AN: In answer to your question. Yes, Giles is most definitely English; I
can't really imagine him as anything else!
3. Stranger Than Fiction?
"Am I holding you up or something?" I asked smiling at him as he flustered about and regarded me before speaking.
"Not at all Ms Summers but never-mind. You are no doubt wondering who I am and what I am doing here." I smiled again. Reminded of just how British he'd been when I'd first met him, just like now. I decided to treat my dream as memories if they turned out to be pretty accurate like with Giles. It made me wonder whether I was psychic in some way.
"Actually, yes and no, but let me guess first?" He pursed his lips in impatience at my childish reply but smiled, I lowered my voice a little before speaking, "Your name is Rupert Giles and you're my new watcher. Probably thinking that you got a pretty bum assignment to a crazy slayer. Am I right?" The expression that he was now wearing was one of astonishment and I sat down quite pleased with myself.
"I'm sorry but I wasn't aware that we had met." He looked at me obviously trying to work me out. I smiled to myself; he was going to spend years doing that.
"No we haven't. You are my new watcher then?" I asked him, just to confirm it. He nodded slowly.
"Yes, I'm sorry about." He looked suddenly uncomfortable and I knew what he meant.
"Merrick." I finished for him. He nodded again.
"I am very interested as to how you seem to know me but first I'd like to say that I do not think I got a bum assignment Ms Summers. Whatever your mental.status might be."
"I'm not crazy." He looked at me as if to say that all crazy people claim the same thing. "Look you probably know about the first time I was in here. From Merrick's diaries about how I mistakenly told my parents about.you know." He nodded.
"Yes, an unfortunate incident. However,"
"If you are going to say that I wouldn't have started talking about it again to them without being crazy well you might be right but it wasn't my fault, I was poisoned."
"Really?" He sounded interested and a little less sceptical.
"Yeah, I mean if I'd had a watcher with me when it happened you'd all know about it and I probably wouldn't have been in here this long." He looked a bit abashed but I kept talking before he could say anything. "Well I was patrolling with Pike, my friend, and we'd just got rid of a whole bunch of them when this," I looked around, and whispered, "demon," before continuing at a normal tone. The last thing I needed was someone over hearing me talk about this. ".Attacked me and kind of I don't know injected me with this poison. Anyway my parents thought I had the flu but I was delirious and when I started talking about you know and other things to do with it they brought me straight back here. I don't really know what brought me out of it; maybe I developed immunity or something. All I know is that I really need to get out of here. At least I'll be getting out soon." He studied me for a moment before replying.
"I'll have to research this demon. Your theory about developing immunity is probably more or less accurate. When did you recover?"
"Two and a half weeks ago. It's so annoying that they think they have kept me here even though I'm fine. You know because they don't know what was up with me my doctor says I've got a personality disorder, and he got that just from me blowing up the gym, that was hardly my fault." Giles smiled somewhat amused at my lack of guilt. "Okay so it was, but there was a really good reason that I just can't tell anyone about. And because of that I got kicked out."
"Yes, I was aware of that.lets just hope that it doesn't come to that at your new school. Now, you said they were letting you out?"
"Yeah, should be in the next week, not long, it's actually sad that I want to start school again." He smiled at my admission.
"Yes, I expect it's rather boring in here. Well, I can tell you that Sunnydale High is a good school at any rate and I'm sure you'll be fine. I know how you teenagers worry about fitting in." He trailed off when he caught sight of my shocked expression. This wasn't what I'd expected. Sunnydale? I didn't live in Sunnydale. If.but even as I tried to rationalise it I knew it was pointless. It looked like there really was more to my dream than I'd thought. I mean the Giles thing could have been a fluke, or maybe even slight slayer precognition but this was something much bigger. "Is everything alright Ms Summers you look pale."
"Call me Buffy, you're my watcher after all. It's just, Sunnydale?" I asked. "I don't live in Sunnydale." He looked at me obviously puzzled before realisation dawned.
"Oh dear, perhaps I should not have said that?" I nodded but knew that it was now impossible to deny what I knew was happening, just as I'd seen before.
"We're leaving LA, mom and me aren't we?" He nodded in confirmation after a little hesitation.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that you didn't know."
"It's okay it's not really a big shock. I saw it coming. Dad leaving. I knew it was going to happen I just didn't want to relive it again." When I looked up he looked confused again, I needed to tell him about the whole six years thing but I could see that the duty nurse was looking at us and I knew she was going to come and kick him out any minute now.
"I certainly didn't mean to upset you." I smiled.
"I know and like I said I saw it coming."
"Oh all right. I was wondering if you could tell me how you knew me." I didn't know how to start and I knew it was a longer conversation than I wanted or could have at this point so I opted for the easy way out.
"It's a really long story and I promise to tell you the whole thing when I get back.when I get to Sunnydale. Lets just say, I've seen some things." He didn't look entirely pleased with my answer but knew it would have to do.
"Buffy, the reason I came to see you, other than to introduce myself was because something is going to happen. There are signs that point towards."
"Let me guess, great unrest? Big Bad?" He nodded obviously not too confused by my unique turn of phrase. I smiled inwardly.
"Yes, some time soon, but if you are getting out of here this week we should be in time. Though without recent training."
"Oh that's okay, they've let me use the gym here, supervised of course but I've been training. I've got to do something in here, training seemed like a good boredom reliever. A pity I can't be in the gym all the time." He looked relieved. "I'll be out and then we can work on getting the Master." He looked at me confused again, okay not surprising.
"It was good to meet you Buffy." He looked like such typical Giles that it was hard not to hug him.
"You too, do me a favour? Look up 'The Harvest' for us."
"The Harvest?" I nodded.
"You are being awfully mysterious Buffy." I shrugged.
"Yep, look it up. I promise to tell you everything once I get.there." It was hard not to say home. "And like I said, I've seen some things." He nodded again and said goodbye. When I got back to my room I felt calmer than I had before. My itch to get out of here hadn't gone, in fact it was worse because I now knew that what I'd seen of those six years it was probably more or less all going to happen, well unless I did some thing about it. You know about the bad things. I was just realising that the possibilities for change were in Giles' type words, staggering. And now I wanted to get out so I could stop the Harvest, again.
Maybe slayer's had unknown psychic powers, stronger than just dreams and maybe mine had been somehow heightened by the poison and that was why it had felt like I'd lived the six years. Maybe. That was pretty cool. Though I knew that while my knowledge was a good thing it could also be pretty dangerous so I decided I'd only tell Giles about it. He was the only one who really needed to know anyway, at least at the moment. It wasn't as if I was even friends with Willow and Xander yet. I hope I will be.
The next few days were pretty slow, but I guess they only felt that way because I really wanted to get home. And I was going, today, this afternoon to be exact. The minute I was out of that place I felt so much better. The air felt cleaner and so did I. The moment we got home I calmly asked my parents what was going on with them and though they were totally surprised at how I knew, they thankfully treated me as an adult enough to tell me the truth about them and their break up. They swore that it wasn't me that had done it and as I had done before, I tried to believe them but it was difficult. After all that I'd done. And I still couldn't tell them about my.extenuating circumstances.
After they'd told me about the divorce, mom told me about Sunnydale and I tried to feign surprise. I think she expected more opposition. I think she may have also been a little wigged at my continuing attitude which I supposed was nothing like it would have been had I not seen a vision of the future. The thing was I'd already spent most of my time trying to imagine ways to prevent her brain tumour and her dying. The horrible truth was that I knew I wouldn't be able to stop it and that feeling of helplessness that I remembered all too well invaded my system. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I depressingly guessed that I'd just have to make the most of my time with her if there really wasn't anything I could do. Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to take her presence for granted. It was a gift that I still had her around. Even so I couldn't help but start imagining myself doing some intense research into brain tumours.
The other thing that was bothering me, that had been bothering me since the clinic, was Dawn. There was no Dawn, not yet anyway. It was hard to accept that I had no sister yet and probably wouldn't for another four years. I wondered whether I would remember that Dawn wasn't my sister when the monks gave us those memories. Surely they wouldn't take memories away, they just added them, right? I don't know, I guess my diary will fill me in if I don't remember. This is the new diary I just started because of all of this, plus if mom ever goes snooping in my stuff, for crazy daughter evidence she'll just find the other one, and there isn't anything weird in it. I have a separate slayer diary, now I guess I've got three. Two of which I have to find ingenious hiding places for.
At least this way I'll have somewhere to put all the jumbled up thoughts I'm having instead of them running circles in my head. My questions about the future and everything, there is too much of it all so I have to put it somewhere. Out of my mind and on paper seemed a good idea.
I had no time to find Pike and talk to him as mom was watching me like a hawk before we moved. All I could do without questioning was pack, which also made it difficult to go out and patrol. But it wasn't as though I wasn't as expert in sneaking out of the house and I got in a few patrols and self-training sessions at the gym. I was still looking forward to school, though a strange feeling seemed to have settled in my stomach which was also accompanied by slight confusion concerning what I knew about the future and what I could do possibly do about it all. It wasn't hard to dismiss the feeling at first since I knew that I'd talk to Giles about it and he'd know what we could do.
The night after we moved to Sunnydale I woke up in a horrible frenzy from my dream. I'd forgotten about those horrible dreams, the master, the harvest, and everything else. I lay back trying and failing to go back to sleep. I glanced at the clock and it told me it was 01:03 and with a sign gave in to the inevitable. I'd go and patrol, maybe that's why I couldn't sleep.
By the time I left the second cemetery I'd managed to get three vampires and I set off to the next one. That was why I was a little puzzled to find that my feet had carried me to Sunnydale High School instead. I thought I might see if Giles was in the library when my slayer hearing picked up the sound of breaking glass that came from somewhere in the school. I was half way to where I thought the sound had originated when I suddenly remembered.
"Gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker.. Some guy was stuffed in Ora's locker.. Totally dead, Way dead."
Cordelia's voice echoed strangely in my head and I upped my walk to a run when I realised he could be dead already. I rounded a corner and saw that the broken glass was from a science lab window. I pulled myself up and through it, landing on the floor with as little noise as possible and made my way to the door. Peering through it I could hear voices very near and as stealthily as I could I opened it. Very suddenly I heard the all too familiar growl and accompanying face morph of the vampire as it bit that guy. Knowing there wasn't any time now I ran and pulled the blonde vamp off him. She spun around and hit the wall as the guy fell to the floor, obviously dead. I cursed myself. Here was the first victim of Buffy Summer's stupidity. I hadn't been quick enough; I hadn't remembered when I should have.
I faced the vamp ready to deal with it before my guilt trip could really take off. That was until I saw who the vamp was and the thought seemed to leave my head along with many others. Anger, hate, jealousy to name but a few of the emotions that suddenly flowed through my veins as I looked at Angel's sire, Angel's ex-lover.
"Darla." I said not bothering to leave the contempt out of my voice while I flicked my stake around in my hand so she couldn't miss it.
She looked at me, annoyed that I'd not let her finish her meal. Not that had made any difference to the poor guy lying on the floor down there.
"Do I know you little girl?" She asked icily.
"No, but I know you." She looked at me suspiciously, her eyes coming to rest on my stake she let out a derisive laugh. Huh she thinks I'm that funny does she? Won't be laughing when she's blowing in the wind.
"Slayer." I rolled my eyes at her.
"Gee, what gave me away?" She looked pissed and took a stance as if ready for a fight though her eyes flicked to each end of the corridor as if she was weighing up each one as a possible escape route.
"I don't think so, like I'm going to just let you go running back to your master to tell him about me."
"Very well then." She said confidently. Luckily for me her face showed that she didn't want to fight me just as she hadn't, wouldn't want to tomorrow in the mausoleum. I don't think she wanted to fight a slayer. A bit strange considering she was meant to have been a badass vamp, hundreds of years older than even Angel, but then it was Spike who had killed two slayers, not Darla.
I punched her face a couple of times while I dodged all her attempts to hit me back. A kick from me meant that she was now on the floor again, looking more than a bit annoyed but also, scared.
"Nothing to say now?" I asked as she backed away still on the floor. "A bit less mouthy now aren't we?" I kicked her again and she got up a second later. After another round of exchanging blows and kicks I still had the upper hand and Darla appeared to be faltering. What a shame! "Can't say anyone will miss you." I told her as I surprised her with a series of punches in very quick succession.
I pulled out my stake again and with a quick movement the stake was embedded in her chest. And I smiled, victorious. Her face showed complete disbelief before that and the rest of her disappeared into a cloud of dust that settled half on the floor, and me, which I hastily brushed off me. Ugh, Darla dust, not the kind of accessory I wanted to be wearing, even if it was the middle of the night and there was no one to see me. Famous last thoughts. I froze as I heard a voice outside, it might have called Darla. I glanced guiltily at the dead guy again but decided I didn't need to implicate myself by being found over a dead body so I left him. Briefly thinking that the cleaners would probably find him early in the morning, he wouldn't fall out of a locker this time.
I got out of another window and snuck up on the vampire waiting by the broken window. He must have been young for me have caught him like that, he didn't even hear me and I staked him quickly, this time taking the stake out before he disintegrated, it was the only other one I'd brought out.
I patrolled one more cemetery and killed one more vamp before calling it a night and heading home. I didn't give much time to thinking about dusting Darla, I did wonder about Angel though. Especially since I think he'd been following me since I left that last cemetery. Was he going to regret me getting rid of Darla? Did he want to do it himself? Well, it was too late now, there was one less vamp in town a bit earlier than there might have been and as far as I was concerned it was all good. I turned my attention back to the, admittedly stealthy stalker that I'd got about ten minutes ago.
I turned around and stopped; and the faint sound of his footsteps also stopped. I stared into the black behind me and decided it would be easier to meet him tomorrow night and started off again at the same pace. He followed me all the way home.
I finally felt like sleeping as I stepped into my room from the window and set my other foot down as gently as I could. Several thoughts flitted through my head before I slept, I hadn't saved that boy tonight; how many other people might I not save? For that matter, how many things would I be able to change at all, even with my new knowledge? I thought my life was strange before, with being the slayer an all, but this was so much weirder. Like some science fiction crap, but not, my life was way stranger than that and, my life was real.
Tbc.....
AN: The clinic that Buffy was in was a really posh one, very expensive. Which explains why it had a gym for use by staff and the more stable patients. Just thought I'd explain that. I just thought about it!
I still love feedback!
3. Stranger Than Fiction?
"Am I holding you up or something?" I asked smiling at him as he flustered about and regarded me before speaking.
"Not at all Ms Summers but never-mind. You are no doubt wondering who I am and what I am doing here." I smiled again. Reminded of just how British he'd been when I'd first met him, just like now. I decided to treat my dream as memories if they turned out to be pretty accurate like with Giles. It made me wonder whether I was psychic in some way.
"Actually, yes and no, but let me guess first?" He pursed his lips in impatience at my childish reply but smiled, I lowered my voice a little before speaking, "Your name is Rupert Giles and you're my new watcher. Probably thinking that you got a pretty bum assignment to a crazy slayer. Am I right?" The expression that he was now wearing was one of astonishment and I sat down quite pleased with myself.
"I'm sorry but I wasn't aware that we had met." He looked at me obviously trying to work me out. I smiled to myself; he was going to spend years doing that.
"No we haven't. You are my new watcher then?" I asked him, just to confirm it. He nodded slowly.
"Yes, I'm sorry about." He looked suddenly uncomfortable and I knew what he meant.
"Merrick." I finished for him. He nodded again.
"I am very interested as to how you seem to know me but first I'd like to say that I do not think I got a bum assignment Ms Summers. Whatever your mental.status might be."
"I'm not crazy." He looked at me as if to say that all crazy people claim the same thing. "Look you probably know about the first time I was in here. From Merrick's diaries about how I mistakenly told my parents about.you know." He nodded.
"Yes, an unfortunate incident. However,"
"If you are going to say that I wouldn't have started talking about it again to them without being crazy well you might be right but it wasn't my fault, I was poisoned."
"Really?" He sounded interested and a little less sceptical.
"Yeah, I mean if I'd had a watcher with me when it happened you'd all know about it and I probably wouldn't have been in here this long." He looked a bit abashed but I kept talking before he could say anything. "Well I was patrolling with Pike, my friend, and we'd just got rid of a whole bunch of them when this," I looked around, and whispered, "demon," before continuing at a normal tone. The last thing I needed was someone over hearing me talk about this. ".Attacked me and kind of I don't know injected me with this poison. Anyway my parents thought I had the flu but I was delirious and when I started talking about you know and other things to do with it they brought me straight back here. I don't really know what brought me out of it; maybe I developed immunity or something. All I know is that I really need to get out of here. At least I'll be getting out soon." He studied me for a moment before replying.
"I'll have to research this demon. Your theory about developing immunity is probably more or less accurate. When did you recover?"
"Two and a half weeks ago. It's so annoying that they think they have kept me here even though I'm fine. You know because they don't know what was up with me my doctor says I've got a personality disorder, and he got that just from me blowing up the gym, that was hardly my fault." Giles smiled somewhat amused at my lack of guilt. "Okay so it was, but there was a really good reason that I just can't tell anyone about. And because of that I got kicked out."
"Yes, I was aware of that.lets just hope that it doesn't come to that at your new school. Now, you said they were letting you out?"
"Yeah, should be in the next week, not long, it's actually sad that I want to start school again." He smiled at my admission.
"Yes, I expect it's rather boring in here. Well, I can tell you that Sunnydale High is a good school at any rate and I'm sure you'll be fine. I know how you teenagers worry about fitting in." He trailed off when he caught sight of my shocked expression. This wasn't what I'd expected. Sunnydale? I didn't live in Sunnydale. If.but even as I tried to rationalise it I knew it was pointless. It looked like there really was more to my dream than I'd thought. I mean the Giles thing could have been a fluke, or maybe even slight slayer precognition but this was something much bigger. "Is everything alright Ms Summers you look pale."
"Call me Buffy, you're my watcher after all. It's just, Sunnydale?" I asked. "I don't live in Sunnydale." He looked at me obviously puzzled before realisation dawned.
"Oh dear, perhaps I should not have said that?" I nodded but knew that it was now impossible to deny what I knew was happening, just as I'd seen before.
"We're leaving LA, mom and me aren't we?" He nodded in confirmation after a little hesitation.
"I'm sorry. I didn't realise that you didn't know."
"It's okay it's not really a big shock. I saw it coming. Dad leaving. I knew it was going to happen I just didn't want to relive it again." When I looked up he looked confused again, I needed to tell him about the whole six years thing but I could see that the duty nurse was looking at us and I knew she was going to come and kick him out any minute now.
"I certainly didn't mean to upset you." I smiled.
"I know and like I said I saw it coming."
"Oh all right. I was wondering if you could tell me how you knew me." I didn't know how to start and I knew it was a longer conversation than I wanted or could have at this point so I opted for the easy way out.
"It's a really long story and I promise to tell you the whole thing when I get back.when I get to Sunnydale. Lets just say, I've seen some things." He didn't look entirely pleased with my answer but knew it would have to do.
"Buffy, the reason I came to see you, other than to introduce myself was because something is going to happen. There are signs that point towards."
"Let me guess, great unrest? Big Bad?" He nodded obviously not too confused by my unique turn of phrase. I smiled inwardly.
"Yes, some time soon, but if you are getting out of here this week we should be in time. Though without recent training."
"Oh that's okay, they've let me use the gym here, supervised of course but I've been training. I've got to do something in here, training seemed like a good boredom reliever. A pity I can't be in the gym all the time." He looked relieved. "I'll be out and then we can work on getting the Master." He looked at me confused again, okay not surprising.
"It was good to meet you Buffy." He looked like such typical Giles that it was hard not to hug him.
"You too, do me a favour? Look up 'The Harvest' for us."
"The Harvest?" I nodded.
"You are being awfully mysterious Buffy." I shrugged.
"Yep, look it up. I promise to tell you everything once I get.there." It was hard not to say home. "And like I said, I've seen some things." He nodded again and said goodbye. When I got back to my room I felt calmer than I had before. My itch to get out of here hadn't gone, in fact it was worse because I now knew that what I'd seen of those six years it was probably more or less all going to happen, well unless I did some thing about it. You know about the bad things. I was just realising that the possibilities for change were in Giles' type words, staggering. And now I wanted to get out so I could stop the Harvest, again.
Maybe slayer's had unknown psychic powers, stronger than just dreams and maybe mine had been somehow heightened by the poison and that was why it had felt like I'd lived the six years. Maybe. That was pretty cool. Though I knew that while my knowledge was a good thing it could also be pretty dangerous so I decided I'd only tell Giles about it. He was the only one who really needed to know anyway, at least at the moment. It wasn't as if I was even friends with Willow and Xander yet. I hope I will be.
The next few days were pretty slow, but I guess they only felt that way because I really wanted to get home. And I was going, today, this afternoon to be exact. The minute I was out of that place I felt so much better. The air felt cleaner and so did I. The moment we got home I calmly asked my parents what was going on with them and though they were totally surprised at how I knew, they thankfully treated me as an adult enough to tell me the truth about them and their break up. They swore that it wasn't me that had done it and as I had done before, I tried to believe them but it was difficult. After all that I'd done. And I still couldn't tell them about my.extenuating circumstances.
After they'd told me about the divorce, mom told me about Sunnydale and I tried to feign surprise. I think she expected more opposition. I think she may have also been a little wigged at my continuing attitude which I supposed was nothing like it would have been had I not seen a vision of the future. The thing was I'd already spent most of my time trying to imagine ways to prevent her brain tumour and her dying. The horrible truth was that I knew I wouldn't be able to stop it and that feeling of helplessness that I remembered all too well invaded my system. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I depressingly guessed that I'd just have to make the most of my time with her if there really wasn't anything I could do. Well, I sure as hell wasn't going to take her presence for granted. It was a gift that I still had her around. Even so I couldn't help but start imagining myself doing some intense research into brain tumours.
The other thing that was bothering me, that had been bothering me since the clinic, was Dawn. There was no Dawn, not yet anyway. It was hard to accept that I had no sister yet and probably wouldn't for another four years. I wondered whether I would remember that Dawn wasn't my sister when the monks gave us those memories. Surely they wouldn't take memories away, they just added them, right? I don't know, I guess my diary will fill me in if I don't remember. This is the new diary I just started because of all of this, plus if mom ever goes snooping in my stuff, for crazy daughter evidence she'll just find the other one, and there isn't anything weird in it. I have a separate slayer diary, now I guess I've got three. Two of which I have to find ingenious hiding places for.
At least this way I'll have somewhere to put all the jumbled up thoughts I'm having instead of them running circles in my head. My questions about the future and everything, there is too much of it all so I have to put it somewhere. Out of my mind and on paper seemed a good idea.
I had no time to find Pike and talk to him as mom was watching me like a hawk before we moved. All I could do without questioning was pack, which also made it difficult to go out and patrol. But it wasn't as though I wasn't as expert in sneaking out of the house and I got in a few patrols and self-training sessions at the gym. I was still looking forward to school, though a strange feeling seemed to have settled in my stomach which was also accompanied by slight confusion concerning what I knew about the future and what I could do possibly do about it all. It wasn't hard to dismiss the feeling at first since I knew that I'd talk to Giles about it and he'd know what we could do.
The night after we moved to Sunnydale I woke up in a horrible frenzy from my dream. I'd forgotten about those horrible dreams, the master, the harvest, and everything else. I lay back trying and failing to go back to sleep. I glanced at the clock and it told me it was 01:03 and with a sign gave in to the inevitable. I'd go and patrol, maybe that's why I couldn't sleep.
By the time I left the second cemetery I'd managed to get three vampires and I set off to the next one. That was why I was a little puzzled to find that my feet had carried me to Sunnydale High School instead. I thought I might see if Giles was in the library when my slayer hearing picked up the sound of breaking glass that came from somewhere in the school. I was half way to where I thought the sound had originated when I suddenly remembered.
"Gym was cancelled due to the extreme dead guy in the locker.. Some guy was stuffed in Ora's locker.. Totally dead, Way dead."
Cordelia's voice echoed strangely in my head and I upped my walk to a run when I realised he could be dead already. I rounded a corner and saw that the broken glass was from a science lab window. I pulled myself up and through it, landing on the floor with as little noise as possible and made my way to the door. Peering through it I could hear voices very near and as stealthily as I could I opened it. Very suddenly I heard the all too familiar growl and accompanying face morph of the vampire as it bit that guy. Knowing there wasn't any time now I ran and pulled the blonde vamp off him. She spun around and hit the wall as the guy fell to the floor, obviously dead. I cursed myself. Here was the first victim of Buffy Summer's stupidity. I hadn't been quick enough; I hadn't remembered when I should have.
I faced the vamp ready to deal with it before my guilt trip could really take off. That was until I saw who the vamp was and the thought seemed to leave my head along with many others. Anger, hate, jealousy to name but a few of the emotions that suddenly flowed through my veins as I looked at Angel's sire, Angel's ex-lover.
"Darla." I said not bothering to leave the contempt out of my voice while I flicked my stake around in my hand so she couldn't miss it.
She looked at me, annoyed that I'd not let her finish her meal. Not that had made any difference to the poor guy lying on the floor down there.
"Do I know you little girl?" She asked icily.
"No, but I know you." She looked at me suspiciously, her eyes coming to rest on my stake she let out a derisive laugh. Huh she thinks I'm that funny does she? Won't be laughing when she's blowing in the wind.
"Slayer." I rolled my eyes at her.
"Gee, what gave me away?" She looked pissed and took a stance as if ready for a fight though her eyes flicked to each end of the corridor as if she was weighing up each one as a possible escape route.
"I don't think so, like I'm going to just let you go running back to your master to tell him about me."
"Very well then." She said confidently. Luckily for me her face showed that she didn't want to fight me just as she hadn't, wouldn't want to tomorrow in the mausoleum. I don't think she wanted to fight a slayer. A bit strange considering she was meant to have been a badass vamp, hundreds of years older than even Angel, but then it was Spike who had killed two slayers, not Darla.
I punched her face a couple of times while I dodged all her attempts to hit me back. A kick from me meant that she was now on the floor again, looking more than a bit annoyed but also, scared.
"Nothing to say now?" I asked as she backed away still on the floor. "A bit less mouthy now aren't we?" I kicked her again and she got up a second later. After another round of exchanging blows and kicks I still had the upper hand and Darla appeared to be faltering. What a shame! "Can't say anyone will miss you." I told her as I surprised her with a series of punches in very quick succession.
I pulled out my stake again and with a quick movement the stake was embedded in her chest. And I smiled, victorious. Her face showed complete disbelief before that and the rest of her disappeared into a cloud of dust that settled half on the floor, and me, which I hastily brushed off me. Ugh, Darla dust, not the kind of accessory I wanted to be wearing, even if it was the middle of the night and there was no one to see me. Famous last thoughts. I froze as I heard a voice outside, it might have called Darla. I glanced guiltily at the dead guy again but decided I didn't need to implicate myself by being found over a dead body so I left him. Briefly thinking that the cleaners would probably find him early in the morning, he wouldn't fall out of a locker this time.
I got out of another window and snuck up on the vampire waiting by the broken window. He must have been young for me have caught him like that, he didn't even hear me and I staked him quickly, this time taking the stake out before he disintegrated, it was the only other one I'd brought out.
I patrolled one more cemetery and killed one more vamp before calling it a night and heading home. I didn't give much time to thinking about dusting Darla, I did wonder about Angel though. Especially since I think he'd been following me since I left that last cemetery. Was he going to regret me getting rid of Darla? Did he want to do it himself? Well, it was too late now, there was one less vamp in town a bit earlier than there might have been and as far as I was concerned it was all good. I turned my attention back to the, admittedly stealthy stalker that I'd got about ten minutes ago.
I turned around and stopped; and the faint sound of his footsteps also stopped. I stared into the black behind me and decided it would be easier to meet him tomorrow night and started off again at the same pace. He followed me all the way home.
I finally felt like sleeping as I stepped into my room from the window and set my other foot down as gently as I could. Several thoughts flitted through my head before I slept, I hadn't saved that boy tonight; how many other people might I not save? For that matter, how many things would I be able to change at all, even with my new knowledge? I thought my life was strange before, with being the slayer an all, but this was so much weirder. Like some science fiction crap, but not, my life was way stranger than that and, my life was real.
Tbc.....
AN: The clinic that Buffy was in was a really posh one, very expensive. Which explains why it had a gym for use by staff and the more stable patients. Just thought I'd explain that. I just thought about it!
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