off of the vampire that had attempted to sneak up on him. As the ashes fell to the ground, she turned to him.
"Like I said, I can take care of myself."
She turned around and walked out of the alley, carefully keeping tabs on the man behind her. If he tried anything, she would put him down.
"Wait."
She stopped at the voice but did not turn. As she heard his footsteps behind her, she slowly spun around and looked at him with a blank face. "What do you want?"
"Who are you?"
She shrugged, pulling her coat around her tighter as the chilly breeze picked up. "The Slayer. Nothing more. Just the Slayer. What is it to you, whoever you are?"
"You could fight against them," he said gruffly, not sure of how to take her. She was about a foot shorter than her and looked weak enough but after watching her fight, he didn't know. There was something about her, something that made her different. Something that made her kind of like him in a way.
"Well, duh. Thank you Mr. Obvious," she said dryly. "Now, do you have anything else to say or can I go home now. This really has not been the best day and all I want is to relax."
They stood in silence for a moment as he fought internally with himself. Finally, as her eyes seemed to bore holes through his sunglasses, he made his decision. "Come with me. I want to talk to you. You know about them, the vampires. You know how to fight them. I want to know why and how."
Buffy stared at him for a moment, considering her options. I can go home, relax, and then go back to work tomorrow and continue on with my life. Or, I can go with a total stranger, to a place I don't know about, to find out about vampires and why he fights them. Well, I never said I was too bright.
"Fine, I'll go with you," she said. "But first – who are you?"
"The vampires call me the Daywalker," he said. "But I'm known as Blade."