Six weeks later.
The sound of dripping water woke Buffy from another nightmare. The ones she had every night. The ones where it seemed she was happy, where Angel was alive and they were together. The ones where the pain was gone and everything was perfect, until she woke up and was suddenly pulled back into reality.
When you kiss me, I want to die.
She shook off the remnants of the dream and got up. It was only 4AM and she didn't have to start work until ten, but she didn't want to fall asleep again. It was a welcome break after long days that never seemed to end, but it only made things worse every time she woke up. Sometimes her dreams made it seem that the past months hadn't been real, but each time she opened her eyes and realized she wasn't in his arms, the pain came back twice as fast and twice as bad.
She still didn't need much sleep anyway.
Buffy sighed and looked around the one-room apartment. She had rented a cheap place in one of the most torn-down blocks of downtown L.A., but it was all she could afford on the minimum wage she earned waitressing. The walls were bare and moistand there was hardly any furniture. The only sound she heard was the dripping of water in the sink in the corner, but it bore itself into her overloaded brain nonetheless.
Maybe I should take a walk, clear my mind…Roaming along the clammy streets that were only just beginning to cool down after a boiling hot day, Buffy thought about her life for the fifteen millionth time.
Suddenly, she was pulled from her thought by a loud piercing scream. Her hand automatically reached for the stake in the pocket of her jeans, when she realized she didn't have it with her. She wasn't on patroll, after all.
For a second, she hesitated. Then she made up her mind and started running in the direction of the scream. Turning a corner, she saw two struggling shapes in the twilight of a small alley. She looked around feverishly for something she could use as a weapon, and her eye fell on two small wooden beams sticking out of a pile of dumped garbage. Quickly, she snapped one of them in half and closed her hand around it. It felt natural, like one of her senses had been gone and was back again.
"Hey!" she yelled at the vampire as he had thrown a young woman against a wall and was just about to bite her. The demon looked up and grinned. Without breaking eye contact with the blonde, he knocked his victim unconscious and charged at her. In the blink of an eye, Buffy turned and gave him a flying kick in the stomach which sent him crashing against the brick wall.
That was when a second vampire hit her hard in the back of her head. For a second, she didn't see anything but the flashes of light that danced in front of her eyes. She spinned around and found herself face to face with four vampires who were looking like Christmas had come early this year.
She couldn't believe she hadn't realized there was more than one. Her senses didn't used to betray her like that, she thought.
Buffy clenched her fist around the raw wooden stake and charged at them. Within a matter of seconds, she realized she'd made a mistake. She hadn't been training in months, her reflexes were off and the vampires were more than a match for her. With a well-aimed kick, a burly vampire wearing a flanel shirt hit her hard on the shoulder. The stake clattered to the ground, echoing down the dark alley.
One of them had sneaked up behind her and gave her a sharp blow in the back of her head. The stabbing pain disoriented her, and the gang used the opportunity to knock her to the ground. She recomposed herself as they moved in on her, but before she had to fight them off again, the burly one turned to dust before her eyes.
"What the…" she muttered as a second one, a young blonde vampire, toppled over onto her. She could just make out a wooden crossbow dart in his back, before he pulverized as well. Buffy coughed as the ashes filled her lungs, but she immediately grabbed her makeshift stake and hopped back onto her feet.
With a few swift moves, she turned number three to dust.
"Hey kid! Duck!" someone yelled behind her as she went for the last vampire. Following her reflexes, Buffy crouched down and heard another crossbow dart flying over her head, hitting the last bad guy right in the heart.
The blonde turned around in surprise and noticed a pick-up truck full of teenagers parked sideways, blocking the entrance to the alley. Three guys that looked about her age were standing in front of it, holding crossbows. Without giving her a second glance, two young girls jumped out of the car. They ran up to the vampire Buffy had knocked into the wall and dusted him. Then they picked up the young woman, who was still unconscious, and heaved her into the pick-up.
Buffy was too surprised to say anything. Still, she looked alert as one of the young men walked up to her.
"Chill, I ain't gonna hurt you," the guy said. He was wearing worn down clothes and looked a bit dangerous, but his smile was kind. "You okay?" he asked. He looked at the wooden beam clenched in her hand and raised an eyebrow.
Damn, Buffy thought. Her mind started racing, searching for a plausible explanation, but the young man didn't seem all that concerned. Gently but with a firm hand, he ushered her to the pick-up.
"C'mon, you look like you could use a drink," he said with a grin as she hopped into the back of the pick-up. Buffy followed, still too overwhelmed to show any kind of reaction.
She sat down next to the unconscious young woman who was lying on her back in the back of the truck, and looked down at the floor as they drove off. She felt the eyes of all these kids burning into her skin. Her fingers brushed against the back of her head, which had received a couple of sharp blows, and she grimaced.
"I'll ask Alonna to take a look at that," the young man sitting next to her said. "We don't exactly have real medical supplies, but we got enough to patch people up."
"It's okay," Buffy answered; still reluctant to talk to the gang of kids. She wasn't alltogether sure if they could be trusted. "I'll be fine, I don't bruise easily."
"What were you thinking, taking on five of 'em like that?" the guy asked, taking her in from head to toe. "You could've got yourself killed." Buffy looked up at him.
"Don't worry, I can take care of myself," she mumbled.
"Looked like it. You been doing this before, haven't you?"
"Something like that, yeah," she said. She looked around at the people sitting in the truck. Most of them looked even younger than she was, but they all had the hardened features of people who have seen too much suffering in their life. "I could say the same for you though. You didn't exactly seem like a amateur either."
"We do what we can to stay alive," he replied with a shrug. Buffy wasn't sure he wanted to do any more talking, since he didn't seem like the chatty type, so she remained quiet until the car pulled over near an abandoned warehouse. The kids jumped out, rushing inside and greeting more teenagers who were waiting by the gate. Joking around with their friends, laughing and acting rowdy, they almost seemed like typical high school students, Buffy thought. She doubted they had the chance to go to school though.
The young man ordered some of the boys and girls to take the unconscious woman inside. Most of them had gone inside while Buffy still lingered. She'd come this far trying to shut herself off from the world. For nearly two months, she'd avoided any kind of human contact, and now it seemed strange and unnatural to interact with people without taking their orders.
"You comin' inside?" the guy said.
"Uhm, actually- I think I should be heading back," Buffy stammered. "You know, work and all that. Things to do, place to go, people to wait on."
"Right. Well take care of yourself, I don't wanna have to save your ass again," he answered, shooting her a huge grin. "Oh and I'm Gunn by the way."
"I'm B-"
"Gunn!" someone suddenly shouted. Both Gunn and Buffy's heads snapped round at the same time, to where another young man came running around the corner, clutching his shoulder.
"James! What happened, man?" Gunn said, rushing to his friend's side and putting his arm around his waist for support. "Where are the others?" Something in the way he said it convinced Buffy that he was genuinely concerned for one or more of 'the others', and not just because he seemed to be the leader.
"The second team was ambushed, man. Sorry…"
"Vampires?" Buffy interjected matter-of-factly. She couldn't just stand by and not get involved anymore.
"No, they were something else. A buncha demons with hoods and stuff," James muttered, lifiting up his hand to look at his bloodied shoulder. "I managed to fight them off, but they got Chain, Bobby and Alonna. I came as soon I could…" Gunn was staring at the other man disbelievingly.
"So… they're dead," he finally said in a resigned voice. He never stopped supporting his friend, but Buffy watched him as his other hand reached for the wall in support. Carefully, she put her hand on his arm.
"Maybe they aren't. If they were wearing hoods, it's probably a demon cult. They usually need human sacrifices, which means there's a good chance your friends are still alive if the ritual hasn't started yet," she said softly, surprised at her own conclusions. Giles usually did all the thinking. Before her mind started drifting off to her friends back home, she pulled herself together and faced the wounded young man. "Did you see which way they took your friends?"
"You really think they're still alive?" Gunn asked with his trademark frown, but now there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Cause if you know as much about all of this as you let on, we could use your help."
Buffy took a step back, her mind desperately searching for an excuse. She kept her eyes firmly fixated on the dirty ground as if her answer was waiting for her there.
"I-I don't- I can't. I'm sorry," she stammered.
"Look," he said, facing her so she was forced to look up, "Alonna's my little sister. I've always looked out for her, and if something happens to her I'll never forgive myself. I wanna trust you if you say she's still alive, but I need all the help I can get." Buffy shifted on her feet.
I can't handle more people dying because of me. If I'm wrong and we walk into a trap, or if I can't save her… She didn't even want to finish the thought. Looking up again, she saw that Gunn that never broken eye contact. His eyes were burning with fierce determination.
"I saw you fight just now, and you're better than most of my crew combined. I don't know what happened to you that made up here, and I don't know what you had to deal with, but you're probably the best person to help us now." He paused and looked up as a couple of young people came out to carry James inside. Then he went on. "Me and my gang, we just fight. You look as though you might have a plan. Without your help, people are gonna die soon…"
"I'm not some kind of savior," Buffy said, raising her voice. "When I'm around, people die! I can't-" She let out a sharp breath. "I can't save everybody." Gunn just looked at her for a moment.
"But you can save somebody. There are three people tonight who're gonna die unless you get over your issues. That's gotta be worth something…" he said slowly. The small blonde stared at the ground, her mind racing. After what seemed like an eternity to the young man, she looked up at him.
"Okay. I'll help."
TBC