Buffy sighs as she stands in the shower, letting the warmish water run down her body.
Standing right under the faucet she leans her hands against the cold wall of the motel bathroom and closes her eyes, as the water continues to drip down her face.
As she stands there she clenches her eyes shut trying to force everything back down. Specifically her emotions, she couldn't be bubbling happy Buffy anymore.
It just wasn't possible.
However, as she tries to force everything back down into her own little box images begin to fill her head.
"Dawn!" Buffy screams as she stares up at her sister, she was pinned to the ceiling her eyes wide open blood covering her throat from where it had been slit.
The blonde jumps up from the bed and tries to get to her sister only to jump back and land on the floor as Dawn's body suddenly goes up in flames "Dawn!"
Buffy groans as she wakes only for her to pray she was still asleep as she hears it...the screaming, the crying, people begging, it was everything.
Opening her eyes, her green irises widen as she looks up from her place on the hot concrete ground only to spot hundreds of thousands of people, possibly more pinned to chains.
All of them screaming for their lives.
Buffy groans and forces her eyes back open only to wince as she feels a sharp pain in her hand, looking down she sighs in annoyance as she spots the blood now seeping from her knuckles from where she had punched the shower wall.
"Dammit." She breaths as she quickly switches off the shower and grabs a towel wrapping it around herself as she climbs out of the now cold water.
Walking over to the mirror the blonde sighs and wipes the steam from the mirror before taking in her appearance, she was far from the girl she had been so long ago. While she could pretend, when she was like this it was painfully obvious.
She was angry and cold.
"Buffy!" Sam yells through the bathroom door as he bangs on it causing the blonde to huff in annoyance. She wanted two freaking minutes but apparently, that was never going to happen.
"What?" She yells back.
"Another girl's dead, we've got to head to the house!"
Buffy sighs at his words before running a hand through her wet hair. So much for drinking the pain away tonight, looked like it was going to be an old-fashioned violent night.
Buffy walks alongside Sam and Dean as the three of them approach the haunted house which was now surrounded by cops and medical examiners.
One night.
It had been one night and now here they were again. Another death.
It made no sense, non of this was connecting but still, girls were dying.
"What happened?" Dean asks a nearby man in the crowd as the three stand by watching as the cops pull the newly dead girl's body out of the house.
The bald man turns to three of them with a sullen look "Couple of cops say that poor girl hung herself in the house."
Buffy's eyes widen at that, she hadn't seen something like that since Sunnydale when the Potential Slayer Chloe hung herself in the old Summers' house bathroom.
"She hung herself?" Buffy repeats, the rare case of emotion seeping through her eyes making the other man nod sadly "Yeah. She was a straight-A- student with a full ride to U.T. too. It just doesn't make sense."
As the man turns away from them Sam and Dean both turn to the blonde who was now staring at the house with wide eyes.
"Any idea Buff?" Sam asks, he could see it all over her face she had dealt with something like this before, the hanging... it was familiar.
Buffy clenches her jaw and shakes her head "No. It's not the same. Unless the Ghost is The First that is way dead. It's just more let's make women suffer crap."
"The First?" Dean questions in confusion finding himself really curious about what the hell the Slayer had dealt with on that freaking Hellmouth.
"It's a long story." Buffy says simply before turning to watch as the EMTs roll the poor girl's body out of the house "We missed something."
Buffy, Dean, and Sam crouch down in the shadows; hidden within the trees, watching the haunted house.
After realizing they had missed something causing someone else to die the three of them had waited till sundown to come back.
That was hours ago.
The police were still watching the place, so here they were, hours later, hidden; waiting for a chance to get into that damn house.
As another police flashlight shines around their hidden area the three of them duck out of view before slowly rising up again. Buffy who was now shivering huffs "I'm cold and I'm wet. We need to get in that house now, or I'm gonna lose it."
Dean huffs in annoyance before scanning the area "Sorry Princess but we need a distraction to get in there."
"How about I set fire to one of you?" Buffy asks "Distraction enough? Plus warm and toasty."
At her words, Dean clenches his jaw in frustration while Sam tries not to snort in amusement, sighing he tries to think of another way in hopes of preventing Buffy from lighting his brother on fire. Luckily he doesn't have to think for long as the nearby sound of twigs snapping makes the three of them turn only to spot Harry and Ed whispering loudly to each other as they try to sneak up towards the house.
Buffy's eyes widen in pure glee, this just couldn't get any better "Perfect distraction."
"You're gonna love this blondie then." Dean tells Buffy as he stands slightly still out of view from the cops circling the house, waiting a moment he then speaks "Who you gonna call?" he yells before ducking back down.
As he ducks back down Buffy has to cover her mouth from laughing as the cops quickly spot Harry and Ed, glancing over at Dean she smirks "Alrighty I don't hate you anymore."
"Told you I was smart, princess."
"I wouldn't go that far." Buffy snarks as the three of them wait for a second, watching as Harry and Ed make a run for it only for the cops to quickly run after them.
Once the coast was clear the two hunters and the Slayer quickly make a run for the house.
Buffy shuts the door behind them as Sam and Dean quickly duck down digging through their weapons bag for their guns. Glancing at the window the blonde twirls the scythe in her grasp before nodding "We're in the clear for now." She tells them as she turns to them just as they grab their guns and stand.
As they move through the room Dean huffs as he spots that familiar symbol painted on the wall, he still couldn't place it and it was killing him.
"Figure it out later Venkam." Buffy huffs, she could tell it was driving him crazy but right now all she wanted to do was beat up this ghost.
They could deal with funky symbols laters.
Dean rolls his eyes at the blonde before sighing hating the fact that she was right, they didn't have time.
Quickly the three of them make their way down into the basement and Buffy couldn't help but groan as she wipes a bunch of dust off one of the shelves with her finger "Ewww. So not homey and inviting."
"Don't think it's meant to be." Sam comments as he continues searching only to pause as Dean who was holding a jar of pink liquid in his hand turns to his younger brother "Hey Sam, I dare you to take a swig of this."
Buffy arches a brow and takes the jar out of Dean's hand before looking down at it "It's Spinal fluid. Probably decades old. Why don't you take a swing and let us know what it's like to taste Hannibal Lecter's favorite juice?"
Dean's eyes widen in disgust as she hands him back the jar. Groaning he quickly places it back down only to frown and turn back to the blonde "How do you know that's spinal fluid?"
"You really don't wanna know." Buffy says simply sticking to the vagueness, there were parts of her life from the past 6 months that she would rather not talk about and this was definitely one of them.
Plus it was just so freaking gross.
Suddenly the blonde hears a small creaking sound from the left "Guys." She whispers as she spins around and raises the scythe just as the sounds begin to grow loud enough for the two of them to hear.
With a nod between them, the three move in sync towards the noise and come to a stop by a small cupboard.
As the creaking noise grows louder Buffy glances at the boys who nodded at her, hesitating slightly she groans "I hate being the one with superpowers." She huffs before ripping the cupboard door open only to scream and jump as three very lively rats come running out of the cupboard.
"No! No! No! Ew!" Buffy screams as she actually jumps up, using the old piping to hold her feet off the ground and keep her hovering as the rats scatter.
Dean and Sam both glance up at the blonde with arched brows, this was a chick who literally tried to cut up a demon that had been ripped into by another yet, when it came to Rats she was like any other girl.
Spotting both boys looking at her in confusion she rolls her eyes before dropping back down onto her feet "They're icky. And Ughhh!" She says simply literally shivering in disgust at the idea of the rats getting anywhere near her.
While Sam merely watches her still stunned Dean couldn't help but nod in agreement to be honest if he had the ability to jump as high as she could he would be the one holding onto the ceiling right now "Fair enough."
"You'd both rather it be a ghost?" Sam asks in disbelief.
Buffy and Dean glanced at each other before nodding "Yes!"
As Sam rolls his eyes at the two of them Buffy sighs and rubs the dirt and grime off her hands only to freeze as she feels the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, "Get down!" She yells as without hesitation she spins around and launches the scythe across the room right at Murdichai only for her eyes to widen as the scythe merely goes right through him "Okay that didn't work."
Sam and Dean both stare with wide eyes in confusion, no supernatural creature was supposed to be immune to that weapon of hers. "Old fashioned it is." Dean huffs before he and Sam start laying Rock Salt rounds into the spirit only for again it to do barely anything.
"Why kind of Spirit is immune to Rock Salt!?" Sam exclaims as the three stand there in confusion the spirit now out of sight meaning they were so screwed if they didn't figure this out quick.
Buffy merely shrugs and moves to grab the scythe, yanking it out of the wall she spins back around her hair spinning around her widely "I miss old fashioned melty poofy things." She huffs making both brothers frown in confusion clearly having no idea what she was talking about.
Buffy merely shakes her head, she, unlike the boys had come to the realization that the creatures drawn to Hellmouths were a lot different than the rest of the spooky stuff in the world "It's a Sunnydale thing." She says simply before a scream escapes her as she feels something grab her by the back of the neck and launch her into the wall.
"Buffy!" The boys yell as the blonde crashes right into the wall before dropping to the ground while Murdichai moves towards her.
She couldn't help but huff as the Ghost focuses on her, she should have known she would become bait.
"Why do these things away happen to me?" She huffs before her eyes widen as she spots the spirit about to swing a very sharp object at her head, rolling out of the way she grabs the scythe and swings at his head but again nothing "Okay this is just not fair."
"Jokes later!" Dean tells her as he grabs her arm and quickly pulls her with him as he shoves Sam upstairs, they didn't know what they were dealing with so until they did they were going to bail.
"I knew you were going to make me bait!" Buffy yells as she runs up the stairs.
"You weren't bait!" Sam yells back before the three dive out the front door but as they get outside Buffy groans as she spots Harry and Ed "Go home to your mother!" She yells at them before running with the boys to get the hell out of there.
Buffy pouts sadly as she sits on the couch in the motel desperately trying to get the crap off her platform boots, she didn't have a lot of joy anymore, hell she didn't even have a wardrobe anymore but she still had her boots and if they were ruined because of that damn spirit she was going to lose her freaking mind.
"How's your head?" Sam asks suddenly from his place at the table causing Buffy to look up from her boots and frown in confusion "Huh?"
"You hit your head when Murdichai threw you."
Buffy sighs at that, it was a little bit of blood nothing she hadn't dealt with before "I've had worse." She says simply as she keeps her jumper wrapped tightly around her, she had no interest in having to explain the bite on her neck or the stab wound on her stomach, or worse the claw marks on her back.
And she knew they were going to ask questions, it was all John had done the second he saw the scars.
Sam frowns as he watches her pull her jumper closer to her, they were missing so much information about her, and from the look on her face, it wasn't exactly positive stories she had been leaving out. They knew about her sister, her friends, but nothing about her time before then or even before she had started hunting with their dad. Clearly whatever had happened to her, it was dark and twisted because it was all over her face.
"What the hell is this symbol?" Dean mumbles from one of the beds caught up in his own little world as he continued to doodle the symbol from the house, the symbol that was driving him freaking crazy "It's bugging the hell out of me. This whole damn job's bugging me."
"At least you weren't a flying blonde Frisbee for some spirit." Buffy snarks as she pulls her now clean boots back on her feet, smiling at the cute leather platforms "So pretty." She whispers at her feet before her smile drops as she looks back up at Dean "Oh wait that was me!"
"Well, you're the chick." Dean argues with a shrug, he didn't get the big deal, they knew it was a spirit that hated women what had she expected? For it to look at her and go no thanks this one is too blonde.
Buffy couldn't help but glare at the older hunter "I violently dislike you."
"Back at ya princess."
Sam rolls his eyes at his brother and Buffy, being Switzerland for the two of them was going to get old and quick. Glancing up from his laptop he draws their attention off each other "The legend said he hung himself but did you see those slit wrists?"
"Yeah." Dean mumbles as he turns back to his drawing while Buffy shrugs as she grabs the scythe off the bed by Dean and begins wiping the dirt off the axe end "I was too busy being raggedy Buffy with the throwing and all. What's the big deal?"
"The deal is..." Sam starts as he glances at the blonde as she grabs an apple off the counter and bites into it before she turns to face him "...The wrists and the axe none of that is in the legend. Ghosts are usually pretty strict, right, following the same patterns over and over?"
"His mood keeps changing." Dean comments as he sits up getting Sam's point, something was definitely different from a normal case here.
Buffy who was still new to the whole spirit thing shrugs and takes another bite of her apple before getting back to the scythe, she wasn't exactly a research gal and wasn't going to pretend to be useful right now.
"Wait a minute." Sam says suddenly making Buffy and Dean glance over at the youngest of the three in confusion, Sam looked like he had seen a ghost, no pun intended.
Buffy frowns and jumps off the counter, moving around the table she groans at the site open on Sam's computer. It was that stupid Hellhounds website "Is that new?" She asks pointing at the most recent post.
Sam nods as he continues to stare "They say Mordechai Murdoch was really a Satanist who chopped up his victims with an axe, before slitting his own wrists. Now he's imprisoned in the house for eternity."
"That explains why he tried to chop my pretty head off." Buffy mumbles as she leans back; this didn't make any sense, the thing had literally changed with the new legend, this was beginning to hurt her damn head now.
"Buffy put your chick outfit on." Dean says suddenly as he stands from the bed and moves over to Buffy's bag going through it making her eyes widen, what the hell was wrong with him?
"Is pathological idiot an actual condition or just with you?"
Dean rolls his eyes before pulling out the sundress and tossing it at Buffy "I may have just figured out here this all started. So get dressed Princess. And get your flirt on."
"So I can use violence this time?" Buffy asks happily as she climbs out of the car once again in her yellow sundress, if being in this dress meant she got to beat something up it was almost worth it.
Almost.
Sam couldn't help but snort in amusement this was probably the only time the brothers had actually seen her smile "Just don't kill him. Get him to talk."
"I won't kill him." She huffs rolling her eyes before strolling into the record store standing in the doorway for a moment she glances around the store before her eyes land on Craig who jumps up from his seat at the sight of her "Buffy. You're back."
Buffy smiles brightly and moves toward the human "Yeah. I need to talk to you it's about that house you told me about."
"You didn't go there did you?" When she goes quiet his eyes widen and he gestures for her to follow him to the back, the blonde smiles gratefully and follows him glancing back at Sam and Dean as they flip through the albums Dean looking for one specific one.
"Are you okay? It didn't hurt—"
Craig is cut off as Buffy drops the smile and grabs him by the throat, lifting him off the ground she slams him up against the office wall "So here's the thing. We need to talk about that pesky little symbol on the wall at the house." As Craig who was confused as hell, as well as slightly terrified, gulps, Buffy sighs and lowers him down to his feet but still kept a hand around his throat.
"You find it?" She asks as Dean and Sam walk into the backroom with an Album in Dean's hands.
"It's a logo for Blue Oyster Cult." Dean says with a smile enjoying the fact he had been right, a little more smugly than Buffy enjoyed.
When Craig's eyes widen, Buffy sighs and she slams him against the wall again "Talk now. Because I got thrown around like a freaking raggedy Anne doll last night. And well...I have to take out my violent needs on someone!"
Dean chuckles in amusement as Buffy drops Craig to the floor without much care, he had to admit he was liking this side of her very much, it was kind of hot.
Craig gasps for air as he stares up at the innocent-seeming blonde in horror "What are you?"
"Capricorn on the cusp of Aquarius." She deadpans as she crosses her arms glaring at him as he rubs his now red neck while pulling himself back to his feet.
"Why don't you tell us about that house—" Dean suggests as he steps closer to the now terrified kid "Or we could leave you alone with her. Your choice. But warning she likes knives. A lot."
Craig stares with wide eyes at the elder hunter before turning to Buffy who smiles sweetly like an innocent young girl, it was slightly disturbing. Gulping he nods "All right. Look my cousin Dana was on break from TCU. I guess we were just bored looking for something to do, so I showed her this abandoned dump I found. We thought it'd be funny if we made it look like it was haunted. So we painted symbols on the walls, some from some albums, some from some of Dana's theology textbooks."
At his words Buffy's eyes widen, this was like that haunted frat house back in Sunnydale all over again. Raising her hand she silences him for a second "You didn't happen to paint something called the Mark of Gachnar did you?"
When Dean and Sam glanced at her in confusion she waves them off "Hope he did because then the guy is likable to be squished."
Graig merely stares at the blonde with wide eyes, she sounded like a crazy woman to him but she was also terrifying so he wasn't going to risk pissing her off "No. Look we just made up a story and told people. Who told people who told other people. And then these two guys put it on their stupid website. Everything just took on a life of its own. I mean, I thought it was funny at first, but...now that girl's dead."
As Craig's eyes get watery Buffy sighs "I'm out." She breaths before turning around and heading out the backroom, as much as the old her would have helped the kid feel better she really didn't have the time or patience for that anymore. Maybe one day she would be able to do that again but not now.
"Could it be this Gachnar thing?" Dean asks the blonde as he and Sam move to follow after her.
Buffy groans and shakes her head, wishing it was it would be so easy to deal with then "Doesn't sound like it. I don't know how this thing is alive."
"Buffy this is all a misunderstanding."
Buffy's eyes widen at Andrew's panicked voice as she paces back and forth in the motel room listening to Andrew's crappy excuses over the phone "Andrew." She warns making it very clear that she was done with these excuses "Who else did you send that idiot documentary that you told me you destroyed too!?"
"Um...um well, you see..."
"Names!" She yells as she clenches her jaw and picks up a butter knife off the counter launching it at the wall just as Dean walks back into the room. The elder hunter frowns and glances at the knife in the wall by his head before turning back to the blonde "What the hell?!"
Buffy rolls her eyes "Andrew I want it taken down! Does your puny little brain understand? I don't need hunter wannabees knowing my name! Let alone things about my private life! Things I didn't even know you knew!" She screams still disturbed by how exactly he knew about her and Spike.
"Yes, Ma'am."
At that, Buffy hangs up the phone and huffs in annoyance, she had a pretty idea what was on that damn video and there were certain things she would rather people did not know about her!
"He taken the nerd how-to video down?" Dean asks as he yanks the knife out of the wall before placing it on the table.
Buffy merely shakes her head, she knew Andrew well enough to know that there was no way he would actually take it down, no matter what he said "Nope. He won't. Ugh, I'm gonna beat him till he bleeds." She moans as she flops down onto one of the beds.
Her life could not get any freaking worse right now.
Dean chuckles as he watches her go face-first onto the bed before he frowns as he doesn't spot his brother "Where's Sam?"
"Shower." She mumbles from the pillow before sitting up only for her eyes to widen as she spots Dean pouring some weird powder thing all over his brother's clothes.
"Really?" She asks "Are you 10?"
"Actually I see myself as an adorable 7." He tells her throwing her a smirk before placing a finger to his lips "Say anything and I do this to your clothes."
Buffy's eyes widen, okay that she did not want one little bit "Carry on." She huffs before glancing at the bathroom door "Dean's back!" She yells loud enough for Sam to hear her.
"Great!" Sam yells through the bathroom door "So I think I might have a theory about what's going on."
"Yeah?" Dean asks distractedly as he continues to pour the powder into Sam's underwear, Buffy couldn't help but roll her eyes "You're buying me pie in exchange for my silence."
"You're blackmailing me?" Dean couldn't help but ask in astonishment, that was not what he was expecting from the tiny blonde. But when she merely smirks he couldn't help but smile, he had to admit this girl was full of surprises.
"I'm liking you more and more."
"What if Mordechai is a Tulpa?" Sam yells through the door making Dean frown, what the hell was a Tulpa?
"Tulpa?"
"Yeah." Sam says causing Dean to jump as his brother walks out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.
Buffy's eyes widen and she couldn't help but stare cause...well damn!
Why were the Winchesters all so good-looking?
It was just unfair to all other men.
Tilting her head as she stares at his very chiseled chest Sam's eyes widen having not realized that she was sitting there "Sorry!" He exclaims before turning around while Dean frowns and turns only to spot Buffy still staring at his brother, rolling his eyes he picks the blonde off the bed and covers her eyes before purposely making her stand in front of Sam's clothes hiding what he himself had been doing "We live with a chick now dude."
"I wasn't complaining." Buffy snorts before sighing "What's a tupa?" she asks as she groans at the smell coming from Dean's hand "You smell like beer and dirt."
"I smell like a man, sweetcheeks."
"A Tulpa." Sam corrects rolling his eyes "It's a Tibetan thought-form."
Dean nods before quickly grabbing the empty packet of powder off the bed and tucking it into his pocket "Okay we'll get dressed Fabio, we'll meet you outside."
"You can let go of me now!" Buffy huffs as Dean shoves her jacket into her hands before forcing her out the door his hands still covering her eyes as he 'accidentally' walked her into the wall.
Buffy winces as she feels the door connect with the side of her face, clenching her jaw she huffs.
"Ow! I'm going to kill you, Dean!"
