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!

"Did you guys hear the news?" Xander asked slamming a newspaper down into the middle of the library's desk, causing Willow and Giles to flinch. Buffy as always remained calm, while Oz pulled the newspaper towards him. In the recent weeks the hospital and its potential blood sucking ghost had taken several back seats. There hadn't been another killing since Miss Zuma's mother and besides there had been other, more pressing matters.

The sisters of Jhe opening the hellmouth portal for one and Giles' firing from the Watchers council for two. Patrolling the hospital was child's play compared to recent events, but it was something they'd gotten back too.

"While you were out staking out the hospital somebody made a bolognaise out of this warehouse. Rumour has it the mob was involved." Xander said nodding his head towards the newspaper which Giles took from Oz.

"I hardly think Buffy could have taken on the mob." Giles said shooting Xander a glance over his glasses.

"I so could." Buffy replied folding her arms across her chest. "Most mobsters are just like big demons, right?"

"Besides which, it's hardly her job." Giles pointed out, he opened the paper to the page the story was continued on and flattened it out on the table.

"I thought it was catching bad guys." Xander replied, dropping into a chair and putting his feet up on the table.

"Sunnydale has a mob?" Willow asked, looking to Buffy for some sort of reassurance that that wasn't the case.

"Yes, demons and generic hellspawn, not gangsters having fu-" Giles replied to Xander before he stopped, smoothing over a picture of three men exiting a car outside the warehouse where the mobsters had been killed, something about them was familiar.

"Fu? Fu what Giles Funky dance offs? Funny walks? I'm dying to know how that sentence ended?" Xander teased annoyingly.

"Sunnydale has a mob." Willow repeated, her voice more worried.

"I think most places have some sort of mob, hopefully ours are demon-like." Buffy replied. "In which case they'll be easy to get rid of." She reassured punching the air to show Willow she had nothing to worry about.

"Maria said she saw men similar to this leaving her father's house, she said she was worried about him but put it down to too much reading." Giles said, he was reaching for something. There was a connection there and he just had to let the wires touch, a little spark that was all he needed. It was like a word on the tip of his tongue that he couldn't quite realise. Music that he could hear but couldn't articulate. It was right there-

"Ha! I KNEW IT hot tea lady is a demon!" Xander said waving his hands in the air and stopping Giles just before that connection was made.

"No that's not what I'm saying, she came looking for a book on vamp-" Giles gritted his teeth as he tried to put together the things Maria had told him, the events at the hospital and something in his not too distant memory that Angel had said.

"She came looking for a book on vampires?" Willow's eyes widened.

"And you didn't tell us?" Buffy cried.

There was too much noise and he was so close to the solution.

"Look Giles we all want to see you get back on the love-train buddy, but you can't get sloppy just because the woman you have the hots for is showing all the signs of evil." Xander was at it again and it was grating on him.

"Enough!" Giles snapped and the whole room fell deadly quiet. How could he have been so stupid? Maria had told him they'd moved to Sunnydale after her father had gotten sick. She'd told him about his unusual working hours, that she feared something bigger was wrong, that she was worried about him. She'd mentioned in passing about how she couldn't seem to cook his favourite things anymore and she was worried it was her, that she was losing her touch. She'd mentioned in passing about the three men visiting at night and giving her an uneasy feeling and then she'd come in here looking for a book on vampires with marks on her arms and he'd just- he'd failed to put everything together, failed to help her, failed to protect her and wasn't that part of his job fighting demons?

Yes, there'd been a lot going on, a lot weighing heavy on him, but he still should have realised. Giles was wrapping himself up in blanket after blanket of guilt when Buffy spoke and broke his train of thought.

"Giles if she came looking-"

"Buffy, I don't think the vampire is Maria, I think it's her father. She said they came to Sunnydale when he got sick, seven months ago which is when the killings at the hospital started." Giles pointed out, now he had things clearer in his head he could explain things.

"And the mob?" Willow asked gently.

"It's not unheard of for certain criminal factions to use the supernatural as punishment or even reward. If Maria's father got involved with them and they turned him as punishment, maybe that's why he really suggested the move to Sunnydale. From conversations with her, Maria's father seems to have always been on the right side of the law."

"And Angel did say that if whatever was feeding of the people in the hospital was a vampire, they, they might just not know there's another way an-and might want to feed on people they wouldn't hurt so much." Willow pointed out.

"Maria said three men matching this description visited her father and they made her feel very uneasy. If they threatened her- she's his daughter, he might have taken drastic measures to protect her." Giles said pointing at the paper.

"If you're right, if her father went on that kind of frenzy he could be in a crazy state, especially if all he's been feeding on is sick people." Oz pointed out.

"And if she thinks she can help him- what with reading the books." The worried look reappeared on Willow's face.

"Maria could be in very real danger." Giles said solemnly.

"Then we have to find her, and them." Buffy said standing up and walking over to the weapons cabinet.

#?#

It was all too much.

The paper, his face, the book, everything she'd put together.

Her father was a vampire and if she was reading right, he'd slaughtered a warehouse full of mobsters last night. The thought was turning her stomach over. She'd already been sick in the grocery store carpark.

Walking into a dark house, with a vampire in god knows what state was probably not a very good idea but what other option did she have? He was still her father. He still knew who she was. He would know it was her.

Besides all the writing on vampires was inherently bias. Yes, they were killers and demons and all that, but they were still people too. Humans were just a part of the food chain for them. You couldn't condemn all of them because of what they were. She was sure there must be good ones out there or at least ones who tried to live a better life, maybe survived off animals? Which really in the scheme of things; how different was that from living off humans?

Maria had to put her big girl knickers on. She had to be brave and strong no matter how scary this was. He was her father. He loved her. He'd been living in a house with her for seven months and hadn't eaten her yet. He wasn't going to eat her now.

Maybe she should have been armed but she was trying to go into this with a positive mindset and if she picked up a weapon it meant she wasn't being positive and she was scared and it could turn this whole thing from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds.

Maria stopped at the door with her key in it and took a breath. She was going to be normal and bright and breezy.

"Dad?" She called into the house. It was dark, not a single light on, maybe he was out. "Dad?" She called again. Maria put the keys down on the side and flicked the living room light on.

The grocery bag dropped to the floor, jars within smashing as they connected with the hardwood.

"Hello Maria." It was the short man from the paper. The short man who'd kissed her hand and made her feel so uncomfortable and he was flanked by his goons again.

Maria could feel her heart thumping in her chest. She was trying to keep breathing steady and slow, despite the adrenaline sparking in her veins. She was regretting her lack of weapon but if she could make it to the kitchen maybe she had a chance. Or maybe she could get the latch on the door quick enough and make it outside. Perhaps she could outrun them, there were trees across the road, the little dirt path that led up behind the houses opposite and into the woods.

"Where's my father?" Maria asked.

"Oh, Maria, I took you for such a polite girl. Aren't you going to ask us if we want a drink?" The short man's lip curled up and Maria swallowed.

"Where's my father?" Maria asked again.

"He's, secure-" He said standing up, there wasn't much height between him and the top of the chair he'd been sat in. "It's not him we're here for." He held his hands behind his back.

"You understand-" He said, and Maria saw his goons make the slightest of moves. She had a choice, kitchen with knives- at least something to try and defend herself with or out the door and across the road.

"It's just business." The short man said.

Maria turned just as the other two men moved forward. She grabbed the vase off the table next to the door and launched it towards them. As they moved, she managed to get the latch on the door and set off running.

"Oh, she wants you to have fun boys." The short man shouted gleefully.

Maria's foot caught on the stairs and she had to take off the heels she was wearing throwing them back at the two larger men, hitting one in the face. There was pain in her ankle, and she was sure she was going to fall but still took off, running harder than she'd ever run in her life.

~?~

"Xander, you and Oz check the tea shop. Giles you me and Willow can go to her house. You got the address right Wil?" Buffy asked sliding a stake into her boot holster and pulling another from the rack.

"Got the address off the city database." Willow grinned at Oz.

"Remember, no playing hero. If somethings there, or up, beep me." Buffy said nodding to the boys.

"Got it, if she's gone full demon, we'll leave her to you and your stakes." Xander said off handedly, causing Giles to shoot him a look and Willow to swipe at his arm, eyeballing him. "I'm sure she'll be fine, not a demon or being eaten by a demon."

"Xander!" Willow slapped his arm again.

Giles was quiet, numb, trying not to overreact. Jenny kept flashing across his mind, and he was trying not to think about her laid out on the bed. That had been completely different. Different to this, he'd loved Jenny. He liked Maria. He was trying not to see himself falling in love with her, trying not to even entertain that idea because of the differences in their worlds, because of what had happened with Jenny.

He knew logically it wasn't his fault that she might be in danger, knew that he'd had a lot on his mind and that they weren't romantically involved. That she was a new friend, but those blankets of guilt were still wrapping themselves around him. He should have known. He should have helped. When she'd come in with those marks, those fingerprints on her arm, he should have tried harder to stop her from leaving.

The image of Jenny was chased by a new one, Maria, lifeless, head twisted at angle it shouldn't have been. Beautiful neck marred by blood and fang marks. Dark hair splayed around her. Eyes wide open.

"Giles." Buffy touched his arm gently shaking him from his thoughts. "We'll find her." She said gently. Whilst reassuring it also made Giles feel weak, he was supposed to be together and in charge and he was faltering on a basic level here.

~?~

A sharp stone caught Maria's foot on the dirt-path, and she fell, colliding hard with the ground. She got back up, running again, as well as she could on a painful ankle and now bleeding foot. She couldn't let them get her. Who knows what they were going to do?

Maria stopped for breath when it felt like her lungs were about to explode. She was in a thicket of trees and as far as she could see there was nothing around her. Maybe she'd lost them.

Maria lent back against a tree trying to catch her breath. She lifted her foot up, it was bloody but nothing as bad as John McClane had faced in Die Hard and if he could take on terrorist with shredded feet Maria was sure she could outrun a couple of vamp-. Maria stopped the thought in its tracks. This was all so ridiculous, she wasn't going to be able to outrun them. She was probably going to die out here. She couldn't think like that though. For a start she needed to find out what they'd done too and with her father. For seconds she wasn't one for giving up when someone she loved was in danger.

Maria pulled the scarf from her hair and tied it gently around her foot. If she was going to have to limp to the poli- she couldn't go to the police with this could she? Her father was a vampire. How was she supposed to explain that?

If not the police then where was she supposed to go? She couldn't go home, and the shop would no doubt be on their radar. So where? She didn't know anyone who knew about vamp- Giles. She couldn't take this to his doorstep though could she? She couldn't just show up and involve him in all this, but, realistically what other choice did she have? Maybe she could just go to the library and-

Maria was so busy in her head trying to think about where to go and what to do that she failed to take full account of the sounds around her. The leaves rustling, twigs snapping, heavy breathing. She was too busy trying to tie the scarf around her foot that she didn't notice the two big bodies until it was too late, and the world was turning black.

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! :)
If you didn't enjoy, I guess this just wasn't your cup of tea but I wish you happy hunting for something more your taste in your fanfic days!