LEGAL A/N: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon, 20TH Century Fox Television, UPN, The WB and CW. 24 and all characters belong to Robert Cochran, Joel Surnow, 20TH Century Fox Television, Imagine Television, Real Time Productions and Fox Network. No profit is being made off of this and no copyright infringement is intended.

THE FOLLOWING TAKES PLACE BETWEEN 8:00 P.M. AND 9:00 P.M.

8:00:00 P.M. PST

James stared down at the dust and looked up at Buffy with wide eyes. "James," Buffy began with a worried frown on her face. She knew she was stuck in a tight spot that she'd have to be creative to get out of. James continued to stare motionlessly – he couldn't remember ever being that stunned by anything.

"What…?" he said, staring down and shaking his head at the disappearing dust as it was picked up by the wind, completely overwhelmed. He then looked up at Buffy herself with a mixture of awe and fear. "Who are you?"

"Look," Buffy began, holding up her hands as if she were trying to calm him. "I can explain this—"

She stopped in the middle of her sentence as the back door swung open and Brick marched out, red-faced and confused. "What's going on out here?" he demanded. "Why aren't you two inside working?" His eyes widened with frustration, "And where are your hats!" Brick walked over to them both as he crossed his arms in anger. James saw Buffy's green eyes settle on him with a wide-eyed look of desperation. "Buffy!" Brick hissed. "This is at least the fourth time I've caught you back here slacking off! At least you're not here with that British punk with the white hair!"

Buffy's face instantly turned red as she turned towards her manager. "Mr. Spain, I was… I can explain, I—"

"She was showing me where the dumpster was," James explained suddenly and calmly. "I tried to find it myself, but I couldn't. I'm not very good with directions." Buffy turned to him with a stunned look as Brick's temper dissipated. "It's my fault, sir," James continued. "Don't be angry with her." Brick carefully studied him and the settings around him. He looked back at Buffy suspiciously. It wasn't the best excuse he'd ever heard, but it was dark and no one in Sunnydale hung out in an alley for long.

"Very well," Brick sighed. "Just… get back to work." He turned around and walked back into the restaurant leaving Buffy and James alone. They both watched him go and waited until he had disappeared before they faced each other again.

8:23:26 P.M. PST

Spike stood in a crypt with at least twenty other vampires, including the five he came with from Willy's Bar. However, the once-tough thugs that Spike had seen were now stripped down to their core: five, hopeless cowards standing in front of their real boss. All five of them had their hands in their pockets or behind their backs and their heads on the ground as another vampire walked among them.

Spike watched him carefully and warily – this was no amateur. The man of over six feet was dressed in work boots and dark, nearly black jeans. He wore a dark olive button-up shirt and had an expression of calmness and disgust plastered on his face. He had short, dark blonde hair and only looked about thirty. As a vampire, he wasn't that old, but he was definitely the leader of this group. At some times, he would smile with satisfaction, but even his smile was so unsettling that one would not dare blink for fear that their throat would be torn out in the half-second that the vampire was trusted.

"So let me get this straight," the leader vampire talked smoothly like honey and coldly as a corpse, "you… found William the Bloody and told him what you were doing?"

One of the vampires spoke up quickly, "No, he found us—" Mickey instantly shot him a dirty look and the vamp silenced himself.

"Oh," the leader continued. "So you let yourself be found. And he knows about us and what we're planning." The vampire stopped pacing and stood before the five failures with his hands behind his back. "And yet – here you all stand. Not a single one dead, bloodied nor tortured."

The vampire that Spike had manhandled raised his injured limb. "I've got a broken hand, Elijah—"

In a flash, the leader ripped a hunting knife out of its sheath and slashed at the wrist of the vampire. He let out a scream as he saw his hand fall from his bloody wrist to the ground. "There," Elijah calmly said with a smile on his face. "Now you don't have one."

The other vampires trembled in fear as the fifth fell to the ground screaming with tears coming out of his eyes, staring at his bloody nub. Elijah glared at them all as his voice rose to a shout, "If any one of you idiots has an explanation for me, say it now!" The other four were silent.

Elijah walked up to Mickey and glared him in the eyes. "I have some good news, Mickey," he began. "I happen to be a big fan of the old Spike. I like him. I'll let him stay." Mickey slowly relaxed as Elijah smiled wide. He returned the smile as Elijah added, "But here's the not-so-good news. You've been replaced." Elijah pulled out a stake and jabbed it through Mickey's heart, dusting him.

Spike watched with surprise, as did the other vampires in the crypt. Elijah turned around and walked up to Spike, staring him down with that same, creepily twisted grin. "Welcome, Spike," he said.

"Do I get to play on your team now, coach?" Spike asked with a smile.

"I wasn't lying when I said I liked you," Elijah answered. "But just so we're clear – I never said I trusted you." Spike's smile faded as he and Elijah stood on the edge as he explained, "I don't know why you're here, but it doesn't change the fact that you were on the Slayer's team."

Spike shrugged, "All the more reason I can help."

"I hope so," Elijah nodded his head. "For your sake." Spike stood on guard as Elijah turned from him and walked towards the back of the crypt.

8:35:54 P.M. PST

Dawn Summers stared down at her math book blankly and tiredly. She sat in the kitchen on a barstool with her homework spread out on the island. Willow diligently washed dishes at the kitchen sink as Dawn sighed with defeat.

"This is hopeless!" Dawn spat. "Not to mention – it totally sucks." She turned to Willow, "Can I just drop out?"

"Everything will be okay," Willow rolled her eyes. "Just take it one problem at a time." She kept scrubbing the metal pot in her hands. "When you think you can't do it, just tell yourself you can." She kept rubbing the sponge back and forth, her eyes burning into the side of the aluminum. "You're the Little Engine That Could—"

"You know, we have a dishwasher," Dawn said, staring at Willow incredulously. "And also – all those dishes were clean."

"I know," Willow breathed in uncomfortable frustration. "I know. It's just that… these didn't look clean."

Dawn looked over at the pile of dishes sitting next to the sink. It was practically the entire kitchen. "Is this one of those things to keep magic off your mind?" Dawn asked. Willow stopped scrubbing as her face fell flat. "You don't have to answer that," she apologized.

"No, it's okay," Willow shook her head. "I just… I have to keep working. I'm getting better. I really am."

"Whatever works," Dawn shrugged with a smile on her face. "So, what's for dinner?"

"Xander's gone out to get some food," she answered as she turned the water off and dried her hands.

Dawn frowned and stuck out her tongue as she asked with dread, "Is he going to get another kids meal?"

"Only for himself," Willow answered. Their conversation was interrupted as the phone rang.

Dawn hopped off the stool and grabbed the receiver on the kitchen wall, putting it to her ear. "Summers house," she announced, then waited for an answer which did not come. "Hello?"

"Can I speak to Buffy?" a man said on the other line.

"Oh, she's at work right now," Dawn answered. "Can I take a message?" She was answered by a click and a dial tone. "Okay," Dawn scoffed at the rudeness of the stranger, "guess not."

"Who was that?" Willow asked as Dawn hung up the phone.

"They didn't say. It was for Buffy."

"Well, let's take another look at this homework before she comes home," Willow offered as she and Dawn returned to her math.

8:42:16 P.M. PST

Elijah stood in the crypt looking out of the small window at the graveyard outside. His cell phone rang and he quickly reached into his pocket and retrieved it. He flipped open the phone, already knowing who it had to be from. "Tell me something," he ordered.

The male voice on the other end answered, "It'll be done within the hour."

"It better be," Elijah warned, the flipped the phone shut. His eyes burned fiercely into the graveyard setting outside of the window.

8:49:43 P.M. PST

Buffy nervously wiped down the stove as her five other co-workers moved blankly and idly around her, save for Brick Spain, who was happily greeting people up at the front. She knew that James would eventually have questions, but she didn't know what she would say. She had done this a million times it seemed and always had a logical lie to explain her actions. However, this time it seemed that this stranger was too smart for that.

The questions would come. There was no doubt about it. But when?

She turned around to see James standing behind her, gazing at her suspiciously. "Who are you?" he asked blatantly.

Okay, she thought to herself. Guess they're coming right now.

"I already told you," she replied. "Buffy Summers."

"You were using some advanced martial arts out there," James declared. "Where did you get that training?"

"A girl's got to learn to protect herself." Buffy grabbed the towel and began to walk to the front of the restaurant with the others.

"From what, exactly?" James said, stepping into her path. She gazed up at him, trying to figure out what to say.

"Look, it was just a fight," she answered. "Let it go."

"I want to know who or what you were fighting with," James ordered.

"I don't know who you think you are," Buffy stated defensively. "But I'm not under arrest and I don't have to answer anything." James was taken aback by her sudden stubbornness, but that only made him want to push her harder. "Besides," she added, "it was only a trick of the light."

"You know that's not the truth," James replied simply. She looked up at him again and saw there was no more anger or authority in his voice or eyes. He checked around quickly to see that nobody was listening to or watching them, then lowered his voice down to a whisper. "Now either those guys that vanished into thin air were extras in Deliverance," he said, "or they were something else. Don't insult my intelligence by telling me they were just some guys who wanted your purse."

Buffy studied him closely. Her mind didn't trust him, but for some reason her heart did. She looked away, telling herself that she wasn't thinking right. Her long, hellish few months alive had finally caused her a severe lapse in judgment.

"Please," James quietly pleaded. Buffy kept her eyes on the ground as he reasoned, "Don't shut me out on this." She looked up at him again, realizing that his plea was a commentary on her entire life. Buffy had been holding the guilt of shutting out her friends, her sister, her watcher – even Spike, as much as she hated to admit that he mattered too.

"This town isn't… normal," Buffy explained but James didn't really seem to understand. He gazed at her somewhat blankly and waited for her to continue. "Those people weren't people. They weren't human." James' eyes widened slightly as he looked away, trying to hide the fact that everything he knew about the world just flew out the window.

"What – what are you saying?" James asked in disbelief.

"They were demons," Buffy answered flatly, blurting it out. "Vampires, to be exact. Sunnydale's on a Hellmouth, which means you just landed yourself in the middle of the Twilight Zone. Congratulations. Sorry for your property value's loss."

James stared at her in silence for several seconds. He then turned away with a short laugh, shaking his head. Buffy gazed at him without a smile on her face. Once he realized that she wasn't laughing and wasn't planning to in the near future, the smile faded from his face. "You've got to be kidding me," he suddenly declared, wide-eyed.

"See? I knew you wouldn't believe me," Buffy sighed with frustration.

"Vampires?" James exclaimed. "And what's a Hellmouth?" He stopped her before she could speak, shaking his head, "Wait – don't answer that. You can't be serious."

"Then you explain it, Freud," Buffy crossed her arms. "Did we just both have a paranoid delusion or are you still leaning on your Deliverance theory?"

"I just want the truth," he declared.

Buffy snapped in frustration, "I gave it to you. What more do you want?"

"Are you always this defensive?"

"Are you always this commanding?"

"You actually expect me to believe that the town's overrun by vampires and demons and the reason no one has known about it is because no one would believe it and the government's been hiding it and the police are too dense to accept it?"

Buffy exclaimed, "Yes—" She suddenly froze as an eerie feeling shot through her bones.

"What is it?" James asked, noting the sudden change. She glanced around, on high alert, her Slayer sense going frantic. Buffy and James looked up at the front of the restaurant as one-by-one ten thuggish-looking guys in long trench coats marched in. There were about twelve other people of all ages sitting in the booths enjoying their meals that stopped and gazed at the strange sight. An old man at the register stopped and turned around as Sophie, who was taking his order, followed suit.

"Welcome to Doublemeat Palace, gentlemen," Brick greeted as he gazed at them with a strange smile. "Can I take your orders?" The gang smiled at each other and then turned back to the manager and the Doublemeat staff. Their faces suddenly morphed into vampire guise with yellow eyes and fanged grins. Brick and the others looked horrified as Buffy and James stared them down. The leader reached into his long overcoat suddenly.

In a flash, James grabbed Buffy by the arm and pulled her back behind the meat cellar as the vamp leader whipped out a machine gun and opened fire on the staff. Brick felt the bullets hit his chest and he was dead before he hit the floor. Screams erupted from the restaurant as the other nine vampires pulled out their guns and ordered the customers onto the ground.

8:54:32 P.M. PST

Spike stood with the rest of the vampires, quietly musing to himself as Elijah marched up to them. "Phase one is up and running," he declared. He walked up to Spike who was leaning up against a wall in the crypt. "We're going to phase two."

"What the hell does that mean to me, mate?" Spike cockily asked.

Elijah slammed his open palm against the stone wall next to Spike's head. He moved out of the way quickly, glaring at Elijah as a brick slid out of its position in the wall. Spike watched in astonishment as a black computer screen was revealed. Elijah pressed his cold hand on it as the computer traced his palm and read his fingerprints. He took his hand away and the words appeared on screen: User Identified.

A door in the wall suddenly opened which revealed another arsenal full of enough machine guns and ammunition to power a small army.

8:56:27 P.M. PST

Buffy raised her head off of the ground as the leader vampire finally stopped firing. She and James looked over to see Sophie cowering behind the counter, still alive, while the manager and the other co-workers were dead. The other nine vampires were holding the crying and panicking customers on the ground, pointing the guns at their heads.

She slow turned to James, gazing up at him with pursed lips. "Vampires," James nodded, noting her I-told-you-so. He took a deep breath as he quickly believed in non-human monsters. He slowly exhaled, "Okay..."

Buffy looked up at one of the vampires with a gun in his arms that slowly moved to the counter where she and James were ducking. He was facing the rest of the customers, shouting orders at them to stay down and not move. In a flash Buffy leapt up and grabbed the vampire from behind.

The vampire held down the trigger, opening fire all over the place. The other vamps dodged the bullets by ducking behind the tables and booths – anything to escape the blaze of shells. In a second she knocked the vampire onto his knees and whipped out a stake.

"Buffy, look out!" she heard from behind her. She turned around to see Sophie standing behind her with a nasty expression on her face as she jabbed something into Buffy's stomach.

"No!" James screamed. Sophie grabbed Buffy's arm and jolted her with a tazer, shooting as many volts as she could into her body.

"Sorry, Buff," Sophie grinned evilly as the Slayer went down unconsciously. James was seconds away from tackling Sophie went the downed vampire stood up with the gun in his hands again and aimed for James.

"Get down on the ground!" he ordered. James hands went in the air as he hesitantly lowered himself to his knees.

"Hands behind your head," Sophie barked at him as she pulled a pistol out of a holster on the vampire next to her. She aimed at his head as he folded his fingers behind his head, squeezing his eyes tightly closed as he cursed himself for stupidly charging without a plan.

"What are you doing?" James asked.

"Shut up!" Sophie hissed.

"You a vampire, too?" he defiantly asked.

Sophie pulled back the gun and knocked it across his jaw as hard as she could. "Nope," she smiled innocently. "Just doing my job."

He glared up at her for saying it. It was too close to what Nina Myers had said to him before he found his wife murdered. Two other vampires grabbed Buffy, picking her body off the ground as the vampire next to Sophie grabbed James by the back of the neck with the gun at his head and pulled him onto his feet. "Lock them in the cellar," Sophie casually ordered.

The vampires tossed Buffy cruelly into the meat cellar while the other pushed James in, throwing him on the ground harshly. "Don't do this!" James shouted as the door slammed shut and both of them were now bolted into the freezing meat locker.

With a devilish smirk, Sophie went to the thermostat which she had rewired earlier and turned the temperature all the way down.


8:59:58…

8:59:59…

9:00:00