LONDON, ENGLAND
Charlotte Hadley ran through the grand hallways of the Watchers' Council HQ. She knew her life probably depended on how fast she ran right now.
For 5 years Charlotte had worked for the council as a watcher but nothing could have prepared her for what she saw in that room. She knew she had to get out now, before it was too late. She needed to warn the world.
Her feet were hurting now and she could feel blisters forming where her high heel shoes were rubbing. They definitely weren't made for 'running for your life.' Stopping for a second, in an indent in the stone wall, she removed her shoes and then carried on running. She didn't even bother to take her shoes with her. She didn't care.
Charlotte ran into the main hall. There were a few more watchers here and she felt safer knowing there were people around her…or perhaps they knew already. Perhaps they knew what Quentin Travers was.
Charlotte could see the main door in front of her now, the way out. If she could just get to the door and get out she would probably be safe.
Several watchers were giving Charlotte strange looks as she barged passed them, but Charlotte didn't care. She wasn't going to be coming into the HQ again any time soon after what she had discovered, so she possibly wouldn't have to seen any of these people ever again. She heard some of their concerns as she passed by.
"Are you ok miss?"
"Your shoes miss! Would you like me to fetch you a pair? You seem to be running round barefoot!"
Charlotte didn't respond to any of them. All she concentrated on was the big door in front of her, which was getting closer and closer. Maybe she could make it out of the building alive.
Out of breath and panting, Charlotte used her remaining strength to push open the grand door that was the entrance to the Council HQ. She stepped outside and felt the April sunshine fall onto her face, she'd made it out alive. Now all she had to do was warn the world about what was coming.
At the same time, unbeknown to Charlotte, a man dressed in jet-black clothing was perched upon the roof of the HQ. The sniper loaded his gun, aimed at his target and pulled the trigger.
Nobody ever heard from 26 year old Charlotte Hadley again…
Meanwhile, over 5000 miles away in Sunnydale, California, Buffy Summers the vampire slayer and her friend Willow Rosenburg were walking through one of the twelve cemeteries in Sunnydale.
"Vampires?" Buffy called out. "Here vampires!" Much to Buffy's disappointment the cemetery was silent and she sat down on the stone bench. Willow joined her.
Buffy gave out a deep sigh. "I don't know why I even bother to patrol these days. There's no vampires anywhere! And even of one does decide to show his ugly toothy face, the initiative have already got it before I can raise my stake!"
"But that's not necessarily a bad thing," started Willow.
Buffy looked up confused.
"What I mean is," Willow continued, "that with the initiative taking care of most the vampires and other ugly demony things, you could have time to do other things in the evenings, like spend time with your friends or your mom…or with Riley."
Buffy smiled and got to her feet. "You're right Will, as always. Come on, I'm going to call it a night with the patrolling."
"Great!" replied Willow as Buffy pulled her up off the bench. "Hey! You could call Riley. The Night is still young!" Willow started giggling, as did Buffy.
"Actually he said he was busy. He has work to do or something…So I was thinking, me, you, Xander, movie date in his basement. Come on, we'll go to the video store now." Buffy started to march away but stopped when she noticed her friend wasn't following.
"A-Actually Buffy…I kinda said I'd meet Tara."
"Oh," Buffy replied.
"I'm sorry Buffy…Are you mad?"
"What?…No. Of course not. How could I be mad with you Will…It's just that…well you seem to be spending a lot of time with Tara lately."
"Oh Buffy, I'm sorry. It's just that I promised her yesterday that I'd meet her." There was a silence. "Hey! What about tomorrow? We'll do it tomorrow evening?"
"Yeah sure, That'll be cool. I suppose me and Xander will just be hanging by ourselves tonight." She started to walk off again.
"Um...Buffy?"
Buffy stopped.
"Anya's with Xander tonight."
"Oh right…that's cool…I'll just hang with myself then...You know just me and myself…so um bye then." And with that Buffy set off back to the university.
Willow watched her go and couldn't help feeling that Buffy's feelings were hurt a little. She'd make it up to her tomorrow. She turned round to head for Tara's but was stopped when something grabbed her round the throat. She screamed.
Hearing Willow's scream, Buffy spun round and watched as a demon held Willow up by her neck. The demon was unfamiliar to Buffy but it had a striking symbol on his forehead. The symbol reminded Buffy of a crown except that it had another point underneath, but Buffy didn't have time to think about it now. Her friend was in danger.
"Oi, get off her!" shouted Buffy as her punched the demon forcefully on the shoulder forcing it to drop Willow, who collapsed onto the ground. The demon now turned his attentions towards Buffy.
"That's right!" Buffy called out. "Come to Buffy!"
Buffy stuck her arm out to punch it but the demon grabbed her arm before the punch could land. Buffy gasped. She hadn't counted on the demon being so strong and she screamed as it broke her arm.
Cradling her arm, Buffy tried to move away but was promptly pushed to the ground. The demon was standing over her now. With her good arm Buffy reached for the knife in her trouser pocket and held it in front of her body, sharp end facing the demon. Then, with her legs she managed to cause the demon to fall on top of her, but he didn't fall onto the knife.
The demon took the knife from Buffy's hands and turned it towards Buffy who was desperately trying to hold the knife away from her body.
The demon was strong though and Buffy didn't know how much longer she could hold the knife off her. It was getting closer and closer to her chest…
To be Continued...
