Sunnydale: The Hellmouth

Summary: It's Sunnydale High, Hellmouth-central. A group of teens rule the school, but there is more to them than meets the eye. And when the new kid arrives, what secret is he hiding?

CHAPTER THREE Sunnydale High, 1999

It was Angel who saw her first. She was fighting something in an alley, and had just thrown whatever it was into a row of garbage bins. They were only a street or two away from The Bronze, and Angel and the others knew that Buffy, being the Slayer, wouldn't let any vampires near the club.

"There she is." Angel whispered as he signalled for the others to follow him. Somehow, recently, he'd become as much of a leader of the group as Giles was. He had no problem with this; soon he could let the teens fight on their own without him having to struggle to keep up. He was in good shape, but they were much younger than him.

"Don't make any sudden noises." Giles warned. The five fighters hid in the shadows of the alley and watched the Slayer fighter. She was remarkable, and it appeared that no one was training her.

"Don't think you're going anywhere mister." They heard her say to the vampire as it tried to run. It came towards them, but she grabbed it but the shoulders and flipped it onto its back. She then rammed the stake in her hand deep into its chest and stepped back as it exploded to dust.

"Nicely done." Gunn commented as he gave up their position. He rose to his feet, and the others soon followed his lead. Buffy spun around.

"Oh, uh… hi." Buffy said nervously, hiding the stake inside her coat. "What are you guys doing hanging around in an alley?"

"I was about to ask you the same question." Giles replied.

"Oh, I just…" She tried to think of a cover. "I just got dropped off by my mum and I'm heading inside."

"Buffy, we know who you are, you don't have to hide." Giles began.

"I'm sorry?"

"We know you're the Slayer." Angel added.

"What? How?"

"Watcher's Council of Britain informed me of your arrival." Giles continued. "I'm your Watcher."

"No, see, you don't understand. I'm not the Slayer. I have nothing to do with vampires and demons."

"And yet you seem to know so much about what the Slayer is involved in. And you just staked a vampire."

"Not my first." Buffy told them. Giles approached her.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here to help you."

"I'm not afraid of you." She protested. "I just, I'm not a part of that world. I don't want to be a part of that world."

"It's not your choice I'm afraid."

"Well I don't care, I don't want that life. I already had to move here and change schools because I got kicked out. This life, it's not good for me."

"I'm sorry you feel that way, but we really must inform you that you have a responsibility now. You have to kill the demons and vampires because it's your job. It's your life."

"I don't want the job. Give it to someone else."

"It's not that simple." Faith stepped in. "We've been doing your job 'cos there was no one else to do it. Now it's your turn. Step in, and take some responsibility."

"You seem to be doing well enough without me."

"That's beside the point." Giles protested. "You are the one that has to do this. It's a personal thing for these four." He gestured to the teens surrounding him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't ask for this." Buffy began to back away. "I didn't ask for any of this. I have to go." She turned and ran, disappearing inside.

"Well, at least you found her." Wesley stated.

"Yes, we did. Now we have to teach her. We have to show her who she really is."

Inside The Bronze…

Spike was standing up on the balcony inside The Bronze looking down on all the unsuspecting victims. They didn't know anything about the creatures of the nights that were out there to scare them and kill them. Some were even inside, and they were who Spike was looking for.

In his black ensemble he was relatively well hidden up in the darkness behind the spotlights. However, his peroxide-blonde hair gave his position away a bit.

Spike spotted a young couple sneaking out the back. They looked a little suspect to him and he thought they might be vampires. This was his time to strike. He made his way down the stairs and followed the pair out the back door to the alley outside.

Elsewhere inside The Bronze…

Buffy saw a blond dressed in black following a couple out the back door to the alley behind the club. She made her way across the dance floor, fighting her way past people as they danced to the house band playing funky techno music louder than anybody could normally stand. Pushing past another crowd of people, Buffy slipped out the back in search of the couple and the blond she considered to be a vampire.

Elsewhere inside The Bronze…

Giles, Angel, Faith, Wesley and Gunn were looking for Buffy. They'd seen her go inside but they were having trouble finding her.

"There." Faith pointed to Buffy as she slipped through the back door. "She's going out the back." The five of them made their way around the dance floor and crowds of people, disappearing out the door to follow Buffy.

They hadn't seen the couple sneak out, or Spike follow them. They had only seen Buffy, and weren't prepared for the crowd that would soon be gathered in the alley behind the building.

In the alley behind The Bronze…

The couple stopped a few metres down the alley and the young boy pushed the girl up against the wall. He began kissing her and she willingly kissed him back. He began kissing her face and down her neck, and just as Spike made his way out into the alley he saw the two against the wall. He waited just a moment for the boy to strike, but he didn't. As Spike hid around the corner from the couple he watched as they just snuggled and kissed. There was nothing more. He had been wrong.

He turned to head back inside and was surprised to find a blond girl standing behind him. She pushed him out into the alley and he stumbled before falling on his back.

The couple turned and looked at the blonde on the ground before running. The girl screamed and the boy led her away.

Spike looked up at the blond girl who stepped over him, holding a stake. She reached down and grabbed his shirt, pulling him a few centimetres closer to her.

"Hey, what are you doing?" He protested. "Get off me." She looked down at him, a little surprised.

"Who are you?" Buffy asked.

"Spike." He replied. "I'm a vampire hunter, now let me get up." Buffy stepped aside and tried to help him up, but he refused to accept her hand. She sighed in annoyance and watched him get to his feet.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to attack you like that. I thought you were a vampire." Buffy explained herself.

"Oh yeah, and who are you?" Spike demanded.

"Buffy. I'm the Vampire Slayer."

"The Vampire Slayer?" Spike repeated.

"Yes. The one and only. Unfortunately…" Suddenly the two of them heard running footsteps coming from the other direction, out of the club. Faith, Angel, Wesley, Gunn and Giles appeared beside the two.

Spike began slowly backing away. "William?" Angel asked. Buffy took no notice.

"You guys again?" She cried. "Can't you just leave me alone?"

"I'm sorry, but no. You need to accept who you are. You need to be trained so you can be better at what you do." Giles told her.

"I don't want to be better at what I do. I want to be able to have a normal life."

"You can't as long as you're the Slayer." Giles continued. "You're always going to be this person. Until you die."

"Your gig is a lifetime thing then?" Spike asked Buffy. She nodded. "Oh right."

"What are you doin here man?" Gunn asked Spike.

"Me?" Spike spoke quickly. "Um… I have to go." He began backing away. Angel stepped forward through the circle and up to Spike before he left.

"Why are you leaving so fast?" He demanded.

"Got places to go mate." Spike told him. Angel grabbed his shoulder, holding him back. "Hey, back off!"

"Why are you hanging around in the alley with a Vampire Slayer?" Angel demanded.

"I didn't know who she was until now. She just attacked me, thought I was a vampire." Spike explained.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

"I'm busy, all right." Spike rushed through the conversation. "Can I just go please?"

"But what are you doing here? Like this?" Angel pressed.

"I hunt vampires, all right." Spike was expecting a little more of a confused look than what he actually received. He expected them to be a little more surprised.

"Really? You? But you were so shy and nervous today." Faith commented. "What's with the radical change in personality?"

"I'm not hiding anything, and I'm not changing who I am. I have two sides to me." Spike explained. "By day, I'm William Brown, shy schoolboy. By night, I'm Spike, the vampire hunter."

"Really." Angel sounded impressed. "You've got this whole other world that you were hiding in your daytime alias."

"Yeah. I can't let the two sides of me mix. I'm not as confident in the daylight. I'm too exposed and visible. By night, I can hide in the shadows and become somebody else who's stronger, tougher and better."

"Sounds like you could be helpful to us." Giles said.

"Excuse me?" Spike asked.

"All five of us, we hunt vampires too." Giles informed him. "And Buffy here is the Slayer, so if we all banded together we could train and slay demons and vampires as a group. Then I wouldn't have to be dragged around by these four any longer."

Spike thought about it for a few seconds. "I don't know."

"You actually want me to train with you?" Buffy asked. "I don't even want to do this."

"We keep telling you that you don't have a choice. Just listen to us, you can do so much better if you train and work with us. We've been doing this a lot longer than you have."

"All right." Spike agreed. "I'm in."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "By the sounds of things I don't really have a choice, do I?" Giles gently shook his head.

"Come on, it's not that bad. And you're a natural." He smiled at his attempted pun, considered that it was her job to be a natural.

"It's close to sun-up, we should head home." Wesley pointed out.

"Okay. We'll see you both tomorrow then." Angel said, and the group parted. Spike offered to walk Buffy home, and she accepted. They spoke about the new situation and Buffy learnt why Spike was a vampire hunter. His parents were killed by vampires when he was young, and his sister saved them both from being killed. He now lived with her because his parents were dead. It was all about revenge for him, nothing else.

A/N: reviews are most welcome. Tell me if you think this is worth going on or not.