Disclaimer; All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.

Authors Note; Hope you enjoyed the short prologue, now we move into the first chapter, and five months later. Enjoy.

... & On

As Buffy begins her first day at Sunnydale High

She stepped off the bus and onto the cold ground below, the rain falling gently down and thankfully not quite drenching her entirely. Only carrying a small duffel bag on her shoulder, she made her way away from the small bus stop and deeper into the small town she found herself in.

Not quite sure how long she would be here for, she at the very least knew it would be long enough to need a resting place, so she asked a few of the natives for directions to the nearest motel. Junction End wasn't exactly the Ritz, far from it, but it was a place to lay her head to rest and that was good enough for her.

After bypassing the filthy reception room and a man with wandering eyes who leered at her when he handed her the keys to room 7, she unlocked the door and headed into the tiny space with a small bed and even smaller bathroom to her left. She was just grateful that the room seemed much cleaner than the receptionist had made her think it would.

As soon as she put her duffel bag down on the bed, she turned to lock the door and then grabbed a chair to put under the doorknob. Just in case that creep got any ideas while she was sleeping later.

She had been through a lot of things, a lot of close calls, in the past five months, but she really wasn't prepared for anymore right now. She was still reeling from the last town she was in, a place she had hoped could have become a permanent home until something got in the way. Now she was beginning to think that she would be traveling for the rest of her life.

Not bothering to unpack her pathetically small amount of belongings from her duffel, she simply set it down on the second chair in the room by the bedside table and jumped up to sit against the headboard, tired – exhausted really – but not ready to head for slumber world just yet.

For reasons she couldn't quite explain, she found herself thinking of the ones she had lost.

Dawn had been on the run for five months now, ever since a terrible fire had stolen away the lives of her family; her mother, her father, and her older sister, Buffy.

She had been upset with her mother, angry and honestly full of herself, so it didn't take long after slamming her way into her room before she'd climbed out the window and headed off to that sleepover with her friends. Of course, by the time she'd arrived at her friend's house, she had realized that her appearance would force her mother to find out and she didn't want that.

Instead she had wandered the big city she called home for a few hours before deciding she had calmed down enough and returned home. Only to find that home reduced to nothing but ashes and a shell, surrounded by fire fighters and police cars.

Desperate for answers but afraid of the system, ever since she made a friend who was in foster care, she'd sequestered away in an abandoned building and then checked the newspaper the next day. The moment she saw the announcement that her father had been killed in the fire, she had refused to read anymore. Refused to see in black and white print what she already knew in her heart; that her mother and sister were dead as well.

And that's when she ran away.

Now, five months later in the beginning of March of a brand new year, she found herself only four miles from the Canadian border, in the small town of Oroville, Washington.

Wondering what would become of her now.

She missed her family. Missed her father, who would read her bedtime stories and carry her over his head when she was younger. Missed her mother, who loved it when she helped her cook and had the prettiest smile she had ever seen. Missed her annoying big sister, who always yelled at her and smelled of flowers and vanilla even on her worst days.

She missed waking up in her own bed, surrounded by her posters and stuffed animals. She missed going to the mall with her mom and Buffy, eating lunch at the food court. She even missed going to school and doing homework with her friends, if you could believe it.

She missed being normal.

Her life had been anything but normal in the past five months. Instead it had been a rollercoaster of negative emotions, dangerous people and the realization that this world was nothing like what she had spent thirteen years thinking it was.

Now that she was in her fourteenth year of life her eyes were open. To the Demons and the Vampires and the magic that lived in this world. And just another reason for her to travel the way she did, as she had no real way to battle against those inhuman powers now that she finally knew they existed.

Tired out by her own thoughts and left continuously wondering where everything in her life would go now, she drifted off to sleep on top of the covers, not even having time to brush her teeth or change into her sleep wear.

Within minutes, she was gone.

It was morning in Oroville on her second day in town and she was seated at a table in a place called Eva's Diner and Bakery. They made wonderful pastries here and she even enjoyed her very first cup of coffee, feeling like she would probably get used to the bitter taste eventually. For now it warmed her up and woke her up and that was the most important thing.

Dawn had woken up rather early, annoyed at her wrinkled clothing and the bad taste in her mouth. After a quick shower and a much-needed brush of her teeth, she grabbed her duffel again and headed out, not quite sure what she was looking for. Though sure she wouldn't know it until she found it.

"Can I top you off, sweetie?" the voice of the waitress came from above her and she looked up with a small smile.

"Sure, that'd be great," she replied, reading the name Maddie from the tag on her uniform.

While the woman poured more coffee into the ceramic mug, she spoke to the very young girl. "So what's brought you to our little piece of heaven here in Oroville?"

Dawn tilted her head to the side, not knowing quite how to answer that. "Just passing through, really."

"Where are you heading?" she asked as she pulled her arm away from the cup.

The girl shrugged her shoulders and whispered that she had no idea. Soon Maddie was gone and she was back to sipping on the bitter drink, thinking about that same question herself. Where was she supposed to go from here?

She was almost at the border to another country entirely and knew she couldn't go in that direction, not when she didn't have any valid identification to use. But she also refused to move backwards, especially if that path managed to lead her back to California and Los Angeles, her birth home.

Which left her without a raft to float on.

Across the room at the entrance to the small breakfast café the door opened and the bell above it jingled, as three men came inside and took a seat at one of the tables by the window. They smiled at Maddie when she came over to take their order and chatted amongst each other.

"You try not to work yourself too hard, now, Lex, or we'll be dealing with the authorities for child abuse," one of the men spoke to the third party, a much younger guy.

The one in question snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'm not that young, Texas," he replied glumly...even though it was a bold-faced lie. He was much younger than what it said on his fake ID.

The third member of their little trio spoke up next, a man in his fifties who went by Black Crow; BC to his pale faced friends. "Young enough," he stated gruffly, accepting the coffee from Maddie when she returned. "We don't want no problems, Lex, now do we?"

"Why are you guys bringing this up now?" he asked, leaning back in his chair. "I've been working with you for months."

Texas and BC glanced at each other and the Caucasian male took the floor. "There have been rumors 'round here lately, of sweat shops that use kids to do their dirty work. According to a source in the police department north of here, they've set up a team dedicated to tracking down the child labors. Don't want them to mistake me and BC for them bad 'uns."

He sighed, seeing the point and nodding his head. "Fine, I promise I'll be careful and try not to work myself too hard. At least until they track down who they're looking for and leave Oroville alone again."

The three of them spent the next ten minutes talking some more about the crops on their farm and the trip to the big city they had to take for supplies someday soon. Eventually it was time to pay the bill and make their way back to their farm, but not until the youngest member made a trip to the wash room.

It was on his way back that he noticed the pretty young thing sitting at a table near the counter. She had long brown hair, pale skin and a maturity in her eyes that belied the age he was sure she was; no older than fifteen, was his own personal guess.

Which meant not much younger than him.

"Hi, there," he said, standing in such a way that she could see him without twisting her neck too much.

Dawn looked up at the cute young guy smiling at her goofily. "Hey," she replied, sending him a small, genuine smile back.

"Haven't seen you around town before, you new here?" He wanted to take a seat across from her but didn't want to make her uncomfortable, so he stayed standing.

She leaned back in her chair and gave him a once-over with her penetrating blue eyes. "Passing through, actually. You live here?"

He nodded his head. "Yeah, going on about four months now. I work on a small orchard farm just north of here." He leaned his hands on the empty chair and bent forward a bit, still smiling.

"You look a bit too young to be working, no offense," she said, gesturing for him to take a seat, which he gladly did.

"And you look too young to be traveling on your own," he shot back, raising a brow at her.

Her eyes narrowed. "Change of subject?"

He grinned. "No problem."

They spoke of nothing of importance for the next few minutes and then Texas and BC came over to their table, letting Lex know that it was time to go back to work for the day. He told them he'd be right with them and then turned back to the pretty brunette he was feeling a strange connection with.

"So, guess you know my name now, how 'bout you tell me yours?" He hadn't stopped smiling since he met her.

As he waited for her reply he rose up and prepared to leave. She smiled up at him, silently wondering if she should make up a fake name to give him, just in case her real one would cause trouble later down the road. Even though she wasn't planning on sticking around. The connection she felt with the cute boy left her not entirely capable of lying, though, and what came out surprised even her.

"My name's Aurora," she spoke, smiling as he nodded at her and then left the café.

Something told her she wouldn't be leaving Oroville anytime soon.

She just wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not...

As Buffy attempts to prevent The Harvest in the Bronze

Night had fallen on the small town and Dawn was back in her previous motel room, knowing that this was the last time she could afford to stay there. As of tomorrow she had no clue what she would do, brought back to memories of staying in abandoned warehouses in the past. And since this wasn't a big city, the chances of her finding places like that to sleep were slim at best.

But she had no time to think about that right now. She was hungry and she was irritated, frail to the bone with her own thoughts and worrying over what was going to happen now. She sat on the tiny bed and rooted through her duffel bag, not even entirely sure what it was that she was looking for.

She was sick and tired of feeling so lost...something she'd been overwhelmed with for the past five months.

Instead of feeling sorry for herself, she grabbed her coat and headed out the door, deciding that it was time to take a look around this small town and see what it had to offer. Just in case she ended up staying here longer than she was originally planning.

It wasn't long before she came across the issue she had been hoping to avoid, being that Oroville was – as mentioned several times before – such a small, border town. She could hear a struggle coming from somewhere behind a bunch of small warehouses and if the growls were anything to go by, it wasn't human creeps doing the shuffling.

Though frightened with her heartbeat in her throat she stuck a hand into her pocket and dug out the stake she had begun to carry with her everywhere, stepping into the alley to see if she should step in to help. Part of her wished this was simply some turf war and that no innocents were in need of her assistance.

Then again, when had luck ever been on her side?

Seeing two fanged men bent over a third one, who appeared purely human to her, she sighed and knew it was up to her to risk life and limbs or she'd never forgive herself. Sure she may have read up on this new – to her – world but that didn't mean that she just magically got strong enough to battle them. Left to rely on cunning and smarts, all she could hope for was that these two were the kind of Vampires she had read about, the ones that were the most of; idiotic fledges or stupid minions.

Keeping her feet surprisingly silent she stepped further into the hidden alcove behind the buildings and watched the happenings. The Vampires had yet to puncture any skin on the human, appearing to fight over who got the first bite, and that gave her time to take in the picture they made and decide where to go from there.

Both of the creatures were smaller than the average male and very skinny from where she was standing, which made her a little relieved. Though they would still have the supernatural strength and such afforded to their kind, it wasn't the same as if they'd been burly football players before they were turned. Plus they looked decidedly gaunt as if they were starving and there was a chance their sheer hunger would cause them to mess up.

She crossed her fingers in hope and then made her presence known.

Far too nervous to make some kind of clever pun or quip, she simply took advantage of the distraction they got from their meal held between the both of them and quickly put her stake into the back of the one closes to her. She was sure that it was pure luck that left her actually hitting the mark – its heart – on her first try. As her victim turned to dust before her eyes, his buddy was so shocked that he let go of the human in his hold.

The man fell to the ground, leaving it open for the now pissed off Vampire to attack the girl who had killed his friend. "You'll pay for that," he growled out through his fangs, yellow eyes glaring at her.

Dawn eeped and jumped back, barely avoiding the crushing blow he had been sending her way through a downward trajectory. Instead he crashed into the pavement, managing only to scratch her arm with his filthy claw-like nails. She winced in pain but knew there was no time to dwell on it, rushing over the man instead.

She turned him over and quickly realized that the man wasn't a man so much as it was the young guy from the café earlier that morning. "Lex," she hissed, slapping him gently so he could wake up before the Vampire got its bearings back.

Unfortunately nothing was happening quickly enough and before she knew what was happening, a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her upwards before sending her crashing back down to the harsh ground below. Her back ached from the assault and she was finding it difficult to move her arms from the impact. "Ow," she let out through clenched teeth, her eyes stinging as she looked up at the approaching beast.

Her eyes widened and she whimpered in fear, seeing that Lex was still passed out on the ground and knowing that her only stake had dusted right along with the other Vampire from before. She had no weapons and therefore no feasible way to get herself out of this in one piece.

Which meant that the guy she'd been trying to save would be a goner as well.

Dammit.

She slowly tried to crawl away from the approaching creature who was cackling at her and threatening all sorts of things, her eyes stuck on him and occasionally glancing all around her, desperate to find some way out of this. None seemed even remotely available to her.

And then she heard it, though at first she thought she was imagining it.

The sound of an engine...revving.

Before she could blink, a truck came from out of nowhere and flattened the Vampire under its heavy weight. It drove forward and, before the creature could get back on its feet, it backed up and over it once more. This time is stayed on top of the beast and the front door opened. A man stepped around the front of the truck and Dawn finally recognized him as one of the men that had been with Lex in the café that morning.

"You alright?" he asked, worried eyes looking her over and then sticking with the bloody scratch on her arm.

She nodded so fast that it made her a little dizzy even though she was lying down. "He's not dead, y'know," she managed to get out before the man was attacked from behind by the Vampire in question.

She winced for the man who had quite frankly saved her life and slowly stood up from the ground. As the fight continued a few feet away from her, the stranger holding his own surprisingly well, she walked slowly over to the truck, limping slightly. Looking inside the bed of the car she noticed a wooden baseball bat and knew it was the best thing at the moment.

Before she could move away from the truck a heavy weight came crashing into her and she felt the pain slice through her body as she was pressed harshly against the car until she fell heavily to the ground...again. Her hand was still wrapped around the thinner side of the bat and she weakly held it out to the man who had been thrown into her by the Vampire.

"Only wood..." she spoke as she tasted blood in her mouth. "...will kill it."

And then she promptly passed out.

As Buffy reels from her first real battle in Sunnydale

The bright lights were burning her eyes even through the lids and she could hear hushed voices speaking as if through a tunnel as she awoke from a deep slumber and moved a little, only to find that a bit too painful to withstand. She gritted her teeth but must still have made a sound as the voices were suddenly much closer and clearer.

"You're awake," a somewhat familiar voice spoke with clear relief in its dulcet tones.

"Wha..." she croaked, her throat sore and her body dizzy from exhaustion.

"If you can sit up a bit I have water for you," a second voice chimed in, on her other side.

She did as instructed and within a few minutes her aching back was leaning against a wooden headboard and her crusted eyelids were peeling open to see what she was surrounded by. She was in a bedroom that was so bare she wondered if it was a guest room and there were two males with her. After a few slow moments, she recognized them both as the guy she had been trying to save and the man who had tried to save her.

Both of which had apparently been successes, since they were all three still here.

"What happened?" she asked again, after a few sips of water with help from the older man.

He took a careful seat on the side of the bed and gave her a small smile. "First off, I'm Texas. Lex told me 'bout meetin' you yesterday mornin', told me your name was Aurora?" He continued after a small nod from her. "Now, how 'bout you tell me how much you remember from last night, darling?" His accent was clearly from the part of the country that gave him his name and she was definitely charmed by him.

She glanced over at Lex and then back at Texas, wondering just how much she should tell them. "I was taking a walk..." she began, still tired and sore in her throat. "I heard a commotion from behind...where you found me. I didn't know it was Lex being attacked at first, but...I couldn't just walk away..."

Texas leaned forward slightly and lay his hand on top of hers on the bed. "It's definitely appreciated, Aurora, don't doubt that for a second. I just hope you don't make a habit of this, wouldn't wanna see you get hurt." He turned his head and looked at the younger boy.

Lex stepped forward, swallowed thickly, and stuck his hands in his pocket. "Before you passed out, you told Texas that only wood would kill it. You know what they were, don't you?"

Dawn's eyes widened and she suddenly coughed, taken by surprise. Texas handed her the cup again and she took a few more sips, while realizing that there was no point in hiding the truth any longer. They had obviously seen the second monster turn to dust, or they wouldn't be alive right now. "Vampires," she croaked and then waited for their reaction.

Texas sighed and bowed his head, as if he had been expecting this and wasn't really all that shocked. Lex, however, widened his eyes and his breath became shaky. Perhaps that was because he had still been passed out when both of the creatures were destroyed and hadn't seen anything with his own eyes. Texas had been nothing but honest with him, as always, but he hadn't been sure what to believe. But now, with Aurora agreeing with the older man, how could he not believe it?

It was just too much to handle, though.

Dawn, meanwhile, was busy staring at Texas. "You're not surprised, are you?"

The man raised his head just high enough to look her in the eyes. "I've been around for a while, darling; there's not much that shocks me these days."

She shook her head, knowing that there was a lot he wasn't saying but not willing to push someone who was still a stranger. "Did you...? Are they...gone?" She winced a bit at the sudden stab that went through her head.

Texas stood up and set the cup of water down on the bedside table. "Yeah, no worries. They won't be coming back to cause more trouble, promise. Now, why don't you get yourself some sleep, Aurora, rest up that battered body of yours. We'll be just downstairs if you need us later." He stared at Lex and together the two left the room.

They hadn't more than softly closed the door behind them before she was back in dreamworld...where the nightmares awaited her.

When she woke up a few hours later the sun was still in the sky, just at a different position. There were heavy clouds surrounding it and she could see the rain drops falling against the window clear across from where she lay on the bed. Mere minutes after she came awake, the doorknob turned and Lex entered.

"You're up, hi," he said with that darned smile, taking a seat on a chair that he pulled up to her bedside.

"Yeah, but I'm still exhausted," she replied, smiling back as much as she could before wincing in pain. She reached up a hand and felt a bruise on her jaw, right by her lips.

"I'm not surprised," he spoke, leaning forward with his arms on his thighs. "It's gonna take you a while to get better all the way, but it'll happen. Just gotta be patient." His smile grew and there was a twinkle of humor in his dark eyes.

She tried to roll her eyes but even that was too painful. "Patience is my middle name, buddy."

He chuckled and leaned back in his seat, crossing one leg over the other. "So..." he started and she had a feeling she knew what was coming. "How long have you known that Vampires are real?" He said these words in a very relaxed tone but she could tell that he was anything but.

She very carefully shrugged her shoulders. "Just for a few months. I ran into some trouble when I was leaving Vegas, about four months ago. After that, I tried to find what I could about it and...I learned a lot more than I had been expecting."

Again he leaned forward in interest. "Such as?"

"Let's just say that Vampires are the tip of the iceberg and leave it at that." She didn't want to freak him out too much.

Lex was more than prepared to accept that response...for now. Instead he changed the subject to something he knew wouldn't necessarily be better, just different. "So, Aurora..."

She looked at his smirk, rolling her eyes when she saw it. "What? Like Lex is your real name? What comes after it, Luthor?"

His laugh was warm and loud, wrapping itself around her like a thick blanket. The smile on her face was the first real one in a long time. "A comic girl, nice," was his only response as he wagged his brows at her, making her giggle a bit.

After a while she sighed and leaned further back in the bed, staring up at Lex with slightly wet eyes. "You were really lucky, y'know," she spoke in cryptic words.

Again he leaned forward, resting his arms on his thighs. "What do you mean?"

She turned away, looking out the window at the rain still falling against the glass. "You found some really nice souls to take you in and make it worth it."

Again he looked confused. "Make what worth it?"

"Running away."

It was nearing midnight on her second day on the orchard farm and she sat near the window sill staring out through the glass and the storm that was rearing on the other side. She had managed to heal enough now to move around though it was still painful enough to keep her seated most of the hours out of the waking day.

She had also gotten to know the people who had been kind enough to take her in instead of dropping her off at a hospital and washing their hands of her.

Texas Marin was a charming man in his late forties who owned the orchard. He had been living here in Oroville for more than ten years, though Dawn had yet to learn what it was that took away from his home in the South. He was without a doubt one of the kindest men that she had ever met and had a reputation in the small town for exactly that, even long before he took in Lex four months ago.

Living with Texas was the original owner of the land, a Native American man in his fifties known as Black Crow who had an incredible history with the Navajo people of Washington State. BC, as he had insisted she call him with a smile on his face, was a gentle spirit whom she found herself connecting with quite easily.

And of course she had already connected with the adorably goofy Lex...though her curiosity still wondered at what his real identity was.

She had yet to realize that these bonds she was unknowingly making would be the very reason she would wound up staying in town, for much longer than she had originally planned.

The sound of the door opening quietly caught her off guard and she turned to see Lex walk inside with a tray of food for her. She smiled at him easily. "Thanks."

"No problem," he smiled back and set down the tray on the bedside table.

Slowly, not to irritate her still-healing wounds, she moved back over to the bed and sat down, leaning against the headboard. "What's on the menu for tonight, then?" she asked, hoping she wasn't putting them out since she was eating so late thanks to her confusing sleep patterns.

He took back his seat from earlier by the bed and grabbed the tray once more, sitting it over her hips and accepting her grateful smile. "Texas cooked you a good old fashioned meal that his mama taught him; his words, not mine," he grinned as she sipped on the warm ice tea.

Dawn was very pleased with the sweet potatoes and spicy meat, finishing the food more quickly than she would have expected. "I guess there's a reason you're the one here with the tray instead of Texas."

Lex crossed his long fingers together and leaned his chin down on the folded hands. "I was waiting until you felt a little better."

She sighed and set the tray back on the bedside table. "Don't you think it's a little rude to be so insistent on my secret when you obviously have one of your own?"

"Maybe," he shrugged, but continued to stare at her intently. "Then again, maybe I just worry about you." When her eyes asked the question of why it was his turn to sigh. "You're younger than me, Aurora, by at least a year...probably more. And I'm already too young to be away from parental figures."

She had no problem interpreting his meaning. While it was nice to have someone worrying about her, as she hadn't felt that since in the warm bosom of her mother, she had developed a sense of independence in the past five months and that part only felt annoyed and as if he was treating her like a child. Thankfully that wasn't the part that spoke up.

"If you breathe a word of this to Texas, BC or anyone else, you'll never see me again," she said, making it clear that her threat was not empty and would be made reality if he tried to test her.

Still he only smiled back at her. "Tell you what, you show me yours and I'll show you mine." His smile was bright and his body unable to stay still.

She rolled her eyes, trying to hide her own smile. Then, she held out a hand and waited for the confused boy to take it in his own. "Hi, it's nice to meet you. My name is Dawn Summers."

He grinned as he got what she was doing and squeezed her back. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm Xander Harris."

Authors Note; While it may not be a very good cliffhanger, as most of you probably figured out the identity of Lex early on, I found it to be the perfect place to stop. Hope you guys enjoyed this first piece of the story and that you come back for more later on.

Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought, good or bad :)

Puppet.