Chapter 5

Realizations

"This is great." Spike thought to himself. "The damage and chaos!" He began to laugh at the thought. "The vampire slayer an ACTUAL vampire. Who would have thought?" He was pacing around his moldy crypt and stopped to light a cigarette.

~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy was wandering the streets trying to contemplate the series of events that had just occurred.

"What do I do?" she thought. "Do I just stroll on back home and tell them the truth? "Hey guys, guess what I'm a vampire now all thanks to my Spikey" Nope. Will they still want me back? Am I even still considered "The Slayer"? That's ridicul-" her thoughts were interrupted by the rumbling of her stomach. She had forgotten that she was hungry and she wasn't sure what to do about this.

"Guess there is a first time for everything." She started off for her first meal.

~*~*~*~*~*

Dawn was headed toward Spike's crypt, it was the only place that she could go to lately for some safety, comfort, and understanding.

"God I hate this place!" she screamed as she picked up a rock and threw it, feeling slightly relieved at the release of some aggression. As she began looking for another rock to throw, she heard rustling in the bushes nearby. She stopped walking and tried to listen for a voice, hoping that it was her sisters, but what she got was far from her sister's voice.

"Please! N-No! Don't do this to me!" It was a man and he was in some kind of struggle. Then she heard a growl and she knew exactly what was going on. She tried to peek through the bushes to get a better view of what was going on. All she could see was the back of a woman, she was a vamp and began feeding, and she was petite with blonde hair.

"Sure looks a lot like Buffy." Dawn thought to herself. She was trying to get through the bushes, but she made so much of a commotion that she scared off the vamp and left the old man behind.

"Dam! Why do I have to be so clumsy?" she ran over to the man lying on the floor but it was too late for him. "Who was that vamp?" she said, looking in the direction that the vampire ran. What she didn't know was that it was Buffy, just not the Buffy that she has known all these years. "I think it's time to go back home." She mumbled to herself and began to head back.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Buffy stepped into the crypt seemingly out of breath.

"Back so soon luv'?" Spike said as he steeped out of his favorite dark corner.

"Huh? O-Oh yea. Uhhh, I was eating and Dawn showed up…..Spike…..I think she saw me." Buffy said sounding a bit worried.

"Well it's bound to happen sooner or later. More sooner then later actually."

"What is that supposed to mean?" that comment had grabbed her attention.

"It means….that we are going to kill them."

Buffy walked up to Spike and smacked him "There is no way that I am going to do that!" she was yelling now.

He held his face and smiled. "Look luv', I know that it's hard for you to do such a thing but you have to listen to me. They could never accept you the way you are now. They'd kill you in a second." The look on her face was letting him know that she was beginning to agree with him.

"Well that has been in the back of my mind."

"Exactly…look at the way that they treat me. They look at me like I'm crap! I think that they would do the same to you. Think that they could handle two vampires following them around?"

"They look at you like crap because YOU ARE! I mean look at what you did to me!" the tears were streaming down her face. "You damned me Spike! And you think that I'm going to accept this with open arms?" she was in his face now. "Unlike you, my life wasn't a shit hole when I was turned into a vampire. You needed this Spike, I didn't! I had things going for me and people around me that actually cared!" She shoved him and walked away. He was extremely hurt by what she just said and he wasn't going to take it, he regained his balance, grabbed her by the arm and whipped her around holding her up against the wall.

"You think that they care? You damned them just as well! Their lives were normal until you came along and just dragged them into this! The Slayer is supposed to be alone. Not have a these her little scoobies tagging along! And no matter how many people that you have around you, that's what you'll always be…ALONE! You're powers were rooted from darkness, this is were you belong Buffy, with me!" He let her go and she slid down the wall and let herself fall to the floor.

"He's right." She thought "I screwed up their lives! Maybe it's better that I leave them alone they'd kill me anyways, they wouldn't want me anymore. I'm trash and have been tainted. I don't want them to see me like this, and they won't have to." She stood up. "Alright. So what's this plan of yours?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was getting late and Willow was starting to get worried about Dawn. She made herself some coffee and sat in the living room and waited. Five minutes later she heard steps on the porch, she stood up.

Dawn checked her watch and saw how late it was, "Dam, Willow won't be happy about this. Maybe she's asleep! She won't have to know." She mumbled to herself. She quietly and slowly opened the front door and began tip-toeing her way towards the stairs.

"Do you have and idea what time it is?" Willow said angrily.

"Busted!" Dawn thought to herself. "Uhhhh…..9:30?" hoping that she would get off by pulling the stupid act.

"Try again. It's 12 o'clock! Where have you been and why were you out so late? Willow was now walking toward Dawn, making sure she wouldn't walk away from her.

"Okay mother." She said sarcastically. "Well I was on my way to Spike's and-" she was cut off.

"You what?" willow was surprised at what she just heard. "Are you nuts? Going there so late is just asking for trouble! Did you even have a st-" now she was the one that was cut off.

"Stake? No." she rolled her eyes. "But I did see someone that sure needed one."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I was just walking along. On my way to Spike's when I heard something coming from the bushes. So I peeked through and saw this chic vamp attacking this guy."

"Just an ordinary attack. Dawn. It's not like you've never seen one before."

Dawn was getting impatient and sighed loudly, "I know, but here is the freaky part. This vamp looked a lot like Buffy."

Willow's eyes widened at what she just heard.

"And when I tried to get through, my clumsiness kicked in and I guess she got scared and ran off."

"What are you trying to say Dawn?" she shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm just letting you know what I saw. I could have been seeing things, I don't know."

Willow stood there lost in thought and possibilities.

Dawn, wanting to get out of there pretended to yawn and said, "Well it's getting late so I'm gonna go to bed now. Goodnight Will." She nodded.

Willow decided to stay downstairs and wait for Giles and Xander to return to see if they had any news. She fell onto the couch, not being able to believe what she just heard. "It was just a mistake" she said to herself. " it would be impossible, Buffy can defend herself. She IS the Slayer. Who could do this? Sp-"

As soon as she was about to think the unthinkable the guys walked in.

"Lucy I'm home!" Xander said as he stepped inside.

Willow quickly stood up and went to greet them. "So how did it go? Anything?" she said with such hopefulness.

"Unfortunately……..no." said Giles. "We checked everywhere and nothing." Her face fell at the news.

"Well I have something to tell you guys. It may be nothing but I think that it's worth looking into." Willow said guiding them into the living room.

The guys turned around at looked at Willow expectantly. "Well?" said Xander getting anxious.

"I think that you guys are going to need to sit down for this" she led them over to the couch. They sat down and she took a deep breath. "It's about Buffy…..Dawn said that she saw a vampire attacking this guy and that it looked a lot like Buffy."

Their eyed widened. "That's a crazy idea Will! Do you hear yourself when you speak?" Xander said.

Giles felt a fight coming on so it was his turn to intervene. "Now calm down. Are you sure that is what Dawn was saying Willow?"

"Ya."

"I doubt it. But you are right, it is something to look into. I will head back out tomorrow and have a little talk with Spike."

"Hey!! I wanted to do that." Xander was whining like a little child.

"If I let you go over there you'll only kill him and then we went get any information on Buffy. Now will we?"

"Ok, well I'll take Dawnie with me tomorrow to the spot where she claimes to have seen Buffy." Giles nodded.

"What about me?" Xander said giving Willow and Giles puppy dog eyes and feeling left out once again.

Giles sighed and began to clean his glasses. "I guess you can come with me. BUT! I do all the talking and you touch NOTHING! Understand?" Xander nodded.

"Well Willow, I guess that it is time for us to leave now. We will meet here again tomorrow to see what we are going to do." He stood up to leave and Xander followed.

"Night Will."

"Bye."

Willow knew that the next few days and nights weren't going to be easy. So she headed upstairs to try and get some sleep even though that would be a difficult task to accomplish.