A/N: Okay, I was just pondering how to explain what a slayer used to fend off a nasty vamp before Jesus was born, and then crucified on a cross. (Art History had me thinking this) So, what if a Slayer was around in say Israel around 1 AD when Christ was born? I'm weird, I know. Actually, this chapter's gonna be about two slayers. And I know I've been kinda depressing with the last three slayers, but think about it. They were young girls who really didn't want to die. Buffy kinda wanted to the second time around. Oh, and I don't really know when the first slayer was created, I'm assuming that it was back in the BC eras.

Chapter Seven: It's More Than I Can Handle

Buffy peered through the doorway. Lily slowly pushed her forward into the dusty street. Buffy glared at her as she stepped forward into the shadows.

"We're in Bethlehem." Lily said softly, crossing herself.

"Isn't that -"

"Where Gawd almighty Hisself was born? Aye. Da Lord is bout to be born dis ver' evening."

A young girl no more than fifteen or sixteen was lead on a donkey by a handsome man, his skin burnished brown by days in the sun. As the donkey moved forward, the young woman was shown more clearly. She was pregnant.

"Mary was a slayer?" Buffy screeched.

"Wha'? Nah, Aaliyah be 'er name. She lives 'ere in Bethlehem."

A dark complected girl followed in the near darkness of the dusty street. Aaliyah followed the couple as they went from inn to inn looking for a resting place. She'd been following them as they traveled through the night, protecting them from the vampire assassins that were after the pregnant woman. She quickly staked another vamp as it prepared to hurl a dagger at the back of the woman. She snatched up the intricate dagger and leapt forward to kill another vamp. The dagger entered it's flesh, and exploded.

"No vampire will stop me from completing my mission." She said softly, pulling herself up, she quickly raced through alleys to get to the last inn in the city.

The fat man at the counter balked at seeing the lithe girl standing before him. She smiled softly and made her plea to him. Slipping a few gold drachma into his sweaty palm, she slipped back out into the night. Moments later, the man and pregnant woman entered the inn. They asked about lodgings for the night.

"Aaliyah bribed them without getting physical."

"Money was even mor' powerful bac' then." Lily said. "Watch."

The couple turned to follow the man as he led them to a manger. And above them, on the rooftop of the nearby building Aaliyah battled with another assassin.

"Herod will not have it's blood!" Her dagger blow was blocked as she ducked from another fist. The vampire tried to renew it's fight, and managed to knock the dagger from her hands.

The vampire grinned as she brought her foot up to his face, knocking the vamp back. Unfortunately, it knocked him toward the dagger. He clutched onto it and rammed it in his side as she lunged forward. She fell back and gasped in pain. From below, in the stable, she could hear the woman crying in pain.

Aaliyah knew the woman who was aiding her had never had assisted in a birth before. The pained cries echoed in her ears as she grasped the dagger handle. With all her might, she ripped it from her side and put all of her weight into the punch she landed on the vamp. She landed astride him and forced the blade of the dagger across his throat. He burst into dust as she rose shakily to her feet.

The woman cried out again. Aaliyah had to help her. She had been present at many births. Including the births of her two children. She flung herself off the roof into the pile of hay. She brushed a strand of hair from her eyes as she rose.

"I'm here to help, my lady."

Buffy cringed as she watched the birth of the baby. She even closed her eyes at one point. Lily just laughed at her.

"You nevah seen childbirth?"
"Not of the human nature."

Aaliyah held the screaming child in her arms. She smiled as he cooed up at her. And then, after looking up with tears in her eyes, collapsed back into the hay.

"Wait, what happened?"

"The wound." Lily reminded her.

"Where's Aaliyah? Isn't this her cue to pop up and talk?"

"We're not done. Watch."

The crowds were teaming in the city as the group of men entered. Palms waved in the air. A golden haired woman watched, her veils draped over her face. Her eyes focused on the handsome bearded man before her.

Day shifted to evening, and still she watched him. Ten offers to buy her favors came from the city guards and still she ignored them. Her eyes stayed fixed on the room in which he and his friends dined.

"Who's She?"

"Lilith."

Lilith followed them as he went to the hills. She hid in the shadows, watching. The man stopped on his way up the hill. He looked into the shadows and called to her.

"Come out. I can see you there."

"Teacher, it is not safe for you here. I am watching."

"You cannot change what is to be. Watch over my watchers, I fear they will need you more than I. My friend is to betray me this night."

"Then I should dispatch of him. I -" Fear came to her eyes.

"Lilith. I would not have you spill blood for my sake. That is not what I teach."

"Teacher, -"

"Go, Lilith, and spill no blood this night."

Lilith turned and left her teacher to watch over his friends. In the night the soldiers came and took him. She raced to his aide, but he called out that no blood was to be spilled. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

They crucified him the next day. She mourned in the shadows. As the darkness descended, she watched over the bearers of his body. And from the shadows, the unclean beasts came to scavenge for blood.

She battled against them dusting one after the other. But there were too many. She hurled one over her shoulder toward her teacher's cross and watched as his body burst into flame.

But she did not see the spear that pierced her body from behind. She collapsed to her knees as the image of her teacher's cross was the last image she saw.

"His will be done."

Buffy turned to face Lily to see Lilith and Aaliyah in her place. Aaliyah smiled at her, and Lilith bowed her head.

"Hello, Buffy." Aaliyah said softly.

"Hi."

"You're expecting us to tell you how we failed?" Aaliyah asked.

"Kinda, that's what everyone else did."

"I did not fail. I did what I was born to do. The child needed to be protected, and I died helping to bring him into this world, so he could fulfill his mission."

"And you?" Buffy asked Lilith.

"I could not save him, it is true. But because of me, his bearers were protected. I have no regrets from my life." She said softly.

"Sometimes, you don't have anything to regret." Aaliyah said.

The next thing she knew, Buffy was back on the plain, following Lily to another door.

A/N 2: Aaliyah means high exalted, to ascend, while Lilith means dark, a woman of the night.