A/N: much thanks to all of you who reviewed the story. By now, you should all know I own squat, 'cept the people I make up. Anywho. BIG FAT WARNING: Some bad stuff happens, and it's not nice or fluffy or pretty. It's sad and scary. So, just remember: THIS FOCUSES ON DEATH!!!! Ok, I said we'd meet someone new. And I've been pondering this idea through the world's most boring Bio class ever invented. So, anyway, on to what you're really here for. The story.

Chapter Three: Through The Eyes Of A Child

Buffy blinked to adjust her eyes to the darkness. A young girl, no more than thirteen, sat on the stoop of an old looking apartment building. Her hair was black, and her eyes focused on her knitting. The sun had been set for awhile. She was humming an unfamiliar song.

Buffy turned and looked at Lily. Lily was watching Buffy's reaction. She merely nodded her head to the scene that lay before them. They all reacted to the sound down the alleyway. The girl's head stayed down though. Another girl approached her. Buffy was confused. Which one was the slayer?

"Jus' watch, Buffy."

The sitting girl spoke in French, but Buffy understood her.

"It is not safe for a young girl to be traveling this road at this time of night."

The other girl came into the light, confusion marring her beautiful face. She watched the girl on the stoop. And still her head was bent over her work.

"Sorry, luv, Bu' I don't speak French." The girl on the stoop finally looked up, her face a blank mask.

Just as the other girl came to stop in front of the sitting girl. She grinned broadly at the girl.

"Bu' I do eat it." She said as she vamped out.

"Her name is Joelle Lafayette. Sh' was chosen a' twelve."

Joelle broke the gaze with the vampiress, her knitting falling into the cobbled road. She backhanded the vampire, her hand clutching on the wooden stake in her lap. Joelle's fist pounded into the vampire's nose, cracking something as her stake went into the heart.

The vampire exploded into a pile of dust. Joelle stooped to retrieve her knitting. Anger clouded her young eyes. She muttered something under her breath.

"Damn, Grandmere will never want this filthy rag now!"

"Sh' was born in France, but her granny wa' a English lady. "

"But the vampire didn't kill her."

"Sh' couldna speak English. Sh'd only been in London for a week."


Five drunk men entered the alleyway. Joelle paid them no attention. They spoke to her, but she didn't understand them. As she tried to pass them, they grabbed her. She fought sending one of the men back into a wall.

"Break he' damn legs! Break he' damn arms! It don't affect wha' we're after." One of them screamed.

They found a loose cobble on the road. Three of them pushed her against the wall. The other took the cobble and shattered her knee cap. Her scream pierced the night sky, and someone pulled their shutter tight at the sound. Her left knee cap soon followed, and then both of her forearms and her hands. Tears streamed down her face, French prayers muttered under her breath.

One of them raised her skirts and took her innocence. When they had all had their fill, the one who had called for the cobble pulled a knife from his waist. She begged for mercy as he held the knife to her throat.

"Sorry, luv, I don't speak French." He tore the knife over her throat.

Buffy turned away to face Joelle. She smiled sadly at Buffy.

"Grandmere had sent for me after Papa died. My mere was sick, and it was the only way to save me from the streets, as a whore."

"You were illegitimate?"

"Oui. She saved me."

"What -"

"Mon mistake?"

Buffy nodded softly. The girl's sad brown eyes brimmed with tears as she looked back at her body. Buffy's heart broke. Joelle was even younger than Dawnie had been. Joelle needed a moment to compose herself.

"Mon mistake was being alone. I never told mon watcher zhat I was going to Enghland. I didn't want to believe him."

"Then -"

"I refused to believe in zee evils in zee world. I nevar zhought zat vampyres were 'ere as well. I was too young. Because I didn't believe in real demons, I failed to see de evahl in man. I - I froze. I waz in disbelief. It was ordinary men zhat killed me. I tried to run away from mon destiny. Denial iz what killed moi."

Buffy reached for her hand, only to find herself back on the hill with Lily.

"Ye ready for th' next door?"

"If it's anything like the last one, then hell no!"

A/N 2: The title was taken from the Air Supply song of the same story. I'm gonna cry if nobody knows who they are! lol! Ok, so whatcha think?