Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Title - Anywhere But Home

Summary – Feeling in need of a vacation, Buffy, Dawn and Xander decide to hit the road and head for the hills – literally. They are surprised to find themselves using the most beautiful of cabins, cut off from civilization and surrounded by lovely scenery. Everything starts out smoothly enough, but when strange things begin happening around the house, the trio begins to suspect a haunting. However, they never could have expected just how horrifying things could get when everything begins to spiral out of control, and sanity seems like an eternity away.

Rating – PG 13 for mild cursing, violence and gore.

Historian's Note – This story takes place during the summer after season six.

Prologue

It had been two weeks since Willow left for England with Giles. Two weeks since the tragedy of everything that had happened; Tara's death, Willow's descent into magick-induced madness, Warren's murder, and the near destruction of the world. But it had all been stopped, by Xander of all people.

He hadn't been afraid to talk about it, either. With Anya out of the picture, he didn't have anyone else to talk to, so Buffy and Dawn had to endure many variations on the story of what had occurred up on the cliff between Xander and Willow as she tried to funnel her energy into a demonic effigy in order to destroy the world and end all of the suffering she was feeling.

A heat wave had moved in from the South, and Sunnydale had become almost like a frying pan, its concrete-paved roads like skillets, cooking whatever happened to be stuck amongst their midst. Even when the boiling and unforgiving sun went down, the nights were still warm, and the moon gave no respite to the weary wanderers of the town.

Which was unfortunate for Buffy, because she spent a lot of her time walking around at night, and tonight showed no signs of changing, weather-wise. Luckily, the heat had not only sent a lot of Sunnydalians packing, but a lot of the demons were keeping to themselves as well, more content to stay within their cold and empty catacombs and crypts, hidden from the dizzying heat.

As Buffy wandered through one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries, she idly fantasized about a nice, cold shower, imagining the icy water helping to massage her aching, heat-soaked muscles. The idea was starting to sound better and better as her feet scraped across dry, cracked grass.

She sighed. There wasn't a demon in sight. They were all probably cuddled up in their dank little holes, hiding out from the heat, just like she should be. But she was the Slayer, and it was her duty to make sure things were safe.

Up ahead, there was movement.

The Slayer tensed, suddenly attuned to every sound, every twitch in the grass. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe some insanely stupid vampire had decided to head out for a nice, cool swig of blood.

She crept amongst a particularly dense grouping of tombstones, keeping low so as to stay out of sight. Most vampires and demons had good night vision, so it was best to try and keep a low profile, just to keep the element of surprise. She slowly and silently pulled the stake she'd been trolling around out of her waistband where it had been tightly snuggled against the small of her back.

Something moved again on the other side of the tombstones and Buffy peeked up and over, peering through the thick darkness. A bulky figure was making its way towards a mausoleum, a strange crackling sounding in its wake.

With a start, Buffy leapt up and ran towards the figure, spinning it around, preparing to begin fighting for her life, when –

"Aah!," the figure cried, dropping his groceries on the cemetery floor. Buffy took in the stubby, clawed fingers, the disheveled clothing, the many folds of pinkish-cream colored skin, the floppy, dog-like ears…

"Clem?," she said, surprised.

"Buffy, you almost gave me a heart attack," Clem, the friendly, floppy demon chastised the Slayer.

"I'm sorry," Buffy said, feeling like a fool. "It's just been kind of slow lately, and I guess I was getting desperate for some demon action."

"Everybody's been keeping to themselves lately," Clem agreed, and he began to gather up the bags of groceries he'd dropped because of Buffy's surprise attack. She leaned down and started helping him wordlessly. He looked over at her and his eyes softened with concern. "You aren't…looking for him again, are you?"

"Him-who?," Buffy asked, feigning innocence, even though she knew exactly who Clem was talking about.

"Yay tall, bright blond hair, has an accent, used to have a major thing for a certain Slayer we all know," Clem said, listing qualities off one by one on his chubby, flesh riddled fingers.

"Right," Buffy said, nodding. "That him. And no. I wasn't looking for him."

"Good," Clem said, but he didn't really seem to believe the petite blond Slayer. "Because Spike is gone. He might not even come back." Buffy looked away, not sure how she felt about that idea. Clem noticed how uncomfortable it made her feel and tried to backpedal.

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with you," he added weakly.

"It's okay," Buffy told him, and they both rose back to a standing position. "You don't have to explain on his behalf. Spike left, that was his decision."

"Maybe you should too," Clem suggested.

Buffy looked at him strangely.

"I don't mean right this moment, 'cause hello, love the company," Clem explained, laughing nervously. Buffy nodded and returned the uneasy chuckle. "I just mean, the heat's keeping the demons from playing. So maybe you should take a load off, try and relax. Get out of town."

"Me, relax?," Buffy asked, snorting out a derisive laugh.

"Stranger things have happened," Clem pointed out. Buffy considered the idea for a moment. It wasn't completely insane. It would definitely be nice to get out of Sunnydale for awhile, just spend some time doing nothing but chilling out, literally and figuratively.

"You know," Buffy said slowly, "Maybe you're right."

"Buffy, even a Slayer needs to relax," Clem told her. "Hey! I've got just the thing for you. I've heard of this place, up north, beautiful old cabin. Nice and cool, right by the mountains. You'd love it."

"Wow, thanks, Clem," Buffy said. "That's really sweet of you."

"Anything for the Slayer," Clem said, smiling weakly.

Buffy began to walk away, ready to turn in for the night. Nothing was moving around anyway, so she might as well head back. Maybe it was about time for the nice, cold shower she'd been thinking about.

"Buffy," Clem called after her. The Slayer half-turned, looking back at the almost comical looking demon. "I'm sure it's all for your own good."

Buffy nodded, appreciative of his kind words.

But her mind was in a different place. Somehow, now, she couldn't get the picture of a cozy little cabin tucked away in the mountains out of her head.

To Be Continued...