Buffy Summers, the one and only slayer, had faced many horrors in her career. There were vampires, big snake demons, robots, a goddess- even her own boyfriend had turned evil on her. Hell- she'd died twice in the line of duty.
But nothing compared to this. The terror was too much, and the stress levels were through the roof.
"Do I get the very berrytastic scents, or the metallic glitter ones?"
Buffy Summers, the legal guardian, was helping buy school supplies.
"I can't decide!" Dawn stressed, holding the two packets of gel pens, one in either hand, and looking pleadingly at her sister. For someone who started life as a ball of magical energy tracked by someone who wanted to kill her, she certainly worried about the littlest things.
"Does it really matter?" Buffy sighed, looking from her watch to the basket of stationary, which included a ring binder with a picture of a moose and 'chocolate' written above it, various biros, a set of snoopy pencils, a hole punch, and a garish pink pencil case bearing the legend 'I laugh because I don't understand'. The money (or lack there of) was burning a hole in her back pocket.
Dawn was giving Buffy a look which suggested that it was completely important- the role of social outcast beckoned should she not have these pens for underlining in pretty colours.
The slayer rolled her eyes, smiling slightly. It was that long since she'd been to high school that she was forgetting the need to fit in, rather stand up and be counted. Not that she'd fitted in at Sunndydale High- her calling had made that rather complicated. Well, that and nearly staking the most popular girl in school…
"I think I'll go for… glittery," Dawn decided finally. "I mean, Rachel had scented last year, and everybody has them, so I might as well be different."
"You're such a trend setter," Buffy drawled sarcastically, checking the list her sister had made. "Spiral bound notepad in shape of an animal. Do they even make those? And precisely how will you file your notes on such an odd shape?"
"That's for doodling. I have a lined paper pad for the boring stuff."
Buffy hiked an eyebrow, and replied "I'm sure you meant to say the stuff that will get you through exams. We are not buying something you don't need."
Oh God- she was beginning to turn into her mother. She shuddered at the idea of loosing all her fashion sense and starting to wear long brown skirts and sensible shoes. Not her- and long skirts are no good for slayage anyway.
A brief hissy-fit later, and Buffy had dragged Dawn to the checkout to pay, trying to heal the gaping wound left by the denial of animal shaped paper by buying them both chocolate. The sugar kick was defiantly needed- shopping with a teenager was something she had forgotten the hassle of, and silently she begged her mothers forgiveness for her own teen years while Dawn handed over her hard earned money to the cashier.
They exited the shop and wandered around the mall, playing idle games of 'if I wasn't bankrupt I'd buy…' in which Dawn chose a fantastic outfit from one of the designer stores, which was actually not a clever thing to wear when riding the motorbike she fancied along with them, while Buffy settled for a slightly more realistic holiday to the Caribbean with three movie stars employed to massage her feet and feed her grapes.
It was with a slight twinge of regret that Buffy noted "It's five 'o' clock. Better get home and have some food."
"Can we eat out?" begged Dawn, trying for the puppy dog eyes.
"Sure. Go get a refund on those pens and the binder and we might be able to afford to share a happy meal," she retorted, putting an arm around her sister's shoulders and turning her towards the escalators.
"It's gotten dark early," Dawn said, as they stepped out of the mall's revolving door system.
Buffy frowned. The sunset today wasn't until at least 8:30, if not later. Summer days did not generally end at five past five. And the cloud cover above them was highly unusual. Thick black clouds which writhed around one another like snakes in a barrel. They were blocking out any of the sun which may have been trying to get to them, hence the darkness.
The queesy feeling started in the pit of Buffy's stomach, gradually spreading until she was greatly uneasy.
"Race you home!" Dawn yelled, shattering her reverie by tagging her arm and then running off giggling, the bag of school supplies banging the backs of her legs.
"Dawn…" Buffy called out as she ran after her sister, who was rapidly turning a corner in front of her. Buffy could never remember little Dawny running so fast before. "I really don't think this is a good idea! It's dark and darkness brings…"
"VAMPIRES!"
Her sister's scream made Buffy run all the more speedily, and she too skidded around the corner just as two young vampires, both wearing jackets from the now burnt down Sunnydale High basketball team, were laughing at her distress, having herded her back into the alleyways walls.
"God," one was professing, "I love this weather!"
"Oh, I don't know," the Slayer quipped, staking him in the back and turning to his companion. "I prefer something where I can get a suntan. But you people don't generally have that problem do you?"
The vampire growled at her, swinging a left hook at her face, which she ducked easily, before replying by taking his ankles out from under him. Before he could rise, she had sat herself across his chest, and was plunging the stake towards his unbeating heart. She didn't hit it though, as he managed to block her arm, rolling over so that Buffy found herself pinned down, the stake falling from her grip and clattering across the alley.
"Slayer- my favourite," the vampire rasped, licking his lips and leaning over her. His lips were a mere fraction of an inchfrom her neck when he exploded into dust.
Looking up from her prone position, Buffy saw Dawn standing above her, a new pencil clutched in a shaking hand, the tip broken and the design scuffed from the impact.
"Ok," Buffy smiled. "So maybe Snoopy pencils are a must have."
