Buffy Summers walked along the dusty paths of Sunnydale's oldest graveyard, not fazed by the winds howling, and the distant sound of owl's cries in the night, she was used to it.
It was cold, extremely cold for Sunnydale, a place which had only had one night of snow in 100 years.
She shivered and was glad that she had opted for the blue jacket, which apart from concealing her stakes from any people hanging around, it kept her reasonably warm.
"Why, In this temperature?" She wondered aloud.
"First sign of madness, talking to yourself" Commented the first vampire of the night.
"Well, the conversation isn't great around here", she replied.
She dusted him quickly, which was a shame because a longer fight would have warmed her up, she realised.
He was easy, newly-sired, ready for a fight, strong, but not nearly strong enough to take on the slayer. She wondered who he had been, before the vampires got to him, but she stopped herself.
"Stop it", she scolded, "it only makes your job harder".
Although Buffy knew that a vampire was just a soulless demon possessing the body of a now-dead human, the fact that they kept the person's looks and memories made them very disconcerting, even though she had been slaying for around five years.
It was quiet tonight again, she realised.
But she didn't feel like a big fight anyway. She had a lot on her mind.
Busy, with her new training schedule with Giles, now her unofficial full-time watcher again, no matter what the council said and now her Mom's illness. Never mind protecting Dawn's identity as the key, even from Dawn herself.
After another quick sweep she headed home, her blonde hair moving in the wind as she walked through the shadows, behind a large wall and out of sight. Out of Spike's sight. He came from behind a tomb, lit up a cigarette a looked like he was deep in thought.
He would have helped her, if he had thought she needed it, but he didn't want to be around her unless he had to be. Not since what had happened outside The Bronze. He'd got carried away and tried to kiss her. He had to pretend he was messing with her but her words "You're beneath me" , too familiar from his past, were so harsh they brought back memories of who h really was inside. He couldn't take it. He wasn't William the bloody, who Cecile rejected anymore. He hadn't been for a long time, not since he found Drusilla. He was Spike, he was the big bad, he reminded himself, but inside he knew it was a pretence, a lie. He was still bad, but not as bad as he should have been.
He was beyond confused, ashamed of the way he felt. "I'm a bloody vampire!" He thought, disgusted with himself, "and she's the slayer. It's not supposed to be like this!"
He kept having the same dream, where she was with him, over and over again, and he knew deep down that he loved her, but due to their colourful history, he couldn't accept it. My mind's playing trick on me he concluded. "It's this damn chip!" he added aloud to the empty graveyard., And my heart he thought as he walked away back to his crypt, and back to Harmony.