Buffy walked slowly down the darkened streets as she headed back to Adam's apartment. She couldn't keep her mind from returning to Duncan MacLeod, and remembering Richie's story about Tessa his lost love. Richie had called them soul mates, and yet Duncan looked to be a healthy, well adjusted man. How was he able to move on with his life, when all Buffy could see when she closed her eyes was the shocked and betrayed look upon her lover's face as she plunged him into hell?
He didn't kill her. That had to be part of it. Someone else had murdered her. Perhaps he had sought revenge. Would that have helped to heal him? Before this, she would have said no. Now, she wasn't so sure. Morals and ethics were something foreign to her now. In one blinding moment, every black and white she had ever known had become grey.
She couldn't even seek vengeance, even if it would help. She was the murderer. She had committed this unspeakable act and though sometimes when she thought of it, she longed for the simple embrace of death, she could never do it herself. The warrior in her was too strong to bring about her own fate...at least for now.
She felt torn in a way she had never known before. She ran from Sunnydale to find solace away from people and the world in general. Instead, she had run headlong into something equally as dangerous as her previous life and encountered a new group of people who, if she weren't so torn, she would probably have really liked. She found herself wanting to be away from them, and then wishing for their company when she was left alone with her thoughts. Much as she hated to admit it to herself, right now she missed Adam.
When he was around, she could block the memory of Angel from her mind. She could concentrate on what it meant to be immortal, and ignore the pain that pierced her every being. She could pretend she was Anne Sommerville.
When she was alone, she was Buffy again and it was getting harder and harder to hold back the floodgate of tears that threatened themselves. She knew if she allowed herself to wallow in her grief, it would never stop. It would paralyze her to the point of utter collapse and she refused to become that person. Retired or not, she was still the slayer and slayers couldn't afford to give into weakness.
She blinked and paused as she was suddenly overcome with the immortal feeling Adam had described earlier as the 'buzz'. She stopped cold, and turned hoping to see Adam, Duncan or Richie behind her. She didn't.
"What do you want?" She asked the man. He didn't blink, choosing instead to advance slowly toward her.
"I want to challenge you." He replied. She rolled her eyes and reverted to the one defense tactic that had become incredibly useful in past fights against potentially stronger foes-sarcasm.
"Now that's original! Don't you immortals have any other lines? I mean honestly in the last couple of days all I've heard are 'I challenge you' or 'I've come for your head'. You guys must really be bored."
"You are amusing slayer, but it won't help you." The man replied. Buffy felt the air leave her.
"How do you know who I am?"
"I know many things about you." The man told her with a chilling smile. "I know your true name, I know what you did, I know why you ran and I knew that you would be in this street, on this night in this city."
"You know so much about me, who the hell are you?" She took an inadvertent step back, attempting to keep her composure which slipped further and further with every word he spoke.
"It's of no consequence to you. The dead can't appreciate much." He grinned and removed his sword. "Shall we dance?"
"I don't have a sword," she said nervously. She had a feeling it wouldn't matter to this man either way.
"I know." He took another step towards her. "Still, I can't help wondering what you've got. And I never fight fair."
Buffy had had it with the man's threats. Before he could make a move she lunged towards him executing a perfect roundhouse and landing it in the man's face. Were he any normal human (or immortal) it would have knocked him clean backwards. Even a vampire would reel slightly from the blow, but instead her foot twisted upon contact and she was thrown back several feet. It felt like she was kicking iron. He was staring at her, unblinking, an amused smirk on his lips.
"That was cute." He took two strides towards where she had landed and picked her up by the neck single-handedly. He smiled once more, and this time Buffy could see the teeth he possessed were not human. And yet, he felt like an immortal. No other vampire had ever had the immortal buzz, so how did this man possess it? What was he? Before she could ask those questions, he threw her roughly against the sidewalk. She felt the air leave her as she landed and tried to suppress the panic she was suddenly feeling.
Scrambling to her feet, she hurled a series of punches at him that did not even affect him. He stood staring at her, allowing her to pummel him, the smile on his face growing as she did so.
With one swift kick, she was down on the ground again, gasping for air. Hurling her up, he proceeded to swiftly attack her with a flurry of kicks and punches that she never even saw coming, much less knew how to counter.
He was stronger than her, faster than her, and he appeared to be both immortal and vampire all at once. What was going on?
"What..." she had barely gotten out the word, when the man spat on her in disgust.
"You are pathetic slayer." He hissed. "I was under the impression that you would present a challenge. As it stands this night has been very disappointing for me."
"Maybe you should have stayed home then," Adam's voice came from behind and Buffy looked up to see him standing there, sword at the ready.
"Adam!" She exclaimed, suddenly struck by the immense danger he was putting himself in without realizing it. "Get out of here now. This isn't your fight."
"You have a strange way of saying thank you," he replied undeterred. "We'll have to work on that."
"He's not like other immortals!" She continued. "He's a vampire as well!"
"And a hell of a piano player, but enough small talk." The immortal/vampire threw himself at Adam, his sword clashing against Adam's Ivanhoe with a sickeningly strong clang. Buffy searched her mind frantically for an idea, knowing that Adam would only last so long before succumbing to the creature.
Suddenly she remembered the holy water she had placed in her pants pockets before leaving to go to Joe's that evening. She had given up slaying, but she wasn't stupid. Standing up, she grabbed it and hurled it at the creature. It smashed against his face, having the desired effect. He reeled back from it, his face smoking and dropped his sword.
Reacting on pure instinct alone, Buffy grabbed it and thrust it at the creature, managing to stab him in the chest. He looked up at her and she was suddenly floored at what she had done. Here she was, back in this same position, another man at the end of a sword.
"Oh God," she murmured, almost physically ill.
"Anne!" Adam was yelling at her, but she couldn't hear it over the roaring in her ears. "Anne, finish him! Take his head!"
But she couldn't. She couldn't move. She could barely breathe. The world started to spin around her, and all she could hear was Angel's final words and hers, telling him to close his eyes.
"No," she whispered, shaking now, not even noticing the vampire/immortal backing up, to extricate himself from the impalement. "Angel..."
"Anne, come on!" She felt Adam tug at her arm, but barely registered it. He must have realized her paralysis because he pulled both her and the sword away from the creature with amazing force, hitting it with the hilt of his sword to stun it momentarily before yanking her close to him and making a run for it.
She didn't even know how fast or how far they had run until they both stopped, panting and gasping for breath. She was still holding the creature's sword.
"What the hell was that?" Adam was demanding to know. She looked around and saw they were in front of his apartment. He headed up the stairs and she followed close behind, choosing to answer him only when they were in the safety of his apartment.
"I...I couldn't beat him." She finally said lamely.
"I noticed that," he snapped back. "You froze completely when you had the opportunity to defeat him. Why?"
"I did not freeze!" She argued. It was useless, for she knew he was right. Still, she wasn't about to tell him her reasons.
"Like hell you didn't!" Adam shot back. "I've gone easy on you so far, because I thought you would come through in a pinch. I honestly thought when push came to shove you would rise to the challenge, but you just stood there waiting to die. Maybe I should have just let you. It's obvious you're not up to the task of either slayer or immortal."
"What do you know?" She exclaimed. "That thing was both immortal and vampire, did you notice that? You couldn't beat it either, so don't you dare lay this on me. I did my best."
"If you call that your best, I'd hate to see you at your worst." He sneered. "And there's no such thing as a vampire immortal. It's not possible."
"You're 0 for 2 in the last few days then it seems, because you said it wasn't impossible for me to be both slayer and immortal either." She felt triumphant that she was at least correct on that score. However, the look he was suddenly giving her, told her that she was wrong, yet again.
"Actually it seems I was right in that respect." He reached up to her face and gently touched her lower lip, which was bleeding quite freely along with her head and chin. "You're not an immortal after all. An immortal would have healed by now, but you're still bleeding."
"So...what am I?" She asked quietly, feeling more lost that ever before. The look he gave her back caused her heart to drop in fear.
"I don't know."
