A/N: ok this chapter was getting pretty long so I'm gonna split it in two. is anyone besides sita reading this? if so please review. thank you. i've also decided that i am going to bring alec in later probably about the time faith comes in and i'm not gonna put willow and kennedy together unless i get told otherwise. sorry it took me awhile but with the holidays and everything i've just been really busy. i hope you all had a good one. hope you like this next chapter.
A bus pulled into the Sunnydale bus depot, a few people exited the bus, then an African-American girl about sixteen walked off the bus. She briefly looked around then walked over to the empty bus depot. She walked up to the building and noticed that the doors are closed and that the lights are on. She figures it must not be opened yet. She goes to the nearby payphone, grabs the phonebook, and begins to flip through it. She runs her finger down the list of names on the S page of the phonebook. "What?" she said to herself once she realized the page she needed had been torn out. She looked up from the book to see one of the Bringers approaching her. She drops the phone book and turns to run but finds two more Bringers coming towards her, both holding knives. She backs up against the wall, panicked and breathing heavily, then she sinks to the ground.
Buffy sneaks up behind two of the Bringers, grabbing them from behind, and launching them to either side of her. The third Bringer starts to run away while the other two Buffy had attacked come back for more. One lunges at Buffy with his knife, but she grabs his hand and stabs the other Bringer with his knife, and she kicks him to the ground. Buffy continues fighting the other Bringer until she's got her arm around his neck and snaps it, tossing him on the ground. Buffy notices the last Bringer making a run for it. "Hey." Buffy calls. She picks up the knife at her feet. "Try picking on someone my own size." Buffy said then hurled the knife at him, stabbing him in the back.
Buffy walks up to the girl, who's cowering on the ground. "Rona, right?" Buffy asks. Rona nodded. "I just got word you were arriving." Buffy added offering her a hand to help her up.
Rona got to her feet. "You're her." Rona said.
"Her is me." Buffy said.
Rona looks around the parking lot again. "You know, I thought, uh...they told me I'd be safe here." Rona said.
"Right. Well, you are. I mean, you will be...safer...with me around." Buffy said.
"That's good." Rona said.
Buffy starts to walk away, Rona following behind. "Next time you're attacked..." Buffy said.
"Whoa, whoa...next time? You mean I'm gonna get attacked again?" Rona asked.
"Welcome to the hellmouth." Buffy said.
Max and the potentials sat on the floor in the living room talking. "Annabelle was all, 'Control your fear, control your fear.' Meanwhile, she's the one the goes scampering off, right into that Turok-Han vampire. Poor Annie." Molly said.
"Great, so the slayer that's supposed to protect use let her get killed?" Eve asked.
"She didn't let her get killed. Annabelle was foolish." Max said defending Buffy.
"Right, Buffy can't be faulted by arriving too late." Molly said agreeing with Max.
"It's not like she could have stopped it. I mean the super vampire messed her up pretty good." Chloe said.
"No lie, she still looked like a big bruise when I got here, and that was already like the day after." Vi said.
"And why isn't she back yet? Buffy, she left to go get the new girl over an hour ago. Maybe she ran into trouble. You don't think she was too late again." Eve said.
"Maybe..." Molly said.
"Maybe we could save the maybes for a more dayish part of the day, girls." Xander said. He was lying on the couch trying to sleep but was finding it rather difficult. He reached up and turned on the lamp. "Transgenics and potential slayers can function without sleep. Me, I'm no good without my usual ninety minutes." Xander finished burying his face in the pillow.
"Aww Xander, we keeping you awake?" Max asked teasingly.
"Yes." Xander said putting the pillow over his head.
"Oh you poor baby." Max teased. Xander threw his pillow at her. Max grabbed it before she was hit and the potentials just shrieked.
"I'm with him. Keep the chatter down! Or, speak up so I can hear you." Andrew said from his chair in the other room.
Max looked at him. "Want me to throw this pillow at you?" Max asked in an annoyed tone.
"No." Andrew said.
"Alright then, shut up." Max said.
Buffy walked in the door with Rona. "You guys are all still up?" Buffy asked.
Xander sits up. "Ah! Who needs sleep?" Xander said. Max laughed at him.
"Everybody this is Rona." Buffy said gesturing to the girl standing beside her.
"Hi." Max said.
"Yeah hi." the potentials said.
"Hey Rona." Andrew said.
"Hey Rona." Xander said leaning forward and smiling at her.
Rona, with her arms crossed, looks around the room and sees Andrew tied to a chair. "Um...why is that guy tied to a chair?" Rona asked Buffy.
"The question you'll soon be asking is, 'why isn't he gagged.'" Xander said smirking.
Anya walks into the room with a rolled up sleeping bag in her arms, and Giles follows behind her. "Molly, why don't you show our new houseguest where the kitchen is. I'm sure she's hungry after her travels." Giles said.
"Fair enough. I'm a bit peckish myself." Molly said standing up and heading to the kitchen.
Rona looked at Anya. "A bit what?" Rona asked confused.
"That's English for hungry." Anya clarified.
Rona follows after Molly. "Oh, here I thought hungry was English for hungry." Rona said to herself.
"Everything alright?" Giles asked Buffy.
"She had a welcoming committee." Buffy said helping Anya make a bed for Rona.
"So, The First knows potential slayers are making their way here?" Xander asked.
"I must warn the coven to be cautious." Giles stated.
"The First's always going to be one step ahead of us, Giles. I need to know how to stop it. No, not stop it, hurt it. I want to hurt it, real bad. Tell me how." Buffy said putting emphasize on the last sentence.
"I...I don't know, Buffy." Giles said. He took off his glasses and squatted down so he was eye level with everyone. "I've exhausted all the sources I have left with little result. The Watcher's records are still really all we have to go on." Giles added.
"I made the rounds myself. Tried to dig up anything useful in the demon community." Anya said.
"They're a community now? What's next, the Ladie's Auxiliary?" Xander asked only half serious.
"The ones that didn't attack me, didn't know anything or didn't talk. Either way, we've got squat." Anya said ignoring Xander's remark.
"Well, squat's not gonna cut it. What about the Turok-Han?" Buffy asked.
"The vampire time forgot?" Xander asked.
"Time may have forgotten him but I sure won't. We know stakes wouldn't kill it but anything in those ancient books about what does? Sunlight, fire, germs?" Buffy asked.
"So, Giles, with that thing guarding the entrance to The First's crib, how will Buffy get to Spike?" Andrew asked.
Max looked at him. "I thought I told you to shut up." Max said.
"Uh right shutting up now." Andrew said. He didn't want to piss Max off any more than he already had, and he had a feeling that Buffy wouldn't stop her if she tried to physically shut him up, so he decided he'd better keep quiet.
"Max, it's ok. I really hate to admit it but he's not wrong. There's no way we'll be able to help Spike until this thing is out of the way." Buffy said.
"Spike? Sorry, I'm confused. He's that vampire that's been killing people, right? He's the one you're worried about helping?" Eve asked.
"Well, we need him to...he's the one that's been...it's complicated, Chloe." Buffy said.
"I'm Chloe, she's Eve." Chloe said.
"It's just, we've been talking, and do we have some kind of plan? You know, any kind of plan to keep us from dying?" Eve asked.
Buffy looked at Max wondering if she'd been in on the conversation as well. Max shook her head. "Not me, them." Max said. Buffy just nodded.
Buffy stood and sighed. "We're working on it." Buffy said.
Giles stood as well and walked up to Buffy and Max, who was standing as well. "There is one avenue that we haven't tried yet..." Giles said.
"Giles!" Anya stated standing up.
"Beljoxa's Eye." Giles said ignoring Anya.
"And exactly what part of town is that avenue in?" Xander asked.
"I told you no." Anya said ignoring Xander. She was standing next to Giles now.
"Wh...what's Botox's eye?" Buffy asked confused.
"Beljoxa's Eye. It's an oracle type creature that exists in a dark dimension." Giles explained.
"Internal vortex more like." Anya said.
"Fun." Buffy said.
"Not really, no." Anya said.
"The point is only demons can open the getaway to it." Giles said.
Anya looked at Giles. "Excuse me, ex-demon here." Anya said.
"You're still friends in the fold. Murderous acquaintances anyway." Giles said.
Max smirked. Anya tried so hard to make it known that she was no longer a demon. Max just found it kind of funny, the way she acted anytime someone implied she still was one.
Anya looked at Max. "What?" Anya asked her.
"Nothing." Max said.
Anya just shook her head. Sometimes she just didn't understand Max. She turned to Buffy. "Look, there's no reason to think this Beljoxa's Eye will have any of the answers we're looking for." Anya said to Buffy. It was obvious Anya was completely opposed to the idea.
"I'll take anything I can get. Anya, please, we're running out of time. Spike's running out of time." Buffy more or less pleaded.
Later that day, Anya and Giles were in an alley talking to one of Anya's demon friends, trying to convince him to open the portal. "Why not?" Anya asked.
"You have the nerve to ask me that?" Torg asked.
"Come on, Torg, that was like a lifetime ago." Anya said.
"Three but who's counting. You broke my heart, Anyanka." Torg said.
"Don't be so dramatic, Torg. You don't even have a heart." Anya said pausing. "Six spleens, two stomachs, half a brain maybe, but no heart." Anya finished.
"Don't mock this. The night we spent together was...important to me." Torg said.
"It was one date. And it wasn't even a date." Anya said. Giles just rolled his eyes. "We just happened to be invited to the same massacre, and...and you hit on me after I had a few..." Anya said.
"I remember, you wore pink." Torg said.
"Those were entrails." Anya said.
"I'm sorry, perhaps we could skip the nostalgia..." Giles said. Anya glared at him. "Sorry, no, no, carry on." Giles said.
"Ok, look, Torg, you open this tiny little gateway to the Beljoxa's Eye for me, and I'll..." Anya said thinking for a minute. "You and I will go..."Anya paused again and sighed. "I'll have sex with you again." Anya finally said.
"Ugh, please, you're human. The way you look now, I wouldn't touch you for all the kittens in Korea." Torg said.
"You're rejecting my offer of sexual bribery?" Anya asked dumbfounded. She turned to Giles. "What am I a leper in this town? I can't even give it away." Anya said.
Torg starts to walk back inside. "Come back when you are a leper." Torg said.
Giles stepped in front of Torg blocking his way. "Perhaps this might change your mind. You help us, and the slayer won't kill your clientele and burn your establishment to the ground." Giles said.
Torg glares at Anya then at Giles. He sticks his fist in Giles' face, pulls on a claw sticking out of the back of his hand until it starts making a crunching sound. He squeezes his fist, then flings blood from his wounded hand towards the back alley. The portal opens a moment later. "Ek'vola mok't Beljoxa do'kar." Torg chanted. He turned back to Anya. "There's your sticking gateway, Anyanka. Don't let it hit you on the way out." Torg said walking back inside.
"It's the hair, right? Not attractive?" Anya asked Giles who just ignoring her.
"Come on." Giles said as he walked towards the portal.
"Buckle up." Anya said as they walked into the portal.
"God, I hate this place." Anya said as she looked around the pitch black dimension.
"Where's the Beljoxa's Eye?" Giles asked as he looked around as well.
"Here." Beljoxa's Eye said.
They walk towards it. "Ah! Oh," Anya said waving. "Hi." Anya said.
The phone rang in the Summers' kitchen. Willow picked it up. "Hello?...No, Giles isn't here right...Yeah this is Willow...Althenea, hi! How's the coven? Oh I miss you guess. Still working on that Pleiadian spirit conjuring?...What?...Oh, ok, when?" Willow said.
Xander was in the dining room untying Andrew's restraints. "Ow! Watch it! That's my joystick hand." Andrew said.
Xander rolled his eyes. "I'm not gonna touch that one." Xander said.
Buffy was standing on Andrew's other side with her arms crossed. "Ok, listen up, Andrew. I don't exactly know what to do with you, except that we don't have time to babysit a hostage." Buffy said.
"Especially a hostage that's gotten more then a little ripe." Xander said.
Buffy made a face and backed a few feet away. "So, I'm here to tell you, if you try anything, try to run...Did you ever see the movie Misery?" Buffy asked.
"Six times. But the book was scarier than the movie cause instead of crushing his foot with a sledge hammer, Kathy Bates chops it off with..." Andrew trailed off when he saw Buffy glaring at him and he swallowed. "I'll be good." Andrew said.
Willow came into the room. "Buffy...word from the underground. Another potential arrived in town the day before yesterday. She's at the Sun Spot Motel, near the highway." Willow informed her.
"The day after yesterday? Why are we just finding out about it now?" Xander asked.
"Bringers killed her watcher before he could tell anyone he was sent her. If it wasn't for a particularly powerful seer in the coven, we wouldn't even know about it now." Willow said.
"Ok, I mean," Buffy said looking out the window. "There's still a couple hours of daylight left. You guys should be safe here. I'll get her and bring her back here." Buffy said as she turned to leave.
"I'll come with you." Xander said following after her.
Andrew stands up. "Alright, retrieving a potential. Let's do it!" Andrew said. Buffy and Xander both glared at him. "Or I could just go wash up." Andrew said.
Buffy and Xander walk out the front door and Dawn walks into the room from the kitchen. "Where are they going?" Dawn asked Willow.
"Bring another newbie in from the cold." Willow replied.
"Another one?" Dawn asked.
"Well, the more the better, I figure. We need all the help we can get." Willow said.
"Help. Sure that's cool, but..." Dawn said.
"What?" Willow asked.
"I'm just not sure that more scared Slayer wannabes translates as help." Dawn said.
The potentials are in the basement of the Summers' house training and Max sat on a mat on the floor just watching them. Molly juggled stakes, Kennedy held a punching bag for Chloe, Rona and Eve stood on the sidelines watching, and Vi sat on the mat next to Max.
"What...What are we all doing here?" Eve asked.
"It's called training. Didn't you're ever teach you the word?" Kennedy said.
"I never had a watcher. I only just found out what I was...or what I might be...after those crazy-ass monks came after me." Rona said.
"I meant why are we even bothering? It's not like we can make a difference." Eve said walking into the middle of the room. Kennedy just rolled her eyes.
"We gotta try." Molly said still juggling stakes. "We gotta keep our reflexes sharp." Molly said dropping a stake and shrugging, laughing at herself. Max just smiled at her. She liked Molly.
"We have to be ready. If something comes down..." Kennedy said.
"No, something's already come down." Chloe said.
"She's right. And what are we supposed to do about it? I mean, I've never even see a real vampire in my whole life, much less slayed one." Eve said.
"I've seen one." Vi said. The other potentials looked at her. "Well, my watcher showed me a photograph of one." Vi said pausing. "A blurry photograph."
"That's what I'm saying." Eve said gesturing towards Vi. "Not one of us is remotely prepared to be activated as a new chosen one." Eve said.
"I feel pretty prepared." Kennedy said confidently.
"Excuse the newness of me, but, uh, just so I understand, if a slayer dies..." Rona said.
"When the slayer dies. I mean, nobody lives forever, right?" Eve asked.
"Then one of us..." Rona said.
"Gets activated. Uh huh." Eve said.
"I prefer 'called'." Molly said.
"I heard there's more than one." Vi said.
"More than one what?" Kennedy asked.
"Slayer. There's another one...somewhere." Vi said.
"That doesn't make any sense." Molly said.
"Like any of this does. No matter how many there are, one of us is going to be the next slayer, with the weight of the world on her shoulders." Eve said.
Chloe shook her head. "It won't be me. I mean, not now. I mean, I'm too young." Chloe said.
"Doesn't work that way. In fact, the younger the better. In fact, I'm starting to think it might be too late for me." Kennedy said.
"Never too late. It could be anyone. Especially since there's so few of us left. They'll just run through each of us, one after the other. Kinda creepy, huh? All we do is wait around for each other to die." Eve said.
Max couldn't help it. All this talk about death and dying was making her think about all the brothers and sister she'd lost. All of the ones that had died because of her.
Ben
Zack
Tinga
Eva
V noticed the troubled look on Max's face, she placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, you ok Max?" V asked worried. The others looked at Max worried as well.
Max shook the thoughts from her mind. "Yeah. Fine. I'll be fine." Max said. They didn't really believed her but none of them knew her well enough to feel comfortable pushing the subject so they just let it drop, hoping she'd be ok.
Buffy and Xander walked up the door for room 25. "You sure this is it?" Xander asked.
"The clerk said it's the only check-in they've had in a week. Tourism must be down." Buffy said.
"Right in the middle of apocalypse season." Xander quipped.
Buffy knocked on the door. "Hello." Buffy said. She knocked again. "It's ok. We're friendly. And we have eyes." Buffy said.
Xander peered through the window. "Buffy...kick down the door." Xander said.
Buffy kicked the door down and entered the room, followed by Xander. She saw a girl lying on the floor in a pool of blood. She kneeled down to touch her then looked back up at Xander. "She's cold. Been dead for days." Buffy said.
"Poor kid. She made it all the way to Sunnydale just to get herself killed." Xander said. Buffy rolled the body over. "If only we..." Xander trailed off.
Buffy looked at the girl's face. "Eve." Buffy said.
"Eve, who's in our house?" Xander asked incredulously.
Buffy and Xander just stared at each other.
The girls sat on the floor of the basement. The potentials all wore a despondent look on their faces. "Just my opinion, but I don't think the slayer can protect us from The First." Eve said turning her head to look at them.
"Eve you don't have to scare them. I mean, look at em." Max said gesturing to the other girls. "They're scared enough as it is." Max said. Max believed in them and she didn't like that Eve was making them doubt themselves. Eve just ignored her.
Dawn stood at a desk going through some notebooks. "Ok, here's another interesting thing: how come the slayer's always a girl?" Andrew asked.
Dawn looked up from what she was doing to look at Andrew. "I dunno. Cause girls are cooler?" Dawn said.
"I think a guy slayer would be badass. Like...like if there was this ninja, a guy slayer would be like," Andrew said holding up in hands in a karate pose. "You may be silent, but this'll shut you up." Andrew said as he did a move. "Hiya."
"Buffy could stomp ninja ass." Dawn said.
"The silent warrior? Ha ha...I think not. She can't even slay that special vampire." Andrew said. Dawn just glared at him. "Everyone's saying." Andrew said.
"Well everyone should shut up. And you should stop pretending anybody here is your friend." Dawn said.
"And also, why's she so about saving Spike? He's a worse killer the me by...a way lot." Andrew said.
"Spike was being controlled by The First. And he has a soul now. Besides, we need his help." Dawn said.
"What about me? Did it ever occur to anyone that I could be a lot more useful around here? I used to be an evil genius. Hello?" Andrew said.
Dawn walked up to him. "And what was your genius thing?" Dawn asked.
"Well, um, raising demons mostly." Andrew said. Dawn cocked her head to the side. "Ok, so, not for now, but there was planning. There were, um, blueprints." Andrew said. Dawn just looked at him. "I can be in this, kicking it righteous. Yeah. Oh, oh, yeah." Andrew said.
"Buffy said if you talked enough, I'm allowed to kill you." Dawn said.
"Not even." Andrew said.
"Even." Dawn said cocking her head slightly to one side.
"Licence to kill, huh?" Andrew said nodding. "Pretty cool. You know, Timothy Dalton never got his props cause he came in at the end of an old regime, but he had it goin' on. He went rogue with the Broccolis. They were just treading water, stylistically." Andrew said.
Dawn shook her head. "Is there a language you're speaking?" Dawn asked.
"Yeah Dawn. It's called nerd." Max said. She'd come upstairs because she'd just had enough of what Eve was doing to the poor girls down there.
Andrew pouted sat down on the couch. "I'm so alone." Andrew said.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have killed your only friend." Dawn said. She starts to walk away and Max followed her.
"I hate that. You don't even know." Andrew said.
Dawn turned back to look at him. "I don't plan to." Dawn said.
"The slayer's not getting it done. I've got my ear to the ground, and the words out." Andrew said. Max and Dawn just walked off. "Do you wanna play Kevin Bacon?" Andrew called after them. He leaned back on the couch and propped his feet up on it.
Buffy walked into the house in a huff. She looked around. Willow, Dawn, and Max sat at the dining room table.
"Buffy." Willow said.
"What is it?" Dawn asked.
Buffy looked at Andrew sitting on her couch. She glared at him, and he sat up and wiped off the spot where his feet had been. Buffy just rolled her eyes and went into the next room. The others just followed after her.
Buffy rushed down the stairs to the basement. "Get away from them." Buffy ordered.
Kennedy looked up from wrapping her hands. "Who? Get away from who?" Kennedy asked.
Eve turned to look at Buffy. "What's the problem, officer?" Eve asked.
"I said get away from them now." Buffy said through gritted teeth.
"Buffy, what did Eve do?" Dawn asked.
"That's not Eve." Xander said.
"Eve's dead." Buffy said.
So that's why I didn't like her. Max thought.
Rona held her hands up in confusion. "I don't...I don't understand." Rona said.
The girls got up off the floor and back away from Eve. Eve stood facing Buffy. "Oops! One more down. Oh, well, can't save em all, can ya Buffy?" Eve asked. She turned to the potentials. "Thanks for the slumber party, girls. It's been real fun the last couple of nights. I learned a whole lot..." Eve said.
"Shut up and get out!" Buffy said.
Eve turned back around to face Buffy again. "Or you'll do what? I'll be sending a guest over to visit y'all later on tonight, after the sun goes down of course. Try and make him feel welcome before he rips y'all to pieces. Bye." Eve said then disappeared in a flash of light.
A/N: so did you like it? let me know. sorry for the lack of white in this chapter i just could find a good place to put him. please review.