Part 2
It was better than she had ever imagined. Grace had never understood why she heard so many people moaning about small towns and how dull they were. She loved everything Sunnydale had to offer. A great climate, lots of interesting people.
She'd been warned against coming here. People she'd spoken to travelling here told her Sunnydale was a weird place. Strange things happened there, people disappeared and were never seen again. Monsters were supposed to live in the shadows.
That thought made Grace snicker. She knew all about monsters in shadows. The Night World was just that, really. Luckily for her, she didn't sense any in this place.
Anyway, she didn't want to have to think about the Night World anymore. All she had to do was be a normal freshman at Sunnydale High. It would be kind of weird trying to explain why she had no parents. She hoped she could come up with a decent excuse.
She *loved* the room she was staying in. It had a big comfy bed with lilac sheets and giant windows that let in tones of light. She had to share the house with a college girl called Jal, who was nice enough. And human, as well.
She was too excited to wait around, eager for her first day of school in the morning. The sun was setting as Grace left the house to explore the town. Jal told her the happening scene in Sunnydale was a club called the bronze. She'd check that out at some point. She wanted to see the rest of the town first.
The whole place didn't take her that long to explore. Grace was amazed to find her way about with surprising ease. The ground had a sort of *thrum* to it. A feeling she couldn't quite put into words. It spoke to her of power and evil greater than even that of the Night World.
~No, no, no!~ Grace thought, extremely irritated. She had had *enough* of evil. She had come here to escape from evil.
During her explorations, she came across a wonderfully impressive cemetery. The stones were well kept, large and magnificent. She wandered through, smiling at the peacefulness, enjoying the quiet of the place, admiring some of the impressive crypts.
A commotion to her right disturbed her. Sounds of fighting and angry grunts. She was certain she heard bones snapping. Grace sighed. She'd heard the sounds before. Some poor girl getting her ass kicked by a vampire, no doubt.
Okay, she'd play the heroine this *once* and save the say. She marched around the grave where the sounds were coming from, snapping a sturdy branch of a conveniently near by palm tree.
Hang on a minute. There was something wrong with this picture. The vampire was getting *his* ass kicked by a *girl*. And not a particularly big or muscular. A small girl with short blond hair, dressed in a sparkly blue halter-neck top and black leather pants.
Totally inappropriate if she was a vampire hunter. She didn't seem to care the vamps could plainly see her and figure out who she was and hunt her down.
"You know I'd have thought you'd have learnt your lesson the last time," the small blonde was saying in an almost chatty tone. "What *is* it with all this male ego crap?" Her moves were almost prematurely fast, but Grace couldn't sense anything inhuman about her. "Obviously seeing your friends dusted isn't warning enough to make you the smart one, but *no*, you've got to come back for more. And what - to be humiliated? Staked?" And if to prove her point, she did just that.
To Grace's amazement the vampire burst into a fine cloud of ash and dust. Gone. Poof. Just like that. Grace ducked out of sight behind a tombstone before the girl could see her.
"I could have sworn there was someone there," the blonde muttered, before walking off.
Grace stood up, curious. Well that was - interesting to say the least. There'd been something weird about that vampire's *face* as well. It had been hideously ugly, and that was being polite.
~So much for escaping the Night World and evil~ Grace thought, as she made her way home. She'd run from the world of the supernatural, only to find herself faced with another. She was extremely dejected when she went home into her room.
Maybe she could at least hope high school would still be normal.
* * *
It was better than she had ever imagined. Grace had never understood why she heard so many people moaning about small towns and how dull they were. She loved everything Sunnydale had to offer. A great climate, lots of interesting people.
She'd been warned against coming here. People she'd spoken to travelling here told her Sunnydale was a weird place. Strange things happened there, people disappeared and were never seen again. Monsters were supposed to live in the shadows.
That thought made Grace snicker. She knew all about monsters in shadows. The Night World was just that, really. Luckily for her, she didn't sense any in this place.
Anyway, she didn't want to have to think about the Night World anymore. All she had to do was be a normal freshman at Sunnydale High. It would be kind of weird trying to explain why she had no parents. She hoped she could come up with a decent excuse.
She *loved* the room she was staying in. It had a big comfy bed with lilac sheets and giant windows that let in tones of light. She had to share the house with a college girl called Jal, who was nice enough. And human, as well.
She was too excited to wait around, eager for her first day of school in the morning. The sun was setting as Grace left the house to explore the town. Jal told her the happening scene in Sunnydale was a club called the bronze. She'd check that out at some point. She wanted to see the rest of the town first.
The whole place didn't take her that long to explore. Grace was amazed to find her way about with surprising ease. The ground had a sort of *thrum* to it. A feeling she couldn't quite put into words. It spoke to her of power and evil greater than even that of the Night World.
~No, no, no!~ Grace thought, extremely irritated. She had had *enough* of evil. She had come here to escape from evil.
During her explorations, she came across a wonderfully impressive cemetery. The stones were well kept, large and magnificent. She wandered through, smiling at the peacefulness, enjoying the quiet of the place, admiring some of the impressive crypts.
A commotion to her right disturbed her. Sounds of fighting and angry grunts. She was certain she heard bones snapping. Grace sighed. She'd heard the sounds before. Some poor girl getting her ass kicked by a vampire, no doubt.
Okay, she'd play the heroine this *once* and save the say. She marched around the grave where the sounds were coming from, snapping a sturdy branch of a conveniently near by palm tree.
Hang on a minute. There was something wrong with this picture. The vampire was getting *his* ass kicked by a *girl*. And not a particularly big or muscular. A small girl with short blond hair, dressed in a sparkly blue halter-neck top and black leather pants.
Totally inappropriate if she was a vampire hunter. She didn't seem to care the vamps could plainly see her and figure out who she was and hunt her down.
"You know I'd have thought you'd have learnt your lesson the last time," the small blonde was saying in an almost chatty tone. "What *is* it with all this male ego crap?" Her moves were almost prematurely fast, but Grace couldn't sense anything inhuman about her. "Obviously seeing your friends dusted isn't warning enough to make you the smart one, but *no*, you've got to come back for more. And what - to be humiliated? Staked?" And if to prove her point, she did just that.
To Grace's amazement the vampire burst into a fine cloud of ash and dust. Gone. Poof. Just like that. Grace ducked out of sight behind a tombstone before the girl could see her.
"I could have sworn there was someone there," the blonde muttered, before walking off.
Grace stood up, curious. Well that was - interesting to say the least. There'd been something weird about that vampire's *face* as well. It had been hideously ugly, and that was being polite.
~So much for escaping the Night World and evil~ Grace thought, as she made her way home. She'd run from the world of the supernatural, only to find herself faced with another. She was extremely dejected when she went home into her room.
Maybe she could at least hope high school would still be normal.
* * *