Buffy strolled casually through the dark cemetery, her shoulders relaxed and her feet moving in what was almost a shuffle. If anyone had been present to watch her, they would have thought her oblivious to her surroundings. The cemetery was silent - deceptively so. She paused to roll her shoulders and her neck, sighing softly as they popped in relief. It felt good to be out patrolling. Her return to this formerly regular activity was the only thing that made her feel grounded these days.

Nothing had changed over the course of the past two weeks. Everyone was still clinging determinedly to this new reality. Xander had selflessly financed their stay at the hotel by renting all of their rooms for a month. Giles and Anya had been upgraded to a suite, which suited Buffy just fine, since she didn't relish hearing all the disturbing sounds that had begun to emanate from their room. She tried to be happy for her friends. They were so content now.

She hadn't felt this alone since...

No, she wasn't going to go there. Dredging up two year old memories wouldn't help. Besides, this situation was different. Nobody had done this to her, this had just happened and now she needed to deal. It wasn't as though her life had changed for the worse or that anyone was being harmed. It seemed as though they had moved on with their lives - everyone except her.

She didn't have to patrol alone, but it was better than asking them along, only to feel more alone with them than she did without them. Sometimes Giles tagged along and occasionally managed to convince Anya to stay back at the hotel. It felt good to patrol with him, except for the times when he seemed to be distracted and impatient to return to the hotel in case he was needed. Whatever.

Andrew and Xander had come along a few times, but they spent so much time dreaming up new ideas and cracking each other up that Buffy never managed to kill anything. It seemed to her that vampires would be out looking for some fresh human yummies and would welcome the signals that food was near. But no, she was almost convinced that the hoots and snorts they made served as some kind of vampire repellant. They should figure out a way to bottle that and make their next million.

She avoided asking Dawn. The girl was the only real family that Buffy had left, and it hurt too much knowing that they were no longer considered sisters. She couldn't talk to Dawn the way she used to and it was so hard to remember that Giles was the authority figure for her now. Of course Dawn still loved to patrol and would sulk over being left out. But then Anya would take her shopping and teach her about looking for sales and all those other vitally important parts of normal female lives.

Buffy paused to yawn before resuming her careless stride.

Then there was Willow. Willow would immediately agree to come along any time Buffy asked, then would spend the next hour debating the morality of killing another being just because it happened to be a demon that liked to eat people. After all, weren't they just trying to preserve their species by filling normal existential needs? Blah blah blah. It reminded her of the whole Shumash Indian mess and Spike tied to the chair peppered with arrows and offering his opinion to anyone who didn't want it. Add in the fact that Angel had been there the entire time and nobody had bothered to...

Spike and Angel. Buffy stopped, her frown deepening. There was something she needed to know. With all the newfound bliss going on around her, they'd forgotten what had started this whole mess: her dream. There was something she needed to know and it had to do with Angel and, somehow, with Spike. She still didn't have the first clue about how, or what, or anything else for that matter. She had sacrificed two lovers for the cause of saving the earth, but her dream was telling her that something was still undone. But did anyone care? Not that she could tell. If she brought it up they waved off her concern and told her that it would work itself out in time.

She supposed that a dusty dead demon didn't really rank high on their Oh-Gee-I-Give-A-Rat's-Ass O-Meters.

She really needed to stop this. The world didn't revolve around her, especially with no apocalypse looming. Hmpf. No vampires looming either. She sighed loudly, pocketed her stake and turned back toward the hotel. Another wasted patrol was not going to...

"Slayer!"

Belatedly, Buffy felt the telltale stomach cramps that usually warned her of a vampire's approach. She whirled around to introduce her stake to the demon's unbeating heart, but remembered her hand was empty. She contented herself with a snap kick to his knee.

"Ouch!" He limped backward on his uninjured leg. "Is that the best you can do?"

"Try me," she said. A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth. "It's been a while and I wouldn't mind dragging this out. Frankly, I've got nothing better to do."

He flashed his fangs at her. "What makes you think I'd try to take on a Slayer by myself? Or that this'll take any time at all?"

Buffy became aware of movements all around her, but didn't take her gaze off the demon, who was grinning wolfishly at her even as he rubbed his knee. She didn't show any outward signs of uneasiness, but she sensed that there were at least six other vampires closing in on her. "So all this attention for little old me? I'm flattered."

"You're not one of the new ones, eh?" he asked as he limped toward her.

"Nah, I've been around a long time."

"And what makes you think you're going to last any longer, blondie?" he asked, as he reached out a rough hand to tug at her hair.

Automatically she swung her forearm up, blocking his hand as her other hand unpocketed the stake and drove it home. She shook his dust from her fist.

"Because I'm good," she said. She turned in a circle again, slowly this time. "Who's up next?"

A few of the vamps backed off, but four continued to stalk toward her undeterred by the dust of their colleague wafting in the wind. Buffy found herself surrounded by the drooling quartet of hungry vampires and mentally formulated her attack. She ducked the first few punches, dropping low for a sweep kick, knocking the feet out from under one of her attackers. She straddled him and raised her stake to strike, but was hoisted off by two of the others and thrown against a headstone.

"These thing never really get any softer, do they?" She kipped up to her feet and spun quickly, catching vamp number two in the chin with the heel of her boot and then introduced the wood to his chest before he could call for backup.

"And then there were three," she commented. Buffy watched as they shifted uncomfortably, trying to ascertain the best avenue of attack. She could see their uneasy glances toward her stake and knew that none of them wanted to take the chance of being the next one to be reduced to miniscule pieces.

"Come on!" she said. "You know you want to take me out. You've got all those nice, sharp teeth and here I am all full of yummy blood, just waiting for one of you."

She saw the gleam enter their eyes and knew that she had them. The rushed her clumsily, tripping over each other on their quest for her neck. Thunk, thunk, thunk and they were all gone.

She scanned the now empty cemetery and tucked the stake into her waistband. "You guys are all the same, always after one thing."

Well, that had been invigorating - and timely. Just when she thought she'd have another boring evening watching television with Willow and Dawn, she'd actually ended up having a little fun. Too bad there was nobody around to share it with. Time to go back. Maybe now that she'd found a core of vampires she could interest the others in joining her on patrol the next night.

She paused to wonder, what did you call a group of vampires? Nest had been done to death. Maybe a herd or a gaggle. No! A litter. No, that wouldn't be right either. Vampires ate kittens, so they wouldn't be a litter. That was it then: a pack. Pack worked. She was considerably more cheerful and moved with a bounce to her step as she resumed her trip back to her room. There had definitely been vamps that had scurried off, so she had a pack to find. Hopefully it would be a big one and Willow could work some mojo and the guys could do some stakings and even a few beheadings. It would be like old times. Yes. It was a good night.