Disclaimer: The world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all the Characters therein are the Property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. The Watcher, Spider-Man, Spider-Girl and all related characters are the Property of Marvel Enterprises. All characters and situations are used purely for my own enjoyment and do no provide me with any sort of payment. Please do not sue me.

I will not use profanity in my stories as a matter of principle. When it becomes absolutely necessary to use it due to the nature of a character, "" will be used to replace it.

"Italics" will be used to indicate thoughts, while telepathy, if it ever appears will be indicated by "Bold-Underline". Author comments and questions will be indicated by "Bold".

Author Note: from the beginning of this story onward, unless I say otherwise, May's hairstyle is smooth, curling-down-below-the-ears style that she got in Issue 25, not the short-spiked jock look she had before that.

Mayday the Vampire Slayer

Episode 1- Welcome to the Hellmouth

Chapter 2- Initiation

"It's estimated that about 25 million people died in that one 4-year span. But the fun part of the black plague is that it originated in Europe how?"

Mayday sat in her history class, for once, bored out of her mind. The teacher in front of her just kept droning on about the black plague, even answering her own questions. "Classroom conditions were never this bad at Hemery. I wonder, did the kids stop answering questions because the teachers were so dull, or did the apathy of the students force the teachers to adopt this style as a defense mechanism?" May thought idly as she tried to simultaneously take notes and keep from letting her mind travel elsewhere to avoid the boredom. This was her third class today, and none of the teachers had been any different. For that matter, she hadn't even had time to go to the library to pick up her schoolbooks yet, a fact that became particularly important as the teacher told them to turn to page 63 to look at a map. May looked around for some way she could see someone else's book. Fortunately, the brunette girl next to her saw her scanning the room and moved her book over so May could see it.

"Thanks."

"Sure" said the girl. Mercifully, in the next few seconds, the bell rang to end the class. As everyone around them stood up and headed elsewhere, the brunette stuck out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Cordelia."

"I'm May. My friends call me Mayday." May responded as she shook Cordelia's hand.

"Mayday, huh? That's new. I never thought I'd know anyone with a distress call for a name."

May blushed a little at that. "It's just one of those names you pick up playing on a basketball team."

"Hmm, interesting." Cordelia replied as the two began to assemble their papers and got up to leave. "Anyway, if you're looking for a textbook of your very own, there's probably a few left in the library."

"Thanks. That's where I was headed, but I don't quite know where the library is at the moment. Do you think you could help me find it?"

"Sure. Come on." Cordelia gestured toward the door. As they headed out, Cordelia inquired, "So you're from Hemery, right? In L.A.?"

"Yeah."

"I would kill to live in L.A. That close to that many shoes?"

May giggled in spite of herself. Cordelia seemed to have shallow prom queen attitude down to a T. May had certainly run into enough of those types in her time at Hemery. However, the very fact that Cordelia had said 'Hi' to a strange girl and offered to help her out seemed to belie that image. May had a gut feeling that having Cordelia for a friend could be a lot more interesting than it looked.

"I think you're going to be O.K. here." Cordelia continued. "If you stick with me and mine, you'll be accepted in no time. Of course we do have to test your coolness factor…..

May interrupted her. "Coolness factor? That's a new one on me."

Cordelia blinked. "You mean that no one has ever tested how cool you are?"

"No one ever needed to. I've always been satisfied with who I am, and most of the people I've run into seem to be satisfied with me as well."

Recovering from her mild shock, Cordelia tried another tactic. "Well think of this as a test to see how well you fit in around here."

May smiled. "Alright. Who knows. It might be fun."

"Alright. As I was saying, you're from L.A., so you can skip the written, but let's see. Vamp nail polish?

"Useless and obvious?"

"So over."

"Can I assume that both qualify as correct?"

"Definitely. James Spader?"

"Unquestionably hot."

"Frappaccinos?

"Trendy, but tasty."

"Congratulations. You passed."

"Oh good." May's smile had only the tiniest bit of irony in it. At this point, Cordelia slowed down as they arrived at a water fountain. A red haired girl dressed in a green flannel dress and long whit stockings was drinking from it. She jerked up as Cordelia said her name.

"Willow. Nice dress. Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears." Cordelia's voice was a study in sarcasm. May couldn't believe the change that had seemed to come over the girl.

"Uh well—well my mom picked it out." The girl named Willow stuttered.

"No wonder you're such a guy magnet." Cordelia replied in the same tone. Then her voice turned hard. "Are you done?"

Apparently confused, Willow's head bobbed back and forth between Cordelia's face and the water fountain briefly before she registered what Cordelia was asking. "Oh." She than walked off down the hall looking like a whipped puppy.

May was about to say something, whether to defend Willow or to chastise Cordelia, she didn't know, but Cordelia spoke first as she turned to face May.

"If you want to fit in here, the first rule is know your losers. Once you can identify them all by sight, they're a lot easier to avoid." Cordelia then bent down for a drink.

May decided to hold her tongue for now. There was plenty of time to get Cordelia to come around. After all, before the gym blowup, she had gotten a lot of her friends from all different groups to hang out together, and trying to preach to Cordelia now would only result in an argument and the permanent destruction of a potential friendship. Still, she felt guilty as she watched Willow shoot a wounded backward glance toward them. "I'll have to talk to her later and see if I can make this up to her."

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As Cordelia and May continued to walk toward the Library, Cordelia also continued to talk. "And if you're not too swamped with catching up, you should come by the Bronze tonight."

"What's that?"

"The Bronze. It's the only club worth going to around here. They let anybody in, but it's still the scene. It's in the bad part of town."

"Where's that?"

"About half a block from the good part of town. We don't have a lot of town here. You should show."

"Alright. I'll try."

The bell rang. "So I'll see you at gym, and you can tell me absolutely everything there is to know about you."

May grinned. "Come on, Cordelia. When has anybody ever told you everything about themselves.?"

"Ooooo. Got some juicy secrets I can tell all my friends? Well I'll see you later." And with that, Cordelia turned and walked toward her next class.

Still grinning as she walked into the library, May shook her head. "Cordelia, if you knew my deep dark secrets, you'd never believe them."

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The library was completely empty, as far as May could see, and apparently underused. The complete lack of sound, the musty old books on the shelves, and the old-style wood the table and floor combined to create the effect of a haunted house in daylight. May figured that someone must be here, since this was where the students were supposed to pick up their books, so she decided to speak up as she slowly walked through the library.

"Hello. Is anybody here?" May then looked down at the library counter. On it was a newspaper with an article titled "Local Boys Still Missing" circled in red ink. As she examined the article, she once again felt the odd buzzing in her head that she had felt earlier that day in the hallway outside the principal's office. As she tried to figure out what it was, she received a sudden tap on the shoulder. She spun around with a startled "Ooh"

The man she came face to face with looked about sixty years old, wore glasses, and a brown tweed suit, the very image of an old fashioned nerd. Yet, there was a hint of danger in his eye that made him fit in perfectly with the surrounding spooky atmosphere. Oddly, the buzzing in May's head had gone away.

"So someone is here after all. I was beginning to think this place was permanently deserted." Ignoring the creepiness of both the man and the location, May stuck her hand out. "Hi. I'm May Parker. I'm new."

The man returned her grip. "I'm Mr. Giles. The librarian. I was told you were coming."

"I'm here to get some books." May said as Mr. Giles hurried around the counter. "I need 'Perspectives on 20th Century….'"

Interrupting her, Mr. Giles began talking excitedly. "I know exactly what you're after." He then placed a very large, very old book on the desk. Stenciled across the cover was the title, "Vampyr".

As May's face changed to an expression of surprise, a thousand questions flashed through her mind. Who is this guy? Why would he pull out a book on Vampires? Does he know my secret? May finally decided to take the cautious approach.

"No, that's not what I'm looking for."

"Are you sure?'

"Most definitely."

"My mistake." Giles bent down under the counter. "So what did you say you were looking for?"

"Well, technically, Mr. Giles, I was looking for my textbooks so I don't fail all my classes. But before we get into that, I have a question I need to ask you. Why did you automatically assume that I wanted a book on Vampires?

"I made that assumption because you are the Slayer, are you not? The council sent me to replace your old watcher."

Darn it. "It figures. I was really hoping you wouldn't say that, Mr. Giles. I was looking forward to some off-time."

"Miss Parker, you have a sacred duty. You can't take a vacation….."

"I know, I know, Mr. Giles. I heard it a thousand times from Merrick." May's face had gone from surprised, to angry, to finally resignation. "The fact that you're here means this isn't quite the quiet little town I thought it was. Could you just get me my books at the moment?"

"But Miss Parker….."

"Mr. Giles, I'm sure you have an entire story about what needs to be done here, but I moved here with the intention of taking a break from vampire slaying. Could you just give me some time to get used to the idea that it's not going to happen?"

"Uh.. yes I suppose I could." Said Giles, taken aback "But I must recommend you do it quickly."

"Don't worry. I will be back here at 3:00. At that point, you can brief me on the situation around here. Just let me get my regular life together before I have to mix it with my 'sacred duty'".

"Agreed. So what do you need for your classes?"

"Well as I was saying before, I need 'Perspectives on 20th Century Literature and….."

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I had a lot of difficulty deciding what I was going to do about May's reaction to Cordelia and her behavior. I wanted May to stay true to her character, but I also didn't want her to make an enemy of Cordelia just yet. In the end, I decided that, on the first day at a school where no one knows her, even May would be reluctant to criticize one of the first people who have been nice to her, at least this early in their acquaintance. If anyone can come up with a way for May to defend Willow from Cordelia in the hallway without Cordelia immediately rejecting her as a friend, and still stay true to both May's and Season 1 Cordelia's personalities, I would love to hear it. All other constructive suggestions are also welcome.