NEW LINE, OLD ENEMY-introduction
Faith walked cautiously through the graveyard. She had encountered danger more than times than she could remember but tonight was different. Tonight there was more than just her own back to watch. Amanda followed behind with stake in hand, not quite a slayer but she was definitely one of the better fighters. Buffy, Spike, Xander, Willow and Giles had taken the other would be slayers out patrolling. Faith had to admit she had got one of the better recruits but it was still a big job. It wasn't as if she didn't have enough death on her conscience without adding Amanda's name to the list. She would have to be careful not to rush headfirst into danger while the young slayer wannabe was with her. "Look out!" Faith called as a vampire bat flew towards them from nowhere. Amanda didn't see it at first but her instincts instructed her to obey Faith's warning and she threw herself into a stretched out position onto the damp mud stained grass and raised her head just in time to see Faith fighting the former bat now turned vampire. Faith looked focused, not angry just intent on winning the fight as she grabbed the vamps arms, crouched down and sent him flying over her shoulder where he landed flat on his back. Faith made a move to finish him off with her stake but was interrupted by three more vampires. "I'll get this one" Amanda scraped herself off the floor while Faith turned to face the other three only turning back for a second to ensure that her fellow slayer was ok. Amanda pierced the stake all the way through his evil heart and went to help Faith fight off the others but caught up with her too late too get involved as Faith finished off the last one. "Nice work" Amanda commented to the more experienced slayer. "You too" Faith replied, "You'll be patrolling on your own in no time" The amateur slayer smiled at the compliment as the two of them left the graveyard. "Hey" Faith turned round ready to fight. "It's only me" Dawn protested. "Sorry" Amanda apologised for her new friend "We're a bit jumpy. We just got jumped by four vamps, one of them was a vampire bat" "Way cool!" Dawn looked impressed. "Not cool Dawn" Faith tried to be patient with Buffy's little sis. It was no use getting on the wrong side of Dawn if she wanted to make things right with B. "You fought them off, right?" "Faith did most of the fighting. I was just throwing myself to the ground and staking the vampire that faith softened up for me" Amanda insisted. "You did great" Dawn glanced from Amanda to Faith and saw the bond between them. Emotions filled her, sadness at the loss of a school friend. Of course she still saw Amanda, probably now more than ever but the whole slayer thing was like an exclusive club and Dawn wasn't a part of it, which made her envious. There had a time when Dawn had thought she was a slayer. That was down one of Willows spells going wrong but they'd soon found out it was Amanda and not dawn who was a potential slayer. "Can I hang out with you guys?" Buffy won't like it" Faith warned. "She'll like it less if I 'm walking the streets of the Hellmouth by myself and something eats me" Dawn laid a guilt trip "Like maybe that thing behind you" she shrieked ducking as a bat three times of the previous one with the most hideous face resembling the devil flew over them and circled back. "Get down" Faith called to both girls as she leapt up and caught it's left claw and held as the creature continued to circle Dawn and Amanda who now lay on the floor. "No you don't" Faith threatened as it reached out it's right claw towards the girls. Faith still holding on with one hand and stretched out her other hand and grabbed the right claw, snapping it back with all of her strength until she heard it snap. While the bat-like monster lost control reached inside her pocket and took out a stake. She hesitated for a moment, looking down. It would be a long fall then she grinned and slammed the stake through its chest. It took two attempts to locate the heart and the creature evaporated in mid-air leaving Faith to come crashing back down to earth but more than al little bump. "Faith!" Amanda leapt up and was by her side in seconds "Are you ok?" "Four by four" She lied. Her back felt broken although it wasn't and she was sure she would have a big headache in the morning if the pain rushing to her head was anything to go by" "Cool" Dawn said looking down at her. Faith was too exhausted to argue that it wasn't "cool". There were more vampires than usual and too vampire bats were more than a little unusual. In fact the last vampire bat in Sunnydale had been Dracula and Buffy had dusted him. Something was definitely wrong but when wasn't it on the Hellmouth?
CHAPTER ONE
"You're saying what? That the master of darkness who couldn't be killed but then was actually wasn't and is back with friends?" Xander put his own unique spin on the situation. "Something along those lines" Faith responded. "Wait until Buffy hears. She'll be so excited" Faith stared "They have a history. It'll be like catching up with an old friend," Xander explained. "She's taking a long time. When we met up with her in the graveyard she said she wouldn't be long" Willow looked concerned. "It'll be fine, she's Buffy. She can handle anything" Xander tried to sound convincing "I'm more concerned with the newbies upstairs. Should be tell them about this new threat?" "Not yet. Some of them might get freaked" Willow warned. "We'll have to tell them sooner or later" Dawn said. "She's right" Faith backed her up "If you're right Xander we'll need all the help we can get and it's unfair to send them into battle without telling them what they're getting into" "Did you just talk about fairness cos I could have sworn turning against Buffy who only ever wanted to help you and then going as fair as trying to kill her with the mayor wasn't fair, not to mention using me like." "Ok" Dawn cut in "that's enough "Sure Faith has done some bad things but she's here now and fighting on our side remember?" "Thanks Dawn but it's obvious that some people around here will never leave the past where it belongs, in the past. As soon as all this trouble with the first and Dracula is over I'll be gone" Faith went upstairs. "What?" Xander protested as Willow and Dawn stared at him. "That was a bit mean. I think she's really trying" Willow told him. "Yeah" Dawn agreed "and she risked her life for me and Amanda tonight" "She's a slayer that's what she's supposed to do, emphasise on the 2supposed to" part" "I don't care what you say. You weren't there tonight. Faith was amazing" Dawn argued. ""Faith was amazing with what?" Buffy came in, her face was bruised and covered in dried blood. "Buffy what happened?" Dawn exclaimed, "Well I saw the vampire bats you were talking about, three of them" "You killed them through?" Xander asked. "I killed them" Buffy confirmed "but these things wherever they came from they're tough and they're last thing we need to be dealing with right now. Now what's this about Faith?" "The way she saved me tonight from the vampire bat. She hung on and slayed it in the air. She'll never admit it but I think she really got hurt when it vanished and she fell" "I'm just glad you're ok. Those things are dangerous I'll have to thank Faith" "Is it just me or have you all gone mad? Thank Faith. Does anyone here remember Faith switching bodies with Buffy, Faith sleeping with Riley, trying to sleep with Angel or.." "We get the picture Xander but that was then and this is now. You forgave me when I slept with Spike.." "Hello sat right here" Spike raised his hand. "Sorry" Buffy continued "I tried to kill you all in the basement" "That was different" Xander protested 2you weren't yourself" "When I slept with Spike I was myself and when I tried to kill you I was still me, maybe another me but me2"Ok" Willow cut in "we need to pull together on this one instead of fighting over the past. I should do a location spell to try and find out where more of these things are. Maybe it'll lead us to Dracula" "Willow we should discuss this. You're still struggling with your powers and should only use them when absolutely necessary" "The Hellmouth is overrun with vampire bats and we think might have something to do with Dracula who apparently can't stay dead and we don't have time for this with the first still do deal with. I'd say now is the time to use magic" "You never really told me what you did with his remains after you killed him. You did bury his him remains on holy ground right?" Spike asked. "What are you talking about Spike?" Buffy asked. "I don't believe this" Spike complained "Didn't your watcher tell you?" "Tell her what?" Giles entered the room with drinks. "The only way to keep old Dracs down is to bury his remains on holy ground after you kill him" Spike explained. "Apparently he forgot to mention it" Buffy glared at Giles "These day's he's too busy arranging for people I care about to be killed. He calls it helping. I have another name for it" "O-kay! Let's not lay blame here. This isn't the time" Xander tried to defuse the situation. "You're right Xander" Buffy gave Giles one last glare before focussing on the group again "At least now we know what to do. Kill Dracula, bury him and finish off anything bats or extra vamps he leaves behind then we can concentrate off the first but for now we should all get some sleep while we can" "Shouldn't we be more scared?" Xander asked after she had left. "A house full of slayers, a witch and a vampire oh and the repair man that's you, yeah you should be scared but the rest of us." Spike began "I'll give you something to be scared of" Xander walked towards him. "Xander play nicely with the soulful vampire" Willow stood between them "No more chip remember?" she whispered just loud enough for Spike to hear. "Fine but next time" he sulked. "Was just pointing out the obvious" Spike defended himself. "I'm going to do the spell now" Willow said, "the rest of you should get some sleep" "Can I stay and watch?" Dawn asked. "No Dawnie it's something I have to do alone" "Is there anything I can do?" "Yes you research where we might find Dracula and how to kill him without your sister getting drawn under his power again" Giles said "But sleep first" Dawn went to bed a little happier for been able to help even if it wasn't the kind of help she'd prefer to give, especially when she watched the slayers go out on patrol and she was left underneath a pile of dusty old books or behind a computer screen.
"Good morning Dawn" she and Amanda were the first ones up. "Almost afternoon" Dawn commented. "Where is everyone?" "Asleep" "Late night?" "Yeah, I've got to go and do what research girl does best" Dawn said sadly. "You know that we rely on you?" "No you don't" "Well Giles and you if you didn't find out all this stuff we wouldn't be prepared enough to fight the bad guys" "Well it helps to be prepared" Dawn admitted. "Yes it does" Buffy stood in the doorway. "I didn't tell her anything, honest!" Dawn blurted out. "It's ok Dawn. When everyone's up I'm going to fill them in" "Sounds interesting" Amanda commented. "Interesting and scary" Dawn added knowingly. "Dawn, no scaring the potentials, ok? "Sorry" It's ok" Amanda assured her "Whatever it is we'll deal with it"
"Alright everyone" Buffy began when they were all gathered together in the front room "I have something important to tell you and some of you may be scared but you're all potential slayers and this is the work you have been called for" "We'll deal" Kennedy spoke up. Willow looked at her girlfriend with pride. She was always so strong and brave even in the face of almost uncertain death. That was just one of the many things she liked about her but it wasn't love at least not yet. A small part of her still loved Tara. "Last night" Buffy began again "Some of us ran into a new big bad" "Not again" Rona rolled her eyes "what this time?" "Possibly Dracula" Willow told her "There were some bats and then even more bats and they changed into vampires, a trick that only Dracula usually does" "You said bats as in more than one" Vi asked. "Yes but we think Dracula is somehow behind the whole thing" Willow replied. "Didn't you kill him?" Shannon asked "Yes and no" Xander explained "You see the only way for him to stay dead is for his remains to be buried on holy ground but we didn't know that because someone didn't tell us, Spike!" "To be fair I was evil back then" Spike said in his defence "Anyway" Buffy cut in "the point is that we need to find him, kill him and bury him this time" "How will you find him?" Kennedy asked. "Willow any luck with that spell last night?" Buffy asked. "About a hundred or so place. Either the spell went wrong or Dracula has a big old army vampire bats working for him" "Dawn?" Her sister looked up from her books "Nothing much in here, just castles but there's none round here2 "They have a habit of appearing out of nowhere" Xander commented. ""Willow make a list of all the possibly places to look and we'll split up and search them" "Is that a good idea? He nearly turned you last time?" Xander argued. "But he didn't and I'm stronger now and there's more of us" "To turn into lots of little vampires," Anya piped up from the corner where she had been sitting quietly until now. "We have to finish this fast, we still have the first to deal with?" "I hadn't forgotten Buffy" Xander replied "But it has been quiet for a while" "That's usually the time we have to watch our backs the most, when it's quiet"
Faith walked cautiously through the graveyard. She had encountered danger more than times than she could remember but tonight was different. Tonight there was more than just her own back to watch. Amanda followed behind with stake in hand, not quite a slayer but she was definitely one of the better fighters. Buffy, Spike, Xander, Willow and Giles had taken the other would be slayers out patrolling. Faith had to admit she had got one of the better recruits but it was still a big job. It wasn't as if she didn't have enough death on her conscience without adding Amanda's name to the list. She would have to be careful not to rush headfirst into danger while the young slayer wannabe was with her. "Look out!" Faith called as a vampire bat flew towards them from nowhere. Amanda didn't see it at first but her instincts instructed her to obey Faith's warning and she threw herself into a stretched out position onto the damp mud stained grass and raised her head just in time to see Faith fighting the former bat now turned vampire. Faith looked focused, not angry just intent on winning the fight as she grabbed the vamps arms, crouched down and sent him flying over her shoulder where he landed flat on his back. Faith made a move to finish him off with her stake but was interrupted by three more vampires. "I'll get this one" Amanda scraped herself off the floor while Faith turned to face the other three only turning back for a second to ensure that her fellow slayer was ok. Amanda pierced the stake all the way through his evil heart and went to help Faith fight off the others but caught up with her too late too get involved as Faith finished off the last one. "Nice work" Amanda commented to the more experienced slayer. "You too" Faith replied, "You'll be patrolling on your own in no time" The amateur slayer smiled at the compliment as the two of them left the graveyard. "Hey" Faith turned round ready to fight. "It's only me" Dawn protested. "Sorry" Amanda apologised for her new friend "We're a bit jumpy. We just got jumped by four vamps, one of them was a vampire bat" "Way cool!" Dawn looked impressed. "Not cool Dawn" Faith tried to be patient with Buffy's little sis. It was no use getting on the wrong side of Dawn if she wanted to make things right with B. "You fought them off, right?" "Faith did most of the fighting. I was just throwing myself to the ground and staking the vampire that faith softened up for me" Amanda insisted. "You did great" Dawn glanced from Amanda to Faith and saw the bond between them. Emotions filled her, sadness at the loss of a school friend. Of course she still saw Amanda, probably now more than ever but the whole slayer thing was like an exclusive club and Dawn wasn't a part of it, which made her envious. There had a time when Dawn had thought she was a slayer. That was down one of Willows spells going wrong but they'd soon found out it was Amanda and not dawn who was a potential slayer. "Can I hang out with you guys?" Buffy won't like it" Faith warned. "She'll like it less if I 'm walking the streets of the Hellmouth by myself and something eats me" Dawn laid a guilt trip "Like maybe that thing behind you" she shrieked ducking as a bat three times of the previous one with the most hideous face resembling the devil flew over them and circled back. "Get down" Faith called to both girls as she leapt up and caught it's left claw and held as the creature continued to circle Dawn and Amanda who now lay on the floor. "No you don't" Faith threatened as it reached out it's right claw towards the girls. Faith still holding on with one hand and stretched out her other hand and grabbed the right claw, snapping it back with all of her strength until she heard it snap. While the bat-like monster lost control reached inside her pocket and took out a stake. She hesitated for a moment, looking down. It would be a long fall then she grinned and slammed the stake through its chest. It took two attempts to locate the heart and the creature evaporated in mid-air leaving Faith to come crashing back down to earth but more than al little bump. "Faith!" Amanda leapt up and was by her side in seconds "Are you ok?" "Four by four" She lied. Her back felt broken although it wasn't and she was sure she would have a big headache in the morning if the pain rushing to her head was anything to go by" "Cool" Dawn said looking down at her. Faith was too exhausted to argue that it wasn't "cool". There were more vampires than usual and too vampire bats were more than a little unusual. In fact the last vampire bat in Sunnydale had been Dracula and Buffy had dusted him. Something was definitely wrong but when wasn't it on the Hellmouth?
CHAPTER ONE
"You're saying what? That the master of darkness who couldn't be killed but then was actually wasn't and is back with friends?" Xander put his own unique spin on the situation. "Something along those lines" Faith responded. "Wait until Buffy hears. She'll be so excited" Faith stared "They have a history. It'll be like catching up with an old friend," Xander explained. "She's taking a long time. When we met up with her in the graveyard she said she wouldn't be long" Willow looked concerned. "It'll be fine, she's Buffy. She can handle anything" Xander tried to sound convincing "I'm more concerned with the newbies upstairs. Should be tell them about this new threat?" "Not yet. Some of them might get freaked" Willow warned. "We'll have to tell them sooner or later" Dawn said. "She's right" Faith backed her up "If you're right Xander we'll need all the help we can get and it's unfair to send them into battle without telling them what they're getting into" "Did you just talk about fairness cos I could have sworn turning against Buffy who only ever wanted to help you and then going as fair as trying to kill her with the mayor wasn't fair, not to mention using me like." "Ok" Dawn cut in "that's enough "Sure Faith has done some bad things but she's here now and fighting on our side remember?" "Thanks Dawn but it's obvious that some people around here will never leave the past where it belongs, in the past. As soon as all this trouble with the first and Dracula is over I'll be gone" Faith went upstairs. "What?" Xander protested as Willow and Dawn stared at him. "That was a bit mean. I think she's really trying" Willow told him. "Yeah" Dawn agreed "and she risked her life for me and Amanda tonight" "She's a slayer that's what she's supposed to do, emphasise on the 2supposed to" part" "I don't care what you say. You weren't there tonight. Faith was amazing" Dawn argued. ""Faith was amazing with what?" Buffy came in, her face was bruised and covered in dried blood. "Buffy what happened?" Dawn exclaimed, "Well I saw the vampire bats you were talking about, three of them" "You killed them through?" Xander asked. "I killed them" Buffy confirmed "but these things wherever they came from they're tough and they're last thing we need to be dealing with right now. Now what's this about Faith?" "The way she saved me tonight from the vampire bat. She hung on and slayed it in the air. She'll never admit it but I think she really got hurt when it vanished and she fell" "I'm just glad you're ok. Those things are dangerous I'll have to thank Faith" "Is it just me or have you all gone mad? Thank Faith. Does anyone here remember Faith switching bodies with Buffy, Faith sleeping with Riley, trying to sleep with Angel or.." "We get the picture Xander but that was then and this is now. You forgave me when I slept with Spike.." "Hello sat right here" Spike raised his hand. "Sorry" Buffy continued "I tried to kill you all in the basement" "That was different" Xander protested 2you weren't yourself" "When I slept with Spike I was myself and when I tried to kill you I was still me, maybe another me but me2"Ok" Willow cut in "we need to pull together on this one instead of fighting over the past. I should do a location spell to try and find out where more of these things are. Maybe it'll lead us to Dracula" "Willow we should discuss this. You're still struggling with your powers and should only use them when absolutely necessary" "The Hellmouth is overrun with vampire bats and we think might have something to do with Dracula who apparently can't stay dead and we don't have time for this with the first still do deal with. I'd say now is the time to use magic" "You never really told me what you did with his remains after you killed him. You did bury his him remains on holy ground right?" Spike asked. "What are you talking about Spike?" Buffy asked. "I don't believe this" Spike complained "Didn't your watcher tell you?" "Tell her what?" Giles entered the room with drinks. "The only way to keep old Dracs down is to bury his remains on holy ground after you kill him" Spike explained. "Apparently he forgot to mention it" Buffy glared at Giles "These day's he's too busy arranging for people I care about to be killed. He calls it helping. I have another name for it" "O-kay! Let's not lay blame here. This isn't the time" Xander tried to defuse the situation. "You're right Xander" Buffy gave Giles one last glare before focussing on the group again "At least now we know what to do. Kill Dracula, bury him and finish off anything bats or extra vamps he leaves behind then we can concentrate off the first but for now we should all get some sleep while we can" "Shouldn't we be more scared?" Xander asked after she had left. "A house full of slayers, a witch and a vampire oh and the repair man that's you, yeah you should be scared but the rest of us." Spike began "I'll give you something to be scared of" Xander walked towards him. "Xander play nicely with the soulful vampire" Willow stood between them "No more chip remember?" she whispered just loud enough for Spike to hear. "Fine but next time" he sulked. "Was just pointing out the obvious" Spike defended himself. "I'm going to do the spell now" Willow said, "the rest of you should get some sleep" "Can I stay and watch?" Dawn asked. "No Dawnie it's something I have to do alone" "Is there anything I can do?" "Yes you research where we might find Dracula and how to kill him without your sister getting drawn under his power again" Giles said "But sleep first" Dawn went to bed a little happier for been able to help even if it wasn't the kind of help she'd prefer to give, especially when she watched the slayers go out on patrol and she was left underneath a pile of dusty old books or behind a computer screen.
"Good morning Dawn" she and Amanda were the first ones up. "Almost afternoon" Dawn commented. "Where is everyone?" "Asleep" "Late night?" "Yeah, I've got to go and do what research girl does best" Dawn said sadly. "You know that we rely on you?" "No you don't" "Well Giles and you if you didn't find out all this stuff we wouldn't be prepared enough to fight the bad guys" "Well it helps to be prepared" Dawn admitted. "Yes it does" Buffy stood in the doorway. "I didn't tell her anything, honest!" Dawn blurted out. "It's ok Dawn. When everyone's up I'm going to fill them in" "Sounds interesting" Amanda commented. "Interesting and scary" Dawn added knowingly. "Dawn, no scaring the potentials, ok? "Sorry" It's ok" Amanda assured her "Whatever it is we'll deal with it"
"Alright everyone" Buffy began when they were all gathered together in the front room "I have something important to tell you and some of you may be scared but you're all potential slayers and this is the work you have been called for" "We'll deal" Kennedy spoke up. Willow looked at her girlfriend with pride. She was always so strong and brave even in the face of almost uncertain death. That was just one of the many things she liked about her but it wasn't love at least not yet. A small part of her still loved Tara. "Last night" Buffy began again "Some of us ran into a new big bad" "Not again" Rona rolled her eyes "what this time?" "Possibly Dracula" Willow told her "There were some bats and then even more bats and they changed into vampires, a trick that only Dracula usually does" "You said bats as in more than one" Vi asked. "Yes but we think Dracula is somehow behind the whole thing" Willow replied. "Didn't you kill him?" Shannon asked "Yes and no" Xander explained "You see the only way for him to stay dead is for his remains to be buried on holy ground but we didn't know that because someone didn't tell us, Spike!" "To be fair I was evil back then" Spike said in his defence "Anyway" Buffy cut in "the point is that we need to find him, kill him and bury him this time" "How will you find him?" Kennedy asked. "Willow any luck with that spell last night?" Buffy asked. "About a hundred or so place. Either the spell went wrong or Dracula has a big old army vampire bats working for him" "Dawn?" Her sister looked up from her books "Nothing much in here, just castles but there's none round here2 "They have a habit of appearing out of nowhere" Xander commented. ""Willow make a list of all the possibly places to look and we'll split up and search them" "Is that a good idea? He nearly turned you last time?" Xander argued. "But he didn't and I'm stronger now and there's more of us" "To turn into lots of little vampires," Anya piped up from the corner where she had been sitting quietly until now. "We have to finish this fast, we still have the first to deal with?" "I hadn't forgotten Buffy" Xander replied "But it has been quiet for a while" "That's usually the time we have to watch our backs the most, when it's quiet"