"So Sweet, you wanted to see me?" Buffy asked with a playful attitude.
"Quite desperate to go and be my queen, aren't we?"
"Not really." She admitted with Riley behind her.
"Then why did you summon me, my pet?"
"How many times do we Summers women have to say that we did not summon you ?!?"
"But, you did. You are wearing my talisman, you rubbed each of the jewels adorning it."
"Note to self: Never wear this necklace again." Buffy did a swift kick and made Sweet's neck snap back, but remarkably it did not break. Sweet's head came back into shape and he sighed. Riley was battering Sweet's henchmen nearby.
"Ah, Slayer, I just noticed the hair. Nice judgment." Sweet said and signaled for his boys to corner her.
Buffy squeaked.
As they began to move in on her, Riley came in to save the day, or in this case, night. He quickly cut off the henchmen's heads with one slice of the axe.
"Oh Damn! Now I have to get new minions." Sweet said amused. Buffy grabbed for the axe.
"Sorry, I don't think you'll have time." She grinned and swung the axe so it cut his body in half horizontally. He blinked, fell to the floor, his eyes glazed over swiftly, and all that was left was a trash heap that Buffy would have to take to the Magic Box dumpster.
"Ah, another day, another foe." She said quietly.
"Geez, any days off?" Riley asked wiping off his jacket.
"A few." She smiled "I'm feeling..."
"I know, me too, wired, ready to inhale dust. Mini Patrol?"
"Definite." She smiled.
"Faithful cemetery." She smiled at the area littered with headstones of various sizes.
"Always there with newbies just itching with blood lust."
"Exactly."
"I see some stirring. Hand popping out of the ground. Be back after this one's dust." She said and ran to the spot.
"Hello, can you help me?" The new vampire asked as he struggled to get out of his grave.
"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, lowering her stake.
"I think my foot's caught on a root or something." He explained.
"Why should I, the Slayer, help you?"
"Because it really hurts."
"Oh, Okay." She sighed and helped pull him out.
"Thanks." The guy said and stuck out his hand, she shook it in disgust, and he vamped out. "Sadly, I'll have to eat you now."
"C'mon. Does the word Slayer mean anything to you?"
"Uh. Not really."
"Guess they don't make 'em the way they used to." She said and quickly dusted him.
She wiped the dusty residue off her white sweater and started walking when a voice said "Guess not." Buffy stopped and looked at Spike coming out of the shadows.
"Spike." She said coolly.
"Yea. Why haven't you come by the crypt lately for some-"
"Stop where you are. Spike, I have someone real and well, living, in my life again."
"Hmm, one of your old mates at DoubleHell Palace? A guy you met clubbing? Or did Peaches get that Shanshu?"
"Neither-"She started to say when Riley came running.
"And so he appears." Spike sighed. "Now, I'm starting to see the truth in whatever we had-"
"We had nothing." She replied harshly.
"I see, I was just the rebound guy. Someone to be with, till your love comes a running."
"Guess so." She replied emotionless.
"Buffy, hey, you get the bad guy?" Riley asked.
"You know it." She gave him a peck on the cheek. She could feel Spike's eyes burning a hole in her sweater.
"Oh... Spike." Riley glared at Spike who was nearby.
"Yea, Spike." Buffy pretended to hate him. She didn't hate him, she just disliked him very very much.
"Face it, Spike." Riley's lip curled "You'll never have a chance." Riley said cruelly. Spike got an amused glint in his eye.
"Really? Oh, my poor heart is breaking into small pieces. Ah, Buffy, how can I prove my undying love? My dear." Spike said in a drama.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "You have a heart? It isn't even beating! Undying?" She spat "You've been dead for a century."
"Fine. Be that way. Just remember, you're not human, not exactly, and I can kill you where you stand." Spike added and went into his crypt.
"What does he mean by that?" Riley looked at her.
"You know how I died?"
"Yea."
"When I was brought back, there were some major forces used in bringing me back, world-ending forces. Mystical forces, beyond comprehension. In bringing me back, there was a mishap, it was interrupted, the urn of Osiris was broken. I came back, well, not exactly human. I'm not human enough for his chip to stop him from biting me or worse." She stressed worse and a pain crunched at her gut.
"Great, there are things wrong with it. Damn. What did we do wrong? I have to hold myself and the Initiative responsible."
"Don't blame yourself. Things happen, things you can't help. Mistakes happen. In judgment," She knew that one "and in everything else."
"Things just happen?" He asked.
"Yea."
"I feel a little better."
"Good." She winked and he started to carry her upstairs to her bedroom.