A/N: Not going to disclaimer, of course I don't own Buffy. The only thing I own is the original stuff I've come up with for this fic.
I have an awful lot of this fic planned out and dialogue worked out up to what is season five on the show it's just all the filling in bits (that's just a tidbit for you there!).

Thank you for the favourites and follows and reviews so far! I hope you continue to enjoy!

"Dad, I got you some tea, it'll help with the migraine. I think we can open these curtains a little too the suns not so bright..." Maria bustled into her father's office with a tea tray in her hands. It was musty and stuffy and couldn't be good for his current condition. He had all the curtains drawn again and she was starting to worry.

Was this because of those men that she'd seen? She kept thinking about the short one looking back up at the window and her father driving off. Something was going on. Something was wrong but every time she tried to ask, he shrugged his shoulders and informed her everything was fine. Everything wasn't fine. Not when he was holed up on the leather couch in his office like it was his new bed.

"I'll open a window too." She said cheerily grabbing hold of the curtain and starting to tug it gently open.

"Don't!" How had he moved so quickly? His hand was tightly around her wrist stopping her from moving the curtain any further. He looked so different in the dark, it was almost scary, like she was suddenly aware that he wasn't just her father anymore. Wasn't just the strong bear of a man who'd protected her, who'd held her, who'd was a gentle straight arrow with a fierceness beneath. It was like she was suddenly aware that he was a person with long held secrets and things he wasn't telling her.

"Don't be daft." Maria said, pulling her arm away and tugging the curtain so it opened a little more.

"I SAID DON'T" The voice that left him wasn't her father. It was deep, an almost growl and he grabbed for her wrist again, an iron grip that she couldn't twist away from. Had his hands always been that big? He'd always been stronger, stronger than her, but he'd never hurt her before.

"Dad-" Maria swallowed, there was steam in the air, like after boiling a kettle. Maria tried to pull her wrist away, but Charlie held it firm. Maria looked up into his face and exhaled sharply. Where once there had been wrinkles across his forehead there were now ridges, his face had changed shape. He was a monster. His teeth were fangs. Maria blinked, hoping it was a trick of the light, a psychological reaction to him hurting her. She knew in her heart that it wasn't though.

"Dad you're hurting me." She said quietly, heart hammering in her chest. Charlie seemed to realise what he'd done and release her immediately, pulling the curtains back closed and standing with his back to her, fist curled into the curtains, knuckles turning white.

"Get out." He said, his voice back to normal, though strained.

"Dad-" Maria said quietly.

"GET OUT!" When he turned again the ridges were back and that time Maria ran.

In the car she fumbled with the keys, hands shaking too much to get them into the ignition. She needed to take a moment to breathe. She could rationalise this, he was her dad, he wasn't a monster. Maybe she'd been reading too much or it was the way the light reflected or maybe it was her imagination. Maybe it was something psychological because he'd never hurt her before, something like he appeared more monstrous than he was because she was scared.

It couldn't be- he couldn't be-

Maria inhaled then exhaled slowly, repeating until her heart had returned to some sort of normal rhythm. She needed a plan. She'd go back to the shop, which she'd closed whilst she nipped home to check on her dad, take him the tea for his migraine. She'd think about this a little more rationally, maybe look in a few of the books on the shelf that so far, she hadn't taken seriously.

This was ridiculous. Her father wasn't a monster.

His face had changed though and not just in anger. His whole face had shifted, the ridges, the teeth. Not just once but twice. So, what did that mean, logically she couldn't be looking at an actual monster, people would think she was insane.

She wasn't insane though. She knew she wasn't.

There was the tiniest of thrills that travelled up her spine at the thought that every bit of mythology she'd come to love might have some truth in it. That legend might not simply be legend and that her long held belief about there being more out there could be true.

If she wasn't insane then and she was thinking about this correctly. What had happened to her father? What happened seven months ago? Because that must be when all this started. Since then, since they'd moved here, he'd taken to mostly working at night, to staying out of the sun and- now she thought about it she never saw him eat much anymore.

No sunlight, pale, the ridges, the fangs, up all night.

Somebody had turned her father into a vampire.

Somebody had turned her father into a vampire and suddenly Maria's mind felt blanker than ever. How was she supposed to separate fact from fiction here? She needed to arm herself in the only way she knew how – books.

~?~

Maria was distracted all afternoon at the shop. She took every occult book she'd picked up at the charity shop off the shelf and stacked them at the counter to go through. There was nothing about vampires though. Demons, witches, spells, some Egyptian gods and goddesses but vampires were mostly lacking. Which was when she realised, she needed a bigger collection and it just so happened she had a new friend with a large collection of supernatural readings at his hands.

"Oh, good you're still here do you have any books on vampires?" Maria breezed into the library, immediately taking to the shelves, barely even a hello in Giles' direction.

"Vamp- what?" Giles did a double take; it had been some days since he'd seen Maria.

He'd wanted to go back into Meryton, he'd wanted to talk to her. He'd wanted to talk to anyone about the upcoming Cruciamentum and Buffy. He needed to talk to someone about it and he felt Maria would understand on some level, would be able to look at things in a way that would bring a fresh perspective. Would either give him the strength to push back against the Council or allow him to see that potentially the Council were right in this archaic and barbaric practice.

Giles had told himself he was going to stay away though. He had vowed he wasn't going to allow his feelings to continue, not given his realisation about their lives, about what he'd have to tell her. He'd vowed not to keep going in, in case these feelings were mutual, and Maria got hurt. Still he hadn't been able to stay away completely and now here she was, breezing into the library looking flushed and slightly windswept. Beautiful with intent, whatever that intent was.

She was running her finger along the edges of the books, scanning the titles but he wasn't sure what for.

"Maria are you okay?" Giles asked watching her closely. She couldn't really want books on vampires, could she?

"Yes, so, do you have any books on vampires?" Maria asked, her smile was shorter today. Not the one that kept bowling him over and her brow was tight with what he assumed was worry. He watched her for a moment trying to catch a glimpse of her neck and check for fang marks.

"There are a few yes but a lot of it's in Latin." Giles admitted leading her towards the shelf, which was one of many.

"That's fine." Maria said giving him another tight smile. Giles looked at her again, had she actually heard him when he'd said it was in Latin?

"You can read Latin?" Giles asked.

"Amongst other things." Maria replied, with a gentle shrug of her shoulders as she continued to scan the shelves.

"Maria is everything okay?" Giles mind was turning over in his head. Logically it could be nothing. Maria did have an interest after all, and she had mentioned that reading influenced her state of mind. Maybe she had been over thinking things and wanted to be sure that the bump in the night she heard wasn't a vampire.

"What? Yes, yes it's just a project I'm working on that's all." Maria was still searching the shelves as she spoke to him.

"A project?" Giles asked his tone confused.

"Yes." Maria replied as though it was the most normal thing in the world to undertake.

"About vampires?" Giles reiterated.

"Yes, now do you have a book or n- ah hah!" Maria pulled a book from the shelf and as she did her jumper slid back revealing fingerprints on her wrist. Deep purple bruises that weren't going to fade easily. Giles felt his stomach turn over, his blood boil. Someone had done that to her, someone had grabbed her and hard, they'd hurt her.

"Who did that to you?" Giles asked his tone darkening, his eyes narrowing. If she was in danger, he wanted to help her. She had no idea what she was up against. She could get seriously hurt or worse- Giles choked off the thought.

"It's nothing, I banged my arm." Maria wrapped her arms around the book, pulling her jumper over her wrist and fixing him with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"On someone's closed palm?" Giles replied before he could stop himself. He knew he shouldn't have said it, he was angry and worried though and it slipped out. He watched the shutters go down behind Maria's eyes.

"I told you, I banged it, there's a weird antler ornament in the shop and I got tangled on it that's all." Maria lied. "Look, Rupert, if you don't want to lend me the book just say. It's fine, I'll find some sources elsewhere." Maria said changing the subject.

"No, no here, take it." Giles said.

"Thank you. I'll bring it back tomorrow." Maria said, before he could ask her if she wanted tea she was already halfway out of the library.

"Maria," Giles had to jog to catch up to her, stopping in front of her. "Maria if you're in trouble." Giles stopped when she looked about to protest. "If you're in any kind of danger, if you need help-"

"The only help I might need is more resources for what I'm working on." Maria smiled at him, it didn't touch her eyes again and he knew she was lying. He hoped to god she didn't play poker because she'd lose a lot of money.

Like I said I've a lot planned out for this. I'm also trying to wrangle timelines too but sometimes it's hard to ascertain whether it's weeks or days between episodes. If I'm wrong on something though you can let me know (like hard evidence wise). Just a hint of whats to come though; I have homages to the mummy, different werewolf species, a succubus or two amongst other things. Plus some cute stuff of course.

Enjoyed? Want to see more? Why not follow the story and why not leave a review! They're the lifeblood of writers after all! :)